The death of four cheetah cubs at Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh on May 13, 2026, in a suspected leopard attack, serves as a poignant reminder of the challenges facing India’s ambitious wildlife conservation programmes. The cubs, born on April 11, were the first to be born in open forest since Project Cheetah was…
The Union government has notified the discontinuation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, effective July 1, 2026, triggering immediate calls for an all-India strike by MGNREGS workers on May 15 and severe criticism from farmer and labour organisations. The NREGA Sangharsh Morcha and the All India Kisan Sabha described the scheme as…
The India Meteorological Department unveiled a landmark advancement in meteorological science on May 13, 2026: a new forecast system capable of generating block-level predictions of the monsoon’s arrival across 15 States, covering approximately 3,196 blocks. Historically, monsoon arrival forecasts have been available only at the State or district level, meaning that farmers in a block…
The BRICS Foreign Ministers’ Meeting scheduled for May 14-15, 2026, in New Delhi, under India’s chairmanship of the grouping, was immediately overshadowed by China’s announcement that Foreign Minister Wang Yi would not attend, citing “scheduling reasons” connected to U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing. The Chinese Ambassador to India, Xu Feihong, will represent Beijing…
India’s retail inflation, measured by the Consumer Price Index, accelerated to 3.48 percent in April 2026 from 3.40 percent in March, reaching a 13-month high even as it came in below most economists’ expectations. The acceleration was primarily driven by food and beverages inflation climbing to 4 percent from 3.7 percent, and a sharp rise…
The cancellation of NEET-UG 2026, conducted on May 3, marks the first full-scale scrapping of this critical national medical entrance examination since its introduction in 2013. The National Testing Agency announced the cancellation after a whistleblower’s complaint on May 7 led investigators to a handwritten “guess paper” circulating on messaging groups, which matched a significant…
India’s International Big Cat Alliance (IBCA), the global initiative spearheaded by India to focus concerted international attention on the conservation of seven big cat species — tiger, lion, leopard, cheetah, puma, jaguar, and snow leopard — is set to hold its inaugural summit in New Delhi from June 1 to 3, 2026, with representatives from…
The Solid Waste Management Rules, 2026, notified in supersession of the 2016 Rules and brought into effect from April 1, 2026, represent India’s most ambitious attempt at reforming urban and rural waste governance since the Swachh Bharat Mission was launched in 2014. The Rules seek to improve source segregation, regulate bulk waste generators, promote scientific…
On May 5, 2026, Apple Inc. agreed to pay 250 million dollars to settle a class action lawsuit in the United States over misleading advertising of its AI-powered Siri assistant. Apple had marketed the iPhone 16 in September 2024 with bold claims that Siri had been fundamentally reinvented — capable of understanding context across apps,…
The state visit of Vietnamese President Tô Lâm to India from May 5 to 7, 2026, marked a qualitative leap in bilateral relations with the formal elevation of ties to an Enhanced Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. The visit yielded a wide range of agreements spanning defence, technology, finance, energy, and critical minerals, signalling that the India-Vietnam…