Monthly current affairs for July 2026

Pralhad Joshi has assumed charge as the Union Minister of Education. He succeeds Dharmendra Pradhan, who resigned from the post following nationwide protests regarding the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) paper leak controversy.

Satya Pal Kumar has been appointed as the Director of the Financial Intelligence Unit-India (FIU-IND) for a tenure of 5 years.

He succeeds Pankaj Kumar Mishra.

National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval has been selected for the Lokmanya Tilak National Award 2026. The award will be presented to him by Union Minister Amit Shah on August 1.

Akanksha Choudhary from Ajmer, Rajasthan, has been crowned Mrs India 2026 at a ceremony held in Jaipur.

In another achievement, Dr. Priyanka Sharma has won the title of Mrs. Earth International Elite 2026.

Pakistan is set to host the 14th edition of the South Asian Federation (SAF) Games in March 2027. The multi-sport event is expected to feature athletes from 8 South Asian nations.

It is to be noted that the SAF Games were established in 1981 in New Delhi to promote friendship and goodwill among the member countries of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). The SAARC member countries include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.

The IIT Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh has established a Centre of Excellence (CoE) on Innovative and Integrated Ecosystem for Green Hydrogen (ECOGEN). This initiative has been launched under the UP Green Hydrogen Policy 2024.

Dr Prabodh Bajpai has been appointed as the Principal Investigator to lead the ECOGEN initiative. The proposal for this CoE was approved by the committee constituted by the Government of Uttar Pradesh and sanctioned by the UP New and Renewable Energy Development Agency (UPNEDA).

PM Narendra Modi has announced the formation of a high-powered task force to suggest reforms for the examinations conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA). The task force is chaired by Nandan Nilekani (Infosys co-founder).

The committee members include S Somanath (former Chairman of the ISRO), V Kamakoti (Director of the IIT Madras), Tapan Deka, Anita Karwal, and Amrit Lal Meena.

The Ancient Buddhist Site of Sarnath in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, has been inscribed as the 45th UNESCO World Heritage Site of India. The announcement was made during the 48th Session of the World Heritage Committee (WHC) held in Busan, South Korea.

The site had been on the UNESCO Tentative List since 1998, marking the end of a 28-year wait for this designation. This is the 4th UNESCO World Heritage Site in Uttar Pradesh. With 45 sites, India now ranks 6th globally in terms of the number of World Heritage properties.

The Government of India has revised the Special Additional Excise Duty (SAED) on the export of diesel, Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF), and petrol, effective from 16 July 2026.

The SAED on diesel exports has been increased to ₹15.5 per litre from ₹8.5 per litre, and on ATF exports to ₹14.5 per litre from ₹7.5 per litre. Meanwhile, the export duty on petrol has been reduced to ₹2.5 per litre from ₹4 per litre.

The Office of Economic Adviser (OEA) under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI) has released a revised series of the Index of Core Industries (ICI), transitioning the base year from 2011-12 to 2022-23.

The revised ICI series now incorporates 'iron ore' as a core industry, increasing the total count of core industries from eight to nine. The other 8 core industries are coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement, and electricity.

The Department of Land Resources (DoLR) under the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) held a meeting with the Reserve Bank of India Innovation Hub (RBIH) to explore the integration of Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) for land governance and digital lending.

The initiative aims to create a secure land-credit ecosystem to improve institutional credit access for farmers and rural citizens. The meeting was chaired by DoLR Secretary Narendra Bhooshan and RBIH CEO Sahil Kini.

Enkash, a business payments and spend management platform, has become the first company in India to launch UPI-based payments on meal cards.

This feature allows employees to make direct payments from their meal card balance by scanning eligible UPI Quick Response (QR) codes at food and grocery merchants.

Air India has signed an MoU with Saudia, the national flag carrier of Saudi Arabia, to expand strategic cooperation between the two nations.

The Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), a unit of the ISRO, has signed an MoU with the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (CSIR-IICT) to jointly develop indigenous technology for next-generation, environmentally sustainable blowing agents.

Andy Burnham has assumed office as the 59th Prime Minister (PM) of the United Kingdom (UK), succeeding Keir Starmer who resigned from the position.

He was invited by King Charles III at Buckingham Palace to form a new government in a traditional ceremony known as 'kissing hands.'

The Chinese aerospace company, Orienspace, has successfully launched its 'Gravity-1 Y4' carrier rocket from a sea-based platform in the East China Sea. The mission successfully deployed 9 satellites into their intended orbits.

It is to be noted that this was the 3rd flight of the rocket and its 1st long-range sea launch.

The Digital India BHASHINI (BHASHa INterface for India) Division (DIBD), in collaboration with the Goa government, has organised the 'BHASHINI Rajyam: State Engagement Workshop' in Panaji, Goa.

The workshop aimed to promote multilingual AI, strengthen the Konkani language ecosystem, and expand AI-powered multilingual access to citizen-centric government services.

The 2026 Fields Medals have been awarded to four mathematicians: Yu Deng, John Pardon, Jacob Tsimerman, and Hong Wang. It is to be noted that Hong Wang has become the third woman to receive this prestigious award.

Often referred to as the 'Nobel Prize of Mathematics', the Fields Medal is awarded every four years to researchers under the age of 40 for exceptional mathematical achievement. Each laureate receives a gold medal featuring the ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes and a cash prize of $15,000 (Canadian Dollar - CAD).

The Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) and the Cerebral Palsy Sports Federation of India (CPSFI) have signed an MoU in New Delhi, to jointly pursue the bid to host the 2029 World Abilitysport Games in India.

Chennai and Bhubaneswar (Odisha) are under consideration as potential host cities for the event.

Grandmaster (GM) S Rohith Krishna from Tamil Nadu has won the gold medal at the inaugural Menuires International Chess Championship 2026, held at Le Break des Menuires, France.

GM Raja Rithvik from Telangana secured the silver medal at the event.