Current affairs — 31 July 2026

Prelims pointers

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham on assuming office.
• The leaders discussed strengthening the India-UK Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
• Priority areas identified for deeper cooperation included technology, defence, security, clean energy and education.
• The proposed cooperation was framed in line with the India-UK Vision 2035.
• Both leaders welcomed the recent entry into force of the India-UK Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement.

Prelims pointers

• PM-SSY has a total outlay of Rs.5,070 crore and targets 5,000 MW of floating solar photovoltaic projects.
• The co-located energy storage must provide at least two hours of capacity, equivalent to 10,000 MWh for the planned portfolio.
• Projects may be sanctioned from FY 2026-27 to FY 2030-31, with support disbursement continuing up to FY 2032-33.
• Central Financial Assistance is Rs.1 crore per MW after successful commissioning, with up to Rs.50 lakh per feasibility study.
• The National Institute of Solar Energy estimated about 102.18 GWp of potential across reservoirs and suitable inland water bodies.

Prelims pointers

• CCRUM, an autonomous body under the Ministry of Ayush, operates 21 clinical institutes, units or centres across India.
• CCRUM outreach initiatives benefited approximately 47 lakh people during the five years covered by the release.
• The NSS 79th Round ran from July 2022 to June 2023 and surveyed 1,81,298 households.
• The survey reported awareness of Ayush systems at 94.8% in rural India and 96% in urban India.
• NCISM reversed the undergraduate lecture-to-non-lecture ratio to 1:2 to promote professional and soft skills.

Prelims pointers

• IRDAI's 29 May 2024 Master Circular requires wider-choice insurance offerings covering all systems of medicine, including Ayush.
• Insurers must have a Board-approved underwriting policy providing for Ayush treatment at par with other systems under the regulatory framework.
• The Ayush Ministry revised benchmark rates for insurance coverage of Ayush treatments in 2026.
• Five sensitisation programmes covered ROHINI registration, insurer empanelment, digital documents and claim processing.
• The Ministry of Ayush, through AIIA, signed an MoU with the General Insurance Council on 16 April 2026 to facilitate common empanelment of government Ayush hospitals.

Prelims pointers

• The workshop was the first in a proposed consultation series on Trade and Sustainable Development policy.
• Four thematic sessions covered domestic and global carbon frameworks, FTA trends and India's future TSD approach.
• Discussions included carbon markets, carbon pricing, carbon border adjustment measures and sustainability standards.
• The domestic sustainability architecture discussed included the Carbon Credit Trading Scheme and Indian Carbon Market.
• Extended Producer Responsibility, accreditation and conformity assessment were also examined during the workshop.

Prelims pointers

• The Ayush Vertical under DGHS plans, monitors and supervises Ayush public-health programmes and supports service integration.
• Standard Treatment Guidelines covered six musculoskeletal disorders in 2024 and five metabolic disorders in 2025.
• More than 450 Ayush colleges established tobacco-cessation centres under operational guidelines developed in 2025.
• Under co-location, NHM supports Ayush personnel and training while NAM supports infrastructure, equipment, furniture and medicines.
• AYURGYAN has operated since 2021-22 and added Ayurveda Biology Integrated Health Research as a component from 2023-24.

Prelims pointers

• The amended Interconnection Regulation and audit manual became effective on 1 April 2026.
• Distributors must conduct audits and submit their reports to broadcasters by 30 September each year.
• Audits are now conducted on a financial-year basis instead of the earlier calendar-year basis.
• Broadcasters may depute a representative during an audit to improve transparency and credibility.
• DPO-funded annual audits are optional for distributors with fewer than 30,000 subscribers.

Prelims pointers

• Xtreme Weather Grade Diesel was developed jointly by the Indian Army and Oil Marketing Companies.
• The specialised diesel remains effective at temperatures as low as minus 42 degrees Celsius.
• XWG Diesel complies with BS-VI standards and the IS 1460:2025 specification.
• The Army's existing vehicle fleet can use the fuel without engine modification or re-homologation.
• The development took place within a year and also has civilian uses in severe winter regions.

Prelims pointers

• The combined outlay for expanded Khelo India and enhanced federation assistance is Rs.36,441 crore for 2026-27 to 2030-31.
• Khelo India Feeder Schools and Khelo India Utkrishta Vidyalayas are the two new school-sports initiatives named in the approval.
• The Emerging Khelo India Athletes category is intended to expand the structured athlete-development ecosystem by nearly ten times.
• The progression pathway described in the release moves from grassroots competitions to Khelo India and then to the Target Olympic Podium Scheme.
• The Government proposes a National Coach Accreditation Board and a unified digital platform covering athletes, infrastructure, competitions and funding.

Prelims pointers

• The Ayush Quality Mark was launched on 19 December 2025 during the second WHO Global Summit on Traditional Medicine.
• AYUSHEXCIL, an export promotion council notified by DGFT, has been entrusted with implementation of the quality mark.
• The mark covers products, hospitals, day-care centres, clinics, wellness centres, travel facilitators and testing laboratories.
• AOGUSY has a five-year budget allocation of Rs.122 crore, and three State drug-testing laboratories were supported in 2025-26.
• The Ministry had approved 118 private drug-testing laboratories across States and Union Territories under the cited rules.

Prelims pointers

• The Ministry of Ayush and IndiaAI under MeitY signed an MoU to promote AI-driven innovation across the Ayush sector.
• The partnership focuses on research, capacity building, medicinal plants and drug administration.
• The Ayush Ministry will onboard AIKosh to share eligible datasets, metadata, AI models, toolkits and use cases.
• The arrangement envisages subsidised access to GPU-based and high-performance computing under defined service-level agreements.
• Ayush Grid's Emerging Technologies component is developing AI-driven platforms for digital transformation of the Ayush sector.

Prelims pointers

• The National Digitization Drive Workshop was organised by the Culture Ministry under the Gyan Bharatam Mission.
• More than 200 representatives of States, UTs, centres, custodians, experts and technology partners participated.
• The Culture Minister said that more than 1.2 crore manuscripts had been reported nationally.
• The workshop reviewed standardised imaging and metadata practices and a unified national digitisation framework.
• The emerging National Digital Manuscript Ecosystem is supported by AI platforms and a structured access policy.

Prelims pointers

• Projects worth more than ₹17,900 crore were scheduled for inauguration, dedication or foundation-stone laying in Bhogapuram, Andhra Pradesh.
• The PPP-mode Alluri Sitarama Raju International Airport cost over ₹5,640 crore and is designed to handle six million passengers annually.
• The ASIP project is Andhra Pradesh's first semiconductor manufacturing facility approved under the India Semiconductor Mission and targets about 96 million chips annually.
• POWERGRID transmission projects are intended to evacuate renewable power from Kurnool and Ananthapuram and transmit it through the National Grid.
• The Viveka Smaraka in Mysuru commemorates Swami Vivekananda's November 1892 visit and includes facilities for education, events, reading, meditation and yoga.

Prelims pointers

• Samudra Manthan is a Central Sector Scheme of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas with an outlay of ₹84,084 crore through FY 2030-31.
• Its interventions include seismic-data work and accelerated deepwater, ultra-deepwater and frontier-basin exploratory drilling.
• The scheme provides for common offshore production and evacuation infrastructure and an integrated Oil and Gas Manufacturing and Services Zone.
• The scheme is expected to catalyse reserve accretion of more than 600 Million Metric Tons of Oil Equivalent.
• It builds on upstream reforms including wider offshore acreage access, modernised legal and contractual frameworks, and a strengthened National Data Repository.

Prelims pointers

• PM-KISAN provides eligible landholding farmer families Rs.6,000 per year through three equal bank-account instalments.
• The Cabinet approved Rs.3.15 lakh crore for continuation of PM-KISAN from 2026-27 through 2030-31.
• More than Rs.4.47 lakh crore had been transferred through 23 instalments when the Cabinet decision was announced.
• The 23rd instalment benefited more than 9.49 crore farmers and involved the release of over Rs.18,984 crore.
• A DMEO evaluation reported that more than 92% of beneficiaries used the assistance for agricultural activities and investment.

Prelims pointers

• CCRAS documents traditional practices through the Tribal Health Care Research Programme and Medico Ethno-Botanical Survey.
• AIIA research on ethnomedical and folklore practices follows scientific validation, authentication and ethical approval.
• The Ministry of Ayush and ICMR signed an agreement on 11 May 2023 to promote integrative health research.
• An Ayush-ICMR three-arm multicentre randomised trial on moderate iron-deficiency anaemia in non-pregnant women has been completed.
• The All India Institute of Ayurveda has a 200-bed tertiary-care hospital with a functional intensive-care unit.