ISRO sends largest commercial communications satellite to orbit

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) placed the BlueBird Block-2 satellite in a low earth orbit (LEO) on Wednesday.

The ISRO accomplished two milestones with this mission as it was able to deploy the largest commercial communications satellite in a low earth orbit, and the BlueBird Block-2 satellite, weighing 6,100 kg, became the heaviest payload to be launched by LVM3 from Indian soil. 

Recurring avian flu outbreak threatens Kerala duck farming

Recurring avian flu outbreaks have pushed Kuttanad's centuries-old traditional duck farming to the brink of collapse.

The latest outbreak of avian influenza (H5N1) -the seventh in the region in the past 11 years - was confirmed earlier this week in one ward each of eight panchayats in Alappuzha district and in four villages in Kottayam. It has already resulted in the death of around 55,000 birds, including large numbers of ducks, chickens and quails in the two districts. 

The deliberate unmaking of India's 'right to work'

One of the world's largest rights-based public employment programme has been dismantled and superseded by the Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Act, 2025. Enacted in 2005 as the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) and renamed in October 2009 as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), the law established a legally enforceable, demand-driven right to employment for rural citizens across the country.

The 2025 law inverts this core principle, replacing it with a supply-driven framework that gives the Centre the sweeping authority to determine allocations to States and to decide where and to what extent the programme will operate.

The repeal of MGNREGA marks the erosion of a foundational principle of India's democracy and a political transformation of welfare. 

New labour codes, the threats to informal workers

Unorganised workers have been left out of consideration in all the codes except the one that concerns social security. 

The digital narcissus

There was a time when evolution depended on confrontation. Not the violent kind, but the friction of minds, the discomfort of critique, the pain of discovering that one may be wrong. Out of this struggle, humanity refined its reason, sharpened its justice, and defined its truth. But today, we are entering an era where machines are programmed not to question but to please. The age of intelligent sychophants is here. 

Four trends redefining the North Indian Ocean's storm cycle

The cyclonic disturbances over the North Indian Ocean, which include the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal, and the land area in between, have changed drastically over the last century. 

Why manufacturing has lagged in India

India's manufacturing sector underperforms compared to China and South Korea, partly due to public sector wages that raise costs and reduce competitiveness;

despite growth in private industries like software and services, India sees limited technological upgrading, uneven wage growth, and increasing inequality. 

What is the Bureau of Port Security and its role?

The Centre has constituted the Bureau of Port Security (BoPS) as a statutory body under Section 13 of the newly established Merchant Shipping Act 2025. Modelled on the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, it will function under the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways and will be responsible for regulatory oversight functions relating to the security of ships and port facilities. 

India's maritime sector has seen a sharp surge in cargo and port capacity, alongside new port laws that have also drawn criticism over increased Union control of nonmajor ports.

Dowry is a cross-cultural evil, says Supreme Court

Terming dowry a "cross-cultural evil" cutting across religions, the Supreme Court has said in a judgment that the "social strategy" to marry daughters to "higher status families" has come at a great cost to the rights of women. 

The court directed the States and the Union government to consider changes to educational curricula across levels, reinforcing the Constitutional position that parties to a marriage are equal to one another, and one was not subservient to the other as sought to be established by giving and taking of money and/or articles at the time of marriage. 

Physical activity linked to lower breast cancer risk: ICMR study

In India, breast cancer accounts for nearly a quarter (22.8%) of cancers among women. 

Did an ancient flood contribute to Keezhadi's abandonment?

According to new research, some urban-like structures at Keezhadi were likely buried over a thousand years ago - around 1,155 years before present in scientists' phrasing - and this burial was related to a high-energy flood event that deposited sands and then finer silts and clays on the floodplain.