Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during an election rally in Karnataka’s Bagalkote, revealed new details about the 2019 Balakot strike. PM Modi said that he wanted to inform Pakistan first about the strike but Pakistan’s leaders did not take his call. He asserted that he does not believe in attacking his enemies from behind. Watch the video to know more.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during an election rally in Karnataka's Bagalkote, revealed new details about the 2019 Balakot strike. PM Modi said that he wanted to inform Pakistan first about the stri

'Wanted to call Pak but...': PM Modi on 2019 Balakot airstrike

National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has pre-paid loans of worth Rs 56,000 crore during the current fiscal, helping the state-owned agency to save interest cost of around Rs 1,200 crore, a senior government official said on Sunday.
The official told PTI that NHAI's total debt at the beginning of the current fiscal year was pegged at Rs 3.35 lakh crore, which stood at about Rs 2.76 lakh crore at the end of third quarter of 2024-25 fiscal year.
He further said that around Rs 15,700 crore has been pre-paid from the InvIT monetisation proceeds, while Rs 40,000 crore prepayment of loan has been made to National Small Saving Fund (Rs 30,000 crore) and State Bank of India (Rs 10,000 crore), which charge high interest rates.
"NHAI is successfully reducing its debt liability," the official added.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her last year's budget had retained the allocation to NHAI at Rs 1.68 lakh crore for 2024-25.

NHAI's total debt at the beginning of the current fiscal year was pegged at Rs 3.35 trillion, which stood at about Rs 2.76 trillion at the end of third quarter of 2024-25 fiscal year

Electric scooter manufacturer River has announced plans to expand its retail footprint by opening 25 stores across the country by March this year.
The Bengaluru-headquartered company inaugurated its first store in Coimbatore, the second such facility in Tamil Nadu after the first outlet in Chennai, which was established in 2024.
River is backed by marquee investors including Japan-headquartered Yamaha Motor, Mitsui and Company Ltd., Dubai-headquartered Al Futtaim Group among others.
As part of its expansion, the company plans to open stores in Vellore, Erode, Tiruppur across the State. It would also set up facilities in Mysuru, Belgaum, Tirupati, Ahmedabad, Pune, Nagpur, and Delhi in the coming months.
"After the success of our flagship store in Chennai, we are excited to open (stores) across Tamil Nadu. Many of our employees who have been with us from the start are from this region. And it is a special market for us," company Co-Founder and CEO Aravind Mani said.
River currently 

Bengaluru-headquartered company inaugurated its first store in Coimbatore, the second such facility in Tamil Nadu after the first outlet in Chennai, which was established in 2024

ISRO on Saturday said the cowpea seeds it had sent to space onboard the PSLV-C60 POEM-4 platform have germinated under microgravity conditions within four days of the launch of the mission.
The space agency sent eight cowpea seeds as part of the Compact Research Module for Orbital Plant Studies (CROPS) experiment conducted by the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) to study plant growth in microgravity conditions.
"Life sprouts in space! VSSC's CROPS experiment onboard PSLV-C60 POEM-4 successfully sprouted cowpea seeds in 4 days. Leaves expected soon," ISRO said in a post on X.
The PSLV-C60 mission placed two SpaDeX satellites in orbit on the night of December 30. The fourth stage of the rocket carrying the POEM-4 platform has been orbiting the earth with 24 onboard experiments at an altitude of 350 km since Tuesday.
The CROPS experiment aims to understand how plants grow in the unique conditions of space, which is essential for future long-duration space missions.
The experiment 

The CROPS experiment aims to understand how plants grow in the unique conditions of space, which is essential for future long-duration space missions

With Assembly elections in Delhi due in February, political parties are using Artificial Intelligence to churn out creative ads and visuals -- projecting their leaders as heroes and targeting rivals with sharp jibes.
From calling its supremo Arvind Kejriwal the "GOAT" (Greatest of All Time) to portraying him as "Delhi ka Beta" (Son of Delhi), the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is creatively leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) in its campaigns.
On the other hand, the BJP is labelling Kejriwal as the "Original Mahathag" (master conman) in AI-generated videos and posters.
In one instance, a scene from Amitabh Bachchan's movie "Baghban", which depicts parents enduring neglect from their children despite their sacrifices, was modified with AI to feature Kejriwal, emphasising that "Delhi ka Beta" will never abandon the people.
Delhi BJP's X handle also has multiple ad clips, including videos featuring Kejriwal and Chief Minister Atishi.
In one such video, Atishi is shown praising Kejr

The X platform has become a battleground for political parties, where they are using twists and turns to attract voters

TRAI will start, this month, a pilot to onboard paper-based and past permissions given by customers for receiving commercial communications onto its digital distributed ledger technology (DLT) platform, a process that in the long-run would include scrubbing and verifying their current validity and offering opt-outs to those keen on it, Chairman Anil Kumar Lahoti said, adding that tighter regulations on curbing spam as well as new consultation examining an authorisation framework for telemarketers can also be expected in coming weeks.
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has also ruled out any rethink on its latest regulation that mandates service providers to offer separate special tariff vouchers (STV) for voice calls and SMS.
Lahoti told PTI in an interview that while consumers can be encouraged to use data, they cannot be "compelled" to do so.
TRAI's focus is to protect not only the interest of the industry, but also the interest of the consumer, who must have the option 

The regulator in the consultation paper mooted that telecom subscribers making over 50 calls or sending out even 50 SMS a day, along with certain other markers, should be scrutinised

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Sunday urged the country's youth to "stay vigilant" against "anti-national forces", saying it alone will secure India's democratic values.
In his address at a ceremony at the Delhi Cantonment here to mark the formal inauguration of the NCC Republic Day Camp, he also said "nationalism has to override all other interests, personal or organisational".
The vice president said the foundation of "our national transformation" rests on five basic pillars and these include social harmony, environmental protection and adherence to civic duties.
"Our Constitution gives us fundamental rights and we are conscious of those fundamental rights but there are fundamental duties also. Nations blossom, nationalism is nurtured, growth is secured, harmony is stabilised when every citizen of the country believes and subscribes to fundamental duties. For civic duties, you as a disciplined members of the force can really be torch-bearers," he added.
A total of 2,361 NCC .

Vice President praised the National Cadet Corps (NCC) cadets for being a section of the country's youth known for fostering unity and discipline with a sense of service to the nation

Apparel exporters body AEPC on Saturday urged the government to announce tax incentives, including removal of a provision requiring payments to MSMEs within 45 days to claim deductions and customs duty exemption on garment machinery imports.
The Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) has also requested that an  interest equalization rate of 5 per cent be announced in the Budget, scheduled to be unveiled on February 1 by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
Other demands include extension of concessional tax rate for new manufacturing units to encourage setting up of new garment units; simplification in the procedure of imports of trims and embellishments under IGCR (Import of Goods at Concessional Rate); and liberalizing e-commerce export procedures.
"Ready Made Garments (RMG) industry has also demanded removal of Sec43B (H) of IT Act in the ensuing Budget which pertains to payment to any MSME companies within a maximum 45 days' time to claim any deduction in tax. This has increase

The Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) has also requested that an interest equalization rate of 5 per cent be announced in the Budget, scheduled to be unveiled on February 1

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'Wanted to call Pak but...': PM Modi on 2019 Balakot airstrike

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