Union Minister for Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare and Rural Development, Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan, is leading the Indian delegation to the 15th BRICS Agriculture Ministers' Meeting (AMM), scheduled to be held on 17th April, 2025 in Brasilia, Brazil.
The theme of 15th BRICS AMM is “Promoting Inclusive and Sustainable Agriculture through Cooperation, Innovation, and Equitable Trade among BRICS Countries”. Agriculture Ministers and senior officials from BRICS member countries, including Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, Indonesia, and Iran are expected.
The annual rate of inflation based on all India Wholesale Price Index (WPI) number is 2.05% (provisional) for the month of March, 2025 (over March, 2024). Positive rate of inflation in March, 2025 is primarily due to increase in prices of manufacture of food products, other manufacturing, food articles, electricity and manufacture of textiles etc.
The month over month change in WPI for the month of March, 2025 stood at (-) 0.19% as compared to February, 2025.
QNu Labs, one of the startups selected by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) under the National Quantum Mission (NQM), has launched world’s first and unique platform, QShield that enables seamless cryptography management across any environment — cloud, on-premises, or hybrid on the occasion of World Quantum Day.
QShield empowers enterprises to protect their critical infrastructure at scale -Built with QNu’s patented Quantum Key Distribution (Armos), Quantum Random Number Generator (Tropos), Quantum Hardware Security Module (QHSM) and NIST-compliant Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC), QShield provides an end-to-end solution for securing sensitive data in transit and at rest.
Incubated at IIT Madras Research Park in 2016, QNu Labs is revolutionizing cybersecurity with quantum-safe solutions, positioning India as a global leader in quantum cryptography.
Poila Boishakh—which translates to the first day of the month of Boishakh—heralds the start of the Bengali lunisolar calendar. Celebrated with great fervour by Bengalis in West Bengal, Tripura, Assam, and Bangladesh, the day holds cultural and spiritual significance.
Traditionally, homes are cleaned and decorated with alpana (intricate designs made with rice paste), and people don new clothes to welcome the new year. The day begins with prayers to goddess Lakshmi and Lord Ganesha, seeking blessings for prosperity and well-being.
Bihar will host the seventh edition of Khelo India Youth Games 2025 from 4th to 15th May. The games will be organised at various cities including Patna, Gaya, Rajgir, Begusarai and Bhagalpur. The mascot Khelo India will be “ Gajsimha” which symbolizes the power of elephant and heart of lion.
The mascot has been derived from the archival heritage of Pala dynasty from Nalanda and Bodhgaya engraved on temples and their pillars. The logo of KIYG 2025 has been inspired from the rich cultural heritage of Bihar and the colours orange and depicts enthusiasm and nature.
In Chess, world number one Magnus Carlsen of Norway clinched the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam 2025 in Paris, France. He defeated American Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura with a 1.5-0.5 match victory. With this, Carlsen won the 2 lakh US Dollars, followed by Nakamura, who won 1 lakh 40 thousand US Dollars.
Moreover, Italian-American Fabiano Caruana crushed German Grandmaster Vincent Keymer in the battle of third place and took 1 lakh US Dollars, along with a spot in the Las Vegas Grand Slam. Indian Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi defeated Maxime Vacxhier-Lagrave of France by 1.5-0.5 points and bagged fifth spot with 50 thousand US Dollar prize money.
A group of six women, including U.S. singer-songwriter Katy Perry, blast off into the upper limits of Earth’s atmosphere today on a rocket from Blue Origin and successfully returned after a short flight. Blue Origin, the space company owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos launched the New Shepard’s 11th Human Flight, NS-31 spacecraft from western Texas at around 7 pm, IST.
It was the first all-women tourist spacecraft since Russian cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova’s historic solo flight in 1963. The passengers were carried to more than 100 kilometers above the Earth’s surface, beyond the Karman line, the internationally recognized boundary of space during the flight The flighted lasted to some 10 minutes.
Other crew members includes TV presenter Gayle King, film producer Kerianne Flynn, former NASA aerospace engineer Aisha Bowe, Amanda Nguyen, founder of a campaign group against sexual violence, and Lauren Sánchez, a former journalist.
Payments company Cashfree Payments has appointed Piyush Anchliya as its chief financial officer. In his new role, Anchliya will be responsible for driving financial strategy, optimising operations, and supporting the company’s next phase of strategic growth, according to a statement issued by the firm.
Founded in 2015 by Akash Sinha and Reeju Datta, Cashfree operates a full-stack digital payments solutions platform that helps businesses collect online payments and make payouts. The startup recently piloted cross-border payments in partnership with platforms like Swiggy, Zepto, Nykaa, BookMyShow, and Vedantu to enable overseas customers to transact in India using UPI.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) declared India batter Shreyas Iyer and young Australian batter Georgia Voll as ICC Men’s and Women’s Players of the Month for March 2025, respectively.
Both wins extend Player of the Month winning streaks for their respective countries. Iyer makes it successive honours for India following Shubman Gill’s win in February, and Voll becomes the fourth consecutive Australian female to be named the Women’s Player of the Month.
Bangaluru based QpiAI, one of the 8 startups selected under the National Quantum Mission, coordinated by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) announced the launch of one of India’s most powerful quantum computers featuring 25 superconducting qubits, on the occasion of World Quantum Day.
QpiAI-Indus, the quantum computer launched, is the first full-stack quantum computing system in the country and combines advanced quantum hardware, scalable control, and optimized software for transformative hybrid computing. It integrates advanced quantum processors, next-generation Quantum-HPC software platforms, and AI-enhanced quantum solutions.
State-owned Punjab National Bank (PNB) on Saturday launched 34 new products, including 12 customer-centric deposit schemes and 10 digital transformation products. These innovative products were launched on the occasion of its 131st foundation day in the presence of Financial Services Secretary M Nagaraju.
Among the deposit products rolled out are schemes for salaried professionals, women, defence personnel, farmers, NRIs, senior citizens, pensioners, students and youth. PNB came into existence on April 12, 1895, as part of the Swedesi movement with its first branch in Lahore, now in Pakistan. A maiden dividend of 4 percent was declared after only 7 months of operation.
Great freedom fighter Lala Lajpat Rai was the first to open an account with the bank.
Domestic rating agency Crisil estimated bank credit growth will accelerate to up to 13 per cent in FY26 from 11 per cent in FY25. The credit growth will be on the back of supportive regulatory measures undertaken recently, a boost to consumption from tax cuts and softer interest rates.
Retail credit, which accounts for nearly a third of the overall loans in the system, will grow at 13-14 per cent in FY26, up from 12 per cent, it said, adding that this will be supported by improved affordability in a lower interest rate regime in the largest segment of mortgage loans.
Small businesses and agriculture loans are likely to witness steady growth at 16-17 per cent and 11-12 per cent, respectively, it said. Downstream demand from the ongoing infrastructure buildout will also help corporate credit growth, the agency said, adding that this will come from the cement, steel and aluminium sectors.
