The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) has proactively identified and blocked more than 3,962 Skype IDs and 83,668 WhatsApp accounts used for Digital Arrest scams so far, the Parliament was informed on Wednesday.

The I4C under the Ministry of Home Affairs, in collaboration with the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), launched a caller tune campaign for raising awareness about cybercrime and promoting the Cyber Crime Helpline Number 1930 and ‘National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal’ (NCRP).

The caller tune is also being broadcasts in regional languages, delivered 7-8 times a day by telecom service providers (TSPs).

The government and telecom service providers (TSPs) have also devised a system to identify and block incoming international spoofed calls displaying Indian mobile numbers appear to be originating within India.

Till February 28, more than 7.81 lakhs SIM cards and 2,08,469 IMEIs as reported by police authorities have been blocked by the government, MoS in the Ministry of Home Affairs, Bandi Sanjay Kumar, said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.

Directions have been issued to the TSPs for blocking of such incoming international spoofed calls.

India's industrial growth, based on the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), bounced back to 5 per cent in January this year after slowing to 3.2 per cent in December, according to data released by the Ministry of Statistics on Wednesday.

The data showed that the manufacturing sector, which provides quality jobs for the country’s young graduates passing out of the country’s universities and engineering institutes, recorded a 5.5 per cent growth in January, up from 3.6 per cent in the same month last year.

Today, with the efforts of Vinay Gupta, Project Chairman (Eye Donation) of Vishva Jagriti Mission, the eyes of Sardar Harbans Singh Cheema (aged 86 years), son of Late Ravel Singh Cheema, resident of Khanpur, Fatehgarh Sahib, were donated after his passing. Mission's active member Dr. Hitender Suri stated that the eye donation procedure was conducted by a team of doctors from PGI Chandigarh, including Dr. Mukesh and Dr. Amritpal Singh. The mission extends its gratitude to the eye donor's family members, including his sons Parmjit Singh Cheema, Balwinder Singh, Mohan Singh, Rachhpal Singh, Hardeep Singh, Amarinder Singh, Sukhdev Singh, Ved Prakash, Sarpanch Baljinder Singh, Manjeet Sharma, as well as the entire Cheema family and the village panchayat of Khanpur. Dr. Suri appealed to all residents of the city to actively participate in the noble cause of eye donation so that after their demise, their eyes can bring light into the lives of two other individuals. On this occasion, members of Vishva Jagriti Mission, including Vinay Gupta, Dr. Moti Kaplish, Baljinder Sharma, and Vinay Sood, were present.

Raghav shared his excitement about being selected for the prestigious Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) Executive Education Programme, stating, "I am super excited to be back at school. I am honoured to be handpicked for this prestigious programme and deeply grateful to Harvard and the World Economic Forum for this opportunity."

He further highlighted the significance of applying these learnings to shape India’s policy framework. Notably, Raghav was recognised as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.

Raghav said while sharing ,Amidst a hectic study schedule at Harvard, took out time for an enriching interaction with bright Indian

Rajasthan Royals head coach Rahul Dravid will join the team’s preparatory camp in Jaipur on Wednesday, a week after suffering an injury on his left leg during a club match in Bengaluru. The IPL franchise shared a photo on social media on Wednesday, in which Dravid is seen wearing a cast on his left leg, and captioned the post, "Head Coach Rahul Dravid, who picked up an injury while playing Cricket in Bangalore, is recovering well and will join us today in Jaipur."

The former Royals' captain spent five seasons with the franchise from 2011 to 2015. He began his coaching career with the Royals back in 2014 when he transitioned from serving as the captain to being the team's mentor. Former India head coach Dravid made a surprise return to the cricket field by playing alongside his younger son Anvay in a KSCA Group I, Division III league match in the Nassur Memorial Shield on February 22.

Rahul Dravid and his son Anvay represented the Vijaya Cricket Club (Malur) in a 50-over match against the Young Lions Club at the SLS Kreedangana cricket ground in Bengaluru.

Indian stock markets remained highly volatile on Wednesday, with benchmark indices ending the session almost flat.

Heavy selling in IT stocks weighed on the market, while gains in private banks helped limit the decline.

The Sensex started the day on a positive note, opening nearly 170 points higher at 74,270 and rising to an intra-day high of 74,392.

However, the gains were short-lived as the index slipped into negative territory, falling to a low of 73,598, nearly 800 points down from the day’s peak.

Eventually, the Sensex closed with a loss of 73 points, or 0.1 per cent, at 74,030. This marked the fourth consecutive session of losses for the index.

After the recently concluded ICC Men’s Champions Trophy-winning campaign, India skipper Rohit Sharma moved up to third place in the ODI batting rankings chart, led by fellow opener Shubman Gill.

India lifted their third Champions Trophy title with a thrilling four-wicket victory over New Zealand in Dubai, star performers from both teams have been rewarded in the rankings update released on Wednesday.

Rohit, who smashed a match-winning 76 off 83 balls in the final, jumped two places to third. For his impressive performance in the final, Rohit was awarded the Player of the Match trophy. Meanwhile, Virat Kohli, who amassed 218 runs in the tournament, remains in the top five (fifth place) following his haul of 218 runs in the tournament.

New Zealand’s batters also made notable progress. Daryl Mitchell moves up one place to sixth, while young sensation Rachin Ravindra climbs an impressive 14 spots to 14th. Glenn Phillips also makes a leap, advancing six places to 24th.

Investors in India continued to show strong interest in gold Exchange Traded Funds (Gold ETFs), with a net inflow of Rs 1,979.84 crore recorded in February, according to data from the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) on Wednesday.

This marks the 10th consecutive month of net inflows into gold ETFs, driven by stock market volatility and global economic uncertainty.

The rising gold prices and consistent inflows pushed the total assets under management (AUM) of gold ETFs in India to a record Rs 55,677.25 crore by the end of February.

In comparison, the AUM stood at Rs 28,529.88 crore in February 2024 and Rs 51,839.39 crore in January 2025.

Real estate developers across India embarked on an ambitious expansion drive, acquiring 2,335 acres of land valued at a staggering Rs 39,742 crore in 23 key cities during 2024, according to a JLL report released on Wednesday.

These strategic land acquisitions have laid the foundation for potential development of 194 million sq. ft of real estate which will require an estimated investment exceeding Rs 62,000 crore, the report states.

It highlights that while Tier I cities maintained their dominance, accounting for 72 per cent of the land purchases, the year witnessed a significant shift towards smaller urban centres as well. Tier II and III cities claimed a substantial 28 per cent share of the acquisitions, translating to 662 acres of land.

This trend signals a growing recognition of the untapped potential in these emerging markets.