PIB Current Affairs 20 August 2026

SportsLowquizQuiz

SAI Governing Body approves National Coach Accreditation Board, pushes 2036 Olympic talent hunt

•Chairing the 63rd Governing Body Meeting of the Sports Authority of India (SAI), Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports Dr Mansukh Mandaviya called for an accelerated talent identification roadmap to build India's athlete pool for the 2036 Olympics, taking forward the Prime Minister's Red Fort announcement of a nationwide sports talent hunt.
•The Governing Body approved the establishment of a National Coach Accreditation Board (NCAB), a component of the revamped Khelo India Scheme, to give coach accreditation and development a structured framework; it also approved an amendment to the recruitment rules for the post of Assistant Coach (Pay Level-6) on deputation in SAI.
•The Minister set out a two-stage talent identification model, first identifying athletes performing well at state and district levels and then mapping their potential, covering schools, districts and colleges to build a national talent repository, supported by a public-private partnership model and corporate CSR participation to expand academy capacity.

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Polity & GovernanceLowquizQuiz

Global Digital Capacity Building Alliance completes six months, engagement across 10 countries

•The Global Digital Capacity Building Alliance (GDCBA), an initiative of the Capacity Building Commission (CBC), completed six months on 20 August 2026; it was launched on 20 February 2026 at the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi.
•In six months the Alliance has extended engagement across 10 countries including Brazil, Sri Lanka and Mauritius, with over 250 public officials participating, and has drawn institutional partners such as the Gates Foundation, the World Bank, NCGG, RIS, UNICEF, the Commonwealth, ADBI, ORF, Apolitical and Nalanda University.
•GDCBA is built on the experience of Mission Karmayogi and has four goals: strengthening institutional capability, supporting evidence-informed capacity-building decisions, building a global community of practice for governance, and creating a repository of implementation knowledge. An annual Summit and a State of Capacity Building Report are planned.

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Science & TechLowquizQuiz

NCPOR hosts 8th BRICS Ocean and Polar Science working group meeting in Goa

•The Ministry of Earth Sciences held the 8th Meeting of the BRICS Working Group on Ocean and Polar Science and Technology (OPST) at Goa from 12 to 14 August 2026, hosted by the National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR) during India's BRICS Presidency.
•Delegations from Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Russia, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates agreed on collaborative work in coastal resilience, a joint polar ocean biodiversity study, milestones for the 5th International Polar Year and capacity building for young researchers.
•India will use its Presidency year to finalise the Working Group's roadmap and a short-term action plan; the meeting was chaired by NCPOR Director Dr Thamban Meloth and its concluding session was addressed virtually by MoES Secretary Dr T. Srinivasa Kumar Tummala.

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NationalLowquizQuiz

238 AC EMU rakes for Mumbai suburban railway to be built by ICF, RCF, MCF

•The Ministry of Railways has prioritised manufacture of 238 air-conditioned EMU rakes for the Mumbai suburban network through its three coach production units, to match rolling stock availability with infrastructure being commissioned under the Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP).
•The indicative production programme splits the order as 120 rakes at Integral Coach Factory (ICF) Chennai, 71 at Rail Coach Factory (RCF) Kapurthala and 47 at Modern Coach Factory (MCF) Raebareli; the Railway Board cleared procurement on existing, proven RDSO/ICF specifications to speed up manufacture.
•Supply is planned to begin in 2027 and the full sanctioned quantity is to be completed by 2030, closing the gap between commissioned infrastructure and rolling stock induction.

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Polity & GovernanceLowquizQuiz

Reconstituted National Commission for Minorities holds first meeting of 2026

•The newly re-constituted National Commission for Minorities held its first meeting of 2026 under the chairmanship of Shri Harjit Singh Grewal.
•It was attended by Vice Chairperson Ms. S. Munawari Begum and Members Shri Berjis Desai and Shri Glenn E Souza Ticlo, with Secretary Shri Suchindra Misra and Joint Secretary Dr. Atya Nand also present.
•The Commission reviewed matters relating to the welfare and interests of minority communities, with the Chairperson emphasising its mandate to work for the development of minorities and to monitor the working of safeguards protecting their interests.

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Schemes & CommitteesLowquizQuiz

SC Post-Matric Scholarship spending rises to Rs 6,208 crore; NFSC fellowship support highlighted

•Actual expenditure under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Post-Matric Scholarships for Scheduled Castes rose from Rs 5,475.42 crore in 2023-24 to Rs 5,581.52 crore in 2024-25 and Rs 6,208.08 crore in 2025-26, against Revised Budget Estimates of Rs 5,400 crore, Rs 5,500 crore and Rs 6,000 crore.
•Since Direct Benefit Transfer was introduced in 2021-22, the Central share is disbursed directly into beneficiaries' Aadhaar-seeded bank accounts; release of the Central share is contingent on the State or UT releasing its share and uploading finally verified beneficiary data on the National Scholarship Portal.
•A companion release illustrated the National Fellowship for Scheduled Caste Students through a scholar from Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, who received fellowship support with House Rent Allowance from July 2017 and has now completed his research.

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Science & TechMediumquizQuiz

Aadhaar App crosses 5 crore downloads; UIDAI onboards over 200 offline verification entities

•The Aadhaar App has crossed 50 million (5 crore) downloads, with more than 60 lakh mobile number updates, over 15 lakh address updates and more than 23 lakh email updates carried out through it.
•The app is built around the principle of 'Show, Share and Verify', giving Aadhaar number holders control over how their Aadhaar information is used.
•UIDAI has onboarded more than 200 entities as Offline Verification Seeking Entities (OVSEs) since the rollout in January, enabling consent-based, paperless verification.

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EconomyMediumquizQuiz

Chhattisgarh tilapia cluster reviewed as India develops 34 fisheries clusters for exports

•Dr. Abhilaksh Likhi, Secretary, Department of Fisheries, chaired an interactive meeting at Raipur on 20 August 2026 to review the Tilapia Cluster notified in Chhattisgarh under the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana, with over 1,300 farmers and value-chain stakeholders participating in hybrid mode.
•Chhattisgarh has become the first inland state to begin exporting value-added tilapia products, having shipped 382 tonnes to the United States.
•The Government is developing 34 fisheries production and processing clusters as export growth engines, supported end-to-end across production, processing, value addition and market linkages.

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Schemes & CommitteesMediumquizQuiz

Centre approves 11.19 lakh PMAY-G houses for Bihar; state to adopt PM Fasal Bima Yojana

•Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare and Rural Development Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced approval of 11,18,937 pucca houses for Bihar with an allocation of Rs 13,427 crore, at the state-level Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana programme in Patna.
•Cumulatively, 24,30,327 houses have been approved for Bihar over two years with expenditure of Rs 29,164 crore; the sanction letter was handed to Chief Minister Shri Samrat Choudhary.
•The Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana will now be implemented in Bihar - a reversal for a state that had opted out of the central crop insurance scheme and run its own crop-loss assistance scheme instead.

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Summits & ConferencesMediumquizQuiz

India hosts 12th BRICS Communications Ministers Meeting under its 2026 Chairship

•India will host the 12th BRICS Communications Ministers Meeting on 21 August 2026 under its BRICS Chairship, chaired by Shri Jyotiraditya M. Scindia, Union Minister of Communications.
•The meeting sits under India's overarching Chairship theme, 'Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability', and the ICT Track theme, 'Innovate, Cooperate and Transform (ICT) for a Resilient Future'.
•Agenda items include emerging technologies, Digital Public Infrastructure, future networks, cybersecurity, capacity building and inclusive digital connectivity, with an explicit focus on the wider Global South.

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EconomyMediumquizQuiz

MMDR Amendment Act 2026 notified, restricting State levies on mineral rights

•Steel Authority of India Limited welcomed the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2026, notified by the Central Government on 17 August 2026.
•SAIL described the amendment as providing greater clarity and uniformity in mineral taxation and levies and as addressing pending retrospective levies, giving the mining industry fiscal predictability.
•The amendment restricts States from imposing tax, cess or other levies on mineral rights and mineral-bearing lands except as the Central Government may prescribe, and invalidates unpaid or unrecovered levies accrued before it takes effect, while amounts already paid are not refunded.

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Polity & GovernanceMediumquizQuiz

Union Cabinet clears a sitting bench of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court in Ladakh

•The Union Cabinet decided to enable a bench of the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir to sit in Ladakh, a decision welcomed by Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah on 20 August 2026.
•The stated purpose is to improve access to justice for citizens in remote areas of Ladakh by cutting the time needed to reach the courts, with the Government reiterating its commitment to Ladakh's development and to constitutional safeguards.
•Ladakh has had no High Court of its own since 2019: under the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir became the common High Court for both the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the Union Territory of Ladakh.

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EnvironmentMediumquizQuiz

CMLRE releases first national report on deep-sea fishery resources of India's EEZ

•The Ministry of Earth Sciences released the National Report on Deep-Sea and Distant-Water Fishery Resources of the Indian EEZ, marking the Silver Jubilee of the Centre for Marine Living Resources and Ecology (CMLRE) at Kochi.
•The report compiles nearly four decades of oceanographic research and three decades of systematic surveys across India's 2.37 million sq km Exclusive Economic Zone, drawing on more than 400 cruises since the early 1990s under the Marine Living Resources Programme aboard FORV Sagar Sampada.
•It assesses the mesopelagic 'twilight zone' between 200 and 1,000 metres — lanternfishes, deep-sea shrimps and cephalopods whose nightly vertical migration drives the ocean's biological carbon pump — and identifies substantial but underexploited deep-sea demersal stocks beyond 200 metres.

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Schemes & CommitteesMediumquizQuiz

Jal Shakti issues data sharing policy for Sujalam Bharat rural water DPI

•The Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Ministry of Jal Shakti, issued the Policy on Data Sharing, Interoperability and Stakeholder Access under the Sujalam Bharat Digital Public Infrastructure on 20 August 2026.
•The policy sets a secure, federated and interoperable framework for sharing rural drinking water data among the Department, States and Union Territories, Gram Panchayats, government organisations and authorised sectoral stakeholders.
•It relies on common identifiers, standardised metadata, interoperable registries and secure digital services, and adopts a tiered, purpose-limited data-access framework with safeguards for privacy, personal data protection and cybersecurity.

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EconomyMediumquizQuiz

Index of Core Industries grows 5.4% in July 2026; iron ore up 29.5%

•The Index of Core Industries grew 5.4% year-on-year in July 2026 on the provisional estimate, down from the 6.0% recorded in the final index for June 2026.
•Six of the nine core sectors grew: iron ore 29.5%, cement 13.1%, electricity 9%, coal 7.6%, steel 2.9% and refinery products 2.7%. Natural gas, crude oil and fertilizers contracted.
•Cumulative growth for April-July 2026 was 4.3% on the provisional estimate, against 1.5% in the corresponding period of the previous year.

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NationalHighquizQuiz

Delhi Master Plan 2047 unveiled with 40 lakh new affordable homes and TOD focus

•Union Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs and Power Manohar Lal unveiled the Delhi Master Plan 2047 (MPD-2047) on 20 August 2026, in the presence of Lieutenant Governor Taranjit Singh Sandhu and Chief Minister Rekha Gupta.
•The plan envisages around 40 lakh new affordable housing units, including about 18 lakh along metro corridors in Transit-Oriented Development zones and about 7 lakh from relaxed redevelopment norms.
•The Land Pooling Policy is commissioned for nearly 200 sq km of planned urban expansion creating around 12 lakh new homes and a 600 km road network, with DDA building 30-metre and wider roads upfront.

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Polity & GovernanceHighquizQuiz

31st Southern Zonal Council at Mahabalipuram takes up water sharing and asset division

•Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah chaired the 31st meeting of the Southern Zonal Council at Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu on 20 August 2026.
•The meeting was attended by the Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala, the Deputy Chief Minister of Telangana, the Lieutenant Governors of Puducherry and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and the Administrator of Lakshadweep.
•The Home Minister said 70 Zonal Council meetings have been held since 2014 and 1,445 of 1,869 issues — about 80% — have been resolved, against an average of two and a half meetings a year in 2004-2014 and six a year now.

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DefenceHighquizQuiz

India and Japan sign Memorandum of Arrangement on Maritime Security Cooperation

•Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh and Japan's Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi held the Japan-India Defence Ministers' Meeting in New Delhi on 20 August 2026 and signed a Memorandum of Arrangement on Maritime Security Cooperation between the two defence ministries.
•The Memorandum frames cooperation between the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and the Indian Navy, including information sharing on Maritime Domain Awareness, search and rescue, and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.
•The two sides agreed to explore joint development in naval shipbuilding and design, to use India's production capacity under Make in India, and to conclude a ship repair arrangement providing reciprocal repair facilities.

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Schemes & CommitteesHighquizQuiz

PMJVM: 4,172 Van Dhan Kendras sanctioned, 12.48 lakh tribal gatherers linked

•A PIB Backgrounder issued on 20 August 2026 sets out how the Pradhan Mantri Janjatiya Vikas Mission (PMJVM) is restructuring the minor forest produce trade, on which India's 10.4 crore Scheduled Tribes depend for 20-40% of their annual income.
•Under PMJVM, 4,172 Van Dhan Vikas Kendras have been sanctioned and 2,911 are functional, reporting sales of about Rs 168 crore as on 31 July 2026; 12.48 lakh tribal members are linked to them.
•Minimum Support Price has been notified for 87 minor forest produce items; since 2013-14 State agencies have procured 2,67,954 metric tonnes of MFP worth Rs 693.98 crore.

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Current Affairs Pulse

PIB Current Affairs — 20 August 2026

SAI Governing Body approves National Coach Accreditation Board, pushes 2036 Olympic talent hunt

Global Digital Capacity Building Alliance completes six months, engagement across 10 countries

NCPOR hosts 8th BRICS Ocean and Polar Science working group meeting in Goa

238 AC EMU rakes for Mumbai suburban railway to be built by ICF, RCF, MCF

Reconstituted National Commission for Minorities holds first meeting of 2026

SC Post-Matric Scholarship spending rises to Rs 6,208 crore; NFSC fellowship support highlighted

Aadhaar App crosses 5 crore downloads; UIDAI onboards over 200 offline verification entities

Chhattisgarh tilapia cluster reviewed as India develops 34 fisheries clusters for exports

Centre approves 11.19 lakh PMAY-G houses for Bihar; state to adopt PM Fasal Bima Yojana

India hosts 12th BRICS Communications Ministers Meeting under its 2026 Chairship

MMDR Amendment Act 2026 notified, restricting State levies on mineral rights

Union Cabinet clears a sitting bench of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court in Ladakh

CMLRE releases first national report on deep-sea fishery resources of India's EEZ

Jal Shakti issues data sharing policy for Sujalam Bharat rural water DPI

Index of Core Industries grows 5.4% in July 2026; iron ore up 29.5%

Delhi Master Plan 2047 unveiled with 40 lakh new affordable homes and TOD focus

31st Southern Zonal Council at Mahabalipuram takes up water sharing and asset division

India and Japan sign Memorandum of Arrangement on Maritime Security Cooperation

PMJVM: 4,172 Van Dhan Kendras sanctioned, 12.48 lakh tribal gatherers linked