Context

U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Friday that the Board of Peace — an organisation Washington established to oversee a Gaza ceasefire — has reached a "historic agreement" for the disarmament of Hamas and other militant organisations in the Palestinian enclave. Hamas acknowledged the deal but said it would abandon weapons and end its rule only if Israel withdraws its troops and "stops killing Palestinians".

Background & Key Facts

• The announcement: Mr. Trump described the agreement for the complete disarmament of Hamas and all other armed groups in Gaza as a monumental step toward lasting peace and security, and a major milestone in the implementation of the Trump 20-Point Plan, to be carried out in carefully structured phases.
• Sequencing: As disarmament is completed, Israeli forces will withdraw, and the International Stabilization Force will work with a new Palestinian police force to take responsibility for Gaza's safety for its residents and its neighbours.
• Governance: The agreement is presented as a step towards Gaza finally being governed by a new Palestinian government in coordination with the Board of Peace, while Israel gets the security it deserves with Gaza no longer used as a base for terror attacks.
• Hamas's condition: Ghazi Hamad of Hamas's political bureau said the group made "concessions for the sake of the Palestinian people", and that the issue of weapons is linked to Israeli withdrawal, the entry of the National Committee, and reconstruction of Gaza. He insisted Israel must not interfere in Gaza's governance and reconstruction.
• Israeli reaction: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not immediately respond. National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir called the deal "unacceptable" and said "assassinations in Gaza must continue". Israeli media quoted a senior official saying there will be no IDF withdrawal from Gaza without genuine disarmament of Hamas.
• Other factions: Palestinian Islamic Jihad said reports about the agreement were "inaccurate" and that it has reservations about the version currently being circulated.
• Roadmap: The Board of Peace released a 15-point road map stating that all parties aim at ending the cycle of destruction, securing complete Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, restoring normal life, enabling Palestinian governance, reconstruction, security, recovery and economic development, rehabilitating damaged sectors, and facilitating a credible political path that achieves self-determination and statehood.
• Mediators: Mr. Trump thanked Egypt, Qatar and Türkiye for their mediation efforts.

Context

Kannada organisations have called for a Karnataka bandh on 13 August in protest against the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) directing Karnataka to adhere to the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee's (CWRC) order to release water to Tamil Nadu. Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar has appealed to the organisations not to go ahead with the bandh.

Background & Key Facts

• The call: Taken at a meeting of various Kannada organisations held in Bengaluru under the leadership of veteran leader and former MLA Vatal Nagaraj — a 12-hour bandh from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. across the State.
• Timing: The monsoon session of the Karnataka legislature is scheduled to commence on 13 August — the same day.
• Chief Minister's appeal: Mr. Shivakumar told the organisations there was no need for a bandh as the government was also on their side, that no relief would come from calling one, and pointed out that courts have passed orders against causing inconvenience to people through bandhs and protests, while assuring that his government would not act against the State's interests.
• Organisers' position: Mr. Nagaraj said there was no other option except strong resistance as Karnataka was reeling under distress, appealed to all Kannadigas to participate rather than merely offer moral support, and specifically asked farmers and Bengaluru residents to take part.
• Support base claimed: Organisations said to have backed the bandh include the Karnataka Film Chambers of Commerce, the Karnataka State Government Employees' Association, and labour unions.
• Undecided: KSRTC employees' associations, auto drivers' associations, cab drivers' associations and transport unions told The Hindu they had not yet decided whether to support the bandh and would meet over the coming days.
• The underlying order: The CWRC had directed Karnataka to release 3,500 cusecs a day to Tamil Nadu for 15 days; the CWMA upheld it, rejecting Karnataka's appeal.

Context

The editorial argues that the extent and nature of police action against student protesters in Delhi remains a matter of grave concern for India's democracy. The Supreme Court is seized of the matter but has done little so far to restrain the police, which appears to be acting outside the law.

Background & Key Facts

• What is in the public domain: Videos show male officers in uniform slapping a woman protester and attempting to bring down a lathi on the private parts of a girl. An accountable police force, the editorial argues, would have acted swiftly to preserve its own honour and reputation without waiting for a court.
• Surveillance concerns: The Delhi Police is actively pursuing protesters apparently present at the protest site using facial-recognition and other surveillance technologies, the legality of which remains dubious and controversial. Yet it has offered no response on the identity of the officer seen openly assaulting a young woman at a public gathering.
• The core proposition: Identifying and holding its own personnel accountable requires no software or court intervention — only professionalism and strict adherence to the rule of law.
• Speech crackdown: A simultaneous law-enforcement sweep against freedom of expression, online and offline, targets critics of the government. Abusive language has indeed been used by some content creators against government functionaries; if that warrants police action, the applicable law should be clearly cited and due process followed transparently.
• Selective enforcement: There are reports of arbitrary police action that appears intended more as intimidation than law enforcement, targeting protesters, their families and in some cases social media platforms, while the police seem uninterested in acting against online mobs threatening and abusing protesters.
• Unexplained use of force: The Delhi Police has maintained that criminals infiltrated the protests — those involved in violence must certainly be identified and brought to justice in accordance with the law — but the force has not explained the circumstances under which pellets were fired at protesters.
• The constitutional bottom line: Police practices must adhere to established rules and standards; any breach must be dealt with firmly. This is an occasion for both the Centre and the Court to underscore that nobody, including the police, is above the law.
• Political caution: The government should not appear to have gone back on its promises to the agitating students, who called off the protests once their demands were met — doing so would entrench cynicism and deepen resentment among the youth who turned up in their thousands at Jantar Mantar.
• Reader response: Letters to the editor condemn the online harassment and doxxing of women who participated in the protests, arguing that no citizen, especially young students, should fear intimidation for voicing concerns peacefully, and that such actions discourage public participation and weaken democratic values.

Context

Writing after the Cockroach Janta Party's demonstration, John Varghese, former Principal of St. Stephen's College, argues that the education system needs not just an overhaul but a complete change of policy — a system in which examinations are seen as fair, conducted professionally, and taken happily and voluntarily, and in which competitive examinations are no longer associated with student suicides.

Background & Key Facts

• The diagnosis: India's education system has produced extraordinary professional talent, yet its admission culture has created a dangerous emotional environment in which marks, ranks and single-shot competitive examinations are treated as the sole measures of intelligence, worth and future possibility.
• Multi-dimensional assessment: A fair admission system should combine moderated school performance, discipline-specific aptitude, analytical writing, structured interviews where appropriate, practical or scenario-based tasks, and verifiable portfolios, projects, internships, community work and co-curricular achievement.
• What it would test: Not only memory and speed but reasoning, persistence, communication, judgment, ethical orientation and suitability for a chosen field. Entry-level institutions themselves, with the involvement of competent schoolteachers, should design and administer these assessments with transparent criteria and safeguards.
• Redesigning the paper: Examinations should assess application, interpretation and higher-order thinking rather than predictable patterns that feed the coaching industry — preserving standards while aligning admissions with real ability and student potential.
• Broadening success: Industry, parents and students must together broaden the meaning of educational success beyond a few high-pressure professional courses, through career fairs, internships, mentorship programmes, workplace visits and alumni engagement even at school level.
• Parental counselling: Parents, especially those with limited access to reliable information who often resort to unaffordable loans, need structured counselling in local languages on courses, careers, costs, scholarships, aptitude, mental-health risks, and the difference between a child's interests and parental ambitions.
• Constitutional framing: The Constitution treats education as a public good, not a commercial race, and places a duty on the state to protect equality, dignity and the right to education. When the coaching ecosystem becomes exploitative — creating inequality, displacing formal schooling and harming student well-being — Parliament and State legislatures must respond through law, regulation and oversight on fees, advertising, mental-health support, hostel standards and fraudulent practices. Persistent inaction in the face of student suicides invites democratic and legal scrutiny.
• Against "one-size-fits-all": A centralised agency such as the National Testing Agency rests on the assumption that one examination model can fairly judge all students across disciplines, regions and social contexts — an assumption the author calls flawed. A single national test creates logistical overload and demographic unfairness, since language, geography, school background, digital access and local educational disadvantages all affect performance.
• The decentralised alternative: Universities or clusters of institutions designing and conducting their own assessments within broad University Grants Commission norms would allow more relevant and balanced evaluation. Students may be consulted on modes of assessment, though access to live question papers or confidential content must be strictly avoided.
• Security safeguards proposed: Encrypted digital paper transmission; multi-layered question banks with algorithmic randomisation; strict vetting and rotation of paper setters; secure printing and sealed distribution protocols; independent audit and surveillance of examination centres; severe penal consequences for any breach. Additional safeguards may include biometric candidate verification, time-staggered papers and post-examination forensic review of anomalies.
• Scheduling: Properly scheduled, decentralised examinations spread across the academic calendar would reduce stress, avoid nationwide disruption from a single failure, and permit institutions to test genuine competence rather than coaching-driven examination technique.
• The reform direction: A shift from rank-based filtration to capacity-based recognition — asking not only who scored highest under exam pressure but who has the aptitude, motivation, ethical seriousness, resilience and capacity to grow in a chosen field. The constitutional promise of education cannot be fulfilled by a structure that rewards fear, debt and psychological distress while calling the result merit.

Centralised vs Decentralised Assessment — The Trade-off

Context

The editorial argues that India, with its long history of addressing undernutrition, must now pivot to attack the curious phenomenon of over-nutrition that evolving lifestyles have laid at its door. Two unrelated developments have advanced the question of unhealthy diets: a Parliamentary Standing Committee recommendation on mandatory front-of-pack nutrition labelling, and a national consortium's advice to levy a health tax on high fat, salt and sugar (HFSS) foods with stricter advertising regulation.

Background & Key Facts

• The evidence base: Recent National Family Health Survey data show that while stunting and undernutrition continue to be a concern despite some gains, the sharp rise in adult overweight and obesity, along with diet-related metabolic conditions, can no longer be ignored.
• Standing Committee: The Standing Committee on Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution recommended mandatory front-of-pack nutrition labelling indicating whether packaged food products are high in sugar, and also recommended including sugar content in baby foods — attacking the excess sugar consumption issue at its origin.
• The consortium: "Let's Fix Our Food", a consortium on adolescent nutrition led by the Indian Council of Medical Research-National Institute of Nutrition (ICMR-NIN) with several other prominent institutions in India and abroad, has recommended a healthier school food environment, stricter regulation of marketing of unhealthy food, and front-of-pack nutrition labelling.
• Scale of the problem: The ICMR-NIN report indicates that over 17 million children and adolescents are affected by obesity, and that this number could cross 27 million by 2030.
• Global practice: According to the WHO, since 2017 at least 133 countries have increased or introduced a new health tax. A "junk food law" came into force in Colombia in 2023 to tackle high consumption of packaged foods, with an additional tax beginning at 10%, rising to 15% the next year and touching 20% the subsequent year. Norway, Hungary, Denmark, Bermuda, Dominica, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and the Navajo Nation (U.S.) have also specifically implemented taxes on unprocessed sugar and sugar-added foods.
• Karnataka action: The State's food safety authority has issued an advisory prohibiting the sale of food products high in fat, sugar and salt within school and college campuses.

Context

Madhusudan Bandi of the Gujarat Institute of Development Research writes that after five draft notifications between 2015 and 2026 failed to produce consensus, the Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA) debate in the Western Ghats requires a balanced, inclusive approach that addresses genuine stakeholder concerns while protecting ecology.

Background & Key Facts

• The landscape: The Western Ghats span six coastal States and contain 39 biodiversity hotspot areas — including national parks, reserved forests and wildlife sanctuaries — declared World Heritage Sites by UNESCO in 2012.
• The Gadgil panel: The Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) was constituted in 2010 under ecologist, academic and writer Madhav Gadgil. It recommended declaring 142 talukas covering 44 districts across the entire Western Ghats as an ESA, sub-divided into three Ecologically Sensitive Zones (ESZ). Such a declaration would regulate human activities and, once notified under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, provide legal protection.
• The Kasturirangan review: Following strong local and political opposition, the Centre constituted a high-level working group headed by K. Kasturirangan in 2012, which limited restrictions on economic activities and livelihoods to ecologically sensitive natural landscapes, reducing the area covered to only 37% of the Western Ghats.
• The notification trail: Based on the recalibrated report, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change issued the first draft notification in 2014. With the matter unresolved, the Ministry constituted an expert panel headed by former Director General of Forests Sanjay Kumar in 2022. Gujarat and Goa appear to have agreed to finalisation; Maharashtra has sought a fresh review; discussions with Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu are ongoing. A "phased rollout" or "State-wise finalisation" is possible after inclusion of that clause in the 2024 draft notification. Five draft notifications were issued between 2015 and 2026; after the last one expired in July 2026, the Ministry extended the expert panel's tenure by another year.
• Karnataka's position: The State has 10 districts in the Western Ghats, with 23.4% of its population residing there, and around 20,668 sq km identified for ESA declaration. Regardless of political affiliation, the State has consistently opposed the proposal, citing impacts on agriculture, plantations, mining and infrastructure development.
• Field findings: The author's study covered villages near 10 World Heritage Sites across Chikkamagaluru, Kodagu, Shivamogga and Udupi, and three other important sites in Uttara Kannada and Udupi — the Kali Tiger Reserve, Mundigekere Bird Sanctuary (five acres, a breeding ground for cattle egrets in Sirsi) and Mookambika Wildlife Sanctuary.
• Local perspectives: Near the Kali Tiger Reserve and Kudremukh National Park, some residents reported accepting or considering rehabilitation packages; those opposing relocation felt they might eventually have to follow due to declining village populations. Even villages with granted forest rights faced restrictions on minor forest produce collection and agricultural practices. Concerns were raised over rejection of forest rights claims by non-tribals with long-standing residence, including in a village of at least 150 years' standing near the Balahalli Reserved Forest.
• Support for regulation: Local officials and some communities supported regulating environmentally harmful activities such as stone quarrying and unplanned tourism projects, including proposals for forest ropeways.
• Two recurring grievances: Fear that buffer zones extend 10 km from core areas leading to eviction; and unanimous scepticism that satellite imagery cannot distinguish plantation crops such as arecanut, shade-grown coffee, rubber and coconut from forest cover. Stakeholders also complained that no committee had physically visited their villages.
• On indigenous communities: The author argues ESA should include indigenous communities living deep within forests, as they follow conservation principles and maintain a sacred, sustainable relationship with the environment; their presence bridges forests and mainstream society, and their absence risks the loss of biocultural diversity.
• The urgency: Conservation efforts cannot be indefinitely delayed as it will result in States losing control in such areas; ecological systems transcend administrative boundaries.

Gadgil vs Kasturirangan — The Core Divergence

Context

Unlike most communities in India, the Banchhadas of Madhya Pradesh invest more in their daughters' upbringing than in their sons' — better nutrition, expensive clothes — only so that they can be pushed into sex work on reaching puberty and the family can live off their earnings. Branded a "criminal tribe" by the British and now classified as a Scheduled Caste, the community remains on society's margins as government and NGOs struggle to break the cycle. Identities of sex workers, former sex workers and their families in the report have been changed to protect privacy.

Background & Key Facts

• Demography: A de-notified tribe with an estimated population of 25,000 spread across 78 villages in the districts of Mandsaur, Neemuch and Ratlam in western Madhya Pradesh.
• The inverted preference: While many Indian families celebrate the birth of a boy over a girl, the Banchhadas welcome a girl with sweets and firecrackers; girls receive better nutrition than boys, are given expensive clothes and are not told they will marry and leave — because they are expected to earn through sex work from puberty, with family members functioning as pimps.
• Scale of exploitation: Akash Chouhan, founder of the Jan Shaurya Social Welfare and Development Society in Neemuch and himself from the community, estimates that at least 10,000 women, including about 3,000 girls, remain trapped. Girls are forced to drop out of school after Class 8 or 9; community elders protect the practice in the name of tradition.
• Conditioning and coercion: A sex worker, Radhika, says girls are conditioned from childhood to see it as their responsibility to ease the family's financial distress; if a girl refuses to quit school, her family forces her into sex work through physical or emotional abuse.
• Along the highway: State Highway 156 connects the three districts and passes through several community villages. Dhabas broker deals; a dhaba owner in Ratlam's Dhodar village listed price brackets by location, duration and the girl's age — ₹300 for 10 minutes, ₹1,000 for an hour, ₹6,000 for a night, and up to ₹10,000 for a younger girl — along with air-conditioned rooms, car parking and "assurances of safety from the police". Girls avoid hotels because of police raids and violence by drunken men, and many have built rooms in their own houses.
• Violence: Shivangi, a former sex worker from Neemuch's Nilkanthpura who now works with the government's Women and Child Development Department, recounted being subjected to prolonged sexual and physical violence by multiple men at a hotel in Chittorgarh in 2003. She began volunteering with an international NGO in 2005 and left sex work in 2008.
• Historical origin: Historically a nomadic community of the Malwa and Mewar regions of present-day Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, the Banchhadas were notified as a "criminal tribe" under the Criminal Tribes Act, 1871. Narendra Chouhan of the Naya Jeevan Foundation says elders trace the origin of sex work to the British Raj, when police would detain community men and demand women in exchange for their release; families unable to pay money began sending unmarried girls. The community was de-notified in 1952 and classified as a Scheduled Caste, but the practice that ensured monetary benefit continued.
• Structural exclusion: Members face stigma in education, employment and renting property; in mixed villages Banchhada houses remain secluded — in Hadi Pipliya the two sections are divided by a drain. A counsellor with Jan Shaurya says community members, including women not in sex work, face job rejection in the private sector once they reveal their identity, and schools often deny admission to Banchhada children.
• The caste certificate problem: Many young people are born out of wedlock with no record of their fathers, and since caste is determined by the father, they cannot obtain caste certificates — depriving them of reservation and scholarships. Neemuch Collector Himanshu Chandra says the district administration has written to the government seeking a provision, calling it a policy problem. In Mandsaur, former Collector Aditi Garg says the administration has found a way to issue certificates through ancestral or fraternal records establishing family connection.
• Administrative pushback: Ms. Garg recalled that when women from the community living in a government hostel were recommended for teaching and teaching assistant jobs at private schools, managements pushed back over reputation, but the administration secured jobs for 24 women and also placed some at help desks in government offices.
• Rehabilitation gap: A government official said girls rescued and rehabilitated at government hostels returned to sex work after having to vacate on turning 18, because livelihood options such as sewing or skill-based jobs cannot match the income and lifestyle earned through sex work.
• Reverse dowry: Dowry is paid by the groom's family to the bride's — compensating her family for lost income — with amounts reportedly reaching ₹25 lakh. Community custom bars a girl from marrying within the caste once she enters sex work, and a married woman is not allowed into sex work. A social worker with the Udan Women Employment Welfare Society says girls are fed ideas against marriage from childhood and lured with smartphones, scooters and clothes.
• The decline curve: After the age of 25, many women are forced to become brokers or offer their houses on commission as demand declines; others, suffering from infections, sexually transmitted diseases or HIV/AIDS, become dependent on relatives or NGOs. Radhika says she takes 10-15 clients a day earning about ₹5,000 because demand falls with age.
• Enforcement by caste panchayats: Caste panchayats punish or penalise those who try to break free, and an unofficial nexus of pimps and agents keeps watch on the girls, including those rescued. Ms. Garg said the administration faced resistance during an HPV vaccination drive for cervical cancer because community members feared it could affect the girls' work.
• Scheme failure: The State's Jabali Scheme, launched in the early 1990s to build hostels for women of the Banchhada and Bedia communities involved in caste-based sex work, is described as "completely missing from the ground"; officials say there has been no allocation for about four years, and even when active the allocation was about ₹5-7 lakh a year per district. Activists say most programmes focus on awareness rather than alternative livelihoods and stigma removal.
• Signs of change: A short film, Khilawadi, by debutant filmmaker Shobhita Thakur, which has won awards at national and international film festivals, depicts a Banchhada girl who dreams of becoming a doctor; the title comes from a local term for the eldest daughter, who is not allowed a life of her own. NGOs run learning centres for children of the community. In Sagargram, a committee of mostly college-going youth formed four years ago stopped sex work and liquor inside the village within a year.
• Escape is possible: Savitri, a 40-year-old former sex worker, quit the profession; her elder daughter now works with an NGO and is preparing for the police examination, while her younger daughter is preparing for medical entrance tests in Indore.

Context

The Supreme Court on Friday said it intends to lay down a protocol under which online users who want to post or circulate livestreamed judicial proceedings from the top court and the High Courts can access the audio-visual content only through the courts' own archives.

Background & Key Facts

• The court's concern: Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said livestreamed visuals of court proceedings cannot be subject to "misuse" or "commercial exploitation".
• The trigger: An application by activists Anjali Bhardwaj and Amrita Johri, represented by advocates Prashant Bhushan and Cheryl D'Souza, seeking modification of a 24 July interim order barring circulation of livestreamed proceedings on social media and digital platforms.
• What the July 24 order did: Passed in a petition filed by Harshita Grover, it prohibited the extraction, modification, dissemination, posting, reposting, uploading, recording or monetisation of audio-video recordings of judicial proceedings on any social media or digital platform without prior permission of the Secretary General of the Supreme Court and the Registrar General of the concerned High Court.
• The court's reasoning for that order: Unregulated circulation of livestreamed proceedings made judges, advocates and litigants vulnerable to trolling and reputational harm while eroding public confidence in the judicial system.
• Applicants' argument: The order amounted to a reversal of the principle of open justice upheld by the Supreme Court itself in a plethora of judgments; open access ensures the judicial process remains answerable to the public and guards against arbitrariness. Mr. Bhushan sought modification to direct preservation of livestreamed content in court archives so users could access the authorised version from that source.
• The court's response: "That is precisely the protocol we want to lay down... We only want to prevent the misuse," Chief Justice Kant said orally. The court allowed the application and asked the applicants to come forward with suggestions to frame the protocol, adding that the exercise was not adversarial in nature.
• Participation: Digital platforms Meta and WhatsApp have agreed to contribute suggestions; State High Courts have filed affidavits along with Bar bodies from across the country.
• Applicants' proposed alternative: Intentional misuse could be addressed by defining terms and conditions of re-use, sharing and dissemination of recordings and the livestream, rather than restricting activities based on the nature of the user; safeguards should protect fair and accurate representation, including sharing of proceedings already open to public view.

Context

A Delhi court on Friday sentenced former Aam Aadmi Party councillor Tahir Hussain and four others to life imprisonment for the murder of Intelligence Bureau staffer Ankit Sharma during the 2020 North-East Delhi riots, describing the killing as one of "utmost brutality" and observing that the victim was targeted solely on account of his religion.

Background & Key Facts

• The finding: Additional Sessions Judge Parveen Singh of Karkardooma Court noted that the crime was committed during the communal violence that erupted in the wake of protests against the CAA/NRC, that the manner of its commission was of the utmost brutality, and that the victim was "sucked in by the murderous mob, baying for blood, solely on account of his religion".
• Crime test satisfied: The court noted that the murder reflected "barbarity of immense magnitude" and hence satisfied the "crime test" for the rarest of rare category.
• Why the death penalty was declined: The court found that the prosecution had failed to establish that the convicts were beyond the possibility of reformation. It also held that although guilt was established with the aid of Section 149 IPC (common object of an unlawful assembly), no specific fatal act had been attributed to any individual accused. The absence of an individually proved role constituted a "huge mitigation".
• Sentence: All five convicts — Tahir Hussain, Nazim, Kasim, Javed and Anas — were sentenced to life imprisonment for murder under Section 302 read with Section 149 of the Indian Penal Code.

The "Rarest of Rare" Framework

Context

The Supreme Court on Friday directed the External Affairs Ministry to appoint a nodal officer and facilitate DNA testing of the mortal remains of Indian nationals killed on the frontlines of the Russia-Ukraine war, so that their families can claim them and conduct the last rites.

Background & Key Facts

• The order: A three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant asked the Ministry to forward the details of the nodal officer, once appointed, to the family members of the deceased Indian nationals, and said the complete records for filing compensation claims with the Russian authorities must be supplied to the families. The court also said families should be provided legal aid to submit compensation claims.
• The petition: Filed by families who said their relatives were victims of illegal overseas recruitment, trafficking and exploitation — youths lured by recruiters with promises of high-paying jobs, only to have their passports seized and be pushed into the war zone. They sought the whereabouts of Indian nationals believed dead or missing, the return of the bodies of those killed, and suitable monetary compensation from the Russian authorities.
• Government's numbers in court: Nearly 220 Indians had joined the Russian Armed Forces, of whom 139 have been released from their contracts and 51 have died.
• Ministry's separate statement: Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said around 24 Indian citizens who were hired through fraudulent and non-transparent means continue to serve with the Russian Army as the war persists, and that the Ministry has been consistently following up on the issue, with efforts leading to the release of 139 Indian nationals so far.

Context

Days after students called off their agitation, the Congress leadership accused the government of targeting protesters through FIRs, detentions and blocked social media accounts, even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he wanted to forgive "misguided children" who used abusive language at Jantar Mantar, and families of injured police personnel demanded that their side of the story be discussed in Parliament.

Background & Key Facts

• The Prime Minister's statement: In a video posted on X and Instagram, Mr. Modi said some mischievous children used abusive language at Jantar Mantar that does not dignify a civilised society, and that they abused not only him but his late mother. He said he understood the anger in society and the cultural shock about daughters using such language, and that this was the time to "give them a hug and show them the right path... I want to forgive them". Appealing for restraint, he said there could be no solution in making the youngsters run around police stations and courts, and that the children are ours and must be shown the right path.
• The same-day FIR: His message came on a day when a zero FIR was filed in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, against a 25-year-old woman for using an expletive against the Prime Minister at the Jantar Mantar protests on 25 July.
• Opposition charge: In posts on X, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi said the government had reneged on the understanding that no action would be taken against students after they withdrew their protest. Mr. Gandhi said: "First you broke their bones. Now you are filing FIRs and taking down their accounts. You are India's past. Be careful about how you treat India's future."
• Kharge's specifics: He alleged that ten days earlier the government suppressed the youth with batons and pellet guns; that FIRs are now being filed out of revenge and students forcibly detained; that social media accounts of students are being blocked; and that women protesters are being doxxed. He renewed his demand for Union Home Minister Amit Shah's resignation, saying the Minister had not set foot in Parliament House and had avoided giving a statement on accountability.
• Police families' press conference: Family members of four Delhi Police personnel injured during the crackdown on the Cockroach Janta Party-led march to Parliament on 20 July — the wives of an ACP and an ASI and the children of two injured officers — spoke at the Constitution Club, saying the public discourse so far has been "one-sided" and demanding a parliamentary discussion. They presented photographs through a slideshow claiming that more than 250 police personnel were injured.
• Their testimony: The wife of an injured ASI said miscreants who attempted to disrupt the students' protest, tarnish its image and undermine the dignity of Parliament should be held accountable and not spared. A Delhi University student whose father, a sub-inspector, was injured said he returned home with his uniform soaked in blood, but on social media he had already been declared a criminal. A family member of an injured ACP said that whenever she goes online, she sees videos portraying only the police as criminals.
• Privilege motion: Congress general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal submitted a notice to move a privilege motion against Union Minister Jitendra Singh for telling the Lok Sabha on 29 July, during the reply on the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026, that "no firing took place at all; tear gas was used; so when no firing took place at all, the question of giving an order does not arise." Mr. Venugopal said firing did occur and the injured person is still under medication, with data available in the public domain, and asked the Speaker to refer the matter to the Committee of Privileges.

Context

Parliament's courtyard turned into a makeshift theatre on Friday morning as Opposition MPs enacted a skit on the alleged theft of donations from the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, while the Rajya Sabha was adjourned for the day and the Lok Sabha passed the Registration of Births and Deaths (Amendment) Bill, 2026 without debate.

Background & Key Facts

• The protest: Independent MP Pappu Yadav, in saffron robes, played a "priest" who pocketed donations, while other MPs including Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi lined up as devotees; the performance ended with a mock scuffle. INDIA bloc MPs stood in a semicircle holding a banner reading "Amit Shah Sansad se gayab kyun hai" (Why is Home Minister Amit Shah missing from Parliament?). Steel donation boxes were placed before the Makar Dwar. A senior Opposition leader said it was decided on Thursday night that the Opposition should get "creative" and raise the issue both inside and outside Parliament.
• The demand: The Opposition has been seeking a statement from Mr. Shah on the police action against protesters at Jantar Mantar on 20 July, and a debate on the alleged donation theft.
• BJP's objection: Party MP Sakshi Maharaj called the protest "disgraceful", urged Speaker Om Birla to act against participants, and alleged that the Opposition had insulted the saffron colour and the Sanatana tradition.
• Rajya Sabha: Adjourned for the day shortly after meeting at 11 a.m. amid sloganeering. Chairman C.P. Radhakrishnan declined the Congress demand to let the Leader of the Opposition speak immediately, saying the party was still in "Emergency mode", later permitted Mr. Kharge to speak but ruled that no notices under Rule 267 would be admitted. Mr. Kharge's Rule 267 notice pertained to alleged misappropriation of funds in land acquisition for the Ayodhya Ram Temple. Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan accused the Opposition of "playing with the dignity of the House".
• Lok Sabha: Passed the Registration of Births and Deaths (Amendment) Bill, 2026 by voice vote without debate amid sloganeering. The Bill seeks to make delayed registration of births and deaths more stringent by requiring an order from a judicial magistrate (first class) for registrations done after two years. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said the passage of the Bill in this manner was unfortunate.
• JPC extension: Among papers laid was the grant of a deadline extension to the Joint Parliamentary Committee examining the Constitution (130th Amendment) Bill, 2025, which proposes the automatic removal of Ministers, Chief Ministers or the Prime Minister if arrested and held in custody for 30 days on serious criminal charges carrying a jail term of five years or more.
• Also in the news: BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla updated his bio on X with no mention of the party, days after hinting at moving on from active politics.

Context

Amid the Gen-Z protests over paper leaks and the tug of war in Parliament, a private member's Bill seeking constitutional status for a permanent National Commission for Youth was listed for business in the Lok Sabha on Friday, moved by Lok Janshakti Party (RV) MP Arun Bharti, an ally of the ruling NDA. The House was adjourned before Private Member's Business could be taken up.

Background & Key Facts

• What the Bill proposes: Constitution of a National Commission for Youth with constitutional status, making it the nodal agency for "mitigating complex issues like youth unemployment by formulating structured national policies that support skill development, entrepreneurship, idea incubation and specialised financing for young innovators".
• Historical precedent: A National Commission for Youth existed between 2002 and 2004 as a non-statutory body and was wound up in 2004. Since then the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has handled government programmes for young people.
• Origins: Mr. Bharti told The Hindu the Bill had been two years in the making, inspired by Union Minister and party leader Chirag Paswan's initiatives concerning young people, and could not be introduced earlier because the House had not been functioning.
• The Bill's reasoning: It refers to the "multidimensional challenges" facing youth and notes that their sheer numbers, if concerns are left unaddressed, could lead to complex socio-economic issues such as structural unemployment.
• Earlier amendments sought: During the debate on the Public Examinations Amendment Bill, 2026, on 28-29 July, Mr. Bharti had advocated amendments sensitive to students' concerns — a guarantee that re-tests after a paper leak be conducted within a month, that an examination calendar be maintained, that students not suffer the loss of an academic year due to paper leaks, and that those appearing for their final attempts get an additional attempt.
• Political read: The report notes that while the Prime Minister responded to escalating student protests with fast-track courts and amendments to the Public Examinations Act, 2024, and outreach on Instagram, for the LJP youth anxieties and the Gen-Z protests appeared to have been brewing for some time — a perception in which the party appeared to differ from the BJP.

Context

India is likely to receive below-normal rainfall during August, with precipitation expected to be less than 94% of the long period average, the India Meteorological Department said on Friday. The forecast also projects below-normal rainfall for the second half of the southwest monsoon season.

Background & Key Facts

• Regional pattern: Some parts of peninsular India, central, eastern and northeastern India, and the northern parts of the northwest could receive normal to above-normal rainfall. Below-normal rainfall in August is likely in most of the country except much of eastern peninsular India, some parts of northwest and central India, and isolated areas of eastern and northeastern India.
• Temperature: Maximum temperatures during the month are expected to remain above normal across most of the country, while minimum temperatures are likely to be normal to above normal.
• Climate drivers: Moderate El Niño conditions over the equatorial Pacific are expected to strengthen through the remainder of the monsoon season, while neutral Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) conditions are likely to persist before a positive IOD develops during September — the latter can help monsoon rain.
• August-September outlook: Rainfall forecast at below 94% of the long period average, indicating a weaker-than-normal second half of the monsoon.
• July surprise: July ended near normal at the all-India level despite the IMD forecasting on 30 June a minimum 6% deficit for the month; India has so far received 101% of the usual rainfall. July is the rainiest of the four monsoon months and critical to agriculture. The IMD noted that while July's rainfall erased much of the deficit built up in June, distribution remained uneven across regions.

El Niño and IOD — How They Shape the Indian Monsoon

Context

The Union Cabinet on Friday approved the Pradhan Mantri Surya Sarovar Yojana, a ₹5,070-crore scheme aimed at accelerating floating solar power by providing central financial assistance of up to ₹1 crore per MW for projects installed on reservoirs and other water bodies.

Background & Key Facts

• Target: 5,000 MW of floating solar capacity by 2030-31, to be implemented by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI).
• The gap it addresses: India has about 0.7 GW of installed floating solar capacity against an estimated potential of 102 GW.
• Storage mandate: Projects receiving support must include battery energy storage equivalent to at least two hours, amounting to 10,000 MWh across the programme, to help States meet peak demand and reduce curtailment of renewable power during periods of excess generation.
• Flagship project: The Omkareshwar floating solar park on the Narmada in Madhya Pradesh's Khandwa district is the country's largest at 278 MW, with plans to scale to 600 MW output — but it does not have onsite battery storage.
• Policy intent: Officials said the financial support is intended to "nudge" the industry to develop an alternative stream of solar capacity. Solar development in India has remained concentrated in Rajasthan and Gujarat because of vast tracts of inexpensive land and high solar radiation; reservoir-based projects are expected to diversify installations, particularly in States with large water bodies but limited land availability.
• Two constraints addressed: Acquiring large contiguous land parcels, and the rising costs associated with rehabilitation and resettlement.

Context

The Union Cabinet on Friday approved continuation of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) from 2026-27 to 2030-31, with a total financial outlay of ₹3.15 lakh crore.

Background & Key Facts

• The benefit: Financial assistance of ₹6,000 per year per farmer family, transferred in three instalments through direct benefit transfer.
• Cumulative transfer: More than ₹4.47 lakh crore has been transferred directly to farmers' bank accounts in 23 instalments since the scheme was launched in February 2019.
• Latest instalment: Under the 23rd instalment, more than 9.49 crore farmers benefited, with over ₹18,984 crore released.
• Women beneficiaries: Women farmers have received more than ₹1.06 lakh crore under the scheme, and nearly one in four beneficiaries is a woman farmer.
• Stated impact: The Agriculture Ministry says the assistance has enabled timely investment in seeds, fertilizers, irrigation and agricultural machinery, enhancing productive capacity, reducing dependence on informal credit and strengthening the financial stability of rural households.

Context

To boost India's offshore exploration efforts, the Union Cabinet approved an outlay of ₹84,084 crore for the Petroleum Ministry's National Offshore Exploration Scheme, Samudra Manthan, to be utilised until FY2030-31.

Background & Key Facts

• Deepwater drilling: ₹43,200 crore for drilling 60 deepwater exploration wells, inclusive of government support of up to 50% of eligible drilling cost or ₹675 crore per well.
• Data acquisition: ₹28,534 crore for offshore data acquisition.
• Infrastructure hubs: ₹10,000 crore for development of common offshore infrastructure hubs to facilitate commercialisation of discoveries.
• Manufacturing zones: ₹2,000 crore for establishment of oil and gas manufacturing and services zones, to promote domestic manufacturing and localisation of critical equipment and services.
• Goal: Catalysing reserves of more than 600 million metric tonnes of oil equivalent (MMTOE), and stimulating significant investment across the exploration and production value chain.
• Rationale: Hydrocarbon exploration is capital-intensive with a long gestation period but essential for domestic energy security; the scheme seeks to reorient growth into offshore exploration to overcome difficulties from ageing oil and gas fields.
• Industry view: Rajnish Gupta of EY India said investments in large-scale seismic data acquisition and drilling of exploratory wells in deep and ultra-deep waters will reduce geological uncertainty, de-risk exploration and lay the foundation for future discoveries, and that good results can catalyse greater private investment in the sector.

Context

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Friday they had struck two tankers attempting to pass through the Strait of Hormuz under the "air escort" of the U.S. military. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar spoke to his Iranian counterpart and "strongly urged" an end to all attacks on commercial vessels in the area, while Indian Oil Corporation said it has crude supplies secured for August and most of September.

Background & Key Facts

• The strikes: The IRGC said the "non-compliant oil tankers were struck and brought to a halt, while four other oil tankers quickly changed course and returned to their previous positions". The tankers had allegedly attempted to pass the strait via "an undeclared route" — the U.S.-backed alternative to Tehran's designated waterway closer to its own shores.
• Control over navigation: Iran has effectively maintained control over navigation through Hormuz since the outbreak of the war on 28 February, requiring vessels to obtain permission and pay transit fees. On Thursday the Guards said two tankers attempting to transit had turned back after one caught fire.
• India's diplomacy: Mr. Jaishankar spoke with Iranian Foreign Minister Syed Abbas Araghchi — his second phone call on shipping attacks in 24 hours — conveying deep concern at ongoing hostilities and strongly urging that attacks on commercial shipping and seafarers be avoided under any circumstance, adding that India condemns any such attack by any party. India continues to deal with increased maritime risk in both the Strait of Hormuz and the Black Sea.
• Fuel security — IOC: Chairman Arvinder Singh Sahney said Indian Oil is comfortably placed with crude supplies for the entirety of August and most of September — about 45 to 50 days. Amid disruption to supplies from Hormuz, the refiner also took to spot purchases from West Africa, South America and Venezuela, and said it would pursue diversification of LPG sourcing as much as possible.
• Financial impact: IOC posted a net loss of ₹2,661 crore in the June quarter, while Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum incurred net losses of about ₹12,265 crore and ₹3,962 crore respectively. IOC's overall revenues rose 26% year-on-year to about ₹2.76 lakh crore. Refinery throughput stood at 19.165 million metric tonnes with capacity utilisation of 109.4%, a 3% improvement over the comparable period, and the company posted its lowest-ever quarterly fuel and loss of 8.04% in the post-Bharat Stage-VI scenario.
• Consumer shielding: Seeking to shield consumers from the global price surge, Indian Oil incurred under-recoveries of ₹720 per LPG cylinder in June and ₹503 per cylinder in July. Officials said IOC tapped the Reserve Bank of India's credit facility swap window to raise $500 million; the facility offers concessional swaps for fresh FCNR(B) deposits, external commercial borrowings and overseas foreign currency borrowings.
• Diplomatic coordination: In a separate telephone conversation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and British Prime Minister Andy Burnham discussed the U.S.-Iran war and agreed to work closely together towards de-escalation and reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

Context

A month after a UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry led by Justice S. Muralidhar concluded that Israel's action in Gaza constituted genocide, an Amnesty International report states that some of the ammunition and weapons that could have been used in furthering these "war crimes" may have originated from India.

Background & Key Facts

• The report: Titled Made in India: The Supply of Weapons and Ammunition to Israel, it uses shipment-level trade data between India and Israel to argue that India risks complicity in "crimes against humanity of apartheid, genocide and other crimes under international law".
• Core claim: The Indian government became a significant supplier for Israel's military operations by forging a close and profitable partnership with the Israeli defence sector.
• The numbers: More than 2,500 shipments of small arms, parts and ammunition — including machine gun components, explosive warheads and artillery shells — were exported from India to Israel between 7 October 2023 and 30 November 2025. Of these, at least 788 were determined to have military purposes.
• Private entities named: The report says India failed to regulate arms exports by private munition manufacturers including PLR Systems (a joint venture between the Adani Group and Israel Weapon Industries), Indo-MIM, Kalyani Strategic Systems (a subsidiary of the Bharat Forge Group) and Ashoka Manufacturing.
• Public sector entities named: Government-owned corporate entities including Munitions India, India Optel and Advanced Weapons and Equipment India were found to have supplied high explosive artillery shells, mortar launchers and sensor components to Elbit Systems and Semiconductor Devices during the period.

Context

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and British Prime Minister Andy Burnham spoke by telephone on Friday, agreeing to cooperate closely across sectors and "fully harness" the recently operationalised trade agreement. On the same day, Bengaluru received the first tariff-free shipment of Scottish salmon to India under the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).

Background & Key Facts

• The call: Mr. Modi wrote on X that the two agreed to work together across technology, innovation, defence, security, clean energy, education and people-to-people ties, taking the India-UK Comprehensive Strategic Partnership to new heights, and to collaborate closely to fully harness trade and investment opportunities.
• Timeline: The trade deal was operationalised on 15 July, during the final days of Keir Starmer's two years in office.
• The Downing Street readout: Mr. Burnham praised the contribution of Indian communities in the U.K.; both leaders noted the links between their home cities of Manchester and Ahmedabad, which Mr. Modi called the "Manchester of India". Mr. Burnham was until recently the mayor of Greater Manchester, home to a sizeable Indian-origin population.
• Technology Security Initiative: Mr. Burnham conveyed personal commitment to the U.K.-India Technology Security Initiative (TSI), launched in July 2024 as a platform to enhance cooperation in AI, health-tech, semiconductors and critical minerals. Both leaders noted the potential to work together on AI.
• Geopolitics: They also discussed the U.S.-Iran war, agreeing to work closely together towards de-escalation and reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
• The salmon shipment: Owen Richards, Deputy Head of Mission at the British Deputy High Commission in Bengaluru, formally received the consignment of freshly farmed Scottish salmon produced by Bakkafrost Scotland at the premises of Sashimi Foods Pvt. Ltd. The CETA eliminated India's earlier 33% import tariff on Scottish salmon. Industry estimates the agreement could generate up to £130 million in additional export opportunities for Scotland's salmon sector over the next decade.

Context

About 60,000 migrants crossed from Morocco into Spain's tiny Ceuta enclave in 24 hours, Ceuta's President said on Friday — a figure equivalent to 70% of the city's population. At least 57 migrants died during the crossing attempt. Italy has suspended its Schengen agreement with Spain for one month in response.

Background & Key Facts

• Scale: Ceuta's President Juan Jesus Vivas called the situation "absolutely unsustainable". Spain's Interior Ministry, which had initially refused to share estimates, released its own figure of about 50,000 crossings from Morocco since Thursday. Roughly half of those who crossed soon returned voluntarily.
• Casualties and conditions: At least 57 migrants died. Rachid Sbihi, who leads a local workers' association representing Civil Guard officers, described a "serious humanitarian crisis", saying thousands of migrants including unaccompanied children were left sleeping in parks and on pavements while others roamed the streets.
• Border violence: Security forces clashed with migrants on the Moroccan side; footage showed hundreds gathered on a hill overlooking Ceuta being dispersed with tear gas by Moroccan forces while others continued to swim to the Spanish territory.
• Spain's response: Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez visited Ceuta and described the breach as "a violation of Spain's territorial integrity", blaming human smugglers who "deceive so many young people, and ultimately lead many of them to their deaths — whether in the ocean or at Spain's border".
• EU reaction: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the images coming from Ceuta were "unacceptable" and that no one can be allowed to come to the Union without abiding by its rules.
• Italy's move: Italy suspended its Schengen agreement with Spain, with Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani saying the measure would remain in force for one month beginning Saturday.

Context

The United States is planning to impose a $100,000 fee on visas issued to international students for working in the U.S. after graduation from an American university, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. The move follows a U.S. court striking down a proposal to levy a $100,000 fee on H-1B visas.

Background & Key Facts

• What OPT is: Optional Practical Training visas are an extension of F-1 student visas. The programme allows foreign graduates to work for one to three years on their student visas in areas directly related to their studies.
• Scale: Roughly 4,19,000 foreigners were working on OPT in 2024, the latest year for which data are available.
• Who is considering it: The Department of Homeland Security is reported to be mulling the fee. A DHS spokesperson said no policies should be considered final until formally announced, and that the department is always having conversations about how to use all tools in its arsenal to protect the integrity of the legal immigration system.
• Industry position: Tech companies, which conduct most of their recruitment from U.S. universities, opposed the $100,000 fee on H-1B visas.

Context

A consolidated fact bank of the shorter but examinable items from the Bengaluru City Edition of 1 August 2026 — security, disasters, judiciary, economy, culture and international affairs.

Security & Internal Affairs

• J&K targeted killing: Suspected terrorists shot dead a migrant worker and injured another in a targeted attack at Kilam in south Kashmir's Kulgam on Friday evening — the second targeted attack in the region since 22 July. Both labourers were from Chhattisgarh and worked at a brick kiln; the injured man was taken to the Government Medical College, Anantnag. Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha said he spoke with Director General of Police Nalin Prabhat and directed security forces to step up operations. The attack was condemned by the BJP, the J&K Apni Party and the PDP, whose president Mehbooba Mufti noted that such workers "work themselves to the bone far away from home only to feed their families".
• Jaish module: The Special Task Force of the West Bengal Police arrested a man and a woman — Hamim Mondal and Arpita Sarkar — from their rented accommodation in Bardhaman town, Purba Bardhaman district, for suspected association with the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed. STF Inspector-General Gaurav Sharma said both had been in touch with the outfit for over a year through social media and that electronic devices and documents were seized. Investigators are examining whether there was any plan to target the Chief Minister.
• Vinay Kulkarni case: The Karnataka High Court on Friday stayed a special court's 15 April judgment convicting former Minister Vinay Kulkarni for criminal conspiracy and the 2016 murder of Yogeshgowda Goudar, a BJP leader in Dharwad.

Disasters

• Bhiwandi building collapse: At least 10 people were killed and three injured after a four-storey residential building collapsed in Maharashtra's Bhiwandi late Thursday night. The 48-room Kohinoor Building, located 50 km from Mumbai and built in 2010, had been declared "dangerous" by the local civic body in September 2020 and was undergoing illegal repairs. Residents reported hearing loud cracking sounds around 9 p.m.; locals evacuated around 30-35 people through the back gate. The National Disaster Response Force, Thane Disaster Response Force and municipal fire brigade deployed heavy machinery and sniffer dogs; a three-year-old girl was among the 10 rescued.
• M.P. ambulance death: A 21-year-old man, Ajeet Bariya, suffering from a kidney ailment and undergoing regular dialysis at the district hospital, died in Madhya Pradesh's Mandla district on 27 July after a government ambulance allegedly ran out of oxygen before reaching the hospital. Mandla Collector Rahul Namdev Dhote said a five-member committee of doctors and officials has been formed to investigate.
• Broad Peak avalanche: Nepal's veteran mountaineer Nirmal Purja was among six climbers still missing after an avalanche struck an expedition on Pakistan's Broad Peak; four bodies were recovered on Friday. The avalanche struck at an altitude of around 7,000 metres on Thursday, sweeping away a 10-member climbing team.
• Quetta mine blast: A methane gas explosion at a coal mine on the outskirts of Quetta, Balochistan, killed 34 miners; 32 bodies were recovered.

Economy & Business

• Maruti Suzuki Q1: Net profit fell 11% to ₹3,352 crore from ₹3,758 crore on high material cost, while net sales income rose 36% to ₹49,959 crore. Total sales volume grew 29.3%; domestic small car sales rose 34.1%, SUVs 44.6% and exports 28.6%. Domestic market share rose 2.3 percentage points to 41.2%. The company attributed higher sales to commissioning of its second Kharkhoda plant and said network inventory at quarter-end was only about 13 days. The board approved four compressed biogas (CBG) projects in the first phase with a budget of ₹561 crore.
• Apple: Record June quarter revenue of $109.4 billion, up 16% year-on-year, supported by double-digit growth in most emerging markets including India; gross margin was 50.1%, including a favourable impact of about two percentage points from tariff refunds. The company flagged business risks in coming quarters from rising memory chip prices and supply constraints.
• SEBI clarification: The off-market sale of unlisted equity shares by an existing shareholder through private negotiations will not be treated as a deemed public issue, provided the number of purchasers does not exceed the statutory limit of 200 persons in a financial year; such transactions are secondary transfers, not an offer by the company.
• Adani Energy: Adani Energy Solutions may launch another share sale for institutional investors by early next financial year after securing ₹35 billion (about $367 million) this week; group companies have raised about $4.75 billion over the last eight months through QIPs and rights issues.
• Grasim-CCI: The Supreme Court, through a Bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and K. Vinod Chandran, upheld an NCLAT order setting aside a ₹301.6 crore penalty imposed by the Competition Commission of India on Grasim Industries in March 2020 for allegedly abusing dominance in the supply of viscose staple fibre to spinners. The tribunal had held that the CCI did not give Grasim a chance to present arguments after differing from the findings of its Director General, and remanded the matter.
• NSE settlement: The National Stock Exchange paid ₹714.74 crore to SEBI after in-principle approval to settle the long-pending co-location and dark fibre cases for ₹1,491.21 crore; together with ₹776.47 crore already deposited, this completes the settlement.
• TTK Prestige: The Bengaluru-based kitchen appliances maker reported Q1 FY27 net profit almost doubling year-on-year to ₹66.4 crore on revenue of ₹771.4 crore, a 34.2% growth. MD & CEO Venkatesh Vijayaraghavan said the firm aims to grow faster than the market while positioning at the premium end.
• Luxury housing (Chennai): At The Hindu Real Estate and Urban Infrastructure Summit, 2026, developers urged the Tamil Nadu government to raise the floor-to-floor height limit in the Third Master Plan, noting that a 10-foot floor-to-floor restriction has reduced ceiling heights in luxury homes to nine feet. Panellists said Chennai's luxury market is end-user driven rather than display-driven, and that in other Indian cities the luxury and ultra-luxury segments have surpassed the mid-segment in sales value.

Society, Culture & International

• Taslima Nasrin returns: The exiled Bangladeshi writer returned to Kolkata on Friday after a gap of almost 19 years, welcomed by the BJP. She had begun living in Kolkata after her exile from Bangladesh in 1994 over her writings on women's rights and Islamic fundamentalism, and had to leave Kolkata in November 2007 after violence erupted in the city, requiring the Army to be deployed. CPI(M) leaders said the Left Front government did not force her out but that the law and order situation had turned violent.
• Sri Lanka Easter attacks: Former police chief Pujith Jayasundera and former Defence Ministry secretary Hemasiri Fernando were sentenced to death for criminal dereliction of duty in failing to act on prior intelligence before the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks — a series of coordinated suicide bombings on churches and luxury hotels that killed more than 270 people on 21 April 2019. Both may appeal to the Supreme Court.
• Taiwan drone Bill: A U.S. lawmaker urged Taiwan to approve a drone spending proposal, warning that "time is short" for the island democracy facing the threat of a potential Chinese attack.
• Dhaka meeting: India's High Commissioner to Bangladesh Dinesh Trivedi met U.S. Ambassador to India Sergio Gor in Dhaka. Mr. Gor, the Trump administration's Special Envoy to South and Central Asia, was on his first visit to Bangladesh and flew with U.S. Ambassador to Bangladesh Brent T. Christensen to Chittagong to visit Rohingya refugee camps.
• Sport: Judokas Harsh and Asmita struck gold at the Commonwealth Games. Jamshedpur FC, which won the Indian Super League Shield in 2022 and finished sixth in 2025-26, announced it will not participate in the ISL from 2026-27 after the All India Football Federation's extended 31 July deadline for the first participation fee instalment (₹55 lakh) expired; owned and managed by Tata Steel, it was the only club in the Indian top flight to own its stadium and training facilities. Ramiel, trained by Bharath Singh and ridden by Antony, won the Zavaray S. Poonawalla Bangalore St. Leger over 2,800 m.
• Heritage edition: Ahead of the 80th Independence Day, The Hindu has reproduced its 15 August 1947 edition in its entirety — the original 32-page issue including Independence Day greetings from Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, reports of the first flag-hoisting ceremonies and vintage advertisements.