21 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.

India’s Push to Renegotiate Indus Waters Treaty

India’s formal notice to Pakistan seeking negotiations to modify the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), 1960 reflects the need to address changing demographic pressures, climate risks, water stress, technological developments, and geopolitical realities.

Key Issues with the Indus Waters Treaty

• Limited Agricultural Flexibility: The treaty allocates the majority of the Indus basin’s waters to Pakistan, restricting India’s ability to expand irrigation and agricultural activities in the western river basin.
• Groundwater Blind Spot: The treaty does not comprehensively address shared transboundary aquifers, despite increasing groundwater depletion across the Indus basin.
• Dispute Resolution Ambiguity: The simultaneous involvement of a Neutral Expert and a Court of Arbitration has raised concerns regarding overlapping jurisdiction and conflicting interpretations.
• Drought Vulnerability: The treaty lacks a clearly defined formula for sharing water shortages during periods of reduced river flows caused by drought or declining Himalayan glacial melt.
• Environmental Concerns: High levels of water utilisation leave limited scope for maintaining environmental flows necessary for healthy river ecosystems.

India’s Arguments for Treaty Amendment

• Demographic Changes: The basin’s population has increased substantially since 1960, creating new demands on water resources and challenging the relevance of historical allocations.
• Security Concerns: Persistent cross-border terrorism has weakened the trust and cooperative environment underlying the original water-sharing framework.
• Equitable Utilisation: India seeks greater alignment with contemporary principles of equitable and reasonable utilisation of shared international watercourses.
• Real-Time Data Sharing: Modern flood forecasting and disaster management require a shift from delayed data exchange to real-time digital hydrological information sharing.
• Dispute Resolution Reform: A clearer sequential hierarchy is needed to prevent parallel dispute mechanisms from producing conflicting international decisions.
• Climate Adaptation: The treaty requires greater flexibility to address changing precipitation patterns, glacier melt, floods, droughts, and other climate-related risks.

Recommendations of the Standing Committee on Water Resources (2021)

• Climate-Responsive Renegotiation: Update the 1960 framework to incorporate climate change, glacial melt, environmental concerns, and modern environmental impact assessment practices.
• Accelerate Water Infrastructure: Expedite projects such as the Ujh and Shahpurkandi projects to improve utilisation of India’s permissible water share.
• Rehabilitate Canal Networks: Modernise the Rajasthan Feeder and Sirhind Feeder systems to improve their carrying capacity.
• Maximise Western River Rights: Utilise India’s permissible rights over the Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab through greater development of irrigation and run-of-the-river hydropower projects.

India Amends Tax Treaty with Sri Lanka

India has amended its Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) with Sri Lanka by incorporating the Principal Purpose Test (PPT), an internationally recognised anti-abuse measure under the OECD–G20 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) framework.

Principal Purpose Test (PPT)

• The PPT allows treaty benefits to be denied if obtaining such benefits was one of the principal purposes of an arrangement or transaction.
• It targets structures created primarily for tax avoidance rather than genuine commercial or economic activity.
• It is particularly relevant in preventing treaty shopping and abusive use of tax treaties.

Key Highlights

• Objective: Prevent double taxation without creating opportunities for non-taxation, reduced taxation, tax evasion, or treaty abuse.
• OECD–G20 BEPS Alignment: The amendment incorporates international anti-abuse standards developed under the BEPS Action Plan.
• Multilateral Instrument (MLI): The changes reflect provisions associated with the OECD’s MLI, which enables countries to modify multiple bilateral tax treaties simultaneously without renegotiating each treaty separately.
• Bilateral Protocols: Although India adopted the MLI, certain tax treaties—including those with countries such as Chile, Iran, Hong Kong, China and Sri Lanka—are updated through separate bilateral protocols.
• Effective Date: The amended protocol entered into force on 19 June 2026 and will apply in India to income earned from 1 April 2027 onwards.

Important Concepts

• Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA): A bilateral agreement designed to prevent the same income from being taxed twice in two countries.
• Treaty Shopping: A practice in which a taxpayer routes investments or transactions through a third country to obtain benefits under a more favourable tax treaty.
• Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS): Tax planning strategies used by multinational enterprises to shift profits to low-tax jurisdictions and reduce their overall tax liability.

Significance

• Strengthens India’s fight against international tax avoidance.
• Discourages artificial investment structures and treaty shopping.
• Aligns India’s tax treaties with global anti-abuse standards.
• Protects tax revenues while preserving the legitimate objective of avoiding double taxation.
• Enhances cooperation between India and Sri Lanka in combating cross-border tax avoidance and abusive tax practices.

Adarsh Gram Under PM-AJAY

The Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojana (PMAGY) has covered more than 47,300 villages, with over 16,700 villages declared as ‘Adarsh Grams’.

About Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojana (PMAGY)

1. Launch:

• 2009–10.

2. Ministry:

• Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MoSJE).

3. Nature:

• Centrally Sponsored Scheme.

4. Integration:

• It is now a component of the Pradhan Mantri Anusuchit Jaati Abhyuday Yojana (PM-AJAY) under the ‘Adarsh Gram’ component.

5. Objective:

• Promote the integrated development of Scheduled Caste-majority villages through convergence of Central and State government schemes and flexible gap-filling support.

6. Eligibility

• A village is eligible if it has a total population of at least 500 people; and More than 40% Scheduled Caste population.

7. Funding Support

• ₹20 lakh per village: Infrastructure development and other identified projects.
• ₹1 lakh per village: Administrative expenses, capacity building and preparation of Village Development Plans (VDPs).

8. Monitoring Framework

• The scheme evaluates villages through 50 socio-economic indicators across 10 sectors, including Drinking water and sanitation, Education and health, Roads and housing, Electricity, Financial inclusion, Digital connectivity and digitisation

Pradhan Mantri Anusuchit Jaati Abhyuday Yojana (PM-AJAY)

• Launched: 2021–22.
• Ministry: Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
• Nature: Centrally Sponsored Scheme.
• Objective: Socio-economic upliftment, poverty reduction and infrastructure development among Scheduled Caste communities.

Three Major Components

• Adarsh Gram Promotes holistic infrastructure and socio-economic development in SC-majority villages.
• Grants-in-Aid Supports skill development and enterprise creation for SC households through capital subsidy of up to ₹50,000 or 50% of asset cost, whichever is lower.
• Hostel Construction Supports the construction and repair of residential facilities in government schools and NIRF-ranked institutions to improve access to education and reduce dropout rates.

PM-NAPS: Special Intervention Extended for North-Eastern Region

The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) has extended the Special Intervention under the Prime Minister’s National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (PM-NAPS) for the North-Eastern Region (NER) through FY 2026–27.

About PM-NAPS

1. Launch:

• 2016.

2. Nature:

• Central Sector Scheme under the Skill India Programme.

3. Objective:

• Develop a highly skilled workforce through industry-linked, on-the-job apprenticeship training.

4. Legal Framework:

• Covers Designated Trades under the Apprentices Act, 1961, and industry-designed Optional Trades.

5. Certification

• Designated Trades: National Apprenticeship Certificate (NAC).
• Optional Trades: Certificate of Proficiency (CoP).

6. Implementing Agencies

• Directorate General of Training (DGT): Designated Trades.
• National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC): Optional Trades.
• Both operate under the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE).

7. Financial Support

• The Centre reimburses 25% of the stipend, subject to a maximum of ₹1,500 per month.
• Apprentices from the North-Eastern Region receive an additional ₹1,500 per month under the special intervention.
• Central stipend reimbursement is not available for apprentices engaged by Central or State Government departments and Public Sector Enterprises.

8. Target Groups

• ITI graduates, Degree holders, Diploma holders, Candidates who have completed short-term training under schemes such as Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY)

National Anti-Doping Framework

The Government of India has officially notified the commencement of the National Anti-Doping Act, 2022 and the National Anti-Doping (Amendment) Act, 2025.

Objective

• Align India’s anti-doping regulations with the World Anti-Doping Code.
• Fulfil India’s obligations under the UNESCO International Convention against Doping in Sport.
• Strengthen institutional, legal and enforcement mechanisms against doping in sports.

Key Provisions

1. Statutory Status of NADA

• The National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) has transitioned from a registered society into a statutory authority under the National Anti-Doping Act, 2022.
• The National Board for Anti-Doping in Sports oversees NADA and advises the Central Government on anti-doping matters.

2. Strict Liability Principle:

• Athletes bear absolute responsibility for any prohibited substance detected in their samples, irrespective of intent, negligence or fault.
• Support personnel, including coaches and trainers, may also face statutory liability for activities such as trafficking or administering prohibited substances.

3. Adjudicatory Mechanism

• Disciplinary Panel: Determines consequences for anti-doping rule violations.
• National Anti-Doping Appeal Panel: Hears appeals against disciplinary decisions and is chaired by a retired High Court judge.

4. Accredited Testing Laboratories:

• Doping-control laboratories must obtain and maintain World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) accreditation.

5. Enforcement Powers:

• Authorised officers have statutory powers of entry, search and seizure where there is reasonable suspicion of anti-doping violations.

India’s Private Space Ecosystem

The launch of Skyroot Aerospace’s Vikram-1, India’s first privately developed orbital rocket, has highlighted the rapid expansion of the country’s private space ecosystem.

Growth of India’s Space Startup Ecosystem

• India’s space startup ecosystem has expanded from one startup in 2014 to more than 400 in 2026.
• The sector is projected to grow nearly five-fold to USD 40–45 billion by 2030, from around USD 8.4 billion currently.
• India aims to develop a USD 100-billion space economy by 2040.

Key Reforms Enabling Private Participation

• Indian Space Policy, 2023: It allows Non-Government Entities (NGEs) to participate across the entire space value chain, including manufacturing, launch services, satellite operations and space-based applications.
• IN-SPACe as a Single-Window Regulator: The Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) functions as an autonomous, single-window agency for authorising and promoting space activities by government and private entities.

Catalysing Private Investment

1. IN-SPACe Seed Fund Scheme

• Provides early-stage financial support to space startups and Micro and Small Enterprises.
• Grants of up to ₹1 crore are available to eligible applicants.

2. ₹1,000 Crore Venture Capital Fund

• Provides early-stage capital to promising space startups.
• Operational for five years from FY 2025–26 to FY 2029–30.
• Investment range: ₹100–250 crore.

3. ₹500 Crore Technology Adoption Fund (TAF)

• Startups and MSMEs: Funding of up to 60% of project cost.
• Large industries: Funding of up to 40% of project cost.
• Maximum assistance: ₹25 crore per project.

4. Commercialisation of India’s Space Programme

• Indian Space Policy, 2023 defined New Space India Limited (NSIL) as the commercial arm of ISRO.
• As of July 2026, NSIL had launched 141 satellites, including 138 international/customer satellites, 3 Indian satellites

5. Liberalised FDI Policy

• 74% automatic FDI in satellite manufacturing and operations.
• 49% automatic FDI in launch vehicles and spaceports.
• 100% automatic FDI in manufacturing satellite components and subsystems.

Major Milestones

• LVM3 Mission, 2022: India’s first dedicated commercial mission launched 36 OneWeb satellites into Low Earth Orbit.
• Vikram-S, 2022: Launched under Mission Prarambh, it became India’s first privately developed rocket and the first private launch facilitated through IN-SPACe.
• Agnikul Cosmos, 2024: Became the first NGE to launch a rocket from India’s first private launch pad, Dhanush, at Sriharikota. It demonstrated a single-piece, 3D-printed semi-cryogenic rocket engine.
• Earth Observation Satellite Constellation: IN-SPACe approved a public-private partnership led by Pixxel, with participation from Dhruva Space, SatSure Analytics India and Piersight Space.
• Green Propulsion: Bellatrix Aerospace demonstrated an indigenous green propulsion system under the DRDO Technology Development Fund.

Investment Friendliness Index

NITI Aayog released the Investment Friendliness Index to assess how well Indian States and Union Territories are positioned to attract investments.

Key Highlights

• Purpose: Evaluates the investment environment and identifies areas for improvement across States and UTs.
• Coverage: 28 States and 8 Union Territories.
• Indicators: 953 indicators assessed across 8 critical pillars (Infrastructure, Business Climate, Resources, Government Policy, Regulatory Ease, Institutional Environment, Financial Health, Environmental Resilience)
• Framework: A 100-point scale serves as a benchmark for improving the investment ecosystem.
• Classification: States and UTs are categorised into four performance categories and three geographical categories.

Performance Categories

Geographical Category Rankings

• Large States: Gujarat > Maharashtra > Tamil Nadu
• Hilly and Northeastern States: Uttarakhand > Assam > Himachal Pradesh
• City States: Goa, Delhi and Chandigarh

Vikram-1: India’s First Private Orbital Rocket

Vikram-1, the country’s first privately developed orbital launch vehicle, built by Hyderabad-based Skyroot Aerospace, was successfully launched.
The launch makes India the third country after the United States and China to possess private-sector orbital launch capability.
The mission, named “Aagaman” (Arrival), marks the beginning of a new phase in which Indian private companies contribute to affordable and reliable access to space.

Key Features

• Type: Four-stage small satellite launch vehicle.
• Developer: Skyroot Aerospace.
• Structure: All-carbon composite structure.
• Propulsion: Solid-fuel boosters and a 3D-printed liquid engine.
• Payload Capacity: Up to 350 kg to Low Earth Orbit (LEO).
• Deployment Orbit: Multiple payloads placed in LEO at an altitude of 450 km.

Payloads

• SCOPE satellite – Skyroot Aerospace.
• Technology demonstration payload – DCUBED.
• SOLARAS S3 satellite – Grahaa Space.
• Embrace – Cosmoserve Space.
• It also carried two symbolic payloads under “Cosmic Bloom”: A floral-shaped artwork. An 18-karat gold micro-rocket containing microscopic sculptures of C. V. Raman, Vikram Sarabhai and A. P. J. Abdul Kalam.

Boss Scam

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has warned against the rising “Boss Scam” after receiving information from the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C).

How Does the Scam Work?

• Fraudsters target finance executives and other employees through platforms such as WhatsApp, Microsoft Teams, Social media platforms
• They impersonate CEOs or senior executives and issue urgent instructions to transfer funds to bank accounts controlled by the fraudsters.
• In some cases, scammers send malware-infected files to employees.
• Once opened, these files may, Hijack WhatsApp sessions, Compromise the victim’s device, Enable fraudulent instructions to be sent from compromised accounts.
• Employees are then directed to make immediate payments to specified mule bank accounts.

Key Features of the Scam

• Social Engineering: Fraudsters exploit trust in senior executives and create a sense of urgency to bypass normal verification procedures.
• Executive Impersonation: Scammers pose as CEOs, senior managers or other authorised officials to induce employees to transfer money.
• Malware-Based Compromise: Malicious files may be used to gain unauthorised access to devices and messaging accounts.
• Mule Accounts: Fraudulently obtained funds are transferred to bank accounts controlled by intermediaries or accomplices, known as mule accounts.

Mount Olympus

Mount Olympus has been nominated for inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List as a Mixed Site, recognising its exceptional natural and cultural heritage.

Key Facts

• Location: Northeastern Greece, on the border between Thessaly and Central Macedonia.
• Highest Peak: Mytikas – 2,917.7 metres.
• Mythological Significance: Considered the legendary abode of the Twelve Olympian Gods, led by Zeus, in Greek mythology.
• National Park: Designated as Greece’s first National Park in 1938.
• UNESCO Biosphere Reserve: Declared a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 1981.
• Biodiversity: Known for exceptional biodiversity, including numerous endemic plant and animal species.

One-Liners

• Kimi K3: Chinese AI startup Moonshot AI has unveiled Kimi K3, which it claims is the world’s largest open-weight Artificial Intelligence (AI) model and delivers performance close to Anthropic’s frontier model, “Fable.”
• MH-60R Seahawk: The Indian Navy has received the MH-60R Seahawk multi-role naval helicopter from the United States; it is among the world’s most advanced shipborne helicopters, primarily designed for anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and anti-surface warfare (ASuW).

All Set with 21 July Current Affairs? Let’s Quiz!

• Essential for Exams: The Current Affairs of 21 July 2026 cover topics that are often asked in competitive exams.
• Boosts Your Knowledge: Helps you stay informed about the latest events and updates.
• Improves Accuracy: Daily practice with Current Affairs of 21 July 2026 improves your speed and accuracy in exams.
• Quick Revision: Acts as a daily revision tool for upcoming exams.
• Saves Time: You don’t need to search multiple sources; everything is here in one place!
• Helps in Interviews: Being updated with Current Affairs of 21 July 2026 gives you confidence for personal interviews and group discussions.

Why is 21 July 2026 Current Affairs Important for You?

• Read Properly: Go through the 21 July 2026 Current Affairs to stay updated.
• Make Notes: Summarize key points and important updates in your own words.
• Link with Syllabus: Identify topics relevant to your exam and connect them with your syllabus.
• Practice Daily Quizzes: Test your knowledge by taking daily quizzes based on 21 July 2026 Current  Affairs.
• Revise Often: Review the updates multiple times to boost your recall and confidence.
• Discuss with Peers: Join discussions and share insights to deepen your understanding

Get Daily Updates and Stay Ahead!

Law Prep Tutorial is committed to giving you the best daily current affairs updates to help you excel in various exams. Our platform is trusted by thousands of toppers for timely, accurate, and concise updates that matter most for your exams. Explore our dedicated sections below: