Census enumerators have been given identity cards with QR codes to enable residents to verify authenticity, said Lalit Jain, Director of Census Operations (DCO), Haryana, amid resistance from several high-end gated societies to grant access to enumerators.

In an interview with The Hindu on Friday (May 8, 2026), Mr. Jain said, “We understand that there may be some apprehension in their [residents] minds that maybe people [enumerators] are not genuine. Now, we have introduced the scan code enabled identity cards. Any person who has any doubt about the authenticity of our enumerator can scan the code on the ID card for verification.”

Astronomers have gotten their clearest look yet at the surface of an exoplanet - a planet beyond our ‌solar system - thanks to NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.

Webb gathered data on a rocky exoplanet with a diameter about 30% larger than Earth that indicates it is a desolate and airless world whose ⁠surface may resemble that of Mercury, our solar system’s innermost planet. Its lack of a discernible atmosphere and its extreme temperatures - fiercely hot on one side and frigid on the other - seem to render it uninhabitable.

The planet is called LHS 3844 b, or Kua’kua, the ‌word for butterfly in an indigenous language spoken in Costa Rica. It orbits a star smaller and less luminous than the sun, located about 49 light-years from Earth. A light-year is the distance light travels ‌in a year, 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion km).

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar concluded his official visit to Suriname from May 6 to 7, during which he reviewed the full spectrum of India-Suriname bilateral relations and agreed to further deepen cooperation across several sectors, including defence, health, energy, trade, technology and agriculture.

According to a statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Friday, Jaishankar co-chaired the 9th India-Suriname Joint Commission Meeting (JCM) with Suriname's Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Business and Cooperation, Melvin W J Bouva.

The two sides discussed strengthening collaboration in defence and security, health, trade and commerce, infrastructure, education, sports, culture, traditional systems of medicine, and agriculture.

People having pending traffic challans can avail the benefit of “One Time Traffic Challan Settlement Scheme” under which they can get 50% of relaxation in depositing the challan fee.

The fine amount for paying the traffic challan will be taken up at Lok Adalat, which will be held tomorrow (May 09) in every district of the State, Additional Director General of Police (ADG) (Traffic) Sudhanshu Kumar said while addressing the press at Police Headquarters (PHQ) in Patna and added that only 90-day-old e-challans will be taken up at Lok Adalat.

The Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) launched a road pollution control programme to increase monitoring and control of sources of dispersed air pollution across the city. It has deployed 13 dedicated field surveyors to survey roads daily, with a total coverage of nearly 18,000 kilometres of roads across MCD, PWD, NDMC, and Delhi Cantonment Board areas.

Surveyors will use the MCD-311 mobile app to log a minimum of 70 geo-tagged, photographic pollution issues per day per surveyor, with a citywide target of around 1,000 identified issues daily. The entire road network of Delhi will be comprehensively covered every month, with each surveyor assigned a minimum of 20 kilometres of roads to be covered daily.

Hyderabad-based Skyroot Aerospace, a private space launch company, has raised $60 million (around Rs 570 crore) from Ram Shriram’s Sherpalo, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC, BlackRock, the founders of renewable energy company Greenko Group, Arkam Ventures, Playbook Partners, Shanghvi Family Office, and other investors, it announced on May 7.

While the founders of Playbook Partners and Shanghvi Family Office are all new investors in the company, Sherpalo, GIC, BlackRock, the Greenko Group, and Arkam Ventures are all existing backers of Skyroot Aerospace. The round was co-led by  Sherpalo and GIC.

Skyroot is valued at $1.1 billion, up from around $519 million in 2023. Skyroot is now among India’s most well-funded space-tech startups and is also the first unicorn, a private company valued at $1 billion or more, to emerge from the industry. 

China and India will be among guests joining the 2026 FIFA ASEAN Cup, where 14 teams will be divided into two divisions competing over 15 days, according to a recent draft.
The proposed organizational plan for the tournament was initially to be announced at the 76th FIFA Conference held in Vancouver, Canada, on April 30. However, FIFA eventually released only a draft.

Accordingly, the tournament includes 11 Southeast Asian national teams, along with three guests: China, India, and Hong Kong. The 14 teams are divided into two divisions based on their FIFA rankings before the draw, The Straits Times reported.

Humanoid robots are supposed to help humans at work, whether in boardrooms, factories or warehouses. But what if they started searching for enlightenment too? It sounds unusual, but something similar is now happening in South Korea. In the capital city of Seoul, a temple has introduced its first humanoid robot monk, named Gabi.

The humanoid was introduced on Wednesday during a Buddhist ceremony held at Jogye Temple in Seoul ahead of Buddha’s Birthday celebrations. Dressed in traditional grey-and-brown monk robes, the four-foot-tall robot joined chanting monks, bowed during rituals and even responded to questions during the ceremony.

But why is a robot walking the path of spirituality? Well, Gabi was introduced as part of an initiative by the Jogye Order, which is South Korea’s largest Buddhist sect, to modernise Buddhism and connect with younger generations in an increasingly digital society.

The International Education group at Cambridge University Press & Assessment (Cambridge) today announced science teacher, Soma Mandal, as the regional winner of the 2026 Cambridge Dedicated Teacher Awards in the South Asia region. Soma was selected by the judges for her dedication to empowering pupils to participate in the 'worldwide fight against climate change'.

Soma is one of nine regional winners of the global Cambridge competition that celebrates the achievements of teachers around the world. As a regional winner, Soma will win £500 worth of books for her class, a trophy, and receive publicity for herself and her school during the coming year. She will also appear on a 'Thank you' page at the front of a range of new Cambridge textbooks, available to the public from November 2026.

With over 10 years' teaching experience, Soma is dedicated to positioning climate education at the heart of student learning. A master's graduate in environmental science, she developed a climate-focused curriculum at her school, GD Goenka Public School, Delhi, in which she inspires students to emerge as confident agents of climate action and sustainable change.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has launched JANANI (Journey of Antenatal, Natal and Neonatal Integrated Care) as a significant step towards strengthening maternal and child healthcare services in the country. JANANI is a digital platform designed to comprehensively monitor and maintain digital health records of women during their reproductive age.

The Ministry said that, till date, one crore 34 lakh beneficiaries have registered in this platform. It aims to ensure seamless tracking of maternal and child health services, covering antenatal care, delivery, postnatal care, newborn care, home-based newborn and young child care, and family planning.