The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), in collaboration with the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA), has submitted India’s First National Report (NR1) on the implementation of the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization (ABS),
to the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) on 27th February 2026, in accordance with Article 29 of the Protocol on Monitoring and Reporting.
To expand the Youth Parliament Programme and to ensure wider participation of students/citizens, the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs has unveiled an upgraded version of the National Youth Parliament Scheme (NYPS) web portal, known as NYPS 2.0 on 11th September 2024.
Unlike the previous version, which was limited to recognized educational institutions only, NYPS 2.0 is open to all the educational institutions, groups and citizens across the country through Institution Participation, Group Participation and Individual Participation respectively.
It is open for participation regardless of gender, caste, creed, religion, race, region, place of residence in the country etc. Since its launch, a total of 4,586 institutions have registered under the Institution Participation and 44,222 individuals have participated under the Individual Participation, in the country.
Further, to expand the outreach of the NYPS more, the Ministry has written to all State Governments, Union Territory Administrations; Legislatures of States/UTs; various educational boards (CBSE, CISCE), and also a publicity video tutorial is broadcast from time to time on Sansad TV.
The GoIStats mobile application has 17,475 downloads and 3,66,390 hits till February, 2026. Further, it has 2576 active users in the month of February, 2026.
Onboarding of datasets, visualizations & infographics are a continuous processes.
Presently, data and visualisation of 9 statistical products viz. National Accounts Statistics, Consumer Price Index, Wholesale Price Index, Household Consumption Expenditure Survey, Periodic Labour Force Survey, Index of Industrial Production, Annual Survey of Industries, Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises and Economic Census,
consisting of 12 socio-economic indicators, are provided on the mobile application. Further, 178 Infographics are also available on the app.
The app has been developed as one of the elements of digital data dissemination bouquet of MoSPI with the specific objective to provide selected indicators on-the-go to the stakeholders.
The Sahitya Akademi on March 16, 2026 announced its annual awards for 2025 in the 24 languages recognised by it, nearly three months after the process was abruptly put on hold following directives from the Union Ministry of Culture.
The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has revised the rules for the empanelment of the State Director General of Police and Head of Police Force.
State Governments will now have to get the consent of the Supreme Court for any delay in submitting the list of DGP-rank officers to the UPSC for empanelment.
While disposing of an interlocutory application moved by the Union Home Ministry, the Supreme Court had ruled that States should send their proposals in anticipation of the vacancies to the UPSC well in time – at least three months prior to the date of retirement of the incumbent on the post of DGP.
It also ordered that “none of the States shall ever conceive of the idea of appointing any person to the post of Director General of Police on an acting basis for there is no concept of an acting Director General of Police as per the decision in Prakash Singh’s case.”
The Attorney General of India (AGI) opined that the delay by the State government in forwarding names for empanelment was “excessive”.
The State government should have first come to the Supreme Court in case of any difficulty. The more appropriate course, therefore, would be to require the State to seek leave or clarification from the Supreme Court, the AGI noted.
Three childhood friends from Silicon Valley — Brendan Foody, Adarsh Hiremath, and Surya Midha — have become the world’s youngest self-made billionaires at just 22. The trio, who co-founded the San Francisco-based AI hiring platform Mercor, reached the milestone after the startup raised $350 million in new funding, pushing its valuation to $10 billion and,
surpassing Mark Zuckerberg’s record of becoming a billionaire at 23.
Together, the three founders hold roughly 22% of the company’s equity, giving each a net worth of over $2 billion. Foody serves as CEO, Hiremath — whose parents hail from Karnataka — leads as CTO, and Midha — whose family is from New Delhi — chairs the board.
The latest $350 million Series C round now places the three founders among the world’s youngest billionaires.
All three are recipients of the Thiel Fellowship, a $100,000 grant awarded to young entrepreneurs who choose to leave college and build companies full-time.
In Tennis, the No. 2-ranked Italian Jannik Sinner defeated Daniil Medvedev 7-6, 7-6 to win the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells Tennis Garden without dropping a set in California, United States. The Italian rallied from 4-0 down in the second-set tiebreak and has now beaten Medvedev for the ninth time in their last 10 matches.
n the women’s final, world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka overcame Elena Rybakina 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 to claim her first Indian Wells title after two previous runner-up finishes. Sabalenka saved a championship point in the deciding tiebreak before sealing the victory and will next defend her title at the Miami Open.
India finished on top of the medal standings at the World Para Athletics Grand Prix 2026 New Delhi leg, securing 208 medals as the three-day competition concluded at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.
The host nation won 75 gold, 69 silver and 64 bronze medals. Russia finished second with 35 medals, while Bosnia and Herzegovina placed third with three.
India’s double Paralympic bronze medallist Preeti Pal won her second gold of the meet in the women’s 200m T35-T37, yesterday. India also secured podium sweeps in several events, including the men’s shot put F57 where Shubham Juyal took gold with a 14.45-metre throw.
In the men’s 200 meter T37-T44, Rakeshbhai Bhatt clocked 25.20 seconds to lead an all-Indian podium, while Manojkumar Sabapathi won gold in the men’s 800 meter T53-T54.
The event featured 257 athletes from eight countries. Earlier in the meet, Paralympic champions Sumit Antil and Praveen Kumar also secured gold medals.
The New Delhi leg was the second stop of the 13th Grand Prix season, offering key international classification opportunities ahead of the 2026 World Para Athletics Championships and the 2028 Los Angeles Paralympics.
Gujarat has marked a historic milestone in the space research sector with the successful launch of the state’s first sounding rocket at Dholera. Carried out by the Ahmedabad-based startup, this single-stage sub-orbital rocket lifted off from a temporary launch complex at 1:00 PM, reaching an altitude of approximately three kilometres.
The rocket also carried a mini-satellite designed to collect essential weather data. Under the ‘Make in India’ initiative, the rocket’s airframe was developed using carbon fiber and advanced composites at the startup’s laboratory in Ahmedabad. This launch was conducted under the authorization of IN-SPACe and supported by the Gujarat Spacetech Policy 2025-2030.
Kimi Antonelli is a Formula 1 race-winner in his own right, and the second-youngest in history.
He’s been defined by being Lewis Hamilton’s successor and George Russell’s teammate.
The 19-year-old Italian pulled clear of an entertaining battle between Russell and the two Ferraris to take a commanding win at the Chinese Grand Prix,
and share the podium with his teammate and Hamilton, the seven-time champion he replaced last year.
The only driver younger than Antonelli to win a Grand Prix was Max Verstappen, who was 18 when he took his first victory in 2016. He's the first Italian to win since Giancarlo Fisichella in 2006, five months before Antonelli was born.
The Ministry of Education, in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur, introduced the 'SATHEE' app as a free learning platform to help students prepare for national-level competitive exams such as the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE), National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), and Common University Entrance Test (CUET).
SATHEE (Self-Assessment, Test and Help for Entrance Exams) offers video lectures and study notes prepared by experts from IITs and other reputed institutions. The platform also provides multilingual learning resources free of cost.
The app includes mock tests, assessments, detailed study material and previous years' question papers to help students evaluate their preparation.
The initiative aims to support economically weaker students by enabling them to prepare for competitive exams without expensive coaching. Students can access the platform anytime, allowing them to study at their convenience.
India lost 0-2 against England in the final of the FIH Women’s Hockey World Cup Qualifier at G.M.C. Balyogi Hockey Ground in Hyderabad but still managed to progress to this year’s mega-event, to be co-hosted by the Netherlands and Belgium.
The Indians, ranked ninth in the world, tried their heart and soul throughout the entire 60 minutes but failed to break the resolute English defence. Besides champions England, runner-up India and Scotland, who defeated Italy 1-0, qualified from this event for the World Cup.
This edition of the World Cup will be jointly hosted by the Netherlands and Belgium from August 14 to 30 along side the men’s tournament.
A professor at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) has summited the Nevado Ojos del Salado, which is the highest volcanic peak in the world and the highest mountain in Chile.
By summitting the Nevado Ojos del Salado, which is 6,893 meters, on March 6, Arpita Patra, professor at IISc’s Department of Computer Science and Automation, became the second Indian woman to achieve this feat.
Prior to this, she had climbed the highest volcanic peaks of four continents, which are Mt. Kilimanjaro (5,895 meters) in Africa,
Mt. Elbrus (5,642 meters) in Europe, Mt. Giluwe (4,367 meters) in Oceania, and Pico de Orizaba (5,636 meters) in North America.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed a monetary penalty of Rs. 2.70 lakh on Manappuram Finance for non-compliance with its guidelines on compensation of key managerial personnel (KMP), wherein the lender paid the entire variable pay upfront to certain KMPs without deferring a portion of the compensation, as required under the guidelines.
The action follows the central bank’s statutory inspection of the company regarding its financial position as of March 31, 2025. Based on supervisory findings indicating non-compliance with the RBI’s directions, the central bank issued a notice to the company asking it to show cause as to why a penalty should not be imposed.
Wicketkeeper-batter Sarfaraz Ahmed, the only Pakistani captain to win two major ICC tournament finals against traditional rivals India, on March 15, 2026 announced his retirement from all forms of cricket.
Sarfaraz, who last played for the national team in a Test match against Australia at Perth in December 2023, revealed his decision through a statement issued by the Pakistan Cricket Board.
The keeper-batter, who hails from Karachi, represented the country in 54 Tests, 117 ODIs and 61 T20 internationals, and also captained in 100 international games across all three formats.
The International Day to Combat Islamophobia is observed annually on 15 March, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2022. It commemorates the 2019 Christchurch mosque attacks to raise global awareness of anti-Muslim hatred, promote tolerance, and protect human rights. The day emphasizes that terrorism cannot be associated with any religion or nationality.
In May 2025, the Secretary-General appointed Mr. Miguel Ángel Moratinos Cuyaubé of Spain as the United Nations Special Envoy to Combat Islamophobia. He continues to serve as High Representative for the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) while leading this new mandate to strengthen UN efforts to counter Islamophobia globally.
