Recent Current Affairs related to Women

According to the 17th edition of the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) Monthly Bulletin for August 2026 released by the NSO under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), the overall unemployment rate (UR) for individuals aged 15+ decreased to 5.0% in August 2026, compared to 5.1% in July 2026.

The Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) for the same age group increased to 55.6% in August 2026 (up from 55.4% in July 2026). The Worker Population Ratio (WPR) also rose to 52.8% from 52.5% in the previous month.

Sanjukta Parashar has been appointed as the Inspector General (IG) of the Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA), an elite jungle warfare unit of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).

She becomes the first woman officer to lead the 10-battalion CoBRA sector and succeeds Danesh Rana. It is to be noted that the CoBRA sector is headquartered in New Delhi.

According to the 20th edition of the “Global Gender Gap Report 2026” released by the World Economic Forum (WEF), India is ranked 131st out of 145 evaluated nations with a score of 0.645.

Iceland is ranked top for the 17th consecutive year with a score of 0.93, followed by Finland and Norway.

Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has presented the eighth edition of the “businessline Changemaker Awards” in New Delhi. Purnima Devi Barman, known as the “Stork Sister”, was named the “Changemaker of the Year” for her work in the conservation of Greater Adjutant Stork and women empowerment.

The “Iconic Changemaker” award was given to the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) for modernising border infrastructure and Dr. MR Rajagopal for community-based palliative care.

Other winners include ARMAAN for “Digital Transformation” (healthcare via mobile technology), Gourmet Popcornica for “Financial Transformation” (agro-processing), and “Project Sambandh” for “Social Transformation” (aiding bereaved military families).

The National Statistical Office (NSO) has released the inaugural report titled “Unincorporated Sector at the District Level: Insights from ASUSE 2025”. It provides granular data on enterprises across various districts for the first time.

The report highlights that the top 10 districts are concentrated within 4 states: Gujarat, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal. The top 50 districts are distributed across 12 states.

Joheirry Mola of the Dominican Republic has been crowned Miss World 2026 at the 73rd edition of the pageant held in Nha Trang, Vietnam. She was crowned by Opal Chuangsri, Miss World 2025 from Thailand.

Nikita Porwal from Madhya Pradesh represented India at the international competition. It is to be noted that the Miss World Organisation (MWO) has scheduled the next edition of the pageant to be hosted in Tanzania in 2027.

According to the first-ever district-level estimates of the “Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises” (ASUSE) released by the National Statistical Office (NSO), Haryana has emerged as the leading state in the informal non-agricultural sector.

It has 7 districts in the top 50 nationally ranked by Gross Value Added (GVA) per worker. Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana follow with 6 districts each. The report highlights that 33% of the informal sector activity of India is concentrated in the 50 most productive districts, with 40 of these districts located in just 8 states.

The national average GVA per worker in the informal sector is ₹1.56 lakh. Satara (Maharashtra) recorded the highest productivity at ₹8.7 lakh per worker, followed by Fatehgarh Sahib (Punjab) and Tonk (Rajasthan). Telangana and the Northeastern states recorded the highest female participation in the informal workforce.

According to the 13th and 14th editions of the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) released by the Department of Higher Education (DoHE) under the Ministry of Education (MoE) for the academic years 2022-23 and 2023-24. The number of universities increased by 69.6% from 760 to 1.28 thousand.

During this ten-year period, the number of colleges grew by 25.3% to 48.2 thousand, and standalone institutions increased by approximately 24% to 15.2 thousand. Total student enrollment in higher education rose by 31.5% from 3.42 crore to 4.50 crore between 2014-15 and 2023-24.

Female enrollment witnessed a growth of 42.2% over the decade, rising from 1.57 crore to 2.24 crore. It is to be noted that this resulted in a Gender Parity Index (GPI) of 1.08 for the academic year 2023-24.

Shakti Sharma becomes the first woman officer from a non-medical branch in the Indian Defence Forces to attain the rank of Air Vice Marshal (AVM). Upon her promotion, she has taken charge as the Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Education) (ACAS (Edn)) at the Air Headquarters.

Himachal Pradesh government has signed a 5-year MoU with the Bharti Institute of Public Policy at the Indian School of Business (ISB-BIPP) to unlock the forest and pastoral economy potential of the state, estimated at ₹22,600 crore.

The initiative focuses on using science and technology-enabled governance for the management of natural resources.

The National Commission for Women (NCW) has organised the “Yashoda AI - Women’s Path to AI Empowerment” programme at Lovely Professional University (LPU) in Jalandhar, Punjab.

The initiative aims to promote AI literacy, digital empowerment, and cyber safety to ensure a secure digital environment.

YES Bank has launched a lifestyle and rewards-oriented credit card named “YES Essence Credit Card” specifically for women. The card aims to address the evolving healthcare and lifestyle requirements of segments including young professionals, salaried employees, and digital-savvy women.

Squadron Leader Bhawana Kanth has become the first woman fighter pilot of the Indian Air Force (IAF) to successfully complete the Fighter Combat Leader (FCL) course at the Tactics and Air Combat Development Establishment (TACDE) in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh.

With this achievement, she became the first woman graduate of the elite ‘Top Gun’ school of the IAF, where only about 1% of pilots are selected for the 20-week advanced combat programme.

The Tamil Nadu government has launched the ‘Vetri Vaanmagal’ scheme to train women farmers in drone operation, promote precision agriculture, and create high-tech employment opportunities in the rural economy.

HDFC Bank has launched two new savings account variants, “Max for Seniors”, for senior citizens. and “Max for Her”, for women, to offer customized benefits.

The “Max for Seniors” variant offers cyber insurance coverage of up to ₹25,000 and a debit card-linked accidental death cover of up to ₹3.19 crore. The “Max for Her” variant provides an Auto Sweep facility for higher returns on surplus savings, along with a debit card-linked accidental death cover of up to ₹3.19 crore and an additional accident cover of up to ₹10 lakh.

Harshita Jakhar, a 19-year-old cyclist from Rajasthan, becomes the first Indian woman to feature in the Tour de France Femmes.

She was selected by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) as one of only 8 riders worldwide for the UCI World Cycling Talent Programme.

Candere, a luxury online jewellery brand by Kalyan Jewellers, in partnership with Hurun India, has released the 2nd edition of the 'Candere Hurun India Women Leaders List 2026'. The list recognizes 117 women achievers across 12 categories.

Meena Bindra, founder of BIBA, is ranked top on the overall leaderboard, followed by Tushara Shankar and Rajni Bector. Paralympian Avani Lekhara is the youngest individual to be featured in the top 10 overall leaderboard.

Roshni Nadar Malhotra, Chairperson of HCLTech, leads the 'Wealth Multipliers' segment, while Priya Nair, CMD of Hindustan Unilever (HUL), tops the 'Professional CEOs' category. The 12 category leaders possess a combined 464 years of active professional experience. Manju D. Gupta (Lupin) and Ritu Kumar contributed 58 and 57 years of experience, respectively.

The Chhattisgarh government has launched the ‘Decentralised Women Empowerment on Energy and Policy for Transformative Inclusion (DWEEPTI) Yojana’.

It is India’s first women-led distributed Renewable Energy (RE) policy, designed to empower rural Self-Help Groups (SHGs) to function as solar entrepreneurs. With technical support from Tata, 35 women from SHGs have been trained in rooftop solar installation, forming the first cohort of ‘Solar Didis’.

The Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), through the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana–National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM), has signed a non-financial MoU with Project Concern International (PCI) India to strengthen women-led enterprises (WLEs), particularly those operated by Self-Help Groups (SHGs).

The partnership aims to facilitate public procurement and market-linked enterprise development for these businesses.

The Haryana government has approved a full exemption from motor vehicle tax for new Electric Vehicles (EVs) priced up to ₹30 lakh. This applies to battery-operated two-wheelers, three-wheelers, and four-wheelers at the time of registration. For EVs priced above ₹30 lakh, a 50% tax exemption is provided.

Additionally, the state has announced a 1% motor vehicle tax rebate on non-transport vehicles registered in the name of women. The existing 20% tax rebate on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) vehicles remains unchanged.