Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has exhorted the Indian Air Force to become an Aerospace Force and be prepared to protect the country from the challenges of the future. He was delivering the keynote address for the 37th Air Chief Marshal P. C. Lal Memorial Lecture in New Delhi today. Mr. Singh called for technology evolution, gaining expertise and human resource management to defend the country against space-guided attacks and protect the space assets.

The Minister added that the nature of future wars can be assessed through a closer look at the situation in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan and the recent Ukrainian conflict. Mr. Singh said, the government will provide specialised skills training to the Armed Forces personnel, especially Indian Aair Force, in the latest technology to make them future-ready.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the inaugural session of Jain International Trade Organisation’s - JITO Connect 2022 at 10.30 AM today through video conferencing.

Jain International Trade Organisation is a global organisation connecting Jains worldwide. JITO Connect is an endeavour to help business and industry by providing an avenue for mutual networking and personal interactions.

JITO Connect-2022 is a three-day event being organized at Gangadham Annex, Pune from today and will encompass multiple sessions on diverse issues relating to business and the economy.

The Initial Public Offering, IPO of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has opened for public subscription from today. It will remain open for subscription till 9th of May. LIC IPO is the biggest public offering in the country.

AIR correspondent reports that the allotment of shares to the Demat account of bidders will take place by 16th May and the IPO will list for trading on 17th May.

The country's largest life insurer, LIC opens its IPO today. An initial public offering, IPO refers to the process of offering shares of a private corporation to the public in a new stock issuance. LIC has fixed the price band of 902 to 949 rupees per Equity Share for its maiden public offer. Investors can bid for a minimum of 15 Equity Shares and in multiples of 15 shares thereafter. The LIC has offered a discount of 45 rupees per share to Retail and Eligible Employee Category and 60 rupees per share to Policyholder Category. With this IPO, the government is looking to divest its 3.5 percent stake in the insurer by selling 22 crore 13  lakh shares. The Government aims to raise around 21 thousand crore rupees through IPO.

The challenge required US and international student teams to design, engineer, and test a human-powered rover on a course simulating terrain found on rocky bodies in the solar system. The challenge involved as many as 91 teams, including 58 colleges and 33 high schools.

Two Indian student groups from Punjab and Tamil Nadu have won the NASA 2022 Human Exploration Rover Challenge. Announced by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration during a virtual awards ceremony on April 29, the challenge involved as many as 91 teams, including 58 colleges and 33 high schools.

Venkataramani Sumantran was appointed as the chairperson of the IndiGo board, InterGlobe Aviation said on Wednesday.

“Sumantran is a business leader, technocrat and academic, having worked in the USA, Europe, and Asia through a career spanning over 37 years,” IndiGo said in a statement.

Sumantran is currently the chairperson and managing director of Celeris Technologies, a strategic advisory firm. He will succeed Meleveetil Damodaran at IndiGo.

Alphabet Inc’s Google has hired a new public policy head in India, Archana Gulati, who previously worked at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s federal think-tank and the country’s antitrust watchdog, a source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

A number of Indian government officials have been hired by Big Tech companies which are battling tighter data and privacy regulation, as well as competition law scrutiny, under Modi’s federal government.

Real Madrid clinched a record-extending 35th Spanish league title after its reserve squad comfortably defeated Espanyol 4-0 on Saturday.

Bengaluru-based neo-banking startup Open has raised $50 million in its Series D investment round led by IIFL, with participation from existing investors such as Temasek, Tiger Global and 3one4 Capital. The company said Monday in a statement that it was now valued at $1 billion making it the 100th unicorn in India.

“The funding will also help Open accelerate its existing product lines Zwitch (embedded finance platform) and BankingStack (enterprise banking solution for banks), drive global expansion and reach over 5 million customers within the next one year. The funds will also be used to strengthen the leadership team and increase the employee base from 500 to 1,000 within the year,” the company, also backed by Google and Visa, said in a statement.

India will be the Official Country of Honour at the upcoming Marche’ Du Film, organised alongside the Cannes Film Festival in France. The festival will be organised from the 17th of this month. This was announced by Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur during a press conference in New Delhi.

He said that France and India are marking 75 years of their diplomatic ties and Prime Minister Narendra Modi visit to Paris and meeting with President Macron takes even more significance in this context.

Mr Thakur said that it is in this significant diplomatic backdrop that India has been chosen as the ‘Country of Honour’ at Marche’ Du Film at the Cannes Film Festival. He said, this is for the first time that such an honour is being bestowed to any country.

A glittering closing ceremony drew curtains on yet another memorable edition of the Khelo India University Games 2021, which witnessed the country's young and aspiring athletes use the platform to bring laurels to their respective universities.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah, chief guest for the closing ceremony, presented the overall champion's title to hosts Jain Deemed-to-be University, who ended their campaign with an impressive 20 gold, 7 silver, and 5 bronze medals. Lovely Professional University, Punjab won 17 gold medals, 15 silver, and 19 bronze. Defending Champions Panjab University ended third in the medal tally with 15 gold, 9 silver, and 24 bronze medals.