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The Southern Railway has planned to operate six Vande Bharat trains connecting Chennai with other capital cities of neighbouring states, reported Economic Times. The railways is expected to allot total 13 rakes of the semi-high speed train that can run at a speed of 160 kmph. This is the highest number of rakes being allotted after Northern Railways.

The Southern Railway has also started preparing its staff and maintenance yards to familiarize them with the modern rakes. The ministry, too, has asked the zones to prepare the maintenance yards for the new trains.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi met French President Emmanuel Macron here on Wednesday and discussed issues of bilateral and mutual interests as well as regional and global developments, amid Russia's aggression against Ukraine.

"PM @narendramodi and President @EmmanuelMacron meet in Paris. This meeting will add momentum to the India-France friendship," the Prime Minister's Office tweeted along with a photograph of Modi and Macron hugging each other.

Macron held a tete-a-tete with Modi before the delegation-level talks at the Elysee Palace - the official residence of the French President.

The Tamil Nadu Assembly bill to exempt the state from the National Entrance-cum-Eligibility Test (NEET) has been sent to the Centre for Presidential assent by Governor RN Ravi, according to chief minister MK Stalin on Wednesday.

Stalin told the state Assembly that he has been informed by the Governor's secretary that the bill has been sent to the Union Home Ministry to enable Presidential assent for the same.

"As part of our struggle for NEET exemption, in the next step, we should jointly take all efforts to insist the Centre for Presidential assent for the bill," he said.

A month after touching the mark of 100 seats for the first time in Rajya Sabha, BJP’s numerical strength has come down to 95 as five of its members, nominated to the Upper House, retired in the past 10 days.

The party may, however, once again get the three-digit number as the government has a window to nominate as many as seven new members to that category. Though it will depend on the preference of the new MPs whether they take membership of BJP or remain neutral after being nominated, the ruling party/alliance invariably has an advantage of getting such members’ direct or indirect support in the House.

The French defence company Naval Group has announced that it will not be able to join the P-75 India (P-75I) project that aims to see six conventional submarines built in India for the Indian Navy.

As reported, the Naval Group said that the decision was taken as it is unable to match the requirements of the Request for Proposal (RFP) for an air-independent propulsion (AIP) system. This AIP technology allows a conventional submarine to stay submerged in water for extended periods of time at faster speeds.

The announcement was made only one day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s trip to France, where he will meet newly re-elected French President Emmanuel Macron.