🌧 July starts dry. India starts golden.

Good morning. 

Two soldiers just won something India has never won before. The monsoon is still catching up.

Havildar Lakshay and Havildar Ujjwal Kumar Singh won India's first ever gold at a World Rowing Cup - on their international debut, in Lucerne, Switzerland. They clocked 6:26.09, finishing ahead of Hong Kong and the Netherlands by just over a second.

Both are serving soldiers at the Army Rowing Node in Pune. They overcame visa delays to even get there. The Asian Games are next. Read their story →

What happened?
India just had its fifth driest June since 1901. Rainfall was 40% below normal, and the IMD says July will not be much better. A strengthening El Niño is the main reason - it is suppressing moisture before it can reach the subcontinent.

Why does it matter?
July is when India sows its most important crops. A weak monsoon this month means delayed planting and stressed reservoirs. Food prices will feel it before the season is over.

What’s coming up?
One cyclonic system is forming over the Bay of Bengal around July 3 - the one thing forecasters are watching right now. The full picture →

Dhamtari, a rice-farming district in Chhattisgarh, is set to become the state's first carbon-farming district. 

Farmers here will earn carbon credits by adopting sustainable practices - no-till farming, crop rotation, reduced chemical inputs - and selling those credits to companies offsetting their emissions.

For small farmers, this is a new income stream that comes from farming better, not farming more. If the model works in Dhamtari, it travels across India. Read More →

In Kongthong, a village in Meghalaya's East Khasi Hills, every person has a name that is not a word - it is a melody.

When a child is born, the mother composes a unique whistle tune called Jingrwai Lawbei, and that tune becomes their identity for life. 

When you die, your tune dies with you. No one else in the village can ever use it again.

Imagine being called home by a tune only your mother made. 😊

🚂 India's second Vande Bharat Sleeper has been approved for the Bengaluru-Mumbai route, cutting travel time from 22 hours to around 17.

💻 A new Oxford Economics report warns that restrictive digital rules could put ₹91,500 crore in annual VC investment and 2.45 lakh startup jobs at risk by 2035.

🌊 Floodwaters in Assam's Jonai are receding, but 221 villages across six districts remain affected. The first flood casualty of the season has been reported in Dhemaji.

⛽ India has lifted the temporary restrictions on petrol and diesel sales from July 1, ending emergency curbs introduced on June 12 after the West Asia conflict disrupted the Strait of Hormuz. Normal fuel operations resume today.

🚗 Delhi's EV Policy 2026 is now live - zero road tax on electric cars up to ₹30 lakh, subsidies on two-wheelers, and no new petrol two-wheeler registrations from 2028. ₹15,000 crore backing it.

🔋 India is building a 30-day LPG storage buffer after the Iran war exposed how quickly a Hormuz disruption can strain domestic energy supply. A direct lesson from the last six weeks.

🇬🇷 UPI is now live in Greece - the tenth country to accept India's payment system. Indian tourists can now scan and pay at participating Eurobank merchants without cash or international cards.