18 July 2026 Current Affairs (With PDF)

We bring you the most relevant and important news updates from around the world and India, specially curated for competitive exams and different entrance exams. Today's Current Affairs cover all significant national and international headlines, legal updates, economic news, and environmental highlights to boost your preparation. With our crisp, to-the-point coverage, you can confidently tackle current affairs questions in your exams

Global Nuclear Non-Proliferation Regime

Stalled negotiations over Iran’s nuclear programme have renewed concerns about the fairness, credibility and effectiveness of the global nuclear non-proliferation order.

Major Institutions and Treaties

Multilateral Export-Control Regimes

• Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG): Controls exports of nuclear materials, equipment and technology. India received a 2008 NSG waiver, enabling civilian nuclear trade despite not being an NPT signatory.
• Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR): Restricts transfers of missiles and unmanned systems capable of delivering weapons of mass destruction. India joined in 2016.
• Wassenaar Arrangement: Regulates conventional arms and dual-use goods to prevent destabilising arms build-ups. India joined in 2017.
• Australia Group: Coordinates export controls to prevent the proliferation of chemical and biological weapons. India joined in 2018.

Major Challenges

• Structural Asymmetry: The NPT recognises five nuclear-weapon states while allowing them to modernise their nuclear arsenals without strict, time-bound disarmament obligations. The US and Russia together possess nearly 90% of the world’s nuclear arsenals.
• Treaty Erosion: Russia’s suspension of participation in New START in 2023, followed by the treaty’s expiry, weakened binding limits on nuclear arsenals, inspections and data exchanges.
• Procedural Paralysis: Consensus-based decision-making can allow individual states to block outcomes at NPT Review Conferences due to regional conflicts or compliance disputes.
• Technological Disruptions: The integration of Artificial Intelligence, cyber capabilities and hypersonic glide vehicles into strategic systems is shortening decision-making timelines and increasing risks of accidental or rapid nuclear escalation.
• Geopolitical Selectivity: Uneven enforcement against threshold states and the acceptance or normalisation of certain non-signatory nuclear powers can undermine the credibility of universal non-proliferation norms.

7th Governing Body Meeting of National CAMPA

The 7th Governing Body Meeting of the National Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (National CAMPA), held in Coimbatore, marked a shift from conventional compensatory afforestation towards landscape-based ecological restoration.

Key Decisions

1. Aastha Van Sanrakshan Yojana (AVSY)

• Approved with an initial corpus of ₹3,000 crore for 2026–31.
• Aims to conserve nearly 15,000 sacred groves (Aastha Vans).

2. MISHTI Programme Extended

• MISHTI (Mangrove Initiative for Shoreline Habitats and Tangible Incomes) extended for three years until 2029.
• An additional ₹500 crore was approved, taking the total outlay to ₹600 crore.

3. Wildlife Recovery Programmes

• Gangetic Dolphins: Recovery action plan for major freshwater river systems.
• Project Snow Leopard Phase-II: Includes the second nationwide population estimation in the Himalayas.
• Indian Rhinoceros: Habitat protection and anti-poaching measures.
• Wild Water Buffalo: Scientific habitat management to secure remaining populations.

Digital Governance Initiatives

• Digital Annual Plan of Operations: End-to-end digital workflow for planning, approval and monitoring.
• GIS Lab: Uses satellite imagery and field verification to track afforestation projects in real time.
• Harit-SANKALP: Provides QR-based traceability and unique identification numbers for nurseries and seed sources.

About CAMPA

Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) was established under the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act, 2016, which came into force in 2018.

The Supreme Court, through its orders in the T.N. Godavarman case, constituted an ad hoc CAMPA in 2006 to manage unspent compensatory afforestation funds.

1. Two-Tier Structure

• National CAMPA Authority: Formulates policies and is headed by the Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
• State CAMPA Authorities: Implement compensatory afforestation and related activities at the field level.

2. Liability for Forest Diversion

• Agencies diverting forest land are required to Provide alternative land, Fund compensatory afforestation, Pay the Net Present Value (NPV) of the lost forest ecosystem.
• The collected funds are maintained in non-lapsable public accounts and earn regular interest.

3. Fund Distribution

• 90% → State Compensatory Afforestation Funds for local implementation.
• 10% → National Compensatory Afforestation Fund for national-level oversight.

4. Major Uses of CAMPA Funds

• Artificial and natural regeneration of forests.
• Wildlife management.
• Catchment-area treatment.
• Relocation of villages from protected areas.
• Human–wildlife conflict management.

Kumarasami Kamaraj

Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tribute to freedom fighter and former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K. Kamaraj (1903–1975) on his birth anniversary.

Early Life and Freedom Struggle

• Born on 15 July 1903 in Virudhunagar, Madras Province, into the Nadar community.
• Joined the freedom struggle after the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.
• Participated in Non-Cooperation Movement, Nagpur Flag Satyagraha, Vedaranyam Salt Satyagraha, led by C. Rajagopalachari
• During the Quit India Movement (1942), he was jailed for three years for organising protests.

Political Career

• Joined the AICC in 1931.
• Led the Provincial Congress Committee in 1940.
• Elected to the Constituent Assembly in 1946.
• Elected to the Lok Sabha in 1952.
• Served as Chief Minister of Madras State from 1954 to 1963 for three consecutive terms.
• Considered the first non-English-speaking Chief Minister of an Indian State.

Education Reforms

• Abolished the Hereditary Education Policy (Kula Kalvi Thittam).
• Expanded free education and established village schools.
• Introduced the statewide Free Noon Meal Scheme in 1956, which later influenced India’s Midday Meal Scheme.
• Earned the title ‘Kalvi Thanthai’ (Father of Education).

Kamaraj Plan (1963)

• The Kamaraj Plan proposed that senior Congress ministers resign from government positions to devote themselves to rebuilding and strengthening the party after the Indo-China War.
• Kamaraj earned the title “Kingmaker” for playing a crucial role in ensuring the smooth succession of Prime Ministers after the deaths of Jawaharlal Nehru – 1964 and Lal Bahadur Shastri – 1966
• Known as Perunthalaivar (Great Leader).
• Awarded the Bharat Ratna posthumously in 1976.

Legality of Hunger Strikes in India

Multiple Supreme Court orders have highlighted the State’s paternalistic duty of care to preserve the life of a person on hunger strike while respecting the right to dissent.

Legal Status

• There is no law in India that generally prohibits an individual from undertaking a hunger strike.
• A hunger strike is neither unconstitutional nor inherently barred by law.
• It is recognised as a form of protest within India’s historical and constitutional tradition of dissent.
• Mahatma Gandhi, Irom Sharmila and Anna Hazare have used fasting or hunger strikes as forms of non-violent protest.

Legal Reform

• Section 309 of the IPC criminalised an attempt to commit suicide.
• It has been replaced by Section 226 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
• Section 226 applies to an attempt to commit suicide when the act is intended to compel or restrain a public servant from discharging official duties.

Constitutional Provision

• Article 19(1)(b) guarantees citizens the right to assemble peaceably and without arms.
• However, reasonable restrictions may be imposed in the interests of Sovereignty and integrity of India, Security of the State, Public order.
• The legality of hunger strikes reflects a balance between the individual’s right to dissent and peaceful protest and the State’s duty to protect life. The State may intervene to preserve life, but such intervention must not unnecessarily suppress legitimate democratic expression.

98th Foundation Day of ICAR

On the occasion of the 98th Foundation Day of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), the Union Ministry of Agriculture unveiled the “Developed Agriculture and Prosperous Farmers” roadmap as a key pillar of Viksit Bharat 2047.

Seven Major Goals

• 100 Climate-Smart Villages: Develop at least 100 villages before ICAR’s centenary to demonstrate climate-resilient agriculture, water conservation and risk-reduction models.
• One Institute–One Grand Innovation: Every ICAR institute is expected to deliver at least one breakthrough innovation, vaccine or crop variety within two years.
• Farmers’ Outreach: Extend advanced agricultural technologies and real-time research-based solutions to 100 million farmers.
• Mission ICAR-100: Transform Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) into innovation hubs, with each KVK visiting at least 100 villages for large-scale technology demonstrations.
• ICAR Open Digital Knowledge Platform: Develop a mobile-first platform providing free access to crop advisories, soil-test results and instructional videos.
• Countering Counterfeit Inputs: Strengthen enforcement and laws to eliminate the circulation of counterfeit seeds and pesticides.
• ₹10,000 Crore Internal Revenue by 2029: Scale up technology commercialisation, licensing, and seed and vaccine sales to promote greater institutional self-reliance.

About ICAR

• Established: 1929, originally as the Imperial Council of Agricultural Research.
• Nature: Autonomous organisation under the Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE), Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
• President: Union Agriculture Minister serves as the ex officio President of the ICAR Society.
• Vice-President: Minister of State for Agriculture.

Indian Plate Built the “Roof of the World”

A recent study has provided new evidence explaining how the Indian tectonic plate shaped the Tibetan Plateau, popularly known as the “Roof of the World.”

Key Findings

• Underthrusting of the Indian Plate: The Indian continental plate moved beneath the Asian (Eurasian) Plate between approximately 45 and 20 million years ago.
• This tectonic collision and underthrusting drove the uplift and formation of the Tibetan Plateau.
• Different Uplift Histories: Western and central Tibet experienced different levels and histories of uplift and exhumation.
• The Indian Plate penetrated farther beneath western Tibet than beneath central Tibet.
• This variation in the depth and extent of underthrusting explains the contrasting landscapes:
• Western Tibet: More rugged and deeply dissected terrain.
• Central Tibet: Relatively smoother topography.

One-Liners

• Envi – Project GIANT (Greenland Ice Sheet to Atlantic Tipping Points) (DDN): A five-year international research initiative (2025–2030), led by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), studies how Greenland’s melting glaciers could trigger a collapse of Atlantic Ocean currents, using autonomous robots to monitor meltwater interactions with the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC).
• Envi – Lestes paloti (TH): A new spreadwing damselfly species discovered in Kerala’s Western Ghats changes colour from brown in dry seasons to bluish during the monsoon, inhabits scrublands rather than open water, and was identified after earlier records of Lestes nodalis in southern India were found to be misidentifications.
• A&C – Harela Festival (HT): A Hindu folk festival celebrated mainly in Kumaon, Uttarakhand, on the first day of Shravan (Kark Sankranti), marking the onset of the monsoon and sowing season while commemorating the divine wedding of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati.
• IR – UNAMA (TH): A Bangladeshi diplomat has been appointed to head the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), established by the UN Security Council in 2002 through Resolution 1401 following the Bonn Agreement and the fall of the Taliban regime.

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