Defence Exams (NDA, CDS, CAPF) Current Affairs – May 2026 — Full notes
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Defence Exams (NDA, CDS, CAPF) Current Affairs – May 2026 — 60 news items
At a glance
the top events
The most important events of this page, and how many news items each topic holds.
Top events
- A NITI Aayog report of May 2026 says Rajasthan is the only state where classes 1 to 12 are taught on the same school campus; 27,889 schools offer this.
- Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia launched the indigenous Cell Broadcast System (CBS), built by C-DOT with NDMA and the Home Ministry, which sends disaster alerts within seconds to every active phone in a chosen area.
- India's first fully developed integrated CCUS (carbon capture, utilisation and storage) field laboratory was opened at IIT Bombay under Bharat Innovates 2026; led by Prof. Vikram Vishal, it stores CO2 in basalt rocks using non-potable water.
- The Quad (India, US, Japan, Australia) launched a Critical Minerals Initiative framework to raise about ₹1.6 lakh crore for secure mineral supply chains in the Indo-Pacific.
- 5 May — During PM Modi's UAE visit on 5 May 2026, ADNOC was allowed to store up to 30 million barrels of crude oil in India's strategic petroleum reserve. The UAE is India's only partner in this programme, and Fujairah storage will also be explored.
- 7 May — The second Joint Commanders' Conference 2026 was held on 7-8 May at South Western Command HQ, Jaipur, with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and CDS General Anil Chauhan present.
- 9 May — The India-Nordic Summit was held in Oslo, Norway on 9 May 2026. It followed the Stockholm (2018) and Copenhagen (2022) summits and created a new strategic partnership on green technology and innovation.
- 19 May — On 19 May 2026 the Rajasthan Medical and Health Department won the WHO World No Tobacco Day Award 2026 for the South-East Asia Region.
News by topic
- Defence & Security
- 14 one-liners
- International Relations
- 18 one-liners
- Science, Space & Environment
- 14 one-liners
- Sports, Awards, Posts & Days
- 14 one-liners
Defence & Security
14 one-liners
Forces · weapons · exercises · border.
National
- Three social security schemes, PMJJBY, PMSBY and APY, completed 11 years in May 2026; all were launched on 9 May 2015 to give affordable insurance and pension cover to poorer groups.
- 7 May — The second Joint Commanders' Conference 2026 was held on 7-8 May at South Western Command HQ, Jaipur, with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and CDS General Anil Chauhan present.
- 7 May — Work was done to finalise a joint theatre command structure for the three armed forces, and the Hindi version of "Vision 2047" was released at the Jaipur conference.
Economy & Banking
- 22 May — The new industrial policy gives extra incentives to semiconductors, data centres, Global Capability Centres and defence manufacturing. It also covers MSME, ODOP, exports, textiles, tourism and agro-processing.
Defence & Security
- North Korea added a new clause to its nuclear doctrine: if leader Kim Jong-un is killed or unable to function, the military can launch an automatic nuclear counter-strike.
- 2 May — Indian Navy chief Admiral Dinesh K. Tripathi made a four-day official visit to Myanmar from 2 to 5 May 2026.
- 8 May — Defence Minister Rajnath Singh made an official visit to Vietnam on 8-9 May 2026.
- 19 May — Rajnath Singh visited South Korea on 19-21 May 2026 on an official visit.
- 21 May — Rajnath Singh and South Korea's former veterans affairs minister jointly dedicated the Indian War Memorial at Imjingak Park, Seoul, on 21 May 2026.
Summits, Agreements & Exercises
- 5 May — Vietnam's President To Lam visited India from 5 to 7 May 2026. Both sides agreed to start a diplomacy-defence 2+2 dialogue, Vietnam will join the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI), and the 2024-28 joint action plan will be implemented faster.
- 9 May — At Oslo, India and the Nordic countries agreed to push the India-EFTA trade pact (TEPA), cooperate on the Arctic, climate action, STEM research and 6G, and work together on the Indo-Pacific maritime economy and defence production.
- 20 May — Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides visited India on 20-23 May 2026. The two countries will form a joint working group on counter-terrorism and approved the India-Cyprus Defence Cooperation Roadmap 2026-2031.
- 20 May — During the Cyprus visit, the Sushma Swaraj Institute of Foreign Service and Cyprus's diplomatic academy agreed to train together, and Cyprus's Larnaca rescue centre signed a search-and-rescue pact with India's defence ministry. India will gift a Bhishm Cube emergency medical kit.
- 25 May — Australia's Foreign Minister Senator Penny Wong visited India on 25-26 May 2026 and held a 2+2 meeting covering defence, trade, technology and supply chains.
International Relations
18 one-liners
Bilateral · summits · agreements.
International
5 one-liners
5 International — 23 May – 30 May.
- Iraq's parliament approved the new prime minister and a section of his cabinet.
- Karambir Singh Kang became Canada's first Sikh ship engineer to serve with a full beard at BC Ferries. He is from Kang village, Dhariwal tehsil, Gurdaspur (Punjab), and studied at BITS Pilani.
- People of Indian origin, about 9.17 lakh in number, have become the largest migrant group in Australia.
- 23 May — US Secretary of State Marco Rubio paid an official visit to India from 23 to 26 May 2026.
- 30 May — Among ASEAN members, Myanmar is the only neighbour of India where the Neighbourhood First policy and the Act East policy meet, which makes it strategically important.
Summits, Agreements & Exercises
13 one-liners
13 Summits, Agreements & Exercises — 5 May – 30 May.
- The Quad (India, US, Japan, Australia) launched a Critical Minerals Initiative framework to raise about ₹1.6 lakh crore for secure mineral supply chains in the Indo-Pacific.
- OPEC was founded in 1960 at Baghdad by Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, and the UAE joined in 1967. Eleven active members remain: Algeria, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.
- OPEC+ was formed in 2016 when OPEC members were joined by Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Brunei, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Oman, Russia, South Sudan and Sudan.
- The India-Africa Forum Summit, due on 28-31 May 2026, was postponed because Ebola cases were rising fast in Africa.
- In the Netherlands, during Modi's second visit, both sides agreed to build a strategic partnership, signed a customs mutual-assistance pact and set up a joint trade and investment committee with a fast-track mechanism.
- In Italy, at PM Giorgia Meloni's invitation, a foreign-minister-led mechanism was set up to deepen the Special Strategic Partnership, and the target of €20 billion trade by 2029 was reaffirmed.
- India and Italy agreed to set up an innovation centre named SINNOVIT India and to hold the first ministerial meeting this year to speed up the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC).
- 5 May — During PM Modi's UAE visit on 5 May 2026, ADNOC was allowed to store up to 30 million barrels of crude oil in India's strategic petroleum reserve. The UAE is India's only partner in this programme, and Fujairah storage will also be explored.
- 9 May — The India-Nordic Summit was held in Oslo, Norway on 9 May 2026. It followed the Stockholm (2018) and Copenhagen (2022) summits and created a new strategic partnership on green technology and innovation.
- 9 May — Leaders who met PM Modi at Oslo were Jonas Gahr Store (Norway), Petteri Orpo (Finland), Mette Frederiksen (Denmark, caretaker), Ulf Kristersson (Sweden) and Kristrun Frostadottir (Iceland).
- 22 May — India and Ethiopia signed a bilateral market-access protocol in Geneva on 22 May 2026, linked to Ethiopia's membership of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
- 26 May — Japan's Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi met PM Modi on 26 May 2026, and both stressed the India-Japan Special Strategic and Global Partnership for peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific.
- 30 May — Myanmar President U Min Aung Hlaing visited India from 30 May to 3 June 2026. Under the Mekong-Ganga ICCR scholarship scheme, seats for Myanmar students were raised from 36 to 100.
Science, Space & Environment
14 one-liners
ISRO · DRDO · tech · ecology.
Science & Technology
- A NITI Aayog report of May 2026 says Rajasthan is the only state where classes 1 to 12 are taught on the same school campus; 27,889 schools offer this.
- Integrated (class 1-12) schools are only 5.4% of schools in India, but 35% of them are in Rajasthan, so every third such school in the country is in the state.
- NITI Aayog notes that having all classes on one campus means children need not change schools again and again, which also reduces the dropout rate.
- Coal gasification means reacting coal with oxygen and steam under controlled conditions to make syngas, a mix of gases such as carbon monoxide and hydrogen, instead of burning the coal fully.
- Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia launched the indigenous Cell Broadcast System (CBS), built by C-DOT with NDMA and the Home Ministry, which sends disaster alerts within seconds to every active phone in a chosen area.
- Unlike SMS, which goes from one number to another and can jam, cell broadcast is area-based, reaches all phones in an area at once and is not affected by network congestion.
- ICAR and ICMR launched the Sehat Mission, an eight-year mission (2026-2033) linking farming, nutrition and health to curb malnutrition and disease.
- The Health Ministry introduced the Janani platform, a digital system to track health records of mothers and newborn babies through the reproductive period.
- India's first fully developed integrated CCUS (carbon capture, utilisation and storage) field laboratory was opened at IIT Bombay under Bharat Innovates 2026; led by Prof. Vikram Vishal, it stores CO2 in basalt rocks using non-potable water.
- The WHO estimates about 22.1 million (2.21 crore) excess deaths linked to Covid-19 worldwide between 2020 and 2023.
- 8 May — India and Cyprus together celebrated the first India-Cyprus Space Day on 8 May 2026, ahead of the Cyprus President's visit to India.
- 19 May — The WHO award recognised strict enforcement of tobacco laws (COTPA and the E-Cigarette Prohibition Act) in 2025-26, over 83,000 schools made tobacco-free, and about 2.55 lakh awareness activities.
Environment & Ecology
- Mayon Volcano, an active volcano in the Philippines, made news after a recent eruption.
- Saudi Arabia is set to join the International Big Cat Alliance as its 26th member country.
Sports, Awards, Posts & Days
14 one-liners
Results · honours · chiefs · days.
Sports
- 6 May — Rajasthan sent its biggest team (6 teams, 47 players) to the 47th All India Electricity Employees Sports Competition in Pune, 6-8 May 2026. The women's kho-kho team was runner-up, and Deepak Kumar of Jaipur Discom won wrestling silver a third time.
- 6 May — The women's kho-kho team beat Gujarat in the semi-final and lost the final to host Maharashtra; Poonam of Suratgarh Thermal won Best Defender. The men's team, playing for the first time, finished third after beating Maharashtra.
Awards & Honours
| Date | Award | Winner / reason |
|---|---|---|
| 19 May | WHO World No Tobacco Day Award 2026 | Rajasthan Medical and Health Department (South-East Asia Region) |
Appointments
| Date | Name | Appointed as |
|---|---|---|
| · | Himanta Biswa Sarma | Chief Minister of Assam (again) |
| · | Suvendu Adhikari | Chief Minister of West Bengal |
| · | V. D. Satheesan | Chief Minister of Kerala |
| · | Joseph Vijay | Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu |
| · | N. Rangasamy | Chief Minister of Puducherry (again) |
| · | Dr Sanjay Jaiswal (BJP) | Chairman, Estimates Committee, 2026-27 |
| · | Baijayant Panda (BJP) | Chairman, Committee on Public Undertakings, 2026-27 |
| · | K. C. Venugopal (Congress) | Chairman, Public Accounts Committee, 2026-27 |
| · | Faggan Singh Kulaste (BJP) | Chairman, Committee on Welfare of SCs and STs, 2026-27 |
| · | Justice Prakash Prabhakar Naolekar (retd) | Head of high-level committee on demographic changes due to illegal immigration |
| · | Tulsi Gabbard | Resigned as US Director of National Intelligence |
Quick quiz
test yourself
Practice questions on this period. Tap an option to check your answer.
Fill in the blank: one-liner flashcards
- A NITI Aayog report of May 2026 says Rajasthan is the only state where classes 1 to 12 are taught on the same school campus; _____ schools offer this.
- 27,889
- Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia launched the indigenous _____, built by C-DOT with NDMA and the Home Ministry, which sends disaster alerts within seconds to every active phone in a chosen area.
- Cell Broadcast System (CBS)
- India's first fully developed integrated _____ (carbon capture, utilisation and storage) field laboratory was opened at IIT Bombay under Bharat Innovates 2026; led by Prof. Vikram Vishal, it stores CO2 in basalt rocks using non-potable water.
- CCUS
- The _____ (India, US, Japan, Australia) launched a Critical Minerals Initiative framework to raise about ₹1.6 lakh crore for secure mineral supply chains in the Indo-Pacific.
- Quad
- During _____ on 5 May 2026, ADNOC was allowed to store up to 30 million barrels of crude oil in India's strategic petroleum reserve. The UAE is India's only partner in this programme, and Fujairah storage will also be explored.
- PM Modi's UAE visit
- The second _____ was held on 7-8 May at South Western Command HQ, Jaipur, with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and CDS General Anil Chauhan present.
- Joint Commanders' Conference 2026
- The _____ was held in Oslo, Norway on 9 May 2026. It followed the Stockholm (2018) and Copenhagen (2022) summits and created a new strategic partnership on green technology and innovation.
- India-Nordic Summit
- On 19 May 2026 the Rajasthan Medical and Health Department won the WHO _____ for the South-East Asia Region.
- World No Tobacco Day Award 2026
- Integrated (class 1-12) schools are only 5.4% of schools in India, but _____ of them are in Rajasthan, so every third such school in the country is in the state.
- 35%
- _____ became the Chief Minister of Assam again after the NDA's third straight win.
- Himanta Biswa Sarma
MCQs
The Rajasthan Medical and Health Department received which WHO award on 19 May 2026?
- Global Health Champion Award
- Healthy Cities Award
- Polio Eradication Award
- World No Tobacco Day Award 2026
Show answer
Answer: World No Tobacco Day Award 2026 — It was the award for the South-East Asia Region, for strict enforcement of tobacco laws.
According to NITI Aayog, what share of India's integrated class 1-12 schools is in Rajasthan?
- 5.4%
- 35%
- 15%
- 50%
Show answer
Answer: 35% — Such schools are 5.4% of all schools, but 35% of them are in Rajasthan.
Who became Kerala's Chief Minister after the UDF ended ten years of LDF rule in May 2026?
- Pinarayi Vijayan
- K. Sudhakaran
- V. D. Satheesan
- Ramesh Chennithala
Show answer
Answer: V. D. Satheesan — The Congress-led UDF won Kerala and V. D. Satheesan became the new Chief Minister.
In which city was the India-Nordic Summit held on 9 May 2026?
- Stockholm
- Oslo
- Copenhagen
- Helsinki
Show answer
Answer: Oslo — Earlier summits were at Stockholm (2018) and Copenhagen (2022).
Who visited India from 23 to 26 May 2026 as the US Secretary of State?
- Marco Rubio
- Antony Blinken
- Pete Hegseth
- Mike Pompeo
Show answer
Answer: Marco Rubio — Marco Rubio is the US Secretary of State in President Trump's government.
Where was the Indian War Memorial dedicated by Rajnath Singh in May 2026?
- Busan
- Incheon
- Imjingak Park, Seoul
- Panmunjom
Show answer
Answer: Imjingak Park, Seoul — Rajnath Singh dedicated it on 21 May 2026 during his South Korea visit.
Which organisation built the indigenous Cell Broadcast System for disaster alerts, with NDMA and the Home Ministry?
- ISRO
- BSNL
- C-DOT
- TRAI
Show answer
Answer: C-DOT — C-DOT, a Department of Telecommunications lab, developed the CBS, which alerts all phones in an area at once.
Who was named chairman of the Lok Sabha Public Accounts Committee for 2026-27?
- Baijayant Panda
- K. C. Venugopal
- Faggan Singh Kulaste
- Sanjay Jaiswal
Show answer
Answer: K. C. Venugopal — Congress MP K. C. Venugopal got the PAC; Panda got Public Undertakings, Jaiswal Estimates and Kulaste the SC-ST welfare committee.
Which Vietnamese leader visited India from 5 to 7 May 2026?
- President Vo Van Thuong
- General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong
- President To Lam
- President Luong Cuong
Show answer
Answer: President To Lam — To Lam's visit led to a plan for a 2+2 dialogue and a $25 billion trade target by 2030.
In which type of rock does the IIT Bombay CCUS field laboratory work on storing carbon dioxide?
- Basalt
- Granite
- Limestone
- Sandstone
Show answer
Answer: Basalt — The lab, led by Prof. Vikram Vishal, studies CO2 storage in basalt rocks using non-potable water.
Tulsi Gabbard resigned from which US post?
- CIA Director
- Secretary of Defense
- FBI Director
- Director of National Intelligence
Show answer
Answer: Director of National Intelligence — She quit President Trump's cabinet as the Director of National Intelligence.
Which emergency medical kit will India gift to Cyprus?
- Bhishm Cube
- Sanjeevani Box
- Jeevan Raksha Pod
- Arogya Kit
Show answer
Answer: Bhishm Cube — The gift was announced during the Cyprus President's visit of 20-23 May 2026.