Local Round-up: First Vandhe Bharat sleeper coach to historic feats at the Paralympics

Local Round-up brings to you what's happening across the country in the travel, food, infrastructure, sports, and herein, we have curated for you, the updates from the weekend and the initial of this week. So, read these out below. 

Rains cause fury in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh

On Sunday, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh received a massive downpour of torrential rainfall causing havoc in the states. After the incident, around 140 trains were cancelled, 26 NDRF teams were deployed and IMD issued a further weather warning. The incident has caused a number of deaths but the state disaster response forces evacuated thousands of people to relief camps.

Mumbai's Kala Ghoda, pedestrians-only street kicks off on weekends

Saturday, August 31 marked the debut of BMC's project to pedestrianise Kala Ghoda's internal roads. This project was commissioned to open the cultural and gastronomic experiences of the street in South Mumbai for citizens. All the art, cultural and food zones in Forbes Street, Saibaba Road, Rutherfield Street and B Bharucha Road were made open to walk-only, restricting vehicular moments from 7 pm to 11 pm over the weekends on a trial basis. 

Sharath Kamal becomes the first Indian ambassador of the ITTF Foundation 

Indian table tennis player Sharath Kamal was elected as the ambassador of the ITTF ( International Table Tennis Federation) Foundation. Sharath, who was elected to the ITTF’s Athlete’s Commission back in November 2022, was bestowed with this honour in the presence of Her Highness Zeina Shaban, princess of Jordan and a two-time Olympian, and Vita Dani, Chairperson of the UTT (Ultimate Table Tennis) League. Sharath is currently captaining Chennai Lions in the ongoing iteration of the UTT.

Avani Lekhara and Preethi Pal create history in the Paralympics for India

On August 30, 2024, Indian Para ShooterAvani Lekhara, successfully defended her women's 10m air rifle shooting standing SH1 title at the Paris 2024 Paralympics, becoming the first Indian woman to win two gold medals in the game's history. In another feat, Indian athlete Preethi Pal also inscribed her name in history as she became the first-ever Indian woman track and field athlete to win two medals at the Paralympics while clinching the bronze in the 200m T35 category with a personal best time of 30.01 seconds here on Sunday.

UPI transactions set a record high since its beginning in India 

According to data from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) reached a new record with 14.96 billion transactions in August 2024 since the time it started its operations in the country. The figure for these transactions was 14.44 billion in July last year. This indicated a noteworthy year-over-year (YoY) growth of 41%.

Federal Bank launches a first-of-its-kind facial payment system in India

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Private sector back Federal Bank announced the launch of 'SmilePay', a facial recognition-based payment system. This first-of-its-kind portal in the country was launched at the Global Fintech Fest by Shalini Warrier, Executive Director at Federal Bank. The model of SmilePay allows customers to complete transactions using facial recognition technology.

People from the LGBTQ community can now open a joint bank account

Department of Financial Services tweets advisory regarding opening a joint bank account and nomination thereof by persons of Queer community. pic.twitter.com/u6GlN4LBQP

— ANI (@ANI) August 30, 2024

The finance ministry recently clarified that there are no restrictions for persons of the LGBTQ community to open a joint bank account and to nominate a person in a queer relationship as a nominee. The advisory for the LGBT community from the ministry comes from the Supreme Court order dated October 17, 2023, in the case of Supriyo@Supriya Chakraborty and another vs Union of India (Writ Petition Civil No. 1011/2022).

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav unveils India’s first Vande Bharat sleeper coach in Bengaluru

In an update on innovation in railways, Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav unveiled the first Vandhe Bharat sleeper coach in the country. The Ministry inspected the sleeper coach at the BEML facility in Bengaluru, highlighting its readiness for passenger use by December after a two-month testing phase. 

PVR Inox plans to shut 70 screens in India

According to the latest report, PVR Inox, an Indian multiplex chain plans to close around 70 non-performing screens across India. These screens are supposed to be shut in FY25 and the company will go for the potential monetisation of non-core real estate assets in prime locations such as Mumbai, Pune, and Vadodara. In response to this, the company will add 120 new screens.