THE HEADLINES:
- Defence Minister Rajnath Singh says India’s defence exports to reach 50,000 crore rupees by 2030.
- Electronics exports surge six times in last ten years to three lakh 25 thousand crore rupees informs, Electronics and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.
- Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan says global food security goals would remain unfulfilled unless small farmers are protected.
- US and Italy hail India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor as one of greatest economic integration and connectivity projects of this century.
- Joint Entrance Examination Main session II result declared; 24 students get perfect 100 NTA score.
- Himanshu Jakhar wins country’s first-ever gold in under 18 Asian Athletics Championships in Javelin throw in Saudi Arabia.
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Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has expressed confidence that India’s defence exports will reach 50,000 crore rupees by 2030.He was speaking at the ‘Marathwada – Atmanirbhar Bharat Ki Raksha Bhoomi’ dialogue session organised by the Chamber of Marathwada Industries and Agriculture – CMIA at Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar in Maharashtra yesterday.
Highlighting the achievements of the Modi government, Mr Singh pointed out a remarkable forty-fold increase in defence exports during the current administration’s tenure. He informed that in 2014, India’s defence exports stood at around 600 crore rupees, which have surged to 24,000 crore rupees.
Rajasthan Governor Haribhau Bagade and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis among others were present on the occasion. Mr Fadnavis informed that an additional 8,000 acres of land will be acquired for the expansion of the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor, which is currently spread across 10,000 acres.
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Electronics and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has said electronic manufacturing has increased five times in the last 10 years. Talking to reporters at Manesar in Gurugram of Haryana, Mr Vaishnaw said there has been a big jump in the electronics manufacturing sector because of the Make in India initiative. He said the Electronics export has also increased six times in the last ten years, and it has crossed three lakh 25 thousand crore rupees.
The Minister also said that the government had recently approved the electronic component manufacturing scheme, which will further deepen the Electronics manufacturing ecosystem and lead to job growth. Mr Vaishnaw said, Global confidence in India’s electronics manufacturing surges with rising product quality and stronger IP safeguards. The IT Minister also inaugurated VVDN Technologies, state-of-the-art Surface Mount Technology, SMT Line and Mechanical Innovation Park at Manesar.
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Japan based global digital transformation and IT services company, NTT DATA, cloud platform company Neysa Networks, and the Telangana government have signed an agreement to set up an Artificial Intelligence data centre cluster in Hyderabad with an investment of 10 thousand 500 crore rupees. The agreement was formalised in the presence of Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy during a high-level meeting in Japan yesterday. An official release stated that the upcoming facility in Hyderabad will feature a 400 MegaWatt data centre cluster, designed to host the country’s most powerful AI supercomputing infrastructure with 25,000 Graphics Processing Units.
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India has reaffirmed its commitment to inclusive, equitable, and sustainable agriculture at the 15th meeting of BRICS Agriculture Ministers. Speaking at the meeting held in Brazil yesterday, Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said global food security goals would remain unfulfilled unless small farmers are protected and empowered. He highlighted that agriculture, for India, is not merely an economic activity, but a source of livelihood, food, and dignity for millions of families. He said that the world’s 510 million smallholder farmers are the backbone of the global food system and are also the most vulnerable in the face of climate change, price volatility, and resource scarcity.
During the meeting, BRICS Agriculture Ministers launched the BRICS Land Restoration Partnership to address land degradation, desertification, and the loss of soil fertility.
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In Chhattisgarh, Badesatti village of Sukma district has become the first Naxal-free Gram Panchayat of Bastar division. Eleven Maoists active in this village surrendered before the Superintendent of Police in Sukma yesterday.
Chhattisgarh is moving rapidly towards fulfilling the resolution of Union Home Minister Amit Shah to make the country Naxal-free by March 2026. The Chhattisgarh government has recently launched the Ilvad Panchayat Yojana. Under this scheme, such Gram Panchayats from where all active Naxalites leave the Maoist organisation and return to the mainstream of society will be declared Naxal-free Gram Panchayats. There is a provision to immediately approve an amount of one crore rupees for construction work to such Gram Panchayats. Yesterday eleven Maoists active in Badesatti village of Sukma district surrendered. These Maoists had a reward of eight and a half lakh rupees on them. After surrender, each Maoist has been provided an incentive amount of fifty thousand rupees and other facilities under the rehabilitation policy of the state government. Vikalp Shukla, Akaswani News, Raipur.
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As many as four people have died, and around 8 to 10 others are feared trapped under the debris after a four-storey building collapsed in the Mustafabad area of Delhi during the early hours of today. Talking to the media, Additional DCP of the North East District Sandeep Lamba said, the incident took place at around 3 am in the morning. Teams from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and Delhi Police reached the spot, and rescue operations are currently underway. Nearly 10 fire tenders have also been dispatched to the site.
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The National Testing Agency (NTA) released the results for the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main Session II of 2025 this morning. This time, a total of 24 students have obtained a perfect NTA score of 100 in JEE Main 2025 Paper 1 (BE/BTech). Among the top scorers are MD Anas and Ayush Singhal from Rajasthan, Daksh and Harsh Jha from Delhi, Devdutta Majhi from West Bengal, and Aayush Ravi Chaudhari from Maharashtra. The result, along with the cut-off, is now available on the official JEE Main website – jeemain.nta.nic.in.
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The Government has stated that claims suggesting it is considering levying GST on UPI transactions over two thousand rupees are completely false, misleading, and without any basis. In a statement, the Finance Ministry clarified that currently, no such proposal is under consideration by the Government. It added that GST is levied only on charges, such as the Merchant Discount Rate (MDR), related to payments made using certain instruments.
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The United States and Italy have hailed the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor as one of the greatest economic integration and connectivity projects of this century.In a joint statement, they said the corridor will connect partners and stimulate economic development and integration from India to the Gulf to Israel, to Italy, onward to the United States.
A Joint Leaders’ Statement was issued after US President Donald Trump and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s first official meeting held in Washington.
The statement said that the US and Italy will work together to develop the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor connecting partners by ports, railways, and undersea cables and stimulating economic development.
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At least 74 people were killed and 171 injured in a US airstrike on the Ras Isa oil port in Yemen, according to the Houthi rebels. This marks the deadliest known strike so far in President Donald Trump’s new military campaign against the Houthis, which began on March 15 this year.
The US military has not released official casualty numbers or detailed information about the strikes. The Houthis, who control the affected areas, have limited independent access, making casualty confirmation difficult.
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Moving on to the world of sports, India’s Himanshu Jakhar made history by winning the country’s first-ever Asian U18 Athletics Championships gold in the men’s javelin throw in Dammam, Saudi Arabia. We have more from our Sports Desk:
Jakhar’s winning throw of 67.57 meters, although short of his personal best of 74.56 meters, was enough to clinch the top spot on the podium. His historic achievement capped off a successful campaign for India, which wrapped up the championship with an impressive tally of 11 medals – 1 Gold, 5 Silver, and 5 Bronze.
Next we have from IPL Cricket, where Punjab Kings defeated hosts Royal Challengers Bengaluru by 5 wickets in a rain-marred 14 over match at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium last night. Chasing a target of 96 in 14 overs, Punjab reached the score with 11 balls to spare. Today, Gujarat Titans will face Delhi Capitals in Ahmedabad at 3:30 PM, and Rajasthan Royals take on Lucknow Super Giants in Jaipur at 7:30 PM.
Now moving on to Squash where Indian star players Veer Chotrani, Anahat Singh and Akanksha Salunkhe advanced to the semifinals of the Qualifying Event of the World Championship being held in Kualalampur. Second-seeded Chotrani defeated home favourite Mohammad Syafiq Kamal 3-1 in the men’s event.
On the other hand The 17-year-old fifth seed Anahat defeated Japan’s Akari Midorikawa 3 nil in the women’s quarterfinals. She will take on eighth-seeded Helen Tang of Hong Kong in the semifinal today. Meanwhile Akanksha Salunkhe also made it to the last four after beating Singapore’s Wai Yhann Au Yeong 3-NIL. With Mayur Jain report Shagun Chopra , AKASHVANI NEWS, NEWS DESK.
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TODAY’S NEWSPAPERS HEADLINE,
- Most Newspapers have reported the meeting between PM Modi & Elon Musk “Modi, Musk discuss India-US partnership amid trade war – Committed to collaboration”, is a front-page headline in The Asian Age.
- “India slams Dhaka’s disingenuous call on protecting rights of Indian Muslims”, reports The Hindu.
- Amid the escalating US-China trade tensions, Beijing has reached out to India saying it is ready to help Indian businesses tap into Chinese market, writes The Times of India.
- The Economic Times writes that India’s biggest banks are reducing interest rates on savings accounts as part of a broader effort to protect their profitability.
- And finally, the manuscripts of Bhagvad Gita and Bharat Muni’s Natyashastra are among 74 new documentary heritage collections that have been added to the UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register, writes The Pioneer.
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THE HEADLINES ONCE AGAIN:
- Defence Minister Rajnath Singh says India’s defence exports to reach 50,000 crore rupees by 2030.
- Electronics exports surge six times in last ten years to three lakh 25 thousand crore rupees informs, Electronics and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.
- Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan says global food security goals would remain unfulfilled unless small farmers are protected.
- US and Italy hail India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor as one of greatest economic integration and connectivity projects of this century.
- Joint Entrance Examination Main session II result declared; 24 students get perfect 100 NTA score.
- Himanshu Jakhar wins country’s first-ever gold in under 18 Asian Athletics Championships in Javelin throw in Saudi Arabia.
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