Daily Current Affairs 25 August 2026

The central government has approved the “Incentive Scheme for Promotion of Domestic Piped Natural Gas (PNG) Connections”, effective from September 1, 2026. The scheme aims to expand household PNG connections and provide clean and affordable cooking fuel.

Under the incentive mechanism, eligible City Gas Distribution (CGD) entities will receive an additional 200 Standard Cubic Metres (SCM) of lower-priced domestically produced Administered Pricing Mechanism (APM) gas for every new billed connection.

The incentive will be provided above a threshold level set for each Geographical Area (GA) and implemented in two tranches over a period of 6 months. It is to be noted that India currently has 1.74 crore domestic PNG connections.

Shinjiro Koizumi, the Defence Minister of Japan, has conducted his inaugural visit to India to strengthen bilateral defence ties and maritime security cooperation. In New Delhi, he inspected a ceremonial Guard of Honour at the Manekshaw Centre in the presence of Union Minister Rajnath Singh.

During the visit to Mumbai, the minister inspected a Guard of Honour at the Western Naval Command (WNC) and laid a wreath at the Gaurav Stambh at the Naval Dockyard. He also visited the Indian Naval Ship (INS) Chennai, which is an indigenous stealth destroyer.

The National Commission for Women (NCW) has organised the “Yashoda AI - Women’s Path to AI Empowerment” programme at Lovely Professional University (LPU) in Jalandhar, Punjab.

The initiative aims to promote AI literacy, digital empowerment, and cyber safety to ensure a secure digital environment.

Fino Payments Bank has approved the extension of the tenure of Ketan Merchant as the interim CEO for 3 months, effective from August 27, 2026.

IDFC First Bank has executed its maiden $500 million bond issuance through its International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) Banking Unit (IBU) at Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City), Gandhinagar, Gujarat. This transaction marks the official debut of the bank in the global debt capital markets.

The Central Government has appointed Annie George Mathew (former bureaucrat), Janmejaya Sinha (economist), and Syed Akbaruddin (former diplomat) as part-time, non-official directors on the Central Board of the RBI for a 4-year term.

The appointments will be effective from August 24, 2026. It is to be noted that currently, the Central Board of the RBI has 14 members.

The SEBI has released a consultation paper proposing a mandatory, colour-coded “Credit Risk-o-Meter” for debt securities to help investors assess and compare credit risks. This mechanism is based on the existing “Risk-o-Meter” framework for Mutual Funds (MFs), which classifies investment risk into six levels from “Low” to “Very High”.

The new meter will map the conventional credit rating scale (AAA to D) into six visual categories: Lowest credit risk, Very low credit risk, Low credit risk, Moderate credit risk, Moderate risk of default, and High to very high risk of default.

The Central Bureau of Narcotics (CBN) has signed an MoU with the Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India (PHARMEXCIL) to balance the promotion of Indian pharmaceutical exports with effective regulatory oversight.

It is to be noted that PHARMEXCIL was established by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry to support the development and export of the Indian pharmaceutical industry.

The Indian Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe) has approved an agreement for the development of the first indigenous and fully commercial Earth Observation (EO) constellation of India under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model.

The agreement is signed with a private consortium, Allied Orbits Pvt Ltd, which is led by PixxelSpace India Pvt Ltd and includes Dhruva Space Pvt Ltd, PierSight Space Pvt Ltd, and Satsure Analytics India Pvt Ltd.

The consortium will be responsible for the design, construction, ownership, and operation of the 12-satellite constellation. It is to be noted that the consortium will invest over ₹1,200 crore for the project, which is expected to be developed and operationalized by 2029.

Mirza Fakhrul Alamgir, a senior leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), has been elected as the 23rd President of Bangladesh for a 5-year term. He succeeds Mohammed Shahabuddin who resigned from the post.

India has signed an MoU with Armenia to strengthen the bilateral defence industrial partnership.

L&T Energy Hydrocarbon Onshore (LTEH Onshore) has secured a contract worth over ₹15,000 crore from a company based in West Asia for a gas compression facilities project. The project was bagged against a letter of award issued for the FY26.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has acquired Germany-based MHP Management- und IT-Beratung GmbH (MHP), a subsidiary of Porsche AG, for €320 million.

Additionally, Porsche AG has entered into a 5-year strategic agreement with TCS valued at €1.25 billion.

Researchers Bhakta Bahadur Raskoti and Rita Ale have discovered a new Himalayan plant species named ‘Impatiens nimspurjai’ in the Myagdi district of Nepal.

The species is named to honour the Nirmal Purja, a Nepali mountaineer, for his contributions to mountaineering and high-altitude environmental conservation. It is to be noted that he achieved the distinction of climbing all 14 of the 8,000-metre peaks of the world in 2019.

The Karnataka government has launched the ‘Vidyarthi Sahayahasta’ scheme to provide professional education opportunities for rural students in the state.

Eligibility is restricted to students who studied from Class 1 to 10 in rural government schools. The scheme provides a 7.5% reservation within the existing 15% rural quota for admission to professional courses like medical and engineering.

Union Minister Jitendra Singh has presented the 9th National Anubhav Awards at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi. The awards were conferred alongside the 60th Pre-Retirement Counselling (PRC) Workshop.

A total of 15 awardees were honoured, including 5 Anubhav awardees and 10 Jury Certificate winners. The recipients of the National Anubhav Awards received a medal, a certificate, and a cash prize of ₹10,000. It is to be noted that the ‘Handbook on Pension Mitra’ and the operational guidelines for the ‘Nationwide Digital Life Certificate (DLC) Campaign-5’ were also released during the event.

The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has announced the National Sports Awards 2025. The winners were selected based on the recommendations of a committee chaired by Arun Kumar Mishra, a former judge of the Supreme Court.

A total of 17 athletes have been selected for the Arjuna Award, including Tejaswin Shankar (Athletics), Divya Deshmukh (Chess), Treesa Jolly (Badminton), and Gayatri Gopichand (Badminton). I Arumainayagam, a former footballer and 1962 Asian Games gold medallist, was honoured with the Arjuna Award (Lifetime) for his long-term contributions.

The Dronacharya Award (Regular) was presented to Parveer Singh (Athletics), Chhote Lal Yadav (Boxing), and Neha Nandkumar Chavan (Shooting), while the Lifetime category recognized Dharmendra Singh Yadav (Boxing) and Virender Kumar (Wrestling). Additionally, the Army Paralympic Node in Pune, received the Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar.

Partition Horrors Remembrance Day (Vibhajan Vibhishika Smriti Diwas)

Day - August 14

Commemorating - The victims and sufferings of people during the partition of India in 1947

World Elephant Day

Day - August 12

Observed since - 2012