Skyroot Aerospace Co-founder and CEO Pawan Kumar Chandana on Thursday praised Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani’s startup initiative ‘Vande Bharatam’, saying the platform gives entrepreneurs from smaller cities valuable opportunities to showcase their ideas, meet investors and gain mentorship.

Chandana, who participated in the programme as a judge, told reporters that initiatives such as Vande Bharatam can strengthen India’s innovation ecosystem by giving early-stage founders greater visibility and access to industry support.

“Many entrepreneurs from smaller towns have innovative ideas but often lack access to funding and mentorship. Platforms like Vande Bharatam provide them with an opportunity to showcase their work and interact with industry leaders,” Chandana said.

The Skyroot Aerospace chief also highlighted the growing number of Indian startups developing advanced technologies domestically. He said initiatives that promote entrepreneurship can help these ventures scale and contribute further to India’s innovation-driven economy.

Chandana pointed to the growing momentum in India’s space sector, noting that several space-tech startups participated in the Vande Bharatam initiative. According to him, their participation reflects the increasing innovation emerging across the country’s space industry.

“India currently holds around 2 percent of the global space economy. If the country aims to increase that share to 10 percent, it will need a much larger base of successful space startups,” he said.

Startup founders who participated in the programme also highlighted the platform’s role in connecting emerging businesses with investors and experienced mentors.

One founder said Vande Bharatam allowed entrepreneurs to present their ideas directly to leading venture capital firms and industry experts. He added that his startup had already attracted interest from potential investors through the initiative.

Another participant, who is developing a vertical take-off and landing aircraft similar to a helicopter, said the platform gave him an opportunity to explain his concept to business leaders, including executives from the Adani Group.

Vande Bharatam has received nearly 26,000 entries from across India, creating a nationwide platform for entrepreneurs to showcase innovative ideas and connect with investors, mentors and industry leaders.

On Thursday, two entries were made in the Golden Book of World Records before Independence Day, celebrating accomplishments in the categories of “Longest Mass March With Flag” and “Most People Holding a National Flag. ”

During a massive Tiranga-themed event attended by thousands of people, Gaurav Gautam of Palwal, Haryana, was recorded as the owner of the documents.

For the category of ‘Longest Mass March With Flag’, Gautam received a provisional certificate. Thousands of people walked a record distance on August 13 carrying the Indian national flag, the Tiranga, according to event organizers. The event was organized as a grand homage to patriotism, national unity, and the long-lasting spirit of India’s independence movement.

Additionally, a certificate was given out in the “Most People Holding a National Flag” category. A record-breaking number of people were reported to have walked with a large representation of the Indian national flag, according to the Golden Book of World Records. Celebrating the values of India’s Independence, the event was designed to be a breathtaking public exhibition of unity and shared pride.

At a time when the country is getting ready to celebrate its 80th Independence Day, the dual acknowledgements are made. The accomplishments have contributed to the “Har Ghar Tiranga” campaign of the government, which urges people to proudly display the national flag in their houses, generating a joyful environment.

Approximately twenty places offered a grand welcome as the historic Tiranga Yatra kicked off with a massive tricolor measuring five kilometers in length and ten feet in width. From youngsters to the elderly and matriarchs, everyone took part with zeal.

To commemorate India’s Independence, the “Har Ghar Tiranga” campaign was started under the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav to motivate people to bring the national flag into their homes and hoist the Tiranga.

Traditionally, people’s connection with the national flag has been more official and institutional rather than being a personal show of national pride, and the campaign was founded on this notion.

The goal of the program was to change the Tiranga into a representation of a personal connection with the nation as well as a collective commitment to nation-building and national unity by encouraging people to bring the flag home.

This year, ‘Har Ghar Tiranga 2026‘ will be dedicated to the spirit of 150 Years of Vande Mataram, commemorating the patriotism, pride in the Tiranga, and profound love for the motherland that is expressed in India’s National Song.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged the populace to actively participate in the Har Ghar Tiranga campaign in honor of Independence Day on August 15 and to pay homage to the freedom fighters.

PM Modi stated in an Instagram reel, “Celebrate August 15 with pride, pay respect to freedom warriors, and make a promise for Viskit Bharat. ” Har Ghar Tiranga, Ghar Ghar Tiranga, Har Man Tiranga.

As the country gets ready to commemorate its 80th Independence Day, the Prime Minister wrote on the post, “Let’s come together and make Har Ghar Tiranga a celebration in every house. “

Union Home Minister Amit Shah raised the Tricolour at his house in the nation’s capital on Thursday as part of the “Har Ghar Tiranga” campaign, saying that this fosters patriotism and pride in the hearts of all Indians.

Amit Shah stated on the ‘X’ social media site, “Today, under the ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ campaign, I raised the Tricolour at my home in New Delhi. ” Today, this campaign, started under the direction of PM Narendra Modi ji, is boosting every Indian’s sense of patriotism and pride. In order to strengthen the spirit of ‘Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat’, crores of people are connecting with the Tricolour today.

Under the ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ campaign, ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ was introduced to inspire people to fly the Tricolor in their houses as part of the festivities honoring India’s independence.

The campaign was launched on the premise that the public’s interaction with the national flag has historically been more formal and institutional than a unique show of national pride.

The initiative aimed to make the Tiranga a symbol of a personal relationship with the country as well as a collective commitment to nation-building and national unity by urging residents to bring the national flag home.

This year, ‘Har Ghar Tiranga 2026’ is dedicated to the spirit of 150 Years of Vande Mataram, honoring patriotism, pride in the Tiranga, and the profound love for the motherland that India’s National Song expresses.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday called on citizens to participate in the ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ campaign on August 15 in order to commemorate Independence Day and honor the freedom fighters.

PM Modi posted a reel on Instagram and stated, “Celebrate August 15 with pride, pay tribute to freedom fighters, and take a vow for Viksit Bharat. ” Har Ghar Tiranga, Ghar Ghar Tiranga, Har Man Tiranga.

In the caption to the X post, the prime minister wrote, “As the nation prepares to commemorate its 80th Independence Day, come, let’s make Har Ghar Tiranga a celebration in every home. ”

PM Modi referred to the Tricolour as a source of motivation and pride earlier this week as he encouraged people to take part in the campaign.

“Our Tricolor is our pride and a consistent source of inspiration to always give our best for the country,” PM Modi had stated on his official X account.

“Let’s actively participate in the ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ campaign and reiterate our collective commitment to creating a ‘Viksit Bharat,‘” he remarked, stressing that this year’s theme was “Vande Mataram,” the national song.

“I am glad that the focus of this year’s efforts is on Vande Mataram, particularly at a moment when we are celebrating its 150th anniversary,” the Prime Minister remarked.

NITI Aayog identified four manufacturing sectors with high potential—solar photovoltaic production, textiles, telecommunications, and network equipment, and chemicals—that may help India realize its goal of becoming a major manufacturing powerhouse.

The NITI Aayog’s research, titled “Key Industries to Position India as a Global Manufacturing Hub,” aims to comprehend India’s manufacturing environment in terms of global patterns, sectoral growth potential, and global standards.

It also explores the elements that impact manufacturing competitiveness, such as policy support, infrastructure readiness, market potential, technology readiness, raw material availability, employment potential, and India’s present position in the value chain.

“The project aims to find industries where India has a high growth potential and where targeted initiatives can improve domestic capabilities, boost competitiveness and value addition, and speed up export-oriented manufacturing growth,” according to an official announcement.

This issue of the report concentrates on four manufacturing industries with great potential, and future reports will cover eight additional sectors.

Three main consumption categories, namely petrochemicals and organic compounds, specialty chemicals, and inorganic chemicals, are the primary drivers of the domestic chemical sector.

The largest segment, petrochemicals and organic chemicals, includes end-products, intermediates, building blocks, performance plastics, synthetic fibers, and polymers.

The NITI Aayog report stated that “India’s chemicals industry has a substantial opportunity to improve domestic value addition by expanding downstream manufacturing and improving feedstock usage. ” “The industry’s sustainable growth may be supported by promoting domestic manufacturing, investing in competitiveness, and strategic usage of FTAs, which can help lessen reliance on imports and improve downstream capabilities. ”

India’s textile and apparel business is one of the most significant manufacturing sectors, accounting for about 2% of the country’s GDP, 11% of manufacturing GVA, and 9% of goods exports.

By improving raw material availability, growing manufacturing through infrastructure support, and expanding market access through deeper trade integration, India’s textile sector has a lot of potential to increase its global competitiveness. The paper stated,

With more than 1. 2 billion users, about 85% telecom penetration, and nearly 75% internet usage, India is now the world’s second-biggest telecommunications market.

According to the research, by improving localization and bolstering domestic component production, India’s telecom and electronics industries have a lot of potential to raise their worldwide competitiveness.

Among the most important goals are encouraging technology transfer and joint ventures, growing integrated industrial clusters, broadening high-potential export sectors, and enhancing skill development, certification, and testing to promote productivity, innovation, and scale.

Additionally, by reducing its reliance on imports and bolstering its upstream capabilities, India’s solar manufacturing ecosystem has a high chance of increasing domestic value addition.

Industry-led skilling, the growth of integrated clean-tech clusters, enhanced R&D and performance-linked support, and technology collaborations and joint ventures are important priorities.

According to the report, enhancing trade collaborations and G2G frameworks might also increase export chances and guarantee access to global markets.

India is striving to promote inclusive government and citizen-centric public service delivery through voice-first, multilingual AI technologies.

NITI Aayog and the Digital India BHASHINI Division (DIBD) have signed a statement of intent (SoI) to cooperate on developing multilingual, voice-first AI solutions through the BHASHINI for Seva/Sanchalan project in order to achieve this goal.

This initiative, according to the IT Ministry, seeks to integrate AI-powered language technologies across NITI Aayog’s digital platforms and services in order to use BHASHINI’s multilingual AI ecosystem to support more inclusive and accessible governance.

According to the statement, the cooperation will promote multilingual operations across public service delivery, improve communication between the government and citizens, and make government data and services available in the Indian languages that citizens favor.

Notably, the partnership will encourage the creation and ongoing improvement of translation models, enable the integration of language technologies into communication workflows, digital platforms, and document management systems, and ease multilingual access to NITI Aayog services via BHASHINI’s language translation APIs and reference applications.

The partnership builds on NITI TARA (Toolkit for Analysis, Review and Action), which is turning data into action at the grassroots level.

More than 4,000 officials from districts and blocks have received training from NITI TARA through more than 200 capacity-building sessions held nationwide, enabling them to make evidence-based decisions using data-driven insights.

SMRITI (System for Meeting Recording, Information, and Transcription Interface), created in partnership with BHASHINI, is a crucial part of this environment.

In addition to facilitating multilingual translation, SMRITI boosts operational efficiency by automating meeting minutes and making governance more inclusive at the last mile.

Additionally, the cooperation will promote the creation of reference programs and voice bots for certain NITI Aayog domains and improve language technology for specialized terminology and sector-specific demands.

The cooperation will utilize Bhasha Daan to collect, curate, and disseminate linguistic data via BHASHINI Sahayogi. NITI Aayog officials and inhabitants will be urged to contribute samples of text, audio, and video.

India has emerged as a nation capable of connecting the United States, Israel, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia through plans for economic corridors, technology partnerships, robust supply chains, and strategic connectivity in the Middle East region.

It credits the emergence of the India-Israel-United Arab Emirates-United States grouping (I2U2) and the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) with demonstrating this potential.

The article notes, “This evolution for Israel is more than simply another diplomatic milestone. It offers a chance to establish itself within a larger strategic framework that combines Israeli innovation, Gulf investment, American leadership, and India’s economic heft. ”

It highlights India’s unique strategic advantage due to its strong relationships with Israel, the United States, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and other important regional actors.

The report claims that “India has emerged as a reliable actor capable of maintaining strong ties over political divisions without requiring ideological conformity” as Washington seeks trustworthy allies to preserve regional stability while lowering its direct military presence.

It emphasizes that India and Israel have developed a partnership that goes well beyond military purchases to include intelligence exchange, counterterrorism, agriculture, cyber security, water management, artificial intelligence, space technology, healthcare innovation, and startup ecosystems.

The article states that India is still one of Israel’s biggest defense partners and that Israeli businesses are increasingly viewing India’s technology sector as a platform for co-development rather than just another export market.

Similarly, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates currently see India as a long-term strategic partner rather than just a significant energy consumer.

A fast-expanding destination for investment, a trustworthy partner for food security, and one of the world’s fastest-growing major economies are all available in India. Additionally, there is a sizable population of skilled workers who are still contributing to Gulf economies.

The article also says that India’s industrial growth provides a natural economic complement as Abu Dhabi quickens its goals in advanced manufacturing and technology and Riyadh works toward “Vision 2030. “

Reserve Bank of India Governor Sanjay Malhotra said that New Delhi is preparing to host the 2026 BRICS summit in September, and that BRICS countries are exploring potential connections between their central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and fast-payment systems.

Sanjay Malhotra, the governor of the Reserve Bank of India, said that BRICS countries are studying potential relationships between their central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and rapid payment systems as New Delhi gets ready to host the group’s 2026 summit in September.

Among other members, Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa are members of the BRICS group.

According to multiple accounts, Malhotra informed the yearly FIBAC conference in Mumbai that “cross-border payments is an area of interest for all of us, including the BRICS, because we feel there is a lot of scope for reducing cost. ”

Malhotra stated that the BRICS group is particularly interested in cross-border payments since there is a lot of potential to cut transaction costs and quicken retail payments.

The governor said that although several options are still being considered, including CBDC and connections of fast payment systems, they are still in the discussion stage.

The RBI governor further said that the central bank is still working to internationalise the rupee and promote the usage of local currencies in commerce and payments.

Malhotra stated that India now has bilateral local-currency agreements with Indonesia, the Maldives, Mauritius, and the United Arab Emirates, and that efforts to increase the amount of trade settled in local currencies must be made.

Malhotra also reportedly urged Indian banks to consider artificial intelligence a capability to be exploited rather than merely a hazard to be controlled.

He advised banks to catalog all AI models currently in use and establish board-approved AI governance policies, noting that Indian banks cannot afford to remain idle.

“The governor stated that while geopolitical threats, like the dispute in West Asia, endanger India’s short-term growth, policies enacted by politicians may help the economy over the long run. ”

These measures include lowering energy intensity, switching to electric vehicles, diversifying energy and fertilizer sources, signing free trade agreements, and ethanol blending.

He continued by stating that India’s banking system is prepared to handle geopolitical challenges thanks to solid capital reserves, fewer impaired assets, and good profitability.

In order to tighten the rules governing the sale of food goods to students in schools, the FSSAI has suggested quantitative restrictions to classify them as either high in added fat, added sugar, or sodium.

The food regulator offered adjustments to the Food Safety and Standards (Safe Food and Balanced Diets for Children in School) Regulations, 2020, in a draft notification that was issued in the Gazette of India.

The proposed legislation aims to implement a new guideline that establishes criteria for determining whether foods are rich in additional fat, sugar, or salt, based on the Indian Council of Medical Research’s (ICMR) Dietary Guidelines for Indians-2024.

According to the report, a solid food item will be deemed high in added fat if it has more than 4. 2 grams of added fat per 100 grams; for liquid products, the limit has been set at more than 1. 5 grams per 100 milliliters.

The suggested limits for additional sugar are more than 3 grams per 100 grams for solid foods and more than 2 grams per 100 milliliters for liquid products.

Foods will be classified as having a high salt level if they have more than 0. 175 grams per 100 ml for liquids or more than 0. 625 grams per 100 grams for solids.

The new clause will be placed after the current regulation regarding monitoring and surveillance in schools, according to the proposed amendment.

With the Central government’s prior authorization, the draught regulations have been created in accordance with the Food Safety and Standards Act of 2006, according to the announcement.

The FSSAI has encouraged feedback and concerns from both the general public and stakeholders. Suggestions may be sent up to 60 days after the gazette notification is issued to the general public.

Additionally, the regulator stated that any presentations received during the allowed timeframe would be taken into account prior to the rules’ finalization.

India is taking the lead among Global South nations in promoting collaboration for the sustainable exploitation of renewable resources, which are becoming more important in light of the Middle East crisis‘ disruptions to energy supply.

India co-founded the International Solar Alliance (ISA) with France in 2015 and serves as the ISA’s international headquarters in Greater Delhi (NCR), according to the article, which describes India as a “technology and knowledge-sharing center. ”

The intergovernmental organisation, which is based on treaties, currently has 124 signatory member countries and hopes to raise $1 trillion in solar investments by 2030, mostly through its Global Solar Facility, a payment guarantee fund established by ISA to promote solar power projects.

India’s attempts have been applauded at a moment when the Manila-based ADB and Asian countries are pursuing a significant push toward renewable energy sources.

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy will host the Bharat Renewable Energy Summit & Expo in New Delhi in November 2026.

According to the paper, over 50,000 delegates are anticipated to attend this event, which will coincide with the 9th ISA Assembly and the 4th International Conference on Green Hydrogen.

The Joint Working Group on Renewable Energy has enabled India and the Philippines to form a significant partnership in the field of clean energy, according to the article.

India has also built significant bilateral collaborations with Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, and the European Union.

According to the piece by J. Albert Gamboa, this includes the recently agreed upon new energy treaty with Australia that addresses critical minerals and renewable energy.

India’s goal of achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2070 is supported by domestic momentum. This long-term vision, which was originally a component of the subcontinent’s climate action plan, necessitates a significant structural reform of the energy, transportation, and industrial sectors of the nation.

It has achieved 288 GW of overall renewable capacity by the middle of 2026, and it is on pace to meet its target of 500 GW by 2030.

India promotes Africa’s dispersed renewable energy sector by utilizing ISA as its primary instrument for technological transfer and financial risk reduction.

The deployment of clean power mini-grids to alleviate energy poverty in underserved African areas is a component of this Global South plan.

A blended finance platform created to free up private commercial capital, the Africa Solar Facility is how the collaboration operates.

According to the report, “these initiatives collectively represent India’s endeavor to turn its economic size and diplomatic clout as the world’s most populous nation into true leadership on sustainability for the Global South. “