17 July 2026

4 articles2 high importance4 with quiz

•Japan's National Diet approved amendments to the Imperial House Law of 1947 on 17 July 2026, the first substantial revision of the statute in 79 years.
•Succession to the Chrysanthemum Throne remains restricted to male members of the imperial family.
•Female members may now keep their imperial status after marrying commoners, but their husbands and children do not enter the imperial family or the line of succession.

•India's Directorate General of Maritime Administration (DGMA) issued an advisory (Circular No. 36 of 2026) around 17 July 2026, directing ship owners, ship managers and RPSL companies to avoid deploying Indian seafarers on vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz until further orders.
•The advisory followed a series of attacks on merchant vessels in the region — including the Mombasa B, Al Bahyah, GFS Galaxy, MT Wedyan and Al Rekayyat — amid heightened Gulf security tensions.
•DGMA, the apex Indian maritime authority (established September 1949, HQ Mumbai, under the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways), asked affected seafarers/vessels to contact its Communication Centre (MMDAC) or the Navy's Information Fusion Centre-Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR) for emergency assistance.

•NITI Aayog released India's first-ever Investment Friendliness Index (IFI) 2026 on 17 July 2026, prepared by Crisil under its Research Scheme.
•Gujarat topped the index with a score of 56.6, followed by Maharashtra (53.7), Tamil Nadu (53.3), Goa (53.1) and Odisha (52.4) — the five 'Top Performers'.
•The IFI covers all 28 states and 8 UTs across 8 pillars and 84 indicators, classifying them into Top Performers (>50), Frontrunners (45-50), Emerging Performers (40-45) and Aspiring States (<40).

•Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off India's first hydrogen fuel-cell passenger train from Jind, Haryana, on 17 July 2026; it entered revenue service on 19 July 2026.
•It runs on the 89-km Jind-Gohana-Sonipat section of Northern Railway, making two round trips a day.
•The rake has two power cars carrying a 1,200 kW hydrogen fuel-cell propulsion system and eight passenger coaches, with capacity for nearly 2,600 passengers.