Daily Current Affairs 18 August 2026

Welcome to the Ujiyari Daily Current Affairs edition for Tuesday, August 18, 2026. India hosted the 12th BRICS Environment Ministers’ Meeting at Bharat Mandapam, adopting the New Delhi Statement with four measurable environmental priorities, while the Ministry of Defence signed a Rs 1,943 crore lease for two MQ-9B Sea Guardian drones to boost Navy maritime domain awareness. India launched its first-ever guide to grasslands and Open Natural Ecosystems at UNCCD COP17 in Mongolia, the National Sports Awards 2025 named 17 Arjuna Award winners but skipped the Khel Ratna for the first time since 2014, Exercise MAITREE-XV began with Thailand, and ICAR’s 97th AGM charted a roadmap for demand-driven agricultural research. The roundup covers Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s 81st death anniversary, US sanctions on the ICC’s President and a senior trial lawyer, and SAIL’s new real-time carbon-emissions dashboard at Bhilai. Today’s editorial section draws on eight pieces across four newspapers, The Hindu, Indian Express, Business Standard and Down to Earth. The full roundup, six deep-dive articles, eight editorials, and a practice quiz follow.