The Department of Posts (DoP) under the Ministry of Communications, Government of India, and the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) signed a pioneering Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on August 22, 2025, during the 30th Foundation Day Celebration of AMFI in Mumbai.
This landmark agreement marks the beginning of a new service model where India Post will act as a distributor to facilitate mutual fund investments through its extensive postal network, particularly benefitting citizens in rural and semi-urban areas.
The initiative aims to broaden access to mutual fund products, leveraging the trust and reach of post offices across the country.
The MoU is valid for three years starting Aug 22, 2025 to Aug 21, 2028, with provisions for renewal.
The International Buddhist Confederation (IBC), under the aegis of the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, in collaboration with the Dr. Ambedkar International Centre (DAIC), successfully hosted the 3rd International Conference of Young Buddhist Scholars (ICYBS) at the Nalanda Auditorium, DAIC, New Delhi.
The theme for this year’s conference was “Wisdom Transmission in Buddha Dhamma in the 21st Century.”
The annual conference brought together young scholars, professors, monks, and dignitaries from countries including Russia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Taiwan, and India. Discussions explored how the Buddha Dhamma—
rooted in compassion, mindfulness, and ethical conduct—can be meaningfully transmitted in the modern age through digital innovation, intercultural dialogue, education, and personal practice.
Special presenter Yeshi Dawa, Senior Researcher, 108 Peace Institute, highlighted the role of compassion in addressing mental health challenges faced by youth.
India has been elected as the Chairman of the Executive Board of Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development (AIBD) with the highest number of votes during the 23rd AIBD General Conference, held from 19–21 August 2025 in Phuket, Thailand.
This marks a significant milestone, as India last held the position of AIBD Executive Council Chairman in 2016.
With this development, India’s leadership role within AIBD has been further strengthened, even as its current tenure as President of the AIBD General Conference continues until August 2025.
NITI Aayog launched the report titled ‘Rethinking Homestays: Navigating Policy Pathways’ in collaboration with Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), offering a strategic roadmap to unlock the potential of homestays and BnBs in India’s tourism landscape.
Drawing upon insights from aggregators, hosts, and policymakers, the report highlights the role of homestays in offering travelers culturally immersive experiences while simultaneously fostering local entrepreneurship and employment generation.
National Space Day 2025 in India is celebrated on August 23, 2025. This date marks the anniversary of the historic achievement of Chandrayaan-3’s successful soft landing on the lunar south pole on August 23, 2023. With this mission, India became the fourth country globally—and the first to land near the Moon’s southern polar region.
Theme of National Space Day 2025
"Aryabhatta to Gaganyaan: Ancient Wisdom to Infinite Possibilities.”
National Space Day has an annually assigned theme that relates to the present objectives and subsequent targets of the agency. The National Meet 2025 is held with the theme "Leveraging Space Technology and Applications for Viksit Bharat 2047.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) approved the nomination of Executive Director Indranil Bhattacharyya as an ex officio member of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC).
He replaces Rajiv Ranjan, the outgoing MPC member, who was due to retire before the October policy meeting.
Bhattacharyya recently took charge as Executive Director of the RBI’s Monetary Policy Department, succeeding Ranjan.
The decision was made during the 618th meeting of the Central Board of Directors of the RBI in Lucknow under the chairmanship of Governor Sanjay Malhotra.
Bhattacharyya will now be a part of the upcoming MPC meeting scheduled between Sep 29 and Oct 1 2025.
He had joined the central bank as the executive director for the Department of Economic and Policy Research on March 20.
Bhattacharyya has also worked as an economic expert for five years, from 2009 to 2014, with Qatar Central Bank in Doha.
The meeting was attended by RBI's deputy governors, including Rajeshwar Rao, T Rabi Sankar, Swaminathan J, Dr Poonam Gupta, and others.
The Ministry is underway to revise the base year of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Index Industrial Production (IIP) and Consumer Price Index (CPI). The base year is revised periodically to better capture the structural changes happening in the economy by updating the methodology of compilation and incorporation of new data sources.
The proposed new base year for the GDP and IIP is 2022-23, and for CPI the proposed base year is 2024.
For the CPI, list of items and their respective weights derived from the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey of 2023-24 is used in the revised index.
The Ministry has conducted its first Forward-Looking Survey on Private Corporate Sector CAPEX Investment Intentions from November 2024 to January 2025 and the findings of the survey have been published. The Ministry has also conducted a Pilot Study on Annual Survey of Services Sector Enterprises (ASSSE) to capture insights into the Incorporated Service Sector.
Satish Golcha, Director General (Prisons), was appointed as the new Commissioner of Police, Delhi, officials said. He takes charge 20 days after Shashi Bhushan Kumar Singh, Director General of Home Guards in Delhi, was given interim charge following the retirement of IPS officer Sanjay Arora on August 1.
Golcha took over as DG (Prisons) in May 2024, overseeing Tihar, Mandoli, and Rohini jails. According to a senior prison department officer, he faced challenges such as gang activity, illicit mobile usage by inmates, and violent incidents, including the murders of gangster Prince Teotia and Sunil Tajpuria in 2023.
In Wrestling, India’s Kajal Dochak won a gold medal at the U20 World Championships, while Shruti and Saarika grabbed bronze medals in the women’s event at Samokov in Bulgaria yesterday. Reigning Under-20 Asian champion, 17-year-old Haryana wrestler Kajal battled past China’s Yuqi Liu 8-6 in a stiff 72kg final.
Saarika secured bronze in the women’s 53kg category with a technical superiority win over Poland’s Ilona Valchuk.
Shruti earned bronze in the 50kg category, defeating Germany’s Josephine Wrench 6-0. In the men’s Greco-Roman 60kg category, Suraj clinched bronze by overcoming France’s Lucas Go Grasso.
International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition is commemorated on 23 August each year. It was first celebrated in a number of countries, in particular in Haiti (23 August 1998) and Gorée Island in Senegal (23 August 1999).
This International Day is intended to inscribe the tragedy of the slave trade in the memory of all peoples.
In accordance with the goals of the intercultural project "The Routes of Enslaved Peoples", it should offer an opportunity for collective consideration of the historic causes, the methods and the consequences of this tragedy, and for an analysis of the interactions to which it has given rise between Africa, Europe, the Americas and the Caribbean.
The Government has introduced an amendment in the National Highways Fee (Determination of Rates and Collection) Rules, 2008, published on 17th June, 2025. The Annual Pass scheme aims to reduce frequent recharge of FASTag & user fee burden on non-commercial vehicle (car/jeep/vans) users.
The amendment introduced a FASTag Annual Pass for non- commercial cars, jeeps, and vans, which has been effective from 15th August, 2025. Annual Pass scheme will be activated on payment of Rs. 3000/- and offers travel for non-commercial car/jeep/vans on all National Highway/National Expressway fee plaza for one year or upto 200 fee plaza crossings whichever is earlier.
The Annual pass is applicable on National Highway (NH) and National Expressway (NE) fee plazas. While the Annual Pass presently does not apply to State Highways & Expressways, if the State Government is willing to introduce such pass system for the State Highways/ Expressways, full technical support will be offered for the purpose.
India on August 20, 2025 successfully test-fired its intermediate-range ballistic missile Agni-5 from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur, Odisha. The missile tested was a variant of Agni-5, India’s indigenously developed intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) with a range of 5,000 km. Designed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
India on August 20, 2025 successfully test-fired its intermediate-range ballistic missile Agni-5 from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur, Odisha. The missile tested was a variant of Agni-5, India’s indigenously developed intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) with a range of 5,000 km. Designed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
The previous trial of Agni-5 was conducted on March 11, 2024, when the DRDO successfully tested the missile equipped with Multiple Independently Targetable Re-entry Vehicle (MIRV) technology, allowing it to strike multiple targets with a single launch.
