2-year extension to 75% Agniveers opens permanent service door to all 

Overhauling the Agnipath scheme, the Union Cabinet Wednesday approved a path for all Agniveers undergoing training in the three services to join the Armed Forces as regular soldiers.

The process will have two stages. In the first step, 25 per cent of Agniveers will be selected on merit for absorption into the services after completing their four-year tenure, as part of the original scheme.

Govt looks at scrapping legal immunity for social media platforms

The It Ministry has begun discussions on a sweeping overhaul of India's social media regulatory framework, including a proposal to withdraw the legal immunity available to platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and X for content posted by their users. 

Flagship rural sanitation scheme extended, to get Rs 7,000 cr in Budget

The Centre has extended the Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) Phase-II until March 2028. This will allow the government to allocate around Rs 7,000 crore for its flagship rural sanitation scheme in the Union Budget 2027-28.

The Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation under the Ministry of Jal Shakti had approached the Finance Ministry for extension approval, and it was granted on Tuesday. The DDWS must ensure all villages achieve the required 'Open Defecation Free Plus' status, within the programme's overall outlay, by March-end 2028.

An 'ODF Plus' village "sustains its ODF status, ensures solid and liquid waste management and is visually clean".

India-Nepal step up engagement ahead of Balen's maiden visit

Ahead of Nepal Prime Minister Balen Shah's India visit, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri met Foreign Affairs Minister Shisir Khanal and Foreign Secretary Amrit Bahadur Rai in Kathmandu on Wednesday, as they discussed "connectivity, trade, development cooperation, energy and people-to-people relations".

SC notice to govt, ECI on plea against 'immunity' to CEC, ECS

The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued notice to the Centre and the Election Commission of India on a fresh plea challenging "blanket immunity" granted to Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners for decisions taken while in office.

2-child norm has lost relevance: SC refers 2003 ruling to larger bench

The Supreme Court on Wednesday referred to a larger bench its 2003 ruling in Javed vs State of Haryana, which upheld a law disqualifying people with more than two children from contesting panchayat elections, observing that the fear of overpopulation, on which the law rests, "has crumbled due to demographic changes in past few decades".

Indian universities slip in QS Asia rankings again: No IIT, IISc in top 50

For the second year in a row, Indian universities failed to secure a position in the top 50 of QS World University Rankings: Asia 2027.

The drop in the rankings of India's leading institutions stands in contrast to country's performance in research output and doctoral capacity, where several universities continue to feature among Asia's strongest. India leads the region in the number of universities featuring in the top 10 for research output per faculty member and doctoral-qualified staff. 

Critical mineral processing gets Rs 2,814 cr boost

To Develop domestic critical mineral processing capacity, the Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a new scheme to provide capital expenditure (capex) support for critical mineral processing. With an outlay of Rs 2,814 crore, the scheme will be focused on establishing an ecosystem for lithium and nickel processing.

The scheme aims to provide a 30% capital subsidy on eligible investment for setting up four processing plants-two lithium processing plants with a minimum capacity of 30 kilo-tonnes (kt) each and two nickel processing plants with a mini-mum capacity of 50 kt each.

Govt nod to Rs 17.5K cr scheme to promote energy storage systems

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a new viability gap funding (VGF) scheme to promote grid-scale energy storage systems with a financial outlay of Rs 17,500 crore from 2026-27 to 2030-31.

Under the scheme, the government plans to promote energy storage capacity of 92 gigawatt-hour (GWh).