Current Affairs

Power Secretary reviewed SJVN’s 900 MW Arun-3 run-of-the-river hydropower project on the Arun River (Sankhuwasabha, eastern Nepal), a Koshi tributary. Key works: ~70 m concrete gravity dam, 11.74 km headrace tunnel, underground powerhouse (left bank) with 4×225 MW units. Cost >$1.6 bn; generation 4,018.87 million units/year; Nepal’s largest on completion. BOOT via SAPDC (GoI–Himachal JV): 5-year construction, 25-year operation, then transfer to Nepal; Nepal gets 21.9% free power; export Dhalkebar–Muzaffarpur.

Scientists identified a previously unknown monkey species, Likweli (Colobus congoensis), in the rainforests of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, marking Africa’s 5th new monkey species discovery in 75 years. A colobus, it has glossy black fur, orange‑pink lips and a roaring call; it is herbivorous with ruminant-like foregut fermentation and lacks a functional thumb. Small population faces hunting and deforestation; finding reshapes Central African primate evolution.

India-UK Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) has entered into force, giving duty-free access to the UK for 99% of India’s tariff lines and requiring Indian exporters to meet UK food-safety, traceability and certification norms. India will phase tariff cuts (5–10 years) on select UK imports: cars 110%→10% in 10 years (quota; EV/hybrid/hydrogen from year 6), trucks 44%→8.8% by year 5 (quota) and 22% by year 10 (beyond quota), Scotch/gIn 150%→75% then 40%, other spirits 150%→110% (year 1)→75% (year 10), plus cuts on consumer goods, medical devices and silver (0 in 10 years); UK gains in silver and aerospace, and select luxury goods.

At ICAR’s 98th Foundation Day, the Viksit Krishi roadmap (pillar of Viksit Bharat 2047) was unveiled to make agriculture climate-resilient, technology-driven and globally competitive. Targets: 100 Climate Smart Villages before ICAR centenary; One Institute–One Grand Innovation in 2 years; reach 100 million farmers by 100th Foundation Day. Mission ICAR-100 to transform KVKs (≥100 villages/KVK), plus open digital platform, anti-counterfeit legal strengthening, ₹10,000 crore internal resources by 2029, and releases of 43 varieties, 17 technologies, 14 publications.

Centre for Nano and Soft Matter Sciences (CeNS), Bengaluru, an autonomous institute under the Department of Science and Technology, developed a self-powered wearable ammonia sensor for ultra-low detection. It uses a hybrid VOx/VS₂ heterostructure engineered via controlled surface transformation, detecting ammonia down to 319 ppb with high selectivity, room-temperature operation, stable cycling, and >10-week reliability. A threshold-triggered prototype classifies safe/warning/danger for industrial, lab and agricultural leakage-risk settings.

The Union Cabinet, through the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), approved the Mobile Phone Manufacturing Scheme (MPMS) with an outlay of ₹62,500 crore after the Production Linked Incentive Scheme for Large Scale Electronics Manufacturing (PLI-LSEM) ends on March 31, 2026. MPMS runs for 5 years (FY 2026-27 to FY 2030-31) under MeitY, offering 2.25%-5% incentives on eligible sales, plus up to 1.5% for domestic components and 3% for design/R&D, aiming at patents and technological sovereignty.

West Bengal government revised the eco-sensitive zone around Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary (Darjeeling) from 5 km to 1 km. The sanctuary lies in Himalayan foothills between Teesta and Mahananda rivers; began as a 1955 game sanctuary and notified in 1959, mainly to protect Indian bison and Royal Bengal Tiger. Altitude 500–4,300 ft; riverine and mixed-wet forests; 243 bird species, including Central Asian migrants.

An international team sailed to Greenland to assess if rapid glacier melt could disrupt a key Atlantic Ocean current system. Greenland, the world’s largest non-continent island, lies in the North Atlantic between North America and Europe; geographically part of North America; an autonomous Danish province (former colony). It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean (N), Greenland Sea (E), North Atlantic (SE), Davis Strait (SW) and Baffin Bay (W). Capital: Nuuk; polar climate (to −50°C in winter, 10–15°C in summer); highest point: Gunnbjorn’s Fjeld; resources include coal, iron ore, lead, zinc, molybdenum, diamonds, gold, platinum and niobium.

RBI issued a draft “Guidance on Regulatory Expectations for Data Governance” for all Regulated Entities, including commercial banks and NBFCs, mandating stronger data risk management, security and accountability. It requires a two-tier structure: a board-level Data Governance Committee and an executive cross-functional committee. Frameworks must follow proportionality and pillars of accountability, integrity, transparency, auditability, traceability and standardization; establish a Single Source of Truth; undergo internal/external audits; ensure third-party data liability; and be led by a senior executive (≥ CGM), with defined Data Owner/Steward/Custodian roles.

The State of Palestine welcomed India’s announcement of three development projects for Palestinians: a Speciality Hospital to strengthen a compromised healthcare network with depleted facilities, equipment and essential pharmaceuticals; an Artificial Limb Fitment Centre to provide long-term care, prosthetics and physical rehabilitation for thousands who lost limbs during military campaigns; and a Vocational Training Institute to impart technical skills for rebuilding communities and reviving the economy.

The rare Laudankia Vine Snake (Ahaetulla laudankia) was photographed in Udaipur’s Ubeshwar area, the first record from Udaipur in 30 years. A diurnal, arboreal species of dry deciduous forests, scrublands and hill slopes, it is slender, chestnut-brown with black speckles, long snout and horizontal pupils; adults 80 cm–1.5 m. Endemic from Eastern Ghats through central India to eastern Rajasthan; rare in Rajasthan. Diet: lizards, geckos, small frogs and birds. Mild venom, not dangerous to humans.

Indian Air Force launched AS-HAPS to develop unmanned High-Altitude Pseudo Satellites operating in the stratosphere (20–30 km) for long-duration, lower-cost persistent ISR and data relay. Authorised through Directorate of Operations (Remote), it follows Make-I with up to 70% Centre funding for prototypes. A steerable repositionable airship will carry optical, ELINT and communications payloads; domestic sensors/radars planned; fixed-wing HAPS also envisaged. Global context: EUROHAPS/Stratobus, US tests, China balloons.

The Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare accepted the Registration Committee’s recommendation (under the Insecticides Act, 1968) to ban paraquat dichloride in India. Paraquat is a chemical herbicide used against broadleaf weeds and grasses and as a harvest-aid desiccant (e.g., cotton); it destroys plant tissue on contact with no residual soil activity. The ban covers manufacture, import, transport, distribution, sale and use, citing adverse health effects, poisoning incidents, high fatalities and no specific antidote; it is already banned/restricted in 70+ countries.

Chief Justice of India Surya Kant notified four special division benches in the Supreme Court to exclusively hear and dispose the oldest pending cases, segregating them from fresh miscellaneous filings. Two civil benches are headed by Justices P K Mishra and S V N Bhatti, and two criminal benches by Justices Manoj Misra and Ujjal Bhuyan. Old matters will be heard uninterrupted on Tuesdays–Thursdays; miscellaneous matters on Mondays and Fridays. Pendency has crossed 90,000; 75,402 fresh filings occurred in 2025, aided by e-filings and virtual hearings.

Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune, using primary Southwest monsoon measurements over the northern Western Ghats and Pune, found ~25% of monsoon rain mass evaporates below-cloud before reaching ground, with day-to-day loss ranging 4–61%, driven by ambient temperature, heat and dry air. It used isotopic enrichment, freezing/trapping vapour and rain, laser spectrometry, and a below-cloud interaction model; larger monsoon drops and higher humidity limit losses.

NABARD facilitated GI registration for 28 new products, including handicrafts, handloom textiles and bamboo crafts from multiple states. Established in 1982, headquartered in Mumbai, NABARD is the Government of India-owned apex development finance institution regulating and promoting sustainable agriculture and rural development. It has supported 176 GI products, strengthens value chains via GI Facilitation Centres, and runs a GI store at Aihole, Karnataka.

NABARD launched Gramodyam, an entrepreneurship development programme to unlock rural India’s entrepreneurial potential. Implemented by NSDC under the Union Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, and delivered through the Institute for Industrial Development, it targets about 4,000 entrepreneurs in three years across all States/UTs. It uses a digital-first hybrid model, provides counselling, training, mentoring, credit/market linkages, e-KYC verification, digital loan support, and real-time tracking via NSDC’s platform.

In Auckland, the Prime Ministers of India and New Zealand announced the India–New Zealand Strategic Partnership Roadmap to 2030 covering trade, defence, tourism, culture and Indo-Pacific priorities. Outcomes included Indo-Pacific maritime dialogue/security dialogue; hydrography/nautical cartography arrangement; mutual naval logistics support; counter-terrorism JWG; NDMA–NEMA disaster risk cooperation (earthquakes, tsunamis, coastal hazards, resilience); animal husbandry/dairying; tourism MoA (India Tourism–NZ MBIE); sports action plan; NMHC Lothal (Gujarat) museum collaboration; cultural exchanges; trade target NZD 7 billion by 2030 under an FTA; NZ joining IPOI (Maritime Security Pillar) on IUU fishing and Global Biofuels Alliance; kiwifruit centres in Nagaland and Uttarakhand; MoUs: NCPOR Goa–University of Canterbury and NIFTEM-K Kundli–Massey University.

The 28th CITES Plants Committee meeting (PC28) is underway in Geneva, the first plant-focused session since CoP20 (Samarkand, Uzbekistan, Nov–Dec 2025), starting a 3-year cycle to CoP21 (Panama City, Nov 2028). A permanent CITES scientific body, it advises on trade-regulated species; nomenclature standardises permits across 185 parties; fungi features separately first time. CoP20 retained protections for red doussié, African padauk and Parlatore’s podocarp; added Chilean palm to Appendix I; listed guggul (Commiphora wightii) in Appendix II with retail-product exemptions; India sought stronger scientific basis. India kept Aquilaria malaccensis out of Review of Significant Trade, citing cultivation in Assam, Manipur, Nagaland and Tripura; secured higher agarwood export quota and joined guidance working group.

Pandavani exponent and folk singer Teejan Bai (Pardhi Scheduled Tribe) died in Raipur on 5 July 2026, aged 70. She performed the physical Kapalik style (traditionally male). Honours: Padma Shri (1988), Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (1995), Padma Bhushan (2003), Padma Vibhushan (2019). Pandavani—ancient Mahabharata narration from Chhattisgarh; “Pandava”+“Vani”; themes heroism, dharma, justice, devotion; Bhima-centred; Chhattisgarhi dialect; solo-lead with chorus, tabla, harmonium, manjira, kartal.

June 2026 fourth rhino census in Dudhwa Tiger Reserve (Indo-Nepal border, Lakhimpur-Kheri, Uttar Pradesh) counted 53 Indian/greater one-horned rhinos (Rhinoceros unicornis): net +5 since last count despite 3 mortalities. Uttar Pradesh is among only three wild-range states (Assam, UP, West Bengal). DTR manages RR1 (6) and RR2 (36) enclosures; 11 released free-ranging. Reintroduction began 1984–85 with 7 founders from Assam and Nepal. Habitat: Terai grassland-swamp; fauna includes Bengal tiger, barasingha, Asian elephant. Status: IUCN Vulnerable; CITES Appendix I; WPA 1972 Schedule I.

A study reported filtering tritium (radioactive hydrogen) from nuclear wastewater using a stainless-steel mesh coated with MOF NH₂-MIL-101(Cr). It targets tritiated water (HTO), chemically identical to normal water and hard to separate in conventional gravity-based towers. The MOF raises contact surface area 32-fold; chromium-oxygen clusters bind tritium and swap it with hydrogen, achieving 42.5 theoretical plates/m, reducing ocean releases (Fukushima context). Tritium is readily absorbed by organisms. Nobel-recognised MOF developers cited: Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson, Omar M. Yaghi.

Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) is preparing India’s first national standard for mangrove ecosystem restoration. Proposed voluntary guidelines include eco-friendly planting materials (biodegradable/cloth bags replacing polythene), livelihood-linked plantations (fruit trees on landward side), scientific zoning to place suitable species at tidal spots to restore micro-ecosystems and native fauna, and community benefit frameworks for carbon credits. BIS is urging MoEFCC and state mangrove cells to adopt it as mandatory protocols, factoring regional salinity, tidal, geographic and settlement variations.

In the WDMMA 2026 Global Air Power Rankings, the Indian Air Force (IAF) is ranked 3rd among independent air forces (after the US and Russian Air Forces) and 6th overall among all military air branches. WDMMA uses the True Value Rating (TVR) assessing capability over numbers across fighting strength, fleet quality and support. IAF: 1,716 aircraft, TVR 69.4.

India hosted the 13th ASEAN‑India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA) Joint Committee meeting in New Delhi with delegations from all 10 ASEAN members—Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. AITIGA (India‑ASEAN FTA) was signed in 2009, effective from 2010, covering tariff removal/reduction on over 75% of traded goods. The committee guided sub‑committees to finalise outstanding chapters with time‑bound deliverables on National Treatment/Market Access, Rules of Origin and Customs Procedures/Trade Facilitation.