
ICAR–Central Coastal Agricultural Research Institute (ICAR-CCARI), Goa, organised a one-day workshop titled “Carbon Pathshala: Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM) for Farmers” at ICAR-KVK, Old Goa, on 21 August 2026. The programme was held with Core CarbonX Solutions Pvt. Ltd., Hyderabad, under a research project on plantation-based systems, biochar production, and carbon credit generation in the west coast region of India.
NASA astronaut Anil Menon and European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot completed a 6.5-hour extravehicular activity outside the International Space Station on 25 August 2026. The operation was designated U.S. Spacewalk 98 and ended at 2:57 p.m. EDT after beginning at about 8:27 a.m. EDT.
The Indian Navy monitored the transit of merchant vessels through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait in August 2026 amid security risks to commercial shipping in the Red Sea corridor. The operation involved escort and surveillance duties for Indian-flagged and foreign-flagged vessels in the Gulf of Aden and adjacent waters.
India and Seychelles held a bilateral meeting in New Delhi on 25 August 2026 to expand cooperation in fisheries, aquaculture, and the blue economy. The talks were led by Dr. Abhilaksh Likhi, Secretary of the Department of Fisheries, and H.E. Mr. Wallace Cosgrow, Seychelles’ Minister of Fisheries, Agriculture and Blue Economy.
Kerala was officially renamed Keralam through The Kerala (Alteration of Name) Act, 2026, which altered the State’s entry in the First Schedule of the Indian Constitution. The change followed the constitutional procedure under Article 3, which governs the formation of new States and the alteration of names and areas of existing States.
India plans to add 100 new vessels to its merchant fleet over the next five years to reduce dependence on foreign shipping lines for carrying critical cargo such as crude oil, gas, coal and urea. The announcement was made on 25 August 2026 at the inaugural Sagar Samvad conference in New Delhi, which was organised by the National Shipping Board to discuss policy directions for Maritime India Vision 2030 and Maritime Amrit Kaal Vision 2047.
Researchers from the CSIR-Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology (IHBT), based in Himachal Pradesh, identified a new plant species of the sunflower family in Arunachal Pradesh. The species was named Doronicum sanctum and was formally described in a study published on 11 August 2026 in a Springer Nature journal.
Thailand’s Act on Promoting a Peaceful Society B.E. 2569 (2026) entered into force on August 24, 2026, after royal endorsement and publication in the Royal Gazette on August 23, 2026. The law is commonly described as Thailand’s new political amnesty act and applies to specified political offences and expressions linked to political conflict between January 1, 2005, and July 16, 2025.
On 25 August 2026, Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh approved the transfer of technology for all conventional missile systems developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation to the Indian defence industry. The Ministry of Defence stated that the move covers the shift from development to large-scale industrial production of missile systems.
The Karnataka Forest Department confirmed the presence of a male tiger in the Kishkindha Hills of Koppal district on 24 August 2026. A camera trap installed in Temba village of Gangavathi taluk recorded the animal on 23 August 2026, and officials linked the sighting to a rare return of the species to the region after nearly five decades.
The National Security Guard (NSG) Training Academy launched India’s first-ever Mahila Commando Conversion Course (MCCC) on 24 August 2026 at its garrison in Manesar, Haryana. The 12-week residential programme is designed for selected women personnel from State Police Forces and Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) and includes counter-terrorism training, weapons handling, marksmanship, tactical intervention, and hostage rescue drills.
The PMFME Bazaar and the PMFME Conclave 2026 were inaugurated on 24 August 2026 at the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi. The event was organised by the Ministry of Food Processing Industries and brought together more than 500 stakeholders from the micro food processing sector.