The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has proposed holding Class 10 board exams twice a year, starting from the academic year 2026. The board has published draft guidelines for conducting these exams twice annually, and it is inviting suggestions from stakeholders and the public via its official website.

In an official notice, the CBSE said: "National Education Policy, 2020 has recommended that students will be given an opportunity to improve their performance in Board examinations."

This was further discussed in a meeting chaired by Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, where it was proposed that two board exams be held starting from the 2025-2026 academic year for Class 10 students.

A draft policy has been released by the CBSE, and the board has called for feedback from all stakeholders, including schools, teachers, parents, students, and the public. "This draft Policy be hosted on CBSE Website for getting responses from all stakeholders, i.e. schools, teachers, parents, students, and others (General Public etc.). Accordingly, the draft Policy has been developed after wider discussions and is available on CBSE website, cbse.gov.in. Stakeholders may respond to the Draft Policy by 09.03.2025. The responses would be scrutinised and policy finalised," the official notice added.

Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy on Friday announced that women's self-help groups will be allotted land for setting up one petrol pump in every district.

Inaugurating the first petrol pump set up by the Zilla Mahila Samaikhya in Narayanpet district, the Chief Minister said it was a delightful moment that a women's group has set up a petrol pump for the first time in the country.

He stated that initially, the government would make arrangements for women groups to set up one petrol pump in each district on government land. Later, steps will be taken for one petrol pump in each Assembly constituency.

He claimed that the ‘people’s government’ accorded top priority to the welfare and development of women. "Self-help groups have been revived soon after the people's government assumed power in the state. As many as 67 lakh women members are part of the self-help groups. The government's main objective is to promote one crore women millionaires in Telangana. Women are being encouraged in all fields," he said.

The Chief Minister mentioned that women groups are already the owners of 600 buses in Road Transport Corporation. The government is also providing opportunities for women to set up 1,000 MW solar power plants. Women self-help groups are being allowed to set up stalls at Shilparamam to sell products manufactured by them.

At least five people from Karnataka's Bidar district were killed on the spot, and seven others injured in a road accident near Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, on Friday.

They were travelling to Kashi after visiting the Maha Kumbh Mela and taking a holy dip at the Triveni Sangam.

The deceased have been identified as 40-year-old Sunitha, 62-year-old Neelamma, 57-year-old Laxmi, 60-year-old Kalavathi, and 45-year-old Santhosh. All of them were residents of the Ladageri locality in Bidar city.

According to police reports, seven others sustained serious injuries and were shifted to a local hospital for treatment.

The Border Security Force (BSF) claims to have arrested a smuggler with 12 gold biscuits hidden inside his rectum along the Indo-Bangladesh Border (IBB) in the North 24-Parganas district of West Bengal.

The biscuits weighed 1.406 kg and are valued at over Rs 1.24 crore, the BSF claimed.

"Troops of the 143 Bn BSF, deployed at the Bithari Border Outpost, acted on a specific intelligence input regarding an attempt to smuggle gold from Bangladesh to India and started searching people moving close to the IBB. Around 5.45 pm on Wednesday, they stopped a man and moved a handheld metal detector across his body. A distinct beep was detected, though there was no metal in his clothing or exterior part of his body. The BSF personnel then escorted him to the Bithari BOP for interrogation. Initially, he feigned ignorance, but on being questioned repeatedly, he broke down and confessed that he had gold biscuits hidden up his anal cavity," said N K Pandey, DIG and spokesperson, South Bengal Frontier, BSF.

केंद्रीय जांच ब्यूरो (सीबीआई) ने गुरुवार को कहा कि जांच एजेंसी ने जम्मू-कश्मीर के आईएएस अधिकारी के दो पारिवारिक सदस्यों पर मामला दर्ज किया है, जिन पर पहले आय से अधिक संपत्ति अर्जित करने के मामले में व्यक्तिगत रूप से मामला दर्ज किया गया था।

सीबीआई सूत्रों ने बताया कि एजेंसी ने अब 2010 बैच के आईएएस अधिकारी कुमार राजीव रंजन के दो सदस्यों पर उनकी वैध आय से अधिक संपत्ति अर्जित करने के मामले में मामला दर्ज किया है।

राजीव रंजन पर सीबीआई पहले ही मामला दर्ज कर चुकी है। कुमार वर्तमान में जम्मू-कश्मीर में सचिव राजस्व और श्रम एवं रोजगार विभाग के सचिव के पद पर तैनात हैं।

जांच एजेंसी के अधिकारियों ने बुधवार को जम्मू में राजीव रंजन के कार्यालय और वाराणसी, श्रीनगर और गुरुग्राम में उनसे जुड़ी संपत्तियों सहित 7 स्थानों पर छापेमारी की।

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said on Thursday that the probe agency has booked two family members of a Jammu and Kashmir IAS officer, who had earlier been booked personally in an FIR pertaining to disproportionate assets amassed by the officer.

CBI sources said that the agency has now booked two members of 2010 batch IAS officer, Kumar Rajeev Ranjan for amassing assets beyond their legal income.

Rajeev Ranjan has already been booked by the CBI. Kumar is presently posted as secretary revenue and secretary labour and employment departments in Jammu and Kashmir.

The Morena police of Madhya Pradesh have apprehended the main accused responsible for shooting a five-year-old child thereby “intentionally” claiming his life in Jaura police station area of the district. The child was attending a relative's wedding with his parents and grandparents when he was shot.

According to the official, the suspect committed the crime over a trivial matter -- the child's grandfather had asked him not to brandish the country-made firearm since the children were playing and the wedding procession was about to arrive. Reacting to the grandfather's admonishment, the accused initially left but later returned and fired shots at the child.

In a tragic incident, three members of a family died of electrocution near Pegadapally village in Telangana's Nizamabad district on Thursday.

The deceased were identified as residents of Satapur in Renjal Mandal of the same district.

Gangaram, his wife Balamani and their son Kishan were hunting for wild boars when they accidentally came in contact with a live electric wire in an agriculture field. They died on the spot.

Alerted by locals, police rushed to the spot and shifted the bodies to the Government Hospital in Bodhan for autopsy.

Meanwhile, in another incident, a youth drowned in a lake in Medchal Malkajgiri district. According to police, the youth and his friends arrived at the lake at Yadgarpally near Keesara from Hyderabad to celebrate his birthday.

The youth, identified as Surya, drowned while swimming in the lake.

According to police the deceased hailed from Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and was residing in Hyderabad.

Two persons were killed and six people were severely injured following a horrific road accident at Kulti in West Burdwan district of West Bengal late on Wednesday night after a vehicle carrying passengers to the Maha Kumbh at Prayagraj collided with a truck on the National Highway.

According to the Assistant Commissioner of Police (Kolkata) of Asansol-Durgapur Police Commissionerate, Jabed Hossain, the accident took place on National Highway (NH)-19 when the passenger vehicle collided with a truck at full speed from behind.

“The passenger vehicle was coming from Bankura and was going to Prayagraj. As far as the latest information available, two passengers travelling by that vehicle have died.

“The speed of the passenger vehicle was quite high. Further investigation is on,” he added.

The Mumbai Crime Branch has arrested two persons from the Dadar area and seized a major consignment of MD (Mephedrone) drugs valued at Rs 10.08 crore in the international market.

According to police officials, the operation was carried out based on Intelligence received by a senior police officer and encounter specialist Daya Nayak.

Acting on the tip-off, a team from the Crime Branch Unit 9 raided a guest house near Dadar railway station, leading to the detention of two suspects and the recovery of 5 kg 40 grams of Mephedrone -- a synthetic stimulant classified as a New Psychoactive Substance (NPS).

The arrested individuals have been identified as Jahangir Sheikh (29) and Senual Sheikh (28).