4th MAY CURRENT AFFAIRS

1. Tamil Nadu isleading in theIndia's marine fish production increased by 3% to 35.7 lakh tonnes in 2025

TN Overtakes Gujarat as Top Marine Fish Producer in 2025: CMFRI Data

In May 2026, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)- Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) released a report titled ‘ICAR-CMFRI Annual Report 2025’, which stated that Tamil Nadu(TN) became India’s top marine fish producer in 2025 with 6.85 lakh tonnes, surpassing Gujarat, whose output declined by 15% to 6.43 lakh tonnes from 2024.

India’s total marine fish production increased by 3% to 35.7 lakh tonnes in 2025.

State-wise Production:

Top States: TN recorded a 1% rise in marine fish landings over 2024 despite cyclones, while Gujarat experienced a decline due to adverse weather, extended fishing bans, and cyclonic disruptions.

Karnataka ranked fourth with 5.78 lakh tonnes, followed by Maharashtra in fifth place with 3.66 lakh tonnes of marine fish production.

Kanniyakumari: Led the state with 23% of total landings.

Schemes for increasing Fish Production

Tamil Nadu Fishermen Welfare Board was established in 2007

PM Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) is a flagship fisheries scheme launched in 2020 to boost fish production, double fishers' income

2. Mission Drishti

Bengaluru-based space-tech startup GalaxEye launched Mission Drishti on May 3, 2026

It was launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California.

This is the world’s first OptoSAR satellite combining optical cameras and all-weather radar

high-resolution optical cameras with all-weather synthetic aperture radar (SAR).

Launch of India's largest privately built satellite will play an important role in realising in avision of a space-power India

3. Rohit Jain assumed charge as the Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for a three-year tenure

The appointments committee of the cabinet has approved the appointment of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) executive director (ED) Rohit Jain as deputy governor (DG) of the banking regulator.

Reserve Bank of India

The Reserve Bank of India was established on April 1, 1935 in accordance with the provisions of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934.

originally privately owned,it becomenationalisedin 1949, the Reserve Bank is fully owned by the Government of India.

RBI members

Official Directors (central board of directors)

Full-time: Governor and not more than four Deputy Governors

Sanjay Malhotra is the present Governor of RBI

Non-Official Directors

Nominated by Government: ten Directors from various fields and two government Official

Others: four Directors - one each from four local boards (regional)

RBI has had 26 governors since 1935! The first was Sir Osborne Smith, and the longest-serving was Benegal Rama Rau.

4. The 2026 Whitley Awards ("Green Oscars")

The 2026 Whitley Awards ("Green Oscars") honored six grassroots conservationists, including two Indian scientists—Parveen Shaikh and Barkha Subba—for protecting endangered species

Barkha Subba

Barkha SubbaHimalayan SalamanderRecognized for leading grassroots efforts to conserve the rare Himalayan salamander and its fragile wetland habitats in Darjeeling, West Bengal

Parveen Shaikh

The Indian scientist Parveen Shaikh has been awarded the prestigious 2026 Whitley Award by the Whitley Fund for the Nature.

This award recognizes the her impactful work to protecting the endangered Indian Skimmer and it aims to expand her community-led conservation model to the Prayagraj in the Ganga Basin

The Indian Skimmer

The Indian Skimmer is the unique and endangered bird species which is easily identified by the its bright orange bill and distinctive feeding style and skimming river surfaces to catch fish.

India hosts over the 90% of the global population of Indian Skimmer which is around 3,000 birds.

They are highly sensitive to river flow changes and habitat disturbance.

5Pathfinder, India’s first AI-powered orbital data centre satellite

Space-tech startup Pixxel On May 4, 2026, Indian space-tech firm Pixxel and AI startup Sarvam AI announced a strategic partnership to develop and launch Pathfinder, India’s first AI-powered orbital data centre satellite

Key Features of the Pathfinder MissionEdge Computing in Space:

Unlike traditional satellites that send raw data to Earth for analysis, Pathfinder will process data directly in orbit using data centre-class GPUs

Hyperspectral Imaging: The satellite will carry Pixxel's flagship hyperspectral camera to capture high-fidelity Earth imagery.Real-Time Insights

By using Sarvam’s full-stack AI models on board, the system can identify patterns—such as detecting wildfires, monitoring crop diseases, or tracking pipeline leaks—in real time.Sovereign AI: The partnership emphasizes "sovereign AI," running India-developed models on India-built hardware to reduce dependence on foreign cloud infrastructure.

Sarvam AI: Provides the AI "backbone," including on-board models for both training and inference directly in orbit.