Daily Current Affairs 20 June 2026

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has concluded the 13th BRICS Urbanisation Forum at Sushma Swaraj Bhavan in New Delhi. Held under the BRICS Chairship of India 2026, the forum was themed "Cities for People: BRICS Cooperation for Inclusive and Resilient Urban Futures".

The event resulted in the adoption of a 'Ministerial Declaration' and the proposal for a 'BRICS Urban Research and Knowledge Network' to strengthen urban cooperation among member nations. Two publications, "India's Urban Transformation: Stories of Change" and "Cities for People: Urban Stories from BRICS Nations", were also showcased.

The Geographical Indications Registry (GIR) has granted Geographical Indication (GI) tags to 11 products from Jharkhand, including the Bhoya Saree and Fabric, Kuchai Silk Saree, Jharkhand Bamboo Craft, and Sohrai Painting.

With these additions, Jharkhand has a total of 12 GI-tagged products, of which 4 are supported by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD).

The GIR has also granted GI status to 4 traditional products from Assam, namely Karbi Anglong Handloom Products, Assam Bihu Pepa, Assam Bamboo Crafts, and Deuri Handloom Products. Assam currently holds 45 GI-tagged products in total, with 12 being supported by NABARD.

The tribal musical instrument of Tripura, Sarinda (also known as Sarinda Uakhrap), has been granted a GI tag. Tripura now possesses a total of 4 GI-tagged products, all of which are supported by NABARD. It is to be noted that a GI registration is valid for a period of 10 years from the date of registration and can be renewed for further periods of 10 years each.

The Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) has selected 3 Indian space startups as the first set of Non-Governmental Entities (NGEs) to receive funding under its Technology Adoption Fund (TAF) scheme.

The selected startups are Astrobase Space Technologies Pvt Ltd (Bengaluru), SatSure Analytics India Pvt Ltd (Bengaluru), and TM2SPACE Technologies Pvt Ltd (Hyderabad). Under this initiative, SatSure Analytics India Pvt Ltd will develop a Large Earth Observation Model (LOM) named "Dhaarini".

Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has approved the procurement of pulses and oilseeds at Minimum Support Price (MSP) under the Price Support Scheme (PSS). Uttar Pradesh is the major beneficiary for the Summer 2026 season, with approvals for 48,298 metric tonnes (MT) of moong, 97,970 MT of urad, and 41,718 MT of groundnut.

Procurement approvals include 18,250 MT of moong for Gujarat and 2,115 MT of moong for Haryana. Additionally, for Tamil Nadu, the moong procurement limit for the Rabi Marketing Season (RMS) 2025-26 has been increased from 885 MT to 990 MT.

Union Minister Pralhad Joshi has launched the tech-driven Smart Warehousing System at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi. This system represents the world's largest deployment of AI and Internet of Things (IoT)-based technologies in public-sector storage.

The system is currently operational across 216 grain warehouses managed by the Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC). The Food Corporation of India is scheduled to transition 150 of its warehouses to the smart system by October 2026.

The RBI has launched "RBI Reelathon 2026", a statewide cyber fraud awareness campaign in Kerala.

The initiative is being conducted across 150 colleges in the state to promote financial literacy, cyber hygiene, safe digital banking, smart borrowing, and vigilance against online financial threats through student engagement and a reel-making competition.

SEBI has revised the trading framework for Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) by introducing dynamic price bands, effective from September 2026.

For equity and debt ETFs (excluding overnight and liquid ETFs), the fixed 20% price band based on Net Asset Value (NAV) is replaced by a dynamic price band starting at 10%, which can be expanded up to 20% after a cooling-off period. If prices hit the upper threshold, the band expands by 5% increments.

For commodity ETFs tracking gold and silver, the framework prescribes dynamic price bands with an initial limit of ±6%, which can be expanded in stages of 3% after a cooling-off period.

The Government e-Marketplace (GeM) has partnered with the Common Service Centre e-Governance Services India Ltd (CSC-SPV) to expand access to government procurement in rural and underserved regions.

Under this partnership, 50 GeM Suvidha Kendras (GSKs) will be established on a pilot basis through the CSC network. These GSKs will be operational in states including Delhi-NCR, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Telangana, and West Bengal.

Tata Motors has signed an MoU with the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways to join the Government of India (GoI) fleet renewal programme, which has an outlay of ₹9,585 crore.

The initiative aims to mitigate pollution by phasing out older commercial vehicles in the Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR) and replacing them with cleaner alternatives.

According to the "20th edition of the Global Peace Index (GPI)" released by the The Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), India is ranked 127th globally with an overall score of 2.4.

Iceland has retained the position as the most peaceful country in the world for the 19th consecutive year, with a score of 1.16. It is followed by New Zealand, Switzerland, Slovenia, and Ireland. Russia is ranked 163rd, placing it at the bottom of the index.

Drogo Aerospace Pvt Ltd, formerly known as Drogo Drones, has delivered the first batch of 41 'JK 250e' electric drones to the Southern Command of the Indian Army in Nashik, Maharashtra. This delivery is part of a contract worth ₹72 crore for the procurement of 217 drones.

The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) organized a 'Technology Transfer and Bharatiya Nirdeshak Dravya (BND) Release Function' at its headquarters in New Delhi.

During the event, 7 indigenous technologies developed by the CSIR-National Physical Laboratory (CSIR-NPL) and the CSIR-Central Road Research Institute (CSIR-CRRI) were transferred to the industry to promote commercialisation. Additionally, 10 BND reference materials were released, and 5 vapor cells for quantum sensing applications, developed by CSIR-NPL, were handed over.

The National Biodiversity Authority (NBA), under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), has reconstituted the Expert Committee on Agrobiodiversity for a tenure of 1 year.

Dr PL Gautam has been appointed as the Chair of the committee, and Dr Trilochan Mohapatra has been appointed as the Co-Chair.

The Government of India has nominated Sanjay Lohiya as a Non-Executive Director on the Central Board of the RBI and the State Bank of India (SBI). He succeeds M Nagaraju.

Lewis Hamilton, a British national racing for Scuderia Ferrari HP, has won the Formula One (F1) Spanish Grand Prix 2026.