India’s journey towards a financially inclusive economy gained significant momentum as the Reserve Bank of India’s Financial Inclusion Index (FI-Index) rose to 67 in March 2025, marking a 24.3 percent increase since its inception in 2021, according to a statement released by the Press Information Bureau on Wednesday. The index, which stood at 64.2 in March 2024, reflects growth across its three sub-indices—Access, Usage, and Quality—underscoring the government’s commitment to ensuring equitable access to financial services for all citizens.

The FI-Index, launched by the RBI in 2021, measures financial inclusion across banking, investment, insurance, postal, and pension sectors through 97 indicators. Ranging from 0 to 100, where 100 signifies complete financial inclusion, the index evaluates access to financial infrastructure, usage of services, and quality aspects such as financial literacy and consumer protection. The 2025 growth highlights improvements in usage and quality, driven by enhanced financial literacy initiatives and expanded digital infrastructure. The Access sub-index tracks physical and digital infrastructure, including savings accounts, post offices, and Point of Sale terminals, while Usage reflects demand through savings, credit, and digital transactions like UPI. The Quality sub-index focuses on financial education and grievance redressal mechanisms.

India and Russia on Wednesday reaffirmed their strategic partnership and signed a key protocol to boost cooperation in sectors including aluminium, fertilizers, railways, and mining technology, during the 11th session of the India-Russia Working Group on Modernization and Industrial Cooperation.

The meeting, held at Vanijya Bhawan in the capital, was co-chaired by Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) Secretary Amardeep Singh Bhatia and Russian Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Alexey Gruzdev. It was conducted under the framework of the India-Russia Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological, and Cultural Cooperation.

Around 80 delegates from both nations — comprising senior officials, experts, and industry representatives — participated in the session.

Despite several places that get flooded repeatedly, adversely impacting people in terms of displacements, injury and even deaths, India lacks a comprehensive data-based flood severity index.

To address this lacuna, researchers from IIT Delhi and IIT Gandhinagar have come up with a District Flood Severity Index (DFSI) that takes into account the mean duration in days of all flooding events in a district, percentage of area that is historically flooded, total number of deaths, number of people injured, and the population in the district.

Though an entire district rarely gets flooded at any one point of time, according to the researchers, the need for creating a flood severity index at the district level was felt according to the researchers is because districts are the basic administrative and planning units in India, and most flood management-related measures are implemented with districts as a unit. But fundamentally, the data used in the study have been collected every year since 1967 by the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD). IMD collects and publishes data of disastrous weather events, wherein mainly riverine floods, and floods that inundate large areas get counted. Due to practical reasons, small flooding events or small cities that get flooded may be overlooked.

A bill to expand the eligibility criteria for ownership of merchant shipping vessels and provide for investigation and enquiries on marine casualties was passed by the Lok Sabha on Wednesday (August 6, 2025) after a brief discussion as the Opposition continued with its protests seeking discussion on poll roll revision in Bihar.

As soon as the Bill was passed, the House proceedings were adjourned for the day amid noisy protests by Opposition members.

The Merchant Shipping Bill, 2024 empowers the central government to take charge and detain vessels within India or in coastal waters as a vessel without nationality, if such vessel is not legally entitled to fly the flag of a state or has lost such a right.

The 64th National Exhibition of Art, organised by the Lalit Kala Akademi, was inaugurated in New Delhi on Tuesday. This year’s edition stands out for introducing a first-of-its-kind initiative, where award-winning artworks will be available for sale, empowering artists and promoting India’s creative economy.

During the inauguration ceremony, Union Minister for Culture and Tourism, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, lauded the Akademi’s forward-looking move, noting that the exhibition is not merely a display of art but a powerful platform that unites traditional, folk, tribal, and contemporary expressions from across India. He stated that enabling the sale of artworks is a vital step towards building self-reliance among artists and directly aligns with the National Mission on Cultural Mapping, which aims to identify and support artistic talent nationwide.

The Minister further underlined the increasing intersection of art, education, tourism, and employment, asserting that art today is a medium of social transformation. He praised the Lalit Kala Akademi for leading efforts to integrate artists into sustainable economic models, calling the initiative timely and visionary.

Bengaluru has secured the 26th position in the Global Artificial Intelligence (AI) City Index, emerging as India’s leading hub for AI research, development, and data centers, according to a report by market research firm Counterpoint Research.

The ‘2025 AI City Index’ highlights that several Indian cities are rapidly climbing the global rankings, with Bengaluru, Riyadh, Hangzhou, and Sao Paulo identified among the fastest-growing AI hubs worldwide. Within India, Bengaluru leads the rankings, followed by Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, and Kolkata.

The report notes that Bengaluru has established itself as a global AI R&D and data center hub, attracting significant foreign investment through its thriving startup ecosystem. Meanwhile, Mumbai and Delhi are leveraging AI in innovative ways for traffic management and public security, and are expected to rise in future rankings.

Union Minister of Textiles Giriraj Singh on Wednesday unveiled a book titled “Carbon Footprint Assessment in the Indian Handloom Sector: Methods and Case Studies”, marking a significant step toward promoting sustainability in country’s traditional handloom industry.

The publication, jointly developed by the Office of the Development Commissioner for Handlooms under the Ministry of Textiles and the Department of Textiles & Fibre Engineering, IIT Delhi, provides practical methodologies for assessing and reducing carbon emissions in the handloom sector.

Highlighting the initiative, the Ministry said the book strengthens the government’s commitment to environmentally conscious handloom production and sustainable development. It offers simple, cost-effective steps for measuring carbon footprints, backed by real-world case studies of handloom products such as cotton bedsheets, floor mats, Ikat sarees, and Banarasi sarees.

The Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSEL), Ministry of Education, on Sunday organized an Awareness Session on the National Means-cum-Merit Scholarship Scheme (NMMSS) for District Nodal Officers, school heads, and teachers under the chairmanship of A. Srija, Economic Advisor, DoSEL. The session aimed to enhance awareness about the scheme and streamline processes for timely scholarship disbursement to deserving students.

The session covered districts including Baghpat, Bulandshahr, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Ghaziabad, Hapur, Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, Saharanpur, and Shamli. Addressing participants, Srija emphasized that NMMSS is a merit-based scholarship designed to help students from economically weaker sections complete secondary education from Class IX to XII. Uttar Pradesh has the highest allocation of 15,000 fresh scholarships annually, she noted, urging officials to ensure timely verification of student applications on the National Scholarship Portal (NSP).

At least four persons were killed and dozens feared washed away in Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand after flash floods triggered by torrential rain hit the Kheer Ganga river on Tuesday (August 5, 2025) afternoon. Rescuers have managed to retrieve two bodies so far, as Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami reached the village of Dharali to take stock of the situation.

The floods hit hotels and residential buildings in Dharali town, situated 8,600 feet above sea level, where video footage recorded by residents showed giant waves of water gushing through the area and swallowing everything in their way, including people and homes.

At least 190 people were rescued, according to CM Dhami, as rescuers resumed their operations on Wednesday (August 6, 2025) in Dharali, searching for flash flood victims amid the rubble.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued warnings for heavy rainfall across Uttarakhand, particularly in the hill districts.

Actress and voiceover artist Kelley Mack, best known for her role in The Walking Dead, has died at the age of 33. Her family shared the news on Mack’s official Instagram page on August 5.

Kelly Mack was best known for her television roles, including Addy in Season 9 of The Walking Dead, Penelope Jacobs in Season 8 of Chicago Med, and appearances on FOX’s 9-1-1. Her film credits include playing Alice in Broadcast Signal Intrusion, Wilda in Delicate Arch, and Ricky in the upcoming film Universal.

In addition to acting, Mack was a screenwriter, collaborating with her mother, Kristen Klebenow, on several feature-length scripts. One of their projects, On The Black, is a 1950s college baseball story loosely inspired by her maternal grandparents’ time at Ohio University.