The government has received an overwhelming response to its flagship PM Internship Scheme, with over 6.21 lakh applications submitted for 1.27 lakh available internships. The scheme, announced in the recent Union Budget, aims to provide valuable work experience to one crore young individuals across India over the next five years.

Launched on October 3, the pilot phase of the initiative focuses on offering 1.25 lakh internship opportunities in the current financial year (2024-25). Partner companies have actively engaged, posting a total of 1.27 lakh internship opportunities on the dedicated scheme portal.

"Approximately 4.87 lakh individuals have successfully completed their Know Your Customer (KYC) verification and registered themselves on the portal," stated the Ministry of Corporate Affairs in a recent press release.

The Union budget has allocated ₹13,955 crore for railway projects in Bengal, railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Monday.

The amount is three times the allocation for the state when Mamata Banerjee helmed the railways, Vaishnaw added.

The Trinamool Congress had slammed this year’s budget, which they said had deprived Bengal.

“The honourable Prime Minister has undertaken a mission to modernise and expand the railway network

Following the 2025 Budget announcement, Indian Railways revealed plans to manufacture 100 Amrit Bharat, 50 Namo Bharat and 200 Vande Bharat trains, including both sleeper and chair car variants, in the next two to three years. These trains will significantly enhance connectivity across the country.

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw also unveiled plans to manufacture 17,500 Non-AC General and Sleeper Coaches to improve rail connectivity across the country. The move is expected to enhance the travel experience for low-income passengers and ease the growing pressure on railway infrastructure.

The 13th edition of joint military exercise ‘Ekuverin’ between the Indian Army and the Maldives National Defence Force has commenced in the archipelago nation. The military exercise commenced yesterday is a bilateral annual exercise conducted alternatively in India and Maldives. In 2023, it was conducted at Chaubatia in Uttarakhand from June 11 to 24. Ekuverin meaning ‘Friends’ in Dhivehi language.

The International Big Cat Alliance (IBCA) has officially come into force as a full-fledged, treaty-based, inter-governmental international organisation and an international legal entity.

This was announced by India's Ministry of External Affairs, which is the depository of the Framework Agreement for instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession by countries seeking to become IBCA members.

So far 27 countries have become IBCA members. Several international and national organisations working in the field of wildlife conservation have agreed to partner with the IBCA, which was launched globally in April 2023.

Canada imposed 25 per cent tariffs on $155 billion in US imports on Sunday, while Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum also ordered her economy minister to implement tariff and non-tariff measures to defend her country’s interests, after US President Donald Trump early on Sunday signed an order to impose stiff tariffs on imports from Mexico, Canada and China.

The order signed by Trump also includes a mechanism to escalate the rates if the countries retaliate against the US.

The decision throws the global economy and Trump’s own political mandate to combat inflation into possible turmoil, though the Republican president posted on social media that it was necessary “to protect Americans".

India on Saturday successfully conducted three consecutive flight trials of the very short-range air defence missile system (VSHORADS) from Chandipur off the coast of Odisha, in a major boost to the military, the Defence Ministry said.

Developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), VSHORADS is an indigenously designed and developed man-portable air defence system. It is intended to meet the air defence requirements of all three branches of the Indian Armed Forces: the Army, Navy, and Air Force.

During the tests, it targeted high-speed, low-altitude targets, simulating drone threats.

Former chief election commissioner (CEC) Navin Chawla, who oversaw the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, passed away in Delhi on Saturday. He was 79.

Chawla was admitted in hospital for a surgery and passed away after suffering a cardiac arrest, it is learnt.

A retired 1969-batch IAS officer of Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram and Union Territory (AGMUT) cadre, he assumed office as an election commissioner on May 16, 2005, and served in that role till April 20, 2009, after which he served as chief election commissioner till July 29, 2010.

Two naturalists have spotted the saffron reedtail, a rare species of damselfly endemic to the Western Ghats of India, for the first time in Karnataka. They found the damselflies, referred to as Indosticta deccanensis, in the forests along the Nethravati river in Madhugundi village near Sunkasale in Chikkamagaluru district last year. Earlier, the damselflies were noticed in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

Tejas Mehande and Ajith Padiyar spotted five individuals of the species during their regular research work near a stream. They photographed them and also published a research paper in the quarterly journal Entomon. According to the research paper, this was the first record of the species in the northernmost part of the Western Ghats.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday announced the launch of the PM Dhan Dhanya Krishi Yojana, aimed at benefiting 1.7 crore farmers across the country.

The scheme is designed to enhance agricultural productivity, promote crop diversification, strengthen post-harvest storage at panchayat and block levels, improve irrigation infrastructure, and increase the availability of both short and long-term credit for farmers.

“PM Dhan Dhanya Krishi Yojana will benefit 1.7 crore farmers and aims to create ample opportunities in rural areas so that migration becomes an option, not a necessity,” the Finance Minister said.