Current Affairs 16 August 2026

Schemes & CommitteesHighquizQuiz

West Bengal Rolls Out Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY, the Last State to Join

•West Bengal rolled out the Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana from 16 August 2026, the day being observed in the State as Ayushman Diwas.
•It is the 36th and last State or Union Territory to implement AB-PM-JAY, having stayed outside the scheme since its launch in 2018.
•The State estimates around 1.5 crore families, nearly 6 crore people, will be covered, with about 1,930 hospitals empanelled.

UPSCSSCBankingRailway

Read Analysisarrow_forward

InternationalMediumquizQuiz

DR Congo's Ebola Outbreak Becomes the Deadliest in the Country's History

•Government data released on 16 August 2026 put the death toll of the Democratic Republic of the Congo's Ebola outbreak at 2,325, making it the deadliest in the country's history.
•The toll passed the 2,299 deaths of the 2018-2020 outbreak, until now the DRC's worst on record.
•Confirmed cases had risen to 4,945, and the outbreak has spread to 54 health zones across six provinces.

UPSCSSC

Read Analysisarrow_forward

DefenceMediumquizQuiz

Over 200 Students Visit INS Imphal at Muscat During Independence Day Port Call

•More than 200 students from Indian schools in Muscat visited INS Imphal, berthed at Sultan Qaboos Port, during the destroyer's port call in Oman.
•The visit formed part of India's 80th Independence Day celebrations in the Sultanate; India's Ambassador to Oman, Prashant Pise, boarded the ship, and crew members joined the flag-hoisting at the Embassy.
•INS Imphal is an indigenously built stealth guided-missile destroyer, the third of the Project 15B (Visakhapatnam-class) series, commissioned in December 2023.

UPSCSSCDefenceRailway

Read Analysisarrow_forward

InternationalMediumquizQuiz

SAFTA Rules of Origin Under Scrutiny After Rs 2,500 Crore Areca Nut Import Fraud

•The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence dismantled a network that imported South-East Asian areca nuts into India while declaring them to be of Bangladeshi origin, in order to claim concessional duty under SAFTA.
•The estimated loss to the exchequer is more than Rs 2,500 crore; nine people have been arrested.
•Areca nut imports normally attract 100 per cent basic customs duty, but imports from a SAFTA member that satisfy the prescribed Rules of Origin can enter at concessional rates.

UPSCSSCBanking

Read Analysisarrow_forward

History & CultureMediumquizQuiz

Maharashtra to Seek UNESCO Intangible Heritage Tag for Dahi Handi

•Maharashtra Cultural Affairs Minister Ashish Shelar announced on 16 August 2026 that the state will pursue UNESCO intangible cultural heritage recognition for the Dahi Handi festival.
•The state also plans to send Govinda teams to Spain, where Catalonia's castells - human towers inscribed by UNESCO in 2010 - are the closest international parallel to the Dahi Handi pyramid.
•India currently has 16 elements on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, the most recent being Deepavali, inscribed in December 2025.

UPSCSSCRailway

Read Analysisarrow_forward

Science & TechMediumquizQuiz

China launches 24th batch of low-orbit internet satellites on Long March-12

•China launched the 24th batch of its low-Earth orbit internet satellites, SatNet LEO Group 24, on 16 August 2026 from the Wenchang Space Launch Site in Hainan province.
•The satellites flew on a Long March-12 carrier rocket on its Y8 mission, lifting off at 12:10 pm Beijing Time (04:10 UTC), and entered their preset orbits.
•The launch came six days after a Long March 7A rocket exploded during ascent on 10 August 2026.

UPSCSSCRailwayDefence

Read Analysisarrow_forward

State NewsMediumquizQuiz

Amit Shah launches 954 works worth Rs 6,453 crore across 17 Rajasthan districts

•Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah inaugurated and laid foundation stones for 954 development works worth Rs 6,453 crore across 17 districts of Rajasthan, at Alwar on 16 August 2026.
•He laid the e-foundation stone for a Rs 200 crore dairy plant at the Alwar Saras Dairy Complex with an initial capacity of 3 lakh litres a day.
•Four Saras dairy processing and cattle feed plants at Bhilwara, Jaipur, Pali and Rajsamand, costing Rs 274 crore in all, were commissioned.

SSCRailwayBankingUPSC

Read Analysisarrow_forward

InternationalMediumquizQuiz

Russia says 822 Ukrainian drones downed; NATO jet shoots one down over Romania

•Russia's Ministry of Defence said its air defences shot down or neutralised 822 Ukrainian drones between 8 pm Moscow time on 15 August and 8 am on 16 August 2026, one of the largest single barrages of the war.
•Regional officials reported at least six civilians killed - five in the Rostov region and one in the Belgorod region.
•On the same morning, a Spanish Air and Space Force F-18 on a NATO air-policing mission shot down a drone that had entered Romanian airspace from Moldova.

UPSCDefenceSSCRailway

Read Analysisarrow_forward

EconomyMediumquizQuiz

ONGC gets US OFAC licence to resume full Venezuela oil operations

•ONGC has secured a licence from the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control allowing its overseas arm, ONGC Videsh Ltd, to resume full oil-field operations in Venezuela.
•OVL holds a 40 per cent participating interest in the San Cristobal project and 11 per cent in the Carabobo project.
•The company plans to lift output from 12,000-15,000 barrels per day to 30,000 barrels per day within a year and is in talks to take over operatorship from PDVSA.

UPSCBankingSSCRailway

Read Analysisarrow_forward

ObituariesLowquizQuiz

Bengali filmmaker Raja Sen, National Award winner for Damu, dies at 71

•Veteran Bengali filmmaker Raja Sen died at SSKM Hospital, Kolkata, on 16 August 2026, aged 71, after a prolonged illness.
•His debut feature Damu (1996) won the National Film Award for Best Children's Film.
•His other films include Atmiyo Swajan, Desh, Debipaksha, Krishnakanter Will, Laboratory and Maya Mridanga.

SSCRailwayBanking

Read Analysisarrow_forward

Schemes & CommitteesLowquizQuiz

PIB profiles PM-AJAY and SJY livelihood aid and the National Fellowship for SC Students

•The Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment issued two beneficiary accounts on 16 August 2026 illustrating its Scheduled Caste welfare architecture: a livelihood case combining Bihar's Satat Jeevikoparjan Yojana (SJY) with central assistance under Pradhan Mantri Anusuchit Jaati Abhyuday Yojana (PM-AJAY), and a research-fellowship case under the National Fellowship for Scheduled Caste Students (NFSC).
•In the livelihood case, Ruby Devi of Karanpura panchayat in Hajipur, Vaishali district, Bihar received ₹10,000 as SIF support, grocery-shop assets worth ₹20,000 and ₹27,000, ₹1,000 a month for seven months as LGF support, ₹17,000 under PM-AJAY and ₹10,000 under the Mukhyamantri Mahila Rozgar Yojana, along with a three-day CBED training and three refresher trainings at three-month intervals.
•Her reported monthly income rose from ₹2,000-₹3,000 as a daily-wage labourer to ₹15,000-₹20,000 from a general store, with assets valued at about ₹1,45,640; in the second case, Ms Priyanga G of Puducherry, whose NFSC assistance began in November 2022, used the fellowship to buy research material costing ₹10,000-₹15,000 and to attend two international conferences abroad and more than ten held within India.

UPSCSSCBankingRailway

Read Analysisarrow_forward

Science & TechLowquizQuiz

RSSDI launches rural diabetes outreach digital portal and VISHWAS awareness video library

•The Research Society for the Study of Diabetes in India (RSSDI) inaugurated its Diabetes Rural Outreach Digital Portal and launched VISHWAS, a Diabetes Awareness Video Library, at a programme held on Independence Day 2026, with Dr. Jitendra Singh, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, addressing the event.
•The RSSDI Rural Outreach Programme works through village adoption by RSSDI members and has reached around 30 villages across several States so far; the new portal standardises beneficiary registration, treatment documentation, longitudinal follow-up, programme monitoring and the generation of anonymised real-world data for public health planning.
•The Minister argued that rural India is no longer insulated from the diabetes epidemic and that prevention must become a shared national priority, adding that digital health platforms must work in the colloquial languages people actually speak if they are to reach the grassroots.

UPSCSSCRailway

Read Analysisarrow_forward

Polity & GovernanceLowquizQuiz

DoPPW to confer 9th National Anubhav Awards; Pension Mitra handbook and DLC Campaign 5 guidelines released

•The Department of Pension and Pensioners' Welfare (DoPPW), under the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, will hold the 9th National Anubhav Awards Ceremony and the 60th Pre-Retirement Counselling (PRC) Workshop on 17 August 2026 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, under the auspices of Dr. Jitendra Singh, Minister of State for the Ministry.
•Fifteen awardees have been selected under the National Anubhav Awards Scheme, 2026 for contributions to projects including the Passport Seva Kendra, the repeal of obsolete rules and framing of new ones, technological adaptation in administration and accounting, and energy conservation.
•The event will also see the release of the Handbook on Pension Mitra and the Guidelines for the nation-wide Digital Life Certificate (DLC) Campaign 5, alongside a Bank Exhibition in which 17 Pension Disbursing Banks will display products and services for retiring employees.

UPSCSSCBankingRailway

Read Analysisarrow_forward

Science & TechLowquizQuiz

NIELIT launches CYBER KUSHTI 2026, a hackathon scoring security judgment over detection

•The National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT), an autonomous scientific society under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, launched CYBER KUSHTI 2026 on 15 August 2026 - a national cyber security and Artificial Intelligence hackathon that scores the ability to judge security findings rather than the speed of detecting them.
•It is run with the Information Sharing and Analysis Center (ISAC Foundation) under the National Security Database, with CERT-In as Knowledge Partner, and is the official parallel technical track of the 3rd National Conference on Cyber Security, Digital Forensics and Intelligence (NCCDFI 2026).
•Every team receives an identical, deliberately imperfect Security Assessment Package containing false, duplicated and genuine findings, with some real vulnerabilities omitted; teams are scored for correctly rejecting false findings as well as for identifying genuine ones.

UPSCSSCRailway

Read Analysisarrow_forward

DefenceLowquizQuiz

Army Chief General Dhiraj Seth visits Nepal, to receive honorary General rank

•General Dhiraj Seth, Chief of the Army Staff, departed on an official visit to Nepal from 17 to 19 August 2026 to strengthen military-to-military ties between the two armies.
•At an Investiture Ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhawan in Kathmandu he is to be conferred the Honorary Rank of General of the Nepali Army by the President of Nepal, Shri Ram Chandra Paudel, under a reciprocal tradition that dates to 1950.
•The programme includes a wreath-laying at the Army Pavilion, Tundikhel, a Guard of Honour at Nepali Army Headquarters, a briefing by the Nepali Army's Director General Military Operations, an address to student officers of the Army Command and Staff Course at Shivapuri, and an Ex-Servicemen Rally at Pokhara where Veer Naris and gallantry awardees are to be felicitated.

UPSCDefenceSSCRailway

Read Analysisarrow_forward

Schemes & CommitteesMediumquizQuiz

Alwar Saras Dairy plant foundation laid as Rajasthan gets Rs 6,453 crore cooperative push

•The Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation inaugurated and laid foundation stones for 954 works costing Rs 6,453 crore across 17 districts of Rajasthan at Alwar on 16 August 2026, including Bhoomi Pujan for a milk processing plant of 3 lakh litres per day capacity that is to be raised to 5 lakh litres.
•Four Saras Dairy plants costing Rs 274 crore in total became operational at Bhilwara, Jaipur, Pali and Rajsamand, and four district cooperative banks were launched at Phalodi, Balotra, Didwana-Kuchaman and Pratapgarh offering crop loans at zero percent interest.
•Rs 152 crore was transferred through DBT under the Chief Minister's Crop Insurance scheme and over Rs 667 crore to 67 lakh farmers under the Mukhyamantri Kisan Samman Nidhi at Rs 1,000 per farmer.

UPSCSSCBankingRailway

Read Analysisarrow_forward

EconomyMediumquizQuiz

Mines Ministry Opens 8th Tranche of Critical Mineral Block Auctions with Patna Roadshow

•The Ministry of Mines is holding a roadshow on the 8th tranche of auction of critical and strategic mineral blocks, along with a workshop on the National Mineral Exploration and Development Trust (NMEDT), on 17 August 2026 in Patna, Bihar.
•The 8th tranche comprises 20 mineral blocks — 3 mining leases and 17 composite licences — covering graphite, rare earth elements, rare metals, vanadium, gallium, titanium, molybdenum, tungsten, potash, phosphorite and glauconite.
•The programme includes a presentation on the NMEDT scheme for partial reimbursement of exploration expenses to composite licence holders, and a workshop on mineral exploration planning, execution and reporting using the National Geoscience Data Repository.

UPSCSSCBankingRailway

Read Analysisarrow_forward

EconomyMediumquizQuiz

DRI Busts Rs 2,500-Crore SAFTA Origin Fraud in Areca Nut Imports

•The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence has dismantled a network that imported South-East Asian areca nuts into India while declaring them as Bangladeshi origin, to claim duty-free treatment under the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA).
•The investigation has so far revealed customs duty evasion of more than Rs 2,500 crore; nine persons have been arrested, about Rs 75 lakh in cash and a live consignment of around 160 MT of areca nuts were seized.
•Areca nut imports normally attract a Basic Customs Duty of 100%, while imports meeting SAFTA's rules-of-origin criteria enter duty-free — the gap that made the fraud profitable.

UPSCSSCBankingRailway

Read Analysisarrow_forward

InternationalMediumquizQuiz

Iran's Parliament Clears Bill Criminalising Interviews With Hostile Media

•Iran's parliament on 16 August 2026 approved the general framework of a bill that would criminalise interviews and discussions with media outlets designated hostile to the Islamic Republic, naming US and Israeli outlets and entities financed by them.
•Participation in such discussions would carry six months to two years in prison; interviews with other foreign media would have to be notified to the intelligence ministry.
•Contact with foreign embassies or foreign organisations without written permission from the foreign ministry would attract fines and loss of certain social rights.

UPSCSSCRailway

Read Analysisarrow_forward

EconomyMediumquizQuiz

Centre to Allow Exchange Trading of Major Minerals from Next Financial Year

•The Government of India will allow major minerals to be traded on a regulated electronic exchange from the next financial year, moving mineral pricing towards transparent, market-based discovery.
•The first phase will cover four minerals: iron ore, limestone, manganese and bauxite.
•The Indian Bureau of Mines will register exchange platforms and audit the trading ecosystem under the Mineral Exchange Rules, 2026, and can set floor or ceiling prices, suspend trading in volatile periods and withdraw contracts.

UPSCSSCBankingRailway

Read Analysisarrow_forward

Polity & GovernanceMediumquizQuiz

CEA Notifies Cyber Security in Power Sector Regulations, Effective April 2027

•The Central Electricity Authority has notified the Central Electricity Authority (Cyber Security in Power Sector) Regulations, 2026 under the Electricity Act, 2003, replacing voluntary advisories with binding statutory obligations.
•The regulations come into force from 1 April 2027 and cover generating companies, captive generating plants and energy storage entities of 50 MW and above, as well as power exchanges and over-the-counter electricity trading platforms.
•CSIRT-Power is designated the nodal agency for cyber security coordination in the power sector, working alongside CERT-In, the national incident response agency.

UPSCSSCBankingRailway

Read Analysisarrow_forward

EnvironmentMediumquizQuiz

Hurricane Lala Skirts Hawaii's Big Island; Record Rain, One Death

•Lala strengthened from a tropical storm into a Category 1 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph (about 120 km/h) as it moved past Hawaii's Big Island.
•The eye passed the island's southern tip, so Lala did not make a direct landfall, but it still produced more than 28 inches of rain in places, at least one death and about 100 damaged or destroyed homes.
•More than 42,000 utility customers lost power across Hawaii, including over 31,000 on the Big Island and over 7,200 in Maui County.

UPSCSSCRailway

Read Analysisarrow_forward