The Maharashtra cabinet has approved a Rs. 976 crore World Bank-funded project for improvement in the quality and governance of school education in the state. The project – Strengthening Teaching-Learning and Results for States (STARS) – will get central assistance of Rs. 586 crore, and run for five years.

India and Oman in January reviewed the entire spectrum of their relationship and vowed to regain momentum in trade and investment linkages once normalcy returns after Covid 19. During the first high-level visit from Oman since the pandemic, India also assured assistance to Oman in its requirement for Covid vaccines.

The Karnataka government plans to invest over Rs. 2,100 crore in new irrigation and drinking water projects in Belgavi district alone. This is apart from the projects worth Rs. 7,500 crore that are already in progress. The state government has given approval to the Ghatti Basavanna Drinking Water Scheme in Gokak.

The proposed Rs. 9,167-crore multipurpose hydropower dam on river Ujh in Jammu & Kashmir's Kathua has been cleared by the Union Environment Ministry’s expert appraisal committee (EAC) and forest advisory committee (FAC), allowing the diversion of 4,350 hectares of land, including about 680 hectares of forest land and felling of over two lakh trees.

Taking on well-established players like Asian Paints and Nerolac, the Aditya Birla Group's Grasim will foray into the paints business with an initial investment of Rs. 5,000 crore over the next three years. Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman of the group, said paints is a strategic portfolio choice for Grasim.

The Union Chemicals and Fertilisers Ministry has announced a Rs. 50,000 crore investment plan for the revival of four fertiliser factories and the setting up of a plastics park in Mangaluru with Rs. 40 crore funding from the Centre. Another plastics park will be set up at Gorakpur in Uttar Pradesh.

The Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust at Navi Mumbai, one of the 12 major ports in the country, plans to attract Rs 4,000 crore investments from public and private players for its special economic zone (SEZ), as per a draft proposal. JNPT hopes to generate about 72,600 direct job opportunities from this.

To improve telecom connectivity in hilly areas, Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd recently signed an agreement with Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board Ltd for utilisation of 500 km of OPGW telecom network. This is in addition to the existing 350 km of OPGW laid on HPSEBL lines already being used in the state.

The Indian government has invested around Rs. 550 crore ($74.97 million) in the 17-km extension of the 68.72 km Jaynagar-Bijalpura-Bardibas Indo-Nepal railway project. The route includes Janakpur, a famous pilgrim centre in Nepal. The IRCON-developed project is expected to be ready by March.