Official releases, distilled into exam-ready intelligence.

The Ministry of Culture held the National Digitization Drive Workshop in New Delhi under the Gyan Bharatam Mission, attended by over 200 representatives from States/UTs, Centres, custodians, scholars, experts and technology partners. Union Minister Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat highlighted that more than 1.2 crore manuscripts have been reported nationwide and emphasized sustained, coordinated digitization to preserve India’s manuscript heritage. The workshop reviewed digitization targets, standardised imaging and metadata practices, and presented state and institutional models. It also showcased an emerging AI‑enabled National Digital Manuscript Ecosystem and announced funding for infrastructure, equipment and manpower to support simultaneous conservation and digitisation.

The Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY) and IndiaAI have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of AYUSH to speed up the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in India’s traditional medicine sector. Under the agreement, AYUSH will feed anonymised health research artefacts—datasets, metadata, AI models, toolkits and use‑cases—into AIKosh, the nation’s sovereign AI repository. The shared resources are intended to help researchers, startups, academic institutions and innovators create AI‑driven solutions that align with national priorities, while leveraging the IndiaAI Compute ecosystem for advanced research. The MoU is valid for two years, with automatic renewal possible, and involves no financial commitments from either side.

On 31 July 2026, General Dhiraj Seth, Chief of the Army Staff, launched an indigenously developed Xtreme Weather Grade (XWG) Diesel in New Delhi. Jointly created by the Indian Army and oil‑marketing companies, the fuel remains functional down to ‑42 °C, complies with BS‑VI and IS 1460:2025 standards, and can be used in existing army vehicles without engine modification. The COAS said the fuel will improve mobility, safety and operational readiness of combat and logistics vehicles in extreme climatic conditions and will also benefit civilian users in high‑altitude and severe winter regions, marking a step towards Atmanirbhar Bharat.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare reports that the National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions (NCAHP), created under the NCAHP Act, 2021, has finalized 18 competency‑based curricula and launched online enrolment portals in October 2024 to aid central and state workforce mapping. Thirty‑nine States/UTs have formed State Allied and Healthcare Councils to implement the Act’s provisions. In the 2026 Union Budget, the government announced the addition of 100,000 allied health professionals over the next five years and allocated Rs 1,000 crore for the Scheme for Allied Health Care Professionals. The Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Smt. Anupriya Patel, conveyed these steps in a Lok Sabha reply.

The Centre for Development of Telematics (C‑DOT), the telecom R&D centre of the Department of Telecommunications, organised the Annual IP Awards Ceremony 2026 at its Delhi campus. The event honoured 64 researchers, engineers and domain experts and recognised 47 patents, 3 copyrights and 8 research papers generated by the Delhi campus. A separate ceremony at the Bengaluru campus honoured 78 innovators, acknowledging 36 patents, 18 copyrights, 9 trademarks and 3 research papers. Officials said the awards underscore C‑DOT’s role in building indigenous, secure and future‑ready telecom technologies and contribute to India’s vision of technological self‑reliance and digital transformation.

The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved a revamped Khelo India Scheme and an enhanced Assistance to National Sports Federations (ANSF) with a combined outlay of Rs 36,441 crore for 2026‑27 to 2030‑31, about eight times the previous allocation. The scheme creates an integrated sports ecosystem comprising National Centres of Excellence, Khelo India Centres of Excellence, SAI Training Centres, Khelo India Accredited Academies, Khelo India Centres and Youth Sports Companies of the Armed Forces. New school‑level initiatives – Khelo India Feeder Schools and Khelo India Utkrishta Vidyalayas – aim to embed sports in mainstream education. It expands athlete development pathways, adds the Emerging Khelo India Athletes category, and emphasizes women athletes, para‑athletes, indigenous sports, and sports‑based community development. The ANSF component will fund coaching, sports science, equipment, international exposure and cooperation with Global South countries.

The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the continuation of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM‑KISAN) Scheme for the financial years 2026‑27 to 2030‑31 with a total outlay of Rs 3.15 lakh crore. The scheme, launched in February 2019, provides Rs 6,000 per eligible farmer family each year in three DBT instalments. To date, more than Rs 4.47 lakh crore has been transferred to 9.49 crore farmers across 23 instalments, including Rs 1.71 lakh crore during the COVID‑19 pandemic. Independent evaluations report that over 92 % of beneficiaries used the funds for agricultural investment and about 85 % saw income improvement and reduced reliance on informal credit. Between 2020‑21 and 2025‑26, food‑grain area, productivity and total production grew by roughly 9.65 %, 10.53 % and 21.18 % respectively.

The Ministry of Women and Child Development has launched the ‘Poshan Tracker’ digital application under Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0. The ICT‑based tool enables real‑time monitoring of services at Anganwadi Centres, with all states and UTs—including Gujarat—given login credentials to view dashboards showing functional AWCs, children and mothers covered. The mission also provides supplementary nutrition (hot cooked meals and take‑home rations) to children, pregnant and lactating women, and adolescent girls as per Schedule‑II of the National Food Security Act, 2013, and supplies growth‑monitoring devices and smartphones to frontline workers. Monthly reviews are conducted by District Nutrition Committees chaired by the District Magistrate/Collector and a State‑level Steering Committee chaired by the Chief Secretary.

The Ministry of Ayush and IndiaAI (MeitY) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to promote AI‑driven innovation in the Ayush sector. The MoU, signed by Dr. Kavita Jain (Joint Secretary, Ayush) and Shri Sudeep Srivastava (COO, IndiaAI, Joint Secretary, MeitY), aims to integrate AI across research, medicinal‑plant studies, drug administration and capacity‑building. Under the agreement, Ayush will onboard the AIKosh platform to share eligible health‑research artefacts such as datasets, metadata, AI models and toolkits. The partnership also provides subsidised access to GPU‑based high‑performance computing infrastructure, facilitating advanced AI research and applications in traditional medicine.

The Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS) is documenting traditional practices through its Tribal Health Care Research Programme and Medico Ethno‑Botanical Survey, while also conducting awareness lectures on Ayurveda‑based lifestyle practices. A Memorandum of Agreement between the Ministry of AYUSH and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), signed on 11 May 2023, aims to foster integrative health research and strengthen research capacity. Under this collaboration, a community‑based, three‑arm randomised controlled trial evaluated the efficacy and safety of Punarnavadi Mandura (alone and with Drakshavaleha) versus iron‑folic acid for moderate iron‑deficiency anaemia in non‑pregnant women. The All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA) operates a 200‑bed tertiary‑care hospital with an ICU, integrating modern specialists and establishing an integrated cancer clinic, while the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) now offers beneficiaries the choice of AYUSH or allopathic treatment.

The Ministry of AYUSH, through its IEC Scheme, promotes Unani medicine and observes Unani Day each February. The Central Council for Research in Unani Medicine (CCRUM) runs 21 clinical institutes, reaching about 47 lakh people in five years via mobile research, school health and healthcare services. The 79th NSSO round (July 2022–June 2023) surveyed 1,81,298 households, finding awareness of AYUSH systems at 94.8 % (rural) and 96 % (urban), with 46.3 % rural and 52.9 % urban residents using AYUSH treatments in the past year. The National Commission for Indian System of Medicine (NCISM) has issued multiple regulations (2022‑2024) and introduced competency‑based curricula, credit frameworks, and technology‑enabled teaching for Unani undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, alongside a detailed list of recognised institutions and their intake capacities.

The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) facilitated the first‑ever air shipment of one metric tonne of Karnataka’s Neelam and Totapuri mangoes to the Maldives on 30 July 2026. The consignment, sourced from farmers of Prakruthimaya Farmers Producer Company Ltd. (Kolar, Karnataka) and exported by woman entrepreneur Ashwini A of Ahalya Devi Ventures, marks a new export avenue for late‑season mango varieties. Farmers associated with the FPC reported over 50 % higher returns compared with conventional market channels, underscoring the income‑boosting potential of direct global market linkages and the role of Farmer Producer Companies in agri‑export.

The Ministry of Science & Technology clarified that media reports alleging conflict of interest in the disbursement of funds under the Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) Scheme by the Technology Development Board (TDB) are misleading. It stated that TDB has a comprehensive Conflict of Interest policy that has been applied without any complaint. Prior to the first Investment Committee meeting, TDB issued Pre‑Investment Guidelines/Standard Operating Procedures that require members with a potential conflict to disclose and recuse themselves. All funding decisions were made on merit, with no conflicted members involved. Independent external assessments validated the merit‑based selection: 15 of the 22 projects in the first cohort were chosen by expert panels of the Ministry of Education and later showcased at the Bharat Innovate Event in France. The government reaffirmed its commitment to transparency, integrity and meritocracy in supporting research and innovation.

Union Minister Smt. Annpurna Devi, in a post on X on 30 July 2026, urged citizens to download the Mission Shakti App, which the Ministry of Women and Child Development says provides quick access to a range of helpline services for women and children on a single platform. The app aggregates services such as Women Helpline 181, Emergency Service 112, Poshan and PMMVY Helpline 1515, National Cyber Crime Helpline 1930, Legal Aid (NALSA) 15100, Tele‑MANAS 14416 and Child Helpline 1098. The minister appealed for widespread download and sharing of the app’s information with families and acquaintances.

The IRDAI’s Master Circular on Health Insurance Business (dated 29‑05‑2024) mandates insurers to offer products covering all systems of medicine, including AYUSH, with board‑approved underwriting policies to ensure AYUSH treatments are treated on par with other systems. In 2026, the Ministry of AYUSH revised benchmark rates for AYUSH insurance coverage, standardising treatment packages and operational guidelines. It conducted five sensitisation programmes for general insurers and AYUSH stakeholders at major AYUSH institutes across the country. An MoU signed between the Ministry (via AIIA) and the General Insurance Council aims to empanel government AYUSH hospitals with insurers, and a Project Management Unit at AIIA has been set up to support empanelment, grievance redressal and implementation of AYUSH health insurance initiatives.

The Ministry of Women and Child Development will observe World Breastfeeding Week 2026 from 1 – 7 August nationwide. The week‑long campaign aims to raise awareness among families, communities and healthcare providers about early initiation of breastfeeding within the first hour after birth (the ‘Golden Hour’), exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months, and continued breastfeeding up to two years alongside appropriate complementary feeding. The Ministry highlights the health benefits for infants—survival, growth and cognitive development—and for mothers, including postpartum recovery and reduced risk of breast and ovarian cancers, type‑2 diabetes and postpartum depression. It urges mothers to seek support from ASHA workers, Anganwadi workers and other health professionals.

The Controllerate of Quality Assurance (Military Explosives), Pune, under the Directorate General of Quality Assurance, organised a National Seminar in Pune on “Military Explosives and Propellants: Safety and Compliance”. Chief Guest Shri Sanjeev Kumar, Secretary, Department of Defence Production, and Director General N. Manoharan delivered the welcome address. Delegates included senior officials, DRDO scientists, industry leaders and academicians. Discussions focused on process safety, accident mitigation, automation, advanced safety technologies and coordination among government agencies, public‑sector undertakings, private industry and research bodies. A joint working group was proposed to develop common safety protocols and a comprehensive life‑cycle safety framework for explosives and propellants, aiming to strengthen the national safety ecosystem for the Armed Forces.

The Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) scheme, now a component of the SAMBAL vertical of Mission Shakti, has been expanded to all districts across India to promote behavioural change toward the girl child. According to the latest Health Management Information System data, the national Sex Ratio at Birth rose from 918 (2014‑15) to 929 (2025‑26 provisional), and Delhi’s SRB improved from 901 to 915 in the same period. The UDISE data show the national Gross Enrolment Ratio of girls at secondary level increased from 75.51% to 83.4%, while Delhi’s GER rose from 99.13% to 108.3% (2025‑26). The information was provided by Minister of State for Women and Child Development Smt. Savitri Thakur in Lok Sabha.

Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0, a Centrally Sponsored Scheme, delivers a package of six services—Supplementary Nutrition, Pre‑school Non‑formal Education, Nutrition & Health Education, Immunisation, Health Check‑up and Referral Services—through Anganwadi Centres to children (0‑6 years), pregnant and lactating women, and adolescent girls (14‑18 years) in aspirational districts and the North‑Eastern Region. Two lakh AWCs have been sanctioned as Saksham Anganwadis equipped with LED screens, water‑filtration, Poshan Vatikas and ECCE material. Anganwadi workers receive performance‑based incentives (₹500/₹250 per month) for growth‑monitoring and home‑visits. The Centre funds smartphones and growth‑monitoring devices (≈₹10,000 + GST per phone, ₹8,000 per device set) for real‑time data capture via the Poshan Tracker app.

The Ministry of Commerce & Industry’s Government e‑Marketplace (GeM) has inaugurated a 10‑day programme ahead of its 10th Foundation Day, unveiling a commemorative logo and a concept film that trace a decade of digital public procurement. The launch featured the latest edition of the Hindi magazine ‘GeM Bharti’ and recognition of employees for long service. Scheduled events include a Buyer Meet on 5 August, a Seller Roundtable on 10 August, and a year‑long series of stakeholder‑engagement initiatives aimed at promoting transparent, efficient and inclusive procurement across India.