NewsBytes

India’s hyperloop tube to become world’s longest

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw visited the Hyperloop testing facility at IIT Madras on Saturday and said the Hyperloop tube, being developed with the help of the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, will soon be the world's longest tube, measuring 410 meters in length. The test tube located at IIT Chennai is already the longest Hyperloop test facility in Asia. Hyperloop is a high-speed train that runs in a vacuum in a tube. Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said entire testing system for Hyperloop transportation has been developed using indigenous technologies, and he congratulated all the young innovators for this achievement.

1st mobile tower erected at remote CRPF base in Sukma

A remote village in the Naxal-hit Sukma district of Chhattisgarh has got its first mobile phone tower, officials said on Sunday. The tower, installed inside a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) camp in Tekulagudem village on Holi, will provide cellular connectivity to a clutch of villages in the interior region, they said. Tekulagudem was of the first locations where the paramilitary force established a forward operating base in January last year, to undertake specific anti-Maoist operations and help the local administration usher in development works in the area as part of the Union government's declaration to eliminate Left Wing Extremism (LWE) from the country by March 2026. "A BSNL mobile tower was erected on March 13 inside the Tekulagudem forward operating base of the CRPF, which is operated by its 150th battalion. This is the first such facility in this area," a senior official in the security establishment said.

Digital Transformation Award for RBI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday hailed as a ‘commendable accomplishment’ the Reserve Bank of India being selected for the Digital Transformation Award 2025, and said it reflects an emphasis towards innovation and efficiency in governance. In a post on X, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said it has been selected for the Digital Transformation Award 2025 by Central Banking, London, UK. “RBI was awarded and recognised for its initiatives, including Pravaah and Sarthi systems, that have been developed by an in-house developer team. The awards committee noted how these digital initiatives have reduced use of paper-based submissions thus transforming RBI’s internal and external processes,” the post read.

Renowned Odia poet Ramakanta Rath passes away at 90

Renowned Odia poet and former bureaucrat Ramakanta Rath died at his residence in Kharvel Nagar area here on Sunday, family sources said. He was 90. Rath, a Padma Bhushan awardee, is survived by three daughters and a son. President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled the demise of Rath. Expressing grief over the demise of renowned Odia poet, Murmu in a post on X said Rath was a prominent figure in the Indian literary world. “He has enriched the pan-Indian literature with his unforgettable contribution to Odia literature,” she wrote. Meanwhile, Modi condoled the demise of the eminent poet and scholar and said that Rath’s works, especially poetry, are widely popular among all sections of society.