World Diabetes Day is observed every year on 14 November, commemorating the birth anniversary of Sir Frederick Banting, who co-discovered insulin with Charles Best in 1921. The day was established in 1991 by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and the World Health Organization (WHO), and was formally recognised by the United Nations in 2006 through Resolution 61/225.
Healthy planting material is a major determinant of the productivity of various agricultural crops including horticultural crops. Fruit crops take a considerable period (2-3 years or more) to bear fruit, and viruses can be systemic and affect fruit quality and yield. Orchards, therefore, need to be strengthened with healthy planting materials. Responding to the challenges faced by the fruit production sector and the need to enhance India’s horticultural competitiveness, the Union Cabinet, on 9 August, 2024, approved the ‘Clean Plant Programme (CPP)’ with an outlay of Rs. 1,765.67 crore under the Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH). The Programme aims to provide quality planting materials and strengthen the fruit and horticulture production of the country (Press Information Bureau [PIB], 2024a).
The spice sector is an important part of India's agricultural trade and food processing as well as rural employment. While the domestic market for spices is large, growing exports requires improvement in quality and compliance with food safety and traceability standards of importing countries. Regulatory requirements of importing countries are constantly changing. Therefore, measures to strengthen the export competitiveness of spices need to be innovative and collaborative. The Spices Board of India, under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, launched the Sustainability in Spice Sector through Progressive, Innovative and Collaborative Interventions for Export Development (SPICED) scheme in 2024. The scheme has received an approved outlay of ₹422.30 crore for implementation in the remainder of the 15th Finance Commission cycle, that is, up to 2025-26 (PIB, 2024).
India’s neighborhood diplomacy and South–South development cooperation have undergone a major strategic transformation over the past two decades. Central to this evolution is the paradigm of High Impact Community Development Projects (HICDPs)—formerly known as Small Development Projects (SDPs)—which operationalize India’s commitment to demand-driven, community-centric grant assistance. Unlike mega-infrastructure projects that often carry extended gestation periods and complex financing terms, HICDPs are designed to directly target grass-roots socio-economic needs in rural, semi-urban, and border regions. Grounded in India's foundational diplomatic ethos of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam ("the world is one family"), these initiatives prioritize local human capital, essential public utilities, and basic social infrastructure across South Asia and the Indian Ocean Region.
Malnutrition remains one of India’s most persistent public health challenges. Despite decades of welfare provisioning through the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), national surveys show only modest improvements in key child nutrition indicators. NFHS-5 or National Family Health Survey-5 (2019–21) recorded stunting at 35.5%, wasting at 19.3%, and underweight at 32.1% among children under five, with many states showing stagnation or even deterioration compared to NFHS-4 (2015–16).
Bharat-VISTAAR (Virtually Integrated System to Access Agricultural Resources) is a multilingual, AI-powered Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) platform for agriculture, announced in the Union Budget 2026-27 with an allocation of ₹150 crore (Press Information Bureau [PIB], 2026c). The Government describes it as a nationwide, voice-first system designed to provide farmers with reliable, real-time and location-specific advisories on crops, weather, markets, pests and diseases, soil health, and access to allied services and government schemes (PIB, 2026c).
In 2020, India rolled out the Production Linked Incentive scheme with a simple pitch: pay manufacturers for every additional unit produced above a baseline, and watch domestic industry grow. That logic was later extended to some of the country's most climate relevant sectors, including solar photovoltaic modules and advanced chemistry cell batteries, tying manufacturing growth directly to India's energy transition and its broader push for self reliance under the Atmanirbhar Bharat banner.