Food Processing Industries Minister Pashupati Kumar Paras on Thursday launched three 'One District, One Product' brands under the Pradhan Mantri Formalisation of Micro-Food Processing Enterprises Scheme in New Delhi. The scheme aims to enhance the competitiveness of existing individual micro-enterprises in the unorganized segment of the food processing industry and to promote formalization of the sector and provide support to Farmer Producer Organizations and Self-Help Groups.

The Ministry of Food Processing Industries has signed an agreement with National Agriculture Cooperative Marketing Federation of India, NAFED for developing ten brands of selected 20 'One District, One Product' under the branding and marketing component of the scheme. Out of these, seven 'One District, One Product' brands and nine products have been successfully launched in collaboration with NAFED. All the products are available on E-commerce platforms, and prominent retail stores across India.

The Portals of the world-famous Kedarnath Dham will be opened on Friday morning at 6.25 a.m. The Dham is decorated with marigold flowers. Meanwhile, the Panchmukhi Doli of Kedar Baba has reached the Dham. All the preparations have been completed before the opening of the portals.

A number of devotees have been reached to perform Puja Archana on the opening of the Kedarnath temple after the winter season. However, the portals of Badrinath Shrine will be opened on Sunday at 6.15 a.m. Meanwhile, Gangotri and Yamunotri Dham Yatra is going on smoothly. A large number of devotees are reaching there after the Corona pandemic which had disrupted the Chardham Yatra for the last two years.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has exhorted the Indian Air Force to become an Aerospace Force and be prepared to protect the country from the challenges of the future. He was delivering the keynote address for the 37th Air Chief Marshal P. C. Lal Memorial Lecture in New Delhi today. Mr. Singh called for technology evolution, gaining expertise and human resource management to defend the country against space-guided attacks and protect the space assets.

The Minister added that the nature of future wars can be assessed through a closer look at the situation in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan and the recent Ukrainian conflict. Mr. Singh said, the government will provide specialised skills training to the Armed Forces personnel, especially Indian Aair Force, in the latest technology to make them future-ready.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the inaugural session of Jain International Trade Organisation’s - JITO Connect 2022 at 10.30 AM today through video conferencing.

Jain International Trade Organisation is a global organisation connecting Jains worldwide. JITO Connect is an endeavour to help business and industry by providing an avenue for mutual networking and personal interactions.

JITO Connect-2022 is a three-day event being organized at Gangadham Annex, Pune from today and will encompass multiple sessions on diverse issues relating to business and the economy.

The Initial Public Offering, IPO of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has opened for public subscription from today. It will remain open for subscription till 9th of May. LIC IPO is the biggest public offering in the country.

AIR correspondent reports that the allotment of shares to the Demat account of bidders will take place by 16th May and the IPO will list for trading on 17th May.

The country's largest life insurer, LIC opens its IPO today. An initial public offering, IPO refers to the process of offering shares of a private corporation to the public in a new stock issuance. LIC has fixed the price band of 902 to 949 rupees per Equity Share for its maiden public offer. Investors can bid for a minimum of 15 Equity Shares and in multiples of 15 shares thereafter. The LIC has offered a discount of 45 rupees per share to Retail and Eligible Employee Category and 60 rupees per share to Policyholder Category. With this IPO, the government is looking to divest its 3.5 percent stake in the insurer by selling 22 crore 13  lakh shares. The Government aims to raise around 21 thousand crore rupees through IPO.

The challenge required US and international student teams to design, engineer, and test a human-powered rover on a course simulating terrain found on rocky bodies in the solar system. The challenge involved as many as 91 teams, including 58 colleges and 33 high schools.

Two Indian student groups from Punjab and Tamil Nadu have won the NASA 2022 Human Exploration Rover Challenge. Announced by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration during a virtual awards ceremony on April 29, the challenge involved as many as 91 teams, including 58 colleges and 33 high schools.

Venkataramani Sumantran was appointed as the chairperson of the IndiGo board, InterGlobe Aviation said on Wednesday.

“Sumantran is a business leader, technocrat and academic, having worked in the USA, Europe, and Asia through a career spanning over 37 years,” IndiGo said in a statement.

Sumantran is currently the chairperson and managing director of Celeris Technologies, a strategic advisory firm. He will succeed Meleveetil Damodaran at IndiGo.

Alphabet Inc’s Google has hired a new public policy head in India, Archana Gulati, who previously worked at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s federal think-tank and the country’s antitrust watchdog, a source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

A number of Indian government officials have been hired by Big Tech companies which are battling tighter data and privacy regulation, as well as competition law scrutiny, under Modi’s federal government.

Real Madrid clinched a record-extending 35th Spanish league title after its reserve squad comfortably defeated Espanyol 4-0 on Saturday.

Bengaluru-based neo-banking startup Open has raised $50 million in its Series D investment round led by IIFL, with participation from existing investors such as Temasek, Tiger Global and 3one4 Capital. The company said Monday in a statement that it was now valued at $1 billion making it the 100th unicorn in India.

“The funding will also help Open accelerate its existing product lines Zwitch (embedded finance platform) and BankingStack (enterprise banking solution for banks), drive global expansion and reach over 5 million customers within the next one year. The funds will also be used to strengthen the leadership team and increase the employee base from 500 to 1,000 within the year,” the company, also backed by Google and Visa, said in a statement.