Monthly current affairs for August 2026

The RBI has appointed Monisha Chakraborty as an Executive Director (ED), effective from August 3, 2026. In her new role, she will oversee the Foreign Exchange Department (FED) and the Financial Markets Regulation Department (FMRD).

SBI Life Insurance has signed a strategic corporate agency agreement with the Jammu & Kashmir Bank (J&K Bank) to distribute comprehensive life insurance products across India.

The partnership will offer solutions including protection, savings, retirement, and child plans through a network of over 1,000 J&K Bank branches. This collaboration aligns with the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) vision of ‘Insurance for All by 2047’.

Air India has signed a codeshare partnership with Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL), a subsidiary of AZCON Holding, to improve air connectivity between India and Azerbaijan.

The Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) in Andhra Pradesh has signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) with the Moscow government in Russia to collaborate on smart mobility, sustainable urban transport, digital innovation, and technology transfer.

The agreement aims to develop a modern urban transportation system in Visakhapatnam. It is to be noted that the agreement was signed during the 5th International Transport Summit held in Moscow.

The Medium Range Ballistic Missile (MRBM) ‘Agni-4’ has been successfully test-fired from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) in Chandipur, Odisha.

The test, conducted under the aegis of the Strategic Forces Command (SFC), has successfully validated all operational and technical parameters of the missile system.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) has conducted the 3rd edition of the Counter-Unmanned Aerial Systems (Counter-UAS) exercise named ‘ROTOR CLAP-III’ at the Pokhran Field Firing Range in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan.

Jupiter Wagons Ltd (JWL) has partnered with Italy-based Lucchini RS Holding SpA and SIMEST (Italian Society for Enterprises Abroad) SpA to set up India’s first fully integrated private-sector railwheel manufacturing platform, named Jupiter Tatravagonka Railwheel Factory Pvt Ltd (JTRWF).

Under this deal, Lucchini RS and SIMEST will acquire a combined 25% stake in JTRWF for an investment of ₹307 crore (EUR 28 million).

The Delhi government has launched the ‘Vidya Vahini’ scheme to empower female students in the national capital.

Under this initiative, the government provides free bicycles to Class 9 girl students enrolled in state-run government schools.

Air India has appointed Tewolde Gebremariam as its new CEO and MD. He succeeds Campbell Wilson.

Dr. Annapurni Subramaniam, the Director of the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) in Bengaluru, has been awarded the Vikram Sarabhai Medal 2026 by the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR). The award was presented at the 46th COSPAR Scientific Assembly in Florence, Italy.

She is the first Indian woman scientist and the third woman globally to receive this international honour. She is also the fourth Indian recipient of the medal, following UR Rao (1996), Gurbax Lakhina (2014), and Anil Bhardwaj (2024).

Professor Karthikeyan Lanka from the IIT Bombay has been selected for the National Academy of Sciences, India (NASI) Young Scientist Award 2026.

Harshita Jakhar, a 19-year-old cyclist from Rajasthan, becomes the first Indian woman to feature in the Tour de France Femmes.

She was selected by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) as one of only 8 riders worldwide for the UCI World Cycling Talent Programme.

The Government of India (GoI) is launching its first-ever high-altitude wildlife safari in the Union Territory of Ladakh. This initiative aims to promote sustainable eco-tourism, curb illegal off-roading, and safeguard the rare wildlife of the region, including the snow leopard.

The safari will cover multiple wildlife-rich sanctuary landscapes, specifically including the Hemis National Park (the largest national park in South Asia), the Changthang Wildlife Sanctuary, and the Karakoram Wildlife Sanctuary.

Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh has dedicated the first Eco-Educational Hub of India, ‘Prakriti Gyan Dham’, to the nation. Located at the Maharishi Parashar Bioresource Centre (MPBC), Banthra Campus in Lucknow, the hub was developed by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-National Botanical Research Institute (CSIR-NBRI).

The facility serves as a living repository of the botanical diversity of the country, aiming to promote hands-on experiential learning, biodiversity conservation, and public outreach.

The Supreme Court of India (SCI) bench, comprising Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra, has extended the mandatory third-party insurance period for newly purchased vehicles by one year to strengthen compliance with the Motor Vehicles Act (MVA), 1988.

Under the revised mandate, new cars are now required to have 4 years of third-party insurance coverage, while two-wheelers are mandated to have 6 years of coverage.

The National e-Governance Division (NeGD) under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has partnered with the Association of Australian Education Representatives in India (AAERI) to launch the ‘AAERI Verify’ platform.

Integrated with DigiLocker, the platform facilitates secure, paperless, and consent-based verification of academic, identity, and financial documents for students applying to Australian universities. It was unveiled during the AAERI Annual Convention in New Delhi.

Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) has signed an MoU with Esri India to develop advanced Geographic Information System (GIS), Location Intelligence, and Geospatial Artificial Intelligence (GeoAI) solutions for the Indian defence sector.

Under the collaboration, the latter will provide training to BEL to build in-house capabilities in GIS and GeoAI using its ‘Indo ArcGIS’ platform.

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry has signed multiple MoUs with various industry leaders to strengthen the startup ecosystem in India.

The department has partnered with Cashfree Payments to provide digital infrastructure support, Vultr India Pvt Ltd for cloud infrastructure support, and Darwin Dynamics LLP to foster entrepreneurship development. Additionally, it has signed agreements with Cars24 Services Pvt Ltd to promote AI-driven mobility innovation and the Council for Startup India (CSI) to enhance the growth and global competitiveness of Indian startups.

The 16th BRICS Trade Ministers’ Meeting was held in Jaipur, Rajasthan, under India’s BRICS Chairship for 2026. Chaired by Union Minister Piyush Goyal, the meeting was held under the theme “Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability”.

Additionally, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) hosted the BRICS Heads of Competition Authorities meeting in Udaipur, Rajasthan. The event featured a collaborative study on the renewable energy sector, presentations on recent enforcement initiatives, and strategic planning for the 2027 conference in Brazil.

The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has developed India’s first fully annotated Telomere-to-Telomere (T2T) reference genome of the pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan L. Millsp.) variety ‘Asha’.

This genome has been approved as the global reference genome to facilitate the development of climate-resilient, high-yielding, and nutritionally enriched pigeonpea varieties.