PIB Current Affairs 4 August 2026

InternationalLowquizQuiz

DGMA's 'Seafarer-First' Framework Restricts Indian Crew on Strait of Hormuz Voyages

•The Directorate General of Maritime Administration, a subordinate office of the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, has instituted a graded 'Seafarer-First' framework in response to the security situation in Iran, the Strait of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf and adjacent waters.
•The latest circular, issued on 15 July 2026, advises ship owners, managers and recruitment companies to avoid deploying Indian seafarers on voyages passing through the Strait of Hormuz until further orders.
•A real-time reporting, tracking and monitoring mechanism is operational, supported by a 24-hour Control Room, the DG Communication Centre and a Situation Report issued every 24 hours recording vessel-wise positions and the number of Indian seafarers on board.

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Science & TechMediumquizQuiz

Drones Cut TB Diagnosis Time From 15 Days to 5 in ICMR i-DRONE Study

•An ICMR study under its i-DRONE initiative found that drone-assisted transport of tuberculosis sputum samples cut the median diagnosis turnaround time from 15 days to 5 days.
•Mean out-of-pocket expenditure for patients fell from about Rs 9,451 to Rs 91, a reduction of more than 99 per cent.
•The study was conducted in Yadadri-Bhuvanagiri district of Telangana in collaboration with AIIMS Bibinagar and the National TB Elimination Programme.

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Schemes & CommitteesMediumquizQuiz

AB PM-JAY Crosses 12.69 Crore Admissions Worth Rs 1.92 Lakh Crore

•As on 30 June 2026, Ayushman Bharat - Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana had authorised 12.69 crore hospital admissions amounting to Rs 1.92 lakh crore through a network of 37,413 public and private hospitals.
•The scheme provides Rs 5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation to 12 crore economically vulnerable families, the bottom 40 per cent of India's population.
•It was expanded in March 2024 to about 37 lakh families of ASHAs, Anganwadi Workers and Anganwadi Helpers, and again in October 2024 to 6 crore senior citizens aged 70 and above across 4.5 crore families, irrespective of socio-economic status.

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Schemes & CommitteesMediumquizQuiz

12,500 Ayush Centres Upgraded as Ayushman Arogya Mandir; Ayurveda Day Fixed to 23 September

•Under the National Ayush Mission, 12,500 existing Ayush dispensaries and sub health centres have been upgraded and operationalised as Ayushman Arogya Mandir (Ayush), formerly called Ayush Health and Wellness Centres.
•Rs 6,40,699.24 lakh — about Rs 6,407 crore — has been released to States and UTs under the Mission between 2014-15 and 2025-26, with Uttar Pradesh receiving the largest share.
•Rajasthan has the largest number of functional Ayushman Arogya Mandir (Ayush) at 2,019, followed by Madhya Pradesh at 800 and Himachal Pradesh at 761.

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EconomyMediumquizQuiz

MSP Fixed for 22 Mandated Crops on CACP Advice; Procurement Runs Through PM-AASHA

•The Government fixes Minimum Support Prices every year for 22 mandated agricultural crops on the recommendations of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices, after considering the views of State Governments and concerned Central Ministries.
•The Union Budget for 2018-19 announced the principle of setting MSP at least one and a half times the cost of production, applied from 2018-19 with a minimum margin of 50 per cent over the all-India weighted average cost of production.
•Cereals and coarse cereals are procured through the Food Corporation of India and designated State agencies; pulses, oilseeds and copra come under the Price Support Scheme within PM-AASHA, with NAFED and NCCF as the central nodal agencies.

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Summits & ConferencesMediumquizQuiz

India's BRICS Chairship: Education Ministers Meet in Bhubaneswar, Statisticians in Lucknow

•Under India's BRICS chairship 2026, the Ministry of Education is hosting the 13th BRICS Education Ministers' Meeting and the 3rd Senior Officials' Meeting in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, from 5 to 7 August 2026.
•India's chairship theme is 'Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability', reflecting the approach articulated by the Prime Minister at the 2025 BRICS Summit in Rio de Janeiro.
•The two-day meeting of Heads of BRICS National Statistical Offices concluded at Lucknow on 4 August 2026 under the theme 'Quality Statistics as a Driver of Change', with more than 350 participants.

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BusinessMediumquizQuiz

Bharat Taxi, India's First Cooperative Ride-Hailing Platform, Registers 8.27 Lakh Drivers

•Bharat Taxi, described as the country's first cooperative-led ride-hailing platform, is operated by Sahakar Taxi Cooperative Limited, a multi-state cooperative society registered under the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act, 2002.
•As on 28 July 2026, 8.27 lakh Sarathis — drivers — had been registered on the platform, with Delhi-NCR accounting for 2.61 lakh.
•Eight national cooperative institutions support the platform: NCDC, IFFCO, AMUL (GCMMF), KRIBHCO, NAFED, NABARD, NDDB and NCEL.

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Schemes & CommitteesMediumquizQuiz

Five States Cut Chemical Fertilizer Use Under PM-PRANAM in 2025-26

•Under PM-PRANAM, five States and Union Territories — Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Delhi, Goa, Manipur and Mizoram — cut chemical fertilizer consumption by a cumulative 0.18 lakh metric tonnes in 2025-26 against their previous three-year average.
•PM-PRANAM was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on 28 June 2023 for 2023-24 to 2025-26, and offers States an incentive equal to 50 per cent of the fertilizer subsidy saved.
•The Government has stated that incentives under the scheme have not yet been disbursed.

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EconomyMediumquizQuiz

Vadhavan Port to Add 298 MMTPA Capacity; Rs 25,000 Crore Maritime Development Fund Set Up

•Vadhavan Port in Palghar district, approved by the Union Cabinet on 19 June 2024 at an estimated Rs 76,220 crore, is being developed as an all-weather greenfield deep-draft major port and is expected to create 298 million metric tonnes per annum of cargo capacity.
•The Shipbuilding Financial Assistance Scheme has been approved with an outlay of Rs 24,736 crore to offset the cost disadvantage of Indian shipyards, with guidelines issued on 26 December 2025.
•A Maritime Development Fund of Rs 25,000 crore has been established, comprising a Rs 20,000 crore Maritime Investment Fund with 49 per cent Government participation and a Rs 5,000 crore Interest Incentivization Fund.

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Ranks & ReportsMediumquizQuiz

Panchayat Advancement Index 2.0 Covers 2.59 Lakh Gram Panchayats Across 33 States

•The Ministry of Panchayati Raj has renamed the Panchayat Development Index (PDI) as the Panchayat Advancement Index (PAI), a composite framework measuring the incremental performance of Gram Panchayats on the localisation of Sustainable Development Goals.
•A total of 2.59 lakh Gram Panchayats and equivalent bodies across 33 States and Union Territories have been onboarded for PAI 2.0 covering FY 2023-24.
•Not a single Gram Panchayat in any State or Union Territory secured the top A+ grade in PAI 2.0; Tripura recorded the largest number of A-grade Panchayats at 943.

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Schemes & CommitteesMediumquizQuiz

KAPAS KANTI Cotton Mission Approved at Rs 5,659 Crore for Five Years

•The Mission for Cotton Productivity, called KAPAS KANTI, was approved on 5 May 2026 with an outlay of Rs 5,659.22 crore for five years, from 2026-27 to 2030-31.
•It runs through four components implemented by DARE (Rs 555.05 crore), the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (Rs 3,804.17 crore), the Cotton Corporation of India (Rs 1,000 crore) and the National Jute Board (Rs 300 crore).
•Component-I(B) initially covers 140 potential districts across 14 major cotton-growing States, and Component-II provides for 50 cotton testing laboratories in PPP mode.

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Schemes & CommitteesMediumquizQuiz

SVAMITVA: Drone Survey Done in 3.30 Lakh Villages, 3.24 Crore Property Cards Prepared

•Drone survey under the SVAMITVA Scheme has been completed in 3.30 lakh villages, against 3.38 lakh notified villages targeted within the scheme period.
•About 3.24 crore property cards have been prepared covering 1.97 lakh villages, of which roughly 2.72 crore have been distributed to owners.
•Uttar Pradesh leads with over 1.20 crore property cards prepared, followed by Madhya Pradesh (68.19 lakh) and Maharashtra (39.70 lakh).

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Schemes & CommitteesMediumquizQuiz

VB-G RAM G Rolled Out Nationwide From 1 July 2026 With 125-Day Job Guarantee

•The Viksit Bharat - Guarantee for Rozgar and Aajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act, 2025, known as VB-G RAM G, has been implemented in rural areas across the entire country with effect from 1 July 2026.
•It provides a statutory guarantee of 125 days of wage employment in a financial year to every rural household whose adult members volunteer for unskilled manual work, against 100 days under MGNREGA.
•Permissible works are specified in Schedule I of the Act under four heads: water-related works, core rural infrastructure, livelihood-related infrastructure, and special works to mitigate extreme weather events.

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Schemes & CommitteesHighquizQuiz

PM Surya Ghar Crosses 50 Lakh Rooftop Solar Installations; 14.8 GW Commissioned

•PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana has crossed 50.06 lakh households with rooftop solar installations, against 7.94 lakh installations recorded over the previous ten years.
•Cumulative commissioned capacity under the scheme stands at 14.8 GW, and Rs 28,024 crore has been released as subsidy directly to beneficiaries through Direct Benefit Transfer.
•Nearly 19 lakh households now receive zero electricity bills, and more than 12 lakh households earned Rs 421 crore in FY 2024-25 by selling surplus power to the grid.

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EconomyHighquizQuiz

India Crosses 800 GI Products; Uttar Pradesh Leads With 81 Registrations

•A PIB Backgrounder reviews India's Geographical Indication ecosystem: the country now has over 800 registered GI products, of which 607 have been granted since 2014.
•Registration and protection run under the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999, administered by the GI Registry at Chennai, which has all-India jurisdiction.
•Uttar Pradesh leads with 81 GI-tagged products as of December 2025, followed by Tamil Nadu with 76 and Maharashtra with 55.

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Science & TechMediumquizQuiz

ICAR Develops India's First Telomere-to-Telomere Reference Genome of Pigeonpea

•ICAR has developed India's first fully annotated telomere-to-telomere (T2T) reference genome of pigeonpea, using the variety 'Asha'.
•The assembly contains 752.65 million base pairs across 92 contigs, covering all 11 chromosomes with all 11 centromeres and 22 telomeres.
•Annotation identified 36,557 genes producing 48,008 mRNAs, with transcriptome mapping recording more than 99.9 per cent read alignment.

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NationalMediumquizQuiz

India Brought Back 274 Fugitives From 36 Countries Between 2019 and 2026

•The Ministry of Home Affairs has reported that 274 fugitive criminals were brought back to India from 36 countries between 2019 and 2026 (up to July).
•The largest categories are murder, robbery and violent crime (62), sexual offences including POCSO cases (53) and organised crime or gangsters (42).
•Red Corner Notices issued rose from 40 in 2022 to 182 so far in 2026, with 401 issued over the past three years.

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Current Affairs Pulse

PIB Current Affairs — 4 August 2026

DGMA's 'Seafarer-First' Framework Restricts Indian Crew on Strait of Hormuz Voyages

Drones Cut TB Diagnosis Time From 15 Days to 5 in ICMR i-DRONE Study

AB PM-JAY Crosses 12.69 Crore Admissions Worth Rs 1.92 Lakh Crore

12,500 Ayush Centres Upgraded as Ayushman Arogya Mandir; Ayurveda Day Fixed to 23 September

MSP Fixed for 22 Mandated Crops on CACP Advice; Procurement Runs Through PM-AASHA

India's BRICS Chairship: Education Ministers Meet in Bhubaneswar, Statisticians in Lucknow

Bharat Taxi, India's First Cooperative Ride-Hailing Platform, Registers 8.27 Lakh Drivers

Five States Cut Chemical Fertilizer Use Under PM-PRANAM in 2025-26

Vadhavan Port to Add 298 MMTPA Capacity; Rs 25,000 Crore Maritime Development Fund Set Up

Panchayat Advancement Index 2.0 Covers 2.59 Lakh Gram Panchayats Across 33 States

KAPAS KANTI Cotton Mission Approved at Rs 5,659 Crore for Five Years

SVAMITVA: Drone Survey Done in 3.30 Lakh Villages, 3.24 Crore Property Cards Prepared

VB-G RAM G Rolled Out Nationwide From 1 July 2026 With 125-Day Job Guarantee

PM Surya Ghar Crosses 50 Lakh Rooftop Solar Installations; 14.8 GW Commissioned

India Crosses 800 GI Products; Uttar Pradesh Leads With 81 Registrations

ICAR Develops India's First Telomere-to-Telomere Reference Genome of Pigeonpea

India Brought Back 274 Fugitives From 36 Countries Between 2019 and 2026