India has overtaken China as the world's largest importer of Russian oil. According to a Reuters report, Indian imports of Russian crude surged to a record 2.07 million barrels per day (bpd) in July, marking a 4.2% increase from June and a 12% rise year-on-year. This surge has pushed Russian oil to account for a historic 44% of India's total oil imports for the month.

Chinese refiners, facing lower profit margins from fuel production, reduced their purchases, leading to India's new position. In July, China's imports from Russia fell to 1.76 million bpd, as per Reuters citing Chinese customs data. As Western sanctions on Russia continue, Indian refiners have capitalised on discounted Russian oil, with a significant increase in imports of ESPO Blend crude. This variety of crude saw imports to India jump to 188,000 bpd in July, facilitated by larger Suezmax vessels.

IT industry body national association of software services companies (nasscom) on Wednesday announced the appointment of Rajesh Nambiar as its president-designate.

Nambiar, who resigned as chairman and managing director of Cognizant India, succeeds Debjani Ghosh at nasscom, who completes her tenure in November 2024.

“This is truly an exciting time for the industry, as we focus on the accelerated transition to AI-first companies, making talent our greatest competitive advantage, driving growth, and increasing investments in IP creation and R&D. I am both privileged and honoured to take on this opportunity to collaborate with all stakeholders to enhance the Indian tech sector’s capabilities,” said Nambiar.

Wrestling was an obvious choice for Ronak Dahiya in his formative years. His father Jaibir Dahiya was a wrestler who later forayed into coaching and refereeing. While it was no brainer for the son to pursue wrestling, he was not given the liberty to choose a style as Jaibir wanted his son to wrestle in both — Greco-Roman and freestyle. Reason — both styles complement each other and Greco-Roman wrestling makes one a better freestyle grappler.

After pursuing wrestling in both categories for over a decade, Ronak, who turned 18 on August 19, can now finally pick up a style of his choice. And he most likely capped off his stint in GR with a bronze medal in the ongoing U17 World Championships in Amman, Jordan. Already a silver medallist in the event last year, the result might not be as per his expectations but a podium finish at the Worlds is no mean feat. "I will say a few things didn't go his way but anyway a medal is a medal and I am happy with it," Jaibir told this daily.

Walmart backed fintech firm PhonePe on Thursday launched Credit Line on UPI on its platform to enable consumers availing credit lines from their banks to seamlessly link them to UPI on PhonePe for merchant payments.

The feature will enable consumers to purchase with ease across millions of merchants and avail the flexibility of short-term credit that helps them manage their monthly expenses better.

“This is the second offering that will unlock the potential of credit usage on UPI, following the tremendous success of Rupay Credit Cards on UPI. We believe digital payments in India is growing strength to strength and PhonePe is committed to providing the most innovative and best-in-class solutions to our customers,” said Deep Agrawal, Head of Payments at PhonePe.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) expanded the scope of UPI to include pre-approved credit lines, which allows users to avail credit lines through banks and use them through their UPI apps.

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Sunday launched the Mukhyamantri Bal Paushtik Aahar Yojana to provide nutritious food to children in government-run schools. Launching the initiative in Hamirpur, he said it would complement the existing midday meal scheme and was targeted at students from nursery to Class 8 in 15,181 schools.

Under the scheme, schoolchildren will be provided boiled eggs or fruits once a week.

"Currently, about 5,34,293 (5.34 lakh) children are benefitting from the midday meal scheme. They will now receive additional nutrition under the new initiative," Sukhu said.

Delhi airport has become the country's first airport to get the net zero carbon emission status under the Airport Council International's accreditation programme, DIAL said on Wednesday.

GMR Group-led DIAL is the operator of the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) in the national capital.

Initially, the airport targeted to achieve net zero carbon emission by 2030, and the target has been achieved well ahead of schedule through various initiatives, including the adoption of renewable energy, development of green airport infrastructures and promotion of electric vehicles, it said in a release.

DIAL said IGIA has become the first airport in India to successfully achieve Net Zero Carbon Emission Airport status under the Airport Council International's (ACI) Airport Carbon Accreditation (ACA) programme.

Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for Education (KITE), the largest IT grouping of schoolchildren in the country, will launch the new free and open source software-based (FOSS) operating system (OS) suite KITE GNU Linux 22.04 here on Friday (August 23, 2024) when a two-day State-level camp for Little Kites is inaugurated.

A total of 130 selected from among 1,200 students, who attended the district-level Little KITEs camp will participate in the programme organised at the KITE Regional Resource Centre, Edappally.

K. Anvar Sadath, CEO, KITE, said the new operating system, an updated 80.04 version, can be used in three lakh computers in public schools in Kerala. Minister for General Education V. Sivankutty will launch the new OS suit.

This appointment follows the release of Sanjeev Kumar from his duties as Chairman, according to a Government Order

M Suresh, Member, Air Navigation Services, Airports Authority of India (AAI) on Tuesday has been entrusted with additional charge as Chairman of AAI. This is subsequent to relieving Sanjeev Kumar of his duties as AAI Chairman, says a Government Order.

Hailing from Tenkasi district in Tamil Nadu, Suresh will hold the post for three months effective Tuesday or until a regular incumbent joins or until further orders, the order said.

Senior IAS officer Amardeep Singh Bhatia has assumed the charge of Secretary in the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), an official statement said on Wednesday.

He has replaced Rajesh Kumar Singh, who has been appointed as Officer on Special Duty, Department of Defence.

Prior to this, Bhatia, a 1993 Batch from Nagaland cadre, was serving as Additional Secretary in the Department of Commerce and was involved in trade policies and free trade agreement negotiations.

In the central government, he has held many important positions in the Ministries of Corporate Affairs and Health and Family Welfare.

Senior IAS officer Govind Mohan on Thursday (August 22, 2024) will take charge as the new Union Home Secretary from Ajay Kumar Bhalla, who completes his five year tenure at the sensitive post, official sources said.

Mr. Mohan, a B.Tech from Banaras Hindu University and PG Diploma from IIM, Ahmedabad, was serving as Union Culture Secretary before his appointment to the top bureaucratic post, next only to the Cabinet Secretary.

A 1989 batch IAS officer of Sikkim cadre, Mr. Mohan has already joined the Union Home Ministry as an Officer on Special Duty.

He has a wide experience of serving both the Sikkim and the Central Governments in various capacities.