Context

Russian President Vladimir Putin, the first foreign dignitary to arrive for the BRICS Summit, held a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and reviewed the full spectrum of bilateral ties, as Mr. Modi reiterated his call to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict that has continued for more than four-and-a-half years.

Background & Key Facts

• The agenda: Sources said the two sides discussed steps to increase the bilateral trade target to $100 billion by 2030 and projects on civil nuclear cooperation. The External Affairs Ministry said the leaders "reviewed progress in bilateral cooperation in political, economic, defence, energy, space, skill mobility, and people-to-people domains".
• On conflicts: They exchanged views on the conflict in West Asia and on the spillover effects of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in the Black Sea region. Several Indian sailors have been killed in attacks by Russian and Ukrainian forces on foreign-flagged vessels. "PM once again reiterated that dialogue and diplomacy were the way forward in resolving conflicts and India stood ready to assist in peace efforts," the Ministry said.
• New areas of cooperation: The talks covered expanding industrial cooperation, collaboration in railways and tunnelling, developing a steel value chain, and more business-to-business opportunities. Russia has been increasing employment opportunities for Indian blue-collar professionals and cooperation in the mobility of skilled manpower.
• Supply chains: Against the backdrop of the West Asia conflict and supply chain disruptions, measures to ensure the flow of energy and fertilizers through strategic joint ventures were discussed, as was cooperation in critical minerals.
• The invitation: Mr. Putin invited Mr. Modi for the 24th India-Russia Annual Summit, which India accepted; dates will be decided as per "mutual convenience".
• The gift: Mr. Modi gifted Mr. Putin a Russian translation of the Thirukkural, the classical Tamil poem collection authored by Thiruvalluvar.
• The delegation: Mr. Modi was accompanied by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, Principal Secretary Shaktikanta Das, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and other senior officials.
• The last meeting: The two leaders last met on the sidelines of the SCO summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic, on 31 August, where Mr. Modi had also called for an end to the Ukraine war.

Static Background

The India-Russia relationship is a Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership, upgraded from the Strategic Partnership of 2000, with an institutionalised Annual Summit mechanism alternating between the two capitals and the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on trade, economic, scientific, technological and cultural cooperation. Defence cooperation includes the S-400 Triumf air defence system, the BrahMos joint venture, licensed production of T-90 tanks and AK-203 rifles, and leased nuclear submarines. Civil nuclear cooperation centres on Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu, built with Russian assistance. Connectivity projects include the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) via Iran and the Chennai-Vladivostok Eastern Maritime Corridor. Since 2022, Russia has become India's largest crude supplier, and India's trade with Russia is heavily skewed by energy imports, which is why diversification into fertilizers, critical minerals, steel and labour mobility features in the agenda. India has consistently abstained from UN votes condemning Russia while calling for a return to dialogue and diplomacy — the position Mr. Modi reiterated.

Context

Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian ahead of the BRICS Summit and called for resolving the ongoing conflict with the United States "through dialogue and diplomacy", while drawing attention to the disruption in the energy supply chain and emphasising the need to ensure freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.

Background & Key Facts

• The visit: President Pezeshkian arrived earlier in the day for his first visit to India since he took charge in 2024, emphasising "commonalities" between the two sides and calling for deeper cooperation.
• Modi's remarks: "Happy to have met Dr. Masoud Pezeshkian, the President of Iran. This visit is more special because it is his first visit to India. We talked about the India-Iran friendship." He added: "We believe that we should move forward with a long-term win-win strategy. The prevailing situation in the region was also discussed. India remains steadfast in its commitment to the pursuit of enduring peace."
• The Hormuz chokehold: The Strait "has been caught in a chokehold ever since the U.S.-Israel coalition attacked Iran on February 28". The Ministry said Mr. Modi "underscored the need for continued efforts to ensure lasting peace and stability in the region, safeguarding freedom of navigation and commerce, and the safety of seafarers" — highlighting the challenges India has faced on energy security and maritime freedom.
• Pezeshkian's position: Speaking at a public event later, he said his talks with Mr. Modi will help Iran's energy and commercial ties with India, referred to Israel and the U.S. as "bullies" and said, "Iran will not be bullied." Referring to the U.S.-Israel attack: "Iran will not accept bullying. History of humanity tells us that bullies and oppressors are ultimately destroyed."
• India's consistent line: "Prime Minister reiterated India's consistent position that all issues must be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy," the Ministry of External Affairs said.
• BRICS context: Mr. Modi appreciated Iran's regular participation in multilateral consultations under BRICS and welcomed President Pezeshkian to the Leaders' Session of the BRICS Business Forum.

Static Background

The Strait of Hormuz connects the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea; at its narrowest it is about 21 nautical miles wide, bounded by Iran to the north and Oman's Musandam exclave and the UAE to the south. It is the world's most critical oil transit choke point. Under UNCLOS, transit passage through straits used for international navigation is non-suspendable — a stronger right than innocent passage in the territorial sea. Iran has signed but not ratified UNCLOS, though the rule is regarded as customary international law. India-Iran ties centre on the Chabahar port — operated under a long-term agreement by India Ports Global — which gives India access to Afghanistan and Central Asia bypassing Pakistan, and connects to the INSTC. Indian crude imports from Iran ceased after the U.S. withdrew from the JCPOA in 2018 and reimposed sanctions. India runs Operation Sankalp naval escorts in the Gulf since 2019 and hosts the Information Fusion Centre – Indian Ocean Region at Gurugram. Around nine million Indians live and work in the Gulf.

Context

As New Delhi prepared to host the BRICS Summit of 11 emerging economies, negotiators worked late into the evening to forge a consensus for the "Delhi Declaration" — with all member countries having agreed to "almost all the text, with the exception of one paragraph" concerning the war in Iran.

The Disputed Paragraph

• The unresolved issue: References to the war in Iran started by the U.S. and Israel, and Iran's attacks on installations in the United Arab Emirates and other West Asian countries, had still not been resolved. Both Iran and the UAE are BRICS members.
• The precedent this year: Their tensions "have held up a joint statement at all BRICS ministerial meetings this year", and at the crucial meeting of Foreign Ministers in mid-May, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar issued a "Chair's Summary" instead.
• The competing demands: Iran has been pitching for a clear condemnation of U.S. and Israeli actions, while the UAE wants "equal condemnation" of Iran's actions. Iran has contested this in Sherpa meetings, insisting it would be "akin to Iran criticising itself", and has contended that its attacks on the Gulf region were in "self-defence", limited to U.S. military and ancillary installations.
• The G-20 precedent: Officials remained hopeful of a breakthrough, "as India was able to do in 2023 by forging a joint statement at the G-20 Summit after the Russian war in Ukraine had divided members".

Who Is at the Table

• India's push: On Friday, Mr. Modi is understood to have stressed the importance of a joint statement in each of his bilateral talks, including with President Pezeshkian and with President Putin, "who, as a strong ally of the Iranian government, has considerable sway with Tehran". All eyes will also be on Mr. Modi's meeting with the UAE Crown Prince on Saturday morning, before the joint session.
• Reading the representation: Diplomatic insiders say the decision by the UAE President to send his son, and not a Minister, is an indication of the importance of the Summit.
• The trigger: The grouping has been particularly affected by the war in Iran that began with U.S. and Israeli attacks and the assassination of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on 28 February 2026.
• The assessment: "In the backdrop of geopolitical tensions and geo-economic uncertainties, the participation of all these leaders in the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi is a reiteration of their collective confidence and commitment to BRICS," said former Secretary for Multilateral and Economic Relations Dammu Ravi, adding it was "an excellent opportunity for India to put focus on finding solutions to the challenges of an aspiring global south".

Static Background

BRICS operates on consensus, with an annual rotating chairship. When consensus on a joint communiqué fails, the practice in multilateral fora is to issue a Chair's Statement or Chair's Summary, which records the chair's understanding of the discussion without binding members — a device used at several G-20 ministerials in 2023 before India secured the New Delhi Leaders' Declaration through the formulation on Ukraine that avoided attributing responsibility. The BRICS Sherpa track conducts the substantive negotiation of summit documents on behalf of leaders. The grouping expanded in 2024 to admit Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the UAE, with Saudi Arabia invited but not having formally joined, and Indonesia inducted in 2025 — making it 11 members. The institutional outcomes include the New Development Bank and the Contingent Reserve Arrangement.

Context

The Hindu's lead editorial argues that forging a joint statement at a major multilateral conference in the midst of global conflicts involving members is never easy — and that a success in reconciling all these strands at this time would be "a shot across the bow for the grouping and a big win for Indian diplomacy".

Why This Presidency Is Harder

• The precedent: Hosting the BRICS Summit in Delhi is the second time in recent years, since the G-20 Summit in 2023, that India has had to shoulder such a responsibility.
• A changed grouping: The past occasions India hosted — in 2012, 2016 and virtually in 2021 — it was a smaller grouping of just five major powers, "where managing consensus was easier". Since the 2024 expansion adding Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and Indonesia's induction in 2025, "BRICS' identity has evolved, but a common focus remains elusive".
• The Iran factor: The war involving Iran has heightened the impact, as Iran, a victim of U.S.-Israel strikes, and the UAE, attacked by Iran in retaliation, "are members that have been unwilling to agree to a common narrative on the problem". India's position on Israel also came into conflict with other members earlier this year, "as the grouping has traditionally taken a much more critical line on Israel's actions".
• The American pressure: "The largest share of New Delhi's problems as host comes however from the United States, where President Donald Trump has accused it of plotting to overthrow the U.S. dollar's domination of the global economy, and has been threatening tariffs on all members for planning to increase intra-BRICS payments and trade." As the government seeks to restore ties with Washington on trade and its Indo-Pacific strategy, "hosting BRICS also risks invoking America's ire, however irrational".

The Case for BRICS

• The trajectory: Since it was first conceptualised 25 years ago, and a summit convened in 2009, the BRICS countries "have risen in global stature and economic heft, benefitting intra-BRICS trade".
• The weight: BRICS accounts for half the world's population, two-fifths of the global economy and a fourth of global trade; it also includes "many of the world's top energy producers and biggest consumers".
• The positioning: "While the grouping prefers not to be called anti-western it is certainly a powerful counter to the G-7, and western-led thinking. Being part of BRICS gives India more heft in advancing its ambitions on the global high table, and its presidency has ensured it prominence on the world stage", as leaders and representatives of 11 BRICS countries including Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin and Masoud Pezeshkian begin deliberations at the Bharat Mandapam "to discuss the future of global governance".

Static Background

The term BRIC was coined by Goldman Sachs economist Jim O'Neill in 2001; the first foreign ministers' meeting was held in 2006 and the first standalone summit at Yekaterinburg in 2009, with South Africa joining in 2010. India's earlier hostings were the New Delhi summit of 2012 (which first floated the development bank idea), the Goa summit of 2016 (which produced the BRICS-BIMSTEC outreach), and a virtual summit in 2021. Institutional outcomes include the New Development Bank and the Contingent Reserve Arrangement, both agreed at Fortaleza in 2014. India's stated positions are that BRICS is not anti-Western, that it opposes a common BRICS currency, and that reform of multilateral institutions — particularly the UN Security Council and IMF quotas — is its principal ask. India's parallel groupings include the Quad, I2U2, IMEC and the SCO, which is what makes hosting an expanded BRICS a balancing exercise.

Context

Sushovan Dhar of the Committee for the Abolition of Illegitimate Debt argues that seventeen years into the BRICS project, the promise of an alternative to the western-dominated global financial order has not materialised — and that the reasons have less to do with intention than with structure.

The New Development Bank

• The promise: The NDB, launched in 2015, was BRICS's flagship creation — "supposed to offer developing countries an alternative to the World Bank: loans without the political strings, governance without western dominance, financing in local currencies rather than dollars".
• The currency reality: A decade later, half of the NDB's outstanding bonds are denominated in U.S. dollars, with the Chinese yuan making up most of the rest. The South African rand accounts for just 1%. Local currency lending, which the bank's own leadership set at a target of 30% of its portfolio by the end of this year, sat at roughly 22% as of mid-2025. The NDB's first rupee-denominated bond was still in planning stages as late as September 2025, a full decade after the bank opened.
• The ratings dependence: The NDB courts the same western credit-rating agencies — S&P, Fitch, Moody's — that BRICS governments publicly criticise as biased against developing countries. "And when those agencies' rules collided with bloc solidarity, the ratings won." In March 2022, days after Russia invaded Ukraine, the NDB froze all operations related to Russia, a founding member and 20% shareholder, to protect its credit standing in New York. Russia has since relinquished its turn at the NDB's rotating presidency, extending the Brazilian incumbent's term to 2030. "Whatever else this is, it is not an institution that operates outside western financial discipline."
• The scale gap: The bank's total project approvals reached $39 billion by the end of 2024. "To put that in perspective: the World Bank Group commits roughly $100 billion every year. In a full decade of operation, the NDB has approved less than what its supposed rival disburses in six months." More importantly, the NDB co-finances projects with the World Bank and IMF rather than offering a genuine alternative. "The relationship is complementary, not competitive. That may be smart banking, but it is a far cry from the institution's founding rhetoric."

The Safety Net Nobody Uses

• What it is: The Contingent Reserve Arrangement, established in 2015, is a $100 billion pool of foreign exchange reserves meant to help member countries weather financial crises without turning to the IMF. "In principle, this was the most radical idea in the BRICS repertoire: a mechanism that could, over time, break the IMF's monopoly on emergency lending to the Global South."
• The record: "In practice, the CRA has never been activated. Not once in a decade."
• The fine print: Any member country that wants to draw more than 30% of its allotted share must first enter into a programme with the IMF. "The escape hatch, in other words, leads right back to the institution that it was supposed to escape."
• The institutional hollowness: The CRA has no permanent staff, no independent surveillance capacity, no research wing. "It is, in effect, a promissory note dressed up as an institution; one that, by its own rules, cannot function independently of the very body it was created to rival."

De-dollarisation and the Real Ask

• The rhetoric versus the text: The 126-point declaration issued at the Rio summit in July 2025 — the bloc's most comprehensive statement to date — does not contain the word "de-dollarisation" even once. President Putin himself stated in November 2024 that the bloc has "not sought to abandon the dollar".
• The members' positions: India opposes any move toward a common BRICS currency, fearing trade reprisals from Washington. South Africa considers the idea too risky. China prefers the gradual internationalisation of the yuan on its own terms.
• The test case: When President Trump threatened a 10% tariff surcharge on countries aligning with "anti-American" BRICS policies, the bloc offered no collective response. "The episode was revealing: it showed how little it takes to deter the BRICS from even the appearance of challenging the dollar system."
• The most telling detail: The declarations at both the Kazan summit in 2024 and the Rio summit in 2025 call for a "quota-based and adequately resourced" IMF. "The BRICS are not calling for the IMF to be replaced, restructured, or even fundamentally reformed. They are asking for a bigger say within it."
• Why that ask cannot succeed: "The problem is structural. The U.S. holds 16.49% of IMF voting rights, and all major decisions require an 85% supermajority. This gives Washington, and Washington alone, an effective veto over every significant decision that the fund makes. The BRICS countries know this. They have known it for decades. And yet their official position is to ask for more chairs at a table whose rules guarantee that the outcome will always be decided by someone else."
• The conclusion: While acknowledging that the NDB has financed real infrastructure and that expansion reflects genuine Global South frustration "with IMF conditionality, with dollar hegemony, with a financial system designed in 1944 by and for the industrialised West", the author concludes: "The BRICS countries have not built an alternative financial architecture. They have built a set of institutions that operate within the existing one." The honest question "is not whether BRICS can reform the global financial order. It is whether the governments that make up the bloc have any material interest in doing so, or whether, for their ruling establishments, a better seat at the existing table has always been the real objective."

Static Background

The Bretton Woods conference of 1944 created the IMF and the World Bank. IMF governance rests on quotas determining voting share, contributions and access limits; the U.S. share exceeds the 15% blocking minority required to veto the 85% supermajority decisions, including quota realignment and amendments. The Special Drawing Right (SDR) basket comprises the dollar, euro, renminbi, yen and pound. Alternatives and complements include the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralisation in Asia, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, China's CIPS payment system and the BIS-incubated mBridge multi-CBDC platform. India's own instruments are rupee vostro accounts permitted since 2022 for rupee trade settlement and UPI linkages with partner countries. Credit ratings determine an institution's cost of borrowing in international capital markets, which is why a multilateral development bank's rating discipline constrains its lending choices.

Context

Mohan Kumar, former Indian Ambassador to France and currently Dean and Professor at O.P. Jindal Global University, argues that the New Delhi summit will be a landmark one — and that whatever happens at the leaders' level, BRICS will have much to show in terms of cooperation across various areas, because it "is now too big to either ignore or fail".

Why This Summit Is a Landmark

• The context: It takes place against the backdrop of geopolitical turbulence unleashed by "raging wars and conflicts, a breakdown in global governance and the changing nature of global alliances".
• The weight: BRICS now has 11 prominent members and about 10 partner countries, and its collective economic output in purchasing power parity outstrips that of the G-7, making it "one of the largest and most important transcontinental grouping outside of the West".
• The technology dimension: Technological forces such as artificial intelligence and quantum computing are being weaponised, with both great powers trying to win the battle for tech supremacy.
• India's preparation: "India must be credited with thorough preparation for this summit," following the template of the 2023 G-20 Summit — around 350 meetings conducted in cities across the country, with as many as 22 at the ministerial level.
• The reframed acronym: India has announced a focus on "building Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability" — "thus giving a new twist to the BRICS acronym".

The Three Pillars and India's Choice

The author's view is that "the agenda pursued by India relates more to the second and third pillars than to the first. The leaders will largely decide what to do with the big geopolitical issues of our times. However, substantive outcomes seem assured, given the outcome of the meetings chaired by India so far."

The Deliverables

The central tenet: "To create a collaborative platform that enables the sharing of knowledge and best practices, facilitates joint research, and promotes capacity building. If this is not a people-centric, humanity-first approach, then what is?"

Keeping BRICS on Course

• The two objectives: BRICS "will, slowly but steadily, help its members achieve two central objectives: enhance their strategic options and drive geopolitics towards a truly multipolar world. These are, of course, organising principles of India's foreign policy."
• The caveat: "It must avoid getting caught in geopolitical currents that are not necessarily of its making and certainly not of any strategic value for its members."
• The bigger picture: "All eyes may be on leaders such as Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as it should be. But the bigger picture remains that of the BRICS grouping living up to its full potential. The Delhi Summit ought to make concrete progress towards that end."

Static Background

Purchasing power parity (PPP) adjusts GDP for differences in price levels across countries, which is why BRICS's PPP-adjusted output exceeds the G-7's while its market-exchange-rate output does not — an important distinction for the exam. BRICS's partner country category was created at the Kazan summit in 2024 for states associated with but not full members of the grouping. Digital Public Infrastructure — India's Aadhaar, UPI and DigiLocker stack — has been a signature Indian export under the G-20 presidency, institutionalised through the Global DPI Repository and the Social Impact Fund. Regenerative agriculture and agro-ecology emphasise soil health, biodiversity and reduced external inputs. Sustainable aviation fuel is a drop-in fuel from biomass or waste, central to aviation decarbonisation under ICAO's CORSIA framework. On climate, adaptation has historically received far less finance than mitigation, which is the imbalance the author flags; the UNFCCC's Global Goal on Adaptation seeks to correct it.

Context

At the BRICS Business Forum in New Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighted rising trade barriers and constrained sea trade routes and said India was building economic bridges, while President Putin described a world where late-twentieth-century leaders are being replaced by new engines of growth, and President Pezeshkian linked economic security to national security.

Modi: Building Economic Bridges

• The weight of the bloc: Mr. Modi noted that BRICS countries represent 50% of the world's population, 40% of global GDP, and more than 25% of global trade. "Not only that, over these years, while global GDP has increased by around two-and-a-half times, the combined GDP of BRICS countries has increased by around four-and-a-half times."
• Bridges, not barriers: "Since 2014, we have entered into free trade agreements with around 40 countries. Here too, our approach is the same: reduce barriers and increase opportunities for businesses. Therefore, under our presidency, we have established new cooperation networks in areas such as agriculture, health, skills and smart grids."
• New instruments: India has taken additional initiatives such as the BRICS Incubator Network, BRICS MSME Portal, and Start-Up Innovation Fund to connect start-ups and MSMEs with markets and finance.
• Freedom of navigation: "Global trade can move forward only when sea lanes are secure, supply routes remain open and seafarers are safe. Therefore, India is a strong supporter of freedom of navigation and the safety of seafarers."

Putin: Profound Global Shifts

• The transition: The world is undergoing "structural, deep, profound shifts… explained by the fact that the so-called old leaders that used to be the vanguard of economic growth in the second half of the 20th century are being replaced by new engines of growth". While acknowledging these countries still possess well-developed infrastructure and technological and scientific advantages, he said "it was in the nature of humanity and the economy to change".
• The reaction: This change is accompanied by Russia's "Western competitors doing everything to get back their erstwhile competitive edge". "Sometimes this competition is taking ugly forms… Sometimes there are measures resorted to of a physical nature, when pipelines are being destroyed, when attempts are undertaken to block international transport corridors, to seize maritime vessels, other illegal restrictions are being applied."
• The unnamed target: "And there's also the threat of so-called secondary sanctions against those who do not want to follow someone else's interest and rather look after their own" — without mentioning India or the U.S. threat to impose 100% tariffs on India as a penalty for its Russian oil imports.

Pezeshkian: Economic Security Is National Security

• The core argument: He highlighted "the dangers of the global financial system being dependent on only a few countries" and called for increased BRICS trade in local currencies, saying the attacks by the U.S. and Israel on his country "showed how economic security could not be separated from national and regional security".
• On BRICS's strength: "We believe that the truest strength of BRICS is not confined merely to the size of its members' economies. Rather, it becomes more apparent when these capacities are transformed into a network of trade, investment, and joint financing that is a transition from potential cooperation to operational."
• The new phase: Decades of sanctions have now "entered a new phase as a result of the active military act of aggression of the United States and the Israeli regime" against Iran. "This act of aggression, in addition to its human and material losses, once again revealed an important reality: economic security cannot be separated from national and regional security."
• The prescription: "Therefore, by creating resilient capacities for the economies of its members and the global south, BRICS must create an environment in which no country can disrupt the legitimate trade of another country through monopolising a financial instrument or technology." He said one of the most important steps BRICS countries could take was to expand the use of national currencies in trade.

Static Background

Secondary sanctions penalise third-country persons and entities for transacting with a sanctioned target, even where the transaction has no nexus to the sanctioning state — a device whose reach depends on the centrality of the dollar clearing system, which is why it is inseparable from the de-dollarisation debate. Freedom of navigation is governed by UNCLOS, including transit passage through international straits. India's free trade agreements include those with the UAE (CEPA), Australia (ECTA), EFTA (TEPA), the U.K., ASEAN, Japan and Korea, with the EU agreement now at the approval stage. Smart grids use digital sensing and control to integrate variable renewable generation and manage demand. The MSME sector contributes around a third of India's GDP and the bulk of employment outside agriculture, which is why market access and finance portals are an Indian priority in every grouping it chairs.

Context

The Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors of the BRICS nations collectively voiced concerns about the "unilateral imposition" of tariffs and non-tariff measures that distort trade, in a joint statement issued on Friday, while Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal urged BRICS members to link their payment systems and conduct more trade in local currencies.

The Finance Ministers' Statement

• The process: The first FMCBG meeting under India's chairmanship was held on 12 August in Jaipur, and the second on 9-10 September in Mumbai, following which the joint statement was issued.
• On tariffs: "We continue to have serious concerns with the unilateral imposition of trade and finance-related actions, including the raising of tariffs and non-tariff measures, which distort trade and are inconsistent with World Trade Organization rules. These pressures weigh most heavily on Emerging Markets and Developing Economies (EMDEs)." The statement did not mention the U.S., "it is the only country that is actively engaged in levying extraordinary tariffs on its trade partners".
• On the trading system: The FMCBG reiterated support for an "open, transparent, inclusive, non-discriminatory, and rules-based" multilateral trading system with the WTO at its core.
• On local currency payments: It acknowledged the efforts of the BRICS Payment Task Force (BPTF) in exploring "pragmatic solutions" for efficient cross-border payment mechanisms, and "the work done to study the cross-border interoperability of payment and messaging channels, and the discussions on promoting trade settlements and investments using BRICS local currencies, while respecting national priorities and acknowledging that there is no one-size-fits-all approach".
• The objective: Cross-border payments among BRICS countries should be "fast, low-cost, more accessible, efficient, transparent, and safe".
• The Task Force for Growth: India used its chairship to establish a BRICS Task Force on Growth and Development as a dedicated platform to address shared growth and development challenges. It is structured into two workstreams covering the Resilience, Innovation and Cooperation pillars, and the Sustainability pillar. The statement said it "provides BRICS countries a space to discuss growth models suited to their own national contexts and development priorities". The statement also covered the reform of multilateral lending institutions such as the World Bank and the IMF.

Goyal at the Business Forum

• The ask: Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal urged BRICS members and partner countries to link their payment systems and conduct more trade in local currencies, saying BRICS cooperation "would create jobs, wealth and prosperity for countries that represent half of mankind and 40% of the global GDP".
• India's position in the bloc: "BRICS today represents almost one-fourth of global trade, and India is an important pillar of intra-BRICS trade. Engineering goods and electronics account for the largest segment of India's manufactured exports. India is also known as the pharmacy of the world."
• On market access: He urged BRICS leaders to open their markets to each other's products, including raw materials and critical minerals, and to work together to simplify regulatory procedures and facilitate faster clearance of consignments.
• Jaishankar's framing: External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said higher economic security means greater self-reliance while also remaining inter-connected. "The objective is to strengthen our ability to absorb shocks while remaining connected and competitive. That calls for genuine market practices, predictable business environment, diversified commercial relationships, and transparent trade and industry."

Static Background

Non-tariff measures include quotas, licensing, technical barriers to trade, sanitary and phytosanitary measures and customs procedures — which can restrict trade as effectively as tariffs and are harder to discipline. WTO rules permit bound tariffs up to negotiated ceilings and allow trade remedies (anti-dumping, countervailing and safeguard measures) subject to procedures, but unilateral tariffs outside these disciplines are inconsistent with the Most Favoured Nation obligation under GATT Article I. The WTO Appellate Body has been non-functional since 2019 because of blocked appointments, which is why a finding of inconsistency carries no enforceable remedy. On payments, SWIFT is a messaging network rather than a settlement system; alternatives include Russia's SPFS, China's CIPS, and the BIS-incubated mBridge multi-CBDC platform. India's own instruments are rupee vostro accounts and UPI linkages with partner countries. "Pharmacy of the world" refers to India's position as the largest supplier of generic medicines by volume and a major vaccine producer.

Context

Beijing said it was willing to work with New Delhi to handle relations "from a strategic height and long-term perspective", a day ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping's first trip to India in seven years, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Mr. Xi set to hold talks on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit.

The Chinese Framing

• The spokesperson: "This will be the third year in a row for the two leaders to meet with each other following meetings in Kazan and Tianjin," China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said. "China will work with India to act on the strategic guidance of the two leaders, handle bilateral relations from a strategic height and long-term perspective, step up communication and enhance cooperation, properly handle differences, and be friends enjoying good neighbourliness and partners helping each other."
• On BRICS: Mr. Xi will "put forward China's important initiatives and propositions, charting the course for greater BRICS cooperation". "Since its founding, BRICS countries have upheld the spirit of openness, inclusiveness and win-win cooperation… BRICS has grown into a real force standing at the forefront of the Global South."
• The Chinese commentary: "One of the biggest highlights will be Xi's trip to India after seven years," said Wang Youming of the China Institute of International Studies, quoted in the official China Daily. "China and India are not only close neighbours but also founding members and major participants in BRICS. The state of their relationship has a direct bearing on the development of the mechanism. Multilateral platforms can create opportunities for bilateral engagement, while improving bilateral relations can, in turn, facilitate coordination within multilateral mechanisms."

The News Analysis: What Is Actually at Stake

• The visit's significance: Although Mr. Xi has visited India on two occasions, this will be his first visit to Delhi since 2014. Neither leader has made a bilateral visit since 2020. Experts say it is "too early to declare an India-China 'reset'", but hope the third meeting in three years will yield more open conversations.
• The expert view: "Episodic summitry between India and China must move towards a steady and sustained process of stabilisation both on the military/political front and from the angle of economic relations," former Foreign Secretary and Ambassador to China and the U.S. Nirupama Menon Rao told The Hindu.
• The Eastern Sector concern: The main concern is continuing tensions at the Line of Actual Control, despite the disengagement from "all friction points" announced in October 2024. While clashes at Pangong Tso and Galwan in the Western Sector sparked off the 2020 stand-off, "the situation in the Eastern Sector in Arunachal Pradesh is more recently in focus". Per local reports and officials, Indian Army and PLA forces remain at forward positions at the LAC in Taksing, while Indian forces have mobilised more patrolling forces to the area.
• The 'discordant note': Former Ambassador to China Ashok Kantha said Chinese moves in Arunachal Pradesh had struck a "discordant note". "There are reports about attempts to change the status quo in the Eastern Sector. So one outcome clearly should be that the leaders reaffirm that borders must remain peaceful, so we can move towards normalisation, step by step."
• The mechanisms: Last week the two sides held two Corps Commander-level meetings in the Eastern Sector. This came after NSA Ajit Doval's visit to Beijing and Special Representatives (SR) talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. Mr. Modi and Mr. Xi are expected to take stock of the SR talks.
• Transboundary rivers: Another issue "with increased salience" is transboundary rivers — "after the deadly flash floods caused by glacial collapse on the China-Nepal border last month".
• The trade numbers: Since 2014, India and China have doubled bilateral trade from $70 billion to about $150 billion last year. "However India's trade deficit with China has trebled, from $38 billion to $113 billion in the same period." Trade, export controls and investment issues will also be high on the agenda.

Static Background

Context

Bangladesh will not be represented at the BRICS Summit in any official capacity, said Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Humaiun Kobir, clarifying that India had invited Prime Minister Tarique Rahman in his capacity as the head of BIMSTEC and not as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh.

Background & Key Facts

• The clarification: "How shall we go? Has anyone from the Bangladesh government been invited? Our Prime Minister was not invited. Who told you that our Prime Minister was invited? The BIMSTEC Chair was invited. Then why are you asking this question?" Mr. Kobir remarked in response to questions from the media in Dhaka.
• On the first visit: Speaking at the Foreign Service Academy in Dhaka, Mr. Kobir said that the first visit of Mr. Rahman to India cannot be a multilateral one, and that a bilateral visit will be planned at a "conducive" time.
• The invitation history: India had extended an early invite to Mr. Rahman in August. He was invited to visit India bilaterally immediately after he took office on 17 February 2026.

Static Background

BIMSTEC — the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation — was established by the Bangkok Declaration of 1997 and comprises seven members: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Its secretariat is in Dhaka, and the chairmanship rotates. It has gained salience for India as an alternative regional platform to SAARC, which has been effectively paralysed since 2016. India has previously used BIMSTEC outreach at BRICS — notably at the Goa summit in 2016, where BIMSTEC leaders were invited for an outreach session. India-Bangladesh ties encompass the Land Boundary Agreement (2015), the maritime boundary settled by arbitration in 2014, extensive connectivity and energy links, and the Ganga Water Treaty of 1996, which is due for renewal. Relations have been in a period of recalibration since the change of government in Dhaka, with issues including visa facilitation, trade restrictions, land ports, border management and the treatment of minorities.

Context

The Hindu's second editorial examines a Supreme Court Bench's decision to ask the Road Transport Ministry to consider a petition on reducing road traffic deaths by habituating the use of seat belts and helmets — and argues that while the measures matter, they address only a third of the mortality, and that a systemic approach is needed.

The Scale and the Gap

• The disproportion: "Despite hosting only 1% of the world's vehicular fleet, India accounts for around 11% of road traffic fatalities", due in some part to widespread non-compliance with wearing seat belts and helmets.
• The mechanism of harm: Post-crash investigations have often revealed victims being ejected from vehicles or suffering lethal secondary collisions against vehicles' interiors; children are also vulnerable due to the patchy use of child restraint systems and rear-seat belts.
• Enforcement and design: "Actual policing is certainly wanting, including due to chronic shortages of traffic police cadres; there is also room to constrain manufacturers to install tamper-proof seat belt reminders and thwart modifications after purchase." The Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019 "instituted or scaffolded various mechanisms to prevent road traffic deaths whereas the national data so far have not presented evidence of improvement at the scale India needs".
• The composition problem: In 2024, Road Transport Ministry data said two-wheeler riders constituted 46.2% and pedestrians 20.6% of road deaths. "Seat belts and child restraints only protect occupants of enclosed vehicles, so better enforcing their adoption will address the reasons underlying only one-third of the total mortality."
• The dominant factor: "In fact, speeding has been found to be the dominant recorded violation associated with fatalities, and a national strategy focused on mitigating opportunities for vehicles to accelerate to high speeds may yield greater gains."

The 'Safe System' Argument

• The missing approach: "Neither the Union government nor State governments have systematically employed the 'Safe System' approach. While individual responsibility and the duty of care accruing to schools and similar institutions matter, governments are still expected to design roads assuming that not everyone will behave perfectly."
• What that means in practice: "They need to reduce the probability as well as the severity of crashes, including by identifying and fixing accident-prone locations, setting up physical environments that compensate for human error, reducing children's exposure to two-wheeler traffic, and improving timely access to trauma care."
• The cultural dimension: "India lacks a public culture that reinforces safe behaviour and deters unsafe behaviour. For India to reduce road mortality in a sustained manner, governments must treat safety through a combination of approaches that does not overstate the role of individual decisions."
• The judicial restraint: "It is also commendable that the Court has referred the petition to the Centre, rather than assume an interventionist posture as it did in 2019, in a tacit acknowledgment that road safety has outgrown judicial fiat."

Static Background

The Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019 raised penalties, introduced the National Road Safety Board, provided for a Motor Vehicle Accident Fund and cashless treatment during the golden hour, and introduced Good Samaritan protection — since strengthened by rules protecting bystanders who assist accident victims. The golden hour is the first hour after a traumatic injury, when timely care most affects survival. India's commitments include the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-2030 and the Sustainable Development Goal target 3.6 of halving road traffic deaths. The Safe System approach, associated with Sweden's Vision Zero and Dutch Sustainable Safety, holds that human error is inevitable and that the transport system must be designed so that errors do not result in death or serious injury — through safe speeds, safe roads, safe vehicles, safe road users and post-crash care. Design instruments include speed calming, segregated lanes for vulnerable users, roundabouts, footpaths, median barriers, and the Bharat New Car Assessment Programme (Bharat NCAP) for vehicle safety ratings. Road safety data is compiled annually by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways in Road Accidents in India.

Context

The collapse of a five-storey building in Delhi's Satya Niketan on 6 September killed seven people. Lavpreet Kaur reports on the rescue and on the questions being raised over the safety of paying guest accommodation, in a neighbourhood where demand for affordable housing far outstrips the availability of institutional hostels.

The Collapse

• The event: On the afternoon of 6 September, the five-storey building named Hostel Daze, about 2 km from Delhi University's South Campus, collapsed into "a heap of concrete slabs, bricks, and twisted metal". Seven people, including a labourer, died; twelve were rescued, and five others were battling for their lives.
• Rescue: The first responders were not uniformed personnel but "students, shopkeepers, and residents", who broke through a concrete slab by hand over about an hour. The first distress call reached the Delhi Fire Service at 1.33 p.m. Satya Niketan's lanes "are so narrow that two people can barely walk side by side", so the last stretch had to be covered on foot with hammers, shovels and cutters. The operation, involving the Delhi Fire Service, the National Disaster Response Force and the Delhi Police, continued into the next day; the final survivor was pulled out at noon on 7 September.
• Fewer students than usual: Locals say 35-40 students stayed there as paying guests. Since 6 September was the Sunday of a long weekend, there were fewer students in the building at the time.
• The precedent: In 2022, a three-storey building in Satya Niketan collapsed during renovation work to convert it into a PG, killing two labourers and injuring four.

The Regulatory Failure

• No sanction: Municipal Corporation of Delhi officials say the building had no sanctioned plan and the owner had not obtained the required fire no-objection certificate or occupancy certificate. "The civic body, meanwhile, has no record of inspections or enforcement action against the unauthorised construction."
• The building's history: The structure was originally constructed as a G+1 in the 1970s and 1980s when Satya Niketan was being developed as a resettlement colony by the Delhi Development Authority for displaced families and low-income groups. "The original structure had no columns or beams and relied on load-bearing brick walls." Three additional floors were added in 1990. Freehold rights were granted in 2011, allowing owners to extend buildings up to the permissible floor-area ratio, subject to an approved plan — "But this building never had a sanctioned plan."
• The work before the collapse: Per the police, Mahesh Gupta, son of the property owners, engaged a labour contractor, Sanoj Kumar, about 10 days before the incident for work in the basement and on the ground floor. Investigators found three truckloads of debris in the basement, used to raise its level to that of the ground floor. On the day of the collapse, a wall on the ground floor that obstructed space intended for a shop was allegedly removed. Police suspect the alterations and the resulting changes in load contributed to the collapse.
• The Chief Fire Officer: "They were digging a basement within a building when it was already occupied. The additional floors and the basement are anyway illegal, but the building should have at least been vacated if they wanted to carry out work," A.K. Malik said.
• The charges: An FIR under Sections 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 290 (negligent conduct with respect to pulling down, repairing or constructing buildings) and 125(a) (endangering life or personal safety of others) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023. The contractor was arrested in Kasganj, U.P.; the property was registered to Urmila Gupta, and she, her husband Hariram Gupta and son Mahesh were arrested from Bhiwadi, Rajasthan.
• The official response: The MCD suspended five South Zone officials, including the Deputy Commissioner, began inspecting and sealing buildings, demolished the unstable building next door and evacuated nearby PGs and hostels.

The Housing Economy Behind It

• The structural gap: DU has more than 2.5 lakh students in conventional programmes, while its hostel capacity is estimated at only around 9,000 beds. More than half its students come from outside the capital, per the university's 2024-25 annual report. "That gap has produced a parallel housing economy."
• The conversion: Across Satya Niketan, Mukherjee Nagar, Old Rajinder Nagar and Karol Bagh, old residential houses have gradually been converted into PGs — "Floors have been divided into rooms, rooms into beds, and balconies, terraces, and other spaces absorbed into the rental market."
• The economics: A bed in a shared room can cost ₹12,000-₹24,000 a month, while annual DU academic fees range from ₹15,000 to ₹80,000. "Two beds are placed just inches apart, leaving barely any space to stand." As a student put it: "Students often accept these conditions because the alternative is to pay more for a flat farther from college or spend hours travelling every day."
• Why students stay: Cracks and seepage are common, "but leaving is not easy. Rent agreements, deposits, and the shortage of available rooms can make it difficult for them to leave even when they are unsafe." The market favours landlords: "a student arriving in Delhi may have only days to find a room before classes begin. In such a market, a room does not remain vacant for long."
• The operators: Police say the PG operator and his business partner had taken four floors on lease in August 2025 for ₹1.05 lakh a month and were operating seven PGs in the vicinity. They "had taken the building on a lower rent than the market rate because of its 'dilapidated condition'. This detail has become central to the investigation."
• Prior warnings: A third-year student who visited two days before the collapse said about 15 students from his college stayed there and had complained about loud work in the basement, where water had also accumulated. He noticed cracks, damp walls, and three or four beds packed into small rooms.
• The aftermath: Students left in the night; the area beneath a Metro station became a waiting area for those with nowhere to sleep; a college turned its classrooms into temporary shelters with mattresses on the floor. The Delhi High Court has taken up the issue of student accommodation, including the shortage of institutional hostels and the safety of private PGs, with a petition seeking city-wide safety audits and accountability for regulatory failures. The Delhi government has said it plans to strengthen regulation of PG accommodation, including licensing and safety requirements.

Static Background

Building regulation in Delhi operates through the Delhi Development Authority (Master Plan and building bye-laws), the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (sanction, occupancy certificate, enforcement) and the Delhi Fire Service (fire NOC under the Delhi Fire Service Act, 2007). Floor Area Ratio (FAR) governs permissible built-up area; an occupancy certificate certifies that a completed building conforms to the sanctioned plan and is fit for occupation. The National Building Code of India, 2016 prescribes structural, fire and life safety requirements; load-bearing masonry structures, unlike framed reinforced-concrete structures, transfer loads through walls, so removing a wall or undermining foundations by excavation can cause progressive collapse. Urban local bodies derive their functions from the Twelfth Schedule and the 74th Amendment. The National Disaster Response Force operates under the Disaster Management Act, 2005. On housing, PM-Awas Yojana (Urban) includes an Affordable Rental Housing Complexes component, and the Model Tenancy Act, 2021 provides a template for rental regulation that most States have yet to adopt.

Context

The Supreme Court has put the FSSAI's two-phase rollout of front-of-pack warning labels under the scanner, warning that the second phase could be "indefinitely postponed" in the absence of a clear timeline, and asked the Centre to consider introducing nutritional education in schools.

Background & Key Facts

• The proposed rollout: Warnings would initially apply to packaged foods high in two or more nutrients of concern — added fat, added sugar and salt — and would be extended in the second phase to products high in even one of them. The FSSAI had proposed the phased approach to give consumers time to adapt and the food industry time to reformulate.
• The court's objection: "Assessment of consumer acceptability or giving the industry adequate time for reformulation cannot be reason enough for this uncertainty in time. Therefore, a reasonable, scientifically justified and clearly defined timeline or transitionary period which divides the two phases must be indicated, for the approach of the FSSAI to be a workable one," a Bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and K. Vinod Chandran said in an order passed on Thursday night.
• The alternative model: The court asked the FSSAI to consider a model under which products with the highest levels of nutrients of concern would be brought under the warning regime first, followed by those with lower thresholds.
• On children: Acknowledging that children are particularly "vulnerable" to "impulse or uninformed dietary decision-making", the Bench asked the Union government to incorporate nutritional literacy into school curricula, teaching children how to interpret nutritional information.
• The proceedings: The directions came while hearing a PIL filed by the non-profit 3S and Our Health Society, represented by advocate Rajiv Shankar Dvivedi, seeking mandatory front-of-pack warnings on packaged foods high in sugar, salt and saturated fats.
• The two-nutrient question: The court questioned why a warning should initially require a product to be high in at least two nutrients of concern "when excess levels of even one could pose health risks", noting the petitioners' contention that the requirement lacked scientific basis and would leave many products outside the first phase.
• The ultra-processed distinction: The court took note of concerns raised by stakeholders against placing ultra-processed foods on the same footing as minimally processed packaged foods, given the greater nutritional benefits of the latter.
• Next steps: The FSSAI must file an affidavit within 10 days setting out its responses and clarifications; the matter is posted for 28 September.

Static Background

The Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 established the FSSAI, which regulates food standards, labelling and claims. Draft front-of-pack regulations had earlier proposed an Indian Nutrition Rating star system, criticised by public health advocates in favour of mandatory warning labels as used in Chile, Mexico, Peru and Israel, where evaluations have found measurable reductions in purchases of labelled products and industry reformulation. The ICMR-NIN Dietary Guidelines for Indians, 2024 set recommended limits on added sugar, salt and fat and caution against ultra-processed foods. HFSS — high in fat, salt and sugar — is the operative category, and ultra-processed foods are defined under the NOVA classification by degree of industrial processing and use of cosmetic additives. The WHO's 'best buys' for non-communicable disease control include front-of-pack labelling, sugar-sweetened beverage taxation and restrictions on marketing to children. India's precedent for reformulation-driven regulation is the FSSAI's cap on industrial trans fatty acids at 2% by weight.

Context

The Union Consumer Affairs Department has notified rules for protecting buyers' interests on e-commerce platforms, addressing emerging consumer concerns in digital marketplaces and promising protection against dark patterns and bundled fees.

Background & Key Facts

• The instrument: The Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) (Amendment) Rules, 2026, published in the gazette on 9 September, to be operational from 1 January 2027.
• Imported goods: Platforms must disclose details of the importer and the country of origin for imported goods.
• Entity disclosure: Every e-commerce entity shall provide its legal name, the principal geographic address of its headquarters and all branches, as well as details of its website.
• Grievance redress: It must provide contact details of customer care and of the grievance officer. The grievance officer must acknowledge receipt of any consumer complaint within 48 hours and redress the complaint within one month.
• The stated purpose: To address emerging consumer concerns in digital marketplaces and to provide protection against dark patterns and bundled fees.

Static Background

The Consumer Protection Act, 2019 replaced the 1986 Act, creating the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) with powers of investigation, recall, refund and penalties for misleading advertisements, and introducing product liability and e-filing of complaints. The Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020 established baseline obligations for marketplace and inventory e-commerce entities, including prohibition of manipulation of prices and of discrimination among consumers. In 2023, the CCPA issued Guidelines for Prevention and Regulation of Dark Patterns, identifying practices such as false urgency, basket sneaking, confirm shaming, forced action, subscription trap, interface interference, bait and switch, drip pricing, disguised advertisement, nagging, trick wording and SaaS billing. The Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011 already require country-of-origin declarations for imported packaged goods. Consumer disputes are adjudicated by District, State and National Commissions, with e-Daakhil as the online filing platform and the National Consumer Helpline as a pre-litigation channel.

Context

The Supreme Court has granted interim bail to a man held as an undertrial for nearly six years under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, allowing him to care for his ailing mother and hearing-impaired child, while taking into consideration his prolonged period of incarceration with the trial still pending.

Background & Key Facts

• The Bench: Justices M.M. Sundresh and A.G. Masih, in a recent order.
• The grounds: The order took into consideration his prolonged period of incarceration while his trial remained pending, and allowed him to care for his ailing mother and hearing-impaired child.
• The duration: The period of bail is only for 10 days, from Friday (11 September) to 21 September, after which he has to surrender.
• The trial's progress: Senior advocate Siddharth Dave and advocate Neha Rathi, for the petitioner, said their client had already been behind bars for five years and 11 months. So far, only 20 prosecution witnesses have been examined out of a total of 50.
• The accusation: The petitioner, who is accused of radicalising "gullible Muslim youth", said there was no material to link him to any "terrorist act" under the UAPA provisions.

Static Background

Context

The European Commission has forwarded the text of the India-EU Free Trade Agreement to the European Council for its signature and conclusion, signalling that the legal vetting and finalisation of the text have been completed and that all that remains are the internal approvals.

Background & Key Facts

• The Commission's statement: "Today, the European Commission has put forward its proposals to the Council for the signature and conclusion of the Free Trade Agreement between the European Union and India, seeking authorisation for its signature and conclusion."
• The next steps: "With its proposals, the Commission is seeking Council's approval to sign the agreements which will then require European Parliament's consent, before conclusion and entry into force."
• The EU's reaction: The EU's Ambassador-designate to India and Bhutan Jean-Eric Paquet took to X to celebrate, saying this would "clear the path for early approval", and adding that the full text of the agreement was now being made public.

Static Background

India-EU trade negotiations began in 2007 as a Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement, were suspended in 2013, and relaunched in 2022 alongside parallel negotiations on an Investment Protection Agreement and an agreement on Geographical Indications. The India-EU Trade and Technology Council, established in 2022, is the strategic coordination mechanism — the EU has such a council only with the U.S. and India. The EU is among India's largest trading partners in goods, and India's principal offensive interests are market access for textiles, leather, pharmaceuticals, chemicals and services, along with Mode 4 movement of professionals; EU interests include automobiles, wines and spirits, dairy, and disciplines on government procurement, sustainability and data. Two EU measures are a live Indian concern: the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), which prices embedded carbon in imports of steel, aluminium, cement, fertilizers, electricity and hydrogen, and the EU Deforestation Regulation. In EU procedure, a trade agreement negotiated by the Commission requires Council authorisation to sign and European Parliament consent to conclude; "mixed" agreements additionally require ratification by member states.

Context

The National Stock Exchange is set to raise ₹22,568.9 crore via an initial public offering after a decade-long wait, in an issue comprising only an offer for sale.

Background & Key Facts

• The structure: The IPO "will comprise only an offer for sale, wherein existing shareholders will sell their shares and no fresh capital will be raised".
• The price band: Set between ₹1,700 and ₹1,785 a share, open for public subscription between 17 and 24 September, with the anchor investor window on 16 September.
• The downsizing: NSE had initially filed its draft prospectus with a proposal to raise ₹26,579.6 crore, later revised to ₹22,568.9 crore — 17.7% lower than the proposed size. Going by the prospectus, SBI cut half of its selling shares to 1,59,69,410.
• The selling shareholders: They include SBI, which will sell ₹2,850.5 crore, making it the largest stake sold at the upper price band, and the Canada Pension Plan, which will sell ₹2,119.5 crore.

Static Background

The National Stock Exchange, established in 1992 and operational from 1994, introduced screen-based electronic trading to India and is the country's largest exchange by turnover; its benchmark index is the Nifty 50. As a Market Infrastructure Institution (MII) — alongside stock exchanges, depositories and clearing corporations — it is regulated by SEBI under the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act, 1956 and the SECC Regulations, which cap shareholding and impose "fit and proper" and governance requirements reflecting an exchange's public utility character. An offer for sale (OFS) transfers existing shares from selling shareholders to the public, providing an exit but no capital to the company, unlike a fresh issue. The NSE's listing plans were delayed by the co-location matter, in which SEBI examined preferential access to the exchange's trading systems. The anchor investor window allows institutional investors to subscribe a day before the public issue, with a lock-in, serving as a price discovery and confidence signal.

Context

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman warned that frontier artificial intelligence laboratories are "racing straight to self-improving superintelligence", raising significant concerns over AI safety and systemic risks, while addressing the valedictory session of the Global Fintech Fest 2026 in Mumbai.

Background & Key Facts

• The design principle: She called on the fintech industry to build systems that are "fast yet accountable, autonomous yet reversible, and innovative without diluting consumer trust".
• On responsibility: "AI may assist judgement, but responsibility must remain human and institutional," she said, stressing that greater consequences from AI-driven decisions should be accompanied by stronger safeguards. "The more serious the consequence of a decision, the stronger the requirement for review, explanation and appeal."
• On accountability: She urged regulators, boards and senior management to take direct responsibility for understanding how AI is deployed within their organisations. "They must know where AI is being used, what decision it influences, what data it relies upon and what harm can arise if it fails." AI systems involving higher-risk use cases should undergo greater scrutiny before deployment and throughout their operational lifecycle.
• Against the false binary: She cautioned against an approach that treats AI adoption and AI avoidance as the only alternatives. Institutions that remain dependent on legacy systems "risk becoming less capable, losing competitiveness and eventually fading out". "The relevant choice is therefore not between deploying AI and avoiding AI. The real challenge is between responsible adoption and well managed adoption."
• The dual nature of emerging technology: She highlighted agentic AI and quantum computing, asking how financial institutions can balance breakthrough efficiency with growing systemic risks. Tokenisation has reduced unnecessary intermediaries and enabled near-instantaneous asset transfers, while agentic AI has moved beyond providing recommendations to taking autonomous actions, compressing processes that previously took days into seconds. She cautioned that the speed enabled by these technologies could amplify risks.

Static Background

Agentic AI refers to systems that plan and execute multi-step tasks autonomously, acting on the world rather than only producing recommendations — which shifts the governance question from output accuracy to action authorisation and reversibility. Tokenisation represents assets as digital tokens on a distributed ledger, enabling fractional ownership and near-instant settlement. India's AI governance framework rests on NITI Aayog's National Strategy for AI (2018) and its Responsible AI approach papers, the IndiaAI Mission, and sectoral regulation — the RBI's FREE-AI committee framework for responsible and ethical AI in finance, its guidelines on digital lending and outsourcing, and SEBI's requirements on algorithmic trading and AI disclosure. Legally relevant instruments include the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 and the IT Act framework. Internationally, the EU AI Act adopts a risk-tiered approach with obligations scaling by risk category, and the Financial Stability Board has flagged concentration risk from reliance on a small number of AI model and cloud providers as a systemic concern. India's fintech stack — UPI, Aadhaar-enabled services, Account Aggregator and the Open Network for Digital Commerce — makes the sector an early and large-scale adopter.

Context

The Union Mines Ministry is in talks with Australia and Chile to acquire lithium blocks, while seeking five additional blocks in Argentina, Union Mines Minister G. Kishan Reddy said, as India steps up efforts to secure supplies of the critical mineral.

Background & Key Facts

• The acquisitions: "India has limited lithium reserves. Therefore, we acquired five blocks in Argentina and are now seeking to acquire five more," Mr. Reddy said on the sidelines of the third edition of CII's Global Summit on Advanced Materials, Critical Minerals & Metals. "Similarly, we are speaking to Australia and Chile," with talks at both the government-to-government level and among private entities.
• The private sector role: The Ministry is encouraging Indian private companies to enter overseas markets, undertake exploration and subsequently mine the resources, with the extracted minerals to be supplied to India.
• The e-waste route: Mr. Reddy highlighted e-waste recycling as an important source of critical minerals. 125 entities have registered to avail incentives under the government's ₹1,500-crore e-waste recycling package, of which 58 have been cleared. The projects are expected to recover around 96 kilotonnes of critical minerals annually. The Ministry has approached NITI Aayog to determine the allocation of incentives for each of the 58 eligible entities.
• The scale of the opportunity: "About 25-30% of India's needs for critical minerals can be acquired via e-waste recycling," he said, underlining the role of secondary sources in reducing dependence on overseas supplies.

Static Background

India notified a list of 30 critical minerals in 2023 and launched the National Critical Mineral Mission (2025) covering exploration, overseas acquisition, recycling and stockpiling. The MMDR Amendment Act, 2023 created a category of critical and strategic minerals — including lithium, cobalt, nickel, graphite and rare earths — auctioned by the Centre, and removed six atomic minerals from the reserved list to permit private participation. KABIL (Khanij Bidesh India Ltd), a joint venture of NALCO, HCL and MECL, is the vehicle for overseas mineral acquisition and holds exploration rights in Argentina's Catamarca province. The Lithium Triangle — Argentina, Bolivia and Chile — holds the bulk of global brine resources, while Australia leads hard-rock spodumene production; refining and processing, however, are heavily concentrated in China. Lithium resources were reported in Reasi, Jammu and Kashmir, and in Karnataka, though commercial viability remains to be established. India is a member of the Mineral Security Partnership. Domestically, the E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2022 operate an Extended Producer Responsibility regime with EPR certificates; "urban mining" refers to recovery of metals from discarded electronics, where concentrations of gold, copper and rare earths often exceed those in natural ore.

Context

Banking services were hit across India as employees affiliated to the United Forum of Bank Unions observed a nationwide strike demanding a five-day work week, even as the RBI Governor signalled a reassessment of growth and inflation dynamics amid rising crude prices, forex reserves touched a record high, and the central bank partially cancelled a debt auction.

The Strike

• The call: Given by the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), an umbrella body of seven unions representing 90% of officer and employee strength, demanding immediate implementation of a five-day work week.
• The impact: It did not affect private sector banks. Most branches of public sector banks across India were completely or partially closed, with services such as cash deposits, withdrawals, cheque clearances and administrative work hit at most PSBs and some old-generation private banks.
• The spread: Reports from Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh indicated complete disruption at the branch level. The MP Bank Employees Association said about 42,000 employees and officers from nearly 7,000 of the State's 8,707 bank branches joined the strike.
• The argument: "Bank employees were compelled to resort to a strike to press for their legitimate demands," said the UFBU Himachal Pradesh convener and the All India Bank Officers' Confederation State President.

The Macro Picture

Static Background

Foreign exchange reserves comprise foreign currency assets, gold, SDRs and the reserve tranche position with the IMF; they are the buffer against external shocks and a determinant of import cover. FCNR(B) deposits are foreign currency deposits by non-resident Indians with Indian banks, on which the bank bears no exchange risk if hedged; a concessional swap window allows banks to convert these dollars with the RBI at favourable rates, encouraging mobilisation — an instrument previously used in 2013. The Monetary Policy Committee, constituted under the RBI Act as amended in 2016, has six members and is mandated to maintain CPI inflation at 4% with a band of +/- 2%. Crude prices affect India through the current account, the exchange rate and inflation — with the extent of the last depending on pass-through, since frozen retail fuel prices convert consumer inflation into fiscal cost through oil marketing company under-recoveries. Bond yields move inversely to prices; a partially devolved or cancelled auction signals that the issuer is unwilling to accept the yields demanded. On labour, banking employees' terms are settled through bipartite settlements negotiated by the Indian Banks' Association with unions; the five-day week requires government concurrence as it affects public service delivery.

Context

The United States has proposed a new rule to scrap the 60-day grace period available to certain foreign workers, including skilled workers on H-1B visas, to find a new job after losing employment — a move that will significantly impact Indian technology workers.

Background & Key Facts

• The rule: Titled "Eliminating the Discretionary 60-day Grace Period", to be published in the Federal Register, with the Department of Homeland Security inviting public comments within the next 60 days.
• What the H-1B is: A non-immigrant visa that allows U.S. companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. Technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China.
• The consequence: If finalised, foreign workers facing job loss before the expiry of their visas would need to leave the U.S. immediately, unless they have separate authorisation to remain.
• The DHS rationale: "This proposal restores a direct relationship between an alien's non-immigrant status and the specific employment or activity that formed the basis of his or her admission or grant of status in the U.S. and reduces administrative burden."
• The categories affected: The discretionary maximum 60-day grace period currently accorded to E-1, E-2, E-3, H-1B, H-1B1, L-1, O-1 and TN non-immigrants, and their dependents, whose employment ceases.
• The practical effect: If finalised, workers facing job loss "would have to reapply at an American embassy or consulate after receiving an offer from another U.S. employer".

Static Background

The H-1B programme is capped at 65,000 visas annually plus 20,000 for holders of U.S. advanced degrees, allocated by lottery, with Indian nationals receiving the large majority of approvals. The employment-based permanent residency route runs through PERM labour certification, the Form I-140 immigrant petition and adjustment of status; the per-country cap limiting any single country to about 7% of employment-based green cards annually has produced decades-long backlogs for Indian nationals in EB-2 and EB-3, leaving many dependent on continuing H-1B status for years. Other categories in the proposal include L-1 (intra-company transferee), O-1 (extraordinary ability) and TN (Canada and Mexico professionals under USMCA). In trade terms, temporary movement of professionals is Mode 4 under the GATS framework and has been India's principal offensive interest in negotiations with developed economies, alongside totalisation agreements to avoid double social security contributions — which India has sought from the U.S. without success. India's services exports are a major offset to its merchandise trade deficit.

Context

Anthropic said it has blocked efforts by bad actors to use its artificial intelligence models for malicious activity such as cyberattacks, surveillance, and research that could have led to biological weapons — publishing details in its third report on AI misuse.

Background & Key Facts

• The core warning: As AI models grow more powerful, "elaborate cyberattacks no longer require sophisticated skills and even lone individuals can create threats that would not have been possible even a year ago", the company said.
• The safeguards: It has added stronger safeguards in its latest models to restrict biological research that could also be used to make weapons.
• The framing: "The cases we share here aren't typical misuse, but rather examples of the most notable and novel threat activity we've identified to date," Anthropic said in its third report since March 2025 describing AI misuse.
• The specific case: "The work discussed in the application involved gain-of-function research (that is, research that genetically alters an organism to create a new or enhanced biological property) on the chikungunya virus. This gain of function research was aimed at the virus' transmissibility and immune evasion properties."
• The disclosure approach: The report includes snippets of the malicious code and AI prompts the company said it found, and urges governments and AI competitors to identify and prevent similar abuse.

Static Background

Gain-of-function research deliberately enhances a pathogen's transmissibility, virulence or host range, typically to understand pandemic potential; it is subject to intense debate because the same knowledge that supports preparedness can enable weaponisation — the classic dual-use research of concern (DURC) problem. Chikungunya is a mosquito-borne viral disease transmitted by Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus — the same vectors as dengue and Zika — causing fever and severe, often prolonged joint pain; it is endemic in parts of India. The Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC), 1972, prohibits development, production and stockpiling of biological weapons but notably lacks a verification protocol, which is its principal weakness. UNSC Resolution 1540 obliges states to prevent non-state actors from acquiring weapons of mass destruction. India's framework includes the Weapons of Mass Destruction and their Delivery Systems (Prohibition of Unlawful Activities) Act, 2005, amended in 2022 to cover financing, and the DBT-ICMR biosafety guidelines and Institutional Biosafety Committees for recombinant DNA research. Laboratory containment is graded BSL-1 to BSL-4. In AI governance, red-teaming, model evaluations for dangerous capabilities and staged deployment are the principal technical safeguards.

Context

The top diplomats of Iran and Saudi Arabia spoke by phone to discuss "growing insecurity" in the region — without mentioning recent fighting in Yemen, where the two countries support opposing sides — as Yemen's Houthis seized a strategic Red Sea island, sealing their takeover of a vital shipping corridor linking Europe and Asia.

The Houthi Advance

• The seizure: After a week-long offensive that has left hundreds dead, the Houthis appeared to be in control of territory along the Yemeni side of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and, in turn, the Suez Canal route. An official of Yemen's Saudi-backed government said the Houthis have seized control of the country's entire Red Sea coast.
• The official's admission: "Everything that was under our control on the western coast has fallen."
• The Saudi dependence: "Saudi Arabia has relied on the Red Sea ever since Iran's Hormuz blockade choked off its shipments via the Gulf."
• The existing control: The Houthis have controlled Yemen's capital Sanaa and the major port city of Hodeida for years, and in recent days launched a new offensive pushing towards Bab el-Mandeb.

The Iran-Saudi Call

• The conversation: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi spoke with Saudi counterpart Faisal bin Farhan on Thursday evening about "the escalation of tensions and the growing insecurity in the region", per Tehran's Foreign Ministry.
• The stated purpose: The two parties "emphasised the need to continue cooperation and diplomatic efforts in order to prevent the spread of tensions and reestablish stability".
• The omission: Yemen was not directly mentioned in Iran's summary of the call, despite the two countries supporting opposing sides.
• On Yemen separately: A separate statement addressing the fighting insisted it was "impossible to resolve the Yemeni crisis through... military intervention".
• The positions: Tehran militarily and financially backs the Houthis, who for years have held large parts of Yemen's north; Riyadh has long supported Yemen's internationally recognised government and has been conducting air strikes on the Houthis since they began their advance. The two have also been at odds during the wider West Asia war, "which saw Tehran launch strikes on Saudi oil infrastructure and U.S.-linked targets in the Gulf kingdom".

Static Background

Bab el-Mandeb — the "Gate of Tears" — connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and is the southern gateway to the Suez Canal, carrying a large share of Europe-Asia container traffic and significant seaborne crude and LNG. It is divided by Perim Island into two channels. Mokha is the historic Red Sea coffee port; Hodeida is the principal Houthi-controlled port and the country's humanitarian lifeline. Yemen's war since 2014-15 pits the Houthi movement, aligned with Iran, against the internationally recognised government backed by a Saudi-led coalition; a UN-brokered truce in 2022 produced relative calm. The China-brokered Iran-Saudi normalisation of March 2023 restored diplomatic relations after a seven-year rupture, and the continuing diplomatic channel reflects that framework. India's exposure is direct: a substantial share of its Europe-bound trade transits the Suez route; disruption forces the Cape of Good Hope detour with significant cost and time penalties; Indian nationals crew a large share of global merchant shipping; and India has maintained anti-piracy and escort deployments in the Gulf of Aden since 2008, coordinated through the Information Fusion Centre – Indian Ocean Region.

Context

The Biotech Conclave 2026, organised by VIT Chennai in association with The Hindu and themed 'Exploring New Frontiers in Science', brought together academics, researchers and industry leaders to discuss biomedical research, healthcare technology and the translation of scientific research into applications.

The Inaugural Themes

• From importing to building: Chief guest Suchitra Ella, co-founder and Managing Director of Bharat Biotech and CII President-designate, spoke about India's shift from relying on vaccines and molecules developed in the West to building its own research and manufacturing capabilities. She said Indian companies should look beyond the domestic market and develop products for other developing countries, particularly for infectious diseases, and emphasised championing a 'One Health' approach and strengthening the links between life sciences and food security.
• Advice to students: Biotechnology students "should step outside their campuses, gain exposure to industry and research laboratories, and develop skills beyond their academic curriculum". A biotechnology entrepreneur "needed to understand business, commercial operations, marketing, distribution, supply chains, policy, and government relations" and would have to "wear multiple hats". She advised students to develop both wet-lab and computational skills, said hands-on science would remain the starting point despite AI-driven discovery, and that decisions on abandoning a research idea "should be guided by experimental and safety data, as well as regulatory requirements, rather than theoretical expectations. We need to let go when we see the data."

Gene Editing and Genetic Data

• The privacy concern: G. Jayaraman, Dean, School of Bio Sciences and Technology, VIT Chennai: "Privacy of data is important. Using genetic information for treating diseases is fine but it has to be safeguarded from being used for other purposes."
• The legal gap: Vinod Scaria, Chief Data Officer, Karkinos Healthcare, called for a legal framework to prevent genetic information from being misused, saying that without such a framework "it is dangerous to create a database".
• The clinical shift: Kalpana Gowrishankar, Clinical Geneticist and Counselor, Apollo Hospitals: "There is a sea change in the genetic landscape in both testing and treatment." She said family history gives clues on when to consider genetic testing, listing red flags: diseases or disorders happening very early, the same condition running in the family, consanguinity, sudden unexplained deaths, or many cancers in the family. She noted that karyotyping is easily available and that awareness is high owing to factors such as social media, and that many families "go from pillar to post for a diagnosis, which can give a closure".
• On embryonic gene therapy: Dr. Scaria said "with any technology comes concerns about use and misuse… public discourse is attracted to controversy… but we fail to recognise that technology is mature enough to be used. We should take a pragmatic step and put policies in place to use it for the right purposes." He said genetic-carrier screening is the right thing to do, noting that the UAE has made premarital genetic sequencing mandatory owing to the high incidence of beta thalassemia and sickle-cell anaemia.
• Precision versus personalised: Professor Jayaraman said the two terms are interchangeably used, but "personalised medicine is more specific than precision medicine". He said sequencing is not very expensive now and that precision medicine is the need of the hour.

Technology, Access and the Industry

• Technology must reach the underserved: K. Ganapathy, noting that "healthcare is about trust", stressed that innovation "should also cater to people with limited access to digital technologies" and that AI must remain a supportive tool rather than a replacement for clinical judgement. Shridevi S. of VIT Chennai stressed the need for scientists and technology professionals to work together while ensuring sensitive health information remains protected. Mayur Abhaya of LifeCell International said wider access to genomic data and sequencing could benefit people with rare diseases, and that India needs to strengthen domestic capacity in genomic technologies, "noting that a majority of the sequencing market is dominated by one company".
• Capital and commercialisation: Ajay Mahipal of HealthKois said India now has more than 2,500 biotech startups and has "moved beyond being a manufacturing base" towards becoming a hub for innovation, with cell and gene therapy, precision medicine, AI-enabled drug discovery and immunology-driven therapeutics attracting investor interest — but funding, specifically capital without expectations of quick results, remains a key challenge.
• From volume to value: At a session on India as a global biopharma hub, Maneesh Paul of Microvioma said taking a drug from idea to market is "a long and uncertain journey", and Vasan Sambandamurthy of Bugworks said India had established itself globally but needed to move "from volume to value", identifying patient capital, quality as a culture, and talent with global exposure as key requirements.
• Regulation and competition: K. VijayRaghavan, former Principal Scientific Adviser, said fundamental research remains essential to invest in because technologies "could not simply be imported without understanding". On regulation, he noted that "a lot of regulatory principles, till recently, were drawn from the West and there was an assumption that the more regulations there were, the better it was. But this resulted in only companies with deep pockets being able to jump through hoops, while a lot of innovation got thrown out. A deep understanding… was needed for contextual regulation." The startup space is growing at a CAGR of 12-13% or more, with over 1,100 start-ups started in the last year, but "the challenge for small players today is that this is an extremely competitive space" — even stable, bigger companies are under threat "because of the advent of new science, robotics, and AI". He also stressed that the issue of quality education at scale needed urgent attention, recalling the suggestion to convert the fourth year of undergraduate courses into internships in academia or industry.
• Translational research: T. Thyagarajan, pro-vice-chancellor, VIT Chennai, said it was crucial to convert research outcomes into socially conscious prototypes or products.

Static Background

Precision medicine tailors prevention and treatment to groups of patients sharing molecular or genetic characteristics; personalised medicine narrows this to the individual. Karyotyping examines chromosome number and structure and detects large-scale abnormalities, unlike sequencing which reads the base sequence. India's genomics infrastructure includes IndiGen and the GenomeIndia project sequencing thousands of Indian genomes to build a reference database for a population with high endogamy and consanguinity in some communities, which raises the prevalence of recessive disorders such as beta thalassemia and sickle cell anaemia — the latter targeted by India's National Sickle Cell Anaemia Elimination Mission (2023) aiming at elimination by 2047. Rare disease policy runs through the National Policy for Rare Diseases, 2021, with Centres of Excellence and financial assistance. Regulation of gene technologies involves the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee, the DBT-ICMR National Guidelines for Gene Therapy Product Development and Clinical Trials (2019), and the New Drugs and Clinical Trials Rules, 2019; heritable human genome editing is not permitted. Genetic data is personal data under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, though India has no dedicated genetic non-discrimination statute comparable to the U.S. GINA. One Health recognises the interconnection of human, animal and environmental health.

Context

A consolidated round-up of the remaining reports in today's Bengaluru City Edition carrying direct prelims value — governance, security, world affairs, economy and the summit's margins.

Governance & Institutions

• FCRA Bill JPC: The first meeting of the Joint Parliamentary Committee constituted to examine the contentious Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026 is scheduled for 18 September. The 31-member panel is headed by BJP MP Sanjay Jaiswal; the government moved the constituting motion on 12 August during the Monsoon Session, which is yet to be prorogued. The Opposition had demanded that the Bill be withdrawn completely, accusing the government of "intentionally targeting minority-run institutions". Ministry of Home Affairs officials will brief members on the Bill's provisions.
• IRCTC deactivates 3.04 crore user IDs: In a crackdown against touts and booking agents misusing railway ticketing infrastructure, the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation deactivated 3.04 crore user IDs and suspended 6.33 crore IDs citing suspicious activity; those account holders cannot book until they verify authenticity. Since October last year it has blocked 16,041 suspicious email domains and registered 592 complaints on the Cyber Crime Portal covering 4.21 lakh suspicious PNR numbers. Only 8.43% to 14.14% of a day's bookings are completed in the first hour from 8 a.m., with over 85% completed later in the day; the first 15 minutes record the highest volume. Authorised ticketing agents are prohibited from booking Advance Reservation Period tickets during the first 10 minutes of the booking window, and only Aadhaar-authenticated users may book during the opening ARP window. The IRCTC has engaged a technology player for anti-BOT and content delivery network capabilities.
• SEBI on Market Infrastructure Institutions: The regulator proposed extending the IT and cyber security framework of Market Infrastructure Institutions — stock exchanges, depositories and clearing corporations — to their subsidiaries, noting that the applicability and regulatory jurisdiction of these frameworks are not explicitly defined over subsidiaries which may need to operate in close coordination with the parent MII.
• Congress on the U.S. DHS advertisement: The party questioned the government's silence over a Department of Homeland Security post asking a "Mr. Singh" to self-deport, which used an AI-generated image of a turbaned Indian with the messages "Get off our roads" and "Self-deport or find out". Jairam Ramesh said it was "not just an insult to one individual or community" but an affront to the dignity of all Indians.
• U.S. Ambassador in Manipur: Ambassador Sergio Gor told Manipur Chief Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh in Imphal that the bond between Mr. Modi and Mr. Trump "goes beyond the normal Prime Minister-President relationship", and said he was happy the Prime Minister was focusing on the development of the north-eastern region. The Chief Minister invited him to the Manipur Sangai Festival, saying "India is a mini-world and Manipur, a mini-India, is home to 36 communities".

States, Security & Society

• Bihar floods: Water levels in several major rivers are receding or stabilising. Per the Disaster Management Department, water discharge in the Gandak and Kosi remained stable while the Sone recorded a declining trend. Approximately 47.33 lakh people have been affected in 87 blocks of 15 districts — Patna, Bhojpur, Begusarai, Vaishali, Bhagalpur, Khagaria, Lakhisarai, Buxar, Saran, Samastipur, Munger, Katihar, Arwal, Purnea and Madhepura.
• Karnataka — SIR relief: The Chief Electoral Officer has directed election officials to allow adult family members of senior citizens, persons with disabilities, the sick and overseas electors to submit documents on their behalf in response to Special Intensive Revision notices.
• Karnataka — ED case: The Enforcement Directorate claimed that documents recovered during raids on Public Works Minister Satish Jarkiholi indicated that bribe money collected from contractors in the PWD was used to acquire foreign assets, confirming that the searches related to alleged violations of FEMA.
• Odisha orangutan case: Three persons were detained by the Special Task Force of Odisha Police from a hotel in West Bengal's Digha in connection with the rescue of five young orangutans in Balasore district; a formal case has been registered. The detention followed examination of CCTV footage capturing movement of a black SUV near the spot where the orangutans were abandoned on 7 September.
• M.P. hooch tragedy: One of the prime accused in the Sagar hooch tragedy, which has claimed 16 lives, was arrested after a short encounter, taking the total arrests to 17. He is accused of supplying raw material for the spurious liquor and is described by police as an inter-State illicit liquor smuggler with 25 cases against him.
• Maratha reservation: Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke met Maratha activist Manoj Jarange-Patil at Antarwali Sarati on day 14 of his hunger strike for Maratha reservation and urged him to end the fast, saying that had the government provided education and employment opportunities to youth, the strike would not have been necessary.
• Tibetan protest: At least five Tibetan nationals were detained by the Delhi Police after they gathered to protest against President Xi Jinping's visit; three students were placed under preventive detention until 14 September and taken to Tihar jail.
• Street vendors and the summit: Roadside vendors and hawkers along VIP routes were asked to keep stalls closed from Friday to Sunday for security reasons. A worker at a Janpath stall said the owner had halved his daily wage and that he would receive nothing for three days. An NDMC Town Vending Committee member said most restrictions were communicated verbally. Connaught Place and Janpath shops remained open per their traders' associations. Central Delhi saw 15,000 police personnel and 200 companies of paramilitary forces, boat patrolling on the Yamuna, and traffic restrictions on more than 35 roads with 22 diversion points.

Economy & Summit Margins

• 'Bharat Innovates' exposition: India's 37 deep-tech innovations are being showcased at Bharat Mandapam from 11-12 September on the sidelines of the summit, organised by the Education Ministry with the External Affairs Ministry. Exhibits include an advanced floating solar PV platform for complex water bodies, a full-stack marine robotic platform for critical infrastructure inspection, a rare-earth-free e-powertrain, AI-enabled cervical cancer screening delivering risk assessment in under 60 seconds, and an AI-enabled foetal monitoring platform.
• Bihar's food products at the summit: Sattu and makhana are included in the welcome kit at the Delhi summit, described by the Bihar Chief Minister as "emblems of our taste, tradition, and entrepreneurship" and part of the 'Local to Global' resolve.
• Delhi Police social media monitoring: Specialised units are tracking public posts for security threats, misinformation and activity with implications for law and order, through a dedicated Social Media Cell and the Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (IFSO) unit, using software tools that scan publicly available posts, captions and comments by keywords and hashtags.
• Ultraviolette and OALP: Electric two-wheeler maker Ultraviolette will set up a 'BIGGA' (Big Global Ambition) factory in Hosur, Tamil Nadu, to manufacture Tesseract e-scooters. The Directorate General of Hydrocarbons extended the deadline for deepwater and ultra-deepwater block bids under the 10th and 11th OALP rounds to 15 November, replacing the earlier 17 September cut-off.

World

• 9/11 at 25: Americans commemorated the 25th anniversary with wreath-laying, moments of silence and vigils. On 11 September 2001, al-Qaeda extremists hijacked four commercial jets and crashed them into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, killing nearly 3,000 people. About half of U.S. adults remember the day as the most historic event of their lifetime, per a new poll.
• Nepal reconstruction: Nepal estimates the reconstruction bill after deadly floods sparked by a glacial mountain collapse will amount to $4.78 billion. Prime Minister Balendra Shah has vowed to "strongly raise" with the international community the disasters Nepal has experienced as a result of climate change.
• Myanmar: Pro-democracy guerrillas claimed a drone attack that shut Mandalay airport, the nation's second-biggest, saying they targeted Russian-made Yak-130 fighter jets housed by the runway. The military-backed government said the airport was raided by six "suicide drones", causing no casualties but disrupting flights, and accused rebels of targeting "a non-military, public transportation system". The People's Defence Forces are the largest pro-democracy guerrilla group formed after the military triggered civil war.
• Assisted dying debate: Campaigners demonstrated in front of the Houses of Parliament in London as lawmakers debated whether to legalise assisted dying for terminally ill people.
• Other world briefs: Germany's far-right AfD said it would seek criminal defamation charges against Chancellor Friedrich Merz after he accused the party of promoting "ethnic cleansing", saying the word "remigration" is a synonym for it. U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance called Democrats the "party of hatred" in a prime-time midterm convention speech in Dallas. Emma Bonino, the Italian feminist activist, long-time campaigner for abortion and divorce rights, former Foreign Minister and European Commissioner, died aged 78.