The digital payment transactions in the country have gone up to over 18,000 crore rupees last financial year, registering an annual growth rate of 44 per cent. In a written reply in the Lok Sabha today, Minister of State for Finance, Pankaj Chaudhary said, the Immediate Payment Service and National Electronic Toll Collection have shown remarkable growth, while Unified Payments Interface has been the major driving force of digital payment transactions in the country. He added that Incentive Scheme for Promotion of RuPay Debit Cards and Low-Value BHIM-UPI transactions has a financial outlay of 3,500 crore rupees for the last fiscal. The Minister further said, the Payment Infrastructure Development Fund, operationalized by RBI to support digital payments infrastructure in Tier-3 to Tier -6 centres and Northeastern states, have led to the deployment of 4.08 crore touch points till November last year.

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw stated that the central government has allocated a record amount of 23,778 crore rupees to Maharashtra in the 2025-26 budget for the implementation of railway projects. He also highlighted that the total ongoing railway work in the state is worth 1.7 lakh crore rupees. Addressing a press conference on Maharashtra’s budget allocation, he announced that a tripartite agreement had been signed between the state government, the central government, and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Under this agreement, the RBI will contribute the state’s share towards railway projects. He further stated that under the Amrit Stations Scheme, 132 new railway stations will be developed across Maharashtra. Mr. Vaishnaw also mentioned that since 2014, 2,105 kilometers of new railway tracks have been laid in the state. Regarding Mumbai’s suburban railways, Mr. Vaishnaw informed that work is underway to enhance the capacity of various terminals on the Western and Central Lines.

India’s ambitious mission to send scientists to explore the depths of the ocean in specially-designed submersible Samudrayaan got a boost with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman allocating Rs 600 crore for the Deep Ocean Mission. The mission involves mapping deep ocean floors and developing technologies like a manned submersible with 6000 m water-depth rating. It also involves exploration of deep-sea mining for sustainable utilisation of deep-sea bioresources and developing engineering designs for offshore thermal energy-driven desalination plants.

India plans to send a manned-submersible, developed by the Chennai-based National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), up to a depth of 500 metres in the ocean later this year, and gradually explore the seabed at the depth of 6,000 meters next year.

The finance minister also allocated 1,329 crore for Mission Mausam, an Earth Sciences Ministry initiative to improve weather forecasting capabilities.

The Ministry of Earth Sciences, which is steering the Deep Ocean Mission, got an allocation of around 3,650 crore rupees in the Union Budget, presented yesterday.

The government has received an overwhelming response to its flagship PM Internship Scheme, with over 6.21 lakh applications submitted for 1.27 lakh available internships. The scheme, announced in the recent Union Budget, aims to provide valuable work experience to one crore young individuals across India over the next five years.

Launched on October 3, the pilot phase of the initiative focuses on offering 1.25 lakh internship opportunities in the current financial year (2024-25). Partner companies have actively engaged, posting a total of 1.27 lakh internship opportunities on the dedicated scheme portal.

"Approximately 4.87 lakh individuals have successfully completed their Know Your Customer (KYC) verification and registered themselves on the portal," stated the Ministry of Corporate Affairs in a recent press release.

The Union budget has allocated ₹13,955 crore for railway projects in Bengal, railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Monday.

The amount is three times the allocation for the state when Mamata Banerjee helmed the railways, Vaishnaw added.

The Trinamool Congress had slammed this year’s budget, which they said had deprived Bengal.

“The honourable Prime Minister has undertaken a mission to modernise and expand the railway network

Following the 2025 Budget announcement, Indian Railways revealed plans to manufacture 100 Amrit Bharat, 50 Namo Bharat and 200 Vande Bharat trains, including both sleeper and chair car variants, in the next two to three years. These trains will significantly enhance connectivity across the country.

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw also unveiled plans to manufacture 17,500 Non-AC General and Sleeper Coaches to improve rail connectivity across the country. The move is expected to enhance the travel experience for low-income passengers and ease the growing pressure on railway infrastructure.

The 13th edition of joint military exercise ‘Ekuverin’ between the Indian Army and the Maldives National Defence Force has commenced in the archipelago nation. The military exercise commenced yesterday is a bilateral annual exercise conducted alternatively in India and Maldives. In 2023, it was conducted at Chaubatia in Uttarakhand from June 11 to 24. Ekuverin meaning ‘Friends’ in Dhivehi language.

The International Big Cat Alliance (IBCA) has officially come into force as a full-fledged, treaty-based, inter-governmental international organisation and an international legal entity.

This was announced by India's Ministry of External Affairs, which is the depository of the Framework Agreement for instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession by countries seeking to become IBCA members.

So far 27 countries have become IBCA members. Several international and national organisations working in the field of wildlife conservation have agreed to partner with the IBCA, which was launched globally in April 2023.

Canada imposed 25 per cent tariffs on $155 billion in US imports on Sunday, while Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum also ordered her economy minister to implement tariff and non-tariff measures to defend her country’s interests, after US President Donald Trump early on Sunday signed an order to impose stiff tariffs on imports from Mexico, Canada and China.

The order signed by Trump also includes a mechanism to escalate the rates if the countries retaliate against the US.

The decision throws the global economy and Trump’s own political mandate to combat inflation into possible turmoil, though the Republican president posted on social media that it was necessary “to protect Americans".

India on Saturday successfully conducted three consecutive flight trials of the very short-range air defence missile system (VSHORADS) from Chandipur off the coast of Odisha, in a major boost to the military, the Defence Ministry said.

Developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), VSHORADS is an indigenously designed and developed man-portable air defence system. It is intended to meet the air defence requirements of all three branches of the Indian Armed Forces: the Army, Navy, and Air Force.

During the tests, it targeted high-speed, low-altitude targets, simulating drone threats.