Science, money, and public life in India, with the context to understand their wider impact. Follow developments that matter locally and connect to a changing world.
74 stories & explainers · Newest first
A wind turbine lighter than a paperclip and smaller than a fingernail just earned a spot in the International Book of Records, built by a researcher in Srikakulam using copper sheets and a tiny motor.
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Government spending has carried much of India's growth story so far, but the country's top economic adviser says that streak cannot last unless private companies start building and hiring too.
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GDP measures the total value of everything a country produces in a year, and understanding its parts explains why economists worry when private companies invest less than the government does.
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Ten rupees per student sounds tiny, but multiplied across government-run residential schools in Odisha, it allegedly grew into a cash stash worth over fourteen lakh rupees.
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Vigilance departments are government units that investigate bribery and misuse of public funds by officials, like the Odisha case involving school auditors.
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A meeting that can change what you pay for everything from soap to scooters just got delayed by three weeks, and the reason is a summit, not a tax dispute.
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On September 1, 2026, Air Vice Marshal Shakti Sharma took charge as assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Education), a two-star post rarely held by a woman in the Indian Air Force.
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What if a factory could open months earlier just because it makes an AI chip instead of a toaster? India's commerce minister Piyush Goyal has announced exactly that kind of shortcut for high-tech manufacturers.
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Learn what the Bureau of Indian Standards does, why certification usually takes months, and why skipping it for chipmakers is being called both a shortcut and a risk.
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Since 2020, India has treated money from its land-border neighbors like traffic at a checkpoint, requiring special approval for every rupee. Now it has cleared ₹4,896 crore in new proposals, though officials haven't said how much actually comes from China.
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Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is money a company or investor from one country puts into a business in another country, and many nations screen where that money comes from to protect security and strategic industries.
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Curious why a state can suddenly cancel dozens of exams, as Jharkhand did with 44 recruitment tests? Here's how India's government job exam system is built, and why irregularities can force a restart.
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Imagine studying for years for a government job test, only to have it scrapped overnight. Jharkhand's government has cancelled 44 recruitment exams, from drug inspector to civil judge posts, after finding irregularities in the process.
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In just one month, India used up almost twice as much of its yearly borrowing limit as before, jumping from 9.6% to 18.2% of the full FY27 fiscal deficit target by June.
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A fiscal deficit is the gap between what a government spends and what it earns in a year, and it shows how much a country needs to borrow to cover that shortfall.
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Two separate complaints in Hyderabad have pulled Meta's top India executive into a criminal case over social media posts described as derogatory toward Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
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Intermediary liability rules decide whether platforms like Meta or Google are responsible for what users post, and understanding them explains why a company's India head can end up named in a police case.
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Grocery bills are climbing faster than paychecks in parts of India, and June's economic data shows why policymakers are watching closely as consumer demand cools even as factories keep humming.
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The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) manages the country's money supply and interest rates to keep prices stable while supporting economic growth.
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A spacecraft carrying NASA astronaut Anil Menon and two Russian cosmonauts just clicked into place 400 kilometers above Earth, kicking off an eight-month science mission aboard the International Space Station.
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Imagine your kitchen's rice and wheat jars are fuller than they have been in five years, right before a season that might bring less rain than usual. That is roughly India's position now, and it matters for food prices nationwide.
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Many students and parents want to know why a warming ocean far away in the Pacific can mean less rain in India and higher prices for rice or wheat back home.
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Imagine accusing a rival of secretly luring away lawmakers, then getting a letter demanding proof or a ₹100 crore bill. That is exactly what happened between the BJP and Jammu and Kashmir's Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.
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Imagine your school asking every family to deposit extra pocket money in a special dollar piggy bank — that's roughly what India's government is asking banks to do, but with billions of dollars instead of rupees.
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Learn what foreign currency deposits are and why India's government sometimes asks banks to bring in more dollars to keep the economy steady.
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Ever wondered why the rupee doesn't always get stronger when oil gets cheaper? Here's how currency values really work, with dollars, rupees, and everyday money in mind.
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Cheaper oil is usually good news for India's currency, but a Mint poll of economists says the rupee will likely stay stuck near 94-96 against the US dollar anyway.
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Imagine a wild elephant strolling near a busy highway used by hundreds of cars and trucks every day. That is exactly what has forest officials on high alert along the Chittoor-Bengaluru route.
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What happens when a big public company can't repay its loan? India has a tool called a sovereign guarantee — a formal promise by the government to step in and pay if things go wrong. These multi-crore commitments show up in the Union Budget every year.
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A fishing boat overturned in the sea near Visakhapatnam, leaving six fishermen missing — one survivor was rescued by a passing cruise ship, showing how maritime emergencies depend on both luck and organised search systems.
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When a boat capsizes far from shore, a race against time begins — search and rescue teams use ships, helicopters, and satellites to locate survivors. This explainer covers how those systems work and why they matter for fishing families.
6 min read
Solar panels make electricity during the day, but what happens when the sun goes down? Batteries store that energy — and understanding how they work explains why storing solar power is one of the biggest challenges in clean energy today.
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A thin wafer of silicon no bigger than your palm can power a home — and India is now one of the world's biggest builders of the machines that do exactly that. Here is how photovoltaic solar cells work and why India's solar ambition is changing the country's energy story.
3 min read
Two of India's largest-ever stock listings — NSE and Jio Platforms — are not just money stories; they show how 1.4 billion people changed the way they pay, invest, and stay connected in under a decade.
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The stock market is where people buy and sell small pieces of companies called shares. Understanding how it works helps you make sense of big news like India's NSE and Jio Platforms IPOs.
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When fuel and fertilizer supplies get disrupted by conflict far away, everyday life in India feels it fast — from bus fares to farm costs. Prime Minister Modi's June 2026 Mann Ki Baat address urged Indians to shift to public transport and natural fertilizers as a practical response.
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In Kenya, students and teachers are caught between two worlds: learning better in their home language versus needing English to get a job or go to university. This tension over what language to use in classrooms is a debate playing out across the globe.
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India's government has quietly rewritten the rulebook for factory quality checks — and the change could make it easier to manufacture everything from children's toys to air conditioners inside the country. A new transition framework gives industries more time and flexibility to meet safety standards.
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Global crude oil prices have dropped, which should make everyday goods cheaper — yet millions of Indian families are still spending carefully. Food prices stay high and the monsoon has been patchy, making wallets feel tighter than the fuel numbers suggest.
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A supply chain is the journey a product takes from farm or factory to your hands — and oil prices affect almost every step. Understanding supply chains helps explain why cheaper oil doesn't always mean cheaper vegetables at your local market.
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An exchange rate tells you how much one country's money is worth compared to another's. Understanding why the rupee's value changes helps make sense of news about NRI deposits, import prices, and RBI decisions.
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When the rupee weakens, India can ask its citizens living abroad to deposit foreign currency in Indian banks — but this clever tool comes with a hidden cost that every family should understand.
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Funding for roads, schools, and hospitals in India's Northeast has jumped nearly eight times since 2014 — but Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman says the money must now be used smarter, not just faster.
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The World Bank and Asian Development Bank lend billions of dollars to countries like India to build roads, hospitals, and schools. Understanding how these lenders work helps you make sense of why Northeast India's development funding has jumped so sharply.
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School infrastructure means the physical setup of a school — classrooms, labs, libraries, and equipment. This explainer explains why good infrastructure matters for students' learning and job readiness, especially in government schools.
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A brand-new government school opened in Rangareddy district, Telangana — and its classrooms are designed not just for textbooks but for skills that lead to real jobs. The state government says upgrading public school buildings is the first step toward giving every child a fair shot at employment.
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A Swiss citizen was set to lead India's newest international airport near Delhi — until a security rule stopped him. Indian law requires the airport's top leader to hold a specific security role that only an Indian citizen can fill.
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By the time most people feel sick from kidney disease, up to 90% of kidney function may already be lost — and doctors say regular screening is the only reliable way to catch it early.
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India's Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar pointed out a sharp contradiction: the US encouraged India to keep buying Russian oil to stabilise global markets, then later hit Indian exports with tariffs — and now India wants a clear, consistent answer from Washington.
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When the price of urea — the world's most used fertilizer — suddenly halves in a single government purchase round, it can quietly reshape what a farmer pays and how much the government spends on subsidies.
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India's economy sprinted to a 7.7% growth rate in FY26, one of the fastest among major nations — yet the new financial year brings three serious threats that could slow that pace down.
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At the same moment that Kerala welcomes the monsoon's first heavy rains, the northern plains are baking under a heatwave — and understanding why these two extremes happen together reveals how India's giant weather system really works.
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What if a company's legal charity money could reach schools and hospitals through a stock exchange? India just opened that door by allowing up to 10% of corporate social responsibility funds to flow into non-profits through the Social Stock Exchange.
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Every evening, just as millions of Indian families switch on fans and TVs after sunset, solar panels go dark — and the power grid has to scramble to keep up. This daily timing mismatch is causing widespread electricity shortages across India.
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The monsoon brings most of India's annual rainfall in just a few months, feeding rivers, farms, and reservoirs. Learn how this seasonal wind system forms, why it arrives when it does, and what it means for daily life.
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Fundamental rights are special protections written into India's Constitution that every person can claim against the government. Understanding them helps you know what freedoms you are entitled to and how courts can protect them.
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GST is India’s common tax system for many everyday purchases. It shows how tax moves through bills, businesses, and government revenue.
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When a new Assembly meets for the first time, it needs someone to run the room before a permanent Speaker is chosen — and that role, called Pro Tem Speaker, just went to Kerala's G. Sudhakaran, a veteran legislator with a remarkable political backstory.
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When India's Prime Minister visited Norway without holding a press conference — following a similar pattern in the Netherlands — journalists and diplomats began asking: does a foreign visit require a leader to face questions from the press?
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Urea, the most common fertilizer used on Indian farms, has become 81% more expensive on global markets — and the Indian government is now stuck choosing between paying a giant subsidy bill or letting farmers pay more before the kharif (summer crop) season begins.
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What if the servers storing your photos and videos floated 500 km above Earth? India is preparing to launch its first orbital data centre satellite, a move that could change how countries store and protect digital information.
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Every time you buy a biscuit packet or a mobile phone, a slice of the price goes to the government as tax — and in April 2026, that slice added up to a record ₹2.43 trillion across India. Here is what GST is, why it keeps growing, and what it means for your everyday spending.
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Every day, millions of delivery riders and cab drivers in India work without a formal way to complain if something goes wrong — Karnataka just changed that with a first-of-its-kind digital system.
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Two countries just shook hands on a deal that could change the price of the kiwi fruit in your local market and open 5,000 new jobs abroad for skilled Indians — here is how a Free Trade Agreement works and why it matters.
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When the air outside feels hotter than a kitchen oven, going to school can become a health risk — Patna's government just acted on that reality. Authorities in Bihar's capital have ordered schools up to Class 8, plus anganwadis and pre-schools, to shut early because of a sharp rise in daytime temperatures.
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Two tiger cubs died back-to-back inside Kanha Tiger Reserve, one of India's most protected forests — and officials are still piecing together why. The losses have put pressure on forest departments to upgrade how they track and protect big cat families.
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Every time a chips packet crinkles or a shampoo sachet tears open, a tiny piece of India's growing plastic crisis gets worse — and the country generates over 4 million tonnes of plastic waste every year.
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Acid can dissolve metal and cause permanent injury, yet a ground investigation in Delhi found it sitting openly on shop shelves — no ID, no questions asked. India has laws to prevent this, so why aren't they working?
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A pay floor that millions of workers rely on is being rethought across India, and the change could add real rupees to the monthly envelopes of some of the country's lowest-paid workers. Here is how it works and why it matters.
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India generated 140.6 million e-way bills in March 2026, the highest ever in a single month. This 12% rise from last year shows strong movement of goods across the country.
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India's first Fast Breeder Reactor at Kalpakam in Tamil Nadu has achieved criticality, meaning it has produced a controlled nuclear chain reaction for the first time.
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The World Bank says India's GDP growth may slow to 6.6% in the financial year 2026-27. It links the slowdown to rising tensions in West Asia affecting trade and oil prices.
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UPI (Unified Payments Interface) lets people in India send money instantly using just a phone. Here is a simple look at what happens behind the scenes when you tap 'Pay'.
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ISRO has confirmed Chandrayaan-4, a mission that aims to bring a small sample of Moon rock back to Earth for the first time in India's space history.
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