Daily Current Affairs- 20th April 2026

Daily Current Affairs- 20th April 2026

Ladakh to Get India’s First Petroglyph Conservation Park to Safeguard Cultural Heritage

In the News: Coinciding with World Heritage Day — Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena laid the foundation stone for India's first Petroglyph Conservation Park at Sindhu Ghat on the banks of the Indus River in Ladakh. The initiative aims to protect nearly 400 petroglyph sites across the region from environmental degradation and human activities, while making this ancient rock art accessible through a curated educational setting.

Key Points:

• What are Petroglyphs: Petroglyphs are prehistoric images, symbols, and inscriptions carved, etched, or engraved directly onto rock surfaces. They represent one of the earliest forms of human expression and communication. Ladakh's petroglyphs depict hunting scenes, animals such as ibex and snow leopards, Buddhist symbols like stupas, and inscriptions in ancient Chinese, Arabic, and Sanskrit — reflecting centuries of cultural exchange, migration, and trade along historic routes.
• About the Conservation Park: The proposed park at Sindhu Ghat will serve as a dedicated conservation and display space for rock art collected from vulnerable and isolated sites across Ladakh. It will relocate endangered petroglyphs from scattered locations, create a curated educational environment for visitors, and help develop heritage circuits to regulate and promote responsible tourism. The LG described the carvings as "open-air museums" and "civilisations carved on stone."
• Scale of Heritage at Risk: Nearly 400 petroglyph sites have been identified across Ladakh, found in clusters as well as in isolated locations along the Indus and Zanskar river basins. Isolated sites are considered most at risk. Ladakh is regarded as one of the richest regions for prehistoric rock art in South and Central Asia, with key sites at Domkhar, Dah Hanu, Alchi, Chilling, and Tangtse.
• Threats to Petroglyphs: Natural weathering and climate change gradually erode these carvings. Human activities pose a greater and more immediate risk — including unregulated tourism, road construction, blasting, and infrastructure development along the Indus and Zanskar river banks. Many isolated sites lack monitoring and protection.
• Institutional Collaboration — MoU with ASI: A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between Ladakh's Department of Archives, Archaeology and Museums and the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) for joint conservation efforts. The collaboration will facilitate scientific conservation methods, systematic documentation of artefacts, and sustainable heritage management.

Delhi HC pulls up Sentencing Review Board in Mattoo case: What is premature release?

In the News: The Delhi High Court criticised the Sentencing Review Board (SRB) for rejecting — for the second time — the premature release plea of Santosh Kumar Singh, the convict in the 1996 Priyadarshini Mattoo rape and murder case. Justice Anup J Bhambhani observed that the SRB appeared to be deciding cases on the basis of public perception and the heinousness of the offence alone, rather than applying the legally mandated framework for remission.

Key Points:

• Background — The Priyadarshini Mattoo Case: Priyadarshini Mattoo, a Delhi University law student, was raped and murdered in 1996 by Santosh Kumar Singh, her senior. A trial court acquitted him in 1999 despite recording a finding of guilt. The Delhi High Court awarded him the death penalty in 2006, which the Supreme Court commuted to life imprisonment in 2010. Singh has now spent nearly three decades in custody.
• What is Premature Release: Premature release allows life convicts to be released early if they are found to be reformed, rehabilitated, and no longer a threat to society. The constitutional powers of clemency vest in the President (Article 72) and the Governor (Article 161). Statutory provisions are contained in Sections 473, 474, and 475 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS). The minimum threshold for consideration is 14 years of actual imprisonment; for offences where death was a sentencing option, Section 475 of the BNSS makes this threshold mandatory.
• Role of the Sentencing Review Board (SRB): The SRB is composed of senior state officials including the Director General of Prisons, the Police Commissioner, and the Chief Secretary. It examines premature release pleas and sends its recommendation to the government. Eligibility alone does not guarantee consideration — the board evaluates factors including conduct in jail, compliance with parole conditions, age, psychological profile, and prospects of rehabilitation.
• Legal Framework — UOI vs V Sriharan (2015): The Supreme Court, in this landmark case arising from the Rajiv Gandhi assassination, held that remission is not an unchecked executive power. It requires mandatory judicial consultation, reasoned orders, and must be guided by a range of factors. Critically, the Court held that heinousness of the offence alone is not sufficient grounds for denial of remission.
• Court's Criticism of the SRB: The Delhi HC set aside the SRB's first rejection in July 2025 and sent the matter for fresh consideration. The SRB rejected the plea a second time in November 2025, citing the heinous nature of the crime and potential disruption to public peace — reasoning the Court found legally inadequate. Justice Bhambhani noted he was dealing with cases where convicts had spent up to 41 years in custody, with SRBs still rejecting pleas on grounds of heinousness alone, even when jail authorities had recommended release.

RELOS Pact Comes Into Force: India and Russia Strengthen Military Logistics Cooperation

In the News: The Reciprocal Exchange of Logistics Agreement (RELOS) between India and Russia, originally signed in February 2025 and ratified by the Russian Parliament in December 2025, came into force on January 12, 2026, and was operationalized in April 2026. The pact grants both nations mutual access to each other's military bases, ports, and airfields, marking a significant deepening of bilateral defence cooperation and expanding India's strategic reach — particularly into the Arctic region.

Key Points:

• What is RELOS: RELOS — Reciprocal Exchange of Logistics Agreement — is a bilateral military logistics pact between India and Russia. It provides mutual logistical support and operational flexibility to the armed forces of both nations, enabling on-ground, practical defence cooperation beyond procurement and exercises.
• Key Provisions of the Pact: Under RELOS, both countries can deploy up to 3,000 military personnel on each other's territory. The agreement also grants access to army bases, naval ports, and air bases, and permits the deployment of up to 5 warships and 10 fighter aircraft each. The pact is valid for five years with an option for extension.
• Arctic Access — A Strategic Gain for India: A major outcome of the pact is India's access to key Russian Arctic ports, including Murmansk and Severomorsk. The Arctic is gaining global strategic importance due to the opening of new shipping routes as polar ice melts, rising great-power competition in the region, and its significance for energy resources and global trade corridors. RELOS positions India as an emerging stakeholder in Arctic geopolitics.
• Broader India-Russia Defence Ties: India and Russia share a longstanding strategic partnership encompassing defence procurement and technology transfer, joint military exercises, and geopolitical coordination. RELOS elevates this partnership by enabling operational-level support and real-time logistical interoperability between the two militaries.
• India's Logistics Pacts — Broader Pattern: RELOS is part of India's broader strategy of signing logistics agreements with key partners. India has similar pacts with the United States (LEMOA — Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement), France (MLSA), and Australia (MLSA), collectively aimed at enhancing India's global military reach and rapid deployment capabilities.

Blue Origin Achieves First Successful Landing of Reused New Glenn Booster

In the News: Jeff Bezos' space company Blue Origin successfully landed the reused booster of its New Glenn rocket after its third mission launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida — marking the first-ever landing of a reused New Glenn booster and a significant milestone in the company's bid to compete with Elon Musk's SpaceX Falcon 9 in the heavy-lift rocket market. However, the mission's primary payload, AST SpaceMobile's BlueBird 7 satellite, failed to reach its intended orbit.

Key Points:

• About New Glenn: New Glenn is Blue Origin's 30-story heavy-lift rocket featuring a seven-metre (23-foot) nose cone capable of carrying bulkier payloads, including multiple satellites in a single mission. Sunday's launch was its third mission overall.
• The Reused Booster Milestone: The booster, nicknamed "Never Tell Me the Odds" — a reference to Han Solo's line in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back — had previously flown on the NG-2 mission in November 2025 and was successfully recovered. Its successful landing on this third mission marks the first time Blue Origin has demonstrated reliable booster reuse for New Glenn.
• Payload Failure: New Glenn carried AST SpaceMobile's BlueBird 7 satellite — part of its next-generation Block 2 constellation and reportedly featuring the largest commercial communications array deployed in low-Earth orbit. However, the rocket's upper stage placed the satellite into a lower-than-planned orbit. Since the altitude was too low for the satellite's onboard thruster technology to sustain operations, it will be de-orbited.
• AST SpaceMobile's Broader Mission: AST SpaceMobile is working to build a space-based cellular broadband network designed to connect directly with smartphones — similar to Amazon's LEO or SpaceX's Starlink. The company is currently in production through BlueBird 32, with BlueBird 8 to 10 expected to be ready in approximately 30 days.
• SpaceX vs. Blue Origin Rivalry: Both companies are competing to build NASA's lunar landers for the Artemis programme. SpaceX is developing a Starship-based Human Landing System, while Blue Origin is working on the Blue Moon lander and aims to achieve an uncrewed soft lunar landing (Mark 1) this summer.

Indigenous 1000-kg Aerial Bomb for IAF

In the News: India's Ministry of Defence has issued an Expression of Interest (EoI) for the indigenous design, development, and procurement of 1,000-kg aerial bombs — similar to the US military's MK-84 general-purpose bomb — for the Indian Air Force (IAF), as part of the government's broader push for self-reliance in defence manufacturing.

Key Points:

• Background: The IAF currently procures MK-84 class general-purpose bombs from foreign Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). The new initiative aims to replace this dependency with an indigenously designed and manufactured equivalent.
• Nature of the Bomb: The proposed munition is described as a natural fragmentation, high-calibre aerial bomb capable of generating high blast effect and significant peak over-pressure (PoP) against enemy targets, broadly equivalent to the US MK-84 from the Mark 80 series.
• Procurement Framework: The project will be executed under the Make-II (industry-funded) sub-category of the Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) 2020, followed by procurement under the Buy (Indian IDDM — Indigenously Designed, Developed and Manufactured) category. A total of 600 such aerial bombs are planned to be procured under this category.
• Two-Stage Project Plan: Stage 1 covers the design and development of six prototypes — both live and inert — along with tail assemblies and associated equipment. Stage 2 involves procurement, beginning with the issuance of a commercial Request for Proposal (RFP) to shortlisted development agencies.
• Indigenisation Requirement: The development phase mandates a minimum of 50% indigenous content, in line with the Atmanirbhar Bharat vision for the defence sector.
• Timeline and Participation: The estimated timeline from EoI issuance to contract signing is approximately 2.5 years, covering prototype development, user trials, evaluation, and commercial processes. Indian private defence contractors are eligible to participate, with provisions for foreign collaboration through joint ventures, technology transfer, or commercial off-the-shelf arrangements.

Dr. Ch. Srinivasa Rao Receives Prestigious Prof. M.S. Swaminathan Award 2026 in Hyderabad

In the News: Dr. Ch. Srinivasa Rao, Director and Vice-Chancellor of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), was conferred the 9th Prof. M.S. Swaminathan Award at a ceremony held in Hyderabad, in recognition of his pioneering contributions to climate-resilient agriculture and natural resource management.

Key Points:

• About the Award: The Prof. M.S. Swaminathan Award is instituted by the Retired ICAR (Indian Council of Agricultural Research) Employees Association in collaboration with Nuziveedu Seeds Limited. It recognizes scientists who have made significant contributions to food security and sustainable agriculture in India.
• Awardee's Work: Dr. Rao has been instrumental in advancing resource conservation technologies, developing district-level contingency plans for climate risks, promoting adoption of sustainable farming practices across millions of hectares, and improving soil health and water management strategies across India.
• Special Significance in 2026: The 2026 edition of the award coincides with the birth centenary of Prof. M.S. Swaminathan, widely regarded as the architect of India's Green Revolution, who transformed the country from food scarcity to self-sufficiency. Honoring Dr. Rao in this milestone year symbolizes the national shift from the Green Revolution to Climate-Resilient Agriculture.
• Eminent Attendees: The award ceremony was attended by several prominent personalities, including former Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu, Tummala Nageswara Rao, Mandava Prabhakar Rao, and Vidya Sagar Rao, underscoring the national importance of agricultural innovation.
• Broader Relevance for CLAT: This event connects to themes of food security, sustainable development, climate adaptation, and India's agricultural policy — all recurring areas in CLAT General Knowledge and Current Affairs sections.