India can comfortably cater to PNG demand: govt.

India can comfortably ca-ter to the demand of as many as 30 crore domestic piped natural gas (PNG) connections even if it were to solely rely on its domes-tic production of liquefied natural gas (LNG), according to Anjan Kumar Mishra, Secretary at the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board.

Unexpected surge

India's industrial growth held a positive surprise in February 2026, coming in at 5.2%, marginally faster than the growth in January. Apart from November and December last year, February's industrial performance as measured by the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) - was the best in nearly two years. Why this was a surprise was because this performance diverges quite sharply from what was indicated by the Index of Eight Core Industries released earlier this month. The eight core sectors crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, coal, fertilizers, steel, cement, and electricity saw their combined growth slow to 2.3% in February, about half the growth rate in January.

Counting people is not counting disaster risk

The 16th Finance Commission has allocated ₹2,04,401 crore to State Disaster Response Funds (SDRF), a 59.5% increase over its predecessor. The Commission adopted a multiplicative Disaster Risk Index (DRI = Hazard X Exposure X Vulnerability), drawing on the theoretical framework. This is a departure from the additive approach of the 15th Finance Commission, which treated hazard and vulnerability as substitutes rather than complements.

An impeachment move with no winners

The exclusion of even a single eligible voter due to the way the SIR has been conducted would legitimise the criticism of this arbitrary and aggressive exercise.

On global tensions and India's economy

India's fiscal system remains structurally exposed to oil price volatility. External shocks, particularly energy price spikes raise transport costs and compress household spending. Private consumption accounts for roughly 61.4 percent of India's GDP, yet household liabilities have risen sharply, increasing sensitivity to inflationary shocks. At the same time, India's expenditure strategy has pivoted toward infrastructure-led growth.

Most parts of India to see more heatwave days: IMD

North India is likely to experience a cooler-than-normal summer this time, while other parts of the country may see more number of heatwave days, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Tuesday.

SC wants practical SOP to combat human trafficking

The Supreme Court has called for framing a practical, time-sensitive, and uniform Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to combat human trafficking cases.

Sanand 'bridge' to Silicon Valley: PM on rise in semiconductor ecosystem

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday positioned Gujarat's Sanand as an emerging link in the global semiconductor net-work as he inaugurated a semiconductor assembly and test facility of Kaynes Semicon in Sanand, declaring that a "bridge" now connects the industrial town with Silicon Valley.

Sanand 'bridge' to Silicon Valley: PM on rise in semiconductor ecosystem

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday positioned Gujarat's Sanand as an emerging link in the global semiconductor network as he inaugurated a semiconductor assembly and test facility of Kaynes Semicon in Sanand, declaring that a "bridge" now connects the industrial town with Silicon Valley.

War can cut 1% point off India's FY27 GDP growth projection: EY

India's real GDP growth for the next fiscal could erode by around 1 percentage point, while retail inflation could rise by about 1.5 per-centage points from their baseline estimates if the Middle East conflict per-sists through the next fiscal, an EY report said.

Government says 30 mineral blocks made operational in FY2025-26

In a first for India, the Ministry of Mines informed that 30 mineral blocks have been made operation-al in a single financial year viz. FY2025-26. Essential to note, most of the blocks made operational are those of limes-tone followed by iron ore.

China, Pak. outline 5-point plan to end West Asia war

China and Pakistan called on Tuesday for an immediate end to the war in the West Asia, and for peace talks as soon as possible, as they agreed to boost their cooperation on Iran. The two countries out-lined a joint initiative "for restoring peace and stability in the Gulf and Middle East region", after a visit from senior Pakistani officials to Beijing.

Earth's orbits are filling up because governance hasn't kept pace

The earth's orbital environment has become crowded, fragile, and vulnerable, threatened by what is today evidently a failure of governance rather than just of engineering

Reducing risk depends on having accurate information about when objects in orbit might come close to one another and exactly where they are

Even debris smaller than a coin, travelling at orbital velocities, carries enough energy to disable or destroy active satellites

WHAT IS IT?

Entanglement: spooky action

Scientists have shown that helium atoms can be entangled through their movement. A team from Australia and the U.S. collided clouds of helium atoms together to create pairs that shared a single quantum state.

The achievement showed that even 'heavy' particles could follow the same strange quantum physics rules that scientists have mostly observed so far in much lighter particles like electrons.