State Staff Selection Current Affairs One-liners — Last 12 months

Sun, 19 Apr 2026

• DSC A23 (Yard 328), the fourth of five Diving Support Craft being built for the Indian Navy by Titagarh Rail Systems Limited, was launched at Titagarh, Kolkata, on 19 April 2026.
• The Ahmedabad Zonal Unit of the Directorate General of GST Intelligence arrested Kapil Chugh, alleged mastermind of a GST refund fraud of about ₹1,825 crore, at IGI Airport, Delhi, on 19 April 2026 on his return from Dubai.

Sat, 18 Apr 2026

• Both Houses of Parliament were adjourned sine die on 18 April 2026, ending the Budget Session that began on 28 January, with 31 sittings, 9 Bills passed and productivity of about 93% in the Lok Sabha and about 110% in the Rajya Sabha.
• The Union Cabinet on 18 April 2026 approved continuation of Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana-III (PMGSY-III) beyond March 2025 up to March 2028, raising its outlay to ₹83,977 crore from ₹80,250 crore.
• The Union Cabinet on 18 April 2026 approved a domestic 'Bharat Maritime Insurance Pool' (BMI pool), backed by a sovereign guarantee of ₹12,980 crore, to keep maritime insurance available for Indian trade even through volatile sea corridors.
• A PIB backgrounder of 18 April 2026 on monument conservation said the Archaeological Survey of India safeguards 3,686 centrally protected monuments and that India has 44 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, including the Maratha Military Landscapes.
• The Indian Navy's sail training ship INS Sudarshini concluded a port call at Casablanca, Morocco, on 18 April 2026 as part of its Lokayan 26 deployment, and then sailed for Las Palmas, Spain.
• The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on 18 April 2026 approved 3rd and 4th lines on Ghaziabad–Sitapur and Rajahmundry (Nidadavolu)–Visakhapatnam (Duvvada), adding about 601 km to Indian Railways at about ₹24,815 crore.
• The Union Cabinet on 18 April 2026 approved an additional instalment of Dearness Allowance for Central Government employees and Dearness Relief for pensioners from 1 January 2026, raising the rate by 2% over the existing 58% of basic pay/pension.
• Rajya Sabha Chairman C.P. Radhakrishnan appointed Dr K.S. Somashekhar as Secretary in the Rajya Sabha Secretariat with effect from 18 April 2026.
• The Ministry of Electronics and IT on 18 April 2026 announced the Technology and Policy Expert Committee (TPEC), a standing advisory body chaired by the MeitY Secretary to support the newly constituted AI Governance and Economic Group (AIGEG).
• Union Minister Jitendra Singh said on 18 April 2026 that 299 of the 958 candidates recommended in the Civil Services Examination (CSE) 2025 are women, over 31% of the total.
• Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on 18 April 2026 approved procurement of 20 lakh metric tonnes of potatoes in Uttar Pradesh under the Market Intervention Scheme at ₹6,500.9 per tonne, along with chana procurement in Andhra Pradesh and an extension of tur procurement in Karnataka.

Fri, 17 Apr 2026

• The Government amended the Aviation Turbine Fuel (Regulation of Marketing) Order, 2001 by a notification dated 17 April 2026, bringing ATF blended with Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) under the ATF Control Order.
• The Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026, which sought to enlarge the Lok Sabha and tie women's reservation to a fresh delimitation, was negatived in the Lok Sabha on 17 April 2026 after 298 members voted for it and 230 against, short of the two-thirds of members present and voting required under Article 368(2).
• The Commerce Ministry said on 17 April 2026 that Egypt and Jordan have been added to the eligible destinations under RELIEF (Resilience & Logistics Intervention for Export Facilitation), a time-bound intervention under the Export Promotion Mission.
• The first edition of the biannual Naval Commanders' Conference 2026 was held at Nausena Bhawan, New Delhi, from 14 to 17 April 2026, and the Indian Navy Maritime Security Strategy (INMSS-2026) was released during the conference.
• Indian Ocean Ship SAGAR, INS Sunayna, departed Phuket, Thailand, on 17 April 2026 after a three-day operational turnaround that included a Passage Exercise with HTMS Klongyai of the Royal Thai Navy, and sailed for Jakarta.
• Harivansh was elected unopposed as Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha on 17 April 2026, his third election to the office, Chairman C.P. Radhakrishnan said in his felicitation remarks.
• The Election Commission of India said on 17 April 2026 that seizures of cash, liquor, drugs, precious metals and freebies in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal since 26 February 2026 had crossed ₹865 crore.
• The Commerce Ministry said on 17 April 2026 that more than 55,200 startups were recognised in FY 2025-26, the highest in any single year since Startup India began, taking the total past 2.23 lakh as on 31 March 2026.
• The Ministry of Coal launched the 15th round of commercial coal mine auctions on 17 April 2026, offering 11 coal blocks across Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana.

Thu, 16 Apr 2026

• The Commerce Ministry said on 16 April 2026 that it has notified a Special Economic Zone at Dholera, Gujarat, to be set up by Tata Semiconductor Manufacturing Pvt Ltd for India's first chip fabrication plant, spread over 66.166 hectares and expected to employ 21,000 people.
• Three linked Bills, the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026, the Delimitation Bill, 2026 and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026, were introduced in the Lok Sabha on 16 April 2026 after the motion for introduction was carried by 251 votes to 185 in a division.
• Federal Chancellor of Austria Christian Stocker visited India on 16 April 2026, the first visit by an Austrian Chancellor in 40 years, and the two sides signed an audiovisual co-production agreement, letters of intent on military matters and counter-terrorism, and launched an India–Austria Working Holiday Programme.
• The Financial Intelligence Unit-India (FIU-IND) signed separate MoUs with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) on 16 April 2026 for information sharing against money laundering and terror financing.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi received a phone call from French President Emmanuel Macron on 16 April 2026, and the two leaders agreed on the urgent need to restore safety and freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.
• The CAQM Sub-Committee on the Graded Response Action Plan on 16 April 2026 invoked all 31 Stage-I actions across the NCR after Delhi's daily average Air Quality Index reached 226, in the 'Poor' category.
• The Ministry of Electronics and IT on 16 April 2026 constituted the AI Governance and Economic Group (AIGEG), a high-level inter-ministerial body chaired by Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, as India's central mechanism for AI governance policy.

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.