Current Affairs 26 September 2025

PIB Current Affairs

Prime Minister visit to Rajasthan

The Prime Minister inaugurated and laid foundation stones for development works worth ₹1,22,100 crore. 

• Foundation stone for ASHVINI’s Mahi Banswara Rajasthan Atomic Power Project (4×700 MW, ~₹42,000 crore).
• Green energy projects in Rajasthan (~₹19,210 crore); 
• Solar park at Ramagiri in Andhra Pradesh.
• Power transmission projects under REZ worth ₹13,180 crore to evacuate 15.5 GW of RE power.
• Water resources projects in Rajasthan (~₹20,830 crore), incl. Isarda Dam works, Mor Sagar reservoir.
• AMRUT 2.0 drinking water projects (~₹5,880 crore) across multiple districts.
• Flagged off two Vande Bharat trains (Bikaner–Delhi Cantt, Jodhpur–Delhi Cantt) and Udaipur City–Chandigarh Express.

2nd WHO Global Summit on Traditional Medicine

2nd WHO Global Summit on Traditional Medicine will be held in New Delhi on 17 December 2025. An agreement on this was signed between the Ministry of Ayush and the World Health Organisation.

Theme: “Restoring balance for people and planet: The science and practice of well-being”

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) signed a contract with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL)

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) signed a contract with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) on 25 September 2025 for the procurement of 97 Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Mk1A for the Indian Air Force. The total agreement value is ₹62,370 crore. The delivery will be completed in six years.

Advanced Indigenous Systems Integrated:

• UTTAM AESA Radar
• Swayam Raksha Kavach (self-protection suite)
• Indigenous control surface actuators

DRDO successfully launched Intermediate Range Agni-Prime Missile

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully carried out the launch of the Intermediate Range Agni-Prime Missile from a Rail-based Mobile Launcher system under full operational conditions, recently. The Intermediate Range Agni-Prime Missile is 2000km.

National Geoscience Awards 2024

The President of India, Smt. Droupadi Murmu, conferred the National Geoscience Awards (NGA) 2024 on 26th September 2025.

Categories:

• National Geoscience Award for Lifetime Achievement – Shyam Sundar Rai
• National Geoscience Award
• National Young Geoscientist Award – Susobhan Neogi

About the National Geoscience Awards

Instituted in 1966 by the Ministry of Mines. Originally known as the National Mineral Awards (renamed in 2009). Among India’s oldest and most prestigious recognitions in the field of geosciences.

29th Conference of Central and State Statistical Organizations

The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation organized the 29th Conference of Central and State Statistical Organizations (CoCSSO) on 25–26 September 2025 at Chandigarh. Theme: “Strengthening Local Level Governance”. GoIStats Mobile app and PAIMANA portal was launched. MoSPI released two publications.

Children in India 2025

• Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) has shown a decreasing trend, which was 44 in 2011 and has decreased to 25 in 2023.
• Dropout Rate has decreased from 13.8 in 2022-23 to 8.2 in 2024-25.
• The percentage of women aged 20-24 years who had married before the age 18 years has reduced from 26.8 in 2015-16 to 23.3 in 2019-21.
• The total number of children adopted has increased from 3927 in 2017-18 to 4515 in 2024-25.

Environmental Accounting on Forests – 2025

• Forest cover grew by 17,444.61 sq. km (22.5%) from 2010-11 to 2021-22.
• Total forest cover reached 7.15 lakh sq. km (21.76% of India’s geographical area).
• Major gainer states: Kerala (+4,137 sq. km), Karnataka (+3,122), Tamil Nadu (+2,606).
• Net increase of 3,356 sq. km in forest extent (2013–2023).
• Key rises in Recorded Forest Area share: Uttarakhand (+6.3%), Odisha (+1.97%), Jharkhand (+1.9%).

Digital Transformation in Gram Panchayats

The Ministry of Panchayati Raj has launched several digital governance initiatives to empower Gram Panchayats and enhance transparency.

• SabhaSaar: An AI-powered meeting summariser, linked with Bhashini, to generate structured Gram Sabha minutes in 14 Indian languages.
• SVAMITVA Scheme: 2.63 crore property cards prepared (till Aug 2025), 3.23 lakh villages covered by drone surveys.
• eGramSwaraj: Over 2.54 lakh Gram Panchayats uploaded their GPDPs; 2.41 lakh completed online transactions of 15th Finance Commission grants.
• Meri Panchayat App: Transparency tool giving citizens access to Panchayat budgets, projects, and elected representatives.
• Gram Manchitra GIS: Enables geo-spatial planning for development works.
• BharatNet: Provides high-speed internet to rural areas, supporting e-services.
• Panchayat NIRNAY portal: is a real-time monitoring system for Gram Sabha meetings.
• Awards: Rohini Gram Panchayat (Maharashtra) won Gold Award at the NAeG 2025, West Majlishpur GP (Tripura) won Silver Award.

AP Current Affairs

Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) zones

The Andhra Pradesh government has approved the GVMC (Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation) zone rejig proposal, increasing the number of zones from 8 to 10 under the “One-Zone, One-Assembly Constituency” model. 

Two new zones were added: Aganampudi Zone and Bheemunipatnam Zone. 

Purpose: Better alignment between administrative zones and political boundaries, streamlined governance, and improved grievance redressal.

Life to Urban Green Spaces (LUNGS) program

Operation LUNGS program was initiated by the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC). The objective of this program is to reclaim encroached public spaces in Visakhapatnam.

Objective:

• To reclaim encroached public spaces in Visakhapatnam.
• To convert these spaces into green zones, parks, and organised vending areas.
• To streamline street vending by creating designated vending zones.

Background:

• Many pavements, roadsides, and open lands were encroached by traders and vendors.
• Under Operation LUNGS 2.0, GVMC launched clearance drives to free up these lands.
• Traders were asked to voluntarily vacate spaces and shift to authorised vending zones.
• Establishment of 17 vending zones, including 5 Smart Vending Zones.

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