KARWAR, 17 October — For most of the country ‘s history, a major warship came from one of a handful of public-sector yards. That changed at the INS Kadamba naval base in Karwar, where Vice-President C.P Radhakrishnan commissioned INS Samarthak, the first of the Navy’s new Multi-Purpose Vessels.
The ship was designed and built by Larsen & Toubro, and more than 75% of the material in it is indigenous, the ministry says.
At a glance
Ship: INS Samarthak, first of the Navy’s Multi-Purpose Vessels
Builder: Larsen & Toubro — the first major warship from an Indian private shipyard
Indigenous content: more than 75% of material
Roles: trials and evaluation of Indian sensors and weapons, surveillance, offshore patrol, disaster relief
What India gains
A second source of warships beyond public yards, and a sea platform to prove Indian-made weapons faster.
UP, Bihar get 1.26 lakh of 1.94 lakh urban homes cleared
NEW DELHI, 17 October— Of the 1,93,521 urban homes cleared by the Centre’s sanctioning committee, 1,26,048 went to two States. Uttar Pradesh got 73,182 and Bihar 52,866, according to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs’. 
At a glance
Homes approved in the tenth round: 1,93,521 in 11 States
Total sanctioned under PMAY-U 2.0: 20.80 lakh
Homes in a woman’s name: 20.16 lakh (97%)
What India gains
Pucca homes for poor urban families, most of them owned by women.
Tata Steel Foundation to anchor Rs 240.5 crore Odisha ITI cluster
NEW DELHI, 17 October — Government ITI Kataka in Odisha will become the hub of a cluster of five training institutes, with four smaller ITIs at Choudwar, Paradeep, Jajpur and Dhenkanal. Tata Steel Foundation is the partner, and ₹240.50 crore is the plan.
Secretary, MSDE Debashree Mukherjee asked the clusters to work towards ISO certification and to include at least one WorldSkills-aligned trade in their implementation plans.
Kerala spices lead India’s first FTA shipment to New Zealand
KOCHI, 17 October — A container of Kerala spices bound for New Zealand was flagged off in Kochi, the State’s first consignment under the India–New Zealand Free Trade Agreement. The exporter is Synthite Industries.
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The agreement was signed on 27 April 2026, ratified by both countries on 21 September and enters into force on 20 October 2026. Announcing the date in New Delhi on 21 September, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said the pact gives duty-free access to all Indian exports to New Zealand.
NRI deposits jump to $83 billion in August, as per RBI data
MUMBAI, 17 October — In August 2025, non-resident Indians added a net $1.0 billion to their deposits in Indian banks. In August 2026 they added $83.0 billion, according to the Reserve Bank of India’s preliminary balance-of-payments data
The Reserve Bank’s release does not say why NRI deposits jumped so sharply, or how much came under any particular deposit window. That breakdown is the number to watch in the next RBI Bulletin.
At a glance
NRI deposits, August 2026 (net): $83.0 billion
Overall balance of payments, August 2026: surplus of $45.4 billion
Current-account deficit, August 2026: $5.2 billion
What India gains
A deeper cushion of foreign currency, held in Indian banks, at a time of global strain.
AIIA patient load jumps to 5.4 lakh in 2026
NEW DELHI, 17 — The All India Institute of Ayurveda at Sarita Vihar treated 1.23 lakh patients in 2020. In the first nine months of 2026 it treated more than 5.40 lakh.
Over ten years, October 2016 to September 2026, AIIA and its network have seen 37,74,524 patients: 30,37,077 at the main campus and about 7.37 lakh at affiliated and outreach centres, among them Safdarjung Hospital, the National Cancer Institute at Jhajjar, UPSC Bhawan and the officers’ academy at Mussoorie.
CAG finds Har Ghar Jal village scheme idle for six months
BHOPAL, 17 October — In Dharampura village in Tikamgarh district, a single-village water scheme had been certified “Har Ghar Jal” — every home with tap water. When auditors and officials went to inspect it, the scheme had not run for six months. That finding sits in the Comptroller and Auditor General’s Report No. 5 of 2026, a performance audit of the Jal Jeevan Mission in Madhya Pradesh covering 2019-20 to 2023-24, tabled on 22 July 2026.
At a glance
Rural households in Madhya Pradesh: 1.11 crore
State tap coverage: 69%, against about 80% nationally
Private connections counted as mission connections: 11,94,063
Inspected sites not working: 7 of 28
What India gains
A clear, public map of what it will take for every tap in rural Madhya Pradesh to run with safe water.
