Morning Digest | January 29, 2026

Ajit Pawar’s funeral today in Baramati; Amit Shah to attend

The last rites of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar will be held with full State honours on Thursday (January 29, 2026) at 11 a.m. at Vidya Pratishthan in Baramati, Pune. Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP national president Nitin Nabin, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and the State cabinet will be present at the funeral. Leaders cutting across the political spectrum will be present, the Nationalist Congress Party said.

U.S.-Iran tensions escalate as Trump says ‘time is running’ out for Tehran

U.S. President Donald Trump has said that “a massive armada” is heading towards Iran and is ready to “fulfil its mission”, adding that time is running out for the Islamic Republic to make a deal on its nuclear programme. In response, Tehran said that if attacked, it would retaliate “like never before”.

DoPT report says 66% sanitation workers in Central govt from SC, ST, OBC groups

More than 66% of Group C safai karmacharis employed across the central government come from Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST), or Other Backward Classes (OBC) backgrounds, data on reservations from the Department of Personnel and Training’s (DoPT) latest annual report for the year 2024-25 showed.

Baramati airstrip used for flight training, lacks navigational aids despite VIP traffic

The aircraft involved in Wednesday’s (January 28, 2026) crash at Baramati was attempting a second landing amid poor visibility at an airstrip that, despite witnessing frequent VIP movement, is primarily used for flight training. The facility is equipped only with a rudimentary Air Traffic Control (ATC) set-up operated by a flying school, and lacks a dedicated meteorologist and navigational aids to transmit cues to the cockpit.

No notices to 88% Tamil Nadu voters facing deletion: Supreme Court to hear plea

Ruling party leaders in Tamil Nadu made a fervent plea that 88% of voters excluded from the draft electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in the name of logical discrepancies and mapping had not received hearing notices, compelling the Supreme Court to schedule an urgent session on January 29, 2026 with the Election Commission of India present for giving an explanation.

Supreme Court to hear Air India crash plea early as NGO flags silence from govt, AAIB

The Supreme Court on Wednesday (January 28, 2026) agreed to give a short date of hearing in petitions seeking an independent, judicially-monitored probe into the reasons behind the Air India Flight 171 crash at the Ahmedabad Airport, killing 12 crew members and 229 passengers on June 12, last year.

Goyal hits out at Congress for raising concerns over India-EU FTA

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday (January 28, 2026) criticised the Congress for raising concerns over the India-EU free trade agreement, saying the pact is not a zero-sum deal but a win-win pact, which will power the country’s economic growth and create huge opportunities for businesses and people.

Federal Reserve keeps interest rates unchanged even as Trump continues to insist they be lowered

The Federal Reserve pushed the pause button on its interest rate cuts on Wednesday (January 28, 2026), leaving its key rate unchanged at about 3.6% after lowering it three times last year. Chair Jerome Powell said at a news conference that the economy’s outlook “has clearly improved since the last meeting” in December, a development that should boost hiring over time. The Central Bank, in a statement, said there were signs the job market is stabilising.

Supreme Court extends tenure of Gita Mittal Committee formed to provide ‘healing touch’ in Manipur

The Supreme Court on Wednesday (January 28, 2026) extended the tenure of its all-women committee of three former High Court judges headed by former High Court Chief Justice Gita Mittal, constituted in August 2023 to monitor the rehabilitation work in violence-torn Manipur, by another six months.

NHRC discusses human rights violations arising from re-verification of certificates of govt. employees with disabilities

Citing the human rights violations emerging from the re-verification or re-assessment of certificates of government employees with disabilities, Justice V. Ramasubramanian (retd.), Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission, on Wednesday (January 28, 2026), said that scrutiny should be done only in cases of a specific suspicion instead of mass re-verification of all employees with disability.

U.S. storm: At least 38 dead across 14 States as cold lingers in central, eastern parts

At least 38 ‍people across 14 States had died as of Tuesday (January 27, 2026) from a powerful winter storm that left much of the central and ​eastern U.S. gripped by snow, ice, and below-freezing temperatures, according to local officials and news reports. The ‌storm started to develop on Friday (January 23, 2026) and dumped snow across a large region over ​the weekend.

Canada PM Carney denies retracting Davos comments in talk with Trump

Canadian Prime ‍Minister Mark Carney on Tuesday (January 27, 2026) said he spoke ​to U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday (January 26, 2026) ‌but denied he had retracted ​comments last week that irritated the U.S. President. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that during the call, Mr. Carney “was very aggressively walking back” some of the remarks he made during a speech in Davos in which ​he urged nations to accept the end ⁠of a rules-based global order.

Israel to hold funeral for last hostage recovered from Gaza

The remains of the last Israeli captive recovered from the Gaza Strip were ‍set to be buried on Wednesday (January 28, 2026) in a funeral that ​will help Israel turn the page after one ‌of the most traumatic periods in its history. Ran ​Gvili, an off-duty police officer, was killed fighting militants during the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on southern Israel. He was then seized and taken back into Gaza by the Islamic Jihad militant group, Israeli officials say.

Published – January 29, 2026 07:54 am IST