HT Morning News Brief September 1: Centre backs 7.8% growth amid GDP row, F-16 hero Abhinandan quits IAF | Top news

Here's your roundup of everything you need to start the day informed — from politics and world news to sports and entertainment.

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Here's your roundup of everything you need to start the day informed — from politics and world news to sports and entertainment. Also, don't miss our must-read coverage on the team now joining the Ram Temple project, plus an interview with Praggnanandhaa.

Centre defends 7.8% growth amid GDP rate row, explains new calculation method

The government has clarified that it did not revise down Q1 2025-26 GDP at current prices from ₹86 lakh crore to ₹80 lakh crore to make the current year’s GDP look better. The clarification comes amid critics and the Opposition pointing out that the government revised GDP at current prices for Q1 FY26 from ₹86.05 lakh crore under the earlier 2011-12 base-year series to ₹80 lakh crore under the latest 2022-23 series to show a higher growth rate. India recorded a GDP growth rate of 7.8% in the April-June 2026 quarter, the government said on Tuesday. Read more here.

Ram Temple Trust appoints IAF, Sindoor veteran as first CEO amid donation row

The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust on Wednesday appointed a former air marshal as its first chief executive officer (CEO) and inducted three new members as it attempted a major restructuring to move on from the swirling controversy over irregularities in donation collections at the Ram Temple. Air Marshal (retired) Jeetendra Mishra, the newly named CEO of the trust, was one of the top planners of Operation Sindoor and received a medal for distinguished service of exceptional order for his role during the four-day military confrontation with Pakistan last year. Click here to read more.

F-16 hero Abhinandan quits Indian Air Force

Group Captain Abhinandan Varthaman, who was awarded Vir Chakra for shooting down a Pakistani F-16 during a dogfight over the Line of Control (LoC) on February 27, 2019, has quit the Indian Air Force and joined a private airline, officials aware of the matter said on Wednesday. He left the IAF on March 31 and later joined Fly91, a regional carrier, the officials said asking not to be named. Read more here.

CBI names 6 IAS officers in ₹504-crore IDFC Bank fraud case

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday named six IAS officers in its third charge sheet filed in connection with the ₹504-crore IDFC Bank fraud involving multiple Haryana government departments and organisations, officials said.

Those named have been charged with criminal conspiracy, cheating, destruction of evidence, forgery, falsification of accounts, criminal breach of trust and abetment, among others, under BNS, besides for bribery and criminal misconduct under the Prevention of Corruption Act. Click here to read more.

‘I didn’t have a strong will to win. I had to learn it’: Praggnanandhaa on his remarkable rise | Interview

Twenty-one-year old Praggnanandhaa is back home in Chennai, playing pickleball and catching his breath before he heads to Uzbekistan for the Olympiad in mid-September. He is candid, pensive and characteristically droll as he talks about his recent run, growing up in the public eye and evolving as a player. “I’m not someone who was naturally ambitious. I didn’t have a strong will to win,” Pragg told HT in an interview. Read more here.

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