The government has notified the Solid Waste Management (SWM) Rules, 2026, which will come into effect from 1st April this year. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change said that the revised rules will integrate the principles of circular economy and extended producer responsibility, with a specific focus on efficient waste segregation and management. It added that under the SWM rules 2026, four-stream segregation of solid waste at source has been made mandatory.

The new rules will also provide for the levy of environmental compensation based on the Polluter Pays principle for non-compliance, including cases of operating without registration, false reporting, and improper solid waste management practices. The Ministry further said that the rules will introduce graded criteria for development around solid waste processing and disposal facilities to facilitate faster land allocation.

India is about to get its first AI-enabled University. The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) has announced a collaboration with Google Cloud and Chaudhary Charan Singh University (CCSU), Meerut, on 28 January 2026 at the AI for Learning Forum in Delhi. This initiative aims to create a national framework for educational excellence.

The project is designed to bridge the digital divide by leveraging advanced Cloud and AI technologies to modernise the country's vocational ecosystem. Under the vision of Viksit Bharat 2047, the partnership seeks to empower millions of graduates and faculty members across the nation.

Chaudhary Charan Singh University has been designated as the national pilot institution to showcase how AI can enhance higher education and training in an AI-first era. The university will utilise the Gemini Enterprise platform to tackle administrative and pedagogical challenges.

NITI Aayog has signed a Statement of Intent (SoI) with NIIT Foundation to advance digital literacy, financial inclusion and Skill Development across Aspirational Blocks.

The partnership was formalised in the presence of Shri. BVR Subrahmanyam, CEO, NITI Aayog and Shri. Rohit Kumar, Additional Secretary and Mission Director, ADP&ABP, NITI Aayog.

The collaboration specifically focuses on Digital Literacy, Financial Inclusion and Skill Development, along with employability skills and community-based learning and will be implemented across selected Aspirational Blocks to ensure 100% block coverage, reach nearly 1.2 lakh beneficiaries and achieve at least 40% women’s participation.

The Ministry of Railways has sanctioned the construction of a fourth railway line between Baikunth and Urkura, covering a length of 26.40 kilometres, at an estimated cost of ₹426.01 crore, under the South East Central Railway.

The Baikunth–Urkura section is a vital part of the Bilaspur–Raipur–Nagpur main line, which also falls on the Mumbai–Howrah high-density railway network, one of the busiest rail corridors in the country. At present, this section is operating with saturated capacity, underscoring the urgent need for capacity expansion.

The sanctioned fourth line will significantly ease congestion and enhance the smooth movement of trains. The project will create capacity for additional passenger and coaching services, reduce delays, and improve punctuality on this heavily utilised section.

A class 9 student, Roshini, of Vedavalli Vidyalaya, NPS Senior Secondary School in Ranipet, has won the gold medal at the 29th All India National Championship 2026 for traditional martial arts held at Goa recently.

According to a press release, Ms. Roshni was honoured in the campus for her achievement. Vidya Sampath, Correspondent, Vedavalli Vidyalaya Schools, showered praise on the young student for her determination, and focus, the release said.

Karnataka has solidified its position as the primary hub for India’s burgeoning deep tech sector, accounting for a dominant 39 per cent of the country’s Generative AI (GenAI) startups as per Economic Survey 2025-26.

This comes as India’s technology startup ecosystem, now the third-largest globally, saw GenAI startups surge threefold to 890 in the first half of 2025, up from 240 in the first half of 2024 as per Economic Survey 2025-26.

The sector has seen funding of $76.4 million year-to-date (YTD), across 18 rounds, as per data from market intelligence platform Tracxn.

Microsoft on Monday unveiled the second generation of its in-house artificial intelligence chip, ‍along with software tools that take aim at one of Nvidia's biggest competitive advantages with developers.

The new "Maia 200" chip ‌comes online this week in a data center in Iowa, with plans for a second location in Arizona, Microsoft said. It is the second generation of an AI chip called Maia that Microsoft introduced in 2023.

The Maia 200 comes as major cloud computing firms such as Microsoft, Alphabet's Google and Amazon.com's Amazon Web Services - some of Nvidia's biggest customers - are producing their own chips ⁠that increasingly compete with Nvidia.

Honouring the priceless contribution of tea garden workers to Assam's 200-year-old tea industry, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday launched the Mukhya Mantrir Eti Koli Duti Paat Scheme at Doomdooma in Tinsukia district.

It may be noted that over Rs. 300 crore will be disbursed as a one-time financial assistance of Rs. 5,000 to more than six lakh tea garden workers, both permanent and casual, across 836 tea gardens in 27 districts and 73 legislative assembly constituencies.

Commemorating the occasion, Chief Minister Sarma also inaugurated mobile creches and mobile toilet services to ensure child care, health, dignity and a safer work environment for the workforce.

China plans to launch space‑based artificial intelligence data centres over the next five years, state media reported on Thursday, a challenge to Elon Musk’s plan to deploy SpaceX data centres to the heavens.

China's main space contractor, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), vowed to "construct gigawatt-class space digital-intelligence infrastructure," according to a five-year development plan that was cited by state broadcaster CCTV.

The new space data centres will "integrate cloud, edge and terminal (device) capabilities" and achieve the "deep integration of computing power, storage capacity and transmission bandwidth," enabling data from Earth to be processed in space, the report said.

US firm SpaceX expects to use funds from its planned $25 billion blockbuster IPO this year to develop orbital AI data centres in response to terrestrial energy constraints.

In a significant development for India's cultural heritage, the United States will return three ancient bronze sculptures that were illegally taken from temples in Tamil Nadu. The Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art in Washington DC announced that the artefacts would be handed back to the government of India following rigorous provenance research that confirmed their unlawful removal from sacred temple settings.

The museum stated that India has agreed to place one of the bronzes on long-term loan. This arrangement will allow the museum to share the full story of the sculpture's origins, removal and eventual return. The institution said the agreement outlines its dedication to transparent provenance research and responsible stewardship.