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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. A term insurance plan offers more than a sense of security, it creates a financial cushion that protects your family in case of your absence. With the recent goods and services tax (GST) rate overhaul making term insurance products 18% cheaper, many people focus on simply "having" a policy.

We welcome finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s announcement at this year’s HT Leadership Summit that her next reform would be of India’s customs duty regime. This is vital to boost competitiveness and trade diversification amid today’s tariff turmoil, with the US walling itself apart.It would be best not to limit the exercise to easing procedures and revising customs duty rates.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. TOKYO—Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi says her $135 billion stimulus package will prop up the world’s fourth-largest economy. Some see a danger in swelling a debt pile that is already one of the largest globally.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Sachin Tendulkar, arguably the greatest batsman of all time, hit a rough patch in 2003–04. He was repeatedly getting out to deliveries outside the off stump, especially while playing the cover drive, his signature stroke.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. INSIDE BEIJING’S third ring road, Mr Li rides a scooter for FlashEx, a courier. Now in his 40s, with two school-age children, he migrated from Henan province, roughly 600km to the south.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. India’s electric vehicle (EV) market is expanding, but adoption remains modest across most segments, particularly cars, buses, and two-wheelers. An August report by Niti Aayog noted that while more than half of India’s three-wheelers are now electric, other categories continue to lag.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. CHRISTMAS STOCKINGS may contain more surprises than usual this year, as children open presents that can talk back. Toymakers in China have declared 2025 the year of artificial intelligence (AI) and are producing robots and teddies that can teach, play and tell stories.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The total number of billionaires across the globe reached new heights in 2025, due partly to the soaring valuations of tech companies and rising stock markets, according to a new study by Swiss banking giant UBS. Some 2,900 billionaires now control $15.8 trillion, up from about 2,700 billionaires with a cumulative wealth of nearly $14 trillion a year earlier.

It finally happened. Effective 13 November 2025, President Donald Trump of the United States of America exempted 225 agricultural items, fresh and processed, from tariffs termed ‘reciprocal’ but actually unilaterally country-specific. The new zero-tariff list is product-specific, not differentiated by country.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Even as India’s rural land-mapping has progressed substantially, most urban areas lack reliable, up-to-date maps and clear ownership data. This gap leads to land disputes, inefficient property transactions, poor municipal tax collection and delays in infrastructure planning.

In 2022, 74 years after Shannon's proposal, ChatGPT appeared, which caught the attention of the public, with some even suggesting it was a gateway to super-human intelligence. Going from Shannon's proposal to ChatGPT took so long because the amount of data and computing time used was unimaginable even a few years before. ChatGPT is a large language model (LLM) learned from a huge corpus of text from the internet. It predicts the probability of the next word given the context: a prompt and the previously generated words.

Nayab Singh Saini Sunday said 'Agniveers' will be provided 20 per cent reservation in the police recruitment in the state. In July 2024, months ahead of state assembly polls, the BJP government in the state had announced a 10 per cent reservation for Agniveers in the recruitment of constables, forest guards and jail wardens, along with quotas in other posts. Chairing a review meeting in Panchkula on Sunday, Saini said Haryana is the first state in the country which has secured the future of Agniveers by creating a provision for jobs after their service period in the armed forces. The Haryana Cabinet has already provided security cover to the Agniveers by implementing the Haryana Agniveer Policy-2024. According to an official statement, the chief minister said Agniveers will be provided 20 per cent reservation in the recruitment of state police. Saini said Agniveers will be able to get jobs in Haryana after their service period in the Army and for this, a separate portal will be created for them on which they can register themselves. After this, they will be given preference in jobs on the basis of educational qualification, he added.

health insurance market: many individuals are choosing to quit their health insurance policies. While high premiums and the introduction of Goods and Services Tax (GST) on premiums are often cited as reasons, these financial pressures alone do not fully explain why people are opting out. It is the combination of these costs with a surge in claim rejections and the feeling of inadequate coverage that is leading many to reconsider their insurance choices.

Modi will hold talks with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is also the PM of Saudi Arabia. Both sides will look to take forward agreements finalised during the crown prince’s trip to India in 2023. The protracted Israel-Hamas crisis and tensions in the Red Sea besides the India–Middle East–Europe Economic Corridor (IMEEC) are likely to figure in the discussion agenda, it has been learnt. Saudi Arabia plays a critical role in the proposed IMEEC connecting India with Europe through UAE and Saudi Arabia. Ahead of the PM's trip to Riyadh, Dubai Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, also the Defence Minister of UAE, is expected to visit New Delhi next week in yet another display of special ties. Sheikh Hamdan will meet defence minister Rajnath Singh as India moves to step up engagements with UAE’s next generation leadership. Last year, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi was hosted by the Modi government.

Companies like Google, Accenture, Diageo, Myntra, IKEA, and L’Oréal are including fertility treatments like IVF under insurance, offering emotional support through employee assistance programmes, organising seminars to drive awareness on infertility and available support systems. Egg and sperm freezing, too, are being added to medical insurance programmes for employees looking to delay their parenthood journey for career or personal reasons. India has a population of as many as 27.5 million infertile people, including men and women, according to the Indian Society of Assisted Reproduction. However, organisations are stepping up to drive the change. In November last year, Google India expanded its family building benefits in India, increasing reimbursements for expenses related to fertility treatments — including options like fertility preservation, IUI, and IVF.

KP Sharma Oli has said the meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the BIMSTEC Summit in Thailand's Bangkok was «fruitful and progressive.» Addressing a press conference after landing back in Kathmandu on Saturday afternoon, the Nepali Prime Minister said that a commitment has been established between the two counterparts to take the relationship to newer heights. «We (both the Prime Ministers) have made the commitment that the Nepal-India relation will be taken to new heights, further deepening it, covering wider aspects and solve the problems that arise over the time. It is common that neighbours will encounter problems and it is resolved through dialogue, we both are convinced about it. The meeting went very well and I am very happy and consider it as fruitful for both the countries. While talking about him (Indian Prime Minister), I also understand that he is happy with the meeting, which I decode from the talks with him,» Oli said in the press briefing at the VVIP lounge of Tribhuvan International Airport.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Srinagar: Spring in Kashmir once brought the scent of pine sap and damp earth, the hush of melting snow, and the quiet rustle of footsteps combing the forest floor for a delicacy that blooms like a secret. The Gucchi mushroom—spongy, ridged, and among the world’s most expensive fungi—has long drawn foragers into the Himalayan woods, where it grows wild under deodar and pine.

Narendra Modi will inaugurate India's first vertical lift sea bridge in Rameswaram and would also dedicate other projects on April 6. On the eve of the official event, the Indian Railways came out with a promotional video of the picturesque new Pamban Bridge. The Railway Ministry said, «Bridging the past, lifting the new, Pamban stands tall with a breathtaking view. This Ram Navami, witness India's First Vertical Lift Railway Sea Bridge — unveiling in one day!» The coastal town has come under security cover ahead of the inauguration of the Rs 550 crore bridge. Around noon (April 6), the prime minister would inaugurate the new Pamban Rail Bridge and flag off Rameswaram-Tambaram (Chennai) new train service, and a Coast Guard Ship will be flagged off as the Vertical Lift Span rises up to make way, and witness the operation of the bridge. Modi is expected to visit the renowned Ramanathaswamy temple at Rameswaram at around 12.45 pm for darshan and pooja and later lay the foundation stone and dedicate to the nation various rail and road projects worth over Rs 8,300 crore in Tamil Nadu at around 1.30 pm, a release said. These projects include foundation stones for four-laning of 28 Km long Walajapet — Ranipet section of NH-40 and dedication to the nation of 4-laned 29 Km long Viluppuram — Puducherry section of NH-332; 57 Km long Poondiyankuppam — Sattanathapuram section of NH-32 and 48 Km long Cholapuram — Thanjavur section of NH-36.

A recent review of Kaur's security by central intelligence agencies has stipulated her to be placed under the Z category, the second-highest level of protection, according to the sources. Accordingly, the Union home ministry directed the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) VIP security wing to scale down the number of personnel and protocol, according to the Z category, for Kaur, they said. She will have the protection of about a dozen armed commandos for her personal protection as well as for her home, the sources said. The change in categorisation of security has also led to the reduction of the number of Delhi Police personnel sanctioned for the Singhs, they said.

distribution, infrastructure projects, has filed preliminary papers with markets regulator Sebi seeking its approval to raise funds through an Initial Public Offering (IPO). The Jaipur-based company's IPO is a combination of a fresh issue of shares worth Rs 200 crore and an Offer For Sale (OFS) of 19.2 lakh shares by promoters and other shareholders, according to the Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP). The company is looking to mop up Rs 40 crore in the pre-IPO round, and if such placement is completed, the fresh issue size will be reduced.

Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved four multitracking projects worth Rs 18,658 crore this week. Addressing journalists on Friday, Union Railways, Information Broadcasting, and Information Technology Minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw said these initiatives will improve travel convenience, reduce logistic cost, decrease oil imports, and contribute to lower CO2 emissions. In another decision, the cabinet approved the second Vibrant Villages Programme (VVP-II) for improving infrastructure at bordering inhabited areas. The four multitracking projects cover 15 districts across Maharashtra, Odisha, and Chhattisgarh, increasing the existing network of Indian Railways by about 1247 kilometres (kms). They are expected to be complete by 2030-31. Vaishnaw said these new projects will operate similar to freight corridors. The projects aim to enhance logistical efficiency by increasing the line capacity along the key routes for coal, iron ore, and other minerals. Responding to a query on whether these new lines will be dedicated solely for freight operations, Vaishnaw said, “Networks work best when they are integrated, whether railway, highway, or telecom.” The capacity augmentation works will result in additional freight traffic of magnitude 88.77 MTPA (Million Tonnes Per Annum).