UPSC Current Affairs 21 May 2026 — The Hindu

• India, Italy seal defence pact, elevate their bilateral ties to a ‘special strategic partnership’
• SC rejects plea against caste count in census
• Forest staff shortage in Rajasthan impeding action against illegal mining in Chambal: SC
• Modi, Shah are traitors who are attacking Constitution, says Rahul
• Rules for new rural employment scheme to be issued soon
• Preparing India for a credible digital Census
• Oral remarks and institutional limits
• New crystal found in the detritus of the first-ever nuclear blast
• Analysing India’s budgets for justice
• Boosting climate action in Tamil Nadu
• StanChart CEO reassures staff over ‘lower value human capital’ comment
• No new hydel projects can come up in upper Ganga, govt. tells SC
• Marco Rubio to begin India visit on May 23; discuss trade, energy
• SC flags lack of uniform excise laws across States
• Simultaneous polls: Gujarat govt. backs move before JPC
• SC extends date for Bengaluru civic polls
• Sperm whale ‘clicks’ have complex patterns similar to human speech
• How States are managing the surging summer power demand
• Board of Peace will ask UNSC to press Hamas militants to disarm
• Buffalo curfew
• Taiwan Travelogue wins International Booker
• Steel, cement help quicken April core sector growth to 1.7%; crude oil, gas contract
• Rajnath holds wide-ranging defence talks in South Korea, pushes strategic cooperation
• Drone mania, separating hype from battlefield reality
• Measure for measure
• Neyveli success in transplanting trees
• Reform of Afghan coinage
• The DAILY QUIZ
• Know your English
• ‘Banks must push APY subscribers to higher pension slab’
• UN cuts India’s 2026 GDP forecast, still amid fastest-growing
• ‘Am I out?’ drought, rising costs from Iran war deepen pain for U.S. farmers
• AI bots are coming and the young are booing
• Britain eases Russian oil sanctions as fuel prices surge rapidly
• Myanmar military claims capture of southern town on Thai border
• The Hindu Maharashtra Infrastructure Conclave to be held in Mumbai tomorrow
• Pradhan takes up safeguards for NEET(UG) re-test in June
• ‘No double standard, we condemn all nations that violate international law’
• Deregister AAP, ban Kejriwal plea dismissed by High Court
• Karnataka to replace open safari jeeps with closed buses
• The Science QUIZ
• Putin, Xi hail ‘resilient’ relations in talks days after Trump’s China visit
• U.S. indicts Raul Castro over 1996 shootdown
• Naga body in Manipur petitions PM seeking release of six Naga captives
• 14799
• Will seek CBI probe into Twisha Sharma death, says Madhya Pradesh CM
• SRMIST, The Hindu to organise webinar on careers in agritech
• Sacred kshetra Thiruthangal
• 13-nation military exercise commences in Meghalaya
• CBI registers case against retired Navy Captain
• Private firm conducts firing trials of indigenous rockets
• Maharashtra completes documentation of over 23,000 wetlands, paves way to bring them under legal protection
• Monsoon prelude
• HC slams delay in probe in microfinance fraud case
• Patterns from Gujarat’s 2026 local body elections
• Australian LNG supplies to India will surge, says Green
• Public sector banks step up hiring of apprentices to cut costs
• Against odds
• Bharat Petroleum increases Russian share in crude oil purchases to 41%
• NCDEX set to unveil weather derivatives contract
• Investors mistake Parle Industries for toffee maker; shares up 5%
• Rupee slips 16 paise to settle at 96.86 against U.S. dollar
• Aditya Birla Capital to raise ₹4,000 crore
• Australia’s tax changes will rewire investors to chase income
• Israel’s Ben Gvir sparks row over video of bound activists
• War would spread beyond West Asia, say Iran Guards
• Safe haven
• ‘Ebola risk high at regional and national levels, low worldwide’
• Pentagon says it has reduced brigades in Europe from 4 to 3
• JNIM expands beyond Mali, looks to establish Islamist rule in Sahel region
• France, Russia jostle for influence in West African coastal country of Togo
• Burning horizon
• UN flags shortfall of $610 mn in life-saving Rohingya refugee aid
• Cong. slams Centre over economic distress
• Nicobar project has no component of military infrastructure: Cong.
• Philippine court says it won’t stop ICC arrest of drug war enforcer
• Congress set to join Tamil Nadu’s first coalition government today
• Left only alternative to BJP’s politics; CPI will highlight livelihood crisis, says Raja
• Bengal govt. to ‘detect, delete and deport’ illegal infiltrators, says Suvendu
• J&K school renamed after pony ride operator who died saving tourists during Pahalgam attack
• Punjab temple defers ‘untimely’ Rath Yatra after Puri protest
• NCP (SP) leader rules out merger with Sunetra-led NCP
• Kerala govt. cancels K-Rail project launched by LDF
• Kerala Ministers’ portfolios out after tussle; CM keeps 35
• A.P. and Telangana reel under intense heatwave; Piduguralla records 47.6°C
• Rijiju attempting to deny Muslims their rights, says Owaisi
• Number of bonded labourers rescued in Telangana rises to 529
• Fireworks storage unit blast victims’ kin to get ₹10 lakh aid
• The bail rule
• SC ‘inclined’ to grant bail to accused in 2020 Delhi riots case
• letters to the editor
• Rahul’s remarks on PM reflect his ‘anarchic mindset’, says BJP chief
• NIA arrests Kolkata man for passing information to Pak.
• Akhilesh releases ‘audit report’, alleges misappropriation of quotas by U.P. govt.
• EPS camp MLA denies T.N. Minister’s claim on DMK-AIADMK talks
• 10 days later, suspense continues over Cabinet expansion in West Bengal
• Elderly woman dies of amoebic infection
• Protesters are trying to ‘disrupt democratic order’, says Bolivia
• Families of victims killed in Israeli strike on Beirut vow to fight for justice
• Bowlers rise to the occasion as KKR lives to fight another day
• GT faces CSK, hopes to boost top-two chances
• Dhoni has a sore thumb, he is not with the team: Hussey
• Sooryavanshi is just getting started, there’s more to come
• LSG coach Langer in awe of Sooryavanshi
• SCOREBOARD
• ‘Opposition bowlers have to do badly for a team to score 300’
• Kartik looks like a real player for the future, reckons Hussey
• What Sooryavanshi did against LSG was commendable: Parag
• Royal Challengers opener Salt to return to India later this week
• Arsenal — how the title was won
• Domestic season to open with Duleep from Aug. 23; Ranji Trophy from Oct. 11
• Sasikumar the lone Indian in last eight as Kriish, Manish and Sidharth lose
• Malvika, Ashmita advance; Lakshya and Prannoy out
• City’s stumble hands Arsenal the title
• Taijul claims six, Bangladesh clinches Test series
• Guardiola swerves around Manchester City exit talk
• Saka says Arsenal critics ‘not laughing anymore’
• Veteran midfielder Xhaka in Switzerland World Cup squad
• Dhairya shocks Chun in Asian junior squash
• At peace with pressure: Understanding Jyothi Surekha