Trade to sailor safety, Modi and Trump look to turn a new page

In their first meeting in over a year following the strain in bilateral ties, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump Wednesday walked the tightrope, projecting a positive path ahead with a trade deal soon, a strategic commitment to security, and remarks that rekindled hopes of skilled Indian professionals.

The meeting, on the sidelines of the G7 summit at Evianles-Bains in eastern France, lasted 55 minutes, according to sources.

Global South shouldn't be left to bear war burden, needs financial backing: PM to G7

Underlining that disruptions in fuel, fertiliser and food supply chains caused by the war in West Asia will impact the Global South for "a considerable period", Prime Minister Narendra Modi Wednesday told G7 leaders, including US President Donald Trump, that the "most vulnerable countries" should not be left to bear the burden of these crises alone, and global financial organisations should develop support systems for affected nations.

QS rankings: IIT-Delhi tops India list for 2nd yr, climbs to 118 globally

For the second consecutive year, IIT-Delhi ranked highest among Indian institutions in the QS World University Rankings 2027, climbing five places to 118th globally - the highest ever for an Indian institution, first achieved by IIT-Bombay in the 2025 rankings.

IIT-Bombay, which topped the country's list in the past, dropped from 129 to 134. Last.

'Partial burning' continues to be key hurdle in tackling farm fire pollution: Study

Farmers Using crop residue management machines (CRM) but still setting residual stubble on fire due to concerns such as pest attacks, cost and lack of confidence in alternative methods, also referred as "partial burning": this behaviour has emerged as a key challenge in tackling pollution due to stubble burning, a latest study has underlined.

UDF govt agrees to implement PM SHRI in Kerala but with riders

The New Congress-led United Democratic Front government in Kerala has agreed to go ahead with implementing the Union Government's Pradhan Mantri Schools for Rising India (PM SHRI) scheme in the state, but with a caveat - that Kerala will retain control over the curriculum and schools covered under the scheme.

A centrally sponsored scheme aimed at upgrading over 14,500 existing schools across India into exemplar institutions, the Modi government's flagship PM SHRI project, which is part of the National Education Policy, ran into roadblocks in Kerala, where both the Congress and the CPI(M) opposed it, viewing it as a tool for the "saffronisation" of education.

3 tribal councils seek scrapping of draft rules for polls in Nicobar

Three Nicobarese tribal councils-Great and Little Nicobar, Katchal Island and Nancowry group of islands - have called for scrapping of the Andaman and Nicobar Island administration's Draft Tribal Council (Preparation of Electoral Rolls and Conduct of Elections) Rules-2026, terming them "unacceptable".

Annual defence production records an all-time high of Rs 1.78-lakh cr

India's Annual defence production touched an all-time high of Rs 1.78-lakh crore in the 2025-26 financial year (FY), representing a 15.6% growth over the previous fiscal year's output of Rs 1.54-lakh crore and an 110% increase since 2020-21 (Rs 84,643 crore), the Ministry of Defence said on Wednesday.

EU to sign Free Trade Agreement with India by end of 2026, says Ursula at G7

European Commission's President Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday that the EU will sign the Free Trade Agreement with India by the end of the year.

She made this comment after meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the G7 Summit.

In another development, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz invited Modi to visit Germany later this year.

India will always be on the side of peace, Modi tells Zelenskyy

Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday and reiterated that India will "always be on the side of peace, placing the values of humanity over everything else". The two sides discussed trade and industrial projects, which is a significant upgrade in conversation since the war between Russia and Ukraine began almost four-and-half years ago.

For lasting peace, US & Iran have to look beyond their philosophies of negotiation

The Long-Drawn-Out impasse between Washington and Tehran, now finally (we hope!) ended, is frequently dissected through the lenses of realpolitik, regional rivalries, and nuclear politics. Analysts pointing to the technical mechanics of uranium enrichment, the labyrinth of secondary economic sanctions, or the shifting geopolitics of the Middle East are certainly not wrong. These structural disputes formed the visible bedrock of the stalemate. 

This conceptual chasm is vividly illuminated by a fascinating, almost cinematic juxtaposition of two texts: Donald Trump's "The Art of the Deal' (1987) and Abbas Araghchi's "The Power of Negotiation' (2014).

On cough syrups, a long overdue prescription

Cough syrups occupy an anomalous position in India's drug regulation framework. While recognised as medicines, many formulations-crucially those under Entry number 13 of Schedule K-benefitted from exemptions that enabled their sale through channels subject to weaker oversight than licensed pharmacies. This has fostered a culture of self-medication, poor prescription discipline and fragmented accountability across the supply chain. Particularly affected are vulnerable communities, especially in villages with a population of less than 1,000, where their sale was permitted-in MP, for instance, it was found that the cough syrup in question, Coldrif, contained diethylene glycol far in excess of permissible limits. The change in law translates to a shift in access. All syrup-based medicines, including cough syrups containing opioids like codeine, can no longer be purchased over the counter.

Measuring the economy, from the ground up

The recent governing council meeting of NITI Aayog was notable as it signalled a decisive shift in how India intends to think about economic growth itself. The Prime Minister's call for district-level GDP estimates that intend to measure the economic performance of each of the country's more than 700 districts is the formal institutionalisation of an idea whose time has arrived. 

A gender quota to break glass ceiling in judiciary

June 2 was a proud and emotional day for women lawyers as we witnessed the appointment of Justice V Mohana, only the second woman from the Bar to be appointed directly to the Supreme Court. The battle for women in India to reach the higher echelons in the legal profession has been anything but easy. For women lawyers to become judges of the Supreme Court of India is a glass ceiling that has not been shattered yet.

All the recent appointments of male judges were made based on such representation. Then why not a quota to ensure 33.3 per cent gender representation? 

G7 leaders, top tech bosses discuss AI security and Mythos

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday he believed progress would be made in coming weeks on broadening access to leading US Al models, as G7 leaders pledged closer coordination on the risks and opportunities of frontier AI. Macron's comments came as G7 leaders discussed the creation of a "trusted partners" scheme granting access for non-US nations to advanced US AI models from firms like Anthropic.

Special regulatory relaxations unlikely for small N-reactors

The Country's top atomic energy regulator is expected to maintain the same rigorous safety and licensing requirements for small modular reactors (SMRs) as those applicable to large nuclear reactors. –

This comes even as SMRS are increasingly being pitched as a safer alternative to conventional reactors because of their advanced designs and passive safety systems. The government is currently readying the rules under the SHANTI Act, which opened up the country's tightly regulated civil nuclear sector to private participation.

RBI lifts interest rate ceiling on NRE & FCNR(B) deposits

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to temporarily withdraw interest rate restriction on non-resident external (NRE) deposits of 3 year and above tenors in a move aimed at attracting more capital inflows and stabilising the rupee.

The central bank has also withdrawn the interest rate ceiling on fresh FCNR(B) deposits of 3-5 year tenors.

India-UK FTA to come into force on July 15

The India-UK trade deal is set to come into effect on July 15 after both countries, during last-minute talks in London this week, resolved differences over the terms of steel trade, which had delayed the implementation of the trade deal. The UK had announced fresh steel curbs in March this year, much after India and the UK had concluded the negotiations last year in July, which added a layer of complexity in trade ties.

Amid West Asia conflict, bitumen woes hit India's road infrastructure push

The Ongoing conflict in West Asia has hit India's push to expand road infrastructure. Bitumen, crucial for road construction, was also caught in the crossfire just like oil and gas, with an import dependency ranging between 30 to 40%.

The government has a target of building 10,000-km of high-ways in the ongoing financial year 2026-27. Additionally, 17,365 km of roads remain to be constructed under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) Phase-III, a flagship scheme for rural infrastructure.

Food inflation may creep higher in coming months

The only food commodity to have posted a notable price surge is vegetable oils.

The FAO index for vegetable oils, at 185 points in May, was 21.5% higher than a year ago.

A key reason for this is their alternative use as biofuels.

More Indians are taking to sea, most are non-officers

India ranks among the top three suppliers of maritime personnel, alongside the Philippines and China, accounting for approximately 17% of the global seafaring workforce: about 3.23 lakh seafarers out of a global total of 18.9 lakh. Today, nearly one in five seafarers globally is Indian.

Unsurprisingly, Indian seafarers mostly work on foreign-flagged vessels, which employed 123,729 (86%) of the 143,940-strong Indian workforce in 2016. This has inched higher to 278,466 (90%) of the 307,901-strong workforce in 2024.