In a landmark achievement for Indian medicine, the Ophthalmology Department at Army Hospital (Research & Referral), Delhi Cantt has successfully performed India’s first-ever 3D Flex Aqueous Angiography with iStent, combining advanced imaging with minimally invasive glaucoma surgery.
Conducted with the new stand-mounted Spectralis system and a state-of-the-art 3D operating microscope, this pioneering procedure places the Armed Forces Medical Services at the forefront of global ophthalmic care.
Glaucoma, a leading cause of irreversible blindness, has long challenged clinicians with its silent progression.
This breakthrough offers unprecedented real-time visualisation of aqueous outflow pathways, enabling surgeons to deliver precise, targeted interventions and significantly improve patient outcomes.
As the first-of-its-kind in the country, the integration of 3D Flex Aqueous Angiography with iStent, a Minimally Invasive Glaucoma Surgery sets a new benchmark in glaucoma care, ensuring enhanced intraoperative imaging, and better long-term results.
Registrations for Pariksha Pe Charcha (PPC), the flagship initiative of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, have crossed a historic milestone, with over 3 crore registrations from students, parents, and teachers as of December 30, 2025.
Online registrations for Pariksha Pe Charcha 2026 opened on December 1, 2025, on the MyGov portal. Organised annually by the Department of School Education and Literacy under the Ministry of Education, the initiative has evolved into a widely anticipated celebration of learning and dialogue, bringing together students, parents, and teachers on a common platform.
Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Khalifa Medical City has become the first hospital globally to administer ITVISMA, a one-time gene therapy for spinal muscular atrophy, marking a milestone in precision medicine.
The treatment was delivered on December 28, 2025, under the supervision of the Department of Health, Abu Dhabi, following the UAE’s regulatory approval on November 25,
making the country the second in the world after the United States to authorise the therapy.
Developed by Novartis, ITVISMA targets the genetic root of spinal muscular atrophy by replacing the defective SMN1 gene, enabling the production of the survival motor neuron protein.
Unlike existing options, it is a single-dose therapy approved for patients aged two years and above, including adults, widening access beyond infant-only treatments.
Spinal muscular atrophy is a rare and progressive neuromuscular disorder that leads to muscle weakness and can cause life-threatening complications.
The new therapy offers the potential for sustained improvement in motor function and reduced dependence on long-term treatment.
While the exact cost of ITVISMA has not been disclosed, it is expected to be substantial, similar to Zolgensma, which has been priced around $2 million per dose, underscoring ongoing discussions about accessibility for rare disease therapies.
The National Test House (NTH) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to strengthen quality control and third-party testing in national highway and infrastructure projects.
Under the agreement, NTH will be empanelled as a recognised laboratory for NHAI.
It may send samples related to highway construction and allied works to NTH laboratories across the country for testing and inspection. Samples will be tested at NTH’s regional laboratories and satellite centres located at Ghaziabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Jaipur, Guwahati, Bengaluru and Varanasi.
NTH will provide scientific and impartial test results within an optimum time frame through its online MIS portal as well as physical reports.
The MoU also provides for online test requests and payments, coordination through nodal officers, and participation of NTH experts in NHAI technical committees.
Established in 1912, the National Test House, under the Department of Consumer Affairs, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, is a leading scientific testing and quality assurance organisation with a pan-India presence.
Ministry of Defence, on December 30, 2025, signed contracts worth a total cost of Rs 4,666 crore for the procurement of Close Quarter Battle (CQB) Carbine and Heavy Weight Torpedoes. The contracts were inked in the presence of Defence Secretary Shri Rajesh Kumar Singh at South Block, New Delhi.
This achievement marks the culmination of an extraordinary, persistent effort to equip Indian soldiers with world-class lethality, replacing legacy systems with cutting-edge indigenous technology under the ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ vision.
The contract for the procurement and integration of 48 Heavy Weight Torpedoes along with associated equipment for Kalvari Class Submarines (P-75) of the Indian Navy at an approximate cost of Rs 1,896 crore was signed with WASS Submarine Systems S.R.L., Italy. The acquisition will enhance the combat capability of the six Kalvari Class submarines.
The delivery of torpedoes will commence from April 2028 and will be completed by early 2030.
In the Financial Year 2025-26, Ministry of Defence has signed capital contracts amounting to Rs 1,82,492 crore for the modernisation of the Armed Forces.
The Delhi government will launch an AI-based Unified Grievance Redressal System in partnership with IIT-Kanpur to enable faster complaint resolution and real-time monitoring, officials said.
Currently, residents can lodge complaints through various systems, including the Public Grievance Management System, an official statement said.
While each portal serves a purpose, their disconnected operation often leads to delays, duplication, and lack of holistic oversight, it added.
The AI-powered platform will integrate Delhi’s main grievance redressal portals into one unified dashboard, enabling smarter analysis, quicker resolutions, and enhanced public service delivery, the statement added.
The system will offer a unified dashboard that provides a single, comprehensive view of all grievances filed across PGMS, LG Listening Post, the Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System , and other grievance portals.
Using semantic search, users will be able to search complaints and won't have to rely solely on keywords.
Additional features include root cause analysis, automatic routing of grievances to the appropriate department, performance-based ranking of departments and regions by grievance resolution outcomes, and the digitisation of handwritten or typed complaint documents to enable faster and more efficient processing.
IIT Kanpur will handle system integration, cybersecurity audits , and maintenance of the portal. This initiative aims to bring greater transparency, accountability, and efficiency to Delhi’s grievance redressal mechanism.
India has imposed a three-year import tariff of between 11% and 12% on some steel products, according to finance ministry order published on December 30, 2025, as the government aims to curb cheap shipments from China.
The levy, locally known as a safeguard duty, will be imposed at 12% in the first year followed by 11.5% in the second year and then 11% in the 3rd year.
The measure, which was published on the official government gazette, excludes imports from certain developing countries, though China, Vietnam, and Nepal will be subject to the levy. It also will not apply to specialty steel products such as stainless steel.
The government imposed a temporary 200-day tariff of 12% in April.
The Directorate General of Trade Remedies recommended the three-year duty after finding a “recent, sudden, sharp and significant increase in imports ... causing and threatening to cause serious injury to the domestic industry”, the order said.
The highest number of requests was reported for the purchase or construction of residential houses, which stood at 172,625, of which 155,236 were settled, involving an amount of ₹1,327.91 crore partial withdrawals under the National Pension System (NPS) in FY 2024–25,according to data from the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) annual report released.
Asset quality of commercial banks continued to improve, with the ratio of gross non-performing assets (GNPAs) to gross advances declining to 2.1 per cent as of September 30 and net NPAs falling to 0.5 per cent, according to the latest data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
During 2024-25, about 42.8 per cent of the reduction in GNPAs was attributable to recoveries and upgrades. The net NPA (NNPA) ratio also declined to 0.5 per cent at the end of March, partly reflecting higher provisioning, the RBI said in its annual Trends and Progress of Banking in India report released.
The report said the slippage ratio of scheduled commercial banks (SCBs), which measures new accretions to NPAs as a share of standard advances at the beginning of the year, declined for the fifth consecutive year to 1.4 per cent at the end of March 2025.
The slippage ratio for both public-sector banks and private lenders declined, although it remained higher for PVBs.
Former New Zealand Cricketer Doug Bracewell announced his retirement from all forms of international cricket. The 35-year-old all-rounder played 28 Tests, 21 ODIs and 20 T20Is for BLACK CAPS, taking 120 wickets and scoring 915 runs.
During his international career that lasted 12 years, Bracewell played a key role in New Zealand’s last Test victory over Australia, in Hobart in 2011. He claimed career-best Test figures of taking 6 wickets in the second innings to help secure a famous 7-run win.
