But the most talked-about innovation of the year is the Operation Sindoor series. Shaped like military tanks, these crackers pay homage to the Indian Army’s recent success.

On October 7, Y Puran Kumar, a serving IPS officer of Haryana cadre, was found dead with a gunshot wound at his residence in Chandigarh

A novel about identity and a missing youth, a history of the overthrow of the Shah of Iran and a picture book celebrating the underappreciated belly button are this year’s winners of the Kirkus Prize.