22 September 2026 Current Affairs: Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY at 8

The Government marks Ayurveda Day every year on 23 September, which is close to the autumnal equinox, when day and night are almost equal; the date was chosen to reflect the idea of natural balance at the heart of Ayurveda.

The PIB backgrounder released on 22 September 2026 says the Government is running a national strategy to revive traditional healthcare under this theme.

According to the PIB backgrounder on the 11th Ayurveda Day, the Union Budget 2026-27 allocated ₹4,408 crore to the Ministry of Ayush to strengthen Ayush healthcare, promote evidence-based research and innovation, and build infrastructure and global outreach.

The WHO Global Traditional Medicine Centre is in Jamnagar, Gujarat, and the PIB backgrounder describes it as a primary research and policy hub for traditional medicine.

AB PM-JAY was launched on that date to move India towards universal health coverage, and the PIB backgrounder of 22 September 2026 marks its eighth anniversary.

AB PM-JAY provides cashless hospitalisation cover of up to ₹5 lakh per family per year, covering 1,961 procedures across 27 medical specialties at public and private empanelled hospitals.

Rural families qualify under six deprivation criteria of the SECC 2011, such as households with only one kucha room, no adult member between 16 and 59, female-headed households without an adult male, households with a disabled member, SC/ST households and landless households dependent on casual manual labour.

On 11 September 2024 the Government extended AB PM-JAY to everyone aged 70 and above, regardless of income, covering about 6 crore senior citizens.

The fifth edition of SEMICON India ran there for three days, from 17 to 19 September 2026, on the theme "Silicon to Systems: Building the Ecosystem", with more than 600 exhibiting companies, a Start-up Pavilion, a Workforce Development Pavilion, country and State pavilions and a hackathon.

Semicon 2.0 was approved by the Union Cabinet in July 2026 with this outlay. It builds on Semicon 1.0 and rests on six pillars: design; machines and materials; more fabs; advanced packaging; research and development; and talent development.

The Centre for Development of Advanced Computing showcased its AUM HPC-AI processor and the RUDRA-AUM compute node, reflecting India's push to build indigenous capability in high-performance computing and AI at the system level, not just the chip level.

On 22 September 2026 India's women won the cricket gold at the Asian Games, and the Prime Minister noted that it was the country's first gold of this edition of the Games.

Suchika Tariyal won bronze in mixed martial arts at the Asian Games 2026, and the Prime Minister described it as a historic achievement because it is India's first-ever Asian Games medal in that field.

The 2026 Asian Games, the 20th edition, are being held in the Japanese cities of Aichi and Nagoya.

The 9th India International Water Week, organised by the Ministry of Jal Shakti at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi, from 22 to 26 September 2026, is centred on this theme.

At the inauguration on 22 September 2026, the Vice-President launched the SURM Framework along with an AI/ML-driven Integrated Reservoir Sediment Management system, described as steps towards technology-enabled and climate-resilient water management.

Vice-President C. P. Radhakrishnan noted that India accounts for about 2.4 per cent of the world's land area and 18 per cent of its population, while possessing only about 4 per cent of global freshwater resources.

TRAI, the sector's regulator, released the Thirteenth Amendment on 22 September 2026 after a draft issued on 7 April 2026 drew 1,132 responses and an open house discussion on 15 June 2026.

Under the amendment, wherever an operator offers a voice-SMS-data special tariff voucher with a validity of 30 days or less, it must also offer a voice-and-SMS-only voucher of the same validity at an appropriately reduced price.

The Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting said the National Film Awards are being taken to India's best tourist destinations, inspired by the Prime Minister's approach of holding national events beyond conventional venues, much as G20 meetings were spread across States.

Ashwini Vaishnaw said Ekta Nagar has gained recognition across the world as a highly attractive destination because it is home to the world's tallest statue, that of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.

NFDC, which works under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, runs the India Cine Hub as a digital single-window portal where domestic and international creators apply for filming permissions, film visas and co-production approvals.

Set up by the Ramoji Group in 1996, it is certified by Guinness World Records as the world's largest film studio complex and is also described as the world's largest integrated film city and India's only thematic holiday destination built around filmmaking.

The backgrounder says the film, television and online content sector generated USD 13.1 billion in revenue in the financial year 2024, up 18 per cent since 2019, and is expected to keep growing at 6 to 10 per cent a year to reach about USD 17.5 to 19.7 billion by…

The Ministry of Defence stated that the bilateral air exercise between the Indian Air Force and the Japan Air Self Defense Force concluded at Air Force Station Jodhpur, and it was also at Jodhpur that the two air chiefs came for Distinguished Visitor's Day and flew the indigenous Tejas.

Veer Guardian is the bilateral air exercise between the Indian Air Force and the Japan Air Self Defense Force, and the release describes the drill as strengthening the strategic partnership between the two air forces of India and Japan.

The Ministry of Defence release states that the Japan Air Self Defense Force participated in the exercise with the F-2A fighter aircraft, while the Indian Air Force deployed a mix of the Su-30 MKI, the Rafale and the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft Tejas.

The meeting was co-chaired by Hardeep Singh Puri, India's Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, and by the OPEC Secretary General.

The release records that both sides agreed to hold the Eighth High-Level Meeting of the OPEC-India Energy Dialogue in Vienna, Austria, on a mutually convenient date.

At the seventh meeting the OPEC Secretary General said that the OPEC-India Energy Dialogue is eleven years strong, having been launched in New Delhi in 2015.

The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment defines NAMASTE exactly this way, and describes its aim as ensuring the safety and dignity of sanitation workers by creating an enabling ecosystem that recognises their contribution to the operation and maintenance of sanitation infrastructure.

The Ministry's Secretary stated that the sewer and septic tank workers component now covers all 36 States and Union Territories, and that this many workers have been validated.

Under the capital subsidy intervention for mechanisation, routed through the Swachhta Udyami Yojana, the Ministry reported that 983 beneficiaries have been supported with this amount.

The Secretary of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment said the scheme promotes sustainable livelihoods, capacity building, access to safety gear and mechanisation through interventions implemented by this corporation.

Both the Department of Food and Public Distribution and the Ministry of Textiles named this as the theme of the current campaign, and described it as an appeal to treat cleanliness as a collective effort and a festival of community involvement.

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting release states plainly that the campaign is being organised jointly by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and that department, which together cover urban and rural sanitation.

The Ministry of Textiles stated that the campaign is being celebrated across all its organisations over this period, and the activities reported by other departments, such as the Swachhata pledge taken on the opening day, fit the same window.

President Droupadi Murmu presented the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for 2024 to the veteran Kannada actor at the 72nd National Film Awards at Ekta Nagar, Kevadia, in Gujarat.

The 72nd National Film Awards were conferred there, in Gujarat, and it was the first time the ceremony had been taken out of the national capital.

The film was judged the Best Feature Film at the 72nd National Film Awards, and Yami Gautam won the Best Actress in a Leading Role award for the same film, which made it the evening's biggest winner.

Randeep Hooda is wrong because he was praised for stepping behind the camera for the first time with Swatantrya Veer Savarkar, but the direction prize did not go to him.