Daily Current Affairs - 13 August 2026

At the 16th Indian Organ Donation Day in New Delhi on August 3, IKDRC, Ahmedabad Civil Hospital and Surat New Civil Hospital received national organ donation awards; IKDRC performed 597 organ transplants in 2025.

Ankit Kumar Pal from Delhi, Manish Kumar Mandal from Bengaluru and Susmita Sain from Guwahati were selected as ITU Generation Connect Youth Envoys for 2026-2030.

The Ministry of Home Affairs unveiled 'PRAHAAR', India's first comprehensive National Counter Terrorism Policy and Strategy, on 23 February 2026 with a seven-pillar framework.

India targets 100 GWe nuclear energy capacity by 2047 and at least five indigenous Small Modular Reactors by 2033; BARC is developing BSMR-200, SMR-55 and an up to 5 MWth High Temperature Gas Cooled Reactor.

Around 440 space technology startups are registered on the Start-up India Portal; IN-SPACe has granted 113 authorisations to 52 Non-Government Entities, and NSIL has signed 118 Technology Transfer Agreements for 83 ISRO technologies.

Chief of the Army Staff General Dhiraj Seth met Punjab Governor Gulab Chand Kataria and Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann in his first such meetings after assuming command.

Rail Coach Factory Kapurthala rolled out the first rake of 19 LHB broad-gauge passenger coaches for Bangladesh Railways, comprising AC and non-AC chair cars and power cars.

Indian Railways approved Kavach Version 4.0 on 660 route km of Izzatnagar Division of North Eastern Railway at an estimated cost of Rs 295 crore.

The Government will launch CBDC-based Direct Benefit Transfer under PMGKAY in Chandigarh and Dadra and Nagar Haveli on 14 August 2026, making them the first UTs to operationalise food subsidy via Digital Rupee tokens.

The 100-Day TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan second phase, launched on 24 March 2026, screened over 2.2 crore vulnerable individuals and detected over 7 lakh new TB cases and 1.97 lakh asymptomatic cases; India recorded a 21% TB incidence decline between 2015 and 2024 per WHO Global TB Report 2025.

PM-RAHAT was launched nationwide on 13 February 2026, providing treatment cover up to Rs 1.5 lakh per road accident victim for up to 7 days; 22,481 victims benefited across 34 States/UTs as on 31 July 2026.

Vibrant Villages Programme-II was approved as a Central Sector Scheme on 2 April 2025 with a total outlay of Rs 6,839 crore till FY 2028-29 for 1,954 select villages in 334 border blocks.

Pradhan Mantri Janjatiya Unnat Gram Abhiyan was launched on 2 October 2024 with 25 interventions by 17 ministries covering 63,843 villages and benefiting over 5 crore tribals in 549 districts.

PM JANMAN covers 75 Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group communities in 18 States and one Union Territory through 11 interventions implemented by 9 line ministries.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah launched the 'Gramin Gyan Setu' app to interconnect libraries in the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency; 752 libraries have joined and four libraries containing 2.80 lakh books have been linked.

PCIM&H and IPC renewed their MoU for the 'One Herb, One Standard' initiative for three years; the first phase developed 50 monographs.

The Atmanirbhar Panchayat Programme is a four-year initiative with 50 projects in the first year and 100 each in the following three years; eligibility includes minimum OSR of Rs 50 lakh for Gram Panchayats and Rs 1 crore for Block Panchayats.

MSDE and NSDC announced the Skills Outcomes Fund with a proposed corpus of Rs 530 crore; payments are linked to milestones of Certification (30%), Job Placement (40%) and three-month Retention (30%).

PMKVY 4.0 has introduced over 600 courses in future skills such as AI, Drone Technology, 5G, Solar Energy, Additive Manufacturing, Semiconductors and IoT; 5.44 lakh candidates trained as on 30 June 2026.

SOAR was launched on 22 July 2025 on Skill India Digital Hub; 5,17,477 learners enrolled and 1,00,664 certified as on 6 August 2026.

Mission Karmayogi's iGOT portal has over 1.7 crore registered users, 5,600 courses in 23 languages and 14.42 crore course completions.

CPGRAMS grievance disposal timeline was reduced from 30 days to 21 days and the AI-powered multilingual chatbot 'Samadhan Didi' was launched; average disposal time in 2025-26 was 14 days.

The first phase of Census 2027 has been completed in 31 States/UTs; Population Enumeration in Ladakh, snow-bound J&K, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand will be from 1-30 September 2026, with self-enumeration from 17-31 August 2026.

Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan was launched on 15 August 2020 in 272 vulnerable districts and extended to all districts from August 2023; Vision Document on Narcotics Control 2026-2029 was released on 26 June 2026.

The Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System saved over Rs 11,158 crore in more than 32.80 lakh complaints till 30 June 2026; I4C blocked over 2,77,053 illegal apps/URLs through the Sahyog portal.

UGC has issued 16 Letters of Intent to foreign higher educational institutions; University of Southampton campus in Gurugram, University of New South Wales in Bengaluru; IIT Madras opened at Zanzibar in 2023, IIT Delhi at Abu Dhabi in 2024 and IIM Ahmedabad at Dubai in 2025.

Under Mission Shakti, 991 One Stop Centres are operational and over 15.20 lakh women have been assisted from 1 April 2015 to 30 June 2026; Women Helpline 181 assisted over 1.04 crore women.

The Palna scheme has 4,172 Anganwadi-cum-Creches operational across India; the Code on Social Security, 2020 came into effect on 21 November 2025 and Section 67 provides creche facilities for establishments with 50 or more employees.

Smt. Archana Varma, a 1995-batch IAS officer of the Assam cadre, took charge as Secretary, Department of Water Resources, RD and GR, Ministry of Jal Shakti, on 12 August 2026.

Dr Bhooma VG (IRPS, Retd) has been selected as Vice-Chancellor of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Public Service and Innovation (AIPSI), Mauritius.

Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran said he will not seek reappointment when his current term ends on February 20, 2027.

Under India's BRICS Chairship 2026, the BRICS Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting was held in Jaipur; the grouping has 11 member countries, and NDB President Dilma Rousseff addressed a seminar on mobilising private capital.

During India's BRICS Chairship 2026, the BRICS Network University conference was held virtually on 20 July 2026 with the theme 'Need and Challenges of Preservation of Traditional and Indigenous Knowledge Systems in the Digital Age'; India proposed Traditional and Indigenous Knowledge System as the 12th International Thematic Group.

India and the Southern African Customs Union signed the Terms of Reference for negotiations towards a Preferential Trade Agreement at Vanijya Bhawan, New Delhi.

India and Nepal signed MoUs for eight development projects in education, health and agriculture worth 803 million Nepali rupees under India's High Impact Community Development Projects framework.

The inaugural World Audio Visual and Entertainment Summit (WAVES 2025) was organised in Mumbai in May 2025 under the 'Create in India, Create for the World' initiative, with participation from over 100 countries.

The Sixteenth Finance Commission recommended total Rural Local Body grants of Rs 4,35,236 crore for 2026-31, including Rs 11,664 crore for Chhattisgarh, with Basic and Performance Grant in 80:20 ratio.

RBI's Financial Inclusion Index increased from 43.4 in March 2017 to 70.0 in March 2026; Global Findex 2025 shows India's account ownership at 89% and 99.92% villages are covered by banking outlets within 5 km.

NSE is the world's largest derivatives exchange by trading volume (contracts) for calendar year 2025.

On World Elephant Day 2026, India stated it is home to over 60% of the world's wild Asian elephants; Synchronous All India Population Estimation 2021-25 estimates India's wild elephant population at 22,446, with 33 Elephant Reserves and 150 identified corridors.

NIOT successfully undertook mobility and system-powering trials of a seabed mining system at a depth of 5,270 m in the Central Indian Ocean Basin under the Deep Ocean Mission.

IMD has 50 Doppler Weather Radars, 1,008 Automatic Weather Stations and 6,885 rain gauge stations; severe weather forecast accuracy improved by 40-50% over the past decade and INCOIS serves as Tsunami Service Provider for 28 Indian Ocean Rim nations.

INCOIS research under the Deep Ocean Mission projects mean sea-level rise along the Indian coastline between 0.62 metres and 0.87 metres by 2100 under a high-emission scenario.

IMD's first stage Long Range Forecast for the 2026 Southwest Monsoon predicted 92% of Long Period Average rainfall, later updated to 90%; cumulative seasonal rainfall was 12% below LPA as on 2 August 2026.

BharatGen, India's multimodal Large Language Model initiative, is anchored at IIT Bombay and supports all 22 scheduled languages with a consortium including IIT Kanpur, IIT Madras, IIT Hyderabad, IIIT Hyderabad, IIM Indore and IIT Mandi.

NIELIT Digital University Platform, launched in October 2025, has reached learners in over 750 districts with more than 2.70 lakh registrations and over 100 courses.

Scientists from SNBNCBS and Ashoka University developed ACSCeND, an AI framework that identifies hidden cancer stem-like cell states; it analysed more than 25,000 tumour samples from TCGA and PRECOG databases.

India's Research, Development and Innovation Fund has an outlay of Rs 1.0 lakh crore; National Quantum Mission Rs 6,003.65 crore, India AI Mission Rs 10,371.92 crore and India Semiconductor Mission Rs 76,000 crore; GERD rose from 0.64% of GDP in 2020-21 to 0.84% in 2023-24.

The National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems has a total outlay of Rs 3,660 crore; 25 Technology Innovation Hubs were established and 4 upgraded as Technology Translation Research Parks at IIT Kanpur, IISc Bengaluru, IIT (ISM) Dhanbad and IIT Indore.

Bhabha Atomic Research Centre has developed 72 improved crop varieties using radiation-induced mutagenesis, including 17 in groundnut, 10 in rice, 9 in mungbean and 9 in mustard.

Colletes bhutanicus, a rare solitary Himalayan bee, was recorded for the first time in India from Tawang district, Arunachal Pradesh by Zoological Survey of India scientists.

Ladakh hosted the first-ever Black-Necked Crane Festival; Changthang Cold Wildlife Sanctuary is the only breeding place of black-necked cranes in India, and the Black-Necked Crane is the State Bird of Ladakh.

Supreme Court asked the 19 remaining States and Union Territories to consider declaring cancer a notifiable disease; 17 of the 36 States/UTs have already notified it.

All India Consumer Price Index inflation for July 2026 is 4.45% (provisional) on base 2024=100; rural inflation 4.84%, urban 3.96% and Consumer Food Price Index inflation 5.52%.

MoSPI revised the National Accounts Statistics base year from 2011-12 to 2022-23; Manufacturing GVA compounded annual growth rate at constant prices during 2022-23 to 2025-26 is 10.88%.

India's foodgrain production reached 376.56 million tonnes in 2025-26 (Third Advance Estimates); PM-KISAN's 23rd instalment released over Rs 18,984 crore to over 9.49 crore farmers.

Under AB-PMJAY, 45.5 crore Ayushman Cards have been issued and 12.69 crore hospitalizations worth Rs 1.92 lakh crore covered as on June 2026; 96.43 crore ABHA health identity numbers and 1.86 lakh Ayushman Arogya Mandirs are functional.

India's public capital expenditure rose from about Rs 2 lakh crore in FY 2014-15 to Rs 12.2 lakh crore in FY 2026-27; rail electrification reached 99.6% by July 2026 and the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail Corridor is 508 km with design speed of 350 kmph.

Digital economy contributes about 12-14% of India's GDP; Semicon 2.0 has an outlay of Rs 1.27 lakh crore and electronics production rose to Rs 13.11 lakh crore in 2025-26, with mobile phones becoming India's largest export product.

Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said India recorded about 15% export growth in April-July 2026 and is targeting USD 1 trillion exports in 2026-27, up from a record USD 863 billion last year; India aims to become a $30 trillion economy by 2047.

India's milk production was 247.87 million tonnes in 2024-25 with per capita availability of 485 grams per day.

PMMSY has a total outlay of Rs 20,750 crore from 2020-21 to 2026-27; fish production in Chhattisgarh increased from 3.14 lakh metric tonnes in 2014-15 to 8.73 lakh metric tonnes in 2024-25.

As on 31 July 2026, UMANG has 2,575 services and 11.66 crore registered users, while DigiLocker has 5,437 document types/services and 72.43 crore registered users.

SEBI relaxed timelines for listed municipalities to submit financial results: half-yearly unaudited results within 60 days and annual audited results within 90 days; it also introduced a two-step escrow account mechanism for municipal debt issuers.

At the Commonwealth Fencing Championship in Lagos, India's medal tally reached 29 (8 gold, 7 silver, 14 bronze); Kanaglakshmi won senior women's foil gold, Rajendran Shanthimol Sherjin won senior men's epee gold, and Singh Karan Singh won senior men's sabre gold.

Sports Ministry suspended recognition of the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) and asked the Indian Olympic Association to form an ad-hoc committee to administer table tennis.

Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa defeated Javokhir Sindarov in the second round of the Sinquefield Cup in St Louis, moving to 1.5 points from two games.

International Youth Day 2026 theme was 'Different Contexts, Common Aspirations'.

The 'Har Ghar Tiranga' campaign is being held from August 9 to 17, 2026; Vice-President C. P. Radhakrishnan flagged off the MPs bike rally at Bharat Mandapam marking 150 years of Vande Mataram.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi released the autobiography of former President Ram Nath Kovind, titled 'Triumph of the Indian Republic: My Life, My Struggles', at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi on 12 August 2026.

Parliament passed the Kerala (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2026 to rename Kerala as Keralam; the Rajya Sabha cleared it by voice vote on 12 August 2026, a day after Lok Sabha passage.

Parliament passed the National Co-operative Development Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2026, enabling NCDC to give loans and grants directly to cooperative societies; NCDC was established in 1963 under the Ministry of Cooperation.

Lok Sabha passed the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026, which prohibits state governments from levying any tax, cess or other levy on mineral rights; introduced by Union Coal and Mines Minister G Kishan Reddy.

The Tribunals Reforms Bill, 2026 was passed by Parliament in August 2026; it proposes a judiciary-led National Tribunals Commission and repeals the Tribunals Reforms Act, 2021.

Lok Sabha referred the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026, to a Joint Parliamentary Committee of 21 Lok Sabha members and 10 Rajya Sabha members, to submit its report by the last day of the first week of the winter session.

The Inquiry Committee report on allegations against former Allahabad High Court Judge Yashwant Varma was tabled in both Houses of Parliament; the Committee was constituted on 12 August 2025 by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla after burnt cash was found at his official residence.

Calcutta High Court cancelled all OBC-A and OBC-B certificates issued under the previous West Bengal government's revised rules; in 2024 the High Court had struck down inclusion of 66 communities in the OBC list.

The POCSO Act, 2012, was amended in 2019 to introduce death penalty for sexual crimes against children; NCPCR has developed the POCSO Tracking Portal for real-time case tracking.