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Daily Current Affairs for UPSC IAS: 31st Aug 2026

Kumari Sonali

Today’s Current Affairs: 31st Aug 2026 for UPSC IAS exams, State PSC exams, SSC CGL, State SSC, RRB, Railways, Banking Exam & IBPS, etc

Dung beetle: New Study

A report published in Ecology and Evolution said that dung beetles are vulnerable to a previously unforeseen risk like dogs.

  • Dung beetle known as the Scarabaeidae family within the Animal Kingdom’s order
  • They are robust, compact insects known for their hard, protective exoskeletons and strong, clawed legs adapted for digging and rolling dung.
  • They vary in color, with some species displaying dull, black or brown hues, while others exhibit metallic shades of blue, green, or copper.
  • They live in habitats that range from desert to forest.
  • Dung beetles are found worldwide, on every continent except Antarctica.
  • They feed on the feces of large herbivores during both their larval and adult stages.
  • Dung beetles span three main lifestyles: rollers (ball-makers), tunnelers (bury beneath), and dwellers (live in the pat).
  • Several dung beetles navigate using celestial cues; some use the Milky Way as an orientation reference during straight-line rolling.
  • Many scarabs have fan-like (lamellate) antennae that open to sample odors-useful for locating fresh dung fast.
  • They play major ecological roles in nutrient cycling, soil aeration, seed dispersal, and parasite/flies suppression.

CosmoCube Mission:

An international team of astronomers announced that CosmoCube mission will study faint radio signals from the early universe.

  • CosmoCube Mission is a proposed satellite that will study the universe’s earliest stages by listening for faint radio signals from more than 13.5 billion years ago.
  • It is being developed by a team of scientists led by the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom.
  • It would operate near the Moon and use the lunar far side as a natural shield against radio interference from Earth.
  • It will spend around 40 minutes on the far side during every two-hour orbit.
  • Time Period: Over a proposed two-year mission, the satellite could collect roughly 1,000 hours of data at extremely low radio frequencies.
  • The satellite would use a lightweight radio antenna to detect the early-universe signal.
  • It would also repeatedly determine its own position using onboard information and observations of its surroundings.
  • This mission concept could help scientists study the poorly understood period between the Big Bang and the formation of the first stars.
  • The measurements could offer scientists a clearer picture of the cosmic dark age and the transition towards the formation of the first stars and galaxies.

Index of Industrial Production: July 2026

India’s industrial activity remained resilient in July 2026, with the overall Index of Industrial Production (IIP) standing at 124.8, unchanged from the revised level recorded in June.

  • Index of Industrial Production is a composite indicator designed to measure the changes in the volume of the production of item basket over a period of time with respect to its base year.
  • It provides insight into the growth or contraction of industrial activity over a given period, making it a crucial economic performance indicator.
  • It is compiled and released by the National Statistics Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI).
  • It is released every month.
  • Base Year: It is 2022-23.
  • The first IIP was prepared with base year 1937 and thereafter the base year has been revised successively to 1946, 1951, 1956, 1960, 1970, 1980-81, 1993-94, 2004-05 and 2011-12.
  • The base year is a chosen year taken as a reference point (index = 100) to compare production over time.

Oriental Darter:

It was seen that Oriental Darters (Anhinga melanogaster) are getting affected by garbage dumping in Bengaluru’s lake.

  • Oriental Darter is also known as the snakebird or Indian darter.
  • It is a tropical water bird with a long, slender neck and a sharp, spear-like beak that it uses to impale fish.
  • It has a very long, slender, snakelike neck and a long, pointed bill.
  • Its neck has strongly developed muscles about a kink in the neck at the 8th and 9th vertebrae that allows it to be flexed and darted forward with rapid force to stab fish underwater.
  • It is a water bird of tropical South Asia and Southeast Asia.
  • It is found mainly in freshwater lakes and streams.
  • They usually forage singly, with the entire body submerged. It darts its neck to impale fish and then brings them out of water.
  • Diet: It is an omnivorous species.
  • Conservation Status:
    • IUCN Red List: Near Threatened

Barrier Lake:

The newly formed barrier lake on the Nepal-Tibet border poses an immediate, catastrophic threat to Nepal.

  • A barrier lake is more commonly known as a landslide dam or lake.
  • It is created in a river valley when landslide debris completely blocks a stream or river.
  • The displaced material effectively becomes a natural dam, trapping water upstream and creating a temporary reservoir.
  • It is commonly formed in places with high, steep mountains and narrow river valleys that witness activity such as rock, soil and mud avalanches, slides, or flows.
  • This instantly plugs the river Water rapidly accumulates behind this natural blockage.
  • As water pressure mounts, the loose debris dam can erode or suddenly collapse.
  • This triggers the lake burst, sending a catastrophic wall of water downstream.
  • The timescale of a breach can vary from days to even decades after the formation of a dam.
  • A failure of the dam can potentially release millions of cubic metres of water in a short period, causing catastrophic flooding downstream.
  • This flooding can carry debris and also create secondary landslides downstream, compounding its effect.

PM e-Bus Sewa scheme:

The Centre’s PM e-Bus Sewa scheme is gathering pace, with more than 500 electric buses now operational across 23 cities and daily ridership crossing one lakh.

  • It aims to strengthen the urban transport system by deployment of air-conditioned electric buses to urban cities.
  • Cities have a population ranging 3-40 lakh and state capitals including North Eastern and Hilly Regions below three lakh population as per 2011 census are eligible for the scheme.
  • It is being implemented by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA).
  • It focuses on cities with limited public transport capacity and largely covers smaller cities including those where organised city bus services have either been absent or inadequate.
  • Under this scheme, city bus operations will be done on a Public Private Partnership (PPP) model.
  • This scheme will support bus operations for 10 years.
  • States/Cities shall be responsible for running the bus services and making payments to the bus operators.
  • The Central Government will support these bus operations by providing subsidies to the extent specified in the proposed scheme.
  • It overs development of depots, charging infrastructure, green mobility initiatives including accessible bus stops, last mile connectivity Intelligent Transit
  • Management System (ITMS) and National Common Mobility Card (NCMC)-based ticketing.