Current affairs — 27 June 2026

Prelims pointers

• The editorial says Venezuela was hit by two earthquakes of magnitude 7.1 and 7.5 seconds apart.
• Jorge Rodriguez put the toll at 920 dead and 3,360 injured by Friday, according to the editorial.
• Venezuela lies where the South American and Caribbean plates grind past one another.
• The USGS term cited for the doublet is “complex rupture-interaction”.
• The editorial says nearly 79% of Indians live under moderate to severe seismic threat.

Prelims pointers

• Trump threatened a 100% tariff on imports from countries imposing digital services taxes on U.S. companies.
• The threat came ahead of a July 4 deadline for EU-U.S. implementation of a tariff deal.
• The EU-U.S. tariff deal caps tariffs on most EU exports at 15%, according to the article.
• Digital taxes were not part of the EU-U.S. agreement and remained a sticking point.
• Britain has levied a 2% digital services tax since 2020 on certain digital revenues from U.K. users.

Prelims pointers

• Suvendu Adhikari said West Bengal’s UCC process would be instituted by a committee headed by a judge.
• The Chief Minister said he would inform the West Bengal Assembly on Monday about the UCC development.
• Union Home Minister Amit Shah had promised during the campaign that UCC would be implemented in six months if BJP came to power.
• Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sankar Ghosh said Uttarakhand had already passed a UCC Bill.
• Trinamool Congress sought consultation with vulnerable groups and adivasi communities; sources said tribals would be kept out.

Prelims pointers

• Himachal Pradesh claims a 7.19% share in the Union Territory of Chandigarh.
• Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu met Punjab Governor and Chandigarh Administrator Gulab Chand Kataria on June 26, 2026.
• The claim refers to the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966 and Himachal Pradesh’s status as a successor State.
• The Supreme Court had recognised Himachal Pradesh’s entitlement to a 7.19% share in BBMB projects and associated benefits.
• Himachal Pradesh says it awaits 13,066 million units of power and financial dues for over a decade.

Prelims pointers

• The draft NFSA amendment was published by the Union Food and Public Distribution Department on June 24, 2026.
• Public comments on the proposed NFSA amendment are open till July 13, according to the article.
• The proposal amends Section 3 to give AAY beneficiaries 7 kg foodgrains per person per month, capped at 35 kg per household.
• The earlier AAY entitlement was 35 kg per household, irrespective of the number of members.
• The Right to Food Campaign criticism cited a delayed Census, unrevised AAY families and a demand for 14 kg per person.

Prelims pointers

• WHO sought information from India on alleged spurious oxytocin injections linked to post-Caesarean deaths in Kota.
• Five women died between May 5 and May 17 at JK Lone Hospital and the Super Speciality Wing of Government Medical College in Kota.
• CDSCO and Punjab and Himachal Pradesh drug regulators inspected Jackson Laboratories’ manufacturing facilities.
• The inspections assessed compliance with Good Manufacturing Practices, or GMP.
• The respective State licensing authorities cancelled manufacturing licences of the concerned Jackson Laboratories units.

Prelims pointers

• The pilot Special Intensive Revision exercise began in Bihar on June 24 last year, ahead of the Assembly polls.
• Nearly six crore voter names have been deleted since the SIR exercise began, according to the article.
• In March, the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the constitutional validity of the ECI’s move to carry out SIR.
• In the second phase, rolls across 12 States and Union Territories fell from over 50.99 crore to 45.81 crore voters.
• The third SIR phase covers 16 States and three Union Territories and involves 36.73 crore voters.

Prelims pointers

• China supported Bangladesh’s Teesta River Comprehensive Management and Restoration Project and said it would expedite a feasibility study.
• Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s first official China visit took place during June 25-26, 2026.
• The joint statement included cooperation on hydrological forecasting, flood prevention, disaster reduction and river dredging.
• Bangladesh conveyed commitment to the “one China policy” and opposed “any form of Taiwan independence”.
• China supported Bangladesh’s participation in BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, according to the joint statement.

Prelims pointers

• Godavari Pushkarams is described as a once-in-12-years spiritual event and is scheduled in 2027 on Rajamahendravaram’s eastern banks.
• The June 8 APPCB report found excess coliform bacteria, biochemical oxygen demand, nitrate, phosphate and sulphide in the city stretch of the Godavari.
• A water sample from Andhra Paper Limited’s lagoon had nitrate of 119.6 mg/litre against the normal level of 45 mg/litre.
• APPCB recorded BOD of 36 mg/l against a 30 mg/l standard, sulphides of 3.4 mg/l against 2 mg/l, and phosphates of 5.3 mg/l against 5 mg/l.
• Rajamahendravaram Municipal Corporation discharges 29.6 MLD sewage through Nalla Channel and draws 65 MLD downstream for purification.

Prelims pointers

• The U.S. struck Iran on June 26, 2026 after a drone attack on a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz.
• U.S. Central Command said it hit missile and drone locations and coastal radar sites in Iran.
• The British military said a container ship was hit by a projectile off Oman’s coast on June 25, with no injuries.
• The IMO halted evacuations after the attack until guarantees were given that other ships would not be attacked.
• About 115 ships had moved out of the strait in recent days, while about 500 remained in the area.

Prelims pointers

• Anthropic said on June 26, 2026 that it had U.S. government authorisation for limited access to Mythos 5.
• The authorised access was for a small group of American cybersecurity firms.
• Access to Mythos 5 had been blocked by U.S. authorities due to national security concerns.
• The government forced Anthropic to cut off access to two cutting-edge AI models on June 12 after safeguard vulnerabilities were discovered.
• President Donald Trump signed an executive order setting up voluntary federal review of national security risks in advanced AI models before release.

Prelims pointers

• Benjamin Netanyahu said on June 26, 2026 that Israel would remain in south Lebanon until Hezbollah disarms.
• The framework agreement involved Israel, the United States and Lebanon and was announced in Washington.
• The agreement followed five rounds of talks in Washington aimed at ending hostilities and fighting in southern Lebanon.
• Netanyahu said one pilot area was outside the security zone and south of the Litani River, while another was north of the Litani.
• The article says Lebanon reported more than 4,200 people killed by Israeli air strikes and an invasion.

Prelims pointers

• Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman received assurance from China on the Teesta River Comprehensive Management and Restoration Project.
• Mr. Rahman visited Beijing during June 24-26 and discussed the Teesta project with Chinese officials.
• The article names Premier Li Qiang, President Xi Jinping and water resources minister Li Guoying as officials Mr. Rahman met.
• China is expected to expedite a feasibility study of the Teesta project.
• The project aims to change the physical nature of the Teesta inside Bangladesh and turn it into an artery of economic development.

Prelims pointers

• Iran said it struck targets linked to U.S. forces on Saturday, June 27, 2026.
• Bahrain, which hosts the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet, condemned what it said was an Iranian drone attack on its territory.
• The U.S. military said its Friday, June 26 strikes responded to an Iranian drone strike on a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz.
• The article describes the Strait of Hormuz as the conduit of one-fifth of the world’s oil and LNG supplies before the war launched on February 28.
• U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the Gulf Cooperation Council called for free, unconditional and unrestricted navigation in the strait.

Prelims pointers

• Marco Rubio said the Trump administration is working toward President Donald Trump’s visit to India in the early part of next year.
• The article title frames the possible visit as 2027.
• Mr. Rubio said he expected to travel to India before the end of the year to prepare for the President’s visit.
• He said India and the United States were on the last inches of finalising a trade deal.
• The United States and India are Quad partners alongside Japan and Australia, as stated in the article.

Prelims pointers

• The study on elephant conservation and carbon stocks was published in the Journal of Threatened Taxa.
• The endangered Asiatic elephant is identified in the article as Elephas maximus indicus.
• India’s elephant reserve network expanded from 18,297 sq. km. across three reserves to 80,777 sq. km. across 33 reserves.
• Estimated carbon stored within elephant reserves increased by 38%, while about 95% of that increase came from protected-area expansion.
• The SAIEE 2021-25 count of 22,446 elephants was 4,065 fewer than the 2017 estimate, though the methods should not be compared.

Prelims pointers

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi handed over the Made in India Fast Patrol Vessel PS LESPWAR to the Seychelles Coast Guard.
• The ceremony was held at the Coast Guard Base in Victoria, Seychelles, with President Patrick Herminie present.
• The MEA said PS LESPWAR will strengthen Seychelles’ maritime surveillance and Exclusive Economic Zone patrol capabilities.
• India also handed over six ambulances, 10 utility vehicles and five laser radial boats to Seychelles.
• The MEA linked the partnership to Vision MAHASAGAR: Mutual and Holistic Advancement for Security and Growth Across Regions.

Prelims pointers

• VB-G RAM G comes into effect on July 1 and requires most States to bear 40% of total expenditure.
• Under MGNREGA, the Centre bore 100% of the wage bill and States paid only part of the material bill, which was 10% of the total budget.
• The Union Rural Development Ministry shared responses from only 13 States in reply to Chakradhar Buddha’s RTI application.
• Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand explicitly asked for reconsideration of the proposed funding-pattern change.
• At least four of the 13 States objected to a 60-day blackout period proposed during the peak agricultural season.

Prelims pointers

• Telangana will target around 40.97 lakh children below five years of age for Pulse Polio drops on June 28.
• Polio drops will be administered at 22,979 booths across Telangana.
• House-to-house visits are scheduled for June 29 and 30 to vaccinate missed children.
• The Health Department supplied 52.04 lakh doses of bivalent Oral Polio Vaccine to districts.
• Telangana has remained free of polio since the last reported case was recorded in 2007.

Prelims pointers

• Punjab notified the Viksit Bharat-Guarantee Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission Gramin scheme.
• The scheme will come into force from July 1 in Punjab, according to the article.
• In December 2025, the Punjab government convened a special Assembly session on the VB-G RAM G Act.
• On December 30, 2025, the Assembly unanimously passed a resolution against the VB-G RAM G Act.
• The June 26, 2026 notification mentions an employment guarantee of 125 days in each financial year.

Prelims pointers

• KAMS wrote to the Chairman of CBSE against implementation issues in the three-language policy.
• D. Shashikumar, general secretary of KAMS, sought clarifications within 15 days.
• On June 26, Dharmendra Pradhan announced relaxation for class 7, 8 and 9 CBSE students.
• The announcement said the policy would be implemented for class 6 students.
• KAMS sought harmonisation with the Karnataka Kannada Language Learning Act, 2015 and Rules, 2017.

Prelims pointers

• The U.S. imposed sanctions on eight persons and entities for allegedly fuelling the civil war in Sudan.
• The action was taken by the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control.
• Alok Choudhari of Raipur, CEO of SBL Energy Limited, was among the sanctioned individuals.
• SBL Energy Limited is also known as Amin Explosive Private Limited, according to the article.
• The firm allegedly supplied over 200 shipments of explosives and explosive-related materials to a company linked to the SAF arsenal.

Prelims pointers

• Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal led the India-UK: Partners in Progress Business Plenary in London.
• He urged Indian companies to strengthen engagement with UK counterparts under the India-UK Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement.
• Industry representatives emphasised awareness among MSMEs, simpler regulatory procedures and certification requirements, and talent mobility.
• Piyush Goyal launched four knowledge reports, including FICCI's The Evolving India-UK Partnership and CareEdge's Sovereign Ratings – A Fresh Perspective.
• Sectoral recommendations covered healthcare, advanced manufacturing, clean energy, science and technology, services and consumer goods.

Prelims pointers

• Vice-President C. P. Radhakrishnan attended the International MSME Day 2026 celebrations at Dr. Ambedkar International Centre, New Delhi.
• He said Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises are the backbone of India's journey and urged entrepreneurs to focus on perseverance and learning.
• He urged the Ministry of MSME to encourage universal registration of MSMEs to improve data quality and policy formulation.
• This year's United Nations theme cited in the article was Human-Centered Entrepreneurship in an AI-Driven Future.
• The Vice-President launched PMEGP 2.0, Samadhaan 2.0, PMS 2.0, MSME Global Mart 2.0, a Testing Centre Portal and multilingual enablement.

Prelims pointers

• The 16th CCHFW conference will be held on 29 June 2026 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.
• The conference is chaired by Union Health and Family Welfare Minister J.P. Nadda.
• The Union Ministers of State attending are Smt. Anupriya Patel and Shri Prataprao Jadhav.
• The Central Council of Health and Family Welfare is constituted under Article 263 of the Constitution of India.
• Thematic sessions include NHM-SDG goals and priorities, food and drug reforms, and allied health services.

Prelims pointers

• The Digital India Programme completes 11 years on 1 July 2026.
• Under BharatNet-1 and BharatNet-2, around 2.15 lakh Gram Panchayats had been connected as of January 2026.
• UPI is stated to handle nearly 49% of worldwide real-time digital payment transaction volume.
• Electronics production increased from ₹1.9 lakh crore in FY 2014-15 to about ₹12 lakh crore as of March 2026.
• As of February 2026, India had signed MoUs with 24 countries for cooperation on India Stack and DPI systems.

Prelims pointers

• The first phase of Char Dham Yatra 2026 helicopter operations commenced in April 2026 and concluded on 26 June 2026.
• During the first phase, approximately 400 helicopter movements were conducted daily.
• A total of 12,032 shuttle departures facilitated travel for 67,064 pilgrims in the Char Dham sector.
• An additional 2,065 charter operations catered to 11,715 pilgrims during the same first phase.
• DGCA strengthened pilot norms requiring 750 hours of hill flying experience, including 100 hours during the preceding one year.

Prelims pointers

• Digital India was launched on 1 July 2015 with the vision of transforming India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy.
• The IndiaAI Mission was approved with an outlay of over ₹10,372 crore and includes a shared compute facility with over 45,000 GPUs.
• AI Kosh hosts over 12,519 datasets, 307 AI models and 20 toolkits, according to the article.
• Under the India Semiconductor Mission, 12 semiconductor manufacturing projects have been approved with an investment pipeline of approximately ₹1.64 lakh crore.
• UPI completed ten years in April 2026 and recorded 24,162 crore transactions in FY 2025-26.

Prelims pointers

• J.P. Nadda will launch digital health sector initiatives on 29 June 2026 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.
• The initiatives were developed under the National Health Authority and the National Resource Centre for EHR Standards.
• Aarogya Setu 2.0 is described as a comprehensive Personal Health Record application for citizens.
• The National Health Claims Exchange is intended to standardize exchange of claims information between providers and payers.
• Common LOINC Codes for India and Bharat Health Terminology Service are meant to support semantic interoperability in digital health systems.

Prelims pointers

• APEDA facilitated the first commercial export of GI-tagged Rewa Sundarja Mangoes from Madhya Pradesh to the United Arab Emirates.
• The first commercial export consignment comprised one metric tonne and was exported on 26 June 2026 by M/s Salt Range Foods Pvt. Ltd.
• The mangoes were sourced from M/s Seondha Farmer Producer Company Limited and farmer Sonu Gupta of Govindgarh, Rewa district.
• Grading, sorting and export-quality packaging took place at the APEDA-facilitated pack house of Trisagar Farmer Producer Company, Bhadohi.
• The local market price was approximately ₹100 to ₹110 per kilogram, while the exporter procured the produce at ₹150 per kilogram.

Prelims pointers

• Dr. Jitendra Singh spoke at a special Doctors' Day Conclave on the eve of Doctor's Day.
• The Genome India Mission has completed genome sequencing of over 10,000 individuals, according to the release.
• Indian researchers have successfully demonstrated gene therapy for haemophilia.
• Tata Memorial Centre is cited for pioneering work in nuclear medicine for cancers and other life-threatening diseases.
• The release names the BioE3 Policy and Bio-RIDE Mission as initiatives accelerating biotechnology research and innovation.

Prelims pointers

• ICGS Akshay was commissioned at Goa Shipyard Limited, Goa, on June 27, 2026.
• The article describes ICGS Akshay as a new-generation Fast Patrol Vessel of Bharatiya Tatrakshak.
• Akshay means Indestructible, according to the extracted text.
• The vessel can undertake maritime law enforcement, coastal security, search and rescue, marine environmental protection and assistance to mariners.
• ICGS Akshay was designed and constructed by Goa Shipyard Limited.

Prelims pointers

• Amit Shah launched the cooperative-based mobility platform Bharat Taxi for Gujarat at Mahatma Mandir Convention and Exhibition Centre, Gandhinagar.
• Bharat Taxi aims to connect Sarathis in taxi, auto and two-wheeler mobility services with ownership stake, respect, security and prosperity.
• Amit Shah said more than 7 lakh Sarathis have so far joined Bharat Taxi.
• He said nearly 37 lakh customers have availed the services of Bharat Taxi.
• He said Bharat Taxi would reach more than 500 cities and towns in the next one-and-a-half to two years.

Prelims pointers

• The Prime Minister said he would undertake a State Visit to Seychelles from 27-29 June 2026.
• The visit was at the invitation of H.E. Dr. Patrick Herminie, President of the Republic of Seychelles.
• The Prime Minister said he would participate in the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the National Day of Seychelles as Guest of Honour.
• The statement says India and Seychelles mark the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations this year.
• The Prime Minister said he would become the first Indian Prime Minister to address the National Assembly of Seychelles.

Prelims pointers

• The event was held at Dr. Ambedkar International Centre, New Delhi, and presided over by Vice President C.P. Radhakrishnan.
• NSIC was felicitated on its upgradation from Schedule B to Schedule A Central Public Sector Enterprise.
• Portals launched included PMEGP 2.0, SAMADHAAN 2.0, PMS, MSME Global Mart 2.0, MSME Testing Portal and MSME Idea Hackathon 6.0.
• Multilingual access on MSME portals provides services in all 22 Scheduled Indian languages.
• The programme concluded with panel discussions on women entrepreneurship and growth capital for scalable MSMEs.

Prelims pointers

• The U.S.-Israel-Lebanon framework agreement was signed in Washington on June 27, 2026, after five rounds of talks.
• The agreement includes a pilot effort in which Lebanese soldiers take control of two areas currently occupied by Israel.
• The deal also creates a process aimed at disarming Hezbollah and other non-state armed groups in Lebanon.
• Lebanon was drawn into the regional war on March 2, when Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel after Iran’s supreme leader was killed in U.S.-Israeli strikes.
• The U.S. State Department text says Lebanon and Israel intend to conclusively end the conflict and formally conclude any state of war between them.