The Union Cabinet has approved setting up of 75 new Medical Colleges by 2021-22. The move will add 15,700 more MBBS seats in the country. These medical colleges will be established in under-served areas having no such colleges with at least 200 bedded district hospitals. 

Preference will be given to Aspirational districts and district hospitals having 300 beds. This was informed by Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar to the media after the Cabinet meeting. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch a nation-wide Fit India Movement today on the occasion of National Sports Day. The campaign is aimed at encouraging people to inculcate physical activity and sports in their day to day life. At a special function in New Delhi, Prime Minister Modi will administer the oath of fitness to all. 

In his ‘Mann ki Baat’ programme on Sunday, the Prime Minister had announced the launch of ‘Fit India’ movement to take the country forward on the path of fitness and wellness.

Moreover, President Ramnath Kovind will give away the national sports awards in New Delhi today. Wrestler Bajrang Punia and para-athlete Deepa Malik will be conferred with Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award. Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, footballer Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, hockey player Chinglensana Kangujam, sprinter Mohammed Anas, heptathlete Swapna Barman and shooter Anjum Moudgil are among some prominent names to be given Arjuna award. 

Faced with stiff competition from roadways and low-cost airlines, railways is set to offer up to 25% discounts in trains like Shatabdi Express, Tejas and Gatiman Express which have low occupancy, to bump up ticket sales, according to a senior official.

The discount will be given on the base fare of trains with AC chair car and executive chair car seats and charges like GST, reservation fee, superfast charges and others will be levied separately, the official said on Tuesday.

“Trains with monthly occupancy of less than 50% in the previous year are eligible for the discount,” the official said.

The Supreme Court today decided to examine the legal challenge against the Centre's decision to abrogate Article 370, which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir, and referred the matter to a five-judge Constitution bench. 

The apex court issued notices to the Centre and Jammu and Kashmir administration on a batch of pleas challenging the Presidential order by which Article 370 was abrogated.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi was not in agreement with the Centre that there was no need for issuance of notice in the matter as Attorney General K K Venugopal and Solicitor General were marking their presence in the court. The bench also said all the matters would be listed for hearing in the first week of October.

Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju has handed over 1.82 crore rupees to the medallists of the Para-Badminton World Championship, amending the policy for para-athletes to make them eligible for more cash awards. 

As per the amended guidelines, medal winners in world events and world championships, organised by International Paralympic Committee, International Sports Federation and recognised by International Olympic Committee, will be eligible for cash awards from the government.

The first set of athletes who received their cash awards under the changed guidelines are para-badminton players. They have just won 12 medals at the recently-concluded World Championships. 

Human Resource Development Ministry under its National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology, NMEICT has launched the National Digital Library of India project to develop a framework of virtual repository of learning resources with a single-window search facility. 

As of now, there are more than 3 crore digital resources available through the National Digital Library. The contents cover almost all major domains of education and all major levels of learners. More than 50 lakh students have registered themselves in the National Digital Library with about 20 lakh active users

The Bimal Jalan Committee-recommended surplus transfer by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has offered a much-needed respite to the Centre, in the current fiscal. Excluding the Rs 28,000 crore interim dividend already paid by the RBI to the Centre last fiscal, the Rs 1,48,051 crore of transfer in the current financial year, could make up for the shortfall in tax collections to a great extent.

True, the market had already pencilled in some windfall gains by way of RBI’s higher than the usual dividend, but what has come as a surprise is the one-time bonanza, rather than a staggered pay out as was broadly expected.

The Indian School of Business (ISB) and IT giant Microsoft India has partnered to build an AI (Artificial Intelligence) Digital Lab. With this creation, both organizations will be collaborating in research which will use Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) to study issues that are relevant for business and public policy.

Additionally, the partnership will also offer an executive programme titled "Leading Business Transformation in the Age of AI" at the B-School's campus. The programme will equip business leaders with tools and strategies to transform their respective organizations to AI-driven organizations.

Professor Rajendra Srivastava, Dean, Indian School of Business and the Novartis Professor of Marketing Strategy and Innovation, said, “Business Schools are attempting to redefine management education by making it more future-ready and relevant for opportunities and challenges that businesses will face in the future. Transforming organizations guided by Artificial Intelligence and augmented by frameworks integrating analytics with human behavior and management issues will be an important imperative for business leaders.”

“Our collaboration with Microsoft India will enable us to use AI to understand new phenomena that are relevant for business as well as policy and subsequently disseminate the knowledge to business leaders who will need to transform their businesses through artificial intelligence to compete effectively,” he further stated.

BENGALURU : Amazon India on Monday announced the launch of a Military Veterans Employment programme that it said will create hundreds of opportunities for military veterans and their spouses across Amazon India's Fulfillment Centres, Sort Centres and Delivery Centres in the country.

Amazon India is partnering with the Office of the Director General of Resettlement (DGR) and the Army Welfare Placement Organisation (AWPO) to create continued work opportunities for military families across the country, it said in a statement.

Amazon relates to and respects the principles and work ethics of those who have served, and believes they have the ability to think big, invent and simplify on behalf of its customers, it was stated.

Indian Bank has joined hands with Tata AIG General Insurance to offer the latter’s diverse range of general insurance policies benefiting the bank’s customers by way of protection, wealth creation and savings. Tata AIG General Insurance will work with the bank for sales training, product support and ensuring smooth operational processes. The agreement was signed in the presence of Padmaja Chunduru, MD and CEO, Indian Bank and Saurabh Maini, senior vice president & business head – Key partnership Group, Tata AIG General Insurance, the bank said in a statement.