The government has paid Rs 87,558 crore to farmers for producing biofuel in the last decade (2014-2024), boosting their incomes and promoting the cultivation of biofuel crops to produce ethanol (alcohol) for blending with petrol as part of India's green energy transition, Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Saturday.

Releasing the latest figures to celebrate World Biofuel Day, the Minister said: "India's ethanol demand is poised to grow to more than 10 billion litres by 2025 even as we have continuously been moving our targets ahead of schedule."

In a post on X, he further stated that the blending of ethanol with petrol increased from 38 crore litres in 2013-14 to 508.9 crore litres in 2022-23.

In the run-up to the upcoming Maharashtra Legislative Assembly election, the MahaYuti government's ambitious Nar-Par-Girja river linking project has received an in-principle approval from Governor C. P. Radhakrishnan on Saturday.

The Governor's Principal Secretary Pravin Darade, in a letter, addressed to the State Water Resources Department Additional Chief Secretary Deepak Kapoor on Friday conveyed the Governor's approval for the project.

"After Wainganga-Nalganga, now the Rs 7,015 crore Nar-Par-Girna river linking project has also been approved by Governor C. P. Radhakrishnan, I am very grateful to him. Through this scheme, 10.64 thousand million cubic feet (TMC) of water is proposed from the western channel Nar-Par-Girna river basin, and it will benefit 49,516 hectares in Nashik and Jalgaon districts. This project, worth Rs 7,015 crore, will be a boon for Nashik and Jalgaon districts. This will be another historic step in terms of water prosperity of the state," said Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in a post on social media platform X.

ammu & Kashmir Police on Saturday released sketches of four terrorists and announced a significant reward on each of them for any credible information.

Police in J&K’s Kathua district on Saturday issued sketches of four terrorists and also announced a reward of Rs 5 lakh on each to anyone for giving "credible" and "actionable" information that would lead to them.

J&K police said through a post on its X page on Saturday: “Kathua Police releases sketches of 4 terrorists who were last seen in dhoks of Malhar, Bani & Seojdhar. A reward of 5 lakh on each terrorist for actionable information. Anyone with credible information of terrorists will also be suitably rewarded.”

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said that there was some uncertainty in India’s textiles and garments sector following the political turmoil in Bangladesh but it was too early to say what the overall impact on the economy would be.

She said that Indian businessmen have made investments in Bangladesh in good faith and these resulted in increasing exports and creating more jobs in Bangladesh.

“I hope these investments which have benefited Bangladesh remain safe,” she remarked.

As the Indian stock markets experienced a marginal recovery from the uncertainties stemming from weak global cues last week, the direction of the benchmark indices will be influenced by international markets going forward, experts said on Saturday.

Geopolitical tensions, weak US non-farm job data and Bank of Japan’s monetary policy decision weighted on all world markets, including India.

There will be uncertainties over the unwinding of carry trades, driven by the Yen's rapid appreciation and weak macroeconomic data that fuelled recession fears in the US.

According to market watchers, while the carry trade issue appears to have been eased for now, a gradual increase in interest rates by the Bank of Japan could have some impact in the near future. The Indian market also witnessed broad-based buying across sectors last week, with the realty sector seeing a relief rally due to the reinstatement of indexation benefits.

In a bid to provide seamless connectivity while facilitating ease of travelling in new areas, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Friday approved eight railways projects worth about Rs 24,657 crore.

The new line projects, to be completed by 2030-2031, will generate direct employment for about three crore man-days during the construction period.

The area sown under commercial or cash crops such as sugarcane, cotton, jute and mesta has increased from 18,214.19 thousand hectares in in agriculture year 2021-22 to 18,935.22 thousand hectares in agriculture year 2023-24, Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers' Welfare Ram Nath Thakur told the Rajya Sabha on Friday.

The production of these cash crops has also increased from 4,80,692 thousand tonnes in agriculture year 2021-22 to 4,84,757 thousand tonnes in agriculture year 2023-24, the Minister said.

He further stated that according to the NITI Aayog Working Group Report, 2018, the demand and supply of foodgrains is projected to the tune of 337.01 million tonnes and 386.25 million tonnes, respectively, for the year 2032-2033, which indicates that the overall foodgrains position would be quite comfortable as far as food security is concerned.

Rajasthan has reported the second death from the state due to the Chandipura Virus after a two-year-old girl from Shahpura district died during treatment at a hospital in Ahmedabad, health officials confirmed on Friday.

The deceased toddler's uncle Ramlal said that Ishika had fever on August 4 following which she was admitted to the Primary Health Centre (PHC) in Kothiya. When the girl's health did not improve, she was shifted to a private hospital at Vijaynagar, Ajmer, on August 5.

However, as her health condition deteriorated further, she was referred to a private hospital in Ahmedabad on the same day.

The Himachal Pradesh government will procure up to 20 quintals of naturally grown grains per family at a rate of Rs 40 per kg for wheat and Rs 30 per kg for maize, officials said on Friday.

This initiative is a part of the HIM-UNNATI scheme, which is aimed at promoting natural farming in the state.

With an allocation of Rs 150 crore, this scheme will bolster the efforts of approximately 1.92 lakh farmers already practising chemical-free farming on over 32,149 hectares.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar on Friday said that the commission has set up special polling stations for Kashmiri migrants ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir.

“At least 26 special polling stations have been set up in Delhi, Jammu and Udhampur for the Kashmir migrants,” said CEC Rajiv Kumar while addressing the media persons along with Election Commissioners Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu.

He added that there is no need for cumbersome Form-M for Jammu and Udhampur.