The Airports Authority of India has received a request for a waiver from contractual restrictions that prevent airport concessionaires and their group entities from holding equity in scheduled airlines, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol confirmed in the Rajya Sabha. This comes amid reports of the Adani group's interest in the airline business, despite their denial.
Former DGP R Sreelekha has questioned the Kerala government's proposal to grant menstrual leave for schoolgirls, raising concerns about privacy and whether it empowers or weakens girls.
A US Congress-constituted advisory body on religious freedom, the USCIRF, has urged the Trump administration to revoke the visa issued to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, citing concerns over alleged violent attacks against religious minorities by RSS subgroups.
Trinamool Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Friday said not a single "traitor", who crossed over to the dissident factions to "protect their backs", will be allowed to return to the party.
A government adviser has called for India to reintroduce a petrol variant with a lower ethanol blend, such as E10, alongside the current E20 fuel. This move aims to protect millions of older vehicles, particularly two-wheelers, which may experience performance issues and damage from the higher 20 per cent ethanol blend.
If the government wishes that protests like the one that took place at Jantar Mantar during the last few weeks should not recur, it must refocus its energies on jobs, not just the examination system, points out A K Bhattacharya.
The Congress party has accused the Modi government of creating a "deep crisis" in India's job market due to its "flawed" economic and employment policies. Citing a media report on a 27% decline in new jobs at major companies, the opposition party stated that the government is engaged in "headline management" and "politics of distraction" instead of addressing the youth employment crisis.
As India's decline continued on global indices, the government first blamed methodology and then motives. This is where we remain today as we wish each other and ourselves a happy Independence Day, points out Aakar Patel.
The Allahabad high court has dismissed a petition filed by a minor student of a school in Prayagraj. The petitioner had sought permission to wear a hijab additionally along with the prescribed school dress code while attending classes.
Phishing sites mimicked SBI, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank to steal card details and OTPs.
The Centre has informed the Supreme Court that the 'creamy layer' principle, which excludes affluent individuals from reservation benefits, does not apply to Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs). This stance opposes Public Interest Litigations (PILs) seeking to implement such a principle for SC/ST reservations and to direct the government to formulate policies for more equitable distribution of reservation benefits.
The Supreme Court has sought responses from the Centre, states, and social media platforms Meta and X on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) challenging police organisations' practice of posting content that reveals the identities of accused individuals or depicts them in a dehumanising manner. The PIL calls for guidelines to regulate police social media use and mechanisms for content removal.
India has removed a key regulatory hurdle, allowing exporters to receive payments in Indian currency while retaining incentives under the country's foreign trade policy, a move aimed at promoting wider use of the rupee in international trade.
India's foreign exchange reserves increased by $9.9 billion to $716.9 billion for the week ended August 14, as reported by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). This surge follows a previous jump of $14.14 billion in the week prior, indicating a robust recovery after a period of decline earlier this year.
India's wholesale price index (WPI) inflation marginally eased to 9.78 per cent in July 2026, down from 9.87 per cent in June, primarily due to a cooling in the prices of fuel, power, and food items, marking the first month-on-month drop under the new 2022-23 base year.
A new satirical Instagram page, 'Dimagi Naxal Party,' has emerged following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'dimagi Naxal' remark.
Tamil Nadu Governor RV Arlekar announced that the TVK regime, led by Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay, will take steps to ensure fair financial devolution from the Centre, including pursuing the matter in the Supreme Court. The government also plans to conduct a 'Social Justice Survey' and address the state's severe financial deterioration.
Pakistan is set to host the 14th South Asian Games in April next year across Islamabad, Lahore, and Peshawar, after a six-year delay. While the South Asia Olympic Council has approved the dates and venues, India's participation remains uncertain due to political tensions, despite its representative attending the planning meeting.
'The trigger for the flood was definitely natural, but the damage that it caused was human-made.'
The Maharashtra government has declared snakebite a notifiable disease, mandating all healthcare providers to report cases and deaths. This move aims to strengthen monitoring, ensure timely treatment, and improve anti-snake venom availability, following a tragic incident where tribal schoolgirls died from snakebites.
Senior TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee criticised the Modi government's economic policies, citing rising prices and hardships caused by demonetisation and lockdown measures during an election rally in West Bengal.
The rules require nuclear plant operators to maintain an insurance policy, financial security or a combination of both to cover civil liability for nuclear damage.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar has mandated a uniform policy for all sports grounds in the state, focusing on modern sanitation, separate changing rooms, and CCTV surveillance to ensure the safety and enhance the performance of women athletes. This directive aims to strengthen the sports ecosystem and encourage greater participation from women.
The Supreme Court has reserved its decision on a plea by the Tamil Nadu government challenging a Madras High Court verdict. The High Court had ruled that individuals converting to Islam are not automatically entitled to reservation benefits under the Backward Class (Muslim) category solely based on their conversion.
A report by policy think tank The Dialogue reveals that India's artificial intelligence (AI) ecosystem is primarily constrained by a shortage of skilled talent and a lack of data standardisation, rather than market concentration. The study, which surveyed 308 stakeholders, found that talent availability and data usability are major concerns, with a significant reliance on open-source AI models.
India has launched the ~62,500 crore Mobile Phone Manufacturing Scheme (MPMS) to incentivise domestic production and strengthen Indian mobile phone brands, offering production-linked incentives and additional benefits for local component sourcing.
Actor-turned-politician Kangana Ranaut has publicly endorsed Isha Koppikar's 'andhbhakt' declaration, asserting that such devotion is rooted in love for the country.
The BRICS Youth Ministers' Meeting, organised by India's Sports Ministry, successfully concluded in Visakhapatnam. Presided over by Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, the meeting built upon previous youth engagements, focusing on developing young leaders and promoting youth cooperation among BRICS nations.
Former Chief of Defence Staff Gen Anil Chauhan (retd) revealed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi directed an 'unthinkable' and 'big lesson' action against Pakistan following the April 2024 Pahalgam terror attack, emphasising India's zero-tolerance policy for cross-border terrorism and the need for irrefutable evidence.
A data breach does not end when the headlines fade. For victims, stolen personal information can fuel fraud, identity theft and financial losses for years.
Karnataka Chief Minister D K Shivakumar met with AI major Anthropic to discuss a long-term partnership aimed at accelerating AI adoption across governance, education, healthcare, research, and the state's startup ecosystem. The collaboration focuses on deploying AI solutions responsibly, ensuring data privacy, and developing AI-focused skilling programmes and an AI University.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has outlined a comprehensive plan to empower India's youth, including training one crore youngsters in artificial intelligence skills and providing free online coaching for competitive examinations, aiming to position them at the forefront of the nation's journey to become a developed nation by 2047.
India's UPI system continues its rapid growth, dominating retail payments. Recent amendments to the Payment and Settlement Systems Act allow for targeted Merchant Discount Rates (MDR) on high-value merchant transactions, aiming to create a self-sustaining revenue model for the ecosystem while keeping P2P and low-value payments free. This move could generate significant revenue and encourage ecosystem participation.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'dimagi Naxal' (intellectual Naxal) remark, made during his Independence Day address, has ignited a significant political debate, with Union Minister Kiren Rijiju clarifying that the comment targets those who support Maoists and separatists, not opposition leaders, while opposition figures like P Chidambaram have embraced the label in defiance.
NITI Aayog's inaugural Investment Friendliness Index, scoring 36 states and Union Territories on 84 indicators across eight pillars, revealed that no state or UT reached a score of 60 out of 100, indicating significant room for improvement in attracting investment.
SEBI Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey stated that cybersecurity is now a board-level concern, not just an IT challenge, emphasising the need for caution when deploying artificial intelligence in critical infrastructure. He highlighted that AI for cybersecurity must be secure, governed, and accountable, and also addressed the emerging risks from quantum computing, urging collective resilience and sharing of best practices among regulators.
Why the industry's public position changed is difficult to say. What the developments did establish, though, is that ethanol-blended petrol has become one of the country's most politically and commercially sensitive policy issues.
The Rajasthan High Court has expressed serious concern over rampant construction on Udaipur's ecologically sensitive hills, questioning the state's hill policies and demanding records of commercial project permissions. The court's observations stem from a petition challenging a hotel project and an interim report highlighting extensive hill cutting and inadequate policy formulation, potentially leading to a suo motu Public Interest Litigation.
A new report highlights that publishers need to adopt clear records, AI-specific provisions, and transparent disclosure of AI use to manage legal and commercial risks as the copyright framework around artificial intelligence evolves. Jointly developed by SS Rana & Co and Ficci, the 'Copyright In The AI Age' report emphasises practical governance measures while courts and regulators work on legal principles. It also addresses concerns about authorship, creators' rights, and research integrity amidst increasing AI integration in publishing.
The top 500 listed companies had 860 women directors or board members overall.
