Daily Current Affairs 5 October 2026

The Department of Higher Education under the Ministry of Education (MoE) has sanctioned the establishment of 5 Centres of Excellence (CoEs) for the study of classical languages.

The CoE for Classical Assamese will be located at Tezpur University (Assam), while the CoE for Classical Bengali will be at Visva-Bharati University (West Bengal). The Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research Institute in Pune will host the CoE for Classical Marathi. The Central University of Odisha and the Central University of Gujarat have been designated for the CoEs of Classical Pali and Classical Prakrit, respectively.

Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has launched an Alternative Investment Fund (AIF) named ‘IIT Madras Unicorn Frontier Fund-I’ during the 7th edition of ‘IITMAA Sangam’ (the annual conference of the IIT Madras Alumni Association) in Bengaluru.

The fund is a joint initiative between the IIT Madras and Unicorn India Ventures (UIV). The minister also released a book titled “Cashless Nation: How UPI Changed Everything”, authored by Santanu Paul and B Sambamurthy.

PM Narendra Modi has inaugurated an international conference titled “The Future of Environment and Climate Dynamics” at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi.

The event, organised by the National Green Tribunal (NGT), witnessed global participation, including judges and judicial representatives from 17 countries.

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, has marked the 12th anniversary of the ‘Make in India’ initiative.

Launched in 2014, the scheme aims to position India as a global hub for manufacturing, design, and innovation. The initiative covers a total of 27 sectors, which includes 15 manufacturing sectors and 12 service sectors.

Union Minister Amit Shah has inaugurated the ‘PRAHAAR - Counter Terrorism (CT) Policy and Strategy’ Conference in New Delhi. During the event, he launched an Extradition Portal to expedite the return of fugitives.

The ‘Prahaar’ framework is implemented through a whole-of-society approach and is based on a seven-pillar strategy: Prevention, Response, Aggregating Internal Capacities, Human Rights, Attenuating Conditions for Terrorism, Aligning International Efforts, and Recovery and Resilience.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has launched the Digital Connectivity Rating (DCR) Platform, which serves as an integrated system for viewing and comparing the connectivity ratings of various properties.

The platform enables end-to-end rating as per the “Rating of Properties for Digital Connectivity Regulations, 2024” (amended in May 2026) and the “Rating Manual” published in June 2026. TRAI has also introduced a mobile application to facilitate the testing and assessment of digital connectivity at specific properties.

According to the monthly bulletin of the RBI, the net Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into India reached a five-year high of $7.35 billion in July 2026. This is the highest recorded inflow since May 2021 when it stood at $8.80 billion.

The net FDI in July 2026 represents a 64% increase compared to the same period in the previous year. The cumulative net FDI for the period from April to July 2026 reached $13.4 billion.

Apple Inc. has launched Apple Pay in India. The service enables transactions specifically through Visa and Mastercard credit cards issued by Axis Bank.

Samvriddhi Inclusive Growth Network Pvt Ltd (SIGN), a subsidiary of MOS Utility Ltd, has received in-principle authorisation from the RBI to operate as an Online Payment Aggregator (PA-Online).

NABKISAN Finance Ltd, a subsidiary of the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), has listed the first Social Bond in India dedicated to the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector on the National Stock Exchange (NSE). The bond raised ₹180 crore.

The 5-year bond has a coupon rate of 8.1% and is scheduled to mature in September 2031. It is to be noted that the instrument has been assigned the highest domestic credit ratings of CRISIL AAA (Stable) and CARE AAA (Stable).

The Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST) in West Bengal has signed an MoU with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to establish a state-of-the-art CoE in AI on the campus of the former.

The centre aims to facilitate advanced research and collaborative development in the field of AI.

The Technology Development Board (TDB) has signed an agreement with the Chennai-based Agnikul Cosmos Pvt Ltd to facilitate the development of the ‘Agnibaan’ Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV).

The project involves a financial commitment of ₹200 crore, which will be provided through Optionally Convertible Debentures (OCD) under the Research Development and Innovation (RDI) Fund.

Edward Rukidi Kijanangoma, a former television news anchor, has been crowned as the 13th King (Omukama) of the Tooro Kingdom in Uganda.

INS Sahyadri and INS Kulish have participated in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-India Maritime Exercise (AIME 2026) held in the Philippines. The exercise was conducted under the theme “Anchored in Trust, United at Sea”.

Singapore Airlines has been named the “World’s Best Airline” at the World Airline Awards 2026 announced by the international air transport rating organisation, Skytrax.

Qatar Airways is ranked second, followed by Cathay Pacific Airways (Hong Kong), ANA All Nippon Airways (Japan), and Turkish Airlines. Among Indian carriers, Air India is ranked 57th globally, while IndiGo is positioned at 61st.

India has won silver in the open section and bronze in the women section at the 46th Chess Olympiad held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. The international team event was organised by the International Chess Federation (FIDE). In the open category, Uzbekistan won the gold medal, and in the women category, China won gold.

India retained the Nona Gaprindashvili Trophy for the best combined performance for the third consecutive time. The All India Chess Federation open team was led by Grandmaster (GM) Srinath Narayanan (featuring D Gukesh) and the women team was captained by GM Swayams Mishra (featuring Divya Deshmukh).