Monthly current affairs for August 2026

The Centre for Marine Living Resources & Ecology (CMLRE), under the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), has released the “National Report on Deep-Sea and Distant-Water Fishery Resources of the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)” to assess marine resources.

The publication was edited by Dr VN Sanjeevan (former Director of CMLRE) and Dr Baban Ingole (retired Scientist at the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO)), under the leadership of Dr RS Maheshkumar (Head of CMLRE).

The assessment studies were largely supported by the flagship research vessel of India, the Fishery and Oceanographic Research Vessel (FORV) 'Sagar Sampada'.

Flying Wedge Defence & Aerospace Technologies Pvt Ltd (FWDA), an Indian defence startup, has unveiled the “FWD Supreme Lite”, marking the first AI-piloted fighter jet programme in India.

Designed and developed entirely in India, the fighter jet demonstrator weighs approximately 250 kg, offering an endurance of up to 30 hrs and an operational range of 3,000 km.

The aircraft is designed around the ‘Mobbing Doctrine’, a new warfare doctrine that proposes the deployment of a larger number of AI-piloted fighter aircraft.

The Territorial Army, in collaboration with CyberPeace, has launched a national-level hackathon named “Terrier Cyber Quest 2026” (TCQ 3.0).

The initiative aims to address defence, cybersecurity, and information-domain challenges by promoting indigenous solutions in Artificial Intelligence (AI), threat mitigation, and digital awareness.

Sophie Adenot, an astronaut of the European Space Agency (ESA) from France, has conducted a mission to repair a communications system on the International Space Station (ISS).

With this, she becomes the first French woman to perform a spacewalk.

It is to be noted that she is also the second European woman to walk in space, following Samantha Cristoforetti of Italy who completed a spacewalk in 2022.

The Maharashtra government has signed an MoU with the German State of Hesse to strengthen bilateral cooperation.

The partnership focuses on key sectors including investment, industry, innovation, employment, and skill development.

Dolly Parton, a renowned singer from USA widely known as the ‘Queen of Country Music’, passed away at the age of 80.

She was a recipient of 10 Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1999 and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2022.

Sajjan Kumar, a former Indian National Congress (INC) Member of Parliament (MP), passed away at the age of 80.

He served as an MP in the Lok Sabha for 3 terms.

The 3rd Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) Healthcare Summit 2026, themed “Advancing AI in Healthcare”, was held in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

The summit, addressed by Union Minister of State (MoS) Anupriya Patel, focused on transitioning India from the “Pharmacy of the World” to the “Laboratory of the World”.

During the event, the ‘India Pharma Archives’, a digital initiative by the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA) in collaboration with the IIMA Archives, was launched.

Additionally, a book documenting the development journey of the COVID-19 vaccine of India was released.

Vice President CP Radhakrishnan has inaugurated ‘MALHAR 2026’ in New Delhi, a youth-centric and monsoon-themed celebration of Indian classical music.

The cultural programme was organised by Antar Hriday Connect to showcase the classical music traditions of India.

It is to be noted that the celebration is centered around the ‘Malhar Raga’, a classical music tradition associated with the monsoon season (Varsha Ritu) and linked to the legendary 16th-century court musician Tansen.

The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), in collaboration with the Uttar Pradesh government, has organised the PM-SETU Industry Conclave in Lucknow.

The conclave was attended by Union Minister Rajnath Singh.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has introduced the ‘IT Resilience Index’ (ITRI) Framework for Market Infrastructure Institutions (MIIs) to evaluate the robustness and operational resilience of their critical Information Technology (IT) systems.

The ITRI will assess the technology systems of MIIs using nine parameters.

Within the framework, availability and security are assigned the highest weightage of 20% each.

Integrity, governance, reliability and monitoring, business continuity, and modularity and flexibility each carry a 10% weightage, while scalability is allocated 5%.

The Early Warning System (EWS) and Real Time Monitoring of Service Delivery must be operationalised by February 2027, with the inaugural ITRI computation covering the half-year ending March 2027.

The Unified Payments Interface (UPI), launched by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), has completed 10 years of operations.

In FY26, the share of UPI in the digital payments of India is recorded at 84%, the annual transaction volume of UPI reached 24,162 crore transactions, with the total transaction value estimated at ₹314 lakh crore.

VinFast India has signed an MoU with Federal Bank to provide customized inventory financing solutions for the Authorised Dealer (AD) network of the company.

The Indian Institute of Creative Technologies (IICT) has partnered with Netflix to launch a scholarship initiative targeting 100 students and working professionals across India.

The initiative will provide up to 80% financial support for six professional programmes within the Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, and Comics (AVGC) ecosystem.

The Chhattisgarh government has signed MoUs with the Bhaskaracharya National Institute for Space Applications and Geo-informatics (BISAG-N), and the National Logistics Data Services Limited (NLDSL) to enhance the utilization of geospatial technology and integrated logistics data under the PM GatiShakti framework.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) India has partnered with Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) to launch the next phase of their 7-year partnership to strengthen an inclusive circular economy for plastics in India.

The initiative aims to support 50,000 “Safai Mitras” (waste workers) and enhance waste management systems across 50 cities and Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) by 2028.

The US Navy has unveiled a next-generation Long Range Air-to-Air Missile (LRAAM) named ‘Air Intercept Missile (AIM)-424 Malice’.

Developed by Raytheon (a subsidiary of RTX Corporation), the missile possesses an operational strike range exceeding 250 nautical miles (463 km).

The Indian Pharmacopeia Commission (IPC), operating under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), has introduced 7 Indian Pharmacopoeia Nitrosamine Impurities Reference Standards to enhance the precise detection and quantification of carcinogenic impurities in pharmaceutical products.

The 7 newly introduced reference standards comprise N-Nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA), N-Nitrosodiethylamine (NDEA), N-Nitrosoethylisopropylamine (NEIPA), N-Nitrosodibutylamine (NDBA), N-Nitrosomethylphenylamine (NMPA), N-Nitrosodiisopropylamine (NDIPA), and N-Nitroso-N-methyl-4-aminobutyric acid (NMBA).

The reference standards were officially launched during an interactive meeting titled “IP 2026: Perspectives, Suggestions, & Way Forward” organized by the IPC in Kolkata, West Bengal.

It is to be noted that nitrosamines are classified as highly potent genotoxic and carcinogenic compounds, which are substances capable of causing cancer or genetic mutations.

The Odisha government has launched the ‘Bidesh Sikhyabruti’ scholarship scheme to provide financial assistance of up to ₹25 lakh per year to meritorious Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) students pursuing higher education abroad.

Union Minister Jitendra Singh has laid the foundation stone for road projects worth ₹1,503 crore under the PM Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) in the Udhampur Lok Sabha constituency.

The project comprises 110 roads under PMGSY-Phase IV (Batch 1) covering a total distance of 598.455 km.

The initiative aims to strengthen rural connectivity across the Udhampur-Kathua-Doda-Kishtwar region.