India’s Union Minister for Tribal Affairs Jual Oram on Wednesday (March 18, 2026) met his Vietnamese counterpart to discuss a Memorandum of Cooperation between India’s Tribal Affairs Ministry and the Ministry of Ethnic and Religious Affairs of Vietnam, a statement from the Tribal Affairs Ministry said.

After the review of a draft of the Memorandum, “aimed at institutionalising collaboration between the Ministries”, the Vietnamese said the draft had been approved and hoped it would be finalised soon. Mr. Oram was invited to Vietnam for the signing of the final agreement, to which he “responded positively”, the Ministry said.

This came a day after officials from both countries “exchanged perspectives on policy frameworks, development strategies, and best practices concerning tribal and ethnic communities.”

The Meghalaya State Government has extended the term of the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC) for a period of six months amid unrest in the Garo Hills over the participation of non-tribals in the tribal council elections.

The State Cabinet held a meeting in Shillong and decided to extend the current term by six more months following protests and recent ongoing developments. Deputy Chief Minister Shri Prestone Tynsong informed that the extension will provide time for the District Council to discuss and decide on whether existing rules should be amended to disallow the participation of non-tribals in the GHADC elections.

Brazil began implementing new measures on Tuesday to restrict minors' access to social media and prevent them from viewing violent or illegal content.

A law regulating children's use of social media was approved last year after a scandal involving the alleged sexual exploitation of minors on Instagram, and comes into effect this week.

The hyper-connected nation of 212 million people joins several other countries seeking to protect children from addictive social media algorithms.

Some, like Australia, have outright banned access, while others require stronger age verification measures or parental consent.

Bhumika Shrestha's journey from a young child in Kathmandu struggling with identity to becoming Nepal's first transgender lawmaker marks a defining moment in the country's social and political landscape.

Nepal's Election Commission confirmed the 37-year-old as a proportional‑representation MP from the centrist Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) which won a majority in parliament with 182 seats last week. She will sit in the 275‑member House of Representatives elected on March 5.

"I am very excited but also feel the responsibility on my shoulders," Ms Shrestha, told AFP.

In alignment with the recognition of year 2026 as the ‘International Year of the Woman Farmer’ by the United Nations through Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Agriculture Insurance Company of India Limited (AIC) has launched Krishi Sakhi Initiative to empower women farmers and work towards achieving inclusive growth.

Through these structured month-wise activities across its Head Office and Regional Offices, AIC aims to create sustained awareness, encourage participation of women in agriculture and crop insurance and celebrate their contribution towards strengthening the agricultural sector in India.

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a scheme for small hydro power plants with a total outlay of ₹2,585 crore for five years ending 2031. The scheme, applicable to plants with less than 25 megawatt capacity, will help set up 1,500 MW capacity projects and also attract a total investment of ₹15,000 crore, the Union Cabinet said in a statement.

The scheme provides for financial assistance of ₹30 crore for each project in North Eastern States and districts with international borders, capped at ₹3.6 crore per MW or 30 per cent of the project cost, whichever is lower.

For other states, the Centre will provide financial assistance of ₹20 crore per project, capped at ₹2.4 crore per MW or 20 per cent of the project cost, whichever is lower.

India and Indonesia have partnered for the restoration of the Prambanan Temple complex in the Special Region of Yogyakarta in southern Java.

Indonesian Minister of Culture Fadli Zon met a team from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) Monday to discuss preservation of the temple complex within the broader cultural landscape, which includes Sewu and Plaosan temples.

In a statement, the minister said, “Prambanan is not a standalone complex but part of a wider cultural landscape with Sewu and Plaosan, so conservation must restore temples while safeguarding the entire cultural ecosystem.”

The National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) has successfully tested an indigenously developed Floating LiDAR Buoy System off the coast of Muttom in Tamil Nadu, marking a significant step in India’s push for advanced ocean observation technologies.

A floating LiDAR buoy is a high-tech ocean-based instrument used to measure wind conditions over the sea. It combines a floating platform (buoy) with LiDAR technology, short for Light Detection and Ranging.

The newly developed system is capable of measuring wind speed and direction profiles up to 300 meters above sea level.

The Department of Posts will launch a new premium delivery offering, ‘24 Speed Post’, from March 17, aiming to provide faster and more reliable parcel and document delivery across major cities.

Union Communications Minister Jyotiraditya M Scindia and Minister of State for Communications Chandrasekhar Pemmasani will formally launch the service at an event in New Delhi.

The service will initially cover six metro cities—Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Hyderabad—with a guaranteed next-day (D+1) delivery timeline for consignments booked between these locations.

Historian William Dalrymple has been awarded the 2026 Mark Lynton History Prize for his book "The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World" for combining "literary grace, commitment to serious research and social concern".

The Mark Lynton History Prize is an annual USD 10,000 award given to a book "of history, on any subject, that best combines intellectual or scholarly distinction with felicity of expression".

The other finalist in the category was Siddharth Kara for "The Zorg: Tale of Greed and Murder That Inspired the Abolition of Slavery".

The jury comprised Scott Reynolds Nelson (chair), Geraldo Cadava, Ann Fabian, and Manisha Sinha.