Recent 6 months news in National

Union Minister Amit Shah has inaugurated the new premises of the National Urban Cooperative Finance and Development Corporation (NUCFDC) at Sharada Sadan in Fort, Mumbai, during the 'Sahkar Nav-Kranti' programme.

During the event, he released the book 'Operational Risk Management: A Practical Guide to Urban Co-operative Banks', authored by former RBI Deputy General Manager (DGM) GP Mistry.

Additionally, NUCFDC has launched 'Bank in a Box', an integrated technology platform designed to provide Urban Co-operative Banks (UCBs) with access to multiple banking and technology services. An MoU was also exchanged between NUCFDC and the National Forensic Sciences University (NFSU).

The BRICS Youth Council Meeting and BRICS Youth Summit 2026 were held in Gandhinagar, Gujarat.

The events were organised by the Department of Youth Affairs under the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.

The Ministry of Tourism also hosted the second BRICS 2026 Tourism Working Group (TWG) meeting in Jaipur, Rajasthan, chaired by Bhuvnesh Kumar, the Secretary of the Ministry of Tourism.

The 2nd Joint Working Group (JWG) meeting between India and Malaysia on cooperation in the field of Public Administration and Governance Reforms was held in New Delhi.

During the JWG meeting, both countries reaffirmed their commitment to strengthen bilateral cooperation in public administration, governance reforms, capacity building, and the exchange of best practices.

Hyderabad-based Mishra Dhatu Nigam Ltd (MIDHANI) has become the first company in India to secure the 'Independent and International Metallic Material Laboratory (S400)' approval from GE Aerospace, an American aerospace corporation.

The S400 certification authorizes the company to perform a comprehensive range of chemical, mechanical, and metallurgical testing on high-performance metallic materials and aerospace alloys.

President Droupadi Murmu has granted assent to the Prevention of Insults to National Honour (Amendment) Bill, 2026, which amends Section 3 of the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971.

The amendment criminalises the intentional disruption or prevention of the singing of the national song, “Vande Mataram”. It is to be noted that this legislation extends the same legal protection to the national song, “Vande Mataram”, as is currently afforded to the national anthem, “Jana Gana Mana”.

The Digital Bharat Nidhi (DBN) under the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has signed an agreement with the Chhattisgarh government, Chhattisgarh State BharatNet Infrastructure Ltd (CSBIL), BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd), and Chhattisgarh Infotech Promotion Society (CHiPS) to implement the 'Amended BharatNet Program' in Chhattisgarh.

A financial support of Rs 3,942 crore has been approved for the rollout of the program in the state.

Union Minister Giriraj Singh has inaugurated ‘IIHT SUTRA 2026’, the first national conclave of the Indian Institutes of Handloom Technology (IIHTs), at the Dr. Ambedkar International Centre (DAIC) in New Delhi.

The conclave was organised by the Office of the Development Commissioner (Handlooms) under the Ministry of Textiles (MoT) under the theme “IIHTs: Weaving the Future of the Indian Handloom Sector - Educate. Innovate”. The Office of the Development Commissioner (Handlooms) also organised a special gathering titled ‘Srijan: Voices from the Loom’ to celebrate women in the handloom sector.

During the event, 3 strategic MoUs were signed with Grasim Industries Ltd, Northern India Textile Research Association (NITRA), and Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Sambalpur. The MoT released a publication titled “Handloom Change Makers”, highlighting the achievements of prominent IIHT alumni, and launched a film titled “Weaving India’s Handloom Future”.

India has launched its inaugural 'Guide to Grasslands and Other Open Natural Ecosystems (ONEs) of India' at the 17th Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has approved 31 new manufacturing proposals worth ₹7,877 crore under the fifth tranche of the Electronics Component Manufacturing Scheme (ECMS).

This approval brings the cumulative total of approved applications to 106 projects across 15 states.

The total committed investments under ECMS have reached ₹69,548 crore (as of August 2026), exceeding the original target of ₹59,350 crore.

Prof. Ajay Kumar Sood, the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, has launched the 'RSVC AMRIT' (Accelerated Medium for Rural Innovations and Technologies) platform.

The platform has been developed by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) in collaboration with the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser (OPSA). It is designed to serve as a digital backbone to foster rural innovations and bridge the gap between advanced scientific innovations and grassroots rural needs.

Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has released scholarship and fellowship funds for agriculture students through the National Scholarship Portal (NSP) at the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Indian Agricultural Research Institute (ICAR-IARI), Pusa, New Delhi.

Under the initiative, Rs 21.35 crore was disbursed via Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) directly to the bank accounts of over 6,000 students.

Union Minister Amit Shah has inaugurated and laid foundation stones for 944 development projects worth ₹5,755 crore across 15 districts of Rajasthan.

On the occasion of the 8th death anniversary of former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee, he unveiled a 21-foot-tall statue of Vajpayee in Chittorgarh district installed at a cost of over ₹1.5 crore.

Union Minister Pralhad Joshi has launched a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC)-based Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) pilot initiative under the PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) in the Union Territories (UTs) of Chandigarh and Dadra & Nagar Haveli.

Under the new mechanism, food subsidies will be transferred directly into the Digital Rupee wallets of beneficiaries instead of conventional bank accounts.

The Central Zoo Authority (CZA) has approved the proposal to establish Asia’s first desert zoological park and desert-themed night safari at Juna Deesa in the Banaskantha district of Gujarat.

The project, with an estimated budget of ₹542.14 crore, spans across 103 hectares of contiguous government land. It will be developed as a 100% eco-friendly space utilizing solar energy, rainwater harvesting, and advanced sewage treatment systems.

PM Narendra Modi has inaugurated ‘Param Pragya’, an AI-enabled high-performance supercomputing facility at the Sonipat (Haryana) campus of the IIT Delhi. The inauguration took place during the 57th convocation of IIT Delhi, where he attended as the Chief Guest.

The 140-year-old ‘Parichha Weir’ in Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, has been designated as a World Heritage Irrigation Structure (WHIS) by the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID).

It is to be noted that the weir was originally proposed in 1855 by Captain Strachey to serve the Bundelkhand region.

The Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI) has amended the Prime Minister’s Electric Drive Revolution in Innovative Vehicle Enhancement (PM E-DRIVE) Scheme. Under the amendment, the incentive for electric two-wheelers (e-2Ws) has been reduced to ₹2,500 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) (capped at ₹5,000 per vehicle) for the period from April 2025 to March 2028.

Notified in 2024, the PM E-DRIVE Scheme was initially launched for a 2-year period, with its implementation subsequently extended up to March 31, 2028. The scheme has a total financial outlay of ₹11,900 crore.

Chennai-based Aheesa Digital Innovations, a fabless semiconductor startup, has achieved first-pass silicon success with ‘VIHAAN’, the first domestically designed broadband networking System-on-Chip (SoC) in India.

The development of ‘VIHAAN’ is supported under the Design Linked Incentive (DLI) scheme of the central government. It is built using the indigenous 64-bit VEGA microprocessor developed by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), offering a royalty-free RISC-V architecture.

Union Minister Amit Shah has launched the 'Gramin Gyan Setu', an mobile application, via video conferencing to interconnect libraries across the Gandhinagar constituency in Gujarat.

The objective of the initiative is to establish a library in every village to encourage reading habits among children.

Union Minister Piyush Goyal has felicitated top buyers and leading sellers during the 10th foundation day celebration of the Government e Marketplace (GeM) held at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi.

During the event, GeM launched a nationwide 5-digit short code helpdesk number '14550' to improve its support services. A customized 'My Stamp' and a commemorative film showcasing the 10-year journey of GeM were also launched.