Defence Current Affairs One-liners — Last 12 months

Sun, 01 Feb 2026

• Carlos Alcaraz beat Novak Djokovic 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, 7-5 in the Australian Open men's singles final in Melbourne on 1 February 2026, becoming the youngest man to complete a career Grand Slam.
• The Union Budget 2026-27, presented on 1 February 2026, proposed Bharat-VISTAAR, a multilingual AI tool integrating AgriStack and ICAR advisories, and a Coconut Promotion Scheme.
• The Union Budget 2026-27, presented on 1 February 2026, announced five Regional Medical Hubs for medical tourism, NIMHANS-2 in north India, three new All India Institutes of Ayurveda and a girls' hostel in every district.
• The Union Budget 2026-27, presented on 1 February 2026, announced that 15 archaeological sites including Lothal, Dholavira and Rakhigarhi will be developed as experiential cultural destinations, and launched a Khelo India Mission for the next decade.
• The Union Budget 2026-27, presented on 1 February 2026, announced a ₹10,000 crore SME Growth Fund to create 'Champion SMEs' and a High Level Committee on Banking for Viksit Bharat.

Sat, 31 Jan 2026

• On 31 January 2026 New Delhi hosted the 2nd India-Arab Foreign Ministers' Meeting, co-chaired by India and the UAE, ten years after the first meeting in Bahrain (2016).
• On 31 January 2026 Kazakhstan's Elena Rybakina beat world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in Melbourne to win her first Australian Open and second Grand Slam title.
• Minister of State for Women and Child Development Savitri Thakur was to lead India's delegation at the 64th session of the UN Commission for Social Development (CSocD) in New York.

Fri, 30 Jan 2026

• On 30 January 2026 Indian Railways commissioned 472.3 route km of Kavach 4.0 on three sections in a single day, the highest ever, taking Kavach 4.0 coverage to 1,306.3 route km across five zones.
• The Centre's accounts up to December 2025 (FY 2025-26) show total receipts of ₹25,25,156 crore (72.2% of BE) and total expenditure of ₹33,80,998 crore (66.7% of BE).
• On 30 January 2026 MoS Defence Sanjay Seth gave the Republic Day Parade 2026 awards: Maharashtra's Ganeshotsav tableau came first among states, Indian Navy and Delhi Police won best marching contingents.
• On 30 January 2026 PM Narendra Modi received a telephone call from Venezuela's Acting President Delcy Eloína Rodríguez Gómez; both agreed to deepen the India-Venezuela partnership.
• Researchers at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bengaluru, found that a weak 'stealth' coronal mass ejection of 19 March 2023, helped by a nearby coronal hole, triggered an intense geomagnetic storm on Earth.

Thu, 29 Jan 2026

• The Economic Survey 2025-26, tabled by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on 29 January 2026, estimates real GDP growth of 7.4% in FY26 and projects 6.8–7.2% for FY27, with potential growth around 7%.
• On 29 January 2026 MoSPI released the Expert Group report on the new Consumer Price Index series (CPI 2024), which uses the COICOP 2018 classification, weights from HCES 2023-24 and a basket of 358 items; the series was to be released on 12 February 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.

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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.

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.