Chennai gets a double-decker metro link
CHENNAI, 12 October Chennai’s newest piece of metro will be built in two storeys. The Poonamallee–Vadapalani stretch of Chennai Metro Rail Phase II, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated to the public on 11 October 2026, carries a 3.7-km double-decker structure and cost around ₹4,900 crore, according to the Prime Minister’s Office note issued on 10 October 2026. The stretch links the western suburbs to the centre of the city.
The Prime Minister set the stretch against the national record: metro rail ran in five cities over about 250 km in 2014 and runs in 25 cities over more than 1,100 km now, according to the Prime Minister’s Office release of 11 October 2026. That is 4.4 times the length and five times the cities.
The same visit dedicated the Sudha Gopalakrishnan Brain Centre at IIT Madras and launched a mission to map more than 100 human brains at the level of single cells. The Research Desk report in this edition takes it up.
At a glance
Total package: over ₹13,000 crore, 11 October 2026
Chennai Metro Phase II, Poonamallee–Vadapalani: around ₹4,900 crore, 3.7-km double-decker section
National highways: around ₹3,700 crore; 66 km opened
Railways: over ₹750 crore
Manali lube base oil plant: around ₹1,620 crore, 270 thousand tonnes a year
What India gains
Shorter journeys in Chennai, 66 km of four-lane highway and a domestic source of lubricant base oil.
Two seas, two partners: Indian Navy shows its reach
NEW DELHI, 12 October —India’s has send the missile stealth frigate INS Trishul at Plymouth, England, for Konkan-2026 joint exercise with the Royal Navy . This event is on from 8 to 15 October. The second put INS Sahyadri at Vladivostok, on Russia’s Pacific coast, where it arrived on 10 October for INDRA-2026 with the Russian Navy, from 13 to 18 October.
What India gains
A navy that can work in the same week with a NATO member in the Atlantic and with Russia in the Pacific, on terms India sets with each.
Pulse imports fall by Rs 14,634 crore, as India grows more at home
NEW DELHI, 12 October — India’s bill for imported pulses fell from ₹46,427.60 crore in 2024-25 to ₹31,793.59 crore in 2025-26, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
The Mission for Aatmanirbharta in Pulses has an outlay of ₹11,440 crore from 2025-26 to 2030-31. It aims at about 350 lakh tonnes by 2030-31 from 310 lakh hectares, at 1,130 kg a hectare.
What India gains
Is a saving of ₹14,634 crore in one year, 1.28 times the mission’s entire six-year outlay, and a cheaper source of protein grown by its own farmers.
At a glance
Pulses imports: ₹46,427.60 crore (2024-25), ₹31,793.59 crore (2025-26)
Production: 256.83 lakh tonnes (2024-25), 274.09 lakh tonnes (2025-26, third advance estimate)
Yield: 926 to 957 kg a hectare
Procurement: 18.40 to 31.41 lakh tonnes
Mission outlay: ₹11,440 crore, 2025-26 to 2030-31; target about 350 lakh tonnes
What India gains
₹14,634 crore less spent abroad in one year, and protein grown at home.
RBI opens dollar window for oil companies
MUMBAI, 12 October The Reserve Bank of India will sell US dollars to Indian Oil Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and Bharat Petroleum Corporation through designated banks, covering their entire daily dollar requirement until further notice.
The RBI also cut the amount users may hedge without showing the underlying exposure from $100 million to $5 million, a twentieth of the old limit, across both bank contracts and exchange-traded rupee derivatives.
Blitz Data Card
Mumbai ·
At a glance
Dollar window: IOCL, HPCL, BPCL; whole daily requirement; from 12 October 2026
Hedging without proof of exposure: $100 million down to $5 million
Risk reserve: 20% of notional, on contracts above $2 million
How it compares
Old limit: $100 million — 100%
New limit: $5 million — 5% of the old
The new limit is one-twentieth of the old one.
What the numbers add up to
5 ÷ 100 = 5%; 100 ÷ 5 = 20 times smaller.
What India gains
Steadier dollar supply for fuel imports and a hedging market tied to trade.
Railways open 3,548 graduate-level jobs
NEW DELHI, 12 October The Railway Recruitment Boards have notified 3,548 graduate-level posts under CEN 06/2026, according to a release of the Ministry of Railways. The supervisor posts start at ₹35,400 basic pay, Level 6, and the others at ₹29,200, Level 5. Selection is by two computer-based tests.
What India gains
:
3,548 central government jobs open to any graduate in the country.
Keylong to get India’s high-altitude medicine centre
KEYLONG, 12 October— Health Minister JP Nadda will lay the foundation stone of the ICMR High Altitude Medicine at Keylong in Lahaul and Spiti, Himachal Pradesh, on 12 October.
The centre will study how the body adapts to height, mountain medicine, climate-sensitive diseases, maternal and child health and disaster medicine, and will test telemedicine and drone delivery of medicines for remote areas.
