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Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change chaired a review meeting in Bhuj, Gujarat, focusing on flagship conservation programmes including Great Indian Bustard (GIB) conservation, grassland restoration, and Project Cheetah. During the meeting, the Gujarat Action Plan for GIB Conservation—prepared by the Wildlife Institute of India and the Gujarat Forest Department—was released to establish a viable population of over 30 birds in the Lala–Rawa landscape. The Minister highlighted landscape-level restoration efforts, invasive species removal, predator-proof fencing, and a jump-start intervention involving egg replacement. Additionally, a five-year national assessment for grassland restoration was announced, and progress under Project Cheetah was reviewed, noting a population of 52 individuals and planned future release sites.

This release contains the text of the Prime Minister's opening address at the 18th BRICS Summit session titled 'Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation, and Sustainability: Shaping the Future for Inclusive Global Development'. The address highlights India's four core pillars during its presidency: Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation, and Sustainability. Key initiatives mentioned include a BRICS Integrated Early Warning System for infectious diseases, Early Warning Data Integration Guidelines for Disaster Management, a BRICS Logistics Supply Chain Cooperation Framework, a BRICS Startup Innovation Fund, a BRICS Network on Digital Agriculture, a BRICS MSME Cooperation Portal, a BRICS Urban Mobility Hub, and Centers of Excellence for Agro-Ecology and Regenerative Agriculture, aiming to foster inclusive global growth and support the Global South.

The Prime Minister delivered opening remarks at the 18th BRICS Summit, highlighting India's presidency focus on people-centric, humanity-first approaches, resilience, innovation, cooperation, and sustainability. Marking the 20th anniversary of BRICS, the Prime Minister emphasized transitioning from consensus to concrete global outcomes and proposed a BRICS Continuity and Implementation Mechanism through a Troika and a secure digital repository. Key proposals include transforming global governance from a "pyramid of privilege" to a "platform of partnership" by developing a BRICS Reform Roadmap across representation, responsiveness, and rule-making. Specific initiatives highlighted include UN Security Council reforms with time-bound text-based negotiations, reforming international financial institutions' voting power, establishing a Seafarers Emergency Support Network, and empowering Global South countries in emerging areas like AI, cyberspace, and critical technologies.

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi met with His Highness Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, on the sidelines of the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi on 12 September 2026. The leaders reiterated the significance of the India-UAE Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, recalling recent leadership visits. They discussed cooperation within BRICS under India's Chairship, bilateral progress across sectors, and the UAE's International Holding Company's announcement to invest USD 11.5 billion in an integrated greenfield aluminium project in Odisha. Furthermore, they acknowledged the role of L’Imad, the UAE's newest sovereign investment fund, and explored strategic cooperation in defence, space, nuclear energy, technology, and innovation.

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi met Chinese President Xi Jinping on 12 September 2026 on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in New Delhi. The leaders welcomed progress in bilateral relations since August 2025 and emphasized that ties should be viewed from a strategic and long-term perspective. The Prime Minister highlighted the 'three mutuals'—mutual respect, mutual sensitivity, and mutual interest—and stressed that peace and tranquility in border areas are essential for bilateral development. Both sides committed to addressing economic concerns such as structural trade imbalances and supply chain issues, while also agreeing to expand cooperation on regional and global challenges. The Prime Minister also appreciated China's support for India's BRICS chairship.

The XVIII BRICS Summit was held in New Delhi, India, under the theme 'Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability.' The participating leaders reaffirmed their commitment to the BRICS spirit of mutual respect, sovereign equality, consensus, and multilateralism across political and security, economic and financial, and cultural pillars. The New Delhi Declaration addresses reforming global governance, including the United Nations and Bretton Woods institutions, amplifying the voice of Emerging Markets and Developing Countries (EMDCs) and the Global South, strengthening multilateral trade under the WTO, combatting terrorism and illicit financial flows, enhancing cooperation in outer space, and advancing digital security and sustainable development goals.

Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh highlighted that indigenous Steel Slag Road Technology can reduce road construction costs by about 40 percent and deliver four times the strength of conventional roads. Speaking at the conferment of a Guinness World Record for the world's longest road built with processed steel slag aggregates at Raigarh, Chhattisgarh—jointly pursued by CSIR-CRRI and Jindal Steel—the Minister called for scaling up the technology across states, government departments, and the private sector. The technology utilizes processed steel slag, an industrial by-product, to construct durable infrastructure, requiring major maintenance only after nearly 15 years. This initiative aligns with the 'Waste to Wealth' and circular economy priorities by conserving natural resources and turning industrial waste into valuable assets.

At the Global Fintech Fest 2026, Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman highlighted the benefits of a federated industry platform to give the Indian technology sector a collective international voice. She discussed emerging technological frontiers like AI safety risks, tokenized bond pilots using CBDC, and agentic AI, while cautioning against systemic risks, fraud, and speed-induced market shocks. The Minister released the BCG report titled 'Balance: Thriving in the Age of AI' and reiterated five key priorities outlined by the Prime Minister for the sector, including cybersecurity, data protection, and a Fintech Consumer Protection Index.

The Prime Minister addressed the BRICS Business Forum 2026, marking twenty years of BRICS and highlighting that BRICS and its partners now represent over fifty percent of global population, forty percent of GDP, and twenty-five percent of trade. Emphasizing India's BRICS presidency theme of building for resilience, innovation, cooperation, and sustainability, the address highlighted India's economic growth, infrastructure expansion, startup ecosystem with over two lakh startups and one hundred and twenty unicorns, population-scale digital public infrastructure like UPI, and efforts to reduce trade barriers. New cooperation initiatives introduced during India's presidency include the BRICS Incubator Network, BRICS MSME Portal, and BRICS Startup Innovation Fund.

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi met with the President of the Russian Federation, H.E. Vladimir Putin, on the margins of the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi. The leaders reviewed bilateral cooperation across political, economic, defence, energy, space, skill mobility, and people-to-people domains, and welcomed the first-ever 'INNOPROM India' International Industrial Exhibition. They also exchanged perspectives on regional and global issues, including the conflicts in West Asia and the Black Sea region, with the Prime Minister reiterating that dialogue and diplomacy are the way forward. Additionally, President Putin invited the Prime Minister to visit Russia for the 24th India-Russia Annual Summit, which was accepted.

India has administered more than 80 lakh doses of the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine under the National HPV Vaccination Campaign since its launch in February 2026. Initiated by the Prime Minister, the campaign provides free, voluntary single-dose HPV vaccinations with parental consent to 14-year-old girls, targeting an annual cohort of approximately 1.2 crore girls according to Registrar General of India 2021 estimates. Several states including Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Mizoram have achieved 100% coverage, with Uttar Pradesh vaccinating over 22 lakh adolescent girls. The campaign utilizes the U-WIN digital health platform for district-level monitoring, operates under medical supervision with 24x7 arrangements for rare adverse events, and engages frontline health workers and educators for community mobilization.

The Union Ministry of Education, alongside the Ministry of External Affairs, is organizing the 'Bharat Innovates Exposition' on September 11-12, 2026, at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi. Held as part of the 18th BRICS Summit under India’s BRICS Chairship (themed "Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability"), the event showcases 37 Indian deep-tech startups and ventures. It serves as a global accelerator for innovations from the Indian higher education ecosystem, following the maiden edition held in Nice, France. The exposition coincides with the BRICS Business Forum to facilitate B2B engagements, technology partnerships, and investment discussions, advancing the BRICS Education Track priority of enhancing research, innovation, and startup ecosystems.

Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Shri Piyush Goyal addressed the Opening Session of the BRICS Business Forum in New Delhi, calling for deeper, resilient, and more balanced intra-BRICS trade. Emphasizing that BRICS accounts for nearly one-fourth of global trade, he urged member and partner countries to open markets, simplify regulatory procedures, and link payment systems such as India's Unified Payments Interface (UPI). He also encouraged promoting trade in local currencies, and fostering cooperation in agriculture, pharmaceuticals, engineering, electronics, automobiles, startups, and emerging technologies. Union Minister of External Affairs Dr. S. Jaishankar highlighted supply chain connectivity, trade facilitation, innovation, and digital public infrastructure as key BRICS priorities, while Commerce Secretary Shri Rajesh Agrawal noted that intra-BRICS trade has grown significantly over the past two decades.

The Ministry of Labour and Employment, in collaboration with the Government of Maharashtra, organized a National Conference on Building and Other Construction Workers (BOCW) in Mumbai, chaired by Union Minister Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya. The conference focused on the welfare, employment, skilling, social security, and international labour mobility of India's construction workforce, which totals over 7 crore workers with an accumulated BOCW cess corpus of approximately Rs. 77,000 crores. Discussions covered best practices from various states, the utilisation of cess funds, worker safety, dignified living conditions, and digital initiatives such as the Digital Labour Chowk, Labour Chowk-cum-Facilitation Centres, and Online BOCW Cess Collection Portals. The conference also highlighted the implementation of Labour Codes and the Pradhan Mantri Viksit Bharat Rozgar Yojana (PMVBRY).

This PIB backgrounder details the evolution, cooperation framework, and India's leadership of BRICS, highlighting its transformation from a four-country economic dialogue initiated in 2001 to an 11-member geopolitical and economic bloc representing significant global population, GDP, and trade shares. The document outlines the history of BRICS summits, including India's previous chairships in 2012, 2016, and 2021, and its ongoing 2026 chairship. Under its 2026 presidency theme 'Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability,' India hosts the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi and oversees numerous ministerial meetings leading to practical outcomes across agriculture, health, traditional medicine, MSME cooperation, digital public infrastructure, logistics, and global value chains.

Marking six years of the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY), this PIB backgrounder details achievements in India's fisheries and aquaculture sector. Launched in 2020 with an outlay of ₹20,750 crore, the umbrella scheme has supported infrastructural growth, increased fish production from 141.64 lakh tonnes in 2019-20 to 197.75 lakh tonnes in 2024-25, and elevated fisheries exports to ₹73,890 crore in 2025-26. The government allocated a record ₹2,500 crore in BE 2026–27. The note highlights structural components like the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Kisan Samridhi Sah-Yojana (PM-MKSSY), the National Fisheries Digital Platform (NFDP), the promotion of Fish Farmers Producer Organizations (FFPOs), technology-driven aquaculture methods such as RAS and Bio-floc, and contributions to Sustainable Development Goal 14.

The Department of Consumer Affairs has notified the Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) (Amendment) Rules, 2026, to strengthen consumer protection and transparency in the digital marketplace. Scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2027, the rules mandate that all e-commerce entities partner with the National Consumer Helpline (NCH) convergence process. Key amendments introduce stricter regulations on search results, sponsored listings, price reductions (defining prior price over the preceding 30 days), compliance with dark pattern guidelines via yearly self-audits, enhanced seller and product disclosures, consent requirements for consumer information use, and mandatory origin and importer details for imported goods.

Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Shri Amit Shah chaired the third meeting of the Governing Body of the National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) in New Delhi. The meeting emphasized a fundamental transformation in India's disaster management approach over the past 12 years, moving from relief and rehabilitation to risk reduction, early warning systems, and achieving 'Zero Casualty'. Highlighting the 'Whole of Government' approach, the Home Minister noted increases in fund allocations, including a nearly fourfold rise for the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) and a nearly threefold rise for the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF). Key directives included establishing dedicated cells in departments for agenda implementation, integrating universities into NIDM, promoting disaster management mobile applications in educational sectors, and conducting joint post-disaster studies by NDMA, NIDM, NDRF, and SDRF.

Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan held a nationwide consultation with farmer organization leaders in New Delhi regarding the proposed stronger Seed Act. The new legislation aims to replace the existing 1966 Seed Act and 1983 Seeds Control Order, noting that approximately 70% of seeds currently fall outside the older law's scope. The proposed law seeks to protect farmers from fake and substandard seeds by introducing mandatory registration, QR code-based end-to-end traceability, penalties up to ₹30 lakh along with imprisonment for serious offences, empowerment of state governments to release seed varieties faster, state-managed Seed Security Funds, and assured compensation within 15 days. The government emphasized that traditional farmers' seed rights will remain fully protected without mandatory registration for traditional varieties.

Shri Rajiv Gauba, Member of NITI Aayog, spoke at the Global Fintech Fest 2026 during a session on India's next-generation reform architecture. He stated that deregulation should be the defining feature of future reforms, emphasizing the removal of license, approval, and frequent renewal regimes through a High-Level Committee and a Deregulation Task Force grounded in trust-based governance. He highlighted past reforms like GST, the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, and liberalized foreign investment in sectors such as defence, space, and nuclear energy. Additionally, he discussed fintech growth, digital public infrastructure, cooperative federalism linked to reform milestones, and measures to attract long-term capital to achieve the Viksit Bharat vision.