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The Indian Railways continues to refuse concessions to senior citizens citing subsidy bills, data accessed through RTI inquires revealed.

Ministry of Railway released a document answering some RTI queries on Wednesday.

Even after the end of the first and second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, the railways are yet to restore concessions on train fares for senior citizens. The Indian Railways withdrew concessions for senior citizens in March 2020, but continued to subsidise train tickets for Members of Parliament (MPs) and ex MPs, a news channel said in a report.

Discussions with international engine manufacturers on the co-development of the engine for the fifth generation Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) are still under way. Sources within the Defence PSUs involved in the development of the aircraft confirm that the talks are at a nascent stage.

A Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) officer on condition of anonymity told The Indian Express that the final call will be taken by the Ministry of Defence (MoD). “The co-development of the engine of AMCA will happen with an international partner. We are seeing what engine manufacturers are offering regarding the Transfer of Technology (TT) and development costs. So we have not yet finalised the manufacturer .”

Bhushan Gagrani, an IAS officer who was part of the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) during the BJP government in Maharashtra headed by Devendra Fadnavis, was on Wednesday appointed as the additional chief secretary to the new CM Eknath Shinde.

The Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer from the 1990-batch will be the additional chief secretary to Shinde, who took oath of his new office on June 30, an official release said.

Gagrani previously served as the principal secretary to then-chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who headed the Shiv Sena-BJP government from 2014 to 2019.

After the NDA alliance nominated West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar as their Vice Presidential candidate, many are wondering if this was Prime Minister Narendra Modi's manner of fulfilling West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's demand. It is a known fact that Banerjee and her state governor Dhankhar shared a turbulent relationship and often got into public tiffs over their differences. 

However, now that Dhankhar is taking part in the VP race, he would resign as governor, bringing relief to Banerjee. Along with relief, it may also incite a slight fear or worry about who the next governor could be.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla Tuesday recognised Rahul Shewale as the floor leader of the party in the lower house. This came after 12 of the 19 Shiv Sena Members of Parliament (MPs) in the Lok Sabha including Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde`s son Shrikant Shinde, requested the Speaker for the change.

Speaking to a news agency, Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) leader Rahul Shewale said, "Many MPs were upset with the work of the internal group leader Vinayak Raut so we had written to the Speaker to change the group leader. The Speaker will take action on this. Our chief whip will be the same, there will be no change."