UPSC Current Affairs 21st August 2026

Welcome to your daily UPSC Current Affairs compilation for 21 August 2026. This comprehensive brief is curated from the latest editions of The Hindu, The Indian Express, and official PIB releases, specifically tailored to help you align with the syllabus requirements of the UPSC Civil Services Examination (General Studies Papers 1, 2, and 3).

GS Paper 2: Polity, Governance & International Relations

1. Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Bill, 2026

• Context:The Rajya Sabha recently passed the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Bill, 2026, successfully navigating it through Parliament.
• Key Details:The legislation increases the sanctioned strength of Supreme Court judges from 34 to 38, which includes the Chief Justice of India.
• UPSC Perspective:Notably, the legislation was introduced and passed as a “Money Bill”.This has triggered constitutional debates among legal experts regarding the validity of using the Article 110 route for judicial administration bills, echoing similar criticisms raised during the 2019 expansion.

2. Census 2027: New Questionnaire Parameters Finalised

• Context:The questionnaire schedule for the population enumeration phase of Census 2027 has gone live in Ladakh and other snow-bound areas ahead of the nationwide rollout.
• Key Details:Under the “Family Particulars” head, the questionnaire now seeks deeply granular data, specifically asking for the date of birth, place of birth, and religion of both the mother and father up to the village level.
• New Inclusions:It provides an option to note if parents were born outside India.Furthermore, respondents can officially record “other religion” in a separate column if they do not align with the six primary recognized religions (Hindu, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist, Muslim, and Jain).

3. State Renaming: Kerala Officially Becomes ‘Keralam’

• Context:President Droupadi Murmu has officially granted her assent to the Kerala (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2026, making it law.
• Key Details:The state will henceforth be known officially as the State of Keralam.The legislative process was set in motion when the Kerala Assembly passed a unanimous resolution urging the Centre to amend the First Schedule of the Constitution under Article 3 to reflect the state’s traditional Malayalam name.

4. Geopolitics: The Mecca Joint Defence Agreement

• Context:In a major shift in West Asian security architecture, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan have signed the “Mecca Joint Defence Agreement”.
• Key Details:The trilateral security framework stipulates that an armed attack on one of the signatory countries will be treated as an attack on all three.
• Significance:As the first trilateral mutual-defence arrangement among these major Sunni Muslim-majority nations, the pact raises fresh questions about the evolving geopolitical alignments and deterrence strategies amidst escalating tensions in West Asia.

GS Paper 3: Economy, Environment & Science

5. Cabinet Approves ‘GOBARdhan’ – National Circular Bioenergy Scheme

• Context:The Union Cabinet has approved the ‘GOBARdhan’ National Circular Bioenergy Scheme with a massive financial outlay of ₹23,731 crore to be implemented over a 10-year span (2026-27 to 2035-36).
• Key Details:The initiative aims to scale up domestic Compressed Biogas (CBG) production by nearly 10-fold.
• Implementation Strategy:To overcome previous roadblocks like unorganized feedstock chains and high capital expenditure, the scheme promises assured offtake by city gas operators, stable administered pricing, and extensive credit support to mobilize large-scale private investment.

6. Union Budget 2026-27: The Coconut Promotion Scheme & Export Boom

• Context:Driven by the Coconut Development Board (CDB), India’s coconut exports reached a historic ₹7,038.35 crore in 2025-26, registering a 62% annual increase.
• Key Details:To sustain this momentum, the Union Budget 2026–27 announced the “Coconut Promotion Scheme”.The scheme specifically targets long-standing issues like aging plantations, limited processing facilities, and crop diseases.
• Significance: Through crop-health management and integrated value-addition, India is transforming the crop from traditional “Kalpavriksha” into a high-value global export driver.

7. NASA’s Moon Base Programme & India’s Expanding Space Footprint

• Context:NASA is accelerating its Moon Base programme, broken into three phases up to 2029, and has invited India to play a critical strategic role.
• Significance for India:The partnership directly complements ISRO’s own long-term lunar ambitions, specifically the upcoming Chandrayaan-4 mission, the establishment of the Bharatiya Antariksha Station, and India’s crewed lunar mission targeted for 2040. It also acts as a strategic counterbalance to the Sino-Russian International Lunar Research Station project.

8. Space Tech: China Recovers Rocket Stage on Land

• Context:China has successfully recaptured the first stage of a rocket on land for the very first time, marking a major leap in its reusable launch vehicle technology.
• Key Details:While China had previously managed a sea platform recovery in July 2026, land recovery requires highly complex trajectory calculations and propulsion control. This capability is critical for dramatically lowering the costs of sending payloads into orbit.

9. Health: Rare ‘Kikuchi-Fujimoto Disease’ Detected in India

• Context:A rare autoimmune-linked condition called Kikuchi-Fujimoto disease was recently detected in a patient in Visakhapatnam who had been misdiagnosed with tuberculosis for six years.
• Key Details: It is a rare, benign disease characterized by severe swelling of the lymph nodes, fever, and headache. While it usually resolves on its own without a specific cure, severe cases necessitate the use of Corticosteroids or NSAIDs.

GS Paper 1: History, Art & Culture

10. 80th Independence Day: 150 Years of ‘Vande Mataram’

• Context:India celebrated its 80th Independence Day on August 15, 2026, marking a unique historical milestone.
• Key Details:The 2026 celebrations officially commemorated 150 years of ‘Vande Mataram’, the national song that united generations during the freedom struggle.For the first time, the anthem was sung from the ramparts of the Red Fort as a dedicated tribute upon the Prime Minister’s arrival.Over 5,000 Special Guests representing grass-root workers, innovators, and ‘Yuva Shakti’ (Youth Power) were invited to witness the ceremony.

Rapid Prelims Facts & Snippets

• Bankers’ Books Evidence Bill, 2026: Parliament has passed this bill to repeal the colonial-era 1891 Act. It allows certified copies of bank records to be directly used as evidence in legal proceedings without requiring the original physical records to be produced.
• Registration of Births and Deaths (Amendment) Bill, 2026: Tightens vital data norms. Birth and death registrations delayed by over two years now strictly require a magisterial order from a Judicial Magistrate (First Class).
• 12th National Handloom Day:Celebrated on August 7, 2026. The date intentionally commemorates the anniversary of the Swadeshi Movement (launched in 1905) to honor artisanal weavers.
• Tamirabharani River (Geography): A major perennial river in Tamil Nadu. For mapping purposes, remember its key tributaries: Servalar, Manimuthar, Gadananathi, Pachaiyar, and Chittar.
• Giloy / Tinospora cordifolia (Environment & Health): A widely used medicinal plant that is naturally rich in copper, iron, zinc, and alkaloids. Cultivated through stem cutting in May-June.
• E. Coli in Human Body (Science):While Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) causes severe intestinal illness, naturally occurring harmless E. coli in the human gut is highly beneficial and is responsible for synthesizing Vitamin K.
• NTA Examination Revamp (Governance):The National Testing Agency (NTA) has overhauled its structure by removing 600 experts and introducing a stringent “four-tier question paper checking system” following recent massive recruitment exam irregularities.