THE HEADLINES:
- Union Home Minister Amit Shah inaugurates and lays foundation stone for several development projects worth over 1,700 crore rupees in Assam; Says, India-EU Trade deal will boost Assam’s tea export to Europe.
- Indian Railways speeds Up Kavach 4.0 safety rollout with 472 km commissioned across three sections
- Coordination between Ministry of Railways and Department of Fertilizers results in significant boost in Kharif and Rabi crop supplies says, government.
- U.S. President Donald Trump nominates Kevin Warsh as next Federal Reserve Chairman.
- In Tennis, Novak Djokovic to face world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz in Men’s Singles title clash of Australian Open on Sunday.
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Home Minister Amit Shah today launched projects worth one thousand 715 crore rupees, including the second legislative assembly complex, in Dibrugarh, Assam. Addressing a public meeting at Dibrugarh, Mr. Shah said, the India-European Union Free Trade Agreement will boost Assam tea exports to European countries.
Mr. Shah urged the electors to vote in favour of BJP in the next assembly polls for development, peace, security, industry, flood-free Assam.
Accusing the previous Congress government for neglecting the Assam, Mr. Shah said, Congress used infiltration as weapon for its vote bank politics. He said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the government is bringing infrastructure projects for the development of the state.
Mr. Shah is in Assam on a two-day visit. He attended the Takam Mising Porin Kebang Youth Festival as the chief guest at Dhemaji district this afternoon. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Sarbananda Sonowal were also present on the occasion.
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The India-AI Impact Summit 2026 will be held at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi from 16th to 20th February this year. The summit will be the first global AI summit to be hosted in the Global South. The objective of the Summit is to enable global democratization of Artificial Intelligence and bridging the Al divide as well as Support the development of indigenous and local Al solutions. It will also focus on development of Al for Good solutions across healthcare, agriculture and governance among others and aligning global standards and models of Al governance and Innovation to the needs of the developing world. Addressing a press conference in New Delhi today, Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the India AI Impact Summit has received a phenomenal response from across the world and is shaping up to be the biggest AI summit so far globally.
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Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal today highlighted that India-EU Free Trade Pact covers one-third of the world population and impacts 25 percent of global GDP. Addressing the World Forum of Accountants in Greater Noida, the Minister said highlighted the vast potential of the European market. Mr Goyal said that the European Union alone imports goods worth nearly 7 trillion dollars and services worth 3 trillion dollars, together representing a 10 trillion-dollar market. He said India’s current exports are only a small fraction of this potential and emphasised that the opportunities before India are unprecedented and must be seized. The Minister said India has signed eight free trade agreements in the last four years, reflecting a fundamental shift in the country’s engagement with the global economy.
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Indian Railways today commissioned nearly four hundred seventy-two route kilometres of Kavach Version 4.0 across three sections of its network, marking another significant milestone in strengthening rail safety. The three newly commissioned sections include the 344 kilometres Vadodara to Virar section on Western Railway, 35 kilometres Tuglakabad Junction Cabin to Palwal section on Northern Railway, and 93.3 kilometres Manpur to Sarmatanr section on East Central Railway. This commissioning marks the highest ever route kilometres of Kavach commissioned on a single day as well as in a month with more than four hundred seventy-two route kilometres. After this inclusion, Kavach Version 4.0 has been commissioned over a total of over one thousand three hundred route Kilometres across five routes of Indian Railways.
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The government today informed that coordination between the Ministry of Railways and Department of Fertilizers has resulted in significant boost in Kharif and Rabi crop supplies. The Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers said that faster and smoother movement of fertilizer rakes enabled timely supplies to States. This ensured that farmers did not face any shortages during the critical stages of cultivation. The Ministry added that during this period, average rake loading increased to 72 rakes per day in July 2025, 78 rakes per day in August 2025, reaching 80 rakes per day in September 2025. It added that the Fertilizer movement during April-December 2025 reached an all-time high, with net supplies crossing 530.16 Lakh Metric Tons, surpassing the 500 Lakh Metric Ton mark for the first time during this period.
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Prime Minister’s flagship platform for Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation, PRAGATI, has marked a significant milestone with the successful conduct of its 50th meeting. Since its launch by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2015, PRAGATI has transformed governance by enabling real-time monitoring and resolution of key infrastructure projects and public grievances through direct Prime Ministerial review. Today, in this special series, we take a look at the projects related to the Ministry of Civil Aviation.
“To boost the country’s civil aviation infrastructure, 38 projects with a total investment of 90 thousand 978 crore rupees are being monitored under PRAGATI led Ecosystem. Out of these three projects with a total investment of 21 thousand 694 crore rupees have been reviewed by Prime Minister under PRAGATI, and all the projects have been commissioned. These projects are Navi Mumbai International Airport, Construction of New Greenfield Airport at Pakyong in Sikkim and Construction of Greenfield International Airport at Mopa in Goa. The directions issued during PRAGATI reviews strengthened accountability, improved inter-ministerial and State-level coordination, facilitated timely resolution of implementation bottlenecks, and enhanced overall monitoring. These interventions accelerated project execution and contributed to augmentation of airport infrastructure, improvement in air connectivity and passenger handling capacity. A total of 53 issues has been raised on Project Monitoring Group Portal across 19 projects and of these, 51 issues have been resolved. With Dipendra Kumar, Anand Kumar, Akashvani News Delhi.”
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External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar met with his counterparts from Palestine, Libya and Comoros and also the Secretary General of League of Arab States, Ahmed Aboul Gheit in New Delhi today. Informing about his meetings in social media posts, Dr Jaishankar said, he reviewed development and cooperation with these countries and agreed on initiatives to take it forward. He exchanged views on the Gaza Peace Plan and regional developments with his Palestinian counterpart. With Mr Gheit, Dr Jaishankar had a wide-ranging conversation about cooperation and strengthening across various domains. With the foreign minister of Libya, Dr Jaishankar held productive discussions on advancing cooperation in trade, business, infrastructure and energy domains. He appreciated his briefing on the situation in Libya and underscored India’s advocacy of dialogue and diplomacy for enduring peace and stability in the region.
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The second India-Arab Foreign Ministers’ Meeting will be held in New Delhi tomorrow. The meeting will be co-chaired by India and the UAE. Foreign Ministers of Arab League Member States and Arab League Secretary General will participate in the meeting. This is the first India-Arab Foreign Ministers’ Meeting to be hosted by India in New Delhi. It will see participation by all 22 Arab countries. Our correspondent reports that the second India-Arab Foreign Ministers’ Meeting is expected to build on existing cooperation, expanding and deepening this partnership. A report:
“India has traditionally enjoyed close and friendly relations with the Arab world. These relations date back to ancient times. Traders, scholars and diplomats would often traverse the Arabian Sea and the land routes linking India to West Asia and the Arab peninsula, transferring knowledge and merchandise. Today, the nations of Arab League are part of India’s extended neighborhood. The League of Arab States was formed in Cairo on 22nd March 1945. Currently, the League has 22 member states including countries from North Africa and Middle East. It has a number of observer states, including Armenia, Brazil, Greece, India and Venezuela. The aim of the League of Arab States is to strengthen and coordinate the political, cultural, economic and social programs of its members and to mediate disputes among them or between them and third parties. Suparna Saikia, Akashvani News, Delhi.”
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Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal today highlighted that India-EU Free Trade Pact covers one-third of the world population and impacts 25 percent of global GDP. Addressing the World Forum of Accountants in Greater Noida, the Minister said highlighted the vast potential of the European market.
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Benchmark domestic equity indices, the Sensex and the Nifty, ended around 0.4 per cent lower today, snapping a three day gaining streak. Markets opened with a sharp gap down and traded on a bearish note throughout the session. However, in the last hour of trade, the indices recovered some of their losses but still closed in the red. A report:-
“The Sensex fell by 297 points to close at 82 thousand and 270, while the Nifty slid 98 points to settle at 25 thousand 321. In the Forex market today, the rupee depreciated by four paise to close at 91 rupees and 99 paise against the US dollar. Lalima Aneja Dang for AKASHVANI News.”
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In the Indian bullion market, 24 carat Gold was trading 5.3 per cent down at 1 lakh 61 thousand and 440 rupees per 10 grams. Silver was trading 12.4 per cent lower at 3 lakh 52 thousand 640 rupees per kilogram, a short while ago.
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U.S. President Donald Trump today nominated former Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh as his preferred successor to current Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. President Trump announced the nomination in a post on his social media platform, Truth Social that he is nominating Kevin Warsh to serve as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. In his post, Trump backed Warsh, saying he believes Warsh would go down as one of the great Fed chairmen.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed grief at the loss of lives due to a fire mishap in West Bengal’s Anandapur. In a social media post, the Prime Minister prayed for the speedy recovery of the injured. Mr Modi also announced that an ex-gratia of two lakh rupees from Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund would be given to the next of kin of each deceased. The injured would be given 50 thousand rupees.
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In Tennis, Novak Djokovic will face world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz in the Men’s Singles title clash of Australian Open on Sunday. In the first semi final match of Men’s Singles today, Spaniard Alcaraz defeated Alexander Zverev of Germany in five sets 6-4, 7-6, 6-7, 6-7, 7-5 at the Rod Laver Arena to make maiden Australian Open final. Novak Djokovic of Serbia clinched a stunning victory over Jannik Sinner in the second semi-final to enter the 11th Australian Open final of his career.
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In the Women’s Premier League, WPL Cricket, Gujarat Giants have set a target of 168 runs for Mumbai Indians at Vadodara International Cricket Stadium in Kotambi, Gujarat. Opting to bat first, Gujarat Giants scored 167 runs losing four wickets in stipulated 20 overs.
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In Nagaland, the 5th edition of the Rüsoma Orange Festival began today at Rüsoma village, about 10 kilometers away from the state capital Kohima. Held under the theme “Abundance of Rüsoma, the two festival aims to promote village welfare, boost rural entrepreneurship, and recognise the hard work of orange growers while promoting the unique taste of Rüsoma oranges. The two-day festival features cultural presentations, fun games, and stalls offering fast food, local cuisine, orange saplings, and more.
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THE HEADLINES ONCE AGAIN:
- Union Home Minister Amit Shah inaugurates and lays foundation stone for several development projects worth over 1,700 crore rupees in Assam; Says, India-EU Trade deal will boost Assam’s tea export to Europe.
- Indian Railways speeds Up Kavach 4.0 safety rollout with 472 km commissioned across three sections
- Coordination between Ministry of Railways and Department of Fertilizers results in significant boost in Kharif and Rabi crop supplies says, government.
- U.S. President Donald Trump nominates Kevin Warsh as next Federal Reserve Chairman.
- In Tennis, Novak Djokovic to face world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz in Men’s Singles title clash of Australian Open on Sunday.
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