Current Affairs One-liners — 24 April 2026

Fri, 24 Apr 2026

• Project DANTAK of the Border Roads Organisation celebrated its 66th Raising Day at Thimphu on 24 April 2026, marking 65 years of work in Bhutan since its establishment in April 1961, during which it has built over 1,500 km of roads.
• The Cabinet Secretariat notified on 24 April 2026 the reconstitution of NITI Aayog, with Ashok Kumar Lahiri as Vice Chairperson and Rajiv Gauba, K. V. Raju, Gobardhan Das, Abhay Karandikar and M. Srinivas as full-time members; NITI Aayog was constituted by a Cabinet resolution of 1 January 2015.
• On National Panchayati Raj Day, 24 April 2026, marking 33 years of the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act, the Ministry of Panchayati Raj released the Panchayat Advancement Index (PAI) 2.0 report for FY 2023-24, which cut indicators from 516 to 150 and covered 97.30% of Gram Panchayats.
• MeitY Secretary S. Krishnan on 24 April 2026 launched an indigenous Silicon Photonics Process Design Kit with over 50 verified components and a Universal Programmable Photonic IC Test Engine, both developed at the MeitY-sponsored CoE-CPPICS, IIT Madras.
• Punjab Governor and Chandigarh Administrator Gulab Chand Kataria and Union Social Justice Minister Virendra Kumar launched the upgraded Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan (NMBA) 2.0 App in Chandigarh on 24 April 2026 to strengthen monitoring under the National Action Plan for Drug Demand Reduction.
• Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu released the second phase ranking (April 2026) of DGCA-approved Flying Training Organisations on 24 April 2026; the first phase was published on 1 October 2025.
• Scrutiny of Form 17A and other poll-day documents was completed on 24 April 2026 in all 152 Assembly constituencies of West Bengal Phase I and all 234 of Tamil Nadu, and no repoll was recommended in any of the 44,376 and 75,064 polling stations respectively, the Election Commission said.
• Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Skill Development Jayant Chaudhary launched the UNESCO Chair on Gender Inclusion and Skill Development, described by the ministry as Asia's first, at Symbiosis Skills and Professional University, Pune on 24 April 2026.
• The National Statistics Office under MoSPI on 24 April 2026 proposed annual city-level statistical reports for 47 million-plus cities (as per Census 2011), based on PLFS and ASUSE data, and invited stakeholder comments.
• The Ministry of Mines said on 24 April 2026 that a ₹5,000 crore incentive for mining sector reforms has been included in the Scheme for Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment (SASCI) for FY 2026-27, and that it has issued the operational guidelines as nodal ministry.
• The Union Agriculture Ministry held the North Zone Agriculture Conference in Lucknow on 24 April 2026 with Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and ministers from six states and three Union Territories, to build a common agenda for Kharif and Rabi preparations.
• The Ministry of Cooperation held the first Regional Workshop on 'Sahkar se Samriddhi' in Jaipur, Rajasthan on 24 April 2026, focusing on decentralised grain storage, expansion of PACS, dairy and fisheries cooperatives and state action plans for FY 2026–27.