Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday set up a high-powered task force led by Infosys co-founder and Aadhaar architect Nandan Nilekani to overhaul India's examination system and the National Testing Agency after repeated paper-leak scandals. Members include former ISRO chief S. Somanath, ex-IB director Tapan Deka, IIT Madras director V. Kamakoti and former Education Secretary Anita Karwal, with a focus on technology.
Pralhad Joshi formally assumed charge of India's Education Ministry at Kartavya Bhavan in New Delhi on Sunday, a day after Dharmendra Pradhan resigned amid nationwide student protests over the NEET paper leak. Joshi, who retains his existing Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, and New and Renewable Energy portfolios, was handed the education brief following the Cockroach Janata Party-led agitation.
India's foreign ministry on Sunday branded as misleading a viral social media post that falsely quoted spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal as saying intelligence found no foreign funding behind recent CJP protests. The MEA Fact Check unit said Jaiswal had actually told Friday's briefing he had no information to share on such allegations. The weeks-long protest ended Saturday after Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned.
Veteran Congress leader Siddaramaiah, recently replaced as Karnataka chief minister by DK Shivakumar, said on Sunday he will not contest the 2028 Assembly elections or any future polls. The 79-year-old cited failing health, his age and what he called thoroughly corrupted politics that now demands paying voters. After nearly 50 years in politics, he vowed to remain a people's voice.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, addressing a Kargil Vijay Diwas gathering in Dras, warned that any Pakistani misadventure would draw a response beyond imagination. He ruled out talks with Islamabad except over Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, calling it illegally seized Indian territory. Citing Operation Sindoor, Singh said it had shown the fate awaiting those who back terrorism, as India marked its 1999 war victory.
Haryana has finished the first phase of its Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, with 33,84,568 voters left off after permanent relocation, absence, death or duplicate entries, the state's Chief Electoral Officer A. Sreenivas said. Some 20,629 booth-level officers handed enumeration forms to over two crore electors, digitising more than one crore. The draft roll will be published on July 31.
Vijayanagara district in Karnataka has got its own District Legal Services Authority, which began operations on Saturday to provide free, speedy legal aid, especially to economically weaker and marginalised people. Justice Pradeep Singh Yerur of the Karnataka High Court, the district's administrative judge, inaugurated the office at the district court complex in Hosapete, calling it a step toward quicker access to justice.
India's Army began two days of ceremonies in Dras to mark the 27th anniversary of Operation Vijay, the 1999 Kargil war victory. On a rainy Saturday evening, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh joined a Shaurya Sandhya at the Kargil War Memorial, handing ceremonial kalashes to fallen soldiers' families. Earlier events featured combat drone displays, robotic mules and tributes to 40 bravehearts.
Karnataka's government has proposed adding Kambala, the coastal slush-track buffalo race, to this year's Mysuru Dasara for the first time, triggering controversy. Organisers have begun preparing a slush track, gallery and facilities. Critics call the water-intensive sport unsuited to Dasara's heritage amid a severe drought, while backers argue the centuries-old folk tradition deserves a stage at the State festival, or Nada Habba.
The Indian Coast Guard has rescued 170 people over three days during flood-relief operations across South Gujarat and the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, after heavy rain triggered flooding from July 22. Combining helicopter sorties and ground teams, it airlifted 63 stranded residents from Navsari's Mendar village and evacuated 60 from a Welspun industrial area.
The IMD forecasts widespread rain across India on Sunday, with Maharashtra and Odisha set for heavy to very heavy showers and Delhi expecting light rain. It has warned of flash-flood risk over 24 hours in parts of Gujarat's Saurashtra and Kutch, and in Jharkhand, Odisha and Chhattisgarh. Gujarat's Santalpur recorded 390mm in a day, amid an active monsoon trough.
A special court in Bhopal rejected the bail plea of retired judge Giribala Singh on Saturday, citing the gravity of charges in the dowry-death case of model and actor Twisha Sharma. Singh, Twisha's mother-in-law, and her son Samarth Singh were arrested over alleged dowry harassment, mental abuse and domestic violence after Twisha was found dead at her marital home on May 12.
Five people were killed in Madhya Pradesh's Rajgarh district on Saturday when their car skidded off the road and plunged into a dam reservoir, police said. The crash happened around noon near Bhilkhedi junction, on the boundary of Pachore and Khujner police stations, when the vehicle lost control approaching a culvert. Police suspect they were trying to avoid an animal or vehicle.
Aneesh Mohan, 43, a geologist killed in a landslide at a tunnel construction site in Sikkim, was cremated at his home in Pampady near Kottayam on Saturday evening. Members of the public paid their respects, and Kerala Water Resources Minister Mons Joseph paid homage for the state government. His body was flown from Sikkim via Kolkata and Kochi with government help.
Contract workers of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams protested outside the TTD Administrative Building in Tirupati on Saturday, demanding the minimum monthly wage be raised to ₹26,000. CITU state vice-president Kandarapu Murali said the temple body must improve pay for staff serving thousands of daily pilgrims. The union also sought darshan access, prasadam entitlement and job security, warning of a stronger agitation.
India's Directorate of Revenue Intelligence has busted two gold-smuggling syndicates at Mumbai airport, seizing 15.764 kg of foreign-origin gold worth ₹23.63 crore and arresting eight. In 'Operation Sky Vault', officers recovered 12 kg of gold bars hidden aboard a flight from Addis Ababa. 'Operation Midas Mop' netted 3.76 kg of gold dust from a Dubai flight, with cleaning staff among the accused.
Bengaluru's Sampigehalli police have registered a sexual harassment case and are searching for an unidentified man after a viral video showed a woman passenger and a BMTC bus driver confronting him over alleged molestation on a moving bus on Friday. The clip claimed the man had been boarding buses on the Hebbal-Manyata route and inappropriately touching women. An FIR has been filed.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned on Saturday, submitting his letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi after a month of student protests over alleged NEET paper leaks. The Cockroach Janta Party-led agitation at Delhi's Jantar Mantar, boosted by activist Sonam Wangchuk's 26-day hunger strike, had demanded accountability. Announcing his exit, Pradhan invoked 'youth power' and warned against 'anti-national forces' exploiting the unrest.
Authorities in Lucknow demolished a three-storey building on Saturday, 32 days after a June 22 fire killed 15 people. Bulldozers razed the structure, which housed a coaching centre and shops, amid sealed roads and heavy police. Approved for residential use, it was allegedly run commercially without fire safety. A 2016 demolition order over unauthorised construction had been withdrawn; owners face legal action.
West Bengal Finance Minister Swapan Dasgupta on Saturday tabled the CAG reports in the state Assembly, saying they had not been presented for some years. He called that omission a 'constitutional lapse' and said the reports would expose the reasons behind West Bengal's debt of over ₹8 lakh crore. Dasgupta said the government wants a special Assembly session to discuss them.