Trade to AI: India, France set new targets

A mechanism to double annual bilateral trade from the existing $16 billion in five years; an India-France Innovation Roadmap 2030; a joint working group focussed on AI (artificial intelligence) governance; an economic security dialogue; increased cooperation on defence and space - these were

India a tech provider, offering global solutions: PM in France

Underlining That the "world is undergoing a period of unprecedented upheaval", Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said that India and France have made "concerted efforts" to find solutions to global challenges, and "India is emerging not merely as a consumer of solutions, but as a contributor to them".

India, China in talks over joint UNESCO nomination for Xuanzang's work

To Speed up the process of safeguarding heritage, the BRICS countries are deliberating on filing joint nominations for various UNESCO lists. In this line, India and China are in advanced stages of discussions over a joint nomination for "The Great Tang Records on the Western Regions', a narrative of Chinese Buddhist monk and scholar Xuanzang's travels through medieval India in the 7th century.

Make way for the 'Queen': Tripura eyes global status for state fruits

For Generations, the family of this farmer in Tripura's Killa region has been growing pineapples.

As the state gears up to organise the Tripura Global Pine-apple Festival at New Delhi later this month, it has given farmers like him the hope that the GItagged fruit of their labour will finally get its global moment under the sun. 

The Queen Pineapple was declared the state fruit in 2018, four years after it attained the GI tag for its golden-yellow hue and a distinct aroma besides its flesh laden with vitamins, calcium, magnesium, potassium and iron. The fruit is at the core of the three-year-long 'Mission Queen Pineapple of Tripura', one such Centrally-funded farm-to-plate programme worth Rs 236 crore launched on May 27.

Our parched cities need to make every drop count, recycle water

Institutional reforms are needed to enable urban local bodies to set up special-purpose instruments to manage reuse projects and convert them into a business opportunity.

Innovation is strategic necessity. Country must incubate technologies world uses

We must also confront technology's double edge. AI can compress decades of progress in diagnostics and governance. Deployed without careful design, it can also disrupt work, amplify bias and deepen inequality.

After 16 years, Census could tell several new stories

It is the first time in independent India that caste-based data will be collected. It is expected to be a detailed catalogue of declared castes, cross-referenced with socio-economic indicators.

Swiss reject population cap in referendum, avoiding EU clash

Switzerland on Sunday rejected a proposal to cap its population at 10 million as voters prioritised economic stability and ties with the European Union over worries immigration was stretching public services and pushing up rents.

A preliminary tally of a nationwide referendum showed almost 55% of Swiss voters came out against the proposal, and 45% in favour. The vote, which was likened to Britain's 2016 Brexit referendum, had put businesses on edge due to concerns it could end the free movement of labour between Switzerland and the EU, the country's main trading partner.

Behind RBI's return to 'terrible' = 2013 idea to lift foreign inflows

In the 2013 swap scheme for banks' Foreign Currency Non-Resident (Bank) deposits, or FCNR(B) deposits, banks got a 3.5% subsidy on foreign funds they raised through these deposits

This allowed banks to offer attractive interest rates to those abroad and the facility resulted in an inflow of $26 billion, helping turn around investor confidence in the rupee and India.

India's push beyond E20 fuel: Reasons, and pitfalls

The Centre last week exempted higher ethanol-petrol blends (22%-30% ethanol) from central excise duty, putting their tax treatment on a par with the 20% ethanol blend (E20) that's the standard at pumps.

The government has also proposed amendments to recognise 85% ethanol-blended fuel and 100% ethanol fuel under the Central Motor Vehicles Rules.

Both measures signal the government's intent to prepare the country's vehicular and fuel ecosystems for the next stage of ethanol adoption. But they have differing implications.

The first measure the transition from E20 fuel to higher blends - is aimed at most petrol cars.

The second move the draft amendment to recognise E85 and higher fuel-targets an entirely new category called flex fuel vehicles. Such vehicles are designed to operate on varying blends of petrol and ethanol but are still some way away from being widely introduced to the Indian market.

AN-32: Soviet-origin transport aircraft, the IAF's workhorse

What is the AN-32?

Bought in 1984 from the erstwhile Soviet Union, the AN-32s have served as the IAF's critical workhorse. The IAF has employed it as a tactical transport aircraft since its induction into the force.

The AN-32 is a twin-engine turboprop aircraft and can carry a maximum weight of 27 tonnes at a maximum speed of 530 km per hour. It can carry up to 6.7 tonnes of cargo or 50 passengers, making it the preferred choice for transport of men and cargo across different terrain.

The aircraft can cover small to medium ranges and can operate from far-flung air-fields with minimum ground infrastructure, enabling it to play critical roles during a conflict, especially in the mobilisation of men and material and with its limited bombing role.

How India cut child deaths faster than the world

India's Emergence as a global leader in reducing child mortality is among the most significant public health achievements of the past decade. According to the United Nations Inter-Agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME) 2025 Report, released in March 2026, India recorded a 41 per cent decline in under-five mortality and a 37 per cent decline in neonatal mortality between 2014 and 2024, substantially higher than the global reductions of 18 per cent and 15 per cent respectively.