Weekly Current Affairs Test : 8th to 14th July 2026

Recently, the Delhi Government launched Mission Kayakalp to upgrade infrastructure in government schools. The initiative aims to modernise classrooms, repair school buildings, improve laboratories, provide clean drinking water, renovate toilets, and create safe, inclusive, and inspiring learning environments. It is being implemented with support from district administrations, the Education Department, CSR initiatives, social organisations, market associations, and local communities. The programme also focuses on improving accessibility for children with special needs and increasing green cover on school campuses.

The Uttar Pradesh Government is implementing the Vishwakarma Shram Samman Yojana to support traditional artisans. The scheme provides 6-day free skill training, a ₹10,000 toolkit grant, and collateral-free concessional loans up to ₹10 lakh. It benefits artisans engaged in trades such as tailoring, carpentry, pottery, and other traditional occupations. The scheme aims to enhance skills, improve livelihoods, and promote self-employment in both rural and urban areas.

Recently, Australia won its record seventh ICC Women’s T20 Cricket World Cup title by defeating England by 7 wickets in the final at Lord’s Cricket Ground. Australia successfully chased 151 runs, recording the highest successful run chase in a Women’s T20 World Cup final. Beth Mooney scored an unbeaten 64 and was named both Player of the Match and Player of the Series. Ellyse Perry won her ninth ICC World Cup title, extending her record.

Recently, the West Bengal Government finalised the implementation plan for the Pradhan Mantri Cha Shramik Protsahan Yojana (PMCSPY). The scheme aims to improve the education, health, and infrastructure of tea garden workers in North Bengal. A financial assistance package of ₹313.3 crore has been allocated under the scheme. The scheme is expected to benefit over 3 lakh tea garden workers. The North Bengal Development Department (NBDD) is the implementing agency, working with the Health Department, Paschim Banga Samagra Siksha Mission, and district administrations.

Recently, China launched its latest oceanographic satellite, HY-2E (Haiyang-2E), aboard a Long March 4B rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. HY-2E is designed to replace HY-2B (launched in 2018) and will operate alongside HY-2C and HY-2D. It was developed by the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST). The satellite carries four microwave remote sensing payloads, including a radar altimeter, microwave radiometer, microwave scatterometer, and calibration radiometer to monitor the global marine environment.

Recently, Vihar Lake, one of the seven reservoirs supplying drinking water to Mumbai, started overflowing due to heavy rainfall. It is a man-made reservoir located near Vihar village, Maharashtra, on the Mithi River within Sanjay Gandhi National Park. The lake was constructed by the British government between 1856 and 1860 to address Mumbai’s drinking water needs. It receives water from the Powai–Kanheri hill ranges. It is the largest lake in Mumbai (Salsette group of islands) and is situated between Tulsi Lake and Powai Lake.

The Office of the Development Commissioner (Handlooms), under the Ministry of Textiles, launched Handloom Hackathon 2026 – “Weaving Innovation”. It is being organised as part of the National Handloom Day 2026 celebrations. The initiative aims to promote technology, design, entrepreneurship, and sustainability in India’s handloom sector. The Hackathon is open to students, weavers, artisans, researchers, startups, entrepreneurs, designers, and innovators. It seeks practical and scalable solutions for the modernisation and global competitiveness of the handloom sector.

Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto jointly inaugurated the India-backed conservation and restoration project at the Prambanan Temple Compounds, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Built in the 9th century during the Hindu Mataram Kingdom, Prambanan is Indonesia’s largest Hindu temple complex. The temple is dedicated to the Trimurti—Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. The initiative reflects India’s Act East Policy, cultural diplomacy, and commitment to preserving shared civilisational heritage.

India and Indonesia signed a deal for the supply of Astra Mk 1 missiles, marking a major step in bilateral defence cooperation. Astra Mk 1 is an indigenous Beyond Visual Range Air-to-Air Missile (BVRAAM) developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). The missile is designed for use by both the Indian Air Force and the Indian Navy. It has a range of 80–110 km, an altitude of up to 20 km, and a maximum speed of Mach 4.5. It features inertial guidance, mid-course update, and terminal active radar homing, and is powered by a single-pulse smokeless solid-fuel motor.

Samriddh Gram: Integrated Phygital Service Delivery Model Enabled by BharatNet won the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Prizes 2026 under Action Line C6 – Enabling Environment. The initiative is a flagship rural digital transformation programme of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). The award was presented at the WSIS Forum 2026 in Geneva, recognising India’s use of digital public infrastructure and telecom connectivity for rural service delivery. The initiative is built on the BharatNet network and operates through Samriddhi Kendras, which provide integrated digital and assisted physical services.

Novo Nordisk India launched Awiqli (insulin icodec), the world’s first once-weekly basal insulin for adults with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. Awiqli reduces insulin injections from 365 per year to 52 per year, simplifying diabetes management. It showed better HbA1c reduction and improved Time in Range compared with once-daily insulin glargine U100 in the ONWARDS-1 clinical programme. The treatment aims to improve patient adherence by reducing the psychological and physical burden of daily insulin injections. India has over 101 million people with diabetes and 136 million people with prediabetes.

Uttarakhand has become the 6th fully literate state in India under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and the ULLAS – New India Literacy Programme. The state achieved the status after meeting the adult literacy benchmarks prescribed by the Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Education. The five states that had already achieved fully literate status are Mizoram, Goa, Tripura, Himachal Pradesh, and Sikkim. The government aims to further promote digital literacy, financial literacy, lifelong learning, and essential life skills among all citizens.

Time Out released its World’s Happiest Cities 2026 rankings based on a global survey of over 24,000 people. The rankings considered factors such as culture, parks and green spaces, neighbourhoods, streets, food, art, nightlife, sense of community, and overall happiness. Bath (England, UK) was ranked as the world’s happiest city in 2026. Jaipur (Rajasthan) secured the 6th position, making it the only Indian city in the global top 10. The rankings were based on residents’ responses about happiness, positivity, community, and quality of everyday life.

India and Australia launched the Partnership on Cyber, Critical Technologies and Supply Chains (PACTS) to deepen strategic cooperation. PACTS aims to strengthen collaboration in cyber security, critical technologies, resilient supply chains, and defence research. It replaces the 2020 Framework Arrangement on Cyber and Cyber Enabled Critical Technology Cooperation. The partnership will be jointly overseen by India’s Deputy National Security Advisor and Australia’s Deputy Secretary of the International and Security Group in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.

An Indian Navy Drishti-10 Starliner UAV crashed near Dharampur village in Porbandar district, Gujarat, during a routine training sortie, following which a Board of Inquiry (BoI) was ordered. Drishti-10 Starliner is an indigenous Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). It is a variant of Israel’s Elbit Systems’ Hermes 900 platform and is manufactured by Adani Defence and Aerospace at its Hyderabad facility under a technology transfer agreement. The UAV is designed for Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions. It plays an important role in strengthening India’s maritime and border security.

The NeoSep-1 international clinical trial, aimed at evaluating life-saving antibiotic combinations for newborns with sepsis, has expanded to India, with the first baby enrolled at JIPMER, Puducherry. Neonatal sepsis is a life-threatening bloodstream infection that affects babies below 90 days of age, especially premature and low-birth-weight infants. It is one of the leading causes of neonatal mortality, accounting for 30–50% of newborn deaths. Bacterial infections are the most common cause, including Escherichia coli (E. coli), Listeria, and Streptococcus.

An expert committee of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has recommended against the proposed 2,000 MW Sharavathi Pumped Storage Project due to its likely impact on the Sharavathi Lion-Tailed Macaque Sanctuary. The Sharavathi Lion-Tailed Macaque Sanctuary is located in Karnataka’s Shivamogga district in the Western Ghats. It was formed by merging the Sharavathi Valley Wildlife Sanctuary, Aghanashini Lion-Tailed Macaque Conservation Reserve, and adjoining reserve forests.

Legendary playback singer S. Janaki, popularly known as the “Nightingale of South India,” passed away at the age of 88 due to age-related health complications. She was one of India’s most celebrated playback singers, with a career spanning 1957–2017, during which she recorded over 48,000 songs in nearly 20 Indian languages. S. Janaki won 4 National Film Awards and 33 State Film Awards, making her one of the most decorated playback singers in Indian cinema. She made her playback debut in the Tamil film Vidhiyin Vilayattu (1957) and later became one of the most iconic voices in Malayalam cinema.

The 6th Lok Samvardhan Parv was inaugurated in Dehradun, Uttarakhand by Union Minister Kiren Rijiju and Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami under the PM VIKAS Scheme. The event marks the first time the flagship festival is being organised in partnership with a state government, with Uttarakhand becoming the first collaborating state. The five-day festival showcases handicrafts, handloom products, traditional crafts, regional cuisines, cultural performances, and entrepreneurship sessions to promote artisans and traditional livelihoods. Around 150 artisans, including nearly 90 women artisans, are participating in the festival, with about 150 exhibition and food stalls.

The Maharashtra Government has sanctioned ₹1 crore for the first phase of a memorial dedicated to ‘Veer’ Jivaji Mahale at the foothills of Pratapgad Fort. Pratapgad Fort is a hill fort located in the Satara district of Maharashtra. The fort is situated at an altitude of about 1,080 metres and is built on a spur overlooking the road between Par and Kinesvar villages.

Bloomberg introduced the first electronic trade in Indian Government Bonds (IGBs) through its terminal by directly connecting with the Negotiated Dealing System–Order Matching (NDS-OM) platform. NDS-OM was launched by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for secondary market trading of government securities. It is a screen-based electronic anonymous order matching system owned by RBI that improves transparency in bond transactions. Membership is available to banks, primary dealers, insurance companies, mutual funds, and other eligible entities. The platform allows trading in central and state government securities and treasury bills through direct bids/offers and Request for Quote (RFQ) facility.

India created history at the 56th International Physics Olympiad (IPhO) 2026 held in Bucaramanga, Colombia, with all five team members winning Gold Medals. India jointly secured World No. 1 rank with China, Kazakhstan, Russia, South Korea, and Taiwan. The competition featured 381 students from 87 countries. The gold medalists were Kanishk Jain, Riddhesh Anant Bendale, Rishit Garg, Shresth Suraiya, and Svarit Joshi. India’s Olympiad programme is coordinated by Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education (HBCSE), a National Centre of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) under the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE).

Gujarat trained 4,526 volunteers under the first phase of the Yuva Aapda Mitra Scheme to strengthen community-based disaster management across 17 districts. The scheme, launched by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) in 2016, is implemented in Gujarat through the Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority (GSDMA). It aims to create trained local volunteers for immediate rescue and relief before specialised teams arrive. The programme targets 11,850 volunteers, with 50% participation by women.

The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment observed the 3rd NAMASTE Day on 14 July, marking three years of the National Action for Mechanized Sanitation Ecosystem (NAMASTE) Scheme, launched in 2023-24. The scheme promotes mechanised sanitation, dignity, safety, social security, and skill development for sanitation workers. Its key goals are zero sanitation-related fatalities, elimination of manual scavenging, establishment of Emergency Response Sanitation Units (ERSUs), and promotion of self-employment through Self-Help Groups (SHGs).

The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) 2.0 portal and the Electronic Overseas Citizen of India (e-OCI) Card were launched by the Ministry of Home Affairs. The initiatives aim to strengthen digital governance, simplify regulatory compliance, and improve citizen services. The FCRA 2.0 Portal digitises processes such as registration, renewal, annual return filing, and other services under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA). It also incorporates the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Rules, 2026, and supports future features like an AI chatbot and mobile access. The e-OCI Card enables the entire OCI application process to be completed online, including application submission, document upload, and digital card download.