Current affairs relevant to GS3.
A study coordinated by ARIES, Nainital, with 106 scientists from 18 countries, tracked the blazar OJ 287 from 2015 to 2025. OJ 287, about 4 billion light years away, has two supermassive black holes in a 12-year orbit. The study estimated the central black hole at no less than 3.89 billion solar masses.
6 Oct 2026
The Union Cabinet approved an Integrated Transport & Logistics Authority on 6 October 2026, set up as a special purpose vehicle. It will prepare a National Transport Master Plan of ten years or more across all modes, technically appraise and monitor Central projects of ₹500 crore or more, and build a National Transport Data Repository.
6 Oct 2026
The Cabinet on 6 October 2026 approved a ₹10,000 crore government commitment to the SME Growth Fund, announced in Para 28 of the Union Budget 2026-27. The fund, set up as an Alternative Investment Fund, will give long-term equity to growth-stage small and medium enterprises, mostly in manufacturing, including those in Tier II and III city clusters.
6 Oct 2026
DRDO flight-tested an indigenous High-Altitude Platform on 6 October 2026. The lighter-than-air system climbed to 21 km above mean sea level and stayed at 20 km for over 30 minutes before a controlled descent and recovery. It is being developed by ADRDE, Agra, as a long-endurance stratospheric surveillance airship.
6 Oct 2026
On 5 October 2026 a barge with 540 tonnes of methanol from Assam Petro-Chemicals, Namrup, left Bogibeel terminal in Dibrugarh for Dhaka. It travels about 768 km on National Waterway-2 and then the Indo-Bangladesh Protocol Route, about 1,300 km in all. It is the first cargo from upper Assam to a foreign port since 1947.
5 Oct 2026
India and Japan launched the Operational Manual for their Joint Crediting Mechanism in New Delhi on 30 September 2026. Under Article 6.2 of the Paris Agreement, the mechanism lets Japanese low-carbon technology be deployed in India and the resulting emission cuts be issued as credits. The manual sets the full project cycle, from idea note to credit issuance.
5 Oct 2026
On 5 October 2026 KJP21, a 32-month-old Indian-born female cheetah, gave birth to five cubs at Kuno National Park. India now has 60 cheetahs, 41 of them born in India. KJP21 is the third Indian-born female to breed, and the father is from Botswana, starting a Botswanan lineage in India.
5 Oct 2026
The Department of Telecommunications' Sanchar Saathi portal, launched in May 2023, has crossed 30 crore visits. It has blocked 60.96 lakh lost or stolen phones, traced 37.85 lakh and helped recover over 14 lakh. Citizen reports through Chakshu feed the Financial Fraud Risk Indicator, which has helped prevent suspected losses of over ₹5,000 crore.
5 Oct 2026
On 3 October 2026 four CAQM flying squads inspected 25 stretches, about 35 km, of Delhi's Inner and Outer Ring Road managed by PWD. They found 17 violations of heavy visible road dust and construction and demolition waste. CAQM directed agencies to clean roads regularly to stop traffic from lifting dust back into the air.
4 Oct 2026
The Textiles Ministry, through the Cotton Corporation of India, held a reform showcase in Hyderabad on 6 October 2026 under Reform Utsav 2026. It covered the Kapas Kisan digital platform for registration, slot booking and Aadhaar-enabled payments, traceability and the Kasturi Cotton Bharat brand, and the High-Density Planting System to lift yields.
4 Oct 2026