Current Affairs September 2026 – Month-wise Mind Map

National

32 one-liners

32 National — 9 Sept – 30 Sept.

National — 32 one-liners

States & UTs

7 one-liners

7 States & UTs — 27 Sept.

• In Lucknow, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath launched the cooperative Bharat Taxi service (zero commission) and the Mukhyamantri Krishak Samriddhi Yojana, which offers farm loans at 6% interest.
• The Delhi Cabinet approved the DURGA scheme to give self-employment through 1,300 pink e-autos, 1,170 for women and 130 for transgender persons, in its first phase.
• Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta launched the Delhi Udyog Mitra portal, a single-window system for licences and NOCs offering more than 50 services from 15 departments.
• Starbucks signed an MoU with the Tamil Nadu government for India's first Global Capability Centre of the company in Chennai, expected to create about 800 technology jobs.
• Maharashtra passed the Women Farmers Empowerment Bill, 2026, which recognises women as farmers even if the land is not in their name. Women hold only about 14% of operational land holdings.
• Karnataka gave Tulu the status of the state's second additional official language in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts; Tulu is a major Dravidian language but is not in the Eighth Schedule (22 languages), and the power comes from Article 345.
• 27 Sept — Home Minister Amit Shah flagged off India's first LNG-powered train from Sabarmati station, Ahmedabad. The dual-fuel DEMU replaces up to about 40% of its diesel with liquefied natural gas.

International

16 one-liners

16 International — 25 Sept – 29 Sept.

• India has been named first among 41 markets in the Global Business Climate Survey 2026 by Business Sweden and partners. Ireland ranked second and Vietnam third.
• The UN General Assembly unanimously adopted its first declaration on rising sea levels. It says that small island states and low-lying countries keep their statehood and maritime zones even if their land is submerged.
• Pakistan and China activated a joint border commission in September 2026, with its first meeting in Islamabad; it rests on their 2013 border management agreement, and India rejected it, saying Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh are integral parts of India.
• India also refuses to accept the 1963 Pakistan-China agreement under which Pakistan gave the Shaksgam Valley (about 5,180 sq km) to China.
• India treats Aksai Chin as part of Ladakh while China calls it part of Xinjiang; the same dispute explains India's objection to CPEC, since a part of it passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
• The Court of Arbitration at The Hague said India's "suspension" of the Indus Waters Treaty after the April 2025 Pahalgam attack was not justified, adding that the treaty covers only water sharing, not terrorism; India rejected the court's jurisdiction as illegally formed.
• The hydropower projects Kishanganga (330 MW, Jhelum tributary) and Ratle (850 MW, Chenab) lie at the root of the Indus water dispute; some construction work at Ratle is under an interim stay.
• The IAEA Board formally referred Iran's case to the UN Security Council, the first such step in 20 years, over poor cooperation with nuclear inspectors and unexplained man-made uranium traces at undeclared sites.
• The IAEA Board vote was 23 in favour, 3 against (Russia, China and Niger) and 8 abstentions.
• Iran is estimated to hold about 440.9 kg of uranium enriched to 60%, which is only one technical step from weapons-grade 90%.
• Russia and China hold veto power in the UNSC, so punishment of Iran is unlikely; the referral mainly opens the way to global pressure and sanctions. The background is the 2015 JCPOA, which the USA left in 2018.
• US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced "Operation Economic Outcast" to cut Iran's remaining economic and financial links and to pressure countries and companies that trade with it.
• The US President ordered Lake Ontario to be renamed "Lake America"; Canada protested, as the lake lies between Ontario (Canada) and New York (USA), is the smallest and easternmost Great Lake, and has a Wendat-linked name over 400 years old.
• Anak Krakatau, an active volcano in the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra (Indonesia), erupted, and its ash disrupted flights at several airports.
• 25 Sept — The WEF Travel and Tourism Development Index 2026 ranked Japan first among 110 economies. India climbed to 31st place with a score of 4.42.
• 29 Sept — King Mohammed VI appointed Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri of the PAM party as Morocco's first woman Prime Minister, after the 23 September elections in which PAM won 97 of 395 seats.

Summits, Agreements & Exercises

10 one-liners

10 Summits, Agreements & Exercises — 12 Sept – 17 Sept.

• At the UN General Assembly session in New York, India co-chaired the first Partners for Multilateralism (P4M) Summit and the first V4+India foreign ministers' meeting. The Visegrad Group backed India's claim for a permanent UN Security Council seat.
• India and ESA (European Space Agency) extended their cooperation agreement by five years, till 8 January 2032, through letters exchanged in Paris by ISRO chief V. Narayanan and ESA's Josef Aschbacher.
• NTPC and France's EDF Power Solutions signed a 50:50 joint venture to build low-carbon projects such as pumped storage, hydro and renewable energy in India and neighbouring countries.
• The name BRIC was coined by economist Jim O'Neill in 2001; the first summit was in 2009 in Russia, South Africa joined in 2010 (making BRICS), Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE in 2024, and Indonesia in 2025.
• The SCO named Lahore (Pakistan) its Tourism and Cultural Capital for 2026-27, decided at the 26th Council of Heads of State summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan; it coincides with Pakistan's SCO chairship in 2026-27.
• Earlier SCO tourism and cultural capitals were Varanasi (2022-23), Almaty (2023-24), Qingdao (2024-25) and Cholpon-Ata (2025-26); Lahore is known for Lahore Fort and Shalimar Gardens, both UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
• 12 Sept — The 18th BRICS Summit was held on 12-13 September 2026 at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi, under India's chairship, on the 20th anniversary of BRICS.
• 12 Sept — The summit adopted the New Delhi Declaration 2026, stressing a bigger role for developing countries in global governance, economic and financial cooperation, technology innovation and sustainable development; India's theme was "Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability".
• 17 Sept — SLINEX-26, the 13th India-Sri Lanka naval exercise, was held on 17-21 September 2026 at Visakhapatnam under the Eastern Naval Command; it was first conceived in 2005.
• 17 Sept — In SLINEX-26 India sent INS Kavaratti and INS Jyoti and Sri Lanka sent SLNS Sindurala; it had a harbour phase (professional and cultural activities) and a sea phase (maritime coordination).

Economy & Banking

20 one-liners

20 Economy & Banking — 23 Sept – 30 Sept.

• The Ministry of Petroleum made biometric Aadhaar authentication compulsory from 1 October 2026 for buying subsidised domestic LPG refills. Those who skip it will pay the market price.
• India's first port-based e-methanol plant was launched at Kandla (Deendayal Port, Gujarat). It will make 150 tonnes of green marine fuel a day and cost Rs 2,300 crore, with phases due in January and March 2027.
• The Ministry of Statistics released the Annual Survey of Industries 2024-25. Manufacturing gross value added grew 9.59% and factory employment rose 7.19% to 2.10 crore.
• The Technology Development Board signed a Rs 200 crore funding agreement with Chennai-based Agnikul Cosmos to develop its fully reusable launch vehicle, the Agnibaan RLV.
• Times Higher Education's World University Rankings 2027 placed IISc Bengaluru at 254th, the best Indian institution. Oxford stayed first for the 11th year in a row.
• The NPCI announced a Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) of 0.4% on person-to-merchant UPI payments above ₹2,000, to apply from 15 October 2026.
• The new UPI charge does not apply to person-to-person payments, small sellers or merchant payments up to ₹2,000 (including RuPay debit card payments); merchants earning up to ₹1 lakh a month through UPI stay fully MDR-free.
• UPI payments for mutual funds, shares and dealers will carry only a 0.02% charge, capped at ₹300, to encourage formal financial markets; the Finance Ministry says only about 4% of merchant transactions are affected.
• 5% of the money collected as UPI MDR will go to a dedicated fund that promotes UPI among small merchants, and banks have been told not to pass this charge on to customers.
• India's bio-economy has grown from about $10 billion in 2014 to nearly $200 billion, supported by the BioE3 Policy (2024), which stands for Biotechnology for Economy, Environment and Employment.
• Maize is India's third largest food crop after rice and wheat; production hit a record 5.509 crore tonnes in 2025-26, and Madhya Pradesh is the top producer, followed by Karnataka, Maharashtra, Bihar and Telangana.
• India's maize yield of about 3.19 tonnes per hectare is still below the world average of roughly 5.5 tonnes per hectare.
• The US campaign targets Iran's oil and petrochemicals, shipping, aviation, gold, digital assets and technology; India may face higher energy costs, trade difficulty and complications for the strategic Chabahar port.
• 23 Sept — The Asian Development Bank raised its forecast for India's 2026-27 GDP growth by 40 basis points to 7.0% in its Asian Development Outlook. Growth for developing Asia is seen at 5.0% this year.
• 23 Sept — The OECD raised India's 2026-27 growth forecast by 80 basis points to 7.1% from 6.3% in its Interim Economic Outlook. It sees 6.5% growth for the following year.
• 28 Sept — Sagarmala Finance Corporation Limited launched India's first blue bond to raise Rs 600 crore, with a Rs 500 crore green-shoe option. Blue bonds fund ocean and maritime projects. The tenor is 10 years.
• 30 Sept — The RIICO online auction of 12 plots (about 391 acres) ended on 30 September 2026. A total of 128 bidders applied and RIICO earned Rs 569 crore. Malan ki Tus (Udaipur) tourism plots drew the most bids, 68.
• 30 Sept — The Finance Ministry kept small savings scheme interest rates unchanged for the October-December 2026 quarter. This is the 11th quarter in a row without a change.
• 30 Sept — The Centre cut the export levy (windfall tax) on diesel from Rs 20 to Rs 16 per litre and on ATF from Rs 15 to Rs 10.5 per litre from 1 October. The petrol levy stayed at Rs 0.5 per litre.
• 30 Sept — Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal attended the G20 Trade Ministers' Meeting at Milwaukee, USA (30 September to 1 October) under the US presidency and stressed food security and the protection of farmers.

Science & Technology

18 one-liners

18 Science & Technology — 25 Sept – 28 Sept.

• The long-range one-way attack drone KAL, made by the Noida firm IG Defence, was flight-tested at the Pokhran Field Firing Range. Its reported range is up to 1,000 km and endurance 7-8 hours.
• DRDO signed its first high-value deep-tech agreement under its Technology Development Fund with Zero mK India, a start-up from Alwar, to build a 20 mK dilution refrigerator for quantum technology.
• To protect children's privacy and dignity, the Education Department banned entry of outsiders, photography, videography and interviews in government schools without permission, citing Article 21 and the "in loco parentis" principle.
• The NSTFDC and HPCL signed an agreement to build smart classrooms and computer labs in 29 Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRS) in 11 Rajasthan districts at a cost of ₹16.01 crore, to be completed within six months.
• The 11 districts are Alwar, Banswara, Baran, Dungarpur, Jaipur, Karauli, Pratapgarh, Sawai Madhopur, Sirohi, Tonk and Udaipur.
• Each EMRS will get 4 smart classrooms with 86-inch interactive panels, a fully networked computer lab and 10 tablets for competitive exam preparation, benefiting over 10,000 Scheduled Tribe students every year with equal participation of girls.
• Four cheetah cubs were born to cheetah KGP12 at Kuno National Park, Madhya Pradesh, taking India's cheetah count to 56 as Project Cheetah completed four years.
• EOS-05 is India's first Earth-observation satellite placed in geostationary orbit, about 36,000 km above the ground, so it can watch the same area round the clock; it is nicknamed the "Eye in the Sky".
• EOS-05 weighs 2,367 kg, the heaviest payload ever put into orbit by a GSLV rocket; it flew on the 19th GSLV mission.
• Continuous watching from geostationary orbit helps track fast-changing disasters such as floods and cyclones, unlike low-orbit satellites that need hours or days to pass over the same place again.
• A study found that India's space launch cost is about $13,302 per kg (2025 estimate), far above the global average of $3,868; Europe is $9,897, Russia $6,682, China $5,809, Japan $5,287 and the USA $3,225.
• Launch costs are high in India mainly because small launch vehicles are used often, which spreads fixed costs over little payload, and because launches are few: only five in 2025 against a target of 30.
• About 400 space start-ups have appeared since the private sector was opened in 2020; in July 2026 Skyroot Aerospace launched the country's first privately built orbital rocket.
• India's first Green Forge complex started at the National Agri-Food and Biomanufacturing Institute, Mohali; it is a simulation facility for agri-biotech and GM crop research with tightly controlled light, humidity and temperature.
• India's first indigenous non-GMO high-expansion popcorn maize varieties, Krishna 459 and Godavari 234, were developed in Eluru district, Andhra Pradesh, by ICAR-IIMR with Gourmet Popcornica using conventional breeding.
• 25 Sept — Serum Institute of India's quadrivalent HPV vaccine CERVAVAC became India's first WHO-prequalified indigenous HPV vaccine, effective 25 September 2026. This makes it eligible for purchase by UN agencies.
• 26 Sept — Researchers at IIT Jodhpur are documenting the Bhil language and the traditional knowledge of Bhil communities of the Osian region, such as methods of building houses and saving water in the Thar Desert.
• 28 Sept — India demonstrated its first 5.56 km free-space quantum key distribution (QKD) link between BISAG-N and IIT Gandhinagar, with QNu Labs. Error rates stayed below 5%.

Defence & Security

13 one-liners

13 Defence & Security — 21 Sept – 28 Sept.

• R&AW works under the Cabinet Secretariat and reports directly to the Prime Minister's Office; it watches neighbouring countries, collects foreign intelligence and supports national security and foreign policy.
• India's defence exports touched a record ₹38,424 crore in 2025-26, helped by home-made products such as BrahMos, Tejas (LCA) and artillery systems.
• The Defence Minister released the RAKSHA document, a 10-year roadmap for India's defence diplomacy that is linked to the "Defence Forces Vision 2047".
• INS Samarthak is the Navy's first indigenous multi-purpose vessel, built by Larsen & Toubro at Kattupalli shipyard near Chennai with over 75% indigenous content; it can be used for weapon trials, sea surveillance and disaster relief.
• The Home Ministry's Smart Border Architecture will use AI, sensors and cameras for integrated surveillance where fencing is not possible, such as the 3,488 km undemarcated border with China.
• The first pilot of the Smart Border Architecture will be on the Pakistan border, mainly to stop drones used for infiltration and smuggling.
• The Chaturbhuj Security Grid will link border forces, local police, local people and technology across 119 border districts of 17 states and Union Territories, and is to be ready in about 1.5 years.
• India signed a government-to-government deal worth ₹292 crore with the USA, through its Foreign Military Sales route, to buy about 60 Javelin anti-tank guided missiles for the Army.
• Javelin is a shoulder-fired, "fire-and-forget" missile, so the soldier can move at once after firing; it is made by the Javelin Joint Venture of Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, and fills a gap in anti-tank and bunker-busting capability seen after Operation Sindoor.
• 21 Sept — India's foreign intelligence agency R&AW (Research and Analysis Wing) completed 58 years on 21 September 2026; it was set up in 1968 under Indira Gandhi after the 1962 China war, with R. N. Kao as first chief.
• 23 Sept — The Defence Ministry signed a Rs 810.79 crore contract with Bharat Dynamics Limited for 160 SAT-SAAW glide bombs for the Indian Air Force. The weapon has about 60% indigenous content and deliveries are due in 2027-28 and 2028-29.
• 26 Sept — The Indian Air Force began Exercise Tarang Shakti 2026, its second multinational air exercise, at Air Force Station Jodhpur (26 September to 12 October). Several foreign air forces, including those of the USA and France, flew in it and about 32 countries attended as observers.
• 28 Sept — The 9th India-Kazakhstan joint military exercise, KAZIND-2026, began at Oskemen, Kazakhstan and runs till 11 October. It focuses on joint counter-terrorism operations in semi-urban and mountain terrain.

Environment & Ecology

21 one-liners

21 Environment & Ecology — 28 Sept.

• The Jojri is a seasonal river that starts at Pandalu village in Nagaur, flows through the middle of Jodhpur city and joins the Luni near Balotra; it is the only tributary that meets the Luni from its right bank.
• The Supreme Court had earlier also taken up the pollution of the Jojri, Bandi and Luni rivers.
• Degrai Mata Oran in Jaisalmer is a sacred grassland of about 10,000 hectares in the heart of the Thar, protected by villagers themselves; it shelters the endangered Great Indian Bustard (Godawan) and the Asiatic caracal.
• Bhati organised communities of about 20 villages to protect the grasslands and help natural regrowth, which brought back native grasses such as sewan and dhaman, important fodder for livestock.
• Scientists reported a new plant species, Begonia neelamorum, from Arunachal Pradesh. It is named after the Neelam clan of the Nyishi community. Northeast India now has 54 Begonia species.
• At the FAO Committee on Forestry in Rome (COFO 28), India reported 82.74 million hectares of forest and tree cover, which is 25.17% of its land area.
• The world has about 23 vulture species and India has 9, including the White-rumped, Indian, Slender-billed and Himalayan Griffon vultures.
• Vulture numbers crashed because of the veterinary painkiller diclofenac, which India banned in 2006; in some areas the population had already fallen by up to 97%.
• Near Sudhowala, Dehradun (Uttarakhand), a cattle-carcass disposal site was moved away from high-voltage power lines, which lowers the risk of vultures dying from electric shock.
• Vultures are called "nature's cleaners" because by eating dead animals they stop diseases such as anthrax and botulism from spreading.
• Khijadiya Bird Sanctuary near Jamnagar, Gujarat (a Ramsar site since February 2022), was found to be an important breeding site of the Black-necked Stork; a study counted a peak seasonal population of 21 birds.
• The Kerala State Wetland Authority began a one-month pilot using robotic technology at Kumarakom to stop the spread of water hyacinth, an invasive plant from South America, in the Ramsar site Vembanad Lake.
• A study valued the Pichavaram mangrove forest in Tamil Nadu at ₹2,485.38 crore in total (about ₹1.83 crore per hectare); mangroves protect coasts from cyclones and absorb carbon.
• Mangrove soil stores far more carbon than the plants above it, 251.14 tonnes per hectare against 79.45 tonnes, so protecting mangrove soil matters as much as protecting the trees.
• A 2026 study found 219 hanging glaciers in the Alaknanda basin of the Garhwal Himalaya; rising temperatures make them unstable and raise the risk of avalanches and floods.
• A large avalanche on the Nepal-Tibet border created new landslide-dammed lakes in the Bhote Koshi-Trishuli river system, raising the risk of a glacial lake outburst flood and hampering rescue on the Gyirong-Rasuwagadhi corridor.
• The Montreal Protocol (1987) bans ozone-depleting chemicals such as CFCs and HCFCs; India joined in 1992, and about 99% of ozone-depleting substances have been phased out worldwide.
• The Kigali Amendment (2016) cuts HFC gases, which do not harm ozone but warm the climate; India ratified it in 2021 and aims to cut HFCs by 85% from the baseline by 2047.
• The World Meteorological Organization warned that the current El Nino could become very strong by early 2027, which may affect India's monsoon, farming and food security.
• Nameri Tiger Reserve received CA|TS Approved status in September 2026, so all four of Assam's tiger reserves (Kaziranga, Manas, Orang and Nameri) now hold the global Conservation Assured Tiger Standards tag.
• 28 Sept — At the 70th International Whaling Commission meeting in Hobart, Australia (28 September to 2 October), India reaffirmed its commitment to whale and cetacean conservation. India has been an IWC member since 1981.

Sports

5 one-liners

5 Sports — 27 Sept – 30 Sept.

• Jaipur's Anantjeet Singh Naruka won two bronze medals in skeet shooting (men's team and mixed team) at the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan.
• Bodhana Sivanandan, an Indian-origin British player, became the youngest Woman Grandmaster at the age of 11 after earning her third norm at the Chess Olympiad in Samarkand.
• 27 Sept — India won silver in the Open section and bronze in the Women's section at the 46th Chess Olympiad in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan took Open gold and China won the Women's gold.
• 29 Sept — Shooter Neeru Dhanda won gold in women's trap at the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan. She is the first Indian woman to win the individual trap gold at the Games, with a new Asian record score of 28 in the final.
• 30 Sept — Shubman Gill hit an unbeaten 223 off 133 balls, the fastest ODI double century (200 in 117 balls), as India chased down 406 to beat West Indies by 8 wickets in the 2nd ODI at Guwahati.

Important Days

6 one-liners

6 Important Days — 16 Sept – 24 Sept.

• Before this, Justice Agrawal served in the Chhattisgarh High Court as a judge and earlier as Advocate General; he became an additional judge in September 2013 and a permanent judge in March 2016.
• Bhati led an 85-day, roughly 700 km "Oran Bachao Padyatra" from the Tanot Mata Temple in Jaisalmer to Jaipur.
• International Vulture Awareness Day is observed on the first Saturday of September every year.
• 16 Sept — World Ozone Day is observed on 16 September to remember the Montreal Protocol, the world's most successful environmental treaty.
• 23 Sept — The 11th National Ayurveda Day was observed on 23 September 2026 with the theme "Ayurveda for a Healthier Tomorrow". The main national event of the Ministry of AYUSH was held in Nagpur.
• 24 Sept — World Maritime Day was observed on 24 September 2026 with the theme "From Policy to Practice: Powering Maritime Excellence". The International Maritime Organization leads the observance.

Art, Culture & Tourism

11 one-liners

11 Art, Culture & Tourism — 27 Sept.

• An oran is a sacred grove or pasture protected by the community; Degrai Mata Oran can be remembered as the Thar's community-protected grassland.
• "Painted Haveli Towns of Shekhawati" were added to the UNESCO Tentative List of World Heritage Sites; India's Permanent Delegation had submitted the serial nomination on 1 June 2026.
• A place on the Tentative List is only the first step toward World Heritage listing; it does not give World Heritage status by itself.
• The 14 historic towns, spread over Jhunjhunu, Churu and Sikar districts, are Alsisar, Bissau, Chirawa, Churu, Dundlod, Fatehpur, Jhunjhunu, Khetri, Laxmangarh, Mandawa, Mahansar, Nawalgarh, Ramgarh and Sikar.
• The Shekhawati nomination is proposed under UNESCO criteria (iii), (iv) and (v): an exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition, an outstanding example of a building or settlement type, and a traditional human settlement in harmony with its environment.
• Shekhawati is famous for painted havelis whose wall paintings show myths, religious themes, daily life, plants, animals and even modern technology such as the railway.
• From the 18th to the 20th century, rich Marwari merchant communities built grand havelis, temples, chhatris and public buildings in Shekhawati, along with forts, bazaars, wells, ponds and stepwells.
• The Jharkhand musical instrument Mandar, a clay-bodied drum linked to the Oraon tribe, received a Geographical Indication (GI) tag from the GI Registry in Chennai.
• The Dadasaheb Phalke Award was started in 1969 in memory of the director of India's first full-length film "Raja Harishchandra" (1913); it carries a Golden Lotus medal, a shawl and ₹10 lakh.
• Bengali writer Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay (Devdas, Srikanta, Pather Dabi) was remembered on his birth anniversary; his works question social inequality, patriarchy and caste, and he led the Howrah District Congress Committee in 1921-36.
• 27 Sept — World Tourism Day on 27 September had the theme on digital agenda and artificial intelligence. In India, Tourism Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat launched the National Digital Tourism Stack.

Awards & Honours

9 one-liners

9 Awards & Honours — 5 Sept – 26 Sept.

Appointments

7 one-liners

7 Appointments — 1 Sept – 25 Sept.

Books & Reports

2 one-liners

2 Books & Reports — Current Affairs September 2026 – Month-wise Mind Map.

• Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman released the book "Cashless Nation: How UPI Changed Everything" by Santanu Paul and B. Sambamurthy at an event in Bengaluru.
• A WHO-UNICEF report said India has about 50 million children without school sanitation services, the highest in the world, out of 244 million globally.

Obituaries

2 one-liners

2 Obituaries — Current Affairs September 2026 – Month-wise Mind Map.

• Actress Savithri Sreedharan, a veteran of Malayalam theatre and cinema, passed away in Kozhikode. She received a Special Jury Mention at the 66th National Film Awards.
• IAF fighter pilot Flt Lt Alfred Tyrone Cooke (retd.), a Vir Chakra awardee of the 1965 war, died in New Delhi at the age of 87. He shot down a Pakistani F-86 Sabre.