Monthly current affairs for August 2026

India finished 4th in the medal tally at the 23rd Commonwealth Games (CWG) held in Glasgow, Scotland, with a total of 39 medals (13 gold, 17 silver, and 9 bronze). Australia topped the medal table with 171 medals (70 gold), followed by England and Canada, while Scotland finished 5th.

India secured 13 gold medals across boxing (7), para-athletics and athletics (3), judo (2), and weightlifting (1). In boxing, India set a record for the most gold medals by any nation at a single CWG with 7 wins by Preeti Pawar, Sakshi Chaudhary, Jaismine Lamboria (closing flag-bearer), Priya Ghanghas, Arundhati Choudhary, Sachin Siwach, and Ankush Panghal.

In Judo, Asmita Dey and Harsh Singh captured the nation's first-ever gold medals in the sport. Saikhom Mirabai Chanu won gold in the women's 48kg weightlifting category, achieving a historic hat-trick of CWG titles and becoming the second Indian athlete after Vinesh Phogat to accomplish this.

In para-athletics and athletics, Sharmila Dhankar (Women's Shot Put F57), Soman Rana (Men's Shot Put F57), and Dilip Gavit (Men's 100m T47) won gold, with Gavit setting a new CWG record.

The 23rd CWG, held under the patronage of King Charles III, featured 10 sports and 6 integrated para-sports, with Gabon and Togo making their debut, and 'Finnie' serving as the official mascot. Scotland's Melanie Woods (Para-athletics) was honoured with the David Dixon Award.

It is to be noted that the 2030 CWG (Centenary Edition) will be hosted in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, marking India's second time hosting the event following the 2010 edition in New Delhi.

The book titled “Bringing the Cheetah Back to India: How Diplomacy Made Conservation’s Big Mission Possible” authored by Prashant Agrawal, an Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer, was released.

Published by Hachette India, the book chronicles the journey of the ambitious initiative regarding the reintroduction and conservation of cheetahs in India.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved the development of the 135.8 km, 4-lane access-controlled Guwahati-Tezpur Corridor of NH-15 in Assam.

The project will be developed on a Built-Operate-Transfer (BOT) Toll Mode at a total capital cost of ₹8,970.2 crore under the National Highways (Original) (NH(O)) scheme.

The Geographical Indications Registry (GIR), under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoC&I), has granted the Geographical Indication (GI) tag to the centuries-old Pithora Painting tradition of Gujarat.

These paintings are traditionally created by Lakharas on the inner walls and verandahs of tribal homes.

The Union Cabinet has approved ‘GOBARdhan’, the National Circular Bioenergy Scheme, with a total financial outlay of ₹23,731 crore. The scheme will be implemented from FY27 to FY36 to establish Compressed Biogas (CBG) as a key component of India’s energy mix.

The scheme introduces a CBG Offtake Assurance framework with mandatory obligations for City Gas Distribution entities at 3% in FY27, 4% in FY28, and 5% from FY29 onwards in the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and Piped Natural Gas (PNG) segments. An administered CBG price of ₹2,110 per Metric Million British Thermal Unit (MMBTU) has been introduced for a 10-year period.

Eligible greenfield CBG projects will receive capital assistance of up to ₹2 crore per ton per day (TPD) of installed capacity. The scheme also supports pipeline infrastructure, a Credit Guarantee mechanism for MSME-based projects, and a ‘CBG Ecosystem Challenge Fund’ to accelerate district-level implementation.

The administration of the Union Territory (UT) of Ladakh, with the approval of Lt Gov Vinai Kumar Saxena, has notified 23 heritage sites as Protected Monuments. The designated monuments are distributed across the regions of Leh, Sham, Nubra, Zanskar, and Kargil.

PM Narendra Modi has visited Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka to inaugurate and lay the foundation stones for various development projects.

In Andhra Pradesh, he inaugurated and laid the foundation stones for projects worth over ₹17,900 crore. This includes the inauguration of the Alluri Sitarama Raju International Airport at Bhogapuram in the Vizianagaram district, developed at a cost of over ₹5,640 crore by GMR Visakhapatnam International Airport Ltd (GVIAL).

In Karnataka, he inaugurated the Swami Vivekananda Cultural Youth Centre, also known as Viveka Smaraka, in Mysuru to commemorate Swami Vivekananda’s historic visit to the city in 1892.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $1 billion loan to the Government of India (GoI) to support the urban reform agenda of India. This programme is designed to support the implementation of the Urban Challenge Fund (UCF).

Additionally, the ADB has sanctioned $3 million in technical assistance to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) for the effective implementation of the programme.

REC Ltd and Power Finance Corporation (PFC) Ltd have signed a common loan agreement worth ₹26,850 crore with Meja Urja Nigam Pvt Ltd (MUNPL) to finance a 2400 MW thermal power expansion project in Uttar Pradesh (UP). The total cost of the project is estimated at ₹38,357.81 crore.

Candere, a luxury online jewellery brand by Kalyan Jewellers, in partnership with Hurun India, has released the 2nd edition of the 'Candere Hurun India Women Leaders List 2026'. The list recognizes 117 women achievers across 12 categories.

Meena Bindra, founder of BIBA, is ranked top on the overall leaderboard, followed by Tushara Shankar and Rajni Bector. Paralympian Avani Lekhara is the youngest individual to be featured in the top 10 overall leaderboard.

Roshni Nadar Malhotra, Chairperson of HCLTech, leads the 'Wealth Multipliers' segment, while Priya Nair, CMD of Hindustan Unilever (HUL), tops the 'Professional CEOs' category. The 12 category leaders possess a combined 464 years of active professional experience. Manju D. Gupta (Lupin) and Ritu Kumar contributed 58 and 57 years of experience, respectively.

The 48th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee (WHC) was held at the Busan Exhibition and Convention Center (BEXCO) in Busan, South Korea, under the chairmanship of Lee Byong Hyun. During the session, 25 new sites were inscribed, bringing the total number of UNESCO World Heritage (WH) sites to 1,273 across 173 countries.

This session marked the first-ever WH inscriptions for three African nations: Comoros, Sao Tome and Principe, and South Sudan. The Centre of Vienna (Austria) was removed from the list of World Heritage in Danger, while Mount Amel Castles (Lebanon) and Sebastia (State of Palestine) were included on an emergency basis.

The “Busan Declaration on World Heritage” was adopted to protect vulnerable assets. It introduced “collaboration” as the 6th “C” of the strategic objectives, joining the existing five: conservation, credibility, capacity-building, communication, and communities.

The committee adopted the “World Heritage Strategy for Small Island Developing States (SIDS) 2026-2034,” a roadmap supported by a $13 million budget. It is to be noted that the 49th session of the UNESCO WHC will be held in Istanbul, Turkiye, under the presidency of Mustafa Yurdakul.

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has approved the merger of AAPC India Hotel Management Pvt Ltd (AAPC India), Caddie Hotels Pvt Ltd (Caddie), Triguna Hospitality Ventures (India) Pvt Ltd (Triguna), Srilanand Mansions Pvt Ltd (SMPL), Techpark Hotels Pvt Ltd (Techpark), and Accent Hotels Pvt Ltd (Accent) into InterGlobe Hotels Pvt Ltd (IGH).

The Andhra Pradesh government and Australia have signed 4 MoUs in Amaravati to boost cooperation in sectors like clean energy, advanced manufacturing, inclusive education, student mental health, and skill development.

Under this partnership, the IIT Tirupati and the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, have agreed to establish a Centre of Excellence (CoE) for Solar Manufacturing at the IIT Tirupati campus.

The Tamil Nadu government has introduced the Tamil Nadu Soil Conservation Mission and a carbon trading scheme for farmers in its Agriculture Budget 2026-27.

The Tamil Nadu Soil Conservation Mission has been allocated ₹600 crore. A demonstration phase for the carbon trading scheme has also been launched with an allocation of ₹60 lakh to cover 2,000 acres, aimed at establishing monitoring and verification protocols.

Kailash Chandra Pant, a renowned Hindi writer, passed away at the age of 90.

He was conferred the Padma Shri in 2026 for his contributions to the field of Literature and Education.

International Tiger Day

Day – July 29

Observed since – 2010

World Hepatitis Day

Day – July 28

Theme 2026 – “Hepatitis: Let’s Break It Down”

Observed by – WHO

Observed since – 2008

IIT Hyderabad, in collaboration with Crimson Energy Experts India Pvt Ltd (CEEPL), has launched ‘ANUGYAN’ – Nuclear Technology Orientation Programme (NTOP). This is India’s first industry–academia programme in nuclear technology.

The 3-month residential programme aims to develop skilled nuclear professionals to support India’s goal of expanding its nuclear power capacity from 8.8 GW to 100 GW by 2047.

The Government e-Marketplace (GeM) has achieved a cumulative Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) of ₹20 trillion. The platform was launched in 2016.

Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) accounted for 45.6% of the total procurement value on the portal, which has facilitated over 3.78 crore orders.

HDFC Bank has launched two new savings account variants, “Max for Seniors”, for senior citizens. and “Max for Her”, for women, to offer customized benefits.

The “Max for Seniors” variant offers cyber insurance coverage of up to ₹25,000 and a debit card-linked accidental death cover of up to ₹3.19 crore. The “Max for Her” variant provides an Auto Sweep facility for higher returns on surplus savings, along with a debit card-linked accidental death cover of up to ₹3.19 crore and an additional accident cover of up to ₹10 lakh.