News Context

• On 20 August 2026, the Office of the Economic Adviser (DPIIT, Ministry of Commerce & Industry) released the provisional ICI for July 2026, showing 5.4% year-on-year growth.

About the ICI — Key Facts

• Measures combined output of eight core “base” industries; released by the OEA under DPIIT; current base year 2022-23 (revised).
• The eight core industries make up about 40% of the weight of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) — a key lead indicator.
• Weights: Electricity 30.9% (highest), Refinery Products 22.6%, Steel 17.6%, Crude Oil 7.4%, Coal 5.6%, Iron Ore 4.9%, Cement 4.4%, Natural Gas 3.8%, Fertilizers 2.7%.

July 2026 Highlights

• Overall growth 5.4% (y-o-y), slightly lower than June 2026’s 6.0%; cumulative growth (April-July 2026) at 4.3%, up sharply from 1.5% a year earlier.
• Top performers: Iron Ore (+29.5%), Cement (+13.1%), Electricity (+9.0%); Natural Gas, Crude Oil and Fertilizers declined.

News Context

• On 20 August 2026, the Centre for Marine Living Resources & Ecology (CMLRE), Ministry of Earth Sciences, released the “National Report on Deep-Sea and Distant-Water Fishery Resources of the Indian EEZ” during its Silver Jubilee celebrations.

Key Facts

• CMLRE is based in Kochi; nodal body for the Marine Living Resources Programme (MLRP); report draws on nearly four decades of research and 400+ oceanographic cruises using FORV Sagar Sampada.
• Covers India’s EEZ of 2.37 million sq. km — Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal, Lakshadweep, Andaman Sea and the Southern Ocean (EEZ extends up to 200 nautical miles under UNCLOS).
• Highlights the “Twilight Zone” (Mesopelagic Layer, 200-1,000 m), home to lanternfishes and deep-sea shrimps, whose vertical migration powers the “biological carbon pump.”

News Context

• On 20 August 2026, MeitY signed an MoU with PhonePe to use insights from PhonePe PulsePro for the PM GatiShakti mission.

About PM GatiShakti — Key Facts

• Launched October 2021; brings 16+ ministries onto a single digital, GIS-based platform for integrated infrastructure planning.
• Based on 6 pillars: Comprehensiveness, Prioritisation, Optimisation, Synchronisation, Analytical, Dynamic.

News Context

• On 20 August 2026, the IndiaAI Mission organised a workshop on AIKosh at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, bringing together government, industry, academia and startups.

About AIKosh — Key Facts

• India’s national platform for datasets, AI models and related resources, under the IndiaAI Mission (MeitY); core idea: “Data as National Wealth.”
• Workshop focus sectors: Health, Agriculture, Education, Science & Technology; participants included Google DeepMind, UIDAI, World Bank, IIT Jodhpur and the Gates Foundation.

News Context

• On 20 August 2026, the Technology Development Board (TDB), under DST, signed an agreement with One2X Tech Pvt. Ltd. to support commercialisation of “Fixit,” an indigenous Agentic AI platform.

What Is Agentic AI? — Key Facts

• AI that can understand an objective, take decisions and execute coordinated actions on its own — works in a loop: retrieve context → decide action → interact with systems → observe outcome → learn/retry/escalate.
• “Fixit” combines multi-agent orchestration, contextual memory, reinforcement learning and secure tool execution, with built-in guardrails and human oversight; initial focus on revenue operations and real estate.

News Context

• On 20 August 2026, Defence Ministers Rajnath Singh and Shinjiro Koizumi signed a Memorandum of Arrangement (MoA) on Maritime Security Cooperation between the Indian Navy and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force.
• Signed under the “Japan-India Special Strategic and Global Partnership” (established 2014); goal: a Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP).

Main Areas of Cooperation

• Maritime Domain Awareness, Search and Rescue, HADR, protection of Sea Lines of Communication (SLOCs), mine countermeasures, joint naval shipbuilding under “Make in India.”