Defence Current Affairs One-liners — Last 12 months

Sat, 02 May 2026

• The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting on 2 May 2026 appointed lyricist and communications expert Prasoon Joshi, Chairperson of the Central Board of Film Certification since August 2017, as Chairman of Prasar Bharati.
• Earth Sciences Minister Jitendra Singh, citing the IMD outlook on 2 May 2026, said heatwave conditions are likely mainly in the second (8–14 May) and fourth (22–28 May) weeks of May, with 2–4 extra heatwave days in some regions, and urged people not to panic.
• Dr. R. Balasubramaniam and Dr. Joram Aniya were appointed full-time Members of NITI Aayog, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated them on 2 May 2026.
• Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi began a four-day official visit to Myanmar from 2 to 5 May 2026 to review maritime cooperation with the Myanmar Armed Forces and Myanmar Navy.

Fri, 01 May 2026

• House-to-house Houselisting and Housing Census operations under Phase 1 of Census 2027 began on 1 May 2026 in Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Haryana, Chandigarh, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, while the online self-enumeration facility, used by nearly 82 lakh households so far, opened in five more States/UT.
• The Bureau of Indian Standards published six new Indian Standards for priority assistive products — elbow crutches, walking sticks, multi-legged walking sticks, portable ramps, tactile guide maps and Braille on signage — under ICMR's National List of Essential Assistive Products, the Consumer Affairs Ministry said on 1 May 2026.
• Anugraha Narayana Das, a 1991-batch Indian Defence Accounts Service officer, took charge as Controller General of Defence Accounts on 1 May 2026, the same day his predecessor Vishvajit Sahay assumed charge as Secretary (Defence Finance) in the Ministry of Defence.
• Maharashtra and Gujarat marked their statehood days on 1 May 2026, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi greeting the people of both states; the two states were formed on 1 May 1960 under the Bombay Reorganisation Act, 1960.
• The North Eastern Handicrafts and Handlooms Development Corporation, a CPSE under the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region, on 1 May 2026 launched 'Padma Doree', a textile initiative blending Northeast India's Eri (Ahimsa) silk with Madhya Pradesh's Chanderi weaving.

Thu, 30 Apr 2026

• The Unified Payments Interface (UPI), launched by NPCI on 11 April 2016, completed 10 years with over 24,162 crore transactions worth about ₹314 lakh crore in FY 2025–26, 700+ banks onboard and nearly 49% of global real-time payments.
• The Ministry of Mines said on 30 April 2026 that 58 companies, with pledged capacity of about 850 KTPA and investment of about ₹5,000 crore, have been approved as eligible under the ₹1,500-crore Incentive Scheme for Promotion of Critical Mineral Recycling under the National Critical Mineral Mission.
• The Department of Commerce issued Notification No. 15/2026–27 on 30 April 2026 revising RoDTEP schedules across 194 tariff lines to align with Customs Tariff changes made by the Finance Act, 2026, effective 1 May 2026.
• The 5th India–Tanzania Joint Trade Committee met in Dar es Salaam on 29–30 April 2026, co-chaired by Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal, and noted bilateral trade of USD 9.02 billion in 2025–26, up from USD 8.64 billion.
• The Election Commission of India on 30 April 2026 introduced a QR code-based Photo Identity Card module on ECINET for counting centres, starting with the 4 May 2026 counting for five Assembly elections and seven bye-elections.
• The Ministry of Women and Child Development convened the first preparatory meeting of the BRICS Women's Working Group virtually on 30 April 2026 under India's BRICS Presidency, setting four priority areas.
• Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held talks with Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto at the Manekshaw Centre, New Delhi, on 30 April 2026, where the India–Italy Bilateral Military Cooperation Plan for 2026–27 was exchanged.
• The 4th meeting of the Live Events Development Cell, chaired by I&B Secretary Chanchal Kumar at Vigyan Bhavan on 30 April 2026, urged states and UTs to adopt a model executive order for live-event permissions by 31 May 2026.
• India Post Payments Bank on 30 April 2026 launched a zero-balance, zero-charge Self Help Group (SHG) Savings Account with no minimum deposit and a maximum balance limit of ₹2 lakh, delivered through post offices and Gramin Dak Sevaks.
• TRAI on 30 April 2026 released a consultation paper on the regulatory framework for Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) communication, following a DoT reference of 1 December 2025, with comments due by 28 May 2026.

Wed, 29 Apr 2026

• Findings of the NSO 80th Round Household Social Consumption: Health survey, highlighted by the Health Ministry on 29 April 2026, show government health insurance coverage rising from 12.9% to 45.5% in rural areas and institutional deliveries at 95.6% (rural) and 97.8% (urban).
• The Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation on 29 April 2026 signed reform-linked MoUs under Jal Jeevan Mission 2.0 with Uttarakhand, Karnataka and Tripura, mandating a Gram Panchayat-led, service-based model of rural water governance.
• Union Minister Jitendra Singh said on 29 April 2026 that India's Doppler Weather Radar network has grown from 14 units in 2014 to 50, covering over 87% of the country, with 50 more radars planned under Mission Mausam.
• Shipping Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said on 29 April 2026 that India plans to add 62 vessels in FY 2026–27 with an investment of ₹51,383 crore, creating 2.85 million gross tonnage of additional capacity.

Tue, 28 Apr 2026

• Defence Minister Rajnath Singh addressed the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Defence Ministers' Meeting in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on 28 April 2026, saying Operation Sindoor showed terrorism epicentres are no longer immune, and held bilaterals with Kyrgyz, Kazakh and Belarusian counterparts.
• The 10th India–Kenya Joint Trade Committee met in Nairobi on 27–28 April 2026, co-chaired by Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal, and noted bilateral trade of USD 4.31 billion in 2025–26, up 24.91% from USD 3.45 billion.
• The Narcotics Control Bureau on 28 April 2026 secured the return of wanted drug trafficker Mohammad Salim Dola from Türkiye under 'Operation Global-Hunt'; he was taken into custody on arrival at IGI Airport, New Delhi.
• India's Index of Industrial Production grew 4.1% year-on-year in March 2026, as per MoSPI's quick estimate released on 28 April 2026, with mining up 5.5%, manufacturing 4.3% and electricity 0.8%.
• Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal on 28 April 2026 announced that all sports-related intellectual property registrations — trademarks, copyrights, patents, designs, traditional knowledge and GIs — will be fee-exempt for three years, at World IP Day celebrations themed 'IP and Sports: Ready, Set, Innovate!'.
• The fourth edition of the India–Sri Lanka bilateral diving exercise IN–SLN DIVEX was held at Colombo from 21 to 28 April 2026 with the Indian Navy's diving support and submarine rescue vessel INS Nireekshak, featuring deep-sea dives beyond 55 metres.
• The Ministry of Coal on 28 April 2026 signed Coal Mine Development and Production Agreements for four mines from the 14th round of commercial auctions — the first in India with embedded Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) provisions.