West Bengal Scraps Religion-based Welfare Categorisation

18 May 2026National

The new West Bengal government decided to discontinue welfare programmes based on religious categorisation, scrapping the existing list of 113 backward sub-groups and forming a new panel for quota eligibility.

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Telangana Concludes Nine-Day Bathukamma with Saddula Bathukamma at Hyderabad's Tank Bund

Telangana's nine-day floral festival Bathukamma concluded with Saddula Bathukamma, its final day, on 18 October 2026. Women stack seasonal flowers - chiefly tangedu (Cassia auriculata) and gunuka (Celosia) - in concentric layers into a cone, sing traditional songs, and then immerse the arrangements in local water bodies. The main procession began at 4 p.m. from the Martyrs' Memorial and moved to Tank Bund beside Hussain Sagar, where about 700 folk artistes performed Perini, Gusadi, Oggu Dolu and Dappu. Union Minister G. Kishan Reddy had unveiled a 72-foot floral Bathukamma at Amberpet on 17 October. The festival falls in Ashwayuja, coinciding with Navaratri.

GK ByteBathukamma is a state festival of Telangana; it begins on Mahalaya Amavasya and runs nine days to Durgashtami | Perini Thandavam is a traditional Telangana dance form revived from Kakatiya-era temple traditions, and Dappu is a percussion instrument of Telangana folk performance | Hussain Sagar, the lake Tank Bund adjoins, was built in 1563 during the reign of Ibrahim Quli Qutb Shah and links Hyderabad with Secunderabad

📅 19 Oct 2026PolityRead complete →

Maharashtra Extends Drought Declaration to 305 Talukas, Covering Over 85% of the State

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced on 14 October, after a State Cabinet meeting, that 40 more talukas had been added by supplementary resolution, taking Maharashtra's drought-affected tally from the 265 declared in September 2026 to 305 of the State's 358 talukas - more than 85% of its area. Each affected farmer will get Rs 5,000 credited before Diwali, and all twelve standard drought concessions were extended, including free power for agricultural pumps up to 7.5 HP. Debt relief widens to 3.5 lakh more farmers, about 16,000 illegal water connections were disconnected, and Marathwada remains worst hit, with groundwater below three metres.

GK ByteMaharashtra has 358 talukas across 36 districts and six revenue divisions - Konkan, Pune, Nashik, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (Marathwada), Amravati and Nagpur | Drought declaration in India follows the Manual for Drought Management of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, which grades drought as moderate or severe | Marathwada comprises eight districts and is among India's most drought-prone regions

📅 14 Oct 2026PolityRead complete →

Centre Approves Rs 65 Crore DRISHTI Project for Property Rights in Delhi's Unauthorised Colonies

The Centre approved DRISHTI, a Rs 65 crore GIS-based property survey and documentation project to speed up conferment of property rights on residents of Delhi's unauthorised colonies under PM-UDAY. DRISHTI expands to Delhi Revenue and Imaging Survey, Spatial Technology Initiative. Funding splits Rs 52 crore (80%) from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs' Urban Development Fund and Rs 13 crore (20%) from the Delhi government's Revenue Department. It covers PM-UDAY cells across all 13 Delhi districts plus a unit at Revenue Department headquarters, with the central share released in four instalments, or in a single tranche if procurement runs through GeM.

GK BytePM-UDAY - Pradhan Mantri Unauthorised Colonies in Delhi Awas Adhikar Yojana - was launched in 2019 to confer ownership or mortgage rights on residents of Delhi's unauthorised colonies | The Delhi Development Authority is the nodal agency for PM-UDAY under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs | GeM, the Government e-Marketplace, was launched in 2016 for public procurement

📅 12 Oct 2026PolityRead complete →

Ambaji Temple's Mohanthal Prasad Receives a Geographical Indication Tag

The Mohanthal prasad offered at the Ambaji temple in Banaskantha district, Gujarat was granted a Geographical Indication (GI) tag on 8 October 2026, on an application filed on 1 October 2026 by the Shree Arasuri Ambaji Mata Devsthan Trust. The certificate was handed over at Chachar Chowk in Ambaji on 11 October 2026, the first day of Sharadiya Navratri, by Dr Unnat P. Pandit, Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks and Registrar of Geographical Indications. Registration under the GI of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999 lasts 10 years and is renewable, following Jharkhand's Mandar drum tag in late September.

GK ByteIndia's Geographical Indications Registry is located in Chennai and the GI Act came into force on 15 September 2003 | Darjeeling tea was India's first GI-tagged product | The Ambaji temple is counted among the Shakti Peethas and has no idol - the Vishwa Yantra is worshipped there

📅 11 Oct 2026PolityRead complete →

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