Current Affairs 15 October 2026: Daily GK Facts with Exam Tags

Twenty facts from the last 24 hours, each tagged with the exam it actually shows up in. The Cabinet cleared two five-year scheme extensions this week, the RBI turned hawkish for the first time in this cycle, and India closed the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games in fourth place with 85 medals. Read the fact, read the tag, move on.

Bihar and Jharkhand get their own section below, because BPSC, BSSC, Bihar Police, JSSC and JPSC papers pull state news that no national digest bothers to carry. Once you have read the facts, the 15-question quiz built from exactly this set is live on ExamAtlas.

National

• 1. PM Narendra Modi inaugurated and dedicated five development projects worth about Rs 3,350 crore in Ladakh on 15 October 2026 through video conferencing. The list has the new passenger terminal at Kushok Bakula Rimpochee Airport, Leh (Rs 640 crore, 23,800 sq m, capacity 35 lakh passengers a year), the 298 km Nimmu-Padum-Darcha road built by the Border Roads Organisation, a 9 MW Hanu small hydro project with a 66 kV Dah-Hanu-Khaltsi double-circuit line, India's first Petroglyph Conservation Park at Sindhu Ghat, and 40 water bodies under Project Him Sarovar. Exam tag: All exams
• 2. The Union Cabinet approved continuation of the National Social Assistance Programme from 2026-27 to 2030-31 with an outlay of Rs 53,428 crore, covering about 3.20 crore beneficiaries across all 36 States and UTs. The programme has been renamed Pradhan Mantri Samajik Sahayata Yojana. Its four sub-schemes were renamed too: PM Vridhavastha Pension Yojana, PM Vidhawa Pension Yojana, PM Divyangjan Pension Yojana and PM Parivar Labh Yojana. NSAP was originally launched on 15 August 1995. Exam tag: SSC / BPSC / All exams
• 3. Under the renamed disability pension, the benchmark disability threshold was cut from 80 per cent to 40 per cent, and monthly assistance was fixed at Rs 375 for ages 0 to 79 and Rs 625 for 80 and above. Eligibility now starts from birth. Operational guidelines are due within three months. Exam tag: SSC / BSSC / All exams
• 4. President Droupadi Murmu inaugurated the National SARAS Mela 2026 at Punnami Ghat, Vijayawada, on 15 October. The Mela runs from 13 to 31 October 2026 and is the first National SARAS Mela held outside Delhi-NCR. It is organised by the Ministry of Rural Development with Andhra Pradesh's SERP, and brings over 1,500 Self-Help Group women from 30-plus States and UTs. It is tied to DAY-NRLM and the target of 6 crore Lakhpati Didis by 2029. Exam tag: SSC / Railway / All exams
• 5. The Cabinet also cleared continuation of PM-KISAN from 2026-27 to 2030-31 with a financial outlay of Rs 3.15 lakh crore. Exam tag: All exams

Quick one-liners you should still memorise

• Lakshadweep became India's first 100 per cent literate Union Territory under the ULLAS programme.
• The Ministry of Cooperation notified the Multi-State Co-operative Societies (Auditor's Report) Order, 2026 under Section 73(6) of the 2023 amendment Act, with Phase 1 covering societies above Rs 1,000 crore.
• The Centre approved India's accession to the Southern Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement (SIOFA). India has been a cooperating non-Contracting Party since 2022.

International

• 6. The 8th Bloomberg New Economy Forum was held in New Delhi from 13 to 15 October 2026 on the theme "A World in Play: Defining the New Levers of Power", with more than 500 global leaders. PM Modi addressed it, and EAM S. Jaishankar used the platform to say India-US trade talks are moving in the right direction. Exam tag: All exams
• 7. In the Henley Passport Index edition dated 9 October 2026, India ranked 84th, up one place from 85th, sharing the spot with Algeria and Mauritania. Visa-free access fell to 55 destinations from 57 a year earlier. Singapore topped the index with 193 destinations, followed by Japan, South Korea and the UAE at 188 each, then Sweden at 187. Exam tag: SSC / Banking / All exams
• 8. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is in Bangkok from 14 to 18 October 2026 for the IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings along with G20 and G7 sessions, and is scheduled to meet IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva. Exam tag: Banking / All exams

Economy and Banking

• 9. The RBI's 63rd Monetary Policy Committee meeting (5 to 7 October 2026), chaired by Governor Sanjay Malhotra, raised the repo rate by 25 basis points to 5.50 per cent and shifted the stance from neutral to calibrated tightening. The SDF rate is 5.25 per cent and the MSF rate and Bank Rate are 5.75 per cent. The RBI projects GDP growth of 7.1 per cent and CPI inflation of 5.2 per cent for 2026-27. Minutes are due on 21 October, and the next meeting runs 2 to 4 December 2026. Exam tag: Banking / SSC / All exams
• 10. The IMF World Economic Outlook of October 2026, titled "Resilience Under Strain, Urgent Choices", raised India's 2026-27 growth forecast to 7 per cent from 6.4 per cent in July, and set 2027-28 at 7 per cent. Global growth is pegged at 3.1 per cent for 2026. Note the gap: the RBI's own number for the same year is 7.1 per cent. Exam tag: Banking / BPSC / All exams
• 11. The CCEA approved Fairfax Financial Holdings as the strategic buyer of a 60.72 per cent stake in IDBI Bank for about Rs 52,878.08 crore, priced at Rs 81 per share against a benchmark of Rs 75.99. The Government is selling 30.48 per cent and LIC 30.24 per cent, leaving the Government with 15 per cent and LIC with 19 per cent. Exam tag: Banking / All exams
• 12. The Cabinet approved a Productivity Linked Bonus of 78 days for about 11.40 lakh non-gazetted railway employees, at an outlay of Rs 2,009.61 crore and a maximum of Rs 17,951 per employee. Indian Railways loaded a record 1,670 million tonnes of freight in 2025-26 and carried about 7.41 billion passengers. Exam tag: Railway / SSC / All exams

Numbers worth a second look

• WPI inflation for September 2026 came in at 11.39 per cent year on year against 9.92 per cent in August, with the all-commodities index at 112.5 and fuel and power inflation at 25.85 per cent.
• Oman became India's largest LNG supplier in September 2026 with about 585,000 tonnes, roughly 27 per cent of imports.
• UNCTAD's Trade and Development Report 2026 projects India at 7.3 per cent for 2026 against global growth of 2.6 per cent.

Sports

• 13. India finished fourth at the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, with 85 medals: 21 gold, 27 silver and 37 bronze. Uzbekistan matched India on golds, but India's 27 silvers against Uzbekistan's 25 settled fourth place. China topped with 341 medals including 169 gold, ahead of Japan (269) and South Korea (150). The men's cricket team retained its title with a 19-run win over Pakistan, and the men's hockey team beat Malaysia 5-1 in the final. PM Modi meets the contingent on 15 October at Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium. Exam tag: All exams
• 14. Shubman Gill was named ICC Men's Player of the Month for September 2026, a record fifth win, after his 223 against the West Indies. Shafali Verma took the women's award for the same month. Separately, Shreyas Iyer climbed three places to a career-high fourth in the ICC T20I batting rankings. Exam tag: All exams
• 15. The Men's Asian Champions Trophy 2026 will be played in Punjab from 27 October to 5 November 2026, with league matches at the Olympian Surjit Singh Hockey Stadium in Jalandhar and the semifinals and medal matches in Mohali. India are defending champions with five titles (2011, 2016, 2018, 2023, 2024) and open against Bangladesh on 27 October. Exam tag: SSC / Railway / All exams

Awards

• 16. The 2026 Nobel Prizes went to Navi Pillay of South Africa for Peace, Anne Carson of Canada for Literature, and Robert E. Hall and Michael Woodford for Economic Sciences for work on the microeconomic foundations of macroeconomic stabilisation. The Economics prize was announced on 12 October 2026 and carries SEK 12 million. Exam tag: All exams
• 17. Sunil Bharti Mittal, Founder and Chairman of Bharti Enterprises, was named a Knight of the National Order of the Legion of Honour by French President Emmanuel Macron on 12 October 2026. On the same day's cycle, Oscar Whitfield, a 14-year-old British photographer based in Zimbabwe, won Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2026 for the black-and-white image "Labour of Love". The 62nd edition drew a record 65,403 entries from 121 countries. Exam tag: SSC / All exams

Appointments at a glance

Person	Post
Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar	Governor of Tamil Nadu (full-time)
Om Prakash Mathur	Governor of Kerala
Braj Mohan Ram	Governor of Odisha
Sudha Yadav	Governor of Karnataka
Dhal Singh Bisen	Governor of Uttarakhand
Dushyant Gautam	Governor of Sikkim
Sanjay Malhotra	RBI Governor, chaired the 63rd MPC

Science and Defence

• 18. INS Mangrol (P82), the third of eight Mahe-class Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft built by Cochin Shipyard Limited, was commissioned at the Naval Dockyard, Mumbai, with Vice Admiral Sanjay Vatsayan presiding. The vessel has over 80 per cent indigenous content. Exam tag: SSC / Railway / All exams
• 19. The Indian Navy handed over command of Combined Task Force (CTF) 154 at Manama, Bahrain, on 14 October 2026. India had taken charge on 11 February 2026, its first leadership of a Combined Maritime Forces task force. The tenure logged over 7,800 training hours involving personnel from 39 countries, and included Operation Compass Rose 26-1, Operation Southern Readiness 26-2 and the inaugural SPAR 2026 expert exchange on piracy. The CMF has 47 associated nations. Exam tag: SSC / Defence / All exams
• 20. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated the first ASEAN-India Defence Think Tank Forum at MP-IDSA, New Delhi, on 14 October 2026. 2026 is the ASEAN-India Year of Maritime Cooperation. MP-IDSA's Director General is Ambassador Sujan R. Chinoy. On the technology side, DRDO tested its Quantum Key Distribution platform on a live network at the Proof and Experimental Establishment, Chandipur, Odisha, with Bengaluru-based Taqbit Labs as production partner. Exam tag: SSC / Railway / Defence / All exams

One more for the Navy file: Exercise KONKAN-26 with the UK Royal Navy ran off Plymouth from 8 to 15 October 2026, with INS Trishul representing India.

Bihar and Jharkhand Special

This is the section that separates a BPSC or JSSC aspirant from someone reading a generic national digest. State papers ask these.

• 21. Bihar Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary, in office since 15 April 2026, launched the Sankalp Dashboard and the Samanvay Portal at the Samvad Conference Hall in the Main Secretariat, Patna. Sankalp tracks all 48 state departments through six modules and more than 20 sub-modules, covering schemes, projects, rankings and compliance with CM directions and Cabinet decisions. Samanvay handles coordination with the Union Government on centrally sponsored schemes, fund releases and pending matters, routed through the Resident Commissioner in Delhi. Chief Secretary Pratyaya Amrit and DGP Preetika Verma attended. Exam tag: BPSC / BSSC / Bihar Police
• 22. Bihar's first 12 MW data centre, operated by CtrlS, was inaugurated at the Pataliputra Industrial Area, Patna, under the Bihar IT Policy 2024. CtrlS signed a Rs 10,000 crore MoU with the Industries Department, and the state has set a target of at least 1,000 MW of data centre capacity in five years. Bihar's budget stands at about Rs 3.47 lakh crore with own revenue near Rs 70,000 crore, and roughly 13,000 acres are being readied for industrial use. IT Minister Nitish Mishra and Industries Minister Shreyasi Singh were present. Exam tag: BPSC / BSSC / Bihar Police / BTET
• 23. The Jharkhand recruitment clean-up continues after the 2026 student agitation over JPSC and JSSC irregularities. The government cancelled 22 past examinations including the JSSC-CGL, put six on hold and placed 17 under investigation, all linked to TSR Data Processing Private Limited (TDPL), a firm blacklisted in 2024 that kept conducting exams. A committee under senior IAS officer Amitabh Kaushal is drafting exam reforms. The Jharkhand High Court has stayed several of the cancellations, including those of the 11th to 13th JPSC exams, the Food Safety Officer exam, JSSC-CGL and the CDPO exam. Exam tag: JSSC / JPSC / JTET
• 24. Jharkhand has put out draft versions of the Jharkhand Textile, Apparel and Footwear Policy 2026 and the Jharkhand Industrial Investment Promotion Policy (JIIPP) 2026 through the Directorate of Industries, with feedback invited on the Single Window Portal before they are finalised. Exam tag: JSSC / JPSC

A caveat worth stating plainly. The Jharkhand exam position is still moving, because the High Court stay and the government's cancellation list do not fully line up. If a question in your mock cites a specific cancelled exam, check the latest JSSC or JPSC notice before you trust the option.

Important Days

• 25. 15 October is World Students' Day, observed on the birth anniversary of Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, who was born on 15 October 1931, making 2026 his 95th birth anniversary. The same date is Global Handwashing Day and the International Day of Rural Women. Exam tag: All exams

Day	Date	Theme or Significance
World Students' Day	15 October	95th birth anniversary of Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam (born 1931)
Global Handwashing Day	15 October	Hand hygiene as a low-cost disease barrier (2026 theme: verify)
International Day of Rural Women	15 October	Role of rural and indigenous women in food security
World Food Day	16 October	"Innovate today. Nourish tomorrow." FAO's 81st anniversary
International Day of the Girl Child	11 October	"End Child Marriage and Invest in Girls' Rights!"

Index and rankings recap

Index or Report	India's Position	Topper or Key Number
Henley Passport Index (9 Oct 2026)	84th, 55 visa-free destinations	Singapore, 193 destinations
IMF WEO October 2026	7% growth projected for 2026-27	Global growth 3.1% for 2026
UNCTAD TDR 2026	7.3% growth projected for 2026	Global growth 2.6%
Asian Games 2026 medal tally	4th, 85 medals (21-27-37)	China, 341 medals (169 gold)

Sports results in one table

Event	Winner or Result
Asian Games 2026 cricket final	India beat Pakistan by 19 runs
Asian Games 2026 hockey final	India beat Malaysia 5-1
ICC Men's Player of the Month, September 2026	Shubman Gill (record 5th)
ICC Women's Player of the Month, September 2026	Shafali Verma
World Bowls Champion of Champions 2026	Putul Sonowal, bronze, India's first medal

How to Actually Use This

Do not read 20 facts and feel productive. Pick the eight that match your paper. A Railway NTPC aspirant should know the 78-day PLB number cold, because it has shown up in some form after every bonus announcement. A BPSC candidate needs the Sankalp Dashboard and the CtrlS data centre more than the Henley rank.

Revise the same set tomorrow and the day after. Current affairs is a spaced-repetition subject, not a reading subject, and most aspirants lose marks here because they read daily but revise never.

One honest caveat on today's list. The Jharkhand exam cancellation position is contested in the High Court, and the WPI figure for September is a provisional release that gets revised. Treat both as live, not settled.

ExamAtlas runs the free 15-question quiz built from exactly these facts, with topic-wise accuracy tracking so you can see whether your weak spot is schemes or sports.

Aaj ka full CA quiz: ExamAtlas.com