In 2026, the World Day of Social Justice is commemorated under the theme “Renewed Commitment to Social Development and Social Justice.” This year's observance takes place at a critical juncture, following the Second World Summit for Social Development and the adoption of the Doha Political Declaration.
In reaffirming the commitments of the 1995 Copenhagen Declaration, Member States have underscored poverty eradication, full and productive employment and decent work for all, and social inclusion as the interrelated pillars of social development.This year’s theme reflects both recognition of progress achieved and acknowledgement of persistent and emerging challenges.
Guided by the Doha Political Declaration and the outcomes of the sixty-fourth session of the Commission for Social Development, the 2026 observance emphasizes the imperative of translating political commitments into concrete and measurable outcomes.
On 26 November 2007, the General Assembly declared that, starting from the sixty-third session of the General Assembly, 20 February will be celebrated annually as the World Day of Social Justice.
India's human spaceflight programme achieved a key milestone with the successful qualification level load test of Drogue Parachute for Gaganyaan programme at Rail Track Rocket Sledge (RTRS) facility of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) at Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory (TBRL) in Chandigarh.
RTRS is a specialised dynamic test facility being used extensively for high-speed aerodynamic and ballistic evaluations.
The test was conducted on February 18 2026, with Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), ISRO, Aerial Delivery Research and Development Establishment (ADRDE), DRDO, alongside various TBRL's dedicated teams.
The RTRS dynamic test, simulating qualification level loads which are higher than the maximum flight loads, shows the additional design safety margin of the parachute.
The test proves India's expertise in designing and manufacturing high-strength ribbon parachutes, a release added.
Air India signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Lufthansa Group to set up a framework for a joint business agreement aimed at expanding connectivity between India and Europe.
The agreement, announced on February 17, 2026, will cover Air India and Lufthansa Group carriers and subsidiaries, including Air India Express, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, ITA Airways, Lufthansa and Swiss International Air Lines. The agreement seeks to offer passengers more seamless travel options across key routes through coordinated planning .
The MoU initially targets passenger traffic between India and Lufthansa Group’s core European markets of Germany, Austria, Belgium, Italy and Switzerland. The scope may later expand to include the rest of Europe and the Indian subcontinent.
Air India and Lufthansa Group carriers currently codeshare on 145 routes across 15 Indian and 29 European cities in 20 countries.
India and the European Union together account for nearly 25 per cent of global GDP. According to the European Commission, the EU is India’s largest trading partner for goods, with bilateral trade in goods exceeding €120 billion in 2024. India ranks as the EU’s ninth-largest trading partner, accounting for 2.4 per cent of the EU’s total trade in goods in 2024.
Larsen & Toubro (L&T) plans to set up a joint venture with chipmaking major Nvidia to build sovereign, gigawatt-scale AI factory infrastructure in India.
The announcement was made on the third day of the AI Impact Summit.
In an exchange filing, the company said the proposed venture will develop AI-ready data centre infrastructure and advanced computing platforms to support large-scale workloads across sectors such as manufacturing, infrastructure, energy, financial services, healthcare and public services.
The partnership will combine L&T’s engineering and infrastructure capabilities with Nvidia’s AI stack, including GPUs, CPUs, networking, accelerated storage platforms, the Nvidia AI Enterprise software stack and reference architectures.
Under the deal, L&T will develop a gigawatt-scale AI data centre campus. It will also scale Nvidia GPU cluster deployment at its Chennai data centre to up to 30 MW capacity and at a 40 MW data centre in Mumbai.
Jensen Huang, is the founder and CEO of Nvidia.
S.N. Subrahmanyan, is the Chairman & Managing Director (CEO & MD) of Larsen & Toubro.
Mr. Subodh Gupta, CEO of Lord's Mark Microbiotech Pvt. Ltd., has been honoured with the prestigious 'CEO of the Year' award at the 24th edition of Business Leader of the Year, held on February 16, 2026 at Taj Lands End. The award was presented by Dr. Rajiv Bhatia, Founder & CEO, Fun and Joy at Work, in respect of his trademarks, namely the "Business Leader Of The Year".
Selected by an independent jury, the programme recognises leaders who combine business excellence with strong corporate governance, CSR commitment, and tangible contribution to national growth and welfare.
The ceremony was telecast in partnership with ET Now. The programme's Chairman Emeritus includes Dr. Arun Arora, Former President & CEO, The Economic Times and Chairman.
Under Gupta's leadership, Lord's Mark Microbiotech has sharpened its strategic focus on advanced cancer diagnostics and genetic testing while steadily strengthening its integrated pathology business.
The pathology platform is further strengthened by the association of Rahul Dravid as Brand Ambassador, reflecting the brand's commitment to trust and credibility.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has given regulatory nod to ASK Asset & Wealth Management Group to commence operations as an investment manager for the mutual fund business in India.
In March 2025, ASK Asset & Wealth Management Group secured in-principle clearance from the SEBI to foray into the mutual fund business.
The firm will bring this cycle-tested investment philosophy to a wider audience, offering world-class investment solutions across active equity, passive strategies, hybrid, and fixed-income products.
It will enable ASK to cater to all investor categories, from first-time retail investors and long-term savers to HNIs and institutional participants, through transparent, well-structured, and scalable products
ASK Asset & Wealth Management has a four-decade-long legacy in India’s equity markets, with a proven track record of managing capital across market cycles through its Portfolio Management Services (PMS) and alternative investment platforms.
In 2022, private equity funds managed by Blackstone acquired a majority stake in ASK Asset & Wealth Management Group.
For frequent travellers and everyday spenders alike, turning routine expenses into travel rewards just got easier. Axis Bank and IndiGo have launched two co-branded credit cards designed to convert daily spending into airline loyalty benefits while offering lifestyle perks such as lounge access, dining offers, and lower forex charges.
The cards — IndiGo Axis Bank Credit Card and IndiGo Axis Bank Premium Credit Card — are built around IndiGo’s loyalty programme BluChip, allowing customers to earn rewards on both travel bookings and regular purchases like groceries, dining, and digital payments.
IIT Madras Global Research Foundation will establish its first applied artificial intelligence innovation centre at Dubai CommerCity to accelerate applied AI innovation and support technology-led economic growth.
A release said that in its first phase, the Centre will host six applied AI startups with a combined valuation of about $118 million and projected revenues of $281 million over the next five years.
The MoU was signed on the sidelines of WORLDEF Dubai 2026, the Middle East region’s largest global gathering dedicated to digital commerce, held from February 12-14, 2026.
The Ministry of Power on Thursday has formed two separate panels to examine the framework for the proposed merger of state-run Power Finance Corporation (PFC) and its subsidiary REC Ltd, and to supervise the restructuring of the two non-banking financial companies (NBFCs).
According to official orders, a working group has been created to study the nitty-gritty of the merger. The group includes one executive director each from PFC and REC, along with the ministry’s director (distribution).
The move follows the announcement by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Union Budget 2026-27 on 1 February 2026, where she proposed restructuring PFC and REC as part of a broader reform push for state-run NBFCs. The two state-run NBFCs have a combine loan book of Rs 11.5 lakh crore.
India and the United Kingdom launched the India–UK Offshore Wind Taskforce, aimed at accelerating cooperation in offshore wind development as part of their broader clean energy partnership under Vision 2035.
Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Pralhad Joshi addressed the launch event in the presence of UK Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy and British High Commissioner to India Lindy Cameron.
The Taskforce reflects mutual confidence between India and the UK to address execution challenges in offshore wind development.
The Taskforce has been constituted under Vision 2035 and the Fourth India–UK Energy Dialogue to provide strategic leadership and coordination for building India’s offshore wind ecosystem. While the UK brings experience in scaling offshore wind and developing mature supply chains, India offers scale, long-term demand and a rapidly expanding clean energy market.
Joshi outlined three focus areas for cooperation: ecosystem planning and market design, including seabed leasing frameworks and revenue certainty mechanisms; infrastructure and supply chains such as port modernisation, local manufacturing and specialised vessels; and financing and risk mitigation through blended finance and long-term institutional capital.
Nepal and India have signed an agreement on mutual legal assistance to cooperate in criminal investigations and legal proceedings, the law and justice ministry here said.
The Agreement on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters was signed on Tuesday during a function at the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs.
The agreement will enable the two countries to cooperate in criminal investigations and legal proceedings, according to a statement issued by the ministry.
It aims to strengthen cooperation in the investigation, prosecution and judicial processes related to criminal cases.
The agreement was inked on behalf of the Nepal government by Joint Secretary Binod Kumar Bhattarai, while Indian Ambassador to Nepal Naveen Srivastava signed on behalf of the Indian government.
Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Anil Kumar Sinha, ministry officials and representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were also present on the occasion.
The Digital India BHASHINI Division (DIBD), under the Digital India Corporation (DIC), Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), marked a major milestone in India’s Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) journey with the launch of VoicERA, an open source, end to end Voice AI stack, at the India AI Impact Summit 2026.
The launch was led by Shri Amitabh Nag, CEO, Digital India BHASHINI Division with EkStep Foundation, in collaboration with COSS, IIIT Bengaluru, and AI4Bharat.
Deployed on the BHASHINI National Language Infrastructure, VoicERA establishes a national execution layer for multilingual Voice and Language AI.
Designed to be open, pluggable, interoperable, cloud deployable, and on premise ready, the platform enables secure and scalable deployment of voice systems across government, research institutions, and innovation ecosystems. By modularising the voice stack, it reduces duplication of effort and eliminates vendor lock in.
The integration of VoicERA strengthens BHASHINI’s role as India’s national language infrastructure, expanding its capabilities from translation and language technologies to real time speech systems, conversational AI, and multilingual telephony at population scale.
The Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP) has helped mobilize $1 billion in clean energy investments in India, according to its 2025 impact report released this week. The funding is part of a broader global effort by the alliance to accelerate energy transition in emerging economies, create jobs, and cut carbon emissions.
Since its launch at COP26 in 2021, the report states that GEAPP has awarded $503 million in catalytic funding worldwide, unlocking $7.8 billion in investments across 137 projects in over 30 countries. These initiatives are projected to expand access to energy for 91 million people, generate or sustain 3.1 million jobs, and reduce 296 million tonnes of carbon emissions.
