Author: India BBC News Correspondent

Zoho co-founder and Chief Scientist Sridhar Vembu has stated that the company will not be able to provide employees with the usual annual Zoho Salary Hike this year. According to a message shared on the social media platform X on October 12, 2026, rising costs associated with Artificial Intelligence (AI), a fourfold increase in data center server prices, and the uncertain future of the software industry have put cost pressure on the company. Zoho has also reduced marketing expenditure and expressed its intention to avoid large-scale layoffs. Zoho Salary Hike News: Why won’t salaries increase this year? Rising operational costs…

Starlink has not yet begun commercial satellite internet service in India. That delay became a public dispute this week after Elon Musk accused unnamed business interests of blocking the company. India’s Ministry of Communications rejected the charge and said the rules apply equally to licensed satellite operators. The public record cited so far does not establish that Reliance Jio or its chairman caused Starlink’s delay. Here is what is confirmed, what remains disputed and what Indian customers still need to wait for. What did Musk say, and how did India respond? On October 7, Musk said Starlink was being held…

New Delhi, October 10, 2026: Delhi has tightened security ahead of the Cockroach Janta Party’s (CJP) planned “Jantar Mantar 2.0” protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Reports indicate that a large police and paramilitary deployment, checkpoints, barricades and preventive detention arrangements have been put in place to manage demonstrations and maintain law and order across the national capital. The Times of India and other media outlets have reported a security mobilisation involving approximately 35,000 personnel. However, deployment estimates have varied across reports, with other outlets citing lower figures. The scale of the preparations reflects authorities’ concerns about crowd management,…

Veteran Indian actor Nana Patekar Dies at 75 after suffering a cardiac arrest at his residence in Dona Paula, Goa, on Thursday, October 8, 2026. He was reportedly found unconscious at home and was taken to Manipal Hospital, where doctors attempted to revive him. He could not be revived. Patekars death marks the loss of one of cinemas most distinctive performers. He was an actor whose career spanned both Hindi and Marathi films. He took on dramatic roles, portrayed socially driven characters and also delivered popular mainstream performances. His work left a mark on Indian cinema. According to reports citing…

Let’s be honest: Samsung’s Ultra phones have been getting incrementally better for a few years now, and at some point “incremental” stops being interesting. The Galaxy S26 Ultra is not that phone. This is a genuine leap — and the 200MP camera is only part of the story. The Camera: 200MP Done Right Samsung has had 200MP sensors before, but earlier implementations often felt like a spec-sheet exercise. More megapixels, more noise, more disappointment in anything other than perfect lighting. The S26 Ultra is different. Samsung has reworked its pixel-binning algorithm significantly — in good light, the full 200MP mode…

Ajay Devgn has made plenty of sequels. Some of them needed to exist. Drishyam 2, which became one of the most-watched Hindi films of 2022, absolutely needed to exist — and rewarded the faith audiences put in it. Now Drishyam 3 is confirmed, and the question everyone is asking is: where does Vijay Salgaonkar go from here? What We Know About the Plot Details have been kept deliberately tight, but what’s been confirmed is that Vijay — who spent two films constructing and defending an increasingly elaborate alibi — now faces a threat that comes from an unexpected direction. The…

Central government employees have been waiting on this for months — and the October 2026 cabinet meeting delivered. A 3 percent Dearness Allowance hike, effective from July 1, 2026, has been approved. Here’s what it means in practical terms, and who benefits. The Numbers DA has been increased from the current rate to reflect the rise in the Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW) over the past six months. The new rate takes effect retroactively from July 1, which means employees will receive arrears for the July-September quarter along with their October salary. For a Central government employee at…

Every October 2, India pauses. Not in the performative way that national holidays sometimes feel — with government offices shut and little else changed. October 2 is different. It’s the birthday of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, and even in 2026, nearly eight decades after his assassination, the man’s ideas still feel unsettlingly relevant. Who Gandhi Was, Beyond the Mythology The mythology around Gandhi can actually get in the way of understanding him. He’s been turned into a gentle saint, a symbol, a face on currency notes — which strips out the complexity of a man who was, in his own time,…

India and Sri Lanka haven’t met in an Asia Cup knockout game for some time, and when these two teams get together in this format, it tends to produce something memorable. Tuesday’s semi-final at R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo could do the same. Here’s what to watch. India’s Situation India came through the group stage without losing a game, though they weren’t always convincing. The batting looked dominant against the lower-ranked teams but was put under genuine pressure by Pakistan in a match that, even though India won, exposed some middle-order fragility. Rohit Sharma’s form with the bat has been…

Three words. That’s all it took. “Gyanesh, it’s done, bro.” A leaked audio clip, purportedly from a conversation involving Election Commission officials, and Indian Twitter — or X, if you insist — immediately did what it does best. Within hours, the phrase had been turned into memes, merged with Bollywood dialogues, edited into cricket commentary, and set to song. By the next morning, it was trending nationally. But behind the jokes, there’s a more serious question that the Election Commission is now having to answer. The Clip That Started It All The audio in question — the authenticity of which…