Current Affairs 15 August 2026

Gujarat to Set Up Four Centres of Excellence for Natural Farming.

Gujarat Government approved four Centres of Excellence for Natural Farming on August 11, 2026.
The centres will be set up in Navsari, Morbi, Bhavnagar and Chhota Udepur.
₹20 crore has been allocated for FY 2026–27.
Gujarat Prakrutik Krishi Vikas Board will implement the scheme.
Each centre will train 100 farmers at a time.
Centres will promote bio-inputs such as Jeevamrut, Beejamrut and Neemastra.
They will demonstrate natural farming methods like mixed cropping, intercropping and five-layer farming.
Facilities will also provide soil testing, product quality testing and post-harvest processing.

PMS Bazaar partnered with NDML on August 12, 2026.
The partnership aims to simplify SEBI Accredited Investor certification.
Certificates are generally issued on a T+1 basis.
Accredited Investors can access lower investment limits and regulatory benefits.
PMS Bazaar covers 500+ PMS strategies, 200+ AIFs and 60+ GIFT City Funds.
The platform has 1 lakh+ subscribers.
The partnership was announced at the PMS Bazaar Bengaluru Conclave.

IBM and CHRIST (Deemed to be University) launched the IBM Innovation Center for Artificial Intelligence.
The centre will promote AI education, research and innovation.
It will benefit students, faculty, researchers and PhD scholars.
Key research areas include Generative AI, Agentic AI, LLMs, RAG and Responsible AI.
The centre will provide access to IBM’s AI technologies, including watsonx.ai, watsonx Orchestrate and IBM Bob.

CSIR-IICT signed a technology transfer agreement with Viridis Biopharma for a diabetic foot ulcer treatment.
The treatment is an IND-ready phytopharmaceutical developed from Gymnema sylvestre.
It targets diabetic foot ulcers, as well as chronic wounds and inflammatory skin disorders.
The technology was developed under the CSIR Phytopharmaceutical Mission Phase-III.
Pre-clinical studies, botanical standardization and safety studies have been completed.
The treatment will now move to clinical trials and commercial development.
Regulatory submissions are planned to CDSCO and the US FDA.

The Ministry of Agriculture launched the NSP-DBT system for agriculture students.
Scholarships and fellowships worth ₹21.35 crore were released to 6,000+ students.
Scholarship funds will be transferred directly through DBT every month.
Students must complete One-Time Registration (OTR) through the NSP OTR App.
Portal opened: June 1, 2026.
Application deadline: October 31, 2026.
Verification deadline: November 30, 2026.
The system was launched at ICAR-IARI, Pusa, New Delhi.