Monthly current affairs for October 2026

Union Minister Bhupender Yadav has launched a workshop on the ‘Capacity Enhancement for Effective Forest Management Project’ in New Delhi, in collaboration with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to strengthen the capacity of frontline forest personnel.

The 7-year project will be implemented from FY26 to FY32 across all states in India. The project entails a total financial outlay of ₹537.10 crore, consisting of ₹440.42 crore funded by JICA and ₹96.68 crore contributed by the central government.

The Union Cabinet has approved the Green Energy Corridor Phase-III (GEC-III) scheme to strengthen the Indian Intra-State Transmission System (InSTS). The scheme aims to evacuate up to 135 Gigawatt (GW) of renewable energy across the country.

It also provides for the deployment of 50 Gigawatt-hour (GWh) of Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) at the Renewable Energy generator end, with a target completion by FY33. The total project outlay is ₹1.8 lakh crore (comprising ₹1.3 lakh crore for InSTS development and ₹50,000 crore for BESS deployment), involving a Central Financial Support of ₹54,082 crore.

The Ayushman Bharat PM Jan Aarogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY), launched in 2018 by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to achieve universal health coverage, has recorded over 60 crore beneficiaries.

It is the world’s largest government-funded public health insurance and assurance scheme, providing coverage of up to ₹5 lakh per family annually for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization.

The scheme is implemented as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme with a funding ratio of 60:40 between the centre and states, as well as for UTs with a legislature. The funding ratio is 90:10 for the centre and North-Eastern states, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Jammu and Kashmir, while UTs without a legislature receive 100% central funding.

The 2nd India-Italy Joint Working Group (JWG) meeting on tourism was held in New Delhi. During the meeting, both countries agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation in the tourism sector.

Both nations also agreed to establish focused technical groups and designated points of contact to further advance bilateral tourism cooperation.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved the implementation of the Intelligent Traffic Management System (ITMS) Project by the Delhi Police at an estimated cost of ₹1,789.52 crore.

The project will cover 42 identified traffic corridors and will be executed in 3 phases over 24 months, followed by 5 years of operation and maintenance.

The National Steering Committee (NSC) under the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) has approved a Strategic Investment Plan (SIP) worth ₹320 crore for the ‘Kurukshetra ITI Cluster’ in Haryana.

The approval is granted under the ‘PM Skilling and Employability Transformation through Upgraded ITIs (PM-SETU)’ Scheme. With this approval, the cumulative investment under the PM-SETU scheme has reached ₹2,491 crore across 10 Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) clusters.

Union Minister Amit Shah has flagged off India’s first Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG)-powered train from the Sabarmati Railway Station in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

During the event, he also inaugurated various railway development projects worth ₹1,472 crore and the Wide Gauge, Alternating Current, Goods (WAG-12) Maintenance Shed for railway locomotive engines, built at a cost of ₹700 crore.

President Droupadi Murmu has amended the Inter-State Council (Amendment) Order, 2026, amending the Inter-State Council Order, 1990. The amendment, which came into force immediately upon publication, introduces special conditions for the participation of Governors and Lieutenant Governors in Inter-State Council meetings.

Enacted under Article 263 of the Constitution of India, the updated guidelines state that the Governor of a State will be invited to council meetings when a proclamation by the President under Article 356 is in force in that State. For the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, the Lt Governor will be invited when an order by the President under Article 239AB is in force.

PM Narendra Modi has inaugurated the 5th edition of SEMICON India 2026 at the Yashobhoomi India International Convention & Expo Centre in New Delhi, held under the theme “Silicon to Systems: Building the Ecosystem”.

The event is organised by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology in partnership with Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) and concluded with the exchange of 56 MoUs.

The central government has secured investment commitments of around ₹1 lakh crore under Semicon 2.0. It was also announced that the “Odisha Silicon Valley” will be established at Naraj in Cuttack, Odisha.

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has unveiled 5 new digital identity initiatives to improve service accessibility, secure authentication, and governance during the Aadhaar Samvaad stakeholders conference held in Kolkata, marking the 17th Aadhaar Day.

These initiatives include Face Authentication for the electronic Public Distribution System (ePDS), developed in collaboration with the Department of Food and Public Distribution (DFPD) and the National Informatics Centre (NIC) as a contactless verification tool.

The newly introduced initiatives also comprise the SWIK Portal 2.0, the Sub-AUA/Sub-KUA (LITE) Framework, and a New Token Management System. Additionally, the revamped website and Career Portal of UIDAI was launched, featuring journey-based navigation powered by BHASHINI for multilingual support.

According to the “Global Economic Outlook - September 2026” report released by Fitch Ratings, the GDP growth forecast of India for the FY27 has been raised by 50 bps to 6.9% from the earlier projection of 6.4%.

The rating agency also projected that the headline inflation of India will increase to 5.5% by December 2026.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved the increase in Minimum Support Prices (MSP) for all mandated Rabi crops for the Marketing Season 2027-28 to ensure remunerative prices for growers.

The highest absolute increase in MSP was announced for Safflower at ₹675 per quintal, followed by Rapeseed and Mustard at ₹413 per quintal. The increase for other Rabi crops includes ₹390 per quintal for Lentil, ₹136 per quintal for Barley, ₹83 per quintal for Gram, and ₹25 per quintal for Wheat.

Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has approved procurement worth ₹5,547.99 crore at the Minimum Support Price (MSP) under the Price Support Scheme (PSS) for the Kharif Marketing Season 2026-27 across Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, and Telangana.

Uttar Pradesh received the largest share of the approved procurement at ₹3,992.57 crore. Procurement worth ₹1,107 crore was approved for pulse and oilseed farmers in Karnataka, while Telangana received ₹448.42 crore.

PayGlocal, a cross-border payments company, has received in-principle approval from the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) to establish a Payment Service Provider (PSP) in the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT) City in Gandhinagar, Gujarat.

The ISRO and the European Space Agency (ESA) have extended their Cooperative Agreement for 5 years until January 8, 2032.

The agreement was formalized through an exchange of letters signed in Paris, France, during the International Space Summit.

The Ministry of Minority Affairs (MoMA) has signed MoUs with prominent academic, research, and innovation institutions, including the IIT Madras, the IISc Bengaluru, and IIM Bangalore, to enhance scheme implementation, monitoring, infrastructure quality, and innovation ecosystems.

The National Rural Infrastructure Development Agency (NRIDA) under the Ministry of Rural Development has signed an MoU with the Indian Institute of Management Kolkata (IIM Kolkata) to conduct a 4-year longitudinal Impact Assessment Study of roads built under the PM Gram Sadak Yojana - IV (PMGSY-IV) and the PM Janjati Adivasi Nyaya Maha Abhiyan (PM-JANMAN).

The Technology Development Board (TDB) has signed an agreement with Multi Nano Sense Technologies Pvt Ltd to provide financial support of ₹37.51 crore under the Research Development and Innovation (RDI) Fund.

The total approved cost of the project is ₹75.02 crore. The project focuses on the development of a Platform Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) + Analog Front-End (AFE) System-on-Chip (SoC) Multi-Gas Sensor to elevate its technology readiness from Technology Readiness Level (TRL)-4 to TRL-9.

The 10th India-Republic of Korea Joint Committee Meeting (JCM) on Defence Industries and Logistics Cooperation was held in New Delhi.

During the meeting, both nations reviewed ongoing bilateral cooperation in defence industries and logistics and discussed avenues to expand defence ties.

NTPC Ltd (formerly National Thermal Power Corporation) has signed a 50:50 Joint Venture (JV) agreement with EDF Power Solutions India Pvt Ltd to develop, own, and operate low-carbon energy projects across India and neighboring countries.