Veteran soldier Havaldar (retd) Baldev Singh, who fought four wars against Pakistan, passed away at his residence in Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri district, a defence spokesman said on Tuesday. He was 93.

The revered war hero passed away due to natural causes in his hometown Naushera on Monday, the spokesman said, adding that his last rites will be performed with full military honours at his village later on Tuesday.

Born on September 27, 1931, at Naunihal village, Singh was just 16 when he volunteered to join the Bal Sena Force under the leadership of Brigadier Usman, Commander of the 50 Para Brigade, during the battle of Naushera and Jhangar in 1947-48.

Veteran journalist, poet, film producer and former Rajya Sabha MP Pritish Nandy died in Mumbai on Wednesday, just days shy of his 74th birthday on January 15.
Nandy, a Padma Shri awardee, died after a cardiac arrest at his home in south Mumbai and his last rites were performed in the evening, sources said.

Born in Bihar’s Bhagalpur in 1951, Nandy pioneered The Illustrated Weekly of India, revitalising its form and content, and hosted the hugely popular The Pritish Nandy Show on Doordarshan, with his 1985 interview of singer Kishore Kumar known for being one of the rare few that opened up the artist.

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine has signed a bill to designate October as "Hindu Heritage Month" in the US state.

The bill was signed on Wednesday by DeWine in the presence of former state Senator Niraj Antani, who was the main sponsor and mover of the legislation last year, and several other community leaders from the State.

"I am so grateful to Governor DeWine for signing this bill to designate October as Hindu Heritage Month in Ohio. Governor DeWine has long had a close relationship with the Hindu community across Ohio and I am grateful for his leadership," Antani said.

Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Limited (IREDA) has achieved ‘Excellent’ rating for the performance MoU signed with the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) for the financial year 2023-24, with a score of 98.24 (rounded off 98). This marks the fourth consecutive year that IREDA has received ‘Excellent’ rating, showcasing its unwavering commitment to operational excellence and highest standards of corporate governance.

In the previous three years, IREDA consistently delivered exceptional results, achieving an ‘Excellent’ rating with scores of 93.50 in FY 2022-23, 96.54 in FY 2021-22 and 96.93 in FY 2020-21. These consistent achievements underline the organization’s dedication to driving India’s renewable energy goals.

Speaking on the achievement, Shri Pradip Kumar Das, CMD, IREDA, said, “Securing the ‘Excellent’ rating for the fourth consecutive year is a significant milestone for IREDA. It reflects the tireless efforts of our employees, the unwavering trust of our stakeholders, and the guidance of the Govt. of India. I extend my heartfelt gratitude to all who have contributed to this success. Together, we are committed to accelerating India’s green energy transition and achieving our nation’s renewable energy goals.”

The Reserve Bank on Tuesday announced the names of the winners of the third edition of its Global Hackathon with the themes 'Zero Financial Frauds' and 'Being Divyang Friendly'.

The hackathon received an enthusiastic response with 534 proposals, of which 39 were received from teams outside India, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Singapore, Brazil, Morocco, among others.

The 28 finalists presented their solutions to an independent jury which selected the winners based on several parameters, including comprehensiveness, innovation, feasibility, scalability and compliance.

The winners of the hackathon were FPL Technologies; Xaults Technologies; Epifi Technologies; NapID Cybersec; H Vision India (Hasin Vaidya); Rupya Darshini (Parthiban R, Jebaraj V and Gobika S); and VisAst (Krimisha Deore).

In a significant development, India and the U.S. announced cooperation on co-production of U.S. sonobuoys for Undersea Domain Awareness (UDA) for the Indian Navy, a high-end technology that allows tracking submarines in the deep seas and oceans.

This is the latest in a series of cooperation measures between the two countries as both grow wary of the rapid expansion of Chinese naval presence in the Indian Ocean Region.

“Welcoming the advancement of discussions between Ultra Maritime (UM) and Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) to enhance undersea domain awareness through a first-of-its-kind partnership on co-production of U.S. sonobuoys in support of the U.S. and Indian defence industrial bases,” said a fact sheet ‘The U.S. and India Committed to Strengthening Strategic Technology Partnership’ issued on January 6 at the end of U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan’s visit to India on the aspect of deepening defence innovation and industrial cooperation.

Bharat Heavy Electricals said that it has successfully commissioned two units of the 6?170 MW Punatsangchhu-II Hydroelectric Project (PHEP-II) in Bhutan.

The said project was executed under a bilateral agreement between the Government of India and the Royal Government of Bhutan. PHEP-II is a greenfield hydroelectric project located in the Wangdue district of Western Bhutan.

The Francis Turbine installed at the site is designed to operate at a rated head of 241 meters, which is the highest for any Francis Type Hydro Turbine in Bhutan. Upon the full commissioning of all six units, the expected annual power generation will be 4,357 gigawatt-hours.

Uttar Pradesh government has announced a relief measure for the villagers of Uttar Pradesh under the Jal Jeevan Mission, waiving 10% community contribution for ‘Har Ghar Nal’ scheme. The state government will bear the community contribution for the Har Ghar Nal scheme.

Under the scheme, villagers were required to contribute 10% of the capital cost for providing tap water connections to every household. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath emphasized that this expense should not burden the common people.

A total of 40,951 schemes worth Rs 1,52,521.82 crore (1.52 lakh crore) have been approved under the Jal Jeevan Mission in Uttar Pradesh, with the centre and state sharing Rs 71,714.68 crore each. As per the estimate, the state government has relieved villagers of the Rs 9,092.42 crore community contribution by allocating Rs 2,000 crore in the current financial year’s budget. It will benefit 2.33 crore families across the state.

The Government of Uttar Pradesh has launched a new initiative aimed at transforming the state’s agricultural ecosystem, in collaboration with Google Cloud India. The Uttar Pradesh Open Network for Agriculture, powered by Google’s Gemini framework and Beckn Protocol, will provide reportedly millions of farmers with a comprehensive, digital platform offering services like agricultural advisory, credit, mechanisation, and market linkages.

Designed as a Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI), the network will look to enable farmers to easily access vital services through voice commands in multiple languages, including Hindi, Bangla, Telugu, Kannada, Gujarati, and Punjabi.

Punjab’s New and Renewable Energy Sources Minister Aman Arora has said that 663 more solar water pumps for agricultural use will be installed within the next few months. Work on the installation of 2,356 solar pumps has already been on since last month. He said this will not only reduce fuel costs but also lead to zero carbon emissions, promoting more sustainable farming practices.

The Minister declared that a subsidy of 60% is available for general category farmers and 80% for Scheduled Caste (SC) farmers for installing solar pumps. In dark zones (over-exploited groundwater blocks), these pumps will be installed for farmers who already have microirrigation systems.

He has directed the Punjab Energy Development Authority (PEDA) officials to make all-out efforts to achieve the set target of installing 20,000 agricultural solar pumps in the State for the welfare of the farmers and the environment.