Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt on Sunday flagged off the indigenously developed and manufactured Astra Missiles for supply to the Indian Air Force. The event was held at Bharat Dynamics Limited, Kanchanbagh Unit where BDL CMD Commodore A Madhavarao (Retd) and other senior officials from DRDO, IAF and BDL participated, a release from the BDL said.

Astra is a beyond visual range (BVR) air-to-air missile indigenously developed by DRDO and manufactured by BDL for the IAF, it said.

"Astra Weapon System is best in its class of weapon systems in the world in the category of air-to-air missiles. The missile has a range of 100 plus km," the release said.

The 2024 Dakar Rally has something special each day and stage 8 saw the first-ever Indian to take a stage win — Harith Noah. Riding for TVS Sherco in the Rally 2 class, Noah has been showing consistent performance and stage 8 saw him take the stage win in his class. In the overall rankings, Noah is in 13th place, while in his class, the Indian rider is currently third, with a little over 8 minutes separating him and the leader.

In the overall motorcycle category, defending champion Kevin Benavides took the overall stage win in the motorcycle class while Mattias Ekstrom took the win in the cars category.

To enhance efficiency of the electronic toll collection system and provide seamless movement at the toll plazas, NHAI has taken ‘One Vehicle, One FASTag’ initiative that aims to discourage user behaviour of using single FASTag for multiple vehicles or linking multiple FASTags to a particular vehicle.

The highway developer is also encouraging FASTag users to complete ‘Know Your Customer’ (KYC) process of their latest FASTag by updating KYC as per RBI guidelines.

This is being done as FASTags with valid balance but with incomplete KYC will get deactivated or blacklisted by banks after post 31 January.

Vice Admiral Vineet McCarty took over as Commandant, Indian Naval Academy, on 15 Jan 24. The Flag Officer was commissioned into the Indian Navy on 01 Jul 1989 and is a graduate of Defence Service Staff College, Wellington (2005) and National Defence College, New Delhi (2017).

A specialist in ‘Gunnery and Missiles’, he served as the commissioning crew of INS Delhi and did all his specialist tenures onboard the frontline Guided Missile Destroyer. He has served as the Executive officer of a Seaward Defence Patrol Vessel, Guided Missile Vessel and Landing Platform Dock INS Jalashwa. He has commanded Anti-Submarine Patrol Vessel INS Ajay, Guided Missile Corvette INS Khanjar and Guided Missile Frigate INS Shivalik.

His staff assignments include Training Commander at the Naval Academy, and Command Plans Officer at the Headquarters Eastern Naval Command. He has served as Directing Staff at the Naval and Maritime Academy, Sri Lanka and was India’s Defence Adviser to the Republic of Singapore with concurrent accreditation to the Republic of the Philippines. He was Commodore (Naval Plans) from 2018 – 2020, where his charter of responsibility included drawing up Indian Navy’s Perspective, Financial and Acquisition Plans.

Vice Admiral AN Pramod assumed charge as the Director General Naval Operations (DGNO) on Monday, an official statement said.

According to the statement of the Ministry of Defence, an alumnus of the 38th Integrated Cadet Course, Naval Academy, Goa, Pramod, was commissioned into the Indian Navy on July 1, 1990.

The Flag Officer is a CAT 'A' Sea King Air Operations Officer and a Communication and Electronics Warfare Specialist. He did the Staff Course at DSSC Wellington (Nilgiris) and the Naval Higher Command Course at NWC, Goa.

Former president Pranav Mukherjee's daughter Sharmistha Mukherjee today called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi and presented him with a book based on her father's life- ‘Pranab My Father: A Daughter Remembers’. During the meeting, PM Modi recalled his memorable interactions with Mr. Mukherjee. In a social media post, the Prime Minister said that he is always delighted to meet Sharmistha Mukherjee and remember the memorable interactions with Pranab Babu. Mr. Modi added that Pranav Mukherjee's greatness, wisdom, and intellectual depth are clearly visible in the book.

President Droupadi Murmu inaugurated the fifth edition of the Meghalaya Games in Tura in Meghalaya on Monday and laid stress on using the country's diversity to boost India's global image in the sports arena.

Speaking on the occasion, the President said that the North East region has tremendous potential for the development of sports and sportspersons. She noted that this region traditionally has a strong sports culture.

She said "diversity is the beauty of our nation and we should utilise it" to further boost India's global image in the sports arena. She emphasized the need to support the talent from the tribal areas and groom them to become professional sportspersons.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma inaugurated Assam State Film (Finance and Development) Corporation's (ASFFDC) cinema hall called 'Aideo' in Guwahati on Monday.

CM Sarma also released the National Award-winning film 'Anunad: The Resonance'.

In its Golden Jubilee Year, ASFFDC has taken up the construction of five new halls and the renovation of nine existing ones.

It has also extended assistance to 56 regional language film makers and helped 239 artists through its Artist Welfare Corpus Fund.

A professor at the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Raipur and his team have developed a 'Fault Tolerant Inverter' to deal with faults during the supply of electricity.

Lalit Sahu, Assistant Professor in the Electrical Department at NIT Raipur, has developed a 'Fault Tolerant Inverter' so that electricity generated through solar panels could be used for residential as well as industrial purposes without interruption.

Shedding details about the 'Fault Tolerant Inverter', Assistant professor said that after going through several industry-based surveys as well as research articles, a conclusion was derived that the average life of a solar panel ranges between 15 and 20 years while the life of objects that convert power is 10-12 years and they frequently witness faults.

The Indian Army signed a Memorandum of Agreement on Monday with the Mizoram State Cancer Institute (MSCI) in Aizwal, Mizoram to provide cancer treatment to Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS) beneficiaries.

MSCI, a renowned Cancer Hospital, has entered into this partnership to facilitate Cashless and Capless Medical Treatment to beneficiaries under the Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS) across the State of Mizoram which includes ECHS beneficences of Assam Rifles at CGHS rates, read an official statement.

On behalf of Headquarters Eastern Command, HQ 101 Area and Central Organisation ECHS, the agreement was officially signed by the Regional Director of ECHS, Guwahati, and the Director of MSCI, Aizwal.