India's economy to grow 6.8-7.2%; Survey urges tax simplification, trade strategies, and measures to reduce input costs.
The Survey projects 6.8-7.2% GDP growth for 2026-27 and links higher medium term potential to reforms. It stresses fiscal and tax measures-GST cuts, administrative reforms, stronger non corporate tax collections, and a new Income Tax law from April 1-to boost revenue buoyancy and voluntary compliance. To mitigate US tariffs and global risks it recommends concluding trade talks, pursuing FTAs, a disciplined Swadeshi approach, a National Input Cost Reduction strategy, measures to lower cost of capital including tax changes on debt instruments, and continued PLI and manufacturing incentives.

CBI trains new recruits to use AI as an investigative aid while emphasising human judgment and practical digital evidence handling.
CBI leadership directed that Artificial Intelligence should be used as an investigative aid to accelerate probes and manage large volumes of digital data while preserving human judgment; training continues in the field. The TRACE laboratory provides hands-on, scenario-based instruction in digital evidence handling and cyber forensics covering the full lifecycle from seizure to court presentation to build practical investigative capacity.

Consumer Price Index update: new CPI series adds airfares, OTT subscriptions and e commerce prices with base 2024.
CPI 2024 revises the base year to 2024, adopts COICOP 2018 subclass classification, and updates weights from HCES 2023-24. The basket expands to 358 weighted items and market coverage increases, including 12 online marketplaces. Methodological reforms add administrative and e commerce data, technology assisted price collection, a house rent index, and granular dissemination. Airfares and streaming subscription prices are included (airfare collection at 21 day domestic and 60 day international advance purchase windows). Employer provided accommodation and free social transfers are excluded; electricity is captured in four slabs.

Haryana property registrations: pending PAN submissions required for high-value transactions; officials must verify via the land-records portal.
Directive requiring submission of pending PAN details for deed registrations exceeding Rs 30 lakh for FY 2019-20 to 2024-25. Tehsildars must use Web-HALRIS logins to identify transactions lacking PAN and submit missing buyer and seller PAN information to the Income Tax Department urgently; Deputy Commissioners must monitor compliance, with specific pendency noted in named tehsils for FY 2019-20.

Border enforcement in Minnesota will focus on jail transfers and targeted operations, contingent on local cooperation and zero tolerance for assaults.
Federal immigration enforcement in Minnesota will be reduced only after cooperation from state and local officials; local jails are urged to notify ICE and transfer removable detainees to ICE custody while still jailed to enable safer, jail-based removals and reduce street-level enforcement, while operations will focus on targeted strategic enforcement prioritizing public safety threats and maintaining zero tolerance for assaults or interference with officers.

Rural development: economic survey reports expanded rural road and housing scheme coverage with specified targets and completion rates.
The Economic Survey reports near-universal eligible household connectivity under the rural road programme, sanctioned and completed roads and bridges under the tribal-connectivity initiative, allocated state/UT targets for the rural housing scheme with sanctioned and completed house counts and backlog clearances, and expanded livelihood finance disbursal, using these output metrics to characterise changes in rural poverty incidence.

Nuclear energy opened to private participation to expand capacity and provide firm zero carbon baseload power.
India has enacted legislative reforms to open the nuclear energy sector to private participation, intended to expand atomic power capacity by 2047 and provide firm, zero carbon baseload power. The reforms are linked to energy security and import reduction and are presented as relying on institutional architecture, sustained financial commitment and consistent execution to realise expanded clean energy capacity and broader development objectives.

China UK strategic partnership agrees cooperation on border security, visa waiver, trade facilitation, intelligence sharing and transnational crime.
Xi and Starmer agreed a long term comprehensive strategic partnership to enhance cooperation on trade and tariffs, pursue a unilateral 30 day visa waiver for UK nationals, and sign a bilateral services partnership. They established a border security framework including intelligence sharing to identify smuggling supply routes, engagement with manufacturers to prevent exploitation by criminal gangs, measures to prevent Chinese made engines and equipment reaching smugglers, scaled removals of those without the right to be in the UK, and intensified action against gangs producing synthetic opioids.

Biofuel incentives risk distorting cropping patterns unless ethanol pricing and mandates are periodically recalibrated to protect food security.
The Economic Survey warns that biofuel mandates and annually administered, feedstock differentiated ethanol prices, together with assured offtake, have created strong incentives favouring maize and reshaped cropping patterns, risking distortions in agricultural diversity and food security. It documents rising maize yields and area alongside stagnation or decline in pulses and some oilseeds, and recommends periodic recalibration of incentives, accelerated yield improvements in pulses and oilseeds, and targeted, regionally aligned expansion of ethanol crops to balance energy and food security objectives.

China's manufacturing dominance prompts calls for reciprocal trade and corrective measures to protect foreign manufacturing jobs.
The U.S. envoy warned that China's growing manufacturing dominance threatens foreign factories and jobs, urging corrective measures to secure reciprocal trade and address market access barriers. He framed recent tariff tit for tat and negotiated pauses as a context for diplomacy and further negotiations, noting planned high level visits to create space to resolve complex trade imbalances and protect domestic manufacturing.

Guwahati Refinery supplied 19 TMT of smokeless LSLA SKO fuel to the Indian Army during Operation Sindoor for high-altitude use.
Guwahati Refinery exclusively produced and supplied 19 TMT of Low Sulphur Low Aromatics SKO as smokeless fuel for Operation Sindoor, meeting a specification of ~1 ppm sulphur, 2-3% aromatics and 30 mm smoke point, with shipments routed via Misamari, Siliguri and Agra to forward Army bases. The refinery, upgraded to 1.2 MMTPA with a crude mix of ~40% Assam and ~60% imported, is constructing a 90 KTPA Catalytic Reforming Unit to enable domestic reformate and gasoline production.

India's space sector sees rapid private-led commercialisation and government projects advancing Space Vision 2047.
The Economic Survey reports accelerated commercialisation of India's space sector led by private participation and NewSpace startups, projecting expansion from USD 8.4 billion to USD 44 billion driven by launch services, satellite communications, earth observation and downstream services. It highlights rising commercial revenues, increased private funding and NSIL's revenue growth as evidence of market strengthening. The government has approved five major projects under Space Vision 2047-including a Gaganyaan follow on module, lunar sample return and lunar polar exploration missions, a Venus orbiter, and a next generation launch vehicle-to build technological capacity and industry collaboration.

Silver surpasses Rs 4 lakh/kg; gold hits record Rs 1.83 lakh/10g amid safe haven demand and weak dollar.
Silver surged past Rs 4 lakh per kilogram and gold hit Rs 1.83 lakh per 10g, driven by safe haven investor demand, strong ETF inflows, a weak US dollar, and robust industrial demand for silver; international spot prices also reached lifetime highs amid heightened geopolitical tensions and macroeconomic uncertainty.

Economic Survey projects 6.8-7.2% growth and outlines a roadmap for manufacturing, inclusion, and Viksit Bharat nation-building.
Economic Survey highlights sustained growth and stronger macroeconomic fundamentals, emphasizes inclusive development for farmers, MSMEs, youth employment and social welfare, and outlines a roadmap to accelerate manufacturing, productivity, innovation, entrepreneurship and infrastructure to support Viksit Bharat; it projects 6.8-7.2% growth for the coming fiscal, reports 7.4% current fiscal growth, and raises potential growth to 7%.

Niamey airport attack: explosions and gunfire near a military hub and uranium shipment raise national security concerns.
An apparent armed assault occurred overnight near Niamey's Diori Hamani International Airport, with explosions and gunfire reported near the airport complex that houses a military base and a significant uranium shipment, heightening concerns for national security and protection of strategic export logistics amid increased jihadi activity and vulnerability following the 2023 coup.

Manual scavenging persists despite legal ban; recommend ULB accountability, mechanised sanitation, rehabilitation and PPE distribution.
Manual scavenging persists despite the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 and Supreme Court directions; the Survey links this to caste-based stigma and weak enforcement. It emphasizes ULB accountability through performance-linked incentives and penalties, validation and profiling of SSWs under NAMASTE, use of Swaach Sarvekshan for baselining, distribution of PPE and safety kits, and mandates scaling and acquisition of mechanised sanitation technologies alongside rehabilitative measures including housing, healthcare, skill development and insurance coverage.

AI and Indian IT sector: policy should prioritise domain-specific models, data localisation, and paced deployment to protect workers.
The Economic Survey warns that control over data, compute, and foundational models is concentrated in few firms, limiting India's ability to pursue frontier models; it recommends prioritising application-specific, domain-oriented AI and paced diffusion to facilitate labour augmentation, while adopting governance measures-including incentives for data localisation, human-capital investment, and domestic model development-to ensure economic value accrues within India.

Learjet 45 crash killed five; manufacturer pledges to support investigation and will not speculate on cause.
A Learjet 45 crashed during a second landing attempt, killing five; the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau is probing the accident and the flight recorder has been recovered. The manufacturer expressed condolences, declined to speculate on cause, and said it will support investigators and provide recommendations if needed; the aircraft was operated by a private operator.

Special intensive revision of electoral rolls in Bihar faces challenge on Election Commission's statutory power and Aadhaar admissibility.
Challenges to the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Bihar question the Commission's power under Article 326, the Representation of the People Act and Rules to carry out a large-form SIR and allege the exercise functioned as citizenship verification; the SIR removed about 65 lakh names and required ancestral linkage for those absent from 2002-2003 rolls. The Court held that inclusion and exclusion of names are within the Commission's remit, cautioned that forgery concerns do not alone bar Aadhaar as proof, and signalled possible remedial directions if suspicious exclusions are established.

Air India converting 15 A321neo orders to A321XLR for delivery 2029-2030, enabling new non-stop international routes.
Air India converted 15 of its 210 A321neo orders to the A321XLR variant, with those aircraft expected for delivery between 2029 and 2030, as a procurement modification within its larger Airbus order book intended to enable new non-stop international services and to optimise medium-haul operations by leveraging the A321XLR's extended range and fuel efficiency.