The Maharashtra government on Wednesday announced an incentive scheme to encourage quality performance among cooperative and private sugar factories in the state. Six factories — three cooperative and three private — will be selected annually for awards. The government has issued a resolution in this regard.

According to the government resolution, sugar factories will be assessed on nine parameters, including timely payment of the Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) to farmers for three consecutive years, sugar recovery rate, incentives provided to farmers with high per-hectare production, use of artificial intelligence, maximum area coverage, low carbon emissions and high carbon credits, timely repayment of government loans, adherence to employee strength limits and salary distribution, and sound financial management.

FRP payments will carry 15 points, while financial management and employee limits will have 5 points each. All other criteria will be worth 10 points each.

The Sahitya Akademi will host the annual Bal Sahitya Puraskar 2025 ceremony on Friday at the Triveni Auditorium in New Delhi. The event celebrates excellence in children’s literature across 24 Indian languages.

The awards will be presented by Madhav Kaushik, President of the Sahitya Akademi. Eminent Gujarati writer Varsha Das will grace the occasion as the Chief Guest, while Kumud Sharma, Vice President of the Akademi, will deliver the vote of thanks. The welcome address will be given by Pallavi Prashant Holkar, Secretary of the Akademi.

Each awardee will receive a cheque of ₹50,000 and a bronze plaque in recognition of their outstanding contributions to children’s literature.

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) recently completed the main parachute test for the Gaganyaan mission- the crewed mission as a part of the qualification process.

The test was conducted on November 3 at the Babina Field Firing Range (BFFR) in Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, which is a part of the ongoing series of Integrated Main Parachute Airdrop Tests (IMAT).

The main parachutes are deployed in a step-by-step process where the parachute will open partially, which is called reefing, and then will fully open after a predetermined period, known as disreefing. This process is carried out using a pyro device.

The government on Tuesday announced a Rs100 crore call for proposals for pilot projects to develop innovative technologies for producing green hydrogen from biomass and waste materials.

The scheme will be implemented through BIRAC (Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council) to encourage participation from industries, start-ups, and research institutions.

Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy, Pralhad Joshi, said that the National Green Hydrogen Mission (NGHM) is accelerating India’s clean energy shift and creating jobs, attracting investments, and positioning India as a global hub for green hydrogen.

The Quality Council of India (QCI), in association with Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), organized the Inter PSU Gunvatta Manthan at BHEL’s corporate headquarters in New Delhi, bringing together leading Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) to promote a culture of quality and operational excellence.

The event highlighted QCI’s pivotal role in advancing India’s national quality movement through structured frameworks, excellence models, and collaborative learning. Participating PSUs shared their best practices and initiatives in Six Sigma, Lean, Quality Circles, Total Productive Maintenance (TPM), digital automation, and supplier development programmes. The interactive sessions enabled benchmarking of practices and identification of improvement areas across industries.

President Droupadi Murmu on Tuesday participated in the celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of Angola’s independence in Luanda, at the invitation of Angolan President João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço.

The event, held at Praça da República, featured a grand ceremony showcasing Angola’s military and cultural heritage. President Murmu joined Lourenço and other dignitaries in witnessing the colourful display commemorating five decades of Angola’s independence.

Following the ceremony, President Murmu reached Gaborone, Botswana, for the final leg of her two-nation visit to Africa. This marks the first-ever State Visit by an Indian Head of State to Botswana.

Upon her arrival at Sir Seretse Khama International Airport, she was received by Botswana’s President, Advocate Duma Gideon Boko, and accorded a ceremonial welcome with a guard of honour.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Bhutan’s Fourth King, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, in Thimphu on Wednesday and jointly inaugurated the Kalachakra Empowerment ceremony, marking a key moment in the deep spiritual and cultural ties between the two neighbouring countries.

The Kalachakra, one of the most revered and intricate rituals in Tibetan Buddhism, is being observed as a three-day empowerment ceremony aimed at conferring blessings and authorisations for advanced meditative practices leading toward enlightenment.

The ceremony forms part of the Global Peace Prayer Festival 2025, organised by the Royal Government of Bhutan from November 4 to 17. The event brings together spiritual leaders, monks, and peace advocates from around the world, promoting the message of global harmony and compassion.

Australia and Indonesia have agreed on a new security treaty that commits them to consult each other if either country is threatened, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in Sydney on Wednesday with Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto.

Albanese, who accompanied Prabowo on a visit to an Australian naval base in the city, said the treaty was a major extension of previous security deals, and commits to regular security dialogue between leaders.

“If either or both countries’ security is threatened, to consult and consider what measures may be taken either individually or jointly to deal with those threats,” he said.

Indonesia and Australia recognised that acting together was the best way to secure peace and stability in the region, he added.

Researchers identified SGK1 as a key chemical connecting childhood trauma to depression and suicidal behaviour.

High SGK1 levels were found in the brains of suicide victims and in people with genetic variants linked to early adversity. Drugs that block SGK1 could offer a new kind of antidepressant, especially for patients resistant to SSRIs.

Neuroscientists from Columbia University and McGill University have identified a brain chemical that appears to drive depression and suicidal thinking in individuals who faced trauma or hardship during childhood.

The researchers found that high levels of a stress-related protein called SGK1 are closely associated with depression among people who endured early-life adversity.

India has developed its first indigenous Quantum Diamond Microscope (QDM) for dynamic magnetic field imaging, marking a major milestone in the field of quantum sensing. The breakthrough, achieved by the P-Quest Group at IIT Bombay under the National Quantum Mission (NQM) of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), was announced during the Emerging Science Technology and Innovation Conclave (ESTIC 2025).

Union Minister for Science and Technology Dr. Jitendra Singh, Principal Scientific Adviser Prof. Ajay K. Sood, and DST Secretary Prof. Abhay Karandikar were present at the announcement ceremony.

The QDM, led by Professor Kasturi Saha’s team, is based on nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond — atomic-scale defects that retain quantum coherence at room temperature. These NV centers are highly sensitive to magnetic, electric, and thermal variations, enabling optical readouts of local magnetic fields through a process known as optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR).