The West Bengal cabinet on Monday gave its nod to the proposal of appointing at least one legal advisor to assist the police in every subdivision of the state, a well-placed source said.

He said a notification in this regard would be issued soon.

The cabinet also decided to appoint people to fill up 1,500 vacancies in various departments, he said, adding that recruitment would be done on both contractual and permanent basis.

Of them, 583 contractual junior engineers would be recruited in the Public Health Engineering Department and another 700 people would be appointed in different municipalities, the source added. PTI SCH ACD

India’s Pavan Kampelli on Monday claimed the bronze medal in eFootball, the country’s first-ever podium finish in the event, at the 2024 Asian Esports Games in Bangkok.

On way to the bronze medal, Pavan, popularly known as ‘Mr Tomboy’, also defeated the 2022 eFootball World Finals Winner (Mobile), Asgard Azizi of Team Indonesia, 2-1.

Pavan competed against some of the best eFootball players from across Asia and faced a tough start against eventual winner, TXRO of Team Thailand.

However, he showed remarkable resilience and bounced back by securing hard-fought victories over players from Indonesia, Syria, and Laos -- all with an identical 2-1 margin -- to bag the historic medal.

The University of Oxford has lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s PRAGATI initiative as a transformative model for governance, urging the global community to learn from India’s innovative approach. In a study titled “From Gridlock to Growth: How Leadership Enables India’s PRAGATI Ecosystem to Power Progress,” the university highlighted the platform’s role in revolutionizing project monitoring and resolution in India.

Launched in 2015, PRAGATI—an acronym for Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation—has redefined the management of large-scale infrastructure projects and social programs across the nation. The platform combines digital tools, real-time data, drone feeds, and video conferencing to expedite project timelines while ensuring development reaches even the remotest regions.

The report emphasizes PRAGATI’s success in breaking bureaucratic inertia, fostering a “Team India” mindset, and instilling accountability and efficiency across central and state governments. By bringing diverse stakeholders together on a single platform, the initiative has tackled complex challenges such as land acquisition and inter-ministerial coordination, significantly advancing infrastructure development.

The Ayush market has seen exponential growth, increasing from $2.85 billion in 2014 to $ 43.4 billion in 2023, according to Shripad Yesso Naik, Minister of State for New and Renewable Energy.

Addressing a press conference here on Monday, Naik also highlighted that exports from the sector have doubled, rising from $ 1.09 billion to $ 2.16 billion.

The Ministry of Ayush (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homoeopathy) has undergone a transformative journey over the past decade, positioning India as a global leader in traditional medicine, Naik said.

Since its establishment in 2014 under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the ministry has spearheaded significant advancements in public health, education, research, and economic development, aligning with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Universal Health Coverage (UHC), he added.

The United States on Monday announced a new $725 million military aid package for Ukraine that features a second tranche of landmines as well as anti-air and anti-armor weapons.

US President Joe Biden's administration is working against the clock to provide billions of dollars in aid to Kyiv before President-elect Donald Trump takes office, after which future assistance for Ukraine will be in doubt.

Less than two months before Trump is set to be sworn in, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement that the package was part of efforts "to ensure Ukraine has the capabilities it needs to defend itself against Russian aggression."

It includes anti-personnel landmines, ammunition for HIMARS precision rocket launchers, Stinger missiles, counter-drone systems, anti-armor weapons and artillery ammunition, Blinken said in a statement.

Justice Murdu Nirupa Bindushini Fernando was sworn in as the new Chief Justice of Sri Lanka before President Anura Kumara Dissanayake at the Presidential Secretariat today.

She becomes the 48th Chief Justice of Sri Lanka and the second woman to hold this position. Justice Fernando succeeds Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya, who recently retired.

Justice Fernando, who joined the Attorney General’s Department in 1985, has held several key positions, including Solicitor General in 1997 and Additional Solicitor General in 2014. She was appointed to the Supreme Court in March 2018 and brings over 30 years of experience as a legal professional.

A past pupil of Visakha Vidyalaya, Colombo, she earned her law degree from the Faculty of Law, University of Colombo.

Jay Shah’s tenure as Chairman of the International Cricket Council (ICC) officially kicked off on Sunday, as the Indian administrator took charge of the world cricket body.

“I am honoured to be starting in the role of ICC Chair and want to thank the ICC Directors and Member Boards for their support and trust in me to undertake this important role,” Shah said in an ICC release.

“This is an exciting time for the sport as we build up to the LA28 Olympic Games and strive to make cricket more inclusive and popular than ever before. We also stand at a critical juncture in terms of the coexistence of multiple formats and accelerating the growth of the women’s game. There is huge potential for the game of cricket globally, with so much opportunity to engage with existing and new fans, while ensuring the best resources and platforms for our cricketers around the world,” he added.

Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi on Sunday became the second Indian after legendary Viswanathan Anand and 16th worldwide to reach the gold-standard ELO rating of 2800, while also occupying the fourth spot in the latest rankings. (More Sports News)

The 21-year-old has been in sensational form this year, having won an individual gold as well as team title in India's recent historic performance in the Chess Olympiad.

"Arjun Erigaisi has become the 16th player in history to break the 2800 Elo barrier in classical chess ratings!" the world governing body of the sport FIDE said on 'X'.

There were 16.58 billion Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions worth Rs 23.5 trillion in October, the highest numbers for the digital system since it became operational in April 2016.

UPI’s previous peak was 15.04 billion in volume terms in September 2024 and Rs 20.64 trillion in value in July. Data from previous months shows that the growth in transactions is driven by person to merchant transactions (for buying goods or services), which got a festival season push in October. It was the first time that UPI crossed 16 billion in volume and Rs 23 trillion in value.

October witnessed a 10 per cent increase in volume and 14 per cent in value compared to September. There were 14.96 billion UPI transactions amounting to Rs 20.61 trillion in August, according to data shared by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

The gross GST collection in November grew at 8.5% year-on-year to R1.82 lakh crore largely on the back of healthy accrual from domestic transactions. However, it is lower than the October collection of R1.87 lakh crore, which was the second highest monthly collection recorded in GST. The domestic GST revenue grew by 9.4% during the month, while import GST revenue growth of 5.4%.

This is the third month in a row that gross GST collections have shown single digit growth, showing that a fatigue has set in as far as GST collections have been concerned. Even the festive months of October (when gross collections showed a growth of 8.9%) and November have failed to give a boost to the collections.