Renowned sculptor Ram Vanji Sutar passed away last night at his residence in Noida, Uttar Pradesh. He was 100 years old and had been suffering from age-related illnesses. Sutar was known for designing the world’s tallest statue – the Statue of Unity – in Gujarat.

Born in the Dhule district of present-day Maharashtra in 1925, Ram Vanji Sutar was a gold medallist from the JJ School of Art and Architecture in Mumbai. The iconic statues of Mahatma Gandhi seated in a meditative pose and Chhatrapati Shivaji riding a horse on the Parliament premises, rank among his finest creations.

100 years old sculptor was a Padma Bhushan awardee and designed the Statue of Unity, which is the world’s tallest statue with a height of 182 metres.

Ram Vanji Sutar was honoured with the Padma Bhushan in 2016 and the Padma Shri in 1999. He was recently also conferred with the Maharashtra Bhushan Puraskar, the state’s highest award.

The Capacity Building Commission (CBC), in collaboration with the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE), Ministry of Finance, organised the Bharat CPSEs’ Consultative Conclave, today at New Delhi. The conclave, themed “Shaping India’s Growth Story through DAKSH PSEs @2047”, brought together senior leadership from Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs), Central Ministries, and key institutional stakeholders. The conclave was convened with the objective of developing a shared and structured CPSEs’ Capacity Building Roadmap, aligned with Mission Karmayogi—India’s National Programme for Civil Services Capacity Building. It sought to integrate principles of good governance into CPSEs’ human capital strategies, strengthen leadership and succession planning, and promote inter-CPSE collaboration to support the national vision of Viksit Bharat @2047.

The programme was steered by Dr. Alka Mittal, Member (Administration), Capacity Building Commission. While setting the context of the Conclave, Dr Mittal underscored the strategic role of CPSEs as critical institutions for nation-building beyond their commercial mandate. She highlighted that CPSEs are not only engines of economic growth, but also custodians of public values, governance standards, and long-term institutional capability.

The Ministry of Jal Shakti is organising the second edition of Sujal Gram Samvad tomorrow in New Delhi. The Ministry informed that this landmark initiative serves as a multilingual platform for direct dialogue between the Centre and rural communities.

Sujal Gram Samvad is a first-of-its-kind initiative designed to bridge the gap between policymakers and the grassroots. This edition focuses on eight specific states that are Assam, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Sikkim, Gujarat, Karnataka, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand.

To ensure seamless communication, the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation has mapped specialized officials and consultants with high proficiency in the local dialects of the participating villages.

India and Oman continue to strengthen their economic and commercial partnership, with bilateral trade and investment showing sustained growth across key sectors. The relationship reflects a complementary economic synergy, anchored in energy cooperation, diversified trade, and long-term investment linkages.

Trade Shows Strong Recovery

India-Oman trade ties have shown a growth momentum over the past eight years, with total bilateral trade rising from US$ 6.70 billion in 2017-18 to US$ 10.61 billion in 2024-25.

The positive trend continued this year, with bilateral trade reaching USD 5.45 billion between April and September 2025-26.

Oman emerged as India’s 28th largest trading partner in FY 2024-25, while India ranked as Oman’s fourth largest source of non-oil imports and third largest destination for non-oil exports, underlining the diversification of economic ties beyond hydrocarbons.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on Thursday conferred with the Order of Oman, the Sultanate's uniquely distinct civilian honour, by Sultan Haitham bin Tarik for his contributions to strengthening bilateral ties.

Prime Minister Modi received the award during his ongoing two-day visit to Oman, the final leg of his three-nation tour that included Jordan and Ethiopia.

This is the latest addition to PM Modi's distinguished list of over 28 highest civilian awards from foreign nations, including recent honours such as Ethiopia's Great Honour Nishan of Ethiopia and Kuwait's Order of Mubarak Al-Kabeer.

NVIDIA Corporation, the global leader in AI computing and graphics processors, has officially become the world’s most valuable publicly traded company, reaching a record market capitalization of $5.04 trillion USD as of October 2025. This milestone places NVIDIA ahead of Microsoft, Apple, and other major technology giants, underscoring its dominance in artificial intelligence, semiconductors, and high-performance computing. Headquartered in Santa Clara, California, NVIDIA’s rise represents one of the most remarkable growth trajectories in corporate history.

The company’s valuation has increased by over 50% in 2025, following an explosive 174% jump in 2024 when NVIDIA surpassed the $3 trillion mark. Over the past two years, NVIDIA’s share price and investor confidence have surged on the back of record demand for AI chips, GPUs, and cloud infrastructure. Its stock now trades at approximately $207.04 per share, with a 46.6% year-on-year gain. Analysts attribute this sustained momentum to NVIDIA’s leadership in AI acceleration, data center infrastructure, and next-generation computing platforms.

Spain’s Aitana Bonmatí claimed a historic third-straight The Best FIFA Women’s Player award, and France’s Ousmane Dembélé was crowned The Best FIFA Men’s Player, at a special event held in Doha, Qatar, on Tuesday.

The Barcelona midfielder was named The Best FIFA Women’s Player after another outstanding year for club and country, becoming the first women’s footballer to win three consecutive titles.

“I’m very grateful and proud to win my third FIFA The Best award. I’m very grateful to all the people who have voted for me – players, coaches and fans,” she said in a video message. “For me [the best part is that] players who play football like me or coaches I play against voted me for best player of FIFA The Best. It’s the best thing I can say.”

Axis Bank and Google Pay’s formal partnership led to the introduction of the Google Pay Flex Axis Bank Credit Card on Wednesday, December 17. The card is being billed as India’s first fully digital and UPI-powered co-branded credit offering. It is Google Pay’s first product under the Flex agreement, formally announcing the company’s entrance into the co-branded credit card space.

Operating on the RuPay network structure, the Google Pay Flex Axis Bank Credit Card is built to integrate credit card usage with UPI payment. It is fully embedded within the Google Pay application, which is easily accessible to users. The Axis Bank partnership has ensured the card is applicable at zero cost for Google Pay users. They can receive the card within minutes of applying and begin transactions without any physical paperwork involved.

Non-government employees who have opted for the National Pension System (NPS) can withdraw up to 80% of their retirement corpus as a lump sum at the time of exit. Under a new set of rules issued by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA), effective December 2025, non-government subscribers whose accumulated pension wealth exceeds the specified monetary thresholds are allowed to withdraw up to 80% either as a lump sum or through a structured withdrawal system. The remaining 20% must be retained in the account and used to purchase an annuity, which provides periodic pension income.

Double Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker and ISSF World Cup Final 2025 gold medallist Simranpreet Kaur Brar bagged gold medals in the 68th National Shooting Championship Competitions at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range in New Delhi, today.

Manu Bhaker won in the senior women’s 25m sports pistol event, while Simranpreet Kaur Brar won in the junior women’s 25m sports pistol event.

Manu shot 36 in the final to secure the gold, finishing four hits clear of Divya T.S. of Karnataka, who bagged silver. Anjali Choudhary claimed the bronze medal.

In the Junior Women’s 25m Sports Pistol final, Simranpreet Kaur Brar continued her impressive run, shooting 39 to claim the gold medal.