The Department of Posts (DoP), under the Ministry of Communications, Government of India, and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on September 17, 2025, in New Delhi to expand BSNL’s mobile connectivity reach across India.
Under this agreement, DoP will leverage its unparalleled postal network of over 1.65 lakh Post Offices for sale of BSNL SIM cards and mobile recharge services across the country. The vast reach of India Post, which touches almost every village and town in India, will serve as a powerful last-mile channel for BSNL to enhance its presence in both urban and rural geographies.
Through this collaboration, post offices will act as Points of Sale (PoS) for BSNL, Mobile SIM sale and for mobile recharges. BSNL will provide SIM stock and training, while DoP will onboard new customers for BSNL and facilitate transactions in a standardized and secure manner. The agreement, effective for one year from 17.09.2025 and may be renewed subsequently.
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi launched the ‘Swasth Nari, Sashakt Parivar’ (SNSP) Abhiyaan along with the 8th Rashtriya Poshan Maah, in Dhar, Madhya Pradesh today. Dr Mohan Yadav, Chief Minister, Madhya Pradesh, was also present.
The Swasth Nari Sashakt Parivar Abhiyaan marks the largest ever health outreach for women and children in India.
The initiative, jointly led by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW) and the Ministry of Women & Child Development (MoWCD), will involve organising more than 10 lakh health camps from 17th September to 2nd October at Ayushman Arogya Mandirs, Community Health Centres (CHCs), District Hospitals and other government health facilities across the country,
to provide women-centric preventive, promotive, and curative health services at the community level.
The Government of India has notified the National Policy on Geothermal Energy (2025), reinforcing its commitment towards achieving the ambitious 2070 Net Zero Goal and strengthening the country’s energy security through diversified renewable energy sources.
India, with its untapped geothermal resources, is poised to leverage this clean and reliable energy source for power generation and direct-use applications such as district heating, agriculture, aquaculture, and space cooling and heating via Ground Source Heat Pumps (GSHPs).
The Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG), under the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, has released the 25th edition of its monthly ‘Secretariat Reforms’ report for August 2025.
The report provides an extensive analysis of the ongoing initiatives aimed at transforming governance and administration through (i) Swachhata and Reducing Pendency to Minimum Levels (ii) Increasing Efficiency in Decision Making, (iii) e-Office Implementation and Analytics,
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has revised the existing guidelines under Rule 49B of the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961, for the design and printing of EVM Ballot Papers to enhance their clarity and readability.
The initiative is in line with the 28 initiatives already taken by the ECI in the past 6 months to streamline and improve election processes and enhance convenience for voters.
Henceforth, photographs of candidates will be printed in colour on the EVM Ballot Paper. The candidate’s face will occupy three-fourths of the photo space for better visibility.
Serial numbers of candidates/NOTA will be printed in the international form of Indian numerals. The font size will be 30 and in bold for clarity.
To ensure uniformity, the names of all candidates/NOTA will be printed in the same font type and font size large enough for easy readability.
The EVM Ballot Papers will be printed on 70 GSM paper. For Assembly Elections, pink-coloured paper of specified RGB values shall be used.
The upgraded EVM Ballot Papers will be used in the upcoming elections, starting with Bihar.
The Global Innovation Index (GII) ranks 139 world economies according to their innovation capabilities. In its 18th edition, India ranks 38th overall, from 39th last year, and a 10-place jump from 2020 (48). The country leads the pack among the 37 lower middle-income group economies and also ranks first among the 10 economies in Central and Southern Asia.
Strong policy support, growing R&D investment, and a vibrant startup ecosystem have propelled India's rise as a global innovation hub. Consisting of roughly 80 indicators, grouped into innovation inputs and outputs, the GII aims to capture the multi-dimensional facets of innovation.
India performed better in innovation outputs than innovation inputs in 2025. The country's R&D investments fell to 7.8% in 2019-20, However, in the decade (2010-20) it rose 3.1%.
India’s technology adoption — fuelled by robust digital infrastructure, AI uptake, and government initiatives — has propelled it to 39th place, a significant leap from 81st in 2015.
Artificial intelligence (AI) startup Sentient on launched its open-source artificial general intelligence (AGI) network, opening access to 2 million waitlisted users and enabling multiple AI agents to collaborate in real time.
The company said it will compete directly with players such as OpenAI and AWS as it has launched its first open AGI network where 40+ AI agents,
models, and 50+ data sources collaborate in real time.
The platform integrates ecosystem agents deployed across multiple blockchains. Agents and data sources are accessible through Sentient Chat, a consumer interface of the AI firm.
Nailwal calls this launch “a pivotal moment where India proves it can define the AI future — not just follow it”.
The company claims that it is capable of generating outputs like comprehensive investment reports that combine pricing, research, and market data in real time.
The other cofounder of San Francisco-based Sentient is Himanshu Tyagi.
Albania becomes the first country to appoint an AI as a cabinet member. The AI, named Diella, will oversee public bidding and procurement processes to combat institutional fraud. The initiative aims to eliminate corruption. If successful, similar models could be adopted by countries grappling with corruption, such as Mexico.
Prime Minister Edi Rama frames the appointment as a core strategy to strengthen transparency and institutional integrity. "Diella, the first cabinet member who is not physically present but has been virtually created by AI, will help Albania become a country where public tenders are 100% free of corruption," says Rama.
Albania has been a candidate to join the bloc since 2009, but EU reports have consistently cited endemic corruption as a fundamental barrier to integration. The awarding of public contracts has been a recurring source of scandals linked to money laundering and other illicit operations.
Developed on large language models from OpenAI and the Microsoft Azure cloud platform, Diella initially launched in January as a virtual assistant on the e-Albania government services platform. Its original function was to guide citizens and businesses through bureaucratic procedures.
In its new ministerial role, Diella's responsibilities have expanded significantly.
The system is programmed to evaluate every proposal from private companies in public tenders. Its algorithm will analyze documents for risk indicators, such as potential links to money laundering, drug trafficking, or other illegal activities, reports WION News.
The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), one of the world’s largest social security institutions with a corpus exceeding Rs. 25 lakh crore, proudly announces the selection of Shri Vivekanand Gupta, Regional Provident Fund Commissioner, for the Public Financial Asset Management (PFAM) Program 2025–26, a prestigious initiative jointly organised by,
the World Bank and the Milken Institute.
This achievement marks a significant milestone for EPFO and its apex training institution, the Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay National Academy of Social Security (PDUNASS).
Through a rigorous internal nomination process, PDUNASS identified and recommended Shri Gupta for this global program—making him the sole participant from India and the first-ever representative from EPFO to be selected for the PFAM cohort.
Central Zone overcame a few nervy moments to beat South Zone by six wickets and clinch the Duleep Trophy after 11 long years.
Akshay Wadkar remained unbeaten on 19 runs off 52 balls, while Yash Rathod made easy work with 13 off 16 balls to eventually chase the target in 20 overs to clinch their seventh title in Duleep Trophy.
Rajat Patidar's successful stint as a captain continued as this is his second title of the year. Earlier in June, Patidar led the Royal Challengers of Bengaluru (RCB) to their first IPL trophy in 18 years.
The middle-order batter has also been named as the captain for the first match of the India A One Day squad that will take on Australia A. He will act as a vice-captain.
Karnataka Grameena Bank has selected Fyno’s intelligent communications hub to fully centralise and manage its customer communication stack, marking a key shift in its digital and regulatory strategy. The bank’s move to Fyno’s vendor-agnostic platform replaces fragmented, legacy middleware with a secure, unified system that provides KGB with complete visibility and,
control over every customer message, from trigger to final delivery, ensuring full compliance with RBI, TRAI, and DPDP norms.
This strategic collaboration helps KGB streamline telecom integration within 24 hours, boosting deliverability to nearly 100% by leveraging smart channel routing and dynamic failover capabilities.
Fyno’s centralised dashboard provides real-time monitoring and insights into vendor performance, message analytics, engagement, and compliance, enhancing transparency and operational efficiency for all SMS communications and laying the ground for expanding to WhatsApp, RCS, push, email, and in-app messaging.
The government notified a revised schedule of central goods and services tax (CGST) rates, superseding the original 2017 schedules. The notification issued by the finance ministry will come into force on September 22. The changes cover seven schedules, with CGST rates notified at 2.5, 9, 20, 1.5, 0.125, 0.75 and 14 per cent.
States will separately issue their own notifications for the state goods and services tax (SGST) at the same rates.
Under the new framework, Schedule I items will attract 2.5 per cent CGST, meaning a total levy of 5 per cent once the SGST component is added, as the two are charged in equal proportion.
