Morning Digest: Nirmala Sitharaman to present her ninth straight Budget; Centre denies Epstein claim about U.S. role in PM Modi’s 2017 Israel visit, and more

The Hindu Morning Digest gives a select list of stories to start the day. Read the top news today on February 1, 2026

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present her ninth Budget in the Parliament today (February 1, 2026). This is the first time in the history of India that the Union Budget is being presented on a Sunday. The Budget is expected to unveil measures to sustain growth momentum, maintain fiscal discipline, and contain reforms that could buffer the economy from global trade frictions, including U.S. tariffs.

A day after the conclusion of the three-day State mourning for late Ajit Pawar, who died in a tragic air crash in Baramati on January 28, his wife Sunetra Pawar was sworn in as the first woman Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra at a brief ceremony at Lok Bhavan in Mumbai on Saturday (January 31, 2026) evening. The swearing-in, which lasted barely a few minutes, took place amid intense political activity in Baramati and Mumbai, with several leaders questioning the need for the hurried decision. Sunetra Pawar will oversee three portfolios—Excise, Minority Affairs and Sports and Youth Welfare.

The Union government on Saturday (January 31, 2026) denied the contents of newly released emails from the late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, which claimed that U.S. President Donald Trump had played a role in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Israel in 2017, referring to the mails as “trashy ruminations by a convicted criminal”. In more than a dozen mails and phone messages released by the U.S. government on Friday (January 30, 2026), Epstein referred to India and Mr. Modi, expressing a desire to enhance U.S.-India engagement. He also claimed he would set up a meeting with the Prime Minister for Republican strategist and Mr. Trump associate Steve Bannon, shortly after the 2019 general election. Epstein also appeared to be engaged in correspondence with Indian businessman Anil Ambani about many of these issues.

Ending the violence in the Gaza Strip is a ‘shared priority’ for the world, said External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Saturday (January 31, 2026), welcoming representatives and Ministers at the second India-Arab Foreign Ministers meeting. Delivering the inaugural address at the meeting, which came ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s expected visit to Israel later this month, Mr. Jaishankar expressed India’s support for ending the violence in Gaza as well as in other regions such as Sudan, Libya, and Lebanon.

Security forces launched a search operation following the sighting of a drone, suspected to be from Pakistan, along the International Border (IB) in Jammu and Kashmir’s Samba district on Saturday (January 31, 2026), officials said. The drone briefly hovered over Indian territory along the IB near Chillyari village, they said, adding that the suspicious flying object returned towards Pakistan after hovering for a couple of minutes along the IB.

Thousands of people on Saturday (January 31, 2026) held a rally in the Manipur capital Imphal to assert their stand that the territorial and administrative integrity of the State cannot be divided at any cost. The “Save Manipur” rally was organised by the Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI), an umbrella body of several Meitei civil society organisations.