Wabtec Locomotive Private Limited, a joint venture between Indian Railways and Wabtec, is expanding the capabilities of its plant to export locomotives to Africa. For the first time, the plant will manufacture locomotives for export to a global customer.

The plant will supply Evolution Series ES43ACmi locomotives to global customers. The ES43ACmi is a locomotive featuring a 4,500 HP Evolution Series engine, offering best-in-class fuel efficiency and proven performance in high-temperature environments. The Marhowra plant will begin exporting these locomotives in 2025.

This project is of strategic importance as it positions India as a global locomotive manufacturing hub and aligns with the “Make in India” and “Make for the World” initiatives under the “Atmanirbhar Bharat” vision of the Hon'ble Prime Minister. It will also enable the Marhowra plant to export standard-gauge locomotives globally, expanding the local supplier footprint and fostering long-term job creation, thereby benefiting the Indian economy.

India’s Chandrayaan-3 continues its voyage and now it has discovered a 160-km-wide moon crater near its landing site. The latest findings were unravelled by the Pragyan rover, as published in the latest issue of Science Direct by scientists from Ahmedabad’s Physics Research Laboratory.

The new crater has been discovered from data sent back to Earth by the Pragyan rover, which is currently exploring the moon’s surface at the lunar South Pole.

The Pragyan rover traversed a highland terrain around 350 km from the Aitken basin in the South Pole, the largest and oldest impact basin on the lunar surface. This piece of lunar land can be crucial for studying the early geological evolution of the moon.

Filmmaker Ashutosh Gowariker has come on board as the honorary chairman for the 10th Ajanta-Ellora International Film Festival (AIFF). The filmmaker will be a part of the festival, which is scheduled to take place from January 15 to 19, 2025, in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (previously Aurangabad).

According to a press statement, Gowariker said he was thrilled to take on the role as the honorary chairman and was excited that several remarkable directors would be actively participating in the festival, including Chandrakant Kulkarni, Jayprad Desai, Dnyanesh Zoting and now Sunil Sukthankar, who is also the Festival Director.

Gowariker said participations of acclaimed filmmakers in the AIFF would help “foster a true artistic exchange” in the craft of filmmaking. The official Instagram account of the AIFF also welcomed the filmmaker and announced, “We are honoured to welcome the legendary filmmaker Mr. Ashutosh Gowariker, as the Honorary Chairman for the Ajanta-Ellora International Film Festival. His vision and passion for cinema will undoubtedly elevate our festival to new heights!”

Three Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and Indian School of Business, Hyderabad have figured in world's top 100 for their MBA courses, according to QS rankings announced on Wednesday. The three IIMs are IIM Bangalore, IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Calcutta. Also, the three B-schools have been ranked among top 50 for employability.

Fourteen Indian full-time MBA programmes have secured a spot in QS’ global list for 2025, including three new entries. Stanford School of Business in the US continues to be at the top spot among B-schools for the fifth consecutive year.

The QS Global MBA and Business Master’s Rankings 2025 spans 58 countries and territories, analysing the world’s 340 best global MBAs and a series of specialised high-demand Business Master’s Rankings, including Master’s in Management, Finance, Marketing, Business Analytics, and Supply Chain Management.

Veteran BJP leader and six-time MLA Suryakanta Vyas died on Wednesday aged 86. She was unwell and had been confined to her bed for the past few months, her family said.

Fondly known as 'Jiji', Vyas was born on February 23, 1938, and held several posts throughout her political career. She began her career as a member of the Jan Sangha, taking on the position of the vice president of the Jodhpur city unit of the party in 1969. Vyas was the president of the Jodhpur District Janata Party in 1977, and from 1980, she held the position of president of the BJP women's wing in Jodhpur.

She was elected as a municipal councilor in 1972 and 1983. She won the assembly elections in 1990, 1993, 2003, 2008, 2013, and 2018, becoming an MLA six times. Due to her advanced age, she was not given a ticket for the 2023 assembly elections from the Soorsagar constituency due to her advanced age.

The Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO), together with researchers of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi, has developed light weight bullet proof jackets, named ABHED (Advanced Ballistics for High Energy Defeat), which offer 360 degree protection.

The armour plates for the jackets have passed all necessary R&D trials as per the protocols. The jackets meet the highest threat levels, and are lighter than the maximum weight limits stipulated in respective General Staff Qualitative Requirement of the Indian Army, the Ministry of Defence said on Wednesday.

With minimum possible weight of 8.2 kgs and 9.5 kgs for different Bureau of India Standards (BIS) Levels, these modular-design jackets having front and rear armours provide 360 degree protection, the Ministry stated.

Justice M S Ramachandra Rao was sworn in as the chief justice of the Jharkhand High Court here on Wednesday.

Governor Santosh Kumar Gangwar administered the oath of office to Justice Rao at the Raj Bhavan here.

Chief Minister Hemant Soren, Assembly Speaker Rabindra Nath Mahto, state ministers, several judges and senior government officials attended the swearing-in ceremony.

Chief justices were appointed in seven high courts on September 21.

The appointments came after the Supreme Court Collegium amended some of its July 11 recommendations earlier this month.

In a first, a completely paperless election was held in Madhya Pradesh on Wednesday. The election for the post of sarpanch in village panchayat Ratua Ratanpur was conducted without using paper in the entire election process. This was a pilot initiated by the state election commission. The state election commission conducts panchayat and civic body polls in the state whose office has already been made paperless in the past.

This experiment of a completely paperless booth was conducted for the first time in the country by the Madhya Pradesh state election commission, said official sources.

State election commission secretary Abhishek Singh said that the plan for paperless booths has been devised to facilitate a simple, convenient, and transparent voting process for panchayats and urban bodies.

After a delay of more than six months, the Army is set to receive the first batch of three AH-64E Apache attack helicopters from Boeing in December.

While the Apaches are for the deserts, the Army is set to deploy the indigenous light combat helicopter (LCH), manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd., in Ladakh next year.

“The manufacturer has communicated that there have been manufacturing delays due to supply chain issues. The first batch of three Apaches is now set to be delivered in December and the next three few months after that,” a defence source said. As per the original schedule, three helicopters were supposed to be delivered in May and three in July.

The Bihar is set to launch a drive to cull 'Ghodparas', popularly known as 'Nilgai' (blue bulls) and wild boars in five districts where these animals have been causing widespread damage to crops. In a statement issued by the state's Environment, Forest and Climate Change Department, the government said the drive will be launched this month to deal with the Nilgai menace which causes a huge loss to the farmers.

The decision was taken at a review meeting chaired by state Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Prem Kumar on Tuesday.

According to the statement, the cull drive will be conducted in the most affected districts - Vaishali, East Champaran, Buxar, Siwan and Samastipur - as per the "laid down procedures".

"Officials concerned shall be empowered to cull up to 50 such animals at a time in districts where the problem is grave," it added.