The Union IT Minister said the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, 2023 does not infringe press freedom, after news publishers warned that the absence of a journalism exemption could hamper investigative reporting. Official sources indicated the law could be amended to protect journalistic activity explicitly if needed.

• Publishers’ concerns: processing personal data without consent during investigations; obligations to erase or correct data; retention of information; and protection of confidential sources.
• Government’s position: journalistic freedom is guaranteed by the Constitution and the law does not intend to affect it; it has invited dialogue with editors.
• Analysis: constitutional protection is a shield in court, but explicit statutory language gives legal certainty to reporters before disputes arise; any exemption would need clear limits so that it is not misused by entities merely claiming to be media.

Jio Platforms, the telecom and digital arm of Reliance Industries (RIL), listed on the stock exchanges on 28 October, closing 26.6% above its issue price with a market capitalisation of about ₹13.05 lakh crore — second only to RIL. The Reliance group’s combined market value now exceeds that of the Tata and Adani groups.

• No double counting: RIL already owned most of Jio, so Jio’s value was partly reflected in RIL’s share price. Adding the two market caps overstates the group’s economic value — a holding-company issue.
• Sum-of-the-parts valuation: a separate listing gives investors a standalone price for Jio, which can lead them to re-rate RIL — the real test of value created.
• Notional wealth: changes in market capitalisation are paper gains that move with prices; they are not realised income.
• Wider significance: large listings deepen Indian capital markets, give domestic retail and institutional investors access to major businesses, and add weight to Indian indices in global portfolios.
• Concerns: concentration of market value in a few business groups, and governance questions around related-party transactions between listed group companies, are areas SEBI monitors.

Two economists argue that youth protests across countries stem from neoliberal economic policy — reduced public spending, weaker labour bargaining power and costlier education — which, they say, has depressed demand and jobs. Youth unemployment in G7 countries is roughly twice the overall rate.

• Demand, not supply: in ageing rich economies, fewer young people enter the labour force, yet youth unemployment rises — pointing to weak demand for labour.
• History: the “Golden Age” of 1945–1973 combined high growth with a rising wage share; the post-1980 shift reversed both.
• Double squeeze: slower growth plus labour-displacing technology (potentially AI) and rising education costs.

• Mainstream responses: the 1970s inflation also reflected expansionary policies and wage–price spirals; market reforms coincided with gains in productivity and lower inflation in many economies; skill mismatches are documented in labour data.
• Multiple causes: youth unrest also reflects housing costs, inequality, governance and identity issues — not economics alone.
• India’s context: India is a young country; PLFS data show youth (15–29) unemployment around 10%, far above the overall rate, with high rates among educated youth — making both demand-side (investment, manufacturing jobs) and supply-side (skills, apprenticeships) policies relevant.

At the 36th Conference of State Finance Secretaries, the RBI Governor urged States to adopt prudent borrowing and cash-management strategies, improve the quality of expenditure, join the Unified Lending Interface (ULI) and use programmable CBDC for direct benefit transfers.

India became the first country to release genome-edited rice varieties to farmers in 2025. A leading biologist argues that newer tools such as apomixis could transform staple-crop breeding, and that India must revive fundamental plant-science research and adapt its public seed system to these changes.

• What it is: asexual seed formation that produces offspring genetically identical to the parent — so a hybrid’s vigour can be fixed and seeds saved, rather than bought every season.
• Breakthrough: “synthetic apomixis” in rice was demonstrated in 2018 by researchers at the University of California, Davis, including Indian-origin scientists; success rates have reached about 90% in rice.
• Significance for India: smallholders could get hybrid-level yields without annual seed costs; because no foreign genes are needed, regulation could be simpler.
• Global wheat: drought-tolerant HB4 wheat (a GM trait from sunflower) is grown in Argentina and was approved in the U.S. in 2024; CRISPR wheat trials are under way in Australia. India has not yet released gene-edited wheat.

• Talent pipeline: the author argues that polarised GM debates have driven young researchers away from plant science; reviving fundamental research is essential.
• Public vs private: public institutions dominate rice and wheat seed; as private firms enter, policy must protect farmers’ access and the public breeding system.
• Biosafety and trust: critics seek case-by-case evaluation, transparency and labelling; export-market acceptance also matters.
• Beyond seeds: gains depend equally on water, fertiliser and pricing policies — technology alone cannot fix rice–wheat sustainability.

With ₹20,000 crore earmarked over five years in the Union Budget 2026–27 for CCUS in power, steel, cement, refineries and chemicals, the Government is positioning Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage as a complement to renewables on the path to net zero by 2070.

Figure 4 — The CCUS chain: from source to use or storage

Capture separates CO₂ from flue or process gas; it is compressed, transported by pipeline or ship, then used or stored. Infographic courtesy PIB (source: Department of Science and Technology), 27 October 2026; reproduced with credit for educational use.

• Utilisation: enhanced oil recovery, urea, food and beverages, green methanol and synthetic fuels, polymers, concrete and aggregates, algae-based biofuels.
• Storage: injection into depleted oil and gas reservoirs, deep saline aquifers, and basalt formations, where CO₂ mineralises into rock — India’s Deccan basalts are seen as a potential site.
• Global precedents: Norway’s Sleipner project has stored CO₂ under the North Sea since 1996; Iceland’s CarbFix mineralises CO₂ in basalt.
• Blue hydrogen: hydrogen from natural gas or coal gasification with carbon capture — distinct from green (renewable electrolysis) and grey (no capture) hydrogen.

Figure 5 — Sectors where CCUS matters most

Infographic courtesy PIB (source: NITI Aayog), 27 October 2026; reproduced with credit for educational use.

• Cost and energy penalty: capture is expensive and consumes a significant share of a plant’s energy; without a carbon price, projects struggle to be viable — the Carbon Credit Trading Scheme may help.
• Track record: globally, many CCS projects have underperformed their capture targets; utilisation often re-releases CO₂ (e.g. in urea or fuels), so only permanent storage gives lasting reductions.
• Moral hazard: critics warn CCUS could prolong fossil-fuel use and delay renewables; supporters see it as essential for unavoidable process emissions.
• Infrastructure and safety: CO₂ pipelines, storage mapping, long-term monitoring and liability rules are still to be developed in India.

With Delhi’s air turning “poor”, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) invoked Stage I of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP). An analysis by the research body CREA finds no consistent improvement in Delhi’s winter air over four years despite GRAP.

• 1998 — EPCA: the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority was set up under Supreme Court directions in the M.C. Mehta litigation, but lacked statutory backing.
• 2017 — GRAP notified by the MoEFCC, following Supreme Court directions for graded measures by AQI level.
• 2021 — CAQM Act: the Commission for Air Quality Management in NCR and Adjoining Areas replaced EPCA as a statutory body; its directions bind States, and it can act against non-compliant officers. GRAP has since been revised several times, including in 2022.

• New this winter: a Delhi government notification (June 2026) bans non-Delhi-registered vehicles below BS-VI from 1 November to 31 January (EVs, CNG and emergency vehicles exempt) and doubles parking charges from 1 November to 28 February — irrespective of AQI. GRAP prevails in case of conflict.
• Why GRAP falls short: it is an emergency, short-term tool; meteorology dominates day-to-day AQI, and regional sources (crop residue, industry, power plants) lie outside Delhi.
• What would work: airshed-level planning across the Indo-Gangetic Plain, cleaner public transport and electrification, enforcement on dust and waste burning, crop-residue alternatives (in-situ management, ex-situ use in power plants), and year-round action rather than winter crisis management.