Current Affairs One-liners — January 2026

Thu, 29 Jan 2026

• The Economic Survey 2025-26 notes India's Global Innovation Index rank rose from 66th (2019) to 38th (2025), PLI schemes drew over ₹2 lakh crore of investment, and 10 semiconductor projects worth ₹1.60 lakh crore were approved in 6 states.
• On 29 January 2026 the Centre notified coking coal as a Critical and Strategic Mineral by adding it to Part D of the First Schedule of the MMDR Act, 1957, to cut import dependence of the steel sector.
• The Economic Survey 2025-26 says India's total exports hit a record USD 825.3 billion in FY25, services exports an all-time high of USD 387.6 billion, and remittances USD 135.4 billion — the world's largest.
• The Economic Survey 2025-26 reports that airports rose from 74 (2014) to 164 (2025), high-speed corridors grew from 550 km (FY14) to 5,364 km, and India now has 23 IITs, 21 IIMs and 20 AIIMS.
• On 29 January 2026 the Centre released the second instalment of XV Finance Commission untied grants for 2025-26 to rural local bodies: ₹714.32 crore (Maharashtra), ₹410.76 crore (Andhra Pradesh) and ₹30.6 crore (Tripura).
• A 100-metre 'Make in India' steel bridge over the underground metro tunnel between Kalupur and Shahpur stations in Ahmedabad was completed for the Mumbai–Ahmedabad Bullet Train — the 13th of 17 steel bridges planned in Gujarat.
• On 29 January 2026 IIM Ahmedabad exchanged an MoU to set up the Krishnamurthy Tandon School of Artificial Intelligence, funded by a ₹100-crore endowment from alumna Chandrika Krishnamurthy Tandon and Ranjan Tandon.
• The National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) disbursed ₹17 lakh under the Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) mechanism to the Biodiversity Management Committee of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, for commercial use of Bacillus soil micro-organisms.
• On 29 January 2026 Assam Petro-Chemicals Ltd (APL) and Deendayal Port Authority signed an MoU in Dibrugarh to set up a 150 tonnes-per-day e-methanol plant at Kandla Port, Gujarat, with over ₹1,200 crore investment.

Wed, 28 Jan 2026

• The Environment Ministry notified the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2026 under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, replacing the 2016 rules; they make four-stream segregation at source mandatory and come into force on 1 April 2026.
• Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and all others on board died on 28 January 2026 when a Learjet 45 (VT-SSK) of VSR Ventures crashed at Baramati on a Mumbai–Baramati flight.
• Addressing Wings India 2026 at Hyderabad, Telangana by video on 28 January 2026, PM Modi said India is now the world's third-largest domestic aviation market and the number of airports has risen from 70 in 2014 to more than 160.
• The Finance Ministry announced on 28 January 2026 that India and the European Union have concluded negotiations on the financial services chapter of the India-EU FTA, finalised in the last round held on 6 January 2026.
• The Budget Session of Parliament began on 28 January 2026 with President Droupadi Murmu addressing both Houses; it is the 7th Session of the 18th Lok Sabha.
• The Uttarakhand cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami approved the Uttarakhand Green Hydrogen Policy, 2026 on 28 January 2026 to promote green hydrogen production using the state's hydropower resources.
• NITI Aayog launched Sampoornata Abhiyan 2.0 on 28 January 2026, a campaign till 14 April 2026 to saturate 5 KPIs in 112 Aspirational Districts and 6 KPIs in 513 Aspirational Blocks.
• India's IIP rose 7.8% in December 2025 (quick estimate), its highest level in over two years, led by manufacturing (8.1%), mining (6.8%) and electricity (6.3%).
• MoS for Electronics and IT Jitin Prasada on 28 January 2026 dedicated UIDAI's new Aadhaar App, which offers selective sharing of identity fields, face verification and up to five Aadhaar profiles on one device.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla paid tributes to 'Punjab Kesari' Lala Lajpat Rai on his birth anniversary on 28 January 2026.
• The Agriculture Ministry has constituted a high-level committee to review Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) in Tamil Nadu after Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's visit to Erode; it will report within two months, with ICAR-NRCB Tiruchirappalli as host institution.
• The Indian Navy's First Training Squadron (INS Tir, INS Sujata, INS Shardul and ICGS Sarathi) concluded its visit to Phuket Deep Sea Port, Thailand with a Passage Exercise with HTMS Huahin on 28 January 2026.
• A Bose Institute study found that dust storms from the arid regions of western India carry airborne pathogens to Eastern Himalayan hilltops, linked to respiratory and skin diseases; it was published in Science of the Total Environment.
• Union MoS Jayant Chaudhary announced on 28 January 2026 a collaboration between the Skill Development Ministry, Google Cloud and Chaudhary Charan Singh University (CCSU), Meerut, making CCSU India's first AI-enabled state university pilot.
• PM Modi addressed the centenary celebrations of the Arya Vaidya Sala Charitable Hospital in Kerala by video message on 28 January 2026, recalling founder Vaidyaratnam P.S. Varier and the institution's 125-year journey in Ayurveda.

Tue, 27 Jan 2026

• PM Narendra Modi and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the conclusion of the India–EU FTA at the 16th India–EU Summit in New Delhi on 27 January 2026; over 99% of Indian exports by value get preferential entry into the EU.
• The 16th India–EU Summit on 27 January 2026 produced the 'Towards 2030' Joint Comprehensive Strategic Agenda, a Security and Defence Partnership, a mobility MoU and a Green Hydrogen Task Force, alongside the FTA.
• Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri and Canada's Energy Minister Timothy Hodgson launched the renewed India–Canada Ministerial Energy Dialogue and issued a joint statement at India Energy Week 2026 in Goa on 27 January 2026.
• The Union Health Ministry said on 27 January 2026 that, as per NCDC, only two confirmed Nipah Virus Disease cases have been reported in West Bengal since December 2025, and all 196 traced contacts tested negative.
• The Madhya Pradesh cabinet chaired by CM Mohan Yadav on 27 January 2026 excluded 395.939 hectares of Pachmarhi town's Nazul land from the Pachmarhi Sanctuary and approved ₹390 crore for buffer-zone development in the state's nine tiger reserves.
• Meeting chip design firms under the Design Linked Incentive (DLI) Scheme on 27 January 2026, IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw set a target of enabling at least 50 fabless semiconductor companies in the next phase and announced Deep Tech Awards in 2026.