Daily Current Affairs 30 October 2026

The Government of India has introduced a ‘Concessional Local Pass’ for eligible non-commercial vehicle owners residing within 20 km of a National Highway fee plaza, effective from November 1, 2026.

The annual fee for the pass is ₹1,500 for fee plazas located outside municipal or local town areas, and ₹3,000 for toll plazas situated within these limits.

The Environmental Information, Awareness, Capacity Building and Livelihood Programme (EIACP) Programme Centre–Resource Partner (PC-RP) of World Wide Fund for Nature-India (WWF-India), supported by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, has launched a nationwide “Green Diwali Campaign”.

The campaign urges citizens to avoid firecrackers and celebrate a clean, green, and eco-friendly Diwali in alignment with “Mission LiFE” (Lifestyle for Environment).

The 14th edition of India Chem 2026, a biennial event of the Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers (MoC&F), has been held in Mumbai under the theme “Advantage Bharat: An Emerging Global Chemicals Hub”.

The event is organised by the Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals (DCPC) in partnership with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). Union Minister JP Nadda has inaugurated the event and highlighted the Bharat Audyogik Vikas Yojana (BHAVYA) Rasayan Scheme as a major initiative to boost the chemical sector of India.

During the inaugural session, a knowledge paper prepared jointly by FICCI and Ernst & Young was released. It is to be noted that the government has set targets for the chemical industry of India to reach $300 billion by 2030, $1 trillion by 2040, and $1.6 trillion by 2047.

Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has launched the nationwide ‘Khet Bachao Abhiyan–Rabi 2026’ in Karnal, Haryana.

Scheduled from October 22 to November 30, 2026, the campaign aims to promote soil health, balanced fertiliser use, crop diversification, and sustainable farming.

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has issued a draft notification proposing to mandate Advanced Emergency Braking Systems (AEBS) for all new car models under the M1 category starting October 1, 2030, to improve road safety and reduce collisions.

These M1-category vehicles must be equipped with AEBS conforming to the Automotive Industry Standard (AIS)-185, while models already in production must comply by October 1, 2032.

Furthermore, the AEBS mandate will apply to trucks starting October 1, 2027, along with the requirement for Electronic Stability Control (ESC) systems conforming to AIS-162. It is to be noted that all motor vehicles must conform to AIS-193, with motorcycles and three-wheelers without a steering wheel exempted from this directive.

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, in collaboration with the Government of Odisha, has organised the 19th Urban Mobility India (UMI) Conference and Exhibition and the second National Urban Conclave in Bhubaneswar, Odisha.

The 19th UMI Conference and Exhibition 2026 was held under the theme “Urban Accessibility and Liveability in Digital Age”, focusing on accessibility, integrated transport infrastructure, digital technologies, and improved quality of urban life.

The second National Urban Conclave 2026 was held under the theme “Urban Rising – Rethinking Urban Systems, Solutions and Delivery”, emphasising stronger urban institutions, implementation mechanisms, and effective city services.

L&T Technology Services Ltd (LTTS) has signed a 5-year contract with Nokia to establish a dedicated Offshore Development Centre (ODC) in India.

The ODC will support the engineering, Research and Development (R&D), and global technology operations of Nokia.

NLC India Ltd (NLCIL) has signed MoUs with the Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation of Odisha Ltd (IPICOL) for an investment of ₹37,000 crore to undertake major power, coal gasification, and mineral-processing projects in Odisha.

According to the 17th edition of the Emissions Gap Report (EGR) 2026 titled “The Point of Return” released by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), temporarily exceeding the 1.5 °C global warming limit is unavoidable without urgent reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

The report states that global GHG emissions reached a total of 58.4 gigatons of CO2 equivalent (Gt CO2e) in 2025, reflecting a decline of just 0.1 Gt CO2e from 2024 levels.

The NASA has announced that the Perseverance rover of NASA has set a new extraterrestrial driving record on Mars.

The rover covered a total distance of 45.22 km (28.06 miles) through advanced autonomous navigation. This achievement surpassed the previous record of 45.16 km held by the Opportunity rover of NASA.

The Digital India BHASHINI (Bhasha Interface for India) Division (DIBD) has collaborated with the SPIRE Lab of the IISc Bengaluru to develop Text-to-Speech (TTS) models for the Sourashtra language.

The initiative aims to enhance digital inclusion for low-resource Indian languages. It is to be noted that Sourashtra is a digitally underrepresented minority Indo-Aryan language spoken predominantly by the Sourashtra community in Tamil Nadu.

Dr Sajjan Singh Yadav has been appointed as the Chief Secretary of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), effective from November 1, 2026. He succeeds Atal Dulloo.

Sunil Bharti Mittal, the founder and chairman of Bharti Enterprises, has been honoured with the Legion of Honour (Knight of the National Order of the Legion of Honour), the highest civilian distinction of France.

The distinction was conferred by Thierry Mathou, the Ambassador of France to India, recognising his contributions to strengthening economic ties between India and France.

Arif Khan, the former Governor of Bihar and Kerala, has launched the English translation of a book titled “The Story of Vande Mataram” in New Delhi.

The book was originally written in Malayalam by Ranga Hari and translated into English by Dr. Mercy Jill.