Current Affairs 2025-26 — Core

Current affairs is the most volatile part of any exam, and the smart way to study it is to lock down the positions, milestones, and awards that examiners convert into one-mark questions — this snapshot covers events through mid-2026, but always re-verify names close to your exam date.

Definition: Current affairs are recent national and international events — appointments, schemes, awards, space missions, and milestones — typically from the last 6–12 months, tested in the general-awareness section of competitive exams.

Heads of major Indian institutions (mid-2026)

• President of India: Droupadi Murmu (since July 2022) — first tribal woman President.
• Vice-President: Jagdeep Dhankhar (since August 2022).
• Prime Minister: Narendra Modi — third consecutive term began June 2024.
• Chief Justice of India: B. R. Gavai (from May 2025); preceded by Sanjiv Khanna (Nov 2024 – May 2025), and D. Y. Chandrachud (until Nov 2024).
• Lok Sabha Speaker: Om Birla (re-elected June 2024 for a second term).
• RBI Governor: Sanjay Malhotra (from December 2024; replaced Shaktikanta Das).
• Chief Election Commissioner: Gyanesh Kumar (after Rajiv Kumar's tenure).
• Key cabinet ministers: S. Jaishankar (External Affairs), Nirmala Sitharaman (Finance), Rajnath Singh (Defence), Amit Shah (Home Affairs).

Global leaders (2026)

• USA: Donald Trump — 47th President, sworn in January 2025 (second, non-consecutive term; the first such case since Grover Cleveland).
• UK: Keir Starmer — PM since July 2024, Labour Party.
• Russia: Vladimir Putin — re-elected 2024 for a sixth term.
• China: Xi Jinping.
• Bangladesh: Muhammad Yunus leads an interim government after Sheikh Hasina was ousted in August 2024 following mass protests.
• Pakistan: PM Shehbaz Sharif; President Asif Ali Zardari.
• UN Secretary-General: António Guterres (since 2017; second term from 2022).

India's space milestones

• Chandrayaan-3 (August 2023) — Vikram lander and Pragyan rover; India became the 4th nation to soft-land on the Moon and the first ever to land near the lunar south pole. Previous attempts by Russia's Luna-25 crashed days before.
• Aditya-L1 (September 2023) — India's first solar observation mission, successfully parked at the Sun-Earth L1 Lagrange point in January 2024 to study solar winds and coronal mass ejections.
• Gaganyaan — India's human-spaceflight programme managed by ISRO; uncrewed test missions ongoing through 2025–26; first crewed flight planned for 2026.
• SSLV (Small Satellite Launch Vehicle) — now operational for lightweight commercial payloads.

National milestones and schemes

• India became the world's most populous nation in 2023, overtaking China (UN estimates put India at ~1.43 billion).
• India's nominal GDP crossed $4 trillion (5th largest economy globally).
• India hosted the G20 Summit (New Delhi, September 2023) — theme: "One Earth, One Family, One Future". The African Union was admitted as a permanent member. The India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) was announced.
• New Parliament building inaugurated by PM Modi on 28 May 2023 (Sansad Bhavan).
• Vande Bharat trains expanded to 50+ routes across the country by 2026.
• 5G rollout completed across all districts.
• PM Vishwakarma Yojana launched 2023 — skill development for traditional artisans.

Sports milestones (2024–25)

India won 6 medals total at Paris 2024 (1 silver, 5 bronze). Manu Bhaker became the first Indian to win two medals at a single Olympic Games.

• T20 World Cup 2024: India defeated South Africa in the final (Barbados, June 2024) to win their second T20 World Cup (first since 2007).
• D. Gukesh — became the youngest World Chess Champion in history at age 18 (December 2024), defeating Ding Liren of China.

Major awards (2024–25)

Bharat Ratna 2024 (5 recipients — the highest single-year count in decades):

• L. K. Advani (living); P. V. Narasimha Rao (posthumous); Charan Singh (posthumous); M. S. Swaminathan (posthumous); Karpoori Thakur (posthumous).

Nobel Prizes 2024:

• Physics: John Hopfield & Geoffrey Hinton — foundational work enabling machine learning.
• Chemistry: David Baker, Demis Hassabis & John Jumper — computational protein structure prediction.
• Literature: Han Kang (South Korea) — "intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas."
• Peace: Nihon Hidankyo — a Japanese organisation of Hiroshima/Nagasaki atomic-bomb survivors (hibakusha).
• Economics: Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson & James A. Robinson — how institutions shape national prosperity.

Why it matters: General-awareness marks are won by recall alone with no working out — a candidate who has revised the latest office-holders and headline events answers in seconds while others guess. Current-affairs questions are among the most reliable easy marks in any recruitment exam.

Real-world example: When you read "RBI keeps repo rate unchanged", you instantly know the decision sits with Governor Sanjay Malhotra and the Monetary Policy Committee. Connecting an event to the person in office is exactly the link exams test.

Common misconception: That current-affairs facts, once memorised, stay valid. They don't — office-holders rotate. The Chief Justice of India changed three times between 2024 and 2025 alone. Never rely on a note more than 3–4 months old; re-verify the most recent name close to your exam.

Current affairs is the most dynamic section of any government exam, and the highest-scoring slice is government schemes, landmark legislation, and significant national and international events — because these are factual, unambiguous, and directly tested with named-date questions. This lesson organises the key 2023–2025 developments into an exam-ready structure.

Definition: A government scheme (yojana) is a structured programme through which the state delivers a specific benefit — financial assistance, skill training, infrastructure, or services — to a targeted group of citizens.

Flagship schemes — know the beneficiary and benefit

Why it matters: Exam questions frame schemes as "which scheme targets artisans?" or "which scheme provides free solar electricity?" — you must know both the name and the specific beneficiary-benefit pair.

Real-world example: A village potter from Odisha enrolling under PM Vishwakarma receives a ₹15,000 toolkit grant, collateral-free credit of up to ₹3 lakh, and digital-transaction incentives. Visualising one real artisan makes the scheme stick far better than a bare name in a list.

Landmark laws (2023–2024)

The three new criminal laws — the most examined legislative event of 2024:

The British-era criminal codes were replaced by three new Acts and came into force on 1 July 2024:

Also know:

• Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023 (Women's Reservation Act): 33% seats reserved for women in Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies; takes effect after delimitation (expected post-2026 Census).
• Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023: India's first comprehensive data-protection legislation; establishes "Data Fiduciaries" and citizens' rights over personal data.
• Telecommunications Act, 2023: replaces the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885.
• Anusandhan National Research Foundation Act, 2023: establishes an apex body to fund and promote R&D.

Common misconception: Many candidates lump the three new criminal laws together as "a new IPC." They are three separate statutes replacing three separate codes — BNS (criminal offences, replacing IPC), BNSS (criminal procedure, replacing CrPC), BSA (evidence rules, replacing the Evidence Act). Exam questions frequently test which new law maps to which old code, so keep the pairs distinct.

International developments (2023–2025)

Ongoing conflicts:

• Russia–Ukraine war: continues since February 2022; ceasefire negotiations under the new US Trump administration in early 2025 remain inconclusive as of mid-2025.
• Israel–Hamas conflict: began 7 October 2023 with the Hamas attack on southern Israel; a phased ceasefire deal was reached in January 2025.

Leadership changes:

• Bangladesh (Aug 5, 2024): Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled to India amid a student-led uprising; Muhammad Yunus heads the interim government.
• Pakistan elections (Feb 2024): coalition government — PML-N and PPP — with Shehbaz Sharif as Prime Minister.

Multilateral developments:

• BRICS expansion (2024–25): Iran, UAE, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Indonesia joined as full members; Saudi Arabia holds partner status.
• IMEC (India–Middle East–Europe Economic Corridor): announced at G20 New Delhi Summit, 2023 — a proposed rail-and-ship corridor connecting India, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Israel, and Europe.
• India–Canada tensions: diplomatic strain over the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar; Canada expelled an Indian diplomat; India reciprocated.
• India–Maldives: early-2024 tensions after President Muizzu's pro-China stance led to an "India Out" campaign; relations thawed by mid-2024.

Economic developments (2024–2026)

• RBI repo rate: held at 6.5% through all of 2024; cut to 6.25% in February 2025; further cut to 6.0% by mid-2025.
• GST collections: crossed ₹2 lakh crore in a single month multiple times (a milestone).
• UPI transactions: crossed 16 billion transactions in a month (early 2025) — the world's largest real-time payments volume.
• India GDP growth (FY 2024–25): approximately 7.2% (advance estimate), among the fastest large economies globally.

Science and technology milestones

• Gaganyaan (India's first crewed space mission): uncrewed test flights ongoing in 2025–26; crewed mission planned for 2026–27.
• JWST (James Webb Space Telescope): NASA/ESA mission continues releasing deep-field and exoplanet atmosphere data.
• CRISPR-Cas9 gene therapy — Casgevy: first approved CRISPR therapy (by Vertex/CRISPR Therapeutics), cleared in late 2023 for sickle-cell disease and beta-thalassaemia.
• AI/LLM milestones: GPT-4 (2023) and GPT-5 (2024) released by OpenAI; Gemini by Google (2023–24); AI governance discussions at G7, GPAI, and India's AI mission.
• NVIDIA: briefly became the world's most valuable company by market capitalisation (early 2025).

Climate and environment (2024–2025)

• 2024 was the warmest year on record globally, the first calendar year to exceed +1.5°C above the pre-industrial average — the threshold set by the Paris Agreement.
• COP29, Baku (Nov 2024): set a new climate finance goal of $300 billion per year by 2035 from developed to developing nations (critics called it insufficient).
• India at COP: India pushed for differentiated responsibilities and continued its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) targets — 50% non-fossil electricity by 2030 and 1 billion tonnes of carbon-equivalent reduction by 2030.

Positions and appointments to track

For RRB and SSC exams, keep a running list of who currently holds these posts: President and Vice-President of India, Prime Minister, Chief Justice of India, RBI Governor, Election Commissioner, CAG, NITI Aayog CEO, service chiefs (Army, Navy, Air Force), and heads of major international bodies (UN Secretary-General, WTO, IMF, World Bank, WHO).

Why it matters: Current-affairs questions reward candidates who can match a scheme to its target group, a new law to the old code it replaced, and an event to its exact date. These are binary, decisive marks — unlike analytical questions where partial knowledge risks a wrong answer. Systematic revision close to the exam has the highest per-hour return of any topic.

In RRB Group-D CBT (100 questions / 90 min), General Awareness & Current Affairs carries 20 questions — the highest-yield non-science static area after General Science (25). Current Affairs alone contributes 6–8 of these 20 marks, and RRB favours durable current affairs (settled events, awards, appointments) over fast-changing headlines. Learning the fixed facts below locks in near-guaranteed marks.

Durable events you must know

Exam Tricks & Tips

• 🎯 "3-2-1 Chandrayaan": landing on 23 Aug, ISRO's 2nd lunar landing attempt, 1st country at south pole.
• 🎯 New laws mnemonic "N-S-A": Nyaya (crime), Suraksha (procedure), Sakshya (evidence) — the Sanhita order matches IPC→CrPC→Evidence.
• 🎯 Paris medals "1+5=6": one silver (Neeraj Chopra, javelin), five bronze.
• 🎯 Neeraj Chopra won silver (not gold) at Paris 2024; gold went to Arshad Nadeem (Pakistan).
• 🎯 Gukesh's title = Classical/World Chess Champion (FIDE), not a rapid/blitz title.
• ❌ Common mistake: saying India won the "gold" in javelin at Paris 2024 — it was silver. Also don't confuse the 2023 ODI World Cup (won by Australia) with the 2024 T20 World Cup (won by India).

Expected exam pattern

Direct one-liners: "Which country/person won…?", "When did X come into effect?", "National Space Day is observed on…?" Options are close (dates/names), so exact recall wins.

Quick recap

Fix the settled facts: Chandrayaan-3 (23 Aug, south pole), new criminal laws (1 July 2024), Paris 2024 (6 medals), T20 WC 2024 (India), Gukesh (youngest chess champ). Durable > breaking news for RRB.

Cover the answer, recall, then check. 12 cards on durable, exam-settled current affairs for RRB Group-D.

Q1. On what date and where did Chandrayaan-3 soft-land?
A1. 23 August 2023, near the Moon's south pole — India became the 4th nation to soft-land and the 1st near the south pole.

Q2. What is celebrated on 23 August every year in India?
A2. National Space Day, marking the Chandrayaan-3 landing.

Q3. Which three new criminal laws replaced the IPC, CrPC and Indian Evidence Act, and when?
A3. Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA) — from 1 July 2024.

Q4. How many medals did India win at the Paris 2024 Olympics?
A4. 6 — one silver and five bronze.

Q5. Which medal did Neeraj Chopra win at Paris 2024?
A5. Silver in javelin throw (gold went to Arshad Nadeem of Pakistan).

Q6. Who became the first Indian to win two medals at a single Olympics (post-Independence)?
A6. Manu Bhaker (shooting) at Paris 2024.

Q7. Which team won the 2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup?
A7. India (defeated South Africa in the final at Barbados).

Q8. Who became the youngest World Chess Champion in December 2024?
A8. Gukesh Dommaraju (D. Gukesh) of India, at age 18.

Q9. Who is the 15th President of India?
A9. Droupadi Murmu, the first tribal woman to hold the office (since July 2022).

Q10. Which country won the 2023 ODI Cricket World Cup?
A10. Australia (beat India in the final at Ahmedabad).

Q11. What is Aditya-L1?
A11. India's first solar mission, launched by ISRO on 2 September 2023 to study the Sun from the L1 point.

Q12. Name the lander and rover of Chandrayaan-3.
A12. Lander Vikram, rover Pragyan.