Monthly current affairs for June 2026

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, an Italian driver representing the Mercedes Formula 1 (F1) team, has won the 2026 Monaco Grand Prix (GP). He becomes the youngest winner in the history of the event.

Delcy Eloina Gomez, the Acting President of Venezuela, has visited India to strengthen bilateral energy cooperation. She held bilateral talks with PM Narendra Modi at Hyderabad House in New Delhi.

She also met Union Minister S Jaishankar and paid tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat. She visited the Jamnagar oil refinery in Gujarat, owned by Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), which is the world’s largest single-point oil refining facility.

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry has released the Wholesale Price Index (WPI)-based inflation data, with 2022-23 as the revised base year.

Wholesale price inflation in India rose to 9.68% in May 2026, from 8.26% in April 2026. Sector-wise, fuel and power inflation stood at 30.33%, with crude petroleum inflation at 61.51%. Food inflation was recorded at 3.60%, while manufactured products saw an inflation rate of 7.48%. Retail inflation was reported at 3.93%.

Gautam Dey, an Indian-origin scientist affiliated with the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Germany, has been awarded the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) Gold Medal 2026.

He received the recognition for his research on the evolutionary origins of nuclear organization and cell division. He shares the award with Omaya Dudin from the University of Geneva, Switzerland. The awardees receive a medal and a bursary of €10,000.

The Headquarters Directorate General of the National Cadet Corps (NCC) has approved the establishment of independent State Directorates in Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand. This expansion increases the total number of NCC State Directorates in India from 17 to 19.

Novartis India has launched 'Pluvicto', the first regulatory authority-approved radioligand therapy (RLT) in India for advanced prostate cancer.

This precision medicine is indicated for patients with Prostate-Specific Membrane Antigen (PSMA)-positive metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC).

NLC India has signed an MoU with the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-Central Electrochemical Research Institute (CSIR-CECRI) in Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu, to develop technologies for the extraction of Rare Earth Elements (REEs) and critical minerals from mining waste.

The Oman India Joint Investment Fund II (OIJIF II), a private equity firm promoted by the sovereign wealth fund of the Sultanate of Oman and the State Bank of India, has divested a 3.65% stake in Capital Small Finance Bank (SFB).

PM Narendra Modi has visited the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. He inaugurated and laid the foundation stone for 56 development projects worth ₹2,970 crore, aiming to improve healthcare, air connectivity, tourism, and public infrastructure in the region.

Key projects include the new terminal building of NAMO Airport and the NAMO Hospital, developed at a combined cost of ₹1,340 crore.

The RBI has issued the “Third Amendment Directions, 2026” to govern bank lending to Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs), while strengthening risk and exposure norms.

Banks are permitted to extend credit only to those REITs and InvITs that are registered with the SEBI and listed on recognized Stock Exchanges. Lending to REITs is restricted to listed trusts where at least 80% of assets consist of cash-generating properties that have been operational for more than 1 year.

Banks may lend to listed InvITs only if at least 80% of their assets are invested in completed and revenue-generating infrastructure projects that have demonstrated positive cash flows for a period exceeding 1 year.

The RBI has recognised the Sahamati Foundation as the Self-Regulatory Organisation (SRO) for the country’s Account Aggregator (AA) ecosystem.

According to the “SIPRI Yearbook 2026: Armaments, Disarmament and International Security” released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), global military expenditure surged to $2.9 trillion in 2025. The USA remained the world’s largest military spender with an expenditure of $954 billion, followed by China and Russia.

India ranked as the world’s 5th largest military spender in 2025, with a defence expenditure of $92.1 billion, representing an 8.9% increase compared to 2024. Furthermore, the nuclear arsenal of India increased to 190 warheads as of January 2026.

Princess Bajrakitiyabha Mahidol of Thailand, a lawyer and diplomat, passed away at the age of 47. She was the eldest child of King Maha Vajiralongkorn.

World Oceans Day:

Day – 8 June

Theme 2026 – “Reimagine: Beyond the world we know, a new relationship with our ocean”

Observed since – 2009

Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has chaired the 16th BRICS Agriculture Ministers' Meeting in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. Held under India’s 2026 BRICS Chairship, this was the first-ever BRICS agricultural summit to include both Member and Partner Countries.

The BRICS Agriculture Working Group identified 4 priorities: Food Security and Nutrition (focusing on smallholder farmers, women, and youth), Agricultural Trade, Regenerative Farming (promoting climate-resilient practices), and Investment and Innovation.

The summit concluded with the adoption of the ‘Indore Declaration’, which emphasises a farmer-centric global food system and rejects unilateral trade restrictions that threaten food security.

To implement the declaration, the member nations established 5 institutional networks: the BRICS Network of Centres of Excellence on Agroecology and Regenerative Agriculture (coordinated by the ICAR-Indian Institute of Farming System Research (IIFSR), Modipuram), Network on Digital Agriculture (coordinated by the IIT Delhi), BRICS Agro-Inputs, Genetic Resources, and Information Network (BRICS AGRIN Framework), Knowledge-to-Action Hub (by strengthening the BRICS Agricultural Research Platform (BARP)), and the Global Forum on Farmers' Rights in Seed Systems.

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has signed an MoU with the IIT Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, to collaborate on the development of future-generation telecommunication technologies.

The partnership aims to accelerate the development, testing, and deployment of indigenous telecommunications technologies to strengthen the digital self-reliance of India.

The Council of Scientific & Industrial Research - Central Road Research Institute (CSIR-CRRI) in New Delhi has signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with the Haryana government to implement the “Implementation of the Standard Framework for Paving and Greening of Urban Roads” project.

The initiative aims to reduce road dust pollution in the National Capital Region (NCR), Delhi, while promoting sustainable urban road infrastructure and enhancing long-term mobility planning and maintenance.

Lieutenant General Dhiraj Seth, the current Vice Chief of the Army Staff, has been appointed as the Chief of the Army Staff (COAS). He will assume charge on June 30, 2026, succeeding General Upendra Dwivedi.

Bengaluru-based Avataar has launched 'Varya', India’s first indigenous, distilled video AI model, designed to make generative video storytelling accessible and affordable at a population scale. It was launched in partnership with the IndiaAI Mission.

The AI model operates as a text-to-video and image-to-video foundation model, offering enhanced speed and cost efficiencies to the digital ecosystem.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has announced the 4-member crew for the Artemis III mission, which is scheduled for a Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) mission in late 2027. The crew comprises Randy Bresnik (Commander), Andre Douglas, and Frank Rubio from the USA, alongside Luca Parmitano from the European Space Agency (ESA).

The mission will test docking procedures between Starship of SpaceX, Blue Moon lander of Blue Origin, and Orion capsule of NASA, launched by the Space Launch System (SLS). This mission aims to demonstrate operational readiness for future human lunar landings and planned lunar operations.