28th October, 2026

1. L&T Technology Services & Nokia Sign Five-Year Engineering and R&D Agreement in India
2. Yonex French Open Badminton 2026: Christo Popov & An Se-young Win Singles Titles; India’s P. V. Sindhu Finishes as Runner-up
3. Former Governor Arif Mohammed Khan Unveils English Translation of Book ‘The Story of Vande Mataram’ in New Delhi
4. World Day for Audiovisual Heritage 2026 – October 27
5. Dyslexia Awareness Month 2026 – October 1 to 31
6. Most T20 Centuries by Indian Players: Abhishek Sharma Leads with 11 Hundreds
7. India Breaks T20I Records Against New Zealand: Full List of Fastest 100 and Highest Powerplay Score
8. Global Coral Reef Ecosystems Face Collapse Risk by 2075, IUCN Assessment Warns
9. UAE President honours FlyDubai pilot Captain Smit Machchhar with top civilian bravery award for saving passengers during mid-air attack
10. India, Liechtenstein reaffirm commitment to strengthen multilateral institutions, including UN
11. India’s FTA Negotiations: Status Update by Piyush Goyal
12. Prez Murmu pays tribute to former President K R Narayanan on his birth anniversary
13. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh departs for Philippines to attend 13th ADMM-Plus
14. Asian Games 2026
15. Five Books Shortlisted for Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay NIF Book Prize
16. Orange Oakleaf to Become Chhattisgarh’s Official State Butterfly
17. India’s Soybean Imports Hit Record 1.1 Million Tonnes in 2025–26
18. INS Srishti: Goa Shipyard Launches Next Generation Offshore Patrol Vessel
19. Earthshot Prize 2026: Mumbai to Host First-Ever India Edition
20. Exercise Garuda Shakti 2026: India-Indonesia Joint Special Forces Exercise Begins

National News

Liechtenstein’s Hereditary Prince Alois on First State Visit to India

• What: Hereditary Prince Alois, Acting Head of State of Liechtenstein, made his first State visit to India, marking the first anniversary of the India–European Free Trade Association (EFTA) Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA).
• Tell me more:
  • India–EFTA TEPA: It was signed in March 2024 and came into force in October 2025. It aims to bring $100 billion of investment into India and create one million direct jobs in India over 15 years.
  • Key outcomes:

State News

Orange Oakleaf to Be Chhattisgarh’s First State Butterfly

• What: The Orange Oakleaf (Kallima inachus) was chosen as Chhattisgarh’s first official state butterfly through a public online poll.
• Tell me more:
  • Madhya Pradesh already has the Orange Oakleaf as its state butterfly, so it is now shared by two states.
  • State butterflies of other states/UTs:

• Knowledge Nuggets:
  • A 2025 survey recorded 201 butterfly species native to Chhattisgarh. India has around 1,500 butterfly species.

International News

13th ADMM-Plus Held in Cebu, Philippines

• What: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh led the Indian delegation at the 13th ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting-Plus (ADMM-Plus) in Cebu, Philippines.
• Tell me more:
  • Chair of ADMM-Plus 2026: Philippines
  • India co-chairs the ADMM-Plus Experts Working Group on Counter-Terrorism with Malaysia for the 2024–2027 cycle.
  • India–US bilateral talks, alongside this meeting:
    • Rajnath Singh and US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth marked the first anniversary of the 10-year Framework for the US-India Major Defence Partnership.
• Knowledge Nuggets:
  • ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM): It is ASEAN’s highest defence consultative and cooperative mechanism.
  • ADMM-Plus: It brings together the 11 ASEAN member states and 8 Dialogue Partners to strengthen regional security and defence cooperation.
  • First ADMM-Plus meeting: Hanoi, Vietnam (2010)
  • Ministers have met annually since 2017.

• India became an ASEAN Dialogue Partner in 1992.
  

Banking and Economy

LTTS Signs Five-Year R&D Contract with Nokia

• What: L&T Technology Services (LTTS) signed a five-year contract with Nokia to support Nokia’s engineering and R&D activities in India.
• Tell me more:
  • LTTS will set up a dedicated Offshore Development Center (ODC) and an engineering team in India to support Nokia’s R&D and its global Technology Center in 5G networks, intelligent automation, AI-driven operations and AI infrastructure.
  • The contract aligns with LTTS’ Lakshya 31 strategy and its Big Bet on Next Gen Compute and AI infrastructure.
• Knowledge Nuggets:
  • Nokia HQ: Espoo, Finland

India’s FTA Negotiations: Status Update by Piyush Goyal

• What: Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal gave an update on India’s trade negotiations after concluding his six-day visit to Germany and the Netherlands.
• Tell me more:
  • Status of other trade agreements:

• India–China trade (2025-26): China is India’s second-largest trading partner, with bilateral trade rising 7.9% to $127.7 billion. India’s trade deficit with China widened to $99.19 billion from $85 billion a year earlier.
• Knowledge Nuggets:
  • SACU members: South Africa (lead), Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho and Namibia
  • Mercosur members: Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Uruguay and Paraguay

Reports and Indices

IUCN: 96% of Coral Reefs Critically Endangered

• What: The first global coral reef assessment under the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Ecosystems found that 96% of assessed shallow-water coral reef ecosystems are “Critically Endangered” and face a very high risk of collapse by 2075.
• Tell me more:
  • Released at: 17th Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), Yerevan, Armenia
  • Coverage: The assessment covers warm, shallow-water reefs in more than 80 countries and territories, spanning 127 ecoregions and 188,362 km² of coral reefs.
  • Major reefs classified Critically Endangered (the highest threat level):

• The Western Galápagos Islands reefs are already classified as “Collapsed” since the 1982–83 El Niño event.
• Threats: Heat stress from climate change is the most dominant threat, causing mass bleaching and coral deaths. Overfishing of parrotfish and grouper, which control algae and balance the food web, threatens 63% of reef ecosystems.
• Knowledge Nuggets:
  • IUCN Director General: Grethel Aguilar
  • Coral reefs support 25% of all marine life on the planet.

Defence News

Indian Navy’s NGOPV ‘Srishti’ Launched at Goa Shipyard

• What: Srishti (Yard 1283), a Next Generation Offshore Patrol Vessel (NGOPV) built for the Indian Navy, was launched at Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL), a Defence PSU in Goa.
• Tell me more:
  • NGOPVs are being built concurrently at two shipyards, GSL (Goa) and GRSE (Kolkata).
  • GSL CMD: Brajesh Kumar Upadhyay

11th India–Indonesia Exercise Garuda Shakti Begins

• What: The 11th edition of Garuda Shakti, the India–Indonesia Joint Special Forces Exercise, began at Banyuwangi, Indonesia.
• Tell me more:
  • Indian contingent: Parachute Regiment (Special Forces)
  • Indonesian contingent: Indonesian Special Forces

Agriculture and Rural Development

India’s Soybean Imports Hit Record 1.1 Million Tonnes

• What: India’s soybean imports in 2025/26 rose to a record 1.1 million tonnes, up from about 2,000 tonnes a year earlier, according to the Soybean Processors Association of India (SOPA).
• Tell me more:
  • Reason: A rise in domestic soybean prices pushed mills to buy more from abroad.
  • Sources: India allows only non-genetically-modified (non-GM) soybean imports, so supplies come mainly from African nations, including Benin, Niger, Togo and Nigeria. Niger was the largest exporter to India, with over 430,000 tonnes.
  • India’s soymeal exports in 2025/26 halved to 1 million tonnes.
• Knowledge Nuggets:
  • Soybean Processors Association of India (SOPA): It is the only national body representing India’s soybean processors, farmers, exporters and brokers, and promotes soy-based products.
  • Established: 1979
  • HQ: Indore, Madhya Pradesh (India’s main soybean-growing state)

Awards

UAE Confers Order of Zayed II on Indian Pilot

• What: UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan conferred the First Class Order of Zayed II, one of the UAE’s top civilian awards, on Indian pilot Captain Smit Machchhar and the flydubai crew members.
• Tell me more:
  • Israel has also announced “Presidential Award for Civilian Heroism”, civilian bravery award, for Captain Machchhar.
  • UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai: Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum

2026 Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay NIF Book Prize Shortlist Announced

• What: The New India Foundation (NIF) announced the shortlist of five books for the 2026 Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay NIF Book Prize (KCBP).
• Tell me more:
  • Prize money: ₹15 lakh
  • Winner to be announced at: Bangalore Literature Festival 2026 (December)
  • KCBP: It was instituted in 2018 for original non-fiction on modern and contemporary India, written in or translated into English.
  • New India Foundation: It is a Bengaluru-based body that supports research on post-Independence India through fellowships and literary awards.
• Knowledge Nuggets:
  • Shortlisted books (all published in 2025):

Mumbai to Host Earthshot Prize 2026

• What: Mumbai will host the sixth edition of the Earthshot Prize in 2026, as announced during the inaugural Mumbai Climate Week.
• Tell me more:
  • Prize: Five finalists will each win £1 million.
  • India at the Earthshot Prize: India has seven finalists, including four winners, more than any other country.

• Principal sponsor of 2026 Summit: Serum Institute of India
• Exclusive streaming partner: Prime Video

Important Days

World Day for Audiovisual Heritage 2026 – October 27

• Theme: “Your Window to the World”

Dyslexia Awareness Month 2026 – October 1 to 31

Sports

20th Asian Games Held in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan

• What: Asian Games (Asiad) is Asia’s biggest multi-sport event, held every four years and organised by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA).

• Tell me more:
  • Sports: 43 (71 disciplines)
  • Participating countries: 45
  • Mascot: Honohon
  • Slogan: “Imagine One Asia”
  • Opening and closing ceremony venue: Mizuho Park Athletic Stadium
  • Japan’s hosting of the Asian Games:

• Future hosts:
  

• India at the Games:
  • Disciplines participated in: 36
    

• India has hosted Asian Games two times: 1951 and 1982. India has not hosted a third time yet.
• India’s 85 medals are its second-highest Asian Games tally, after 107 medals (28 gold) at 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.
• Overall Medal Standings:

• India’s Medal Standings in Each Sports
  

• India’s High Achieving Sportspersons:
  

BWF Rankings: Popov Becomes First French World No. 1

• What: In the latest BWF World Rankings, Christo Popov became the first French badminton player to reach world No. 1 in men’s singles, and PV Sindhu returned to the top eight in women’s singles.
• Tell me more:
  • Top ranks:

• Indian players:
  

• French Open Super 750 (Paris) winners: Popov won the men’s singles title and An Se Young (S. Korea) won the women’s singles title by defeating PV Sindhu, who finished runner-up.

Abhishek Sharma Hits Century in 35-Balls in T20I Against New Zealand in Wellington

• What: Abhishek Sharma scored a 35-ball century in India’s third T20I against New Zealand in Wellington.
• Tell me more:
  • Records by Abhishek Sharma:
    • It was his fourth T20I century, the joint second-most in T20Is, behind Rohit Sharma and Glenn Maxwell, who have five each.
    • He broke Virat Kohli’s record for the most centuries by an Indian in all T20 cricket. Kohli had 10, and this was Abhishek’s 11th.
    • His 30-ball century against Afghanistan in Delhi in September 2026 is the fastest T20I century by a batter from a Full-Member International Cricket Council (ICC) nation.
  • Most centuries in all T20 cricket:

• Team records by India:
  • India scored 118 runs in the Powerplay (first six overs) and 26 runs in the opening over, both records in T20Is.

• Eswatini holds the fastest team 100 overall in men’s T20Is (4.5 overs vs Mozambique, 2026), so India’s 5 overs is a record only among Full Member. Eswatini is an Associate Member of ICC
  

Miscellaneous

English Translation of “The Story of Vande Mataram” Released

• What: The English translation of the book “The Story of Vande Mataram” was unveiled by Arif Mohammad Khan, former Governor of Bihar and Kerala, at the Constitution Club in New Delhi.
• Tell me more:
  • Original author: Ranga Hari, veteran RSS leader (written in Malayalam)
  • English translation by: Dr. Mercy Jill
  • About: The book traces the history of Vande Mataram, India’s national song, and its role in the freedom struggle.

President Murmu Pays Tribute to K.R. Narayanan

• President Droupadi Murmu paid floral tributes at Rashtrapati Bhavan to K.R. Narayanan, India’s 10th President (1997–2002), on his birth anniversary (27 October 1920).

Start Quiz of 28th October 2026 on Mobile

Start Quiz of 28th October 2026 on Desktop