Former Uttarakhand Chief Minister and senior BJP leader, Major General (Retd.) Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri passed away on Tuesday at Max Hospital in Dehradun after a prolonged illness.

A former Army officer who transitioned into politics, General Khanduri served two terms as the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand (first from 2007 to 2009 and second from 2011 to 2012), steering the state's administration.

During his tenure, he took stringent measures against corruption and laid the foundation for a transparent and disciplined administration within the state.

After years of discussion and missed timelines, Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) is finally moving ahead with its long-awaited air train project.

Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), the operator of IGIA, has decided to directly fund and build an automated people mover (APM) system that will connect Terminal 1, Terminals 2 and 3, Aerocity and the cargo district. According to a report by The Times Of India, the project is expected to cost between Rs 3,000 crore and Rs 4,000 crore and, according to airport officials, could be operational within 30 months.

The project is essentially an airport transit train, similar to the automated systems seen at major international hubs in cities like Seoul, Zurich and Jakarta.

The planned APM will run across a 7.7-km corridor inside the airport ecosystem, helping passengers move quickly between terminals and airport-linked zones without relying on shuttle buses or road traffic.

The All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC) has announced a three-day strike in the Delhi-NCR region from May 21 to May 23 against the Delhi Government’s decision to hike the environment compensation cess on commercial vehicles.

The AIMTC, the apex body of truckers, private buses, taxi, and maxi cab operators, held a meeting on Tuesday (May 19, 2026) in Delhi where issues related to the cess hike were raised.

The Maharashtra government on Tuesday signed memorandums of understanding (MoUs) for projects aimed at generating 25,400 MW of nuclear power, involving an estimated investment of ₹6.5 lakh crore.

Of the four proposed projects, three are planned in the Konkan region’s Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts, officials said, with Adani Power proposing a 6,000 MW nuclear plant at Barsu in Ratnagiri—a site that had earlier sparked massive protests over a proposed oil refinery project.

According to a statement released by the Maharashtra government, it has signed MoUs with Adani Power, Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), NTPC Limited, and the Lalitpur Power Generation Company Limited.

The development comes months after India opened up its civil nuclear power sector to private companies. In December 2025, the Parliament passed the Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India (SHANTI) Bill, ending a six-decade state monopoly on nuclear power generation.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday met his Vietnamese counterpart, General Phan Van Giang, in Hanoi, where they reviewed the growing partnership between the two countries and discussed ways to deepen cooperation in maritime security, defence industry, training, and regional stability.

As per a statement issued by the Ministry of Defence, the two sides exchanged views on regional and global security developments of mutual interest and emphasised the importance of maintaining peace, stability, security, safety, and freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region.

The statement added that they discussed avenues to expand cooperation in areas including military training, defence industry collaboration, maritime security, capacity building, United Nations peacekeeping, cyber security, and high-level exchanges. They also agreed to enhance cooperation between the defence forces through regular dialogues, joint exercises and exchange programmes.

Mahindra & Mahindra and DBS Bank India have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to launch India’s first sustainability-linked dealer financing programme in the automotive sector, offering authorised Mahindra dealers preferential interest rates on vehicle loans tied to their environmental performance.

Under the programme, dealers will be ranked against a set of ESG parameters drawn from Mahindra’s Green Dealership Programme. These include greenhouse gas emissions monitoring, water consumption, renewable energy use, rainwater harvesting, waste management, availability of public EV charging facilities, and the volume of eSUVs sold. Dealers that meet defined thresholds on these metrics — alongside sales targets — will receive commercial benefits on loans used to purchase passenger and commercial vehicles from the manufacturer.

India’s ambitious mission to Venus, Shukrayaan mission, has received an international boost with Sweden formally joining the project during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Sweden.

An agreement was signed between Indian Space Research Organisation and the Swedish National Space Agency to collaborate on the Venus mission, marking a significant expansion of scientific cooperation between the two countries in planetary exploration.

While discussions regarding Sweden’s participation in the mission had already been underway, the collaboration was formally acknowledged through a Memorandum of Understanding signed during the high-level diplomatic engagement.

India has taken another important step towards strengthening its indigenous defence capabilities under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat initiative.

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has successfully completed the final development trials of the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Launched Precision Guided Missile (ULPGM)-V3, marking a significant achievement for the country’s defence sector.

The trials were conducted in both air-to-ground and air-to-air modes at the DRDO test range near Kurnool. During the tests, the missile system was operated through an advanced integrated Ground Control System (GCS) designed to automate launch and operational readiness. The trials successfully demonstrated the missile’s precision strike capability, reliability and effectiveness in varied combat scenarios.

The Union government has notified new fuel standards for petrol blended with up to 30 per cent ethanol, the next step in the government’s push towards higher ethanol use in transport fuels as it looks to cut crude oil imports and expand its domestic biofuels ecosystem.

The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) notified specifications for E22, E25, E27 and E30 fuel blends, according to a Gazette notification published last week. The standards cover “admixture of anhydrous ethanol and motor gasoline for usage in the positive ignition engine-powered vehicles”.

The BIS notification, however, only lays down the technical specifications required for such blends to be introduced in the market; it does not mandate immediate nationwide sale of E30 fuel.

Shyam Metalics, one of the country’s leading metal conglomerates, on Tuesday (May 19) announced Rs 20,000 crore investment in West Bengal in the coming years. The company’s Chairman and Managing Director said they are hoping for an easier path ahead for industrial growth after the change in government.

“We employ over 25,000 people in Bengal and we plan to increase it to at least 45,000 in the next few years. With the new era in the State, we think a lot of central funds will come for better development,” CMD, Brij Bhushan Agarwal said on Tuesday.

They are also set to launch a railway manufacturing unit in Kharagpur and will invest at least ₹4,000 crores in this project in the coming years. They recently acquired a factory plant that has been closed for almost 15 years, and are set to commission work in that factory by this year’s end.