SC weighs SOP for urgent cases affecting life, liberty

T he Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to consider framing a Standard Operating Pro-cedure (SOP) to allow citi-zens to knock on the doors of the courts any time, day or night, in cases affecting life and liberty, including illegal detentions, imminent demolition of homes, deportations, custodial violence, or other state actions.

Union govt. bans herbicide paraquat

The Centre has notified a ban on paraquat dichlo-ride, a herbicide linked to thousands of deaths due to self-harm, homicides, and accidental deaths in India. The notice by the Union Ministry of Agriculture comes on the back of bans by various States, including most recently by And-hra Pradesh, and earlier by Telangana and Kerala. Paraquat dichloride is used by farmers after the harvest to clean up the land for the next crop.

India-U.S. defence tech ties - big ambitions, little delivery

India-United States defence cooperation has acquired an unenviable reputation in strategic circles for generating ambitious political announcements that fail to translate into industrial outcomes. Over the past two decades, successive administrations in New Delhi and Washington have unveiled defence technology partnerships and industrial collaborations promising to transform bilateral military ties, only for them to become bogged down in protracted negotiations, export-control restrictions, technology-transfer disputes and differing commercial expectations.

Steady in turbulence 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent visits to Australia and New Zealand marked yet another step in India's efforts to consolidate partnerships across the Indo-Pacific. India's relations with both countries have tradition-ally been largely economic and people-centric, but the visits underscored an increased emphasis on strategic aspects, a fresh turn. Geopolitical competition, manifested in supply-chain disruptions and the realignment of global economic networks, is keeping the world on tenterhooks, and India has to manage the uncertainties and volatility well to be able to protect its vital interests.

What is meant by 'trial in absentia'?

Section 356 of the BNSS provides that if a person declared a proclaimed offender has absconded to evade trial and there is no immediate prospect of arrest, the court may treat the accused's absence as a waiver of the right to be present during the proceedings. If the accused later appears or is apprehended, the court may allow cross-examination of witnesses in the interest of justice. Witness testimony can also be recorded through audiovisual means and preserved for future review.

How the Gaganyaan crew module is built to survive

Gaganyaan is India's maiden crewed space mission, designed to carry Indian astronauts to space and safely return them back to earth. Here, the rocket - Human-rated Launch Vehicle Mark (HLVM) 3 - will inject the orbital module (OM) into the desired orbit. The Gaganyaan astronauts will be onboard the OM.

The OM consists of two sections, the crew module and the service module, connected by a joint. The crew module serves as the crew habitat while the service module provides on-orbit support to the OM. After the orbital phase, the propulsion system in the service module will fire its thrusters to de-orbit the OM, then the service module will separate from the crew module by severing the joint with a redundant mechanism. 

How protein biosensors can shrink the timeline of medical emergencies

Proteins are important diagnostic targets because they are involved in almost every biological process. At any given moment, thousands of them are circulating in the blood: they regulate inflammation, carry oxygen, signal between cells, and fight infection. When something goes wrong, proteins often change first. Troponin levels in the blood rise within hours of a heart attack. Procalcitonin levels increase during bacterial infections. Certain cancer-associated proteins appear in blood long before a tumour is visible on any scan. If these protein levels are measured accurately and quickly, clinicians can gain time to optimise treatment before the disease becomes too severe.

Union govt. launches tracker for seafarer safety

Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal or-dered a comprehensive 'Seafarer-First' response on Tuesday to safeguard Indian crew operating in the conflict-hit Strait of Hormuz. Mr. Sonowal ordered real-time vessel-by-vessel monitoring of Indian sea-farers and directed the appointment of dedicated liaison officers for every affected Indian sailor. 

Passport used to regulate departure of citizens: govt.

An Indian passport is a document that is meant to "regulate the departure from India of citizens of In-dia", Randhir Jaiswal, offi-cial spokesperson of the External Affairs Ministry, said on Tuesday. Responding to a ques-tion at a press briefing, Mr. Jaiswal said, "It is issued af-ter due verification laid out by an established process. The issue of passports to Indian citizens or any other individual is governed by the Passports Act, 1967 and the Passports Rules, 1980. Currently, less than 8% of Indian citizens hold a passport."

SC suggests temporary prayer space for Muslims near Bhojshala complex

The Supreme Court on Tuesday refrained from res-toring status quo ante after the Madhya Pradesh High Court declared that the Bhojshala-Kamal Maula mosque complex was a temple dedicated to god-dess Saraswati and barred Friday namaz at the site. The court reasoned that it did not want to "create tension" in a "very sensi-tive" issue.

'Gold standard' India-U.K. trade deal is coming into effect today

The India-U.K. Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) and Double Contribution Convention (DCC) that will come into force on Wednesday are a "gold standard" and one of the "most ambitious and aspirational free trade agreements" signed by India, Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal said on Tuesday. He added that the deals benefit India's farmers, fisherfolk, workers and women entrepreneurs. The India-U.K. CETA and the DCC were signed in July last year. 

India bans import of goods made using forced labour amid pending U.S. probe

The Government of India has issued a notification banning the import of goods manufactured using forced labour, a significant step towards clearing the path towards the signing of an interim trade agree-ment with the U.S. The U.S. is currently in the process of releasing its final decision on the tariffs it plans to levy on countries that it says have not done enough to stop the import of goods made us-ing forced labour.

Can't English be considered an Indian language, asks top court

The Supreme Court on Tuesday questioned the catego-rising of English as a "non-native language" by the Central Board of Secon-dary Education (CBSE) in the three-language scheme, teaming the ton-gue spoken in India for over 300 years and used for official communication in at least five States with those such as German, Spanish, Arabic, and French. "Can India consider English as an indigenous Indian language," Justice Joy-malya Bagchi, part of a three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, asked.

Acid ingestion included in amended Act: Centre to SC

The Union government in-formed the Supreme Court on Tuesday of amending the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act (RPwD) of 2016 to extend the defini-tion of "acid attack victim" to mean persons who have internal injuries caused by the ingestion of acid or any other similar corrosive substances.

Draft health research policy proposes overhaul of India's research ecosystem

The Centre has released the draft National Health Research Policy, 2026, that seeks to align the country's scientific research more closely with its disease bur-den and public health priorities, proposing a wide-ranging restructuring of India's health research ecosystem with a sharper focus on indigenous inno-vation, evidence-based policymaking, and meas-urable outcomes.

WPI inflation rises to 9.87% in June

Wholesale price inflation rose to 9.87% in June, from 9.68% in May, led by a sharp spike in prices of non-food and food products. The latest wholesale price index (WPI) inflation data is based on the 2022-23 base year. As per the data, food in-flation rose to 5.49% in June, from 3.60% in May, as food prices rose during the month following a rain-fall deficit due to the El Ni-ño impact.

India's imports from China soar to $80 bn in first half of 2026

India's imports from China rose 21.8% in the first half of 2026 to a record $79.41 billion, ac-cording to data released by China's General Adminis-tration of Customs on Tuesday.

Two-way bilateral trade was up to $91.72 billion af-ter six months, a 23.6% rise from last year, and on track to surpass the record $155.62 billion trade figure from 2025, when China was again India's biggest trade partner in goods. While the trade deficit reached $67.1 billion after the first half of the year also on track to exceed last year's record $116.12 billion figure India's exports to China have also registered strong growth, up by 37.2% to $12.31 billion.

Inaugural Index of Services Production shows 14 sectors grew in double digits in April

As many as 14 of the 19 sub-sectors in the trial and in-augural release of the go-vernment's new Index of Services Production (ISP) witnessed double-digit growth in April 2026, with the best-performing sec-tors including accommo-dation and food, retail trade, administrative and support services, and real estate. The 19 sub-sectors mea-sured account for about 60% of India's services sector.

Texprocil, Amazon ink MoU to accelerate e-com exports

Amazon India signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council (Texprocil) at Bharat Tex on Tuesday to accelerate e-commerce exports from India's cotton textile sector. The collaboration aims to help cotton textile manufacturers, exporters, and the council members to build global businesses through Amazon Global Selling by strengthening exporter readiness and expanding access to international markets.

Why scientists watched a gene hop from a predator into its prey

Living beings sometimes swap genes with viruses, which are the essential couriers of gene transfer, known as horizontal gene transfer

The new study has reported the first direct visual evidence of horizontal gene transfer across species without a courier

Studying this phenomenon helps scientists understand how organisms rapidly acquire new traits, such as antibiotic resistance or new metabolic abilities