NTPC Ltd, India’s largest integrated power utility, has been honoured with Forward Faster Sustainability Award 2025 in the Water Resilience category. The award was presented at a ceremony organised by the UN Global Compact Network India (UN GCNI) in Chennai on February 13.

The award was received by Harekrushna Dash, ED (Sustainability, Environment & Ash) and K. Karthikeyan, AGM (Environment & Sustainability) in recognition of the company’s outstanding efforts in water conservation and sustainable water management initiatives.

The Forward Faster Sustainability Awards celebrate organisations in India that have made significant strides in advancing sustainability and corporate responsibility, aligning with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This recognition reaffirms NTPC’s commitment to integrating sustainable practices in its operations and contributing towards global sustainability goals, the Ministry of Power said in a statement on Friday.

On Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Day, Central Coalfields Limited (CCL) and Northern Coalfields Limited (NCL), subsidiaries of Coal India Ltd (CIL), under the aegis of Ministry of Coal, signed separate Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with Sri Sathya Sai Health & Education Trust (SSSHET) to provide life-saving surgeries for children suffering from Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) under the ‘Nanha Sa Dil’ initiative. The signing ceremony was held at Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi.

The MoUs were signed in the presence of Secretary (Coal), Shri Vikram Dev Dutt, MoC, Ms. Rupinder Brar, Additional Secretary, MoC, Ms. Santosh, DDG, MoC, Dr. C. Sreenivas, Chairman, SSSHET and other senior officials and dignitaries. Shri SS Lal, GM (CSR), CCL, and Shri Rajeev Ranjan, GM (CSR), NCL, signed on behalf of their respective companies, while Shri Vivek Gour, Trustee, signed on behalf of SSSHET.

CIL and its subsidiaries, under the aegis of the Ministry of Coal (MoC), are committed to strengthening India’s healthcare landscape through impactful CSR initiatives that support needy families in their operational areas.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath inaugurated and laid the foundation stone for more than 114 development projects worth over 1,028 crore rupees, including the inauguration of Munshipulia and Khurramnagar flyovers.

Speaking on the occasion, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said that in the last 10 years, India has seen a revolution in infrastructure. From 2004 to 2014, the total amount spent on urban infrastructure in the country was 1.78 lakh crore rupees, whereas from 2014 to 2024, 28.52 lakh crore rupees were invested in urban infrastructure.

Addressing the gathering, Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said that the Uttar Pradesh road network will improve, logistics costs will reduce to around 9 percent, and exports in the state will increase by more than 1.5 percent. Mr. Gadkari said that for the first time in India, an automated, intelligent, machine-guided construction system has been adopted for the Kanpur-Lucknow motorway. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that the maximum number of vehicles has reached Maha Kumbh 2025 Prayagraj by road. He added that the double-engine government is developing Lucknow not only as an Aero City but also as an AI City.

Countries in the Global South have been affected most by extreme weather events in the last 30 years, according to The Climate Risk Index 2025 published by Germanwatch, an environmental think tank. In some cases such as Dominica, losses incurred by a single extreme weather event can be many times higher than entire gross domestic product of a country.

The backward-looking index analyses how extreme weather events affect countries and ranks countries according to economic and human effects on them (fatalities and affected, injured, and homeless people), with the most affected country ranked first.

Saab, a leading defence and security company, has signed an agreement with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for a laser warning system, the global firm has said.

The agreement builds on a "strong partnership between Saab in South Africa and HAL" that began in 2005 during the development of the Advanced Light Helicopter programme, Saab said in a statement.

"Saab has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) to collaborate on the Electronic Warfare land Laser Warning System-310 (LWS-310)," it said.

Bharat Electronics Limited and Safran Electronics & Defense, France have signed a MoU to create a joint venture for manufacturing, customising, sales and maintenance of HAMMER, a precision guided air-to-ground weapon, in India.

HAMMER (Highly Agile Modular Munition Extended Range) is a combat-proven weapon system known for its high accuracy and modular design making it adaptable for multiple platforms including the Rafale and LCA Tejas.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by K V Suresh Kumar, Director (Marketing) of BEL, and Alexandre Ziegler, Executive Vice President of Safran Electronics & Defense, in the presence of Manoj Jain, Chairman and Managing Director of BEL, Franck Saudo, CEO of Safran Electronics & Defense at Aero India on Tuesday.

Sebi on Wednesday introduced a new digital platform, MITRA, to assist investors in tracking and reclaiming inactive or unclaimed mutual fund folios.

The objective of the platform, Mutual Fund Investment Tracing and Retrieval Assistant, is to encourage investors to search for forgotten MF investments and update KYC as per the current norms.

In a circular, Sebi said the platform addresses a growing concern wherein investors, over time, lose track of their mutual fund investments lack of updated contact information, or unawareness of investments made in their name.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has appointed Mr. Shreekant, former Chief General Manager of State Bank of India (SBI), as Administrator of New India Cooperative Bank Limited, Mumbai. A Committee of Advisors, including SBI’s former General Manager Ravindra Sapra and Chartered Accountant Abhijeet Deshmukh, will assist him in managing the bank’s day-to-day affairs. RBI also superseded the bank’s Board of Directors for 12 months, citing poor governance.

The bank was ordered to halt operations, including loans and deposits, due to liquidity concerns. Eligible depositors will receive insurance claims up to 5 lakh rupees, with further action based on improvements in the bank’s financial position.

The Ayushman Bharat Vay Vandana Scheme was officially launched in Puducherry today. Puducherry Lieutenant Governor K. Kailashnathan formally inaugurated the scheme in the presence of Chief Minister N. Rangasamy and distributed insurance scheme cards to eligible senior citizens. The lieutenant governor urged healthcare workers to raise awareness about such schemes for senior citizens so that more people benefit.

Chief Minister Rangasamy, in his address, emphasised that the scheme provides medical benefits to senior citizens. The central government’s Ayushman Bharat Vay Vandana Scheme provides free health insurance coverage of up to 5 lakh rupees per year for senior citizens aged 70 and above.

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras and ISRO have developed an indigenous microprocessor for space applications which can be used in command and control systems and other critical functions in outer space.

The SHAKTI microprocessor project is led by IIT Madras Director V Kamakoti at Prathap Subrahmanyam Centre for Digital Intelligence and Secure Hardware Architecture (PSCDISHA) in Department of Computer Science and Engineering.

The SHAKTI class of systems are based on RISC-V, an open-source Instruction Set Architecture (ISA), for designing custom processors. "SHAKTI" is backed by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology under its ‘Digital India RISC-V’ initiative (DIRV). It aims to promote indigenous development of microprocessor based products that offer best-in-class security and visibility for users adopting RISC-V technology.