Herbalife India and IISc Launch Landmark Study on Healthy Ageing

Herbalife India and IISc Launch Landmark Study on Healthy Ageing

The multi-city initiative will evaluate metabolic health, gut diversity, and biological age across 1,000 participants

BENGALURU, India, Nov. 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Herbalife India and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have joined hands to kick off a landmark multi-centric research study, conceptualized around ‘Health & Happiness,’ designed to explore the relationships between metabolic health, community participation, health and happiness, wellness coaching, and biomarker-based scientific evidence in shaping healthy ageing outcomes among Indian adults. The study will be conducted in collaboration with IISc and supported by Herbalife across multiple centres in Bengaluru, Mysuru, Hyderabad, and Chennai.  

As India’s population continues to age, there is growing interest in understanding not only how long people live, but how well they live. While scientific research has increasingly highlighted the importance of nutrition, lifestyle, and metabolic health, less is understood about how factors such as social connection, purpose, wellness support systems, and biological markers interact to influence metabolic health and overall wellness.

The ‘Health & Happiness Study’ is designed to include over 1,000 participants, with each participant being part of the study for approximately six months. Through a multidimensional assessment approach, the study will evaluate physical health, biological markers, gut microbiome composition, nutrition, lifestyle practices, and wellbeing indicators to generate personalized insights and contribute to a deeper understanding of health, happiness and wellness.

“At Herbalife India, we believe people stay healthy when they have the right support around them, whether that’s proper nourishment, people who keep them active or a community that keeps them motivated,” said Mr. Ajay Khanna, Managing Director, Herbalife India. “What we want to know is how much those everyday choices matter as people grow older, and we want the answer to come from Indian lives. Partnering with IISc brings the scientific rigour that kind of question needs.”

“Community, nutrition and daily habits are easy to praise and harder to prove,” said Prof Deepak Saini, Department of Developmental Biology and Genetics, Indian Institute of Science. “Through this collaboration with Herbalife India, we have the opportunity to generate meaningful scientific evidence by tracking real changes in people’s health over time. At IISc, our commitment is to conduct independent, rigorous research and communicate the results transparently, wherever the evidence leads. The knowledge generated could contribute to a deeper understanding of what helps Indians stay healthier for longer and support better health decisions for individuals, healthcare professionals, and policymakers.”

About Herbalife International India Private Ltd.

Herbalife (NYSE: HLF) is a premier health and wellness company, community and platform that has been changing people’s lives with great nutrition products and a business opportunity for its independent distributors since 1980. The Company offers science-backed food and non-food products to consumers in more than 95 markets through independent entrepreneurial distributors who provide one-on-one coaching and a supportive community that inspires their customers to embrace a healthier, more active lifestyle.  

About the Indian Institute of Science (IISc)

The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) was established in 1909 by a partnership between Jamshedji Nusserwanji Tata, the Mysore royal family, and the Government of India. Over the last 117 years, IISc has become India’s premier institute for advanced scientific research and education. Selected as an Institution of Eminence (IoE) in 2018, IISc consistently ranks among the top Indian institutions in global university rankings.

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IBM Quantum Nighthawk Demonstrates New Levels of Speed and Quality, with Plans to Scale Beyond 1,000 Qubits in 2027

New Nighthawk r3 processor will be built to execute 10,000 quantum operations, enabling larger and more complex computations as IBM advances its roadmap toward fault tolerance

Clients and partners including E.ON, Algorithmiq, and Q-CTRL have run more than 34 billion circuits on Nighthawk r2, reporting speedups of up to 19x beyond previous IBM quantum processors

Enhanced IBM Quantum Platform unites quantum with classical computing in one environment

YORKTOWN HEIGHTS, N.Y., Nov. 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced IBM Quantum Nighthawk r3, its next-generation processor, will be built to accurately execute 10,000 quantum operations across 520 qubits to tackle larger, more complex problems while maintaining the speed and quality demonstrated by the current generation Nighthawk available today.

In 2027, IBM plans to link two Nighthawk r3 processors into a single system with more than 1,000 qubits.

To be at the frontier of quantum computing, industry-relevant applications demand both computational quality and speed. Speed matters because a quantum computer delivers its answer in samples: each run of a quantum circuit returns one result. Applications increasingly require circuits executing thousands of quantum operations on approximately 100 qubits or more, generating millions to billions of samples. Scale and quality enable increasingly complex computations, but speed determines whether these demanding workloads can be completed in practical timeframes and at a reasonable cost.

“Useful quantum computing hinges on whether results can be delivered with accuracy and speed, both are fundamental,” said Jay Gambetta, Director of IBM Research and IBM Fellow. “Nighthawk is already showing us what that looks like today. As we scale this architecture to larger and more powerful quantum computers, the capabilities of quantum computation will reach new levels as we integrate more closely with classical resources and march ahead to fault tolerance.”

Nighthawk r2: Delivering Speed for Real-World Workloads

Introduced in September, IBM Quantum Nighthawk r2 delivers up to 100,000 samples per second while supporting accurate computations with more than 7,500 quantum operations on 120 qubits. Its high-speed qubit reset technology dramatically reduces the time between circuit executions, enabling applications to collect the millions or billions of samples needed for complex computations far more efficiently.

Clients and partners including E.ON, Algorithmiq, and Q-CTRL have executed 34 billion circuits on Nighthawk r2 to date, reporting performance improvements of up to 19x while maintaining the quality needed for scientific computation.

The results are already demonstrating value across industries. E.ON reported a 15x speedup on Nighthawk r2 in quantum machine learning for energy grid optimization. IBM used Nighthawk r2 for a 12x speedup of an experiment ran earlier this year with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which simulated real magnetic materials and produced results consistent with neutron scattering experiments. Both of these speedups were achieved over previous work on IBM Quantum Heron. Quantum Elements and ParityQC are also among the partners reporting significant performance improvements on their own Nighthawk r2 workloads.

The quantum advantage experiments IBM and its partners published in July were first run on IBM Quantum Heron, with circuits and results openly available for independent testing through the community-led Quantum Advantage Tracker. An experiment with Algorithmiq to simulate a heterogeneous quantum material has now been extended to Nighthawk r2, leveraging its speed and connectivity to execute circuits 8 times faster than the original experiment on Heron. At the same time, the new circuits are significantly more challenging for classical computers to simulate, requiring an estimated 240 times more memory to achieve comparable accuracy when using leading classical tensor-network methods.

Nighthawk r3: Scaling to More Than 1,000 Qubits

Building on the performance demonstrated by Nighthawk r2, Nighthawk r3 will extend the same high-speed architecture to larger quantum computers. The new processor is designed to support 10,000 quantum operations on 520 programmable qubits, with 2,034 total physical qubits. It retains r2’s square-lattice connectivity and fast operations while introducing 10 chip-to-chip interconnects, called l-couplers, designed to connect processors into larger systems.

IBM has already demonstrated two critical technologies that enable this modular approach. This year, IBM connected Nighthawk r1 processors using four l-couplers, achieving 99.3 percent quantum state transfer fidelity and progressing toward its 99.9 percent target. IBM also connected two cryogenic modules into a single system for the first time, reaching operating temperature in under five days and cooling below 15 millikelvin.

Together, these advances demonstrate critical progress in modularity and provide confidence in IBM’s ability to scale Nighthawk to larger quantum computers. In 2027, IBM plans to connect two Nighthawk r3 processors into a single 1,040-qubit system, extending its high-performance architecture to larger and more complex computations.

Quantum Meets Classical on the IBM Quantum Platform

Advancing quantum computers requires continued progress in how they work alongside classical compute to handle errors. Industry-relevant workloads will demand layers of quantum error correction and error mitigation techniques alongside noise learning and post-processing. As quantum workloads scale, they will call for more classical resources, and the challenge now is how to best scale this integration.

To unite these paradigms, IBM Quantum Platform is bringing high-performance (HPC) classical and quantum computing together into a single managed environment. Users can now integrate quantum workflows directly with a range of classical compute – whether from their laptop or a powerful supercomputer – or with the HPC and classical resources that are newly available on the platform.

Users are seeing promising results from these integrations. For example, using the new environment, IBM and RIKEN* scientists executed their original sample-based quantum diagonalization (SQD) workflow roughly 5 times faster while performing 100 times more computations than in the original study. Cleveland Clinic and RIKEN also leveraged the platform to automatically process 608 million samples for modeling biologically relevant structures, 33 times faster than without workflow automation.

Enhanced capabilities will also fuel breakthroughs in quantum error correction. IBM Quantum Platform offers pulse-level capabilities to give researchers precise control over how they can detect, understand, and better correct errors within quantum and classical architectures. This helps them better time operations, reset qubits faster, and extract more information from quantum measurements – giving researchers the visibility to improve error correction at its most fundamental levels.

IBM recently launched a new co-design platform for quantum error correction with Oak Ridge National Laboratory and AMD that physically co-locates Nighthawk with ORNL’s Umbra High-Performance Computing (HPC) system, powered by AMD Instinct™ MI355X GPUs and 5th Gen AMD EPYC™ CPUs.

About IBM

IBM is a leading global hybrid cloud and AI, and business services provider, helping clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. Thousands of governments and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM’s hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM’s breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and business services deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM’s legendary commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service.

For more information, visit https://research.ibm.com.

Media contacts:

Brittany Forgione

IBM

Brittany.forgione@ibm.com

Erin Angelini

IBM

edlehr@us.ibm.com

* This project is supported by NEDO (New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization), an organization under the jurisdiction of Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI)’s “Research and Development of Quantum-Supercomputers Hybrid Platform for Exploration of Uncharted Computable Capabilities” (Project Leader: Mitsuhisa Sato) as part of the “Project for Research and Development of Enhanced Infrastructures for Post 5G Information and Communications Systems (JPNP20017).”

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Cabinet Approves Rs 62,370 Crore Fertiliser Subsidy For Rabi 2026-27

New Delhi, Nov 11: The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday approved a budgetary allocation of approximately Rs 62,370.02 crore for nutrient-based subsidies on phosphatic and potassic (P&K) fertilisers for the 2026-27 rabi season.

 Representational Image 

The increased allocation is aimed at ensuring that farmers continue to get essential fertilisers at affordable and reasonable prices despite fluctuations in international fertiliser and raw material costs.

According to an official statement, the approved subsidy outlay is around Rs 24,417.73 crore higher than the Rs 37,952.29 crore allocated for the corresponding rabi season in 2025-26.

Subsidy To Cover DAP And NPKS Fertilisers

The approved Nutrient Based Subsidy (NBS) rates will remain applicable from October 1, 2026, to March 31, 2027, covering the entire rabi season.

The subsidy will apply to various P&K fertilisers, including Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) and different grades of NPKS fertilisers. The government said the decision was taken after reviewing international price trends for fertilisers and key inputs such as urea, DAP, Muriate of Potash (MOP) and sulphur.

Under the arrangement, fertiliser companies will receive subsidies according to the approved and notified rates, helping ensure the availability of these products to farmers at controlled prices.

28 Grades Of P&K Fertilisers Under Subsidy Scheme

The Centre currently makes 28 grades of phosphatic and potassic fertilisers, including DAP, available to farmers at subsidised rates through manufacturers and importers.

The NBS scheme has been in operation since April 1, 2010. It determines subsidy support for P&K fertilisers based on their nutrient content, with the objective of making essential agricultural inputs accessible to farmers.

Focus On Affordable Fertiliser Supply

The latest Cabinet decision is expected to cushion farmers against the impact of rising international fertiliser prices and input costs during the ongoing agricultural season.

The government said the revised subsidy structure would support the uninterrupted availability of P&K fertilisers and help farmers manage cultivation expenses during the rabi crop cycle.

Yubi and Protean eGov Technologies join forces to integrate India’s trusted digital rails into the credit lifecycle

Collaboration brings together Protean’s trusted identity and data capabilities and Yubi’s lending platforms, aiming for faster onboarding, sharper underwriting and a seamless digital experience for lenders and borrowers across India

MUMBAI, India, Nov. 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Yubi, the AI-powered operating system for financial services, and Protean eGov Technologies Limited, India’s most trusted digital infrastructure, announced a collaboration to bring trusted digital identity, KYC and data capabilities into the heart of lending across India. The aim is faster customer onboarding, better-informed underwriting and a seamless digital experience for lenders and borrowers alike.

India’s credit story is one of real progress, but visibility remains a gap. A recent report^[1] found that only 28% of Indian adults (aged 18-60) are credit-active, and another^[2] estimated a formal MSME credit gap of over ₹60 lakh crore, in part because lenders have limited access to verified information on how these businesses operate. Closing that gap depends on giving lenders reliable, verified signals on who a borrower is and how their finances work, at the point of decision.

Commenting on the collaboration, Gaurav Kumar, Founder & CEO, Yubi Group, said, “India has built world-class digital public infrastructure, yet lenders still make too many credit decisions without a clear view of who the borrower is. That gap is a big part of what keeps first-time borrowers and small businesses outside the formal system. Protean’s trusted identity and data capabilities, combined with the lending infrastructure Yubi provides to banks and lenders, can help close it. Our aim is to give lenders the confidence to say yes more often, and to give borrowers a faster, fairer and more transparent path to credit, at national scale. That is how we deepen India’s debt market and expand credit accessibility.”

Protean brings trusted identity, verification and data capabilities built for population scale. Yubi, which has facilitated over ₹3.2 lakh crore in credit, brings the lending infrastructure that banks and other lenders run on.

Commenting on this partnership, Mr. Ajay Rajan, MD & CEO, Protean eGov Technologies Limited, said, “Digital Public Infrastructure can be a powerful catalyst for transforming India’s lending ecosystem. Our collaboration with Yubi brings together Protean’s expertise in building trusted, scalable digital infrastructure and Yubi’s technology-led lending platform to simplify lending journeys, strengthen digital trust and drive greater operational efficiency. We see this partnership as an opportunity to translate DPI capabilities into tangible business value and accelerate innovation across the financial services ecosystem’ at scale.” 

India’s credit growth won’t be limited by capital. It will be limited by how fast and how safely a lender can know a borrower. Together, Protean’s comprehensive public rails (identity, KYC, consent, eSign) and Yubi’s cutting-edge lending stack remove that friction at four moments that decide a loan’s economics:

• Onboard in minutes, not days. Verified identity, KYC and consent are embedded in the journey for individuals and MSMEs. Lower drop-off, lower cost to acquire.
• Know once, reuse everywhere. CKYC search at onboarding, updates reported back, digital re-KYC, plus portable KYC and documents across co-lending partners. A compliance cost becomes a shared asset.
• Underwrite on real cash flows. Consented bank statements and ITRs, analysed automatically, give lenders a truer view of how a borrower earns. Better approvals for borrowers and MSMEs with limited credit histories, with sharper risk selection.
• Close digitally, disburse faster. Agreements, sanction letters and security documents signed and stamped online. Fewer handoffs, faster time-to-cash, a cleaner audit trail.

For borrowers, the aim is a faster, more transparent onboarding and documentation experience, and a fairer chance at credit for new-to-credit customers, small businesses and others still outside the formal system.

Highlighting Protean and Yubi’s differentiation – trust infrastructure meets lending infrastructure, Mr. Rakesh Dosi, Chief Business & Product Officer, Protean eGov Technologies Limited, said, “One platform, one verified borrower, from first click to final signature, built on public rails and scaled by private innovation will be a game changer.”

The collaboration will be carried out within India’s regulatory and consent-based frameworks and in line with applicable laws, including data protection laws, with data privacy and security as a priority.

About Yubi Group

Yubi Group is the world’s only AI-powered operating system (OS) for financial services, founded in 2020 by CEO Gaurav Kumar. The Group comprises YuVerse, Accumn, Spocto X, YuCollect, Yubi Wealth – subsidiaries that together deliver end-to-end AI-based solutions in lending, underwriting, collections and wealth management. Backed by leading investors including Peak XV, Insight Partners, Lightspeed, B Capital Group, Dragoneer, and TVS Capital, Yubi has facilitated over ₹3.2 lakh crore in credit and 3.5 crore transactions, serving 17,000+ enterprises and 6,200+ investors & lenders while reducing collections costs by 57%. The company is redefining transparency, compliance, and performance across India’s financial services sector. Visit www.go-yubi.com to learn more.

About Protean eGov Technologies

Incorporated in December 1995, Protean eGov Technologies Limited is engaged in the business of developing citizen-centric and population-scale e-governance solutions. Protean is an information technology-enabled solutions company conceptualizing, developing, and executing critical and population-scale greenfield technology solutions. The company collaborates with the Indian government and has extensive experience in creating digital public infrastructure and developing innovative citizen-centric e-governance solutions. 

This press release may contain forward-looking statements relating to anticipated future events, business prospects, operational outcomes, and strategic initiatives. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied due to various risks, uncertainties, regulatory developments, and other factors beyond the control of the parties. Neither party undertakes any obligation to update such statements.

^[1] https://www.transunioncibil.com/content/dam/transunion-cibil/corporate/documents/Unlocking-Access-Digital-Report-New-Final.pdf ^[2] https://www.bain.com/globalassets/noindex/2026/bain_report_indias_next_growth_frontier_b2b_commerce_payments_and_credit.pdf 

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Woxsen University and Apollo Healthcare Academy Sign MoU to Launch a Department of Allied Health Sciences

HYDERABAD, India, Nov. 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Woxsen University and Apollo Healthcare Academy, part of Apollo Knowledge, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to set up a Department of Allied Health Sciences under Woxsen’s School of Sciences. The department will offer bachelor’s programmes in allied health from the academic year 2027-28. The partnership aims to address the shortage of allied health professionals in India and worldwide. It will give students strong academic foundations along with firsthand clinical training.

In Phase 1, the department will offer four undergraduate programmes: Bachelor of Medical Radiology and Imaging Technology (B. MRIT), Bachelor of Physiotherapy (BPT), Bachelor of Anesthesia and Operation Theatre Technology (B.AOTT), and Bachelor of Cardiovascular Technology (B.CVT). The programmes will combine Woxsen University’s academic infrastructure with Apollo Healthcare Academy’s clinical expertise to produce graduates who are ready to work in hospitals. More allied health disciplines will be added in Phases 2 and 3.

The curriculum will follow the guidelines set by the National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions (NCAHP). Students will train at Apollo Hospitals and affiliated healthcare facilities. Every programme ends with a full year of structured internship across Apollo and partner hospitals network.

Addressing a National and Global Need

India faces a shortage of an estimated 6.2 million allied health professionals. The World Health Organization (WHO) and health systems around the world also report a growing shortage, and it will widen as populations age and the demand for care rises. This partnership will help close the gap by preparing graduates who are skilled, confident, and ready to work from day one.

Voices from the Partnership

Mr. Vishal Khurma, Group CEO, Woxsen University, said, “At Woxsen, we are committed to setting new benchmarks in Allied Health Sciences education by moving decisively beyond conventional classroom-led learning to an immersive, industry-integrated model. Our partnership with Apollo Knowledge gives students unparalleled access to world-class clinical infrastructure, innovative laboratories, advanced medical equipment, and simulators, alongside the expertise of Apollo’s leading healthcare specialists, who will actively shape their learning journey. With a full year dedicated to structured internships across Apollo’s extensive hospital network, we are ensuring that every student graduates with substantial firsthand clinical experience and industry readiness. Our vision is to develop exceptionally skilled, clinically confident healthcare professionals who are ready to make a difference from day one.”

Dr. Daya Shankar Tiwary, Dean, School of Sciences, Woxsen University, said, “We are committed to building the next generation of Allied Health professionals who combine rigorous scientific foundations with deep clinical competence. With Apollo’s unmatched hospital network and our academic strength, we are building a pipeline of healthcare talent that India urgently needs.”

Asheesh Sharma, Chief Business Officer, Apollo Knowledge, said, “Hospitals need allied health professionals who can work with patients from their first day on the job. Apollo Healthcare Academy trains students to the standard that hospitals expect. With Woxsen, students will learn the science on campus and practise it in our hospitals, and they will spend a full year working alongside Apollo clinicians. Apollo has placed more than 5,000 healthcare professionals in India and abroad. Woxsen graduates will have access to these same career pathways.”

What Students Can Expect

• Industry-relevant curriculum co-developed by academic experts and hospital clinicians, in line with NCAHP guidelines
• Expert faculty from Woxsen University and Apollo Healthcare Academy
• Modern laboratories, advanced medical equipment, and simulators
• Structured clinical training, with a full-year internship across Apollo’s hospital network
• Scholarships for eligible students
• Global readiness support, including bridge programmes, language training, and licensing support
• Placement assistance through Apollo Hospitals and partner networks

Shaping the Future of Healthcare

With this MoU, Woxsen University and Apollo Healthcare Academy reaffirm their commitment to allied health education and to tackling the healthcare workforce shortage. Together, they aim to build a steady supply of skilled allied health professionals for India and the world.

About Woxsen University

Woxsen University, Hyderabad, in 2014 as the Woxsen School of Business and received university status in 2020. It is one of the first private universities in Telangana. The university is located on a 200-acre residential campus at Sadasivpet, near Hyderabad. It offers undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral programmes through its schools of Business, Technology, Art and Design, Liberal Arts, Law, Architecture and Sciences. Woxsen is ranked No. 5 in the Asia-Pacific region in the Bloomberg Businessweek B-School Rankings 2026-27. The new Department of Allied Health Sciences under the School of Sciences extends the university’s work into healthcare education.

About Apollo Healthcare Academy

Apollo Healthcare Academy, part of Apollo Knowledge, is dedicated to developing high-quality, workforce-ready healthcare talent across India. With a focus on allied health sciences, the academy delivers practically immersive programmes co-developed with leading clinicians and academic experts. Through its strong integration with Apollo Hospitals, the academy provides students with hands-on clinical exposure, internships, and career pathways in India and abroad.

Media contact: Ahana Bose | ahana.bose@woxsen.edu.in 

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Odisha Vegetable Prices Rise During Kartik As Crop Damage Disrupts Supply In Cuttack

Cuttack, Nov 11 (UDN): Consumers in Cuttack are facing higher vegetable prices during the holy month of Kartik, as increased demand and disruptions in supply push up the cost of essential kitchen items.

 Representational Image 

With many households observing Kartik by following a vegetarian diet, demand for fresh vegetables has risen. At the same time, rainfall-related crop damage in neighbouring states and flood losses in parts of Odisha have reportedly affected the supply chain, adding to the pressure on prices.

Brinjal is currently selling at around Rs 60 per kg in Cuttack markets, while pointed gourd (potala), yardlong beans (jhudanga) and French beans are priced at nearly Rs 100 per kg.

Rainfall And Flood Damage Disrupt Supply

Odisha depends on neighbouring states for supplies of several varieties of vegetables. However, prolonged rainfall in those states has reportedly damaged crops and disrupted the flow of produce into local markets.

The situation has been compounded by flood-related damage to vegetable cultivation in parts of Odisha. Many local farmers are also yet to harvest their crops, leaving markets with limited arrivals.

The gap between demand and available supply has contributed to the rise in retail prices, affecting household budgets during Kartik.

Vendors Hope For Improvement In Arrivals

Vegetable sellers say the supply of fresh produce has not improved sufficiently with the onset of winter, keeping prices elevated.

A vendor said pointed gourd was being sold at around Rs 70 per kg, while yardlong beans, which were earlier available for Rs 50 per kg, were no longer being sold at that rate. The seller attributed the higher prices to limited arrivals and expressed hope that rates would decline once supplies improve.

Consumers Say Transport Costs Also Matter

Consumers, however, have differing views on the price rise. Some believe the current rates are reasonable, considering that a significant quantity of vegetables is being brought into Odisha from outside the state.

One customer said prices were not excessively high and had remained more or less stable in recent days. The customer added that transportation costs naturally affect the final retail price.

With Kartik-related demand continuing, consumers will be watching for an improvement in market arrivals and some relief in vegetable prices in the coming days.

Char Dham Yatra 2026: Kedarnath, Gangotri Close For Winter; Yamunotri To Shut Soon

Dehradun, Nov 11: The 2026 Char Dham pilgrimage season in Uttarakhand is drawing to a close as the portals of Kedarnath Dham were ceremonially shut on Wednesday morning, marking the beginning of the temple’s six-month winter break.

 Representational Image 

The temple doors were closed at 8:30 AM on November 11, following traditional rituals and religious ceremonies on the auspicious occasion of Bhai Dooj.

The closure ceremony was held amid freezing temperatures and heavy snowfall in the Kedarnath Valley. Despite the harsh weather conditions, thousands of devotees gathered at the Himalayan shrine to have a final darshan of Baba Kedar before the temple shuts for the winter.

The atmosphere turned devotional as chants of ‘Jai Baba Kedar’ echoed across the valley during the ceremonial closure. The temple premises were beautifully decorated with flowers, while priests performed the prescribed rituals before the portals were closed.

Gangotri Dham Also Closed For Winter

Kedarnath is not the only shrine to begin its winter closure. The portals of Gangotri Dham were also shut on Tuesday following traditional religious ceremonies.

With the closure, the temple will remain inaccessible to pilgrims for approximately six months during the harsh winter period.

Meanwhile, preparations are underway for the seasonal closure of Yamunotri Temple, which will mark another major milestone in the conclusion of this year’s Char Dham pilgrimage.

Heavy Snowfall, Freezing Temperatures Mark Final Darshan

The final days of the pilgrimage season witnessed severe cold and snowfall in the Kedarnath region. Nevertheless, devotees continued to arrive in large numbers to seek blessings before the temple doors were closed.

Reports also indicated heavy traffic congestion on roads leading to the shrine due to the rush of pilgrims.

According to estimates cited in reports, around 19 lakh devotees had gathered in the Kedarnath region during the closing period, braving challenging weather conditions for the final darshan.

Six-Month Winter Break Begins

The annual winter closure of the Himalayan shrines is a longstanding religious tradition. During the winter months, extreme snowfall and sub-zero temperatures make access to the high-altitude temples difficult.

With Kedarnath and Gangotri now closed, the 2026 pilgrimage season is nearing its end. Devotees will have to wait until the temples reopen next year to resume their pilgrimage to these sacred Himalayan destinations.