Daily Current Affairs 29 August 2026

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved key infrastructure projects valued at ₹13,041 crore.

The approved initiatives include four multi-tracking railway projects with an estimated cost of ₹9,450 crore.

Additionally, the CCEA has approved the four-laning of National Highway-22 (NH-22) in Bihar at an estimated cost of ₹3,590.73 crore.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), through the MeitY Startup Hub (MSH), has launched the third cohort of the Gen-Next Support for Innovative Startups (GENESIS) Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) programme.

The GENESIS EIR 3.0 was officially launched at the GENESIS NextGen Startup Summit (Coimbatore Edition) held at Rathinam Global University in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.

The programme is a national initiative designed to support aspiring entrepreneurs, innovators, researchers, students, and early-stage startup founders.

It is a component of the broader GENESIS scheme, which is a flagship initiative of the MSH with a total budget outlay of ₹490 crore.

Under the EIR component of the GENESIS scheme, selected innovators will receive a maximum financial assistance of ₹10 lakh through participating GENESIS incubators.

The inaugural meeting of the India-Kuwait Joint Defence Committee (JDC) was held in New Delhi.

During the meeting, both nations agreed to strengthen bilateral defence cooperation across various sectors, including training, military exercises, military medicine, staff talks, defence industry, and Research & Development (R&D).

The Public Private Partnership Appraisal Committee (PPPAC), chaired by Anuradha Thakur, Secretary of the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), has approved the third round of privatization of 11 airports across 5 airport bundles.

The total investment by the private concessionaires to take over the operations of these airports is estimated at ₹8,622 crore.

Under the PPP model, these airports will be leased for a concession period of 50 years.

The private concessionaires are required to retain 60% of the employees of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) for a maximum period of 3 years.

Citigroup Inc. has partnered with Axis Bank to provide financing support to Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) investing in Foreign Currency Non-Resident (FCNR) deposits.

Axis Bank offers FCNR deposit interest rates of up to 6.40%.

The RBI has approved the LIC (Life Insurance Corporation of India) to acquire up to 9.99% of the paid-up share capital or voting rights in HDFC Bank.

It is to be noted that LIC currently holds a 4.11% stake in the bank.

Paul Merchants Finance Pvt Ltd (PMFPL), a diversified Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) and a part of the Paul Merchants Group, has launched a “Loan Against Silver” product, becoming the first NBFC in India to establish exclusive branches dedicated to silver loans.

The NBFC has initiated its silver loan operations from the Union Territory of Chandigarh.

Under this credit facility, eligible customers can secure loans ranging from ₹2,000 to ₹15 lakh.

Wizzmoni Financial Services Limited (formerly Unimoni), an Indian Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC), has partnered with Oman Air to launch a co-branded, AI-powered travel card named “Wizz Voyager Multi-Currency Card” that supports multiple global currencies.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) under the Ministry of Communications has signed a strategic 5-year agreement with the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT) to establish an “End-to-End Optical Network Test Bed” at the C-DOT campus in New Delhi.

India and Singapore have reinforced their Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) during the fourth India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable (ISMR) held in Singapore.

It is to be noted that the roundtable also witnessed the exchange of two MoUs and one Letter of Intent (LoI) to strengthen bilateral ties.

Tata Capital Ltd (TCL) has signed an MoU with Japan-based Resona Bank, the core banking subsidiary of Resona Holdings, to assist Japanese companies in exploring and accessing financial solutions and business opportunities in India.

The Naval Science & Technological Laboratory (NSTL), a laboratory of the DRDO in Visakhapatnam has signed two Licensing Agreements for Transfer of Technology (LAToT) to strengthen indigenous defence manufacturing capabilities.

Under the first agreement, the Submarine Fired Decoy (SFD) ‘Mohini’ technology will be transferred to Bharat Dynamics Ltd (BDL).

The second agreement covers the technology for the fabrication, installation, and commissioning of the LM2500 Gas Turbine to the Hyderabad-based Vertex Engineering Systems Pvt Ltd.

The Centre for Marine Living Resources & Ecology (CMLRE), under the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), has released the “National Report on Deep-Sea and Distant-Water Fishery Resources of the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)” to assess marine resources.

The publication was edited by Dr VN Sanjeevan (former Director of CMLRE) and Dr Baban Ingole (retired Scientist at the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO)), under the leadership of Dr RS Maheshkumar (Head of CMLRE).

The assessment studies were largely supported by the flagship research vessel of India, the Fishery and Oceanographic Research Vessel (FORV) 'Sagar Sampada'.

Flying Wedge Defence & Aerospace Technologies Pvt Ltd (FWDA), an Indian defence startup, has unveiled the “FWD Supreme Lite”, marking the first AI-piloted fighter jet programme in India.

Designed and developed entirely in India, the fighter jet demonstrator weighs approximately 250 kg, offering an endurance of up to 30 hrs and an operational range of 3,000 km.

The aircraft is designed around the ‘Mobbing Doctrine’, a new warfare doctrine that proposes the deployment of a larger number of AI-piloted fighter aircraft.

The Territorial Army, in collaboration with CyberPeace, has launched a national-level hackathon named “Terrier Cyber Quest 2026” (TCQ 3.0).

The initiative aims to address defence, cybersecurity, and information-domain challenges by promoting indigenous solutions in Artificial Intelligence (AI), threat mitigation, and digital awareness.

Sophie Adenot, an astronaut of the European Space Agency (ESA) from France, has conducted a mission to repair a communications system on the International Space Station (ISS).

With this, she becomes the first French woman to perform a spacewalk.

It is to be noted that she is also the second European woman to walk in space, following Samantha Cristoforetti of Italy who completed a spacewalk in 2022.

The Maharashtra government has signed an MoU with the German State of Hesse to strengthen bilateral cooperation.

The partnership focuses on key sectors including investment, industry, innovation, employment, and skill development.

Dolly Parton, a renowned singer from USA widely known as the ‘Queen of Country Music’, passed away at the age of 80.

She was a recipient of 10 Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1999 and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2022.

Sajjan Kumar, a former Indian National Congress (INC) Member of Parliament (MP), passed away at the age of 80.

He served as an MP in the Lok Sabha for 3 terms.