Chandigarh, Punjab, and Delhi were the top three performers in the Ministry of Education’s latest assessment of school education indicators, the Performance Grading Index (PGI) 2.0 report for 2023-24, which was released Wednesday.

The PGI was introduced in 2017, and the ministry revamped it as PGI 2.0 in 2021. It is an assessment of school education along six domains – learning outcome and quality, access, infrastructure and facilities, equity, governance processes, teacher education, and training. The latest report, covering the years 2022-23 and 2023-24, draws data from the National Achievement Survey 2021, the Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+), and information on the mid-day meal programme (PM-POSHAN).

Noted environmentalist, wildlife expert, and Padmashree awardee Maruti Chitampalli, fondly known as ‘Aranya Rishi’, passed away at the age of 93 in Solapur, Maharashtra, due to age-related ailments. He dedicated his life to forests, wildlife, and conservation literature. Chitampalli received the Padma Shri from the President on April 30 this year.

Maruti Chitampalli served in the Forest Department for 36 years, during which he travelled over 5 lakh kilometres across India for research and documentation. Fluent in 13 languages, he used his linguistic prowess to engage with tribal communities and collect valuable ecological and environmental data. His diaries laid the foundation for his scientific works like ‘Pakshikosha’ (Encyclopedia of Birds), ‘Pashukosha’ (Encyclopedia of Animals), and ‘Matsyakosha’ (Encyclopedia Fish)

Paying heartfelt condolences, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said, Chitampalli’s demise marks the end of a glorious chapter in the country’s environmental and literary heritage. Dy.CMs Eknath Shinde, Ajit Pawar, and Forest Minister Ganesh Naik also paid tributes to Maruti Chitampalli.

Government is making all out effort to ensure the safe return of Indian nationals from Iran, and another flight carrying members of the Indian mission are expected to arrive today. Earlier, 110 Indian students evacuated from northern Iran arrived in New Delhi. Talking to the media in New Delhi, Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh said that the government has received over 350 requests from Indian citizens in Iran for evacuation. He added that one aircraft is also heading to Turkmenistan today to bring back stranded Indians. The Minister highlighted that New Delhi is using safe and open airspace for flights, and the evacuation efforts are being carried out through these secure routes.

India has launched Operation Sindhu to evacuate its nationals from Iran in view of the deteriorating situation due to the ongoing conflict between Iran and Israel. Akashvani News spoke to some of the students evacuated from Iran.

Fourth seeds Ankita Raina and Alice Robbe beat the third seeds Hiromi Abe and Kanako Morisaki of Japan 1-6, 6-4, [10-8] in the doubles final of the $40,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament in Guimaraes, Portugal.

It was the third doubles title of the season and the 32nd of her career for the 32-year-old Ankita. She has also won 11 singles titles in the professional circuit.

It was the eighth career doubles crown for the 25-year-old Robbe of France.

The Defence Cyber Agency on Monday (June 16, 2025) launched ‘Cyber Suraksha’, a comprehensive cybersecurity exercise organised under the aegis of the Integrated Defence Staff headquarters.

The multi-phased exercise, which is to conclude on June 27, 2025, will involve targeted training sessions, evaluation, and an engaging capsule for leadership. Over 100 participants from national agencies and stakeholders from defence domains are taking part in the event, according to the Defence Ministry.

“The exercise is designed to simulate real-world cyber threats, reinforce secure practices, and test the analytical and defensive cyber skills of participants in a high-paced, gamified environment. Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) conclave for leadership has also been dovetailed in ‘Cyber Suraksha’, thereby integrating the technical aspects with leadership roles,” it said.

The Ministry of Tribal Affairs has launched the DhartiAaba Janbhagidari Abhiyan, the largest benefit saturation campaign in India’s tribal regions, aimed at inclusive development and tribal empowerment. This initiative, rolled out from June 15 to 30, spans over 549 tribal-dominated districts and 207 Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTG) districts, covering more than one lakh villages and habitations.

Described by Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram as a “historic step in realizing the dream of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for Antyodaya,” the campaign not only aims to deliver welfare schemes but also restore dignity, self-respect, and ownership in the making of Viksit Bharat.

Minister of State Durga Das Uikey called it an “unprecedented community-led model” backed by a synchronized multi-ministerial effort.

India's largest IT services firm, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), on Monday (June 16) said it has partnered with the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) to implement an AI-powered reconciliation solution aimed at modernising the bank's operations.

As part of this collaboration, TCS will deploy TCS BaNCSTM for Reconciliations to help the bank streamline complex transactions and automate key reconciliation processes using AI and automation.

With the implementation of TCS BaNCS for Reconciliations, the CEB will be able to automate the entire reconciliation lifecycle — from transaction matching and exception handling to investigation and reporting.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah unveiled three major tech platforms on Monday to improve the speed and precision of the country's disaster management agencies.

The home minister launched the Integrated Control Room for Emergency Response (ICR-ER), National Database for Emergency Management Lite 2.0 (NDEM Lite 2.0) and Flood Hazard Zonation Atlas of Assam at the two-day annual conference of relief commissioners, secretaries of disaster management and State Disaster Response Forces.

In a post on X, Shah said the three platforms "will equip our disaster management apparatus with the speed and precision of the new age technologies".

In families across the world, silver is used as a precious metal, next to gold. Happy occasions in most families are celebrated with gold and silver garlands and rings. Silver is, of course, less expensive than gold.

But when it comes to use in industry and energy production, silver beats gold flat. Silver is used to capture sunlight through rooftop solar panels across India, generating about 108 GW of clean and green electricity yearly across the nation (about 10% of what is generated from coal). In addition, mobile phones used by about 1.4 billion people across India use silver for electricity conduction and storage. Each mobile phone uses 100-200 mg of silver. Likewise, a typical laptop computer uses 350 mg of silver, and we have about 50 million laptops in India.

Nearly all of the nine nuclear-armed states, including India and Pakistan, continued intensive nuclear modernisation programmes in 2024, upgrading existing weapons and adding newer versions, according to a report by a global think-tank.

India is believed to have once again "slightly expanded" its nuclear arsenal in 2024 and continued to develop new types of nuclear delivery systems, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said in a statement.

Pakistan also continued to develop new delivery systems and "accumulate fissile material" in 2024, suggesting that its nuclear arsenal might expand over the coming decade, it said.

The think-tank on Monday launched its annual assessment of the state of armaments, disarmament and international security in SIPRI Yearbook 2025.