In a significant step towards strengthening India’s global leadership in traditional wellness and natural products, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between AYUSHEXCIL and the Spices Board of India in the presence of Shri Prataprao Jadhav, Union Minister of State (IC), Ministry of Ayush, and Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare.
Under the partnership, both organizations will work together on branding initiatives, traceability frameworks, scientific validation, capacity building, Codex engagement, and joint participation in international trade fairs and promotional activities.
The initiative is expected to create new opportunities for exporters, farmers, MSMEs, startups, women entrepreneurs, and stakeholders across the Ayush and spices sectors, thereby enhancing India’s export growth and global visibility in the wellness economy.
The Government of India has notified the Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Regulation of Supply and Distribution) Amendment Order, 2026, on 25th May, 2026.The amendment aims to provide additional relaxation and convenience to domestic LPG consumers who subsequently obtain Piped Natural Gas (PNG) connections.
Under the amended provisions, LPG consumers who have PNG connections as well shall have the following options:
Consumers may apply for termination of the LPG connection within 30 (thirty) days of obtaining PNG connection; or
Consumers may obtain a transfer voucher for future restoration of LPG connection in a non-PNG area.
This amendment provides significant relief and flexibility to consumers who may subsequently shift to areas where PNG infrastructure may not be feasible.
The provision is particularly beneficial for transferable employees, migrant households, tenants, students, and/or families shifting to non-PNG areas.
Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal announced the launch of guidelines for the ‘BHAVYA (Bharat Audyogik Vikas Yojna) Scheme’, under which the Centre plans to develop 100 industrial parks across the country.
Ladakh is set to take a significant step towards clean energy generation with Lt Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena approving the setting up of India's first geothermal power project by the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation at Puga valley in Ladakh, at an altitude of over 14,000 feet.
LG approved a five-year extension of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation for the construction of the country's first geothermal power project,officials said.
The project, to be developed at an altitude of over 14,000 feet in eastern Ladakh, aims to commercially harness geothermal energy as a sustainable alternative source of power.
The earlier tripartite MoU signed on February 6, 2021, between the Ladakh administration, the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC), Leh, and the ONGC energy centre expired on February 5, 2026.
ONGC had sought an extension, citing delays caused by harsh weather conditions and difficult terrain, they said.
Considering the strategic importance of the project, Saxena approved the extension of the agreement for another five years, officials said. Under the revised MoU, ONGC will establish a 1-MWe pilot geothermal power plant in the Puga valley and prepare a detailed project report (DPR) for large-scale commercial exploitation of geothermal resources in Ladakh.
Officials said ONGC Energy Centre will deepen the existing geothermal well to 1,000 metres during the 2026 working season and subsequently drill another well of similar depth in the next phase of the project. Testing, evaluation and commissioning of the pilot plant are expected during the 2026-27 financial year, they said.
The second phase of the project will involve surveys and geothermal investigations in the Chumathang area, followed by drilling activities and preparation of a DPR for commercial-scale geothermal development.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said it has imposed monetary penalty on City Union Bank, Mintifi Finserve, and Newa Investments, for non-compliance with certain directions.
The central bank imposed a Rs 10.10 lakh monetary penalty on City Union Bank, Rs. 3.10 lakh on Mintifi Finserve, and Rs. 2.70 lakh on Newa Investments, the RBI said in a release.
City Union Bank was fined as the lender levied loan-related charges on certain agriculture advances qualifying as priority sector loans up to Rs. 25,000, and it did not report self-help group member level data to credit information companies, the release said.
Mintifi Finserve was penalised as the company did not upload KYC records of certain customers onto the central KYC records registry within the prescribed timeline.
Further, monetary penalty on Newa Investments was imposed as the company did not take prior written permission of the RBI while appointing directors,
which resulted in a change in its management on account of a change in more than 30 per cent of its directors, excluding independent directors, the RBI said in a release.
Romanian director Cristian Mungiu won the Cannes Film Festival’s Palme d’Or top prize for the second time with his Norwegian-set drama that explores clashing cultures, Fjord.
This year’s jury president, South Korean director Park Chan-wook, praised the film for helping shed light on understanding different views “in an artistically magnificent manner.”
The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MoSJE) will launch the PM-AJAY portal and the AJAY mobile application to digitise the implementation and monitoring of the Pradhan Mantri Anusuchit Jaati Abhyuday Yojna (PM-AJAY) scheme across the country.
The ministry said the PM-AJAY portal has been designed to improve coordination among stakeholders while ensuring faster and more transparent delivery of services to beneficiaries. The dashboard will track socio-economic development in more than 47,000 Scheduled Caste-majority villages and monitor over 4 million beneficiaries across various components of the scheme.
The portal will act as a centralised digital database and enable milestone-linked fund flow mechanisms. For the Adarsh Gram component, the system will replace paper-based planning with digital village-level planning and provide national, state and district dashboards to monitor progress across 50 socio-economic indicators spread over 10 developmental domains.
Under the Grants-in-Aid (GIA) component, the portal will function as a centralised management information system to monitor financial outlays, livelihood projects and funding allocations. It will also track the physical and financial progress of hostels under the educational institutions component, with a focus on improving transparency and reducing delays.
The PM-AJAY mobile application has been developed as a unified digital platform to extend the services of existing PMAGY and PM-AJAY portals to mobile users. The app will provide access to scheme information, monitoring, reporting and beneficiary-related services through a mobile interface.
The application supports Adarsh Gram, Grants-in-Aid and Hostel components through integrated monitoring, reporting, proposal management, inspections and beneficiary tracking features.
For the Adarsh Gram component, the app will allow offline door-to-door surveys and real-time generation of Village Development Plans based on 50 socio-economic indicators.
The 1st BRICS 2026 Tourism Working Group (TWG) Meeting was successfully convened in virtual mode on 25 May 2026, under India's BRICS 2026 Chairship. The meeting was chaired by the Joint Secretary (Tourism), Ministry of Tourism, Government of India.
The meeting served as an introductory and preparatory platform for advancing this year's tourism cooperation agenda under the overarching theme "Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability."
It provided BRICS member states an opportunity to present their introductory remarks and engage with India's thematic priorities for tourism cooperation.
The key thematic priorities under India’s Chairship include Artificial Intelligence and Tourism, Sustainability and Responsible Tourism, Tourism Skilling and Capacity Building, and Tourism Exchanges and Seamless Travel Facilitation.
President Droupadi Murmu on May 25, 2026 presented Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan, and Padma Shri awards for the year 2026 at the Civil Investiture Ceremony-I held at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.
Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha, who switched from the AAP to the BJP recently, has been appointed as the new chairman of the Committee on Petitions of the Upper House.
After reconstituting the Committee on Petitions, Rajya Sabha chairman C.P. Radhakrishnan nominated 10 members of the house to the panel.
The members of the panel, besides Mr. Chadha, are: Harsh Mahajan, Gulam Ali, Shambhu Sharan Patel, Mayankkumar Nayak, Masthan Rao Yadav Beedha, Jebi Mather Hisham, Subhasish Khuntia, Rwngwra Narzary and P. Sandosh Kumar.
In another notification, the Rajya Sabha secretariat said, "The Chairman, Rajya Sabha has, on 20 May 2026, nominated Dr. Menaka Guruswamy, Member, Rajya Sabha to be a member of the Joint Committee on the Corporate Laws [Amendment] Bill, 2026."
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has formed an eight-member panel to study issues related to quantum technology and recommend a roadmap and framework to quantum-secure the Indian financial system.
Anil Prabhakar, professor, Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Madras, will be the convenor of the panel and the FinTech Department of the RBI will provide secretarial support to the committee.
“To examine the related issues, it has been decided to constitute an Expert Committee for a Quantum Secure and Adaptive Financial Ecosystem (Q-SAFE),” the RBI said.
The terms of reference of the committee include exploring and evaluating the potential benefits, risks and challenges in the financial sector, undertaking a cross-country analysis and assessing the adequacy of existing regulatory frameworks for the safe deployment of quantum applications, and evaluating industry preparedness for quantum-safe cryptography adoption,
including the availability, scalability and maturity of vendor tools and solutions.
The committee will submit its report within six months from the date of its first meeting.
