Current Affairs 08 September 2026

TCS HyperVault to Develop AI Data Centre in Hyderabad

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) subsidiary HyperVault AI Data Center Limited will develop a large-scale artificial intelligence data centre campus in Hyderabad, Telangana, with an investment of up to ₹70,000 crore by HyperVault and its partners. The proposed campus will have a capacity of up to 1 gigawatt (1 GW or 1,000 MW) and will be developed on about 264 acres.

Karnataka Introduces ‘Tr’ Prefix for Teachers

The Karnataka government has allowed teachers in the State to use the honorific prefix “Tr” before their names, similar to the use of “Dr” for doctors and “Prof” for professors. The initiative was announced on Teachers’ Day, 5 September 2026, as a mark of recognition for the teaching profession. The prefix “Tr” is an honorific professional identity and does not amount to an additional academic qualification. Karnataka has been reported as the first State in India to formally recognise a separate honorific prefix for teachers.

Suru Summer Festival 2026

The second Suru Summer Festival 2026 was organised on 26–27 August 2026 at Damsna in Suru Valley, Kargil district, Ladakh. The festival was inaugurated virtually by Ladakh Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena and aimed to promote Suru Valley and Kargil as destinations for sustainable, cultural, and adventure tourism.

Suru Valley, situated in the western Himalayan region of Ladakh, is known for its green landscapes, glaciers and the Nun-Kun mountain massif. Its population includes the Purgi community, whose cultural traditions reflect historical interaction between Islamic and Buddhist influences. The lower parts of the valley predominantly follow Islamic traditions, while areas towards Zanskar have stronger Buddhist cultural connections.

Totalisers in EVM Vote Counting

The Supreme Court on 1 September 2026 asked the Union government to examine the feasibility of introducing totaliser machines to count votes recorded by Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). The objective is to strengthen the secrecy of voting patterns by preventing disclosure of how voters at an individual polling station voted.

A totaliser is a device designed to aggregate votes from the Control Units of multiple EVMs before displaying the candidate-wise result. According to the Election Commission of India (ECI), a prototype totaliser can accommodate up to 14 EVM Control Units (CUs) at a time. It provides the combined vote count without revealing candidate-wise results from each polling station. At present, totalisers are not used in Indian elections. The proposal seeks to prevent booth-wise profiling of voters.

Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) 5.0

The Government of India approved the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) 5.0 on 5 May 2026 to provide additional working-capital support to businesses affected by external economic disruptions. The scheme is implemented by the National Credit Guarantee Trustee Company (NCGTC) and aims to facilitate additional credit of up to ₹2.55 lakh crore through government-backed guarantees.

ECLGS 5.0 covers Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), eligible non-MSME business borrowers and scheduled passenger airlines. It is operational until 31 March 2027, or until guarantees worth ₹2.55 lakh crore are issued, whichever is earlier. Loans to eligible MSMEs receive a 100% credit guarantee, while eligible non-MSMEs and scheduled passenger airlines receive 90% guarantee coverage. No guarantee fee is payable by Member Lending Institutions. Eligible borrowers can access ECLGS 5.0 through the Jan Samarth Portal.

National Teachers’ Awards 2026 – Andhra Pradesh Awardees

President Droupadi Murmu conferred the National Awards to Teachers 2026 on 5 September 2026, observed as Teachers’ Day, at a national-level function in New Delhi. In 2026, a total of 82 teachers and educators were recognised across school education, higher education/polytechnics and skill-development institutions.

Awardees from Andhra Pradesh

UN Declares November 27 as International Day Against Child Marriage

The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted a resolution on 4 September 2026 designating 27 November every year as the International Day for the Elimination of Child, Early and Forced Marriage. The resolution was led by Sierra Leone and adopted by consensus, creating a dedicated global platform to accelerate efforts to eliminate child marriage.

The date holds special significance for India, as the Government of India launched the Bal Vivah Mukt Bharat (Child Marriage-Free India) campaign on 27 November 2024 under the Ministry of Women and Child Development. The campaign follows a “whole-of-government” and “whole-of-society” approach, focusing on awareness, community mobilisation, prevention and timely reporting of child marriages.

The global initiative is also relevant to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5.3, which calls for elimination of harmful practices, including child, early and forced marriage, by 2030. In India, child marriage is prohibited under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006; under the Act, a child means a male below 21 years or a female below 18 years for marriage.

International Vulture Awareness Day 2026

International Vulture Awareness Day (IVAD) is observed every year on the first Saturday of September to raise awareness about the ecological importance of vultures and the need for their conservation. The official IVAD platform does not specify a separate global theme for 2026.

As part of India’s observance of International Vulture Awareness Day 2026, a national-level programme was held at Panchkula, Haryana, where Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav inaugurated a workshop on the theme “From Crisis to Recovery – Conserving India’s Vultures.” The programme highlighted the need for Vulture Safe Zones, safe veterinary practices, conservation breeding, and community participation.

Kimi Antonelli Wins 2026 Italian Grand Prix

Italian driver Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes won the 2026 Italian Grand Prix at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza on 6 September 2026 after an extraordinary recovery from 19th position on the starting grid. Mercedes teammate George Russell finished second, while Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing secured third place.

The victory was Antonelli’s seventh Grand Prix win of the 2026 season. It also made him the first Italian driver to win the Italian Grand Prix at Monza since 1966.

2026 Formula One Grand Prix Winners (as of 08 September 2026)

Vinaya Prakash Singh Re-elected APPU Secretary-General

Dr. Vinaya Prakash Singh, a 1988-batch officer of the Indian Postal Service, has been re-elected as Secretary-General of the Asian-Pacific Postal Union (APPU) for a second consecutive four-year term.

The Asian-Pacific Postal Union is an intergovernmental organisation headquartered in Bangkok, Thailand. It has 32 member countries and functions as a Regional Union of the Universal Postal Union (UPU). The UPU is the United Nations specialised agency for the postal sector.

Q1. Which of the following is excluded from coverage as an eligible non-MSME business borrower under the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) 5.0?
A. Manufacturing enterprises
B. Scheduled passenger airlines
C. Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs)
D. MSMEs

Q2. Which of the following teachers from Andhra Pradesh received the National Award to Teachers 2026 in the School Education category?
A. Rajesh Kouluri
B. Arun Babu
C. K. Srinivasa Rao
D. P. Venkateswara Rao

Q3. Dr. Vinaya Prakash Singh was re-elected in September 2026 as the Secretary-General of which organisation?
A. Universal Postal Union
B. Asian-Pacific Postal Union
C. International Telecommunication Union
D. Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union

Q4. The Jatayu Conservation Breeding Centre (JCBC), an important centre for vulture conservation in India, is located at which of the following places?
A. Pinjore, Haryana
B. Bharatpur, Rajasthan
C. Dehradun, Uttarakhand
D. Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh

Q5. International Vulture Awareness Day is observed every year on which of the following days?
A. First Saturday of September
B. Second Sunday of September
C. First Monday of October
D. Last Saturday of August

Q6. HyperVault, which announced an investment of up to ₹70,000 crore to develop a 1-GW AI data centre campus in Hyderabad in 2026, is a subsidiary of which company?
A. Infosys
B. Tata Consultancy Services
C. Wipro
D. Tech Mahindra

Q7. Which State introduced the honorific prefix “Tr” for teachers in September 2026?
A. Tamil Nadu
B. Karnataka
C. Kerala
D. Telangana

Q8. A proposed “totaliser” in the Indian electoral system is primarily intended to:
A. Allow voters to cast votes from any polling station
B. Combine votes from multiple EVMs to conceal individual booth-wise voting patterns
C. Automatically count VVPAT slips at every polling station
D. Enable online transmission of election results

Q9. The Suru Summer Festival 2026, organised to promote sustainable and adventure tourism, was held in which Union Territory?
A. Jammu and Kashmir
B. Ladakh
C. Himachal Pradesh
D. Uttarakhand

Q10. The United Nations has designated which date as the International Day for the Elimination of Child, Early and Forced Marriage?
A. 11 October
B. 20 November
C. 25 November
D. 27 November

Q11. Who won the 2026 Italian Grand Prix at Monza after starting from 19th position on the grid?
A. George Russell
B. Max Verstappen
C. Kimi Antonelli
D. Charles Leclerc