PIB Snippets
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UPSC Prelims & Mains
PIB Snippets — August 23, 2026
Today’s official releases — the IAF’s Pitch Black and Udara Shakti exercises, the indigenous warship Mangrol, 75 years of Vigyan Pragati, Mission Zero for sanitation workers, and NADCP’s progress against animal diseases
✈️ IAF Exercises Pitch Black & Udara Shakti
🚤 INS Mangrol Delivery
📖 75 Years of Vigyan Pragati
🦺 Mission Zero — Sanitation Safety
🐄 NADCP
✈️
IAF Concludes Exercises Pitch Black & Udara Shakti 2026
News Context
- The IAF concluded Exercise Pitch Black 2026 in Australia and Exercise Udara Shakti 2026 in Malaysia, strengthening tactical cooperation and defence partnerships in the Indo-Pacific.
Key Facts
Pitch Black 2026
Hosted by Australia (RAAF); a biennial, 20+ nation multinational exercise. India deployed Rafale aircraft, focusing on Large Force Employment missions.
Udara Shakti 2026
Bilateral IAF-RMAF exercise in Malaysia (Subang); IAF flew with/against Su-30MKM and F/A-18 Hornet aircraft. “Udara Shakti” means Air Power.
Related exercises: AUSTRAHIND/AUSINDEX (with Australia), Harimau Shakti (Army, with Malaysia), Tarang Shakti (India’s largest, hosted by India), Cope India (USA), Garuda (France).
Source: PIB
🚤
Delivery of ‘Mangrol’ — Third ASW Shallow Water Craft
News Context
- Mangrol, the third Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft (ASW-SWC) built by Cochin Shipyard Limited, was delivered to the Indian Navy on 21 August 2026, with over 80% indigenous content.
Key Facts
- Capabilities: underwater surveillance, ASW operations in coastal waters, Low-Intensity Maritime Operations (LIMO), and mine warfare.
- Strengthens self-reliance in defence shipbuilding under Aatmanirbhar Bharat.
Source: PIB
📖
75 Years of ‘Vigyan Pragati’ — CSIR-NIScPR Platinum Jubilee
News Context
- CSIR-NIScPR celebrated 75 years of ‘Vigyan Pragati’, a Hindi science magazine launched in 1952, which has spread scientific knowledge and scientific temper among the public.
Source: PIB
🦺
Mission Zero: Ending Fatalities in Sanitation Work
News Context
- A national workshop on “Mission Zero” was held in Bhubaneswar, focused on mechanisation, worker safety and social security through schemes like NAMASTE and GARIMA.
Key Schemes — Key Facts
- NAMASTE (National Action for Mechanised Sanitation Ecosystem): a Central Sector Scheme (Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment + MoHUA), eliminates hazardous manual sewer/septic-tank cleaning; nodal agency NSKFDC; extended up to 2031.
- GARIMA: focuses on dignity, occupational safety, health, education and livelihood for sanitation workers and their dependents.
Source: PIB
🐄
National Animal Disease Control Programme (NADCP)
News Context
- NADCP (launched 2019) has reduced Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) outbreaks from 132 to 40 by 2025; over 147 crore FMD vaccine doses administered nationwide.
Key Facts
- A 100% Centrally funded flagship scheme of the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying; targets FMD and Brucellosis (a bacterial, zoonotic disease with no cure in bovines).
- Digital backbone: Bharat Pashudhan Portal (39 crore+ livestock tagged), 4,019 Mobile Veterinary Units, and MAITRI technicians for doorstep breeding services.
Linked to the “One Health” approach — recognising the interdependence of human, animal and environmental health to reduce zoonotic disease risk.
Source: PIB
