Mepco bill

Students at Alpha to Omega Learning Centre, a school for children with learning disabilities in Chennai | Photo Credit: PICHUMANI K The Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) 2025-26 report has raised concerns about Children With Special Needs (CWSN) enrolled in schools, whose numbers have remained stagnant over the past eight years despite initiatives … Read more

In India’s electoral landscape, byelections are routinely held when either Assembly or Lok Sabha seats become vacant and a general election in the State, in case of an Assembly seat, or Lok Sabha, in case of a Lok Sabha seat, is due only after six months of the seats falling vacant. While some of these … Read more

Even as issues around education have momentarily taken centre-stage amid the protests led by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) and activist Sonam Wangchuk in Delhi, the reports based on the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) for two years released together after inordinate delay by the Union Ministry of Education (MoE) earlier this month … Read more

(1) Spain chokes Messi and Argentina to lift second title Spain won their second World Cup on July 19 (Sunday) with Ferran Torres scoring the only goal of the match in the 106th-minute of the final at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. Argentina struggled to escape Spain’s suffocating press and looked instead for moments in … Read more

Spain players and coaches celebrate after the World Cup final soccer match between Spain and Argentina on July 19, 2026 | Photo Credit: YUKI IWAMURA Spain’s win over Argentina in the 2026 FIFA World Cup final might have read a modest 1-0, but the scoreline hid what was in plain sight throughout. Spain smothered the … Read more

The National Rural Employment Guarantee Workers Federation, affiliated to the All India Trade Union Congress, stages a protest in Thrissur against the VB-G RAM G Bill. | Photo Credit: K.K. NAJEEB K.K. NAJEEB Government expenditure on welfare schemes, or social spending, remains intensely debated. While some critics call it a fiscal ‘burden’, others call it … Read more

People walk past banners inviting students to study in Canada and other places abroad at a market in Amritsar, in the northern Indian state of Punjab, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024 | Photo Credit: PRABHJOT GILL Indian students seem to be taking the biggest hit by the decision of Canada — their most preferred destination thus … Read more

Lamine Yamal of Spain runs with the ball during the FIFA World Cup 2026 semi-final match between France and Spain at Dallas Stadium on July 14, 2026, in Arlington, Texas. | Photo Credit: DAVID RAMOS The stage is all set for the final battle of the longest-ever FIFA World Cup, spanning 39 days, at the … Read more

New Delhi, Jul 09 (ANI): A fleet of newly launched electric primary waste collection vehicles lined up under a flyover at Shalimar Bagh during the launch event by Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta (unseen)for door-to-door garbage collection, in New Delhi on Thursday. | Photo Credit: ANI The Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi has … Read more

In a written question in the Rajya Sabha earlier this year, an MP highlighted that 27% of students in government schools are paying fees — including admission, tuition, examination and development charges — and sought a response from the Ministry of Education. The MP’s claim was based on the findings of the Comprehensive Modular Survey: … Read more

With just a few hours left for the kick off of the FIFA semi-finals, the four teams who are going to fight it out — France, Spain, Argentina and England — have all justified their billing as the top four teams in both the Elo ratings and FIFA rankings before the tournament commenced.  Their rankings … Read more

Can India’s official statistics detect large-scale undocumented migration? Undocumented migrants may evade law, but can they evade the Census? If millions of them are living in India, they must appear somewhere in the country’s official statistics. Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Kiren Rijiju told Parliament that “As per available inputs, there are around 20 million … Read more

(1) FIFA World Cup enters the semi-finals Over the last week, the round of 16 stage in the FIFA World Cup 2026 competition came to an end, leaving eight teams in the game. Prominent football countries like Brazil, Portugal and Mexico were eliminated, along with the U.S., Egypt, and Colombia. The quarterfinals stage followed, eliminating … Read more

Voters show their identity cards as they wait in queues to cast their votes at a polling station during assembly polls at Kangpokpi in Senapati district in the 2022 Assembly elections | Photo Credit: Maneesh T _11795@Chennai An analysis of constituency-wise deletions during the enumeration phase of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls … Read more

The business end of the FIFA World Cup is well underway with the Round of 16 concluding and the Round of 8 (quarterfinals being finalised). While some of the all-time favourites such as Brazil, Germany and the Netherlands are out of the reckoning, a few of the usual suspects – defending champion Argentina, last World … Read more

The conflict in West Asia has once again reminded the world of an uncomfortable truth — severe energy dependency is a structural vulnerability, not a temporary inconvenience. For emerging economies such as India, which imports more than 85% of its crude oil requirements, such events can quickly test energy security and economic resilience. Over the past … Read more

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar arrive to attend a joint press conference in New Delhi, India, May 26, 2026 | Photo Credit: ADNAN ABIDI Last week, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi was in New Delhi for the 16th … Read more

After the first month of this year’s monsoon ended in a massive 40% deficit, the India Meteorological Department has forecast that rainfall in July will also be “below normal” or less than 94% of what is usual for the month.  “Below-normal rainfall can pose significant challenges for agriculture, water resources, hydropower generation, ecosystem sustainability, and drinking water … Read more

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who spoke emphatically about the State’s economic growth at his government’s Industry Leaders Roadshow in Bengaluru on June 24, highlighted how the State has become “revenue surplus in the last six years,” while shedding its image of being a “BIMARU” State — an uncomplimentary term used to refer to … Read more

A migrant Agricultural worker prepares paddy seedlings for transplantation in a field at Thenkurussi in Palakkad on Thursday, July 2, 2026. The erratic progress of the Southwest monsoon across Kerala has heightened concerns over agricultural operations in Palakkad district. | Photo Credit: K K Mustafah After the first month of this year’s monsoon ended in … Read more

This analysis explores that apparent contradiction by examining the collapse in women’s education and labour-force participation, the rise of women-led enterprises, and the financial and structural challenges these businesses continue to face. Presentation and editing: Devyanshi Bihani Camera: Thamodharan B. Published – July 03, 2026 04:45 pm IST

Labourers working under MNREGA near Farhatabad in Kalaburagi district in Karnataka | Photo Credit: ARUN KULKARNI The Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G), which completely overhauls the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), came into force on July 1, despite serious concerns raised by many States. One … Read more

Children watch from atop a promontory overlooking shelters for people displaced by war, as smoke billows in the background near the Nuseirat camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip on June 19, 2026. | Photo Credit: EYAD BABA What began as a response to the terrorist attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023, … Read more

(1) Fire in Lucknow building: at least 14 killed At least 14 were killed in a fire that broke out in a three-storey building in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh on Monday last week (June 22, 2026). The building housed a pet shop and clinic, an IT office, a gaming centre and a coaching centre on its … Read more

In the wake of the milk adulteration incident in Rajahmundry, Food Safety officials conducted inspections across various milk booths, collecting milk samples to check whether quality and safety standards are being maintained, in Visakhapatnam on Wednesday, February 25, 2026 | Photo Credit: RAJU V Two suspected cases of food poisoning reported this month, one at … Read more

The Taliban’s draconian restrictions over the past five years have led to Afghan women facing an unprecedented rollback of rights and freedoms. As universities and many formal workplaces become inaccessible, growing numbers of women are turning to small-scale entrepreneurship as one of the few remaining avenues to earn a livelihood and retain a measure of … Read more

(1) Ammonia leaks from factory, kills at least eight Ammonia gas leaked from a seafood processing plant in Tiruvallur district on Sunday last week (June 21, 2026), killing at least eight people and over 60 being admitted for treatment. According to a bulletin, 77 individuals were affected by the leak. Routine industrial operations exposed workers … Read more

CHENNAI, 14/03/2017 : For Tamil Nadu Desk : An electricity pylon tower carries high voltage power lines, the picture taken at Redhills in Chennai. Photo: B. Jothi Ramalingam | Photo Credit: JOTHI RAMALINGAM B The grim financial health of the Tamil Nadu government has been accentuated by the plight of State Public Sector Undertakings (SPSUs), … Read more

After releasing the “Kerala’s Fiscal Health — A Status Report” (white paper), which raised serious concerns over the State’s rising debt burden while strongly criticising the previous Left government for alleged fiscal mismanagement, the new United Democratic Front (UDF) government on Thursday presented its maiden budget. The budget estimates the debt-to-GSDP ratio to come down … Read more