The Supreme Court of India took extraordinary suo motu cognisance on February 26, 2026, of a section in a Class 8 Social Science textbook published by the National Council of Educational Research and Training that referenced “corruption” in the judiciary as a challenge facing the judicial system. Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, visibly agitated…
India has announced the nationwide rollout of a Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination programme targeting girls aged 14, marking one of the most significant expansions of the Universal Immunisation Programme in recent years. The decision arrives at a particularly charged global moment — the United States is witnessing a measles epidemic across 26 states largely attributed…
The successive failures of the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) have prompted the constitution of a high-level committee including former Principal Scientific Adviser K. Vijay Raghavan and former ISRO Chairman S. Somanath to investigate systemic organisational and process issues underlying the back-to-back mishaps. The PSLV-C61 failed on May 18, 2025,…
India’s global trade strategy has undergone a fundamental transformation in 2025 and early 2026. The signing of the India-EU Free Trade Agreement on January 27, 2026, described as historic by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and the interim India-U.S. trade framework signed in February 2026, have positioned India as a proactive player in…
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two-day standalone visit to Israel on February 25 and 26, 2026, is India’s most significant diplomatic engagement with West Asia in recent years. This is Mr. Modi’s second visit to Israel, coming against the backdrop of a fragile ceasefire in Gaza, growing U.S.-Iran tensions, India’s recently concluded trade agreements with the…
The Union Health Ministry’s announcement of a nationwide Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination programme targeting girls aged 14 marks a landmark moment in India’s public health journey. The programme, which will use Gardasil, a quadrivalent HPV vaccine procured through a partnership with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, is voluntary and free of cost. Given that cervical cancer…
The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal has emerged as one of the most contentious electoral law and governance debates in recent times. The Supreme Court of India, led by Chief Justice Surya Kant, has taken an extraordinary step of deploying judicial officers from neighbouring states of Odisha and Jharkhand to…
The deaths of three adolescent girls in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, earlier in February 2026 have forced a reckoning with what mental health professionals are increasingly calling India’s most neglected public health emergency: the crisis of child and adolescent mental health. The intense media attention following the Ghaziabad tragedy reflects not isolated grief but a collective…
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s announcement of a visit to India on February 27, 2026, with meetings scheduled in Mumbai and Delhi, represents one of the most significant diplomatic developments in the India-Canada bilateral relationship in several years. The visit, part of a three-nation Indo-Pacific tour covering India, Australia, and Japan, comes after an extended…
The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls has emerged as one of the most contested governance developments in India in early 2026. The process, initiated by the Election Commission of India (ECI) in Bihar and West Bengal ahead of upcoming state assembly elections, has generated significant controversy over alleged irregularities in voter deletions, claims…