Armed Forces seek larger retention of Agniveers after end of 4-yr tenure

The Armed Forces are seeking an increase in the percentage of Agniveers who can be retained in the services after completing their four-year tenure, even as the overall percentage agreed upon remains 25 per cent for each of the three services at present.

Agniveers recruited under the Agnipath scheme began their training in early 2023. The initial batches of Agniveers will complete their four-year tenure with the services later this year.

Direct-seeded rice gains traction among farmers amid El Nino shadow on monsoon

For Basmati paddy grower Satyavan Sehrawat, the two biggest challenges are water and labour.

The traditional method of cultivating the cereal grain crop - by puddling (flooding the field and tilling repeatedly to break down soil clods, plug large pores and create a soft seedbed) and transplantation (of seedlings initially raised in nurseries) -is highly water-intensive.

Govt issues notice to Meta on Insta ads linked to child sexual abuse

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has issued a notice to Meta-owned Instagram, directing the social media platform to disable all advertisements and content promoting and facilitating access to child sexual abuse material (CSAM).

Folk icon who broke centuries-old cultural barriers to transform Pandavani

Teejan Bai, the noted Pandavani exponent who broke centuries-old cultural barriers and became the first woman from her Pardhi community to perform the folk form, eventually making it popular globally, passed away at AIIMS Raipur in - the early hours of Sunday after a prolonged illness. 

Pandavani is a traditional performing art form where artistes musically narrate and enact stories from the Mahabharata. While it originated in Chhattisgarh, it is also performed in Madhya Pradesh and Odisha.

From the Iran conflict, four geopolitical shifts India cannot afford to miss

The fog of conflict in the Middle East has lifted somewhat, and one can now discern the geoeconomic and geopolitical changes it has wrought. Whether these changes dissolve over time and conditions revert to the status quo ante February 28, the day American bombers took out the leadership of Iran, or calcify into an invariant structural shift remains to be seen. Irrespective, countries like petroleum-import-dependent India should factor these changes into their discussions on energy and national security.

Rice-to-ethanol policy is deepening economic and environmental stress

The ethanol blending programme is not a bad idea, in itself-it involves at least 20 per cent blending. However, mandating that ethanol producers source a fixed share of feedstock from FCI rice is counterproductive.

West Asia crisis has made India more energy secure

Supply was ensured. Domestic consumption was reduced with 20 per cent ethanol blending. Consumers were protected: Prices for them were not increased in step with import prices.

In climate fight, panchayat must partner in planning

Across rural India, climate change is reshaping everyday life. Farmers who once planned their sowing around fairly predict-able monsoons now find themselves guessing when the rains will arrive and whether they will last long enough to sustain a crop. In many places, wells run dry before summer has ended and households are changing what they grow and eat. This is particularly consequential when set against rural-to-urban migration that is reshaping India's demographic geography.

Al is reshaping warfare: How India can keep pace

The trinity of artificial intelligence (AI), military autonomy and algorithmic warfare is redefining modern-day warfighting and deterrence. The workflows of combat are being infused with AI and driven by autonomy, but what is making them unfailingly lethal is algorithmic precision. Indeed, these three factors are poised to exponentially increase battlefield lethality over the next few years.

The strategic-military establishment in India would do well to take note of this 'Manhattan Project' moment in combat-the deployment of software at unprecedented speed and scale.

2 cr informal workers in India's big cities; Hyd tops with 15.7 lakh

Informal Businesses are widely thought to operate largely in the rural heartland of the country. However, a new government report has shed light on the size of the informal sector in India's urban centres, estimating that the country's 46 most populous cities have 1.98 crore people working in 1 crore informal establishments.

Greater Hyderabad tops the list of cities with the highest number of informal workers at 15.7 lakh, with Kolkata home to the greatest number of informal establishments - 8.84 lakh.

'Ethanol crucial for India; fastest, cheapest way to decarbonise road mobility'

India has a strong opportunity. If policies create economic value for customers - both while buying flex-fuel vehicles and while using ethanol fuel-adoption can grow very quickly. For manufacturers also, scale matters. If volumes increase, engine supply chains can be developed for flex-fuel technology at a larger scale, which will help bring costs down.

The important point is that the transition has to be designed properly and the customer has to accept it. The technology, policy and economics all have to work together and there has to be value for the customer.

OPEC+ okays further oil output increase

OPEC+ HAS agreed a further increase in output targets from August, the group said in a statement on Sunday, adding to global supply at a time when oil prices are falling due to the gradual reopening of the Strait of Hormuz for oil exports.

The oil-producing group agreed during an online meeting to increase quotas by 188,000 barrels per day (bpd) from August, on top of similar increases for June and July.