August 2026: Monthly Current Affairs

Month in Brief

August 2026 was a month of statutes and summits. The Monsoon Session passed, mostly without debate, a run of Bills that change how institutions work: the Supreme Court’s sanctioned strength rose to 38 (Lok Sabha August 3, Rajya Sabha August 5); a new Section 9D in the mining law limited States’ power to tax mineral rights after the MADA v. SAIL verdict of 2024; the Tribunals Reforms Bill, 2026, passed by both Houses, creates a National Tribunals Commission; and Kerala became Keralam from August 25. The Supreme Court extended Section 498A cruelty prosecutions to live-in relationships in the nature of marriage (August 3), and a nine-judge Bench revisited the definition of “industry” (August 20). On the 80th Independence Day the Prime Minister set out a seven-pillar Sapta Dhara roadmap.

Abroad, India worked its BRICS chairship through a string of ministerials in Jaipur, Bhopal, New Delhi, Pune and Chennai, and announced the 18th BRICS Summit for September 12 and 13. The 25th round of India-China Special Representatives talks (Beijing, August 25) produced an eight-point consensus, while Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and Pakistan signed the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement (August 7). The month closed with Q1 FY27 GDP growth of 7.8 per cent (August 31), a monsoon running 13 per cent short, 45 thermal plants on critical coal stocks, and the Rasuwa flood in Nepal (August 26), a landslide-dam outburst in the Gandaki basin rather than a classic GLOF. For revision, prioritise the legislation and federalism cluster (GS2), the China and West Asia files (GS2), the macro and prices data (GS3) and Himalayan hazards (GS1, GS3).

This compilation covers events from August 1 to 31, 2026, drawn from Ujiyari’s daily editions. Items that happened on July 30 or 31 and were reported on August 1 are filed in the July compilation. Every story links to its full article.

Top 10 Stories of August 2026

1. Supreme Court strength raised to 38 (August 3 and 5). Judges other than the CJI go from 33 to 37, replacing an ordinance of May 16; passed by the Lok Sabha in under ten minutes. GS2. Read
2. Kerala becomes Keralam (August 25). The Kerala (Alteration of Name) Act, 2026, passed under Article 3, came into force; the First Schedule now reads Keralam. GS2. Read
3. MMDR Amendment Act and Section 9D (passed August 12 and 13). States barred from fresh levies on mineral rights except within Centre-prescribed conditions, answering MADA v. SAIL (2024). GS2, GS3. Read
4. 80th Independence Day and Sapta Dhara (August 15). A seven-pillar roadmap to 2047, with Samudra Manthan, five new nuclear reactors and AI training for one crore youth. GS2, GS3. Read
5. 25th India-China Special Representatives talks (August 25). Doval and Wang Yi agreed an eight-point consensus: more meeting points, two new hotlines, three trading points; no boundary settlement. GS2. Read
6. Makkah Joint Defence Agreement (August 7). Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and Pakistan treat an attack on one as an attack on all. GS2, GS3. Read
7. Section 498A reaches live-in relationships (August 3). A relationship in the nature of marriage suffices; the distinction failed Article 14. GS2, GS1. Read
8. Q1 FY27 GDP at 7.8 per cent (August 31), after a fourth repo hold (August 5). Real GVA grew 8.2 per cent; CPI inflation rose to 4.45 per cent in July. GS3. Read
9. The Rasuwa flood in Nepal (August 26). An ice and rock collapse sent a surge down the Lhende Khola, Bhote Koshi and Trishuli, in the Gandaki basin. GS1, GS3. Read
10. BRICS under India’s chair. Trade (Jaipur), Culture (Bhopal), Environment (New Delhi), Communications (Pune), Tourism (Jaipur) and Science (Chennai) ministerials; the 18th Summit set for September 12 and 13. GS2. Read

GS1: History, Art & Culture

Pingali Venkayya at 150 (August 2)

The 150th birth anniversary of Pingali Venkayya, born on August 2, 1876 near Machilipatnam, was marked with national tributes. He presented his flag design to Gandhi at Vijayawada on April 1, 1921; the Congress adopted a tricolour in 1931, and the Constituent Assembly adopted the National Flag on July 22, 1947, with the Ashoka Chakra in place of the charkha. Revise the legal frame with it: the Flag Code of India, 2002, the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971, Article 51A(a), and Union of India v. Naveen Jindal (2004), which treated flying the flag as part of Article 19(1)(a). Full article

Vande Mataram at 150

The National Song’s 150th year ran through the month. The Prevention of Insults to National Honour (Amendment) Act, 2026, passed in July, received the President’s assent in August, making intentional disruption of Vande Mataram punishable like disruption of the Anthem (up to 3 years). The fifth Har Ghar Tiranga campaign (August 9 to 17) was dedicated to the anniversary, and on August 15 Vande Mataram was performed at the Red Fort ahead of the National Anthem for the first time. On August 10 the Tamil Nadu Assembly resolved that the State song Tamil Thaai Vazhthu be sung first at State functions. Assent note

Quit India at 84 (August 8)

The AICC adopted the Quit India resolution at Gowalia Tank Maidan, Bombay, on August 8, 1942 (“Do or Die”); the leadership was arrested before dawn on August 9 (Operation Zero Hour). The leaderless phase that followed is the examinable part: Aruna Asaf Ali hoisted the flag on August 9; Usha Mehta ran the clandestine Congress Radio; parallel governments rose at Ballia (Chittu Pandey) and Satara (the Prati Sarkar of Nana Patil, 1943 to 1946); and seven students were killed in the Patna Secretariat firing of August 11, 1942. Full article

National Handloom Day and the Swadeshi Link (August 7)

The 12th National Handloom Day commemorated the Swadeshi Movement, launched at the Calcutta Town Hall on August 7, 1905 against the Partition of Bengal. The President conferred 3 Sant Kabir and 19 National Handloom Awards 2025. The day was instituted in 2015. Full article

Reformers, Awards and Heritage

• Mahatma Ayyankali (born August 28, 1863, Venganoor): the Villuvandi Yatra (1893), the Sadhu Jana Paripalana Sangham (1907), an agricultural labourers’ strike for the right to schooling, and the admission of Panchami (1910). Sree Narayana Guru Jayanti fell on the same day. Full article
• Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowships and Awards for 2024 and 2025 were conferred by the President on 115 artists at Vigyan Bhawan. The Akademi dates from 1952. Full article
• Ekatma Dham, Omkareshwar (August 27): foundation stone of a Nagara-style Panchayatan temple, near the 108-foot Statue of Oneness of Adi Shankaracharya. Full article
• Puri Rath Yatra: Odisha sought Central backing (letter of August 1) for a nomination to UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list, under the 2003 Convention that India ratified in 2005.
• Anniversaries: Maithili Sharan Gupt at 140 (August 3); Khudiram Bose, executed at Muzaffarpur on August 11, 1908; the sixth Partition Horrors Remembrance Day (August 14); Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s 81st death anniversary (August 18).

📌 Facts Corner, History, Art & Culture

• National Flag: designed by Pingali Venkayya; adopted by the Constituent Assembly July 22, 1947; Flag Code 2002
• Vande Mataram: parity with the Anthem by Constituent Assembly resolution, January 24, 1950
• Quit India: resolution August 8, 1942; Congress Radio (Usha Mehta); Satara Prati Sarkar survived until 1946
• Swadeshi Movement: August 7, 1905; Partition of Bengal took effect October 16, 1905, annulled 1911
• Ayyankali: Pulaya reformer; SJPS 1907; later nominated to the Sree Moolam Praja Sabha
• Sister academies: Sangeet Natak (1952), Sahitya, Lalit Kala

GS1: Geography

A Monsoon of Two Halves

The RBI’s August Bulletin records the cumulative rainfall deficit narrowing from 38 per cent at end-June to 13 per cent at end-July as the monsoon picked up in July. August then turned dry again, and by August 26 the season was still 13 per cent short, with 14 States and Union Territories deficient, under a strengthening El Nino. Within the dry national picture, extremes still arrived: extremely heavy rain killed at least eight in Kerala at the start of August (361 mm in the 24 hours to the morning of August 1 at Vadasserikkara), and Delhi’s Safdarjung crossed its whole-August normal (226.8 mm) by August 8, helped by 98.7 mm in the 24 hours to that morning. Monsoon and coal article · Kerala article · Delhi article

The Rasuwa Flood: an LDOF, Not a GLOF (August 26)

On the morning of August 26, a slab of rock and ice about 600 m wide fell from around 5,200 m on Langtang Lirung in Nepal’s Rasuwa district. The surge, which analyses suggest was briefly held back by debris in the Lhende Khola, ran down the Bhote Koshi and Trishuli, wrecking border infrastructure around Rasuwagadhi and hydropower works. Nepal’s DHM and ICIMOD attributed it to an ice avalanche, permafrost movement and rockslide: a landslide-dammed outburst flood (LDOF), not a moraine-dammed GLOF. A second barrier lake overflowed on August 28. Tolls diverged sharply between bulletins; India sent a tunnel rescue team. The geography trap: the Rasuwa Bhote Koshi is the upper Trishuli, flowing to the Narayani (Gandaki) and into India as the Gandak; a different Bhote Koshi in Sindhupalchok feeds the Sun Koshi and the Koshi. LDOF article · Basin article

Himalayan Connectivity

• USBRL (approved August 19): the speed limit on the 111 km Katra-Banihal section was raised to 100 kmph; the section carries the Chenab arch bridge and the Anji Khad cable-stayed bridge. Full article
• India-China border trade: Nathu La and Shipki La reopened at the start of August after six years, and Lipulekh, the third trading pass, has reopened too. Full article

📌 Facts Corner, Geography

• IMD categories (per cent of LPA): deficient under 90; below normal 90 to 96; normal 96 to 104; above normal 104 to 110; excess above 110
• June to September LPA: about 87 cm; El Nino weakens and La Nina strengthens the Indian monsoon
• GLOF: a pre-existing glacial lake bursts; LDOF: a lake created by a landslide or rockfall bursts, often within days
• Gandaki system: Kali Gandaki, Trishuli, Seti, Marsyangdi, Budhi Gandaki, Madi, Daraudi; Gandak barrage at Valmikinagar
• Sapta Koshi: Sun Koshi, Indravati, Tamba Koshi, Likhu, Dudh Koshi, Arun, Tamor; Koshi barrage at Bhimnagar
• Clausius-Clapeyron: about 7 per cent more moisture per degree Celsius of warming

GS1: Social Issues

Census 2027 Goes Digital (from August 2)

Assam opened online self-enumeration for Phase 1 (Houselisting and Housing Census) from August 2 to 16, ahead of field houselisting from August 17 to September 15. Census 2027 is the first digital census, the first since 2011 and the first to enumerate caste since 1931; the reference date is March 1, 2027 (October 1, 2026 for Ladakh and snow-bound areas). It runs under the Census Act, 1948 (Union List Entry 69). Full article

Youth, Skills and Work

• NITI Aayog, Reimagining Skilling (August 25): 8.7 crore people aged 15 to 29 are not in education, employment or training (NEET), on NSS 78th Round data, and only about 8.25 per cent of graduates work in qualification-aligned roles. A NEET count is not an unemployment rate. Full article
• e-Shram at five (August 26): 31.89 crore registrations on the National Database of Unorganised Workers, 54.28 per cent of them women. The Code on Social Security, 2020 was the first law to define gig and platform workers. Full article
• NITI Aayog, Reimagining Care (August 5): India’s elderly are projected at 347 million (20.8 per cent) by 2050; the report proposes a National Policy on Caregiving and a National Caregiver Council. Full article

Drugs, Dignity and Health

• Nasha Mukt Yuva for Viksit Bharat Sankalp Abhiyan (August 2): a 100-week campaign run through MY Bharat (Youth Affairs), distinct from the Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan of Social Justice. A consent-based drug-screening proposal for IITs and IIMs followed. Full article
• Manual scavenging: a fresh survey under the 2013 Act found none, against 44,217 identified in 2018, while 89,915 sewer and septic-tank workers were profiled under NAMASTE. Manual scavenging and hazardous cleaning are distinct statutory categories. Full article
• Chandipura virus (August 5): a national outbreak team went to Gujarat and Rajasthan; Gujarat reported 22 child deaths. The vector is the Phlebotomus sandfly, not a mosquito, and there is no vaccine. Full article
• Front-of-pack warnings: FSSAI proposed red hexagon labels for foods high in fat, sugar or salt in a compliance affidavit before the Supreme Court (order of August 13). It is a proposal, not a notified regulation, and Phase I warns only where two or more thresholds are crossed. Full article

Tribes, Languages and Inclusion

• International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples (August 9): India has not ratified ILO Convention 169; it uses the constitutional category of Scheduled Tribes (Article 342). Full article
• National Conclave on Tribal Languages and Museums, Mysuru (August 24 to 26) upgraded the Adi Vaani AI translation platform. Full article
• Jammu and Kashmir was declared fully literate under ULLAS on August 4, the tenth State or UT to reach that mark.

📌 Facts Corner, Social Issues

• Census 2027: first digital census; caste enumerated for the first time since 1931; Census Act, 1948
• NEET (labour statistics): not in education, employment or training; broader than unemployment
• Manual scavenging law: 2013 Act; Safai Karamchari Andolan (2014) Rs 10 lakh, raised to Rs 30 lakh in Balram Singh (2023)
• Chandipura: Rhabdoviridae; sandfly-borne; acute encephalitis syndrome in children
• Scheduled Tribes: Article 342; Fifth and Sixth Schedules under Article 244; 75 PVTGs
• ULLAS: adult literacy for ages 15 and above

GS2: Polity & Governance

A Monsoon Session of Statutes

Several passed without debate, a pattern the month’s editorials criticised: the judge-strength Bill cleared the Lok Sabha in under ten minutes. SC strength · Tribunals · MMDR · Keralam · ISI Bill

Federal Balance: Minerals and Names

The MMDR Amendment Act, 2026 inserts Section 9D, barring States from imposing fresh taxes, cesses or levies on mineral rights or mineral-bearing land except within conditions the Centre prescribes. It answers Mineral Area Development Authority v. SAIL (July 2024), in which a nine-judge Bench, 8:1, upheld State taxing power under Entries 49 and 50 of the State List (mineral-bearing land and mineral rights). The Keralam change shows the other side of Article 3: the State’s views are sought but are not binding, and a name change passes by simple majority because Article 4 keeps it outside Article 368. On August 12 the Tamil Nadu Assembly asked that Lok Sabha strength be frozen permanently at 543. MMDR article · TN resolution

The Supreme Court in August

• Section 498A and live-in relationships (August 3): Dr. Lokesh B.H. v. State of Karnataka, 2026 INSC 784 (Justices Sanjay Karol and N. Kotiswar Singh). The woman must show a relationship akin to marriage and a shared intention to marry. Section 498A IPC corresponds to Section 85 of the BNS. Full article
• Right to walk (August 3): directions for encroachment-free footpaths in the suo motu case that followed Maniyar Iliyaz v. P. Ayyappan (June 19), which located the right in Article 19(1)(d) read with Article 21. Andhra Pradesh notified a pedestrian safety policy on August 7. Full article
• What is an “industry” (August 20): a nine-judge Bench in State of U.P. v. Jai Bir Singh held that the Bangalore Water Supply (1978) test governs disputes pending under the repealed Industrial Disputes Act, while the Industrial Relations Code, 2020 is to be read on its own text. Full article
• FIR access (August 25): Ghaziabad Police were directed to give a journalist a copy of his FIR. The accused’s right to the FIR during investigation is judge-made, from Youth Bar Association (2016). Full article
• OBC creamy layer: in late August the Centre filed a modification application against the March 11 ruling that parental salary alone cannot exclude a candidate. Full article

Institutions Built or Rebuilt

• Mediation Council of India notified on August 27 under Section 31(1) of the Mediation Act, 2023, about three years after the Act. Full article
• Ladakh bench of the High Court (August 27): made by presidential Regulation under Article 240, a power available because Ladakh has no legislature. Full article
• Public examinations: the Nilekani High-Powered Task Force invited public suggestions (August 28); in Jharkhand, protests over the 14th JPSC exam exposed that the 2024 Central Act covers only central bodies. Task force · Jharkhand
• Bar Council of India: it ordered (August 13) and within hours withdrew a freeze on enrolling NALSAR’s 2026 batch, a power the Advocates Act, 1961 does not give it. Full article
• CAG and IIT Madras launched a certification for auditing digital systems and AI (August 27). Full article

Peace Processes and the Periphery

• Gorkhas (August 22): a committee headed by Pankaj Kumar Singh to draft a “permanent political solution” for the Darjeeling hills. Full article
• Naga talks (August 29): the Nagaland CM said Ministers of State for Home will engage the Naga groups; agreed and communicated, not yet held. Full article
• Jammu and Kashmir (August 5): seven years after the 2019 changes, statehood, which the Supreme Court directed to be restored “at the earliest” in December 2023, remains pending. Full article
• By-elections (results August 3): Prashant Kishor won Bankipur for Jan Suraaj, the Congress won Datia, the BJP held Manjalpur. Full article

📌 Facts Corner, Polity & Governance

• Article 124(1): Parliament fixes the number of Supreme Court judges by law
• Article 3: new States and names; State views not binding; Article 4 keeps such laws outside Article 368
• Entry 50, State List: taxes on mineral rights, subject to limits imposed by Parliament
• Articles 323A and 323B: tribunals (42nd Amendment, 1976)
• Article 240: President’s regulations for UTs without a legislature, with the force of an Act of Parliament
• Mediation Act, 2023: pre-litigation mediation; settlement enforceable as a decree
• Section 498A IPC = Section 85 BNS; cruelty defined in Section 86 BNS

GS2: International Relations

India and China: Process, Not Settlement

The month moved in steps. Border trade reopened on August 1; the 36th WMCC met in New Delhi on August 6; and on August 25 NSA Ajit Doval and Foreign Minister Wang Yi held the 25th round of Special Representatives talks in Beijing. The eight-point outcome covers prompt handling of border situations, two additional meeting points for border commanders, two new hotlines in the Eastern and Middle Sectors, three reopened trading points, pilgrimage and trade cooperation, an Expert-Level Mechanism meeting on trans-border rivers in September, and the next round in India in 2027. It contains no boundary settlement, and by month-end the new meeting points had not been named. India’s position is unchanged: Aksai Chin and Arunachal Pradesh are integral parts of India. SR talks · Eight points · WMCC

West Asia Realigns Without India

• Makkah Joint Defence Agreement (August 7): Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and Pakistan committed to treat an armed attack on one as an attack on all; the legal text was not released. Turkiye is a NATO member and Pakistan a nuclear-armed state. Full article
• Red Sea coalition: the 14-member Saudi-led maritime coalition, formed in late July with Pakistan and Bangladesh but not India, named its commander on August 6. India keeps its own deployments (Gulf of Aden patrols since 2008, Operation Sankalp, IFC-IOR). Full article
• Elsewhere: Lebanon voted to abolish the death penalty (August 11), the second Arab League state to do so after Djibouti; a Damascus court sentenced Bashar al-Assad to death in absentia (August 11); and the United States announced majority control of 17 Venezuelan oil fields (August 28). Lebanon · Venezuela

India’s BRICS Year

The chairship theme is “Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability”. Summit article · Trade ministers · Chennai Declaration

Central Asia and the SCO

On August 30 in Tashkent, India and Uzbekistan raised ties to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, with a framework for long-term uranium supply (the contract itself not yet signed), UPI-QR acceptance and a USD 5 billion trade target for 2030. The 26th SCO Summit opened at Bishkek on August 31, with Pakistan due to take the chair next; its outcomes belong to the September record. India joined the NAM 65th anniversary meeting at Belgrade, which opened on the same day, at ministerial level. Tashkent · Bishkek · NAM at 65

Partners and Neighbours

• Japan: Defence Ministers Rajnath Singh and Shinjiro Koizumi signed a Memorandum of Arrangement on Maritime Security Cooperation (August 20). Full article
• United States: NASA invited ISRO into its Moon base effort under the Artemis Accords (India signed in 2023), at the civil space working group of August 5 and 6. Full article
• Russia: EAM Jaishankar co-chaired the 27th IRIGC-TEC in Moscow (August 24), during a two-day visit. Full article
• Nepal and Bangladesh: relief after the Rasuwa flood, and RCF Kapurthala’s first LHB rake for Bangladesh Railway (August 12). Full article
• UN treaty body: the CERD published concluding observations on India (August 25), which India rejected the next day; concluding observations are non-binding. Full article
• Hiroshima and Nagasaki at 81: India’s doctrine rests on No First Use and credible minimum deterrence (2003); India is outside the NPT and CTBT. Full article

📌 Facts Corner, International Relations

• SR mechanism: 2003; 2005 Agreement on Political Parameters and Guiding Principles; WMCC: 2012
• India-China CBMs: 1993, 1996, 2005 protocol, 2013 Border Defence Cooperation Agreement
• SCO: founded 2001; Secretariat Beijing; RATS Tashkent; India a full member since 2017
• BRICS: first summit Yekaterinburg 2009; New Development Bank, Shanghai (2014)
• Uzbekistan and Liechtenstein: the only doubly landlocked countries
• ICERD: adopted 1965; India ratified 1968; CERD has 18 experts

GS3: Economy & Development

Growth, Prices and Policy

The Monetary Policy Committee held the repo rate at 5.25 per cent on August 5, unanimously and for the fourth time in a row, with a neutral stance; it cut its FY27 inflation projection to 5.0 per cent and raised growth to 6.7 per cent. CPI inflation rose to 4.45 per cent in July (a 19-month high) while WPI stood at 9.78 per cent. The Manufacturing PMI fell to 53.5 (the weakest since August 2021), yet the IIP grew 6.7 per cent in July on its new 2022-23 base. On August 31, real GDP for Q1 FY27 came in at 7.8 per cent (real GVA 8.2 per cent), and the April to July fiscal deficit stood at 26.8 per cent of the full-year target. MPC · CPI · IIP · GDP

Paying for Digital Rails

UPI completed ten years of public operation on August 25, growing from 1.78 crore transactions in FY17 to over 24,162 crore in FY26. The same month opened the question of who pays for it: the Taxation and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill, passed by Parliament, created an enabling power over the zero-MDR rule in Section 10A of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007. It levies no charge itself; any merchant discount rate would have to be set separately. Jan Dhan turned twelve on August 28 with 59.09 crore accounts. UPI at 10 · MDR proposal · Jan Dhan

Banking Regulation

• Urban co-operative banks: on August 5 the RBI resumed “on tap” licensing, frozen since 2004, through draft guidelines open for comment. Full article
• Loan recovery: nine RBI circulars of August 6 create one recovery-agent regime from January 1, 2027: visits only from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., and no remote phone restriction before 30 days past due. Full article
• FCNR(B) swap: the special swap window drew about USD 73 billion by August 21, and the FCNR(B) leg was closed on August 31, a month early. Full article
• Bank leadership: HDFC Bank’s CEO said on August 29 he would not seek reappointment; the successor needs RBI approval under Section 35B of the Banking Regulation Act. Full article

Food, Fuel and Energy

• Sugar: retail prices climbed through August after a crop shortfall; the Centre allowed duty-free raw sugar imports of up to 1 million tonnes and tightened stock limits, and rejected the charge that ethanol diversion caused the spike. Full article
• Coal: 45 thermal plants held critically low stocks on August 25, up from 31 at end-July, because heavy rain in Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh disrupted mining and rail loading. Full article
• Fertiliser: 52 per cent of April to June urea imports came from Egypt, Algeria, Nigeria and Georgia, against none a year earlier. Full article
• Renewables: SECI discovered a record Rs 5.25 per unit for round-the-clock “thermal mimic” power (August 7), and non-fossil capacity crossed 300 GW (as of July 31). Capacity share is not generation share. SECI · 300 GW

Trade and Industry

• E-commerce exports (August 5): DGFT opened an inventory-based lane with an Exporter-on-Record and Seller-on-Record; FDI in the inventory model stays barred for domestic sales. Full article
• MSME payments: the MSMED amendment makes TReDS mandatory for Central PSEs. Full article
• Cabinet (August 19): rail multitracking of about Rs 9,450 crore and a four-lane NH-22 in Bihar. Full article
• States: Maharashtra began its farm-loan-waiver DBT (August 7); the CBDT notified a small-taxpayer foreign-assets disclosure scheme in mid-August, open from August 16. Waiver · Disclosure scheme

📌 Facts Corner, Economy & Development

• MPC: Section 45ZB of the RBI Act; six members; inflation target 4 per cent (plus or minus 2) under Section 45ZA
• Policy corridor: SDF 5.00, repo 5.25, MSF 5.50 per cent
• IIP: NSO; base 2022-23; excludes construction
• Zero MDR on UPI and RuPay debit since January 2020 (Section 10A, PSS Act, 2007)
• PMJDY: launched August 28, 2014; overdraft up to Rs 10,000; RuPay accident cover Rs 2 lakh for cards from August 28, 2018
• Sugar: FRP fixed by the Centre on CACP advice under the Sugarcane (Control) Order, 1966
• Critical coal stock: below 25 per cent of normative stock

GS3: Environment & Ecology

Wetlands and the Courts

Glaw Lake in Lohit district, Arunachal Pradesh, inside the Kamlang Tiger Reserve, became India’s 101st Ramsar site and the State’s first (announced August 3). A day later, on an application concerning Himachal Pradesh in the Godavarman case, the Supreme Court held that its 10-km mining restriction around Uttarakhand’s Asan Conservation Reserve should apply uniformly across contiguous Himalayan terrain, and asked the Centre and the NBWL Standing Committee to verify Himachal’s wetland conservation reserves (August 4). Glaw Lake · Mining buffer

More Rulings on Nature and Duty

• Elephant corridors: in Prerna Singh Bindra v. Union of India (order of August 17) the Supreme Court directed a fresh national corridor survey and held that fear of crop damage cannot justify blocking wildlife movement. Tamil Nadu then notified three corridors linking Hosur to Karnataka, out of 41 validated corridors the Madras High Court had directed it to notify. SC order · Hosur corridors
• Polluter pays needs causation (August 22): the Court set aside the NGT’s Rs 5 crore order over the 2016 World Culture Festival on the Yamuna floodplains. Full article
• Waste as a shared duty (August 18): leaving disposal to sanitation workers alone is “constitutionally unethical”, reading Article 51A(g) with Article 21. Full article

Disasters, Land and Rangelands

• Heatwaves and lightning were added to the notified calamities under SDRF and NDRF norms, taking the list from 12 to 14 (Lok Sabha reply, August 4). Full article
• UNCCD COP17, Ulaanbaatar (August 17 to 28): India launched its first Guide to Grasslands and Open Natural Ecosystems and argued for pastoralists as custodians of rangelands, in the UN International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists. Guide · Rangelands
• Carbosulfan: a draft order of August 25 proposes a complete ban, open for 30 days of comment under the Insecticides Act, 1968. Full article

Species and Benefit-Sharing

• Clouded leopard: India’s first action plan (14 priority landscapes in the Northeast) was publicised on August 4, and Meghalaya launched Mission Clouded Leopard. Full article
• Asiatic lions number 891 (2025 estimation), more of them outside Gir’s core than inside. Full article
• Breeds: ICAR-NBAGR registered 16 new indigenous breeds, taking the national total to 262. Full article
• Access and benefit-sharing: the NBA released Rs 2.82 crore to State Biodiversity Boards (August 22). Full article
• Snow leopard: India presented its science at a Moscow roundtable under the International Big Cat Alliance (August 26). Full article

📌 Facts Corner, Environment & Ecology

• Ramsar Convention: 1971; India acceded 1982; Montreux Record sites in India: Keoladeo and Loktak
• Conservation and Community Reserves: Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Act, 2002
• Notified calamities: now 14, with heatwave and lightning; SDRF under Section 48, DM Act 2005
• UNCCD: 1994; secretariat Bonn; India’s pledge to restore 26 million hectares by 2030
• Clouded leopard: IUCN Vulnerable; state animal of Meghalaya; Snow leopard: Vulnerable since 2017
• Asiatic lion: Endangered; Schedule I; Project Lion announced 2020

GS3: Science & Technology

Human Spaceflight Nears Its Test Flights

The Human Rated LVM3 (HLVM3) has completed development and ground testing of all its propulsion stages, and the crew escape and life support systems have been tested, the Rajya Sabha was told on August 6. The first uncrewed flight, G1, carrying the half-humanoid Vyommitra, is targeted for late 2026. The third National Space Day (August 23), held at Ahmedabad, marked the Chandrayaan-3 landing at Shiv Shakti Point. ISRO’s EOS-05 (GISAT-1A) was set for launch on September 4 on GSLV-F17. Gaganyaan · Space Day · EOS-05

A Private Space Industry

• Astrobase EVEREST (August 7): a Bengaluru start-up unveiled an 800 kN liquid oxygen and methane engine on the full-flow staged combustion cycle, the cycle of SpaceX’s Raptor; a full-engine hot-fire test is still ahead. Full article
• Skyroot and HEX20 (August 6): a three-launch agreement after Vikram-1 reached orbit in July. Full article
• Annapurni Subramaniam of the Indian Institute of Astrophysics received the COSPAR Vikram Sarabhai Medal (August 3), the first Indian woman to do so. Full article

Compute, Telecom and AI

• Param Pragya (August 8): an AI supercomputing facility at IIT Delhi’s Sonipat campus, under the push of the National Supercomputing Mission and the IndiaAI Mission. Full article
• 5G slicing: TRAI proposed (August 5) that each new network slice be filed 21 days ahead as a separate tariff offering. Full article
• SIM limits: DoT will enforce the nine-SIM cap with photograph matching at the point of issue. Full article
• AI agents: OpenAI’s technical report (August 26) on a July incident in which evaluation agents escaped a sandbox and breached Hugging Face brought the question of who regulates cross-border AI failures into GS3 security. Full article

Health and Biotechnology

• African swine fever vaccine: ICAR-NIHSAD, Bhopal, set out the technical details (August 4) of India’s first indigenous vaccine, a live attenuated Genotype II strain grown on a commercial cell line. Full article
• Children’s cold medicines: a notification of August 18 requires chlorpheniramine-phenylephrine combinations to carry a warning against use below age four, under Section 26A of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act. Full article
• Small gas turbines: CSIR-NAL unveiled the NJ-05, NJ-50 and NJ-100 engines for drones and compact missiles (August 25). Full article

📌 Facts Corner, Science & Technology

• Gaganyaan: Crew Module plus Service Module form the Orbital Module; Bharatiya Antariksh Station targeted for 2035
• National Space Day: August 23 (Chandrayaan-3 landing, 2023)
• Engine cycles: gas generator, staged combustion, full-flow staged combustion
• COSPAR Vikram Sarabhai Medal: instituted 1990, with ISRO; Indian winners U.R. Rao, G.S. Lakhina, Anil Bhardwaj, Annapurni Subramaniam
• Network slicing needs a 5G standalone core; slice types eMBB, URLLC, mMTC
• African swine fever: not zoonotic; distinct from classical swine fever

GS3: Security & Defence

Exports and Indigenisation

On August 28 the Department of Defence Production rewrote the export rules: Open General Export Licence coverage went from 41 countries to all countries except sanctioned and sensitive destinations, validity rose from two years to three, and three SOPs merged into one. Defence exports reached a record Rs 38,424 crore in FY26. On the supply side, the Defence Minister cleared the transfer of DRDO technology for all conventional missile systems to Indian industry (August 25), and the 6th Positive Indigenisation List added 405 items. OGEL · DRDO transfer · 6th list

Contracts and Platforms

• Loitering munitions: contracts worth Rs 1,577 crore with Tata Advanced Systems and NIBE (August 14). Full article
• MQ-9B Sea Guardian: a Rs 1,943 crore lease of two drones for the Navy (August 17). Full article
• AK-203 “Sher”: the first fully indigenised prototype completed firing tests at Korwa, Amethi (reported August 23). Full article
• Engines: Reliance and Rolls-Royce announced intent (August 14) to co-develop an AMCA engine, not a signed contract. Full article
• Navy: NGOPV Shruti launched (August 11); ASW shallow water craft Mangrol delivered (August 21); Samarthak, the first multi-purpose vessel, delivered by L&T (August 27). Shruti · Mangrol
• HAL is restarting Su-30MKI production at Nashik for 12 jets, the first due in 2027-28. Full article

Exercises and Internal Security

• Exercises: Udara Shakti with Malaysia (August 10 to 14) and MAITREE-XV with Thailand (August 18 to 31). Udara Shakti · MAITREE
• Border renewables: MHA barred new solar and wind projects within 1 km of the LoC, LAC and International Border, and required clearance within 50 km. Full article
• National Security Strategies Conference (August 24): AI analysis of Multi Agency Centre inputs was directed. Full article
• Operation Mukta (August 8): a Bengaluru identity drive raised the point that Aadhaar does not prove citizenship (Section 9, Aadhaar Act); foreigners law now sits in the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025. Full article

📌 Facts Corner, Security & Defence

• OGEL: an authorisation regime, not decontrol; SCOMET Category 6 (munitions) licensed by the Department of Defence Production
• India is in the MTCR (2016), Wassenaar (2017) and Australia Group (2018), not the NSG
• Defence Industrial Corridors: Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu
• Positive Indigenisation Lists bar imports of listed items after set dates
• Nuclear doctrine (2003): No First Use; Nuclear Command Authority with a Political Council chaired by the PM
• Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025 replaced the Foreigners Act, 1946 and three other laws

Prelims: Reports, Indices & Schemes

Reports and Indices

New Schemes, Missions and Rules

Days and Anniversaries, August 2026

Prelims: Persons & Awards in News

Mains Themes and Editorial Map

Each theme pulls together August’s news and the month’s editorials on it. Use it to build a Mains answer: the news gives the hook, the editorials give the argument.

1. Legislation without deliberation, and the federal balance

News: SC strength Bill passed in minutes, Tribunals Reforms Bill, MMDR Section 9D, Keralam, the 543 freeze resolution. Editorials: Ten Minutes for the Supreme Court (TH) · A Commission on Paper (TH) · Ease of Justice (IE) · Mining an Opportunity (BS) · On Minerals and Mines, Strike a New Federal Balance (IE) · Why 543 Should Remain 543 (TH) · From Parliament’s Inefficiency (IE) Practice question: Bills passed without debate save time but spend legitimacy. Examine with reference to the Monsoon Session of 2026. (GS2, 250 words)

2. India and China: managing a border without settling it

News: 36th WMCC, 25th SR talks, the eight-point consensus, border trade reopened. Editorials: An Awkward Dance of the Dragon and the Elephant (HT) · The Boundary Talks Produced a Consensus (TH) · Why the SCO Now Matters More to India (IE) Practice question: Confidence-building measures have kept the India-China border quiet without resolving it. Assess the eight-point consensus of August 2026 in this light. (GS2, 150 words)

3. West Asia’s new alignments

News: Makkah Joint Defence Agreement, the Saudi-led Red Sea coalition, sanctions on Iran. Editorials: The Mecca Pact and the Rise of Strategic Hedging (TH) · Hedge, Not Alliance (TH) · The Clause That Matters to India (Mint) · The Mecca Pact Is Not About India (HT) · Tharoor’s Case on the Mecca Pact (IE) · The Limits of an Economic D-Day (BS) Practice question: Does the Saudi-Turkiye-Pakistan defence pact alter India’s West Asia calculus? Discuss. (GS2, 150 words)

4. The Himalaya as a hazard zone

News: Rasuwa LDOF, Kerala landslides, Delhi downpour, monsoon deficit. Editorials: Danger From Above (TH) · Nepal, Rishiganga and Dharali (DTE) · The Mountains Are Warning Us (IE) · The Himalaya Serves Another Warning (TH) · The Clock Stopped at 9.29 (TH) · Not the Rain: Kerala’s Floods (DTE) Practice question: Distinguish a glacial lake outburst flood from a landslide-dam outburst flood. Why does the difference matter for early warning in the Himalaya? (GS1, 150 words)

5. Jobs, skills and a restless generation

News: 8.7 crore NEET youth, e-Shram at five, gig workers, the VB-G-RAM-G transition. Editorials: Skilling to Employment (BS) · Root Causes: The Jobs Deficit (TH) · From More Jobs to Better Jobs (IE) · The Wrong Instrument (Mint) · The Algorithm at the Society Gate (HT) · Employment Guarantee Has Slipped Into Limbo (TH) Practice question: A low unemployment rate can coexist with an employment crisis. Explain with reference to recent data on India’s youth. (GS3, 250 words)

6. Who pays for digital public infrastructure?

News: UPI at ten, the MDR proposal and Section 10A, Jan Dhan at twelve. Editorials: The Case for Keeping UPI Free (BS) · Keep UPI Free (IE) · Fair Pricing Could Help Sustain the UPI Network (IE) · Someone Is Already Paying for UPI (Mint) · Financial Democracy (TH) Practice question: Should the merchant discount rate on UPI be restored for large merchants? Weigh the arguments. (GS3, 150 words)

7. Food, fuel and prices

News: the sugar spike and ethanol, the NFSA amendment, FSSAI’s red hexagon. Editorials: Bitter Harvest (BS) · Not Ethanol, But Policy (IE) · From Plate to Plough (IE) · A False Equity Fix (IE) · A Timely Reset for the Food Security Act (TH) · A Healthy Tax (TH) Practice question: “The fuel tank now bids against the kitchen.” Examine the food-versus-fuel trade-off in India’s ethanol programme. (GS3, 250 words)

8. Conservation, courts and development

News: 10-km mining buffer, elephant corridors, the Yamuna polluter-pays ruling, the Kaziranga buffer debate, grasslands. Editorials: The Case Against Shrinking Kaziranga’s Buffer (BS) · Do Not Tamper With Kaziranga’s Buffer (ET) · Supreme Court Has Nurtured Environmental Law (IE) · Beyond the Fence: OECMs (TH) · Not Wasteland (DTE) · One Landscape, 891 Lions (TH) Practice question: India’s courts have long led its environmental law. Are recent rulings a retreat or a recalibration? (GS3, 250 words)

9. AI, security and accountability

News: the AI agent breach, CERT-In reporting rules, creator rights in the Bhopal Declaration. Editorials: The Double Helix: AI and Cyber (TH) · The Rise of Rogue AI (FE) · No News Content for AI Training Without Licences (HT) · Europe’s AI Rules May Become India’s Opportunity (TH) · Governing the AI Elephant (BS) Practice question: Autonomous AI systems create failures that cross borders in minutes. What should India’s regulatory response be? (GS3, 150 words)

10. Clean rolls and a caste count

News: Census 2027 houselisting, caste enumeration, voter-roll revision, the OBC creamy layer case. Editorials: Vote of Trust (TH) · Invisible Actors (TH) · How India Plans to Count Caste (IE) · Count Caste by All Means (IE) · Will the Caste Census Inflate OBC Numbers? (IE) Practice question: What safeguards should accompany the enumeration of caste in Census 2027 so that it informs policy without hardening identities? (GS1, 250 words)