Official releases, distilled into exam-ready intelligence.

The Union Minister of State for Tribal Affairs, Shri Durgadas Uikey, informed that the Department of Telecommunications, via the Digital Bharat Nidhi (DBN), has approved mobile projects to provide 4G connectivity in uncovered tribal villages. In the Sasaram Lok Sabha constituency (Kaimur and Rohtas districts, Bihar), 75 towers were planned in Kaimur (24 in Rohtas); as of 30 June 2026, 71 and 22 towers respectively were on‑air, covering 122 villages in Kaimur and 27 in Rohtas. Funds disbursed under the DBN‑DAPST scheme from 2021‑22 to 2025‑26 totalled ₹2,183.10 crore, with Bihar receiving ₹99.43 crore. The 4G coverage status shows 1684 of 1692 villages in Kaimur and 2068 of 2072 villages in Rohtas are covered, leaving 12 villages uncovered. The constituency has 4,377 4G and 1,110 5G base transceiver stations. The government aims to achieve telecom saturation in underserved tribal areas under the PM‑JANMAN mission, monitored through MIS dashboards and field‑level reviews.

The Ministry of Culture reports that 3,688 ancient monuments and archaeological sites are declared of national importance, of which 414 have reported encroachments. Under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) does not need to acquire land to protect a monument but takes action against unauthorised activities. ASI has completed survey, geo‑referencing and digitisation of monument boundaries and uploaded the data on the Bhuvan portal, coordinating with state revenue officials to integrate this information with state land records. The figures are state‑wise, with Tamil Nadu (72), Uttar Pradesh (78) and Karnataka (60) recording the highest encroachments.

The Ministry of Tribal Affairs is implementing the Eklavya Model Residential School (EMRS) scheme to deliver quality education to tribal students while preserving local art and culture. EMRSs are set up in blocks with >50% ST population and at least 20,000 tribal persons (Census 2011). Nationwide, 728 EMRSs have been approved, of which 508 are functional. In West Bengal, 9 EMRSs have been approved and all are functional; none of the blocks in Alipurduar meet the criteria. The autonomous National Education Society for Tribal Students (NESTS) oversees policy and implementation, with State Societies and District Committees handling local administration. District‑wise enrolment for 2025‑26 totals 3,152 students across the nine functional schools.

The Ministry of Tribal Affairs runs five central scholarship schemes for Scheduled Tribe (ST) students – Pre‑Matric (Class IX‑X) and Post‑Matric (Class XI and above) with an annual family income ceiling of Rs 2.50 lakhs; National Scholarship for Higher Education (Top Class) and National Overseas Scholarship with a ceiling of Rs 6.00 lakhs; and National Fellowship for Higher Education (NFST) with no income limit. The National Scheduled Tribes Finance and Development Corporation (NSTFDC) offers concessional loans to ST persons whose annual family income does not exceed Rs 3 lakhs. Kerala’s own Pre‑Matric and Post‑Matric scholarships have no income ceiling. Housing assistance for PVTGs is provided under PM JANMAN/PMAY‑G (no income limit) and Kerala’s LIFE Mission (income ceiling Rs 3 lakhs). The Expenditure Finance Commission is reviewing the income limits for continuation of these schemes for FY 2026‑27 to 2030‑31.

The Ministry of Tribal Affairs, through its Scholarship Division, runs five scholarship schemes for Scheduled Tribe (ST) students in Ladakh: Pre‑Matric (Class IX‑X), Post‑Matric (Class XI‑post‑Graduation), National Scholarship for Higher Education, National Fellowship for Higher Education, and National Overseas Scholarship. The first two are Centrally Sponsored Schemes implemented by the UT/State, with open‑ended eligibility for students whose parental income does not exceed Rs 2.5 lakh per annum; funds are released by the Ministry after state proposals and disbursed via DBT. The remaining three are Central Sector Schemes funded directly by the Ministry, with payments made to students or institutions through DBT or, for overseas scholarships, via the Ministry of External Affairs. Annexure‑I lists beneficiary numbers and funds released for Ladakh over the last five years.

A three‑day Multimedia Photo Exhibition (ICOP) was inaugurated on 13 August 2026 at the Bus Stand, Bhandara, by District Collector Shri Sawan Kumar, IAS. Organized by the Central Bureau of Communication (CBC), Field Office, Nagpur, under the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, the exhibition runs until 15 August and displays multimedia content, photographs and outreach activities on the Government’s 12‑year achievements, the VB‑GRAMG initiative and the Har Ghar Tiranga campaign. Field Publicity Officer Shri Saurabh Khekde briefed attendees, while Deputy Collector Dr Prashant Padghan and other officials were present. Cultural performances by the CBC’s PRT troupe and stalls on VB‑GRAMG, Self‑Help Groups and Health Department initiatives were also featured.

The Union Minister of State for Tribal Affairs informed Parliament that the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) examines complaints of rights deprivation, including the displacement of Scheduled Tribes from tiger reserves. Relocation of villages from core tiger habitats is voluntary under Section 38 V(5) of the Wildlife (Protection) Act 2006 and Section 4(2) of the Forest Rights Act 2006, guided by the National Tiger Conservation Authority’s 2012 guidelines. State governments and UT administrations implement relocation through District‑Level Committees, offering a rehabilitation package that was increased from ₹10 lakh to ₹15 lakh per family in 2021. The process requires Gram Sabha consent, and no reports of involuntary relocation have been received by monitoring committees.

The Union Minister of State for Tribal Affairs reported the status of interventions under PM JANMAN in West Bengal as of 30 June 2026. In the state, 418 houses were sanctioned, 86 completed; 16 km of roads sanctioned, with no completions reported. MoP (RDSS) recorded 3,372 houses sanctioned and electrified. In Purulia district, 5 villages were sanctioned (none saturated), 3 MMUs were operational, and 1 VDVK was sanctioned (no business started). Under the Dharti Aaba Janjatiya Gram Utkarsh Abhiyan, projects worth ₹12,574.70 lakhs were approved, including 204 classrooms (₹2,417.3 lakhs), one hostel renovation (₹39.99 lakhs) and one Tribal Multi‑Purpose Marketing Centre (₹100 lakhs). The state has identified 495 PVTG habitations across 4 districts, covering 19,991 households (68,720 people), and surveyed 18,173 PVTG households. Funding allocation and proposal submission remain the responsibility of the West Bengal government.

The Chairman’s valedictory remarks on the conclusion of the 271st Rajya Sabha session note that the House functioned for only 37 hours 49 minutes, achieving a productivity of 39.17 per cent. Despite frequent disruptions, 12 Bills were considered and either passed or returned. Members raised 285 Starred Questions, 380 Zero‑Hour submissions and 380 Special Mentions, of which only 16 Questions, 52 Zero‑Hour submissions and 93 Special Mentions were taken up. The session featured a two‑day orientation programme for 35 newly elected/nominated members and the introduction of ‘Vani Setu’ AI‑based translation and the ‘Sadasya Setu’ mobile app for attendance and other parliamentary transactions.

The Department of Space reports that, according to the DPIIT Start‑up India Portal, about 440 space‑technology startups are registered in India. IN‑SPACe has granted 113 authorisations to 52 non‑government entities, of which 18 are startups, listing firms such as Agnikul Cosmos, Skyroot Aerospace and Pixxel Space. Year‑wise facilitation (2022‑2026) includes testing services, launch‑slot access and hardware support for these startups. Funding data (as of 31‑July‑2026) show cumulative allocations of Rs 214,000 Lakhs across schemes like the IN‑SPACe Seed Fund, Venture Capital Funds, Technology Adoption Fund, SBAAS and Common Technical Facilities. IN‑SPACe also operates a digital single‑window platform for authorisation, funding, mentorship and access to ISRO/IN‑SPACe facilities.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation organised a Tiranga Rally on 13 August 2026 as part of the Independence Day celebrations under the Har Ghar Tiranga Campaign 2026. Union Civil Aviation Minister Shri Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu, joined by Minister of State Shri Murlidhar Mohol, Secretary Shri Samir Kumar Sinha and senior aviation officials, inaugurated a Digital Video Wall, led a procession from Udaan Bhawan to Aviation Park, and concluded with the National Anthem. Officers, staff of the Ministry, its attached and subordinate offices, PSUs and autonomous bodies participated, carrying the national flag to promote the campaign’s aim of encouraging citizens to display the flag and foster national unity and pride.

The Ministry of Earth Sciences is implementing Mission Mausam, a Central Sector scheme launched by the Prime Minister on 14 January 2025, to make India a “Weather‑ready and Climate‑smart Nation”. The Union Cabinet approved the mission in 2024 with a budget of ₹2,000 crore for 2024‑25 and 2025‑26, and the 2026‑27 estimate is ₹1,342.29 crore (₹855.29 crore revenue, ₹487.00 crore capital). The scheme seeks to upgrade weather‑surveillance technologies, high‑resolution observations, next‑generation radars, satellites, AI/ML‑driven modelling, high‑performance computing and decision‑support systems. For 2026‑31 it will be executed through six verticals (OBSERVE_ALL, DEVELOP, Weather_MOD, ATCOMP, FRONTIER, NEAT). Expected outcomes include more accurate, timely, location‑specific forecasts and early warnings for cyclones, floods, heatwaves, etc., benefiting agriculture, fisheries, aviation, disaster management and the broader economy.

The Ministry of Earth Sciences, through the National Centre for Seismology (NCS), monitors earthquakes 24 × 7 via the National Seismological Network of 174 observatories and is developing a pilot Early‑Earthquake‑Warning (EEW) system. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) provides impact‑based early warnings for meteorological disasters, sharing forecasts with agencies such as the Ministry of Home Affairs, NDMA, state disaster authorities and the media. IMD’s observational network includes 50 Doppler Weather Radars, 1,008 Automatic Weather Stations and 6,885 rain‑gauge stations, and it runs a suite of numerical weather‑prediction models (GFS, BFS, WRF, HRRR, EWRF, AI models, MME) for severe‑weather warnings, especially in the Himalayas. The Mitigation Project of Lightning Safety (MPLS), a pilot under NDMA with IMD as technical partner, focuses on community risk assessment, lightning early‑warning systems, capacity building and research. Additionally, the DAMINI mobile app, supporting 17 regional languages, delivers location‑specific lightning alerts and safety advisories.

The Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions released Annexure‑I and Annexure‑II detailing the performance of the Centralized Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) for FY 2023‑24, 2024‑25 and 2025‑26. Annexure‑I lists, for each central ministry/department, the number of grievances carried forward, received, disposed and pending as on 5 August 2026. Across all ministries, total grievances carried forward were 62,099; received 1,833,972; disposed 1,812,923; pending 83,148. Annexure‑II provides the average disposal time (in days) for each ministry/department in FY 2025‑26, ranging from 2 days (e.g., Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region) to 32 days (Staff Selection Commission). The release also notes that a Feedback Call Centre has been operational since July 2022 to assess citizen satisfaction, and the Comprehensive Guidelines for Effective Redressal of Public Grievances (issued 23 August 2024) prescribe a 21‑day disposal timeline.

The PIB release states that 90,276 civil servants from West Bengal have been onboarded on the iGOT Karmayogi platform, which hosts over 5,600 courses. Eight draft Capacity Building Plans have been prepared for the state’s priority departments, and learners from West Bengal have recorded 10,493 course completions. The West Bengal government has not yet signed the tripartite MoU under Mission Karmayogi. The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), together with the Capacity Building Commission and SPV Karmayogi Bharat, are providing hand‑holding, nodal officers, and support through the Training for All scheme. All central government employees and All India Services officers must complete prescribed courses annually, reflected in their APARs.

The Department of Pension and Pensioners' Welfare, the nodal agency for central government pension policy, convened the 2nd National Workshop on Pension Litigation to improve coordination and capacity of nodal officers and panel lawyers across ministries. The workshop launched a compendium and flyer detailing best practices and recent judicial pronouncements on pension disputes. It also introduced Special Campaign 3, along with Pension Adalats and Inter‑Ministerial Review Meetings, aimed at resolving long‑pending grievances and reducing court litigation. The Department has issued Office Memoranda for rule clarification and revised the Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 1972 through the CCS(Pension) Rules 2021, with Rule 50 easing eligibility for family pensioners, including divorced and disabled daughters. The information was provided by Minister of State Dr Jitendra Singh in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.

The Ministry of Tribal Affairs reported that under the National Fellowship Scheme for Scheduled Tribes (NFST), a Central Sector Scheme, 3,750 fellowships were awarded in the last five years and 2,250 fellowships in the last three years, with a fixed allocation of 750 fellowships each year for five years. Applications are invited online from 1 July to 30 September, after which a merit list of 750 candidates is posted and funds are released pending compliance. grievance handling for the scheme is managed through the CPGRAMS/PG portal, with 1,680 grievances received, 1,681 disposed and an average disposal time of 7 days (April 2021‑March 2026). Annexures‑I and‑II contain West Bengal‑specific district‑wise data on enrolments and fund disbursements.

The ‘Vigyan Tech’ national initiative was organized by the Department of Biotechnology on National Technology Day (11 May 2026) at BRIC‑National Institute of Immunology, Delhi. It showcased over 100 in‑house technologies from 14 ministries and departments across sectors such as space, climate, biopharma, deep‑tech materials, electronics and deep‑sea. A compendium ‘TECH‑संग्रह’ featuring nearly 300 technologies was released, and several technologies were transferred or licensed to industry, including crop‑innovation platforms, enzyme technologies, diagnostic kits and an electric compact tractor. The event also launched an indigenous glacier lake bathymetry solution and the CSIR@100 roadmap booklet, positioning the exhibition as a platform for whole‑of‑government knowledge exchange and collaboration toward the Viksit Bharat 2047 vision.

Lok Sabha Speaker Shri Om Birla met Rt. Hon. Dr. Moses M. Wetang'ula, Speaker of Kenya’s National Assembly, and highlighted the millennial‑old ties between India and Kenya. Kenya supports India’s bid for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council and has recognised Persons of Indian Origin as an indigenous community. Both speakers noted shared democratic values and the planned installation of a Mahatma Gandhi statue in Kenya’s Parliament. Birla cited India’s use of Artificial Intelligence in parliamentary functioning and offered to share this experience. He also referred to parliamentary friendship groups and PRIDE‑organised programmes for Kenyan legislators.

India Optel Limited (IOL), a Mini‑Ratan​a Category‑I Defence PSU under the Department of Defence Production, launched the indigenous ‘GARUD’ High‑Resolution Binoculars for the civil market on 13 August 2026. Developed and manufactured by Ordnance Factory, Dehradun, the binocular offers 8× magnification, a 7.6° field of view, ±5 diopter adjustment, weather‑resistant construction and weighs about 610 g. The product is positioned as a civilian‑grade version of a platform previously used by the Defence Forces and Central Armed Police Forces, aiming to provide outdoor enthusiasts and professionals with defence‑grade optical performance while embodying the ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ ethos.