Current affairs — 20 June 2026

Prelims pointers

• Madhya Pradesh will form a State-level task force to deal with organised forest crime.
• The proposed forest-crime task force is to be on the lines of the existing State Tiger Strike Force.
• Chief Minister Mohan Yadav also approved a command and control centre for forests and wildlife.
• Andhra Pradesh has sought tigers and gaurs from Madhya Pradesh, according to the government statement.
• Authorities are planning to transfer one male and one female cheetah to Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary.

Prelims pointers

• Uttar Pradesh’s framework uses Gram Sabha ponds, reservoirs and riverine systems for organised fisheries production.
• Small ponds of 0-2.1 hectares are reserved for traditional fishermen.
• Medium-sized ponds of 1-2 hectares are opened to private players for investment and modernisation.
• Large water bodies above 2 hectares are leased to cooperative societies.
• The State reports over 80,000 hectares of Gram Sabha ponds, 2,205 km of rivers and 342 reservoirs under organised leasing.

Prelims pointers

• Rajasthan’s workshop mobilised CSR support under Mission Saksham Anganwadi Evum Poshan 2.0.
• The Pankhudi portal was launched on January 8 as a platform for transparent and non-cash CSR contributions.
• Rajasthan has 63,000 Anganwadi centres, according to ICDS Rajasthan Director Vasudev Malawat.
• Of these, 3,284 Anganwadi centres operate in dilapidated or damaged buildings.
• Another 11,488 Anganwadi centres in Rajasthan function in rented or temporary premises.

Prelims pointers

• Abhigyan was developed by the National Crime Records Bureau to link portable fingerprint scanners with the NAFIS database.
• The app was launched by Home Minister Amit Shah on June 19, 2026, during the 26th All India Fingerprint Conference.
• NAFIS stores fingerprint scans of accused persons, convicts and prisoners on a centralised platform.
• A demonstration showed that prints could be matched with the NAFIS database in 35 seconds.
• The article says current fingerprint-matching access is through 1,556 workstations at police stations and district headquarters.

Prelims pointers

• Tamil Nadu is finalising an IPR policy that will also cover Geographical Indications.
• Tamil Nadu has set a target to become a $1.5 trillion economy by 2036.
• In 2025-26, Tamil Nadu filed 43 GI registration applications, including 11 by the Patent Information Centre, TNSCST.
• NABARD said it had extended ₹10.38 crore support for GI products, including registration and post-registration activities.
• Lakadong turmeric from Meghalaya was cited as having high curcumin content of more than 7%.

Prelims pointers

• The letter dated May 23 was sent by principals from 19 CBSE schools in Nagaland to Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
• The framework discussed would introduce a compulsory third language from Class 6 onwards.
• Nagaland was described as home to over 17 major recognised tribes and dozens of sub-tribes.
• The principals asked for structured syllabi for Ao, Angami, Sumi, Lotha, Konyak and other major Naga languages.
• The letter said Nagamese is a colloquial language of communication without written script or grammar.

Prelims pointers

• The Supreme Court directed creation of a Young Lawyers’ Professional Assistance Fund in every State and Union Territory.
• The Bench comprised Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice V. Mohana.
• The court said assistance could gradually reduce and end after seven years of practice.
• Possible funding sources mentioned included court fees, costs imposed in proceedings and donations by senior advocates.
• The Bench linked basic facilities for women advocates with the Article 21 guarantee of life and dignity.

Prelims pointers

• The FATF Plenary appointed Vivek Aggarwal of India as incoming vice-president for the July 2026-June 2027 term.
• Vivek Aggarwal is serving as Secretary in the Culture Ministry and has headed India’s delegation to the FATF.
• Aggarwal led a multidisciplinary team during India’s FATF Mutual Evaluation process.
• The FATF release said members approved priorities under the incoming U.K. Presidency.
• Aggarwal will succeed Giles Thomson, who has served as FATF vice-president since July 1, 2025.

Prelims pointers

• The Dongria Kondh are identified in the source as one of India’s Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups.
• They inhabit the Niyamgiri hills across Rayagada and Kalahandi districts in southwestern Odisha.
• The Dongria Kondh are known for horticultural traditions, millet cultivation and forest-linked livelihoods.
• The community shares a spiritual bond with Niyam Raja, a deity they believe resides in the Niyamgiri hills.
• In 2013, the Supreme Court directed gram sabhas to decide on mining in sacred areas, and the gram sabhas rejected the proposal.

Prelims pointers

• Experts wrote to the Chief Justice of India questioning the composition of a Supreme Court-appointed Aravalli review committee.
• The committee is reviewing the Centre’s report on the definition and delineation of the Aravalli hill range.
• The Supreme Court-appointed committee is headed by Kanchan Devi, Director General of the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education.
• The panel was constituted under a May 25 Supreme Court order and directed to submit its report by August 31.
• Critics argued that almost all committee members are serving or retired government officials, raising concerns about independence.

Prelims pointers

• The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees was established in 1949, according to the source.
• The 1951 Refugee Convention initially limited refugee status to displacement from events occurring in Europe before 1951.
• The 1967 Protocol removed the Refugee Convention’s geographical and temporal limits linked to World War II Europe.
• UNHCR reported 35.6 million refugees by end-2025, apart from six million Palestinian refugees under UNRWA.
• India is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention and handles refugee populations on a case-by-case basis.

Prelims pointers

• Pakistan Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi reached Iran unannounced on June 20, 2026, according to the source.
• The visit was the first by a senior Pakistani official after a U.S.-Iran agreement aimed at restoring peace in West Asia.
• IRNA reported that Naqvi would monitor ongoing negotiations between Iran and the United States.
• The U.S.-Iran memorandum reopened the Strait of Hormuz and began a 60-day negotiation window.
• Pakistan is described as the key mediator in the negotiations and a signatory to the memorandum as guarantor.

Prelims pointers

• Israel’s ambassador Danny Danon clashed with UN official Vanessa Frazier at a public hearing in New York.
• The meeting marked the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict.
• Danon demanded the resignation of Pramila Patten, who produced a report that blacklisted Israel for alleged abuses.
• Vanessa Frazier compiled a separate report that also blacklists Israel and said she had verified evidence.
• The source says both the sexual-violence report and the children-and-armed-conflict report also blacklist Hamas.

Prelims pointers

• Iran’s military said on June 20, 2026 that it had once again closed the Strait of Hormuz to vessel traffic.
• Iran cited violations of the first clause of a June 15 U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding and Israeli strikes on Lebanon.
• The memorandum stated that a ceasefire should come into force on all fronts, including Lebanon.
• The source says one-fifth of the world’s seaborne crude oil passed through the Strait of Hormuz before the war.
• U.S. Vice-President J.D. Vance said there was no evidence that Iran was still closing the Strait of Hormuz.

Prelims pointers

• Three Indian-flagged crude oil tankers crossed the Strait of Hormuz on 20 June 2026 and were en route to India.
• The tankers were Desh Vaibhav, Desh Vibhor and Sanmar Herald, according to Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal.
• The Minister said the three vessels carried over 8.6 lakh MT of cargo with 94 Indian crew members.
• Desh Vaibhav and Desh Vibhor are expected to reach Vadinar and Sikka ports on June 24, respectively.
• Sanmar Herald is scheduled to reach Paradip on July 1 after crossing the Strait of Hormuz.

Prelims pointers

• About 38% of mapped Telangana voters had anomalies or logical discrepancies in the pre-SIR exercise.
• The anomalous mapped voter population accounted for over 89.88 lakh voters in the State.
• Listed anomalies include parent-name mismatch, illogical age gaps, different relative types, absence of documents and Aadhaar as sole document.
• Pre-SIR mapping was completed for 70.54% of voters out of 3,38,26,448 registered voters in the 2025 list.
• House-to-house SIR enumeration in Telangana is scheduled from June 25 to July 24, with final rolls on October 1.

Prelims pointers

• The Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in Telangana is set to begin on June 25 and continue for a month.
• Booth Level Officers will visit only electors listed in their respective polling stations, not all households.
• BLOs have been directed to mark absent, dead and shifted voters separately so they can be removed from the voters’ list.
• Shifted residents who have not re-registered at the new location must approach the BLO and fill Form-6 afresh.
• The Chief Electoral Officer said no extension will be given for the SIR process and non-returned enumeration forms will lead to deletion.

Prelims pointers

• Nine suspected wildlife traffickers were arrested in western Assam’s Chirang district around midnight on 19 June 2026.
• The Assam Police Special Task Force arrested the accused with assistance from Chirang police along Bamungaon Road under Sidli police station.
• Eight golden langurs were recovered from the accused, and one of the animals was found dead.
• Officials said the golden langur is an endangered species notified under Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
• The animals were reportedly captured from Ultapani in Kokrajhar district and were being trafficked through local intermediaries in Chirang.

Prelims pointers

• The Coal-to-Ammonium Nitrate Project is located at Lakhanpur in Jharsuguda district of Odisha.
• BCGCL is a joint venture between Coal India Limited and Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, with CIL holding 51% and BHEL 49%.
• Mahanadi Coalfields Limited is contributing about 350 acres of coal-bearing land for the project.
• The project is expected to produce approximately 0.66 MTPA of Technical Grade Ammonium Nitrate through coal gasification.
• The project uses domestically developed Pressurised Fluidised Bed Gasification technology and is aligned with the National Coal Gasification Mission.

Prelims pointers

• The Government notified amendments to the Drugs Rules, 1945 to expand Central Drugs Laboratory functions at CCS-NIAH, Baghpat.
• The notification was issued as Gazette Notification G.S.R. 65(E), dated 28 January 2026, under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940.
• Before the amendment, CCS-NIAH was notified for testing only two veterinary vaccines.
• After the amendment, CCS-NIAH can test 42 veterinary vaccines for diseases affecting dogs, horses, poultry and other livestock.
• The source says the expanded mandate will reduce testing timelines and improve turnaround time for manufacturers.

Prelims pointers

• APEDA facilitated the first-ever commercial export shipment of dried whole egg powder from Balangir, Odisha, to Austria.
• The consignment was exported by OVO Farm Pvt. Ltd., Balangir, an APEDA-registered exporter.
• The exporter established an egg processing facility in Balangir in 2025 to strengthen the regional egg value chain.
• The facility is certified under FSSC 22000 Version 6 and also holds HALAL and KOSHER certifications.
• The export consignment comprised 22.6 metric tonnes of dried whole egg powder.

Prelims pointers

• The Prime Minister addressed Paschimbanga Divas celebrations at Tarakeswar in West Bengal.
• The speech said the 23rd installment of PM Kisan Samman Nidhi transferred nearly Rs. 19,000 crore to more than 9 crore farmers.
• The Prime Minister announced that the PM Crop Insurance Scheme was being launched in West Bengal from that day.
• The speech said West Bengal was joining the Digital Agriculture Mission through AgriStack for farmer registry, village maps and crop information.
• Purulia, Darjeeling, Alipurduar and Jhargram were named as West Bengal districts included under PM Dhan-Dhanya Krishi Yojana.

Prelims pointers

• The 12th International Day of Yoga 2026 national celebration was scheduled at Red Road, Kolkata, on 21 June.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi was to lead the nation in the Common Yoga Protocol session.
• The theme of International Day of Yoga 2026 was ‘Yoga for Healthy Ageing’.
• The Ministry of Ayush’s Yoga Sangam Portal crossed 6 lakh organisational registrations.
• More than 210 Indian Missions abroad were organising Yoga celebrations across nearly 2,500 locations worldwide.

Prelims pointers

• The President and Prime Minister visited Pahadpur village and offered prayers at Santhali Jahera and Ho Jahera.
• The Rairangpur programme marking two years of the Odisha Government had the theme ‘Vikas ra Dhara, Odisha Sara’.
• The Prime Minister inaugurated and laid foundation stones for development projects worth over Rs. 47,600 crore.
• Pahadpur village was announced for development as a Solar Village with solar power generation in every household.
• The release says nearly 500 Eklavya Model Residential Schools have been established and about 750 schools have been sanctioned.

Prelims pointers

• The Vice-President visited the Hall of Fame War Memorial in Leh and paid homage to soldiers of the Indian Armed Forces.
• At Sindhu Ghat near Leh, he described the Sindhu River as a symbol of Bharat’s civilizational heritage and cultural unity.
• At the Pashmina Goat Farm at Upshi, he was briefed on initiatives to preserve and promote Ladakh’s Pashmina heritage.
• The first rock check dam on the Sindhu River was described as an eco-friendly and cost-effective intervention under the Sindhu Jal Samriddhi Abhiyan.
• The Vice-President met personnel of the 5th Battalion of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police in Ladakh.

Prelims pointers

• The founding batch of the Master’s in Financial and Economic Crimes programme visited the EAC-PM during a Campus Immersion Programme.
• MFEC is jointly offered by the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs and Rashtriya Raksha University.
• The source describes MFEC as a first-of-its-kind inter-ministerial initiative.
• Discussions covered financial frauds, money laundering, illicit financial flows and cyber-enabled financial crimes.
• The quarterly newsletter ‘Economic Security Insights’ was formally launched at the event.

Prelims pointers

• Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh interacted with soldiers at Eastern Air Command Headquarters in Shillong on 20 June 2026.
• He listed hybrid threats, cyber challenges, information warfare, logistics resilience, supply chain security and drones as critical elements of evolving warfare.
• The Raksha Mantri said Aatmanirbharta is key to ensuring national security on India’s own terms.
• He described Eastern Air Command as an essential pillar of security for India’s eastern frontier.
• The address linked the North-East with India’s security, prosperity, strategic power and Act East Policy.

Prelims pointers

• The 133rd ETF meeting of CAQM reviewed NCR enforcement actions for the period from 30 May to 13 June 2026.
• Flying Squads conducted 199 inspections and detected 66 violations during the 15-day reporting period.
• Proposed actions included closure of 4 units or projects, sealing of 29 DG sets and environmental compensation in 2 cases.
• Of the 199 inspections, 10 were at C&D sites, 94 in the industrial sector and 95 related to DG sets.
• Cumulative status as of 19 June 2026 showed 27,577 inspections, 1,797 Closure Directions and 1,416 Resumption Orders.

Prelims pointers

• India’s ABS framework under the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 has mobilised more than ₹266 crore towards benefit sharing since 2008.
• The National Biodiversity Authority realised ₹21.26 crore through the ABS mechanism during FY 2025-26, according to the source.
• Around ₹145 crore has been disbursed as benefit-sharing payments, including ₹78 crore during FY 2025-26.
• ABS benefits have reached more than 10,500 Biodiversity Management Committees across 23 States and 4 Union Territories.
• Red Sanders accounted for ₹120 crore, or 45%, of ABS realisation, followed by the seed sector at ₹84.61 crore, or 32.3%.

Prelims pointers

• The Health Ministry prohibited manufacture for sale, sale and distribution for human use of 16 Fixed Dose Combinations.
• The notifications were issued under Section 26A of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 and came into force immediately.
• The action followed Supreme Court directions for a comprehensive review of Fixed Dose Combinations available in India.
• DTAB constituted an Expert Committee to examine FDCs that were irrational, lacked therapeutic justification or posed health risks.
• The prohibited FDCs include certain dermatological preparations, analgesic and antispasmodic medicines, and antibiotic-based formulations.

Prelims pointers

• The programme was held at Sanwer in Indore district on 20 June 2026 under the PMAY-U framework.
• Under PMAY-U 2.0, sanction letters were issued to over 42,000 eligible beneficiaries in Madhya Pradesh.
• The sanction involved ₹1,050 crore subsidy from the Government, according to the source.
• The source says 38,000 families performed Grih Pravesh of newly constructed pucca houses in Madhya Pradesh districts.
• Under PMAY-U and PMAY-U 2.0, Madhya Pradesh has over 10.39 lakh houses sanctioned and 9.08 lakh houses completed.

Prelims pointers

• The EU migration rules criticised by Volker Turk were approved on June 17, 2026.
• The rules allow 27 EU countries to open return hubs outside the bloc's borders.
• Migrants subject to expulsion may be detained for up to two years under specified conditions.
• Volker Turk is the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
• Turk invoked non-refoulement: no one should be returned to a place where serious human-rights violations or irreparable harm are likely.

Prelims pointers

• Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman is set to visit Malaysia and China on his first foreign tour since assuming office.
• He will visit Malaysia on June 21 and travel to China the following day, according to the report.
• The article notes that the itinerary bypasses neighbouring India as the inaugural foreign destination.
• In Beijing, trade and infrastructure projects are expected to be on the agenda.
• Malaysia has an estimated 800,000 Bangladeshi workers, more than a third of its foreign workforce.

Prelims pointers

• The first World Economic Summit was held in 1975 at Chateau de Rambouillet in France.
• The summit was organised by French President Giscard d'Estaing and West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt.
• Canada joined the Group of Six in 1976, making it the Group of Seven.
• Russia formally joined in 1998, transforming the G7 into the G8.
• Russia was expelled after its 2014 annexation of Crimea, and the grouping reverted to the G7.

Prelims pointers

• Lt. Gen. Dhiraj Seth is presently serving as Vice Chief of the Army Staff.
• He will assume office as the 31st Chief of the Army Staff on June 30.
• He succeeds Gen. Upendra Dwivedi upon the latter's retirement.
• Lt. Gen. Seth will be the seventh officer from the Armoured Corps to become Army Chief.
• The article states that he was commissioned into the Armoured Corps in December 1986.

Prelims pointers

• Telegram founder Pavel Durov declined in 2014 to provide data on Ukrainian protesters to Russian authorities, according to the article.
• Telegram channels can send push notifications at massive scale to subscribers.
• The article says channels help activists, politicians and news organisations get quick viewership on fast-moving events.
• Telegram is described as having over 15 crore users in India.
• The article states that Telegram was facing a week-long ban in India.

Prelims pointers

• Similipal is a 2,750-square-kilometre UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in Odisha and was declared a tiger reserve in 1973.
• Zeenat was translocated to Similipal from Maharashtra's Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve in 2024.
• The 2014 All India Tiger Estimation recorded only five tigers in Similipal: one male and four females.
• Pseudo-melanistic tigers in Similipal rose from 20% in 2014 to 43.75% in 2022, according to AITE data cited.
• The 2024 All India Tiger Estimation put pseudo-melanism in Similipal's tiger population at 59.37%.