Asia Current Affairs One-liners — Last 6 months

Sat, 02 May 2026

• The Ministry of Panchayati Raj and Telangana's Department of Panchayati Raj held an outreach workshop on the Atmanirbhar Panchayat Programme at NIRD&PR, Hyderabad, on 2 May 2026, with over 400 participants including 70 sarpanches recognised for own source revenue generation.
• The Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, an autonomous body under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry with campuses in New Delhi, Kolkata, Kakinada and GIFT City, celebrated its 63rd Foundation Day on 2 May 2026.

Fri, 01 May 2026

• Home Minister Amit Shah on 1 May 2026, Buddha Purnima, inaugurated the 'Sacred Exposition of the Holy Relics of the Tathagata' in Leh, bringing relics linked to the Piprahwa Stupa to Ladakh after 75 years; the exposition runs until 14 May and will also travel to Zanskar.
• 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.
• Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari on 1 May 2026 launched India's first Multi-Lane Free Flow (MLFF) barrier-less tolling system at Chorayasi Toll Plaza on the Surat–Bharuch section of NH-48 in Gujarat, using ANPR cameras and FASTag; about 41,500 vehicles crossed it on the first day.
• 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.
• Rural Development Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Odisha CM Mohan Charan Majhi launched PMGSY-IV in Odisha at Rayagada on 1 May 2026, with 827 new roads covering 1,701.84 km at a cost of ₹1,698.04 crore sanctioned in the first phase.
• Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on 1 May 2026 laid the foundation stone of a ₹25-crore, 10,000-litres-per-day dairy plant in Kargil and witnessed an MoU between Ladakh Milk Federation and Mother Dairy to take Ladakh's dairy products to national markets.
• 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.
• The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting on 1 May 2026 appointed filmmaker Ashutosh Gowariker as Festival Director of the 57th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), to be held in Goa.
• 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.
• President Droupadi Murmu, Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, visited the headquarters of the Army Training Command (ARTRAC) in Shimla on 1 May 2026 and was briefed on its drone training, 'Red Teaming' and digitisation initiatives.
• The Narcotics Control Bureau, under Operation WHITE STRIKE, busted a transnational cocaine syndicate and seized about 349 kg of high-grade cocaine worth nearly ₹1,745 crore from the Mumbai region, the Home Ministry said on 1 May 2026.
• 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.
• The open-field observatory of the Coastal Atmospheric Research Testbed (C-ART), set up by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology at Andhra University, Visakhapatnam, under Mission Mausam, was inaugurated on 1 May 2026 by Earth Sciences Secretary M. Ravichandran.
• Bharat Khera, a 1995-batch IAS officer of the Himachal Pradesh cadre, assumed charge as Secretary of the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, the Ministry said on 1 May 2026.

Thu, 30 Apr 2026

• Health Minister J.P. Nadda on 30 April 2026 inaugurated the 10th National Summit on Innovation and Inclusivity: Best Practices Shaping India's Health Future, hosted by Haryana, where RBSK 2.0 guidelines and a guidance document on diabetes in children were released.
• 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.
• Mahendragiri, the sixth Nilgiri-class (Project 17A) stealth frigate and the fourth built at Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited, was delivered to the Indian Navy on 30 April 2026 in Mumbai, less than 17 months after the first P17A ship.
• Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on 30 April 2026 flagged off the Srinagar–Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra Vande Bharat Express extended up to Jammu Tawi, directly linking Jammu and Kashmir by passenger train for the first time, with the train expanded from 8 to 20 coaches.
• 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 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.
• A Madhya Pradesh tourism department cruise boat capsized in a storm in the Bargi Dam reservoir near Jabalpur on 30 April 2026; of 41 identified people on board, 28 were rescued and 13 died, and the Prime Minister announced PMNRF ex-gratia.
• The Indian Army's four-day 'Op Netra 1.0' advanced surgical eye camp at 153 General Hospital, Leh, concluded on 30 April 2026 after screening 950 patients from seven districts of Ladakh and performing 214 procedures, including 197 cataract surgeries.
• 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

• DRDO and the Indian Navy on 29 April 2026 conducted the maiden salvo launch of the Naval Anti-ship Missile–Short Range (NASM-SR), firing two missiles in quick succession from the same Navy helicopter off the Odisha coast.
• 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).