Tamil Nadu continues to record a high gross enrollment ratio (GER) at the primary level with 92%, according to the Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) 2025-2026 which was released by the Ministry of Education recently.

While the GER for upper primary has seen a small decrease from 98% to 95% compared to last year, the State sees a marginal increase in secondary enrollment at 97%. However, the GER for higher secondary section, while seeing an improvement, still stands at 85%, a far cry from the enrollment of the secondary level.

The Ministry of Textiles has launched a national innovation challenge – Handloom Hackathon 2026, aimed at harnessing technology, design, entrepreneurship and sustainable solutions to strengthen India’s handloom sector.

The initiative is being organised as part of the celebrations of National Handloom Day 2026. Online registrations are open until 20th of this month. Students, innovators, startups, researchers, designers, entrepreneurs and handloom practitioners can register and submit their ideas through www.youthideathon.in/handloom. The grand finale of the Hackathon will be held on 1st of August at the Foundation for Innovation and Technology Transfer (FITT), IIT Delhi, where shortlisted teams will present their solutions before an eminent jury.

Uttarakhand has scripted a new chapter in India's education journey by becoming the country's sixth fully literate state after achieving the adult literacy benchmarks prescribed under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and the ULLAS (Understanding Lifelong Learning for All in Society) – New India Literacy Programme.

The landmark achievement underscores the state's sustained commitment to universal literacy, lifelong learning and inclusive development, while reinforcing its contribution to the national vision of a Viksit Bharat through education and skill empowerment.

GOVERNOR APPROVES FULL LITERACY STATUS
The recognition came after Uttarakhand fulfilled the literacy standards laid down by the Department of School Education and Literacy under the Union Ministry of Education. On July 8, Governor Lt Gen (Retired) Gurmit Singh approved the proposal officially recognising Uttarakhand as a fully literate state.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has successfully conducted a critical Integrated Main parachute Airdrop Test (IMAT) for the Gaganyaan Missions at the Aerial Delivery Research and Development Establishment (ADRDE) drop zone in Sheopur, Madhya Pradesh. ISRO said that the objective of the test was to qualify the Main Parachute for its structural integrity and design margins under the maximum expected load conditions in the first uncrewed Gaganyaan G1 mission. ISRO highlighted that this is the 5th test in a series of Integrated Main parachute Airdrop Tests (IMAT) to qualify the critical Main Parachute for the Gaganyaan Mission. It added that the successful completion of IMAT-05 provides necessary confidence in the performance and reliability of the Main Parachute System for the first Uncrewed Gaganyaan Mission (G1).

During the test, a simulated assembly of a single main parachute and a dummy mass was dropped from an altitude of 2.5 kilometres using an Indian Air Force IL-76 aircraft. The complex descent sequence began with an extractor parachute that deployed a Drogue parachute to stabilize oscillations. Upon achieving the requisite conditions, the main parachute was deployed, which slowed the payload to a safe terminal speed.

India’s march towards its 100th Grandmaster gathered momentum yesterday, with 17-year-old Aswath S from Kanyakumari becoming the country’s 98th Grandmaster after clinching his final GM norm at the 2026 Pune International Grandmaster Round Robin.

Needing a win in the final round, Aswath defeated USA’s FM Kannan Vaidyanathan with the black pieces to complete the Grandmaster title requirements. He finished the tournament with 7 points from 9 rounds, recording six wins, two draws, and one loss to secure second place.

Aswath had earned his first GM norm at the Grenke Open last year and his second at the First Saturday GM Round Robin in Budapest in December, where he also crossed the 2500 rating mark.

Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) today conducted a successful flight-test of Pinaka Long Range Guided Rocket (LRGR) at the Integrated Test Range, Chandipur in Odisha. Defence Ministry said that the rocket was tested for a user-defined minimum range of 60 kilometres.

The Pinaka LRGR rocket is designed by Armament Research and Development Establishment in association with High Energy Materials Research Laboratory, with support from Defence Research and Development Laboratory and Research Centre Imarat. The rocket was launched from the in-service Pinaka launcher demonstrating its versatility and providing launch capability of Pinaka variants of different ranges from the same launcher.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has congratulated DRDO, the Indian Army and the industry on the successful flight-test. The Minister described it as a major milestone in indigenous design and development capability for long range guided rockets.

Switzerland has announced that the Geneva AI Summit 2027 will take place on June 21-22, 2027, at Palexpo in Geneva, positioning the event as the next major milestone in international efforts to shape the future of artificial intelligence governance. The summit will be held back-to-back with the International Telecommunication Union's (ITU) AI for Good Global Summit, bringing together world leaders, policymakers, researchers, businesses and civil society under one roof.

The announcement was made by Swiss Federal Councillor Albert Rosti during his opening address at the AI for Good Global Summit 2026 in Geneva, where he underscored Switzerland's commitment to fostering global cooperation on AI and ensuring the technology delivers broad societal benefits.

The Centre has lowered import costs for a range of components and capital goods used in electronics and battery manufacturing by issuing three customs notifications providing basic customs duty (BCD) exemptions on select inputs and machinery.

The notifications, issued on July 8, extend duty relief for components used in display assemblies and wireless charging modules while expanding the list of machinery eligible for concessional duty for lithium-ion cell manufacturing. The move aims to improve cost competitiveness and support domestic value addition in electronics and electric mobility.

According to one notification, the government has exempted five components used in manufacturing display assemblies for automotive, medical and industrial applications from BCD until March 31, 2029. These include cells, flexible printed circuit assemblies (FPCAs), backlight units, frames and anisotropic conductive film (ACF).

The Gujarat government on Thursday launched the ‘Viksit Gujarat – Data Centre Policy 2026-29’, aimed at attracting investments in hyperscale data centres, artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and digital services, with Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel unveiling the policy booklet at an event in Gandhinagar.

Deputy Chief Minister Harsh Sanghavi, Science and Technology Minister Arjun Modhwadia, Chief Secretary Manoj Kumar Das, senior government officials and representatives from the technology sector attended the launch programme.

Speaking at the event, Science and Technology Department Secretary P. Bharathi said the policy was designed to create the infrastructure required to support India’s expanding digital economy.

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has said that a new chapter has been added to India’s education sector with the approval for the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Bangalore to establish an overseas campus in Indonesia. The proposal was approved by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Indonesia. He added that the establishment of an overseas campus of such a prestigious institution marks a significant step towards globalising India’s knowledge traditions and education system.