Tripura and Kerala are among the states which have the best-governed panchayats in the country, having the highest percentage in the ‘A’ category as per the latest (2023–24) Panchayat Advancement Index (PAI) 2.0 released by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj.
Data shows that in Tripura, out of the total 1,176 gram panchayats which submitted data for the index, almost 943 (80.2 per cent) have figured in category ‘A’ as per the index.
The Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) is set to launch E-PRAAPTI (EPF Aadhaar-Based Access Portal for Tracking Inoperative Accounts), a dedicated digital platform to facilitate identification, tracking, Unique Account Number (UAN) linking, and activation of old EPF accounts.
A senior Labour Ministry official said E-PRAAPTI will provide a streamlined Aadhaar-based authentication mechanism that will enable members to securely access their old EPF account, which may not have a UAN linked with it, and initiate the process for updating their member profile, followed by seamless UAN linking and activation.
In a significant step towards strengthening India-Caribbean relations, India has deployed its flagship Aarogya Maitri portable healthcare infrastructure in Jamaica, marking a new chapter in humanitarian diplomacy and South-South cooperation under the broader framework of India-Caribbean Community engagement.
The deployment, coordinated under India’s Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief framework, reflects the Government of India’s growing emphasis on delivering rapid, technology-enabled medical support to partner nations.
The initiative has been guided by the National Security Council Secretariat and executed in close coordination with the Ministry of External Affairs, reaffirming India’s commitment to responsive and reliable global health partnerships.
The Jamaica deployment is being viewed as part of India’s broader outreach to CARICOM countries, where healthcare, disaster resilience, and capacity building have emerged as key pillars of cooperation.
The Indian Army has dispatched a 120-member contingent for the second edition of the India-Cambodia Joint Military Exercise, CINBAX-II 2026, scheduled from May 4 to 17 in Kampong Speu Province, Cambodia. The exercise will take place at the Royal Cambodian Air Force Training Centre (Camp Basil).
According to the Ministry of Defence, conducted under the framework of the UN Charter’s Chapter VII mandate, the exercise will focus on company-level joint operations in a sub-conventional environment. It comes amid evolving global security challenges and aims to strengthen defence cooperation between the two nations.
The Indian contingent, primarily drawn from a battalion of the Maratha Light Infantry Regiment, will train alongside 160 personnel from the Royal Cambodian Army, it added.
CINBAX-II aims to boost interoperability, coordination, and operational synergy between the two forces.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said it will back USD 70 billion in new energy and digital infrastructure initiatives across Asia and the Pacific by 2035, aimed at strengthening cross-border connectivity and expanding access to electricity and broadband.
Energy and digital access will play a defining role in shaping the region's future, adding that the initiatives seek to link power grids and digital networks to lower costs and expand opportunities, ADB President Masato Kanda said while speaking to the media at the 59th annual meeting of the bank here.
The bank announced two major programmes -- the Pan-Asia Power Grid Initiative and the Asia-Pacific Digital Highway -- with proposed investments of $50 billion and $20 billion, respectively.
Under the Pan-Asia Power Grid Initiative, ADB will work with governments and private stakeholders to develop cross-border electricity infrastructure, including transmission lines, substations, storage systems and grid modernisation.
The programme aims to integrate around 20 gigawatts of renewable energy, build 22,000 circuit-km of transmission lines, and improve electricity access for 200 million people by 2035.
Mission Drishti, the world’s first OptoSAR satellite developed by Bengaluru based space startup GalaxEye has been successfully launched on May 3, 2026 aboard a Falcon 9 by SpaceX from Vandenberg, California.
Weighing 190 kilograms, Mission Drishti is India’s largest privately developed Earth observation satellite.
It is the first satellite globally to integrate Electro-Optical (EO) and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) sensors into a single operational platform, enabling all-weather, day-and-night imaging capabilities.
Mission Drishti is a dual-use Earth observation Satellite, supporting use cases across defence, agriculture, disaster management, maritime monitoring, and infrastructure planning. The satellite is expected to complement India’s broader initiatives, including the active 29 Earth Observation satellites outlined in ISRO’s recent annual report.
Suyash Singh- Founder & CEO, GalaxEye.
In a major boost to India’s maritime defence capabilities, the country has successfully carried out the second flight test of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)-developed long-range hypersonic anti-ship missile (LR-AShM). The test took place off the Odisha coast.
With a strike range exceeding 1,500 km significantly extending India’s reach into deep ocean zones and speeds touching Mach 10, the missile marks a substantial leap in strategic capability, according to Surendra Singh's Times of India report. The second trial focused on validating its two-stage hypersonic glide vehicle configuration.
The LR-AShM programme represents a significant milestone in India’s push for defence self-reliance. It has been developed by laboratories under the Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Missile Complex in Hyderabad, in collaboration with multiple DRDO labs and industry partners.
Integrating childhood diabetes care into the public health system, the Union Health Ministry has, for the first time, introduced a structured and standardised national framework for the screening, diagnosis, treatment and long-term management of diabetes in children.
In Tennis, Marta Kostyuk has captured the biggest title of her career after winning the Madrid Open 2026. The 23-year-old Ukrainian defeated world No. 8 Mirra Andreeva 6-3, 7-5 in the women’s singles final yesterday. Kostyuk is also set to rise from world No. 23 to a career high of 15 in Monday’s WTA rankings.
The WTA 1000 title is a third for her, who now adds her name to the growing list of favourites for the French Open, which is due to start on 24th May in Paris.
In football, India will mark their first appearance at the AFC U-17 Women’s Asian Cup since 2005, ending a 21-year wait at this level as the U-17 national team kick off their campaign against Australia in China today. The match is scheduled to start at five PM India standard time. It is an another landmark moment for Indian women’s football.
More significantly, it completes a rare and historic sequence in 2026, with India’s third women’s Asian Cup appearance following the senior team and the U-20 side. Head coach Pamela Conti said the squad is excited and ready after months of preparation.
They arrive in China after a series of competitive tours-winning the SAFF U19 Women’s Championship in February, securing two victories against fellow Asian Cup qualifying side Myanmar in Yangon in March, and testing themselves in the three friendly games against Russia in Sochi in April.
The date of 5 May was officially established in 2009 by the Community of Portuguese-speaking Countries (CPLP) - an intergovernmental organization that has been in official partnership with UNESCO since 2000, and which brings together peoples with the Portuguese language as one of the foundations of their specific identity,
to celebrate the Portuguese language and Lusophone cultures. In 2019, the 40th session of UNESCO's General Conference decided to proclaim 5 May of each year as "World Portuguese Language Day".
Government's net direct tax collections grew 5.12 per cent to over Rs. 23.40 trillion in 2025-26, but missed the revised budgeted target set for the fiscal year that ended March 2026.
In the revised estimates (RE) for the fiscal year (2025-26), the government projected its direct tax collection at Rs. 24.21 lakh crore.
This included a corporate tax of Rs. 11.09 trillion and personal income tax (including STT) of Rs. 13.12 lakh crore.
According to the data released by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), net corporate tax mop-up was Rs. 10.99 lakh crore, and personal income tax, including Securities Transaction Tax, was about Rs. 12.41 trillion.
Net direct tax collection (including corporate and non-corporate tax) came in at ₹23.40 trillion in FY26, registering a 5.12% growth over ₹22.26 trillion collected in FY25.
Refund issuance dipped 1.09 per cent year-on-year to ₹4.71 trillion in 2025-26.
Gross direct tax collection during the recently concluded fiscal stood at about ₹28.12 lakh crore, up 4.03% from 2024-25.
