Nihar Malaviya, an Indian-origin publishing executive, has been named permanent CEO of New York-based international publishing group Penguin Random House, nine months after he was appointed the interim chief executive, the publisher's parent company Bertelsmann said on Monday.

Malaviya, 48, assumed the role of Interim CEO of Penguin Random House starting January 1, 2023. Malaviya will replace Markus Dohle, who departed after Penguin Random House's failed bid for Simon & Schuster last year.

"Nihar Malaviya will lead Penguin Random House permanently as CEO," Bertelsmann said in a statement.

THE SACRED Ensembles of the Hoysalas, which includes three temples in Karnataka, has been inscribed on the UNESCO’s World Heritage List. The Hoysala Temples, as they are also known, will be India’s 42nd UNESCO World Heritage Site. On Sunday, Rabindranath Tagore’s Santiniketan, the university town in West Bengal, was also included as a world heritage site.

The announcement was made by the agency in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where the 45th session of the World Heritage Committee is being held till September 25. “India submitted the nomination dossier for The Sacred Ensembles of the Hoysalas to the World Heritage Centre in January 2022.

Rajya Sabha Chairman and Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar today announced that the panel of vice-chairpersons has been reconstituted with 50 per cent of women parliamentarians. The eight-member panel will now have four women members, including BJP MPs Kanta Kardam, Sumitra Balmik, and Geeta alias Chandraprabha and Biju Janata Dal's MP Mamata Mohanta.

He said, the panel of vice-chairpersons has been reconstituted with effect from the 13th of this month. The other members of the panel are Congress MP Akhilesh Prasad Singh, Aam Aadmi Party MP Narain Dass Gupta, YSRCP MP V Vijayasai Reddy, and Trinamool Congress MP Santanu Sen.

The 35th edition of the annual Gandhi Walk in Johannesburg, South Africa took place yesterday. The event was organised after three years of delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 2,000 people joined the new format of a fun six-kilometre walk that ended with a wide range of entertainment. This walk started as a small fundraiser to complete the Gandhi Hall in Lenasia, which has since become a major venue for all Indian-community events.

Olympic and world champion javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra was unable to retain his Diamond League champion's title, settling for second place with a modest performance of 83.80m on a blustery Saturday.

The 25-year-old Chopra faced challenging windy conditions during the grand finale at the Hayward Field, resulting in two fouled attempts. His best throw of the day occurred on his second attempt. His series consisted of fouls, 83.80m, 81.37m, fouls, 80.74m, and 80.90m.

The government will launch a series of transformative initiatives, aimed at revolutionizing agriculture in the country in New Delhi today. The transformative initiatives include Kisan Rin Portal (KRP), Door to Door KCC Campaign and Weather Information Network Data Systems (WINDS) Manual. These initiatives will be launched by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar. 

According to the Minister of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare,  these initiatives aims to amplify financial inclusion, streamline data utilization, harness technology, and enhance the livelihoods of the agricultural community. It said these initiatives will focus on agri-credit and crop insurance, keeping the welfare of farmers at their core. It added that these efforts and innovations will help in furthering the goal of agricultural transformation and sustainable economic growth for the farming community of the country.

With top honours in two prestigious categories and another accolade in one of the festival’s most popular sections, Indian productions had a banner year at the 48th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival or TIFF.

Director Tarsem Singh Dhandwar’s first feature in eight years, Dear Jassi, set mainly in Punjab, captured TIFF’s juried competition section, Platform Award. Debutant director Jayesh Digambar Somalkar’s Marathi feature, A Match (Sthal), won the Network for the Promotion of Asian Pacific Cinema or NETPAC Award, also selected by a jury. Meanwhile, the mainstream Bollywood thriller KILL emerged as first runner up for the People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award.

The Punjab government has undertaken a pilot project under which residue-free basmati has been cultivated in Chogawan block of Amritsar district in a bid to promote organic farming. Residue-free practices entail minimal or no usage of chemicals. The Chogawan block falls in the basin of the Ravi River and has favourable climatic conditions to nurture the most aromatic long-grain Basmati rice making it export quality produce.

The state Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian said that an awareness campaign has also been launched in the area to sensitise farmers about the judicious use of pesticides and nearly 10 insecticides /fungicides have been banned for application on Basmati crops. AIR correspondent reports that the Chogawan block has around a total 32,000 hectares cultivated area, of which 28,753 hectares is covered under the paddy crop. Out of the total 102 villages, 42 villages of the block have been selected under this pilot project.

Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu has announced the rollout of a new scheme titled ‘Mukhya Mantri Shramik Kalyan Yojana’ for the welfare of the labour force of the state. He made this announcement while addressing a function in Itanagar yesterday. Mr. Khandu said that incentives for workers registered with the Arunachal Pradesh Building and other Construction Workers Welfare Board have been revised in this scheme.
Under the scheme, maternity benefit for families of workers has been enhanced from 1,000 rupees to 6,000 rupees; natural death compensation from 50,000 rupees to 2 lakhs rupees and accidental death compensation from 1 lakh rupees to 4 lakh rupees.

NovelVox, a prominent player in the contact center solutions industry, achieved yet another milestone by winning the prestigious 'Best Digital CX Platform' award at the 5th Annual India CX Summit & Awards 2023, held at Novotel Juhu, Mumbai. This recognition reflects NovelVox's commitment to delivering an exceptional digital experience that truly delights customers. The award was graciously accepted by Mr. Amit Gandhi on behalf of NovelVox.

The event was abuzz with networking activities and it brilliantly highlighted some of the best products and services from different verticals. It attracted a diverse range of attendees, including CTOs, CMOs, VPs, Directors, IT Heads, Contact Center Heads, Stakeholders, Managers, and CDOs from various sectors, all of whom actively participated and made their presence felt.