Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presents the Interim Budget 2024 from Parliament

Union Interim Budget 2024: Live from Parliament

A section of Akasa Air has written to the civil aviation ministry seeking a probe into the airline's hiring practices, alleging rostering issues and other lapses.
Among others, these pilots have claimed that some operating crew do not report to work on time and claimed that there are issues with reporting of On Time Performance.
On Thursday, the section of the pilots sent an e-mail to Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu, Civil Aviation Secretary, and Director General of Civil Aviation, flagging various issues at the airline.
There was no immediate comment from Akasa Air.
In the e-mail, the pilots have sought an investigation into the airline's hiring practices, claiming that hiring was being done at the whims and fancies of a chosen few.
It also alleged that the carrier does not have a stable roster.
Recently, the section of pilots had raised concerns about alleged training and safety issues at the airline even though the airline had rejected them as baseless and untrue.
In

Among others, these pilots have claimed that some operating crew do not report to work on time and claimed that there are issues with reporting of On Time Performance

The comments came after the leader of the $254 billion Indian IT sector reported a decline in North American revenue for the fifth-straight quarter

Its request, to build artificial-intelligence (AI) computing capacity, came on August 16 last year

The Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) LVM3 rocket will launch in March a communication satellite of a US-based firmT SpaceMobile that plans to provide space-based cellular broadband network services on smartphones.
"The commercial LVM3-M5 mission, set for March, will deploy BlueBird Block-2 satellites under a contract with the US-basedT SpaceMobile," an official statement said.
The statement came after Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh reviewed the functioning of the Department of Space with senior officials, including the outgoing ISRO chairman S Somanath, his successor V Narayanan and Pawan Kumar Goenka, Chairman of Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe).
Narayanan, who will succeed Somanath on January 14, during the meeting outlined a strategic roadmap for expanding the ISRO's global footprint.
The joint NASA-ISRO satellite  NISAR  and a navigation satellite NVS-02 are set for launch in February on board two separate missions o

The commercial LVM3-M5 mission, set for March, will deploy BlueBird Block-2 satellites under a contract with the US-basedT SpaceMobile

The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a batch of pleas seeking to review its October 2023 verdict declining legal sanction to same-sex marriage.
A five-judge bench of Justices B R Gavai, Surya Kant, B V Nagarathna, P S Narasimha and Dipankar Datta took up about 13 petitions related to the matter in chambers and dismissed them.
"We do not find any error apparent on the face of the record. We further find that the view expressed in both the judgements is in accordance with law and as such, no interference is warranted. Accordingly, the review petitions are dismissed," the bench said.
It said the judges have carefully gone through the judgements delivered by Justice (since retired) S Ravindra Bhat speaking for himself and for Justice (since retired) Hima Kohli as well as the concurring opinion expressed by Justice Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha, constituting the majority view.
The bench also rejected a prayer made in the review petitions for hearing in an open court.
According to ...

The bench said that we do not find any error apparent on the face of the record. The view expressed in both the judgements is in accordance with law and as such, no interference is warranted

India's ranking has dropped by five points to 85 this year in a global passport index, topped by Singapore for the second consecutive year.
The data draws from Henley Passport Index released by citizenship advisory firm Henley & Partners on Wednesday.
"With historical data spanning 19 years, the Henley Passport Index is the only one of its kind based on exclusive data from the International Air Transport Authority (IATA). The index includes 199 different passports and 227 different travel destinations," according to its website.
The index is considered the standard reference tool for global citizens and sovereign states when assessing where a passport ranks on the global mobility spectrum, it said.
As per the index for 2025, India stands at 85th while the ranking of Pakistan and Bangladesh stood at 103rd (101st in 2024) and 100th (97th in 2024), respectively.
India's ranking in the Henley Passport Index for 2024 was 80th globally.
According to a data chart available on the firm's

As per the index for 2025, India stands at 85th while the ranking of Pakistan and Bangladesh stood at 103rd (101st in 2024) and 100th (97th in 2024), respectively

The official said around 35,000 customs cases, involving over around Rs 50,000 crore are currently pending across various courts

In a significant reshuffle within the Finance Ministry, senior IAS officer Arunish Chawla has been reassigned from his position as revenue secretary to head the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM), a move which comes three weeks ahead of the Union Budget.
DIPAM secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey has been appointed as the new revenue secretary in place of Chawla, according to a personnel ministry order. Pandey is also the finance secretary.
The changes come at a time when the Finance Ministry is working on the the Union Budget, scheduled for presentation on February 1. Wednesday's reshuffle is seen as the government's strategic adjustments as it gears up for the crucial financial planning period ahead.
Chawla, a 1992-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of Bihar cadre, was appointed as the revenue secretary only on December 25 last year. He was then working as the Secretary, Department of Pharmaceuticals.
He will also hold additional charge of the pos

DIPAM secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey has been appointed as the new revenue secretary in place of Chawla

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Union Interim Budget 2024: Live from Parliament

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presents the Interim Budget 2024 from Parliament

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