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May 2026
May 2026's current affairs recap — 198 topics across 11 subjects, curated by Vaidra's editorial team and tagged for UPSC Prelims and Mains.
Q1. Which case first propounded the Basic Structure doctrine, holding Parliament's amending power under Article 368 is not absolute?
Q2. Who is credited with first using the term 'PIL' in India?
Q3. Under PAI 2.0's classification, what score range makes a Gram Panchayat a 'Front Runner (A)'?
Q4. Which constitutional provision protects the CEC's service conditions from being varied to their disadvantage after appointment?
Q5. Sports regulation as a subject falls under which List of the Seventh Schedule?
Q6. Under the CAA, 2019, applicants must submit an affidavit declaring their passport status regarding which three countries?
Q7. Post the 91st Constitutional Amendment Act, 2003, what fraction of legislators must agree for a valid party 'merger' exception under the Anti-Defection Law?
Q8. As per Prison Statistics India (PSI) 2024, what share of India's prison population are undertrials?
Q9. Unlike the Supreme Court, High Court judge strength can be increased by the President via executive order under which article?
Q10. Which SC case mandated internal governance reforms for BCCI without declaring it a 'public authority'?
Q11. Following SC directives, which document was recognised as the 12th identity document for the Special Intensive Revision, though not proof of citizenship?
Q12. Who wrote Vande Mataram, and in which novel did it first appear?
Q13. Which body's guidelines require brain death to be confirmed twice, 12 hours apart, by a four-member board?
Q14. The Right to Vote in India is currently granted to citizens aged 18+ under which article?
Q15. Per the SC's ruling on highway safety, within how many days must District Magistrates remove illegal structures within the NH right-of-way?
Q16. Which article gives Governors a 'pocket veto' by allowing indefinite delay in assenting to State Bills?
Q17. The Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024 prescribes what maximum imprisonment for organised crime in exam malpractice?
Q18. Which article allows appointment of an Acting Chief Justice of a High Court?
Q19. Which state recorded the highest per-capita crime rate in Crime in India 2024?
Q20. Which SC case held that a Governor's 'pleasure' under Article 164(1) depends on Assembly confidence, not arbitrary discretion?
Q21. Since which year has NCRB stopped publishing separate hate-crime data?
Q22. CWMA was set up in 2018 to implement which tribunal's award, as modified by the Supreme Court?
Q23. In Dinesh Biwaji Ashtikar v. State of Maharashtra (2026), the SC upheld what percentage EWS reservation in private schools under Section 12(1)(c) of the RTE Act?
Q24. Who is the ex-officio Chairperson of NITI Aayog?
Q25. How many subjects are listed in the Eleventh Schedule added by the 73rd Constitutional Amendment (Article 243G)?
Q26. By what majority verdict did the SC in State of Punjab v. Davinder Singh (2024) allow states to sub-classify SCs/STs for reservation?
Q1. Who heads the Padma Awards Committee, which recommends names to the PM and President?
Q2. Under which Act is Captagon illegal in India?
Q1. What was the outcome document of WUF-13 called?
Q2. The World Cities Report 2026 was released by which body?
Q3. In which year was the first Global Action Plan on AMR (GAP-AMR) adopted, on which the 2026-2036 edition builds?
Q4. Which joint India-US satellite mission involves NASA and ISRO?
Q5. How many sovereign states make up the Nordic region?
Q6. UAE-CEPA was negotiated in a record how many days in 2022?
Q7. By what year is India-Italy bilateral trade targeted to expand to €20 billion?
Q8. How many consecutive NPT Review Conferences have now ended without a consensus outcome document?
Q9. OPEC+ was formed in 2016 in response to falling oil prices caused mainly by what?
Q10. In which year was the India-Vietnam Comprehensive Strategic Partnership originally established, before its 2026 upgrade?
Q11. Which India-EU TTC working group covers Green and Clean Energy Technologies?
Q12. The Thucydides Trap is named after the ancient Greek historian who chronicled which war?
Q13. Under UNCLOS, up to how many nautical miles does the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) extend?
Q14. In which year was the Global Network Against Food Crises launched, and by whom?
Q15. Which migration corridor ranks 5th globally, per the World Migration Report 2026?
Q16. Which concept did China explicitly invoke during the 2026 US-China summit to describe US-China tensions?
Q17. In which year was the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) established?
Q18. Which five countries are recognised Nuclear Weapon States (NWS) under the NPT?
Q19. What percentage of Indian exports gets duty-free access under the India-New Zealand FTA?
Q1. Under the India-NZ FTA, India offers market access on what share of tariff lines (covering ~95% of NZ's bilateral trade)?
Q2. How much has India's DBT (Direct Benefit Transfer) system saved via leakage prevention?
Q3. Per the IMF (June 2025), UPI is the world's largest retail fast payment system by what measure?
Q4. What is IIP's item basket size after the 2022-23 base revision, up from the earlier 839?
Q5. In which year was IFAD established, and where is it headquartered?
Q6. What is RBI's minimum CRAR requirement for Indian banks, compared to the Basel III minimum?
Q7. Under LEADS 2025's four-tier framework, which state is the 'Exemplar' among landlocked states?
Q8. Under which section of the RBI Act, 1934 is RBI's surplus transferred to the Central Government?
Q9. India ranks as the world's ___ largest fish producer, after China.
Q10. What are the two components of the gold import duty hike to 18.4%?
Q11. What is the State Advised Price (SAP) for sugarcane?
Q12. What primarily triggered RBI's strategic gold repatriation trend?
Q13. As of September 2025 RBI data, what was India's Gross NPA ratio?
Q14. What is MuleHunter.AI used for?
Q15. What is RBI's mandated cap on banks' Net Open Position in the onshore forex market?
Q16. What preferential quota is exempted from India's total sugar export ban?
Q17. What share of Plant & Machinery cost does government funding support cover under the coal gasification scheme?
Q18. What share of total LRS (Liberalised Remittance Scheme) outflows did foreign travel/overseas weddings form in FY26's first 11 months?
Q19. Under the 'landlord model' of port governance, who owns the land/infrastructure while private players run operations?
Q20. How much forex has India saved cumulatively via the Ethanol Blending Programme since 2014?
Q21. Under the National Waterways Act, 2016, how many waterways were declared as National Waterways?
Q1. What share of India's crude oil imports move via sea routes, per INMSS-2026?
Q2. What is the approximate PMLA conviction rate cited in ED's FY2025-26 Annual Report?
Q3. What is CIBMS, deployed for India's border management?
Q4. Which engines power the initial AMCA Mk1 variant?
Q5. The CDS acts as the Permanent Chairman of which body?
Q6. Up to what claim amount can BMIP service independently before the sovereign guarantee is invoked?
Q7. Which side first deployed fibre-optic FPV attack drones in the Russia-Ukraine conflict?
Q8. Which four laws does the Directorate of Enforcement implement?
Q1. India is the world's third-largest generator of which type of waste?
Q2. What share of India's small hydro power potential (21,133.61 MW) has been harnessed so far?
Q3. How many gasification projects does the scheme target to reach 75 MT of coal/lignite gasified by 2030?
Q4. Which of these is a biological marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) technique?
Q5. How many member countries did IBCA have after Saudi Arabia joined?
Q6. Which phenomenon can offset El Niño's negative impact on India's monsoon?
Q7. The Global Methane Pledge aims to cut global methane emissions by at least what percentage from 2020 levels, by 2030?
Q8. India's Emissions Trading System (ETS) ranks among the world's largest, behind which three?
Q9. How many hot springs has GSI identified across India's geothermal provinces?
Q10. Which cheetah subspecies is Critically Endangered and now found (post-reintroduction) only in arid eastern Iran and India?
Q11. Of the 3 shortlisted ageing thermal sites for nuclear conversion, how many may host large 700 MWe PHWRs?
Q12. What share of global freshwater does India have, despite holding ~18% of world population?
Q13. Which AI tool uses fibre-optic sensors to prevent elephant-train collisions in India?
Q14. What was the estimated economic loss to India from invasive plants over 60 years, per a 2025 study?
Q15. What does Flue Gas Desulphurisation (FGD) technology remove from coal-plant emissions?
Q16. Which of the following is NOT one of the ICC's four core crimes under the Rome Statute?
Q17. Per the World Bank's 'Nourish and Flourish' report, current agri-water systems can sustainably feed only what share of the global population by 2050 if inefficiencies continue?
Q18. What is the IUCN conservation status of the Nilgiri Tahr?
Q1. Which company built Vikram-S, India's first private rocket?
Q2. Why can an Orbital Data Center avoid the freshwater cooling burden of terrestrial data centres?
Q3. Which Indian space start-up developed the OptoSAR satellite Mission Drishti?
Q4. Why is Neuro-Symbolic AI seen as better suited than LLMs for Indian classrooms?
Q5. By how much does BharatFS improve forecast accuracy, per IMD?
Q6. Which V2X category refers to vehicle-to-vehicle collision avoidance communication?
Q7. What new receptor improves detection of low-antigen-density 'hidden' cancer cells in the CAR-T breakthrough?
Q1. Who is credited with building the Bhojshala, according to ASI findings cited in the ruling?
Q2. What architectural style is the Somnath Temple built in?
Q3. Whose royal seal do the returned Chola copper plates bear?
Q4. Which Act first granted Indian trade unions legal recognition?
Q5. The Paika Rebellion of 1817 in Odisha was led by whom?
Q6. Who was the ideological leader of the Ghadar Movement?
Q1. At which screening platform are children aged 6 weeks to 6 years covered under RBSK?
Q2. Up to what value can SMCs now directly execute civil works under the new guidelines?
Q3. What key advantage does the Cell Broadcast System have over SMS-based alerts?
Q4. What is PMGSY-IV's (2024-29) target for connecting unconnected rural habitations?
Q5. Under Atal Pension Yojana (APY), what is the guaranteed minimum monthly pension range after age 60?
Q6. What does the government's '5F Vision' for cotton/textiles stand for?
Q7. What is the LPG cylinder subsidy under PMUY for 2025-26?
Q8. Which two themes were the best-performing under PAI 2.0?
Q1. The Dead Sea, the lowest land elevation on Earth, lies between which two entities?
Q2. Which of India's 5 focus big cats is tied to a conservation-themed event held in Gir?
Q3. How does bulk density change in the Moon's top few centimetres, per the Hop Experiment findings?
09Social Issues25 topics
Flashcards — flip to test recall
Quick quiz
Q1. Which scam is cited as a landmark example that eroded public trust in India's exam ecosystem?
Q2. How did government school enrolment share change from 2005 to 2024-25?
Q3. Which state recorded the lowest Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) in SRS 2024?
Q4. By 2050, how many Indians are projected to be aged 60+?
Q5. What share of GDP does India currently spend on the care economy?
Q6. What is India's government health expenditure as a share of GDP, versus the National Health Policy 2017 target?
Q7. How has India's Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) changed from 2004-06 to 2021-23?
Q8. What is NCRB's 10-digit lifetime fingerprint identification system called?
Q9. Which constitutional provision did the SC invoke to extend RPwD Act protection to forcible acid-ingestion victims?
Q10. How many doctors' opinions are required for an abortion between 20-24 weeks, under the MTP Act?
Q11. How many new MBBS seats were approved for 2025-26?
Q12. What share of India's wealth does the top 1% hold, per the inequality-trends analysis?