Railway Exams (RRB) Current Affairs – August 2026

National

24 one-liners

24 National — 1 Aug – 20 Aug.

• The Indian Air Force held the week-long counter-drone exercise ROTOR CLAP-III at the Pokhran Field Firing Range, Jaisalmer. It tested readiness to counter enemy drone attacks quickly and reliably.
• ROTOR CLAP-III used the Apache (AH-64), Mi-25/35, Prachand (LCH), Chinook, Mi-17 and Dhruv (ALH) helicopters. The focus was reconnaissance, accurate targeting and coordination between units in war-like conditions.
• The Rajasthan Cabinet, chaired by CM Bhajan Lal Sharma, approved the draft Rajasthan Uniform Civil Code (UCC) Bill, 2026. It seeks one law for marriage, divorce, succession, maintenance and live-in relationships, and keeps tribal customs outside its scope.
• Goa has had a UCC since its Portuguese-era law continued after 1961, and Uttarakhand became the first state to enact one after independence. Article 44 (Directive Principles) mentions the UCC, but it is not legally binding.
• The same Cabinet meeting gave compassionate appointment rights to daughters-in-law of deceased government employees and 90 days of maternity leave to surrogate mothers. Unmarried women employees may now take child-care leave in six spells instead of three.
• Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan approved ₹340.59 crore for Rajasthan: ₹216.12 crore under RKVY (Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana) and ₹124.47 crore under Krishonnati Yojana.
• Rajasthan's annual action plan for 2026-27 under these schemes was approved at ₹849.37 crore, of which the Centre's share is ₹509.62 crore. Telangana got ₹265.12 crore in total.
• The meeting also stressed wider use of the Kisan Credit Card (KCC) in Rajasthan, so that farmers get timely and easy loans.
• At the same Alwar event, development works of about ₹6,262 crore in 17 districts will be foundation-laid and e-inaugurated, under the Centre's 'Sahkar se Samriddhi' vision to expand dairy and cattle-feed processing.
• The Alwar event also includes the announcement of new central cooperative banks and direct benefit transfer (DBT) to beneficiaries of PM Fasal Bima Yojana and PM-KISAN.
• 1 Aug — PM Modi inaugurated the Alluri Sitarama Raju International Airport at Bhogapuram, Vizianagaram district, built under PPP for over Rs 5,640 crore. He also launched projects worth more than Rs 17,900 crore in Andhra Pradesh.
• 1 Aug — The PM Viksit Bharat Rozgar Yojana completed one year on 1 August. More than 72 lakh first-time employees have joined the formal workforce under the scheme, which has an outlay of Rs 99,446 crore.
• 2 Aug — At the end of the Jaipur conference, all countries unanimously adopted the Jaipur Declaration, and the digital justice initiative Nyayayan was launched. The aim was to promote mediation for settling disputes.
• 2 Aug — PM Modi virtually launched the Nasha Mukt Yuva for Viksit Bharat Sankalp Abhiyan, a 100-week campaign against drug abuse with activities every Sunday, run through the MY Bharat youth platform.
• 4 Aug — A Supreme Court bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and Prashant Kumar Mishra raised the mandatory upfront third-party insurance for new vehicles by one year: four years for cars and six years for two-wheelers.
• 6 Aug — The Cabinet approved the GOBARdhan national circular bioenergy scheme with an outlay of Rs 23,731 crore to raise compressed biogas production tenfold. It also cleared the Rs 8,970 crore Guwahati-Tezpur corridor on NH-15 in Assam.
• 10 Aug — The Government e-Marketplace (GeM) celebrated its 10th Foundation Day at Bharat Mandapam. Piyush Goyal launched the helpdesk short code 14550 and a commemorative 'My Stamp'.
• 11 Aug — President Murmu gave assent to the Prevention of Insults to National Honour (Amendment) Bill, 2026. Intentionally stopping the singing of Vande Mataram now carries the same punishment as for the national anthem, up to three years in jail.
• 12 Aug — Parliament passed the Kerala (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2026 to rename the state Keralam. The Lok Sabha cleared it on 11 August and the Rajya Sabha on 12 August; the new name takes effect from a date the Centre will notify.
• 13 Aug — Both Houses of Parliament were adjourned sine die, ending the Monsoon Session 2026 after 19 sittings. The government said 12 bills were passed during the session.
• 15 Aug — India celebrated its 80th Independence Day. PM Modi gave his 13th straight address from the Red Fort, built around the themes of 150 years of Vande Mataram and 'Yuva Shakti for Viksit Bharat@2047'.
• 15 Aug — In his Independence Day speech PM Modi outlined seven sources of national strength, called 'Sapt Dhara', and announced AI training for youth, free online coaching for competitive exams and a talent hunt among children aged 5 to 15.
• 15 Aug — The Jal Jeevan Mission completed seven years on 15 August. Rural tap-water coverage has risen from 16.7% of households in 2019 to over 82%.
• 20 Aug — The Union Cabinet approved a permanent bench of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court in Ladakh. It will be the court's third seat after Srinagar and Jammu, sparing people of Leh and Kargil long journeys.

States & UTs

2 one-liners

2 States & UTs — 5 Aug – 16 Aug.

• 5 Aug — Finance Minister N. Marie Wilson presented the first budget of Tamil Nadu's TVK-led government for 2026-27. It aims to keep the fiscal deficit at 3% of GSDP.
• 16 Aug — West Bengal CM Suvendu Adhikari launched Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY in the state at Kolkata, together with the state's Mukhyamantri Swasthya Bima Yojana for families left out of the central scheme.

Economy & Banking

17 one-liners

17 Economy & Banking — 5 Aug – 19 Aug.

• The 16th BRICS Trade Ministers' Meeting was held in Jaipur under India's 2026 BRICS chairship and was chaired by Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal. Its theme was 'Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability'.
• The BRICS meeting in Jaipur issued the Jaipur Sahmati (Jaipur Consensus) to help small businesses get trade finance. Members agreed on rule-based trade with the WTO at the centre and special relief for developing countries.
• Rajasthan became the first state in India to get an exploration licence for rare earth elements (REE). The licence area is 207.6 sq km, in Pachpadra tehsil (Navatala-Devigarh) of Balotra and Sherghar tehsil of Jodhpur.
• Geological studies show signs of lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium and neodymium in the REE licence area. The licence agency is the public-sector CMPDIL (Central Mine Planning and Design Institute Limited).
• The Centre started the exploration licence system in 2024 and held the first auction in 2025. Rare earths are used in electric vehicles, renewable energy, defence, aerospace, semiconductors and telecom, so local finds reduce import dependence.
• India's first pilot of multi-lane free-flow (MLFF) tolling began at the Shahjahanpur toll plaza on NH-48 (Delhi-Jaipur highway) in Alwar district. ANPR cameras and FASTag-based RFID let vehicles pay toll without stopping.
• Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah is to lay the foundation stone of a new dairy plant at the Saras Dairy campus in Alwar, at the Vijay Nagar ground.
• The Reserve Bank named 17 NBFCs in the Upper Layer for 2026-27, so they face stricter rules. Tata Sons remains on the list.
• Parliament passed the Taxation and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026. It lets the Centre decide by notification which digital payment modes are protected from charges, which opens the door to a future MDR on UPI. The Finance Minister said consumers will not pay a UPI fee.
• The Periodic Labour Force Survey bulletin for July 2026 showed the unemployment rate falling to 5.1% from 5.5% in June, while the labour force participation rate rose to 55.4%.
• 5 Aug — The RBI's Monetary Policy Committee kept the repo rate unchanged at 5.25% with a neutral stance, and raised its 2026-27 GDP growth forecast to 6.7% from 6.6%. It projected CPI inflation at 5.0%.
• 7 Aug — On 7 August 2026, CRRI (Central Road Research Institute, New Delhi) gave a live demonstration of its MMSS+ (Modified Mix Seal Surfacing Plus) road technology in Jaipur. The Rajasthan government is considering adopting it.
• 7 Aug — Along with MMSS+, the Smart Mix Pro plant was shown, India's first mobile machine that mixes road material in the right proportion by itself. It is meant to cut emissions, energy use and material waste.
• 7 Aug — The MMSS+ road technology has already been used on more than 100 km of roads in other states.
• 12 Aug — India's retail inflation (CPI) rose to 4.45% in July 2026 from 4.38% in June, a 19-month high. Food inflation increased to 5.52%, while rural inflation was 4.84% and urban inflation 3.96%.
• 13 Aug — India's merchandise exports rose 19.6% to USD 44.24 billion in July 2026, the highest ever for a July. The merchandise trade deficit widened to USD 31.98 billion.
• 19 Aug — The RBI approved LIC raising its stake in HDFC Bank to up to 9.99% of paid-up capital. LIC held 4.11% of the bank as of 14 August 2026.

Science & Technology

6 one-liners

6 Science & Technology — 8 Aug.

• Rajasthan decided to strengthen digital tracking of high-risk pregnancies and its maternal referral system, after more than 20 maternal deaths in government hospitals in two months. Chief Secretary V. Srinivas chaired the review meeting at Swasthya Bhawan, Jaipur.
• An ANM (auxiliary nurse midwife) will be assigned to every high-risk pregnancy to monitor it continuously and connect the woman to a doctor when needed. The 104 and 108 ambulance services will also be strengthened for timely referral.
• The NHRC (National Human Rights Commission) sent a notice to the Rajasthan government asking for a detailed report on the maternal deaths.
• The main causes of maternal death cited were heavy bleeding after delivery, very high blood pressure, severe anaemia (lack of blood) and failure of many organs together.
• The Indian Council of Agricultural Research developed India's first fully annotated telomere-to-telomere (T2T) genome of pigeonpea, using the variety 'Asha'. The genome has about 752.65 million base pairs across 11 chromosomes.
• 8 Aug — At the 57th convocation of IIT Delhi, PM Modi inaugurated Param Pragya, an AI-focused high-performance supercomputing facility at the institute's Sonipat campus in Haryana.

Defence & Security

6 one-liners

6 Defence & Security — 2 Aug – 18 Aug.

• 2 Aug — The Indian Air Force concluded Exercise ROTOR CLAP-III, a week-long counter-drone drill for helicopters at the Pokhran range near Jaisalmer. Apache, Prachand, Chinook and Mi-17 helicopters took part.
• 6 Aug — India test-fired the nuclear-capable Agni-4 medium-range ballistic missile from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur, Odisha. The Strategic Forces Command conducted the launch, and the missile has a range of about 4,000 km.
• 6 Aug — Squadron Leader Bhawana Kanth became the first woman to complete the Fighter Combat Leader course at the IAF's Tactics and Air Combat Development Establishment (the 'Top Gun' school) at Gwalior.
• 14 Aug — The Defence Ministry signed contracts worth about Rs 1,577 crore with Tata Advanced Systems and NIBE for loiter munition systems for the Army. Tata gets 64% of the order and NIBE 36%, with delivery due within a year.
• 18 Aug — The 15th edition of the India-Thailand army exercise MAITREE began at Surat Thani, Thailand, and ran until 31 August. Each side sent 85 personnel, and India's group came mainly from the 9 Gorkha Rifles.
• 18 Aug — Defence Minister Rajnath Singh flagged off 'Aparajita - Parang La 2026', an all-girls NCC high-altitude trek of about 250 km from Spiti Valley to Changthang over the 5,578 m Parang La pass.

Environment & Ecology

6 one-liners

6 Environment & Ecology — 4 Aug.

• The Cabinet also approved the draft Rajasthan Tree Protection Bill, 2026 to control felling of trees on non-forest land. It protects 29 species, including Khejri, Rohida, banyan, peepal, lasora, tendu, mahua, ker and chironji.
• Under the Tree Protection Bill, felling without permission can bring up to one year in jail, a fine up to ₹1 lakh, or both. A fixed number of new trees must be planted in place of each tree cut.
• Zoological Survey of India scientists completed India's first Catalogue of Lepidoptera. It lists 13,703 species of butterflies and moths, about 8.25% of the world's known species.
• Five captive-bred slender-billed vultures bred by the Bombay Natural History Society were released at Kaziranga National Park, the first such release in the world. Gyps vulture numbers in India have fallen by about 99% in 20 years.
• Kerala researchers described a new seahorse species, Hippocampus amandavincentae, named after marine biologist Amanda Vincent. It shows that the thorny seahorse once treated as one species is actually three species.
• 4 Aug — Glaw Lake in Arunachal Pradesh's Lohit district became India's 101st Ramsar site and the state's first. It lies inside the Kamlang Tiger Reserve, and India had only 26 Ramsar sites in 2014.

Sports

5 one-liners

5 Sports — 2 Aug – 21 Aug.

• 2 Aug — India finished fourth at the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games with 39 medals (13 gold, 17 silver, 9 bronze). Australia topped the table, and the Games flag passed to India, host of the 2030 edition at Ahmedabad.
• 6 Aug — Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa won the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz title, a leg of the Grand Chess Tour, finishing 1.5 points ahead of Javokhir Sindarov of Uzbekistan. It was his first title at the event.
• 15 Aug — Magnus Carlsen of Norway, playing for Team Liquid, retained the Esports World Cup chess title in Paris, beating Belarus's Denis Lazavik 2-0 in the final without losing a single game.
• 15 Aug — The men's FIH Hockey World Cup 2026 began on 15 August in Belgium and the Netherlands. India was drawn in Pool D with England, Pakistan and Wales, and the quarter-final stage was dropped.
• 21 Aug — Neeraj Chopra finished second at the Lausanne Diamond League with a season-best 88.05 m, just 9 cm behind Sri Lanka's Rumesh Pathirage, who won with 88.14 m.

Awards & Honours

6 one-liners

6 Awards & Honours — 3 Aug – 18 Aug.

Appointments

11 one-liners

11 Appointments — 1 Aug – 20 Aug.

Books & Reports

2 one-liners

2 Books & Reports — 12 Aug.

• NITI Aayog released the report 'Reimagining Care' on caregivers, proposing a National Policy on Caregiving, a National Caregiver Council and a National Caregiver Registry.
• 12 Aug — PM Modi released former President Ram Nath Kovind's autobiography 'Triumph of the Indian Republic: My Life, My Struggles' at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi.

Important Days

14 one-liners

14 Important Days — 3 Aug – 23 Aug.

• 3 Aug — India observed the 16th Indian Organ Donation Day on 3 August. NOTTO reported a record 20,138 organ transplants in 2025, and more than five lakh people have taken the Aadhaar-verified donation pledge.
• 6 Aug — Hiroshima Day on 6 August marked the 81st anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima by the United States in 1945, during the Second World War.
• 7 Aug — The 12th National Handloom Day was observed on 7 August. The day recalls the 1905 Swadeshi Movement against the partition of Bengal and was first celebrated in 2015.
• 8 Aug — Quit India Movement Day (August Kranti Diwas) on 8 August recalls the 1942 movement in which Mahatma Gandhi gave the call 'Do or Die' at Gowalia Tank Maidan, Bombay.
• 9 Aug — The International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples on 9 August had the 2026 theme 'Honouring Indigenous Midwives: Safeguarding Life and Well-being'.
• 10 Aug — World Biofuel Day on 10 August promotes renewable fuels. It recalls Rudolf Diesel's 1893 demonstration of an engine running on peanut oil, and India has marked the day since 2015.
• 12 Aug — International Youth Day was observed on 12 August with the 2026 theme 'Different Contexts, Common Aspirations'. The UN first marked the day in the year 2000.
• 12 Aug — World Elephant Day is observed on 12 August. It was first marked in 2012 to raise awareness of elephant conservation.
• 14 Aug — Partition Horrors Remembrance Day was observed on 14 August for the sixth time. PM Modi declared the day in 2021 to remember the victims of the 1947 Partition.
• 19 Aug — World Humanitarian Day on 19 August remembers aid workers and the 2003 bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad. The UN General Assembly created the day in 2008.
• 19 Aug — World Photography Day was observed on 19 August with the 2026 theme 'HOME'. The day commemorates Louis Daguerre's daguerreotype process, announced in 1837.
• 20 Aug — Sadbhavana Diwas was observed on 20 August, the 82nd birth anniversary of Rajiv Gandhi, to promote harmony and national integration. World Mosquito Day also fell on 20 August, marking Ronald Ross's 1897 malaria discovery.
• 22 Aug — The International Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief is observed on 22 August. The UN General Assembly created it in 2019, and it was first marked that year.
• 23 Aug — National Space Day is observed every year on 23 August to honour the successful Chandrayaan-3 Moon landing; the 2026 theme was about India's innovation, cooperation and leadership in space.

Obituaries

8 one-liners

8 Obituaries — 2 Aug – 21 Aug.

• 2 Aug — Justice Manmohan Singh Liberhan, who headed the inquiry into the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition, died at 87 in Chandigarh. His commission handed in its report on 30 June 2009.
• 4 Aug — Educationist and former Governor of Tripura and Bihar D. Y. Patil died at his home in Kolhapur aged 90. He founded the D Y Patil Group in 1983 and received the Padma Shri in 1991.
• 4 Aug — Actor Pradeep Rawat, known for playing the villain in Ghajini and for roles in Lagaan and TV's Mahabharat, died at 74 on 4 August while being treated for blood cancer.
• 12 Aug — Former Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji died in Beijing aged 97. He was Premier from 1998 to 2003 and led the negotiations for China's entry into the World Trade Organization in 2001.
• 13 Aug — Major General Sunil Kumar Razdan (retd), a Kirti Chakra and VSM awardee and the Army's first wheelchair-bound general, died in New Delhi. He was wounded while leading a 1994 hostage rescue in Jammu and Kashmir.
• 16 Aug — Bengali filmmaker Raja Sen, a three-time National Film Award winner, died in Kolkata aged 71. His best-known films include Damu, Atmiyo Swajan and Laboratory.
• 20 Aug — Former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar, who was serving life terms for the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, died at Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi after being taken ill in Tihar Jail.
• 21 Aug — Veteran actress Sowcar Janaki died in Chennai aged 94. She acted in over 400 films in several South Indian languages and received the Padma Shri in 2022.