Monthly current affairs for July 2026

The 2026 Fields Medals have been awarded to four mathematicians: Yu Deng, John Pardon, Jacob Tsimerman, and Hong Wang. It is to be noted that Hong Wang has become the third woman to receive this prestigious award.

Often referred to as the 'Nobel Prize of Mathematics', the Fields Medal is awarded every four years to researchers under the age of 40 for exceptional mathematical achievement. Each laureate receives a gold medal featuring the ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes and a cash prize of $15,000 (Canadian Dollar - CAD).

The Digital India BHASHINI (BHASHa INterface for India) Division (DIBD), in collaboration with the Goa government, has organised the 'BHASHINI Rajyam: State Engagement Workshop' in Panaji, Goa.

The workshop aimed to promote multilingual AI, strengthen the Konkani language ecosystem, and expand AI-powered multilingual access to citizen-centric government services.

The Department of Land Resources (DoLR) under the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) held a meeting with the Reserve Bank of India Innovation Hub (RBIH) to explore the integration of Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) for land governance and digital lending.

The initiative aims to create a secure land-credit ecosystem to improve institutional credit access for farmers and rural citizens. The meeting was chaired by DoLR Secretary Narendra Bhooshan and RBIH CEO Sahil Kini.

Enkash, a business payments and spend management platform, has become the first company in India to launch UPI-based payments on meal cards.

This feature allows employees to make direct payments from their meal card balance by scanning eligible UPI Quick Response (QR) codes at food and grocery merchants.

The Office of Economic Adviser (OEA) under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI) has released a revised series of the Index of Core Industries (ICI), transitioning the base year from 2011-12 to 2022-23.

The revised ICI series now incorporates 'iron ore' as a core industry, increasing the total count of core industries from eight to nine. The other 8 core industries are coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement, and electricity.

The Government of India has revised the Special Additional Excise Duty (SAED) on the export of diesel, Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF), and petrol, effective from 16 July 2026.

The SAED on diesel exports has been increased to ₹15.5 per litre from ₹8.5 per litre, and on ATF exports to ₹14.5 per litre from ₹7.5 per litre. Meanwhile, the export duty on petrol has been reduced to ₹2.5 per litre from ₹4 per litre.

The IIT Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh has established a Centre of Excellence (CoE) on Innovative and Integrated Ecosystem for Green Hydrogen (ECOGEN). This initiative has been launched under the UP Green Hydrogen Policy 2024.

Dr Prabodh Bajpai has been appointed as the Principal Investigator to lead the ECOGEN initiative. The proposal for this CoE was approved by the committee constituted by the Government of Uttar Pradesh and sanctioned by the UP New and Renewable Energy Development Agency (UPNEDA).

The Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), a unit of the ISRO, has signed an MoU with the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (CSIR-IICT) to jointly develop indigenous technology for next-generation, environmentally sustainable blowing agents.

International Moon Day

Day – July 20

Observed by – UN

Observed since – 2022

Commemorating – First human landing on the Moon (Apollo 11 mission) by Neil Armstrong in 1969

National Flag Adoption Day

Day – July 22

Commemorating – Constituent Assembly's adoption of the tricolour in its current form in 1947

PM Narendra Modi has announced the formation of a high-powered task force to suggest reforms for the examinations conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA). The task force is chaired by Nandan Nilekani (Infosys co-founder).

The committee members include S Somanath (former Chairman of the ISRO), V Kamakoti (Director of the IIT Madras), Tapan Deka, Anita Karwal, and Amrit Lal Meena.

The Chinese aerospace company, Orienspace, has successfully launched its 'Gravity-1 Y4' carrier rocket from a sea-based platform in the East China Sea. The mission successfully deployed 9 satellites into their intended orbits.

It is to be noted that this was the 3rd flight of the rocket and its 1st long-range sea launch.

The Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) and the Cerebral Palsy Sports Federation of India (CPSFI) have signed an MoU in New Delhi, to jointly pursue the bid to host the 2029 World Abilitysport Games in India.

Chennai and Bhubaneswar (Odisha) are under consideration as potential host cities for the event.

Pi Approximation Day

Day - July 22

Pi symbol designed by - Leonhard Euler

The Ancient Buddhist Site of Sarnath in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, has been inscribed as the 45th UNESCO World Heritage Site of India. The announcement was made during the 48th Session of the World Heritage Committee (WHC) held in Busan, South Korea.

The site had been on the UNESCO Tentative List since 1998, marking the end of a 28-year wait for this designation. This is the 4th UNESCO World Heritage Site in Uttar Pradesh. With 45 sites, India now ranks 6th globally in terms of the number of World Heritage properties.

Grandmaster (GM) S Rohith Krishna from Tamil Nadu has won the gold medal at the inaugural Menuires International Chess Championship 2026, held at Le Break des Menuires, France.

GM Raja Rithvik from Telangana secured the silver medal at the event.

National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval has been selected for the Lokmanya Tilak National Award 2026. The award will be presented to him by Union Minister Amit Shah on August 1.

Akanksha Choudhary from Ajmer, Rajasthan, has been crowned Mrs India 2026 at a ceremony held in Jaipur.

In another achievement, Dr. Priyanka Sharma has won the title of Mrs. Earth International Elite 2026.

Anurag Jain has been appointed as the CEO of the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog for a tenure of 2 years. He succeeds Nidhi Chhibber.

Bassirou Diomaye Faye, the President of Senegal, has been appointed as the new Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

He was elected during the 69th Ordinary Session of the Authority of Heads of State and Government held in Sierra Leone. He succeeds the President of Sierra Leone, Julius Maada Bio, for a one-year term.