DAILY GK 26-27 APR 2026
1.
VICE-CHAIRMAN OF NITI AAYOG
·
The Government of India(GoI) appointed
veteran economist Dr. Ashok Lahiri, as the new Vice-Chairman and
eminent Scientist Dr. Gobardhan Das, as full time Member of
NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India).
·
Dr. Ashok Lahiri succeeds SumanBery, who
completes his four-year tenure on May 1, 2026, and becomes the second-highest
authority in NITI Aayog after the Chairperson.
2.
PRESIDENT OF NCLT
·
Justice (Retd.) Anupinder Singh Grewal, former
judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court(HC), was appointed President of
the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT)
for a five-year term or until the age of 67, whichever is earlier.
·
He succeeds Bachu Venkat Balaram Das who
served as acting president of NCLT.
·
The NCLT
President is a former Chief Justice(CJ) of a HC, but this is the first time a former senior judge has been
appointed to the post.
3.
INDIA’S FIRST UNESCO CHAIR ON GENDER
INCLUSION AND SKILL DEVELOPMENT
·
Union Minister of State (MoS) Jayant
Chaudhary, Ministry of Skill Development and
Entrepreneurship (MoSDE), formally launched India’s (Asia’s) first “United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation(UNESCO) Chair on Gender Inclusion and Skill Development”, during
the International Conference on “Women Leading the Future of Work” at
Symbiosis Skills and Professional University (SSPU) in Pune, Maharashtra.
·
It
aims to expand access to future-ready skills
for women and improve employability in emerging sectors like: Artificial
Intelligence (AI), semiconductor, among others.
·
The newly established UNESCO chair will be led by Swati Mujumdar,
pro-chancellor of SSPU.
4.
GOVT FORMS PANEL TO ASSESS RISKS FROM AI
PLATFORM MYTHOS
·
The Government of India (GoI) constituted a
panel under the chairmanship of Challa Sreenivasulu (C.S.) Setty, Chairman
SBI, to assess potential risks from
advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) platform Anthropic’s Mythos and
suggest mitigating measures.
·
Banks have also been mandated to report cyber cases immediately to
authorities like Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), to
ensure early detection and fast dissemination of emerging threats.
5. MSJE
LAUNCHED SMILE–BEGGARY SURVEY MOBILE APP
·
The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment
(MSJE) launched the SMILE (Support
for Marginalised Individuals for Livelihood and Enterprise)–Beggary
Survey Mobile Application (App) during the ChintanShivir held
in Chandigarh
·
The SMILE–Beggary initiative under the SMILE Scheme (2021–2026) of MSJE supports rehabilitation through shelter,
skills, and reintegration, with a mobile app enabling real-time data
collection and monitoring.
6.
INDIA–NEW ZEALAND SIGNED FTA
·
India–New Zealand signed Free Trade
Agreement in New Delhi
·
The agreement aims to strengthen trade,
services, investment, mobility, and overall economic cooperation in line with
the vision of Viksit Bharat 2047.
·
India
gains 100% duty-free access on all 8,284 tariff lines to
New Zealand while India liberalises 70.03% of tariff lines covering 95% of
bilateral trade value with key exclusions.
·
New
Zealand opens 118 sectors with Most Favoured Nation (MFN)
commitments across 139 sub-sectors including Information Technology (IT),
education, finance, and tourism.
·
New Zealand commits USD 20 billion
over 15 years in infrastructure, renewable energy, manufacturing, and
startups.
7.
JORDAN JOINS INDIA-LED GLOBAL INITIATIVES
ISA, CDRI AND GBA
·
The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan formally
joined the International Solar Alliance
(ISA), Coalition for Disaster
Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI), and Global Biofuels Alliance (GBA).
·
Jordan joined ISA to achieve 50% electricity
generation from renewables by 2030.
8.
RIGHT TO SAFE ROAD TRAVEL PART OF ARTICLE 21
OF CONSTITUTION: SC
·
The Supreme Court of India(SCI) officially
declared ‘Right to Safe Road Travel’ is an integral part of
the Right to Life under Article 21 of the
Constitution.
·
The judgment was delivered in the matter of In Re: Phalodi Accident,
where the Court examined issues related to road safety and accountability on
highways and expressways.
·
The Court banned unauthoriseddhabas and eateries on the Right of Way (ROW) of
National Highways(NH) and mandated that no new licences or No Objection
Certificates(NOC) be issued without approval from the National Highways
Authority of India(NHAI).
·
The Court barred heavy vehicle parking on highways outside designated areas
and mandated patrols, surveillance, and emergency response systems for improved
road safety.
9. NITI
AAYOG LAUNCHES ‘DPI@2047 ROADMAP’
·
The National Institution for Transforming
India (NITI) Aayog, the premier policy think tank of
the Government of India(GoI), released a report titled “DPI@2047 for
Viksit Bharat-A Strategic Roadmap to Enable Non-linear Inclusive Socio-economic
Growth”, detailing the roadmap for the adoption ofDigital Public Infrastructure (DPI) 2.0.
·
It is developed in collaboration with Ek
Step Foundation and Deloitte, the roadmap
outlines a two-phase strategy for India’s digital transformation.
·
The report
outlines a two-phase roadmap: DPI 2.0 (Realising
Aspiration) (2025–2035) focused on scaling livelihood-driven growth, followed by DPI
3.0(Achieving Prosperit) (2035–2047) aimed
at achieving broad-based prosperity,
with the current emphasis on DPI 2.0.
·
DPI initiatives already contribute nearly 1% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and
are projected to rise to 4% by 2030.
·
The
roadmap identifies eight sectoral transformations to
address structural bottlenecks across Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises
(MSMEs), agriculture, education and health.
10. NEW
DISTRICTS FOR LADAKH
·
Ladakh Lieutenant
Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena officially notified the
creation of five new districts in the Union
Territory (UT), following preliminary approval by the Ministry of Home Affairs
(MHA) in August 2024.
·
With
this, the number of districts in the UT has increased from two to seven.
·
The new districts are Nubra,
Sham, Changthang, Zanskar, and Drass.
·
Previously,
Ladakh comprised only two districts, Leh
and Kargil.
11.
BRICS MENA MEETING 2026
·
Dr. Neena Malhotra,
Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), chaired the Brazil, Russia,
India, China, South Africa (BRICS) Deputy
Foreign Ministers and Special Envoys for the Middle East and North Africa (BRICS
MENA) meeting in New Delhi.
·
The meeting concluded with members agreeing
to meet again under China’s chairship in 2027.
