The government aims to have a total of 44 airports, including 4 hub airports, to provide seamless international air connectivity, a senior government official said on Tuesday.

Air India on Tuesday launched flights under the Hub and Spoke model from Amritsar, the second airport after Varanasi from where such fights have been started.

Presently, there is one hub airport -- Delhi -- and two spoke airports -- Varanasi and Amritsar. The next spoke airport will be Ahmedabad.

The model, that seeks to make India a global aviation hub, will enable seamless connectivity between Tier-II and Tier-III airports with international destinations through hub airports.

The state government has constituted a statewide electronic Telangana Family Register and introduced a facility for the issue of a Family Register Certificate through the MeeSeva platform.

The government decided to launch the Family Register with a view to facilitate the delivery of citizen services, ensuring uniformity in the verification of family particulars, and providing a readily accessible record, according to a government order.

The decision was taken in view of the difficulties being experienced by citizens in producing an authenticated and reliable record of their family composition for the purpose of availing various government services, the order said.

The government has proposed to extend the validity of the Pollution Under Control Certificate (PUCC) for up to six-year-old BS-VI-compliant private vehicles to three years instead of the current one year to ease the burden on owners.

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), in a draft notification, has said that BS-VI vehicles aged between six and ten years will be required to renew their PUCC certificate and those above 10 years every six years.

According to the draft notification, while all motor vehicles complying with BS-IV emission norms will have to renew their PUCC every six months, all motor vehicles complying with BS-I, BS-II and BS-III emission norms will have to renew their PUCC every three months.

India will soon equip its space launch vehicles with domestically produced semiconductors, according to Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.

On Monday, meeting the heads of private space technology company Skyroot Aerospace, after its Vikram-1 Test Flight-1 successfully reached orbit, marking the maiden flight of India’s first privately developed orbital-class rocket, Vaishnaw said on X, “’Made in Bharat’ chips for our rockets... soon!”

Replying to the post by the Union Minister on X, Skyroot acknowledged the government support and stated, “Honoured to meet Hon’ble Union Minister Shri @AshwiniVaishnaw. India’s deep-tech ecosystem is accelerating -- powered by forward-looking reforms, world-class digital infrastructure, and a strong commitment to innovation.”

Para-athlete Sharmila Dhankar clinched India’s second gold medal in this edition of the Commonwealth Games in the Women’s Shot Put F57 Final. Shipla Shyla, the other medallist in the event walked away with bronze with a personal best throw of 7.26m.

Sharmila, who was born in a zamindar family in Haryana’s Chhithroli, ended India’s 20-year wait for a Para Athletics medal at the Commonwealth Games with a season-best throw of 9.81m. She also became India’s first-ever CWG Gold medallist in Para Athletics and the first Indian woman to win a Para Athletics medal at the Games.

India has now won two medals in the same Para Athletics event for the first time at the CWG.

Keralam is leveraging home-grown AI innovation to build a smarter and more resilient agricultural ecosystem that directly benefits farmers and strengthens the State’s agricultural future.

The Indian Institute of Technology Ropar has been roped in to deploy AI-powered smart weather stations, ANNAM.AI, across the State as part of the Kerala government’s 100-day action plan to strengthen climate-smart agriculture and improve farm-level decision-making. The initiative demonstrates how advanced technology can help governments deliver timely, data-driven services to farmers while enhancing long-term agricultural resilience.

Pushpendra Singh, Project Director of ANNAM.AI and Dean at IIT Ropar, said the initiative is aimed at improving farmers’ access to reliable weather information, enabling better planning, reducing input costs and promoting informed farming practices.

Fast-rising Indian weightlifter Valluri Ajaya Babu delivered a brilliant performance to bag the silver medal in the men’s 79kg category, extending India’s impressive medal-winning run in weightlifting at the ongoing Commonwealth Games.

The 21-year-old from Andhra Pradesh’s Vizianagaram district set a Games record in the snatch with a 149kg lift and followed it up with 181kg in the clean and jerk to finish with a total of 330kg.

Ajaya Babu missed out on gold to Malaysia’s Erry Hidayat Muhammad, who produced a Games record total of 331kg (147kg snatch and 184kg clean and jerk) in a thrilling contest on Monday night.

This was India’s sixth medal in weightlifting in the current edition of the Games.

England’s Chris Murray settled for bronze with a total of 325.

Gujarat has introduced an e-Zero FIR system for cyber financial fraud cases, allowing victims to initiate the legal process without visiting a police station, in a move aimed at speeding up investigations and improving the chances of preventing financial losses.

Deputy Chief Minister Harsh Sanghavi formally launched the 'Cyber Financial Fraud e-Zero FIR' service in Gandhinagar on Monday.

Under the new mechanism, complaints lodged through the national cybercrime helpline, 1930, will automatically generate an e-Zero FIR, which will then be forwarded electronically to the jurisdictional police station for further action.

Scientists have developed a low-cost technology that could make rechargeable zinc-air batteries more efficient, safer and cheaper, offering a potential boost to green energy storage and electric mobility.

The breakthrough, achieved by a team led by Dr S. Devaraj at SASTRA Deemed University with support from the Department of Science and Technology (DST), centres on a new nanofluid electrolyte that improves battery performance while reducing corrosion.

Researchers said the electrolyte remains stable for more than three months and can improve the efficiency of the battery’s air cathode while protecting the zinc anode from corrosion. The technology has been granted an Indian patent and is ready for commercial use.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said the Union Cabinet’s approval of the Bharat Audyogik Vikas Yojana Rasayan (BHAVYA Rasayan) Scheme and the expansion of the Ballari-Guntakal railway section will strengthen India’s industrial ecosystem, logistics network and economic growth.

In a post on X, the Prime Minister said the BHAVYA Rasayan Scheme marks an important step towards strengthening India’s chemical and petrochemical sector through the development of modern chemical parks equipped with plug-and-play infrastructure, utilities and robust environmental safeguards.

He said the initiative would reduce logistics and production costs, attract investments, enhance exports, promote import substitution and generate employment across multiple sectors.