India will build a semi high-speed double-line rail project between Ahmedabad (Sarkhej) and Dholera with an estimated cost of ₹20,667 crore.

Accordingly, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the project under the Ministry of Railways with a completion timeline up to 2030–31.

The project, an official statement said, will add about 134 km to the Indian Railways network and is being developed using indigenously developed technology.

According to the statement, it will be India’s first semi high-speed rail project and is planned as a reference model for the phased expansion of such corridors across the country.

India will be hosting a two-day BRICS foreign ministers’ meeting from tomorrow. The meeting will be chaired by External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar. BRICS Foreign Ministers and Heads of Delegation from Member and Partner Countries will participate in the meeting. They will also call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. During the meeting, the Foreign Ministers of BRICS Member Countries will exchange views on global and regional issues of mutual interest.

Ahead of the meeting, Dr Jaishankar will today hold several bilateral meetings in New Delhi. The Minister will meet his Chilean counterpart, Francisco Pérez Mackenna, this morning and will hold bilateral talks. Later in the afternoon, he is also scheduled to hold bilateral talks with the foreign ministers of South Africa Ronald Lamola, and Brazilian foreign Minister Mauro Vieira. Later in the evening, Dr Jaishankar will also meet his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov.

Shri Prasanna Kumar Motupalli, Chairman and Managing Director of NLC India Limited, has been honoured with the prestigious Corporate Business Management Innovative Leadership Excellence Award 2025–26 today, 11.05.2026, at the 26th Annual Geominetech Conference, held at Bhubaneswar, coinciding with the National Technology Day Celebrations.

The award has been instituted by Geominetech to recognize visionary leaders who have demonstrated outstanding managerial excellence, innovation-driven leadership, strategic transformation, and significant contribution to the growth of industry and national development. The recognition is considered special as it is conferred in the presence of distinguished leaders, experts, technocrats, policy makers, academicians, and stalwarts from the mining, power, infrastructure, and industrial sectors across India and abroad.

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has been conferred the Visionary Leadership Award by Sampark Foundation in New Delhi on 8 May 2026, recognising the company’s sustained commitment to strengthening quality education in India.Educational Software

The award highlights ONGC’s impactful education initiatives that have reached 7,500 government schools across Uttarakhand and Jharkhand, transforming traditional classrooms into smart, technology-enabled learning environments.

Through its digital education programmes, ONGC has supported the installation of smart classrooms and modern learning tools, enabling students and teachers to benefit from interactive and inclusive teaching methods. The initiative aims to bridge the digital divide and ensure that students in remote and underserved regions receive access to quality education and modern learning opportunities.

Scientists have discovered new clues suggesting that the Milky Way grew larger billions of years ago by absorbing a smaller dwarf galaxy. The findings, published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, indicate that remnants of this ancient galaxy may still exist inside our own, reported NYPost.

Researchers have named the dwarf galaxy "Loki," after the Norse god of trickery. According to the study, Loki was likely consumed by the Milky Way during the early stages of the galaxy's growth.

The study suggests that the Milky Way expanded over time by merging with smaller star systems and dwarf galaxies. Loki is believed to have been one such dwarf galaxy made up of billions of stars.

Days after the Prime Minister’s appeal to postpone gold buying for a year, the Finance Ministry has raised import duty on precious metals. New rates have been made effective from Wednesday.

According to a notification, import duty on gold and silver has been increased to 15 per cent from 6 per cent, and on platinum to 15.4 per cent from 6.4 per cent. Consequential changes have also been made to other items such as gold/silver dore, coins, findings, etc, officials said. “This has been done as a policy measure aimed at safeguarding macroeconomic stability, conserving foreign exchange, and moderating non-essential imports during a period of heightened global uncertainty arising from the ongoing West Asia crisis,” an official said.

Further, he said that customs duty on precious metals has historically been calibrated in response to prevailing macroeconomic and external-sector conditions. During periods when external pressures moderated, foreign exchange reserves strengthened, and macroeconomic stability improved, customs duty rates on precious metals and related products have also been rationalised downward.

India is on course to become a fully integrated military force capable of projecting power across the vast Indo-Pacific region by 2047, when the country marks its Independence centenary, defence secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh said on Tuesday.

The national defence shield under Mission Sudarshan Chakra will be operational in the 2030s, giving the country an impenetrable, layered missile defence system to protect its critical strategic and civilian assets, he said.

“We have just released our Defence Forces Vision 2047 (a roadmap for a future-ready Indian military), which rests on the vision of transitioning our military into a technologically advanced, fully integrated and multi-domain force. This is going to go through a transition process up to 2030, followed by a consolidation period from 2030 to 2040 during which we hope to see the maturation of Mission Sudarshan Chakra…and, ultimately, from 2040 the era of excellence when we become a fully integrated, self-reliant, all-domain military force capable of projecting power across the Indo-Pacific and beyond,” Singh said at the CII Annual Business Summit 2026.

Russia on Tuesday test-fired a new intercontinental ballistic missile as part of efforts to modernise the country’s nuclear forces, a launch hailed by Vladimir Putin just days after his claim that the fighting in Ukraine is nearing an end.

Putin said that the nuclear-armed Sarmat missile would enter combat service at the end of the year. It was built to replace the aging Soviet-built Voyevoda.

“This is the most powerful missile in the world,” Putin declared, adding that the combined power of the Sarmat’s individually targeted warheads is more than four times higher than that of any Western counterpart.

The government on Tuesday launched the Bharat Maritime Insurance Pool to provide risk cover to Indian vessels on international sea routes, including war and high-risk zones.

The Bharat Maritime Insurance Pool of USD 1.5 billion, with a sovereign guarantee of USD 1.4 billion (Rs 12,980 crore), would facilitate continuous maritime insurance coverages, in the backdrop of current West Asia tensions, the Finance Ministry said.

India's ethanol blending programme has shown strong progress in the first half of the Ethanol Supply Year (ESY) 2025-26, with supplies reaching about 515 crore litres, according to estimates compiled by the All India Distillers' Association.

The data shows that nearly 49 per cent of the total contracted volume of 1,059 crore litres has already been supplied in the first six months. This reflects the sector's growing production capacity and its increasing role in improving the country's energy security and reducing dependence on crude oil, Business Today reported.

A key development highlighted in the data is the rise of maize as the largest source of ethanol in India. This marks a major shift in the country's biofuel sector, which has traditionally relied more on sugarcane-based feedstock, Business Today reported.