Dr DK Sunil, Director (Engineering, Research and Development) has taken over as Chairman and Managing Director (Additional Charge) of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) from CB Ananthakrishnan, who superannuated on August 31.

Dr Sunil joined HAL in 1987 as a Management Trainee and has about 37 years of experience in varied roles in the company contributing significantly to design, production, quality enhancement and customer support.

Under his leadership, new technologies were developed like radar power supply, voice activated control system, combined interrogator transponder which have become new growth areas for the company. A trailblazer in collaborations, Dr Sunil was instrumental in forging partnerships with institutions like IIT Kanpur for datalinks and IIIT Hyderabad for voice recognition technologies. His visionary approach strengthened HAL's position in cutting-edge technologies.

The Narendra Modi government on Friday (August 30) granted ‘navratna status’ to Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVN) Ltd, NHPC Ltd, RailTel Corporation of India Ltd and Solar Energy Corporation of India Ltd.

RailTel Corporation of India has become the 22nd 'Navratna,' followed by Solar Energy Corporation of India as the 23rd, NHPC as the 24th, and Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam as the 25th 'Navratna' in India.

Shimla-based SJVN is a listed company with the following shareholders’ pattern: 55% with the Government of India, 26.85% with the Himachal Pradesh government and the remaining 18.15% with the public.

NorthEast United FC etched its name on the winner’s plate of the Durand Cup as it won the 133rd edition of Asia’s oldest football tournament by overpowering defending Mohun Bagan Super Giant 4-3 via a tie-breaker, at the Salt Lake Stadium here on Saturday

Mohun Bagan established a two-goal lead in the opening half but NorthEast fought back after the break, scoring two goals in three minutes to make it 2-2 at the end of the regulation time.

With no extra time allotted, the match went straight into penalty shootouts where NorthEast United goalkeeper Gurmeet Singh made two saves to turn the tables on Mohun Bagan and secure the maiden Durand Cup crown for his side.

The 16-member Indian Deaf Shooting team made a bright start to the 2nd World Deaf Shooting Championship 2024 being held at Hanover, Germany, winning one gold, two silver and one bronze medal on day one of the competitions on Saturday.

Anuya Prasad won gold in the women's 10m Air Pistol while India also had a double podium finish in the men's 10m Air Pistol with Abhinav Deshwal winning silver and Shubham Vashist winning bronze as the duo also teamed up with Chetan Sakpal to clinch the team silver in the event, as per a press release by the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI).

The Championship goes on till September 7, 2024, and Indian shooters will compete in the Air Rifle and Air Pistol disciplines. The squad, which includes such top shooters like Dhanush Srikanth, is also accompanied by an interpreter and coaches Preeti Sharma (Pistol) and Sanjeev Rajput (Rifle).

At the Asian Cadet and Junior Judo Championships in Mungyeong, South Korea, India’s Himanshi Tokas clinched the Silver medal in the Women’s 63-kilogram event yesterday.

19-year-old Himanshi is a Khelo Bharat athlete. This four-day Judo Championship will conclude today at the Mungyeong Gymnasium.

15-year-old Chess International Master Mayank Chakraborty from Assam has won his second Grand Master Norm in a GM Norm Tournament being conducted in Greece today. IM Mayank requires one last norm and to touch the FIDE Rating Point 2500 once to be a Grand Master, in fact the first Grand Master from entire North East India. His present FIDE rating is 2431. He had become International Master this year in April only, and right now he is the player with the highest number of Grand Master Norms and highest rating from the entire North East India.

IM Sahil Dey, aged 17 years, is the second player from North East who is still in the race to be the first Grand Master from North East with one norm and 2375 FIDE rating at the moment.

In West Asia, UN agencies in the Gaza Strip have launched an ambitious campaign to vaccinate 640,000 children against polio today. The campaign relies on a series of localised pauses in fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas fighters, with the first window beginning today.

The vaccination campaign began today in areas of central Gaza and will move to other areas in the coming days. During this campaign, war will pause for at least eight hours on three consecutive days.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said at least 90% of children under 10 must be immunised in a short time frame. Last month, WHO confirmed that a baby was partially paralysed by the type 2 polio virus, the first such case in the territory in the last 25 years. UN experts warned that more children may be infected and that there could be a wider regional outbreak if the virus is not dealt with.

In a significant development amid ongoing conflict, Israel’s military and Hamas have also reached an agreement to implement three separate, zone-wise, three-day pauses in fighting across Gaza to facilitate a polio vaccination campaign.

India's Rubina Francis won a bronze medal in the women's air pistol SH1 event final to continue the strong show from the country's shooters in the Paris Paralympics on Saturday.

Rubina scored a total of 211.1 to finish third in the eight-woman final. She had qualified for the final at seventh spot in the qualification round earlier in the day.

This was India's fourth medal in shooting and fifth overall at the Paris Paralympics.

On Friday, Avani Lekhara had created history by successfully defending her women's 10m air rifle gold medal which she had clinched in Tokyo Paralympics, with compatriot Mona Agarwal clinching the bronze.

Air Marshal Tejinder Singh on Sunday took over as Deputy Chief of the Air Staff of the Indian Air Force, the Defence Ministry said.

After taking charge at the Air Headquarters (Vayu Bhawan), the Air Marshal paid homage to the brave hearts, who made the supreme sacrifice, by laying wreath at the National War Memorial here.

An alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Air Marshal Singh was commissioned in the fighter stream of the Indian Air Force (IAF) on June 13, 1987. He is a Category 'A' Qualified Flying Instructor with over 4,500 hours of flying and an alumnus of the Defence Service Staff College and National Defence College, the Ministry said in a statement.

Former Coal Secretary Amrit Lal Meena, who was repatriated to his home cadre on August 30, has been appointed Chief Secretary of Bihar. Meena took charge of his new post on Saturday. Earlier, an order issued by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) on August 30 said, "The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved repatriation of Shri Amrit Lal Meena, IAS (BH:89), Secretary, Ministry of Coal, to his parent cadre on the request of Government of Bihar."

Meena made a courtesy call on Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday. He succeeds outgoing Chief Secretary Brijesh Mehrotra.

Meena took over charge of the post of Secretary, Ministry of Coal, in November 2022, while he was on Central deputation. The highlight of his tenure was a momentous increase in India's coal production, with the country's total coal production crossing the 1 Billion Tonne (BT) mark in FY 2023-24. When he took charge of the ministry in 2022, India had been facing a scarcity of coal every summer season (when power demand spikes) since 2020.