Monthly current affairs for May 2026

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved the appointment of Rohit Jain as the Deputy Governor of the RBI for a 3-year term, effective from May 3, 2026. He will succeed T Rabi Sankar.

The Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR) has launched the ‘Panchayat Advancement Index (PAI) 2.0’ for FY24 to evaluate the development, performance, and progress of Gram Panchayats (GPs). Tripura emerged as the top-performing state, with 943 rural local bodies (80% of the total 1,176) categorized as ‘Front Runner’ panchayats.

Kerala and Odisha followed as the next best performers, with 10% of the 941 GPs of Kerala and 8% of the 6,794 GPs of Odisha achieving the ‘Front Runner’ status. The Jugal Kishore Nagar Village Committee, located in the Sepahijala district of Tripura, is ranked as the top GP in the country with a performance score of 88.44.

According to data from the Ministry of Finance (MoF), Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs) recorded a 15.9% year-on-year (y-o-y) growth in non-food credit in FY26, an increase of 497 basis points (bps) from 10.9% in FY25.

Credit to agriculture and allied activities grew by 15.7% (up from 10.4% in the previous year), while industrial sector credit expanded by 15%, nearly double the 8.2% growth rate of the previous year. The services sector registered the highest growth of 19% in FY 2025-26, compared to 12% in the preceding year.

Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has launched the fourth phase of the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY-IV) in Rayagada, Odisha, with an outlay of ₹1,700 crore. Under the initiative, 827 road projects spanning 1,701.84 km have been initiated at a cost of ₹1,698.04 crore to provide all-weather connectivity to 898 habitations for the first time.

The project targets 898 villages across 8 districts in Odisha to enhance connectivity in remote and underserved regions. It is to be noted that the financial responsibility for the PMGSY-IV is shared between the central and state governments in a 60:40 ratio.

According to the 'India Forward- Emerging Perspectives' report jointly released by S&P Global Market Intelligence and CRISIL Ratings Ltd, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of India for FY27 is revised downward by 50 basis points (bps) to 6.6%.

The report estimated the GDP growth for FY26 at 7.6% and the average annual growth between FY23 and FY26 at 7.3%. The retail inflation is projected to average 5.1% in FY26. The Current Account Deficit (CAD) is expected to expand from 0.8% of GDP in FY26 to 2.2% in FY27. Further, the debt-to-GDP ratio of India is forecasted to increase to 57.5% from 56.1% in FY26.

Suvendu Adhikari, belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has sworn in as the first Chief Minister (CM) of West Bengal at the Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata. He won from the Bhabanipur constituency, defeating the former CM Mamata Banerjee. It is to be noted that the BJP won 207 out of 294 seats in the 2026 Assembly elections. Governor RN Ravi administered the oath in Bengali on the occasion of Pochishe Boishakh (the 165th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore).

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) has launched the “Swasth Bharat Portal” during the 10th edition of the “National Summit on Innovation and Inclusivity: Best Practices Shaping India’s Health Future” held in Chandigarh.

The portal aims to integrate fragmented health programme systems into a unified digital platform to streamline healthcare data management.

According to the “ICAR-CMFRI Annual Report 2025” released by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI), Tamil Nadu is the leading marine fish producer in India with an output of 6.85 lakh tonnes.

It is to be noted that the aggregate marine fish production of India increased by 3% to 35.7 lakh tonnes in 2025. Karnataka and Maharashtra are ranked 4th and 5th respectively.

Union Minister Rajnath Singh has attended the 23rd Defence Ministers’ Meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) held in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

The meeting focused on bolstering regional security cooperation and counter-terrorism efforts to promote stability amid evolving global challenges. Defence ministers from the member states of the SCO participated in the session to discuss strategic coordination and regional safety.

Annalena Baerbock, the 80th President of the UN General Assembly (UNGA), has visited India at the invitation of Union Minister S Jaishankar. The visit aimed to reinforce the commitment of India to engagement with the UN.

During the visit, the UNGA President paid homage to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat in New Delhi. She also held a high-level bilateral meeting with the Minister S Jaishankar at Hyderabad House to discuss various global issues.

Ayushman Bharat Diwas:

Day – April 30

Observed by – Ministry of Health and Family Welfare(MoHFW)

The Union Cabinet has approved the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) 5.0 with an outlay of ₹18,100 crore to assist Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in mitigating short-term liquidity stress arising from the crisis in West Asia. The scheme provides 100% credit guarantee coverage for MSMEs and 90% for non-MSMEs and the airline sector. Eligible borrowers include MSMEs and non-MSMEs with existing working capital limits and scheduled passenger airlines with outstanding credit facilities as of March 2026, provided their accounts are classified as standard.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has notified the ‘Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2026’, which modifies the ‘Citizenship Rules, 2009’. The rules became effective on April 2026. Under the new provisions, minor children are prohibited from holding both Indian and foreign passports at the same time.

The rules introduce the electronic Overseas Citizen of India (e-OCI) system for issuing digital or physical OCI cards through a central digital database. The entire application process for OCI status has been moved to an online format. Additionally, the renunciation of OCI cards must be filed electronically, after which an official acknowledgment is issued and the name of the individual is removed from central records.

The DRDO and the Indian Air Force have successfully conducted the maiden flight-trial of the Tactical Advanced Range Augmentation (TARA) weapon off the Odisha coast.

It is to be noted that TARA is the first indigenous glide weapon system of India, designed as a modular range extension kit to convert unguided warheads into precision-guided munitions.

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has officially notified the establishment of the South Coast Railway (SCoR) zone, headquartered in Visakhapatnam. The SCoR is the 18th railway zone in India and is scheduled to start operations from June 2026. The newly created zone will integrate the Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, and Guntur divisions in Andhra Pradesh to strengthen railway administration and infrastructure in the region.

According to the 13th edition of the “World Migration Report 2026” released by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), a UN-related agency, India is the leading recipient of remittances in the world by receiving over $137 billion in 2024, making it the only country to cross the $100 billion milestone. It is followed by Mexico, Philippines, France, and Pakistan. The USA remains the primary source of global remittances with outflows exceeding $100 billion, followed by Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, and Germany.

Ishank Singh, a 7-year-old from Ranchi (Jharkhand), has established a world record by swimming approximately 29 km across the Palk Strait. He completed the journey from Talaimannar (Sri Lanka) to Dhanushkodi (Tamil Nadu) in 9 hours and 50 minutes on April 30, 2026.

The Universal Records Forum (URF) has officially recognized him as the youngest and fastest individual to complete this route, surpassing the previous record of 10 hours and 30 minutes set by Jay Jashwanth in 2019.

The Karnataka government has launched India’s first digital grievance redressal framework for gig workers on May 1 (International Workers' Day).

The system utilizes the Integrated Public Grievance Redressal System (IPGRS) portal to allow workers to lodge complaints regarding remuneration, working conditions, and disputes.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has signed a contract worth ₹1,476 crore with Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) for the procurement of five Ground-Based Mobile Electronic Systems (GBMES) for the Indian Army (IA).

It is to be noted that the procurement is categorized under the Buy Indian-IDDM (Indigenously Designed, Developed and Manufactured) framework, which mandates a minimum indigenous content of 72%.

The Ministry of Jal Shakti (MoJS) has signed reform-linked MoUs with Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Tripura, Mizoram, and Ladakh under the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) 2.0.

The MoUs establish a framework for decentralized governance by empowering Gram Panchayats and Village Water & Sanitation Committees (VWSCs) to oversee the operation and management of in-village water supply systems.