02–08 March 2026

Three currents ran through the first week of March. First, the Union Budget 2026-27 stopped being a document and became a calendar of webinars: BioPharma SHAKTI, the seven new high-speed-rail corridors, the Coconut Promotion Scheme and the ISM 2.0 push were all unpacked across Monday-to-Saturday addresses, so track them as a single budget arc rather than four disconnected speeches. Second, the West Asia crisis forced a quiet whole-of-government preparedness drill, energy, aviation, shipping and a string of PM calls (Oman, Kuwait, Qatar) that the daily filter mostly let pass; that maritime/energy cluster is the rescued story to study. Third, two state-anchored set-pieces, the Finland State Visit with the Raisina Dialogue, and Census-2027's first digital tools, are the highest-recall single events. Aditya Tiwari Sir's nudge for the week: the cooperative-sector and women-empowerment scheme families (Janaushadhi ran a full seven-day Saptah; the WCD backgrounders compiled SSY, Mission Shakti, Lakhpati Didi around International Women's Day) recurred all week without ever winning a daily slot, do not skip the rescued cards below.