In a major law enforcement action, a joint team from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and Ranchi Police, led by the Ranchi City SP, cordoned off and searched the Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) headquarters. The raid was initiated after taking cognisance of complaints regarding severe procedural lapses, OMR tampering, and merit list manipulation in the 14th JPSC Preliminary Examination. Three key personnel, including an examination controller, were detained, and the premises of outsourcing vendor M/s TSR Data Processing Private Limited (TDPL) were sealed.

Chaired by Chief Minister Hemant Soren, the Jharkhand Cabinet approved 40 policy proposals. Highlights include allocating ₹176.07 crore for AI-driven virtual classrooms in 1,000 secondary and higher secondary schools, alongside seven central transmission studios under the extended Adarsh Vidyalaya Scheme. For healthcare, ₹9.45 crore annually was approved to lease a single-engine helicopter for emergency patient airlifts. Medical infrastructure received ₹194.73 crore for SNMMCH Dhanbad to expand MBBS seats to 250, and board exam attendance rules were relaxed to 50% for students suffering from Thalassemia, Sickle Cell, and Type-1 Diabetes.

The Jharkhand Film Development Corporation Limited (JFDCL) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI), Kolkata, at Project Bhawan, Ranchi. The agreement formalizes the creation of the Film and Television Institute of Jharkhand, designed to offer specialized technical courses in direction, editing, sound design, and cinematography, creating institutional pathways for preserving local art, culture, and folklore.

A specialized research team from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), New Delhi, launched a field investigation in Potka block, East Singhbhum, following a surge in asymptomatic and mixed malaria cases. The team is gathering blood and mosquito samples to analyze how “silent carriers”—individuals infected with Plasmodium parasites without showing fever or chills—transmit the infection, as well as the impact of dual Plasmodium species infections.

The Department of Fertilisers announced that India’s domestic urea production capacity reached 269.42 lakh metric tonnes per annum (LMTPA) in 2026-27, up from 207.54 LMTPA in 2014-15. This expansion follows the commissioning of six mega urea units (12.7 LMTPA each) under the New Investment Policy (NIP) 2012, including Hindustan Urvarak & Rasayan Limited (HURL) plants at Sindri (Jharkhand), Gorakhpur (UP), and Barauni (Bihar). Supply channels are being monitored in real time via the Integrated Fertiliser Management System (IFMS).

Decorated military officer Major General Jitendra Singh, VSM, officially assumed command as the 10th General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the Jharkhand and Bihar Sub Area formation. Commissioned into the Corps of Engineers and former Dean of the Army War College, Major General Singh brings nearly three decades of operational and strategic leadership to overseeing territorial defense, military coordination, and disaster relief operations across the two states.

Chaired by Health Minister Dr. Irfan Ansari, the RIMS Governing Body sanctioned 200 new ventilators to strengthen central emergency care, approved smart classrooms for medical students, and ordered airport-style sanitation upgrades for hospital toilets. In a major structural decision, RIMS management will cease direct hostel operations, and dedicated ward boys will be recruited to guide rural patients through departments.

The Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly passed the Madhya Pradesh Uniform Civil Code (UCC) Bill, 2026, making MP the fourth Indian state (after Goa, Uttarakhand, and Assam) to adopt a uniform civil law under Article 44. The legislation prohibits polygamy, criminalizes practices like triple talaq and nikah halala, mandates registration for marriages, divorces, and live-in relationships, and grants equal inheritance rights. Scheduled Tribes notified under Articles 342 and 366(25) are explicitly exempted.

Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal introduced the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Bill, 2026 in the Lok Sabha. The bill seeks to expand the sanctioned strength of Supreme Court judges from 33 to 37 (excluding the Chief Justice of India), increasing the total maximum bench strength to 38. The measure aims to address case pendency and facilitate larger Constitution Benches.

The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) granted marketing authorization for QDENGA (manufactured by Takeda Biopharmaceuticals), making it India’s first approved live-attenuated tetravalent dengue vaccine. Approved for individuals aged 4 to 60 years, it protects against all four dengue serotypes (DEN-1 to DEN-4). It requires no prior serological blood screening and is administered as a two-dose subcutaneous injection spaced three months apart.

Construction work on the ₹44,605-crore Ken-Betwa Link Project (KBLP) has entered a critical phase with foundation work on the 77-meter-high Daudhan Dam. The dam’s reservoir will submerge roughly 9,000 hectares, including 4,141 hectares of core Panna Tiger Reserve land, requiring the resettlement of 1,913 families across 10 villages to Kawar Karondiya. The project is designed to irrigate 9.04 lakh hectares in Bundelkhand and provide 194 million cubic meters of drinking water annually.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) is formulating a draft framework for standalone legislation to regulate artificial intelligence. The proposed law focuses on consent-based frameworks for synthetically generated content (deepfakes), operational guardrails for autonomous agentic AI systems, and regulatory sandboxes created in coordination with the RBI and SEBI for high-risk financial and public applications.

Hyderabad-based startup Skyroot Aerospace successfully achieved orbit with its privately developed orbital launch vehicle, Vikram-1, carrying payloads from India, Germany, and private operators. Enabled through IN-SPACe (Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre), the launch represents a operational shift from a state-monopolized space sector to a multi-actor commercial ecosystem targeting Low Earth Orbit (LEO) applications.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) summoned Russian Chargé d’Affaires Vladimir Ladanov to lodge a formal protest over a missile strike on the commercial cargo vessel MV Golden Leo off Ukraine’s Odesa port. The strike resulted in 10 fatalities, including four Indian seafarers killed and one critically injured. India emphasized that non-combatant merchant shipping must be protected under International Humanitarian Law.

Andy Burnham officially assumed office as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom following Keir Starmer’s resignation. In his initial cabinet appointments, 36-year-old Bihar-born British-Indian MP Kanishka Narayan (born in Muzaffarpur) was appointed as Britain’s first-ever Minister for Artificial Intelligence, joining the Cabinet Office and Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade.

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Q1: Why are Scheduled Tribes explicitly exempted in state-level Uniform Civil Code (UCC) enactments like Madhya Pradesh’s UCC Bill 2026?

Answer: Scheduled Tribes are protected under special constitutional provisions, including Fifth and Sixth Schedules, Article 342, and Article 366(25). Tribal communities follow traditional customary personal laws governing marriage, succession, and land inheritance. Enforcing a general civil code without exemptions could infringe upon constitutionally guaranteed cultural autonomy and tribal land protections (such as CNT/SPT Acts in Jharkhand or customary laws in MP).

Q2: What is the constitutional procedure for altering the sanctioned strength of Supreme Court Judges in India?

Answer: Under Article 124(1) of the Constitution of India, Parliament holds the power to prescribe by law the number of Supreme Court judges. The original 1950 constitution fixed the strength at 8 (1 CJI + 7 Judges). Parliament periodically enacts the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Act to expand this number (increased to 10 in 1956, 14 in 1960, 18 in 1977, 26 in 1986, 31 in 2009, 34 in 2019, and proposed 38 in 2026).

Q3: What makes asymptomatic malaria cases a critical public health challenge in vector-borne disease control?

Answer: Asymptomatic malaria occurs when individuals harbor Plasmodium parasites in their bloodstream without displaying classic clinical symptoms such as fever or chills. These “silent carriers” evade standard health screening that relies on fever monitoring. Mosquitoes feeding on asymptomatic individuals continue to transmit the parasite across the population, making disease elimination difficult unless active blood sample mapping is conducted.