August 03, 2026
42 articles published on this date
US-Iran Talks Resume Amid Strait of Hormuz Standoff: Nuclear Diplomacy and Chokepoint Stakes
The United States announced a fresh round of talks with Iran, describing the negotiations as a decisive opportunity to reach an agreement covering Iran's...
Census 2027 Phase 2 to Begin: First Caste Enumeration Since 1931
Phase 2 (Population Enumeration) of the 16th Census — Census 2027 — begins on August 17 in the snow-bound, non-synchronous areas of the Union Territory of...
Transgender ID Card Invalidation: Healthcare Continuity and Welfare Delivery Concerns Before the Supreme Court
The Supreme Court, hearing petitions on the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Act, 2026, questioned the mechanism by which transgender...
Glaw Lake in Arunachal Pradesh Becomes India's 101st Ramsar Site
Glaw Lake, a high-altitude wetland in Arunachal Pradesh, has been designated as India's 101st site under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. The designation...
UPI Merchant Charges and Extended Tax Breaks for Electronics Contract Manufacturing
A proposal under consideration would reintroduce a Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) on Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions for large merchants, ending...
Registration of Births and Deaths (Amendment) Bill, 2026: Tightening Delayed Registration
The Registration of Births and Deaths (Amendment) Bill, 2026 was introduced in and passed by the Lok Sabha, amending the Registration of Births and Deaths...
Critical Minerals and India's Strategic Autonomy
A recent analysis highlighted that critical mineral security has moved from being a sectoral policy concern to a central pillar of India's industrial and...
Nauru Officially Renamed Republic of Naoero
The Pacific island nation of Nauru has officially changed its name to the Republic of Naoero, restoring the indigenous-language name used before European...
Supreme Court Extends Cruelty Offence to Marriage-Like Live-In Relationships
The Supreme Court held that the criminal offence of cruelty, earlier confined to a legally married woman and her husband or his relatives, can extend to a...
MSME Development (Amendment) Bill, 2026: Digital Registration and Payment Reform
Parliament passed the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development (Amendment) Bill, 2026, replacing the MSME Development Act, 2006 The Bill makes...
Supreme Court Judges Bill Cleared Without Debate: Parliamentary Procedure Behind the Passage
The Lok Sabha passed the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Bill, 2026, raising the sanctioned strength of Supreme Court judges from 34 (including...
Tax Break for Foreign Equipment Suppliers to Contract Manufacturers Proposed to be Extended to 2041
A draft amendment proposes extending, from March 31, 2031 to March 31, 2041, a tax exemption for foreign companies that supply machinery and equipment to...
Simplified Tax Exemption Framework for Offshore Funds Managed from India
A draft Taxation and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026 proposes to relax the eligibility conditions offshore investment funds must meet to claim tax...
India-Uzbekistan Trade: Doubling Target and the Bilateral Investment Treaty
India's Commerce and Industry Ministry called for doubling India-Uzbekistan bilateral trade — currently around $1.5 billion — within three years, at an...
Rajya Sabha Passes MSME Development (Amendment) Bill, 2026 to Curb Payment Delays
The Rajya Sabha passed the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development (Amendment) Bill, 2026, which amends the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises...
Census 2027: Snow-Bound Area Enumeration in Ladakh, J&K, Himachal and Uttarakhand from September 1
House-to-house population enumeration for Census 2027 will begin from 1 September 2026 in Ladakh and the snow-bound, non-synchronous areas of Jammu and...
Ken-Betwa River Linking Project: Experts Flag Water Transfer and Ecological Concerns
Water resources experts have raised concerns that the Ken-Betwa river-linking project will have severe hydrological and ecological consequences for the...
Simplified Tax Exemption Framework for Offshore Funds Managed from India
A draft Taxation and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026 proposes to relax the eligibility conditions offshore investment funds must meet to claim tax...
MSME Amendment Bill 2026 Passed: Mandating TReDS Routing and Faster Payment Recovery
The Rajya Sabha passed the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development (Amendment) Bill, 2026, aimed at improving cash flow, strengthening legal...
India's Power Capacity Roadmap: 874 GW Target by 2031-32
India's installed power generation capacity is projected to reach 874 GW by 2031-32, up from a current installed base of about 549 GW (5,48,858 MW as of...
ONGC to Reserve Half of New Mangaluru Oil Storage for Strategic Reserves
The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas informed Parliament that Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) will reserve half of its planned oil storage...
Government Proposes to Ease Eligibility Conditions for Offshore Fund Tax Exemption
The government has circulated a Bill among Members of Parliament proposing to relax the eligibility conditions offshore funds must meet to be treated as an...
Tax Relief for Offshore Funds Managed by India-Based Fund Managers
The government has proposed easing tax rules for offshore investment funds that use India-based fund managers, by removing existing conditions related to...
India Invites Applications for Tariff-Rate Quotas on 30 Products Under India-Oman CEPA
The government has invited applications from importers to avail concessional tariff-rate quotas (TRQs) on about 30 specified products under the India-Oman...
MSME Development (Amendment) Bill, 2026 Passed: Fast-Tracking Payment Dispute Resolution
The Rajya Sabha passed the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development (Amendment) Bill, 2026, which seeks to fast-track resolution of delayed payment...
Cabinet Approves Rs 5,070 Crore Floating Solar Scheme with Battery Storage
The Union Cabinet approved the Pradhan Mantri Surya Sarovar Yojana (PM-SSY) on 31 July 2026, with a total outlay of Rs 5,070 crore The scheme targets...
Unrest in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir: Governance Structure and India's Territorial Position Explained
Protests centred on Rawalakot in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) have continued for weeks, originating over local grievances such as electricity tariffs...
Tax Exemption for Foreign Suppliers to Contract Electronics Manufacturers Proposed to be Extended to 2041
The government has proposed extending, until 31 March 2041, a tax exemption for foreign companies that supply capital goods, equipment, or tooling (such as...
US-Iran Talks Resume: Nuclear Stockpile and Strait of Hormuz Remain Key Sticking Points
A new round of United States-Iran talks is scheduled, building on a 14-point memorandum of understanding signed in mid-2026 that set a 60-day framework for...
New Taxation Amendment Bill Extends Electronics Incentives, Eases Foreign Investor Rules
The Taxation and Other Laws Amendment Bill, 2026 proposes extending tax incentives for electronics manufacturing to 2041. The Bill proposes easing...
Supreme Court Strength Raised to 37 Judges: the Constitutional Mechanism Behind the Expansion
The Lok Sabha passed the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Bill, 2026, raising the sanctioned strength of Supreme Court judges (excluding the Chief...
RBI's Dollar-Mobilisation Drive Nears $100 Billion: Reserves Defence, Not Rupee Support
Banks have mobilised over $40 billion in the two months since the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) launched special measures to attract foreign currency...
India-Uzbekistan Trade Ties Deepen: FTA Exploration and Rare Earth Investment Push
India and Uzbekistan discussed exploring a free trade agreement (FTA) at an India-Uzbekistan Business Forum, with bilateral trade currently targeted to...
Indian Statistical Institute Bill and Bankers' Books Evidence Bill Introduced in Lok Sabha
The Indian Statistical Institute Bill, 2026, and the Bankers' Books Evidence Bill, 2026, were introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monsoon Session Day 11 The...
CERC proposes transmission charge relief for delayed renewable projects
The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) has proposed relief on interstate transmission charges for renewable energy (RE) projects that have...
Will a repo rate pause make RBI fall behind the curve?
The Reserve Bank of India's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) convened for its scheduled three-day bi-monthly meeting, with the rate decision due on the...
Two-thirds of India’s 58 tiger reserves have either declining prey base or poor habitat or both; nine have zero or critically low tiger numbers, says government report
A government analysis, the National Tiger Conservation Authority's 'Roadmap for Active Management of Tigers in India' (based on the 2022 All India Tiger...
Oil prices tumble as Trump cancels attack on Iran to reach nuclear deal
Crude oil prices fell after a planned military strike on Iran was called off in favour of continued nuclear negotiations, easing fears of a wider West Asia...
India plans ₹45,000 crore rail upgrades along China, Pakistan and Bangladesh borders
India is planning an estimated ₹45,000 crore in railway infrastructure upgrades across states bordering China, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, to be rolled out...
RBI MPC begins today as policymakers weigh inflation, crude risks
The Reserve Bank of India's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) convened for its scheduled three-day bi-monthly meeting, with the rate decision due on the...
2 strategic satellites sit at spaceport as govt nod eludes Isro
Two ISRO satellites, NVS-03 and GISAT-1A, are reported to be ready at the launch site, but their missions are on hold pending formal...
Economist Poll Points to RBI Holding Rates on 5 August
A survey of economists ahead of the Reserve Bank of India's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) verdict on 5 August 2026 shows near-unanimous expectation that...