Karnataka has become the first State in the country to approve one day of paid menstrual leave per month for all women employees, covering both government and private sectors. Odisha and Bihar have similar policies for government employees, while Kerala has implemented this in universities.

Cleared recently by the Karnataka Cabinet, the policy is being hailed as a progressive measure recognising menstrual health as a legitimate workplace concern. The leave, amounting to 12 days a year, applies to women in government offices, educational institutions, factories, and private organisations.

While the move has received widespread appreciation, it has sparked debate on whether a single day of leave is sufficient and whether it will achieve its intended purpose.

For James Watson, DNA was everything — not just his life's work, but the secret of life itself.

Over his long and storied career, Watson arguably did more than any other scientist to transform a once-obscure biological molecule, DNA, into the icon of science and society that it is today.

But when Watson died this week at the age of 97, his renown as the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA was tarnished by the fact that he had become a persona non grata in the two research fields that he pioneered: molecular biology and genomics.

Watson's penchant for making prejudiced and scientifically unfounded remarks about Black people, women, and others eventually forced even the institution that he had long directed, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, to cut all ties with him in 2019.

Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri. Narendra Modi gifted to the Nation three path breaking innovations - QSIP: India’s own quantum security chip; 25-qubit QPU: India’s first quantum computing chip, powering the future of computation and CAR-T Cell Therapy: India’s 1st indigenous cancer cell therapy developed by Indian Innovators during the ongoing Emerging Science, Technology & Innovation Conclave ESTIC2025. Among them was NexCAR19, the world’s first humanised CAR-T therapy developed in India by ImmunoACT - a groundbreaking innovation truly “Made in India, for the world. This innovation was supported by DBT and BIRAC

The Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapy has emerged as a breakthrough in cancer treatment. Clinical trials conducted globally have shown promising results in end stage patients, especially in patients suffering from Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia.

NexCAR19, India’ first living drug, has made gene therapies both affordable and accessible without compromising scientific rigour or patient safety.

A better-than-expected performance in the September quarter propelled the State Bank of India (SBI) past the $100 billion market capitalisation milestone on Thursday. Robust credit growth, driven by strong retail spending during the festive season, enabled the country’s largest lender by assets to outperform Street estimates.

The milestone coincides with SBI surpassing the ₹100 trillion total business mark, comprising advances of ₹44.20 lakh crore and deposits of ₹55.92 lakh crore as of September 2025.

In market-cap rankings, Reliance Industries leads with a valuation of $228 billion, followed by HDFC Bank at $170 billion. Bharti Airtel, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), and ICICI Bank are the other corporates valued above $100 billion.

China has commissioned its first indigenously designed aircraft carrier after months of sea trials, and named it the Fujian, after the province facing Taiwan across a narrow strait, according to state media reports on Friday (November 7, 2025).

“Chinese President Xi Jinping attended the commissioning and flag-presenting ceremony of the Fujian in Hainan province on Wednesday (November 5, 2025), and boarded the vessel for an inspection tour,” the official Xinhua news agency reported.

The Fujian is China’s third aircraft carrier, with a flat flight deck and electromagnetic catapults for take-offs that make it a potentially far more powerful naval weapon than China’s first two Russian-designed carriers.

India is gearing up for its next big tiger headcount in 2026. Training of frontline staff has already begun in states like Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, and Telangana, where forest guards are learning how to walk transects, read pugmarks, and handle camera traps for the year-long exercise.

The last All India Tiger Estimation in 2022 put the country’s tiger population at an average of 3,682 — nearly three-quarters of the world’s wild tigers. Karnataka emerged as one of the strongholds, with 563 tigers, the second-highest total in India.

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) on Friday (November 7, 2025) sealed a $1-billion deal with American defence major GE Aerospace to procure 113 jet engines for its Tejas light combat aircraft programme.

The firming up of the deal came notwithstanding a downturn in India-U.S. relations after the Trump administration slapped a 50% tariff on Indian goods.

Under the deal, the delivery of the F404-GE-IN20 engines will begin from 2027 and the supplies will have to be completed by 2032, officials said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off four new Vande Bharat Express trains on Saturday. The four trains will run on the Banaras–Khajuraho, Lucknow–Saharanpur, Firozpur–Delhi and Ernakulam–Bengaluru routes.

Addressing a public gathering after flagging off four new Vande Bharat trains, PM said, “Infrastructure has played an important role in the development of most nations... The development of a city begins on its own as soon as it gets better connectivity... Infrastructure is not limited to huge bridges and highways".

He also stated how pilgrimages are the means of “awakening the country’s conscience”.

Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) has signed an agreement with Autodesk, an American multinational software corporation to enhance design and make skills for India’s vocational workforce. The Ministry said that the initiative aims to strengthen the digital capabilities of trainers and educators, enhance employability skills in students, and prepare India’s workforce for the evolving needs of industries, such as architecture, engineering, manufacturing, and construction. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was exchanged in the presence of Secretary of MSDE, Debashree Mukherjee and President and CEO of Autodesk, Andrew Anagnost. This partnership will involve the joint development of educational programs, curriculum, learning activities and leveraging Autodesk’s technology.

Eli Lilly's weight-loss therapy Mounjaro became India's top-selling drug by value in October, data showed on Friday, overtaking GSK's widely used antibiotic Augmentin, as demand surges in the world's most populous nation.

The U.S. drugmaker's popular injectable therapy raked in 1 billion rupees ($11.38 million) in October, research firm Pharmarack said. That outpaced Augmentin sales of 800 million rupees last month.

By volume, Augmentin was way higher than Mounjaro with 5,784 units sold during October, compared to just 85 units sale of Mounjaro, which is sold at a much higher price point.