Jobs to GDP to debt: State of poll state economies

India is undergoing a demographic transition with millions joining the working age population, and this has created a growing challenge for governments in the form of unemployment.

Compared with the national average of 55.1%, all the states that went to polls had a higher demand for jobs. None more so than West Bengal, which also had the highest unemployment rate among the four states. The unemployment rate is the percentage of people who were looking for a job but did not get it.

Nepal Cabinet resends constitutional council ordinance to President

NEPAL'S CABINET on Monday decided to resend a Constitutional Council-related ordinance to President Ramchandra Paudel without making any changes, after he returned it for reconsideration, government officials said. The ordinance seeks to amend the law governing the composition and powers of the six-member Constitutional Council, which recommends appointments for the chief jus-tice and judges of the Supreme Court, ambassadors, commissioners and heads of all 13 constitutional commissions.

Suspected hantavirus outbreak traps 150 on ship off Cape Verde

• Hantavirus is primarily spread by rodents but can be transmitted between people in rare cases.
• People most typically become infected when virus in rodent droppings, saliva and urine becomes airborne.
• The name comes from the Hantan River area of South Korea where the virus was identified in the 1970s.
• Hantavirus is a family of viruses that cause two illnesses, one that affects the lungs and the other that attacks the kidneys.

Sri Lanka and Maldives sign seven MoUs

MALDIVES AND Sri Lanka on Monday exchanged 7 Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) during the ongoing visit of President Mohamed Muizzu to the is-land nation. The MOUs were exchanged after talks between Sri Lanka President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and President Muizzu.

India may expand LNG storage to manage future supply crises

THE LIQUEFIED natural gas (LNG) supply disruption due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz amid the West Asia war has underscored the need for having more LNG storage capacity in India to cushion geopolitical and supply shocks, and all stake-holders in the sector are now serious about increasing the capacity by adding more storage tanks, according to the chief executive of India's largest LNG importer Petronet LNG.

'Central bank explores steps to mobilise dollar inflows as rupee slides'

THE RESERVE Bank of India (RBI) is studying ways to mobilise dollar inflows to bolster its foreign exchange buffers and cushion rising pressure on the rupee from a spike in oil prices driven by the Iran war, three sources familiar with the discussions. The rupee has slumped 5.5% this year, sliding to an all-time low of 95.33 per dollar last Thurs-day, while foreign exchange re-serves have fallen from a peak of $728.5 billion and equity out-flows have hit $19 billion over March and April alone.

Direct taxes log 5-yr low growth of 5.1% in FY26, fall short of target

INDIA'S DIRECT tax collections after refunds grew at a five-year low of just 5.12% year-on-year in FY26 (provisional figures) and fell short of the revised estimates of Rs 24.21 lakh crore by Rs 80,594 crore, according to data released by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on Monday. Personal income tax (PIT) collections grew by a mere 0.03% y-o-y.