Monkey business.

The 2026 Henley Passport Index saw India climbing five places from 85th last year to "80th position, tied with Algeria. Indian citizens can now travel to 55 countries without prior visa, through visa-free, visa-on-arrival, or electronic travel authorisation (ETA) arrangements." We can now travel to St Vincent and the Grenadines without visa. ET. Suitcases packed, locked and loaded. While we celebrate the potential increase in our mobility, the erstwhile colonial ravagers of the European Union are continuing with their plunder by refusing 165,000 Schengen visa applications in 2024 without refunding Rs 1.36 billion in application fees. With each application costing an average of 85 euros (Rs 8,270), India ranked third globally in terms of money lost to visa rejections, after Algeria and Turkey." ET. Talking about billions, "A delay of over four years has pushed up the cost of country's first bullet train project by around 83% to Rs 1.98 trillion." "Initially, the project was sanctioned at a cost of around Rs 1.1 trillion." TOI. Naturally, "The Indian Railways has told the Central Information Commission (CIC) that the classification and methodology of fixing fares of different classes on passenger train falls in domain of 'trade secret/ intellectual property rights', and therefore, cannot be disclosed under the Right to Information Act." TOI. Just like the EU can take your money without giving any reason. It seems a season of plenty as, "The ICAR Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute (ICAR-CIFRI),..has recorded 230 fish species across different stretches of the Ganga river." "When the first survey was conducted in 1822, Ganga had 271 fish species." TOI. However, wildlife can thrive too much. "As the key strategy to tackle the growing monkey menace in the city (Delhi), 6,591 of them were captured and relocated to Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary between Feb 2021 and Dec 2025." However, like the EU, the macaques are continuing their raids. "Wildlife experts claim that many relocated monkeys either return or new groups occupy vacated territories." TOI. They have integrated with our society. So well, that a couple of monkeys turned up to watch Indian PV Sindhu lose to Vietnamese Thuy Linh Nguyen at the Badminton India Open. "A monkey was seen sitting in the stands of the Indira Gandhi Indoor Arena in the morning when the crowd was less." "Another monkey was seen in the stands of the adjacent KD Jadhav Indoor Hall that was being used as a practice arena." HT. Monkey see, monkey do. wikipedia. Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim, "who is lodged at Rohtak's Sunaria jail and serving a 20-year term jail term for raping two of his disciples, was again granted a 40-day parole," his 15th release since 2020. "So far, he has spent 366 days out of jail." HT. Perhaps, the EU has a point.