Current affairs — 7 August 2026

Prelims pointers

• SECL reported scientific closure of 28 abandoned mines, including three in 2024-25 and 25 in 2025-26.
• The company identified 54 mines for closure and targets 11 in 2026-27 and the remaining 15 in 2027-28.
• District Mine Closure Advisory Committees have been formed across ten operational districts in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.
• Scientific closure includes sealing openings, treating subsidence, land reclamation, plantation and ecological restoration.
• At Chachai underground mine, nearly 35,000 saplings were planted after sealing openings and demolishing obsolete structures.

Prelims pointers

• The Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 and Drugs Rules, 1945 contain dedicated regulatory provisions for Ayush drugs.
• PCIM&H develops official standards and specifications for the identity, purity and strength of Ayush drugs.
• The release lists 34 State and Union Territory laboratories for testing legal samples drawn by drug inspectors.
• The Ayush Ministry had approved 118 private drug-testing laboratories under Rules 160A to 160J.
• The ministry reported 27 country-to-country, 16 Ayush Chair and 57 institute-to-institute MoUs.

Prelims pointers

• The release states that public health is a State subject and primary responsibility lies with State governments.
• The Ayush Ministry collects activity-wise physical and financial progress from States and Union Territories.
• NITI Aayog undertakes a third-party mid-term evaluation of National Ayush Mission implementation.
• NAM provides for establishment of integrated Ayush hospitals with 10, 30 or 50 beds.
• States must submit suitable proposals through State Annual Action Plans to seek financial assistance under NAM.

Prelims pointers

• AOGUSY supports quality assurance, standardisation, testing infrastructure and capacity building in the Ayush drug sector.
• The Ministry reported 118 approved private Drug Testing Laboratories across States and Union Territories.
• The Ayush pharmacovigilance network comprises one national, five intermediary and 97 peripheral centres.
• The Ayush Suraksha online portal was launched on 30 May 2025 to capture advertisements and suspected adverse drug reactions.
• PCIM&H develops official pharmacopoeial standards and also functions as the Appellate Drug Testing Laboratory for Ayush drugs.

Prelims pointers

• Sowa-Rigpa means Knowledge of Healing in the Bhoti language and is popularly known as the Amchi system of medicine.
• The Government of India recognises Sowa-Rigpa within the Ayush framework.
• The National Institute of Sowa-Rigpa is intended to serve education, research and healthcare in the system.
• The Minister proposed digitising Bhoti manuscripts before their transcription and translation for wider access.
• The roadmap highlighted medicinal-plant cultivation, bioprospecting, agroforestry and conservation of medicinal biodiversity.

Prelims pointers

• The 2021 land-degradation atlas recorded 6.38 lakh hectares of man-made desertification and land degradation as of 2018-19.
• NICRA is being implemented in 651 districts and has identified 310 districts as vulnerable to climate change.
• Of the vulnerable districts, 201 were classified as High and 109 as Very High climate-vulnerable.
• NICRA demonstrations cover 448 Climate Resilient Villages in 151 vulnerable districts across 28 States and Union Territories.
• ICAR released 2,900 varieties in 2014-2024, of which 2,661 tolerate one or more biotic or abiotic stresses.

Prelims pointers

• The Quit India Movement was launched under Mahatma Gandhi’s leadership on 9 August 1942.
• The movement’s “Do or Die” call inspired millions of Indians to unite for freedom.
• The reference describes the Quit India Movement as a defining milestone in India’s freedom struggle.
• The statement links the sacrifices and resolve of freedom fighters to the strengthening of the national movement.
• The Rajya Sabha Chairman marked 9 August 2026 as the movement’s 84th anniversary.

Prelims pointers

• CCRAS is described as the apex Ayurveda research organisation under the Ministry of Ayush.
• BIS is identified as the National Standards Body of India in the release.
• The CCRAS-BIS agreement covers standards, conformity assessment, scientific research and capacity building.
• BIS described the agreement as its 100th MoU and its first MoU with an Ayush organisation.
• The release says 128 Indian Standards are presently under the Ayurveda Sectional Committee.

Prelims pointers

• AgriStack has three foundational registries: Farmer Registry, Geo-Referenced Village Maps and Crop Sown Registry.
• More than 10.31 crore Farmer IDs had been created across India as of 3 August 2026.
• The Rabi 2025-26 Digital Crop Survey covered more than 31.3 crore plots in 648 districts.
• The State Farmer Registry follows a federated model in which data ownership remains with the respective States.
• YES-TECH applies technology-based yield estimation to paddy, wheat and soybean under the Crop Insurance Scheme.

Prelims pointers

• The Central Sector Scheme has formed 10,000 Farmer Producer Organizations.
• A total of 1,175 FPOs have 100 percent women members, while women form about 40 percent of all shareholders.
• Each FPO’s Board of Directors or Governing Body must include at least one woman member.
• Under the scheme, every FPO receives professional handholding for five years from its registration date.
• The cumulative turnover reported by scheme FPOs was Rs 20,358 crore as of 31 July 2026.

Prelims pointers

• NMEO-OP was launched in 2021-22 as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme with an outlay of Rs 11,040 crore.
• The mission targeted bringing 6.5 lakh hectares under oil-palm cultivation during 2021-22 to 2025-26.
• NMEO-OP is implemented in 15 States and includes a Viability Gap Payment price-assurance mechanism.
• During 2021-22 to 2025-26, 2.73 lakh hectares were brought under oil-palm cultivation.
• The Government of India released Rs 1,447.21 crore to implementing States during the original mission period.

Prelims pointers

• NMEO-OS targets an increase in primary oilseed production from 39 million tonnes to 69.7 million tonnes by 2030-31.
• More than 600 oilseed Value Chain Clusters are managed by FPOs, cooperatives and other partner agencies.
• The Pulses Mission aims to increase production from 242 lakh tonnes to 350 lakh tonnes by 2030-31.
• NAFED and NCCF support assured procurement of tur, urad and masoor from registered willing farmers under PM-AASHA.
• The source reports pulse imports falling from 72.56 lakh tonnes in 2024-25 to 59.64 lakh tonnes in 2025-26.

Prelims pointers

• NBHM is a Central Sector Scheme implemented by the agriculture department through the National Bee Board.
• The mission has established seven world-class honey-testing laboratories and 66 mini-labs for adulteration checks.
• Reported infrastructure includes 83 honey-processing units and 90 collection, branding and packaging units.
• Eighty-one Quality Nucleus Stock Development Centres have been supported for queen-bee production and colony multiplication.
• Honey production rose from 80,530 MT in 2014-15 to an estimated 1,51,690 MT in 2025-26.

Prelims pointers

• President Droupadi Murmu presented the Sant Kabir Handloom Awards and National Handloom Awards 2025 at the 12th National Handloom Day celebration.
• The Swadeshi Movement was formally launched on August 7, 1905, in protest against the Partition of Bengal.
• The Government of India has observed August 7 as National Handloom Day since 2015 in honour of the Swadeshi Movement.
• Four commemorative postage stamps celebrating India's diverse handloom weaving traditions were released at the event.
• The Sant Kabir Handloom Award was described as the country's highest honour for handloom weavers.

Prelims pointers

• The Home Affairs Committee presented its 259th, 260th and 261st Reports in Parliament on August 7, 2026.
• The 259th Report concerns government action on recommendations in the earlier 254th Report on cybercrime.
• The 260th Report reviews governance, development and internal security in Jammu and Kashmir and border preparedness in Ladakh.
• The 261st Report is devoted to disaster management, and all three draft reports were adopted on August 5, 2026.
• The cybercrime report recommends a time-bound nationwide roadmap for converting portal complaints into e-FIRs through I4C coordination.

Prelims pointers

• The committee presented its 166th Report on the functioning of India's tribunal system to both Houses on August 7, 2026.
• For ITAT, the committee recommended timely filling of member and staff vacancies and periodic manpower assessments.
• For RCT, it recommended e-filing, real-time case tracking, virtual hearings and a universal filing system similar to a Zero FIR model.
• For TDSAT, the committee recommended a time-bound pendency plan and examination of an independent Telecom Ombudsman.
• For NGT, it recommended priority appointments, reduced dependence on contractual staff and dedicated Computer or IT sections at all benches.

Prelims pointers

• The 412th Report on Himalayan forest fires was presented to both Houses on August 7, 2026, after adoption on August 5.
• The Environment Ministry said no specific study had yet been commissioned to quantify the climate-change and Himalayan fire linkage.
• The committee recommended separate mitigation approaches for the Western and Eastern Himalaya because their fire drivers differ.
• It urged priority for a geostationary satellite capable of round-the-clock forest-fire monitoring and closer use of IMD forecasts.
• The report recommended a dedicated Himalayan Pirul Management Mission linking pine-needle collection with fire prevention and livelihoods.

Prelims pointers

• The 175th Report studies vector-borne diseases in Northeast India and contains 29 recommendations.
• The 176th Report addresses affordability and accessibility of healthcare and contains 368 recommendations.
• The 177th Report addresses chronic kidney disease prevention, diagnosis, treatment and management and contains 66 recommendations.
• The committee recommended a dedicated National CKD Programme and a National CKD Registry.
• The three reports were considered and adopted by the committee on 6 August 2026.

Prelims pointers

• The 201st Report is titled “Doing Business in India: The Way Forward” and was presented on 7 August 2026.
• The committee said more than 47,000 compliances had been reduced, simplified, digitised or decriminalised.
• The report recommended automatic deemed approvals through NSWS after applicable service-level deadlines expire.
• The committee proposed third-party ground-reality verification in the Business Reform Action Plan evaluation.
• The draft report was considered and adopted by the committee on 5 August 2026.

Prelims pointers

• The Pharmacovigilance Programme for Ayush drugs has been implemented since 2018.
• The programme was incorporated under AOGUSY in 2021.
• The Ayush Suraksha online portal was launched in 2025 to track advertisements and adverse drug reactions.
• The three-tier network has one national, five intermediary and 97 peripheral pharmacovigilance centres.
• The pharmacovigilance centres conducted 4,165 awareness programmes benefiting 3,71,477 participants.

Prelims pointers

• Ladakh’s named high-altitude medicinal plants include Seabuckthorn, Rhodiola, Artemisia and Aconitum.
• e-CHARAK provides fortnightly prices for 100 medicinal plants from 25 herbal markets, including Ladakh.
• The Ayush Ministry released ₹705.11 lakh to Ladakh under NAM over five years, of which ₹534.24 lakh was reported utilised.
• A Seabuckthorn Centre of Excellence was established at Nimoo in Leh with assistance of ₹789.33 lakh.
• The Seabuckthorn centre was initiated in 2020-21 with technical support from DRDO-DIHAR, Leh.

Prelims pointers

• A separate Ayush Visa category for international visitors seeking Ayush treatment was introduced on 27 July 2023.
• The Ayush Ministry and India Tourism Development Corporation signed an MoU to promote Medical Value Travel.
• The release reports 34 research programmes at NHRIMH in Kottayam.
• Two CCRAS institutes named in Kerala are NARIP at Cheruthuruthy and RARI at Thiruvananthapuram.
• The release says 77 Ayush healthcare organisations in Kerala are accredited by NABH.

Prelims pointers

• Tamil Nadu reported 94 co-located Ayush units functioning in rural districts under the National Ayush Mission.
• The State reported 40 co-located units in rural coastal districts and 16 in urban coastal districts.
• A total of 650 Ayush Health and Wellness Centres, now called Ayushman Arogya Mandir (Ayush), were operationalised in Tamil Nadu.
• The Magaperu Sanjeevi Scheme under Siddha medicine benefited 1,27,084 pregnant women during the last year.
• Tamil Nadu reported 3,47,112 women beneficiaries for specified women’s health and wellness services over the last three years.

Prelims pointers

• The amendment excludes specified India-based advances against eligible fresh FCNR(B) and NRE deposits from ANBC.
• Eligible FCNR(B) deposits must have a tenor of at least three years and at most five years.
• The FCNR(B) mobilisation window runs from 8 June 2026 through 30 September 2026, including qualifying renewals.
• Eligible NRE term deposits must have a tenor of at least three years and be mobilised from 19 June through 30 September 2026.
• The ANBC exclusion cannot exceed fresh FCNR(B) or NRE deposits eligible for CRR and SLR exemption.