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India held the BRICS Youth Council Meeting and BRICS Youth Summit at Gandhinagar, Gujarat on 19 August 2026 under its BRICS Chairship, organised by the Department of Youth Affairs, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.
India's BRICS Chairship 2026 runs under the theme 'Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability' — an acronym that itself spells BRICS — with the Energy Track carrying the sub-theme 'सर्वेषां ऊर्जम्' (Energy for All).
The Youth Council took up a Draft Joint Declaration and a BRICS Youth Cooperation Framework ahead of the BRICS Youth Ministers' Meeting at Visakhapatnam on 22 August 2026.
The Eighth BRICS Youth Energy Summit was held virtually on 17 August 2026 with over 100 participants, joined by the BRICS Youth Energy Agency, SEforALL, the International Solar Alliance and IRENA.
The 2nd BRICS Tourism Working Group met at Jaipur, and the Minister of State for Youth Affairs & Sports announced 'Friends of MY Bharat', a digital module connecting Indian-origin youth abroad to MY Bharat's programmes.
A plurilateral grouping of major emerging economies. The term BRIC was coined by Goldman Sachs economist Jim O'Neill in 2001; the first BRIC summit was held at Yekaterinburg, Russia in June 2009. South Africa joined in 2010, making the grouping BRICS, and attended its first summit as a member in 2011. The chairship rotates among members, and India holds it in 2026
The BRICS development bank, financing infrastructure and sustainable development projects in member and partner countries
A mutual balance-of-payments support facility among BRICS members, callable by any member facing external payment pressure
Treaty-based alliance promoting solar deployment, which joined the BRICS Youth Energy Summit as an international partner
Intergovernmental agency supporting the transition to renewable energy; also a participant at the Energy Summit
India's national youth platform for experiential learning, volunteering, skilling, leadership and mentorship, built on the principles of Seva, Kartavya and Jan Bhagidari, and now extended to the diaspora through 'Friends of MY Bharat'
Build consensus on youth cooperation across education, entrepreneurship, inclusive development, sustainability and people-to-people ties
Key: The Youth Council and Youth Summit at Gandhinagar on 19 August 2026 deliberated a Draft Joint Declaration and a BRICS Youth Cooperation Framework, feeding into the BRICS Youth Ministers' Meeting at Visakhapatnam on 22 August 2026
Advance universal, affordable and inclusive energy access across BRICS
Key: The Eighth BRICS Youth Energy Summit, held virtually on 17 August 2026, worked across Energy Security and Sustainability, Energy Access and Equity, and Technology and Innovation, and highlighted the BRICS Digital Centre of Excellence on Smart Grids and Energy Storage as a knowledge-exchange platform
Deepen tourism cooperation among member states around technology, sustainability, skilling and travel facilitation
Key: The 2nd Tourism Working Group met at Jaipur, following the 1st held virtually on 25 May 2026, and its outcomes feed the BRICS Tourism Ministers' Meeting on 21 August 2026. Delegates were to visit Hawa Mahal, City Palace and Amer Palace on 20 August
Connect Indian-origin students, young professionals and other youth living abroad to India's volunteering and nation-building programmes
Key: A digital module on MY Bharat announced at the BRICS Youth Summit 2026. Users register as a 'Friend of MY Bharat', list their youth clubs or associations, and access volunteering opportunities in education, environment, health awareness, disaster relief and cultural preservation, plus a 'Know Your India' section on culture, heritage, history and tourism
Rooftop solar for households, one of the Indian energy initiatives showcased at the BRICS Youth Energy Summit
Key: Launched on 13 February 2024 with an outlay of Rs 75,021 crore, targeting one crore households with up to 300 free units of electricity a month; administered by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy
BRICS has no permanent secretariat and no treaty establishing it, so the country holding the annual rotating chairship effectively runs the grouping for that year: it sets the theme, hosts the calendar of working groups and ministerial meetings, and drafts the declaration the leaders' summit will adopt. The pattern visible across this single day of releases is exactly that machinery in motion. A working group of officials meets first — the Tourism Working Group at Jaipur, the Youth Council at Gandhinagar — and hammers out draft text; that text then goes to the corresponding ministerial meeting a few days later (tourism ministers on 21 August, youth ministers on 22 August); and the ministerial outcomes eventually roll up into the leaders' declaration. India has attached its own thematic branding at both levels — 'Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability' for the chairship as a whole, which spells the acronym BRICS, and 'Energy for All' within the Energy Track.
Simple Analogy: The chair is the host of a large family gathering with no standing staff: it books the venue, writes the agenda, gets the arguments settled in small groups beforehand, and only then puts a final text in front of everyone.
Jim O'Neill of Goldman Sachs coins the term BRIC
First BRIC summit held at Yekaterinburg, Russia
South Africa joins, making the grouping BRICS; it attends its first summit as a member in 2011
6th BRICS Summit at Fortaleza, Brazil agrees to create the New Development Bank and the Contingent Reserve Arrangement
Mera Yuva Bharat (MY Bharat) launched by the Prime Minister
Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE become full members
Indonesia becomes a full member
1st BRICS 2026 Tourism Working Group meeting held virtually
Eighth BRICS Youth Energy Summit held virtually under the 'Energy for All' sub-theme
BRICS Youth Council Meeting and Youth Summit at Gandhinagar; 2nd Tourism Working Group at Jaipur; 'Friends of MY Bharat' announced
BRICS Tourism Ministers' Meeting scheduled
BRICS Youth Ministers' Meeting scheduled at Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh
The NDB and CRA pair naturally with the World Bank and IMF in questions on reform of global economic governance and de-dollarisation debates
An India-anchored treaty body headquartered at Gurugram appearing inside a BRICS process shows how India projects its own institutions into plurilateral fora
'Friends of MY Bharat' extends the diaspora outreach tradition of Pravasi Bharatiya Divas and OCI schemes into a youth-volunteering platform
Nine of the eleven BRICS members are also G20 members, so overlap between plurilateral groupings — BRICS, G20, SCO, IBSA — is a recurring mapping question
The 'Energy for All' sub-theme and the participation of SEforALL tie the Energy Track directly to Sustainable Development Goal 7 on affordable and clean energy
GS Paper 2 > International Relations > Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and Agreements Involving India
General Awareness > Current Affairs > International Organisations and Summits
General Awareness > International Financial Institutions
General Awareness > International Organisations
Consider the following pairs: I. Woman Farmer : 2026 II. Sustainable Tourism : 2027 III. Peace and Trust : 2025 IV. Asteroid : 2029 How many... correctly matched?
Answer: All the four
BRICS features every year, and a chairship year multiplies the number of examinable meetings, themes and venues
The BRICS development bank, headquartered at Shanghai, agreed at the 6th BRICS Summit at Fortaleza in July 2014
A BRICS balance-of-payments support facility of up to USD 100 billion, with China committing USD 41 billion, Brazil, India and Russia USD 18 billion each and South Africa USD 5 billion
A status created in 2025 short of full membership, held by Belarus, Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Cuba, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Vietnam
India's national youth platform launched on 31 October 2023, built on Seva, Kartavya and Jan Bhagidari, now extended to the diaspora through the 'Friends of MY Bharat' module
A BRICS platform for knowledge exchange and capacity building on smart grids, storage and grid resilience, highlighted at the Youth Energy Summit