Indian travellers may find their global mobility slightly restricted this year. According to the 2025 Henley Passport Index, India has fallen five places to rank 85th, granting visa-free access to 57 destinations around the world. In 2024, the Indian passport held the 80th position, offering visa-free travel to 62 countries. India's strongest performance on the index came back in 2006, when it was ranked 71st.

What Is The Henley Passport Index?

The Henley Passport Index is a global ranking that measures the strength of passports based on the number of destinations their holders can enter without obtaining a visa in advance. It is compiled using exclusive data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and updated monthly by Henley & Partners.

The 2025 index compares 199 passports and 227 travel destinations, serving as a key reference for travellers and governments alike to gauge international mobility and travel freedom.

India has rushed a consignment of Prussian Blue (Pru-Decorp) capsules to Indonesia to help mitigate the effects of Cesium-137 contamination after Jakarta detected traces of radioactivity in exported food products.

Responding swiftly to a request from Indonesia's Ministry of Health, the Embassy of India in Jakarta, through the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), mobilised and delivered the urgently required capsules to mitigate the effects of Cesium-137 (Cs-137) contamination.

Indian Ambassador Sandeep Chakravorty handed over the medicines to Indonesian officials on Wednesday, reaffirming India's role as a regional first responder in humanitarian and emergencies.

Scientists have discovered a new phase of matter called a time rondeau crystal that shows an unusual kind of order in time, rather than in space like solids and liquids. The phase is related to, but distinct from, a time crystal.

In normal matter, the arrangement of atoms can be either ordered or disordered. For example a (solid) crystal has a repeating structure while a liquid doesn’t. The order in a crystal comes from breaking the perfect symmetry of space: instead of looking the same everywhere, it repeats in a regular pattern.

A time crystal, predicted in 2012 and observed in later experiments, shows a similar idea in time rather than space. When a system is periodically imparted some energy — like pushing a swing at regular intervals — it might oscillate at a different rhythm, such as every two pulses instead of one. Now the system can be said to be behaving in a repeating way in time, forming a crystal pattern in time rather than in space.

Renowned wildlife conservationist Vivek Menon has been elected as the new Chair of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Species Survival Commission (SSC) for the 2025–2029 quadrennium. The election was announced at the IUCN World Conservation Congress held in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.

Menon’s appointment marks the first time in the Commission’s 75-year history that an Asian leader will head the global body — a significant recognition of the growing leadership of Asia and the Global South in shaping conservation action worldwide.

A leading Indian wildlife conservationist, environmental commentator, author and photographer with a deep passion for elephants, Vivek Menon has dedicated his life to wildlife protection and habitat conservation.

The Indian Navy is hosting the fifth edition of the Indo-Indonesian Joint Bilateral Maritime Exercise, ‘Samudra Shakti – 2025,’ which will run till October 17.

The participating units include INS Kavaratti, an Anti- Submarine Warfare Corvette of the Eastern Fleet under the Eastern Naval Command (ENC) and the Indonesian Navy Ship KRI John Lie, a Corvette (with an integral helicopter), that has arrived at Visakhapatnam for the exercise.

The harbour phase will feature a range of activities aimed at building camaraderie and professional rapport that include cross deck visits, joint yoga sessions, friendly sports fixtures, and Professional Subject Matter Expert Exchanges (SMEE).

Museums offer us a window into humanity’s past, allowing us to journey through different eras by observing the objects they preserve. The paintings, sculptures, tools, and artefacts on display tell stories of human evolution, the cultures that once thrived, and the heritage passed down by our ancestors.

From the age of cave dwellers to the Indus Valley Civilisation and now to the era of artificial intelligence, museums reflect humankind’s timeless desire to create, innovate, and preserve the extraordinary.

Yet, alongside the passion to create and collect, there also emerged a darker impulse, the pursuit of profit and possession. This greed has led to the theft, looting, and illicit trafficking of countless cultural treasures, depriving communities of their heritage and history.

India registered 2.52 crore births in 2023, around 2.32 lakh fewer than in 2022, the Vital Statistics of India based on Civil Registration System (CRS) report for the year 2023 shows.

The report, compiled by the Registrar General of India (RGI) and released on Monday (October 13, 2025), stated that 86.6 lakh deaths were registered in 2023, a marginal increase from 86.5 lakh deaths in 2022.

The report shows that there was no major spike in deaths in 2022 and 2023, despite the COVID-19 dashboard maintained by the Health Ministry showing that the total number of pandemic-induced deaths stood at 5,33,665 as on May 5, 2025. However, there was a significant rise in deaths in 2021, the second-year of COVID-19 lockdown, which recorded an excess of 21 lakh deaths from the 2020 count. There were 81.2 lakh deaths in 2020 and 102.2 lakh in 2021.

India's wild elephant population has been estimated at 22,446, lower than the 2017 figure of 27,312, according to the country's first-ever DNA-based count.

The All-India Synchronous Elephant Estimation (SAIEE) 2025 puts India's elephant population between 18,255 and 26,645, with an average of 22,446.

The government released the long-delayed report on Tuesday, nearly four years after the survey began in 2021.

Officials said the delay was due to the complex genetic analysis and data validation involved in the exercise.

Humanity has reached its first climate tipping point, marking the checkpoint as the planet continues to warm as a direct result of climate change.

The sobering development was highlighted by a landmark study led by a collaboration amongst the University of Exeter and other partners around the globe.

The study announces a clear warning: humanity has entered a “new reality”, crossing the first of many Earth system tipping points, with coral reefs now irreversibly destabilised.

The report was published ahead of COP30, the annual United Nations climate talks, slated to take place in Brazil this year. The event is expected to provide a platform for global lawmakers, climate activists and leaders, congregating to shape a plan and agenda to tackle the planetary crisis.

The Uttarakhand government on Monday (October 13, 2025) approved a crucial amendment in the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) bringing relief to citizens of Nepali and Bhutanese origin who are living in the State and do not have an Aadhaar card as identity proof to register their marriage.

Sources in the State government, who were part of the Cabinet meeting, stated that the government has permitted people from Nepal, Bhutan and even Tibet to register their marriage using a certificate from the Foreign Registration Officer.

“Under the new amendment in the UCC, foreign citizens will now be able register their marriages by uploading their citizenship certificate, residence certificate, passport, or valid identity card, whichever is more acceptable. In such a situation, citizens of these countries living in Uttarakhand who are already married or about to get married can register their marriage by uploading their documents,” the official said.