02/08/2026
🔆 CURRENT AFFAIRS – 01 AUGUST 2026
🔆 INTERNATIONAL
📍 Favara–UPI Corridor: Maldives–India
✅ Maldives launched real-time cross-border fund transfers to India
✅ Transactions in Maldivian Rufiyaa are credited in INR to UPI accounts
✅ Partners: Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA), RBI, NPCI International Payments Ltd. (NIPL), Bank of Maldives & Maldives Islamic Bank
✅ Enables family maintenance, gift remittances and person-to-person transfers through mobile apps
🔆 ENVIRONMENT
📍 Varayattumudy Emerges as Nilgiri Tahr Refuge
✅ Located in Idukki district, Kerala
✅ Emerging as an important habitat for the endangered Nilgiri Tahr
✅ Steep cliffs, rocky slopes and montane grasslands provide ideal habitat
✅ Population increasing due to improved conservation and reduced hunting
📍 Nilgiri Tahr
✅ Scientific Name: Nilgiritragus hylocrius
✅ Endemic to the Southern Western Ghats of Kerala and Tamil Nadu
✅ IUCN Status: Endangered
✅ Protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972
✅ Eravikulam National Park supports the largest surviving population
📍 Karnataka’s Neelam & Totapuri Mangoes Exported to Maldives
✅ APEDA facilitated the first-ever air shipment of Neelam and Totapuri mangoes to the Maldives
✅ Shipment comprised 1 metric tonne sourced from an FPC in Kolar district
✅ Initiative aims to expand India’s fruit export ecosystem
🔆 DEFENCE
📍 Multinational Maritime Defence Coalition – 2026
✅ Saudi Arabia and 13 nations formed a maritime security coalition
✅ Headquarters in Saudi Arabia
✅ Focus on securing the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, Red Sea and Gulf of Aden
✅ Aims to protect freedom of navigation, trade routes and energy supply lines
✅ Described as a defensive alliance under international law
📍 India’s Indigenous Diving Support Vessel – Nipun
✅ India’s second indigenously built Diving Support Vessel (DSV)
✅ Built by Hindustan Shipyard Ltd., delivered at Visakhapatnam
✅ Supports deep-sea diving and submarine rescue operations
✅ Mother ship for the Deep Submergence Rescue Vessel (DSRV)
✅ Around 75% indigenous content under Aatmanirbhar Bharat
📍 Machilipatnam ASW Shallow Watercraft
✅ Indian Navy launched the 7th of 8 Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Watercraft (ASW SWC)
✅ Built by Cochin Shipyard Ltd.
✅ Named after Machilipatnam (Andhra Pradesh)
✅ Designed for anti-submarine warfare, mine warfare and coastal security
✅ More than 80% indigenous content
📍 India’s First Dedicated Department of Military Medicine
✅ Inaugurated at Command Hospital, Central Command, Lucknow
✅ Under the Directorate General of Medical Services (Army)
✅ Focuses on battlefield trauma, combat medicine, psychiatry, environmental medicine and medical logistics
✅ Future expansion includes Centres of Excellence for HADR and CBRNE
✅ Strengthens AI-enabled military healthcare and indigenous defence capability
📍 Cosmos Bloom Diamond Sent to Space
✅ World’s first lab-grown diamond jewellery sent to space
✅ Cosmos Bloom Diamond launched aboard Skyroot’s Vikram-1
✅ Developed by Cosmos Diamonds, Bengaluru
✅ Vikram-1 is India’s first private orbital launch vehicle
🔆 SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
📍 India’s Private R&D Spending Crosses 0.8% of GDP
✅ Gross Expenditure on R&D (GERD) crossed 0.8% of GDP for the first time since 2010
✅ Growth driven primarily by private sector investment
✅ Supported by National Research Foundation (NRF) and PLI Schemes
✅ Major investments in pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, IT, semiconductors, space and renewable energy
🔆 RANKS & REPORTS
📍 Environmental Performance Index (EPI) 2026
✅ Developed by Yale University, Columbia University with support from the McCall MacBain Foundation
✅ Covers 177 countries, 47 indicators across 12 environmental categories
✅ Estonia ranked 1st, followed by Luxembourg, UK, Finland and Netherlands
✅ India ranked 176th with a score of 22.46
✅ Index measures progress towards SDGs and Paris Climate Agreement goals
