Official releases, distilled into exam-ready intelligence.

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, congratulated athlete Sarvesh Kushare for winning a Silver medal in the Men’s High Jump at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games 2026. The PM praised Kushare’s determination and consistency, calling the achievement outstanding, and expressed pride and wishes for his future successes. The congratulatory message was posted on the social media platform X.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated weightlifter Bindyarani Devi Sorokhaibam for winning a bronze medal in the women’s 58 kg event at the Commonwealth Games 2026 in Glasgow, praising her hard work and determination and wishing her success in future endeavours.

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, congratulated Shilpa Kanchugarakoppalu Shyla for winning the Bronze medal in the Women’s Shot Put F57 final at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games 2026, noting that her personal best throw made the achievement remarkable. The Prime Minister posted the congratulatory message on X, highlighting the performance as brilliant.

The Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has revamped Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana‑Urban (PMAY‑U) as PMAY‑U 2.0, effective 01 Sept 2024, to support an additional 1 crore eligible beneficiaries. The scheme operates through four verticals – Beneficiary‑Led Construction, Affordable Housing in Partnership, Affordable Rental Housing and Interest Subsidy Scheme – and follows a demand‑driven approach without a fixed national target. As of 13 July 2026, 127.68 lakh houses (including 16.20 lakh under PMAY‑U 2.0) have been sanctioned, with 121.03 lakh grounded and 99.07 lakh completed. The Affordable Rental Housing vertical includes two models for converting vacant government houses or constructing new rental units, and an Expression of Interest has been issued for new ARH projects. The Interest Subsidy Scheme extends subsidies to EWS, LIG and MIG households with incomes up to ₹3 lakh, ₹6 lakh and ₹9 lakh respectively.

The Ministry of Education is expanding digital learning and research initiatives through multiple centrally‑sponsored schemes. Under Samagra Shiksha, ICT labs and smart classrooms are being set up in schools, with funding linked to State‑submitted Annual Work Plans. The PM eVidya programme, launched in May 2020, integrates 200 DTH TV channels and 400 radio channels to deliver multi‑mode, multilingual education, with Gujarat receiving five dedicated DTH channels. The Union Budget 2026‑27 earmarks AVGC Content Creator Labs for 15,000 secondary schools and 500 colleges in partnership with IICT, Mumbai. The MERITE scheme allocates Rs 4,200 crore to improve quality and governance in 275 technical institutions. The Prime Minister Research Chair (PMRC) scheme supports Indian‑origin researchers abroad across three fellowship categories in 13 engineering, science and technology themes.

The PM Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) scheme, launched on 1 June 2020, has by 12 July 2026 disbursed 1.15 crore loans worth ₹18,475.06 crore to 76.95 lakh street vendors. Loans are offered in three tranches of up to ₹15,000, ₹25,000 and ₹50,000 with repayment periods of 12, 18 and 36 months respectively. The ‘SVANidhi se Samriddhi’ component, started on 4 January 2021, links beneficiaries to eight central welfare schemes, covering socio‑economic profiling of 50.63 lakh beneficiaries and 1.06 crore family members. Impact studies by ISB (2023, 2025) across ~100 ULBs show 95 % of borrowers received their first bank loan, business income rose ~20 % and digital payments adoption increased, while also improving household food security, health access and children’s education.

The National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS) was launched in 2016 and continued as NAPS‑2 from FY 2022‑23. Under NAPS‑2, the Government provides a partial stipend to apprentices under the Apprentices Act, 1961, transferred directly to beneficiaries via Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT). A total of 5,298,397 apprentices and 57,945 establishments (38,936 MSMEs) have been engaged from FY 2018‑19 to FY 2026‑27. A third‑party evaluation by AJNIFM reported that about 72 % of apprentices secured full‑time jobs after training. The scheme is supported by industry‑led training, a dedicated online portal, third‑party aggregators, and regular Pradhan Mantri National Apprenticeship Melas (PMNAMs) – 7,370 events held nationwide since June 2022.

Madanapalle Municipality in Andhra Pradesh, under the Swachh Bharat Mission‑Urban 2.0, is pursuing a ‘Zero Waste City’ vision by instituting systematic source segregation of its approx. 62 tonnes per day (TPD) of municipal solid waste into biodegradable, non‑biodegradable and up‑cycling streams. Wet waste is composted via windrow (≈15.5 TPD) and vermi‑composting (≈3 TPD), yielding 4.65 tonnes and 1.20 tonnes of compost daily respectively, which are used for parks and gardening. Dry waste is split at the doorstep into recyclable and non‑recyclable fractions; recyclables go to a Material Recovery Facility, while non‑recyclables are co‑processed in cement factories, generating revenue and improving calorific value. Legacy waste of 36,512 metric tonnes has been remediated through bio‑mining, reclaiming 9.40 acres, with 5 acres converted to green spaces, and waste‑to‑art initiatives have been created for public awareness.

The Ministry of Power’s press release outlines the projected need for Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) and Pumped Storage Plants (PSP) to support grid stability. By 2026‑27, 8.68 GW (34 GWh) of BESS and 7.45 GW (47 GWh) of PSP are required, rising to 47.24 GW (236 GWh) and 26.69 GW (175 GWh) respectively by 2031‑32, with total investments of about Rs 3.49 lakh crore for BESS and Rs 1.29 lakh crore for PSP. The release lists a series of policy, regulatory and financial measures—including amendments to Electricity Rules (2022, 2025), inclusion in the Harmonised Master List (Oct 2022), guidelines for resource adequacy (June 2023), a National Framework (Sept 2023), ISTS charge waivers, CERC ancillary‑service approvals, Viability Gap Funding, and a Rs 18,100 crore Production‑Linked Incentive for advanced‑chemistry cell manufacturing—aimed at promoting ESS deployment and manufacturing.

Union Minister Shri Rajiv Ranjan Singh launched the Atmanirbhar Panchayat Programme, the SAMARTH Panchayat Portal and Model Own Source of Revenue (OSR) Rules to strengthen Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs). The programme aims to convert local assets into bankable, revenue‑generating projects, targeting 350 projects over four years with financing through PPPs, CSR, scheme convergence and bank loans, and eligibility criteria of Rs 50 lakh OSR for Gram Panchayats and Rs 1 crore for Block Panchayats. SAMARTH is a unified digital platform that enables online registration, demand generation, payment and real‑time monitoring of Panchayat revenues, with over 51 lakh taxpayers, Rs 95 crore demand notices and Rs 27 crore collected so far. The Model OSR Rules provide a uniform framework for states to assess, collect and manage Panchayat revenues, aligning with the Sixteenth Finance Commission recommendations. The initiatives were recognised with Gold Awards at the National Awards for e‑Governance 2026.

The Ministry of Electronics & IT reports that the Safe & Trusted AI pillar under the IndiaAI Mission, approved in March 2024 with a ₹10,371 crore outlay, aims to promote responsible AI through indigenous governance frameworks, standards, tools and evaluation mechanisms. Thirteen Responsible AI projects have been approved in educational institutions, covering bias mitigation, privacy‑preserving AI, explainability, deep‑fake detection and machine unlearning. The AI Safety Institute and India AI Governance Guidelines have been established to oversee risk‑based governance, including bodies such as the AI Governance and Economic Group, Technology and Policy Expert Committee and AI Safety Institute. India also engages in global AI governance forums like GPAI, G20 and the UN, and hosted the India AI Impact Summit 2026 to shape international norms.

The Government of India launched the PM‑Vidyalaxmi scheme in November 2024 to provide collateral‑free, guarantor‑free education loans to merit‑based students admitted to Quality Higher Education Institutions. For students with annual family income up to Rs 8 lakh, the scheme offers a 3 % interest subvention on loans up to Rs 10 lakh, with an outlay of Rs 3,600 crore for 2024‑31. Since its launch, 1,12,817 loans worth Rs 15,634.78 crore have been sanctioned. Interest subvention is credited through a digital wallet after Aadhaar‑based de‑duplication and is contingent on academic performance. The portal has onboarded 12 public, 20 private, 25 RRBs and 7 cooperative banks, contributing to a rise in the higher‑education GER from 23.0 to 30.0.

The National Coal Gasification Mission aims for 100 MT of coal gasification capacity by 2030. Currently about 22.6 MTPA is operational or under implementation, including Jindal Steel Limited (~8 MTPA operational) and Talcher Fertilisers Limited (~2.6 MTPA under implementation). The Government approved a ₹37,500 crore scheme on 13 May 2026 for surface coal/lignite gasification, expected to use ~75 MTPA of coal, and an earlier ₹8,500 crore scheme (approved 24 Jan 2024) supporting eight projects with 15 % capex incentive and up to 20 % plant‑machinery cost support. Additional policy measures include a 50 % revenue‑share rebate, extended 30‑year coal linkage, and reduced floor price for underground gasification. A BRICS side event on clean coal technologies was held on 24 June 2026. The initiatives are projected to generate about ₹1.5 lakh crore of annual import substitution.

The Ministry of Education reports that India has 57 operational Central Universities, of which 47 (excluding IGNOU) are administered by the Ministry. These 47 universities currently enrol 309,542 students and all, except Sindhu Central University, offer undergraduate programmes. In the past five years, two new Central Universities were created: Sammakka Sarakka Central Tribal University in Telangana and Sindhu Central University in Ladakh. The universities have undertaken several environment‑friendly initiatives such as rooftop solar, rainwater harvesting and waste management, and the Ministry has funded a green‑energy building for the Central University of Odisha and identified infrastructure needs for Guru Ghasidas Vishwavidyalaya, Chhattisgarh.

Under the Gyan Bharatad Mission, the National Manuscript Survey was conducted across all States and Union Territories, reporting more than 1.19 crore manuscripts without setting district‑wise targets. The mission has launched the Gyan Bharatam Web Portal, which employs AI‑enabled technologies such as Large Language Script Models, OCR, Handwritten Text Recognition, script recognition, semantic search and machine‑assisted translation. The portal’s AI‑driven tools – Gyan Mitram, BharatiyaGPT (with “Talk to Manuscript”) and Pandulipi Darpan – enable intelligent interpretation, contextualisation, multilingual access and script‑to‑text conversion of digitised manuscripts. Where legally permissible, digitised copies and metadata may be made publicly available through the National Digital Repository, subject to custodial rights.

The Union Cabinet approved an extension of the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) to December 2028, increasing the total outlay from ₹ 3.60 lakh crore to ₹ 8.69 lakh crore, with the central share rising to ₹ 3.59 lakh crore (an additional ₹ 1.51 lakh crore). As of 18 July 2026, 15.89 crore rural households (82.09 %) have functional tap connections, up from 3.23 crore (16.71 %) at launch in August 2019. States/UTs must prepare a Comprehensive Implementation and Reform Plan (CIRP) and adopt O&M policies empowering Gram Panchayats to levy user charges. The ‘Jal Arpan’ event and a new handbook promote community‑led handover and sustainable operation of water schemes.

India’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) outlines three quantitative targets – reduction in GDP emissions intensity, increase in non‑fossil fuel share of installed power capacity, and creation of an additional carbon sink. By 2022, emissions intensity fell 37.38% from 2005 levels, short of the 45% target for 2030. The share of non‑fossil installed capacity crossed 50% in June 2025 and stood at 54.18% by June 2026, achieving the 2030 goal five years early. An additional carbon sink of 2.44 billion t CO₂e was created (2005‑2022) against a 2.5‑3.0 billion t target. For 2035, the NDC targets are enhanced to a 47% emissions‑intensity reduction, 60% non‑fossil capacity, and a 3.5‑4.0 billion t carbon sink. Monitoring is done by the PM’s Council on Climate Change, Executive Committee on Climate Change and Apex Committee for Implementation of the Paris Agreement, with reporting through Biennial Transparency Reports under the Paris Agreement’s Enhanced Transparency Framework.

The Ministry of Education, referencing NEP 2020, announced in the Union Budget 2026‑27 the creation of five University Townships near major industrial and logistic corridors, with a stakeholder consultation underway. A High‑Powered ‘Education to Employment and Enterprise’ Standing Committee comprising senior officials and industry leaders has been constituted to advise on service‑sector employment. CBSE has incorporated Artificial Intelligence and Computational Thinking into its curriculum to produce AI‑literate learners by 2030. The budget also earmarks AVGC Content Creator Labs in 15,000 secondary schools and 500 colleges, supported by the Indian Institute of Creative Technologies, Mumbai. The details were provided by Minister of State for Education Dr Sukanta Majumdar in a Lok Sabha reply.

The Government of Gujarat’s proposed Kalpasar Project aims to create a large coastal freshwater reservoir by constructing a dam across the Gulf of Khambhat, which is expected to boost freshwater availability and alleviate water scarcity in Saurashtra. The project includes a highway‑cum‑rail corridor that would cut the Bhavnagar‑Surat travel distance by about 179 km, improving regional connectivity. The Detailed Project Report is being finalised with Indo‑Dutch technical cooperation to incorporate best practices in coastal engineering, hydraulic modelling, salinity management and climate resilience. Additionally, around 2,470 MW of hybrid renewable energy is planned on reclaimed land to power freshwater pumping for irrigation. The information was provided by Minister of State for Jal Shakti Raj Bhushan Choudhary in a Rajya Sabha reply.

The Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs reports that 33 of the 37 State/UT Legislatures have signed MoUs to implement the National e‑Vidhan Application (NeVA). Twenty‑one legislative houses have been converted into digital legislatures under the project, while the two Houses of Parliament remain outside its scope. NeVA enables electronic processing of house business, cuts paper usage, speeds up document handling, and yields cost savings in printing, handling and storage. A mid‑term evaluation by NITI Aayog notes reduced paper usage, improved legislative workflows, better coordination with government departments and real‑time public access to documents. Capacity‑building through NeVA Seva Kendras, migration to the secure NIC MeghRaj 2.0 cloud, and integration with BHASHINI for text‑to‑text translation further enhance security and linguistic accessibility.