Current affairs September 21 – September 27, 2026 for CUET

Exercise Nomadic Elephant, the annual platoon-level exercise of the Indian Army and the Mongolian Armed Forces, held alternately in the two countries, opened at the Foreign Training Node, Pithoragarh, Uttarakhand, on 21 September 2026 and runs to 3 October, with 45 personnel from each side. It trains for counter-insurgency operations in semi-urban and mountainous terrain under a United Nations mandate. The previous edition was in Ulaanbaatar in 2025.

India and New Zealand announced on 21 September 2026 that their Free Trade Agreement will enter into force on 20 October 2026. It was signed on 27 April 2026 at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi, by Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and New Zealand's Trade Minister Todd McClay; New Zealand's Parliament passed the enabling law on 16 September. The Prime Minister's visit to New Zealand in July 2026 was the first by an Indian Prime Minister in four decades.

President Droupadi Murmu conferred the 72nd National Film Awards at Ekta Nagar, Gujarat, on 22 September 2026. 'Article 370' won Best Feature Film, and Yami Gautam Best Actress in a Leading Role for it; the Best Actor award was shared by Mammootty ('Bramayugam') and Kartik Aaryan ('Chandu Champion'); Rajkumar Periasamy won Best Direction for 'Amaran'. Anant Nag received the Dadasaheb Phalke Award.

The 11th Ayurveda Day was celebrated on 23 September 2026, with the main event in Nagpur, Maharashtra, on the theme 'Ayurveda for a Healthier Tomorrow' ('स्वस्थ भविष्य के लिए आयुर्वेद'). The Ministry of Ayush ran it as a nationwide health-communication campaign in the weeks before the day.

Make in India, launched on 25 September 2014 to make India a global hub for manufacturing, design and innovation, completed twelve years in September 2026. The Government credits it, with schemes such as Production Linked Incentives (PLI), PM GatiShakti, the National Single Window System and the India Industrial Land Bank, with growth in electronics, automobiles, pharmaceuticals, steel, railways and defence manufacturing. It was later widened as Make in India 2.0.

The 65th Subroto Cup International Football Tournament ended at the Dr B R Ambedkar Stadium, New Delhi, where Minerva Public School (CISCE), Mohali, beat MIC EMHSS of Kerala 3–2 to win the Junior Boys (Under-17) title. Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal A P Singh, chairman of the Subroto Mukerjee Sports Education Society, presented the trophy.

On 24 September 2026 the Government cut the Basic Customs Duty on crude sunflower oil from 10 per cent to nil, and on crude soybean oil and crude palm oil from 10 per cent to 5 per cent, to ease domestic prices after a sharp rise in world edible oil prices. Duty on refined oils was cut too, keeping a gap of 19.25 per cent between crude and refined oils.

Timur Turlov, president of the Kazakhstan Chess Federation, was elected President of FIDE, the International Chess Federation, on 26 September 2026. The vote was held at the FIDE General Assembly in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, alongside the 46th Chess Olympiad. He led the first round with 96 votes against two candidates from Germany, and won the second by 110 votes to 85.

Turlov, 38, is the second-youngest FIDE President ever elected, and its eighth. He succeeds Arkady Dvorkovich, who served two terms, from 2018 to 2026.

On 26 September 2026 the foundation stone was laid for India's first port-based e-methanol plant, at the Deendayal Port Authority in Kandla, Gujarat. The ₹2,300 crore, 150-tonne-a-day plant will make e-methanol — a green shipping fuel — from renewable power, water and biogenic carbon dioxide, for ships on the Asia–Europe trade route. It is a joint venture of the port and Assam Petro-Chemicals Ltd of Namrup; the first 50-tonne-a-day phase is due by January 2027.

The 46th Chess Olympiad ended in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on 27 September 2026. In the open section the hosts beat Ukraine 2.5–1.5 in the last round to win their second Olympiad title, after Chennai 2022; India took silver after a 2–2 draw with Hungary, and Germany took bronze. In the women's section China won gold and Kazakhstan silver, and India drew 2–2 with Georgia and took bronze on tiebreak.

India came to Samarkand as the champions of both sections, having won both at Budapest in 2024.

World Tourism Day, 27 September, was observed in 2026 on the theme 'Digital Agenda and Artificial Intelligence to Redesign Tourism'. Government figures released for the day put tourism's share of India's GDP at 5.22 per cent, supporting 8.46 crore jobs in 2023-24; domestic tourist visits reached 428.55 crore in 2025 and foreign tourist visits 2.53 crore.