Current affairs — 18 June 2026

Prelims pointers

• At Jal Jeevan Mission's launch, about 3.23 crore rural households, roughly 17%, had tap water connections.
• The article says more than 15.8 crore rural households, covering over 81% of rural India, now have tap water at home.
• The government is described as moving toward achieving 100% rural household tap-water coverage by 2028.
• WHO's assessment is cited as estimating that SBM-Grameen averted more than three lakh diarrhoea deaths between 2014 and October 2019.
• Under Jal Sanchay Jan Bhagidari, more than 1.55 crore rainwater harvesting and groundwater recharge structures were created by May 31, 2026.

Prelims pointers

• The study was published in Environmental Research Letters and involved researchers from IIT Delhi and KSMDB College in Kollam.
• Researchers analysed Indian rainfall data covering the period from 1905 to 2014.
• The study used fingerprinting to compare observations with computer models and separate natural cycles from human influence.
• The most visible impact was reported in India's core monsoon zone, including West Central India.
• The article says aerosols can suppress rains, while greenhouse gases warm the atmosphere and intensify extreme rainfall risk.

Prelims pointers

• The reported Iran-U.S. MoU promises relief from sanctions on Iranian oil sales and raises ship passage issues in the Strait of Hormuz.
• Before the war, Iran did not exercise a right to charge tolls, and no fee was mandatory for merchant ships transiting the strait.
• The U.S. is to fully end its naval blockade within 30 days and issue waivers for Iranian crude oil and petroleum exports until then.
• Iran is to remove mines and other technical or commercial obstacles within 30 days, while free passage is expressly mentioned for 60 days.
• The article notes that UNCLOS has not been ratified by the U.S., while Iran has signed but not ratified it.

Prelims pointers

• The India-U.K. Double Contribution Convention and CETA are scheduled to come into force on 15 July.
• Sources said the social-security agreement would save Indian companies and workers in the U.K. about $500 million.
• The revised agreement increases the social-security exemption for temporary Indian workers from three years to five years.
• A Commerce Ministry official said the five-year exemption would cover about 90-95% of Indian workers in the U.K.
• Companies will need an Indian government certificate showing social security is paid in India to claim the U.K. exemption.

Prelims pointers

• Telegram challenged the temporary ban before the Delhi High Court, and the article says the ban was set to last till 22 June.
• Section 69A of the IT Act allows blocking of online information on grounds including sovereignty, defence, state security and public order.
• Orders under Section 69A must follow the Information Technology Blocking Rules, 2009, according to the article.
• The source cites Anuradha Bhasin for the proposition that internet-based speech and business rights fall under Articles 19(1)(a) and 19(1)(g).
• Section 79 provides safe harbour to intermediaries for third-party content if they exercise due diligence and act on actual knowledge of illegality.

Prelims pointers

• The IAEA said on June 18, 2026 that it was ready to help define concrete steps to implement a U.S.-Iran deal.
• The article says Donald Trump and Masoud Pezeshkian signed the deal on June 17 to end the West Asia war.
• Under the deal described, Iran would dilute its enriched uranium stocks in return for large-scale economic relief.
• U.S. officials mentioned possible down-blending on site under the supervision of the IAEA, the UN's nuclear watchdog.
• The IAEA estimated Iran had 440 kg of uranium enriched to 60%, and inspectors had not seen it since Iran suspended cooperation.

Prelims pointers

• The Prime Minister is scheduled to launch and inaugurate multiple projects from Hooghly district, West Bengal, on 20 June.
• The 23rd PM-KISAN instalment will transfer about ₹18,880 crore to more than 9.44 crore farmers nationally.
• West Bengal’s PM-KISAN beneficiaries are stated to receive about ₹907 crore for more than 45.35 lakh farmers.
• The programme includes launches of PMFBY, RWBCIS, Agritech, the Natural Farming Mission and PM Dhan-Dhaanya Krishi Yojana in West Bengal.
• The release also mentions PMGSY-III roads, fisheries facilities, a goat semen bank, railway projects and a 300-bed railway hospital.

Prelims pointers

• ICAR-IIOR, Hyderabad developed and demonstrated a biopolymer-based Smart Seed Coating Technology with an Indian patent.
• The coating carries beneficial microorganisms, nutrients, micronutrients, crop protection agents and growth-promoting compounds.
• The technology is designed to improve germination, seedling growth, root development and stress tolerance during establishment.
• Field demonstrations in Telangana showed nearly 30% yield improvement in groundnut and soybean over conventional practices.
• Multi-location AICRP-Seed trials reported productivity gains of 12–37% over untreated controls across several crops.

Prelims pointers

• The Centre approved procurement of pulses and oilseeds at MSP under the Price Support Scheme in four states.
• The four states named in the release are Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.
• Uttar Pradesh received approval for 48,298 MT of moong, 97,970 MT of urad and 41,718 MT of groundnut.
• Gujarat received approval for 18,250 MT of moong for Summer 2026 with MSP value above ₹160 crore.
• Tamil Nadu’s moong procurement limit for RMS 2025-26 was increased from 885 MT to 990 MT.

Prelims pointers

• The Prime Minister addressed a G7 Outreach Session in Evian on safe, rapid and efficient rollout of artificial intelligence.
• He described India’s MANAV or human-centric AI vision as anchored in inclusivity, security and public good.
• The source says India has viewed cyberspace as a global public good.
• One suggestion was that AI systems should be safe-by-design with standards, testing frameworks and regulatory guidelines.
• The Prime Minister called for global cooperation against deepfakes, misinformation and cyber fraud.

Prelims pointers

• The address linked VivaTech 2026 with the India-France Year of Innovation and the recently concluded India-EU Free Trade Agreement.
• The Prime Minister said UPI accounts for half of the world’s real-time digital transactions and can be used in France.
• DigiLocker was described as a major digital document wallet with 700 million users and over 2,000 standard documents onboarded.
• The GatiShakti platform was described as integrating more than 1,600 geographic data layers on a single GIS-based map.
• The speech said more than 31 million property cards had been prepared under SVAMITVA in almost 200,000 villages.

Prelims pointers

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi participated in VivaTech 2026 in Paris along with French President Emmanuel Macron.
• The source describes VivaTech as Europe’s largest technology and start-up event.
• The Prime Minister highlighted India’s vision for human-centric AI and frontier technologies during his address.
• India was the AI Country Partner at VivaTech 2026 and had its largest ever presence at the event.
• More than 80 Indian deep-tech companies and start-ups participated in VivaTech 2026.

Prelims pointers

• TEC, the technical arm of DoT, organised a workshop on advanced satellite communication technologies at its New Delhi headquarters.
• Participants included IN-SPACe, ESA, IIT Delhi and satellite operators such as Amazon Kuiper, Jio Satellite, OneWeb India and Starlink India.
• The workshop discussed Non-Terrestrial Networks and integration of satellite systems with terrestrial 5G and 6G networks.
• Deliberations covered spectrum-sharing models, interoperability frameworks, satellite broadband deployment, QoS and QoE approaches.
• TEC formulates telecom technical standards, specifications and conformity assessment requirements, and represents India in ITU-T and ITU-R.

Prelims pointers

• The Prime Minister addressed the G7 Outreach Session on balanced, shared and sustainable economic growth in Evian, France.
• He said growth should be assessed by inclusion and well-being, not only by GDP or trade numbers.
• The speech linked India’s approach to the G20 motto ‘One Earth, One Family, One Future’.
• IMEC was cited as a way to strengthen supply chains, create investment and employment opportunities, and foster innovation.
• The Prime Minister proposed IMPACT, an International Mobilization Partnership for Accelerating Connectivity and Trade.

Prelims pointers

• The 23rd PM-KISAN instalment will be released on 20 June 2026 from Tarakeswar in Hooghly, West Bengal.
• More than ₹18,880 crore will be transferred directly to the accounts of over 9.44 crore farmers.
• The 23rd instalment will benefit more than 2.18 crore women farmers, according to the source.
• Total PM-KISAN disbursement since 24 February 2019 will exceed ₹4.46 lakh crore after the release.
• PM Dhan-Dhaanya Krishi Yojana implementation in West Bengal will cover Purulia, Darjeeling, Alipurduar and Jhargram.

Prelims pointers

• Government e-Marketplace and CSC-SPV signed a Memorandum of Understanding on 18 June 2026 at the GeM Office in New Delhi.
• GeM is described in the source as India’s National Public Procurement Portal under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
• The new partnership supports sellers from onboarding up to catalogue listing, including vendor assessment and brand approval.
• Fifty GeM Suvidha Kendras will initially be set up on a pilot basis through the CSC network across selected States and regions.
• The earlier GeM-CSC collaboration helped about 5.3 lakh sellers complete registration and profile creation through the CSC network.

Prelims pointers

• The Ministry of Coal held its third roadshow on the surface coal/lignite gasification scheme in Mumbai on 18 June 2026.
• The Union Coal Minister said Maharashtra has five coal gasification projects under development and WCL produces about 70 million tonnes of coal annually.
• The source says India has over 400 billion tonnes of coal reserves and that coal meets over 70% of electricity demand and nearly 55% of the energy mix.
• The National Coal Gasification Mission has an announced target of gasifying 100 million tonnes of coal by 2030.
• The article cites a ₹8,500 crore incentive scheme, with eight projects involving over ₹65,000 crore of investment and ₹6,233 crore of incentive support under implementation.

Prelims pointers

• DFPD launched the Smart Warehousing System for foodgrain storage at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi on 18 June 2026.
• The source describes it as the world’s largest AI and IoT-based technology deployment in public sector foodgrain warehousing.
• The initiative has been implemented across 215 CWC bag-based warehouses, while FCI is deploying it in 150 additional warehouses.
• The system uses FASTag and ANPR gate automation, geo-tagged smart locks, AI bag counting, face recognition and IoT monitoring.
• The Minister said the system will support food security and benefit farmers, warehouse operators and over 80 crore PDS beneficiaries.