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Awards and indices

The month's awards, honours, sports and indices, set out as a table of who gives each and what to remember.

Asked before

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Awards and sports in news, August 2026

BriefPrelims8 Aug 2026

ICTP Dirac Medal 2026

Given by the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, since 1985, on Dirac's birthday, 8 August.

2026 medallists, for pioneering work in equilibrium statistical mechanics extended to non equilibrium systems, optimisation, neuroscience and artificial intelligence:

Bernard Derrida (Collège de France).
Deepak Dhar (ICTS, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru), the Indian medallist; Boltzmann Medal 2022, Padma Bhushan 2023.
Marc Mézard (Bocconi).
Haim Sompolinsky (Hebrew University and Harvard).

COSPAR Vikram Sarabhai Medal 2026

Given by the Committee on Space Research with the Indian Space Research Organisation; instituted 1990, for space research in developing countries.
Annapurni Subramaniam, Director of the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bengaluru: the first Indian woman and the fourth Indian to receive it; calibration scientist of the Ultra Violet Imaging Telescope on AstroSat (2015); Vigyan Shri 2024.
Presented at the 46th COSPAR Scientific Assembly, Florence.

National Sports Awards 2025

Given by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports on a selection committee's recommendation.
No Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna for 2025, the first blank since 2014, after the committee's recommendations were re examined.
17 Arjuna Awards (the committee had recommended 24), among them Divya Deshmukh and Vidit Gujrathi (chess), Tejaswin Shankar (athletics), Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand (badminton), Narender Berwal (boxing) and Dhanush Srikanth (shooting).
Arjuna Award (lifetime): footballer Isaiah Arumainayagam.
Dronacharya: Parveer Singh (athletics), Chhote Lal Yadav (boxing) and Neha Chavan (shooting).
Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar: the Army Paralympic Node, Pune.

BRICS Youth and Sports Ministers' meetings

Held under India's BRICS chairship, 2026 at Visakhapatnam, 22 and 23 August, with ministers from the eleven BRICS countries; the delegates visited the Thotlakonda Buddhist site (see the Culture brief).

Exam lens: who gives each award and since when; Deepak Dhar among the four Dirac medallists; Annapurni Subramaniam the first Indian woman to receive the COSPAR Vikram Sarabhai Medal; no Khel Ratna for 2025 and 17 Arjuna Awards; the BRICS sports meetings at Visakhapatnam.

Sources

ICTP, 8 August 2026, “ICTP announces 2026 Dirac Medal recipients”
Swarajya, 4 August 2026, “Indian astrophysicist Annapurni Subramaniam wins COSPAR Vikram Sarabhai Medal 2026”
News On AIR, 18 August 2026, “Government announced National Sports Awards 2025”
The Hitavada, 19 August 2026, “No Khel Ratna for 2025; Tejaswin, Divya and Gayatri among Arjuna awardees”
News On AIR, 22 August 2026, “BRICS delegates visit historic Thotlakonda Buddhist site ahead of Youth Ministers' meeting”

Settled facts (dates of Acts, constitutional provisions, standing definitions) are from standard references.

Awards and indices in news, September 2026

BriefPrelims30 Sep 2026

Ramon Magsaysay Award 2026

Given by the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation, Manila; instituted in 1957 and named after the Philippine President; often called Asia's premier prize.

2026 awardees:

Tommy Koh (Singapore): diplomacy and the rule of law.
Runa Khan (Bangladesh): founder of the NGO Friendship, for health, education and livelihoods in climate vulnerable communities.
Bo Kyi (Myanmar): Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.

No Indian awardee this year.

72nd National Film Awards and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award

Presented by the President at Ekta Nagar (Kevadia), Gujarat, against the Statue of Unity.
Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the Government of India's highest film honour (since 1969): Anant Nag, the Kannada actor.
Best feature film: Article 370.
Best actor: shared by Mammootty (Bramayugam) and Kartik Aaryan (Chandu Champion).
Best actress: Yami Gautam (Article 370).
Best director: Rajkumar Periasamy (Amaran, Tamil).

Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Awards 2024

Given by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports: a statuette, a certificate and ₹15 lakh.
Land adventure: Baljeet Kaur and Skalzang Rigzin.
Water adventure: Rimo Saha.
Lifetime achievement: Shiv Prasad Chamoli.
To be presented with the National Sports Awards 2025.

Global Gender Gap Index 2026

Published by the World Economic Forum; twentieth edition.
India 131 of 145 (131 of 148 in 2025); 143 on economic participation and opportunity.
Iceland first for the seventeenth year.
Covered in full in the Social Issues brief.

India Electric Mobility Index 2025

Published by NITI Aayog; second edition.
Scores States and Union Territories out of 100 on 16 indicators under three themes: transport electrification progress, charging infrastructure readiness, and EV research and innovation.
Delhi first, then Maharashtra, Karnataka, Chandigarh and Goa; the top score rose from 77 to 84.

Exam lens: who gives each award and since when; the 2026 Magsaysay awardees and that none is Indian; Anant Nag's Phalke Award; the Tenzing Norgay categories; which body publishes each index and India's or the top State's place.

Sources

GMA News, 31 August 2026
The Tribune, 23 September 2026
News on AIR, 2 September 2026
ANI via NewKerala, 16 September 2026
News on AIR, 16 September 2026

Settled facts (dates of Acts, constitutional provisions, standing definitions) are from standard references.

Awards, sports and indices in news, July 2026

BriefPrelims31 Jul 2026

Fields Medals 2026

Given by the International Mathematical Union every four years at the International Congress of Mathematicians, to mathematicians under 40; the 2026 Congress was held at Philadelphia.

2026 medallists:

Yu Deng: partial differential equations; the rigorous derivation of the Boltzmann equation from hard sphere dynamics.
John Pardon: symplectic geometry; virtual fundamental cycles and Fukaya categories.
Jacob Tsimerman: o-minimality in arithmetic and algebraic geometry; Griffiths' conjecture.
Hong Wang: harmonic analysis; the Kakeya problem in three dimensions.

No Indian or Indian origin laureate; the last was Manjul Bhargava in 2014.

FIFA World Cup 2026

Organised by FIFA; the 23rd World Cup, hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico.
The first World Cup with 48 teams and three hosts.
Spain beat Argentina 1 to 0 after extra time in the final at East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Commonwealth Games 2026

Organised by the Commonwealth Games Federation; the 23rd Games, at Glasgow, after Victoria withdrew as host in 2023.
A scaled down Games with ten sports, nine fewer than Birmingham 2022: athletics and para athletics, swimming and para swimming, artistic gymnastics, track cycling, boxing, judo, weightlifting, para powerlifting, lawn bowls and 3x3 basketball including wheelchair basketball; hockey, badminton, wrestling, shooting and cricket out.
The opening ceremony was the first held in an indoor arena. India had won 61 medals at Birmingham; the 2026 results fall in August.

Performance Grading Index 2.0, 2025-26

Published by the Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Education, with the district index PGI-D.
70 indicators, six domains, 1,000 points, in ten grades from Utkarsh (941 and above) to Akanshi-3.
Chandigarh alone reached Uttam-3 at 766; no State or Union Territory reached the three grades above it; Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, and Punjab, followed; Meghalaya lowest at 525.7 in Akanshi-1.
PGI-D scores districts out of 600 on 70 indicators in 11 domains.

World Investment Report 2026

Published by UNCTAD; this edition is titled International investment in a turbulent era.
Global foreign direct investment rose 6 per cent to 1.6 trillion dollars in 2025.
India 11th largest recipient, up from 13th, with inflows of 38.9 billion dollars, up about 44 per cent; the United States first at 277 billion.
Announced greenfield projects in India fell to 74 billion dollars, though India drew the year's largest single announced project, a 14.5 billion dollar data centre.

State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2026

Published by FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP and WHO.
645 million people, 7.8 per cent of the world, faced hunger in 2025, the third yearly fall (8.1 per cent in 2024); Asia 292 million, Africa 309 million and the highest share, 20 per cent.
2.1 billion people, 25.8 per cent, were moderately or severely food insecure; a healthy diet cost 4.28 PPP dollars a day and 2.69 billion people could not afford one.
No India specific figure in the release.

Khelo India revamp

Approved by the Union Cabinet on 31 July 2026: an expanded Khelo India Scheme and enhanced Assistance to National Sports Federations, with a combined outlay of ₹36,441 crore for 2026-27 to 2030-31, nearly eight times the earlier scheme.
The pyramid runs from Khelo India Centres and Accredited Academies through Khelo India and SAI centres to National Centres of Excellence, with Armed Forces Youth Sports Companies, new Khelo India Feeder Schools and Utkrishta Vidyalayas.
An Emerging Khelo India Athletes category is meant to widen the athlete pool nearly ten times, aimed at the 2030 Commonwealth Games and India's Olympic bid.

Exam lens: who gives each award and index and how often; the four Fields medallists and that none is Indian; 48 teams and three hosts; ten sports at Glasgow; PGI 2.0's 1,000 points and Chandigarh alone in Uttam-3; India 11th in the World Investment Report; 645 million hungry in SOFI 2026; ₹36,441 crore for Khelo India to 2030-31.

Sources

International Mathematical Union, “Fields Medal”
International Mathematical Union, “Fields Medals 2026”
International Mathematical Union, “ICM 2026”
South China Morning Post, 20 July 2026, “Spain beat 10-man Argentina to win one-sided World Cup final”
Sortir à Paris, “World Cup 2026: all the results and the final score”
The Week, 22 July 2026, “India's full schedule at Commonwealth Games 2026”
PIB, 7 July 2026, “Union Ministry of Education releases the Performance Grading Index 2.0 report for States/UTs and PGI-D for 2025-26”
Education for All in India, 17 July 2026, “Performance Grading Index 2.0 for States/UTs 2025-26: a comprehensive review”
UNI, 9 July 2026, “Chandigarh stands alone at top of India's school education rankings”
Telangana Today, 7 July 2026, “Chandigarh tops school education performance index; Punjab, Kerala, Delhi follow”
American Society of International Law, 25 September 2026, “UNCTAD publishes World Investment Report 2026”
Angel One, 7 July 2026, “India rises to 11th largest FDI recipient in 2025: UNCTAD report”
World Health Organization, 21 July 2026, “UN report: global hunger levels ease for third consecutive year as regional disparities persist”
PMIndia, 31 July 2026, “Cabinet approves revamped Khelo India Scheme and enhanced Assistance to National Sports Federations”
News On AIR, 31 July 2026, “Cabinet approves expanded Khelo India scheme”

Settled facts (dates of Acts, constitutional provisions, standing definitions) are from standard references.

Awards and indices in news, June 2026

BriefPrelims30 Jun 2026

Food Planet Prize 2026

Given by the Curt Bergfors Foundation of Sweden, set up in 2019; at 1.5 million dollars it is billed as the world's largest environmental award.
2026 laureate: Andhra Pradesh Community Managed Natural Farming (APCNF), for moving over a million farmers to natural farming, one of the largest transitions to agroecology anywhere.

QS World University Rankings 2027

Published by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), London.
MIT first in the world.
IIT Delhi India's best at 118, India's top institution for the second year; IIT Bombay 134 and IIT Madras 170.
52 Indian institutions ranked.

Sustainable Development Report 2026

Published by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network; ranks 169 countries on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
India 94, up from 99 in 2025 and 109 in 2024, with a score of 68.3 out of 100.
Finland first, then Sweden and Denmark.

Global Peace Index 2026

Published by the Institute for Economics and Peace, Sydney; covers 163 countries and territories.
Iceland the most peaceful.
India 127, down three places.

Exam lens: who publishes each index and India's place; APCNF and the Food Planet Prize.

Sources

Food Planet Prize, 2 June 2026, “Over a million Indian farmers moving to natural farming: APCNF wins the 2026 Food Planet Prize”
Food Planet Prize, “Curt Bergfors Foundation info 2026”
News On AIR, 18 June 2026
Free Press Journal, June 2026, “QS World University Rankings 2027: IIT Delhi leads Indian institutes”
Manorama Yearbook, 29 June 2026, “India's rank rises to 94 in SDG index”
Outlook Traveller, 26 June 2026, “Global Peace Index 2026: the 10 most peaceful countries”

Settled facts (dates of Acts, constitutional provisions, standing definitions) are from standard references.

Also filed elsewhere

Global Gender Gap Index 2026 and the UN Gender Snapshot · on Economic participation
Exam lens: the index is the World Economic Forum's; four sub indices; India 131 of 145 in 2026, 143 on economic participation; the Snapshot is UN Women and UN DESA, an SDG progress report, released each September.