Maharashtra government has announced August 7 will be celebrated annually as “Sustainable Agriculture Day” to mark the birth centenary of Bharat Ratna Dr. M. S. Swaminathan, the architect of India’s Green Revolution. State Agriculture Minister Manikrao Kokate shared this decision, stating it is a tribute to Dr. Swaminathan’s invaluable contributions to agriculture.

Dr. Swaminathan’s pioneering research in enhancing wheat and rice productivity helped India achieve food self-sufficiency and economic stability. In recognition of his contributions, the Government of India awarded him the Bharat Ratna in 2024. The United Nations also acknowledged him as the father of the economic environment. Minister Kokate stated that Dr. M.S. Swaminathan Bio-Happiness Centres will be set up in all agricultural universities across the state to commemorate his legacy.

In Bihar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has announced an increase in the honorarium and incentives for ASHA ( Accredited Social Health Activist) and Mamta workers who are working for health services, immunization and the safety of newborns and mothers.

These two groups are considered important players in improving health services in rural areas. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar stated that ASHA workers will now receive an incentive amount of 3,000 rupees instead of 1,000 rupees. Similarly, Mamta workers, who work to raise awareness about safe childbirth and maternal and child health, will now receive an incentive of 600 rupees per delivery instead of 300 rupees. The Chief Minister made this announcement this morning through social media.

He expressed hope that this decision will boost the morale of ASHA and Mamta workers and further strengthen health services in rural areas. The Chief Minister also lauded the role of these workers saying that ASHA and Mamta workers have played an important role in improving healthcare services in rural regions.

The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) and the United Arab Emirates National Guard Command today signed an agreement on Maritime Security and Safety Cooperation in New Delhi today. It is aimed at enhancing bilateral maritime cooperation and contributing to a safe, secure, and sustainable maritime environment in the region. This is the 10th such agreement with Coast Guard agencies of Friendly Foreign Countries (FFCs), prepared to strengthen professional linkages between the two Coast Guards across core functions, including Maritime Search and Rescue (M-SAR), combating transnational maritime crimes, Maritime Law Enforcement (MLE), Marine Pollution Response (MPR) and Joint capacity building. In a statement, the ICG said that these efforts reflect the shared commitment of both nations to strengthen institutional linkages and promote collaborative engagements for maritime safety and security.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed during the 13th Joint Defence Cooperation Committee (JDCC) meeting between India and the UAE by Director General of Indian Coast Guard Paramesh Sivamani and UAE Commander of the Coast Guard Group Brigadier Staff Khalid Obaid Shamsi.

India and the US today marked their maiden space collaboration with the successful flight of a GSLV rocket that placed an earth observation satellite, NISAR, in a precise orbit. NISAR, was jointly developed by ISRO and NASA. According to ISRO, the GSLV has successfully injected NISAR in designated orbit.

ISRO’s GSLV F-16 injected the Synthetic Aperture Radar satellite, into the intended Sun Synchronous Polar Orbit (SSPO), after a flight of about 19 minutes and around 745 km.

The successful launch of the satellite will mark a significant milestone in the history of Earth’s observation missions, due to its dual radar capability, the L-band and S-band systems, which will provide precise data about the cryosphere, ecosystem, and solid Earth.

For nearly two decades, no one had spotted the world’s smallest-known snake.

Some scientists worried that maybe the Barbados threadsnake had become extinct, but one sunny morning, Connor Blades lifted a rock in a tiny forest in the eastern Caribbean island and held his breath.

“After a year of searching, you begin to get a little pessimistic,” said Blades, project officer with the Ministry of Environment in Barbados.

The snake can fit comfortably on a coin, so it was able to elude scientists for almost 20 years. Too tiny to identify with the naked eye, Blades placed it in a small glass jar and added soil, substrate and leaf litter.

A new blood group, previously unidentified anywhere in the world, has been discovered in a South Indian woman from Kolar district in Karnataka. This remarkable case came to light when a 38-year-old woman was admitted for cardiac surgery at a hospital in Kolar.

Her blood group was O Rh+, the most common blood group; however, none of the available O-positive blood units were compatible with her. The hospital escalated the case to the Advanced Immunohematology Reference Laboratory at the Rotary Bangalore TTK Blood Centre for further investigation.

“Using advanced serological techniques, our team found that her blood was ‘panreactive’, incompatible with all test samples. Recognising this as a possible case of a rare or unknown blood type, the team collected blood samples from 20 of her family members to search for a compatible match, but none of them were a match. The case was managed with utmost care, and with collaborative effort from her physicians and family, her surgery was successfully completed without the need for transfusion,” said Dr Ankit Mathur from the Rotary Bangalore TTK Blood Centre. Meanwhile, her and her family’s blood samples were sent to the International Blood Group Reference Laboratory (IBGRL), Bristol, UK. Dr Mathur said that ten months of extensive research and molecular testing resulted in the discovery of a previously unknown blood group antigen.

The Ministry of Education, in partnership with the Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS) division of the Central Sanskrit University, has launched the Setubandha Scholar Scheme - a major initiative aimed at integrating Gurukul-trained students into mainstream academia.

The scheme will enable meritorious students from traditional Indian education systems to pursue formal postgraduate and PhD degrees, including at leading institutions like the IITs. Selected scholars will receive monthly scholarships starting from Rs 40,000.

Postgraduate students will be eligible for scholarships of up to Rs 1 lakh, while PhD candidates may receive up to Rs 2 lakh. All degrees will be conferred by the Central Sanskrit University.

Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog, Shri Suman Bery, on 23 July 2025, presented India’s Third Voluntary National Review (VNR) Report on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the Ministerial Segment of the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) on SDGs convened by the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations.

He observed that it was an important opportunity to share with the world the combination of economic growth, investment in infrastructure, efficient delivery of targeted schemes, and local commitment that had transformed the Sustainable Development Goals into a national movement in less than a decade.

This VNR marks India’s third submission to the HLPF, reaffirming the country’s sustained commitment to the UN 2030 Agenda for SDGs.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which has been frowning upon the mushrooming of alternative investment funds (AIFs) for quite sometime, has tightened the overall regulations by capping the investments by banks, non-banks and all-India financial institutions at 10% of the corpus of any such scheme.

The new norms are part of the central bank’s updated directions on investment in AIF schemes, issued Tuesday. The new directions will be in force from January 1, 2026 and will apply to all banks, cooperative banks, non-banks, all-India financial institutions and housing finance companies.

Also, collective contribution by all regulated entities in any AIF scheme should not be more than 20% of the corpus of that scheme, said the directions.

Indian chess has never had it this good, showcasing its growing prowess with consistency and signalling that the best may still lie ahead.

After five-time World Champion Viswanathan Anand’s glorious years, Indian chess is now witnessing success stories like never before. In the past year alone, the country swept gold at the Chess Olympiad, 18-year-old D. Gukesh triumphed at the Candidates Tournament to become World Champion, and now, 19-year-old Divya Deshmukh has stunned the world with her conquest of the Women’s World Cup.

The World Cup in Batumi, Georgia, featured a field of 107 players and intense knockout-format battles. The rules tested players’ skills across multiple time formats. The elite field included nearly all top players except the reigning World Champion Ju Wenjun.