Lucknow / New Delhi: From an Indian officer orbiting the Earth to a teenage chess prodigy claiming a world title, the last year and a half has been described by officials and commentators as one of India’s most eventful in recent memory, spanning space exploration, sport, national security, infrastructure and the economy.
Reaching for the Stars
The standout moment came when Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, an Indian Air Force officer and Gaganyaan astronaut designate, became the first Indian to reach the International Space Station. Flying aboard the Axiom-4 mission launched in June 2025, Shukla spent roughly 18 days in orbit, running microgravity experiments on muscle regeneration and bacterial growth before returning safely to Earth.
The Indian Space Research Organisation, under Chairman Dr. V. Narayanan, notched a string of firsts: the SpaDeX in-space docking experiment in January 2025 made India only the fourth nation capable of orbital docking; Sriharikota hosted its 100th launch with the GSLV-F15/NVS-02 mission; the joint NASA-ISRO NISAR Earth-observation satellite went up in July 2025; and an LVM3 mission placed the heaviest payload yet launched from Indian soil — the roughly 6,100 kg BlueBird Block-2 — into orbit. On the technology front, India unveiled DHRUV64, its first fully indigenous 1 GHz 64-bit dual-core microprocessor, while startup QpiAI advanced work on a 25-qubit superconducting quantum computer under the National Quantum Mission. The Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar 2025 honoured scientists including the late Prof. Jayant Vishnu Narlikar, awarded the Vigyan Ratna posthumously, alongside researchers such as Dr. Gyanendra Pratap Singh and Jayan N.
Sporting Triumphs
Indian sport delivered historic wins. Harmanpreet Kaur captained the women’s cricket team to its first-ever ICC Women’s ODI World Cup title in October 2025, beating South Africa in Navi Mumbai, while Rohit Sharma led the men’s side to the ICC Champions Trophy in March, defeating New Zealand in Dubai. Nineteen-year-old Divya Deshmukh became the first Indian to win the FIDE Women’s Chess World Cup, defeating Koneru Humpy and earning her Grandmaster title along the way.
At the Commonwealth Games 2026 in Glasgow, India finished fourth overall with 39 medals — 13 gold, 17 silver and 9 bronze. Highlights included weightlifter Saikhom Mirabai Chanu’s consecutive CWG gold, javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra’s silver, and Gulveer Singh becoming the first Indian track athlete to win two individual medals at a single Games. Judo golds from Asmita Dey and Harsh Singh were India’s first at the CWG, while boxers Sachin Siwach, Preeti Pawar and Jaismine Lamboria added further gold medals, alongside para-athletes Dilip Gavit, Soman Rana and Sharmila Dhankar.
Security, Infrastructure and Economy
On security, the Armed Forces carried out Operation Sindoor in May 2025, striking terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in response to the Pahalgam attack. Infrastructure milestones included the Z-Morh (Sonamarg) Tunnel, the Chenab Bridge — the world’s highest railway bridge — the New Pamban Bridge, India’s first vertical-lift sea bridge, the Vizhinjam International Deepwater Multipurpose Seaport, and a new rail link connecting Mizoram to the national network.
Economically, the year saw strong growth, record-low banking non-performing assets, expanding UPI transaction volumes, and progress under Production-Linked Incentive schemes. The Indian Council of Agricultural Research released the world’s first genome-edited rice varieties in May 2025. On the diplomatic front, India signed the India-UK Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, while the Prayagraj Mahakumbh drew record crowds. The Padma Awards 2026 recognised Rohit Sharma, Harmanpreet Kaur and others for their contributions across sport and public life.
