Daily Current Affairs - 24 August 2026

Indian hockey player Lalremsiami has been selected for the Arjuna Award 2026.

East Bengal FC won the Durand Cup 2026 for a record-equalling 17th time, defeating Mohun Bagan Super Giant 4-1 at Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata; Edmund Lalrindika scored a first-half hat-trick.

East Bengal women's football club qualified for the AFC Women's Champions League 2026-27 main draw by beating Malaysia's Sabah Football Club 2-0 in Kota Kinabalu.

On Day 1 of the second Test in Colombo, India finished at 300/5; Devdutt Padikkal scored his second consecutive Test century (117 off 193 balls) and Saransh Jain made his Test debut.

The Sports Ministry approved a 492-member Indian contingent for the Asian Games in Japan, comprising 265 male and 227 women athletes; athletics has the largest share with 73 participants including Neeraj Chopra.

At the World Athletics Silver Level Continental Tour in Bhubaneswar, Rohit Yadav won javelin throw with a personal best of 87.68m (fourth-best in the world this season); Murali Sreeshankar won men's long jump with 8.07m.

At the U20 World Wrestling Championships 2026 in Slovakia, Mansi Lather won silver in women's 68kg, while Tanvi Gundesh Magdum (57kg) and Komal (59kg) won bronze medals.

At the 2026 Cincinnati Open, Jessica Pegula beat Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff beat Sara Bejlek to set up an all-American women's final; Frances Tiafoe and Arthur Fils reached the men's final.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah met the Divyang Men's Cricket Team of India after its return from the India-England Men's Mixed Disability T20I Series 2026.

India observed National Space Day 2026 on 23 August under the theme 'Towards Viksit Bharat: Innovating, Collaborating and Aspiring to Global Space Leadership', marking Chandrayaan-3's soft landing near the Moon's south pole on 23 August 2023 (India became the first country to reach the lunar south polar region and the fourth to achieve a soft lunar landing). The main event in Ahmedabad saw ISRO Chairman Dr V Narayanan state that India is number one in nine space areas.

Skyroot Aerospace, described as India's first space-tech unicorn, successfully launched India's first private rocket on 18 July 2026 and has the capacity to produce one rocket per month.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacted with CEOs and founders of 20 space startups and stressed creating trust through consistent government policy for risk-taking in the private space sector.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh laid foundation stones for five expansion projects of GRSE and Yantra India Limited worth about ₹3,500 crore in Kolkata on 23 August 2026; GRSE is also building a cargo ship for Germany.

The Indian Air Force concluded its participation in Exercise Pitch Black 2026 in Australia, flying Rafale jets with over 20 nations, and Exercise Udara Shakti 2026 in Malaysia with the Royal Malaysian Air Force.

Indian Navy sail training ship INS Sudarshini arrived at Lisbon, Portugal on 22 August 2026 as part of Lokayan 26; Lisbon was its 15th port visit in seven months.

Panama-flagged cargo ship MV Ocean Winner with 24 crew members sank about 240 nautical miles off the Odisha coast; the Indian Coast Guard and Navy launched a rescue operation for the crew, which included 20 Chinese, three Myanmarese and one Bangladeshi.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah will attend the 9th National Security Strategies Conference in New Delhi on 24 August 2026; the two-day hybrid conference will see participation of over 850 security and police officers.

NSDC and Cultus Education, with Amazon Web Services, launched a nationwide cloud and AI skilling initiative, targeting 1,50,000 learners for foundational cloud literacy and 10,000 trainees for job-ready skills via AWS re/Start.

The Ministry of Tribal Affairs will organise a three-day National Conclave on Tribal Languages & Museums in Mysuru from 24-26 August 2026; it will upgrade Adi Vaani with five new languages, launch the Adi Vaani iOS app and launch the Tribot platform.

The Ministry of Tribal Affairs has sanctioned 11 Tribal Freedom Fighter Museums across 10 States; four of them have been inaugurated.

The National Commission for Safai Karamcharis celebrated its 33rd Foundation Day on 23 August 2026; compensation has been provided to 1,223 of 1,377 reported sewer and septic tank death families, and it released a missed-call facility and Annual Calendar 2026.

The 87th edition of Fit India Sundays on Cycle, with theme 'Unnat Bharat Abhiyan', was led by Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya and MoS Raksha Khadse in Visakhapatnam; the initiative was organised in nearly 1,800 cities with about 5 million young participants.

Vice President C.P. Radhakrishnan will launch India's first non-GMO high-expansion popcorn maize hybrid seed at Gourmet Popcornica Factory, Musunuru, Eluru district, Andhra Pradesh on 24 August 2026.

The Kailash Mansarovar Yatra through Sikkim's Nathu La route concluded with 464 pilgrims completing the pilgrimage in 10 batches; the yatra began on 20 June 2026.

Law and Justice Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal announced that a national memorial dedicated to Gangu Baba, a Valmiki community hero associated with the 1857 uprising, will be developed.

Minister of State Anupriya Patel said India must move from 'Pharmacy of the World' to 'Laboratory of the World' at the 3rd IIMA Healthcare Summit 2026 and highlighted the ₹5,000 crore PRIP scheme.

The Centre notified the removal of the 12-minute advertisement duration cap for television channels through an amendment to the Cable Television Networks Rules, 1994.

At the 50th Foundation Day of NBSS & LUP in Nagpur, ICAR Director General Dr M.L. Jat said the bureau has developed India's first soil texture map using remote sensing and satellite data.

BRICS Sports Ministers' Meeting 2026 adopted the BRICS Sports Joint Declaration in Visakhapatnam under India's BRICS Chairship; it proposed the first BRICS Sports Manufacturing Conclave in Udaipur in November 2026 and BRICS Traditional and Indigenous Sports Demonstration Games in Ahmedabad in October 2026.

Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal will lead India's largest-ever business delegation to Japan from 24 to 27 August 2026, covering Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka; he will hold bilateral talks with Japan's METI Minister Akazawa Ryosei and address Keidanren.

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar reached Moscow on a two-day visit to co-chair the 27th India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation with Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov.

More than 70 British Parliamentarians wrote to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urging intervention over the worsening situation in Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK).

The DR Congo government and the M23 rebel group agreed on a roadmap for peace negotiations during meetings held in Switzerland from 17 to 21 August 2026 under the Doha peace process.

As of March 2026, natural farming clusters covered 8.80 lakh hectares with 18.19 lakh enrolled farmers; 25.89 crore Soil Health Cards had been generated, and 109 lakh hectares were under Per Drop More Crop as of May 2026.

India's agriculture and allied sectors recorded a decadal growth of 4.45% during FY16-FY25, the highest among previous decades.

Foreign Portfolio Investors invested ₹23,544 crore in Indian equities in August 2026, including ₹14,118 crore through stock exchanges and ₹9,426 crore through the primary market.

In the week ending 22 August 2026, MCX October gold futures settled at ₹1,62,438 per 10 grams and September silver futures at ₹2,46,597 per kg, rising for the third consecutive week.

Canada announced dollar-for-dollar retaliatory tariffs on U.S. steel, electronics and other goods effective 8 September 2026 after the U.S. imposed 50% tariffs on Canadian imports.

ICMR clarified that no new H1N1 strain has been identified in India; currently circulating influenza strains are well matched with Northern Hemisphere vaccine strains and have been in circulation since 2025.

Australia confirmed its first case of H5N1 bird flu in a mammal after the virus was found in a long-nosed fur seal at Beachport, South Australia; over 13,000 baby seals were killed by H5N1 on sub-Antarctic Heard Island.

Russia's parliamentary elections are scheduled to be held from 18 to 20 September 2026.

BJP president Nitin Nabin welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the BJP headquarters for the PM's first interaction with the newly appointed 65-member national office-bearers team, which includes 51 new faces.