Rear Admiral Shantanu Jha took charge as Chief Staff Officer (Operations) at the Headquarters, Eastern Naval Command. Recipient of the Nausena Medal, Rear Admiral holds the key appointment of the Commodore in (Strategy, Concepts & Transformation) at Naval Headquarters before he took charge as Chief Staff Officer.

The Rear Admiral is a graduate of the National Defence Academy and Navigation and Direction specialist. The Admiral has a Master's degree in Defence Studies from Madras University and International Security & Strategy from Kings College, London. His diverse experience in International Cooperation has also included his role as Naval Attaché at Tehran.

The projects unveiled include the 1800 crore New Dry Dock Facility at the Cochin Shipyard, the 970 crore International Ship Repair facility of the Cochin Shipyard located at Wellingdon Island, and the 1236 crore Indian Oil Corporation's LPG Import Terminal at Puthuvypeen.

Dignitaries such as Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, Union Minister of Ports, Shipping, and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal, and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan were present at the inaugural event, emphasizing the collaborative effort between the central and state governments.

Before the inauguration, Prime Minister Modi visited the Guruvayoor Sree Krishna Temple and the Sree Ramaswami Temple at Thriprayar in Thrissur district. Notably, he also participated in the marriage ceremony of actor and former MP Suresh Gopi's daughter at the Guruvayoor Temple, showcasing his cultural and social engagements during the visit.

Union Minister of Fisheries Sri. Parshotham Rupala launched the project of depositing artificial reefs in the seabed in Vizhinjam, Thiruvananthapuram, via Videoconferencing. The project, a joint initiative of the Central and State governments, is aimed at increasing the income of fishermen by enhancing the fish population in the region.

The project is being implemented under Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana with a total outlay of 13.02 crore. Out of this, 7.812 crore is being provided by the Central Government and 5.208 crore is the State government’s share. Kerala State Coastal Area Development Corporation implements the project with technical assistance from the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute. In the first phase, 6,300 artificial reefs will be laid in 42 fishing villages from Pozhiyur to Varkala in Thiruvananthapuram district.

These reefs create an artificial habitat on the sea floor, creating favourable conditions for fish breeding and their sustainable survival.

Ajit Singh Gill, who competed in the 1956 Melbourne Games, is survived by his 92-year-old wife Surjit Kaur, five children, 10 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren, The Straits Times newspaper reported.

Singapore’s oldest Olympian and former national hockey player of Indian-origin, Ajit Singh Gill, passed away on Tuesday at the age of 95 after battling end-stage renal failure, according to a media report.

An Indian Army Paramotor Expedition under NATEX K2K National Expedition from Kibithu (Arunachal Pradesh) to Kutch (Gujarat) culminated on Tuesday.

The expedition considered a first of its kind, commenced on November 29, 2023, from the easternmost town of India, Kibithu (Arunachal Pradesh) to Kutch in the west, to commemorate 25 years of Kargil War and Centenary Celebrations of the 'Bombay Sappers War Memorial'.

During the expedition, the ardent team of officers and thirty soldiers traversed their paramotors over a cumulative distance of 10,683 kilometres, gracing 52 touch points along rugged mountains, picturesque valleys, fertile plains and the scenic Rann of Kutch, flying over nine states and a union territory. This route pays homage to citizens of the country from east to west who have answered the call to duty and laid down their lives willingly for our Tiringa through the sands of time.

Inox Air Products on Tuesday said it has signed an MoU with the Maharashtra government here for setting up the state's first Green Ammonia Plant with a capacity of 500,000 MTPA and a planned outlay of USD 3 billion. The project is aimed to be commissioned in a 3-5 years timeline, the company said in a statement.

The plant would produce Liquid Ammonia, which would be a climate-neutral Hydrogen carrier. The MoU was signed here at the Maharashtra pavilion which the state has set up to promote Maharashtra as an investment decision at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting.

Those present included Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Industries Minister Uday Samant, Principal Secretary, Industries and Mining Harshdeep Kamble, and Siddharth Jain, Promoter and Director, INOX Group.

REC Limited has been awarded ‘Plaque’ under the ‘Financial Services Sector (Other than Banking and Insurance)’ category at the ICAI Awards for Excellence in Financial Reporting for the financial year 2022-23.

REC’s Director (Finance) Ajoy Choudhury, ED (Finance) Sanjay Kumar and HoD (Finance) Jatin Kumar Nayak received the award from the Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh Vishnu Deo Sai at the ceremony held at Raipur. Cabinet Ministers of Chhattisgarh Brij Mohan Agrawal and OP Choudhary were also present in the event along with ICAI President CA Aniket Sunil Talati, Vice President CA Ranjeet Kumar Agarwal, Research Committee Chairman and Vice Chairman and the ICAI Council Member.

Gujarat, Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have ranked as best performing states in the startup ranking for 2022 based on their initiatives taken to develop the startup ecosystem for promoting budding entrepreneurs. Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan and Telangana are categorized as top performers.

The new ranking was released by union commerce minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday. The states and union territories are ranked by the department for promotion of industry and internal trade (DPIIT), a department under commerce ministry.

Meanwhile, the minister will meet senior representatives of about 40 unicorn startups such as Lenskart, Zerodha, CarDekho, EasyMyTrip, Boat and others on Wednesday to hold discussions on ways to further promote sustainable growth of the sector, and to understand risks and domestic capital mobilization plans, etc, a senior official informed.

Sunil Dahiya is set to be next Director (Projects) of Engineering Projects (India) Limited, a PSU under the Ministry of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises. He has been recommended for the post by the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) panel on Tuesday. Presently, he is serving as Senior General Manager of Engineers India Limited's (EIL) HRRL Project, Barmer, Rajasthan.

Dahiya has been recommended for the post of Director (Projects) of EPIL from a list of eight candidates, who were interviewed by the PESB selection panel in its selection meeting held on January 16. Out of eight candidates, five candidates were from EPIL and one each from EIL, KIOCL and Reliance Industries Limited.

Well-known Malayalam music director K J Joy died on Monday at his residence in Chennai, film industry sources said. He was 77 years old.

Joy, known as the first ‘techno musician’ in the Malayalam film music world for his use of instruments like the keyboard in the 1970s, had been bedridden for some time following a stroke, the sources said.

His funeral will be held in Chennai on Wednesday, they said.