3.9 lakh cases pending, Centre tells states to set up special courts for drug crimes

With About 3.96 lakh cases under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act pending across the country, the Ministry of Home Affairs has asked all states and Union Territories to set up exclusive courts for narcotics-related cases. The direction came after the MHA was informed in a meeting that 22 states are yet to set up special NDPS courts.

Talks between Iran and Oman over Hormuz in final stages: Araghchi

US President Donald Trump has said the US will hold off on a fresh attack on Iran as long as a deal can be reached quickly to halt the Islamic nation's nuclear ambitions and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

PM: Youth who overcome addiction are real warriors

Launching The 'Nasha Mukt Yuva for Viksit Bharat Sankalp Abhiyan' on Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi focused not only on keeping the youth away from drugs but also giving second chances to those who have been addicted. He said that facilities such as rehabilitation centres can help them.

Translocate, keep in enclosures: Chhattisgarh bid to save its wild buffaloes from extinction

Translocation from Assam. That's what the Chhattisgarh Forest Department hopes will save the state wild buffalo its state animal and the last surviving population in Central India.

With the wild buffalo population plummeting over the last few decades, the Chhattisgarh Forest Department is planning to translocate wild buffaloes from Assam and keep them in enclosures at the Pamed Wildlife Sanctuary, the Udanti Sitanadi Tiger Reserve (USTR) and the Indravati Tiger Reserve (ITR). Officials hope this will help boost their population naturally.

Between growth haves, have-nots, mind the lag

There are several markers of a dramatic explosion in the income and wealth of a small cohort in India over the last few years. For instance, according to the finance ministry's reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, the number of individuals earning more than a billion rupees-those with reported gross total incomes of Rs 100 crore or more - has grown from 142 in 2021-22 (assessment year) to 576 in 2025-26. The number of dollar millionaires in the country has been pegged at 9,44,000 as per the UBS Global Wealth Report 2026, putting India in the same league as Switzerland, and only slightly lower than Spain. Yet, alongside the vaulting fortunes of a few is the continuing struggle of the vast majority to make ends meet.

Saudi nuclear deal bares Washington's double standards

What has emerged from the "123 Agreement" between the US and Saudi Arabia departs from the template Washington has used for decades in sharing nuclear technology with allies. The 2009 agreement with the UAE, still the gold standard, bound Abu Dhabi to forswear enrichment and reprocessing and to accept the IAEA's most rigorous inspection regime, the Additional Protocol; the UAE now gets roughly a quarter of its electricity from nuclear power.

Next conservation challenge lies beyond protected areas

Over the past five decades, India has built one of the developing world's most representative protected -area (PA) networks. This achievement has provided a robust scientific foundation for conserving many of the country's most important species, habitats and ecological processes. However, the ecological realities of the 21st century demand changes in conservation paradigms. Wildlife moves across landscapes rather than administrative boundaries. Rivers connect forests, wetlands and farmlands. Climate change is altering habitats, while rapid infra-structure expansion is fragmenting them. Conserving biodiversity can therefore no longer rely solely on protecting isolated sites - it must also secure the landscapes that connect them.

A new compact between Al & agriculture: An Andhra Pradesh opportunity

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu has proved to be a visionary and investment-friendly politician. He has secured one of India's largest technology investments in recent years. Google has committed $15 billion to a one-gigawatt Al data centre in Visakhapatnam, expected to be the largest such centre in Asia when it becomes operational in 2028. Such a large data centre will require 24 GWh of power each day. Meeting this demand by diverting power from other consumers, particularly agriculture, could provoke social tensions, while expanding thermal generation would come at an unacceptable environmental cost.

Privatisation and petroleum: Let's resurrect an old question

Should the government privatise the petroleum exploration and production (EP) public enterprises, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Oil India Limited (OIL)? This question had been deemed too sensitive for serious discussion. I resurrect it not to make the case for privatisation but because the altered landscape of the international petroleum market warrants a discussion.

Rethink welfare - citizens - are more than labharthis

Digitisation must be undertaken through consultation and accompanied by legal safeguards. Wider public consultation on how to arrive at estimates of savings due to technologies in welfare delivery is needed.

RBI policy panel likely to keep interest rates unchanged on August 5

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is widely expected to leave the key policy repo rate unchanged at its forthcoming meeting on Au-gust 5, amid the continuing conflict in West Asia and elevated global crude oil prices, experts said.

OPEC+ agrees oil hike from September

OPEC+ APPROVED an oil production quota increase on Sunday of around 188,000 barrels per day from September, the producer group said, in a move that completes the unwinding of a layer of voluntary output cuts.

Why India's tea majors are facing rising competition from cheaper alternatives

Tea, or 'chai', may continue to be one of the most popular beverages for Indians, but the market is seeing a shift in where consumers buy it, as a surge in cheap imports and lower prices are prompting many to switch to lower sub-brands or purchase from the unorganised sector.

When machines do math: The promise & limits of Al

LLMs are exceptional partners for brainstorming, drafting and accelerating research.

But like any knowledgeable collaborator, they work best when their most important claims are checked against reliable, independent sources.

What makes Kerala particularly vulnerable to landslides

• In 2023, ISRO's National Remote Sensing Centre, Hyderabad, released a 'landslide atlas based on landslide events recorded from 1998 to 2022.

• The database showed that while the Western Ghats recorded fewer landslide events than the Himalayan region, Kerala accounted for a dis-proportionately high share of landslide fatalities.

For doxxing victims in India, a patchwork of laws to navigate

• The act of publicly revealing private personal information to intimidate or shame someone is known as doxxing.

• Despite its severe real-world consequences, doxxing is not explicitly defined or penalised as a criminal offence under Indian law.