The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, through Mera Yuva Bharat (MY Bharat), has announced the launch of district-level competitions under the nationwide ‘Nasha Mukt Yuva for Viksit Bharat’ campaign, with registrations opening from July 13.

The initiative aims to mobilise young people in the fight against substance abuse through creative expression while advancing the vision of Viksit Bharat @2047. It seeks to build on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call to transform the fight against drug abuse into a nationwide people’s movement.

The competitions will be organised in a three-tier format, beginning with the district level, followed by state-level contests and culminating in a national finale at the National Youth Summit in New Delhi.

Union Home Minister on Sunday congratulated the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC), more than 25,000 volunteers and the people of the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency after they created a Guinness World Record by planting more than 3.61 lakh saplings in a single hour using the Miyawaki afforestation method.

The record was achieved as part of a large-scale public plantation campaign undertaken across the Gandhinagar parliamentary constituency under the nationwide ‘Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam’ initiative.

Congratulating all those involved, HM Shah said the achievement reflected exemplary public participation, meticulous planning and a collective commitment towards environmental conservation.

He said the campaign, launched under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has transformed environmental protection into a people’s movement by encouraging citizens across the country to actively participate in tree plantation drives.

State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) on Friday said its board has given in-principle approval to develop a 1.75 million tonne strategic petroleum reserve at Mangaluru, expanding India's emergency crude oil storage capacity.

The project, along with associated facilities, will be developed as the Phase-I extension of the Mangaluru strategic petroleum reserve, the company said in a stock exchange filing.

Without giving financial details or the timelines of the project, ONGC said its board also authorised the company to engage with the central government on expanding commercial utilisation of the facility, subject to the required regulatory support.

Come August 1 and woman passengers will not be able to avail the free bus service in Delhi without the ‘Pink Saheli’ smart card anymore, as the government has made it mandatory for such travel, officials said on Friday.

Concerned over the slow adoption of the Pink Saheli card by women commuters, the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) has also launched a special drive across its buses advising women to get the cards, an official statement said.

“With effect from August 1, pink tickets shall be issued only to those women passengers who have a valid Pink Saheli smart card, which they need to tap at the time of boarding. These passengers will continue to avail free bus service as per the terms of the scheme,” the DTC said in its order.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) has once again been ranked third in the World Directory of Modern Military Aircraft's (WDMMA) 2026 global airpower rankings, retaining its position ahead of China's People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) for the fifth time since 2022, according to reports.

The latest rankings place the IAF behind only the United States and Russia. This is the sixth occasion overall that the IAF has been placed behind the US Air Force, US Navy, Russian Air Force, US Army and US Marine Corps in the WDMMA assessment.

WDMMA evaluates 129 air services across 103 countries and tracks more than 48,000 aircraft. Its proprietary True Value Rating (TVR) system assesses fleet size, composition, modernisation, logistical support and overall capability.

Indian Railways has approved two infrastructure projects worth a combined Rs 381 crore to strengthen railway safety and maintenance capabilities, sanctioning the rollout of Kavach Version 4.0 on key Northern Railway routes and the creation of additional homing facilities for electric locomotives at Raipur.

The Ministry of Railways said a Rs 206-crore project has been approved for installing Kavach Version 4.0 on 680 route kilometres (RKm) covering the Rewari-Delhi and Shakurbasti-Bathinda sections, including feeder branch lines, of the Delhi Division under Northern Railway.

The project is part of Indian Railways' nationwide expansion of the indigenous Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system across high-density and strategically important routes.

Union Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Bhupender Yadav on Friday inaugurated the Centre of Excellence (CoE) on Human-Wildlife Conflict at the Wildlife Institute of India-Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (WII-SACON), Coimbatore, and launched the National Human-Wildlife Conflict Portal.

The inauguration was followed by a national workshop on human-wildlife conflict, bringing together policymakers, forest officials, scientists, researchers, technology experts and conservation practitioners from across the country to discuss strategies for reducing conflicts between humans and wildlife. The event was also attended by Union Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Kirti Vardhan Singh.

Addressing the gathering, Yadav said human-wildlife conflict has emerged as one of India’s major conservation and development challenges due to increasing interactions between people and wildlife caused by habitat fragmentation, changing land-use patterns and expanding human activities.

The Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) has emerged as one of the world’s largest digital health ecosystems, with over 93.95 crore accounts created, 105 crore health records linked, and 5.33 lakh health facilities and 9.85 lakh healthcare professionals registered on the national digital health registries, the Union health ministry said on Friday.

The initiative has also enabled 2.72 lakh healthcare facilities to adopt ABDM-enabled software, generating around 24 crore scan and register tokens for faster OPD registration and facilitating seamless, consent-based exchange of health information across the healthcare sector, according to an official statement.

The observations were made at the third meeting of the Mission Steering Group chaired by Union Health Minister J P Nadda, which reviewed the progress of the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission and deliberated on the roadmap for further strengthening India’s digital health ecosystem.

Indian Potash Limited (IPL) and Jain Irrigation Systems Limited (JISL) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to collaborate on promoting scientific, sustainable, and technology-driven sugarcane cultivation across Gujarat.

The partnership will focus on the survey, design, supply, and installation of drip irrigation systems, along with capacity building, farmer training, and field demonstrations to encourage the adoption of modern sugarcane farming practices, IPL said in a statement Friday.

Under the MoU, both IPL and JISL have agreed to jointly work to promote efficient irrigation and fertigation technologies for sustainable sugarcane cultivation, demonstrate modern irrigation solutions, precision input management, and improved agronomic practices.

NABARD said on Friday that it has facilitated the Geographical Indication registration of 28 new products such as traditional handicrafts, handloom textiles and bamboo crafts among others across the country. Till date, NABARD has supported 176 products in securing GI registration.

The latest additions span a diverse range of traditional handicrafts, handloom textiles, bamboo crafts, metalwork, pottery, paintings, and musical instruments, further strengthening India’s portfolio of region-specific products with legal protection and global market potential, NABARD said in a statement.

Among the newly registered products are Nalanda Bawanbuti Saree and Fabrics and Gaya Pattharkatti Stone Craft from Bihar; Kuchai Silk Saree and Fabrics from Jharkhand; Ba Shilp (Bamboo Craft) and Bihu Pepa from Assam; Himachal Wood Carving Craft; and Khajuraho Metal Craft from Madhya Pradesh, along with several other traditional products from across the country.