PIB Current Affairs 24 August 2026

Polity & GovernanceLowquizQuiz

ECI holds second regional conference on Electoral Literacy Clubs 2.0 and ECINET at Lucknow

•The Election Commission of India held its second regional conference on 'Electoral Literacy Clubs (ELC 2.0) and ECINET' at Lucknow on 24 August 2026, addressed by Chief Election Commissioner Shri Gyanesh Kumar before students and teachers from schools and colleges across Uttar Pradesh.
•ELC 2.0, carrying the tagline 'Learn Democracy. Lead Democracy.', reimagines Electoral Literacy Clubs as structured, visible and digitally enabled platforms across schools, colleges and universities, running year-round activities and networked through a dedicated ELC portal on the ECINET digital platform.
•The CEC said elections in India are conducted strictly as per the Constitution, the law and ECI instructions, transparently and under the concurrent audit of political parties, candidates or their representatives at every stage; the initiative targets an ecosystem of roughly 15 lakh schools with nearly 25 crore students and over one crore teachers, and about 1,500 universities and 70,000 higher education institutions with an estimated enrolment of 4.33 crore.

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InternationalLowquizQuiz

Third India-Cambodia Joint Working Group on Trade and Investment meets in Phnom Penh

•The Third Meeting of the India-Cambodia Joint Working Group on Trade and Investment (JWGTI) was held on 24 August 2026 in Phnom Penh, co-chaired by Shri Amit Verma, Joint Secretary, Department of Commerce, and Mr. Long Kemvichet, Director General of International Trade, Ministry of Commerce, Cambodia.
•Bilateral trade grew by over 36 per cent to USD 406.78 million in 2025-26 from USD 299 million the previous year, with the April-June 2026 quarter recording a further 63.25 per cent year-on-year growth; Cambodia is India's 8th largest trading partner in ASEAN and accounts for 0.31 per cent of India's trade with the bloc.
•The two sides welcomed the launch of UPI acceptance at KHQR-enabled merchants in Phnom Penh on 2 June 2026 and discussed the next phase letting Cambodian apps scan UPI QR codes in India, agreed on an MoU on Customs Cooperation and pushed for early signature of a Bilateral Investment Treaty; the next JWGTI meeting will be held in India in 2027.

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NationalLowquizQuiz

Regional Manthan Conference on road safety held at Mumbai for western states

•The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways held a Regional Manthan Conference on road safety at Mumbai on 24 August 2026 for Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa and the Union Territory of Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu, chaired by Justice A M Sapre (Retd.), Chairman of the Supreme Court Committee on Road Safety.
•Five programmes were deliberated: the Zero Fatality District initiative, now expanded to 100 critical districts across 15 states that average over 400 fatalities each a year; PM RAHAT cashless treatment; the Rah-Veer Good Samaritan reward; the Sadak Suraksha Mitra youth volunteer programme; and the Data-Driven Hyperlocal Intervention framework with its five-stage cycle.
•States were asked to carry out root-cause analysis of fatalities and prepare District Road Safety Plans towards India's goal of halving road deaths by 2030; the release notes that 18-45 year olds account for 66.1 per cent of all road fatalities.

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EconomyLowquizQuiz

CEO Roundtable charts path to a USD 1 trillion Indian chemicals sector by 2040

•The Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, with Invest India, held a CEO Roundtable on 24 August 2026 titled 'India's Chemicals Sector: Charting the Path to USD 1 Trillion by 2040', chaired by Union Minister Shri J.P. Nadda with Minister of State Smt. Anupriya Patel.
•More than 100 delegates from over 30 global and Indian chemical companies - among them BASF, ExxonMobil, Dow, SABIC, Reliance, UPL, Haldia Petrochemicals and Fujifilm - sought upgradation of PCPIRs into full manufacturing hubs, a sovereign fund for technology acquisition, tax breaks to attract global talent, time-bound single-window clearances and a comprehensive National Feedstock Policy.
•Invest India MD & CEO Ms Nivruti Rai said India's chemicals demand is growing at nearly twice the global rate on the strength of EVs, semiconductors, renewable energy and textiles, and that India could move from about 3 per cent of global chemicals production to 10 per cent; Odisha, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh presented their own state investment packages.

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EconomyLowquizQuiz

Service Producer Price Indices released for Q1 FY 2026-27 on 2022-23 base

•The Office of the Economic Adviser, DPIIT (Ministry of Commerce & Industry) released provisional Service Producer Price Indices for Q1 of FY 2026-27 and final indices for Q4 of FY 2025-26, both on base year 2022-23.
•The Air (Passenger) Service Price Index rose from 106.9 in Q4 FY 2025-26 to 126.4 in Q1 FY 2026-27 - a year-on-year inflation of 31.94 per cent, the sharpest movement among the seven services; Management of Pension Funds rose from 103.8 to 113.3 (5.20 per cent YoY), while Insurance and Telecom were flat.
•The release states that no weights have been assigned across the seven services because they do not cover the entire services sector; sub-service level weights within each service were computed from FY 2022-23 data. Q2 FY 2026-27 indices are due on 25 November 2026.

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Schemes & CommitteesMediumquizQuiz

PMFME Conclave 2026 opens with PMFME Bazaar and MoUs with APEDA, ONDC and NABKISAN

•The Ministry of Food Processing Industries opened the PMFME Conclave 2026 at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, on 24-25 August 2026, with over 500 stakeholders from all states and Union Territories.
•Union Minister Chirag Paswan inaugurated the conclave and the PMFME Bazaar, an exhibition of exhibitors from 25 states and Union Territories showing ethnic, traditional and value-added food products.
•Three MoUs were signed — with APEDA, ONDC and NABKISAN — to strengthen export, digital-commerce and credit linkages for PMFME beneficiaries.

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EconomyMediumquizQuiz

Kharif sowing as on 21 August 2026: rice down 13.19 lakh ha, pulses up 1.49 lakh ha

•The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare released the All India Progressive Crop Area Sown Report for kharif 2026-27 as on 21 August 2026.
•Total kharif area sown stood at 1,056.70 lakh hectares against 1,072.77 lakh hectares at the same point in 2025-26 — a fall of 16.07 lakh hectares — and against a normal area of 1,104.45 lakh hectares.
•Rice accounts for most of the shortfall: 405.10 lakh hectares against 418.29 lakh hectares a year earlier, a decline of 13.19 lakh hectares, concentrated in Karnataka, Telangana, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Maharashtra.

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NationalMediumquizQuiz

India Post launches upgraded Dak MITRA and Dak Sewa apps, opens 14 redesigned post offices

•The Department of Posts released upgraded versions of the Dak MITRA and Dak Sewa mobile applications and inaugurated 14 renovated post office buildings on 24 August 2026.
•Dak MITRA — Mobile Interface for Transactions and Rural Assistance — is a unified operational platform for more than 1.4 lakh Branch Post Offices, running on Android handheld devices so Branch Postmasters can carry out paperless, real-time postal and financial transactions.
•Dak Sewa gives citizens 24x7 access to tracking, booking, complaints, post office and PIN code locators and financial calculators, in 23 Indian languages through BHASHINI.

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History & CultureMediumquizQuiz

Adi Vaani gets iOS app and five new languages as Mysuru tribal languages conclave opens

•The Ministry of Tribal Affairs opened a three-day National Conclave on Tribal Languages and Museums at Mysuru, Karnataka, organised with the Karnataka State Tribal Research Institute and the Central Institute of Indian Languages, with more than 150 participants.
•The upgraded Adi Vaani platform was launched with an iOS application, five additional languages and a new logo; Adi Vaani is the Ministry's AI-powered translator for tribal languages, whose beta version was released on 1 September 2025 supporting Santali, Bhili, Mundari and Gondi.
•The Ministry also launched 'Jago', its official AI conversational assistant, with a mascot, to make information on tribal welfare schemes and repositories easier to find.

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Banking & FinanceMediumquizQuiz

RBI's USD-INR swap window draws USD 73 billion in eleven weeks, FCNR(B) alone USD 65.40 billion

•The Reserve Bank of India's special USD-INR forex swap facility, launched on 8 June 2026 for FCNR(B) deposits, Overseas Foreign Currency Borrowings and External Commercial Borrowings, had mobilised USD 73 billion as on 21 August 2026.
•FCNR(B) deposits alone accounted for USD 65.40 billion of that total.
•The Ministry of Finance describes it as the largest and fastest foreign-currency mobilisation India has undertaken, surpassing the RBI's 2013 FCNR(B) swap scheme, which raised about USD 26 billion over roughly three months.

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Polity & GovernanceMediumquizQuiz

Medical Devices Rules amended: loan licence dropped for outsourced sterilisation, EU added as stringent regulator

•The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has amended the Medical Devices Rules, 2017 on two counts, notified through the Official Gazette, to simplify compliance in the medical device sector.
•Rule 44 has been amended so that a manufacturer outsourcing sterilisation to another facility that already holds a valid licence under the Rules no longer needs a separate loan licence for that activity; a six-month transition period applies to the accompanying labelling requirement.
•Rule 63 has been amended to add the European Union to the list of recognised stringent regulatory jurisdictions whose approval can waive clinical investigation requirements for medical devices without a predicate device.

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EconomyMediumquizQuiz

Talabira II & III hits record 19.14 MT in FY 2025-26 under coal block allocation framework

•The Talabira II & III Open Cast Coal Mine in Odisha recorded its highest-ever annual production of 19.14 MT in FY 2025-26, up 11.28 per cent year on year, along with a record annual dispatch of 17.69 MT.
•The mine was allocated to NLC India Ltd on 2 May 2016 under Schedule III of the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015, through the Nominated Authority route, and lies across the Sambalpur and Jharsuguda districts.
•Cumulative production has reached 72.23 MT and cumulative dispatch 70.89 MT up to 14 August 2026; of FY 2025-26 dispatch, about 10.72 MT went to the power sector and 6.97 MT to the non-regulated sector.

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EnvironmentHighquizQuiz

India reports 21.76 mn ha restored in 2011-2020 at UNCCD COP17 in Ulaanbaatar

•At the 17th Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD COP17) in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav said India brought 21.76 million hectares under restoration during 2011-2020, generating about 1.22 billion person-days of employment.
•The figures come from India's Second Progress Report on the Bonn Challenge, covering 2011-2020; India's Bonn Challenge pledge, made in 2015 and later enhanced, stands at 26 million hectares by 2030.
•The next reporting cycle, for 2021-2025, is being carried out with the ICFRE Centre of Excellence on Sustainable Land Management and IUCN, and will measure area restored, financial flows and employment generated.

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Banking & FinanceHighquizQuiz

UPI completes ten years: 24,162 crore transactions in FY 2025-26, live in 11 countries

•The Unified Payments Interface completed ten years of operation, with the Ministry of Finance dating the decade from its public launch on 25 August 2016; it was first run as a pilot in April 2016 with 21 member banks.
•Annual transaction volume grew from 1.78 crore in FY 2016-17 to over 24,162 crore in FY 2025-26 — an almost 13,000-fold rise at a CAGR of 188 per cent — while annual value rose from Rs 0.07 lakh crore to about Rs 314 lakh crore, a more than 4,000-fold rise at a CAGR of 155 per cent.
•July 2026 was UPI's largest month on record: 2,366 crore transactions worth Rs 29.88 lakh crore, with 741 banks live on the platform.

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Current Affairs Pulse

PIB Current Affairs — 24 August 2026

ECI holds second regional conference on Electoral Literacy Clubs 2.0 and ECINET at Lucknow

Third India-Cambodia Joint Working Group on Trade and Investment meets in Phnom Penh

Regional Manthan Conference on road safety held at Mumbai for western states

CEO Roundtable charts path to a USD 1 trillion Indian chemicals sector by 2040

Service Producer Price Indices released for Q1 FY 2026-27 on 2022-23 base

PMFME Conclave 2026 opens with PMFME Bazaar and MoUs with APEDA, ONDC and NABKISAN

Kharif sowing as on 21 August 2026: rice down 13.19 lakh ha, pulses up 1.49 lakh ha

India Post launches upgraded Dak MITRA and Dak Sewa apps, opens 14 redesigned post offices

Adi Vaani gets iOS app and five new languages as Mysuru tribal languages conclave opens

RBI's USD-INR swap window draws USD 73 billion in eleven weeks, FCNR(B) alone USD 65.40 billion

Medical Devices Rules amended: loan licence dropped for outsourced sterilisation, EU added as stringent regulator

Talabira II & III hits record 19.14 MT in FY 2025-26 under coal block allocation framework

India reports 21.76 mn ha restored in 2011-2020 at UNCCD COP17 in Ulaanbaatar

UPI completes ten years: 24,162 crore transactions in FY 2025-26, live in 11 countries