Current Affairs 18 January 2026

Tamil Nadu to Host India’s First Sovereign AI Park.

• Tamil Nadu signed an MoU with Sarvam AI to establish India's first full-stack Sovereign AI Park.
• The AI Park includes a ₹10,000 crore investment over five years.
• It will feature dedicated government data centres, innovation clusters, and an institute for AI in governance within a secure framework.
• The project will create 1,000 high-skilled jobs and foster a robust, inclusive AI ecosystem.

Galgotias University Inaugurates IIT Mandi Catalyst Centre.

• Galgotias University inaugurated the IIT Mandi Catalyst Satellite Centre to promote innovation, research translation and startup growth.
• The centre will support early‑stage ventures, foster deep‑tech innovation and bridge research‑to‑market gaps.
• Two MoUs were signed with NIT Jamshedpur and Jharkhand University of Technology for joint research, exchange and shared incubation programmes.

India’s Unemployment Rate Stable at 4.8% in December 2025.

• India’s unemployment rate for persons aged 15+ stood at 4.8% in December 2025, marginally up from 4.7% in November 2025.
• Rural unemployment remained steady at 3.9%, while urban female joblessness eased to 9.1% from 9.3%; male rural rate at 4.1%.
• The Labour Force Participation Rate rose to 56.1%.
• The Worker Population Ratio touched a yearly peak of 53.4%.

Innoviti Gets RBI Nod as Payment Aggregator for All Channels.

• Innoviti Technologies received RBI approval to operate as a Payment Aggregator for both online and in-store transactions in India.
• The SaaS platform supports secure, unified payments for enterprises and SMEs with solutions like innoviti unipay, genie, and link, removing the need for extra hardware.
• It enables merchants to streamline customer payments and boost sales.

Major Swathi Wins UN Secretary General’s Award for Gender Parity.

• Major Swathi Shantha Kumar from Bengaluru won the UN Secretary General’s Award 2025 for her Equal Partners, Lasting Peace project in South Sudan.
• She was recognized for impactful integration and enhanced participation of women at local levels in peacekeeping operations.
• She advanced gender parity and grassroots engagement via the Indian Engagement Team under the UN Mission in South Sudan.