Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday launched the second phase of the statewide School Chalo Abhiyan from Saharanpur, reaffirming the state government's commitment to achieving 100 per cent school enrolment in the new academic session.

The campaign seeks to ensure that every eligible child is enrolled in school, with a special focus on identifying out-of-school children and integrating them into the formal education system.

Launching the initiative from the CM Model Composite School in Ismailpur village, Adityanath distributed textbooks, school bags and stationery kits to students beginning the new academic year. He also felicitated the district's best-performing headmasters for their contribution to improving school education.

Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit today assumed charge as the Vice Chief of the Air Staff of the Indian Air Force. He succeeds Air Marshal Nagesh Kapoor, who retired yesterday after four decades of service.

During his nearly four-decade-long career, Air Marshal Dixit has participated in several key operations and exercises, including Operation Safed Sagar, Operation Rakshak, Cope India and Operation Sindoor.

He has held several important operational and staff appointments, including Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Central Air Command, Deputy Chief of the Air Staff and Chief of Integrated Defence Staff to the Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee. In recognition of his distinguished service, Air Marshal Dixit has been awarded the Vayu Sena Medal, Vishisht Seva Medal, Ati Vishisht Seva Medal and the Param Vishisht Seva Medal.

Indian space startup Agnikul Cosmos has partnered with Finnish Earth observation company ICEYE to explore building, launching and operating Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite systems from India, marking a major step towards strengthening the country's sovereign space capabilities.

The two companies signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to combine ICEYE's expertise in SAR satellites with Agnikul's indigenous launch vehicle technology.

The collaboration aims to establish satellite manufacturing capabilities in India while enabling responsive launches using Agnikul's rockets.

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) released its annual yearbook in June. For the first time, it classified 12 of India’s estimated stockpile of 190 nuclear warheads to be operationally deployed, i.e., positioned with active military forces mated with delivery systems and ready for use.

This sounds alarming — but the alarm itself may not be warranted. The reason is that India has neither crossed a strategic threshold nor has it abandoned its decades-old ‘no first use’ policy.

The Army is set to establish and operationalise its first Integrated Battle Groups (IBG) by next month, marking a significant transformation under which self-contained, agile, brigade-sized fighting units will be carved out of the Panagarh-based XVII Corps — the mountain strike corps (MSC) facing China — for swift deployment in mountainous areas, The Indian Express has learnt.

Sources privy to the development told The Indian Express that the earlier plan was to create four IBGs under the two divisions operating under the XVII MSC — the 59 Division and the 23 Division — by September. However, this is now learnt to have been advanced to July 1.

The Indian Express had first reported in January this year that the long-drawn plans to create IBGs had gathered pace and may be implemented soon.

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has won the Achievement Award in the Operational Excellence category from UITP, the International Association of Public Transport.

The award recognizes DMRC's efforts to improve sustainable urban transport through its smart door-to-door travel service for passengers. The service combines first and last-mile connectivity, real-time travel information, and easy ticket booking to make journeys more convenient and environment-friendly.

The service is available through the DMRC Sarthi App, an AI-based platform that connects metro services with first and last-mile transport options. Through this system, passengers can plan and book their entire journey from start to finish. This includes travel from home to the metro station, the metro journey itself, and travel from the metro station to the final destination.

In the presence of Home Minister Amit Shah, the governments of Haryana and Rajasthan today signed an agreement in New Delhi for the construction and implementation of the Yamuna Water Project. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Shah said that this agreement has resolved the nearly three-decade-old water-related problem faced by the people of Haryana and Rajasthan.

He stated that this agreement is an excellent example of the mantra ‘Solution through Dialogue’ given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Minister informed that under this agreement, approximately 580 Million Cubic Meters of water will be supplied from the Yamuna Canal to Rajasthan through three underground pipelines from next month to October.

He said that these pipelines will provide drinking water to the people of both Rajasthan and Haryana. Mr Shah noted that the framework of this agreement will stand as a dispute-free agreement for many decades to come. He said that the agreement has carefully addressed financial responsibilities, cost-sharing, water allocation, water release protocols and maintenance arrangements.

Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said that UPI system will become operational by the end of the year in Seychelles.

Misri, while addressing the special briefing on the state visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Seychelles, said that although the ties between both the nations are not yet comprehensive economic partnership, but they do share a significant substantiative partnership.

"On Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation Programme (ITEC) cooperation, Seychelles is a fairly significant user of, I don't know how many ITEC slots do you have annually? 90, so yeah, there is considerable use of ITEC training in a variety of areas by Seychelles. Timeline for UPI, I believe it will be operational by the end of the year. Yeah, yeah, so the target is to get it operational by the end of the year," he said.

Mumbai may soon see relief from rising flight congestion as plans for India’s first proposed offshore airport in Palghar progress. The project aims to reduce pressure on Mumbai Airport while enhancing passenger and cargo connectivity across the region.

The airport is expected to handle both passenger and freight operations, strengthening regional connectivity and enabling faster movement of people and goods.

As passenger traffic at Mumbai Airport continues to grow, the new facility is expected to ease congestion, expand aviation capacity, and improve overall travel efficiency while supporting long-term transport and economic development.

Delhi government has approved an ambitious electric vehicle (EV) policy. As per the new policy, EV cars priced up to 30 lakh rupees have been exempted from registration fees and road taxes. The new policy also offers a 1 lakh rupees incentive for purchasing new EVs while scrapping old vehicles, and mandates that only electric two-wheelers can be registered starting April 2028. Set for a phased four-year rollout starting from 1st of July, the ambitious framework commits a massive fiscal outlay of 15 thousand crore rupees to completely transition the national capital toward zero-emission transit by 31st March 2030.

Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said that the policy focuses entirely on electric vehicles, specifically zero-emission vehicles with the ultimate goal of gradually transforming Delhi into a pollution-free city for the benefit of its residents. She said that the government has devised a comprehensive plan to execute this in phases over the next four years. Ms Gupta said that the government is planning to invest 8 thousand crore rupees in creating EV infrastructure and waiving road taxes year-on-year. She added that in total, the people of Delhi will receive benefits worth approximately 15 thousand crore rupees through this policy.