XIndia’s Dhruva Space Private Ltd and France’s Safran Space have signed contracts worth more than €5 million for a larger project to build and deploy 275 satellites.

Announced at the two-day International Space Summit in Paris which ended on Thursday, the collaboration between Dhruva and Safran is also meant for technologies to be used in India’s planned 52-satellite space-surveillance constellation.

Safran Space has contracted Dhruva Space for supplying communication systems, inertial navigation units, optical payloads and ground stations for India’s planned Space-Based Surveillance Phase-III (SBS-III) project to provide real-time, all-weather intelligence across its borders and the Indian Ocean Region, as per summit announcements in Paris.

Union Minister for Rural Development Shivraj Singh Chouhan has formally launched the Operational Guidelines for the Digital India Land Records Modernisation Programme (DILRMP) 3.0 during a hybrid event in New Delhi.

Addressing the gathering, Mr Chouhan stated that DILRMP 3.0 is a decisive step towards improving Ease of Living for rural citizens, farmers, and property owners. The Minister underscored that land in India is deeply tied to emotional and familial identities, making accurate and accessible documentation vital. The Minister noted that DILRMP 3.0 moves from isolated digitization to full system integration, ensuring farmers can secure institutional credit easily and citizens are spared repeated visits to government offices.

Minister of State for Rural Development, Dr. Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani, highlighted that DILRMP 3.0 will resolve legacy challenges by focusing on spatial accuracy, georeferenced maps, and seamless interoperability across departments.

The Emerging Science, Technology and Innovation Conclave (ESTIC-2026) will be held from October 27–29 at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi scheduled to inaugurate the three-day event.

The conclave will feature three Nobel Laureates – Prof. Joachim Frank, Sir Richard J. Roberts and Prof. Kostya Novoselov – along with several international award-winning scientists and technology leaders.

Announcing the event at its Curtain Raiser, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences, Dr Jitendra Singh, said ESTIC was conceived last year to bring different components of India’s science and technology ecosystem onto a common platform instead of holding fragmented events throughout the year.

Amid the ongoing debate over the credibility of India's latest GDP estimates, the IMF has welcomed the country's efforts to modernise its statistical framework, saying the incorporation of a new Index of Industrial Production (IIP) and Producer Price Index (PPI) series should help improve the accuracy of GDP estimates.

“The latest GDP release that we just talked about incorporated both a new index of industrial production and a new producer price index series, and those two new series should help improve India's GDP estimates,” Julie Kozack, Director of the Communications Department, IMF, said in response to a question from PTI. She said the IMF welcomes these important steps that India is taking to modernise its macroeconomic statistics.

“We, of course, encourage the authorities to continue to further strengthen the statistical framework and data quality along the lines that they're progressing,” Kozack said at the monthly briefing here.

Nirbhay Choudhary set a new national record in Indian men’s hammer throw with a 71.02m throw at the Indian Athletics Final Series 2026. Neeraj Kumar previously held the record with a throw of 70.23m in 2016. Dameet Singh and Ashish Jakhar are currently third and fourth with throws of 68.12m and 67.51m, respectively.

The women’s event also produced a national record. Tanya Chaudhary beat Anushka Yadav’s record with a throw of 68.35m. Anushka previously held the national record with a throw of 67.02m and in the final, she finished second with 66.34m, while Kulvinder Kaur finished third with 59.13m.

On the other hand, several established Indian athletes used the meeting to gauge their form ahead of the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya.

Shree Charani scripted history in the Women’s Asia Cup semi-final against Bangladesh in Dubai on Thursday, becoming the fastest Indian to 50 wickets in T20Is. The left-arm spinner reached the landmark in her 29th match, surpassing Kuldeep Yadav’s record for India across men’s and women’s cricket.

Charani completed the milestone by dismissing Bangladesh opener Juairiya Ferdous in the sixth over of the innings. With Bangladesh needing to accelerate while chasing 150, Ferdous attempted to play across the line against a delivery that spun across her. She got a top edge, allowing Richa Ghosh to run across and complete the catch behind the stumps. Ferdous departed for 14 off 18 balls, with two fours, giving Charani her 50th T20I wicket.

The Gujarat government has allocated Rs 301 crore for preparations to host the 2030 Commonwealth Games, including Rs 200 crore for payment of the host fee, the state assembly was informed on Thursday.

Deputy Chief Minister Harsh Sanghavi, who holds the Sports and Youth Services portfolio, provided the details in a written reply during the Question Hour on the second day of the state assembly's monsoon session. The question was asked by Congress MLA Amit Chavda.

Sanghavi confirmed that Gujarat had been awarded the hosting rights for the 2030 Commonwealth Games.

The state had signed the Host Collaboration Agreement (HCA) for the Games and paid the host fee, he said.

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) unveiled two new products at the Global Fintech Fest, UPI Tap & Pay and My UPI, an AI-powered payments assistant, marking a significant expansion of the country's digital payments infrastructure.

UPI Tap & Pay allows users to complete payments by simply bringing their phone close to a point-of-sale terminal, without opening a UPI application. The feature works even in low or no network conditions, including in airplane mode. The product is currently backed by 32 banks, 15 UPI applications, eight acquirers and aggregators, and 18 payment service providers.

My UPI is an AI-powered assistant designed to consolidate payment controls, transaction history, complaint management, and safety features across all UPI apps and accounts into one interface. Key features include a merchant trust check before payments, a “Pay Again” option for repeat transactions, automated complaint filing in natural language, mobile number de-linking from UPI IDs, and a safety switch to instantly pause all UPI debits. My UPI is supported by 29 banks, 25 UPI applications, and 14 technology service providers.

Tanya Chaudhary became the unlikely star at the Indian Athletics Series Final as the 22-year-old from Uttar Pradesh shattered the national record in the women’s hammer throw.

Tanya sent the hammer to a distance of 68.35 metres, improving her state-mate Anushka Yadav’s previous record of 67.02m set in June at the Inter-State National Championships. Anushka finished second with 66.34m.

Both men’s and women’s hammer throw were organized in the second field of play, away from the main mondo track, but both events saw national records going down with Nirbhay Chaudhary shattering it in the men’s event with 71.02m.

In a step to decongest the high density networks of the Indian Railways, the Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved eight multitracking projects spanning 1,196 kilometers worth Rs 20,804 crore. These projects lie on the Mumbai-Kolkata and Mumbai-Chennai high density network, two of the seven such railway corridors.

The projects are Kharagpur-Jharsuguda (Bagdehi) 4th Line, Bilaspur (Uslapur)-Pendra Road 3rd Line, Katni-Pendra Road 4th Line, Secunderabad (Ghatkesar)-Kazipet fourlining, Arakkonam-Renigunta 3rd and 4th Line, Whitefield-Bangarapet 3rd and 4th Line, Hosur-Omalur doubling, and Salem-Karur-Dindigul doubling.

High Density Network, or HDN, are passenger-freight corridors where the number of trains run beyond its capacity in most sections. This leads to congestion, passenger delays, and freight operations that affect network efficiency.