1. European Council Approves ‘New Strategic EU-India Agenda’

On 20th October 2025, the European Council approved conclusions on the ‘New Strategic EU-India Agenda’ announced earlier by the European Commission, marking a major step towards strengthening cooperation between the European Union (EU) and India.

Key Points

• Deepening Bilateral Relations: The Council welcomed the strong impetus provided by the new agenda to strengthen EU-India cooperation across prosperity, sustainability, technology, innovation, security, defence, and connectivity.
• Free Trade Agreement (FTA): Both sides aim to finalise a balanced, ambitious, and mutually beneficial FTA by the end of 2025.
• Security and Defence Partnership: The Council emphasised the importance of closer cooperation on security and defence based on mutual trust and respect, with plans to establish a formal partnership facilitating defence industrial collaboration.
• Geopolitical Engagement: The EU reaffirmed its commitment to continue engagement with India on issues related to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and stressed their shared responsibility to uphold multilateralism and a rules-based international order under the UN Charter.
• Support for Multilateral Trade: Both sides reiterated their commitment to safeguarding the multilateral trading system, especially through the World Trade Organisation (WTO), to ensure global economic stability.
• Commitment to Democratic Values: The agenda reinforces joint efforts to promote and protect democratic values, international law, and human rights, including the rights of women and children.

2. India, WHO Invite Global Abstracts on AI in Health

On 19th October 2025, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), announced a global call for abstracts showcasing impactful and scalable applications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in health systems.

• The initiative aims to identify and document innovative AI-driven solutions that have demonstrated measurable impact in improving healthcare delivery, management, or outcomes across the global south.
• Shortlisted submissions will be invited to contribute a chapter to the upcoming Casebook on AI Health Use Cases, which will highlight successful implementations and lessons learned from real-world AI projects.

3. Veteran Actor Asrani Passes Away

On 20th October 2025, Veteran Bollywood actor Govardhan Asrani, fondly known as Asrani, passed away at the age of 84, in Mumbai’s Bharatiya Arogya Nidhi Hospital, leaving behind a rich cinematic legacy spanning over five decades.

• Govardhan Asrani, one of India’s most beloved comic actors, was best known for his unforgettable portrayal of the eccentric jailer in the 1975 classic Sholay, where his dialogue “Hum angrezon ke zamaane ke jailer hain” became an iconic line in Indian cinema history.
• A graduate of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Asrani made his debut in Hindi cinema with the 1967 film Hare Kaanch Ki Churiyan and went on to appear in over 300 films, working with some of the greatest filmmakers and actors across generations.

4. India Develops First Indigenous Antibiotic ‘Nafithromycin’

On 18th October 2025, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology announced that India has developed its first indigenous antibiotic, Nafithromycin, marking a historic milestone in the nation’s pursuit of self-reliance in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors.

Key Points

• First Home-Grown Antibiotic: Nafithromycin is the first antibiotic molecule to be conceptualised, developed, and clinically validated entirely in India, showcasing the nation’s growing R&D capability.
• Collaborative Development: The breakthrough was achieved through a collaboration between the Department of Biotechnology and Wockhardt Ltd, highlighting the power of industry-academia partnerships in scientific innovation.
• Gene Therapy Milestone: The Minister also announced the success of India’s first indigenous clinical trial for gene therapy in treating Hemophilia, conducted at Christian Medical College, Vellore, with a 60–70% correction rate and zero bleeding episodes.
• Advances in Genomics: India has already sequenced over 10,000 human genomes and aims to expand this number to one million, reinforcing its leadership in genomic research.

5. Global Forest Finance Gap Requires $216 Billion Annually

On 14th October 2025, the first edition of the State of Finance for Forests (SFF) 2025 report titled Unlock. Unleash. highlights a significant global underfunding in forest conservation, estimating a $216 billion annual finance gap needed to achieve climate, biodiversity, and land degradation targets by 2030.

Key Points

• Forest Finance Gap: Achieving the Rio Convention targets to limit global warming, halt biodiversity loss, and achieve neutral land degradation by 2030 requires tripling annual forest investments from $84 billion in 2023 to $300 billion by 2030, and further scaling to $498 billion by 2050.
• Public vs Private Funding: Public investment dominates forest finance, with less than 10% coming from private investors, highlighting the need for mobilizing both public and private capital to close the funding gap.
• Nature-Based Solutions: Expansion of nature-based solutions (NbS) is crucial, with an additional 1 billion hectares needed by 2030 and 1.8 billion hectares by 2050 to mitigate climate change and preserve biodiversity.
• India’s Role: India ranked third globally in domestic public forest spending with $7.1 billion in 2023, while receiving $81 million in international public forest finance, underscoring the importance of internal funding in tropical forest countries.
• International Contributions: Governments contributed 91% of total global forest funding in 2023, with domestic spending accounting for $75 billion and international public finance only $2.9 billion, of which 80% came as concessional aid or official development assistance.
• Tropical Forest Funding Needs: Tropical forest countries will require an estimated $67 billion annually by 2030 for NbS including avoided deforestation, reforestation, agroforestry, protected areas, and forest peatland protection, plus $16 billion to protect existing forests.