Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh inaugurated the newly re-developed Hutatma Smruti Smarak at Patradevi, a historic site associated with the state’s liberation struggle from Portuguese rule. Goa Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant and Union Minister of State for Power and New & Renewable Energy Shri Shripad Y. Naik were present on the occasion.
In his address, Raksha Mantri paid glowing tributes to the Satyagrahis of the Goa liberation movement, including Karnail Singh from Punjab, Sahodra Devi from Madhya Pradesh, Madhukar Damodar Chaudhary from Maharashtra. He described the movement as not merely a regional struggle, but a manifestation of India’s national consciousness and unity.
About Hutatma Smruti Smarak:
The Government of Goa undertook a major re-development of the Memorial through the Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation, at a cost of approximately Rs 9.50 crore. The renovated memorial has been transformed into an immersive educational and commemorative space, featuring a redesigned central monument,
sculptural installations, information hubs and murals depicting the history of the liberation struggle.
It was in Patradevi that one of the defining chapters of the freedom struggle unfolded, making the site a powerful symbol of courage, sacrifice and the collective resolve to free Goa from Portuguese rule. On August 15, 1955,
thousands of volunteers from across India participated in a peaceful satyagraha in Goa. Carrying Indian flags, the first group of satyagrahis entered Goa through Patradevi, where they were met with Portuguese machine-gun fire. Several satyagrahis lost their lives at Patradevi, while others were martyred at different locations during the movement.
The redevelopment aims to provide visitors, particularly the younger generation, an opportunity to understand and remember the sacrifices of the freedom fighters and volunteers who contributed to Goa’s liberation.
Minister of State for Commerce and Industry and Electronics & Information Technology, Shri Jitin Prasada, concluded a successful official visit to the Kingdom of Morocco from 24 to 25 August 2026, during which he held a series of bilateral meetings with senior Moroccan Ministers and dignitaries. During the visit,
he co-chaired the meeting of the 7th Session of the India–Morocco Joint Commission with his counterpart, H.E. Mr. Omar Hejira, Secretary of State to the Minister of Industry and Trade, in charge of Foreign Trade, Kingdom of Morocco.
Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Shri Piyush Goyal today highlighted India’s emergence as the world’s third-largest startup ecosystem, with nearly 250,000 startups established over the last decade, at the India–Japan Startup Roundtable held in Tokyo. He said India’s large domestic market, deep STEM talent pool,
digital public infrastructure and rapidly expanding innovation ecosystem make it an attractive destination for Japanese technology, investment and innovation partnerships.The India–Japan Pitching Series has already connected 65 Indian startups with around 100 Japanese corporations and facilitated more than 30 business tie-ups.
the participation of a 222-member Indian business delegation provides an opportunity to forge new and enduring partnerships between the two innovation ecosystems.
Shri Goyal proposed a forward-looking framework for the next phase of India–Japan startup cooperation centred on four pillars:
a Japan–India Deep-Tech Capital Corridor to mobilise patient capital for early-stage research, deep-tech innovation and commercialisation; a Two-Way Innovation Bridge connecting universities, incubators, R&D institutions, laboratories and testing facilities in both countries; Manufacturing and Technology Integration, combining India’s scale,
technology and manufacturing capabilities; and Joint Startup Pitching Platforms to facilitate regular interactions between Indian founders, Japanese corporations, venture funds and strategic investors.
The Minister also highlighted the Government of India’s proposed second Fund of Funds of around US$1 billion,
with a focus on supporting deep-tech enterprises, and invited greater participation from Japanese investors.Japanese stakeholders welcomed the growing maturity of India’s startup ecosystem. JICA Senior Vice President Shohei Hara emphasised the importance of a two-way partnership, noting that Japan can contribute its technological capabilities
while learning from India’s ability to convert social and developmental challenges into scalable business opportunities. JICA also expressed its intention to showcase opportunities in the Indian market to a larger number of Japanese startups.
The 7th High-Level Meeting (HLM) between the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) and Vietnam Coast Guard (VCG) was held in Chennai on August 25, 2026 under the framework of the 2015 Memorandum of Understanding on Coast Guard Cooperation.
The meeting was co-chaired by Director General Paramesh Sivamani, Director General, Indian Coast Guard,
and Major General Luong Dinh Hung, Vice Commandant, Vietnam Coast Guard.The discussions focused on strengthening bilateral cooperation in key areas including Maritime Search and Rescue (SAR), Maritime Law Enforcement, Marine Pollution Response and capacity building. Both sides reviewed ongoing bilateral engagements, including professional exchanges
and ship visits, and reaffirmed their commitment to enhancing cooperation and interoperability.
The two Coast Guards emphasised the importance of regular institutional interactions, training programmes, professional exchanges, sharing of best practices and ship visits to further strengthen mutual trust, coordination and operational cooperation.
As part of the ongoing bilateral engagement, the India-Vietnam Coast Guard Joint Exercise, SAHYOG-HOPTAC, is scheduled to be conducted at sea on 27 August 2026. The exercise will provide an opportunity for both Coast Guards to enhance operational coordination, strengthen interoperability and exchange best practices.
India has emphasised the critical role of rangelands in sustaining pastoralist communities, conserving biodiversity and regulating water and carbon cycles, while calling for restoration approaches rooted in science, secure tenure and community stewardship. Addressing the Ministerial Dialogue on “Restoration of Rangelands
and the Well-being of Pastoralist Communities” at the 17th Conference of Parties (CoP17) of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Shri Bhupender Yadav, highlighted India’s experience in restoring grasslands and rangelands through a combination of scientific planning.
Highlighting India’s traditional systems of community conservation, Shri Yadav cited the example of Orans in Rajasthan, the sacred groves revered and protected by local communities for their cultural and ecological significance. He informed that around 25,000 such community-protected sacred groves,
covering approximately 0.6 million hectares across the country, exemplify community stewardship while also securing pastoral land rights and conserving critical habitats, including those of the Great Indian Bustard.The Minister further highlighted India’s efforts to restore open forest and grassland ecosystems,
including the reintroduction of the Cheetah and its proposed expansion into grasslands such as Banni in Gujarat. He noted that deep-rooted grasses contribute to soil carbon storage, enhance water infiltration and support groundwater recharge across India’s approximately 10 million hectares of permanent pastures and grazing lands.
The Indian Institute of Creative Technologies (IICT) and Netflix have announced scholarships for 100 students, offering up to 80% financial support across six professional programmes comprising two one-year diploma programmes and four six-month certificate programmes.
The six programmes covered under the scholarship initiative are the Diplomas in Interactive Comics & Sequential Arts and Visual Effects Mastery, Certificates in Virtual Art Department Content Creation, Media Tech Workflow, Art of Character Animation, and E-Sports & Gaming Management.
Bank of Baroda India’s International Bank, has announced the launch of UPI Global Reverse Acceptance, enabling international tourists, overseas Indians and eligible foreign wallet and payment application users to make seamless QR-based merchant payments across India.
The initiative expands international QR payment acceptance across Bank of Baroda’s UPI QR merchant network, allowing visitors to pay using their existing home-country banking or payment applications. The move is aimed at making digital payments more convenient for international travelers
while providing Bank of Baroda merchants access to a broader customer base.Aligned with NPCI International’s vision of global interoperability in digital payments, UPI Global Reverse Acceptance enables cross-border Person-to-Merchant (P2M) transactions for visitors from countries participating in the global payments ecosystem.
These include Singapore, UAE, Nepal, Bhutan, Mauritius, Sri Lanka, the USA, Qatar and France, among others.
Under the new facility, international visitors can simply scan a Bank of Baroda UPI QR code through their familiar home-country banking or payment application and complete the transaction instantly. The service reduces dependence on cash
and the need to exchange foreign currency, offering travelers a more familiar and convenient payment experience.The launch also strengthens Bank of Baroda’s merchant acquiring franchise and supports the broader development of an internationally interoperable digital payments ecosystem.
Bengaluru-based fintech company Slice has announced the appointment of two veteran banking and technology professionals to its board, naming Samir Sawhney as Executive Director and Ramesh Kumar as Independent Director.
Sawhney brings more than three decades of experience at State Bank of India (SBI), where he held senior leadership positions across treasury and global markets. During his tenure, he served as Chief General Manager for Global Markets, overseeing a treasury book worth more than Rs.16.5 lakh crore and foreign assets exceeding US$10 billion.
He also chaired the Foreign Exchange Dealers’ Association of India (FEDAI), which represents banks on foreign exchange-related matters. More recently, Sawhney served as Chief Executive of RMBS Development Company, an entity backed by the National Housing Bank that focuses on developing India’s mortgage-backed securities market.
Cashfree Payments has launched Relay, an AI-powered “Super Agents” platform designed to automate end-to-end payment operations for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and startups. The solution, which has been in beta with merchants since May, is now available to all Cashfree merchants.
Relay is designed to take over repetitive payment-related tasks such as failed payment retries, abandoned cart recovery, cash-on-delivery confirmation, subscription management and dispute filing. Unlike conventional automation tools that simply flag tasks for merchants, Relay executes the required actions directly using merchant transaction data.
According to Cashfree Payments, seven out of 10 Indian SMBs manage payment operations entirely manually, while others often rely on fragmented tools that address only individual workflows. The company estimates that an average SMB spends nearly 60 hours a week on payment operations.
Relay aims to reduce this workload to less than 45 minutes, allowing businesses to focus more on growth and customer engagement.
Merchants can configure Relay by describing the desired outcome in plain language or through voice, without requiring complex AI configurations. The platform can either create a customised agent or deploy a pre-trained,
turnkey agent within minutes.Relay agents are trained on Cashfree’s payments data, enabling them to understand payment workflows and execute tasks with greater efficiency. The platform operates entirely on Cashfree’s infrastructure, with merchant transaction data not shared with external AI providers.
Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath has invested ₹200 crore in data centre infrastructure company CtrlS Datacenters, signalling growing investor interest in the physical infrastructure required to support India’s rapidly expanding artificial intelligence ecosystem.
Entrepreneur Sreeram Reddy Vanga has also invested ₹50 crore in the company. The investment comes at a time when demand for high-performance computing infrastructure is rising as businesses and technology companies scale AI models, applications and enterprise workloads.
World Water Week 2026 (23 - 27 August) will focus on the theme “Water for People and Progress”. The Water Convention Secretariat will co-organize and speak in different sessions, contributing to discussions on the future of water and cooperation, water and sanitation (through the UNECE/WHO Protocol on Water and Health),
and the road to the upcoming UN Water Conference (Abu Dhabi, 8-10 December 2026).
Grand Master Trilok Subba from Sikkim has been selected to represent India at the World Taekwondo Poomsae Championship. Akashvani correspondent reports that internationally acclaimed Taekwondo player Grand Master Trilok Subba, from Sikkim, has been selected to represent India at the World Taekwondo Poomsae Championship in Chuncheon, South Korea.
The Championship is scheduled to take place from 16th to 20th September. Subba will compete in the Under-60 Male Individual Poomsae and team events in the Senior category. Prior to this selection, Subba clinched a gold medal for the National Team at the National Taekwondo Poomsae Championship held in Maharashtra in July 2026.
Badminton Association of India secretary general Sanjay Mishra said the 2028 India Open Super 750 tournament will be held in Guwahati as the dates will clash with the security arrangements in the National capital for the Republic Day.
The Badminton World Federation had moved the India Open to February 2-7 for the 2027 season to avoid the worst of New Delhi's winter weather, before returning it to late January for the 2028 season.
In 2028, the event will be held from January 25-30.
Arindam Chaudhuri has announced the launch of his new book, Africa Before America
, which shifts his focus from India's development to global inequality and Africa's role in shaping the future world order.
Theme: The book argues that Africa should be placed at the center of global development and challenges Western-centric narratives about civilization and economic progress.
