(1) Death toll rises to 72 in Nepal in last week’s unrest
Authorities in Nepal have raised the death toll from last week’s unrest to 72 as search teams recover bodies from government offices, houses and other buildings set on fire during the anti-corruption protests, the Health Ministry said on Sunday (September 14, 2025).
In the deadliest outbreak of political violence in Nepal for decades, mainly young Nepalis took to the streets of the capital and other cities from September 8, prompting Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli to resign on Tuesday (September 19, 2025).
Security forces fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the protesters, some of whom torched state buildings, including the Supreme Court, parliament, police posts, politicians’ homes and private businesses.
The Ministry’s previous death toll was 51, updated as of Saturday (September 13, 2025). The latest data showed on Sunday (September 14, 2025) that at least 2,113 people had been injured in the violence.
Former Chief Justice Sushila Karki has replaced Mr. Oli as interim Prime Minister, becoming the first woman to lead Nepal, and is tasked with holding a new parliamentary election called for March 5.
Reasons for protest beyond the social media ban
In recent years, many youngsters of Nepal have migrated out of the country for better job opportunities. Social media outlets are used by a bulk of such people and others, not just for venting about concerns on the nature of governance but also for communication and business. Shutting down these outlets, therefore, was seen as a major inconvenience. The youth, however, did not term the protests as something targeted at the social media ban, but as an agitation against corruption in governance.
Political instability — marked by frequent changes in government and unethical alliances — has kept Nepal’s stark societal inequalities intact, especially among youth who are forced to emigrate due to soaring unemployment. This, too, fueled the rage for the protests. Data show that Nepal tops the world in government tenures since 1990. Excluding countries such as San Marino, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Switzerland, where frequent leadership changes are legally mandated, Nepal leads with 25 completed tenures since 1990—each lasting on average just a year and two months.
Those who leave Nepal to work abroad have become a major income source for families and the nation. The share of households receiving remittances has risen sharply from 23.4% in 1995-96 to 76.8% in 2022-23. Among such households, remittances now account for over 33% of total income, up from 26.6% in 1995-96. So remittance-dependent households have not only become more widespread but also increasingly reliant on this income.
(2) C. P. Radhakrishnan takes oath as 15th Vice-President of India
Chandrapuram Ponnusamy Radhakrishnan was sworn in as the 15th Vice-President of India and Chairman of the Rajya Sabha on Friday (September 12, 2025). President Droupadi Murmu administered the oath of office at Rashtrapati Bhavan in the presence of several dignitaries.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, former Vice-Presidents Jagdeep Dhankhar and Hamid Ansari, cabinet Ministers, and Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge attended the ceremony. This marked Mr. Dhankhar’s first public appearance since his resignation on July 21, citing health reasons
C.P. Radhakrishnan was elected on Tuesday (September 9, 2025) by a margin of 152 votes. The Opposition fell short of its own expected tally, even as 98.2% of the total electorate, comprising members of both Houses of Parliament, cast their ballot.
Mr. Radhakrishnan — the ruling National Democratic Alliance’s nominee — secured 452 first preferential votes against the joint Opposition candidate Justice B. Sudershan Reddy, who got 300 votes. Another 15 votes were found to be invalid and 14 MPs abstained.
Including the strength of both Houses, the full electoral college comprises 788 electors. With six vacancies in Rajya Sabha and one in the Lok Sabha, this tally was reduced to 781 for the V-P poll. Out of this, 767 electors cast their vote before the polling closed at 5 p.m. Rajya Sabha Secretary General P.C. Mody, who was the returning officer for the election, announced the results.
Cross-voting by Opposition MPs
Though the Opposition declared the final count a “moral victory”, it still fell short of its own estimated strength of 324, despite having managed to get nearly all of its members to vote. On the other hand, the NDA and others aligned with the government, who had an assumed strength of 439, seem to have managed an additional 13 votes, indicating cross-voting from the Opposition’s ranks.
(3) Top car manufacturers announce complete GST rate cut benefits to consumers
Last week, top car manufacturers announced that buyers will receive full benefits of the recent Goods and Services Tax overhaul. Entry-level and mid-segment cars priced up to ₹14 lakh will see up to a 13% reduction in GST and cess, making them more attractive to a price-sensitive customer base. High-end cars with engines above 1200 cc are set to become 5–10% cheaper.
Small cars that run on petrol, LPG and CNG with engines below 1200 cc, and diesel cars of up to 1500 cc and with a length under 4 metres will attract a GST of 18% instead of 28%. The cess of 1% and 3% will no longer be applicable.
Top car manufacturers like Audi, Mahindra & Mahindra, Nissan, Renault, Hyundai and Tata, among others, announced the passage of GST reduction benefits to customers.
(4) North Korea’s Kim Jong Un’s daughter Ju Ae ‘likely successor’
South Korea’s spy agency said Thursday that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s daughter, Ju Ae, who recently accompanied him on a high-profile visit to Beijing, is understood to be his recognised successor.
The teenager drew global attention earlier this month when she made her first official overseas trip with her father, as he met with China’s Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
Analysts have long seen her as Mr. Kim’s likely successor, though some have suggested Ms. Ju Ae has an older brother who is being groomed in secret as the isolated and nuclear-armed country’s next leader.
South Korea’s spy agency “assesses that she [Ju Ae] secured sufficient ‘revolutionary narrative’ needed to strengthen her position as a likely successor,” following her China trip, lawmaker Lee Seong-kweun told reporters after being briefed by the agency.
“The agency perceives Kim Ju Ae as the recognised heir and sees her participation in the China visit as part of completing that succession narrative.”
She was publicly introduced to the world in 2022, when she accompanied her father to the launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile.
North Korean state media have since referred to her as “the beloved child,” and a “great person of guidance” — “hyangdo” in Korean — a term typically reserved for top leaders and their successors.
(5) Retail inflation quickens to 2.1% in August, snaps 9-month falling streak
Retail inflation broke a nine-month declining streak in August 2025, quickening to 2.1% from 1.6% in July 2025, according to official data. The inflation in August was marginally higher than the lower bound of the Reserve Bank of India’s comfort band of 2-6% for retail inflation.
The rate of retail inflation had been declining every month since November 2024.