Saturday, 25 April 2026

Daily Current Affairs

Today's exam-ready bundle for SSC, Banking, UPSC, Railway and Defence — bilingual headlines, key facts, mnemonics, exam-track MCQs and flashcards.

24 AprLatest bundle
HISTORYHIGH PRIORITYTop story

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) has commemorated 33,000 Indian Army soldiers who died during the First World War in the Mesopotamia Campaign through new digital name panels at the Basra Memorial in Iraq — correcting a long-standing colonial-era omission that had recorded their sacrifices only numerically rather than by name; the digital panels now display the names, ranks, and regiments of Indian soldiers alongside over 46,000 Commonwealth service personnel; historian Shrabani Basu welcomed the move as restoring the honour these soldiers deserved.

राष्ट्रमंडल युद्ध समाधि आयोग (CWGC) ने प्रथम विश्व युद्ध की मेसोपोटामिया मुहिम में मारे गए 33,000 भारतीय सेना सैनिकों को इराक के बसरा स्मारक पर नई डिजिटल नाम पैनलों के माध्यम से स्मरण किया है — एक दीर्घकालिक औपनिवेशिक-युग की चूक को सुधारते हुए जिसने उनके बलिदानों को नाम के बजाय केवल संख्यात्मक रूप से दर्ज किया था; डिजिटल पैनल अब 46,000 से अधिक राष्ट्रमंडल सेवा कर्मियों के साथ भारतीय सैनिकों के नाम, पद, एवं रेजिमेंट प्रदर्शित करते हैं; इतिहासकार श्रबनी बासु ने इस क़दम का स्वागत करते हुए कहा कि यह इन सैनिकों को वह सम्मान बहाल करता है जिसके वे हक़दार थे।

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) has commemorated 33,000 Indian Army soldiers who died during the First World War in the Mesopotamia Campaign — through new digital name panels at the Basra Memorial in Iraq. The Indian soldiers…

25 April 2026 · Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) — digital memorial panels for Indian WWI soldiers at Basra Memorial; Historian Shrabani Basu commentary
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All 12 headlines at a glance
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  1. history· 1
    1. 01The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) has commemorated 33,000 Indian Army soldiers who died during the First World War in the Mesopotamia Campaign through new digital name panels at the Basra Memorial in Iraq — correcting a long-standing colonial-era omission that had recorded their sacrifices only numerically rather than by name; the digital panels now display the names, ranks, and regiments of Indian soldiers alongside over 46,000 Commonwealth service personnel; historian Shrabani Basu welcomed the move as restoring the honour these soldiers deserved.SSCBankingUPSC
  2. international· 3
    1. 02Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will visit Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on 27-28 April 2026 to participate in the Defence Ministers' meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO); the high-level forum will focus on regional security challenges, terrorism, extremism, and the changing geopolitical environment across Eurasia and Asia; India became a full SCO member in 2017 (alongside Pakistan); the SCO was founded in 2001 and includes China, Russia, India, Pakistan, and several Central Asian nations.SSCBankingUPSC
    2. 07Guntur Municipal Corporation (GMC) in Andhra Pradesh has won the 4th Gender Equality Mobilisation (GEM) Award presented by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in Vienna during the International Day of Women in Industry 2026 celebrations — recognised for combining women's empowerment with sustainable waste management by deploying more than 200 women as electric auto drivers for door-to-door garbage collection under the UNIDO-supported Sustainable Cities Integrated Approach Pilot (SCIAP); the award was received by Sustainable Cities Project Manager Olga Rataj on GMC's behalf, with former Finnish President Tarja Halonen present at the ceremony.SSCBankingUPSC
    3. 09China has announced that it will send two giant pandas — male Ping Ping and female Fu Shuang from the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding — to Zoo Atlanta in the United States as part of a 10-year conservation partnership signed in 2025, continuing its 'panda diplomacy' tradition; the move comes despite ongoing US-China tensions and ahead of US President Donald Trump's planned May 2026 visit to China; panda diplomacy with the US dates to 1972, when China gifted a pair to the National Zoo in Washington following President Richard Nixon's historic visit; in 2024, the National Zoo and the San Diego Zoo also received pandas as wildlife cooperation resumed.SSCBankingUPSC
  3. polity· 1
    1. 03The Union government is set to appoint former Chief Economic Adviser Ashok Lahiri — currently a BJP MLA from Balurghat in West Bengal — as the new Vice-Chairman of NITI Aayog, replacing Suman Bery; alongside, Gobardhan Das (Director of Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Bhopal and former Jawaharlal Nehru University professor) is expected to be appointed as a Member; the appointments — coming during the ongoing West Bengal Assembly elections and amid CEO BVR Subrahmanyam's recent exit — are being viewed as part of a wider revamp of the government's top policy think tank, established on 1 January 2015 to replace the Planning Commission.SSCBankingUPSC
  4. economy· 3
    1. 04India's foreign exchange reserves rose by $2.36 billion to $703.31 billion for the week ended 17 April 2026, according to RBI data — the second consecutive weekly rise after a $3.825 billion increase the previous week (reaching $700.946 billion); Foreign Currency Assets (FCA), the largest component, rose by $1.48 billion to $557.46 billion; reserves had touched an all-time high of $728.494 billion in February 2026 before declining due to RBI dollar sales amid West Asia geopolitical tensions affecting the rupee; forex reserves comprise FCA + gold + Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) + reserve position in the International Monetary Fund (IMF).SSCBankingUPSC
    2. 06The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has cancelled the banking licence of Paytm Payments Bank Limited (PPBL) — citing operations detrimental to depositors' interests and management practices prejudicial to public interest, alongside persistent governance and compliance failures — and will approach the High Court for winding-up proceedings; the cancellation marks the culmination of escalating regulatory action that began with a March 2022 ban on onboarding new customers and a January 2024 directive (effective March 2024) prohibiting fresh deposits, credit transactions, wallet top-ups, FASTag, and NCMC services; PPBL — founded by Vijay Shekhar Sharma in 2017 as one of India's first payments banks — can now only facilitate withdrawals of existing funds and cannot accept new deposits or transactions; RBI has confirmed the bank has sufficient liquidity to repay depositors.SSCBankingUPSC
    3. 12Brazil has overtaken India as the leading exporter of corn (maize) to Bangladesh — signalling a major shift in regional agricultural trade; for years India had held the dominant position thanks to competitive pricing and geographical proximity, but since 2024 rising domestic demand for maize, especially for India's ethanol-blending programme, has reduced India's export capacity and made Indian maize less price-competitive abroad; Brazil — with large-scale production, efficient supply chains, and consistent supply volumes — has captured a significant share of Bangladesh's growing feed-grain market driven by its expanding poultry and animal-feed industries.SSCBankingUPSC
  5. judiciary· 1
    1. 05In a significant judgment, the Supreme Court of India — through a bench of Justice B.V. Nagarathna and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan — allowed a 15-year-old girl to medically terminate her 31-week pregnancy, holding that reproductive autonomy is a fundamental right under Article 21 of the Constitution and that forcing a minor to continue an unwanted pregnancy would violate her dignity, privacy, and personal liberty; the Court invoked the 'best interests of the child' doctrine to override the standard 24-week ceiling under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, 1971 (as amended in 2021), noting the minor had attempted suicide twice under the psychological trauma.SSCBankingUPSC
  6. people· 2
    1. 08Noida International Airport at Jewar in Uttar Pradesh has appointed Nitu Sarma — its Chief Financial Officer since October 2021 — as interim Chief Executive Officer following directions from the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) that the CEO of an airport operating in India must be an Indian citizen; outgoing CEO Christoph Schnellmann (a Swiss national who served since August 2020) moves to the Board of Directors as Executive Vice Chairman; the airport — inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March 2026 — is expected to reduce pressure on Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport and become one of India's largest international airports.SSCBankingUPSC
    2. 11Dabur India Limited — one of India's leading FMCG companies founded in 1884 — has appointed Herjit S Bhalla as Chief Executive Officer of its India Business effective 23 April 2026; he will report directly to Mohit Malhotra (Whole-time Director and Global CEO of the company); Bhalla brings over 25 years of experience including 16 years at Unilever (with a stint as Marketing Director in Moscow 2009-2012), Chief Operating Officer at Metro Cash & Carry (2016-17), and senior leadership at The Hershey Company (Managing Director India + Vice President roles for India & AEMEA, Canada & AMEA, and Canada & Global Customers); his role will lead Dabur's domestic growth strategy, market positioning, and brand expansion across sales, marketing, and operational performance.SSCBankingUPSC
  7. environment· 1
    1. 10A new scientific study by researchers associated with Project CETI (Cetacean Translation Initiative) has suggested that sperm whales — the largest toothed animals on Earth and possessors of the largest brain among any mammal — may use communication structures with rhythm and spacing variations similar to vowel-like sounds in human speech; the study analysed 'codas' (rapid bursts of clicks produced when whales surface) and found organised patterns and variations indicating a more complex communication system than previously understood, opening new possibilities for understanding marine intelligence and animal communication evolution.SSCBankingUPSC

international

· 3
INTERNATIONALHIGH

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will visit Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on 27-28 April 2026 to participate in the Defence Ministers' meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO); the high-level forum will focus on regional security challenges, terrorism, extremism, and the changing geopolitical environment across Eurasia and Asia; India became a full SCO member in 2017 (alongside Pakistan); the SCO was founded in 2001 and includes China, Russia, India, Pakistan, and several Central Asian nations.

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INTERNATIONALMEDIUM

Guntur Municipal Corporation (GMC) in Andhra Pradesh has won the 4th Gender Equality Mobilisation (GEM) Award presented by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in Vienna during the International Day of Women in Industry 2026 celebrations — recognised for combining women's empowerment with sustainable waste management by deploying more than 200 women as electric auto drivers for door-to-door garbage collection under the UNIDO-supported Sustainable Cities Integrated Approach Pilot (SCIAP); the award was received by Sustainable Cities Project Manager Olga Rataj on GMC's behalf, with former Finnish President Tarja Halonen present at the ceremony.

SSCBankingUPSCRailway
INTERNATIONALMEDIUM

China has announced that it will send two giant pandas — male Ping Ping and female Fu Shuang from the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding — to Zoo Atlanta in the United States as part of a 10-year conservation partnership signed in 2025, continuing its 'panda diplomacy' tradition; the move comes despite ongoing US-China tensions and ahead of US President Donald Trump's planned May 2026 visit to China; panda diplomacy with the US dates to 1972, when China gifted a pair to the National Zoo in Washington following President Richard Nixon's historic visit; in 2024, the National Zoo and the San Diego Zoo also received pandas as wildlife cooperation resumed.

SSCBankingUPSCRailway

polity

· 1

economy

· 3
ECONOMYHIGH

India's foreign exchange reserves rose by $2.36 billion to $703.31 billion for the week ended 17 April 2026, according to RBI data — the second consecutive weekly rise after a $3.825 billion increase the previous week (reaching $700.946 billion); Foreign Currency Assets (FCA), the largest component, rose by $1.48 billion to $557.46 billion; reserves had touched an all-time high of $728.494 billion in February 2026 before declining due to RBI dollar sales amid West Asia geopolitical tensions affecting the rupee; forex reserves comprise FCA + gold + Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) + reserve position in the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

SSCBankingUPSCRailway
ECONOMYHIGH

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has cancelled the banking licence of Paytm Payments Bank Limited (PPBL) — citing operations detrimental to depositors' interests and management practices prejudicial to public interest, alongside persistent governance and compliance failures — and will approach the High Court for winding-up proceedings; the cancellation marks the culmination of escalating regulatory action that began with a March 2022 ban on onboarding new customers and a January 2024 directive (effective March 2024) prohibiting fresh deposits, credit transactions, wallet top-ups, FASTag, and NCMC services; PPBL — founded by Vijay Shekhar Sharma in 2017 as one of India's first payments banks — can now only facilitate withdrawals of existing funds and cannot accept new deposits or transactions; RBI has confirmed the bank has sufficient liquidity to repay depositors.

SSCBankingUPSCRailway
ECONOMYMEDIUM

Brazil has overtaken India as the leading exporter of corn (maize) to Bangladesh — signalling a major shift in regional agricultural trade; for years India had held the dominant position thanks to competitive pricing and geographical proximity, but since 2024 rising domestic demand for maize, especially for India's ethanol-blending programme, has reduced India's export capacity and made Indian maize less price-competitive abroad; Brazil — with large-scale production, efficient supply chains, and consistent supply volumes — has captured a significant share of Bangladesh's growing feed-grain market driven by its expanding poultry and animal-feed industries.

SSCBankingUPSCRailway

judiciary

· 1

people

· 2
PEOPLEMEDIUM

Noida International Airport at Jewar in Uttar Pradesh has appointed Nitu Sarma — its Chief Financial Officer since October 2021 — as interim Chief Executive Officer following directions from the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) that the CEO of an airport operating in India must be an Indian citizen; outgoing CEO Christoph Schnellmann (a Swiss national who served since August 2020) moves to the Board of Directors as Executive Vice Chairman; the airport — inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March 2026 — is expected to reduce pressure on Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport and become one of India's largest international airports.

SSCBankingUPSCRailway
PEOPLEMEDIUM

Dabur India Limited — one of India's leading FMCG companies founded in 1884 — has appointed Herjit S Bhalla as Chief Executive Officer of its India Business effective 23 April 2026; he will report directly to Mohit Malhotra (Whole-time Director and Global CEO of the company); Bhalla brings over 25 years of experience including 16 years at Unilever (with a stint as Marketing Director in Moscow 2009-2012), Chief Operating Officer at Metro Cash & Carry (2016-17), and senior leadership at The Hershey Company (Managing Director India + Vice President roles for India & AEMEA, Canada & AMEA, and Canada & Global Customers); his role will lead Dabur's domestic growth strategy, market positioning, and brand expansion across sales, marketing, and operational performance.

SSCBankingUPSCRailway

environment

· 1