Tamil Nadu

Social Welfare & Governance

• Singapengal Entrepreneurship Credit Scheme Expansion:
  • The Tamil Nadu government broadened the scope of the Singapengal Entrepreneurship Credit Scheme through cooperative credit institutions.
  • Beyond Self-Help Groups (SHGs), the scheme now extends to youth and marginalised sections to foster local entrepreneurship, with orders to increase loan disbursements by 25% and ensure at least 30% of loans across categories go to new members.

National

Union Policy

• Nasha Mukt Yuva for Viksit Bharat Sankalp Abhiyan:
  • Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the nationwide Nasha Mukt Yuva for Viksit Bharat Sankalp Abhiyan (Drug-Free Youth for Developed India Pledge Campaign) across 28,000 locations involving over 1 crore youth to combat substance abuse over a 100-week sustained drive.

Environment & Biodiversity

• ZSI National Catalogue of Lepidoptera:
  • Scientists at the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), led by Director Dr. Dhriti Banerjee, published an authoritative national inventory documenting 13,703 species of Lepidoptera (1,417 butterflies and 12,286 moths across 102 families) in India, resolving a 100-year-old taxonomic gap.
  • Lepidoptera is a large scientific order of winged insects that includes butterflies, moths, and skippers. The name comes from the Greek words lepis (meaning scale) and pteron (meaning wing), which translates to “scaly-winged”. This group is the second-largest insect order in the world, with roughly 180,000 described species.

Disasters

• Monsoon Floods in Kerala & Assam:
  • Monsoon flood fatalities in Kerala reached 11, with 7,600 evacuees housed in relief camps across 14 districts.
  • In Assam, recurring floods affected 11.45 lakh people across 25 districts, prompting a state-wide assessment drive starting August 9.