1.The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Thursday approved setting up of the 8th Pay Commission to revise salaries of nearly 50 lakh Central government employees and allowances of 65 lakh pensioners.

2.India Wednesday welcomed the announcement on a Gaza ceasefi re and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas.

3.The government Thursday approved setting up of a third launch pad at Sriharikota to send heavier spacecraft in orbit as it aims to build a space station, carry out human spacefl ight Gaganyaan and land an astronaut on the moon.

4. Google will buy carbon credits from an Indian initiative that turns large amounts of agricultural waste into biochar - a form of charcoal that removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and returns it to the soil.

5. India’s markets regulator is pushing fund houses to popularise monthly investments as low as Rs250, or $3, to expand the reach of equity investing in the world’s most populous country.

6.The Additional District Magistrate (ADM) of Khurda has imposed a fine of Rs14.4 lakh on Parle Biscuits Private Limited for printing misleading information on packets of ‘sugar free’ biscuits in violation of the provisions under the Food Safety and Standards Act (FSSA), 200

7.The Odisha government constituted a committee to develop the State Curriculum Framework under the ambit of National Education Policy, 2020 (NEP-2020) and in alignment with the National Curriculum Framework with local contextualisation.

8.The Odisha government will provide a monthly honorarium of `30,000 to each of the Padma awardees of the state from the current month. The Odia Language, Literature and Culture department issued a notification to this effect.

9.Armed police forces are being deployed to assist Forest personnel in patrolling poaching-prone areas of Similipal Tiger Reserve (STR) spread over Mayurbhanj and Balasore districts.

10.Apollo Hospitals, Bhubaneswar officially launched its comprehensive Liver Transplant Programme .

11.The East Coast Railway (ECoR) has shattered all previous records by achieving an unprecedented freight loading milestone of 200.13 million tonne in a remarkably swift 290 days during the 2024-25 fiscal.

12.In a major boost to India’s ambitious future space missions, ISRO successfully performed the docking of satellites as part of the Space Docking Experiment (SpaDeX) and announced that post docking, control of two satellites as a single object was also achieved.

13.As many as 12 Naxalites were killed in a fierce encounter with security forces in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district Thursday.

14.Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor Thursday withdrew his fast unto death after 14 days of protest over alleged irregularities in a competitive exam conducted by the Bihar Public Service Commission December 13 last year.

15.Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu progressed to the quarterfi nals, while Kiran George delivered a gritty performance under pressure to keep the home flag flying in men’s singles at the India Open badminton tournament .