Navi Mumbai International Airport begins commercial operations with phased schedules, multi carrier services and planned capacity scaling.
Navi Mumbai International Airport commenced commercial operations with initial scheduled services by multiple carriers, operating a limited 12 hour daily schedule with up to 24 daily departures and capacity for 10 aircraft movements per hour, to be progressively scaled to 24 hour operations. The airport is being developed through a special purpose vehicle under a public-private partnership, with majority private ownership and minority regional development corporation participation, as part of a phased integration into a multi airport system to enhance regional capacity, resilience and scalability.

India aims for semiconductor self-reliance and export readiness alongside Rs 2 lakh crore investments and MSME expansion.
India's entry into the semiconductor sector is presented as a strong strategic move toward self-reliance and future exports, accompanied by announcements of projects worth Rs 2 lakh crore across multiple sectors expected to generate significant employment. The state-level strategy emphasizes regional investment conferences, infrastructure such as a multi-modal logistics park, enhanced ease of doing business, and large-scale MSME registration to catalyse industrial and start-up growth.

Regional investment summits will drive balanced state development, strategic industrial siting, and textile value chain revival and jobs.
Regional investment summits are described as policy instruments to achieve balanced development by mobilising structured industrial investment into underdeveloped regions, optimising geographic supply advantages through strategic industrial siting, and pairing projects with value chain measures to revive traditional crops and local industries.

Viksit Bharat Guarantee Act reduces central funding and shifts burden to states, risking weaker rural employment guarantees.
The Viksit Bharat Guarantee Act, 2025 repeals MGNREGA and reduces the Centre's funding share while increasing the states' fiscal burden, a shift expected to constrain state provision of guaranteed rural works and weaken the employment guarantee, reducing job opportunities and increasing vulnerability of poor and marginalized workers; a separate administrative increase in daily working hours from nine to ten with a break only after six hours is criticised as harmful to worker health and dignity.

Anti-drug campaign arrests 115 smugglers in statewide raids with heroin, tablets seized and de-addiction referrals.
Large-scale anti-drug enforcement operation arrested 115 alleged smugglers across 285 locations, produced 87 FIRs, and recovered 268 grams of heroin, 1,860 intoxicant tablets and capsules, and cash; the raids involved over 100 teams, 800 personnel and 61 gazetted officers, and the campaign included monitoring by a five-member cabinet sub-committee and measures under the Enforcement, De-addiction and Prevention strategy that resulted in 30 individuals entering rehabilitation.

Punjab investment reforms accelerate approvals, cut fees with single 0.25% stamp duty cap, RTB Act 2.0 enables self-declaration.
Punjab instituted firm approval timelines with industrial approvals within 5 to 45 days and in principle approvals on self-declaration within 5 to 18 days under RTB Act 2.0, launched on the Punjab Invest portal; over 2,000 units have benefited. The state introduced a single stamp duty of 0.25% on loan amounts capped at Rs 5 lakh and reduced equitable mortgage registration fee from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1,000, while simplifying, digitising or rationalising more than 2,500 compliance requirements to lower transaction costs and compliance burdens.

Forged PWD cheque leads to two remanded in police custody amid investigation into Rs 111.63 crore fraud.
Two individuals were remanded in police custody over an alleged Rs 111.63 crore forged cheque in the name of the Public Works Department; they face charges for cheating, forgery and information-technology related offences. Arrested on November 29, they were remanded, placed in judicial custody, released on bail, and then subject to renewed police custody following an EOW revision application; the EOW continues its investigation under Inspector Shirish Pawar.

Nativity Card proposal raises legality concerns over state identity scheme and overlapping central authority.
Legality of the proposed permanent, photo-embedded Nativity Card is contested because authority over citizenship-related status is said to rest with the central government and the card could duplicate Aadhaar; the state plans to have the Revenue Department and Law Department draft legislation to provide the card with statutory legal validity.

Natural farming: government to build certification, lab testing and marketing systems to boost market access and farmer incomes.
The central government, via cooperative institutions under the Ministry of Cooperation, is establishing a nationwide system of soil testing, laboratory testing of produce, certification, packaging, marketing and export for natural farming products, including plans for over 400 laboratories to provide certificates to farmers to facilitate global market access and increase farmer incomes.

Enforcement and counterterrorism actions: FIR filed over alleged bribery-linked money laundering and renewed ATS custody for alleged terror links.
The Gujarat Anti-Corruption Bureau registered an FIR against a former collector and three others on an Enforcement Directorate complaint alleging bribery-linked money laundering, while the Maharashtra ATS again took custody of a software engineer arrested earlier for alleged links with banned organisations and suspected involvement in radicalisation activities.

Rajasthan proposes educational criteria for panchayat and urban local body candidates; law amendments planned, seeking CM approval and Assembly passage.
Proposed reintroduction of educational qualifications would require secondary education for village heads and secondary or senior secondary for ward councillors, and implementation will need amendments to the Panchayati Raj Act and the Municipalities Act, pending Chief Minister approval and passage in the Assembly's Budget Session.

Exhumation of youth's body in Jharkhand reveals evidence; postmortem and murder investigation underway with magistrate oversight.
Police exhumed the buried remains of a man in his twenties after a public report, conducted the exhumation in the presence of a magistrate, recovered a cap, a partially burned identity document and a bank passbook, noted blood stains leading to a nearby pond, treated the incident prima facie as a murder, sent the body for postmortem examination, identified the victim as a motorcycle showroom employee, and commenced a formal criminal investigation.

IndiGo cancellations due to fog and operational issues; DGCA requires trained pilots and CAT IIIB aircraft.
DGCA winter fog-window designation triggers CAT-IIIB operational norms requiring airlines to roster pilots trained for low-visibility operations and to deploy CAT-IIIB-compliant aircraft; IndiGo cancelled 67 flights citing forecasted bad weather while operating a curtailed schedule under DGCA monitoring and a regulatory panel probe into prior operational disruptions.

Christmas celebrations in Mizoram combine church services, traditional congregational singing and community feasts across denominations.
Christmas in Mizoram features church-led worship, youth and children's performances, traditional congregational singing ('Zaikhawm'), the evening observance 'Urlawk zan', and, in some congregations, midnight Mass. Celebrations commonly last two days but can extend to a week; customary communal elements include a traditional high tea ('Thingpui ruai') and community feasts, while some denominations do not observe the festival, evidencing denominational variation.

Aadhaar and PAN misuse in job-recruitment scheme leads to Rs 35 crore of fraudulent transactions; police probe launched.
Allegations assert a recruitment scheme collected Aadhaar, PAN, photographs and other identity documents which were then forged to create firms and bank accounts in victims' names, enabling approximately Rs 35 crore of unauthorised financial transactions; a probe seeks to determine scope, identify victims and those involved.

India semiconductor industry to become self-reliant and start exporting as Rs 2 lakh crore projects in Madhya Pradesh launched.
The minister stated that India has entered the semiconductor sector and will soon attain self-reliance and begin exporting; he also inaugurated and broke ground for Rs 2 lakh crore of industrial projects in Madhya Pradesh, projected to create about 1.93 lakh jobs and involve 25,000 beneficiaries, framed as part of regional development and investment promotion.

Bhilwara Energy to acquire 76 MW Phata Byung hydro project in Uttarakhand, deal subject to customary conditions precedent.
Bhilwara Energy signed an agreement to acquire 100% equity in Mandakini Jal Urja, the developer of the 76 MW Phata Byung run-of-river hydroelectric project in Uttarakhand, from Statkraft IH Holding AS; the transfer is subject to customary conditions precedent and will make Bhilwara Energy the sole owner upon completion, with financial terms undisclosed.

Train and Malegaon blast cases resulted in acquittals amid inadmissible confessions and pending appeals.
The Bombay High Court acquitted 12 accused in the 2006 Mumbai serial train blasts after ruling prosecution evidence insufficient and confessional statements inadmissible. A special court acquitted seven accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast for lack of cogent, reliable proof beyond reasonable doubt; appeals and petitions by state and victims' families remain pending. Courts also addressed personality rights against AI manipulated content, held loudspeaker use not an essential religious practice for noise regulation enforcement, and dealt with bail for prolonged detention and procedural framing in high profile criminal prosecutions.

Sports policy ends selection irregularities, expands funding and athlete stipends, and uses a three-tier festival to widen talent access.
Government policy emphasizes ending irregularities in team selection and broadening merit-based access for children from low-income backgrounds, supported by increased budgetary allocations and a targeted monthly financial assistance scheme for athletes. A three-tier nationwide festival (village, block/ward, parliamentary constituency) combines traditional and mainstream sports with mass-participation activities to expand the talent pool, promote community cohesion, and encourage youth leadership and fitness as part of a broader national sports development strategy.

Congress to contest Mumbai BMC polls independently, focusing on local governance and minority consolidation amid opposition fragmentation.
The Congress will contest the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation elections independently, citing ideological incompatibility with the MNS and focusing its campaign on local governance issues-infrastructure, flooding, pollution and alleged BMC corruption-while aiming to consolidate minority, Dalit and migrant voters. The move fragments the Opposition, risks benefiting the BJP led alliance, and reflects a strategic trade off between alliance strength and ideological clarity amid organisational weaknesses and ongoing seat sharing talks.