Current Affairs — 11 August 2026

1. Tribunals Reforms Bill, 2026

Core Context:

Tribunals are quasi-judicial bodies created to reduce the burden on regular courts and provide specialised, speedy adjudication in technical matters such as taxation, service disputes and company law. Since their constitutional recognition through the 42nd Amendment Act of 1976 (Articles 323-A and 323-B, Part XIV-A), tribunals have often struggled with executive interference in appointments, chronic vacancies and short tenures — issues repeatedly flagged by the Supreme Court in cases such as L. Chandra Kumar (1997), Rojer Mathew (2019), and the ruling that struck down key parts of the Tribunals Reforms Act, 2021.

Latest Developments:

• The Lok Sabha passed the Tribunals Reforms Bill, 2026 by voice vote amid opposition protests, without detailed debate.
• The Bill repeals the Tribunals Reforms Act, 2021 and creates a National Tribunals Commission (NTC), an independent body to standardise appointment, tenure, removal and service conditions across tribunals.
• The NTC will have a Chairperson (a former Supreme Court judge or High Court Chief Justice), two judicial members and two technical members with at least 25 years of experience; the Chairperson’s age limit is 70 years and members’ is 67 years, with a five-year term.
• For every vacancy, the NTC’s search-cum-selection committee will recommend a single name plus one waitlisted name, with the government required to decide within three months.
• The Bill responds to Supreme Court rulings that struck down the 2021 Act’s 50-year minimum age bar, four-year tenure, and two-name selection format.

UPSC Prelims Pointers:

• Constitutional basis of tribunals: Articles 323-A and 323-B under Part XIV-A, inserted by the 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1976, based on Swaran Singh Committee recommendations.
• Article 323-A empowers Parliament to create Administrative Tribunals for service matters.
• Article 323-B empowers Parliament and state legislatures to create tribunals for other subjects like taxation and land reforms.
• The first tribunal in India was the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, established in 1941.
• L. Chandra Kumar v. Union of India (1997) held that tribunal orders remain subject to High Court writ jurisdiction under Articles 226 and 227.
• Judicial review is part of the Constitution’s Basic Structure.

2. PM CARES Fund Under Scrutiny Over Transparency

Core Context:

The Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations (PM CARES) Fund was set up in March 2020 as a public charitable trust to mobilise voluntary contributions for emergencies such as pandemics and disasters. Since its creation, questions have persisted over whether it should be treated as a “public authority” for accountability purposes, given the government’s central role in its administration.

Latest Developments:

• Audited financial statements of PM CARES have not been made public since FY 2022-23, prompting renewed criticism.
• As per the last available accounts (FY 2022-23), the Fund had total receipts of about ₹6,723 crore, payments of about ₹439 crore, and a closing balance of around ₹6,284 crore.
• The PMO informed the Lok Sabha Secretariat that questions on PM CARES were inadmissible in Parliament since the Fund is not primarily a Government of India concern, though final admissibility rests with the Speaker.
• The Fund is audited by an independent chartered accountant, not the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG).
• The government maintains PM CARES is not a “public authority” under the RTI Act, 2005; the matter remains under judicial consideration.

UPSC Prelims Pointers:

• PM CARES: the Prime Minister is the ex officio Chairperson; the Union Ministers of Defence, Home Affairs and Finance are ex officio Trustees, serving pro bono.
• The Fund receives no budgetary support and relies entirely on voluntary and CSR contributions.
• Donations qualify for 100% tax deduction (earlier under Section 80G of the Income-tax Act, 1961; now Section 133 of the Income-tax Act, 2025).
• PM CARES enjoys FCRA exemption, allowing it to receive foreign contributions.
• The Supreme Court held in 2020 that PM CARES and the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF, under Section 46 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005) are distinct funds with different purposes.

3. Supreme Court’s New Handbook on Gender Sensitivity

Core Context:

Judicial language and courtroom conduct significantly shape how survivors of gender-based violence experience the justice system. Building on its 2023 Handbook on Combating Gender Stereotypes, the Supreme Court has released a new report aimed at making judgments and trial procedures more trauma-informed, particularly in cases of sexual offences.

Latest Developments:

• The Supreme Court released “Judgments and Gender: Sensitivity and Compassion in Writing Judgments,” expanding its focus from problematic language to broader courtroom practices.
• The handbook provides a glossary replacing terms like “prosecutrix,” “modesty” and “chastity” with rights-based terms such as “survivor” and “bodily autonomy violated,” and recommends inclusive terms for LGBTQIA+ persons, including SOGIESC.
• It directs judges to avoid stereotyping and suggestions of compromise or marriage in rape cases, consistent with the precedent set in Aparna Bhat v. State of Madhya Pradesh (2021).
• Recommended practices include in-camera trials under the BNSS, 2023, video-link testimony for children, mandatory legal aid from the FIR stage, and a stronger Witness Protection Scheme, 2018.
• The guidelines are recommendatory, not binding; the report notes that 80.7% of respondents were unaware of the Witness Protection Scheme.

UPSC Prelims Pointers:

• Vishaka v. State of Rajasthan (1997) laid the foundation for the POSH Act, 2013 against workplace sexual harassment.
• NALSA v. Union of India (2014) recognised transgender identity and constitutional rights.
• Joseph Shine v. Union of India (2019) struck down Section 497 IPC (adultery) as unconstitutional.
• State of Jharkhand v. Shailendra Kumar Rai (2022) banned the unscientific two-finger test in rape examinations.
• Relevant statutes: Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) 2023, Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA) 2023, POCSO Act 2012, and POSH Act 2013.

4. Bankers’ Books Evidence Bill, 2026

Core Context:

The Bankers’ Books Evidence Act of 1891 governed how bank records could be used as evidence in courts, but it was drafted for a purely paper-based banking system. With banking now overwhelmingly digital, a modern legal framework was needed to make electronic and cloud-based bank records admissible as evidence.

Latest Developments:

• The Lok Sabha passed the Bankers’ Books Evidence Bill, 2026, replacing the 135-year-old 1891 Act.
• The Bill widens the definition of “bankers’ books” to cover physical, electronic, digital and cloud-based records, including backup and disaster-recovery data.
• Electronic or digital records will be admissible as evidence if conditions are met, such as regular and proper system use, no unauthorised tampering, authorised data entry, secure transfer to removable media, and protection against cyber risks.
• Certificates for digital records can be authenticated using digital or electronic signatures under the Information Technology Act, 2000.
• “Legal proceeding” is defined broadly to include court cases, arbitration, investigations and inquiries; the Central Government may extend the law’s applicability to other financial-sector entities.

UPSC Prelims Pointers:

• The Bill replaces the Bankers’ Books Evidence Act, 1891.
• It works alongside the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 and the Information Technology Act, 2000 in shaping rules of evidence for digital records.
• Relevant to the “Digital Banking and Evidence Law” theme within Indian Economy and Polity.

5. Param Pragya: AI Supercomputing Facility at IIT Delhi

Core Context:

India’s National Supercomputing Mission (NSM), a joint initiative of the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY) and the Department of Science & Technology, aims to build indigenous high-performance computing capacity for scientific and strategic applications. Expanding this capacity at premier institutions strengthens India’s research ecosystem in artificial intelligence and data science.

Latest Developments:

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as Chief Guest at IIT Delhi’s 57th convocation, inaugurated “Param Pragya,” an AI-enabled high-performance supercomputing facility at the institute’s Sonipat campus in Haryana.
• The facility is designed to boost IIT Delhi’s capabilities in artificial intelligence, data science, advanced computing and interdisciplinary research.
• It forms part of the wider National Supercomputing Mission build-out, aimed at giving Indian researchers access to world-class computing power domestically rather than relying on foreign infrastructure.

UPSC Prelims Pointers:

• The National Supercomputing Mission is implemented jointly by MeitY and the Department of Science and Technology, with C-DAC and IISc Bengaluru as key executing agencies.
• The “Param” series (for example, Param Shivay, Param Siddhi) refers to India’s indigenous supercomputers developed under this mission.
• Useful for questions linking Digital India and AI initiatives with S&T infrastructure development.

6. Professor Deepak Dhar Named Co-Recipient of the 2026 Dirac Medal

Core Context:

The Dirac Medal, awarded by the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Trieste, is among the most prestigious honours in theoretical physics, recognising outstanding contributions in the spirit of Paul Dirac’s work.

Latest Developments:

• Professor Deepak Dhar of IISER Pune has been named co-recipient of the 2026 Dirac Medal, sharing the honour with Bernard Derrida, Marc Mézard and Haim Sompolinsky.
• He is recognised for seminal contributions to statistical mechanics, including self-organised criticality, abelian sandpile models, and the statistical physics of disordered systems.
• Professor Dhar becomes only the second India-based scientist to win the ICTP Dirac Medal, after Ashoke Sen, and is now the first Indian to hold both the Dirac Medal and the Boltzmann Medal, which he won in 2022 — the highest honour in statistical physics, awarded once every three years by IUPAP.

UPSC Prelims Pointers:

• ICTP (Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics) is based in Trieste, Italy, and was founded by physicist Abdus Salam.
• The Boltzmann Medal is awarded once every three years by the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) for outstanding work in statistical physics.
• Useful for the recurring “Indians in international science awards” current-affairs theme.

7. World Lion Day and the Asiatic Lion’s Recovery

Core Context:

Observed annually on 10th August, World Lion Day was established in 2013 by conservationists Dereck and Beverly Joubert, co-founders of the Big Cats Initiative with National Geographic, to raise awareness of declining wild lion populations worldwide.

Latest Developments:

• On World Lion Day 2026, the Prime Minister highlighted India’s Asiatic lion recovery, with the population rising from 523 in 2015 to 891 in 2025.
• The lion’s distribution range expanded by about 59% between 2015 and 2025, spreading across roughly 35,000 sq km in 11 districts of Saurashtra, Gujarat.
• Barda Wildlife Sanctuary, where lions had been absent since 1879, recorded 17 lions by 2025, emerging as a natural “second home” due to carrying-capacity limits in Gir.
• Conservation tools include Project Lion (launched 15th August 2020), radio-collaring, camera traps, GIS-based monitoring, and SIMBA, an AI-based individual lion identification system.
• Key threats include a genetic bottleneck from a small founder population, disease outbreaks such as Canine Distemper Virus and Babesiosis, habitat saturation, and mortality from open wells, railway lines and roads.

UPSC Prelims Pointers:

• Scientific name: Panthera leo persica; found only in the Gir landscape of Gujarat’s Saurashtra region.
• Conservation status: Endangered (IUCN); Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972; Appendix I of CITES.
• Gir Wildlife Sanctuary was established in 1965; other satellite habitats include Girnar, Mitiyala, Pania and Barda.
• Unlike African lions, male Asiatic lions are largely solitary or form small coalitions, while females form prides.
• The Maldhari pastoral community has historically coexisted with Gir’s lions.

8. Colombia Declares National Emergency After Major Earthquake

Core Context:

Colombia lies along the seismically volatile Pacific Ring of Fire, where the oceanic Nazca Plate subducts beneath the South American Plate, making the country highly prone to earthquakes.

Latest Developments:

• A magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck western Colombia, centred near San José del Palmar in Chocó department, killing over 100 people; Colombia declared a national state of emergency.
• The Colombian Geological Service described it as the strongest earthquake to hit the country in the 21st century.
• The quake occurred at an intermediate depth of about 103–107 km, reflecting the complex subduction-related tectonics of the region.
• Major Colombian cities such as Cali, Bogotá, Medellín, Pereira and Manizales lie within or near active Andean seismic zones.

UPSC Prelims Pointers:

• The Pacific Ring of Fire (Circum-Pacific Belt) is a roughly 40,000 km horseshoe-shaped zone accounting for about 90% of the world’s earthquakes and 75% of its active volcanoes.
• Intermediate-focus earthquakes occur between 70–300 km depth, distinct from shallow-focus (below 70 km) and deep-focus (beyond 300 km) earthquakes.
• Colombia is the only South American country with coastlines on both the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea; its eastern grasslands, part of the Orinoco basin, are called Los Llanos.
• Colombia is a megadiverse country, hosting close to 10% of global biodiversity despite covering under 1% of Earth’s land area.

9. Makkah Joint Defence Agreement

Core Context:

West Asian and South Asian security architecture has been evolving amid regional instability, with countries seeking new collective-defence arrangements beyond traditional alliances such as NATO or the Gulf Cooperation Council.

Latest Developments:

• Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan signed the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement, a trilateral mutual-defence pact, at a summit in Makkah.
• The agreement states that an armed attack on any one signatory will be treated as an attack on all three, and commits the countries to deepen defence cooperation.
• It builds upon the September 2025 Pakistan–Saudi Arabia Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement, now extended to include Turkey, a NATO member with a large domestic defence industry.
• Pakistan is the only nuclear-armed country in the Muslim world; Saudi Arabia brings economic and regional influence; Turkey adds military scale and defence-manufacturing capacity.

UPSC Prelims Pointers:

• Relevant to the West Asia/Gulf geopolitics theme in the IR syllabus and its implications for India’s strategic and energy interests.
• Contrast with India’s independent, multi-aligned foreign policy approach and its separate bilateral defence and strategic partnerships with Gulf countries.

10. V.O. Chidambaranar Port: India’s First Scope-2 Emission-Free Major Port

Core Context:

As India works toward its net-zero emissions target by 2070 and cleaner maritime trade, ports are increasingly being assessed on their environmental performance, including the internationally used “Scope” emissions classification for greenhouse gas accounting.

Latest Developments:

• V.O. Chidambaranar Port Authority in Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu, has been recognised by Bureau Veritas as India’s first major port to achieve Scope-2 emission-free status.
• The port cut its net carbon emissions by about 45%, with renewable energy now meeting nearly 94% of its energy consumption.
• Its green initiatives include renewable energy adoption, electrification of port operations, and India’s first green hydrogen pilot project at a major port.

UPSC Prelims Pointers:

• Scope-1 emissions are direct emissions from owned or controlled sources; Scope-2 emissions are indirect emissions from purchased electricity, steam, heating or cooling; Scope-3 covers all other indirect emissions in a value chain.
• V.O. Chidambaranar Port (formerly Tuticorin Port) is located in Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu, and is one of India’s 12 major ports.
• Relevant to the “Green Ports” and Maritime India Vision themes within Indian Economy and Environment.

11. Other Important Updates (Rapid-Fire for Prelims)

CPGRAMS (Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System):

India’s flagship 24x7 online grievance-redressal platform, linking all central ministries, departments, states and Union Territories. Annual grievances rose from about 3.01 lakh in 2014 to around 27 lakh in 2024. A new AI-enabled voice chatbot called “Samadhan Didi,” integrated with BHASHINI, was launched in May 2026 to let citizens register grievances by speech in their own language.

Nasha Mukt Yuva for Viksit Bharat Sankalp Abhiyan:

A 100-week nationwide anti-drug campaign launched by the Prime Minister, involving over 1 crore youth from more than 28,000 locations. It evolved from a pilot project under the Kashi Declaration and links substance-abuse prevention with the Viksit Bharat@2047 vision.

Glueball and the Particle X(2370):

Scientists have found strong evidence that the particle X(2370), first observed in 2011, may be a long-predicted “glueball” — a particle composed almost entirely of gluons, the force carriers of the strong nuclear force explained by Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD).

Har Ghar Tiranga Yatra:

Union Home Minister Amit Shah flagged off this nationwide campaign in Puducherry, part of the broader Har Ghar Tiranga initiative encouraging citizens to display the National Flag as a symbol of unity, sovereignty and national identity ahead of Independence Day.

Khudiram Bose Martyrdom Day:

Observed on 11th August to commemorate the young revolutionary hanged in 1908 at age 18 for his role in the Muzaffarpur conspiracy during India’s freedom struggle, making him one of the youngest martyrs of the independence movement.