Daily Current Affairs - 15 September 2026

Indian women's cricket team won the Asia Cup 2026 by defeating Sri Lanka by 72 runs in Dubai, securing a record-extending eighth Women's Asia Cup title; Shafali Verma scored 68 off 39, Smriti Mandhana 59 off 39, their 129-run opening stand was the highest in Women's Asia Cup history, and Shafali hit the fastest fifty (24 balls) and was leading run-scorer with 236 runs in five innings.

Dhiraj Bommadevara became the first Indian man to win the Archery World Cup Final gold, defeating Japan's Nakanishi Junya 6-5 in a shoot-off at Saltillo, Mexico; it was India's first individual World Cup Final gold since Dola Banerjee in 2007.

Alexander Zverev won the 2026 US Open men's singles title, defeating Ben Shelton 6-3, 7-6(2), 5-7, 6-2; he received a Grand Slam record $5.5 million winner's prize.

Department of Financial Services won the first prize under Rajbhasha Kirti Awards 2025-26 in the category of ministries/departments with fewer than 300 personnel; Union Home Minister Amit Shah presented Rajbhasha Gaurav and Rajbhasha Kirti Awards at the 6th All India Official Language Conference held on 14-15 September 2026 at CIDCO Exhibition Centre, Vashi, Navi Mumbai.

Government of India announced Special Campaign 6.0 to be undertaken from 2 to 31 October 2026 with special emphasis on effective collection, segregation and disposal of e-waste.

Commercial coal mine auctions were launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 18 June 2020; till date 147 coal mines have been auctioned across nine states, projecting about ₹47,500 crore annual revenue, ₹55,000 crore capital investment and 4.9 lakh jobs, with 100% FDI under the automatic route.

Captive and commercial coal blocks together produced about 210 MT in FY 2025-26, crossing the 200 million tonne mark for the first time.

Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan has reached more than 34.54 crore citizens, including over 13.70 crore youth and 10.64 crore women; over 755 new de-addiction facilities were established, more than 1.67 lakh Nasha Mukti Mitras joined, and more than 31.40 lakh awareness activities were conducted; NMBA 2.0 mobile app was launched.

The fifth edition of SEMICON India 2026 will be held from 17 to 19 September at Yashobhoomi, New Delhi with theme 'Silicon to Systems: Building the Ecosystem'; it is organized by India Semiconductor Mission, MeitY and SEMI, with over 600 exhibitors, 300 international companies, six country pavilions and 12 state pavilions.

NHAI's 1033 National Highway Helpline, introduced in 2018, currently covers over 1.46 lakh km of National Highways and receives around 15,000 calls every day; IHMCL invited an Expression of Interest for an AI-enabled Next Generation 1033 Helpline and Call Centre.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced nationwide 'Seva Sankalp Abhiyan' from 17 September to 17 October 2026, marking PM Modi's birthday and 25 years of his public service.

On Hindi Diwas 2026, Bharati Multilingual Translation App and Bhasha Kunj, described as India's first data centre dedicated to Indian languages, were launched.

India's AYUSH market grew from USD 2.85 billion in 2014 to USD 43.4 billion in 2023, while AYUSH exports rose from USD 1.09 billion to USD 2.16 billion during the same period; a dedicated Ayush Visa for foreign nationals was introduced on 27 July 2023.

IndiaAI Mission has an outlay of ₹10,371.92 crore; the second phase of Semicon India Programme approved in July 2026 has an outlay of ₹1,27,500 crore; Electronics Components Manufacturing Scheme allocation was increased from ₹22,000 crore to ₹40,000 crore.

The first Indian Air Force Dronathon-2026 was inaugurated at Pokhran Field Firing Range, Jaisalmer from 14 to 16 September 2026; Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit released the 'IAF UAS Roadmap' and demonstrated the indigenous 'Vayu UTtaM' Unmanned Traffic Management system.

INS Mysore participated in the 4th edition of Exercise Samudra Laksamana with the Royal Malaysian Navy at Lumut, Malaysia from 09 to 12 September 2026.

Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Krishna Swaminathan met Chief of the Royal New Zealand Navy Rear Admiral Garin Golding; they discussed the first bilateral naval exercise between India and New Zealand planned for 2027.

As per the Defence Ministry Annual Report 2025-26, approximately 75 percent of total defence procurement was spent on domestic procurement.

Under 'Operation Deep Manifest', the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence seized more than 362 metric tonnes of Pakistan-origin dry dates from 13 containers at CFS Ambad, Nashik, routed via Jebel Ali, UAE.

India condemned the attack on commercial vessel MT EL Gaia off the coast of Oman; 13 Indian crew members were rescued and search operations continued for one missing Indian national.

Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar began a three-day visit to Bhutan on 14 September 2026; he was Chief Guest at Bhutan's National Voters' Day at Jigme Singye Wangchuck School of Law, Paro on 15 September and met King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and Prime Minister Dasho Tshering Tobgay.

India appointed its first resident ambassador to Uruguay; the development was welcomed by Uruguayan Foreign Minister Mario Lubetkin.

NHRC India Chairperson Justice V. Ramasubramanian inaugurated the fifth ITEC Executive Capacity Building Programme on Human Rights for National Human Rights Institutions of the Global South in New Delhi; about 38 participants from 14 countries are attending.

During the 18th BRICS Summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as Chair, named President Xi Jinping as the next host of BRICS for 2027.

India and MERCOSUR announced launch of negotiations for expansion of the India-MERCOSUR Preferential Trade Agreement and signed the First Additional Protocol to facilitate acceptance of electronic Certificates of Origin; the original PTA was signed on 25 January 2004 and entered into force on 1 June 2009; Uruguay holds MERCOSUR's Pro Tempore Presidency.

The 18th BRICS Summit was hosted by India in New Delhi on 12-13 September 2026 under the theme 'Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability'; the New Delhi Declaration was adopted unanimously; 32 delegations participated—11 member states, 10 partner countries, four regional organisations and seven international organisations; UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres attended.

The BRICS New Delhi Declaration condemned the 22 April 2025 Pahalgam terror attack and called for zero tolerance towards terrorism.

Ministry of Power approved export of up to 600 MW power to Nepal Electricity Authority from 13 September to 31 December 2026 through the Muzaffarpur-Dhalkebar 400 kV line, and up to 54 MW through the Tanakpur-Mahendranagar 132 kV line.

The 19th India-Vietnam Joint Commission Meeting on Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technological Cooperation was co-chaired by External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar and Vietnam's Foreign Minister Le Hoai Trung in New Delhi on 14 September 2026; both sides agreed to observe 2027 as the Year of India-Vietnam Friendship to mark 55 years of diplomatic ties.

During the State Visit of Vietnam's General Secretary and President To Lam to India in May 2026, India and Vietnam elevated their ties to an Enhanced Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, making Vietnam the first country in the region with which India has bilateral ties at that level.

Union Power and Housing & Urban Affairs Minister Manohar Lal participated in the G20 Energy Abundance Ministerial Meeting in Houston, USA, held from 14 to 16 September 2026.

Union Minister for Women and Child Development Annpurna Devi met Nigerian Minister of Women Affairs Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim in New Delhi during India's BRICS 2026 Chairship; Nigeria is a BRICS partner country.

All-India Wholesale Price Index inflation for August 2026 was 9.92% year-on-year (Base Year 2022-23), compared to 9.78% in July 2026; WPI Food Index inflation was 7.05%.

Retail inflation based on Consumer Price Index (Base 2024) for August 2026 was 4.82%; food inflation based on Consumer Food Price Index was 5.95%; it remained above RBI's 4% target for the third consecutive month.

Jammu climbed to 20th rank in Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan 2026 in category-II cities, with its CPCB score improving from 102.8 in 2023 to 176.5 in 2026.

The first exclusive All-India Survey on AYUSH, conducted by NSSO during July 2022–June 2023, covered 1,81,298 households; AYUSH awareness was 94.8% in rural and 96% in urban areas.

NITI Aayog released the 'Strategic Roadmap for Making Ayurveda Global' in July 2026, envisioned as a long-term pathway up to 2047.

Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav inaugurated a Soft Release Centre for the Great Indian Bustard at Naliya in Kachchh, Gujarat on 14 September 2026; the chick from the second 'jump-start' attempt survived beyond the critical first three months in the wild.

Researchers at JNCASR Bengaluru found an unusual wave-like thermal transport regime in thallium copper selenide (TlCu5Se3), achieving a thermoelectric figure of merit (zT) of 1.7; the study was published in the journal Science Advances.

Gujarat completed mangrove plantation across 27,000 hectares in Kutch under the 'MISHTI' scheme, achieving a significant portion of its 29,000-hectare target.

India's installed data-centre power capacity rose from about 375 MW in 2020 to 1.57 GW as of August 2026 and is projected to reach nearly 8 GW by 2030; data centres were included in the Harmonized List of Infrastructure in Union Budget 2022-23, and Union Budget 2026-27 introduced a tax holiday for eligible foreign cloud service providers until 2047.

The RBI proposed a framework to temporarily freeze only the disputed transaction amount, not the entire account, in suspected cyber fraud cases for transfers of ₹1,000 or more; draft directions are scheduled to take effect on 1 April 2027.

India imposed a complete prohibition on direct or indirect import/transit of all goods originating in or exported from Pakistan with effect from 2 May 2025, vide DGFT Notification No. 06/2025-26 dated 2 May 2025.

India's junior women's hockey team won the AHF Junior Asia Cup title by defeating China 1-0, while the junior men's team defended their title by defeating Korea 4-1 at Moqi, China.

The 11th Ayurveda Day will be observed on 23 September 2026 with the theme 'Ayurveda for a Healthier Tomorrow'.

Swachhata Hi Seva 2026 is being observed with the theme 'Swachhata Mein Sahbhag, Swachh Bharat, Viksit Bharat'.

Hindi Diwas 2026 was celebrated on 14 September; on this day in 1949 the Constituent Assembly adopted Hindi in Devanagari script as India's official language.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that 'Hindi Shabd Sindhu' has grown to 8 lakh words and is set to become the world's largest dictionary by 2029.

In Rajasthan urban local body elections, the BJP secured an overall lead; polling for 309 urban bodies was held in two phases on 9 and 11 September, covering 10 municipal corporations, 47 municipal councils and 252 municipalities.

Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council Village Committee elections are scheduled for 28 September 2026; 74 companies of Central Armed Police Forces arrived to strengthen security.

Home Minister Amit Shah said BJP-led NDA governments in 21 states will introduce the Uniform Civil Code before 2029.