AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal launched the Dr Ambedkar Samman Scholarship scheme for Dalit students ahead of the upcoming Delhi assembly elections.

His announcement comes after a row erupted in parliament over union home minister Amit Shah's allegedly “disrespectful” remarks on the father of the constitution.

Addressing a rally, Kejriwal stated that if AAP wins the assembly polls in February next year, the Delhi government will fund the education of foreign-bound Dalit students through the Dr Ambedkar Samman Scholarship.

Aisake Valu Eke was elected as Prime Minister of Tonga on Tuesday, Radio Nukualofa reported.

He will replace Hu'akavameiliku Siaosi Sovaleni, who resigned on December 9.

Valu Eke, who will be officially sworn in as Prime Minister in February, was first elected to parliament in 2010 and served as minister of finance between 2014 and 2017. He will be in office for less than a year before the South Pacific island nation of 105,000 people holds its next election in November 2025.

China has approved the construction of the world's largest dam, stated to be the planet's biggest infra project costing $137 billion, on the Brahmaputra River in Tibet close to the Indian border, raising concerns in riparian states — India and Bangladesh.

The Chinese government has approved the construction of a hydropower project in the lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River, the Tibetan name for the Brahmaputra, according to an official statement quoted by state-run Xinhua news agency on Wednesday (December 25, 2024).

The dam is to be built at a huge gorge in the Himalayan reaches where the Brahmaputra river makes a huge U-turn to flow into Arunachal Pradesh and then to Bangladesh.

The total investment in the dam could exceed one trillion yuan ($137 billion), which would dwarf any other single infrastructure project on the planet including China’s own Three Gorges Dam, regarded as the largest in the world, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported on Thursday.

Former prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh died on Thursday. He was 92.

Singh was admitted to the emergency ward of Delhi's All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) at around 8 p.m. In April, the veteran Congress leader retired from the Rajya Sabha after a 33-year stint in the Upper House.

The Indian economy is expected to grow nearly 6.5 per cent in the current fiscal year 2024-25 (FY25), closer to the lower end of the 6.5-7 per cent projection, against 8.2 per cent a year before, due to global uncertainties and triggers posing a dampening threat. The Finance Ministry expects a gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 6.5 per cent in FY25 after the economy slowed to 5.4 per cent in the July-September quarter.

“We expect the economy to grow at around 6.5 per cent in real terms in the financial year 2024-25,” said the Finance Ministry's Department of Economic Affairs in its monthly economic report for November. The estimate aligns with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)'s revised 6.6 per cent growth forecast for FY25. The July Economic Survey projected GDP growth at 6.5- 7 per cent.

In the 67th National Shooting Championship, Ganemat Sekhon of Punjab clinched her second consecutive national title in the women’s skeet competition in Delhi. In the individual women’s final, she hit 50 out of 60 targets, comfortably defeating her state-mate Asees Chhina, who managed 46 hits to take silver.

Olympian Raiza Dhillon secured bronze. This was Sekhon’s second gold of the competition. She had earlier won the women’s team event with teammates Parinaaz Dhaliwal and Jasmeen Kaur.

In men’s skeet, Bhavtegh Singh Gill, fresh from his triumph at the World University Championships, claimed his first senior national title with an impressive 54 hits in the final. Fatehbir Singh Shergill of Air India secured silver with 51 hits, while Olympian Mairaj Ahmad Khan of Uttar Pradesh took bronze with 43 hits out of the first 50 targets.

Justice G.S. Sandhawalia was on Monday (December 23, 2024) appointed as the Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court while Justice Narender G. was appointed as the head of the Uttarakhand High Court, the Law Ministry said.

While Justice Sandhawalia is at present a judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Justice Narendar G. is a judge of the Andhra Pradesh High Court.

Justice Narendar G.'s name was recommended by the Supreme Court Collegium on September 24.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday (December 25, 2024) laid the foundation stone for the Ken-Betwa river-linking project in Madhya Pradesh’s Khajuraho, aimed at solving the water woes of the Bundelkhand region, spread across parts of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. The project is estimated to cost around ₹45,000 crore.

Speaking at the event, Mr. Modi credited Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s vision for India’s major river valley projects, and accused the Congress of not giving due recognition to the architect of the Constitution.

“The major river valley projects of India were based on the vision of Babasaheb Ambedkar. The Central Water Commission exists today because of the efforts of Dr. Ambedkar, but the Congress never gave him credit for his water-conservation efforts. No one was even allowed to know about it,” said Mr. Modi, amid the ongoing controversy over Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s remarks on Dr. Ambedkar. The Congress had staged protests seeking the Home Minister’s resignation over the issue.

In weightlifting, Parv Chaudhary secured two bronze medals in the 96 kg category to continue India’s domination at the Asian Youth and Junior Weightlifting Championships in Doha, Qatar, today. Chaudhary clinched the medals in the clean and jerk and total sections. He registered a total lift of 303 kilograms. With this win, India’s medal tally surged to 12 medals, including three gold, four silver, and five bronze.

Maia Sandu today assumed office as president of the Republic of Moldova for a second term. She won the Moldovan presidential elections in 2020 and was re-elected in a runoff in November, this year.

Ms. Sandu outlined her policy priorities as European integration, national security, and economic growth, calling for active involvement from all citizens to achieve these goals.