The Air India Group has started vacating its offices, which are currently being operated from government-owned properties, from this month, as part of its strategy to consolidate workspaces across the country. The loss-making Air India and its international budget arm Air India Express were taken over by the Tata Group on January 27 this year, after successfully winning the bid for the airline on October 8, last year. Besides these two airlines, Tata Group also holds a majority 51 per cent stake in Vistara, its joint venture airline with Singapore Airlines (SIA), and a 83.67 per cent stake in budget carrier, AirAsia India.
Here's a glimpse of all that happened around the world last month, in 20 images.
Thank heavens for these images! From a mesmerizing panorama of the aurora borealis in Iceland to a beautiful image of Comet Neowise, the Royal Observatory's annual Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition has again produced some truly astounding images. Run by the Royal Observatory Greenwich in London in association with BBC Sky at Night Magazine and now in its thirteenth year, the competition this year received over 4,500 entries from around the world. The competition winners will be announced on September 16 at an online award ceremony, and displayed in London's National Maritime Museum that same month. Here's our favourite images from this year's batch.
Lt Col Raja "Grinder" Chari, 39 is in the batch of 2017.
Here are some of the best photos from around the world in the month gone by...
State-of-the-art passenger amenities are being provided to make journey a pleasant experience.
Ola Electric will roll out its complete offering of electric scooters and motorcycles in each segment of the market - premium, mass premium, and economical - in the next 12 months in a bid to push for a near-full conversion of the two-wheeler market to electric in three years. According to Bhavish Aggarwal, founder and CEO of Ola Electric, "ICE (internal combustion engine) products will fall off a cliff." He also says the company is aiming to become profitable next year.
Taking its baby steps towards realising India's ambition to send humans into space, Indian Space Research Organisation on Thursday successfully tested the atmospheric re-entry of a crew module after its heaviest launch vehicle GSLV MK III blasted off from Sriharkota.
China's President Xi Jinping congratulated scientists on the complete success of the Chang'e-5 mission.
The possibility of the use of weaponised drones for terrorist activities against strategic and commercial assets calls for serious attention by the global community, India has told the United Nations General Assembly, a day after two explosives-laden drones crashed into the Indian Air Force (IAF) station at Jammu airport.
The Chinese military, on the last day of its largest-ever military exercises to vent out its anger over United States House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan, carried out island saturation attack drills in the Taiwan Straits, amid global concerns of a full-scale attack to annex the breakaway island which Beijing claims is part of its territory.
The Xi Jinping regime might try to quell internal distress by directing nationalism and militarism against India, warn Ajay Shah and Gautam Bambawale.
Maharashtra has so far reported 54 cases of the Omicron variant. Out of these, 22 are from Mumbai, including cases found through screening at the international airport here, as per official data.
'Queen's mural is going to stay here for years and years to come.'
This week's collection of stories that prove we live in a truly mad, mad world
Uddhav Thackeray and his followers have the option to stop riding a tiger and commence work around a more meaningful and enduring political ideology. It is an option Eknath Shinde's side may not have, supported as they were by the BJP, to maintain continuity of the old Sena, argues Shyam G Menon.
Recently, world headlines buzzed with Elon Musk's announcement that he was shelving his audacious bid for social media platform Twitter. Away from the media spotlight, questions are being asked about the maverick billionaire's plans in India, too. A few days ago, a Reuters report said Musk's flagship Tesla had put on hold its plan to launch electric cars in India.
With his eye on next year's Party Congress, Xi Jinping is using the CCP's centenary celebrations to publicise the benefits for China from its leadership, and boost his image and contribution to China's rise, observes Jayadeva Ranade, the distinguished China expert and retired RA&W officer.
It is for the investigating agencies to probe all aspects of the assassination, including a possible Chinese hand, or if the killer was just a disgruntled element who acted on his own and wanted to earn some dark space in history like Nathuram Godse or Lee Harvey Oswald, notes Japan expert Rajaram Panda.
The school was run on strict Gandhian lines, with stress on students doing things themselves. Physical comforts were minimal, in keeping with the relatively backward geographical area. But it had a staff of teachers dedicated to educating their students, not just imparting them book-learning, remembers Shreekant Sambrani.
'We have to do everything in our power to get as many Academy members to watch the film as possible.' 'After that, I am confident, my film will speak for itself.'
Here's your weekly digest of the craziest stories from around the world.
A slew of draft documents -- for Request for Qualification (RFQ), Concession Agreement Guiding Principles, Project Information Memorandum (PIM) along with a presentation on the salient features of the project -- for discussion on private participation in passenger trains have been uploaded by Niti Ayog on its website which outline the railways' plans of running 150 trains on 100 routes by private operators, envisaging an investment of Rs 22,500 crore.
The Taliban is showing its strong discontent as the high hopes given to it by the Pakistani military have been dashed, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'A participant in many rounds of the border talks with China once told me that China seemed not interested in resolving the border issue as it wanted to keep it as a ready excuse to intervene in the sub-continent,' says Colonel (retd) Anil A Athale.
'If your oxygen saturation is okay and is maintained after the six-minute walk test -- which has been described all over the world -- and you do not have an unrelenting fever, then you can even be managed at home.'
Here is a look at some of Aseem Chhabra's favourite memories of 2020 in Hindi cinema, performances by well-known and new actors, special moments in films and shows.
We bring you a presentation of some of the best photos from around the world in the month gone by
Telecom regulator Trai on Monday recommended about 39 per cent reduction in the reserve or floor price for the sale of spectrum for mobile services, including the latest 5G offering, as it looked to match revenue expectations with the industry's paying capacity. With large swathes of spectrum remaining unsold in the last two auctions, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) recommended to the government for selling airwaves in all existing bands of 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, 2500 MHz and new slots of 600 MHz, 3300-3670 MHz and 24.25-28.5 GHz. It has suggested a lower reserve price for all bands, compared to the prices proposed in the previous recommendations in 2018.
'Others will think twice before attacking our space assets.'
An ISRO official said: "Unless and until everything is intact (lander), it's very difficult (to re-establish contact). Chances are less. Only if it had soft-landing, and if all systems functioned, then only communication can be restored. Things are bleak as of now."
Modi, in his address at the ISRO centre asked the scientists not to get disheartened by the hurdles in the lunar mission Chandrayaan-2 and asserted that there will be a "new dawn".
'It has taken us 15 years to get to where we are. It obviously doesn't happen overnight.'
IMD has decided to increasingly use cutting-edge technology such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) in forecasting, both to avoid such glitches and to counter the disruption of normal seasonal patterns as a result of climate change. It has formed various internal sub-groups of senior officials and meteorologists to decide on how best to use AI and ML in predicting cyclone intensity, and in making short-range weather forecasts (those valid for up to three hours) as well as long-range forecasts.
Aviation turbine fuel accounts for 35-40 per cent of the total operating cost of an Indian airline.
With the insistence on data centres to be onshore, entities in real estate believe there is going to be a rise in demand for specialised Grade-A commercial spaces to set these up.
'Wherever in the world there is political instability, those countries are beset with severe crises today. But India is in a much better position than the rest of the world due to the decisions taken by my government in the national interest,' President Droupadi Murmu said in her address to both Houses of Parliament.
We sorted through countless photographs taken around the world to come up with the top photos of 2019. Together these images tell the story of the year -- capturing moments of hope and heartbreak, triumph and tragedy.
India will shortly unveil a 'One Nation-One Card policy' for public transport that will entail connectivity between various modes of transport
A round-up of our favourite photographs from the week gone by
