Daily Current Affairs (DCA) 04 September, 2026

Context: NABARD signed an MoU with the India Meteorological Department (IMD) to integrate agro-meteorological data into the Data in Climate Resilient Agriculture (DiCRA) platform — improving access to weather intelligence for farmers, lenders and rural stakeholders.

What IMD will provide

• Weather forecasts — short, medium and extended range
• Agro-advisories — crop-specific guidance based on expected weather
• In-situ observations — actual measurements from ground stations
• Alerts — for extreme events such as heavy rainfall, heatwaves and cold waves
• All integrated into a dedicated Weather Portal within DiCRA

How it will be delivered

• Web portals — for institutional users
• Mobile interfaces — for farmers and field staff
• APIs — allowing banks, insurers and agri-tech firms to pull data into their own systems
• Designed for open, user-friendly access and last-mile delivery

About DiCRA

• Data in Climate Resilient Agriculture — an open-source digital platform
• Supported by NABARD and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
• It served as the digital infrastructure for NABARD’s National Climate Stack Innovation Challenge, where SatSure, EXPERIQS and VARSAPRADAYA built village-level climate risk tools on it

• 5th edition (SSSS v5.0) was launched by Dr Jitendra Singh under the Ministry of Earth Sciences.
• It is a week-long ocean conservation campaign focused on marine pollution and coastal cleanliness.
• A new National Ocean Olympiad was launched under the campaign.
• Activities include beach clean-ups, conservation pledges, youth programmes and awareness drives.
• The campaign was launched in 2022 as a 75-day coastal clean-up across 75 beaches.

Context: IRDAI issued a consultation paper proposing a Public Insurance Registry (PIR) — conceived as Digital Public Infrastructure under the Sabka Bima Sabki Raksha (Amendment of Insurance Laws) Act, 2025.

What It Is

• A population-scale, interoperable and non-exclusionary Digital Public Infrastructure
• Designed as a common information exchange layer
• Allowing authorised participants to discover, verify and share insurance data — without creating a single centralised data warehouse

About

Regulator and anchor: IRDAI

• Implementing body: proposed by transforming the existing Insurance Information Bureau (IIB) into a wholly owned, not-for-profit subsidiary of IRDAI
• Participants: insurers, reinsurers, intermediaries, policyholders, financial institutions, government departments and research institutions

Important Facts for Exams

• PIR — proposed by IRDAI as Digital Public Infrastructure
• Under the Sabka Bima Sabki Raksha (Amendment of Insurance Laws) Act, 2025
• Implementing body: the Insurance Information Bureau (IIB), to become a wholly owned not-for-profit subsidiary of IRDAI
• Federated model — data stays with source institutions; not a central warehouse
• To integrate with vehicle, health, weather, disaster and court databases
• IRDAI — established under the IRDA Act, 1999, headquartered at Hyderabad
• Comparable architecture: the RBI’s Account Aggregator framework

Context: SEBI granted a Category-I merchant banking licence to Zerodha Corporate Advisors, a subsidiary of Zerodha — enabling its entry into investment banking with a focus on capital market services.

Category-I merchant bankers

• Can manage main-board public issues and undertake underwriting
• Minimum net worth: ₹50 crore — raised from the earlier ₹5 crore
• Business capped at 20 times liquid net worth

Category-II merchant bankers

• Cannot manage main-board public issues
• Minimum net worth: ₹10 crore

What Zerodha will do

• Initially focus on equity capital markets — IPOs, follow-on public offers (FPOs) and advisory services for issuers and investors
• Plans to replicate its brokerage philosophy — low-cost services without aggressive selling, emphasising transparency and efficiency
• Objective: diversify beyond broking into advisory and capital-raising services

• RBI approved Carol Kripanayana Furtado as interim MD & CEO of Ujjivan Small Finance Bank.
• Her tenure is for three months or until a permanent successor is appointed.
• She succeeded Sanjeev Nautiyal, who resigned on 31 August 2026.
• Furtado has nearly three decades of banking and NBFC experience.
• She previously served as CEO of Ujjivan Financial Services.

Context: Leaders of the 10 SCO member states — including India, Russia and China — concluded the 26th Council of Heads of State summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, by signing the joint Bishkek Declaration.

The Summit

• Host: Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
• Chair: President Sadyr Japarov of the Kyrgyz Republic
• Theme (2026): “25 Years of the SCO: Together for Sustainable Peace, Development and Prosperity”
• Presidency handover: to Pakistan for the 2026-2027 tenure

Key Outcomes of the SCO Declaration

• No double standards on terrorism: Condemned terrorism in all forms; called for action against cross-border terrorism, safe havens and terror financing.
• No extremist proxies: Rejected the use of terrorist/separatist groups for strategic purposes and stressed state responsibility.
• Iran strikes condemned: Opposed unilateral military strikes on Iran and called for diplomacy.
• SCO is not a military bloc: Reaffirmed sovereignty, non-interference and that SCO is not directed against any country.
• Energy & food security: Warned that Strait of Hormuz disruptions could threaten global energy and food security.
• Financial cooperation: Supported national-currency trade, alternative payment systems and discussions on an SCO Development Bank.
• Connectivity: Supported CKU Railway and INSTC, while stressing sovereignty and territorial integrity—important for India’s position on BRI/CPEC.
• Youth & innovation: Institutionalised the SCO Young Scientists Forum and Start-up Forum.

Important Facts for Exams

• 26th SCO Council of Heads of State summit, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
• Chair: President Sadyr Japarov; presidency to Pakistan for 2026-27
• Theme: “25 Years of the SCO”
• 10 member states; SCO founded 2001 in Shanghai from the Shanghai Five
• Secretariat at Beijing; RATS at Tashkent
• India and Pakistan joined 2017; Iran 2023; Belarus 2024
• INSTC — International North-South Transport Corridor, linking India to Russia via Iran
• CKU — China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway
• The Declaration explicitly states the SCO is not a military-political alliance

Context: MeitY notified the operational framework for the ₹1.27 lakh crore (₹1,27,500 crore) Semicon 2.0 programme.

What It Is

• A comprehensive national policy framework and financial incentive scheme
• Structured across 6 pillars and 10 categories
• Designed to support the entire semiconductor value chain

About

• What the value chain covers: fabless chip design, silicon and compound wafer fabrication, advanced packaging (ATMP/OSAT), equipment, materials, specialty chemicals, R&D and specialised talent development.
• Nodal agency: India Semiconductor Mission (ISM), under MeitY
• Design and technical partner: C-DAC — Centre for Development of Advanced Computing
• Aim: build technological self-reliance through Indian-owned IP, fabless chip design, domestic chip adoption, local supply chains and global electronics manufacturing.

Context: ISRO has slated the launch of EOS-05, formerly GISAT-1A, aboard the GSLV-F17 rocket from Sriharikota. It is the operational replacement for the lost GISAT-1 mission.

What It Is

• An ISRO geo-imaging satellite built on the I-2K platform
• Operating in Geosynchronous Orbit, about 35,786 km
• Enabling near-real-time monitoring of India, surrounding oceans and border regions

About

• Launcher: GSLV-F17 (GSLV Mk II), from the Second Launch Pad at SDSC-SHAR, Sriharikota
• Why the high orbit: it matches Earth’s rotation, overcoming the multi-day revisit gaps typical of Low Earth Orbit satellites.
• Primary objective: persistent spatial, spectral and thermal monitoring over the Indian landmass, oceans and border zones — for disaster mitigation, agriculture and strategic defence.

• India and Germany signed a Joint Declaration of Intent (JDI) on conservation and wise use of wetlands.
• The agreement was signed during the 4th Indo-German Environment Forum (IGEF).
• Cooperation will cover wetlands, biodiversity, forests, mountains and climate resilience.
• Other focus areas include circular economy, sustainable finance and green skills.
• IGEF was established in 2008 as the highest-level bilateral environmental policy forum between India and Germany.

• BPCL and Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) signed an MoU on biofuels and circular economy.
• Collaboration will cover biomass, waste-to-resource solutions and Compressed Biogas (CBG).
• Focus areas include feedstock assessment, supply chains and waste-resource management.
• They will explore utilisation of by-products such as FOM, digestate, bio-CO₂ and DDGS.
• The partnership aims to develop scalable bioenergy solutions.

• CARA launched the theme: “Legal Adoption. Safe Childhood. Secure Future. Say No to Illegal Adoption!”
• The campaign promotes legal, safe, transparent and child-centric adoption.
• CARA will conduct State/UT-level awareness workshops from September 2026.
• It is strengthening coordination with MoHFW and MHA to prevent illegal adoption.
• CARA is a statutory body under the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015.

• ASI declared Gollala Gudi Temple in Palampet, Telangana, a Monument of National Importance.
• The declaration was made under the AMASR Act, 1958.
• It is located near the UNESCO World Heritage Site Ramappa Temple.
• The temple is a Trikutalaya, with three sanctums and an east-facing mandapa.
• With this addition, Telangana has 10 ASI-protected sites.

• International Big Cat Alliance (IBCA) and ADB signed an MoU on landscape conservation and nature-positive financing.
• The agreement was signed during the International Workshop on Tiger Landscapes in New Delhi.
• Theme: “Tiger Landscapes: Conservation, Bioeconomy and Ecotourism…”
• Focus areas include climate resilience, ecosystem services and nature-based solutions.
• IBCA is an India-led alliance focused on conserving 7 big cats across its member countries.

• MYAS announced 4 awardees for the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Awards 2024.
• Winners: Baljeet Kaur, Skalzang Rigzin, Rimo Saha and Shiv Prasad Chamoli.
• Awards cover Land Adventure, Water Adventure, Air Adventure and Lifetime Achievement.
• Each winner receives a ₹15 lakh cash prize, bronze statuette and certificate.
• It is India’s highest national award for adventure sports.

• Tommy Koh, Runa Khan and Bo Kyi were named winners of the 68th Ramon Magsaysay Awards.
• Tommy Koh is from Singapore, Runa Khan from Bangladesh, and Bo Kyi from Myanmar.
• Koh was recognised for international dialogue and cooperation.
• Khan works for vulnerable communities in Bangladesh, while Bo Kyi advocates for political prisoners and human rights.
• Each recipient receives a medallion, certificate and USD 50,000.

• AVM Shakti Sharma became the first woman from the non-medical stream to attain the two-star rank in India’s Defence Forces.
• She assumed charge as Assistant Chief of Air Staff (Education).
• She was commissioned into the IAF Education Branch in 1994.
• She has served across training establishments, field stations and Air Headquarters.
• Her promotion marks a major milestone for women in defence leadership.

• Tata Elxsi and Sarla Aviation signed an MoU to develop Shunya, an electric VTOL aircraft.
• Shunya is designed as a six-seater plus one pilot eVTOL.
• Tata Elxsi will support avionics, flight controls, software, testing and certification.
• The first flight is targeted within 18–24 months.
• The aircraft is designed for 300+ km operations and runway-independent connectivity.

• IAF successfully tested the Khagantak-243, an indigenous Long-Range Glide Bomb (LRGB).
• It is a 300-kg class stand-off precision-guided weapon.
• The system is designed to allow aircraft to engage targets from safer distances.
• BEL supplied electronics and guidance systems, while JSR Dynamics developed the bomb body and control systems.
• The test strengthens India’s indigenous precision-strike capability.

• World Coconut Day is observed annually on 2 September.
• 2026 theme: “Coconuts in Times of Uncertainty: Securing Food, Energy, and Livelihoods.”
• The day was initiated by the Asian and Pacific Coconut Community (APCC).
• The first World Coconut Day was observed in 2009.
• ICAR-CPCRI, Kasaragod celebrated the 2026 event in Kerala.