July 2026 in current affairs: twenty stories for CUET

On 31 July 2026 the Union Cabinet approved 'Samudra Manthan', the National Offshore Exploration Scheme — a Central Sector Scheme of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas with ₹84,084 crore to 2030-31. It follows the Prime Minister's call, in his Independence Day speech of 2025, for a modern-day Samudra Manthan.

The scheme funds offshore seismic surveys, deepwater and ultra-deepwater exploratory drilling, shared offshore production infrastructure and an Oil and Gas Manufacturing and Services Zone. It is expected to add over 600 million tonnes of oil equivalent to India's reserves.

On 31 July 2026 the Cabinet approved the Pradhan Mantri Surya Sarovar Yojana for floating solar photovoltaic projects with energy storage, with an outlay of ₹5,070 crore. It aims at 5,000 MW of floating solar on reservoirs and inland water bodies, with storage of at least two hours (10,000 MWh), and gives ₹1 crore per MW after commissioning. The National Institute of Solar Energy puts India's floating solar potential at about 102 GWp. It is run by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.

On 31 July 2026 the Cabinet approved continuing PM-KISAN from 2026-27 to 2030-31, with a total outlay of ₹3.15 lakh crore.

The scheme itself dates from February 2019 and has not changed shape: ₹6,000 a year to an eligible landholding farmer family, in three equal instalments, paid by direct benefit transfer. Twenty-three instalments had been paid by the time the continuation was approved, totalling more than ₹4.47 lakh crore; the twenty-third reached 9.49 crore farmers with ₹18,984 crore. Women farmers have received more than ₹1.06 lakh crore, and roughly one beneficiary in four is a woman.

On 24 July 2026 the Cabinet approved BHAVYA Rasayan (Bharat Audyogik Vikas Yojana Rasayan) to set up three dedicated chemical parks, as announced in the Union Budget 2026-27. The outlay is ₹3,030 crore for 2026-27 to 2030-31, with a central grant of up to ₹1,000 crore a park, subject to at least ₹500 crore from the state. It is run by the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers.

On 15 July 2026 the Cabinet approved the Mobile Phone Manufacturing Scheme with an outlay of ₹62,500 crore for five years, 2026-27 to 2030-31. It gives incentives of 2.25 to 5 per cent on eligible sales, up to 1.5 per cent more for sourcing key components in India, and 3 per cent more for design and R&D to build Indian brands. It is expected to create about 60,000 direct jobs.

The government notified on 11 May 2026 that the Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act, 2025 would come into force across rural India on 1 July 2026, and that MGNREGA, 2005 would stand repealed from the same date.

For 2026-27 the Centre's share is ₹95,692.31 crore, the largest ever allocation for a rural employment programme at the budget stage. Work under MGNREGA continued without a break until the switch, and e-KYC-verified MGNREGA job cards stay valid until the new Gramin Rozgar Guarantee Cards are issued.

On 15 July 2026 the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the National Investment Policy for Urea-2026 for Atmanirbhar Bharat (NIPU-2026), to encourage new gas-based urea plants and self-sufficiency. It replaces the New Investment Policy of 2012, under which six new urea units were set up, and introduces a return-on-equity band of 12 to 16 per cent.

On 25 July 2026, at the 48th session of the World Heritage Committee in Busan, South Korea, the 'Ancient Buddhist Site of Sarnath' was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as India's 45th property. The serial site, in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, has two parts: the Chaukhandi Stupa, and the archaeological remains of Sarnath, which include the Dhamekh and Dharmarajika stupas, the Mulagandhakuti Vihara and the Ashokan pillar. It is where the Buddha gave his first sermon, the Dharmachakra Pravartana, and met his first disciples.

With Sarnath, three of the four principal Buddhist pilgrimage sites are on the list: Lumbini in Nepal, the Mahabodhi Temple at Bodh Gaya, and Sarnath. The site had been on India's Tentative List since 1998.

The Prime Minister paid a State Visit to Indonesia from 6 to 8 July 2026 at the invitation of President Prabowo Subianto, who had been India's Republic Day chief guest in January 2025. The two countries are Comprehensive Strategic Partners.

The Prime Minister addressed the Indonesian Parliament, and the two leaders launched restoration and conservation work at the Prambanan Temple Compounds in Yogyakarta, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. They also welcomed the extension of the India–Indonesia framework agreement on peaceful uses of outer space.

NISAR — the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar — completed a year on orbit in July 2026. It was launched by GSLV-F16 on 30 July 2025.

It carries radar in two bands, L and S, which is what lets one satellite serve both ends of the job: the longer wavelength reads ecosystems, the cryosphere and the solid earth, while the shorter yields forest biomass, soil moisture, crops, ocean surface wind, mangrove cover and surface deformation.

Answering Parliament on 23 July 2026, the Department of Space said that from July 2023 to June 2026 India launched 12 launch-vehicle missions successfully, carrying 11 national satellites and 9 for international customers.

The period included Chandrayaan-3's landing near the lunar south pole, Aditya-L1, the 100th launch from Sriharikota, SpaDeX (which made India the fourth country to demonstrate docking in space), the completion of SSLV development, NISAR, and the two record LVM3 flights. India has four operational launch vehicles: PSLV, GSLV, GSLV Mk III (LVM3) and SSLV.

On 23 July 2026 DRDO conducted the maiden flight test of Kusha, a long-range surface-to-air missile, from APJ Abdul Kalam Island off the coast of Odisha. It intercepted an electronic target simulating a high-speed, high-altitude aerial threat.

Kusha is meant to neutralise fighter jets, missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles and large aircraft. Its missiles, radars and command and control centre were all developed by DRDO laboratories and industry partners, and the Defence Minister described it as a class of system only a handful of nations have.

India's six-member team won 2 gold and 4 silver medals at the 67th International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) 2026 in Shanghai, China, finishing 7th of 117 countries unofficially. About 666 students took part, the largest IMO since it began in 1959. India's best rank remains 4th, at IMO 2024; since its debut in 1989 India has won 25 IMO golds.

All four Indian students won gold at the 58th International Chemistry Olympiad (IChO), held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, from 10 to 19 July 2026: India's first-ever all-gold result there. India shared first place in the country tally. At the 37th International Biology Olympiad in Vilnius, Lithuania, the same week, all four Indian students won medals: 1 gold and 3 silver.

Skyroot Aerospace's Vikram-1 lifted off from Sriharikota on 18 July 2026 and injected two satellites, SCOPE and Grahaa, into low Earth orbit.

It is the first time a private Indian company has carried out an orbital launch from Indian soil — and it reached orbit on the first attempt, which is the part the announcement singles out.

On 15 July 2026 the Cabinet approved Semicon 2.0, the next phase of India's semiconductor programme, with an outlay of ₹1,27,500 crore. Built on six pillars beginning with chip design and with machines and materials, it follows Semicon 1.0 (the India Semiconductor Mission). About 105 start-ups are already designing chips. It is run by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

All five members of India's team won gold medals at the 56th International Physics Olympiad (IPhO) 2026, held in Bucaramanga, Colombia: Kanishk Jain, Riddhesh Anant Bendale, Rishit Garg, Shresth Suraiya and Svarit Joshi. The Prime Minister congratulated them on 13 July 2026.

Ahead of International Tiger Day on 29 July, the government set out where India stands. Project Tiger now runs 58 tiger reserves across 18 tiger-range States, covering about 84,500 square kilometres, about 2.56% of India's area. The All India Tiger Estimation of 2022 counted 3,682 tigers.

The day goes back to the Saint Petersburg Tiger Summit of November 2010, where 13 tiger-range countries adopted the Tx2 goal of doubling wild tigers by 2022. The International Big Cat Alliance, approved by the Union Cabinet on 12 March 2024, covers seven big cats: tiger, lion, leopard, snow leopard, cheetah, jaguar and puma. It is now a coalition of 95 range and partner countries.

On 31 July 2026 the Cabinet approved an expanded Khelo India Scheme together with enhanced Assistance to National Sports Federations, with a combined outlay of ₹36,441 crore for 2026-27 to 2030-31, nearly eight times the previous Khelo India scheme. It is aligned with the Khelo Bharat Niti 2025 and the National Education Policy 2020, and looks towards the 2030 Commonwealth Games. It is run by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.

At the Glasgow Commonwealth Games of 23 July to 2 August 2026, weightlifter Mirabai Chanu won India's first gold, her third consecutive Commonwealth Games title. India's Commonwealth Games story began in 1934.

The Union Budget 2026-27 gave the Sports Ministry a record ₹4,479.88 crore, up from ₹1,219 crore in 2013-14; Khelo India is the core of its programmes.