Crude oil prices surged past $100 per barrel on March 10, 2026, breaching a threshold last crossed during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, as Iran’s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz following the US-Israel military strikes created an acute supply disruption of historic proportions. The BSE Sensex fell 1,352 points on the day,…
The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal has evolved from an administrative exercise into a full-blown constitutional confrontation between the Election Commission of India (ECI), the West Bengal state government, and the Supreme Court. On February 20, 2026, the Supreme Court invoked its extraordinary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution…
The killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a joint American-Israeli strike on February 28, 2026, has fundamentally altered the geopolitical landscape of West Asia. India, with nearly ten million nationals residing in the Gulf region, a remittance inflow of approximately Rs. 51,000 crore annually, and a profound dependence on West Asian energy…
The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) confirmed on Sunday that two cheetahs — KP2 and KP3, among the first generation of cubs born in India to African cheetahs translocated in 2022 — have dispersed from Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh to Baran district in Rajasthan, covering a distance of 60 to 70 kilometres. Both…
The 16th Finance Commission has recommended that urban local bodies (ULBs) receive approximately ₹3.56 lakh crore between 2026 and 2031 — roughly ₹75,000 crore per year. While this appears substantial in absolute terms, a detailed analysis reveals that the urban transfer amounts to approximately 0.13% of projected GDP, an almost identical ratio to the 15th…
A detailed investigative explainer in The Hindu has highlighted the growing menace of AI-generated animal videos — hyper-realistic fabrications of wildlife encounters that are spreading across social media platforms including Instagram, Meta AI, TikTok, YouTube Shorts, and X. These videos, produced using generative AI tools that convert text prompts into realistic video sequences, depict scenarios…
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney concluded a landmark visit to India between February 27 and March 2, 2026 — a visit that The Hindu’s editorial commentary describes as commercial, forward-looking, and anchored in India’s growth story as one of the defining economic realities of our time. The visit produced several consequential outcomes: the formal signing…
The Viksit Bharat — Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act, 2025 — commonly referred to as VB-G RAM G — is India’s most significant piece of rural employment legislation in two decades. Passed within two days of its introduction in Parliament on December 16, 2025, it replaces the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment…
The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-ninth Amendment) Bill, 2024, which proposes simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and all State Legislative Assemblies, has returned to the centre of India’s political discourse as the Budget Session of Parliament resumes. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, writing in The Hindu, delivered one of the most comprehensive critiques…
Since March 1, 2026, Iran has effectively blocked the Strait of Hormuz—the narrow waterway connecting the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman through which approximately one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas supplies transit. This blockade, a consequence of the escalating military conflict between Iran on one side and the United States and Israel…