UPSC current affairs, 4 September 2026

• An ISRO study found peak stubble burning time in Punjab and Haryana shifted from about 1:30 p.m. in 2020 to about 5 p.m. in 2024.
• Farm fires contribute about 15% of particulate matter pollution over a whole winter, a share that can rise to nearly 44% in specific weeks.
• CAQM is the Commission for Air Quality Management in NCR and Adjoining Areas.

Shows the limits of satellite fire counts as a policy metric and why ground truthing and emission estimates matter for managing stubble burning and NCR air quality.

• Public health expenditure in India is 1.43% of GDP, against the National Health Policy, 2017 target of 2.5% by 2025.
• Out-of-pocket childbirth spending is Rs 37,630 in private facilities against Rs 2,299 in public ones.
• The Clinical Establishments Act, 2010 mandates registration and sets minimum standards for healthcare facilities.

Gives data for GS2 on the 'missing middle' left out of both subsidised schemes like PM-JAY and affordable private care, and the case for stronger public provision.

2015 · GS2 · 12.5 marks Public health system has limitation in providing universal health coverage. Do you think that private sector can help in bridging the gap? What other viable alternatives do you suggest?

How to use it: Shows the public system's limits: the private sector delivers over 60% of inpatient care, public spending is 1.43% of GDP, and 40 crore people fall in a coverage gap.

• The SCO summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, marked the grouping's 25 years.
• The Bishkek Declaration condemned the US and Israeli attacks on Iran and supported Iran's right to peaceful nuclear technology under the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Useful for GS2 on India's role in the SCO: pushing a firm line on terrorism while the grouping is strained by conflicts among and around its members.

2023 · GS2 · 10 marks 'Virus of Conflict is affecting the functioning of the SCO' In the light of the above statement point out the role of India in mitigating the problems.

How to use it: Shows conflict, here the US-Israel war on Iran, shaping the SCO agenda, and India pressing the grouping on terror financing and 'double standards' on terrorism.

• Nepal contributes about 0.1% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
• Cyclone Ditwah in Sri Lanka disproportionately affected the Malaiyaha Tamil community in tea and rubber estates.

Supports GS3 arguments on climate justice and regional cooperation, since low emitters like Nepal face severe disasters and the poorest bear the heaviest losses.

• The Police Modernisation Mission is a Rs 24,000 crore centrally sponsored scheme spread over five years.
• The 2020 judgment in Paramvir Singh Saini vs Baljit Singh required CCTV cameras in police stations.

Relevant to GS2 and GS3 on police reform, custodial safeguards under Article 21 and building State police capacity for internal security.

• El Nino is an unusual warming of the surface waters of the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean.
• El Nino typically occurs every two to seven years and can last up to 12 months.
• The World Meteorological Organisation is a specialised agency of the United Nations.

Useful for GS1 and GS3 on ocean-atmosphere links to extreme weather and the need for preparedness against droughts and floods.

• India's April to June exports rose 15% year-on-year to $129.32 billion.
• Net exports added 3 percentage points to GDP growth of 7.8% in April to June 2026.
• V Anantha Nageswaran is the Chief Economic Adviser.

Illustrates the gap between capital-intensive and labour-intensive export performance and how external shocks like the West Asia crisis hit employment-heavy sectors hardest.

2017 · GS3 · 10 marks Account for the failure of manufacturing sector in achieving the goal of labour-intensive exports rather than capital-intensive exports. Suggest measures for more labour-intensive rather than capital-intensive exports.

How to use it: Gives a current example: engineering and electronics exports did well while labour-intensive, low-margin textiles, leather and tea declined amid surging freight rates and payment issues.

• S. Jaishankar visited Kyiv, where Andrii Sybiha is Ukraine's Foreign Minister.
• India justified its Russian oil imports on the basis of the energy needs of its 1.4 billion people.

An example of India's strategic autonomy: balancing energy security and ties with Russia while engaging Ukraine and backing dialogue to end the war.

• The Kajra Solar Power Plant in Lakhisarai, Bihar, will pair a 301 MW solar facility with a 523 MWh Battery Energy Storage System.
• Bihar targets nearly 24 GW of renewable capacity and 6 GWh of storage by 2030 under its Renewable Energy Policy 2025.
• Bihar's plan draws on central schemes PM-KUSUM and PM Surya Ghar.

A case study of a power-deficit State using solar and storage to cut costly power purchases, relevant to energy security and State discom finances.

• India's forex reserves reached a record $729 billion by August 21, 2026.
• FCNR(B) stands for Foreign Currency Non-Resident (Bank) deposits.
• The RBI used variable rate reverse repo auctions to absorb surplus liquidity.

Useful for GS3 on capital flows, the difference between volatile and stable foreign capital, and how the RBI manages liquidity created by inflows.

• Svalbard is an Arctic archipelago; the Svalbard Treaty of 1920 grants Norway sovereignty while giving signatory nations, including Russia, equal rights to engage in commercial activities.
• The $4.22 billion award to Naftogaz relates to assets seized in Crimea in 2014.

Shows how arbitration awards and asset seizures are being used to hold States liable for conduct in conflicts, and the legal status of Svalbard.

• India's three-stage nuclear programme uses fast breeder reactors to convert thorium-232 into uranium-233.
• India's first indigenous Fast Breeder Reactor, at Kalpakkam, recently attained criticality.
• Anil Kakodkar is a former chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission.

Feeds GS3 on India's nuclear energy strategy: whether to wait for the three-stage sequence or bring thorium into existing PHWRs earlier for energy security.

• A White House report titled 'The Great Transhipment Scam' placed India in Tier 1, indicating a high risk of illegal transhipment.
• The report estimates illegal transhipment could be worth about $60 to 67 billion.
• Jamieson Greer is the US Trade Representative.

Relevant to GS2 and GS3 on India-US trade talks, rules of origin and the risk of third-country goods being routed through India.

• The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope operates at Lagrange Point 2, about 1.5 million km from Earth.
• Nancy Grace Roman is known as the 'Mother of Hubble'.
• Dark matter is estimated at about 27% and dark energy at about 68% of the universe.

A current example for GS3 space science: how wide-field infrared surveys and gravitational lensing are used to probe dark energy and find exoplanets.

• Under the Sone MoU, Bihar gets 5.75 MAF and Jharkhand 2 MAF of water.
• Undivided Bihar was allotted 7.75 MAF of Sone water under the tripartite Bansagar Agreement of 1973.
• The Indrapuri Barrage is on the Sone river.

An example of an inter-State river dispute settled by negotiation rather than a tribunal, useful for GS2 on cooperative federalism.

• MoSPI changed the GDP base year from 2011-12 to 2022-23 on February 27, 2026.
• The revision lowered nominal GDP for 2025-26 from Rs 357 trillion to Rs 345 trillion.

Useful for GS3 on the credibility of official statistics and why base year revisions are needed to capture structural change.

• 'RAKSHA' is a defence diplomacy document outlining India's 10-year roadmap for global defence partnerships, unveiled on September 3, 2026.
• The document positions India as a Net Security Provider and primary responder in the Indian Ocean Region.

Shows defence diplomacy being used as a tool of foreign policy, linking defence exports and capacity building with India's maritime role.

• The new peptide-based piezoelectric materials convert body movements such as heartbeats or walking into electrical energy.
• The peptide nanomaterials showed a piezoelectric coefficient of nearly 30 pm/V.

An example for GS3 of indigenous materials research enabling self-powered medical devices as a biodegradable alternative to ceramic piezoelectrics.

• Jal Sanchay Jan Bhagidari was launched on September 6, 2024, and integrated with Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain in June 2026.
• Odisha's CHHATA scheme covers rooftop rainwater harvesting and its ARUA scheme covers aquifer recharge from water bodies.
• In Chhattisgarh's Aawa Paani Jhoki movement, farmers voluntarily set aside 5% of their land for recharge ponds.

Gives examples for GS1 and GS3 answers on groundwater depletion and community participation in water conservation.

2020 · GS3 · 10 marks What are the salient features of the Jal Shakti Abhiyan launched by the Government of India for water conservation and water security?

How to use it: JSJB was integrated with Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain in June 2026 and has built over 1.58 crore recharge structures through community participation.

• The Decentralised Grain Storage Plan in the Cooperative Sector was launched as a pilot project on May 31, 2023.
• The National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) implements the plan.
• The plan converges the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund, Agricultural Marketing Infrastructure and PMFME schemes.

Relevant to GS3 on food storage, post-harvest losses and the role of PACS in strengthening the food security supply chain.