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External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday said that India not sitting as a permanent member of the UN Security Council is "not good for us” only but also not good for the global body.

Jaishankar’s statement came in a response to a question on how long it will take for India to become a permanent member of the UNSC.

He further said that the transformation of the UN Security Council is “overdue”. “I was serious when I said I'm working on it,” the External Affairs Minister said, PTI reported.

The minister said that several countries across the world want India to become a permanent member of the UN Security Council as they think "we speak for them with a high degree of empathy and accuracy".

Amid buzz that Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot might run for Congress chief, the senior party leader on Tuesday said that he will visit will first visit Kochi to persuade Rahul Gandhi, who is leading the Congress' Bharat Jodo Yatra there, to contest for the key post.

Gehlot called a meeting of Congress MLAs on Tuesday night, ahead of his visit to Delhi to meet party chief Sonia Gandhi amid speculation that he may contest for the post.

The Election Commission has proposed bringing down anonymous political donations from Rs 20,000 to Rs 2,000 and cap cash donations at 20 percent or at a maximum of Rs 20 crore to cleanse election funding of black money, sources said on Monday.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar has written a letter to Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju recommending a slew of amendments in the Representation of the People (RP) Act, sources in the government said.

The proposals are aimed at ushering in reforms and transparency in donations received by political parties, and also the expenditure incurred by candidates trying their luck at the hustings, they said.

The Rajasthan unit of Congress on Saturday unanimously passed a resolution calling for the appointment of Rahul Gandhi as the party president. 

The resolution to make Rahul Gandhi the Congress chief was proposed by Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot - who was seen as a strong contender for the post - at the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) meeting in Jaipur. 

Rajasthan has become the first state to pass such resolution in a bid to persuade Rahul Gandhi to take over the reins of the party again. 

The meeting comes ahead of the Congress presidential election, for which the nomination process will start on September 24.

Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi is celebrating his birthday on September 17, 2022 and turned 72 years old. PM Narendra Modi was the first Indian prime minister to fly on the ultra-advanced and safe Boeing 777 VVIP aircraft, that was sourced recently to replace ageing Air India's Boeing 747, which was previously used by the Prime Minister and President of India for official travel. India received the VVIP Boeing 777-300 ER duo on October 1, 2020. The plane transports Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his official tours to countries abroad. Here's a look at the India's safest aircraft, being operated by IAF pilots and maintained by Air India. 

The Boeing 777 aircraft has advanced features in electronic warfare suits, it has its own missile defence system called the Large Aircraft Infrared Countermeasures (LAIRCM) which is capable of countering missile threats.