Current affairs — 3 August 2026

Prelims pointers

• Captive and commercial coal mines produced 14.78 million tonnes of coal in July 2026.
• Coal dispatches from the captive and commercial mining sector reached 17.49 million tonnes in July 2026.
• July 2026 production was 9.61% higher year on year than in July 2025.
• The Ministry said sustained production growth is expected to reduce import dependence, strengthen supply-chain resilience and conserve foreign exchange.
• The release identified policy interventions, regulatory oversight and stakeholder support as tools for improving coal availability.

Prelims pointers

• India’s first Telecom Manufacturing Zone is planned in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, following an MoU between the Department of Telecommunications and the Madhya Pradesh government.
• The MoU launching the Gwalior Telecom Manufacturing Zone was signed on 30 July 2026, followed by the first investors’ roundtable in the national capital.
• Initial investment commitments of ₹3,500 crore were announced, with the potential to generate nearly 14,000 employment opportunities.
• The expected investment in the Telecom Manufacturing Zone was projected to cross ₹10,000 crore.
• The zone is intended to integrate manufacturing, research and development, design, testing and innovation for telecom products and next-generation technologies.

Prelims pointers

• JATAN, developed by C-DAC Pune, is used by the Ministry of Culture for digitisation and collection management of museum and archival resources.
• The Museums of India repository includes digitised collections of eight national-level museums, two ASI site museums and Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Museum, Pune.
• The National Archives of India uploads digitised archival records to its dedicated portal called Abhilekh Patal.
• Birla Industrial and Technological Museum opened the National Science and Technology Digital Archive on 5 December 2024 for papers, letters and manuscripts of eminent Indian scientists.
• The source reports that 723 antiquities from ASI Museum Goa and 8,450 from ASI Museum Nagarjunakonda were digitally documented and uploaded through JATAN.

Prelims pointers

• Gyan Bharatam Mission was announced in Union Budget 2025-26 and is implemented by the Ministry of Culture for manuscript-related activities.
• The Standing Finance Committee sanctioned ₹491.66 crore for Gyan Bharatam Mission for the period 2025-2031.
• The National Manuscript Survey launched in March 2026 across all states and Union Territories and reported more than 1.19 crore manuscripts.
• More than eight lakh manuscripts had been digitised nationally, and over 4.40 lakh were publicly accessible in view mode on the Gyan Bharatam portal.
• States and Union Territories serve as nodal coordinating authorities, while Cluster Centres and Independent Centres undertake manuscript-related activities.

Prelims pointers

• NCRB publishes the yearly Accidental Death & Suicide in India reports from police-recorded suicide cases, with data available by year, State, gender and age group.
• MANODARPAN provides a national toll-free helpline with trained counsellors, Sahyog live sessions and Paricharcha webinars for students, teachers and families.
• UGC circulated the National Suicide Prevention Strategy in January 2023 and issued student mental-health guidelines on 13 April 2023.
• The January 2024 coaching-centre guidelines require counselling facilities, transparent fee structures, prohibition of batch segregation and safeguards against academic pressure.
• More than 4,000 faculty have participated in online capacity-building sessions, national conclaves and a regional workshop since May 2024 under the integrated well-being approach.

Prelims pointers

• Mirabai Chanu met the Union Minister for Development of North Eastern Region after winning her third consecutive Commonwealth Games gold medal in Glasgow.
• The Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region established a High Level Task Force to support a comprehensive regional sports ecosystem.
• Under the ‘One State, One Sport’ initiative, each northeastern state is supported to develop excellence in sports where it has a natural competitive advantage.
• The initiative names weightlifting, archery and football among the sporting disciplines with potential in the northeastern region.
• The proposed ecosystem emphasises quality coaching, scientific training, sports science, nutrition, recovery and athlete support rather than only physical infrastructure.

Prelims pointers

• About 1.09 crore Post-Matric and higher-education scholarships were provided in 2025-26, including about 48 lakh for SC and 24 lakh for ST students.
• HEFA, established in 2017, had disbursed loans totalling Rs 24,977.62 crore to Centrally Funded Institutions by March 2026.
• ONOS gives 7,499 eligible higher-education and research institutions access to over 13,000 journals from 32 publishers.
• PM-Vidyalaxmi offers eligible merit-based entrants collateral-free and guarantor-free loans, plus 3% interest subvention up to Rs 10 lakh for family income up to Rs 8 lakh.
• Higher-education GER increased from 23.7 in 2014-15 to 30 in 2023-24; female GER rose from 22.9 to 31.2 over the same period.

Prelims pointers

• In 2025-26, more than 2,100 AICTE-approved institutions offered courses in AI and other emerging areas, with approved intake above 2.80 lakh.
• The National Credit Framework permits accumulation of a maximum 50% of total required credits through skill-based courses.
• The AI Apprenticeship Programme under NATS covers fields such as data science, machine learning and prompt engineering and has benefited over 75,000 apprentices.
• SWAYAM has offered more than 140 AI-related courses with over 50 lakh enrolments, while e-Yantra has trained more than 70,000 learners.
• FutureSkills PRIME has registered over 34 lakh candidates, including more than 9.58 lakh candidates in AI and big-data analytics.

Prelims pointers

• Foreign branch campuses are governed by the UGC (Setting up and Operation of Campuses of Foreign Higher Educational Institutions in India) Regulations, 2023.
• UGC has issued 16 Letters of Intent to 15 foreign institutions from Australia, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.
• Only foreign institutions ranked within the global top 500 are eligible, and applicants must submit current accreditation or quality-assurance reports from recognised bodies.
• A high-powered Standing Committee evaluates proposals under a single-window mechanism and recommends cases before UGC grants in-principle approval and a Letter of Intent.
• Qualifications awarded by compliant foreign campuses in India are treated as equivalent to corresponding Indian higher-education qualifications, without further equivalence approval.

Prelims pointers

• PM POSHAN covers eligible children in Bal Vatika and classes I-VIII of government and government-aided schools on all school working days.
• The daily primary-class nutrition norm is 450 calories and 12 grams of protein; for upper-primary classes it is 700 calories and 20 grams.
• Primary pupils receive food norms of 100 grams foodgrains, 20 grams pulses, 50 grams vegetables and five grams oil and fat per day.
• Upper-primary pupils receive food norms of 150 grams foodgrains, 30 grams pulses, 75 grams vegetables and 7.5 grams oil and fat per day.
• Five per cent of the total recurring budget is a flexi component for School Nutrition Gardens and supplementary nutrition interventions in identified districts.

Prelims pointers

• Glaw Lake is Arunachal Pradesh's first Ramsar Site and, with its designation, India's Ramsar Site tally reached 101.
• India's Ramsar network expanded from 26 sites in 2014 to 101 sites after the addition of Glaw Lake in August 2026.
• Glaw Lake lies within Kamlang Tiger Reserve and Wildlife Sanctuary in the Eastern Himalayas.
• The site is a pristine freshwater lake and biodiversity hotspot fed by perennial mountain streams and surrounded by lush vegetation.
• More than 150 tree species and 49 orchid species have been recorded within Glaw Lake and its catchment.

Prelims pointers

• The Green Credit Rules, 2023 were notified on 12 October 2023 under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 for voluntary environmentally positive actions.
• The tree-plantation and eco-restoration modality was notified on 22 February 2024 and revised on 29 August 2025.
• ICFRE, Dehradun is the Green Credit Programme administrator responsible for management, operation and issuance of green credits.
• State Forest Departments select and register degraded forest land parcels after ground verification for restoration by participating public and private entities.
• Credits may be claimed only after at least five years of restoration and achievement of minimum canopy density of 40%, corresponding to moderately dense forest.

Prelims pointers

• AISHE 2023-24 reported total enrolment of 7,95,467 in Central Universities, 1,49,839 in IITs, 22,997 in IIMs and 11,646 in IISERs.
• Since 2014, India has established 16 IIITs, eight Central Universities, eight IIMs, seven IITs, two IISERs, one NIT and 12 AIIMS.
• Five newer IITs received approved academic and infrastructure expansion worth Rs 11,828.79 crore to facilitate education for 6,500 additional students.
• The Union Budget 2026-27 announced five university townships near major industrial and logistics corridors and one girls' hostel in every district.
• The Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006 provides 15% reservation for SCs, 7.5% for STs and 27% for OBCs in annual permitted strength.

Prelims pointers

• The Supreme Court held on 1 September 2025 that TET is a minimum qualification under Section 23 of the RTE Act, 2009.
• TET is mandatory for appointment as a teacher in schools covered by the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009.
• In its review judgment of 29 May 2026, the Supreme Court extended the TET qualification deadline from 31 August 2027 to 31 August 2028.
• The Court said appropriate governments and authorities should endeavour to hold TET preferably twice a year, roughly six months apart.
• Teacher recruitment, service conditions and deployment are administered by State Governments and Union Territory Administrations because education is in the Concurrent List.

Prelims pointers

• Uzbek Foreign Minister Saidov Bakhtiyor Odilovich met President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan on 3 August 2026.
• India-Uzbekistan ties were described as rooted in ancient trade routes and a shared historical and civilizational heritage.
• Mining, particularly rare earth minerals, agriculture, pharmaceuticals and information technology were identified for cooperation.
• More than 3,000 Uzbek officials, professionals and students have benefited from ITEC courses and other scholarship programmes.
• More than 16,000 Indian students were reported to be pursuing higher studies in Uzbekistan.

Prelims pointers

• The Commerce Minister called for India-Uzbekistan bilateral trade to double over the next three years.
• The release stated that bilateral trade had crossed approximately USD 1.5 billion.
• A recently concluded Bilateral Investment Treaty was presented as a means to improve investor confidence and long-term partnerships.
• Textile cooperation was linked to Uzbekistan's cotton strength and India's textile industry, including garments and design.
• India offered collaboration in Digital Public Infrastructure and in fintech, agri-tech and medtech.

Prelims pointers

• The revamped TRAI MyCall app gathers consumer feedback on voice-call experience and combines it with relevant network parameters.
• Consumer feedback is visible to TRAI and Telecom Service Providers in anonymised form for oversight and targeted corrective action.
• Users can rate calls on a one-to-five-star scale and report issues including call drops, echo, audio delay, cross-connection and voice breaking.
• The application includes automatic post-call prompts, mapped rating and feedback history, and a Coverage Test feature to assess signal strength.
• TRAI MyCall was made available for Android devices, while the release noted that India has more than one billion telecom subscribers.

Prelims pointers

• UDISE+ dropout rates for 2025-26 were 1.8% at the preparatory stage, 3.6% at the middle stage and 7.0% at the secondary stage.
• Samagra Shiksha, STARS and PM SHRI support State and Union Territory school infrastructure on the basis of UDISE+ gaps and approved Annual Work Plans and Budgets.
• PM SHRI aims to develop more than 14,500 selected schools as exemplar institutions showcasing initiatives under NEP 2020.
• PM eVidya was initiated on 17 May 2020 and includes 200 DTH television channels and 400 radio channels for supplementary education in Indian languages.
• DIKSHA hosts over 3.7 lakh contributed content items in mother, local and regional languages, with more than 450 virtual labs and 100 virtual skill labs.