State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) is set to play a key role in strengthening India’s energy security, with plans to develop and stock the country’s next strategic petroleum reserve (SPR) facility. According to a report by Economic Times citing sources familiar with the development, the project could require an investment of nearly ₹15,000 crore ($1.6 billion).

The government’s push comes in the wake of the Iran conflict, which highlighted India’s relatively limited strategic crude reserves and its vulnerability to disruptions in global oil supplies. In response, authorities have reportedly asked ONGC to spearhead the development of a new emergency oil storage facility to enhance the country’s preparedness against future supply shocks.

India's Professor Jainendra K Jain, one of the world's leading theoretical physicists, has been awarded the prestigious Wolf Prize in Physics for his groundbreaking discovery of composite fermions, a breakthrough that revolutionised the understanding of the quantum world.

The award was presented by Israeli President Isaac Herzog at a state ceremony in Jerusalem on June 18, making Jain the first person of Indian origin to receive the Wolf Prize in Physics since the award was established in 1978.

Often regarded as one of the highest honours in science after the Nobel Prize, the Wolf Prize has an impressive record of recognising future Nobel laureates. Twenty-seven previous recipients of the physics prize have later gone on to win the Nobel.

For the second consecutive year, IIT-Delhi ranked highest among Indian institutions in the QS World University Rankings 2027, climbing five places to 118th globally — the highest ever for an Indian institution, first achieved by IIT-Bombay in the 2025 rankings.

IIT-Bombay, which topped the country’s list in the past, dropped from 129 to 134. Last year, too, it had dropped 11 ranks.

Globally, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) topped the list for the 15th year, followed by Stanford University, Imperial College, University of Oxford and Harvard University.

Tamil Nadu is restructuring its renewable energy administration, with the state granting approval to the Tamil Nadu Green Energy Corporation Limited (TNGECL) to create five new Non-Conventional Energy Source (NCES) zones across the state to speed up the implementation of wind and solar power projects, Electricity Minister C T R Nirmalkumar said on Friday.

The move comes shortly after the closure of the NCES circles at Tirunelveli and Udumalpet and the recent suspension of a superintending engineer and an executive engineer.

The restructuring is looking to improve administrative efficiency and speed up the execution of wind and solar power projects. The new zones will coordinate, monitor and implement renewable energy projects under the supervision of assistant executive engineers. Additional project monitoring and implementation responsibilities have also been created at the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board headquarters in Chennai.

Telangana Government’s ambitious breakfast scheme for students from pre-primary to 12 standard (junior colleges) at government institutions was launched in Hyderabad on Monday (June 15, 2026), which also marked the beginning of the academic year 2026-27. Text books and note books too were distributed to the students.

Under the breakfast scheme, different food items are served for breakfast from Monday to Saturday, with one item repeated on two days, including millet based food. Either milk or ragi jawa is served too.

In a significant move aimed at modernising military traditions and reinforcing an indigenous identity, the Indian Army has introduced Army Uniforms–2026, a revised dress regulations pamphlet that progressively removes residual colonial-era practices, terminology and non-essential accoutrements.

The new policy reflects the Army’s effort to align its dress regulations with contemporary Indian values while maintaining the service’s rich traditions and professional standards. The Army has described the uniform as a symbol of identity, discipline, order and collective belonging.

India’s AI ambitions received a major boost on Monday as Bengaluru-based Sarvam announced a fresh $234 million funding round, pushing its valuation to $1.5 billion and making it India’s newest AI unicorn. The funding comes at a time when governments and businesses around the world are increasingly looking to build local AI capabilities rather than relying entirely on foreign technology providers.

The round is led by HCLTech, which will contribute $150 million as a strategic investor. Existing backers including Bessemer Venture Partners, Khosla Ventures, and Peak XV Partners also participated. Sarvam said it aims to expand the round to $300 million in total.

The investment is a big step forward for Sarvam, which has emerged as one of the few Indian startups attempting to build a complete AI ecosystem. Unlike many companies that focus only on applications, Sarvam is working across AI model development, computing infrastructure, and enterprise software solutions.

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman V Narayanan has informed that they have collaborated with the Department of Atomic Energy to develop an advanced artificial heating system that can protect lunar lander from the freezing weather of the Moon.

Addressing the CSIR-RISE Conclave in Bengaluru, ISRO chief explained that Chandrayaan 3 lander Vikram fuelled by solar energy, operated only for 14 days on Moon. ISRO will now work with the Atomic Energy Department to develop a lunar lander that can survive on the Moon for up to 200 days. This lander with artificial heaters can survive harsh weather conditions on the Moon. He added that this will help long-duration lunar exploration in future missions.

The lunar days and nights last about 14 Earth days each, and heat reaches 121 celsius and temperature dips to minus 129 celsius at night. Speaking further about research partnerships, V Narayanan disclosed that ISRO and the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, CSIR have identified 40 areas of technological cooperation and 17 among them have already been approved for implementation in the first phase.

India is aiming to achieve an installed capacity of 100 GW (gigawatt) of wind energy by 2030 from more than 56.1 GW now and scale it up to 155 GW by 2035, Union Minister of New and Renewable Energy Pralhad Joshi said on Monday.

The wind industry has played an important role in advancing the vision of an ”Atmanirbhar Bharat” (self-reliant India) by creating a resilient and world-class supply chain ecosystem, he maintained.

Axis Securities' Rajesh Palviya recommends SRF and Phoenix Mills as buy calls

The Union minister was speaking after launching India’s first wind turbine supply chain management portal, WT-MARUT.

Indian Railways has approved Kavach deployment projects worth a combined Rs 341 crore across key sections of the Northern and Western Railway zones, reinforcing its commitment to enhancing rail safety through the indigenous Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system.

The projects, sanctioned under the umbrella programme for provision of Kavach with an LTE-based communication backbone on balance routes of Indian Railways, will cover a total of 1,409 route kilometres across strategically important rail corridors in northern and western India.

In the Northern Railway zone, Indian Railways has approved a Rs 201-crore project for installation of Kavach on 811 route kilometres of the Ambala Division. The project will cover major sections including Ambala Cantonment–Ludhiana, Kalka–Chandigarh–New Morinda–Sahnewal, Sirhind–Daulatpur Chowk, Rajpura–Bathinda–Shri Ganganagar, and Ludhiana–Dhuri–Jakhal.