Monthly current affairs for August 2026

India has signed the Terms of Reference (ToR) with the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) for negotiations towards a Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA).

The negotiations cover 8 chapters, including trade in goods, market access for goods, and rules of origin. Through this cooperation, India can support affordable medicines, Information Technology (IT) talent, and global supply chain integration in the SACU region.

VinSpace, the aerospace unit of Vietnam-based Vingroup, has signed a launch agreement with SpaceX to deploy its first satellites in 2027 via the Transporter Rideshare Mission of the latter.

Lebanon becomes the first nation in the Arab world to completely abolish the death penalty, replacing it with life imprisonment.

Squadron Leader Bhawana Kanth has become the first woman fighter pilot of the Indian Air Force (IAF) to successfully complete the Fighter Combat Leader (FCL) course at the Tactics and Air Combat Development Establishment (TACDE) in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh.

With this achievement, she became the first woman graduate of the elite ‘Top Gun’ school of the IAF, where only about 1% of pilots are selected for the 20-week advanced combat programme.

Adani Airport City Ltd (AACL), a step-down wholly-owned subsidiary of Adani Enterprises Ltd (AEL), has incorporated AACL Global IFSC Ltd as a new wholly-owned subsidiary of Adani Airport Holdings Ltd (AAHL).

The Lucknow-Delhi-Lucknow Tejas Express, operated by the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), is set to become India’s first privately branded passenger train.

The semi-high-speed train will be temporarily renamed as the ‘Sprite’ Tejas Express for a duration of 6 months.

Dr Padma Gurmet has been conferred the Ladakh State Award for the year 2025 in recognition of his contributions to the preservation, promotion, and development of the Sowa-Rigpa system of medicine.

President Droupadi Murmu has presented the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowships (Akademi Ratna) and Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards (Akademi Puraskar) for the years 2024 and 2025 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.

A total of 115 eminent artists were conferred with the awards and fellowships during the investiture ceremony, including 7 artists who were awarded the Akademi Fellowship. It is to be noted that the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship is restricted to a maximum of 40 living individuals at any given time.

The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS) has officially suspended the recognition of the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI).

The suspension was enforced due to the failure of the TTFI to conduct organizational elections within the mandated timeframe and severe delays in adopting and uploading audited financial statements.

Union Minister Amit Shah has inaugurated and laid foundation stones for 944 development projects worth ₹5,755 crore across 15 districts of Rajasthan.

On the occasion of the 8th death anniversary of former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee, he unveiled a 21-foot-tall statue of Vajpayee in Chittorgarh district installed at a cost of over ₹1.5 crore.

Union Minister Pralhad Joshi has launched a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC)-based Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) pilot initiative under the PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) in the Union Territories (UTs) of Chandigarh and Dadra & Nagar Haveli.

Under the new mechanism, food subsidies will be transferred directly into the Digital Rupee wallets of beneficiaries instead of conventional bank accounts.

The Central Zoo Authority (CZA) has approved the proposal to establish Asia’s first desert zoological park and desert-themed night safari at Juna Deesa in the Banaskantha district of Gujarat.

The project, with an estimated budget of ₹542.14 crore, spans across 103 hectares of contiguous government land. It will be developed as a 100% eco-friendly space utilizing solar energy, rainwater harvesting, and advanced sewage treatment systems.

PM Narendra Modi has inaugurated ‘Param Pragya’, an AI-enabled high-performance supercomputing facility at the Sonipat (Haryana) campus of the IIT Delhi. The inauguration took place during the 57th convocation of IIT Delhi, where he attended as the Chief Guest.

The 140-year-old ‘Parichha Weir’ in Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, has been designated as a World Heritage Irrigation Structure (WHIS) by the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID).

It is to be noted that the weir was originally proposed in 1855 by Captain Strachey to serve the Bundelkhand region.

The Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI) has amended the Prime Minister’s Electric Drive Revolution in Innovative Vehicle Enhancement (PM E-DRIVE) Scheme. Under the amendment, the incentive for electric two-wheelers (e-2Ws) has been reduced to ₹2,500 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) (capped at ₹5,000 per vehicle) for the period from April 2025 to March 2028.

Notified in 2024, the PM E-DRIVE Scheme was initially launched for a 2-year period, with its implementation subsequently extended up to March 31, 2028. The scheme has a total financial outlay of ₹11,900 crore.

Chennai-based Aheesa Digital Innovations, a fabless semiconductor startup, has achieved first-pass silicon success with ‘VIHAAN’, the first domestically designed broadband networking System-on-Chip (SoC) in India.

The development of ‘VIHAAN’ is supported under the Design Linked Incentive (DLI) scheme of the central government. It is built using the indigenous 64-bit VEGA microprocessor developed by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), offering a royalty-free RISC-V architecture.

According to the 101st Survey of Professional Forecasters (SPF) released by the RBI, the real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of India is projected at 6.6% for FY27 (up from 6.5% estimated in the 100th SPF) and 7.0% for FY28.

The panellists placed the overall real GDP growth forecasts in the range of 6.0-7.2% for FY27 and 6.5-7.8% for FY28. The quarterly real GDP growth is projected at 6.8% (year-on-year) during Q1 FY27, and is expected to remain within the range of 6.4-7.0% over the subsequent four quarters.

The National Institute of Indian Medical Heritage (NIIMH), Hyderabad, under the Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS) of the Ministry of Ayush, has signed an MoU with the Kottayam (Kerala)-based Sevadhi Museum & Indological Research Institute (SEMIRI) for the systematic digitization and preparation of a descriptive catalogue for the medical manuscript collection of the latter.

Skyroot Aerospace Pvt Ltd has signed a Multi-Launch Agreement (MLA) with HEX20 for 3 dedicated Vikram-series missions.

The launches will support the Earth Observation constellation, in-orbit payload demonstration missions, and rideshare capacity for third-party spacecraft of the latter.

According to the 3rd edition of the “2026 Barclays Private Clients Hurun India Most Valuable Family Businesses List” released by Hurun India, in partnership with Barclays Private Bank India, the Ambani family, led by Mukesh Ambani, emerged as the richest business family in India for the 3rd consecutive year with a net worth of ₹25.8 lakh crore.

The 1st-generation category was led by the Adani family, headed by Gautam Adani, with a total valuation of ₹19.6 lakh crore. Hindustan Zinc, led by Priya Agarwal Hebbar, emerged as the most-valuable women-led business in India.