In 2024, 12.31 lakh aspirants were counted in the first session of JEE Main, the first stage of the engineering entrance exam. For JEE Advanced, the exam for the Indian Institutes of Technology, more than 1.91 lakh students applied for 17,385 seats in 23 IITs, according to the coaching institute Allen.
In the same year, 3.29 lakh candidates registered for the Common Admission Test, the entrance exam of the Indian Institutes of Management.
PRAGATI stands for Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation. On this platform, the Prime Minister reviews large projects with officials. On December 31, 2025, Narendra Modi chaired the 50th PRAGATI meeting. It reviewed five projects costing more than 40,000 crore rupees. Since 2014, the platform has reviewed 377 projects.
On March 6, 2026, Karnataka’s Chief Minister Siddaramaiah presented the state budget at 10:15 a.m. instead of 11 a.m. Rahu Kaala, a daily period of about ninety minutes that many regard as inauspicious, began at 10:30 that day.
He later said that his family and officials had advised him to avoid it. “I didn’t want to disappoint them or hurt their feelings,” he said. “This is the first time in my political career that I did so.” He added that he still does not believe in good or bad times.
On Poila Boishakh, the first day of the Bengali year, traders close their old ledgers and open new ones. The custom is called haal khata. Customers are invited to settle old debts and start fresh. “Seeking to improve their relationship with customers, traders give sweets, snacks, or gifts to them,” Wikipedia notes. It is kept in West Bengal, Tripura and the Barak Valley of Assam, and in Bangladesh.
The Central Secretariat Manual of Office Procedure governs how files move in India’s ministries. Its phrases include “put up the file to Section Officer,” “orders of the appropriate authority may be obtained,” and “draft for approval.” The office manual of the Tea Board defines one more term: “‘Competent Authority’- The Chairman of the Board.”
In 2017 the Indian government required taxpayers to link their PAN, the tax identity number, with Aadhaar, the national identity number. The deadlines in 2017 were July 31, August 31 and December 31. Then came March 31, 2018, and more dates after it. In 2021 the fact-checking site BoomLive called the latest move “the 11th such extension.”
In March 2023 the deadline moved once more, from March 31 to June 30, 2023. From July 1, 2023, the PAN of a taxpayer who had not linked it was to become inoperative.
In the Sabha Parva of the Mahabharata, Duryodhana envies the wealth of his cousin Yudhishthira. His maternal uncle Shakuni offers him a plan: “I promise to win all that wealth of his, and thou, O Duryodhana, shalt then enjoy the same.” He adds: “I will defeat him repeatedly at every throw by practising deception.”
Duryodhana takes the plan to his father, King Dhritarashtra, and presses him: “It behoveth thee to grant him permission to do so.” The game of dice follows.
On December 13, 2018, K. Chandrasekhar Rao was sworn in as chief minister of Telangana at 1:25 in the afternoon. Priests of the Yadadri Lakshminarasimha Swamy temple had fixed the time. “The auspicious period will continue for another one-and-a-half hour,” the head priest said.
Earlier that year Rao had dissolved the state assembly at a time given by priests of the Sringeri Mutt.
Bas paanch minute. Just five minutes. In its video series Desi D, The Quint jokes about Indian stretchable time and about people who “say they are just five minutes away” when they are not even ready.