Current Affairs 23 May 2026

National Affairs

Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh Launches Phase-II of UMMID Programme for Rare Genetic Disorders

Union Minister of State (MoS) (Independent Charge, IC) Dr. Jitendra Singh, Ministry of Science and Technology (MoS&T), launched the Phase-II of the Unique Methods of Management and Treatment of Inherited Disorders (UMMID) Programme for Rare Genetic Disorders (RGDs) under the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), MoS&T, at Prithvi Bhawan, New Delhi, Delhi.

Components: Establishment of NIDAN (National Inherited Diseases Administration) Kendras for advanced genetic diagnostics and counselling, clinician training and capacity-building, community outreach in underserved regions, and nationwide digital monitoring through the UMMID Dashboard.

Expansion: Phase-II includes 25 additional NIDAN Kendras across 13 states and 1 Union Territory (UT), along with three proposed training centres:

Background: India's first comprehensive national initiative, UMMID, was launched on 23 September 2019 by MoS&T to introduce molecular diagnostics for rare diseases.

India Hosts 68th APO Governing Body Meeting in New Delhi

Union Minister Piyush Goyal, Ministry of Commerce & Industry (MoC&I), inaugurated the 68th Session of the Governing Body Meeting (GBM) of the Asian Productivity Organization (APO) at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi, Delhi.

Review: Member economies reviewed progress under the APO Vision 2030 framework, focused on productivity-led transformation in the Asia-Pacific region. Discussions included reforms in the APO Secretary-General election process and leadership elections for Chair and Vice Chairs for the 2026–27 term.

Budget Planning: Delegates discussed the APO's preliminary budget for 2027–28.

Awards:

NPC Special Recognition Awards: Vidushi Mittal (Rajasthan), Anshul Malhotra (HP), and Akhand Pratap Singh (UP).

About APO: Established in 1961; intergovernmental body with 21 member economies across the Asia-Pacific region; headquartered at Tokyo, Japan.

UK & Danish Firms Launch USD 300 Million Renewable Energy Initiative in India

The UK's development finance institution British International Investment (BII) partnered with Danish global fund manager Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) to launch 'North Star', a USD 300 million Renewable Energy (RE) platform aimed at supporting India's clean energy transition.

Investment Plan: BII and CIP (through Growth Markets Fund II) will each invest up to USD 150 million in solar, wind, hybrid, and storage renewable energy projects in India.

MoT Launches Bharat Tex 2026 Event App with AI-Powered Networking Features

Neelam Shami Rao, Secretary of Ministry of Textiles (MoT), launched the Bharat Tex 2026 Event Application (app) to facilitate AI-driven networking and business matchmaking for Bharat Tex 2026, scheduled for 14–17 July 2026 at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi, Delhi.

AI Assistant: 24×7 conversational support for schedules, venue details, directions, and event-related queries.

Engagement: Dedicated networking and meeting modules for discovering relevant partners, scheduling meetings, managing availability, and tracking interactions.

QR-Based Lead Capture: QR-based system enabling exhibitors and visitors to scan digital badges and save contact details for future business follow-ups.

Bharat Tex 2026: Organised by the Bharat Tex Trade Federation (BTTF) along with 11 textile export promotion councils and support from MoT. Aligned with PM Modi's '5F Vision': Farm to Fibre to Factory to Fashion to Foreign.

International Affairs

Overview of PM Narendra Modi's Visit to Norway on May 18–19, 2026

Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi was on a two-day official visit to Norway from May 18–19, 2026, at the invitation of Jonas Gahr Støre, PM of Norway — part of PM Modi's 5-nation tour.

This marked the 1st ever official visit by an Indian PM to Norway in over 40 years since former PM Indira Gandhi's visit in 1983.

Key Engagements:

• Bilateral talks with Norwegian PM Jonas Gahr Støre
• Participated in the 3rd India-Nordic Summit in Oslo
• Attended the India-Norway Business and Research Summit

Norway's Highest Civilian Honour: PM Modi was honoured with the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit Grand Cross by King Harald V in Oslo — his 32nd global honour and the 2nd during his ongoing 5-nation tour (after Sweden's highest civilian honour).

Key Outcomes:

• Elevation of India-Norway bilateral relations to Green Strategic Partnership
• Norway to join Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI)
• India to participate at Nor Shipping 2027
• Launch of India-Norway Digital Development Partnership

MoUs Signed: India and Norway signed 12 agreements to strengthen their green strategic partnership across sustainability, healthcare, research, infrastructure, and innovation sectors.

Banking & Finance

SEBI-Backed NISM Signs MoU with IICA to Boost ESG, Capital Markets & Governance

The SEBI-backed National Institute of Securities Markets (NISM) signed an MoU with the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA), under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), to bolster cooperation in corporate governance, ESG practices, and capital markets in India.

Signed in the presence of Tuhin Kanta Pandey, Chairman of SEBI, in Mumbai, Maharashtra.

Objective: Strengthen capacity building, research, policy development, and training in securities markets and corporate regulation; promote a stronger, more transparent, and efficient financial ecosystem.

Key Areas: Capacity building, research, policy support, and institutional cooperation across emerging areas of financial and corporate regulation.

Key Role: Jointly design and conduct certification courses, executive education modules, training programmes, and capacity-building initiatives, including programmes for SEBI officers and officials from other regulatory and financial sector institutions.

ZikZuk Technologies Receives RBI Approval to Operate as PPI Issuer

ZikZuk Technologies Private Limited received its final authorisation from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to operate as a Prepaid Payment Instrument (PPI) issuer under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act (PSSA), 2007. This follows its in-principle approval granted in May 2025.

Integration: PPI authorisation enables operations across digital payments, UPI infrastructure, and cross-border financial services.

Expansion: Allows development and scaling of RBI-regulated payment solutions including digital wallets, prepaid cards, and stored-value services.

PPI Types:

About ZikZuk: Hyderabad (Telangana)-based company, founded in 2022 by Ravindranath Yarlagadda, focusing on bridging digital banking and payment access gaps in semi-urban and rural India.

Awards & Recognitions

ISRO's Chandrayaan-3 Receives 2026 AIAA Goddard Astronautics Award

ISRO's Chandrayaan-3 mission received the 2026 Goddard Astronautics Award from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) at the ASCEND 2026 Conference in Washington D.C., USA.

The award was presented for achieving the world's first soft landing near the Moon's south pole on 23 August 2023. India's Ambassador to the USA, Vinay Kwatra, accepted the award on behalf of ISRO.

Achievement: Recognised for the successful Moon landing, contribution to lunar exploration research, and confirmation of key chemical elements in the lunar south polar soil.

Milestone: Made India the 4th country — after Russia, USA (NASA), and China (CNSA) — to successfully land on the Moon.

Significance: The lunar south pole is scientifically important because of possible water ice reserves; the mission strengthened India's position among leading spacefaring nations.

IIT Kanpur Director Manindra Agrawal & Dr. Soumya Swaminathan Elected as Fellows of Royal Society

Professor Manindra Agrawal, Director of IIT Kanpur (UP), and Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, former Chief Scientist of the WHO, were elected as Fellows of the Royal Society (FRS) — one of the world's oldest and most prestigious scientific academies.

Two Indian-Origin Scientists Conferred South Africa's Highest Civilian Honour

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa conferred the country's highest civilian honour, the Order of Mapungubwe, on Indian-origin scientists during a National Orders ceremony in Pretoria, South Africa:

HAL's K.K. Venugopal Becomes First Indian Test Pilot Elected Fellow of SETP, USA

(Covered in previous edition)

Science & Technology

GRSE Launches Next Generation Offshore Patrol Vessel 'INS Sanghmitra' for Indian Navy

(Covered in previous edition)

India Successfully Tests Vayu Astra-1 Loitering Munition with 100-km Strike Capability

NIBE Limited, a defence manufacturing firm, announced the successful trials of its Vayu Astra-1 Loitering Munition (LM) with a 100 km operational range at Pokhran, Rajasthan and Joshimath (Malari), Uttarakhand, demonstrating the No-Cost, No-Commitment (NCNC) model.

Technology Collaboration: Based on an Israeli-designed loitering munition system developed in collaboration with Elbit Systems.

Evaluation: The Indian Army (IA) acted as the evaluating authority, setting parameters under a Request for Proposal (RFP) to assess the system for a 100 km long-range kamikaze drone.

Field Trials:

Environment

New Worm-Eating Snake 'Trachischium lalremsangai' Discovered in Mizoram

Researchers discovered a new worm-eating snake species, 'Trachischium lalremsangai', in the forest regions of Mizoram and Myanmar during biodiversity and herpetological surveys. Named after Hmar Tlawmte Lalremsanga, Professor of Zoology at Mizoram University, for his contributions to herpetology research in India.

Published in the international journal Herpetozoa by the Austrian Herpetological Society.

Habitat: Small, non-venomous, harmless snakes living underground (semi-fossorial); found in loose soil, leaf litter, and forest debris; commonly known as slender snakes or worm-eating snakes.

Identification: Smooth, iridescent scales, two postocular scales behind the eye, and a light brown to white-speckled belly — distinguishing it from related species with dark brown or black undersides.

Classification: Marks the 11th recognised species of the Trachischium genus found in Northeast India and the Himalayan region.

Important Days at a Glance

State News

MP Joins Hands with Google to Develop AI-Powered Simhastha 2028 Management

The Madhya Pradesh (MP) Government partnered with Google to develop an AI-powered framework for Simhastha 2028 and establish an AI Centre of Excellence (AI CoE) in MP.

Simhastha 2028: The Kumbh Mela, held once every 12 years, is scheduled for 27 March to 27 May 2028 in Ujjain, MP.

Background: The partnership emerged from discussions between Google executives and MP CM Mohan Yadav during the India AI Impact Summit 2026.

Framework: The proposed AI-enabled system will include:

• Real-time crowd monitoring
• Predictive traffic analytics
• AI-based emergency response
• Digital twin models for infrastructure management

AI Assistant: Google introduced 'Sahayak', a multilingual voice-enabled AI assistant for pilgrim navigation, crowd updates, emergency support, and regional language accessibility.

Maharashtra Signs ₹6.5 Lakh Crore Nuclear Energy MoUs with NTPC, Reliance, Adani & Lalitpur

The Government of Maharashtra signed MoUs with four companies at Mumbai, Maharashtra, to attract investments worth ₹6.5 lakh crore for nuclear energy projects, generating 25,400 MW of capacity.

Objective: Strengthen Maharashtra's long-term energy security, industrial growth, clean energy expansion, and decarbonisation efforts in line with net-zero energy systems.

Current Affairs 23 May 2026