Author: Sushmita Jana

Domestic LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas) cylinder prices have been increased by ₹29 per 14.2-kg cylinder across India, effective from June 7. The hike marks the second increase in the last three months and is expected to impact millions of households that rely on cooking gas for daily needs.

The West Bengal government has launched the Annapurna Yojana, under which more than 28.25 lakh women received ₹3,000 each through direct benefit transfer (DBT) on the first day of implementation. Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari formally inaugurated the scheme at Nabanna and announced that 28,25,769 verified beneficiaries had already been enrolled.

A delegation from Nepal’s ruling party, the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), led by party chairman Rabi Lamichhane, visited the headquarters of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in New Delhi on June 1-2, 2026.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi held bilateral talks with Myanmar President Min Aung Hlaing in New Delhi on June 1, 2026, marking the Myanmar leader’s first official visit to India since assuming the presidency. The meeting focused on border security, regional stability, connectivity projects, trade, and cooperation against cybercrime and human trafficking.

In a statement that has stirred controversy in both Nepal and India, Nepal’s Prime Minister Balendra Shah said that territorial encroachment along the India-Nepal border is “not one-sided” and that both countries have occupied land claimed by the other.

Bringing an end to months of intense high-command negotiations, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah officially resigned from office, clearing the path for state party president and Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar to ascend to the top job. The high-profile transition, formalized ahead of a scheduled June 3, 2026 swearing-in ceremony at Vidhana Soudha, marks the smooth execution of a long-speculated rotational power-sharing agreement engineered by the Congress central leadership following their 2023 electoral triumph. Stepping down after his historic second term, a defiant Siddaramaiah aggressively defended his administration’s marquee welfare “guarantee schemes,” relying on robust GST collections and stellar revenue numbers to thoroughly debunk opposition claims of state insolvency. With the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) swiftly consolidating behind Shivakumar as their unanimous choice, the veteran Vokkaliga strongman faces the immediate structural task of balancing factional cabinet aspirations while maintaining organizational discipline ahead of a highly competitive local poll cycle.

In an unprecedented escalation of academic security measures, the Central Government is planning to deploy the Indian Air Force (IAF) to transport confidential question papers for the upcoming NEET-UG 2026 re-examination scheduled on June 21. The high-stakes logistics strategy was hammered out during an emergency joint meeting chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, and Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia. Moving completely away from traditional state courier and Department of Posts networks, the multi-agency overhaul aims to eliminate all structural vulnerabilities following the cancellation of the original May 3 national medical entrance exam, which was compromised by a widespread pre-exam leak scandal. The PMO is directly auditing the deployment of military aircraft, which officials state is also designed to bypass unpredictable pre-monsoon weather bottlenecks across remote sectors. Meanwhile, opposition benches have sharply criticized the decision, questioning if calling in the military exposes a foundational collapse of trust in the National Testing Agency’s (NTA) independent institutional machinery.

A tenuous, month-long Middle East ceasefire violently dissolved in the pre-dawn hours of Thursday, May 28, 2026, as the United States and Iran traded heavy direct military strikes near the strategic Strait of Hormuz. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed responsibility for a targeted 4:50 a.m. ballistic missile assault against a major American airbase in Kuwait—the suspected launchpad for an earlier U.S. operation. This retaliation came just hours after U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) carried out what the Pentagon labeled a “purely defensive” strike, deploying aerial projectiles to completely destroy an Iranian ground control station on the outskirts of Bandar Abbas Airport that was actively preparing a fifth one-way attack drone. The military flare-up, which also saw Kuwaiti air defenses rapidly intercepting incoming regional threats, has sent global energy markets into an immediate panic, with Brent crude spiking over $2 a barrel on renewed fears of an unmanageable shipping blockade. Despite frantic diplomatic channels remaining open in Qatar, Donald Trump fiercely escalated the rhetoric from Washington, mockingly asserting that Iran’s economy is in a “free fall” and warning that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is fully prepared to “finish the job” if Tehran resists a strict nuclear and maritime capitulation.

Defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru delivered a sensational performance to defeat Gujarat Titans by 92 runs in Qualifier 1 of IPL 2026 and book their place in the final. The high-voltage clash at Dharamsala turned into a one-sided contest as RCB dominated with both bat and ball.

Fresh off a historic electoral conquest, West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari made his first triumphant visit to Nandigram on Sunday, urging his support base to replicate the staggering “Falta Model” in the upcoming assembly by-election. The political landscape of South 24 Parganas was thoroughly reshaped over the weekend as BJP advocate Debangshu Panda swept the Falta repoll by a record 1,09,021 votes, pushing the party’s legislative strength to 208. The result dealt a crushing blow to the opposition, with Trinamool Congress candidate Jahangir “Pushpa” Khan dramatically opting out 48 hours prior to the vote, causing the TMC to finish a distant fourth and lose its electoral deposit in a former stronghold for the first time since 2011. While Mamata Banerjee took to Facebook to allege counting manipulation and Central Force intimidation, Adhikari dismissed the complaints as a “mafia company exposed,” reassuring Nandigram residents that his connection to his political home remains unshakeable despite vacating the seat to retain Bhabanipur.