With that, let’s move on to the top stories from today’s edition:
- India AI Impact Summit
- 34 encounters in 3 months in Punjab
- The Great Nicobar Project
🚨 Big Story
As part of its key deliverables following the India AI Impact Summit 2026, Delhi is likely to push for more “democratised” use of AI, with a focus on affordability and accessibility. The move is likely to counter the concentration of AI development in the West. India is also expected to reiterate its long-standing insistence that AI needs international cooperation and multi-stakeholder engagement across countries. However, such collaboration will take place while respecting national sovereignty. ”The pitch is in line with India’s G20 narrative, and a way in which Delhi wants to assert its dominance in the Global South,” a senior government official told The Indian Express.
Google is set to build new subsea cable routes between India, United States and other locations to increase AI connectivity, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai has said. Referred to as the ‘America-India Connect’ initiative, the project will establish a new international subsea gateway in Visakhapatnam; three new subsea paths connecting India to Singapore, South Africa and Australia; and four strategic fiber-optic routes to boost network connectivity between the US, India and multiple locations across the Southern Hemisphere. Google DeepMind will partner with Indian government institutions to offer them its frontier AI models.
📩 “Switzerland is committed to bringing Indo-Swiss research cooperation to the next level in the years ahead, with a focus on deepening collaboration through a strategic, long-term perspective.”
Switzerland President Guy Parmelin, in an exclusive email interview to The Indian Express, said that the governments must ensure they find appropriate answers to uses of AI that threaten the functioning of our democracies. He called for empowering citizens in this regard and strengthening AI literacy. Parmelin — who is likely to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the margins of the summit — talked about India-Switzerland economic partnership, AI summit, the Gaza peace plan and education and research opportunities for India.
AI confidence: Eleven heads of state or government from Europe — France, the Netherlands, Spain, Croatia, Greece, Serbia, Slovakia, Estonia, Finland, the Swiss Confederation and Liechtenstein – are participating in the India AI Impact Summit. This is the largest European delegation to any technology-centric event in India. Officials said that Europe has given an “unambiguous vote of confidence” in the “vitality” of the India-Europe Strategic Partnership – anchored in AI, digital innovation, strategic cooperation, economic growth and shared global priorities.
⚡ Only in Express
1 every 3 days: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab continues to face the heat over gang violence and brazen shootings. In the three-month period between November 2025 and January 2026, police records investigated by The Indian Express show the Punjab Police reported 34 encounters — or a little over one every three days — resulting in five deaths and injuries to 45. Of these, 15 happened last month alone. The circumstances show several similarities, with self-defence the most common refrain by police.
The encounters were spread across the state — Bathinda, Faridkot, Muktsar, Moga, Hoshiarpur, Fazilka, 1 each; 2 each in Patiala, Batala, Khanna, Ferozepur, Mohali, Tarn Taran and Jalandhar; and five in Ludhiana; with Amritsar district at nine seeing the most such encounters.
📰 From the Front Page
After Bangladesh’s newly appointed State Minister for Youth and Sports Aminul Haque signalled a desire to rebuild bilateral relations with India, stressing on dialogue and cooperation, a potential reset in ties between the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) could be well on the horizon. The move comes after relations between the two neighbours had worsened after the Bangladesh cricket team declined to travel to India for its group-stage fixtures at the ongoing 2026 T20 World Cup, citing security concerns. Haque on Wednesday emphasised that Dhaka is keen to resolve all disputes.
The Maharashtra government Tuesday scrapped a decade-old resolution linked to the 2014 Muslim quota plan in education. The move has sparked a political war of words, with the Opposition calling it anti-minority and the BJP dismissing it as an unimplemented Congress “appeasement” stunt announced ahead of elections. The 2014 Government Resolution allowed around 50 identified Muslim communities to obtain caste verification and validity certificates under the Special Backward Category-A (SBC-A). In defence of the withdrawal, Social Justice Minister Sanjay Shirsat said the reservation was announced by the Congress “just ahead of the elections” to appease voters but the required legal and administrative steps were never completed.
📌 Must Read
Battle lines: With the Election Commission (EC) now announcing elections for 37 Rajya Sabha seats across 10 states, the ruling BJP-led NDA is looking to secure a likely boost in its numbers in the Upper House. Meanwhile, the Opposition INDIA bloc, likely to see a decline in its RS tally, will be keenly focusing on March 16 polls as it may have implications that could test the cohesion of its grouping. The polls could also see its newly appointed national president Nitin Nabin enter the Upper House for the first time, according to BJP sources. A total of 71 Rajya Sabha seats are scheduled to fall vacant this year.
In our Opinion section today, Shashi Tharoor takes us through the historical journey of ‘Vande Mataram’ to a point of modern contention, which reveals the broader complexities of one’s Indian identity. Tharoor writes: “Those who feel comfortable singing the later verses should be encouraged to do so, celebrating the historical and cultural richness they represent. Simultaneously, the state must explicitly assure those with conscientious or religious objections, whether they are Muslims, Christians, or atheists, that they are excused from singing the verses that trouble them.”
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) this week cleared the way for the government’s Rs 81,000-crore Great Nicobar mega infrastructure project, noting its “strategic importance” and observing that there were “adequate safeguards” in the project’s environmental clearance. The order will likely act as a reference point for future projects of strategic importance that are planned in ecologically sensitive areas. What is the Great Nicobar Project? Here’s a look at its strategic importance.
⏳ And Finally…
From sitarist Ravi Shankar, his daughter Anoushka Shankar, to tabla maestro Zakir Hussain, the 135-year-old Carnegie Hall in New York, has played host to many iconic concerts featuring Indian musicians. Come next year, it is set to have an annual festival dedicated to Indian music. It will be the first time an institutionalised country-specific festival will be held at Carnegie, in recognition of the huge Indian music diaspora in the American East Coast, as well as growing popularity of Indian classical music among world audiences. Scheduled to be held on May 21-23, 2027, Carnegie plans to include A R Rahman, Arijit Singh, Shankar Mahadevan and Kaushiki Chakrabarty, and other names in classical dance forms, sources said.
🎧 Lastly, don’t forget to tune in to today’s episode of our 3 Things podcast, where we talk about the social impact of the new hydroelectric project proposed in Arunachal Pradesh, Footy – an Australian sport that has found home in India, as well as the robodog controversy that cost Galgotias University its table at the India AI Impact Summit.
That’s all for today. Have a wonderful day!
Until tomorrow,
Ariba
Business As Usual by E P Unny
Top news on February 19, 2026. 
Business As Usual by E P Unny
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