Current Affairs 29 May 2026

National Affairs

Cabinet Approves ₹25,530 Crore SARTHAK-PDS Scheme for 5 Years; Merges Two Existing Schemes to Modernise PDS

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by PM Narendra Modi, approved the continuation of the "Scheme for Assistance in Ration Transport and Handling–Income with Automation in Public Distribution System" (SARTHAK-PDS), as an umbrella scheme with a central outlay of ₹25,530 crore for 5 years during the 16th Finance Commission (FC) cycle until March 31, 2031.

The Scheme merges two existing schemes:

• "Assistance to State Agencies for intra-State movement of foodgrains and FPS dealers' margin under the NFSA, 2013"
• "Scheme for Modernization and Reforms through Technology in PDS (SMART-PDS)"

India-US Sign Bilateral Framework to Strengthen Critical Minerals & Rare Earth Elements Supply Chains

India and the United States of America (USA) signed a Framework on "Securing of Supply in the Mining and Processing of Critical Minerals and Rare Earths" aimed at securing the supply, mining, processing, and recycling of critical minerals and rare earth elements.

Signed by Dr. S. Jaishankar, EAM, and Marco Rubio, U.S. Secretary of State, in New Delhi, on the sidelines of the 11th Quad Foreign Ministers Meeting.

Objective: Strengthen resilient and diversified supply chains, promote bilateral collaboration on financing, and improve effective management of critical minerals and rare earths.

Funding: The U.S. government is allocating over USD 30 billion through investments, loans, and public–private partnerships.

Quad Initiative: A separate critical minerals framework was also signed among the four Quad partners (Australia, India, Japan, USA) to mobilize up to USD 20 billion in public–private funding across the Indo-Pacific region.

GoI Constitutes High-Level Committee on Demographic Change Headed by Former Justice Naolekar

The Government of India (GoI) constituted a High-Level Committee under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA) to study the demographic changes arising from illegal immigration and other abnormal reasons.

Chaired By: Retired Supreme Court Judge Justice Prakash Prabhakar Naolekar.

Committee Members:

Assessment: Examine demographic changes arising from illegal immigration and other unusual factors; identify causes and recommend suitable policy, legislative, and administrative measures.

Factor Identification: Including illegal immigration, abnormal settlement patterns, orchestrated migration; analyse structural population changes at the level of religious or social communities.

Union Agriculture Minister Releases 3rd Advance Estimates of Production of Major Agricultural Crops for 2025–26

Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, MoAFW, released the Third Advance Estimates of production of major agricultural crops for 2025–26.

Key Estimates:

Union Minister Jyotiraditya M. Scindia Launches ₹236 Crore 'Mission Queen Pineapple' in Tripura

Union Minister Jyotiraditya M. Scindia, MDoNER, along with Dr. Manik Saha, CM of Tripura, launched 'Tripura Mission Queen Pineapple', a ₹236 crore convergence-led initiative for pineapple cultivation and value chain development, at Sanchar Bhawan, New Delhi, Delhi.

Objective: Promote Tripura's GI-tagged Queen Pineapple as its USP through convergence-led investments and market-oriented interventions.

Implementation Timeline: Three-year roadmap from Q2 FY26 to Q4 FY28.

Ecosystem — "Hub and Spoke" Post-Harvest Model:

MoD Issues RFP for AMCA Fifth-Generation Stealth Fighter Programme

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) issued the Request for Proposal (RFP) for the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) Programme — India's first indigenous fifth-generation stealth fighter aircraft project, in New Delhi, Delhi.

Estimated Prototype Development Cost: ₹15,000 crore for developing five flying prototypes and one structural test aircraft.

Overview: A Make in India initiative implemented by the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) under DRDO.

Manufacturing — Private Sector Participation: For the first time, MoD excluded HAL and invited private sector contenders:

• Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL)
• L&T–BEL–Dynamatic Technologies consortium
• Bharat Forge–BEML–Data Patterns consortium

Infrastructure: A 650-acre greenfield manufacturing facility and the Core Integration and Flight Testing Centre of ADA are being developed at Puttaparthi, Andhra Pradesh (AP).

NSDC & FVCC Partner to Enhance Indian Talent Mobility in Japan

The National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) and Japan-based Fourth Valley Concierge Corporation (FVCC) entered into a strategic partnership to strengthen workforce mobility opportunities for Indian professionals in Japan.

Verification: Uses NSDC Trust's "Credibility Check" framework — identity, education, employment, criminal background, and document checks for a transparent and trusted recruitment system.

Target: India and Japan aim to facilitate the movement of at least 50,000 skilled Indian professionals to Japan over the next five years.

Indian Railways Inaugurates 'CHIRAG' Centre for HR Excellence in Telangana

Indian Railways (IR) inaugurated the Centre of Excellence (CoE) "CHIRAG" (Centre for HR Information Systems, Research and Analytics in Governance) dedicated to Human Resource Management training, research, and digital transformation. The foundation stone was laid at the South Central Railway (SCR) Grounds in Moula-Ali, Secunderabad, Telangana.

The facility will function under the Indian Railways Institute of Financial Management (IRIFM), the nodal Centralized Training Institute (CTI) for the IRPS cadre.

Objective: Serve as the technological backbone for IR's HR systems by providing certified, role-based training on the Human Resource Management System (HRMS) nationwide.

HRMS–MITRA Cadre: The centre will create a master trainer pool and deploy them across ZRTIs to decentralize and strengthen HRMS training.

Integration: AI, Machine Learning (ML), and predictive analytics integrated into administrative systems for data-driven HR decisions, recruitment trend analysis, and workforce lifecycle planning. Expected to be fully completed by May 2028.

Banking & Finance

One MobiKwik Systems Secures RBI Approval for Offline PA Licence Expansion

One MobiKwik Systems Limited, the parent company of MobiKwik, secured the in-principle approval from the RBI for a Payment Aggregator-Physical (PA-P) licence, enabling offline merchant payments across India.

Services: Payment aggregation services to physical merchants — acceptance and processing of in-store digital payments through Point-of-Sale (PoS) infrastructure, QR-based payments, and merchant settlement solutions.

Future Plan: Plans to scale deployments of soundboxes and EDC machines, aiming for 10x growth in merchant business by FY28.

Payment Aggregator (PA): An entity facilitating aggregation of payments made by customers to merchants via one or more payment channels through the merchant's interface (physical or virtual).

Awards & Recognitions

India to Host 2027 Asian Relays & 2028 Asian Indoor Championships

India was awarded hosting rights for the 2027 Asian Relays in Chandigarh and the 2028 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships in Bhubaneswar, Odisha by the Asian Athletics Association (AAA), announced during its council meeting chaired by Dahlan Al Hamad, AAA President, in Hong Kong, China.

2027 Asian Relay Championships:

2028 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships:

Note: The same venue will also host the 2028 World Indoor Championships from March 3–5.

Appointments & Resignations

RBI Approves 3-Month Extension for Ketan Merchant as Interim CEO of Fino Payments Bank

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) approved a three-month extension for Ketan Merchant to continue serving as the Interim Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Fino Payments Bank, effective from May 27, 2026.

Appointment Background: RBI approved Merchant as interim CEO after MD & CEO Rishi Gupta was arrested by GST officials in a tax evasion fraud case in March 2026.

Science & Technology

Indian Scientist Discovers 'Loktak Protocluster' — 12.6-Billion-Year-Old City of Galaxies

An international team led by Indian scientist Dr. Ronaldo Laishram from the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) discovered a 12.6-billion-year-old cosmic structure — the "Loktak Protocluster", named after Loktak Lake in Manipur, India.

Published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

About Dr. Ronaldo Laishram: At age 18, discovered a Main Belt asteroid; honoured by former President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam; founding coordinator of the Manipur Astronomical Society (MAS); currently postdoctoral researcher at NAOJ, Tokyo.

Obituary

Five-Time Olympian Shooter and Arjuna Awardee Raja Randhir Singh Passes Away

Renowned Indian shooter, five-time Olympian, and veteran sports administrator Raja Randhir Singh passed away at the age of 79 in New Delhi, Delhi. He was born on 18 October 1946 in Patiala, Punjab.

Honoured with the Arjuna Award in 1979 by MYAS for outstanding contribution to shooting sports.

Profile: Five-time Olympian, Asian Games gold medallist, former Secretary General of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), and the first Indian to serve as President of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA).

Olympic Career (Trap & Skeet Shooting):

Major Achievement: Won Gold Medal in Men's Trap Shooting at the 1978 Asian Games in Bangkok, Thailand — the first Indian shooter to win an Asian Games gold medal.

Books & Authors

PT Usha & Dilip Tirkey Release Book on India's First Olympic Hockey Gold

IOA President P.T. Usha and Hockey India President Dr. Dilip Tirkey released a book titled "India's Olympic Gold: Hockey Triumph at Amsterdam", authored by renowned hockey historian K. Arumugam, at Connaught Hotel, New Delhi, Delhi.

Published By: Stick2Hockey — marking the 98th anniversary of India's first Olympic Gold in hockey at Amsterdam, Netherlands in 1928.

Dignitaries: Hockey legends including Harbinder Singh (triple Olympian, former captain), Jagbir Singh (double Olympian), Zafar Iqbal (Olympic gold medallist), and Ashok Kumar (Olympic medallist, son of Major Dhyan Chand).

Publications: Marks the 16th book by K. Arumugam, reflecting his lifelong contribution to documenting Indian hockey history.

Historical Context: India won its first Olympic gold in hockey at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics, defeating the Netherlands men's team in the final during British rule.

Important Days at a Glance

State News

AP Govt Partners with SIDBI to Launch Angel Fund for Deep-Tech Startups

The Government of Andhra Pradesh (AP), in collaboration with Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), announced creation of an angel fund through Ratan Tata Innovation Hub (RTIH) in New Delhi, Delhi, to position AP as a major hub for deep-tech innovation.

Sectors: AI, electronics and semiconductors, quantum technologies, advanced manufacturing, and clean energy.

Institutions:

Significance: Provides angel and seed funding, industry collaboration, and ecosystem support; strengthens India's deep-tech ecosystem beyond metro cities.

Chhattisgarh Government Launches ₹200 Crore 'Adarsh Shahar Samriddhi Yojana'

The Government of Chhattisgarh, under CM Vishnu Deo Sai, announced 'Adarsh Shahar Samriddhi Yojana', allocating ₹200 crore in the 2026–27 budget to develop modern civic infrastructure in emerging towns and urban centres.

Objective: Modelled on the Mukhyamantri Nagarotthan Yojana (which focused on large municipal corporations in FY26), the new scheme extends similar capital support to smaller urban bodies — Nagar Palikas and Nagar Panchayats.

Focus: Roads, drainage, water supply, transport, green zones, housing, healthcare, education, smart traffic systems, entrepreneurship, renewable energy, e-governance, and grievance redressal.

Phase 1: 32 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) selected across Chhattisgarh's five revenue divisions:

Implementation: Divisional committees led by Joint Directors of Urban Administration Department; 15-day reporting timelines; Chief Engineer (Mechanical Cell) is the nodal officer; Chief Municipal Officers (CMOs) coordinate local execution.

Current Affairs 29 May 2026