Daily Current Affairs · 24 August 2026
UPSC Prelims Current Affairs: 24 August 2026
Karnataka's SIR draft rolls drop over a crore voters, Rajnath Singh backs a Rs 3,500 crore shipbuilding push, Assam nears its own satellite, and Jaishankar heads to Moscow.
Rajnath Singh lays foundation for Rs 3,500 crore GRSE and Yantra India expansion
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh virtually laid the foundation stone on 23 August 2026 for five brownfield expansion projects of Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) and Yantra India Limited (YIL) in West Bengal, comprising three GRSE projects and two YIL facilities worth nearly Rs 3,500 crore. As part of its expansion, GRSE has leased two small shipyards from the Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port on either bank of the Hooghly, along with a 32-acre riverside property at Raichak, to expand its warship construction, refit and commercial vessel capacity; Bhumi Pujan ceremonies were held simultaneously at Kidderpore, Shalimar, Raichak and Ishapore. At Yantra India's Metal and Steel Factory in Ishapore, two Industry 4.0-equipped facilities worth over Rs 750 crore will strengthen indigenous metallurgical and defence manufacturing, reducing import dependence for the defence, railway and strategic sectors.
Piyush Goyal leads 200-member business delegation to Japan
Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal began a four-day visit to Japan on 24 August 2026, leading a 200-member business delegation to Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka to boost trade and investment ties, with representatives from manufacturing, semiconductors, clean energy, steel, automotive, financial services, healthcare and start-ups. In Tokyo he is holding meetings with Japanese conglomerates and a roundtable with the Keidanren (Japan Business Federation), representing over 1,500 companies, besides bilateral talks with Japan's Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Akazawa Ryosei. The visit comes as the two countries look to review the India-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, with two-way trade at $27.47 billion in 2025-26, and follows Japan's commitment last year to invest about Rs 60,000 crore (10 trillion yen) in India over a decade.
Karnataka's SIR draft electoral rolls exclude over 1.07 crore voters
The office of Karnataka's Chief Electoral Officer published the draft electoral rolls on 24 August 2026 following the enumeration phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), removing 19.48 per cent of the state's electors, or more than 1.07 crore voters, categorised as Absent, Shifted, Duplicate, Dead or Others (ASDDO). Bengaluru's rolls will shrink sharply, from an electorate of over 1.03 crore to just 56.11 lakh voters in the draft list. A further 20.35 lakh voters have been flagged for logical discrepancies and 23.45 lakh could not be mapped to the 2002 electoral roll; these voters will receive notices and hearings before the final rolls are published on 27 October 2026.
Assam nears private-partner selection to build its own satellite, AssamSAT
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on 23 August 2026 that the state is in the final stage of selecting a private-sector partner to build and launch 'AssamSAT' under the DBLOTT (Design, Build, Launch, Operate, Train and Transfer) model, which would make Assam the first Indian state with its own earth observation satellite system. The project is being developed in collaboration with IN-SPACe (Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre) under the Department of Space, after the state floated Expressions of Interest earlier this year and received strong interest from private space companies. The satellite is intended to provide continuous data for agriculture, disaster management, infrastructure development and border security, shifting Assam from a user of satellite data to an active participant in the space-tech ecosystem.
ICMR clarifies no new H1N1 strain behind India's rising flu cases
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said on 23 August 2026 that the Influenza A(H1N1) viruses currently circulating in India belong to the existing A/Missouri/11/2025 (H1N1) pdm09-like strain, clarifying that no new H1N1 strain has emerged despite a rise in cases this monsoon. ICMR said these strains are well matched with the vaccine strains recommended for the Northern Hemisphere, and that seasonal influenza, including H1N1, is mostly self-limiting. Delhi has recorded 1,777 confirmed H1N1 cases so far this year, including 114 new cases on 20 August, while Karnataka has logged over 4,000 cases, more than half of them in Bengaluru.
Jaishankar visits Russia to co-chair the 27th session of IRIGC-TEC
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar began a two-day official visit to Russia on 23 August 2026, at the invitation of First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov, to co-chair the 27th Session of the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation (IRIGC-TEC). During the visit he is also meeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to exchange views on regional and global issues. IRIGC-TEC is the primary institutional mechanism through which India and Russia review and expand cooperation across trade, economy, science, technology and culture.