Legendary Indian actor and Padma Shri recipient Nana Patekar passed away on Thursday morning at the age of 75 following a severe cardiac arrest at his residence in Dona Paula, Goa. Celebrated for iconic performances in ‘Parinda’, ‘Krantiveer’, ‘Natsamrat’, and ‘Welcome’, as well as his philanthropic work for drought-hit farmers through the Naam Foundation, Patekar will be accorded a full state funeral in Pune as tributes pour in from across the nation.

Breaking from its conventional non-aligned stance, Naveen Patnaik’s Biju Janata Dal joined INDIA bloc MPs in a protest march in New Delhi on Tuesday demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Led by Rajya Sabha leader Manas Mangaraj, the BJD flagged the disenfranchisement of 20 lakh voters in Odisha and over 13 crore nationwide under the Special Intensive Revision, citing unauthorized voter deletions in Dhamnagar and apex court observations on Form 6 modifications.

Ending an extended period of policy accommodation, the Reserve Bank of India has raised the benchmark repo rate by 25 basis points to 5.50% and shifted its policy stance to ‘calibrated tightening’. Announcing the unanimous MPC outcome, RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra cited stubborn inflation prints and geopolitical oil risks, upwardly revising the FY27 inflation projection to 5.2% while raising the annual GDP growth outlook to a robust 7.1%.

In a major boost for the ease of doing business, the GST Council has approved landmark compliance reforms that eliminate direct arrest powers for tax officials and raise the threshold for criminal prosecution to ₹5 crore. Chaired by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the 57th Council meeting also slashed general penalty ceilings to ₹10,000, set up a committee to resolve genuine input tax credit disputes, and established an annual-only rate review cycle beginning April 1, 2027.

The Ministry of External Affairs has strongly condemned a projectile attack on the Panama-flagged commercial vessel MT On Peace near the Strait of Hormuz, which left 11 Indian seafarers injured. Following a rapid emergency evacuation by Omani authorities to medical facilities in Khasab, New Delhi warned that persistent assaults on commercial shipping pose a severe threat to international sea lines of communication and called for an immediate end to maritime hostilities.

Former Supreme Court judge Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman has warned that Indian democracy is in “great peril” due to the malfunctioning of the Election Commission and large-scale illegal voter deletions under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR). Speaking in Rajkot, Justice Nariman highlighted that 93% of decided appeals in West Bengal overturned voter deletions, urging the apex court to intervene immediately and reform the executive-led appointment process for election commissioners.