The Delhi Declaration.

BRICS 2026 adopts landmark Delhi Declaration. 

India bridges Iran-UAE differences on West Asia conflict after marathon negotiations till 4 AM; declaration calls for restraint while not assigning responsibility.

The key points

1. New Delhi Declaration condemns unilateral tariffs, calls carbon border adjustment mechanisms                  protectionist, demands fairer global trade rules.

2. Condemns Pahalgam terror attack, calls for zero tolerance on cross-border terrorism.

3. Call for immediate restoration of fully-functioning WTO dispute settlement system.

4. Bloc-wide grain trading platform and four new farmer-focused initiatives covering seeds, agro-

    inputs, agro-ecology and digital agriculture agriculture endorsed.

5. Declaration urges the developed world to provide finance for biodiversity conservation.

6. Resolves to remain committed to aims of Paris Agreement.

The 81st Grandhasala Day.

Dateline 14 Sep

81 years ago, on this date, PN Panicker had set up the Travancore Grandhasala Sangham at a glittering function in Ambalappuzha with 47 libraries. More than 2,000 people had participated in the conference, with the then diwan of Travancore, Sir CP Ramaswamy Iyer, inaugurating it.

Travancore Grandhasala Sangham became the Thiru-Kochi Grandhasala Sangham in 1949 on the merger of the princely states of Travancore and Kochi  and went on to become the Kerala Grandhasala Sangham in 1956 on the formation of the state of Keralam.

PN Panicker, along with his dedicated brand of library workers, set up a network of 5,280 libraries all over the state by 1970 when the Sangham was celebrating its silver jubilee. And it was a thriving people's movement.

This was made possible only because of the young government primary school teacher's vision of setting up a library in every village of his state.

He'd given the Malayalees the powerful slogan of "Vaayichu valaruka, Chinthichu vivekanm neduka".

Today we celebrate is as the "Library Day" with a national conference at the Kanakakkunnu Palace, Thiruvananthapuram from 1000 to 1700 hrs. The deliberations shall be on "Knowledge Centres enhancing community living".

Tailpiece.

Got the Thiruvananthapuram-Guruvayur Intercity Express train and reached The Quarterdeck at 1 AM.

At Thiruvananthapuram.

Got up at my usual time, sent the messages, partially opened up the house, lit up the puja room lamp and switched on the hymns on the home theatre. Recited my prayers while walking within the house.

Bath and offered ‘Bali tharpanam’ for Amma; today’s her 10th Remembrance Day. It was done on our courtyard.

Car, driven by Sharif, came at a quarter past 8 and we left for railway station soon after. Earlier, Paulson had confirmed my booking on the Vande Bharat.

Left Thrissur 20’ late. Lunch on board. An I eventful journey. Reached Thiruvananthapuram by 3, an hour’s wait in the a/c waiting room. Maman came around 4 and we’d gone to the Foundation after a hot cup of tea and a vada.

Dinner, around 10, outside, served to us by Amalia from Dimapur, Nagaland.

Pipe down at 11.

BRICS 2026.

Happenings

1. Builds momentum for local currencies

2. Bilateral agendas on the side lines dominated the meet

3. Russia seeks fruits, pharma to plug trade deficit

4. Push for opening domestic markets, partnerships

5. India for unified digital payments among members

6. India's military engages with all three Quad partners :-

    * US and India      -     Yudh Abhyas

    * Japan and India  -      In Jodhpur

    * Navy Chief is currently in Australia

7. A lot has changed in India-China relationship since Xi Jin Ping last

    visited New Delhi in 2019, including border hostility. With the BRICS

    visit, the neighbours seek rediscovery through trade. 

India AI Impact Summit 2026.

Nandan Nikaleni thanked PM Narendra Modi on a fantastic summit. 

He met the PM  on 08 Jan '26 and had talked about applying AI to farmers. The PM talked about applying AI to farmers, he said, "Why can't we apply it to cows and cattle? Because if the cow is sick, it can't tell you that it's sick, it can't tell you that it is sick. How can you solve this problem? And he gave us his vision of applying AI to agriculture and dairy.

On the same day, the PMO had a meeting along with Mr Krishnan and Abhishek of MeitY, with Amul and with some of my colleagues and within three weeks, the application went live.

The meeting was on 08 Jan and it went live on 11 Feb.

This is the world's largest co-operative with 3.6 million farmers, 2 billion milk transactions per year and 40 million cattle.

And today all these farmers, a large number of them being women, use the Saral app to get real responses about their cattle , the problems, the pregnancy, their milk production and so on. Look at the speed of diffusion An idea that the PM had on 08 Jan had become reality on 11 Feb. This to me is an example of the speed of execution of AI diffusion in India.

And I get the same sense of excitement I got on 30 Dec 2016, when the PM launched the BHIM payment application on UPI. And when he launched that application, he started something where today we have 21 billion transactions a month with 500 million users and the world's largest payment system. I feel the same sense that AI is at that point, and with his leadership and vision of how AI can be used for the benefit of Indians, common man, farmers, workers and so on, I think it's going to really take off.

Moreover, this is also for sovereign data. The data of Amul remains with Amul, and design is to make sure that it's within India. So, it's really a great and I think by the time many of these people come back in a few months, there will be many, more applications, and India will lead the world on showing how AI diffusion can matter to improve the lives of the common man, farmers, students, patients and so on. And I think this is where the AI road, the race to the top, is going to happen. And thank you for your leadership, sir". 

Prohibited Zone.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards has said that a new "prohibited zone"

would cover waters several miles beyond the Strait of Hormuz and

apply to ships even as far as the Arabian Sea. Iran had first announ-

ced the prohibited zone earlier this week as it continued talks with

Oman over a temporary shipping route through the strait.

The West Asia region is poised for yet another tense week as the

BRICS meeting takes off, in India, this weekend! 

Keralam sweats!

The state is witnessing unusually high temperature. Moreover many districts recorded a high ultraviolet index of above 7. 

The weakening south west monsoon and thinning cloud cover are the reason for this situation.

We normally do not feel the heat so strongly as the SW monsoon brings cloud cover, which blocks a significant amount of sunlight. This is not happening since monsoon has weakened and cloud formation has reduced.

The state has received only 5mm of rainfall or 7% of what is expected!