Daily Current Affairs and GK | 11 April 2026

Topic: National News

1. Indian Army completes tourist rescue Operation Him Setu in North Sikkim landslide.

• The Indian Army’s Trishakti Corps launches Operation Him Setu to evacuate stranded tourists in Lachen, North Sikkim.
• A landslide has disrupted road connectivity between Lachen and Chungthang in North Sikkim, impacting movement in the region.
• The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) worked in close coordination with troops of Trishakti Corps, undertook continuous road clearance, snow removal and restoration of connectivity under challenging weather and terrain conditions.
• Indian Army's Trishakti Corps (XXXIII Corps) is a premier strike formation under the Eastern Command, responsible for defending Sikkim and the critical Siliguri Corridor. It was initially formed in 1942. It was re-raised in 1960 at Shillong.

Topic: National News

2. National Scheduled Tribes Finance and Development Corporation celebrated its 25th Foundation Day.

• The National Scheduled Tribes Finance and Development Corporation (NSTFDC) celebrated its Foundation Day in New Delhi on 10th April.
• The event was attended by Union Minister for Tribal Affairs Jual Oram and Minister of State for Tribal Affairs Durga Das Uikey.
• As part of the celebrations, NSTFDC felicitated successful Scheduled Tribe entrepreneurs from across the country who have established sustainable enterprises with financial support under various government schemes.
• The National Scheduled Tribes Finance and Development Corporation is an apex organisation set up in 2001 under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.
• Its primary aim is economic upliftment of the Scheduled Tribes by way of providing financial assistance for income generating sustainable livelihood activities.
• It is managed by the board of directors with representation from Central Govt., State Channelizing Agencies, NABARD, IDBI Bank, Tribal Co-operative Marketing Development Federation of India Ltd. (TRIFED) and eminent persons representing Scheduled Tribes.

Topic: State News/ Arunachal Pradesh

3. Union Cabinet approves two hydroelectric projects in Arunachal Pradesh.

• The Union Cabinet has approved the Investment Proposal for the construction of 1200 MW Kalai-II Hydro Electric Project in Anjaw District of Arunachal Pradesh.
• The Kalai-II project has been approved with an outlay of 14105.83 crore rupees and a completion period of 78 months.
• Additionally, the Cabinet has also approved the Investment Proposal for the construction of the 1720 MW Kamala Hydro Electric Project in Kamle, Kra Daadi & Kurung Kumey Districts
• The outlay of this project is 26,069.50 crore rupees with completion period of 96 months.

Topic: Personality in News

4. 200^th Birth Anniversary of Jyotibha Phule: 11 April

• Social reformer and activist Mahatma Jyotiba Phule was born on 11 April 1827.
• Mahatma Phule, along with his wife Savitri Phule, had championed the cause of women’s education and empowerment, besides fighting for the removal of the caste system and untouchability.
• Jyotiba Phule and his wife Savitribai Phule started India's first school for girls in 1848 at Bhide Wada in Pune.
• In 1873, he founded the Satyashodhak Samaj to advocate for the rights of oppressed communities.
• His ideology was rooted in equality, justice, and rationalism.

Topic: Indian Polity

5. Vice-President Shri C.  P. Radhakrishnan releases Constitution of India in Sindhi.

• VP released the latest version of the Constitution of India in the Sindhi language, in both Devanagari and Persian scripts, on the occasion of Sindhi Bhasa Diwas.
• The release of the Constitution in Sindhi marks an important milestone in promoting linguistic inclusivity.
• He emphasized that the Constitution is not merely a legal document but the living spirit of the nation, embodying its aspirations, safeguarding rights, and guiding democratic governance.
• In recent years, the constitution has been translated in various languages including Bodo, Dogri, Santhali, Tamil, Gujarati, and Nepali.
• Sindhi was included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution through the 21st Constitutional Amendment in 1967.

Topic: National Appointments

6. Anand Kumar Pal assumes charge as Chief Adviser (Cost) in the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance.

• Following the approval of the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), Shri Anand Kumar Pal, Indian Cost Accounts Service (ICoAS), has assumed the charge of Chief Adviser (Cost) in the Department of Expenditure.
• He is a 1997-batch officer of the ICoAS who was serving as Additional Chief Adviser (Cost) in the Ministry of Defence.
• The Department of Expenditure is the nodal Department for overseeing the public financial management system in the Central Government and matters connected with state finances.
• It is responsible for the implementation of the recommendations of the Finance Commission and Central Pay Commission, monitoring of audit comments/ observations, preparation of Central Government Accounts.
• National Institute of Financial Management (NIFM), Faridabad, an autonomous body, is under the administrative control of the Department of Expenditure.

Topic: Reports and Indices

7. NITI Aayog releases reports on “Ease of Doing Research & Development in India”

• NITI Aayog released two reports titled “Ease of Doing Research & Development in India” and the “Survey Report on Ease of Doing R&D in India” in New Delhi.
• It aimed at enabling a more efficient, facilitative, and innovation-driven research ecosystem in the country.
• The reports are the outcome of an extensive exercise conducted over a period of approximately nine months, involving outreach to 400+ institutional leaders and insights from 850+ distinguished scientists and researchers across the country.
• The report identifies challenges across multiple thematic areas and puts forward over actionable recommendations, based on an evidence-driven process including nationwide surveys, stakeholder consultations, and regional consultative meetings.
• It highlighted the importance of strengthening innovation within the research ecosystem.
• The reports provide a comprehensive assessment of India’s R&D ecosystem and outline a set of actionable recommendations focused on improving funding mechanisms, institutional governance, regulatory frameworks, and research translation.
• They underscore the need for a more trust-based, outcome-oriented, and facilitative environment to enable researchers and institutions to perform at their full potential.
• With the release of these reports, NITI Aayog reaffirms its commitment to strengthening India’s research ecosystem and advancing the country’s vision of becoming a global leader in science, technology, and innovation.

Topic: Space and IT

8. ISRO successfully conducts 2nd integrated air drop test for Gaganyaan mission.

• The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has successfully conducted the second integrated air drop test (IADT-02) for the upcoming Gaganyaan mission at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.
• The system is essential to ensure safe recovery of the crew module — the capsule in which astronauts sit during a human flight.
• After the module’s release, a parachute system, comprising 10 parachutes, was deployed, helping the capsule decelerate to a safe splashdown speed.
• The IADT-02 follows the successful completion of the first IADT, which took place on August 24, 2025, at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
• In the first IADT, a 4.8-tonne dummy crew module was dropped from a height of three km by a Chinook helicopter.
• Air drop tests recreate the last leg of a spacecraft’s return to the Earth.
• An aircraft or helicopter drops the spacecraft from a height to test various systems under different scenarios.
• These are the deployment of the parachute system in case the mission is aborted mid-flight, system performance when one parachute fails to open, and the spacecraft’s orientation and safety during splashdown.
• India’s first indigenous human spaceflight (Gaganyaan) will be launched from Sriharikota in 2027.

Topic: Space and IT

9. Crew members of NASA’s Artemis II moon mission returned to Earth.

• Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canada’s Jeremy Hansen hit the atmosphere travelling 33 times the speed of sound – a blistering blur not seen since NASA’s Apollo moonshots of the 1960s and 1970s.
• Their Orion capsule, dubbed Integrity, made the plunge on automatic pilot.
• The tension in Mission Control mounted as the capsule became engulfed in red-hot plasma during peak heating and entered a planned communication blackout.
• The recovery ship, USS John P. Murtha, awaited the crew’s arrival off the San Diego coast, along with a squadron of military planes and helicopters.
• During the 10-day Artemis II mission, the crew became the first humans to travel toward the moon in more than 50 years, and they set a new record for the farthest distance ever traveled from Earth.
• The astronauts were also the first to launch on NASA’s giant Space Launch System rocket and to travel aboard the Orion spacecraft.
• Artemis II is part of the Artemis program, which aims to establish a permanent human presence on the Moon and pave the way for future missions to Mars.

Topic: State News/ Telangana

10. Telangana declared Naxal free after 42 cadres surrender.

• Telangana DGP B Shivadhar Reddy announced that the state is now free of armed Maoist presence after 42 cadres of the Communist Party of India (Maoist), including PLGA commander Sodi Malla, surrendered.
• 42 Maoists surrendered along with 36 firearms, including five AK-47 rifles, four SLR rifles, two country-made grenades, 1,007 live rounds of ammunition of various calibres, and 800 grams of gold.
• The DGP said police are taking the help of surrendered Maoists to detect IEDs planted by ultras in different areas and remove them.
• A total of 761 Maoists has surrendered to Telangana Police between 2024 and 2026, along with 302 firearms.
• Maoists are often referred to as Naxalites, and their ideology is a doctrine of armed insurgency designed to capture state power through rural, then urban, guerrilla warfare.