CDS Current Affairs Quiz: 14 October 2026

The maiden ASEAN-India Defence Think Tank Forum was convened at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses in New Delhi, where Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh addressed delegates from India and all eleven ASEAN member states across a two-day programme.

The ceremony at which the Indian Navy gave up command of Combined Task Force 154 was held at Manama in Bahrain on 14 October 2026, and it closed the first spell in which India headed a task force of the Combined Maritime Forces.

DRI ran Operation Deep Manifest and detected 295 containers carrying 7,311 metric tonnes of Pakistan-origin industrial or Himalayan rock salt, worth roughly Rs 30 crore, that had been brought into the country in breach of the import ban.

At the forum the Defence Minister placed MAHASAGAR alongside SAGAR, which expands to Security and Growth for All in the Region, and said both, together with the Act East policy, argue for open and multipolar cooperation channelled through ASEAN-led mechanisms that sit at the centre of India’s Indo-Pacific vision.

The Combined Maritime Forces is a partnership of 47 nations, and CTF 154 is the one task force within it that is given over wholly to training, running professional courses and capacity building so that member navies can work with one another at sea.

The salt was shipped through Colombo Port in Sri Lanka and then sent on to India, a third-country route meant to break the visible link with Pakistan.

Speaking at the forum, the Raksha Mantri noted that this year has been designated the ASEAN-India Year of Maritime Cooperation and treated it as a chance to convert shared interest into practical steps: better sharing of maritime information, closer work between navies and coast guards, and the ability to respond…

India's association with the Combined Maritime Forces came in two steps: it first joined as an Associate Partner in 2022 and then took up full membership in 2023.

Four persons were arrested under its provisions, namely two proprietors or partners of importing firms, a customs broker's G-card holder, and the owner of a Dubai-based supplier who had also floated an importing firm in his father's name.

The Raksha Mantri made the announcement there on 31 October 2025, on the sidelines of the 12th ADMM-Plus, and the forum held in New Delhi is the follow-through on that commitment.

Across the Indian Navy's tenure, the activities of CTF 154 added up to more than 7,800 hours of training, with personnel from 39 countries taking part.