Week 17, 2026

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Prime Minister Modi and visiting South Korean President Lee Jae-myung adopted the five-year Joint Strategic Vision for the Special Strategic Partnership at their summit on 20 April 2026.

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PMGSY was launched on 25 December 2000 by the Ministry of Rural Development, which continues to administer all its phases.

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Abhay is an AI chatbot launched by the CBI on 20 April 2026 (at the 22nd D.P. Kohli Memorial Lecture) so citizens can quickly verify whether a notice claiming to be from the CBI is genuine.

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India said any expansion that excludes the veto from new permanent seats — a two-tier approach — would 'perpetuate existing imbalance and inequities'. India backs the G4 proposal that defers the veto question for 15 years.

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AIGEG was constituted by MeitY in April 2026, chaired by the Union Minister for Electronics and IT, and supported by the Technology and Policy Expert Committee (TPEC).

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The report records 135 bat species in India, with 7 classified as threatened on the IUCN Red List, 16 endemic, and 35 listed as Data Deficient.

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The species was described from North Tripura, near Rowa Wildlife Sanctuary, and is the 31st Cyrtodactylus species recorded from Northeast India.

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'Memflation' is the steep rise in memory-chip (DRAM, NAND) prices triggered by AI data-centre demand outpacing supply, with DRAM prices estimated to rise about 125 per cent and NAND about 234 per cent over the surge cycle.

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The MPC unanimously kept the repo rate unchanged at 5.25% in April 2026 with a neutral stance. The SDF rate is 5.00% (floor) and the MSF/Bank Rate is 5.50% (ceiling) — together forming the rate corridor.

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The BHISHM (Bhārat Health Initiative for Sahyog Hita and Maitri) cubes are developed under Project Aarogya Maitri. Each cube is a self-contained emergency-response unit capable of providing trauma care for up to 200 casualties.

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Atal Pension Yojana is administered by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA). It offers a guaranteed monthly pension of 1,000 to 5,000 rupees from age 60 to subscribers in the unorganised sector.

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The new five-year roadmap targets raising bilateral trade from about $27 billion to $50 billion by 2030.

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The platforms were unveiled at the Vehicles Research & Development Establishment (VRDE) in Ahilyanagar, Maharashtra. Manufacturing partners are Tata Advanced Systems and Bharat Forge, with about 65% indigenous content targeting ~90%.

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The mining incentive is a component of SASCI — the Centre's interest-free 50-year capex loan to states. The scheme rewards states across three reform areas, including a 100 crore rupees baseline reform reward and a State Mining Readiness Index (SMRI) ranking.

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An Office Memorandum dated 22 April 2026 confirmed a 2 percentage point increase in DA from 58% to 60% of basic pay, effective 1 January 2026, with arrears payable for January-March.

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BMCs are constituted under the Biological Diversity Act, 2002, which gives effect to the Convention on Biological Diversity. The three-tier structure is NBA (Centre, headquartered at Chennai), State Biodiversity Boards, and BMCs at panchayat level.

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The Bar Council of India and State Bar Councils are constituted under the Advocates Act, 1961 (BCI under Section 4, State Bar Councils under Section 3). BCI sets professional standards, conducts the All India Bar Examination (AIBE) and is the appellate body for advocate discipline.

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The 131st Amendment Bill 2026, along with the Delimitation Bill 2026 and the UT Laws (Amendment) Bill 2026, is aimed at fresh delimitation of Lok Sabha and assembly constituencies and operationalising the women's reservation enacted by the 106th Amendment of 2023.

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In the 133rd Mann Ki Baat, PM Modi said India's installed wind capacity has crossed 56 GW and the country now ranks fourth in the world in wind power.

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APY crossed 9 crore gross enrolments on 21 April 2026, with FY 2025-26 alone adding 1.35 crore subscribers — the highest annual addition since the scheme was launched in May 2015.

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Dr Ch Srinivasa Rao, Director and Vice-Chancellor of IARI, received the 9th Prof M S Swaminathan Award for his contributions to climate-resilient agriculture and district-level contingency planning. The biennial award includes a gold medal, citation and cash component.

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India's first advanced 3D glass-substrate semiconductor packaging unit is being set up in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. The Rs 1,943-crore project has a planned annual capacity of 70,000 glass panels and 50 million assembled units, with commercial production targeted by August 2028.

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G4 = India, Brazil, Germany, Japan. The group seeks expansion of both permanent and non-permanent UNSC seats, with the veto question for new permanent members deferred for 15 years.

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The drawdown was made under the SAARC Currency Swap Framework, which India put in place in 2012 to provide short-term forex liquidity to SAARC members. Cumulative Indian swap support to the Maldives is now about USD 1.1 billion.

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The Bulletin formally adopts a new CPI base year of 2024 (2024 = 100). Table 19 has been revised in line with the new base, and a fresh core-inflation series (CPI excluding food and fuel) has been added.