Defence Current Affairs One-liners — Last 6 months
Daily news by your exam, state and topic — each with a short summary, key facts and MCQs.
Mon, 18 May 2026
- On 18 May 2026 CSIR/DSIR, led by Director General Dr N. Kalaiselvi, signed five agreements in Oslo with the Research Council of Norway, SINTEF, NTNU and Emerald Geomodelling covering clean energy, offshore wind, sustainability, geosciences and academic exchange.
- On 18 May 2026 Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said India is targeting exports of $1 trillion this year and $2 trillion over five years, after exports reached $863 billion, nearly 5% higher than the previous year.
- On 18 May 2026 King Harald V of Norway conferred the Grand Cross of the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit, Norway's highest honour for foreign Heads of Government, on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Oslo.
- On 18 May 2026 Saurabh Vijay, a 1998-batch IAS officer of the Maharashtra cadre, assumed charge as Chief Executive Officer of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).
Sun, 17 May 2026
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson held talks in Gothenburg during the PM's visit on 17 May 2026, elevated India–Sweden ties to a Strategic Partnership and adopted the India-Sweden Joint Action Plan 2026-2030.
- On 17 May 2026 field operations for the Houselisting and Housing Census under Phase I of Census 2027 began in Rajasthan, Meghalaya, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and the MCD area of Delhi, while self-enumeration opened in Gujarat, J&K, Ladakh and Puducherry.
- On 17 May 2026 PM Narendra Modi and Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten visited the 32-km Afsluitdijk dam, and the two sides welcomed a Letter of Intent on technical cooperation for Gujarat's Kalpasar project.
- On 17 May 2026 Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden conferred the Royal Order of the Polar Star, Degree Commander Grand Cross, on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Gothenburg, making him the first Asian leader to receive it.
Sat, 16 May 2026
- On 16 May 2026 Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten met in The Hague, elevated India–Netherlands relations to a Strategic Partnership and adopted a Strategic Partnership Roadmap for 2026-2030.
- Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal gave the keynote address at the 2nd meeting of the BRICS Contact Group on Trade and Economic Issues (CGETI) in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, PIB reported on 16 May 2026, saying intra-BRICS trade had risen to US$1.17 trillion.
- On 16 May 2026 Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Ali Falih Kadhim al-Zaidi on assuming office as Prime Minister of Iraq.
- The Indian Navy's oceanographic research vessel INS Sagardhwani left Port Klang, Malaysia, on 15 May 2026 after an engagement with the Royal Malaysian Navy focused on hydrography and oceanography.
Fri, 15 May 2026
- On 15 May 2026 PM Narendra Modi visited the UAE, where India and the UAE signed an ISPRL–ADNOC pact for up to 30 million barrels of ADNOC crude in India's strategic reserves, a Framework for the Strategic Defence Partnership, and announced US$5 billion of UAE investment.
- The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) penalised Motion Education ₹10 lakh and Career Line Coaching, Sikar, ₹5 lakh for misleading advertisements under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, PIB said on 15 May 2026.
- India's total exports (merchandise and services) in April 2026 were estimated at US$80.80 billion, up 13.59% from April 2025, the Commerce Ministry said on 15 May 2026.
- The PLFS monthly bulletin for April 2026, released by MoSPI on 15 May 2026, put the urban unemployment rate (15+) at 6.6% and the overall labour force participation rate at 55.0%.
- A PIB backgrounder of 15 May 2026 says India ranks third in the world with 6,628 specified dams, over 26% of them more than 50 years old, and that DRIP Phases II and III carry an outlay of ₹10,211 crore.
- Minister of State Jayant Chaudhary represented India at the swearing-in of Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni for his seventh term and visited NFSU's Jinja campus, India's first overseas public academic campus, PIB said on 15 May 2026.
Thu, 14 May 2026
- On 14 May 2026 the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, CSIR and CSIR-IGIB held a workshop in New Delhi on BIRSA 101, India's first indigenous CRISPR-based gene therapy for sickle cell disease, named after Bhagwan Birsa Munda.
- On 14 May 2026 DPIIT said annual WPI inflation rose to 8.30% (provisional) in April 2026 from 3.88% in March, driven by mineral oils, crude petroleum and natural gas.
- On 14 May 2026 the Election Commission of India ordered Phase III of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in 16 States and 3 UTs, covering 36.73 crore electors; only Himachal Pradesh, J&K and Ladakh remain.
- On 14 May 2026 Union Minister Jitendra Singh dedicated the 200 MW Solar Module Manufacturing Line of Central Electronics Limited (CEL), the Mini Ratna PSU that made India's first solar cell in 1977.
- On 14 May 2026 Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called on PM Narendra Modi and briefed him on bilateral progress since the 23rd India–Russia Annual Summit of December 2025.
- The ITU Council 2026 in Geneva (28 April–8 May) accepted India's proposal to host the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference in 2030 (PP-2030), likely to be approved at PP-2026 in Doha in November 2026, DoT said on 14 May.
- On 13 May 2026 Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal held the curtain raiser for the India-Africa Business Dialogue & Exhibition, to be held alongside the 4th India-Africa Forum Summit, noting India–Africa trade of US$93.69 billion in 2025-26.
- India has been nominated Chair of the Common Criteria Development Board (CCDB), the technical core of the Common Criteria Recognition Arrangement, from April 2026 to April 2028, MeitY said on 14 May 2026.
- On 12 May 2026 the European Union included India in its revised draft list of countries allowed to keep exporting aquaculture products to the EU from September 2026, reversing an omission in Regulation (EU) 2024/2598.
Wed, 13 May 2026
- On 13 May 2026 the Union Cabinet approved a ₹37,500-crore Scheme for Promotion of Surface Coal/Lignite Gasification Projects, aiming to gasify about 75 million tonnes of coal/lignite and attract ₹2.5–3 lakh crore of investment.
- On 13 May 2026 the CCEA approved higher MSPs for 14 kharif crops for marketing season 2026-27, with paddy (common) at ₹2,441 per quintal and the biggest rise for sunflower seed (₹622).
- On 13 May 2026 Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal released ₹401.50 crore as the first instalment of mother sanction for 2026-27 under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme for infrastructure of district and subordinate courts.