Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari conferred the Sarvottam Jeevan Raksha Padak on 12 rat miners for their exceptional courage during the Silkyara Tunnel rescue operation in Uttarakhand. The award recognises their role in rescuing workers trapped after the Silkyara Tunnel collapse. The rat miners manually removed debris from a narrow passage after other engineering methods, including vertical drilling, were attempted, leading to the successful rescue of all trapped workers. Each awardee received the Sarvottam Jeevan Raksha Padak, a certificate, a miniature medal, and a ₹2 lakh lump-sum cash award. The Sarvottam Jeevan Raksha Padak is India’s highest civilian life-saving award, presented for conspicuous courage and self-sacrifice in saving human life.

NITI Aayog released a report titled “Reimagining Care: Strategies for Empowering Caregivers in Viksit Bharat@2047.” The report presents a roadmap to build an organised, professional, accessible, and future-ready caregiving ecosystem in India. It recognises caregiving as a skilled and dignified profession and emphasises quality care, workforce welfare, professional recognition, and institutional support. The report highlights the need to develop a trained caregiver workforce to meet rising domestic demand and tap into global employment opportunities. It recommends a National Policy on Caregiving and the establishment of a National Caregiver Council to strengthen the caregiving ecosystem.

Under India’s BRICS Chairship 2026, the 13th BRICS Education Ministers’ Meeting and the 3rd BRICS Senior Officials’ Meeting were held from 5–7 August 2026 in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. The meetings brought together Education Ministers, senior officials and delegates from BRICS member countries to strengthen cooperation in the education sector. The meetings were organised under India’s BRICS Chairship theme: “Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability.”

The Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) under the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, in collaboration with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), organised the 9th edition of India Medical Device 2026 on 7–8 August 2026 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi. The theme is “Towards Viksit Bharat: Advancing India as a Global Hub for Quality Medical Devices.” The conference aims to strengthen India’s medical devices manufacturing ecosystem, promote innovation, quality production, exports, and support Atmanirbhar Bharat in the MedTech sector.

The Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) is observing World Breastfeeding Week 2026 from 1–7 August 2026 under the POSHAN Abhiyaan. The theme is “Breastfeeding for a Sustainable Start in Life: Strengthen What Works.” The campaign highlights the importance of the first 1,000 days of a child’s life (from pregnancy to 24 months) for healthy growth, brain development, immunity and lifelong wellbeing. The Ministry recommends initiating breastfeeding within the Golden Hour (the first hour after birth). Colostrum, the first milk, is called the baby’s first natural vaccine because it is rich in antibodies and nutrients.