Monthly current affairs for August 2026

Magnus Carlsen, a Norwegian Grandmaster (GM) and world no. 1 representing Team Liquid, has won the “Esports World Cup Chess” title 2026 for the second consecutive year. The tournament was held in Paris, France, and the winner was awarded a prize of $250,000.

William F Rasmussen, the co-founder of Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (ESPN), passed away at the age of 93. He launched the network in 1979 along with his son Scott Rasmussen.

PM Narendra Modi addressed the nation from the Red Fort on the 80th Independence Day of India, marking his 13th consecutive address.

It is to be noted that this is the second-highest after the 17 consecutive speeches of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. The celebration featured two themes: the 150 years of the national song “Vande Mataram” and “Yuva Shakti-Leading the Journey to Viksit Bharat@ 2047”.

The Indian Army (IA) served as the coordinating service for the event. The Guard of Honour comprised 25 personnel each from the IA, Indian Air Force (IAF), and Delhi Police. Captain Sonia Singh Chauhan of the IA assisted the PM in hoisting the national flag, followed by the first-ever performance of “Vande Mataram” at the Red Fort by the Army band.

PM Modi unveiled “Shakti Ki Saptadhara”, a seven-pronged strategy focusing on manufacturing, agriculture, technology, infrastructure, defence, the green and blue economy, and soft power.

He highlighted that 1 crore young Indians will be trained in AI skills over the next year and announced a target of 6 crore “Lakhpati Didis”. India also aims to reach 100 Giga-Watt (GW) of nuclear power capacity by 2047, with 5 new nuclear reactors starting within the current decade.

A total of 1,057 personnel were awarded Gallantry and Service Medals, including 301 Medals of Gallantry (GM) and 92 President’s Medals for Distinguished Service. President Droupadi Murmu approved 78 Gallantry Awards for the Armed Forces and Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) personnel, with 13 posthumous honours.

President Droupadi Murmu has granted assent to the ‘Taxation and Other Laws (Amendment) Act, 2026’ and a legislation amending the ‘Payment and Settlement Systems (PSS) Act, 2007’.

The ‘Taxation and Other Laws (Amendment) Act, 2026’ replaces the ‘Income-tax (IT) (Amendment) Ordinance, 2026’. The Act provides exemptions from income tax on interest and capital gains (arising from the sale, exchange, or transfer) to Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) for their investments in government securities.

According to the “Monthly Bulletin of the Periodic Labour Force Survey” (PLFS) for July 2026 released by the National Statistics Office (NSO) under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), the unemployment rate (UR) of India declined to 5.1% in July 2026 from 5.5% recorded in June 2026.

Paramotor Digital Technology Ltd has entered into a co-branded partnership with NSDL Payments Bank Ltd to launch co-branded prepaid cards across India.

The collaboration integrates the technological capabilities of Paramotor with the banking infrastructure and issuance services of the latter to provide secure and compliant prepaid payment solutions to consumers.

YES Bank has launched a lifestyle and rewards-oriented credit card named “YES Essence Credit Card” specifically for women. The card aims to address the evolving healthcare and lifestyle requirements of segments including young professionals, salaried employees, and digital-savvy women.

India has signed a Government-to-Government (G2G) agreement with Mauritius for cooperation in the oil and gas sector. The agreement aims to ensure a reliable and consistent supply of petroleum products (including petrol, diesel, and jet fuel) to the latter.

The National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) under the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE) has partnered with Cultus Education and Amazon Web Services (AWS) to launch a nationwide cloud and AI skilling initiative.

The program aims to provide foundational AI and cloud literacy to 1.5 lakh learners using the digital training content of AWS.

Tata Power Company Ltdhas signed a Master Research Agreement (MRA) with the IIT Bombay to accelerate the development, scaling, and commercialisation of next-generation energy technologies and clean energy solutions.

Cochin Shipyard Ltd (CSL) has delivered the third Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft (ASW SWC) named ‘Mangrol’ to the Indian Navy.

The vessel features over 80% indigenous content and is equipped for underwater surveillance, ASW operations in coastal waters, and Low-Intensity Maritime Operations (LIMO), including mine warfare.

The 15th edition of the annual joint military exercise between India and Thailand named “MAITREE-XV” is organised in Surat Thani, Thailand. The Indian Army contingent is represented by the personnel from the 9 Gorkha Rifles.

Larsen & Toubro, through its AI infrastructure arm Vyoma.AI, has bagged a contract worth between ₹10,000 crore and ₹15,000 crore from the USA-based Together AI (Together Computer Inc) to build the largest single-cluster NVIDIA B300 AI factory in India.

The facility will be established at the L&T data centre campus in Chennai, and is designed to deploy 10,000 NVIDIA B300 Graphics Processing Units (GPUs).

The Andhra Pradesh government has signed an agreement with the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research-National Geophysical Research Institute (CSIR-NGRI) for the exploration of critical mineral resources.

The collaboration focuses on identifying and assessing deposits of Lithium (Li) and Gallium (Ga) in the Kadapa Basin.

The Tamil Nadu government has signed 97 MoUs worth over ₹67,542 crore during the first major investment conclave of the state. These projects are scheduled for implementation within 6 months to 1 year.

Key investments include ₹1,000 crore by Titan Company Ltd (Titan) in Hosur and ₹2,500 crore by the Hinduja Group, which includes a 200 megawatt (MW) solar, wind, and battery-based renewable energy project.

Lakshmanan Meyyappan, an Indian-origin finance professional based in Dubai, has been recognized by the Guinness World Records as the youngest male Chartered Accountant (CA) in the world. He achieved this milestone at the age of 16 years and 141 days.

Sowcar Janaki, a legendary South Indian actress, passed away at the age of 94. She was a recipient of Padma Shri in 2022.

Raja Sen, a veteran Bengali filmmaker distinguished for his contributions to feature films, television, and documentaries, passed away at the age of 71.

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.