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helmets with every vehicle purchase from 1 January 2026. However, industry representatives cautioned that meeting the timeline would be difficult due to limited supplier capacity.Manufacturers pitched for a phased rollout instead of a hard deadline.

Dear reader, as 2025, a year of global tumult and volatility, rolls by, Mint's reporters and columnists look around the corner on what is coming in 2026—to help you know what to expect and prepare for it. Tell us what you think at [email protected] struggled to protect farmers as the country’s agrarian distress worsened in 2025.Severe monsoon rains caused devastating floods in Punjab, inundating almost 200,000 hectares of farmland, besides damaging crops in Haryana and Maharashtra, notably the Marathwada region.

processing, packaging, food-safety systems, branding and value-addition across all categories.Organized processors and brands are increasingly investing in modern facilities that meet food safety, traceability and quality standards, in line with the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) regulations.“Nowadays consumers are far more conscious about quality, hygiene, origin and nutritional information. This is pushing the demand and companies to adopt better processing practices and introduce new products,” said Yash Gawdi, founder & CEO, Candor Foods Pvt Ltd.According to doctors, the rising consumption of dry fruits and nuts reflects a broader shift.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp and a former employee representing the US government are jointly approaching a US Court seeking review of a lower court order that mandates investigations into claims of non-payment of visa fees and related taxes to the US government.The move, depending on the outcome, could prevent a lengthy legal process and pave the way for a settlement.On 15 December, Cognizant and Jean-Claude Franchitti, formerly an assistant vice-president with the company acting as a whistleblower for the government, filed a joint motion to the United States Court of Appeals to do away with a New Jersey district court’s order from two years ago that permitted a court trial on claims of Cognizant’s alleged withholding of H-1B visa fees and taxes to the US. The motion has been reviewed by Mint.The genesis of the case goes back to 2023 when Franchitti, representing the US government, said Cognizant had knowingly concealed, misused, and brought employees to the US on other visas, thereby paying lower dues to the government.Franchitti said Cognizant applied for L-1 and B-1 visas for certain employees who did the work coming under the ambit of H-1B visa holders, thereby depriving the (US) government of higher filing fees required for H-1B visas.

On Thursday the Union government passed the Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Bill 2025 in the Lok Sabha, proposing a sweeping overhaul of India’s two-decade-old rural job guarantee programme. It has now been sent to the Rajya Sabha for discussion.The new bill seeks to replace the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), 2005 and the scheme named after it, MGNREGS, which has 260 million registered workers and covers 26,9000 gram panchayats across India.According to the government, the bill seeks to transform the nature of the scheme by bringing states in as partners, and resolve a longstanding problem in the rural job market—of MGNREGA jobs competing with regular ones when their wages are close to or higher than what local farmers or small contractors pay.Critics, however, say the bill significantly increases the financial and administrative burden on local governments as it passes on some of the wage costs – currently borne entirely by the Centre – to states.Mint takes a closer look at proposed changes, their implications, and the critisisms against them.In a statement on the new bill, the government said rural India has undergone a transformation over the past two decades.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The father and son accused in Australia’s deadliest mass shooting in nearly 30 years had six licensed firearms at the scene, police said Monday, as emerging details about the attack spurred calls to strengthen the country’s gun laws. The assault by two gunmen on a Hanukkah celebration Sunday at Sydney’s Bondi Beach killed 15 people and stunned a country with strict firearms regulations and little gun violence.

Last fortnight, I was in Bengaluru, where, along with hundreds of other passengers, we saw IndiGo shuffle flight schedules like a pack of cards. Travellers across the country faced delays of up to 12 hours. The airline, controlling above 60% of India’s aviation market, had collapsed.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Shares of InterGlobe Aviation Ltd, promoter of IndiGo airlines, have dropped about 15% since 1 December, as flight cancellations jumped from roughly 200 at the start of the crisis to over 1,000 by 5 December. IndiGo cited a multitude of “unforeseen operational challenges", primarily crew shortages triggered by the new flight duty time limitation (FDTL) rules that took effect for all airlines in November.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Delhi and Mumbai are deep into a polluted winter, and pets are breathing the same toxic air we are. Poor air quality harms pets slowly rather than dramatically, which means the safest approach is to plan the day around the air instead of sticking to routine out of habit.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), the national auditor, is preparing to overhaul the way it audits government departments by moving from post-facto examination of accounts to real-time audits of public spending, project execution and service delivery. The shift marks one of the most significant changes to India’s audit architecture in decades, and comes at a time when governments are executing larger, technology-driven programmes that require closer and more continuous oversight.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The first day of the new futures and options (F&O) pre-opening session on Monday drew mixed reactions, with many stakeholders welcoming the move while brokers raising concerns about a sudden, unexpected rule change. Just before the F&O pre-open session was to begin, the National Stock Exchange (NSE) issued a circular informing brokers that client margins would be blocked before trades are executed during the 9:00–9:08 am window.

Large corporations are not governed for profitable quarters alone, but for business continuity. And when a company that carries a majority share of national air traffic suffers a system-wide breakdown, questions must be asked beyond operational factors. In particular, of board accountability.True, boards do not run a business’s daily operations.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Despite being among the great scientific breakthroughs of all time, vaccines are under fire as top government officials cast doubts on their safety. But as doctors and vaccine deniers spar over the safety of vaccines, emerging evidence finds that some vaccines aren’t only good at preventing the disease or virus they target but also might have broader or even unrelated health benefits.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. NEW DELHI: India’s drug regulator, the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI), plans to tighten rules on the sale and distribution of emergency contraceptive pills, including levonorgestrel formulations, sold under brand names such as Unwanted-72 and i-pill, and ulipristal pills sold as ella. The move, aimed at preventing habitual overuse and ensuring women have access to critical safety information, will require these pills to carry QR codes on their packaging, according to two officials and a document reviewed by Mint.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. At the behest of a handful of Silicon Valley executives, officials within the Trump administration and their allies in Congress are trying yet again to prohibit states from regulating AI companies. Even as House members heard about the horrific impact of AI chatbots on children, its GOP leadership tried to insert federal pre-emption of state AI laws into the unrelated National Defense Authorization Act.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) have long looked to India’s mutual funds for wealth creation — but taxation on capital gains remained a grey area. Recent rulings by the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) have now brought meaningful clarity: NRIs in countries with favourable Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements (DTAAs) may be taxed only in their country of residence, not in India.

«She (Natarajan) said the government should also listen to their (students and others) objections. And wait for the Supreme Court's ruling on the land issue too. We will hold consultations with all stakeholders and we should give patient hearing,» a senior Congress leader told PTI. Natarajan is expected to meet some civil society groups also on the issue. The Congress leader said the Kancha Gachibowli land belongs to the state government and the present dispensation fought in the courts and retained it. UoH sources told PTI that some student groups and some employees of the varsity are likely to meet Natarajan on Sunday.

In a message addressed to Donald Trump, he states that only immediate action can prevent a global catastrophe.

reciprocal tariffs imposed by the US and has a first mover advantage as compared to other countries because of the Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) that the two are negotiating, officials said, adding that Indian exporters are better positioned to deal with the additional US tariffs as compared to their competitors. The country, they said, will take all measures to check dumping of goods from China as Beijing is slapped with steeper tariffs and work within the World Trade Organization (WTO) framework to prevent the dumping of excess capacity into its markets by countries hit by high US tariffs. “The government is there to protect domestic industry from any possibility of dumping of goods in such a situation,” said an official. New Delhi is also exploring measures to protect sensitive sectors like dairy and agriculture amid the trade war. While the reciprocal tariffs on India are 26%, those on China are 34%. India is also likely to gain from the US-China trade war.

BJP workers on Saturday stormed into the district jail here allegedly over placement of mobile jammers following which nearly 100 of them were detained, officials said. During the confrontation a woman corporator was pushed against the wall, leaving her injured, they said. According to the police, the group approached the jail premises under the pretext of deactivating the mobile signal jammer set up inside the prison.

Among those ousted were its director, Dr. John Howard, who had been in the job through three previous presidential administrations, AP reported. The layoffs are stalling — and perhaps ending — many programmes, including a firefighter cancer registry and a lab that is key to certifying respirators for many industries, as per the report. The cuts are «a very pointed attack on workers in this country», said Micah Niemeier-Walsh, vice president of the union local representing NIOSH employees in Cincinnati. Unions that represent miners, nurses, flight attendants and other professions have criticized the cuts, saying it will slow the identification and prevention of workplace dangers. Rallies in Cincinnati and other cities drew not only fired CDC employees but also members of unions representing teachers, postal workers and bricklayers, Niemeier-Walsh said.