The Ministry of Ayush today signed an agreement with the World Health Organization (WHO) to co-host the 2nd WHO Global Summit on Traditional Medicine on the theme “Restoring balance for people and planet: The science and practice of well-being”.
The Summit will be held in New Delhi from 17th to 19th December 2025.
The Global Summit will serve as an important international platform bringing together experts, policymakers, and stakeholders to advance the role of traditional medicine in global health and sustainable development.
In a significant step towards strengthening India's fight against misuse of telecom resources in cyber-crimes and financial frauds, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the Financial Intelligence Unit-India (FIU-IND) today signed a comprehensive Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to enhance information sharing and coordination.
The MoU was signed by Shri Sanjeev Kumar Sharma, Dy. Director General (AI & Digital Intelligence Unit - DIU), DoT and Shri Amit Mohan Govil, Director, FIU-IND, in the august presence of Dr. Neeraj Mittal, Secretary (Telecom) and Shri Arvind Shrivastava, Secretary (Revenue).
The Union Government has released the 1st installment of untied grants under the XV Finance Commission for the financial year 2025–26 to Rural Local Bodies in Bihar, Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. Bihar has received Rs. 801.009 crores for 38 eligible District Panchayats, 530 Block Panchayats and 8046 Gram Panchayats in the state.
Himachal Pradesh has been allocated Rs. 67.955 crores covering all 12 District Panchayats, 80 eligible Block Panchayats and 3576 Gram Panchayats. Uttar Pradesh received Rs. 1548.3836 crores for 73 eligible District Panchayats, 813 Block Panchayats, and 57,633 Gram Panchayats.
Government of India through Ministry of Panchayati Raj and Ministry of Jal Shakti (Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation) recommends release of XV-FC grants to States for Rural Local Bodies/ Panchayati Raj Institutions, which are then released by Ministry of Finance. The allocated grants are recommended and released in 2 installments in a financial year.
The Untied Grants will be utilized by Rural Local Bodies/ Panchayati Raj Institutions for location-specific felt needs, under the Twenty–Nine (29) subjects enshrined in the Eleventh Schedule of the Constitution, except for salaries and other establishment costs.
The Tied Grants can be used for the basic services of (a) sanitation and maintenance of ODF status, and this should include management and treatment of household waste, and human excreta and fecal sludge management in particular and (b) supply of drinking water, rainwater harvesting and water recycling.
The Union Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways (MoPSW), Shri Sarbananda Sonowal flagged off India’s first fleet of electric heavy trucks with swappable batteries at the Nhava Sheva Distribution Terminal in Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA). This also made JNPA with the largest EV truck fleet in any of India's ports boosting sustainable logistics.
A heavy-duty battery swapping station was also commissioned. JNPA aims to convert 90% of its internal heavy truck fleet of about 600 vehicles by December 2026.
During the event, an MoU was also signed between JNPA and Isaac Centre for Public Policy (ICPP), Ashoka University, Delhi.
This MoU is to create a reference framework for port authorities to determine tariffs from both cost benchmarking and port benchmarking perspectives, across various cargo types and commodities.
The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) is organizing the 29th Conference of Central and State Statistical Organizations (CoCSSO) on 25th and 26th September, 2025 at Chandigarh.
The conference serves as a major forum for coordination between Central and State Statistical Agencies, with the objective of ensuring reliable, timely, and credible statistics for planners, policymakers, and the public to support evidence-based decision-making. COCSSO has played an important role in strengthening Centre–State coordination since 1971.
The theme of this year's COCSSO is ‘Strengthening Local Level Governance’. The conference has brought together around 350 participants from more than 30 States/ UTs Departments [Planning, DES & Statistical Organizations]; Central Ministries/ Departments, experts from various other national & international organizations such as Indian Statistical Institute (ISI),
Indian Agricultural Statistics Research Institute (IASRI), Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), international organisations such as World Bank, UN agencies and other stakeholders to deliberate on strengthening statistical systems for evidence-based governance and achieving the vision of Viksit Bharat.
US President Donald Trump unveiled a sweeping new set of import tariffs, including a 100 per cent duty on branded and patented pharmaceutical products, effective October 1, 2025. The tariffs will not apply to companies that are actively building pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities in the US.
Broader tariffs on furniture, kitchen cabinets, and trucks
The new tariffs extend beyond pharmaceuticals. Trump announced:
50 per cent tariffs on kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities
30 per cent tariffs on upholstered furniture
India is a major supplier of pharmaceuticals to the US. According to a report by Hindustan Times, Indian exports reached $3.6 billion (Rs 31,626 crore) in 2024 and $3.7 billion (Rs 32,505 crore) in the first half of 2025. Major Indian companies, including Dr Reddy’s, Sun Pharma, Lupin, and Aurobindo, rely heavily on the US generics market.
Bank credit expansion moderated during 2024-25 (FY25), but non-bank sources, both domestic and foreign, played a key role in bridging the funding gap for India’s commercial sector, according to a research paper published in the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Bulletin.
The increase in funding from non-bank sources was largely driven by equity issuances amid buoyancy in the domestic equity market, credit extended by non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), and a rebound in short-term external credit.
Indian travelers can use Unified Payments Interface (UPI) apps to make purchases in Qatar, which this week became the eighth country to allow the popular digital transactions system.
Qatar Duty Free was the first merchant to accept QR code-based UPI transactions, marking another step in the global expansion of India’s real-time payments system.
A partnership between NPCI International Payments Ltd (NIPL), Qatar National Bank (QNB), and Japanese payment gateway NETSTARS enabled UPI acceptance at select point-of-sale (POS) terminals in Qatar.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has mandated two factors of authentication for all types of digital payments in the country from April 1, 2026, to strengthen transaction security.
As per the RBI, at least one form of authentication for a transaction must be dynamically created or proven.
This means the proof of possession of this authentication should be unique to that transaction.
According to the new guidelines, authentication measures include password, SMS-based one-time password (OTP), passphrase, PIN, card hardware, software token, fingerprint, or other biometrics (device-native or Aadhaar-based).
Currently, authentication for digital payments relies largely on SMS-based OTPs. Under the new rules, additional measures including biometrics can be implemented.
However, the RBI clarified that the new rules do not call for the discontinuation of SMS-based OTPs as an authentication factor.
India has assured at least three medals at the Para Archery World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea, with a historic three Indian players to play for the gold medal in the compound open category.
Paralympic bronze medallist Rakesh Kumar and international newcomer Toman Kumar have both advanced to the gold medal match in the men’s compound open individual event.
Rakesh, seeded seventh, stunned third seed Nathan Macqueen of Great Britain, 147-143. In the other semifinal, Toman edged out fellow Indian Shyam Sunder Swami in a nail-biting finish, 144-143.
Teenage sensation Sheetal Devi also stormed into the women’s compound final.
The 18-year-old Sheetal secured a spot in the women’s compound final after beating Jodie Grinham of Great Britain, 145-140, in the semifinals. Sheetal will now face World No. 1 Oznur Cure Girdi of Turkiye in the title clash.
In the ISSF Junior World Cup 2025, Indian shooters clinched all three podium spots in the women’s 50m prone event at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range in New Delhi. Anushka Thokur won the gold medal in the women’s 50m prone rifle shooting event, edging out compatriot Anshik, who got the silver. Aadhya Agrawal claimed the bronze medal.
In the men’s event, India’s Deependra Singh Shekhawat narrowly missed the gold to shooter Kamil Nuriakhmetov, who finished with one point more. Rohit Kanyan won the bronze medal.
A 69-member Indian shooting contingent is competing at the ISSF Junior World Cup in New Delhi. The New Delhi event, which concludes on October 2, will feature 208 shooters from 19 federations.
This is the 11th edition of Junior Shooting World Cup and the first to be held in India.
SBI Mutual Fund, India’s largest asset manager, on Wednesday launched its first investment strategy under the newly introduced Specialized Investment Fund (SIF) framework — the Magnum Hybrid Long Short Fund. The New Fund Offer (NFO) opens on October 1, 2025 and will close on October 15, 2025.
The interval investment strategy will invest predominantly in a mix of equity and debt securities, with limited short exposure through derivatives. The fund aims to generate regular income through derivative strategies such as covered calls and arbitrage opportunities in the cash and derivatives segments,
while also seeking long-term capital appreciation via unhedged equity exposure.
Structure: Interval investment strategy with daily subscriptions; redemptions twice a week (Mondays and Thursdays).
Minimum Investment: ₹10 lakh initial application; additional purchases from ₹10,000 onwards.
Investment Options: Lump sum and SIP.
Benchmark: NIFTY 50 Hybrid Composite Debt 50:50
Investments can be made through lump sum and SIPs. The benchmark for the investment strategy is the NIFTY 50 Hybrid Composite Debt 50:50 Index TRI.
The strategy will primarily invest between 65% and 75% of its assets in equity and equity-related instruments. The hedged portion will range from 0% to 75%, including index futures, stock futures, index options, stock options,
and other derivative strategies (such as covered calls, protective puts) as part of hedged/arbitrage exposure.
The unhedged portion, consisting of short derivatives, will range from 0% to 25%. The strategy will also invest 25% to 35% in debt and money market instruments (including units of debt-oriented mutual fund schemes), and up to 10% in units issued by REITs and InvITs
The General Assembly commemorates 26 September as the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons. This Day provides an occasion for the world community to reaffirm its commitment to global nuclear disarmament as a priority.
t provides an opportunity to educate the public - and their leaders - about the real benefits of eliminating such weapons, and the social and economic costs of perpetuating them. Commemorating this Day at the United Nations is especially important, given its universal membership and its long experience in grappling with nuclear disarmament issues.
