Sabeer Bhatia co-founded Hotmail and sold it to Microsoft in 1998 for approximately $400 million (around Rs 3300 crores at that time). The deal made him a Silicon Valley pioneer and was a landmark in the dotcom era, marking one of the earliest major acquisitions of an internet startup. Bhatia has mentioned that the sale happened when Hotmail had amassed around 10 million users but still had no revenue. The Microsoft acquisition valued the user base and its potential over immediate profits.
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The Telangana political scene witnessed a dramatic family feud in 2025 when K. Chandrashekar Rao, BRS supremo and former Chief Minister, suspended his daughter K. Kavitha from the party over alleged anti-party activities. Kavitha retaliated with severe corruption allegations against prominent BRS leaders, including her own cousins T. Harish Rao and J. Santosh Kumar, accusing them of undermining her father’s leadership and manipulating party affairs. This internal strife unfolded amid power struggles for succession within the Kalvakuntla family, echoing earlier Telugu family political rivalries, and has significantly weakened the BRS’s political cohesion and public image.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced long-term structural reforms of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime aimed at simplifying taxes, reducing consumer prices, boosting consumption, and increasing GDP growth. The GST Council, chaired by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, implemented these reforms starting from September 22, 2025, transitioning from GST 1.0 with multiple tax slabs to GST 2.0 with primarily two main slabs of 5% and 18%, plus a special 40% slab on luxury and sin goods. This overhaul aims to improve tax collection efficiency, remove complexities, and balance revenue with consumer relief, while addressing challenges posed by international trade tariffs and domestic economic demands.
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Actor Deepika Padukone made history as the first Indian appointed to the prestigious 2025 LVMH Prize jury. The announcement by LVMH highlighted her “captivating performances” and “influential global presence.” She joined an elite panel of fashion industry leaders including Nicolas Ghesquière, Sarah Burton, Jonathan Anderson, Phoebe Philo, Stella McCartney, Pharrell Williams, and Nigo, helping select emerging design talents at the ceremony in Paris.
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India’s services sector achieved a significant milestone in August 2025, with the HSBC India Services Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) climbing to 62.9, marking its highest level in 15 years, which signals exceptionally strong growth and robust demand in a sector that forms the backbone of the Indian economy.
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India's domestic air passenger traffic shrank by 2.9% in July 2025—the first decline since early 2022—due to heavy rains and recent disruptions, marking a notable pause in the sector's previously steady growth streak.
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A U.S. judge ruled that while Google illegally monopolized the search market, the company will not be forced to sell its Chrome browser or break up its business; instead, Google must stop making exclusive search deals and is required to share some search data with competitors to foster more competition in the industry.
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The Congress-led Telangana government (2025) has ordered a CBI probe into alleged irregularities in the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project, which has simultaneously triggered a family feud within the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) patriarch K. Chandrashekar Rao’s family, leading to the suspension and resignation of his daughter K. Kavitha from the party.
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In 2025, the United States under President Donald Trump imposed 50% tariffs on Indian goods (up from 25%), largely due to India’s continued purchase of Russian oil. This move impacts around $48.2 billion of Indian exports, particularly in labour-intensive sectors such as textiles, apparel, chemicals, and auto components, and could reduce India’s GDP growth from a projected 7% to about 6.4%.
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The case of Harjinder Singh, a 28-year-old Punjabi immigrant truck driver in the US facing up to 45 years in prison after an accident that killed three Haitian immigrants, has highlighted how the so‑called Khalistan asylum movement in North America often serves as a cover for illegal immigration, human trafficking, and organised crime, with thousands of Punjabi youth pushed into low‑wage trucking, drug transport, and other exploitative rackets.
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he ongoing debate on UAPA cases has been reignited after the Delhi High Court denied bail to student activists Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam, who have been in jail for five years without trial. While the Supreme Court earlier stressed that “bail is the rule and jail is the exception,” critics argue that prolonged incarceration without conviction under UAPA threatens personal liberty, given the low conviction rates and delayed trials.
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India’s former President and “Missile Man,” Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam (1931–2015), is remembered for his vision of education and nation‑building; his philosophy that “education is the most powerful tool to transform citizens and nations” continues to inspire generations even after his passing in 2015.
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In 2025, ISRO unveiled the Vikram 3201, India’s first indigenously designed 32-bit space-grade processor, developed by the Semiconductor Laboratory (SCL), Mohali. It is slated to power India's upcoming missions like Gaganyaan and future Moon missions, as it can withstand extreme temperatures (–55°C to +125°C) and cosmic radiation in space — marking a major step towards self-reliance in critical space electronics.
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The Pashupatastra is a powerful celestial weapon in Hindu mythology, associated with Lord Shiva (also called Pashupati). It is said to be an irresistible and highly destructive weapon that can be discharged by the mind, eyes, words, or a bow. This weapon has the capability to destroy creation and vanquish all beings, and is not to be used against lesser enemies or by unworthy warriors. In the epics, it was possessed by only a few, including Arjuna in the Mahabharata and Indrajit in the Ramayana. The Pashupatastra symbolizes divine power and comes with strict ethical responsibilities, as its misuse could lead to catastrophic destruction.
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India and Bangladesh have a long history of strong bilateral economic ties, with Bangladesh being India’s largest trade partner in South Asia and India the second-largest source of imports and foreign investment for Bangladesh. However, since mid-2024, political changes in Bangladesh have led to a deterioration in relations, triggering reciprocal trade restrictions such as bans on key goods and reduced visa issuance, which threaten to undermine the economic partnership and regional connectivity.
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The biggest trading partner of Bangladesh is China. China leads in terms of total trade value with Bangladesh, supplying major imports like electronics, construction materials, industrial equipment, and raw textile materials. China significantly surpasses other countries in trade volume with Bangladesh in 2025
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A cryptocurrency is a type of digital or virtual currency that uses cryptography to secure transactions, making it nearly impossible to counterfeit or double-spend. It operates on a decentralized network called a blockchain, which is a public ledger maintained across many computers worldwide, without the need for a central authority like a bank or government. Cryptocurrencies enable peer-to-peer transactions directly between users, and the ownership and transfer of units are verified through advanced encryption techniques. Bitcoin, launched in 2009, was the first cryptocurrency, and today there are thousands of different cryptocurrencies in existence with various uses.
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Alcohol does not come under GST in India. It remains outside the GST framework because the taxation of alcohol is a state subject, and excise duties on alcohol form a significant revenue source for state governments. Instead of GST, alcohol is taxed through state-level excise duties, Value Added Tax (VAT), and other state-specific levies. However, GST is applicable to goods and services related to the alcohol industry, such as packaging, transportation, and advertising. Bringing alcohol under GST would require constitutional amendments, and states are reluctant to give up this important revenue stream.
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