Current Affairs One-liners — 15 April 2026

Wed, 15 Apr 2026

• Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Manohar Lal launched the Operational Guidelines of the Urban Challenge Fund, with ₹1 lakh crore of central assistance meant to catalyse about ₹4 lakh crore of urban investment, along with a Credit Repayment Guarantee Sub-Scheme, on 15 April 2026.
• Samrat Choudhary took oath as Chief Minister of Bihar on 15 April 2026 at Lok Bhawan, Patna, administered by Governor Syed Ata Hasnain, succeeding Nitish Kumar, who had resigned after becoming a Rajya Sabha member.
• The Ministry of Home Affairs announced on 15 April 2026 that Houselisting and Housing Census field operations, Phase I of Census 2027, would begin on 16 April in eight States/UTs and parts of Delhi, after a 15-day Self-Enumeration window that about 12 lakh households had used.
• The Union Health Ministry chaired the first BRICS Health Working Group meeting of 2026 in New Delhi, where India, as BRICS Chair, introduced 'Healthy Lifestyle' and 'Promotion of Mental Wellness' as two new priority areas.
• The Department of Telecommunications and SEBI signed an MoU on 15 April 2026 under which DoT will share its Financial Fraud Risk Indicator and Mobile Number Revocation List with SEBI, and SEBI will flag telecom resources linked to fraud.
• The Election Commission of India began distributing Voter Information Slips on 15 April 2026 for the Tamil Nadu and West Bengal (Phase I) Assembly elections due on 23 April, with Braille-enabled slips for voters with visual impairment.
• Annual inflation based on the All India Wholesale Price Index rose to 3.88% (provisional) in March 2026 from 2.13% in February, driven mainly by crude petroleum and natural gas, other manufacturing, non-food articles, basic metals and food articles.
• India's total exports of merchandise and services for FY 2025-26 were estimated at US$ 860.09 billion, 4.22% higher than US$ 825.26 billion in FY 2024-25, according to Ministry of Commerce data released on 15 April 2026.
• The Periodic Labour Force Survey bulletin for March 2026, released by MoSPI on 15 April 2026, put the unemployment rate for persons aged 15 and above at 5.1% and the labour force participation rate at 55.4%.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Sri Guru Bhairavaikya Mandira at Sri Kshetra Adichunchanagiri in Mandya district, Karnataka, on 15 April 2026, and made nine appeals to citizens, including cutting cooking oil use by 10%.
• Scientists at the Institute of Nano Science and Technology, Mohali, have developed a fluorescent 'turn-on' sensor made of iron metal-organic framework nanospheres that detects nicotine and its metabolite cotinine in water and living cells, the DST said on 15 April 2026.
• The National Highways Authority of India directed all FASTag issuer banks on 15 April 2026 to validate the vehicle registration numbers linked to their FASTags and blacklist tags linked to incorrect or invalid numbers.