Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman discussed over the third pre-budget engagement with micro, small, and medium-sized business (MSME) stakeholders on Wednesday.

A statement from the Finance Ministry said that the discussion was related to the upcoming Union Budget 2026–2027.

“Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs @nsitharaman chairs the third Pre-Budget Consultation with the stakeholders from Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises #MSMEs in connection with the forthcoming Union Budget 2026-27, in New Delhi, today,” stated the Ministry in a post on X.

Senior representatives from the Ministry of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises as well as Union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary also attended the meeting.

Prior to the General Budget 2026–2027, Sitharaman presided over a pre-Budget consultation conference with members from agricultural economists and farmer associations.

Digitized and time-bound single window approvals have the potential to significantly improve the investment climate for MSMEs across states, according to an Assocham analysis released on Wednesday.

In order to streamline business rules, enhance approval processes, and aid in the expansion of MSMEs in India, the research recommended swift reforms. The research suggests a single, combined annual MSME compliance form that combines several files at the national level.

In order to facilitate compliance with the Companies Act, it further recommends establishing biennial or triennial filing periods for registered MSMEs.

FM Sitharaman met with top economists on Monday for the initial pre-budget consultations. Along with other economists and senior officials from the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) V. Anantha Nageswaran attended the conference.

The government has been gathering feedback for the 2018 Union Budget through a series of meetings with industry representatives as part of the continuing pre-budget consultations. Extending tax benefits to the last mile and improving the ease of doing business are the main topics of debate.

Before completing its recommendations for the Union Budget, the government is anticipated to keep interacting with different trade associations in the upcoming weeks.

An automobile registered in Haryana that was parked close to Gate No. 1 of the Red Fort Metro Station detonated on Monday night, killing at least eight persons and injuring several more.

After Union Home Minister Amit Shah assessed the investigation and multi-state searches being carried out in the Delhi bomb blast case on Tuesday and reaffirmed Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s determination to bring the perpetrators to justice, the matter was turned over to the NIA.

HM Shah met with senior security officers at his home and gave them strong directives to uncover the conspiracy as soon as possible.

Investigators have made significant progress in the Red Fort blast investigation by confirming that Dr. Umar Mohammad, a prominent physician at Al Falah University in Faridabad, was operating the i20 vehicle that exploded on November 10 close to Red Fort, killing eight people and injuring at least twenty more.

DNA test findings definitively proved Umar’s identity, according to Delhi Police sources. There was no question regarding his presence in the car at the time of the explosion because his DNA sample 100% matched those of his mother and brother. Bone fragments, teeth, and pieces of clothes that were found inside the mutilated remains of the i20 were used to extract the DNA.

Around 6:52 p.m. on Monday, there was a strong explosion that sent shockwaves through the capital and prompted security alarms. Concern over the breach in the high-security area around the Red Fort was raised by the explosion, which happened near one of India’s most famous monuments.

Following the incident, the Delhi Police’s Special Cell has officially turned over the investigation to the National Investigation Agency (NIA). The location has been roped off by NIA authorities, who are also performing forensic analyses of the wreckage, including digital data, car parts, and explosive residues.

According to preliminary investigations, high-grade improvised explosive devices (IEDs) were used to rig the vehicle. Investigators are currently trying to map Umar’s travels in the days preceding the explosion and tracking the source of the explosives.

According to sources, Umar had left his Faridabad home earlier that day, telling his coworkers that he was in Delhi for a personal engagement. Whether he operated alone or in concert with a bigger network is being investigated by the authorities.

The explosion on November 10 occurred just hours after two residential properties in Faridabad, Haryana, were found to contain around 3,000 kg of explosives by the Jammu and Kashmir Police.

The first Test match between South Africa and India at Eden Gardens on November 14 will utilize a unique gold coin picturing Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi for the toss.

The Freedom Trophy, which was created to honor Gandhi and Mandela and celebrate their shared heritage and the ethos of non-violence, will be played during the India vs. South Africa Test series.

According to a report from India Today, the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) has unveiled a unique gold coin that will be used for the toss in the first Test at Eden Gardens. It portrays Nelson Mandela on one side and Mahatma Gandhi on the other, representing the ideals of independence, peace, and non-violence.

The coin was created especially for the series and will be used at the toss, according to CAB President Sourav Ganguly.

According to the source, the Jagmohan Dalmiya Memorial Lecture will be held at the CAB on November 13, the day before the game. Cricket players from both teams will be present for Sunil Gavaskar’s keynote speech.

After finishing their white-ball obligations in Australia on Saturday, Team India arrived in Kolkata on Sunday night with captain Shubman Gill, head coach Gautam Gambhir, and skipper Jasprit Bumrah.

For the forthcoming two-match Test series against South Africa, which begins on November 14, wicketkeeper-batter and vice-captain Rishabh Pant has returned to the Indian team. Guwahati is scheduled to host its first Test match on November 22.

After a 1-1 tie in Pakistan, South Africa is now in fifth place with 50 points percentage (PCT) in the World Test Championship, while India is currently in third place with 61.90 PCT. India and South Africa will play three ODIs and five T20Is after the Test series.

Google Cloud and Google DeepMind announced a partnership with IIT Madras to launch Indic Arena, a public platform that would allow Indian users to anonymously assess and rank AI models on tasks specific to the nation’s multilingual environment.

According to a release, Google Cloud is supplying cloud credits to enable the community-driven resource managed by the AI4Bharat center at IIT Madras.

Additionally, an increase in local AI hardware capacity for Indian clients “powered by Google’s AI Hypercomputer architecture with the latest Trillium TPUs” was disclosed.

According to the statement, the action will enable more companies and government agencies in India to train and support their most cutting-edge Gemini models.

The US IT giant added that the action will take care of data sovereignty and residency obligations.

Startups, academic institutions, governmental organizations, and businesses were invited by Google to utilize this new, dedicated capacity for Gemini in Vertex AI.

A crowdsourced, human-in-the-loop leaderboard called Indic LLM-Arena was created to compare LLMs on the three factors that impact the Indian experience: language, context, and safety.

“Our goal at AI4Bharat is to develop AI for the unique requirements of India. According to Mitesh Khapra, an associate professor at IIT Madras, “having a neutral, standardized benchmark to understand how models are performing across our many languages is crucial.”

According to a different statement from IIT Madras, “a model’s ability to discuss a topic in perfect English is irrelevant if it fails to understand a farmer in rural Maharashtra, provides a culturally inappropriate response to a user in Sikkim, or cannot parse a Tang-lish query from a student in Tamil Nadu.”

Earlier this year, Google Cloud deployed Gemini 2.5 Flash with local machine-learning processing capability, making Gemini accessible to regulated Indian clients.

The government suggested requiring e-commerce sites to offer searchable and sortable filters based on the “Country of Origin” for packaged goods sold online on monday.

According to a statement from the customer Affairs Ministry, the action will improve online buying transparency and customer empowerment. Another significant step toward creating an open, competitive, and consumer-friendly e-commerce ecosystem that supports national priorities and increases consumer confidence in online markets is this proposed change.

In the Draft Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) (Second) Amendment Rules, 2025, the Department of Consumer Affairs proposed requiring the “Country of Origin” filter to be used online.

Stakeholders have until November 22 to provide feedback on the draft amendment regulations, which are available for public review on the Department’s website.

“The amendment seeks to empower consumers to make informed purchasing decisions by allowing them to easily identify the origin of products while shopping online,” the ministry stated.

Customers will be able to search and categorize products by their nation of origin thanks to the proposed feature, which would improve transparency and cut down on the time needed to find such information across large product listings.

The phrase “Provided that every e-commerce entity selling imported products shall provide a searchable and sortable filter for the country of origin, with their product listings” should be added to rule 6, sub-rule (10) of the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011.

The ministry claims that by making “Made in India” products easily accessible, guaranteeing a level playing field for domestic manufacturers, assisting domestic products in gaining equal visibility alongside imported goods, and encouraging consumers to choose locally made alternatives, the amendment supports the “Atmanirbhar Bharat” and “Vocal for Local” initiatives.

The ministry added that the implementation of country-of-origin filters will help effectively monitor compliance, confirm product details, and spot infractions without necessitating a manual inspection of every listing.

A hacking gang with ties to North Korea has initiated a new type of malware that allows it to remotely take control of Android devices and PCs in order to erase important data, such as contacts, documents, and images.

According to a report by the Genians Security Center (GSC), a South Korean cybersecurity institute, the group—which is thought to be connected to Pyongyang-sponsored groups Kimsuky or APT37—infiltrated victims’ PCs and smartphones using malware distributed via KakaoTalk and stole account information for Google and major domestic IT services.

After verifying that the victims were not in their homes or places of employment using Google’s location-based tracking system, they remotely reset the smartphones, according to Yonhap news agency.

According to the study, the remote reset prevented the device from operating normally, preventing messenger app notifications and message alerts and thus cutting off the account owner’s awareness channel. This delayed detection and response.

Important information kept on the compromised devices, including as contacts, documents, and images, was entirely erased during this procedure.

Simultaneously, the attackers used PCs and tablets that were already infected in the victims’ homes or places of employment to distribute malware to contacts under the guise of “stress relief programs.”

According to the GSC report, the hackers might have watched victims’ movements using compromised cameras by using webcams on PCs to verify whether victims were away from home.

This combination of account-based dissemination and device neutralization is “unprecedented” among known North Korean cyberattack activities, according to the institute.

“It demonstrates the attacker’s tactical maturity and advanced evasion strategy, marking a key inflection point in the evolution of APT tactics,” it stated.

Advanced persistent threats, or APTs for short, are a class of complex and persistent cyberattacks.

The defense ministry of South Korea “strongly condemns” North Korea’s alleged ballistic missile test last week and urges the North to stop actions that increase tensions between the Koreas.

In a notice to the media, the ministry stated that it “strongly condemns the recent ballistic missile launch by the North, and expresses deep regret for (the North’s) statement denouncing South Korea-U.S. annual exercises and conference.”

Additionally, it demanded that North Korea “immediately halt” any actions that would increase tensions between the two Koreas.

The day after it threatened to take appropriate action in response to the most recent U.S. sanctions against Pyongyang, North Korea fired one suspected short-range ballistic missile toward the East Sea on Friday.

Following Roger Binny’s resignation in August 2025, Rajeev Shukla took over as the board’s acting president. After Sourav Ganguly and Roger Binny, Mithun Manhas‘ election made him the third former cricket player to hold the presidency.

Mithun Manhas, president of the BCCI, said that his position entails “great responsibility” and that it is a legacy that “must be carried forward.” At the Annual General Meeting, which took place on September 28 at the board’s Mumbai offices, Manhas was chosen to serve as the chair of the board.

Manhas said, “The role of BCCI President comes with a great responsibility – it is a legacy that must be carried forward,” acknowledging that the position he has been given has a lot of responsibility. We are prepared, our squad is competent, and we will work hard to keep up the excellent work so that both the men’s and women’s teams may achieve even greater success and Indian cricket keeps growing.

Manhas gave Jay Shah, the current ICC chairman and previous board secretary, a lot of credit for Team India’s recent historic Women’s World Cup victory. He commended Shah for improving Indian women’s cricket and stated that the team’s outstanding performance abroad is mostly due to his efforts.

“When the BCCI took over in 2006 or 2007, the preparations for our women’s squad that won the 2025 World Cup started nearly twenty years ago. Since then, a lot of work has been completed. The women’s squad has advanced to this level thanks in large part to the efforts of Mr. Jay Shah, the General Secretary at the time. He made sure that female cricket players were paid the same as their male counterparts, he claimed.

Following that, the Women’s Premier League (WPL) was established, and the Under-15 women’s competition was inaugurated a few years ago. Even while managing duties at the ICC, the kind of effort and initiatives he has undertaken, like raising salaries and prize money, are absolutely commendable. He continued, “He deserves a lot of credit for it.

Manhas attributed the Indian women’s cricket team’s recent success to both the current players and the former players, whose years of dedication set the stage for the team’s current success. He referred to them as the “true heroes” and claimed that the triumph had increased grassroots involvement in women’s cricket across the country.

37th President of the BCCI: Mithun Manhas
Vice-President: Rajeev Shukla
Secretary: Devajit Saikia
Joint Secretary: Prabhtej Bhatia
Treasurer: A. Raghuram Bhat
IPL Chairman: Arun Dhumal

Chief Economic Advisor V. Anantha Nageswaran stated on Friday that India is expected to see GDP growth of more than 6.8% in the current fiscal year (FY26) and that private capital spending is still strong despite global concerns.

Speaking at an event here, he cited a recovery in private capital spending and higher foreign inflows as reasons for a possible upward revision of GDP growth following Q2 statistics.

According to the CEA, net FDI inflows have already significantly exceeded those of the previous two years in the first five months of this year. Contrary to expectations of a decrease, Nageswaran continued, FY 2024–2025 has been a very good year for private capital expenditures.

According to Nageswaran, private capital expenditures have significantly increased in FY25 after failing in FY24, suggesting that the trend for investments is accelerating.

In order to facilitate success in all areas, including the correction of inverted duty structures, the CEA emphasized the significance of a strong regulatory and legislative environment.

Instead of trying to onshore all production, he added, India’s policy should focus on strengthening domestic manufacturing capabilities and connecting to international supply chains.

A tariff agreement between the US and India may soon be finalized, according to Nageswaran. He described the recent boost in consumption in India as mostly a supply-side boom driven by robust investment activity.

SEBI Chairperson Tuhin Kanta Pandey stated earlier at the same occasion that India’s capital markets will play a major role in the country’s continued economic strength and advancement toward the “Viksit Bharat” goal.

Additionally, he stated that businesses had raised about Rs 2 lakh crore from the main market this year, demonstrating strong investor confidence.

Pandey emphasized structural opportunities, pointing out that the assets under administration of mutual funds account for less than 25% of GDP, with urban participation at roughly 15% and rural involvement at 6%.

James D. Watson has passed away at 97. His co-discovery of DNA’s twisted ladder structure in 1953 ignited a long-lasting revolution in ethics, genealogy, medicine, and criminal prevention.

He was born in Chicago on April 6, 1928, the son of a mail-order school bill collector who had authored a little book about birds in northern Illinois. At first, the younger Watson wanted to pursue his father’s hobby of studying birds. He once remarked, “My greatest ambition had been to find out why birds migrate.” “The career would have been lost. They are still in the dark.

The intelligent child who enjoyed reading the World Almanac made an appearance on the well-known radio program “Quiz Kids” when he was 12. His adolescent years were difficult, as is frequently the case for bright people. Watson remarked, “I never even tried to be an adolescent.” “I never attended gatherings for teenagers. I was out of place. I had no desire to blend in. I essentially transitioned from childhood to adulthood.

At the age of 15, he was accepted into a program at the University of Chicago that aims to offer gifted children an early advantage in life. He acquired the Socratic technique of inquiry through oral confrontation there, which would serve as the foundation for both his outstanding accomplishments and the severe verdicts that would ultimately lead to his downfall.

It took Watson decades to feel deserving of a breakthrough that some compare to Einstein’s well-known E=MC2 formula. However, he succeeded. “Did Francis and I merit the double helix?” Forty years later, Watson posed a hypothetical question. “Yes, we did.”

The bold, Chicago-born Watson became a revered figure in science for decades after the discovery, which was made at the age of just 24. However, when his life was coming to an end, he was subject to professional criticism and condemnation for making inappropriate statements, such as claiming that Black people are less bright than white people.

For finding that deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA, is a double helix made up of two strands that coil around one another to form what looks like a long, gently twisting ladder, Watson received the 1962 Nobel Prize with Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins.

That insight was revolutionary. It immediately implied how DNA is duplicated during cell division and how genetic information is stored. The two DNA strands pull apart like a zipper to start the duplication.

The double helix would become an easily identifiable symbol of science even among non-scientists, appearing in places like Salvador Dali’s artwork and a British postage stamp.

More modern advancements like manipulating the genetic composition of living organisms, curing illness by introducing genes into patients, identifying human remains and criminal suspects from DNA samples, and tracking family trees and ancient human ancestors were made possible by this discovery. However, it has also brought up a number of ethical issues, including as whether we should change the body’s blueprint for aesthetic purposes or in a way that affects a person’s progeny.

Watson once remarked, “It was pretty obvious that Francis Crick and I made the discovery of the century.” “We could not have predicted the explosive impact of the double helix on science and society,” he wrote later.

Watson never produced another significant discovery in the lab. However, in the decades that followed, he contributed to the direction of the human genome mapping effort and produced a best-selling biography and influential textbooks. He selected and assisted promising young scientists. Additionally, he influenced scientific policy through his connections and prominence.

Duncan Watson described his father as someone who “never stopped fighting for people who were suffering from disease.”

Watson’s initial motivation for sponsoring the gene project was personal: Watson reasoned that understanding the full composition of DNA would be essential for comprehending schizophrenia, possibly in time to assist his son Rufus, who had been admitted to the hospital with a potential diagnosis.

In his best-selling 1968 book about the discovery of DNA, “The Double Helix,” he remarked, “a goodly number of scientists are not only narrow-minded and dull, but also just stupid.”

He wrote: “You have to avoid foolish people if you want to succeed in science. Never engage in activities that bore you. Leave research if you are unable to coexist with your true peers, even your scientific rivals. A scientist must be ready to get into serious difficulties in order to achieve great achievement.

To the joy of fans and movie enthusiasts, Malayalam filmmaker, Rojin Thomas‘s next horror fantasy thriller “Kathanar,” which stars Jayasurya and Anushka Shetty, unveiled the first look poster of actress Shetty on Friday.

In addition, the producers said that the actress portrayed Nila in the movie on November 7, the actress’s birthday.

“Not the tale you know, but the one rewritten by time,” the film’s production company, Sree Gokulam Movies, posted on its social media timelines. An ageless beauty. Happy birthday, #AnushkaShetty, my love. The visage of our Nila and #Kathanar #Kathanarthewildsorcerer.”

Recall that on the occasion of actor Jayasurya’s birthday in August of this year, the film’s creators also unveiled his terrifying appearance.

Fans and movie enthusiasts are quite interested in the movie, which was first announced in 2023, for a variety of reasons.

The film’s creators have stated that it will feature technology never seen in Indian cinema, which is one of the reasons fans are interested in the project.

During the film’s premiere, the producers published a long post on Instagram using their official movie account. “KATHANAR movie brings technology never before used in Indian cinema,” the statement stated. Pre-production on the movie “Kathanar,” which uses virtual production technology and advanced workflows like Tech-Viz, Stunt-Viz, and Post-Viz, has started. Asset production processes such as Vicon-based infrared biped motion capture and full body 3D scans employing a 200DSLR camera photogrammetry rig have already begun.”

“Hollywood films ‘Jungle Book‘ and ‘Lion King’ were the pioneers in using these technology before ‘Kathanar,‘” the producers added. We are now appreciative of the chance to use ‘Kathanar’ to introduce these technology from foreign film to Malayalam cinema.

“Kathanar” will be a worldwide film that unites our nation’s technocrats. “Kathanar” will be distributed in seven languages after preproduction and principle photography are finished in a year.”

Up to now, Prabhu Deva, Anushka Shetty, and Jayasurya’s appearances in the movie have been revealed by the producers.

“Kathanar,” which is directed by Rojin Thomas, is co-produced by VC Praveen and Baiju Gopalan and produced by Gokulam Gopalan. Rahul Subrahmanian composed the music, Neil D’Cunha handled the cinematography, and R Ramanand wrote the screenplay.

On November 21st of this year, Kathanar will be seen in theaters.