National Current Affairs September 2026

India added five new properties to the UNESCO Tentative List for World Heritage in late September 2026, raising its total to 78. Four are in Madhya Pradesh: the Bagh Cave Paintings, the Group of Temples of the Chambal Valley, the Gupta-era Udaigiri Caves and Ginnorgarh. The fifth, Sites of Satyagraha, is a serial transnational nomination shared with South Africa, with nine components - seven in India, including Sabarmati Ashram, Mani Bhavan, Sevagram Ashram, Aga Khan Palace and Gandhi Smriti, and two in South Africa, Pietermaritzburg station and the Phoenix Settlement. A property must be on the Tentative List before a formal nomination dossier can be filed.

Vice-President C. P. Radhakrishnan released the book 'Vishwasanchar Hindutva Ka', published by Saptahik Vivek, at Uprashtrapati Bhawan, New Delhi, on 24 September 2026. The release coincides with the centenary year of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), founded in 1925 by Dr Keshav Baliram Hedgewar at Nagpur, Maharashtra. The term 'Vishwasanchar' signifies the global flow and exchange of ideas. The book examines how India's cultural heritage has travelled across regions, interacted with other societies and evolved into new forms and meanings, exploring Hindutva and cultural identity through that lens of transmission rather than as a fixed tradition.

The inaugural International Film Festival of Jammu and Kashmir (IFFJK) opened on 7 September 2026 at the Sher-i-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC) in Srinagar. The four-day festival, themed 'Rang-e-Cinema', runs to 10 September and is organised by the J&K Department of Information and Public Relations along with the National Film Development Corporation of India (NFDC). From roughly 1,100 submissions received from over 80 countries, 135 films from 41 countries were shortlisted — India leading with 64 films, followed by France with 13 and Iran with 8. A floating cinema was installed on Dal Lake near SKICC, letting audiences watch screenings from shikaras.

The Rangpur-Sivasagar Historic Ensemble of Assam, the political and ceremonial centre of the Ahom kingdom, has been added to India's Tentative List of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, with India's Permanent Delegation to UNESCO submitting the nomination on 19 June 2026 under criteria (iii) and (iv). The ensemble, in present-day Sivasagar district, includes the Rang Ghar - described as Asia's oldest surviving amphitheatre - the Talatal Ghar, temples, roads, bridges and the Joysagar, Gaurisagar and Sivasagar tanks. It complements the Charaideo Moidams, inscribed by UNESCO in 2024: Charaideo is where Ahom rulers rest, Rangpur-Sivasagar where they ruled.

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), under the Ministry of Culture, has declared the Gollala Gudi temple at Palampet village, Mulugu district, Telangana, a Monument of National Importance through notification S.O. 4802(E) under the AMASR Act, 1958, taking ASI-protected sites in Telangana to 10. The Kakatiya-era shrine stands south-west of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Kakatiya Rudreshwara (Ramappa) Temple, inscribed in 2021. It is a *Trikutalaya* — an east-facing pillared mandapa with three garbhagrihas, the central one housing a Shiva Lingam — distinguished by carved rows of hamsas, jali work on the entablature and doorways, and two detached shrines with dvarapala figures.

The Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi and Haryana signed the Kishau Multipurpose Project agreement in New Delhi on 15 September 2026, in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Jal Shakti Minister C. R. Patil. Rooted in the 1994 Upper Yamuna Basin MoU, with consensus reached on 16 June 2026, the project involves a 232.6-metre-high concrete gravity dam on the Tons River along the Uttarakhand-Himachal Pradesh border, with 1,562 MCM of storage. Declared a National Project, the Centre bears 90% of the cost and the six states the remaining 10%.

Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) achieved the 41st tunnel breakthrough of the 125-km Rishikesh-Karnaprayag new broad gauge line on 11 September 2026, completing the 10.847-km Escape Tunnel-1, the project's second-longest tunnel. The alignment runs through highly tectonised, multi-folded and faulted Himalayan rock close to the Main Boundary Thrust, producing thick mylonite zones that made excavation difficult. The roughly Rs 37,000 crore project in Uttarakhand is about 78% complete, with nearly 97% of tunnelling finished and five breakthroughs left. It will cut travel time sharply and improve all-weather access to the Char Dham shrines.

Southern Railway has achieved 100% electrification of its Broad Gauge network, covering 5,068 route kilometres, after the final 71-km Pattukkottai-Karaikkudi section in Tamil Nadu was electrified; its statutory inspection was completed on 9 September 2026. Full electrification removes locomotive changes between diesel and electric traction, improves loco utilisation and cuts fuel imports. The zone's electric traction story began in Madras (now Chennai) on 11 May 1931, when it became India's second metropolitan city to adopt electric traction. The 46-km metre-gauge Nilgiri Mountain Railway, a UNESCO World Heritage site, stays outside the target because electrification there is technically unfeasible.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the last three sections of the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) at Vadodara, Gujarat, on 8 September 2026, completing the JNPT (Navi Mumbai)-Dadri (Uttar Pradesh) freight route. The three sections - New Sanand (N)-New Makarpura, New Umbergaon-New Saphale and New Saphale-New JNPT - cover 326 route km and cost over Rs 20,700 crore. They were part of projects worth over Rs 35,000 crore launched that day, including three railway projects worth Rs 9,700 crore spanning 329 km and three national highway projects worth about Rs 1,780 crore. Modi then opened the 7th Global Fintech Fest in Mumbai.

India marked 12 years of the Make in India initiative on 25 September 2026. Launched on 25 September 2014 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the programme aims to lift domestic manufacturing, attract investment, expand exports and create jobs, with the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) as nodal agency. It began with 25 focus sectors and has since been carried forward through Production Linked Incentive schemes, the PM Gati Shakti master plan and the National Logistics Policy. The anniversary lands alongside fresh manufacturing wins such as India's first indigenous micro-GPU at IIT Delhi and Odisha's Rs 3,406 crore silicon-carbide semiconductor facility.

Birkbeck, University of London received the Letter of Approval from the University Grants Commission to set up and run a campus in Bengaluru, Karnataka, under the UGC's 2023 regulations for Foreign Higher Educational Institutions. The approval is the final regulatory step, allowing admissions and academic operations to begin. Located at Sattva Tech Park, the campus will offer undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in business, with degrees awarded by the University of London under Birkbeck's academic oversight at up to 60% lower cost than studying in the UK. The Education Centre of Australia provides funding and operational support. The move supports NEP 2020 and strengthens India–UK education ties.

Data released on 18 September 2026 showed that the number of active NGOs registered under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA), 2010 fell from 29,022 in 2015 to 14,466, even as annual foreign contributions rose from Rs 17,832 crore in 2015-16 to Rs 22,974 crore in 2024-25. The Ministry of Home Affairs has cancelled the registration of 21,983 NGOs, with 91.3% of cancellations for failure to file annual returns. The United States was the largest source at Rs 12,113 crore, Delhi received the most at Rs 5,834 crore and Tamil Nadu had the most active associations at 2,102. Fresh FCRA Amendment Rules took effect on 22 June 2026.