Current affairs relevant to GS3.
On 25 July 2026 the Petroleum Minister marked the start of drilling of appraisal well MN-DWN18-1-HD in the Mahanadi Offshore Basin. It is the first of four planned deepwater wells. The event sits within HELP, OALP and other exploration reforms that have awarded most active acreage after 2014.
25 Jul 2026
By 30 June 2026 the Start-up Village Entrepreneurship Programme had supported 4.32 lakh rural non-farm enterprises, a PIB backgrounder said on 25 July 2026. SVEP is a DAY-NRLM sub-scheme launched in 2016. About 86% of its entrepreneurs are from SC, ST, Minority and OBC communities.
25 Jul 2026
Under India's BRICS Chairship 2026, NDMA hosted the 3rd BRICS Ministerial Meeting on Disaster Risk Reduction in New Delhi on 24 July 2026. Members unanimously adopted a BRICS Joint Statement on DRR and pledged to speed up the BRICS DRR Work Plan for 2025 to 2028.
24 Jul 2026
Scientists at SASTRA Deemed University, Thanjavur, backed by DST's Nano and Advanced Materials Division, dispersed silica and zinc oxide nanoparticles into a standard electrolyte to make a nanofluid electrolyte. Stable over three months, it curbs zinc corrosion and improves cathode oxygen reactions. Patent IN570691 has been granted.
24 Jul 2026
DPIIT's One District One Product initiative has identified 1,244 products across 773 districts, a Commerce Ministry reply said on 24 July 2026. States choose the products. Market access tools include GeM's ODOP storefront, PM Ekta Malls under SASCI, and the PMFME scheme for food-processing ODOP lines.
24 Jul 2026
Indian Railways' Gati Shakti Multi-Modal Cargo Terminal policy has commissioned 142 GCTs with about 224 MTPA freight handling capacity and roughly Rs 10,000 crore of private investment. Freight handled at these terminals in 2025-26 was 146 MT. In-principle approvals cover 310 more locations.
23 Jul 2026
The Department of Space told Parliament on 23 July 2026 that Aditya-L1 studies solar wind, the corona, near-UV signatures and interplanetary magnetic fields from a halo orbit around Sun-Earth L1. Achievements include the first spectroscopic signatures of a CME's onset phase and detailed analysis of photospheric iron fluorescence across 47 X-class flares in 2024.
23 Jul 2026
DRDO's Gas Turbine Research Establishment designed India's first indigenous expendable turbojet engine in the 350 kg thrust class. Industry partner Azad Engineering, Hyderabad manufactured and assembled the engine and delivered it to GTRE on 22 July 2026, the Defence Ministry said.
23 Jul 2026
DRDO conducted the maiden flight-test of the Kusha long-range surface-to-air missile from APJ Abdul Kalam Island off Odisha on 23 July 2026. The missile intercepted an electronic target simulating a high-speed, high-altitude aerial threat. Missiles, radars and the command centre are indigenous DRDO-industry products.
23 Jul 2026
A study using AERONET data from 171 sites over more than 30 years classifies seven aerosol types worldwide. It finds South Asia is largely affected by dust mixed with pollution, which produces the highest aerosol radiative forcing and atmospheric heating rates among regional patterns discussed.
23 Jul 2026