UPSC Current Affairs January 2026 — PIB & The Hindu

All UPSC-relevant current affairs for January 2026, rated and summarised from PIB and The Hindu, with practice MCQs.

PIB press releases

• Prime Minister welcomes new Ramsar sites at Patna Bird Sanctuary and Chhari-Dhand
• Union Environment Minister Shri Bhupender Yadav announces Addition of 2 New Wetlands to India's Ramsar List, ahead of World Wetlands Day 2026
• India-EU Free Trade Pact Covers One-Third of World Population, Impacts 25% of Global GDP: Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Shri Piyush Goyal
• MoSPI organized Third Pre-release Consultative Workshop on the Base Revision of GDP, IIP and CPI on 30th January 2026 at Chennai
• Economic Survey 2025-26
• Government Notifies Coking Coal as Critical & Strategic Mineral under MMDR Act, 1957
• FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS INDIA AND EUROPEAN UNION FREE TRADE AGREEMENT
• INDIA’S GDP GROWTH FOR FY26 IS ESTIMATED AT 7.4 PER CENT DRIVEN BY THE DOUBLE ENGINE OF CONSUMPTION AND INVESTMENT
• HIGHLIGHTS: ECONOMIC SURVEY 2025-26
• Prime Minister shares glimpses of the conclusion of the historic India-EU Free Trade Agreement
• New Solid Waste Management Rules Notified; To Come into Force from April 1, 2026
• India and the European Union Conclude Free Trade Agreement Negotiations on Financial Services
• List of Outcomes: Visit of President of the European Council and President of the European Commission to India
• India–EU Free Trade Agreement Concluded: A Strategic Breakthrough in India’s Global Trade Engagement
• National Household Income Survey (NHIS) and Annual Survey of Incorporated Service Sector Enterprises (ASISSE) on 28th and 29th January 2026 at Chennai
• Padma Awards 2026 announced
• Release of Discussion Paper on “Changes in Methodology of Quarterly GDP series and Sub-national Accounts”
• CDS releases Military Quantum Mission Policy Framework
• Government notifies Greenhouse Gas Emission Intensity Targets for 208 more Carbon-intensive Industries
• DRAFT NATIONAL ELECTRICITY POLICY (NEP), 2026 RELEASED FOR PUBLIC CONSULTATION WITH STAKEHOLDERS
• Dr Jitendra Singh interacts with journalists at Media Round Table
• NITI Aayog releases three reports on green transition in cement, aluminium and MSME sectors
• INDEX OF EIGHT CORE INDUSTRIES (BASE YEAR: 2011-12=100) FOR DECEMBER, 2025
• List of Outcomes: Visit of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of UAE to India
• Joint Statement: Visit of President of the UAE, His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, to India
• Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh Launches India’s First Open-Sea Marine Fish Farming Project at North Bay, Andaman Sea; Ministry of Earth Sciences to Collaborate with UT Government of A&N
• POWER DISTRIBUTION UTILITIES RECORD POSITIVE PAT AFTER YEARS OF LOSSES; THIS MARKS A NEW CHAPTER, SAYS POWER MINISTER
• International Year of Cooperatives 2025
• Chips to Start-up (C2S) Programme
• ‘Historic reforms for farmers’: Union Agriculture Minister Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan shares details of new Seed Act
• 150 years of Vande Mataram to be the theme of Republic Day Parade 2026 at Kartavya Path
• Integrating Tribal Healers into Community Healthcare: National Capacity Building Programme for Tribal Healers Begins
• The cumulative exports (merchandise & services) during April-December 2025 is estimated at US$ 634.26 Billion, as compared to US$ 607.93 Billion in April-December 2024, an estimated growth of 4.33%.
• Female LFPR and WPR recorded a yearly high in December, 2025 Overall Unemployment Rate broadly stable
• Ministry of Tribal Affairs to Organize India’s First National Capacity Building Programme for Tribal Healers to Strengthen Health Outreach in Tribal Areas
• NITI Aayog Releases Export Preparedness Index (EPI) 2024
• PFRDA issues NPS Vatsalya Scheme Guidelines 2025 to strengthen long-term financial security for Minors
• Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation, Shri Amit Shah, lays the foundation stone of the BSL-4 Bio-Containment Facility of the Gujarat Biotechnology Research Centre in Gandhinagar
• India – Germany Joint Statement
• List of Outcomes: Visit of the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany to India (January 12-13, 2026)
• CONSUMER PRICE INDEX NUMBERS ON BASE 2012=100 FOR RURAL, URBAN AND COMBINED FOR THE MONTH OF DECEMBER, 2025
• NOTIFICATION OF NATIONAL SPORTS GOVERNANCE (NATIONAL SPORTS BODIES) RULES, 2026
• Viksit Bharat-G RAM G aligned with the Vision of Viksit Bharat@2047 – Dr. Sukanta Majumdar
• India Marks Record-Breaking Year in Clean Energy in 2025 : Union Minister Pralhad Joshi
• India–Oman CEPA
• DRDO conducts successful ground test of full scale actively cooled long duration Scramjet Engine for Hypersonic Missile Programme
• Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation, Shri Amit Shah chairs 9th Apex-Level Meeting of NCORD in New Delhi
• Ministry of Tourism Completes 75 Projects under Swadesh Darshan Scheme Launched in 2015
• NOTIFICATION OF NATIONAL SPORTS BOARD (SEARCH-CUM-SELECTION COMMITTEE) RULES, 2026
• Government invites public comments on Draft Pesticides Management Bill, 2025
• India enters into an era of 'Clean, Green Highways', with the successful Technology Transfer titled “Bio-Bitumen via Pyrolysis: From Farm Residue to Roads”, an indigenous innovation developed by CSIR‑Central Road Researc...
• FIRST ADVANCE ESTIMATES OF GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT, 2025-26
• In pursuance of the Union Budget 2025-26 announcement, Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), Ministry of Finance, has created a three-year Public Private Partnership (PPP) project pipeline
• YEAR END REVIEW 2025: MINISTRY OF PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS
• Celebrating 80th Foundation Day of CSIR-NPL, Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh inaugurates the World's second "National Environmental Standard Laboratory" and the World's fifth "National Primary Standard Facility for Sol...
• Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation, Shri Amit Shah, chairs a meeting of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee of the Ministry of Home Affairs at Sri Vijaya Puram in Andaman and Nicobar Islands
• Two Key Interventions Launched to Strengthen MSME Exports under Export Promotion Mission
• Government approves 22 proposals under the 3rd tranche of Electronics Component Manufacturing Scheme (ECMS)
• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for Health Security se National Security (HSNS) Cess Act, 2026 and HSNS Cess Rules, 2026
• Union Health Minister Shri J. P. Nadda Releases 10th Edition of Indian Pharmacopoeia
• Credit Guarantee Scheme for Exporters (CGSE) made operational through Jan Samarth Portal w.e.f. 1 December 2025
• Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi receives a delegation of Arab Foreign Ministers
• Ministry of Minority Affairs launches two additional modules, named Survey Module and Waqf Property Lease Module on the UMEED Central Portal
• Lakshya Zero Dumpsite: India’s Drive to Eliminate City Dumpsites Under Swachh Bharat Mission
• Year-End Review 2025: Driving Digital Justice, Consumer Trust and Quality in India’s Marketplace
• Connectivity projects in North East Region
• India AI Impact Summit Receives Phenomenal Global Response, India’s AI Ecosystem Developing in a Systematic Manner: Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw
• Secretary, DFS Chairs Review Meeting of Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) today
• Monthly Review of Accounts of Government of India upto December 2025 (FY 2025-26)
• Indian Railways Speeds Up Kavach 4.0 Safety Rollout with 472 km Commissioned Across Three Sections
• Economic Survey 2025-26 Highlights India’s Shift Toward High-Value Pharma and Innovation
• India’s space economy at $8.4 billion, nearly 400 start-ups active after sector opened to private players: Dr. Jitendra Singh
• PARLIAMENT QUESTION: PRIVATE SECTOR PARTICIPATION IN SPACE ECONOMY
• PARLIAMENT QUESTION: IMPLICATIONS OF SHANTI ACT
• PARLIAMENT QUESTION: RARE EARTH MINERALS
• PARLIAMENT QUESTION: EXPANSION PROJECTS
• PARLIAMENT QUESTION: DOMESTIC EXPLORATIONAND AVAILIBILITY OF CRITICAL MINERALS
• PARLIAMENT QUESTION : SAFEGUARDS UNDER SHANTI ACT
• Centre, States Align to Scale AgriStack Across Schemes and Services at the National Workshop on AgriStack
• Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade Proposes Amendments to Designs Act to Align with Global Best Practices
• A CALIBERATED FISCAL STRATEGY HAS ANCHORED ECONOMIC STABILITY AMID GLOBAL ECONOMIC TURBULENCE: ECONOMIC SURVEY 2025-26
• FROM STABILITY TO STRENGTH: GROWTH ACCELERATES ALONG WITH LOWER INFLATION
• ASSET QUALITY OF SCHEDULED COMMERCIAL BANKS (SCBs) WITNESSES SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENT, RECOVERY RATE IN NPAs APPROXIMATELY DOUBLES FROM 13.2 PER CENT IN FY18 TO 26.2 PER CENT IN FY25
• AMIDST CONTINUOUS SHIFTS IN TRADE POLICIES AND GLOBAL UNCERTAINTIES, INDIA’S EQUITY MARKETS EXHIBITED MEASURED YET RESILIENT PERFORMANCE: ECONOMIC SURVEY 2025-26
• INDIA’S INNOVATION PERFORMANCE STRENGTHENS STEADILY, GLOBAL INNOVATION INDEX RANK IMPROVES TO 38TH IN 2025 FROM 66TH IN 2019: ECONOMIC SURVEY 2025-26
• WORLD BANK RANKS INDIA AMONG THE TOP FIVE COUNTRIES IN TERMS OF PRIVATE INVESTMENT IN INFRASTRUCTURE AMONG LOW- AND MIDDLE-INCOME ECONOMIES
• MICRO, SMALL, AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES FORM THE BACKBONE OF INDIA’S INDUSTRIAL ECONOMY: ECONOMIC SURVEY 2025-26
• INDIA REMAINS AS THE WORLD’S LARGEST RECIPIENT OF REMITTANCES, WITH INFLOWS REACHING USD 135.4 BILLION IN FY25
• RURAL EMPOYMENT SCHEME MGNREGS REACHED ITS LIMITS AND WARRANTED REASSESSMENT IN LIGHT OF EVOLVING RURAL REALITIES: ECONOMIC SURVEY
• TELE-DENSITY REACHES 86.76 % AND 5G SERVICES NOW AVAILABLE IN 99.9 % OF DISTRICTS IN THE COUNTRY
• INDIA ADOPTS A DEVELOPMENT-CENTRED, WHOLE-OF-ECONOMY CLIMATE STRATEGY: INTEGRATES ADAPTATION, MITIGATION AND BEHAVIOURAL CHANGE WITHIN ITS DEVELOPMENT MODEL, SAYS ECONOMIC SURVEY 2025-26
• DYNAMIC GROUNDWATER RESOURCES ASSESSMENT, 2025
• SOCIAL SECURITY FOR GIG AND PLATFORM WORKERS
• ELECTRICITY AMENDMENT BILL, 2025
• Cashless Treatment to Road Accident Victims
• FINANCING IN RESEARCH
• All India Workshop of Trainers (AIWOT) for National Household Income Survey (NHIS) and Annual Survey of Incorporated Services Sector Enterprises (ASISSE) conducted by NSO (FOD) on 28th and 29th January 2026 at Chennai.
• Press note on release of Expert Group Report on Comprehensive Updation of CPI
• India and European Union Reaffirm Cooperation in Secure 6G Technologies and Trusted Telecom Supply Chains
• New Aadhaar App dedicated to the nation
• BISAG-N and QNu Labs Sign MoU for collaboration and technology transfer to Strengthen India’s Quantum-Resilient Cybersecurity Capabilities
• Reserve Bank of India (RBI) signs a Memorandum of Understanding with the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA)
• Presidential Address at Commencement of Budget Session Highlights Strengthening of Public Healthcare System
• Union Health Ministry Notifies Key Amendments to NDCT Rules, 2019 to Reduce Regulatory Burden and Promote Ease of Doing Business
• India's Index of industrial production records growth of 7.8% in December 2025
• Launch of Sampoornata Abhiyan 2.0 by NITI Aayog
• Counting What Counts: Strengthening India’s National Accounts and Core Economic Statistics
• PRESIDENT OF INDIA HOSTS PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN COUNCIL AND PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION
• Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi addresses the India-EU Business Forum in New Delhi
• FACTSHEET
• Operation Sindoor demonstrated that indigenous systems are strengthening India’s operational readiness: Raksha Mantri
• Union Minister Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw interacts with Semiconductor Chip Design Companies approved under the DLI Scheme
• NITI Aayog launched three Reports on "Enhancing Circular Economy in End-of-Life Vehicles (ELVs), Waste Tyres and E-waste and Lithium-ion Batteries in India" in Jaipur
• India’s Expanding Role in the Global Energy Transition
• International Data Privacy Day
• ECI Releases “2025: A Year of Initiatives & Innovations” on the Occasion of 16th National Voters’ Day 2026
• 77th Republic Day: President approves Gallantry awards to 70 Armed Forces personnel, including six posthumous
• PFRDA constitutes Committee for Strategic Asset Allocation and Risk Governance (SAARG)
• Union Minister of State Prof. S.P. Singh Baghel Felicitates Panchayat Leaders Invited as Special Guests for Republic Day 2026
• Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia Lays Foundation Stone of ₹80 Crore Agarwood Value Chain Development Scheme

The Hindu

• Great deal of enthusiasm for EU deal; to be implemented this year, says Piyush Goyal
• Green steel can shape India’s climate goals trajectory
• Cracks on campus
• Survey predicts upbeat India, troubled world
• SC keeps in abeyance 2026 UGC campus equity rules, terms move ‘too sweeping’
• Gujarat farmer repels claw attack, faces handcuffs
• Is India prepared for the end of globalisation?
• Will removing curbs on Chinese FDI help India?
• fifty years ago January 30, 1976
• Has health spending by the Centre increased?
• The new logic of the Chinese economy
• Plan for India’s own communication satellite
• No discrimination under UGC’s new equity rules, says Education Minister
• Place in the electoral rolls is a ‘qualified right’, with essential conditions, poll body tells SC
• The impact of India-EU FTA for AI and semiconductor tech
• Canadian PM denies FTA plans with China, after Trump’s tariff warning
• Playing hide and seek on employment guarantee
• Cybercrime and a global governance crisis
• IAS candidates may have to sit for screening test
• The issues surrounding Governors’ address
• U.S. official hints at removing Russian oil penalty levy on India
• What is RBI nudging India to do at BRICS?
• Is SIR process about illegal immigration, asks top court
• BRICS India summit needs a green and resilient agenda
• Centre studying take-over of foreign drug firms
• EC discretion during SIR is not unregulated authority, says SC
• ‘Freebies’ different from investing in welfare for the marginalised, says SC
• Should corruption charges need prior sanction?
• Governor altered policy speech in Assembly, says Kerala CM
• SIR order was legislative, aims to ‘purify’ rolls, has a liberal approach, EC tells SC
• SC flags ‘stress’ triggered by SIR in Bengal
• Include proposal to link digital currencies on the BRICS agenda, says RBI
• IMF upgrades India’s growth projection to 7.3%
• Trump’s tariff threat over Greenland may imperil EU trade deal
• Corruption and prior sanction, case of a divided house
• How should India tackle child trafficking?
• What happened to ISRO’s PSLV-C62 mission?
• Has an Arbitration Council been constituted?
• Can datacentres in orbit solve for AI models’ energy demand?
• SC rejects Justice Varma’s challenge to formation of House inquiry committee
• Budget 2026-27 must keep the growth momentum
• SC to decide today on plea for passive euthanasia
• Insurgent groups warned against violating rules
• Following the failure of the PSLV-C62 mission, here’s a quiz remembering the storied history of ISRO’s PSLV rocket
• SC questions EC on voter deletion, citizenship
• SC split on sanction to prosecute public servants
• India must focus on AI and its environmental impact
• India, Germany sign pact to shore up defence industrial cooperation
• PSLV-C62 strays from flight path, fails to launch satellite
• Retail inflation at 3-month high of 1.33% in December
• A Bill that reimagines higher education regulation
• Why Article 6 is a powerful tool for India
• Bill to prevent Ry. wagons being used as godowns passed
• Reimagining delimitation
• How will the U.S. exit affect climate action?
• India dismisses Lutnick’s claim that PM didn’t call Trump to seal trade deal
• Trump clears Bill that will slap up to 500% tariffs on nations buying Russian oil
• Top court’s green governance, cause for uncertainty
• Govt. pegs real GDP growth at 7.4% amid concerns over tariffs
• SC in ‘disagreement’ with Justice Varma’s claims on LS Speaker
• Letter against spirit
• World Bank aid for food godowns
• India’s progress on its climate targets
• EC tells SC it has duty to weed out foreigners
• Madras HC upholds order to light lampat Madurai stone pillar
• Not just forests: why grasslands also belong in national climate plans
• Trump asserts India cut import of Russian crude to please him
• SC allows petitioner to approach Centre on timely revision of EPFO wage ceiling
• The parallel track that keeps U.S.-India ties going
• A brewing storm over ‘defections’
• What does the SHANTI Bill change?
• India loses 0.4% of its GDP every year to natural disasters
• Protection for the ship-building trade
• Transforming a waste-ridden urban India
• Sex systems boost mitochondrial evolution in many kinds of insects
• The U.S. tariff shock, India’s pharma future
• On property registration and title
• Menstrual health in schools is integral to right to life: SC
• UGC equity rules flow from Article 15’s mandate to remedy historical injustice
• Stem cell therapy cannot be offered as a clinical service for autism: Supreme Court
• Farmers’ body set to campaign against India-EU trade deal
• Unions question SC comment on industrial stagnation
• The 27th amendment, Pakistan’s democratic dilemma
• A job well done
• Leaders welcome SC’s stay of UGC equity rules
• ‘Peaceful criticism of government can’t be called anti-national’
• EC told to display list of names left out of T.N. rolls with reasons
• Survey raises concerns over unconditional cash transfers
• Survey backs decision to scrap MGNREGA, cites structural flaws, strong rural economy
• LS members get copy of Economic Survey through WhatsApp
• Economic Survey highlights uneven distribution of secondary schools
• Agricultural growth slows down to 3.5% in 2025-26
• Fodder shortage hurdle for livestock farming: Survey
• SC asks States to evolve plan on domestic workers’ wages
• Manufacturing sector needs mission-based approach: Eco Survey
• Cutting carbon emissions should not be the top priority: Survey
• Petitioners ask SC if EC gave data to show SIR was needed
• If Aadhaar can be forged, same goes for passport: SC
• SC to hear petition seeking probe into Air India crash early
• SC extends tenure of panel to help heal Manipur
• AYUSHEXCIL signs MoU with Zepto
• Centre demands apology from Opposition for protesting during President’s Address to House
• Mamata seeks SC-monitored probe into Ajit Pawar’s death
• 66% sanitation workers in Central govt. from SC, ST, OBC groups: DoPT report
• SC says States ‘building castles in the air’ on stray dog sterilisation
• Health Ministry eases drug trial norms; cuts licence requirement
• Plea in SC contests UGC regulations limiting reservation to SC/ST/OBC
• EU, India to collaborate on ‘peaceful uses’ of nuclear energy under Euratom deal
• SC declines plea against ‘VIP darshan’ in temple
• Poll-bound States spent carefully while cutting debt
• Transmission of rate cut only half complete in PSBs
• Aajeevika Mission a revolution, says Chouhan
• If judges lose credibility, nothing will be left of judiciary: Justice Bhuyan
• Rahul says poll panel is ‘key participant’ in conspiracy to undermine democracy
• T.N. Assembly passes Bill to set up Water Resources Management Authority
• EC releases list of ‘logical discrepancies’ on SC order
• SC seeks status reports on bank fraud investigation against Anil Ambani group
• HC gives Lokpal two months to decide on sanction against MP
• Stir against new rural jobs Act will be decentralised, says NREGA Morcha
• Rahul demands PM’s intervention to save tariff-hit textile sector