Government of India through Tea Board is implementing the ‘Tea Development & Promotion Scheme (TDPS)’ across the country, including in the State of Assam. The scheme inter alia aims to increase the production and productivity of tea, improve quality of tea entering the markets, enhance exports,
mobilize small tea growers into forming Self Help Groups and Farmer Producer Organizations (SHGs/FPOs) to enable them to move up the value chain, provide support for setting up of mini tea factories by SHGs/FPOs to make them self-sustainable and undertake capacity building programs.
The Government has designated Dakshina Kannada as a District Export Hub under the Districts as Export Hubs (DEH) initiative, with seafood and cashew added as potential export products. This recognition underscores the district’s strong export potential and aligns with ongoing efforts to promote balanced and sustainable economic growth across the country.
The identified focus areas under this initiative are expected to further strengthen local industry, enhance value-added activities, and expand market opportunities for enterprises in the region. The designation is aimed at fostering increased participation in global trade and supporting long-term development within the district.
The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) and the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) held their 1st Annual Bilateral Meeting in Manila, Philippines on December 02, 2025, under the provisions of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed on August 22, 2023.
The engagement aligns closely with India’s Act East Policy, as well as India’s regional maritime initiatives such as Security and Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR) and the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI) which collectively promote a safe, secure and stable maritime environment.
The meeting was co-chaired by ICG Commander (Eastern Seaboard) Additional Director General Donny Michael and Deputy Commandant for Operations (PCG) Vice Admiral Edgar L. Ybanez. Enhanced cooperation between the ICG and PCG is an important component of the broader India-Philippines strategic partnership, contributing to peace, stability and sustainable maritime governance.
The 14th edition of the Joint Military Exercise EKUVERIN between the Indian Army and the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) has commenced at Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala today. The exercise will be conducted from 02 to 15 December 2025.
The Indian Army contingent of 45 personnel, represented by a battalion of the GARHWAL RIFLES, is participating alongside an equal-strength Maldivian contingent represented by the MNDF.
EKUVERIN in Dhivehi translates to ‘Friends’, underscoring the deep-rooted bonds of friendship, mutual trust and military cooperation between the two nations.
Conducted alternately in both countries since 2009, Exercise EKUVERIN continues to be a shining example of India's Neighbourhood First Policy and its commitment to building enduring defence partnerships with friendly nations.
The exercise reflects the growing defence cooperation and mutual commitment of India and the Maldives towards regional peace and stability in the IOR.
The two-week-long exercise aims to enhance interoperability and operational synergy in Counter-Insurgency and Counter-Terrorism operations across jungle, semi-urban and coastal terrain.
In response to the impact of Cyclonic Storm Ditwah in Sri Lanka, the Indian Navy has undertaken comprehensive Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) operations under Operation Sagar Bandhu. Indian Naval Ships INS Vikrant and INS Udaygiri, which were present in Colombo as part of the 75th Anniversary International Fleet Review (IFR-2025) of the Sri Lanka Navy,
were tasked at short notice to provide immediate relief based on emerging requirements ashore. As part of the effort, the ships have handed over relief provisions for distribution to affected communities.
The ship-borne helicopters were deployed for aerial reconnaissance of the affected areas and augmented ongoing Search and Rescue efforts, leading to the successful rescue of Sri Lankan citizens.
Augmenting these efforts, the Indian Navy has additionally deployed INS Sukanya to Trincomalee on 01 Dec 2025.
The ship carried critical relief materials to further strengthen ongoing assistance to the people of Sri Lanka.
Indian Navy's swift response once again underscores its role as the First Responder in Indian Ocean Region (IOR).
The guidelines issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on customer services in banks, provides comprehensive directions on usages of regional languages, so that banks could align their service delivery as per the regional needs.
The government has recently launched Credit Assessment Model (CAM) for Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). The model leverages the digitally fetched and verifiable data available in the ecosystem and devise automated journeys for MSME loan appraisal using objective decisioning for all loan applications and model-based limit assessment for both Existing to Bank (ETB)
The government has recently launched Credit Assessment Model (CAM) for Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). The model leverages the digitally fetched and verifiable data available in the ecosystem and devise automated journeys for MSME loan appraisal using objective decisioning for all loan applications and model-based limit assessment for both Existing to Bank (ETB)
as well as New to Bank (NTB) MSME borrowers. The Government, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) have been taking up various initiatives to promote digital payment transactions. These inter alia, include incentive scheme for promotion of RuPay Debit Cards and low-value BHIM-UPI transactions (P2M),
and Payments Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) to support deployment of digital payment infrastructure (such as POS Terminals and QR codes) in underserved regions.Further, The Pradhan Mantri Street Vendor's AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) Scheme, launched on 01.06.2020 is now extended to March 31, 2030,
has been jointly implemented by Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) and Department of Financial Services. Under the scheme, the loan extended to street vendors to support their business has been enhanced to ₹15,000, ₹25,000 and ₹50,000 respectively in three tranches.
has been jointly implemented by Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) and Department of Financial Services. Under the scheme, the loan extended to street vendors to support their business has been enhanced to ₹15,000, ₹25,000 and ₹50,000 respectively in three tranches.
Other features included in the scheme are UPI-linked RuPay Credit Card with credit limit of ₹30,000 and cashback incentives for digital transactions.
Other features included in the scheme are UPI-linked RuPay Credit Card with credit limit of ₹30,000 and cashback incentives for digital transactions.
Punjab National Bank has appointed Indian women’s cricket captain Harmanpreet Kaur as its first-ever female brand ambassador. The announcement was made at an event themed ‘Banking On Champions’ at the bank’s corporate office in New Delhi.
The bank also unveiled PNB One 2.0 and Digi Surya Ghar, and confirmed its onboarding on the International Bullion Exchange (IIBX).
The ceremony was attended by senior leadership, including M. Nagaraju, Secretary (FS), who joined Kaur and PNB MD & CEO Ashok Chandra in unveiling four products: the PNB RuPay Metal Credit Card Luxura, PNB One 2.0, Digi Surya Ghar, and PNB’s onboarding on the IIBX Portal.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said that State Bank of India (SBI), HDFC Bank, and ICICI Bank will continue to be classified as systemically important banks.
Systemically important banks are ones which are too big to fail due to their size, cross-jurisdictional activities, complexity, lack of substitutability, and interconnectedness.
The disorderly failure of these banks has the potential to cause significant disruption to the essential services they provide to the banking system, and in turn, to the overall economic activity.
According to RBI, while SBI must maintain an additional capital requirement of 0.80 per cent of its risk-weighted assets,
HDFC Bank is required to maintain an additional 0.40 per cent, and ICICI Bank 0.20 per cent.
RBI had announced SBI and ICICI Bank as domestic systemically important banks (D-SIB) in 2015 and 2016. In 2017, HDFC Bank was added to the list.
The D-SIB framework, which was issued in 2014 by RBI, requires the central bank to disclose the names of banks designated as D-SIBs and place these banks in appropriate buckets depending upon their systemic importance scores (SISs).
Based on the bucket in which a D-SIB is placed, an additional common equity requirement has to be applied to it.
The complaints registered under the Reserve Bank of India’s Integrated Ombudsman Scheme (RB-IOS) were up by 13.55 per cent to 1.33 million in FY25 from 1.18 million in FY24, according to the RBI’s Annual Report of the Ombudsman Scheme.
Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI) has achieved a major sustainability milestone, becoming India’s first airport with over 40 million passengers to be certified as ‘water-positive’, Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) announced.
A water-positive facility is one that replenishes more water than it consumes—a distinction IGI earned through a combination of innovative infrastructure and water management practices.
The airport now boasts 625 rainwater harvesting structures, two newly constructed underground reservoirs with a total capacity of 9 million litres,
and a 16.6 million litre per day (MLD) zero-liquid-discharge sewage treatment plant. These systems allow IGI to capture, store, and recycle water for multiple non-potable purposes.
The achievement was formally recognised at the Water Innovation Summit 2025 in New Delhi,
where DIAL received accolades for attaining scope I water neutrality under the NITI Aayog–CII water neutrality framework. Water neutrality refers to balancing an organization’s total freshwater use with savings generated through improved efficiency, reuse, and replenishment measures.
The Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation compiles various indices such as Estimates of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), monthly Consumer Price Index (CPI) and monthly Index of Industrial Production (IIP) as per the methodology consistent with International Standards.
The Base Year of these indices is revised periodicallyto incorporate the improvements in methodology as per internationalguidelines and to capture structural changes during theintervening period and using latest available databases.
Further, the Government of India has undertaken the Global Indices for Reforms and Growth (GIRG) initiative for monitoring the progress of 26 select Global Indices via inter-ministerial coordination for driving reforms and growth in the country.
These 26 key Global Indices are published by 16 international agencies, spanning four broad themes: economy, development, governance, and industry. The Development Monitoring and Evaluation Office (DMEO), NITI Aayog, serves as the knowledge partner and central coordinator for this exercise.
Under the GIRG framework, the 26 selected indices have been allocated to 17 nodal Ministries, which are entrusted with specific responsibilities to spearhead improvements.
These nodal Ministries are required to conduct a thorough review of the index methodologies and proactively engage with the respective Publishing Agencies/ International bodies and the concerned line Ministries to ensure that the most recent official Indian data sources are utilized in the computation of these indices.
Furthermore, nodal/line Ministries are mandated to identify performance gaps and implement appropriate remedial measures and policy reforms to address the underlying issues, thereby driving tangible progress in India's standing on the global stage.
The International Day for the Abolition of Slavery, 2 December, marks the date of the adoption, by the General Assembly, of the United Nations Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others (resolution 317(IV) of 2 December 1949).
The focus of this day is on eradicating contemporary forms of slavery, such as trafficking in persons, sexual exploitation, the worst forms of child labour, forced marriage, and the forced recruitment of children for use in armed conflict.
Globally, one in ten children works. The majority of the child labour that occurs today is for economic exploitation.
International Day of Persons with Disabilities is observed annually on December 3rd to promote the rights and well-being of people with disabilities and raise awareness of their political, economic, social, and cultural situations.
Theme 2025: Fostering disability inclusive societies for advancing social progress.
The United Nations Disability Inclusion Strategy provides the foundation for sustainable and transformative progress on disability inclusion through all pillars of the work of the United Nations.
