Monthly current affairs for August 2026

Saudi Arabia and 13 other nations have announced the formation of a Multinational Maritime Defence Alliance to protect shipping in key West Asian waterways and strengthen global maritime security.

The other members include Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, Yemen, Nigeria, Sudan, Djibouti, Turkiye, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Somalia. Saudi Arabia has been designated as the founding and leading state of the alliance, serving as its permanent secretariat.

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has approved the acquisition of Magma General Insurance from Sanoti Properties (owned by Adar Poonawalla) by Patanjali Ayurved and the DS Group for ₹4,500 crore. Under the share purchase agreement (SPA), Patanjali Ayurved will acquire a 73.56% stake, while the DS Group will acquire a 24.50% stake in the company.

Separately, the IRDAI has granted a licence to ProTec General Insurance, a joint venture (JV) between the M Pallonji Group and Divya Sehgal of True North.

Alibaba has unveiled its largest and most capable AI model named "Qwen3.8-Max". The model features 2.4 trillion parameters. It is positioned behind Moonshot AI's Kimi K3, which comprises 2.8 trillion parameters.

DeepSeek has launched its 'V4-Flash model', claimed to be the most cost-effective AI model globally.

The Application Programming Interface (API) of the model is priced at $0.14 per million input tokens and $0.28 per million output tokens.

The Chhattisgarh government has launched the ‘Decentralised Women Empowerment on Energy and Policy for Transformative Inclusion (DWEEPTI) Yojana’.

It is India’s first women-led distributed Renewable Energy (RE) policy, designed to empower rural Self-Help Groups (SHGs) to function as solar entrepreneurs. With technical support from Tata, 35 women from SHGs have been trained in rooftop solar installation, forming the first cohort of ‘Solar Didis’.

The Tamil Nadu government has signed 4 MoUs with leading global companies to facilitate the establishment of Global Capability Centres (GCCs), Research & Development (R&D) centres, and a manufacturing facility.

As part of these agreements, the state government has also signed an MoU with the University of Western Australia (UWA) to establish its India campus in Velachery, Chennai, with an investment of ₹125 crore.

Vishwesh Negi has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to Iran.

Justice Manmohan Singh Liberhan, who headed the one-man inquiry commission into the Babri Masjid demolition at Ayodhya, passed away at the age of 87.

CRPF Foundation Day

Day – July 27

Commemorating – To commemorate the establishment of the CRPF in 1939, the largest Central Armed Police Force (CAPF)

Kargil Vijay Diwas

Day – July 26

Commemorating – India's victory over Pakistan in the Kargil War in 1999

Union Minister Giriraj Singh has presided over the 56th Foundation Day celebration of the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Maharashtra.

During the event, the 'Kapas Darshan Bulletin' was launched, and modern farm equipment was distributed. The minister also announced the implementation roadmap for the ₹5,659-crore 'Cotton Productivity Mission–Kapas Kanti'. Additionally, 4 MoUs were signed during the proceedings.

The CSIR-Central Road Research Institute (CSIR-CRRI) has flagged off an indigenous Network Survey Vehicle (NSV) to conduct a comprehensive road condition survey across the Delhi-NCR region.

This event marks the commencement of field surveys under the project titled 'Implementation of the Standard Framework for Paving and Greening of Urban Roads in Delhi NCR.'

Union Minister Giriraj Singh has inaugurated the Centre of Excellence for Handloom Technology (CoE-HT) at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi.

During the event, 5 flagship initiatives were launched: 'Handloom 4.0 Mobile App', 'Handloom e-Vidya', 'HandloomX', 'Kalagriha Handloom Studio' (GenZ Design Studio), and 'Threads of Valour'.

Union Minister Bhupender Yadav has announced Glaw Lake as the first Ramsar Site in Arunachal Pradesh. The lake is situated in the Lohit district of Arunachal Pradesh, within the Kamlang Tiger Reserve and Wildlife Sanctuary in the Eastern Himalayas.

With this addition, the total number of Ramsar sites in India has reached 101, maintaining its position as the country with the highest number of Ramsar wetlands in Asia.

According to the report titled "Prelude to Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) Meeting: August 3-5, 2026 Peace in a piecemeal manner" released by the Economic Research Department of the SBI, India's GDP growth for Q1 FY27 is projected at 7%.

The report stated that inflation stood at 3.9% during Q1 FY27. It further projects that the Consumer Price Inflation (CPI) will remain above 5% during the next two quarters of FY27, with an overall inflation projection of 5% for the full financial year.

SBI Cards and Payment Services Ltd has partnered with Google Pay to launch a co-branded credit card named 'Google Pay Flex SBI Card'. The card is designed to make daily spending more rewarding for users.

The IIT Gandhinagar in Gujarat has signed an MoU with the Indian Artificial Intelligence Research Organisation (IAIRO) to promote research, education, innovation, and talent development in the field of AI.

The Pacific island nation of Nauru, the third-smallest nation in the world, has officially changed its name to the 'Republic of Naoero'.

This name change is intended to preserve its indigenous language, 'dorerin Naoero', which the UNESCO classifies as severely endangered.

Venezuela, under Interim President Delcy Eloina Gomez, has formally notified the United Nations (UN) of its withdrawal from the Rome Statute, initiating the process to terminate its membership in the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The withdrawal will take effect one year after the notification. It is to be noted that the country originally become a State Party to the Rome Statute in 2002.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has issued a prohibition order against Dabur India Ltd for marketing food products with misleading claims such as "100% Pure" and "100% Natural".

These claims were found to be in violation of the Food Safety and Standards (Advertising and Claims) Regulations, 2018.