Current Affairs

Indian Railways approved a 10-car hydrogen fuel cell trainset (1200 kW; max 75 kmph), India’s first, for the Jind–Sonipat route (Haryana), developed by Chennai’s Integral Coach Factory. Fuel cells generate electricity via hydrogen, emitting only water vapour, aiding rail decarbonisation toward net-zero 2070. Under “Hydrogen for Heritage”, 35 trains are planned. Indigenous storage/refuelling at Jind is PESO-licensed; O&M manuals are RDSO-approved; audits, SOPs, 24x7 monitoring, trained staff, leak/flame sensors, and Shakurbasti maintenance safety are ensured.

Kerala government action on houseboats, following a Kerala High Court order, has renewed concerns over pollution in the Vembanad ecosystem. Vembanad Lake (Kerala) is the state’s largest and India’s longest lake, spread over 2,033 sq km; a major tropical wetland on India’s southwest coast. Also called Vembanad Kayal/Kol, Punnamada and Kochi Lake, it receives Meenachil, Achankovil, Pampa and Manimala rivers, is separated from the Arabian Sea by a barrier island, is Ramsar-designated (2002), under the National Wetlands Conservation Programme, hosts August Vallam Kali/Nehru Trophy, and includes Kumarakom Bird Sanctuary with migratory/resident birds (e.g., cormorant, darter, ibis, Siberian cranes).

PM-WANI (Prime Minister’s Wi-Fi Access Network Interface), launched in 2021 by the Department of Telecommunications, aims to expand public Wi-Fi hotspots, especially in rural and underserved areas. Local vendors can set up license-free Public Data Offices. Users get SIM-free access via low-cost sachet plans (₹5–₹10 for 1 GB). Upgrades include QR-based laptop authentication, 15/30/60-minute plans, and standardized PMWANI SSIDs to improve usability, security, inclusion and entrepreneurship.

Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga organised Yoga Mahotsav at Khajuraho’s Western Group of Temples for the 12th International Day of Yoga 2026. Khajuraho Group of Monuments, Chhatarpur (Madhya Pradesh), built 950–1050 CE by Chandela rulers, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (1986) in Nagara style. Tradition notes 85 temples; ~20 survive, representing Hindu and Jain. Key temples: Kandariya Mahadeva (c.1017–1029, Shiva), Lakshmana (Yasovarman, AD 954, Vishnu), Chausath Yogini, Matangeshvara, Varaha; Parshvanath (East); Chaturbhuj (South); Visvanatha/Parsvanatha/Vaidyanatha (Dhanga). Major temples follow panchayatana plan on jagati, with ardhamandapa–mandapa–antarala–garbhagriha(+mahamandapa), and noted reliefs (divine, daily life, music/dance, mythology, erotic, Chandella culture).

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) used spectroscopy to study WASP-94A b, a hot Jupiter gas giant nearly 700 light-years away. Almost twice Jupiter’s size but half its mass, it orbits very close to its star every 4 days and is tidally locked. JWST detected an extreme weather cycle: clouds of magnesium silicate, iron and magnesium sulphide form on the cooler night side, sweep across with very fast winds and vanish on the rock-melting dayside; the nightside is frozen near absolute zero. This is the first direct measurement of such a cycle on an exoplanet.

During Janjatiya Gaurav Utsav 2026, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, CSIR and CSIR-IGIB held a workshop on Birsa-101, India’s first indigenous CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats)-based gene therapy for sickle cell disease. Named after Bhagwan Birsa Munda (150th birth anniversary), it was developed by CSIR-IGIB with ministry support; technology transferred to Serum Institute of India. It uses engineered enFnCas9 with up to 1,000-fold fewer off-target events, editing bone-marrow stem cells to correct the single mutation, aligning with India’s 2047 elimination goal in tribal belts.

16th Finance Commission (Art. 280), chaired by Dr. Arvind Panagariya, covers 2026–31. States’ share in divisible pool stays 41%; ₹9.47 lakh crore grants for local bodies and disaster management over five years are recommended, while revenue-deficit, sector- and state-specific grants are discontinued. Rising cesses/surcharges shrink shareable pool. High income-distance weight aids poorer States; tied grants and NREGA 40% State cost raise autonomy/vertical-imbalance concerns; “base-year tyranny” cited. Way forward: rationalise cesses, reform criteria, prefer predictable untied transfers.

President of India conferred Padma Awards 2026 at Civil Investiture Ceremony-I, Rashtrapati Bhavan. In 2026, 131 awards are given (19 women; 6 Foreign/NRI/PIO/OCI; 16 posthumous; 2 duo cases). Instituted in 1954, Padma Awards are announced on Republic Day (except 1978–79 and 1993–97) in three categories: Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri. Padma Awards Committee is constituted annually by the Prime Minister and headed by the Cabinet Secretary. Padma Vibhushan 2026 awardees include Dharmendra Singh Deol, K.T. Thomas, N. Rajam, P. Narayanan and V.S. Achuthanandan.

India has begun local manufacturing of Wi‑Fi 7 devices, with TP‑Link starting production in India. Wi‑Fi 7 is governed by IEEE 802.11be and claims higher performance, speed and efficiency over Wi‑Fi 6/6E, with up to 4.8× faster speeds and throughput up to 46 Gbps. It supports Multi‑Link Operation across 2.4, 5 and 6 GHz, offers 4× lower latency, wider channels, enhanced Target Wake Time, and ‘Preamble Puncturing’ for interference management.

Supreme Court issued notice to the Government seeking stricter prohibition of child labour in entertainment and hospitality. Constitutional safeguards include Article 24 (ban on below-14 in factories, mines, hazardous work), Article 23 (ban on trafficking and begar), and DPSPs under Articles 39(e)-(f). Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 (amended 2016) defines child <14, adolescent 14–18; bans child work in all occupations and adolescent work in hazardous processes. Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 provides protection and rehabilitation.

At the inauguration of the NIBE Group Defence Manufacturing Complex in Shirdi, Maharashtra, the Defence Minister stressed private sector participation to strengthen defence indigenisation and the manufacturing ecosystem. India’s first 300 km Universal Rocket Launching System, Suryastra, was flagged off. Targets include ₹3 lakh crore defence production by 2029; FDI up to 74% via automatic route; Defence Acquisition Procedure 2020 prioritises domestic capital procurement; Defence Industrial Corridors in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu; iDEX promotes collaboration with startups and MSMEs.

Ladakh’s Lieutenant Governor approved a five-year extension of the MoU with ONGC to set up a geothermal power plant in Puga Valley (14,000 ft), including a 1 MWe pilot plant and a DPR for large-scale commercial exploitation. Geothermal energy uses Earth’s crustal heat. GSI identified 381 hot springs (35–89°C) and 10 geothermal provinces (including Himalayan and Andaman Nicobar). India’s potential is ~10,600 MW; Puga and Chumathang are promising. National Policy on Geothermal Energy, 2025 links geothermal to renewables, energy security, and Net Zero 2070.

Union Government issued guidelines for BHAVYA (Bharat Audyogik Vikas Yojna), a Central Sector Scheme to create investment-ready, world-class industrial parks for manufacturing growth and investment promotion. Target: 100 parks, implemented for six years (2026–27 to 2031–32), covering greenfield and eligible brownfield projects. Parks will offer plug-and-play infrastructure, multimodal logistics, utilities, worker support, digital governance, and sustainability, aligned with Make in India and PM Gati Shakti, via SPVs under Companies Act, 2013; minimum land: 100 acres (non-hilly) and 25 acres (hilly/NE/UTs/smaller states).

Ukraine claimed Russia used the Russian-made Oreshnik intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile in a mass drone and missile attack on Kyiv. Russia first used it in November 2024 against Dnipro, Ukraine. Based on the RS-26 Rubezh, it can carry nuclear or conventional warheads, has MIRV capability (6–8 warheads), is mobile transporter-launched, reaches about Mach 10, and has a reported range of ~5,000 km.

Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) withdrew over ₹2.22 lakh crore from Indian equities in 2026, affecting liquidity, capital availability and sentiment. FPI is investment by a non-resident in equity instruments of a listed Indian company below 10% of post-issue paid-up share capital (fully diluted) and below 10% of each series. Regulated by SEBI under SEBI (FPI) Regulations, 2019 (amended 2022), FPIs are short-term, provide liquidity, lack control/technology transfer, and are volatile to global rates/geopolitics.

Union Government notified National Sports Governance (National Sports Tribunal) Rules, 2026 under National Sports Governance Act, 2025 (nodal: Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports) to create a quasi-judicial tribunal for disputes of National Sports Bodies. Tribunal has Chairperson and Members (Section 17), appointed by Central Government from a Search-cum-Selection panel; annual asset declarations; tenure 5 years (Chair/70, Members/67). Rules provide e-portal, virtual hearings, digital publication, interim orders, removal grounds, post-tenure restrictions, and enforceability as civil court decrees.

National Zoological Park, Delhi has begun its Summer Vacation Programme 2026 at its Education Centre under Mission LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment), an India-led global mass movement for individual and community environmental action launched by the Prime Minister at COP26, Glasgow (2021). Under Mission LiFE’s Mass Mobilisation Campaign and aligned to World Environment Day theme “Inspired by Nature”, it trains Classes 6–12 through enclosure visits, photography, heritage walks, cleanliness drives, and biodiversity tools like camera trapping and geospatial tracking.

A study in Communications Earth & Environment by UK-India researchers with CSIR-CIMFR reports Jharia coalfield (Dhanbad, Jharkhand; Damodar valley) subsurface coal fires burn hotter and emit more GHGs than estimated. Mining-exposed coal oxidises, sustaining decades-long fires since at least 1916, causing collapse structures (~10 m wide, 100 m deep) that vent toxic gases; isolated zones may approach 4,000°C. Fugitive emissions may reach 748.72 Mt CO₂e/year. Heat forms paralava and birianiite (Ena, Tisera collieries). Jharia is India’s largest coking coal repository for steelmaking.

Russian President’s visit to China underscores Russia’s rising dependence on China, shaping multipolar geopolitics and Eurasian security. Both oppose the US-led order; Western sanctions deepen economic reliance. Bilateral trade is increasing in yuan and ruble, aiding de-dollarisation. Through BRICS and SCO, they promote non-Western security architecture. For India, Russia’s neutrality in India–China tensions weakens; risks include arms supply delays, Russian advanced transfers to China, Russia–Pakistan ties (arms sales, discounted oil), and constraints on strategic autonomy amid uncertain US policies.

After six tiger deaths from Canine Distemper Virus (CDV), officials are monitoring 100+ tigers in Kanha National Park. CDV is a lethal airborne Paramyxovirus affecting dogs and other animals, severely damaging respiratory and nervous systems. Kanha (1,945 sq km) lies in Maikal hills (Satpura), Mandla–Balaghat, Madhya Pradesh; national park (1955), Project Tiger reserve (1973); Gonds, Baigas; Bengal tiger, barasingha; tropical moist/dry deciduous flora; linked to Kipling’s The Jungle Book.

Supreme Court clarified that pending sedition trials/appeals under IPC Section 124A may proceed if the accused has no objection, creating a limited exception to its May 11, 2022 interim freeze (no new FIRs; ongoing proceedings in abeyance; bail allowed). Section 124A (introduced 1890) punished disaffection (life/3 years/fine). Kedar Nath Singh (1962) limited it to incitement/public disorder. Challenges to BNS Section 152 and sedition-type offences remain pending.

IMD’s Monthly Climate Summary (April 2026) reports minimum (night-time) temperatures rising faster than maximum (daytime) temperatures, indicating night-time warming and higher heat stress. All-India daytime maxima were ~0.11°C above normal, while night temperatures were ~0.5°C above normal; western and central India saw near/below-normal daytime maxima. Punjab: ~1°C below-normal days but nights +2.4°C; Delhi: below-normal days, nights +2.2°C. Chaparmukh (Assam) and Phulbani (Odisha) had the highest night deviations among 422 stations. “Normal” uses the 1991–2020 baseline (IMD/WMO); “below normal” means cooler than this monthly average.

During the Indian Prime Minister’s official visit to Italy, ties were upgraded from Strategic Partnership to Special Strategic Partnership. Target: €20 billion trade by 2029, linked to the India-EU FTA; trade stood at US$13.76 billion (2024–25); Italy is India’s 4th EU trading partner; diaspora ~1.87 lakh. Cooperation: defence industrial roadmap (co-design/development/production), Maritime Security Dialogue, IMEC (2023 rail-shipping corridor; Italian Mediterranean ports), INNOVIT India (AI, semiconductors, quantum, fintech), 2027 Year of Culture and Tourism, MoU on Lothal complex, plus space, critical minerals, nurses’ mobility and Social Security Agreement; Joint Strategic Action Plan 2025–2029.

Report “The Global Housing Crisis: Pathways to Action” notes up to 3.4 billion lack adequate housing; India’s homelessness rate is 13 per 10,000 (Institute of Global Homelessness). Climate hazards may destroy 167 million homes by 2040; housing emits 17–21%. Global price-to-income rose 9.5 (2010) to 11.7 (2023); Mumbai 14.3, Delhi 10.1. It urges stronger land governance, rental/non-market housing, streamlined regulation, pro-poor finance (informal workers, female-headed households), and avoiding green gentrification/grabbing. PMAY-U 2.0 targets 1 crore urban beneficiaries over 5 years from 2024. Olga Tellis (1985) read Article 21 to include housing/livelihood; best practices: Yerwada (Pune), Bhubaneswar Affordable Housing Project.