The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has successfully conducted the maiden flight test of the long-range surface-to-air missile Kusha from Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Island off the coast of Odisha. The Ministry of Defence said the test was conducted against an electronic target simulating a high-speed, high-altitude aerial threat, which was successfully intercepted by the missile system.

The Ministry said the Kusha missile system is capable of neutralising a wide range of aerial threats, including fighter aircraft, missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles and large enemy aircraft across a broad range and altitude envelope.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh congratulated the DRDO and all other stakeholders on the successful test. In a social media post, he said the achievement marks an important milestone in India’s defence research and development. Mr Singh said the capability to develop a long-range surface-to-air missile system is possessed by only a handful of nations. He added that the missile system will reduce India’s dependence on imports and significantly strengthen the country’s air defence capability.

India has developed its first indigenous Expendable Turbo Jet Engine in the 350 kg thrust class. The engine has been developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation’s (DRDO) Gas Turbine Research Establishment (GTRE).

The Ministry of Defence said the development of such a complex system based on DRDO’s design reflects the growing technological capabilities of the Indian defence industry. It said the achievement marks the culmination of years of precision engineering, advanced manufacturing and close collaboration between India’s scientific and industrial communities. The Ministry added that jet engine technology is regarded as one of the most sophisticated engineering disciplines in the world.

Marking a significant step towards strengthening India's Type 1 Diabetes ecosystem, The Friends of Mewar, in collaboration with Breakthrough T1D and the William J Clinton Foundation today officially unveiled the International Type 1 Diabetes Summit 2026 at a National Curtain Raiser held at the Constitution Club of India, New Delhi.

The summit, scheduled to take place in Jodhpur from July 30 to August 1, 2026, will bring together leading endocrinologists, healthcare professionals, policymakers, researchers, patient advocates and public health experts from the United States, Australia and different parts of India also to deliberate on the future of equitable Type 1 Diabetes care.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) on Thursday appointed IAS officer Naresh Pal Gangwar as the Secretary of the Department of Higher Education under the Ministry of Education, according to an official government notification.

The move marks a major bureaucratic shuffle amid the ongoing NEET-UG paper leak protests and demands for the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, news agency ANI reported.

Gangwar's predecessor, Vineet Joshi, a 1992-batch officer, has now been transferred as Secretary in the Department of Panchayati Raj.

Minister of State in the Department of Atomic Energy, Dr Jitendra Singh has said that the government is aiming to bring at least five indigenous small modular nuclear reactors into operation by 2033. In a written reply in Lok Sabha, the minister said parliament has enacted the SHANTI Act, 2025, which opens the nuclear energy sector to private participation.

Dr Singh said Bhabha Atomic Research Centre is developing a 220-megawatt Bharat Small Modular Reactor, a 55-megawatt reactor and a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor designed to produce hydrogen.

The government has drawn up a roadmap for reaching the 100 gigawatts nuclear power capacity by 2047 as announced in the Nuclear Energy Mission.

The minister stated that as per the roadmap, the present nuclear power capacity of 8.78 gigawatts is expected to reach about 22 gigawatts by 2031-32 on progressive completion of projects presently at various stages of implementation.

Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand has taken charge as Interim President of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) after its Russian President, Arkady Dvorkovich, was placed on the latest European Union sanctions list.

Anand will serve as Interim President for as long as Dvorkovich remains subject to the restrictive measures under the applicable Swiss and European Union laws and regulations.

The ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute has launched DeepDATA, a mobile application that lets users explore scientifically verified information on deep-sea fish species and upload field observations to help build a national digital repository. The app is currently available on the Google Play Store.

CMFRI said the app is aimed at students, researchers, fishermen and others interested in India’s deep-sea resources. Users can browse photographs and read information on deep-sea fish species, including their taxonomy, identifying features, distribution and conservation status.

In a statement, the institute said, “It serves as a digital learning platform for those interested in exploring India’s rich and largely unexplored deep-sea biodiversity.” It added that the app was developed under the Deep Ocean Mission project with funding from the Ministry of Earth Sciences.

The Supreme Court today urged the Union government to make suitable amendments to the National Highways Act so that land acquisition compensation disputes thereunder are decided by "judicially trained minds" and not government officers.

A bench of CJI Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana was hearing a batch of SLPs that arose from the Punjab and Haryana High Court's judgment, which declared Sections 3G and 3J of the National Highways Act, 1956, unconstitutional.

These provisions constitute the statutory framework for determining compensation through arbitration when landowners dispute the amount awarded. The concern of the Court is grounded in a disparity between landowners whose lands were acquired under the NH Act vis-s-vis those whose lands are acquired under other statutes. This is because the compensation disputes under the former are decided by government officers, while the latter's are decided in courts.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that the Central government has prepared a comprehensive draft Bill to introduce stricter provisions and stringent punishments for paper leak cases.

The proposal will be discussed in the Union Cabinet meeting on Friday and is expected to be introduced and passed in the ongoing session of Parliament next week.

Taking to his official X account, PM Modi in a video message said: “More strict actions against paper leaks to come in tomorrow’s Cabinet!”

Addressing the deep distress caused by paper leaks to students and their families, the Prime Minister said on Thursday that the Union government has taken multiple measures over the past two-and-a-half months, leading to the arrest and imprisonment of those responsible.

EnKash, India's leading business payments and spend management platform, today announced the launch of UPI-based payments on its Meal Card. With this addition, employees can make payments directly from their meal card balance by scanning eligible UPI QR codes at food and grocery merchants.

This makes EnKash the first provider in India to enable UPI payments directly from a meal benefit balance.

The new capability extends the UPI infrastructure that EnKash already offers across its Prepaid Payment Instrument portfolio. It brings the familiarity and convenience of UPI to structured meal benefits, allowing employees to use their meal allowance through a payment method that has become a part of everyday life in India.

The timing is also significant. Under the revised Income-tax reforms, eligible meal benefits of up to ₹200 per meal are available under both the old and new tax regimes, subject to prescribed conditions. Employees can receive up to ₹1,05,600 annually as a tax-free meal benefit. For HR teams, this makes meal benefits more inclusive, valuable and easier to offer across the workforce.