Rajasthan Current Affairs – May 2026 — Full notes
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Rajasthan Current Affairs – May 2026 — 46 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
- Rajasthan's Senior Citizen Pilgrimage Scheme 2026, run by the Devasthan Department with a ₹150 crore budget, will take 56,000 elderly people on free pilgrimages: 50,000 by AC train and 6,000 by air to the Pashupatinath temple in Kathmandu, Nepal.
- North India's first dedicated zinc park is being built on 111 acres at Kanchla, Bhilwara, after the ₹1 lakh crore and 1 lakh-job agreement with Vedanta at Rising Rajasthan. Only zinc-linked firms can set up plants there.
- Rajasthan will get about ₹11,000 crore as a 50-year interest-free loan under the Centre's SASCI capital investment scheme, after getting ₹10,547.88 crore in 2025-26. Projects must cost ₹5 crore or more, on a first-come basis.
- The debt of Rajasthan's three discoms fell from ₹97,970 crore in 2024-25 to ₹96,618 crore in 2025-26, a cut of ₹1,352 crore. Ajmer Discom's debt fell ₹935 crore and Jaipur's ₹644 crore, while Jodhpur's rose slightly.
- 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.
- A UNESCO survey and documentation drive recognised the Kumbhalgarh fort wall as the world's second-longest continuous wall after the Great Wall of China. It is about 36 km (22 miles) long and 15-21 feet wide.
- 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.
- 15 May — India's first SME semiconductor facility started on 15 May 2026 at Salarpur-Kushkhera, Bhiwadi (Alwar), inside the ECOTECH electronics manufacturing cluster.
- 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.
- 22 May — On 22 May 2026 the cabinet under CM Bhajan Lal Sharma approved the Rajasthan Industrial Development Policy-2026, built on four pillars: Green, Governance, Growth and Global Linkages. It aims for a $350 billion economy by 2028-29.
News by topic
- Government & States
- 17 one-liners
- Economy & Banking
- 19 one-liners
- Science, Defence & Environment
- 4 one-liners
- Sports, Days & Culture
- 5 one-liners
- Awards, Appointments & Books
- 1 one-liners
Government & States
17 one-liners
Policy · laws · schemes · states.
National
17 one-liners
17 National — 5 May – 27 May.
- Rajasthan's Senior Citizen Pilgrimage Scheme 2026, run by the Devasthan Department with a ₹150 crore budget, will take 56,000 elderly people on free pilgrimages: 50,000 by AC train and 6,000 by air to the Pashupatinath temple in Kathmandu, Nepal.
- To qualify, an applicant must be a Rajasthan native aged 60 or more on 1 April 2026, and neither the applicant nor the spouse can be an income-tax payer. Retired gazetted officers and earlier beneficiaries are not eligible.
- Train pilgrims can visit places such as Haridwar, Rishikesh, Ayodhya, Varanasi, Dwarka, Somnath, Tirupati, Jagannath Puri, Rameswaram, Vaishno Devi, Amritsar, Patna Sahib, Bihar Sharif and Hazur Sahib Nanded. Each applicant picks three preferred destinations.
- Food, stay, medical care and an escort are free during the pilgrimage, and people above 80 years of age are not allowed to travel by air.
- The Centre gave Rajasthan a record allocation of over ₹3,283 crore under PMAY-Gramin; ₹1,641 crore, the highest in three years, was released in 2025-26 alone.
- To meet the "housing for all by 2029" goal, the PMAY-G budget rose from ₹15,000 crore (2016-17) to ₹54,916 crore (2026-27). The rural development budget grew from ₹87,765 crore to ₹2,73,108 crore, over 211%.
- Rajasthan formed 1,811 new M-PACS (multipurpose primary agricultural cooperative societies), 3,434 new dairy cooperative societies and 31 new fisheries cooperative societies.
- A total of 6,526 PACS are fully computerised and "go-live", and 6,965 PACS work as Common Service Centres and e-Mitra kiosks.
- Rajasthan is first in India in cooperative digital payments with 9.60 crore successful transactions, and second in the country in PACS computerisation.
- After the ODOP policy amendment, micro units can get margin-money grants up to ₹20 lakh and small units up to ₹15 lakh for expansion. Applications are fully online and approved at district level.
- 5 May — A 5 May 2026 report says 19,46,884 pucca houses have been built in Rajasthan under PMAY-Gramin. The target is 24,97,121 houses, of which 24,32,445 have received administrative approval.
- 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 — The conference was held on the first anniversary of Operation Sindoor (May 2025). Main topics were cyber-space warfare, countering psychological and information warfare, and AI-driven autonomous systems such as drones.
- 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.
- 22 May — Pension rules were eased on 22 May 2026: disabled children need not resubmit a disability certificate every 3 years, and pensioners can give a life certificate through a mobile app using face recognition.
- 22 May — Non-gazetted employees other than Class IV can now issue life certificates through their SSO ID, and one gazetted officer, instead of two, can verify a family pension.
- 27 May — Applications for the pilgrimage scheme were taken from 27 May to 10 June 2026 on the department portal or at e-Mitra centres. Pilgrims are chosen by district-wise computerised lottery, and a Jan Aadhaar card is compulsory.
Economy & Banking
19 one-liners
RBI · markets · trade · reports.
Economy & Banking
19 one-liners
19 Economy & Banking — 13 May – 22 May.
- Bhiwadi has investment proposals of over ₹1,200 crore; 11 tech companies have already invested ₹900 crore and begun production, giving direct jobs to 2,700 people.
- The Bhiwadi facility has a packaging capacity of 6 crore units a year, which is targeted to reach 40-60 crore units in 2-3 years.
- North India's first dedicated zinc park is being built on 111 acres at Kanchla, Bhilwara, after the ₹1 lakh crore and 1 lakh-job agreement with Vedanta at Rising Rajasthan. Only zinc-linked firms can set up plants there.
- Hindustan Zinc will build its main plant and a common facility centre on 5-7 acres of the zinc park, and has already proposed investment on 66 acres.
- New ODOP facility centres were approved in five districts: Dausa (stone products), Churu (handicraft and wood testing lab), Didwana-Kuchaman (CNC stone processing), Phalodi (climate-controlled sonamukhi warehouse) and Balotra (digital textile printing).
- The state's 2026-27 budget estimate is ₹1,91,103 crore. An AI-based tax intelligence system has also been installed to raise revenue and catch tax evasion.
- Rajasthan will get about ₹11,000 crore as a 50-year interest-free loan under the Centre's SASCI capital investment scheme, after getting ₹10,547.88 crore in 2025-26. Projects must cost ₹5 crore or more, on a first-come basis.
- RIICO allotted a record 2,072 plots in 2025-26, 135% more than the year before and the most in 10 years, about 6 plots a day. It opened 21 new industrial areas (one every 17 days) and acquired 10,440 acres.
- Of the ₹35 lakh crore investment proposals at the Rising Rajasthan Summit, agreements worth over ₹4.25 lakh crore have started work; the largest share, ₹26 lakh crore, is in energy such as solar, wind and green hydrogen.
- Rising Rajasthan investments are expected to create over 6 lakh new jobs for the state's youth in sectors like automobiles and textiles.
- The debt of Rajasthan's three discoms fell from ₹97,970 crore in 2024-25 to ₹96,618 crore in 2025-26, a cut of ₹1,352 crore. Ajmer Discom's debt fell ₹935 crore and Jaipur's ₹644 crore, while Jodhpur's rose slightly.
- After the CM spoke to the Union Power Minister, PFC and REC now lend to discoms at a minimum of 8.75%, which is 0.90% to 1.40% cheaper than before.
- For the first time, the three discoms collected 101% of billed amount in 2025-26, ₹740 crore more than billing, or over ₹77,492 crore. Jaipur Discom reached 102%, its best in 26 years.
- Jaipur Discom replaced faulty meters to reach "zero defective meters", cutting electricity-duty exemption loss from ₹2.04 crore to ₹14.84 lakh.
- Jaipur Discom earned a record ₹118.45 crore by auctioning scrap this year, nearly double the amount of the last two years.
- 13 May — A broadband committee meeting on 13 May 2026, chaired by the Chief Secretary, set the target of 100% broadband in every village. The Centre will give up to ₹150 crore to help apply the Telecom Right of Way Rules 2024.
- 15 May — India's first SME semiconductor facility started on 15 May 2026 at Salarpur-Kushkhera, Bhiwadi (Alwar), inside the ECOTECH electronics manufacturing cluster.
- 22 May — On 22 May 2026 the cabinet under CM Bhajan Lal Sharma approved the Rajasthan Industrial Development Policy-2026, built on four pillars: Green, Governance, Growth and Global Linkages. It aims for a $350 billion economy by 2028-29.
- 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.
Science, Defence & Environment
4 one-liners
Space · tech · forces · 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.
- 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.
Sports, Days & Culture
5 one-liners
Results · important days · heritage.
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.
Art, Culture & Tourism
- A UNESCO survey and documentation drive recognised the Kumbhalgarh fort wall as the world's second-longest continuous wall after the Great Wall of China. It is about 36 km (22 miles) long and 15-21 feet wide.
- The Kumbhalgarh wall is wide enough for 7-8 horse riders to gallop side by side. Maharana Kumbha of Mewar built it between 1443 and 1458, with Mandan as chief architect.
- Kumbhalgarh was named a World Heritage Site in 2013 at the 37th UNESCO session in Phnom Penh, under "Hill Forts of Rajasthan". The fort stands on an Aravalli peak about 84 km from Udaipur, around 1,100 m above sea level.
Awards, Appointments & Books
1 one-liners
Honours · new posts · books · obituaries.
Awards & Honours
| Date | Award | Winner / reason |
|---|---|---|
| 19 May | WHO World No Tobacco Day Award 2026 | Rajasthan Medical and Health Department (South-East Asia Region) |
Quick quiz
test yourself
Practice questions on this period. Tap an option to check your answer.
Fill in the blank: one-liner flashcards
- Rajasthan's _____, run by the Devasthan Department with a ₹150 crore budget, will take 56,000 elderly people on free pilgrimages: 50,000 by AC train and 6,000 by air to the Pashupatinath temple in Kathmandu, Nepal.
- Senior Citizen Pilgrimage Scheme 2026
- North India's first dedicated _____ is being built on 111 acres at Kanchla, Bhilwara, after the ₹1 lakh crore and 1 lakh-job agreement with Vedanta at Rising Rajasthan. Only zinc-linked firms can set up plants there.
- zinc park
- Rajasthan will get about _____ as a 50-year interest-free loan under the Centre's SASCI capital investment scheme, after getting ₹10,547.88 crore in 2025-26. Projects must cost ₹5 crore or more, on a first-come basis.
- ₹11,000 crore
- The debt of Rajasthan's three discoms fell from ₹97,970 crore in 2024-25 to _____ in 2025-26, a cut of ₹1,352 crore. Ajmer Discom's debt fell ₹935 crore and Jaipur's ₹644 crore, while Jodhpur's rose slightly.
- ₹96,618 crore
- 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
- A UNESCO survey and documentation drive recognised the _____ as the world's second-longest continuous wall after the Great Wall of China. It is about 36 km (22 miles) long and 15-21 feet wide.
- Kumbhalgarh fort wall
- 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
- India's first _____ started on 15 May 2026 at Salarpur-Kushkhera, Bhiwadi (Alwar), inside the ECOTECH electronics manufacturing cluster.
- SME semiconductor facility
- 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
- On 22 May 2026 the cabinet under CM _____ approved the Rajasthan Industrial Development Policy-2026, built on four pillars: Green, Governance, Growth and Global Linkages. It aims for a $350 billion economy by 2028-29.
- Bhajan Lal Sharma
MCQs
What is the budget of the Senior Citizen Pilgrimage Scheme 2026 of Rajasthan?
- ₹100 crore
- ₹150 crore
- ₹250 crore
- ₹500 crore
Show answer
Answer: ₹150 crore — The scheme will take 56,000 senior citizens on free pilgrimages.
The Joint Commanders' Conference 2026 was held in Jaipur at which headquarters?
- Western Command
- Southern Command
- Central Command
- South Western Command
Show answer
Answer: South Western Command — It was held on 7-8 May 2026, on the first anniversary of Operation Sindoor.
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.
The Kumbhalgarh fort wall, about 36 km long, is the world's second-longest wall after which wall?
- Hadrian's Wall
- Wall of Gorgan
- Great Wall of China
- Walls of Constantinople
Show answer
Answer: Great Wall of China — It was built by Maharana Kumbha in 1443-1458 and is part of the Hill Forts of Rajasthan World Heritage Site (2013).
Which Rajasthan government department runs the Senior Citizen Pilgrimage Scheme?
- Devasthan Department
- Tourism Department
- Social Justice Department
- Panchayati Raj Department
Show answer
Answer: Devasthan Department — The Devasthan Department runs the scheme and chooses pilgrims through a lottery.
India's first SME semiconductor facility was started in which place of Rajasthan?
- Bhilwara
- Bhiwadi
- Neemrana
- Kota
Show answer
Answer: Bhiwadi — It started on 15 May 2026 at Salarpur-Kushkhera in Bhiwadi, Alwar, inside the ECOTECH cluster.
The Joint Commanders' Conference 2026 was held on the first anniversary of which operation?
- Operation Sindoor
- Operation Vijay
- Operation Meghdoot
- Operation Trident
Show answer
Answer: Operation Sindoor — The conference discussed cyber warfare, AI systems and the theatre command plan.
North India's first dedicated zinc park is being built in which region of Bhilwara?
- Mandal
- Shahpura
- Kanchla
- Asind
Show answer
Answer: Kanchla — The 111-acre park follows the agreement with Vedanta at Rising Rajasthan.
Under the May 2026 pension reforms, how many gazetted officers are now needed to verify a family pension?
- Two
- One
- Three
- None
Show answer
Answer: One — One gazetted officer is now enough instead of two.
The Rajasthan Industrial Development Policy-2026 aims to take the state's economy to $350 billion by which year?
- 2028-29
- 2026-27
- 2030-31
- 2027-28
Show answer
Answer: 2028-29 — The cabinet approved it on 22 May 2026; its four pillars are Green, Governance, Growth and Global Linkages.
How many new multipurpose primary agricultural cooperative societies (M-PACS) were formed in Rajasthan?
- 3,434
- 6,526
- 1,811
- 6,965
Show answer
Answer: 1,811 — The state also formed 3,434 dairy and 31 fisheries cooperative societies.