Income tax returns for the assessment year 2025-26 were due on July 31, 2025. The Central Board of Direct Taxes moved the date to September 15. Then it decided “to further extend the due date for filing these ITRs for AY 2025-26 from 15th September, 2025 to 16th September, 2025.” Taxpayers had complained of problems with the filing portal, The Tribune reported.
The Census of 2027
India’s last full census was taken in 2011. The next was due in 2021, and it was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. A government notification now sets its reference date at “00.00 hours of the 1st day of March, 2027.” For Ladakh and the snow-bound areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, the date is October 1, 2026.
The Bullet Train
“The first deadline of the Bullet Train project was December 2023,” The Pioneer wrote in April 2022. India’s first high-speed line is to run from Mumbai to Ahmedabad. By then the government had moved the target for a section of it to 2027. The Free Press Journal reports that full operation “has now been pushed to December 2029,” citing delays in land acquisition in Maharashtra.
Pushpa 2
Pushpa 2: The Rule, starring Allu Arjun, was set for release on August 15, 2024. The producers, Mythri Movie Makers, moved it to December 6, 2024. They cited the remaining shoot and the post-production work still to be done.
Fifty Lakh by Seven
July 31, 2024, was the last day for filing income tax returns. That evening the Income Tax Department posted on X that more than 7 crore returns had been filed so far. It added: “over 50 lakh ITRs have been filed today till 7 pm.” Fifty lakh is five million.
Kumartuli
In Kumartuli in Kolkata, artisans make the clay idols for Durga Puja. In September 2019 the Millennium Post found them “working round-the-clock.” “We have to deliver all the idols before October 2,” said the artisan Indrajit Paul. The rush “begins on the day of Rath,” the chariot festival.
In June 2025 an artisan told the same paper: “Once Rath Yatra is over, we’ll have to start working double shifts to get everything done in time.”
Tatkal
Tatkal means forthwith, or now. Indian Railways runs a Tatkal scheme “to provide reservation to passengers who have to undertake a train journey at short notice.” Tatkal booking opens only one day before the journey.
The Eleventh Hour
For the Lok Sabha election of April 2019, about 1,700 nominations were filed in Tamil Nadu, for 39 parliamentary seats and 18 assembly by-elections. More than 800 of them came in on Tuesday, March 26, alone. DT Next headlined its report “11th hour rush.”
The Last Ball
In Lagaan (2001), the farmers of Champaner accept a challenge from British officers. They will play a cricket match three months later, and the farmer Bhuvan must build a team from the villagers. The match lasts three days.
On the last ball, Bhuvan hits the ball high. Captain Russell catches it, but he has stepped over the boundary. The hit counts as a six, and Champaner wins.
The Finisher
On July 11, 2013, India played Sri Lanka in the final of a three-nation series at Port of Spain, Trinidad. India needed 15 runs from the last over. M.S. Dhoni hit the winning runs with two balls to spare, and India won by one wicket. The next day Dilip Vengsarkar, a former chairman of selectors, said of Dhoni: “by far, he’s the best finisher I have ever seen.”