Daily Current Affairs & GK: April 1, 2026

Daily Current Affairs Updates:01/04/2026

Welcome to your comprehensive update for April 1, 2026. Today marks a historic shift in India’s legislative and economic landscape as the new financial year (FY 2026–27) kicks off with the implementation of landmark reforms in labor, taxation, and environmental governance.

National & Polity

• New Wage Code Implementation: The Union Government has officially implemented the New Wage Code starting today.The 50% Rule: Basic pay, along with DA and Retaining Allowance, must now comprise at least 50% of the total CTC.While take-home pay for many salaried employees may decrease due to higher provident fund (EPF) contributions, long-term retirement savings will see a substantial boost.Gratuity Reform: Contractual and fixed-term workers are now eligible for gratuity after just one year of service (down from five years).
• Digital Census 2027 Roadmap: The Registrar General of India (RGI) confirmed that preliminary field trials for India's first-ever Digital Census have commenced today. 
• The census will feature a self-enumeration option for citizens via a secure mobile app.
• This will be the 16th Census in the series and the 8th since Independence. 
• The census will be conducted in two phases, House Listing (HLO) and Population Enumeration (PE), with March 1, 2027, fixed as the reference date.
• On March 31, 2026, the Indian Ministry of Defence signed a ₹1,950 crore contract with Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) for two advanced, indigenously developed mountain radars for the Indian Air Force (IAF). Designed by DRDO's LRDE, these high-altitude radars are designed to fill surveillance gaps along the China and Pakistan borders by detecting low-flying threats and drones.
• Vir Vikram Yadav, a 1996-batch IAS officer of the Odisha cadre, was appointed as the new Director General of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in India, effective late March 2026.
• The Union Home Minister Amit Shah set March 31, 2026, as the final deadline for eradicating Left Wing Extremism (LWE) from India.Ahead of this deadline, intense anti-Maoist operations (often referred to as Operation Kagar) in 2025-2026 have led to a surge in surrenders and killings of senior leaders, particularly in Chhattisgarh's Bastar division.A massive surrender event occurred on March 31, 2026, in Chhattisgarh, where 44 Maoists surrendered in Bastar and 35 others in the surrounding five districts.
• Lok Sabha passes Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2026:Lok Sabha today passed the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2026. The legislation amends certain enactments for decriminalising and rationalising offences to further enhance trust-based governance for ease of living and doing business.
• Lieutenant General Dhiraj Seth assumes role of Vice Chief of Army Staff:Lieutenant General Dhiraj Seth today assumed the role of Vice Chief of the Army Staff.
• Solid Waste Management Rules, 2026: The new 2026 rules replace the 2016 framework today.
• Four-Way Segregation: It is now mandatory for all households to segregate waste into: Wet, Dry, Sanitary, and Special Care waste.
• Polluter Pays: Stricter enforcement and digital tracking via a CPCB portal have been introduced.
• Biobitumen Innovation: CSIR institutions have successfully transferred technology for Biobitumen (made from agricultural waste/stubble) to help reduce fossil fuel dependence in road construction.
• Nyaya Setu AI Chatbot:The Nyaya Setu AI Chatbot, along with its official mascot “Dishika”, was unveiled at the DISHA programme organised by the Department of Justice at Vigyan Bhawan by the Vice-President of India, Shri C.P. Radhakrishnan, and the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Law and Justice, Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal.Nyaya Setu is a voice-first, multimodal, multilingual AI-powered legal assistant designed to democratise access to justice by helping citizens understand legal processes, rights, and next steps through simple voice and text interactions across multiple Indian languages.

Economy & Banking

• Income Tax Act, 2025 Takes Effect: Today marks the repeal of the 1961 Act. The Income Tax Act, 2025 is now the primary law governing direct taxes in India, aiming to simplify the tax code and reduce litigation.
• The Act features 536 sections aimed at reducing litigation and modernizing tax filing.
• Tax Year: It replaces the "Assessment Year" concept with a unified "Tax Year."
• New Thresholds: The TDS threshold on interest has been increased to ₹1 lakh
• RBI's New Digital Rules: 2-Factor Authentication: All digital payment transactions now strictly require two factors of authentication, moving beyond just SMS-based OTPs.
• Indian Railways sets new record of cargo transport in year 2025-26:Indian Railways has set a new record of cargo transport in the year 2025-26. The Railways carried a record 1 thousand 670 Million Tonnes (MT) of freight in the year, registering a growth of 3.25% over the previous year.

International & Geopolitics

• UN Task Force on Hormuz Crisis: UN Secretary-General António Guterres has launched a high-level task force to address the ongoing trade disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, which have severely impacted global energy prices.
• First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia, Denis Manturov, will be on a two-day visit to India, starting tomorrow. During the visit, Mr Manturov is scheduled to meet External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar and Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in New Delhi.
• Demise of Suriname President: Chandrikapersad Santokhi, the President of Suriname and a recipient of India's Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, passed away. India observed a period of mourning for the leader of Indian descent.

Artemis II Moon Mission Important Facts

• Artemis II builds on the success of the uncrewed Artemis I in 2022, and will demonstrate a broad range of capabilities needed on deep space missions. The Artemis II test flight will be NASA’s first mission with crew aboard the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft.
• Mission Goal: A crewed test flight to validate deep-space systems necessary for long-term human lunar presence.
• Spacecraft:The Orion spacecraft will serve as the exploration vehicle that will carry and sustain the crew on Artemis missions to the Moon and return them safely to Earth.
• Crew : NASA Commander Reid Wiseman, NASA Pilot Victor Glover, and Mission Specialists Christina Koch of NASA and Jeremy Hansen of CSA (Canadian Space Agency).
• Launch Vehicle: The Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, which provides 8.8 million pounds of thrust.
• Distance Record: The mission surpassed the Apollo 13 record for the farthest crewed flight from Earth, reaching a maximum distance of 406,771 kilometers (252,756 miles).
• Key Milestones: Launched on April 1, 2026, with the lunar flyby scheduled on April 6, 2026.
• What is next ?
• Artemis III (The Infrastructure Test): Often compared to the Apollo 9 mission, this won't land on the Moon. Instead, it serves as a high-stakes dress rehearsal for the landing technology.
• Artemis IV (The Return):Artemis IV is planned to be the third crewed mission and first lunar landing of the NASA-led Artemis program, marking the first crewed landing on the Moon since Apollo 17 in 1972

Sports & Awards

• Asian Boxing Championships.In the Asian Boxing Championships, Indian boxers Sachin Siwach and Vishvanath Suresh advanced to the quarterfinals in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, today.
• IPL Record: Vaibhav Suryavanshi (Rajasthan Royals) smashed a 15-ball fifty, breaking the previous record for the fastest fifty by a debutant/youngster in the league.
• Bangladesh defeats Nepal 1-0 to reach SAFF U20 Championship final:In the SAFF U20 Championship, Bangladesh edged past Nepal 1-nil in the semi-final at the National Football Stadium in Malé, Maldives, this evening to secure a place in the final.
• Formula One: 19-year-old Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) won the Japanese Grand Prix, becoming the youngest driver ever to lead the F1 World Championship standings.

Important Days observed

• RBI Foundation Day: The Reserve Bank of India commenced operations on April 1, 1935, following the RBI Act of 1934.
• Establishment Date: April 1, 1935.
• Initial Setup: Constituted as a shareholders' bank; initially headquartered in Calcutta before moving to Mumbai in 1937.
• Nationalization: The bank was nationalized on January 1, 1949, following independence
• Odisha Day (Utkal Divas): Odisha celebrates its 90th Foundation Day today. It was the first Indian state to be formed on a linguistic basis on April 1, 1936.
• Prevention of Blindness Week: Observed from April 1–7 to raise awareness about avoidable blindness and eye health.
• Apple was founded on April 1, 1976, by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne in Los Altos, California. The company, which began in a garage, celebrated its 50th anniversary on April 1, 2026, marking five decades of innovation