The national highway users now can send feedback including grievances about their experience at toll plazas through Rajmargyatra app, all-in-one mobile application developed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to help commuters travelling on national highways (NHs).

The annual FasTag pass users will be asked to submit their response each time they cross a fee plaza. Other users may access the “Toll Plaza Feeback” feature in the app to share their feedback.

The initiative aims to strengthen citizen participation and support efforts to make highway journeys safer, smoother and more convenient, officials of the ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH).

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday announced that India will host the first Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Civilisation Dialogue Forum by the end of this year, inviting all member countries to participate in the initiative aimed at strengthening cultural ties and mutual understanding.

Addressing the SCO Council of Heads of Government meeting in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, Singh highlighted India's longstanding friendship with Tajikistan and its close ties with Central Asian countries.

"At the end of this year, India will host the first SCO Civilisation Dialogue Forum. We invite all SCO countries to participate in it," Singh said.

WWF-India’s EIACP (Environmental Information, Awareness, Capacity Building and Livelihood Programme) Programme Centre – Resource Partner has launched a nationwide Green Diwali campaign, urging citizens to avoid firecrackers and adopt environmentally responsible ways of celebrating the festival.

The campaign, supported by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), will run from October 20 to November 8. It will reach schools, colleges, resident welfare associations and local communities, with a special focus on the 130 cities covered under the National Clean Air Programme.

Aligned with Mission LiFE, or Lifestyle for Environment, the initiative encourages citizens to take a Green Diwali Pledge to avoid firecrackers and persuade family members and neighbours to do the same.

Days ahead of his superannuation, IAF chief, Air Chief Marshal A P Singh on Tuesday flew his final sortie aboard HJT-16 Kiran Mk-1 trainer aircraft at his alma mater near Hyderabad, bringing his distinguished flying career in the Indian Air Force a full circle.

At the end of the 55-minute sortie at the Air Force Academy (AFA), Dundigal in Telangana, Singh acknowledged it was his "last sortie in uniform."

The flight was particularly special as the Chief of the Air Staff (CAS) flew with his first flying instructor, Wing Commander V S Kochar (retd), in the aircraft bearing tail number U707, a senior IAF official said.

A tiger has been recorded in Beed district for the first time in nearly 100 years, after travelling across several districts from the Tipeshwar Wildlife Sanctuary in Yavatmal, a forest official said on Monday.

The four-year-old male, weighing over 200 kg, was captured on a camera trap on August 20 in the Brahmgaon forest range of Ashti tehsil.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Amol Munde, Range Forest Officer, Ashti, said, “The sighting is the first confirmed presence of a tiger in the Ashti and Patoda forest areas since the 1910s and 1920s. The last record of a tiger in the district appears in the Beed District Gazetteer of 1920.”

The India-New Zealand free trade agreement (FTA) comes into force on Tuesday, removing customs duties on Indian goods exported to New Zealand and bringing tariff concessions on selected New Zealand imports into India. The agreement also opens new temporary work visa pathways for eligible Indian professionals.

While Indian exports will receive duty-free access across all tariff lines in New Zealand, India's tariff concessions will vary by product, with some reductions taking effect immediately and others being phased in over time.

Here is what changes from today.

An Se-young is out on her own at 47 international titles and the names she has left behind reflect the absolute dominance of the superstar from South Korea.

By successfully defending her crown at the Denmark Open on Sunday, the 24-year-old An went past Susi Susanti’s all-time record of most international women’s singles trophies (excluding regional games). Spain’s Carolina Marin is now a distant third with 39 titles to her name.

Like Susanti and Marin, An has also conquered the Olympics and the World Championships.

But An also spent more than 100 consecutive weeks at World No. 1, and her secret is how fast she flips defence into attack.

Japan's ambitious mission to Mars' mysterious moon Phobos is scheduled to begin its journey in the early hours of October 20, with the spacecraft carrying a suite of scientific instruments and a rover designed to investigate the moon and bring extraterrestrial material back to Earth.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is targeting liftoff at 1:11 am IST on October 20 aboard an H3 rocket from the Tanegashima Space Center.

The Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission aims to return at least 10 grams of material from Phobos to Earth by 2031, marking the first attempt to collect and return samples from a Martian moon.

Manasi Joshi and Thulasimathi Murugesan assured India of a medal at the Asian Para Games for the second consecutive edition after defeating China's Yuemei Liu and Tongtong Li to reach the women's doubles SL3-SU5 semifinals on Saturday.

The Indian pair, silver medallists at the 2023 Hangzhou Games, registered a 21-10, 21-17 victory to secure a top-two finish in Group A with a match to spare. With both losing semifinalists guaranteed bronze medals, the win confirmed India's place on the podium.

Joshi and Thulasimathi had beaten Indonesia's Rahayu Warining and Qonitah Ikhtiar Syakuroh on Friday. They will face China's Yang Qiuxia and Xiao Zuxian in their final group match on Monday.

Astronomers have identified a white dwarf star that could appear green to human eyes, according to a new study. The finding shows that these stars, which are the remains of stars like the Sun, can have different colours because of the elements present in their outer layers. According to the study's lead author, Mark Hollands, an astrophysicist at the University of Warwick in England, most normal stars appear orange, white or blue. However, some white dwarf stars can show unusual colours because of the physical conditions in their outer layers, reported CNN.

These colour differences are linked to the interaction between helium in the stars' atmospheres and small amounts of other elements. The elements present can vary depending on the material that has interacted with each star during its lifetime.

The study found that elements such as iron, magnesium and sodium, which are commonly found in rocks, can be present on the surfaces of white dwarfs. This material may come from a former planetary system or an asteroid that moved too close to the star.