India's first indigenously built 500 MWe Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) at Kalpakkam attained criticality, marking the start of the second stage of India's three-stage nuclear programme.
With the PFBR attaining criticality, India became the second country after Russia to have a commercial-scale fast breeder reactor.
The PFBR, designed by IGCAR and built by BHAVINI, uses Uranium-Plutonium Mixed Oxide (MOX) fuel and a Uranium-238 blanket to breed more fuel than it consumes.
Uttar Pradesh woman becomes the first Indian female to cycle to Mount Everest Base Camp.
Senior advocate Menaka Guruswamy took oath as a Rajya Sabha member on April 6, 2026, becoming India's first openly queer Member of Parliament.
Menaka Guruswamy was the lead lawyer in the 2018 Navtej Singh Johar case that struck down Section 377 of the IPC, decriminalizing consensual homosexuality.
Menaka Guruswamy was named in TIME's 100 Most Influential People in 2019, along with lawyer Arundhati Katju.
Indian archer Payal Nag became the world's first quadruple amputee archer to win an international title, securing gold at the World Para Archery Series Final in Bangkok on April 4, 2026.
Payal Nag, hailing from Balangir district, Odisha, uses a custom prosthetic arm and a unique technique of drawing the bow with her shoulder and mouth, and was trained at the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board Archery Academy in Katra.
Payal Nag defeated top-ranked Indian archer Sheetal Devi, the first female armless archer to win international medals and an Arjuna Awardee (2023), with a score of 139-136 in the final.
ICAR constituted a Special Task Force to ensure national food security amid global geopolitical shifts.
ICAR was established on July 16, 1929, under the Societies Registration Act, 1860, and is headquartered in New Delhi.
ICAR functions under the Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE), Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
The Government of India has notified two key institutions as repositories under the Biological Diversity Act, 2002.
