Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to lay the foundation stone for a new greenfield township in Ayodhya, a project estimated at over ₹2180 crore. As per an official government statement, he’ll commence the inauguration of the railway station at 11.15 am, marking the launch of new Amrit Bharat and Vande Bharat trains. Additionally, several other railway initiatives will be dedicated to the nation. Following this, at 12.15 pm, PM Modi is scheduled to inaugurate the recently constructed Ayodhya Airport. Subsequently, around 1 pm, he will take part in a public event where he’ll unveil, dedicate, and lay the groundwork for multiple development ventures valued at more than ₹15,700 crore in the state. Dig deeper

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Ratan Tata, who initially put in ₹66 lakh for a 0.02% stake in FirstCry, is planning to divest all 77,900 shares at an average price of ₹84.72 per share, as outlined in the draft red herring prospectus submitted to SEBI on Thursday. Brainbees, the parent entity of the online retailer, aims to issue fresh shares totaling ₹1,816 crore, while existing investors intend to sell off 54.39 million shares through Offer For Sale, as detailed in the DRHP. Key sellers in the OFS include SoftBank’s SVF Frog (Cayman) with 20.3 million shares, followed by Mahindra & Mahindra with 2.8 million shares, PI Opportunities Fund-1 with 8.6 million shares, TPG Growth V SF Markets Pte. with 3.9 million shares, and NewQuest Asia Investments with 3 million shares. Dig deeper

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Latest News

AMC draws up a plan to revamp Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel stadium Dig deeper

Noida: Three-day holiday for school students from December 29 Dig deeper

India News

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Global Matters

Pakistan’s election body accepted former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s nomination for the 2024 national elections, ARY News reported. This means that no objections have been raised to 73-year-old Nawaz Sharif’s candidature have been raised as he will now contest both from Lahore and Mansahra city of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. His younger brother and former premier Shehbaz Sharif claimed that Nawaz Sharif is going to be the next prime minister of Pakistan for a record fourth time after the general election in February. “Nawaz Sharif is going to the PM for the fourth time by the will of God after (Feb 8, 2024) polls,” Shehbaz Sharif said, adding, “We have made Pakistan economically strong again under the leadership of Nawaz Sharif.”

Entertainment News

Vijayakanth’s death has left a void that cannot be filled, state fans and celebs alike on social media. The actor who passed away at age 71 on Thursday morning was known not just for his philanthropy, but for also encouraging new talent in Tamil cinema. Actor Sonu Sood is one of the many who got a kickstart in the film industry thanks to him. Talking to Hindustan Times, Sonu reminisces about his debut film, his association with the late actor-politician and more. Dig deeper

Sports News

If it was former India head coach Ravi Shastri slamming India’s tactics of starting the second session of Day 2 with Shardul Thakur and Prasidh Krishna instead of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj, it was the legendary Sunil Gavaskar launching an attack on the body language of the Indian players in the morning session of Day 3 of the first Test against South Africa. Gavaskar said India’s body language and performance in the first hour of play on Thursday at the Supersport Park in Centurion was “listless” and they needed to wake up from the slumber as soon as possible. India did start with Bumrah and Siraj but the moment captain Rohit Sharma took them off the attack to preserve them for the second new ball, the floodgates opened. Dig deeper

That’s all we have at this hour in our evening briefing. Catch you tomorrow morning.