Monday, Oct 26, 2026

• Odisha: rights groups and Opposition leaders condemned the 16 October arrests of a doctor and a Dalit activist in Kalahandi district over an April clash about a road project linked to Vedanta's proposed Sijimali bauxite mine. Critics say neither was named in the first information reports. Scroll
• Arunachal Pradesh: protesters opposing a proposed 12,500-megawatt dam on the Siang river set fire to a National Hydroelectric Power Corporation office and a police station in Pasighat after tear gas was fired at a demonstration demanding release of 10 arrested activists. Prohibitory orders were imposed. Scroll
• Economic and Political Weekly (EPW), issue dated 24 October: a comparison of the Unified Pension Scheme with the National Pension System across six cases and 648 scenarios finds most favour the Unified Pension Scheme. EPW
• EPW, same issue: a survey of 200 women borrowers in Puducherry argues household debt benefits lenders; a survey of 157 firms finds caste-based hiring homophily in Dalit-owned enterprises. EPW on debt, EPW on caste
• EPW, same issue: an editorial on the Census, "Census: Democratic Tool, Not Political Abacus", and a commentary on drought policy, "Anticipating Dushkal". EPW editorial, EPW commentary

• Bihar: the Janata Dal (United) expelled Mokama MLA Anant Singh and his wife Neelam Devi for six years for "anti-party activities", including backing an Opposition candidate in the recent Legislative Council polls. It asked the assembly speaker to begin disqualification proceedings; Singh said he has no regrets and plans his own party. Scroll
• Uttar Pradesh: the Allahabad High Court ordered the state government and state election commission on 14 October to hold panchayat polls within three months. The state has not said whether it will comply, and outgoing village heads have served as temporary administrators since their terms ended in May. The Wire
• Ladakh: the Kargil Democratic Alliance rejected the Union government's 15 October draft governance framework, saying it gives the lieutenant governor and bureaucracy dominant authority. It warned of protests and shutdowns if the home ministry does not implement what it says was agreed on 22 May. Scroll
• Maharashtra asked the Bombay High Court to act against the Union health ministry and the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, alleging a parallel enforcement system that encroaches on state powers. Scroll
• Odisha asked the Supreme Court to act against Andhra Pradesh's 10 October notification of zilla parishad and panchayat samiti elections in three disputed Kotia villages, saying it violates the court's status quo order. Scroll
• Judicial appointments: Scroll reports that a former Supreme Court judge's unpublished memoir says a former Chief Justice of India was too deferential to the government, once seeking its view before the Collegium formally considered a candidate. Scroll
• Infrastructure: citing an Economic Times report, The Wire says delayed infrastructure projects have cost the government about Rs 3 lakh crore, with land acquisition the largest pre-construction bottleneck. The government plans to propose single-window clearances at a conference of chief secretaries (23 October). The Wire

• The Election Commission declined to name the software it reportedly used to detect errors in electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision, citing the Right to Information Act exemption for trade secrets. Its 16 October reply also said it had neither developed nor procured new software for the revision. Scroll
• Uttar Pradesh: after officials confirmed irregularities in 10,470 entries on Pilibhit's voter rolls, the Samajwadi Party gave the chief electoral officer a list of 100 constituencies where it claims duplicate voters appear. An analysis found 43 of the flagged seats were ones the party lost or won narrowly in 2022. The Wire
• Uttar Pradesh: the chief electoral officer took action against nine electoral officials after a probe prompted by a Samajwadi Party complaint found one voter's name recorded 13 times in Azamgarh's roll. The district election officer must audit Azamgarh's rolls within a week (24 October). The Wire
• Uttarakhand (Kichha): a Newslaundry investigation found a BJP-linked booth-level agent filed thousands of bulk Form 7 objections, mostly against Muslim voters, before names were removed from the final roll. The electoral registration officer reportedly accepted 5,359 objections; neither the officer nor the Commission confirmed this. Newslaundry
• Part two of the Kichha investigation: residents, many from Muslim families, lost their places on the final roll after the agent objected, though they said they answered every notice. Some were told to re-register as first-time voters. Newslaundry
• Delhi: several protesters were detained as an anti-SIR march headed to the Election Commission's headquarters, with Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita imposed (23 October, three days old). Highland Post

• Former transport minister Ismail Marak joined the BJP on Saturday 24 October in the presence of party leaders including MP Kanad Purkayastha. Meghalaya Monitor
• The Assembly Speaker accepted the merger of three United Democratic Party MLAs with the National People's Party, with the order saying the three are at least two-thirds of the UDP legislature party (23 October). Meghalaya Monitor
• Shillong Peak ropeway: the Joint Action Committee opposing the project walked out of a stakeholders' meeting after a sharp argument over whether residents were told about a public consultation. It asked for a new meeting at another venue and date; officials said an independent agency ran the consultation (23 October). EastMojo
• A Blind Lead Trust investigation using 115 Right to Information requests found 95 Meghalaya public offices reported no employees with disabilities. Groups demand backlog audits and threaten street protests and a hunger strike. The headline says 83%; the body gives 95 of 115. Highland Post
• The Meghalaya Pradesh Youth Congress asked the North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences to set an 80:20 female-to-male split in nursing recruitment, claiming about 90% of the latest recruits were men (23 October). EastMojo
• Standing searches (Government Innovation Lab, State Capability Enhancement Project, programme and NGO terms): nothing new within the window.

Seven-day window. Ages given for items more than two days old.

• Centre for Global Development (CGD), 23 October (3 days old): donors spent under 1 percent of annual disbursements on rigorous evidence generation in 2010-2025, and with the US Agency for International Development no longer operating and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office facing deep cuts, the authors argue other donors must step up. CGD
• CGD, 22 October (4 days old): an analysis of 46 World Bank Program-for-Results health projects finds fewer than 2 percent of disbursement-linked indicators are tied to health outcomes, and advises the US State Department to use a short set of verifiable indicators in its bilateral health agreements. CGD
• CGD blog posts, title only: "What the Data Show about the G20's Progress on Care" (23 October, link); "Expanding the US Development Finance Wingspan" (21 October, 5 days old, link).
• Ford Foundation, 22 October (4 days old): introduced a new strategic plan focused on democracy, fundamental freedoms and inclusive economies, and explained how grantmaking teams are being reorganized during a transition year. Ford Foundation
• BRAC International, 20 October (6 days old): a Voices piece on Graduation programmes across Asia being government-led but not government-run alone (listing summary only). BRAC International
• Aid policy: Devex Newswire, 22 October (4 days old), presents two US foreign assistance experts who disagree about how the US Agency for International Development was dismantled and what followed. Devex
• Aid policy: an Irish minister of state said the Netherlands, Sweden and Finland, among others, cut development aid for short-term political gain (19 October, 7 days old). The Irish Times

• Typhoon Champi struck Taiwan on Friday, killing one person and injuring more than 500. It drove over 5,000 people from their homes, and crews were restoring power to about 56,000 households (23 October). Al Jazeera
• UN officials warn this El Niño could be among the strongest since 1950 and may drive up hunger; the UN relief chief released $50 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund (The New Humanitarian, 23 October). The New Humanitarian
• Sri Lanka's Disaster Management Centre readied rescue teams as a Bay of Bengal depression is expected to strengthen into a cyclone (25 October). Daily Mirror