Oil tops $100 a barrel, gas shortage fear grips restaurants, tiles industry

With international crude oil prices surging to over $100 barrel due to the ongoing conflict in West Asia, gas shortage is slowly hitting commercial users of cooking gas or LPG, especially restaurants, in big cities like Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru, and industrial users of LNG and propane-LPG such as tile and ceramic makers in Morbi, Gujarat.

Opposition lines up motion seeking CEC impeachment

A day before the Lok Sabha is likely to take up an Opposition-sponsored resolution seeking Speaker Om Birla's removal, the united Opposition on Monday moved to open yet another political front against the government in Parliament by deciding to submit a notice on impeaching Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar.

MHA: Statutory bodies cannot seek Look Out Circulars directly

In a significant modification to its guidelines for Look Out Circulars (LOCs), the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has specified that statutory bodies with no criminal jurisdiction cannot issue direct requests to the Bureau of Immigration to pre-vent any Indian or foreigner from leaving the country.

Forest Survey of India stops its AI-based fortnightly alerts to states on deforestation

The Forest Survey of India (FSI), the central government organisation that is responsible for the assessment and monitoring of India's forest wealth, has stopped issuing the fortnightly alerts through which it has kept a watch on deforestation activities in near-real time for more than two years.

The data on the FSI's Anavaran-Deforestation Alert System have not been updated since November 2025.

Safe navigation, not bans, to protect young

The Announcements last week by Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, of plans to cut social media access for children under 16 and under 13, respectively, are part of a growing global movement to protect young people from digital harm. Animating these proposals are concerns over how excessive screen time and the use of potentially addictive apps may be impacting children's mental health and academic performance. Yet protecting a generation of "digital natives" from the worst effects of the internet calls for more finesse than the blunt instrument of a ban can offer.

For women farmers, Al is an opportunity

Maharashtra has announced a dedicated Al strategy for agriculture, and several public-private partnerships are already piloting AI-driven crop advisories, pest diagnostics, and climate-risk prediction models.

For India's women farmers, this moment represents a historic opportunity. Women constitute nearly 43 per cent of India's agricultural labour force. They con-tribute close to half of crop production and over 70 per cent of livestock-related work. Agriculture remains the single largest employer of working women in India, accounting for nearly 55-60 per cent of female employment in rural areas.

India puts supply security first amid oil price surge

The Strait of Hormuz handles approximately one-fifth of global liquid petroleum consumption and global LNG trade.

Around 15 million barrels of crude pass through it daily.