Current affairs relevant to GS3.
On 17 August 2026 the Ministry of Defence signed a contract worth about ₹1,943 crore with General Atomics Aeronautical Systems to lease two MQ-9B Sea Guardian High-Altitude Long-Endurance remotely piloted aircraft for the Indian Navy for 30 months. They will boost maritime domain awareness with persistent surveillance across the Indian Ocean Region.
17 Aug 2026
The Periodic Labour Force Survey bulletin for July 2026, released on 17 August 2026, shows labour force participation rising to 55.4 per cent from 54.4 per cent in June. The worker population ratio rose to 52.5 per cent and unemployment fell to 5.1 per cent. Female participation climbed to 34.4 per cent, led by rural women.
17 Aug 2026
On 16 August 2026 the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence said it had broken a network that imported South-East Asian areca nuts by declaring them as Bangladeshi. This let importers claim full customs duty exemption under SAFTA instead of paying 100 per cent basic duty. Duty evaded is estimated at over ₹2,500 crore; nine people were arrested.
16 Aug 2026
India hosts the 12th BRICS Environment Ministers Meeting at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi, on 18 August 2026, after a Senior Officers' Meeting on 17 August. As BRICS Chair for 2026, India has set four priorities for the Environment Working Group: sustainable lifestyles, forests and fire, circular economy, and community-led adaptation.
16 Aug 2026
NIELIT, under MeitY, launched CYBER KUSHTI 2026 on 15 August 2026. It is a national cybersecurity and AI hackathon that tests judgment rather than speed. Teams get the same flawed security report, with false, duplicate and genuine findings, and must correct and rank it. CERT-In is the Knowledge Partner; the final is on 9 October 2026.
16 Aug 2026
Aheesa Digital Innovations, a Chennai fabless chip startup backed by the Design Linked Incentive (DLI) Scheme, achieved first-pass silicon success with VIHAAN on Independence Day 2026. VIHAAN is a networking System-on-Chip for fibre broadband built on the indigenous VEGA microprocessor. Production tape-out is targeted for 2027.
15 Aug 2026
On 15 August 2026 the Principal Scientific Adviser launched the RSVC-AMRIT platform, developed by NABARD with his office. AMRIT is the digital backbone of RuTAGe Smart Village Centres (RSVCs). It links innovators, startups, funders and rural communities to take affordable technologies to villages. NABARD now supports eight RSVCs.
15 Aug 2026
NITI Aayog has released "India's Services Sector: Insights on Regulatory Regime in Professional Services", the third report in its Services Thematic Series, launched on 10 August 2026. It benchmarks India's rules for professions against select foreign jurisdictions. Professional services make up nearly a quarter of India's services exports.
14 Aug 2026
Wholesale Price Index inflation for July 2026 was 9.78 per cent, slightly below 9.87 per cent in June, the Commerce Ministry said on 14 August 2026. Fuel and power inflation cooled to 20.05 per cent from 27.41 per cent, but primary articles rose to 8.52 per cent and manufactured products to 8.29 per cent.
14 Aug 2026
On 14 August 2026 the Ministry of Defence signed contracts worth about ₹1,577 crore with Tata Advanced Systems Limited and NIBE Private Limited for Loiter Munition Systems for the Indian Army. The systems will add to the strength of Artillery Regiments. They are being bought under the Buy (Indian) category through the Fast Track Procedure.
14 Aug 2026