Daily Current Affairs 21 August 2026

The National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT), under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), has launched a national-level hackathon named “Cyber Kushti 2026”. The hackathon focuses on the fields of cybersecurity and AI.

The initiative was introduced during the 3rd National Conference on Cyber Security, Digital Forensics and Intelligence (NCCDFI 2026) held at the Dr. Ambedkar International Centre in New Delhi.

Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh has virtually inaugurated the Research Society for the Study of Diabetes in India (RSSDI) Diabetes Rural Outreach Digital Portal and launched the Video Information and Health Education for Awareness and Self-Management (VISHWAS) Diabetes Awareness Video Library.

The digital portal is designed by RSSDI to support its rural outreach initiative, under which its members adopt villages to improve diabetes diagnosis, follow-up care, and early prevention. The VISHWAS video library will serve as a dedicated digital repository to enhance health literacy and self-management directly among diabetes patients and local caregivers.

The Qatar-India Postal Remittance Service, utilizing PosTransfer powered by the UPI, has been operationalized in Doha, Qatar to facilitate faster, secure, and cost-effective cross-border remittance services between both countries.

The RBI has imposed a monetary penalty of ₹59.2 lakh on IndusInd Bank Ltd for non-compliance with regulatory directions regarding ‘Interest Rate on Deposits’ and ‘Securitisation of Standard Assets’.

Somanath Panicker, the former Chairman of the ISRO, has been appointed as a part-time, non-official director on the Central Board of the RBI) for 4 years, starting August 20, 2026. Anand Mahindra has also been re-appointed to the board for another 4 years.

It is to be noted that other non-official directors on the board include Venu Srinivasan (Chairman Emeritus of TVS Motor Company), Pankaj Ramanbhai Patel (Chairman of Zydus Lifesciences), and Dr Ravindra H Dholakia.

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry has signed MoUs with PhonePe and Shell India Pvt Ltd to bolster the support infrastructure for DPIIT-recognised startups and to accelerate innovation across strategic sectors of the Indian economy.

Union Minister Rajnath Singh and his Japanese counterpart Shinjiro Koizumi held bilateral discussions to strengthen the defence relations between India and Japan. Both nations signed a Memorandum of Arrangement (MoA) on Maritime Security Cooperation to enhance strategic engagement in the maritime domain.

India and Nepal have signed MoUs for the implementation of 8 High Impact Community Development Projects (HICDPs) in Nepal.

The projects, focusing on the sectors of education, health, and agriculture, will be supported through grant assistance worth NPR 803 million from the Government of India.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has signed an MoU with PhonePe to leverage insights from the enterprise data intelligence platform of the latter, PhonePe PulsePro, to support the PM GatiShakti mission.

Under the partnership, the metrics of the platform will be integrated into the PM GatiShakti National Master Plan portal, which is managed in collaboration with the Bhaskaracharya National Institute for Space Applications and Geo-informatics (BISAG-N).

According to a report titled “Key Sectors to Position India as a Global Manufacturing Hub” released by NITI Aayog, which provides a data-driven assessment of the manufacturing sector in India, 12 manufacturing sectors have been identified to accelerate the transition of India into a global manufacturing hub.

Among the 12 key sectors, four high-potential sectors identified to drive manufacturing growth and strengthen the position of India in global value chains are chemicals, textiles, telecom and networking equipment, and solar photovoltaic (PV) manufacturing. The study conducted for the report followed a 4-phase methodology.

Hakainde Hichilema, the leader of the United Party for National Development (UPND), has been re-elected as the President of Zambia for a second consecutive five-year term (2026–2031).

China has successfully completed the full-parameter testing of the world’s largest superconducting fusion magnet.

The magnet is designed to act as an “invisible magnetic cage” within the next-generation Burning Plasma Experimental Superconducting Tokamak (BEST) reactor.

Meghalaya CM Conrad K Sangma has inaugurated a Centre of Excellence (CoE) for Eri Silk Weaving at the Integrated Textile Tourism Complex (ITTC) in Ri Sai, Nongpoh.

The inauguration was held on August 7 as part of the 12th National Handloom Day celebrations and the conclusion of National Handloom Week. It is to be noted that Eri Silk, also known as Ryndia, is a silk variety indigenous to Meghalaya.

Justin Greaves and Hayley Matthews of West Indies have been named the International Cricket Council (ICC) Men’s and Women’s Player of the Month for July 2026, respectively.

Major General Sunil Kumar Razdan (Retd), a Kirti Chakra awardee and the first wheelchair-borne General of the Indian Army, passed away at the age of 70.