New Delhi’s ‘balancing act’ risks eroding Russia’s trust

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on August 31-September 1, 2026, and the BRICS summit in New Delhi on September 12-13, 2026, were remarkable. Iran received considerably more attention and support from members of both the groups, far more than anticipated. More consequential, however, was the shift in India's stance on the United States-Israel war against Iran and Russia's war in Ukraine.

India's next investment cycle will shape its carbon future

The United Nations Environment Programme's (UNEP) recent warning that the world could cross the 1.5°C warming threshold within the next few years is likely to renew calls for faster decarbonisation. India, too, will face this pressure, but its choices are still open. Much of the housing, industrial infrastructure, power networks and urban development needed for its next phase of growth is yet to be built.

Small fish

While carriers of narcotics are caught in the net, big sharks operate freely.

Operation Trident, a multi-agency crackdown on an international syndicate operating across the India-Myanmar-Bangladesh corridor, marks a significant step-up in the government's campaign against drug trafficking. The Union Home Minister, Amit Shah, has set December 31, 2029, as the deadline to eradicate drug networks across the country.

Science successful only when society benefits from it: Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said science succeeds only when it travels from the laboratory to the land and improves people's lives. Addressing the Emerging Science, Technology and Innovation Conclave (ESTIC), he said it must not become "merely a forum for discussion" but should deliver measurable outcomes.

Jaishankar to travel to U.S. for three-day G20 meeting

A week after United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio's visit to India, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar will travel to the U.S. city of Atlanta to attend the meeting of G20 Foreign Ministers hosted by Mr. Rubio. The three-day visit from October 29 to 31 will include meetings with his counterparts from other G20 countries amidst a series of global developments and the ongoing conflict in West Asia.

Nobel winner backs GM crop innovation in Indian labs

Richard J. Roberts, the 1993 Nobel laureate in Physiology or Medicine, on Tuesday dismissed as "nonsense" the idea that Indians adopting genetically modified crops would become dependent on foreign companies. The work can be done in, and owned by, Indian laboratories, he said.

Delhi invites Pakistan Minister for SCO Civilisational Dialogue debut

India will hold the first "Civilisational Dialogue Forum" of the 10-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) grouping, that includes Pakistan, from November 20-22 in Delhi. The dialogue, which will be organised by the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of External Affairs, was proposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the SCO leaders' Summit in Tianjin last year and adopted by the SCO Council.

Economic policy cannot outweigh citizens' lives: SC on medicine prices

The Supreme Court on Tuesday said "economic policy" could not take precedence over the lives of citizens as it questioned the Centre over its approach to regulating the prices of essential medicines.

Glaciers ending in lakes

Glaciers ending in lakes, oceans or ice shelves account for over 3% of the world's glaciers but lost 134 billion tonnes of ice annually between 2000 and 2019, contributing to more than half of all glacier ice loss, a new study has found. Environmental scientists led by the UK's University of Birmingham and the University of Leeds found that glaciers ending in lakes are generally much larger than those ending on land, together covering more than half of the world's glacier area.