Raja Muthupandi won the silver medal in the men’s 65 kg weightlifting event at the 2026 Commonwealth Games. He lifted a total of 286 kg (126 kg snatch + 160 kg clean & jerk). Malaysia’s Aznil Bin Bidin Muhamed won the gold with a Commonwealth Games record total of 299 kg. Muthupandi made a successful comeback after a 2019 elbow ligament injury and returned following the introduction of the 65 kg category.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has selected the PRAXIS Mission for NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) 2026 Phase I funding. PRAXIS stands for Planetary Rings Autonomous EXploration with In-situ Sampling. The mission aims to collect and analyse particles directly from planetary rings. It will study the ring systems of Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and ringed minor bodies like Chariklo and Chiron. The mission will use an AI-powered bio-inspired robotic explorer for autonomous navigation, particle sampling and on-site analysis. It plans to graze the ring plane to capture free-floating particles without deep entry.

The government informed Parliament that the One Nation One Subscription (ONOS) Scheme is witnessing increasing usage, with Andhra Pradesh recording over 3.11 lakh student users. The scheme was launched in January 2025 to provide nationwide access to high-quality academic journals.The scheme offers access to more than 13000 journals from 32 international publishers covering science, technology, medicine, social sciences, arts, and humanities. Eligible Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and R&D institutions across India can access these journals through the scheme.

The government informed Parliament that over 1.12 lakh collateral-free education loans worth ₹15,634.78 crore have been sanctioned under the PM-Vidyalaxmi Scheme since its launch. PM-Vidyalaxmi is a Central Sector Scheme launched in November 2024 to ensure that no deserving student misses higher education due to financial constraints. It provides collateral-free and guarantor-free education loans to students securing merit-based admission in Quality Higher Education Institutions (QHEIs). Students with an annual family income up to ₹8 lakh are eligible for 3% interest subvention on education loans up to ₹10 lakh.