NATIONAL UPDATES:
1. India’s Core Infrastructure Output Rises 5% in June: India’s core infrastructure sectors recorded a 5% year-on-year growth in June 2026, the highest in five months, compared to 1.1% in June 2025. The growth was primarily driven by higher production of cement, electricity, and iron ore. The Index of Core Industries (ICI) has been revised with a new base year of 2022–23, replacing the previous base year of 2011–12. Iron ore has been included in the Index of Core Industries, increasing the number of core sectors from eight to nine.
2. Policybazaar Names Amitabh Bachchan as Brand Ambassador: Policybazaar has appointed Amitabh Bachchan as its new Brand Ambassador to strengthen awareness about health insurance and term insurance across India. The company launched a nationwide campaign titled “Parivaar Sabse Pehle”, encouraging families to prioritise financial protection by purchasing insurance at the right time. The campaign supports IRDAI’s “Insurance for All” vision, aiming to increase insurance penetration through television, digital, OTT, and social media platforms.
3. Rahul Himalian Takes Additional Charge as IRCTC CMD: Rahul Himalian, Director (Tourism & Marketing), IRCTC, has been entrusted with the additional charge of Chairman & Managing Director (CMD) of IRCTC following the resignation of Sanjay Kumar Jain. A 1999-batch Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS) officer, Rahul Himalian has over 26 years of experience in the Indian Railways and IRCTC and has served as a Whole-Time Functional Director on the IRCTC Board since 16 February 2024.
4. What are Ethanol ATMs?: Ethanol ATMs are proposed dispensing kiosks in India for selling ethanol in canisters for cooking use. The Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas is preparing a policy for wider use of ethanol as a mainstream cooking fuel, with a target timeline around September 2026. The proposed machines are expected to function at fuel retail outlets, where consumers can buy ethanol in sealed canisters. The canisters are designed with metal or thick plastic bodies and sealed lids, and they are meant to connect to specially designed ethanol stoves. State-run oil marketing companies are involved in research on ethanol-powered cooking stoves and pilot kiosks. The pilot installations are expected to test consumer response before wider deployment. India’s ethanol production capacity has crossed 20 billion litres annually, and it is projected to reach 24 billion litres by March 2027.
5. Mission Golden Spice for Lakadong Turmeric: Union Minister for Development of North Eastern Region Jyotiraditya M. Scindia and Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma launched Mission Golden Spice – Integrated Lakadong Turmeric Value Chain Enhancement Project in New Delhi on 21 July 2026. The project is a five-year initiative from 2026 to 2030 with a financial outlay of Rs. 175.45 crore. The mission aims to expand the cultivation area from about 2,500 hectares to 7,000 hectares by 2030. It also targets annual production of 49,400 metric tonnes and an increase in farm-gate income from Rs. 30-40 per kilogram to about Rs. 80 per kilogram. The project plans to benefit more than 17,500 farmers, with 99% of them being women, mainly in the West Jaintia Hills and East Jaintia Hills districts. The initiative also seeks to create around 3,000 jobs and build a Rs. 100-crore local value-chain economy by fiscal year 2028-29. The project includes activities such as cultivation expansion, processing, branding, and market linkage for turmeric-based products.
6. Government Announces ₹40,000 Crore Mine Closure Corpu: The Government of India launched a corpus of about ₹40,000 crore on 22 July 2026 for scientific closure of coal mines in New Delhi. The plan covers 147 coal mines over the next two to three years and includes a 25% allocation of approved mine closure cost for community development over the next decade. The Ministry of Coal signed an implementation agreement with Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit, a German development agency, for technical cooperation on mine closure and repurposing. The project is supported by Germany’s BMZ, co-financed by the European Union, and has a total project volume of €10 million until 2030.
7. Udmaroo Bridge Inaugurated Over Shayok River in Nubra: The Udmaroo Bridge over the Shayok River was inaugurated in the Nubra district of Ladakh on 21 July 2026. The bridge was built at a cost of ₹27.18 crore under the Union Territory Administration’s Special Development Package and is designed to improve road connectivity in a remote border region. The bridge connects settlements in the Nubra region of Ladakh. It shortens the distance between Udmaroo and Hundri villages, and between Terchey and Skuru villages, by about 35 kilometres. The project includes around 230 metres of approach roads. The bridge provides all-weather connectivity in the Nubra area. It also improves access to Sham Gombo, also known as Yarma Gonbo, a Buddhist pilgrimage site in Ladakh. The project is expected to benefit nearly 1,000 residents of the surrounding villages.
INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:
1. Andy Burnham Sworn in as 59th Prime Minister of the United Kingdom: Burnham became the 59th Prime Minister of the United Kingdom after being invited by King Charles III to form a new government, succeeding Keir Starmer. Burnham was elected Leader of the Labour Party unopposed and became the seventh Prime Minister of the UK in the last decade.
2. Senegal’s President Bassirou Diomaye Faye Elected ECOWAS Chairman: Senegal President Bassirou Diomaye Faye has been elected as the Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), succeeding Sierra Leone President Julius Maada Bio. As ECOWAS Chairman, Faye will lead the 15-member regional bloc, focusing on regional security, economic integration, and democratic governance in West Africa. ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) is a regional economic organization established on 28 May 1975 through the Treaty of Lagos to promote economic integration, regional cooperation, and peace among West African countries.
3. Headquarters: Abuja, Nigeria | Members: 15 West African countries (currently, following the withdrawal of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger in 2025, ECOWAS has 12 active member states). France Bans Social Media for Children Under 15: France’s parliament approved a law on 21 July 2026 that bans social media access for children under 15 years of age. France became the first European Union member state to adopt a nationwide restriction of this kind for social media use by minors. The law applies to major social media platforms and requires age verification tools for compliance. It is linked to France’s digital regulation framework and to the role of Arcom, the country’s audiovisual and digital communications regulator. The ban will be introduced in two stages. From 1 September 2026, children under 15 will be blocked from creating new social media accounts, and from January 2027, the restriction will extend to existing accounts. The law includes exceptions for online encyclopedias, educational directories, and scientific directories. These categories are treated separately from social networking services under the legislation.
4. India and UAE sign MoU for food processing cluster: On 21 July 2026, the Andhra Pradesh Economic Development Board signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the UAE Food Cluster to establish a food processing cluster in Andhra Pradesh. The agreement was signed in Amaravati in the presence of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and UAE Minister of Economy and Tourism Abdulla Bin Touq Al Marri. A food processing cluster is an industrial concentration of units linked to processing, packaging, storage, and export of agricultural produce. In this case, the proposed cluster is linked with horticulture, aquaculture, logistics, and cold-chain infrastructure in Andhra Pradesh. Dubai-based Floor Masters International announced an initial investment of ₹100 crore on 21 July 2026 for a food processing unit at Gangadhara Nellore in Chittoor district. The unit is planned as an export base for nearly 25 countries, with food products manufactured for overseas markets.
5. India’s First AI-Powered Bird Sanctuary Announced: India’s first AI-powered bird sanctuary has been announced for development at the Thane Creek Flamingo Sanctuary in Mumbai, Maharashtra. The project is named Bhandup Bird Park and has received administrative approval with an allocation of ₹45 crore from the District Planning Committee’s special fund. The sanctuary will come up over about 20.09 hectares along the Thane Creek shoreline. Thane Creek Flamingo Sanctuary is a designated Ramsar site, which places it among wetlands of international importance under the Ramsar Convention. Only 0.35 hectares of the project area will be used for physical infrastructure. The remaining area will be retained for ecological features and habitat-related facilities. The project includes a 2.16-kilometre mangrove nature trail, observation towers, and viewing decks. Mangroves are salt-tolerant coastal plants that grow in intertidal zones and support fish, birds, and other wetland species.
6. AI Solves Jacobian Conjecture Problem: The Jacobian Conjecture, proposed in 1939 by German mathematician Eduard Ott-Heinrich Keller, is a long-standing problem in algebraic geometry and polynomial mappings. On 20 July 2026, mathematician Levent Alpöge, associated with Harvard University and Anthropic, announced that the AI model Claude Fable 5 helped disprove the conjecture by finding a counterexample. The Jacobian Conjecture concerns polynomial maps and asks whether a map with a non-zero constant Jacobian determinant must always have a polynomial inverse. In mathematical terms, the conjecture deals with global invertibility of polynomial functions in several variables. The AI-assisted result produced a 216-character formula that met the required constant determinant condition but could not be reversed by a polynomial inverse. The counterexample included three distinct input coordinates, namely (0, 0, 1/4), (1, -3/2), and (-1, 3/2), which all mapped to the same output (1/4, 0, 0, 0).
7. India, North Macedonia Expand Trade, Technology Ties: India and North Macedonia agreed to expand cooperation in trade, technology, tourism, talent and healthcare during President Droupadi Murmu’s visit to North Macedonia on 21-22 July 2026. The visit was the first bilateral visit by an Indian President to North Macedonia since diplomatic relations were established in 1995. The discussions covered the “three Ts”, namely trade, technology and tourism, along with talent. The identified sectors included information technology, IT-enabled services, artificial intelligence, digital technology, agriculture, food processing, pharmaceuticals, textiles, biotechnology, tourism, hospitality and filmmaking. Both countries discussed direct connectivity to support trade and tourism. India also committed to doubling training slots for North Macedonia under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation programme, with artificial intelligence courses included.
OTHER UPDATES:
DEFENCE
1. Centre Announces 50% Quota for Ex-Agniveers in CAPFs: The Union government announced a 50% reservation for retired Agniveers in recruitment to Constable (General Duty) posts in the Central Armed Police Forces and Rifleman posts in the Assam Rifles. The policy was placed before the Lok Sabha on 21 July 2026 through a written reply by the Minister of State for Home Affairs, Nityanand Rai. The Ministry of Home Affairs has created a separate category called Ex-Agniveers for recruitment into CAPFs and the Assam Rifles. The arrangement applies to Constable (GD) and Rifleman posts, which are entry-level uniformed positions in India’s internal security structure. CAPFs include the Central Reserve Police Force, Border Security Force, Central Industrial Security Force, Indo-Tibetan Border Police, Sashastra Seema Bal, and Assam Rifles. These forces function under the Ministry of Home Affairs and handle border guarding, internal security, counter-insurgency, and protection of vital installations.
2. Paras Defence to Set Up $644 Million Semiconductor Packaging Facility: Paras Semiconductors Private Limited, a subsidiary of Paras Defence and Space Technologies Limited, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the MP State Electronics Development Corporation on 22 July 2026. The MoU covers a greenfield advanced integrated circuit packaging and Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test facility in the Indore-Ujjain region of Madhya Pradesh. OSAT stands for Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test, a segment of the semiconductor value chain that covers assembly, packaging, and testing of chips. The proposed facility includes 3D heterogeneous integration, 2.5D and 3D advanced packaging, hybrid bonding, ultra-high-density fan-out packaging, chiplet integration, wafer bumping, and flip-chip assembly. The project involves a proposed investment of about ₹6,200 crore, which is equivalent to about US$644 million. The facility is planned to support domestic semiconductor manufacturing capacity and align with the India Semiconductor Mission.
SPORTS
1. Peacko Unveiled as Official Mascot of BWF World Championships 2026: Union Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya and Badminton Association of India (BAI) President Himanta Biswa Sarma unveiled the official mascot “Peacko” and launched the official championship anthem for the BWF World Championships, New Delhi 2026. Peacko, inspired by the Indian Peafowl (India’s national bird), will lead BAI’s nationwide fan engagement campaign ahead of the championship.
The 30th edition of the BWF World Championships will be held in New Delhi from 17–23 August 2026, featuring over 400 players from more than 50 countries.
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
1. Earth’s Second-Oldest Orbicular Rock Found in Madhya Pradesh: The Pichhore orbicular granite near Kutawali village in Shivpuri district, Madhya Pradesh, has been dated to about 2.56 billion years. It is the second-oldest known orbicular rock in the world, after a similar formation in Western Australia. Orbicular granite is a rare igneous rock that contains orbicules, which are spherical or rounded structures formed within the rock mass. These orbicules are commonly made of quartz and feldspar and may show concentric layers similar to tree rings. Scientists used Uranium-Lead, or U-Pb, zircon dating to determine the age of the Pichhore granite. Zircon is a mineral widely used in geochronology because it can preserve isotopic information for billions of years. The rock crystallised around 2.56 billion years ago during the Neoarchean Era. Inherited zircon crystals in the sample were as old as 3.5 billion years, which places them among the oldest mineral records in the Indian shield.
2. Five New Allographa Species Found in Western Ghats: Five new species of lichen-forming fungi from the genus Allographa have been identified in the Western Ghats of India. The discovery was made by scientists from the MACS Agharkar Research Institute (ARI), Pune, which functions as an autonomous institute under the Department of Science and Technology. Allographa belongs to the lichen-forming fungi group and is studied in taxonomy, ecology, and biodiversity research. Lichens are composite organisms formed by a fungal partner and a photosynthetic partner, usually an alga or cyanobacterium. The five newly described species are Allographa keralensis, Allographa nayakae, Allographa paraconsanguinea, Allographa persistinspersa, and Allographa semicarbonisata. The name Allographa keralensis refers to Kerala, and Allographa nayakae honours Indian lichenologist Dr. Sanjeeva Nayaka.
3. ICMR Transfers Indigenous Medical Technologies for Commercialisation: The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) transferred indigenous medical technologies for commercialisation through its Medical Innovations Patent Mitra initiative. On 21 July 2026, ICMR licensed three biomedical technologies to Indian pharmaceutical and vaccine manufacturers, including Emcure Pharmaceuticals Ltd. and Biological E Ltd. SHetA2 is a novel anti-HPV therapeutic candidate developed for Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia (CIN), a precancerous condition of the cervix. ICMR licensed SHetA2 to Emcure Pharmaceuticals Ltd. for further development and commercial use. SHetA2 was developed through collaboration between Dr. Showket Hussain of ICMR-National Institute of Cancer Prevention and Research (ICMR-NICPR) and Dr. Doris M. Benbrook of the Stephenson Cancer Center, University of Oklahoma, USA. Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a major cause of cervical cancer, and CIN is classified as a precursor lesion in cervical disease.
BANKING AND FINANCE
1. UPI User Base Crosses 55.49 Crore; FY26 Transactions Reach ₹314 Lakh Crore: As of June 2026, nearly 55.49 crore users have been onboarded on the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), according to the government. During FY 2025–26, UPI recorded 24,162 crore transactions with a total transaction value of ₹314 lakh crore. To enhance security and transparency, the Government, RBI, and NPCI have introduced measures such as risk-based transaction limits, safeguards against unauthorised mobile number changes, enhanced app security, and expanded UPI linkage with international payment systems for cross-border payments.
2. India Commissions First Deep Geothermal Wells in Ladakh’s Puga Valley: India commissioned its first and deepest geothermal wells in Puga Valley, Ladakh. The two wells, each 1,000 metres deep, were inaugurated by Lieutenant Governor V.K. Saxena at an altitude of over 14,000 feet. The geothermal wells were developed by the ONGC Energy Centre and are linked to a 1 MW pilot geothermal power project, marking a significant step in India’s renewable energy programme. A maximum temperature of 135°C was recorded at a depth of 400 metres, with further testing underway to evaluate the geothermal reservoir for future electricity generation. Geothermal energy is derived from the Earth’s internal heat. India has identified major geothermal resource zones in Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Gujarat, and the Andaman & Nicobar Islands.
3. EPFO Launches VISHWAS 2026 Scheme: Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has launched VISHWAS 2026, a one-time dispute resolution scheme for the amicable settlement of damages and penalty-related disputes between EPFO and employers. The scheme will remain operational for six months and provides a fully digital, transparent, and time-bound mechanism to promote voluntary compliance, reduce litigation, and resolve long-pending disputes. Under VISHWAS 2026, damages and penalties for defaults before 14 June 2024 will be recalculated at reduced rates, and applications can be submitted online through the EPFO Employer Portal using a Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) or e-Sign.
AWARDS AND HONOURS
1. Ajit Doval Selected for Lokmanya Tilak National Award 2026: National Security Adviser Ajit Doval has been selected for the Lokmanya Tilak National Award 2026, which will be presented on 1 August 2026 in Pune on the 106th death anniversary of Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak. The award, instituted by the Lokmanya Tilak Smarak Trust, comprises a memento, a citation, and a cash prize of ₹1 lakh. Ajit Doval has been honoured for his exceptional contribution to India’s national security, counter-terrorism operations, covert missions, and border security, including his role in Operation Black Thunder, the Doklam negotiations, and the Balakot air strike.
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