Lok Sabha has passed the Finance Bill, 2026, by voice vote. The bill seeks to give effect to the financial proposals of the Central Government for the financial year 2026-2027. The House gave its nod to the amendments moved by the government.

Replying to the discussion on the Finance Bill, 2026, in the House today, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the government is empowering the MSMEs, farmers, and cooperatives, as they are at the centre of employment generation, production and overall development of the country. Mrs Sitharaman said that the government is also supporting key sectors such as digital infrastructure, electronics manufacturing, marine products, leather, critical minerals, and nuclear energy, among others, to make India a developed nation. She said the reforms are not happening out of compulsion but out of conviction with clarity, commitment and confidence. Mrs Sitharaman said that India is riding on the reform express under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Minister informed that this finance bill focuses on the middle class and the government has exempted basic customs duty on 17 critical life-saving drugs.

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has responded to a representation submitted by environmental activist Ravindra Nayak from Sirsi regarding the proposed Aghanashini river-linking project. The organisation has advised the Centre to follow the regulations related to World Heritage Conservation.

UNESCO stated that any development or river-linking project must comply with the norms set under World Heritage Conservation frameworks and should not harm the ecological balance. On February 17, 2026, a memorandum was submitted to the UNESCO World Heritage Centre opposing the Aghanashini–Vedavathi river linking project.

The representation highlighted environmental, ecological, and geographical concerns, especially considering the sensitive Western Ghats. The protest forum strongly objected to the project. Thousands of families are expected to be affected, and memorandums were submitted to both central and state governments opposing the project.

The moon’s surface is covered by ancient lava flows that are often different from those found on the earth. While volcanic rocks on the earth rarely contain more than 2% titanium dioxide (TiO2), some lunar basalts — common volcanic rocks — carry up to 18%, a fact that planetary scientists have struggled to explain for decades.

A new study by researchers from IIT-Kharagpur and the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad, published in Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, has now offered an experimental account of how these titanium-rich basalts could have formed.

The study’s authors were Himela Moitra, Sujoy Ghosh, Tamalkanti Mukherjee, Saibal Gupta, and Kuljeet Kaur Marhas.

India will formally begin its tryst with narrower tracks and consistent conditions of indoor athletics by hosting the format’s maiden national championship starting in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday, taking the first preparatory step towards conducting the world championship at the same venue in two years’ time.

The state-of-the-art facility in Bhubaneswar was last week named as the venue for the World Indoor Athletics Championships to be held from March 3-5, 2028. It would be the first time that the country will be hosting a global track and field showpiece.

The national championship would be a two-day affair at the facility that was inaugurated in 2024.

Jharkhand MLA Kalpana Soren was honoured with the ‘Women Empowerment Trailblazer Award’ at the BRICS CCI WE Annual Women Summit and Felicitation 2026 held in the capital, organisers said.

The award was presented at an event hosted by the women empowerment vertical of the BRICS Chamber of Commerce and Industry, recognising her contributions towards advancing women-led initiatives and community development.

Speaking at the event, Soren said the recognition was not a personal achievement but a tribute to women across Jharkhand and beyond who contribute to their families, communities and the economy.

Union Minister of State for Science & Technology, Dr Jitendra Singh on Monday said that India's largest pregnancy cohort study of 12,000 women under the GARBH-INi initiative aims to develop indigenous, AI-driven solutions to prevent preterm births. Singh at an event here, said the study supports creation of AI-based pregnancy dating models tailored for Indian populations, identification of microbiome-based predictors of preterm birth, rapid diagnostic tools, and genetic markers for early risk assessment.

Such models and solutions can improve maternal and child health outcomes in the country and tackle preterm births, one of the leading causes of neonatal mortality as well morbidity in adulthood, he added.

The government has appointed Kompella Venkata Ramana Murty as a whole-time member of Sebi for a period of three years.

With this addition, the regulatory board now has its full team of four full-time members. The other three whole-time members are Amarjeet Singh, Kamlesh Chandra Varshney, and Sandip Pradhan.

Murty, a retired 1991 batch Indian Defence Accounts Service (IDAS) officer, previously served as Additional Controller General of Defence Accounts at Ministry of Defence.

According to a government notification late on Tuesday, Murty has been appointed "for a period of three years from the date of assumption of charge of the post, or until further orders, whichever is earlier".

The Gujarat Assembly passed the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) Bill with a majority voice vote after a marathon debate lasting over seven hours yesterday. The bill proposes a common legal framework to govern marriage, divorce, succession, and live-in relationships, irrespective of religion.The bill was tabled after a state-appointed panel submitted its final report on the implementation of the UCC.

With the passage of the bill, Gujarat becomes the second state in the country, after Uttarakhand, to adopt the UCC. Uttarakhand was the first state to pass a UCC Bill in February 2024.

India’s push toward self-reliance in high-performance engineering received a significant boost with the successful launch and first delivery of the Akasha300, a high-temperature multi-material extrusion 3D printer, to the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre in Valiyamala.

The milestone marks a key step in strengthening India’s capabilities in advanced additive manufacturing, particularly for space and high-end industrial applications.

The system has been developed to support cutting-edge research and rapid prototyping in demanding environments where conventional manufacturing techniques fall short.

The Gujarat government has digitised around 20 high-demand citizen services across key departments, acting on the recommendations of the Gujarat Administrative Reforms Committee (GARC).

According to the committee’s report, about 4% of services on the Digital Gujarat platform are now enabled for complete end-to-end digital delivery. A significant number of services, however, continue to be provided through Jan Seva Kendras and e-Gram centres.

The Digital Gujarat platform receives nearly 1.20 crore applications annually, of which around 87 lakh pertain to these 20 services, underlining their importance in routine citizen-government interactions, officials said on Monday (March 23, 2026).