14 April 2026

The country celebrated the 135th birth anniversary of Dr B.R. Ambedkar, architect of the Indian Constitution. The Prime Minister unveiled a 108-foot bronze Statue of Equality at the Alipore Central Jail complex in Kolkata, where Dr Ambedkar had been briefly detained in 1942. A special Parliament session read the Preamble and highlighted the "Constitutional Morality" framework drawn from Ambedkar's speeches.

On Ambedkar Jayanti, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment launched the Samajik Nyay Sangam portal, a single-window interface consolidating 38 welfare schemes for SCs, STs, OBCs, senior citizens, persons with disabilities, and transgender persons. The portal integrates Aadhaar-based eligibility, DBT disbursal, and grievance tracking under a common dashboard.

The Prime Minister extended greetings on the array of regional new year festivals falling on April 14 — Puthandu (Tamil Nadu), Vishu (Kerala), Bohag Bihu (Assam), Pana Sankranti (Odisha), Pohela Boishakh (West Bengal), and Vaisakhi observance. The President hosted a traditional meal featuring 35 regional dishes at Rashtrapati Bhavan, symbolising India's cultural pluralism.

State Bank of India reported that its MSME loan book crossed Rs 6.12 lakh crore in FY26, a 22% year-on-year growth led by the Udyam-registered small enterprises segment. SBI disbursed Rs 38,000 crore under the Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) with a 20% lower NPA ratio than earlier cycles, aided by GST-based cash-flow lending.

India participated in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Defence Ministers' Meeting at Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, where Defence Minister demanded zero tolerance for cross-border terrorism and terror financing. India welcomed the SCO-RATS proposal for shared maritime domain awareness and agreed to host the next Peace Mission joint counter-terror exercise in Rajasthan.

The Indian Army received the 60th Arjun Mark 1A main battle tank at the Armoured Corps Centre and School, Ahmednagar, completing the first regiment of 118 tanks ordered at Rs 8,378 crore. The Mark 1A features a thermal sight, advanced land navigation system, and containerised Kanchan composite armour — 72 upgrades over the baseline Arjun deployed in 2004.

The Indian Council of Medical Research launched Suraksha, an AI-powered infectious disease prediction platform that integrates IHIP surveillance data, climate variables, mobility patterns, and wastewater surveillance to forecast outbreaks of dengue, malaria, leptospirosis, and zoonotic flu up to six weeks in advance. The platform provides hotspot maps to district health officers.

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change notified the 148 sq km Wayanad-Mudumalai elephant corridor straddling the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border under Project Elephant. The corridor connects the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary with the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve and Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve. It is the 102nd elephant corridor notified and the fifth after the Ministry's 2023 consolidated review.

The Supreme Court referred to a seven-judge Constitution Bench the question whether verdicts delivered by ex-CJI D.Y. Chandrachud-led Benches (2022-2024) on the Abrogation of Article 370, Electoral Bonds, and the Money Bill route can be reviewed on grounds raised in new petitions. The Bench will also clarify the "horizontal effect" doctrine of fundamental rights in private law.

Survey of India and ISRO jointly released the first Coastal Resilience Atlas, mapping 7,516 km of Indian coastline under 100-year compound flood scenarios (storm surge + sea-level rise + riverine flood). The atlas identifies 287 critical nodes including Kochi, Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Visakhapatnam for priority grey-green infrastructure interventions by 2035.