February 08, 2026
35 articles published on this date
CBDT Chairman Rules Out Sunset Date for Old Tax Regime, Says 95% Refunds Disbursed
CBDT Chairman Ravi Agrawal confirmed that the Income Tax Department has no 'sunset date' in mind for discontinuing the old tax regime, even though 88% of...
16th Finance Commission: Poll-Bound States See Divergent Tax Share Outcomes
The 16th Finance Commission (16th FC) report for 2026-31 revealed divergent outcomes for poll-bound states in their share of central tax devolution. Kerala...
51 Maoists Surrender in Sukma and Bijapur as March 2026 Deadline Approaches
A total of 51 Maoists, carrying a collective bounty of Rs 1.61 crore, surrendered before police in Chhattisgarh's Bastar division on 7 February 2026. Of the...
Tamil Nadu Slows Land Acquisition for Hosur Airport but Keeps Project Alive
The Tamil Nadu government has slowed the land acquisition process for the proposed Hosur greenfield airport in Krishnagiri district, though the project...
CCMB Scientists Discover Metabolic Trigger That Drives Deadly Fungal Infections
Scientists at CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad, led by Dr. Sriram Varahan, discovered that a metabolic link between...
Meghalaya Orders Massive Crackdown on Illegal Rat-Hole Mines After 27 Deaths
Following the explosion that killed 27 miners in an illegal rat-hole mine at Mynsyngat village, East Jaintia Hills, on 5 February 2026, the Meghalaya...
CPI (Maoist) Reduced to 'Near Skeleton': Cadre Strength at One-Tenth of Peak
The Communist Party of India (Maoist), or CPI (Maoist), has been reduced to approximately one-tenth of its operational strength compared to its peak...
PM Modi's Call for Zero Tolerance on Terrorism During Malaysia Visit
During his visit to Malaysia on February 8, 2026, Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared India's position on terrorism as 'no double standards, no...
Karnataka to Get New Vande Bharat Express on Bengaluru-Mangaluru Route
Indian Railways is planning to launch a new Vande Bharat Express service connecting Bengaluru and Mangaluru, with extension to Karwar along Karnataka's...
Karnataka Demands Third Bullet Train Corridor on Bengaluru-Pune Route
Karnataka's political leaders, including Union Minister Pralhad Joshi and former CM H.D. Kumaraswamy, have urged the Centre to approve a third high-speed...
India-Canada Security Information Channel Reopens After NSA Doval's Ottawa Visit
National Security Advisor Ajit Doval visited Canada and held talks with Nathalie Drouin, Deputy Clerk and National Security and Intelligence Advisor to the...
Election Commission Clarifies: Only ERO, Not Micro Observers, Can Decide Elector Eligibility
The Election Commission of India (ECI) clarified that only the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO), and not micro observers, has the authority to accept or...
India and Malaysia Sign 11 Agreements Spanning Semiconductors, Defence, and Digital Economy
During PM Modi's visit to Putrajaya on February 8, 2026, India and Malaysia signed 11 MoUs and cooperation documents across semiconductors, digital...
Bombay HC Challenge to Sahyog Portal and Amended IT Rules on Content Blocking
Stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra and senior advocate Haresh Jagtiani filed separate writ petitions in the Bombay High Court challenging the constitutionality...
Rat-Hole Mining in Meghalaya: Process, Legal Status, and Why It Persists Despite Ban
At least 27 miners were killed and 9 injured in an explosion at an illegal rat-hole coal mine in Mynsyngat village, Thangsko area, East Jaintia Hills...
Andhra Pradesh Launches Amaravati Quantum Valley, India's First Quantum Technology Hub
On February 7, 2026, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and Union Minister of State for Science and Technology Dr. Jitendra Singh laid the foundation stone...
Trump-Xi Phone Call and US Allegations of Secret Chinese Nuclear Testing
President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping held a phone call on February 4, 2026, which Trump described as 'excellent.' The call covered trade...
Pakistan-Afghanistan Terror Tensions and China's Deepening Engagement with Kabul
Pakistan accused Afghanistan of harbouring terror groups following the February 6, 2026 suicide attack on the Khadija Tul Kubra Mosque in Islamabad, which...
Why the Thwaites Glacier Matters: The 'Doomsday Glacier' and Global Sea-Level Rise
Scientists from the UK and South Korea reached the most inaccessible part of Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica in early February 2026 to drill one...
Zydus Receives USFDA Orphan Drug Designation for Sickle Cell Disease Drug Desidustat
Zydus Lifesciences received Orphan Drug Designation (ODD) from the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) for Desidustat, an oral drug for the treatment of...
Myanmar's Military-Scripted Elections and India's Strategic Dilemma
Myanmar's military junta conducted elections in three phases between December 2025 and January 2026, with the military-aligned Union Solidarity and...
FPIs Turn Net Buyers in February, Invest Rs 8,100 Crore in First Week
Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) turned net buyers in the first week of February 2026, investing Rs 8,129 crore in Indian equities after three consecutive...
India-US Trade Deal: Debate Over Edible Oil Imports and Historical Trade Pacts
Former Commerce Minister Anand Sharma challenged the current Commerce Minister's narrative on the India-US trade deal, citing historical data to argue that...
Major Indian Refiners Halt Russian Crude Oil Purchases for March-April Deliveries
Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), and Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) have stopped accepting offers from traders for...
India Targets Self-Reliance in Fruits, Vegetables, and Flowers
Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Shivraj Singh Chouhan declared that India will stop importing fruits, vegetables, and flowers, asserting...
Gig Hiring Set to Surge in 2026 as Quick Commerce and E-Commerce Expand Beyond Metros
E-commerce and quick commerce platforms are projected to add nearly 1 million gig workers in 2026, driven by last-mile delivery demand and rapid expansion...
India-US Trade Deal: Government Assures Agricultural Interests Protected Under 18% Tariff
Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal addressed concerns about the India-US interim trade deal's impact on agriculture, asserting that the agreement will increase...
Cybersecurity, Geopolitics, and Climate Change Emerge as Top Risks for Indian Businesses
The FICCI-EY Risk Survey 2026 found that 51% of Indian businesses rank cybersecurity breaches as the top risk to organisational performance, followed by...
India and Malaysia Push for Bilateral Trade Settlement in Local Currencies
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim held official talks in Putrajaya on February 8, 2026, and agreed to promote the use...
16th Finance Commission Flags Heavy Losses of State Public Sector Enterprises
The 16th Finance Commission (16th FC) report (Volume 1) identified Tamil Nadu as one of the top three states suffering heavy losses from public sector...
India-US Trade Deal and Its Implications for Strategic Autonomy
The India-US interim trade agreement framework announced on February 7, 2026 has triggered a debate about India's strategic autonomy, with analysts arguing...
Indian Refiners Scale Back Russian Crude Oil Purchases Amid US Trade Deal
Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), and Reliance Industries have reportedly stopped accepting offers from traders for...
Netanyahu-Trump Meeting Over Scope of US-Iran Nuclear Diplomacy
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Washington on February 11, 2026 to discuss the scope of US-Iran nuclear diplomacy with President Donald...
High-Dose Inhaled Nitric Oxide Shows Promise Against Drug-Resistant Pneumonia
A study published in Science Translational Medicine (January 2026) by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital demonstrated that inhaled nitric oxide...
India-US Interim Trade Deal: Agricultural Tariff Implications for Edible Oil and Feed Sectors
India and the US announced an interim bilateral trade agreement framework on February 7, 2026, under which the US will reduce reciprocal tariffs on Indian...