Current affairs relevant to GS3.
On 25 August 2026 the Commission for Air Quality Management ran a special inspection drive in Loni, Ghaziabad under Operation Clean Air. All 28 industrial premises checked were non-compliant. Sixteen units were sealed by the UP Pollution Control Board with the district administration, and notices were served on others.
26 Aug 2026
At a ministerial dialogue at the 17th Conference of Parties of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, India called for rangeland restoration rooted in science, secure tenure and community stewardship. The Environment Minister said restoration begins with pastoralists as custodians, not merely beneficiaries, as PIB reported on 26 August 2026.
26 Aug 2026
A PIB backgrounder of 26 August 2026 explains India's sugar sector and the sudden price rise. Retail sugar went from ₹48.18 a kg on 20 July to ₹55.70 on 20 August 2026, about 15.6 per cent in a month. Lower output, festive demand, global tightness and hoarding are blamed; stock limits, imports and early crushing are the response.
26 Aug 2026
At the National Shipping Board's first Sagar Samvad on 25 August 2026, the Shipping Minister backed a five-point roadmap to add 100 vessels to India's merchant fleet in five years. India pays close to $75 billion a year in freight to foreign lines. Panelists said Indian-flagged ships cost 16 to 20 per cent more to run.
25 Aug 2026
On 25 August 2026 the Raksha Mantri approved the transfer of technology of all DRDO-developed conventional missile systems to the Indian defence industry for production within the country. The aim is to move missiles from development to industrial production, widen the defence industrial base, cut imports and bring MSMEs into the supply chain.
25 Aug 2026
At a review on 25 August 2026, the Finance Ministry said Regional Rural Banks earned a record net profit of ₹10,176 crore in FY 2025-26, up from ₹6,820 crore in FY 2024-25. Business of the 28 RRBs crossed ₹13.5 lakh crore. Gross and net NPAs fell to all-time lows of 5.3 and 2.1 per cent.
25 Aug 2026
At a ministerial dialogue on drought resilience at UNCCD COP17 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, on 25 August 2026, India called for a shift from reactive drought relief to proactive, technology-enabled resilience. The Environment Minister said drought must be managed as a predictable, preventable risk, with preparedness over response and prevention over crisis management.
25 Aug 2026
The Unified Payments Interface, launched on 25 August 2016 by NPCI under RBI oversight, completed ten years in August 2026. Yearly transactions rose from 1.78 crore in FY 2016-17 to over 24,162 crore in FY 2025-26, worth about ₹314 lakh crore. The IMF recognises UPI as the world's largest real-time payment system by volume.
25 Aug 2026
At a side event of UNCCD COP17 in Ulaanbaatar on 24 August 2026, the Environment Minister said India brought 21.76 million hectares under restoration during 2011-2020. The work generated about 1.22 billion person-days of employment. The figures come from India's Second Progress Report on the Bonn Challenge, under which India has pledged 26 million hectares by 2030.
24 Aug 2026
On 24 August 2026 the Vice-President launched India's first non-GMO, high-expansion popcorn maize hybrid seed at Musunuru in Eluru district of Andhra Pradesh. It was developed by Gourmet Popcornica, a homegrown firm. India had long depended on imported hybrid technology for good popcorn maize, so the seed should save foreign exchange.
24 Aug 2026