Asia Current Affairs One-liners — Last 12 months

Sun, 04 Jan 2026

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 72nd National Volleyball Tournament in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, via video conferencing on 4 January 2026, with teams from 28 states taking part.
• The Ayush Export Promotion Council observed its 4th Establishment Anniversary in New Delhi on 4 January 2026, as the Commerce Ministry reported AYUSH and herbal exports of USD 688.89 million in 2024-25, up 6.11%.
• A PIB backgrounder on 4 January 2026 said MeitY's Design Linked Incentive (DLI) Scheme under the Semicon India Programme supports 24 chip design projects, which have achieved 16 tape-outs, 6 ASIC chips and 10 patents.
• On the 42nd Foundation Day of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research on 4 January 2026, Union Minister Jitendra Singh announced that deep-tech startups no longer need three years of existence to be recognised under DSIR's Industrial R&D Promotion Programme.
• World Braille Day was observed on 4 January 2026; a PIB backgrounder noted that Braille came to India in 1887 and that Bharati Braille was adopted as the single national standard in 1951.
• An Air India A320 from New Delhi carrying Civil Aviation Minister K. Ram Mohan Naidu made the first validation landing at the Alluri Sitarama Raju (Bhogapuram) International Airport in Vizianagaram district, Andhra Pradesh, on 4 January 2026.
• Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal A. P. Singh inaugurated the Aeronautical Development Agency's two-day national seminar 'Aeronautics 2047' at CABS, Bengaluru, on 4 January 2026, congratulating ADA on 25 years of LCA Tejas flight.
• Desert Vipers won their first International League T20 title by beating MI Emirates by 46 runs in the season-four final in Dubai on 4 January 2026, led by Sam Curran's unbeaten 74.
• Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal attended the second biennial state convention of the Mridangiya Gayan-Bayan Sanstha, Assam, at Rajgarh in Dibrugarh on 4 January 2026, and felicitated Banshi Bakliyal for his contribution to the tradition.
• The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways highlighted on 4 January 2026 the legal protections for 'Rah-Veers' — Good Samaritans who help road accident victims — under rules notified in 2020 under Section 134A of the Motor Vehicles Act.

Sat, 03 Jan 2026

• On 3 January 2026 at the Rai Pithora Cultural Complex, New Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated 'The Light & the Lotus: Relics of the Awakened One', the first exposition in over a century to bring together the Piprahwa relics of the Buddha, including those repatriated in July 2025.
• On 3 January 2026, Savitribai Phule's 195th birth anniversary, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis laid the foundation of a ₹143 crore memorial and women's training centre at her birthplace, Naigaon in Satara district.
• On 3 January 2026 in Sri Vijaya Puram, Union Home Minister Amit Shah inaugurated nine projects and laid foundation stones for two, worth ₹373 crore, and opened an exhibition on the three new criminal laws.
• On 3 January 2026 at New Delhi Railway Station, Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw inspected India's first Vande Bharat Sleeper train, which will run between Guwahati and Howrah after completing trials and certification.
• On 3 January 2026 at Kalaivanar Arangam, Chennai, Vice-President C. P. Radhakrishnan inaugurated the 9th Siddha Day celebrations, themed 'Siddha for Global Health'.
• On 3 January 2026 in New Delhi, the Department of Fertilizers held a day-long Chintan Shivir with Union Minister J. P. Nadda and MoS Anupriya Patel, focused on balanced fertilizer use and sustainable agriculture.
• On 3 January 2026 in Paradip, Odisha, the Paradip Port Authority marked its 65th Port Foundation Day with the 21st Paradip Marathon; Chairman P. L. Haranadh said it is now India's largest major port by rated capacity.
• On 3 January 2026 at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range, New Delhi, Army shooter Ajay Kumar won the men's 10m air pistol gold at the 68th National Shooting Championship with 241.1, ahead of Shubham Bisla and Anmol Jain.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah paid tribute on 3 January 2026 to Rani Velu Nachiyar, the queen of Sivaganga who fought colonial rule, on her birth anniversary.
• On 3 January 2026 in Mumbai, NTPC's Western Region-I signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the Gujarat Cancer & Research Institute, sanctioning ₹23.16 crore of CSR funds for a Linear Accelerator at GCRI's Siddhpur Satellite Centre.
• The Election Commission of India on 3 January 2026 invited citizens to download the ECINet app and send suggestions through it until 10 January 2026, ahead of the platform's official launch that month.

Fri, 02 Jan 2026

• The Ministry of Electronics and IT on 2 January 2026 approved 22 more proposals under the Electronics Component Manufacturing Scheme, with projected investment of ₹41,863 crore and 33,791 direct jobs.
• The Commerce Ministry on 2 January 2026 launched two interventions under the NIRYAT PROTSAHAN sub-scheme of the Export Promotion Mission: interest subvention on export credit and a CGTMSE-backed collateral guarantee for MSME exporters.
• The Mumbai–Ahmedabad bullet train project achieved the breakthrough of its first mountain tunnel in Maharashtra, the 1.5 km MT-5 in Palghar, Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced on 2 January 2026.
• Cabinet Secretary T. V. Somanathan told the media in New Delhi on 2 January 2026 that the PRAGATI mechanism has reviewed over 3,300 projects worth more than ₹85 lakh crore and resolved 7,156 of 7,735 issues raised.
• On 2 January 2026 at Dr. Ambedkar International Centre, New Delhi, Union Health Minister J. P. Nadda released Indian Pharmacopoeia 2026, the 10th edition of India's official book of drug standards, with 121 new monographs.
• On 2 January 2026 in Nuh, Haryana, ten CAQM flying squads carried out 105 inspections of industrial units and construction sites, including 86 stone crushers, to check compliance with GRAP.
• Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal visited the Assam Book Fair at Khanapara, Guwahati on 2 January 2026, calling book fairs 'pilgrimage sites of knowledge' and urging young people to read.
• The National Biodiversity Authority on 2 January 2026 announced the release of ₹45 lakh in Access and Benefit Sharing money to red sanders farmers of Andhra Pradesh, taking India's cumulative ABS releases past ₹143.5 crore.
• The CAQM's GRAP sub-committee revoked Stage-III of the Graded Response Action Plan in Delhi-NCR on 2 January 2026 after Delhi's AQI improved to 236 due to strong winds.