Mint Kolkata
Why smartphone firms want to guard their source codes
As India moves to tighten mobile phone security, reports that it may seek forcible access to smartphone makers’ source code for official scrutiny have stirred unease, even as the government has denied proposing any such mandate. Mint decodifies the...
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Google blasts past $4 tn: How is it beating rivals?
On Monday, Alphabet became the fourth company to reach a $4 tn market cap after a deal with Apple to power Siri. Last week, Google’s parent also overtook Apple as the world’s second-largest firm. Its surge comes despite warnings of an AI crash. Mint...
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Why are connectivity agreements stuck?
Telcos say they have been quoted “exorbitantly” charges and argue that as licensed spectrum holders they are legally entitled to offer services under right of way rules of the Telecom Act. They have objected to airport and metro authorities appointing...
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ARCHIVING FASHION
Filled with chikankari swatches and archival anarkalis, Tarun Tahiliani’s meticulously catalogued archive is a fashion bank powering the past, present and future of his brand, while recording process, change and continuity.
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Why Indian firms often challenge drug patents
Natco’s revocation patent suit against Novo Nordisk intensifies the battle between domestic generic giants and global innovators over affordability. As we look ahead at another year of high-stakes battles, Mint unpacks the legal landscape and who wins...
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Can gig workers form traditional unions in India?
Gig workers’ unions organised a strike on New Years’ Eve demanding better working conditions. Zomato’s founder Deepinder Goyal said that the strike failed because gig work was valuable. But how do Indian labour laws treat gig workers and their unions?...
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2 What has X been directed to do?
Meity has given 72 hours to X to remove all Grok AI-generated sexually explicit content. The platform has also been asked to submit an ATR outlining the steps taken to prevent recurrence. The ministry said provisions under the IT Act 2000, and IT Rules...
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ART BEYOND SOUTH MUMBAI
Mumbai Gallery Weekend 2026, which opens on 8 January, is stepping out of South Mumbai and discovering new locations, giving audiences across the city a chance to be part of the conversation on contemporary art.
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What lies ahead for the real estate sector in 2026
Healthy growth in key real estate asset classes—housing, office and logistics—is expected to continue in 2026, with non-residential segments likely to outperform. While the residential sector slowed in 2025, office and logistics offer greater scope for...
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Risks loom, but India has buffers, says RBI
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is aware of nearterm risks to the Indian economy from external spillovers and will continue building strong guardrails to act as a buffer against global shocks, governor Sanjay Malhotra said. “The Indian economy and the...
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Budget may pitch ₹25,000 cr infra risk guarantee fund
The Centre is working on a ₹25,000-crore safety net for infrastructure projects to ease financing bottlenecks and revive stalled projects, two people familiar with the plans said. The fund, proposed on the lines of credit guarantee schemes for small...
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Why are countries offering visas to digital nomads?
Last week, Bulgaria joined a growing list of nations offering digital nomad residence permits, underscoring how remote work is being integrated into immigration policy. The pandemic-era experiment has gone mainstream. Mint breaks down how it works: 1...
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MOMENTS IN CINEMA 2025
A tumultuous year for Indian cinema saw the return of Bollywood romance, a fresh, feminist take on the superhero film, and several uncompromising visions, both indie and blockbuster, that revealed the state of the nation. These are our favourite...
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What airline NOCs signal for Indian aviation
Civil aviation minister Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu tweeted that three proposed airlines—Shankh Air, Al Hind Air and FlyExpress— have received no-objection certificates (NOCs). Mint explains what the government’s NOC actually signifies. 1 Is this the...
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RBI model for US Fed
Will America’s monetary policy become more like India’s as AI begins to crunch jobs? The US Fed, mandated to maximize employment and keep prices stable, has cut its policy rate by three-quarters of a percentage point since mid-September in response to...
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Decoding asset tokenization and why it matters
Asset tokenization has come under policy spotlight after lawmaker Raghav Chadha last week called for a dedicated law to govern it. As global markets experiment with putting assets such as stocks, gold and real estate on blockchains, Mint explains how...
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Kotak not listing subsidiaries as rivals go ahead
Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd sees little value in listing its subsidiaries and selling a stake to “foreigners” at present and would rather focus on building an enduring institution, said chief executive officer Ashok Vaswani, even as peers have taken their...
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THE SPORTING HIGHS OF 2025
The year in sports has been full of ups and downs. Football and hockey have been underwhelming, but it’s been excitement all the way in archery, badminton, tennis and of course, women’s cricket.
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India’s landmark Oman trade deal deepens Gulf push
India on Thursday signed a comprehensive economic partnership agreement (Cepa) with Oman that seeks to strengthen the country’s economic and strategic engagement with the Gulf and deepen its footprint in the region. The pact—India’s second deep trade...
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How India aims to rewrite rules for higher education
The Centre is preparing a sweeping reset of India’s higher education regulatory structure through the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, 2025, which aims to replace the current regulator-centric model. As a parliamentary panel vets the bill, Mint...
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Will water, power trip data centre growth in India?
In 2025, up to $70 billion has been pledged to develop 6 gigawatts (GW) of data centre capacity in India. While this could power India’s AI ambitions, experts warn that limited freshwater supplies and the need for uninterrupted energy may hurt the...
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GST cuts, festive rush fail to trigger small car rally
[email protected] NEW DELHI Hopes that a landmark cut in federal taxes would provide a lifeline to struggling small cars like Maruti Alto, Spresso and Renault Kwid have been dashed, with latest sales data showing buyers continuing to favour...
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ON A LUCKNOW FOOD TRAIL
Think food and Lucknow, and most will say biryani and kebabs, but there’s more to savour in this historic city. From puri-aloo to everyday veggies, chaats, kachoris, and malai paan,there’s a range of foods to taste.
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Dirty air trick: How farmers outsmart vigil
Farmers in Punjab and Haryana are burning paddy stubble late in the day after monitoring satellites pass over, says a study by the International Forum for Environment, Sustainability and Technology (iForest), released on 8 December. Mint brings the...
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Govt asks IndiGo to slash flights by 10%
The Department of Science and Technology (DST) has cleared two fund managers and is close to shortlisting two more for the Centre’s ₹1 trillion research, development and innovation (RDI) incentivization scheme, three senior officials in the know said.
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Capex to get more IPO cash, but firms keep powder dry
Behind the blockbuster exits by early investors and promoters this year, a quiet trend is emerging in initial public offerings: Nearly 20% of the money raised from fresh issuances in 2025 was earmarked for new projects, plant, and machinery, up...
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AT HOME WITH MONSTERS
From his earliest films to the new version of ‘Frankenstein’, Mexican director Guillermo del Toro’s work has featured memorable screen monsters. They are often far more humanised than del Toro’s human villains
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IndiGo cancellations spark airport chaos
NEW DELHI/MUMBAI Unruly, chaotic scenes unravelled at airports nationwide on Thursday, following IndiGo’s cancellation of close to 200 flights and delays in several others. The country’s largest carrier struggled to manage irate travellers across...
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Sanchar Saathi: The flip-flop over a tracking app
India’s communications ministry on Wednesday rolled back its move to make Sanchar Saathi, a lost phone tracking app, mandatory for all mobile devices. The move came after pushback over concerns of surveillance even as the government said it will curb...
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PSU banks flag deposit rate woes on policy eve
[email protected] MUMBAI State-owned lenders have alerted the banking regulator that their inability to cut deposit rates as fast as loan rates is taking a toll on interest margins, three people familiar with the development said. Since...
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Govt’s smartphone app push may trigger pushback
[email protected] NEW DELHI Apush by the Centre to curb phone-based scams by mandating a government app on every smartphone in circulation is likely to be opposed by the world’s largest handset makers—including Apple, Google, Samsung—and even...
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Is Big Tech’s AGI fixation inflating the AI bubble?
Big Tech is pouring billions into artificial intelligence (AI) in the belief that some form of artificial general intelligence (AGI) or artificial superintelligence (ASI) could emerge by the end of the decade. But critics warn this may be further...
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THE DHARAMS WE LOVE
There are so many Dharmendras to love and value, both on and off screen. He had an immense aura but wore it casually, donned many roles and inhabited them all with authenticity. Our tribute to the versatile actor.
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Why computers are selling like hot cakes again
Sales of laptops, desktops and tablets had a bad time in India after a pandemic boom. But, since 2024 they are doing brisk business again. Personal computer shipments reached a record high of 4.9 million units in Q2, IDC said. What caused the...
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What was the Sandesara fraud?
The Sandesara brothers built the Sterling Group into a ₹40,000crore business. They went to Nigeria, where their companies, Seepco and Sterling Global Oil Resources, grew into the country’s largest independent crude producers. Indian investigative...
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Diwali is past but shopping season is roaring ahead
[email protected] MUMBAI India’s consumption engine appears to be humming well past the Diwali rush, with digital payments showing none of the usual post-festival fatigue. Daily spends through Unified Payments Interface (UPI), cards and wallets in...
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How new labour codes impact your gratuity, PF
The new labour codes have overhauled how wages, gratuity, provident fund (PF), pension and other social security benefits are calculated. These changes impact employees and employers alike. Mint explains who benefits and what happens to take-home...
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Sebi panel pitches disclosure overhaul to fend conflicts
[email protected] MUMBAI The stock market regulator is considering its most comprehensive internal reforms in years, with a top committee proposing sweeping changes to conflictof-interest and disclosure norms across the organization. The...
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Next budget may keep govt capex plan steady
The Centre is likely to maintain its infrastructure spending at the same level in 2026-27 as in the current fiscal year, as it anticipates a pickup in private capital expenditure, two people familiar with the matter told Mint. The 2026-27 capex target...
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IndiGo lease costs to fall as P&W vows engines by June
Engine maker Pratt & Whitney has assured IndiGo that it intends to replace faulty engines of 40-odd grounded planes of the country’s largest airline by endJune 2026, said two persons with knowledge of the development. This move potentially will boost...
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As rivals rise, Hyundai India eyes homegrown play
Korea's Hyundai Motor that made an aggressive India bet late last century is looking to reinvent itself as a homegrown carmaker, at a time when its coveted market position is under challenge from fierce local rivals. Hyundai Motor India Ltd won early...
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READY TO RALLY
On the back of its sterling display in the Asia-Oceania Group I in Pune in April, beating higher ranked teams like Thailand and South Korea, India’s women’s tennis team eyes history as it hosts the Billie Jean King Cup playoffs
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Tata Electronics beats Titan’s revenue; Tata Sons bets big
NEW DELHI/BENGALURU Tata Sons Ltd has ploughed over a billion dollars into its iPhone assembly business since inception, helping it cross watch-and-jewellery brand Titan Ltd in revenue in just four years. The Tata Group holding company last month...
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Wall Street must work with a mayor it couldn’t stop
Wall Street heavyweights failed to stop New York City voters from electing a democratic socialist mayor. Now what? There was an air of defeat on Tuesday evening in New York’s upper echelons as it became clear that Zohran Mamdani had won the mayor’s...
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Has Kerala really cut out extreme poverty fully?
The Kerala government’s claim that it has eradicated extreme poverty has been met with scepticism among economists and other experts. They have questioned the empirical basis of this declaration and the process that was followed to achieve it. Mint...
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What’s sobering the spirit of the alcohol business?
How did rains affect alcohol sales? Heavy monsoon rains hurt beer sales in the September quarter. United Breweries, the maker of Kingfisher beer, reported a 3% year-on-year fall. Three of its breweries were flooded due to intense rains, forcing it to...
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Small options traders thin out as reforms take effect
The crackdown on India's options frenzy is showing results, with the participation of small investors who have borne the brunt of derivatives losses falling by half. Data from the country's largest stock exchange NSE shows that the number of investors...
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THE YEAR OF BENICIO
Benicio Del Toro has been a stellar, unpredictable actor for decades. He’s in the spotlight this year for his turns in Paul Thomas Anderson’s ‘One Battle After Another’ and Wes Anderson’s ‘The Phoenician Scheme’.
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Indian refiners set for surge in exports
[email protected] NEW DELHI Crippled refineries in Russia and the advancing winter in Europe are expected to pump up demand for Indian petroproducts till the end of March. The Indian refineries may be in prime position to tap the demand,...
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Air India matches IndiGo’s growth momentum
NEW DELHI/MUMBAI Alittle more than two years since it placed the first of two megaorders of passenger jets on Airbus SE and Boeing Co., India’s second largest carrier Air India has started taking deliveries at the rate of one aircraft a week—catching...
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Union Bank, BoI merger to create a new No. 2 lender
[email protected] NEW DELHI The government is drawing up a fresh blueprint to merge select public sector banks, said three people aware of the matter, as it aims to scale up such lenders and streamline overlapping operations under banking...
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How long will it take to end China’s grip?
4 Despite President Trump’s optimism, experts are of the view that breaking China’s grip in the rare earth mineral supply chain will take time. Australia, which is looking to invest heavily and become a long term supplier of these minerals to the free...
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Will India’s attempt to regulate AI really curb creators?
Creators say India’s attempt to curb AI-manipulated content does not offer enough nuance. The draft asks any platform creating and distributing AI content to mandatorily use watermarks and invisible tags or ‘metadata’ to identify such content. What...
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COMEDY’S GREAT TYRANT
Asrani, who made cinematic tyranny hilarious as the jailor, defined a comic era. His relatable everyman characters in a variety of films, helmed by a galaxy of directors, set the standard for Bollywood comedy.
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Srinivasan’s Tata Trusts continuity a mere formalityuP1
BENGALURU/MUMBAI Four of the seven trustees of Tata Trusts have termed the appointment of TVS Motor Co. chair emeritus Venu Srinivasan as a lifelong trustee a “procedural formality”, referring to a unanimous decision granting themselves permanent...
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5 How does this tiff impact India?
India is in the midst of its own trade negotiations with the US and the recent spat has opened up some opportunities to close the deal. Take soybean and maize, for instance. The US is eyeing alternate markets for its soy and maize and India is open to...
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How AWS-style cloud crashes can hamper AI march
The global outage of Amazon Web Services (AWS) that knocked thousands of websites and apps is a warning for firms rapidly scaling for the artificial intelligence (AI) era, and have moved huge workloads to the cloud. Mint explains why they can’t afford...
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Do green crackers really cause less air pollution?
Diwali firecrackers spark a debate every year due to rising air pollution, especially in the Delhi-National Capital Region. The Supreme Court has this year conditionally allowed ‘green crackers’. But are these a genuine solution or mere ‘greenwashing’?...
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SLASHER FILMS, ITALIAN STYLE
Giallo, a strain of slasher films that emerged in 1960s Italy, have a cult following, loved for their hyper-stylised visuals and almost fetishised violence. If you’re just getting into giallo, we suggest films to keep you hooked
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Divided carmakers miss CAFE deadline
India’s top carmakers have missed the deadline to submit feedback on a fresh set of emission norms proposed by the government. Industry comments were sought by 16 October (Thursday), but automobile lobby Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers...
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Why does AI need dedicated data centres?
AI is by far the biggest data user, primarily because it consumes and processes vast amounts of information to produce results. Companies require massive, at-scale data centre infrastructure to train AI models, the largest of which are based on...
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Lens on monitoring GST, tweaks to wait
Central and state governments will retain the current framework of the indirect tax system and maintain the existing goods and services (GST) tax rates as they assess the impact of recent reforms on revenue collection growth before introducing further...
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Why tariffs have not crippled the global economy
In April, after US President Donald Trump unveiled the ‘liberation day’ tariffs, global trade was expected to collapse, pushing the world economy into a recession. Six months on, these fears have proved to be unfounded. Mint explains why Trump’s...
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Dissent aside, Tata Trusts keen to keep Tata Sons private
BENGALURU/MUMBAI Tata Trusts remains committed to its decision to keep Tata Sons private, two trustees told Mint, hours after the Shapoorji Pallonji Group issued a public statement seeking a public share sale of the Tata Group holding company. An...
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MAPPING THE PAST, AND HISTORY
Deepti Anand and Sanghamitra Chatterjee’s large-format new book, India Through Iconic Maps, rekindles the magic of the days of yore by reproducing rare and priceless cartographic documents, sourced from public archives and private collections
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A year since Ratan Tata’s passing, a big gap remains
TMUMBAI/BENGALURU he divided trustees of Tata Trusts meet in Mumbai on Friday, a year and a day after former chairman Ratan Tata’s death, in the backdrop of a void that the conglomerate still struggles to fill. The discord at the Trusts spotlights...
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Does this target Big Tech in India?
Not exactly, at least for now. Three lawyers and policy consultants said that the AI regulatory framework may not apply to Big Tech companies. Big Tech “typically designs its compliance policies with the most stringent regime in the world, i.e. the...
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What’s next for H-1B visa? Suits could trip Trump
US president Donald Trump’s decision to raise the H-1B visa fee for new applicants tenfold to $100,000 has run into legal hurdles. Last month, at least nine complainants filed a lawsuit, in one of the biggest challenges to Trump’s proclamation. Mint...
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Bear retreat may light up pre-Diwali market rally
[email protected] MUMBAI The festival of lights appears to be setting the stage for the Indian stock markets to come alive. Market experts see a possible revival following a combination of fiscal and monetary stimuli, and rising hopes of a US...
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THE VERY BEST OF DICAPRIO
With his performance in ‘One Battle after Another’ getting rave reviews, Raja Sen looks at nine other classics from Leonardo DiCaprio, from ‘Revolutionary Road’ to ‘The Revenant’ and ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’.
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Govt gets cracking on competition law
India is veering towards a standalone digital competition law that would have guard rails with upfront rules of conduct for big tech, the powerful technology platforms, according to two people aware of discussions in the government. The alternative of...
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A LOCAL LENS ON DELHI’S HERITAGE
DAG’s new publication, ‘Saire-Dilli’, looks beyond Western constructs of Delhi’s history, and at lived experiences between the 19th and 20th centuries. Indians see Delhi’s historic sites as living sites which are part of the present
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How junk feeds profits, starves young bodies
The food industry has trapped children into unhealthy diets, with calorie-dense ultra-processed food dominating shops and schools, Unicef warns in its report Feeding Profit: How Food Environments are Failing Children. Mint unpacks what’s at stake for...
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IOC, L&T others eye strategic crude reserve
Multiple energy and engineering giants, including IndianOil Corp. (IOC), Trafigura, Vitol, and Larsen & Toubro Ltd (L&T), have shown interest in developing a strategic crude reserve at Chandikhol, Odisha, said two people in the know. Afcons...
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