President Droupadi Murmu has given her assent to the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Bill, which aims to replace MGNREGA and guarantee 125 days of wage employment per rural household.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah emphasized the importance of ethical AI usage, intellectual property protection, and fair compensation in the AVGC-XR sector, advocating for AI to enhance human creativity rather than replace artists.
Sunetra Pawar, wife of the late Ajit Pawar, has been appointed as the first woman Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, marking a new chapter for the NCP and presenting her with the challenge of leading the party.
This year's Economic Survey and the Union Budget were more closely followed for more reasons than one.
From EV bus expansion to airport-like terminals and rural connectivity, Uttar Pradesh is overhauling public transport to cut pollution and ensure every village has modern, affordable travel, reports Siddharth Kalhans.
After a gap of more than three years, the central government has agreed to resume the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) works in West Bengal with immediate effect, but subject to mandatory adherence to stringent conditions. These include a prohibition on any work valued at more than 20 lakh, compulsory 100 per cent electronic know-your-customer (eKYC) verification of all workers, and mandatory pre-estimation field visits for all works before they are undertaken.
'This policy is a vision to position Karnataka as the epicentre of India's space ambitions'
This is the first Budget in my memory of Budgets over the last half a century which has embraced upfront, enthusiastically and emphatically, technology, modernity and fiscal sobriety, notes Shreekant Sambrani.
In a world fractured by uncertainty, India stands out for its policy consistency, paired with sustained ambition, points out Pritam Banerjee.
President Droupadi Murmu addressed the nation on the eve of Republic Day, emphasising India's role in promoting peace, the empowerment of women, and the country's economic growth.
The second phase of the Systematic Integration of Rolls (SIR) in West Bengal is causing distress among elderly, disabled, and vulnerable voters, leading to political accusations ahead of the assembly polls.
The Karnataka cabinet has approved eight draft bills, including those addressing hate speech, cattle slaughter, and social boycott, to be tabled in the upcoming legislative session.
'These children possess catastrophically low birth weights -- often 1.4 kgs or less. Such extremely low birth weight results in profoundly compromised neo-natal immunity.' 'The escalation to 97 deaths in three months precipitated contemporary attention precisely because this magnitude concentrates the humanitarian emergency, rendering it impossible for the administrative machinery to ignore.'
Investment proposals for around Rs 1.88 trillion through 35 major agreements, spread across deep tech, green energy, and aerospace, were the hallmark moment of the first day of the two-day "Telangana Rising Global Summit", which started on Monday.
'Maybe he was wrong, but they believed he genuinely meant what he said.'
The Maharashtra government on Wednesday announced partnership with billionaire Elon Musk's satellite communications venture in India to deploy a host of satellite-based internet services, becoming the first Indian state to formally tie-up with the US firm. The government signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with Starlink Satellite Communications Pvt Ltd.
Under the partnership, the Haryana Steelers' performance staff will conduct four masterclasses annually for academy athletes and coaches, focusing on technical, tactical, and physical development.
Asian Paints reported a good performance for the second quarter (July-September) of 2025-26 (Q2FY26), with some help from base effects, despite strong competition and extended monsoon. Volume grew in low double digits in the key domestic decorative paints, and value in that segment grew by 6 per cent. Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) grew 21 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y), and PAT (profit after tax) grew 14 per cent. Asian Paints also defended market share better after several quarters where it had lost ground to Birla Opus.
'At COP30, the emphasis will be on unlocking climate finance, reinforcing the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, and building resilience through inclusive transitions and the mainstreaming of adaptation.'
The reduction in goods & services tax (GST) on individual life and health insurance premiums has been called a "landmark step" for making insurance affordable and inclusive. In a panel discussion at the Business Standard BFSI Insight Summit 2025, Anup Bagchi, managing director (MD) & chief executive officer (CEO) of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance; Mahesh Balasubramanian, MD & CEO of Kotak Life Insurance; Tarun Chugh, MD & CEO of Bajaj Life Insurance; and Ratnakar Patnaik, MD of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), listed what else the industry needs to reach more people.
Batting for further consolidation in public sector banking, the executives of top public sector banks (PSBs) said there should be at least two Indian banking entities among the top 20 global banks.
Adani Group said on Friday it will invest around Rs 1 trillion in various sectors of Andhra Pradesh over the next ten years, deepening its commitment in the state where it will partner with Google for an artificial intelligence (AI) hub in Visakhapatnam.
Opening up the corner office is fine, but will the government be able to attract talent without giving a market-rate salary?, asks Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
By giving students powerful tools early, these companies build long-term trust and affinity.
... with a maximum speed of 200 megabits per second (mbps) across the country for Rs 3,000 per month.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said India will never compromise the interests of its farmers, fishermen and dairy farmers, asserting that he would be ready to pay any price.
Google says its AI models are being used across sectors in India, from improving maternal health programmes and streamlining patient-care to supporting agri-tech solutions and advancing the country's sovereign AI efforts.
'Mohanji is a living example of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, showing that when we rise above boundaries and consider everyone as our own, it strengthens trust, brotherhood and equality in society.'
Cabinet approves Khelo Bharat Niti, says it will bring India into top-5 of world sports
UPI has catapulted India into the forefront on the global digital payments landscape. Working hand in hand, the AePS payments system is making life easy for rural folks, notes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Expressing condolences on the demise of the doyen of Indian industry and Chairman Emeritus of Tata Group, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said he has left an indelible mark on society. "Saddened by the passing away of Shri Ratan Tata, a leader par excellence, visionary industrialist, and philanthropist whose contributions have left an indelible mark on our society," Sitharaman said in a post on X.
'AI analyses body language, etiquette, and communication skills, providing an in-depth performance matrix and a ranking system to help employees identify areas of improvement.'
The bank made a Rs 67 crore net profit, up 21% from the previous year. Its deposits grew 8%, the loan book 10%. Net bad loans dropped from 7.53% to 6.07%. So why was the banker, who headed the bank, not promoted?
While data can empower communities, it reinforces identities, making local politics more caste-centric, with decisions increasingly contested on the grounds of representation.
Such dynamics could lead to shifting alliances and, in the worst case, local governance getting paralysed as each group demands proportional power-sharing, explain Amitabh Kundu and Mehebub Rahaman.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday announced six new schemes and increased the subsidised Kisan Credit Card (KCC) loan limit to Rs 7 lakh from Rs 5 lakh, targeting everything from unemployment to crop productivity enhancement across the country. Presenting her eighth budget speech in Parliament, Sitharaman positioned agriculture as "the first engine of growth" and unveiled the Prime Minister Dhan-Dhaanya Krishi Yojana, a flagship program targeting 100 agri-districts grappling with low productivity, moderate crop intensity, and below-average credit parameters.
In 2023-2024, 95 scheduled commercial banks received over 10 million complaints from their customers. The process of KYC at many banks has become 'HYC' -- harass your customer, points out Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
The Indian economy is projected to grow at 6.2 per cent in 2025-26, slower than earlier estimated rate of 6.5 per cent, due to escalated trade tensions and global uncertainty, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Tuesday. "For India, the growth outlook is relatively more stable at 6.2 per cent in 2025, supported by private consumption, particularly in rural areas," IMF said in its World Economic Outlook (WEO).
The IOC launched the first Olympic Values Education Programme (OVEP) in India in May 2022, with the Olympism-themed curriculum being integrated into the school education system in Odisha.
The Reliance Industries' digital services company Jio Platforms Limited has signed an agreement with SpaceX to offer Starlink's broadband internet services to its customers in India, the company said on Wednesday. The agreement is subject to SpaceX receiving authorisation to sell Starlink in India. The development came a day after Jio's rival Bharti Airtel signed a similar pact with SpaceX.
Redistribution of economic and political power, inclusion of rural areas and the rural poor in development, enhancing access to resources and employment in rural areas, focus on non-farm rural activities, education and training activities and agrarian reform continue to be important areas for public policy. In Asia in general, and in India in particular, poverty has a rural face. Rural development and poverty alleviation are thus two sides of the same coin.
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