We must rise above politics for peace in Manipur, says Modi

In his first detailed remarks on the Manipur conflict in Parliament since ethnic violence broke out in the State over a year ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told the Rajya Sabha that efforts were on to bring peace, adding that history suggests that "social tensions" in the State are deep-rooted.

About 11,000 FIRs have been registered and over 500 people arrested so far, he said, noting that when a similar but more violent unrest took place in the State in 1993, the violence had lasted for five years.

Rajinder Khanna is Additional National Security Adviser

Pavan Kapoor, Secretary (West) in the External Affairs Ministry, has been appointed Deputy National Security Adviser (NSA).

In a significant move, Rajinder Khanna, Deputy NSA and former chief of India's external intelligence agency Research & Analysis Wing (RAW), has been promoted as Additional NSA. There was no Additional NSA so far. 

Smart Cities Mission period extended till March 2025

The Centre has extended the Smart Cities Mission (SCM) under the Union Urban Development Ministry till March 31, 2025.

Under the SCM, launched in June 2015, 100 cities were chosen through a competition to be developed as smart cities. 

The mission envisions developing areas within selected cities in the country as model areas based on an area development plan, which is expected to have a ruboff effect on other parts of the city and nearby cities and towns. 

No Indian industry presence in Board of National Research Foundation

The Executive and Governing Boards of the Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF) - a high-level body conceived to give strategic direction to scientific research in India has no representation from Indian industry, suggests a perusal of the list of members made public by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST).

There is also no presence of State universities, which the ANRF had said would be among the major beneficiaries of the new structure.

The absence of Indian industry is glaring as the ANRF Act, passed in August 2023, was expected to galvanise research by having close to ₹36,000 crore or 70% of its five-year out- lay of ₹50,000 crore from "non-government sources, industry & philanthropists, from domestic as well as outside sources".

Centre issues advisory for ads on food and health products only

The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting issued a fresh advisory, asking advertisers and advertising agencies issuing advertisements for products and services related to the food and health sectors to upload an annual self-declaration certificate on the platforms made available for the purpose.

According to a senior Digital News Publishers Association (DNPA), the advisory supersedes all previous advisories issued by the Ministry. It is limited to the food and health sector only, meaning these sectors are only required to provide the self-declaration certificate annually. 

Return Indians stuck in Ukraine war zone: Jaishankar to Lavrov

Expressing "strong concern" about Indian nationals recruited for the war with Ukraine, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar called upon Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Astana to ensure their return to India soon.

Both Foreign Ministers met on the sidelines of the ongoing SCO Council meeting in the Kazakhstan capital. It comes less than a week before Prime Minister Narendra Modi travels to Moscow for the annual bilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

Govt. reconstitutes Cabinet committees, several NDA partners included in panels

The Union government reconstituted various important Cabinet committees.

Most of the panels are headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

According to a government release on Wednesday, the Cabinet Committee on which Appointments, overseas various high-level appointments, has two members - the Prime Minister and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

The Cabinet Committee Accommodation is on headed by Mr. Shah and senior BJP Ministers Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sithara- man, Manohar Lal Khattar and Piyush Goyal are members. Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office Jitendra Singh is a special invitee to the panel. 

India to host 46th UNESCO heritage panel session

The 46th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, being hosted by India from July 21-31, will be held at the Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi.

The event will be attended by over 2,500 delegates from State Parties, advisory bodies, senior diplomats, heritage experts, scholars, and researchers from 195 countries, a senior official said.

State Parties are countries which have adhered to the World Heritage Convention.

Sources said the event, being organised by the Archaeological Survey of India, is likely to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. UNESCO has already released a provisional agenda and timetable for the meeting.

The World Heritage Committee has representatives from 21 State Parties to the World Heritage Convention (1972) elected by the General Assembly. 

Air pollution spikes may raise death rates in cities with cleaner air, says study

A spike in air pollution in Indian cities that have cleaner air may raise death rates higher than in cities that have higher pollution loads. 

Thus, the same increase in air pollution in, say, Bengaluru, can raise death rates more than in Delhi, which has much higher background levels of air pollution.

Overall, however, cities that had high pollution loads saw a greater fraction of annual deaths attributable to air pollution, with 11.5% of Delhi's annual deaths attributable to air pollution, and 4.8% in Bengaluru. 

The latter's population had 30% the exposure to daily air pollution that an average Delhi resident is subjected to, says a first-of- its-kind multicity analysis in India that studied the health effects of short-term exposure to air pollution, published in the peer-reviewed Lancet Planet Health.