NEW DELHI, 10 October Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said that defence exports in 2025-26 reached a record ₹38,424 crore, more than 60% above the previous year.
At a glance
Defence exports 2025-26: ₹38,424 crore (Ministry of Defence, 9 October 2026)
Defence exports 2024-25: ₹23,622 crore — private ₹15,233 crore, DPSUs ₹8,389 crore (Ministry of Defence, 3 April 2025)
Export target: ₹50,000 crore by 2029
Private share of defence production: about 24% now; 50% sought
SIDM Champion Awards 2026: 15, presented 9 October 2026
What India gains
₹14,802 crore more foreign earnings from defence in a single year, and a target that is now within one ordinary year’s growth.
100 5G labs turn campuses into innovation hubs
NEW DELHI, 10 October— A laboratory costs ₹97.67 lakh and has so far produced six working use cases. That is the arithmetic behind the figures Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia set out at a one-day workshop on 5G use-case labs at the India Mobile Congress in Yashobhoomi, New Delhi. The 100 labs were allotted to academic institutions in October 2023 at a total outlay of ₹97.67 crore, and all 100 were operational by April 2025.
At a glance
5G use-case labs: 100, allotted October 2023, all operational by April 2025; outlay ₹97.67 crore
Students who used the labs: more than 17,400 (as of August 2026)
Institutions running 5G courses: 97; enrolled students: more than 21,000
Products and use cases: 634 · IP applications: 158 · patents granted: 32
Hackathon 2026: more than 1,400 proposals; 50 finalists; 35 demonstrating at IMC
What India gains
Six working 5G applications and 174 trained students for every ₹97.67 lakh spent on a college laboratory.
India finishes 10th at WorldSkills meet
NEW DELHI, 10 October — Seventy young Indians competed in 63 skills at the 48th WorldSkills Competition in Shanghai between 22 and 27 September.. India performcd excellently well by finishing tenth overall with six silver.
PM Modi met with the team at 7, Lok Kalyan Marg. The competitors told the Prime Minister about the tools, software and work processes they had to learn at speed on the competition floor. He told them that practical skill matters as much as a degree, that a skill training institute is no less important than an IIT or an IIM, and that the aim is to make India a global hub of skilled people. He asked for their suggestions on improving the training system.
What India gains
It s a new benchmark –a tenth place among the world’s skilled trades, earned by trainees in 63 trades rather than by a national team of professionals, says where Indian training stands and where it still has to go. Six silvers from 63 skills is one in ten.
INS Mangrol to join Navy, boost indigenous undersea warfare
NEW DELHI, 10 October Mangrol, a shallow-water anti-submarine warship built by Cochin Shipyard Limited, is to be commissioned into the Indian Navy at the Naval Dockyard in Mumbai on 12 October. Vice Admiral Sanjay Vatsyayan, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Western Naval Command, will preside. It is the third ship of its class from the Kochi yard and carries more than 80% indigenous content. All India Radio reported the yard’s delivery of the ship on 22 August 2026 with the same indigenous figure.
Blue Dart taps 1.64 lakh post offices for rural reach
NEW DELHI, 10 October — A parcel booked with Blue Dart in a city can now be handed to the postman in a village. The Department of Posts and Blue Dart Express Limited signed an agreement to this effect in New Delhi on 9 October.
The courier will use the postal network of more than 1,64,000 post offices to deliver parcels in urban, semi-urban and rural areas, including remote places with few other services. Prepaid and cash-on-delivery parcels are covered, with delivery confirmed by one-time password and tracked in real time.
Blue Dart gets reach into places its own fleet does not go, and the Department gets parcel volume for a network built for letters, a larger place in organised logistics, and a look at how an express company runs its operations. The release ties the arrangement to e-commerce, where the last ten kilometres to a village are the costly ones.
What India gains
It s a rural buyer who can order online and pay the postman at the door, and a postal network whose 1.64 lakh counters earn from parcels as letter volumes fall.
Tele-MANAS crosses 47.75 lakh calls in four years
NEW DELHI, 10 October — Mental Health toll-free number 14416 has been answered 47,75,644 times since it opened four years ago, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. That is about 3,270 calls a day, by Blitz arithmetic. Tele-MANAS runs through 53 cells covering all 36 States and Union Territories, round the clock, in several languages.
The Ministry has analysed 13,35,275 caller profiles, 28% of all calls. Of those, 5,84,587 callers were women, 43.78%, and 7,23,427 were men, 54.18%; 73.2% of callers were between 18 and 45. Mental health services are now integrated into more than 1.83 lakh Ayushman Arogya Mandirs, and the District Mental Health Programme has been approved for 767 districts, about 239 primary-care centres to a district.
At a glance
Tele-MANAS calls since 10 October 2022: 47,75,644 (as of October 2026)
Cells: 53 · States and UTs: 36 · Helpline: 14416, 24×7
Caller profiles analysed: 13,35,275 — women 5,84,587 (43.78%), men 7,23,427 (54.18%); aged 18–45: 73.2%
Ayushman Arogya Mandirs with mental health services: more than 1.83 lakh · DMHP districts: 767
What India gains
A free helpline that has answered 3,269 calls a day for four years, with 1.83 lakh primary-care centres behind it.
PM urges universities to adopt neighbouring Angwandis
NEW DELHI, 10 October — Closing the two-day National Departmental Summit on Women and Child Development at Sushma Swaraj Bhawan, PM Modi urged the universities to adopt the Anganwadi centres near them He proposed similar deliberations at district and municipal level, and a separate one for Anganwadi workers. He asked for more attention to the health and nutrition of adolescent girls, age-appropriate teaching on women’s safety and respect, and the use of One District One Product to build livelihoods for women’s self-help groups. Ministers and senior officials of the States and Union Territories attended.
DST goes digital, takes science service to 22 languages
NEW DELHI, 10 October — The Department of Science and Technology’s redeveloped sites, dst.gov.in and most.gov.in, launched by Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh on 9 October. These webesites carry their content in 22 languages through Bhashini and gather grants, fellowships, calls for proposals and application forms in one searchable place.
The sites follow the Digital Brand Identity Manual 3.0 and the government web guidelines GIGW 3.0, with screen-reader support, adjustable contrast and spacing, and a content delivery network for the traffic spikes of result days and deadlines. DST Secretary Umesh V. Waghmare was present.
Ayush graduates get new pathway into emergency, lifestyle care
NEW DELHI, 10 October — Two six-month certificate courses for Ayush graduates and postgraduates, one in intensive care and emergency support and one in lifestyle health and wellness counselling, were welcomed by Ayush Minister of State Prataprao Jadhav. This was unveiled at the second India-UK Health Conclave in New Delhi, organised by Marengo Asia Hospitals and the BAPIO Training Academy.
He said traditional medicine can strengthen preventive care worldwide where it is backed by evidence and quality standards, and that British experience of clinical governance and patient safety could be joined to Indian clinical capacity.
