UPSC current affairs, 20 September 2026

• India already faces a 10% U.S. tariff under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 and a 50% tariff on steel, aluminium, copper and related products under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962.
• The U.S. Trade Representative, with the Secretaries of State and Energy, will review importing countries within 180 days of the initial tariffs.
• The President can waive the tariffs if certified to be in the U.S. national interest or if Russia ceases hostilities in Ukraine.

Trade and energy trade-offs: the explainer notes India earlier complied with U.S. pressure on Iranian and Venezuelan oil, and that cutting Russian imports could raise fuel prices ahead of state elections.

2026 · GS3 · 15 marks Explain the key challenges for India's energy security. What measures do you suggest for ensuring energy security along with economic growth and sustainability?

How to use it: Gives a current external challenge to India's energy security: a 30-day window to cut Russian crude, with over 51% of oil imports from Russia and Hormuz constrained.

• El Nino is a warming of the eastern tropical Pacific's surface waters that dampens the monsoon.
• A 4 degree Celsius anomaly would exceed any in the past 1,000 years, based on coral core reconstructions.
• Coral reefs need at least a decade to recover from major die-backs, a concern after a significant El Nino in 2024.

Climate variability and disaster preparedness: the scientists' call to action urges researchers to document and study the event to build India's climate resilience, as El Nino impacts could cascade through depleted soil moisture, water storage and heatwaves.

• Pneumocystis jirovecii causes Pneumocystis Pneumonia (PCP), a severe lung infection in immunocompromised people.
• MPA, sold as CellCept and Myfortic, suppresses immunity by inhibiting the IMPDH enzyme; researchers studied 163 samples, mostly from transplant patients.

Antimicrobial resistance: the finding shows pathogens can adapt to drugs not aimed at them, so immunosuppression and infection control for transplant patients may need review.

• The Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016 use Extended Producer Responsibility, making producers, importers and brand owners manage collection, recycling and disposal.
• Pyrolysis decomposes plastic without oxygen, yielding oil, gas and char.

Solid waste management and circular economy: EPR plus technologies such as pyrolysis and hydrogen recovery, with data gaps and plant viability as constraints.

• Researchers studied four FETUA proteins from the western diamondback rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox).
• Metalloproteinases in venom cause haemorrhage, tissue damage and disrupted blood clotting.
• The proteins gave partial protection against Sochurek's saw-scaled viper (Echis carinatus sochureki), which the article lists among India's 'Big Four' snakes.

Snakebite treatment: since India has both vipers and elapids, the article suggests combining viper FETUAs with agents against neurotoxins.

• Article 10 of the 1991 India-Pakistan Agreement on Advance Notice on Military Exercises, Manoeuvres and Troop Movements requires naval vessels to keep three nautical miles apart in international waters.
• INS Kolkata, commissioned in August 2014, is the lead ship of the Project 15A Kolkata-class guided-missile destroyers.
• PNS Hunain is an offshore patrol vessel commissioned in July 2024, the first of Pakistan's OPV 2600-based vessels.

Confidence-building measures between nuclear-armed neighbours: the incident shows why the 1991 agreement's rules matter to avoid miscalculation at sea.

• The 1967 Outer Space Treaty bans weapons of mass destruction in orbit but does not prohibit conventional weapons.
• Article IX of the Outer Space Treaty requires states to act with 'due regard' for other states' interests in space.
• The UN process on the Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space is a diplomatic avenue for negotiating restraints.

Weaponisation of outer space and gaps in the space law regime: the explainer points to diplomatic avenues such as the UN process on the Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space and Article 35 of the UN Charter.

• The U.S. already has a security agreement with Denmark on Greenland dating from 1951.
• Denmark's Foreign Minister is Lars Lokke Rasmussen and Greenland's Prime Minister is Jens-Frederik Nielsen.

Arctic geopolitics: great-power competition in the Arctic and North Atlantic, framed within NATO and balanced against sovereignty and self-determination.

• The Centre has proposed Article 371(K) as a new constitutional provision for Ladakh.
• Ailan No. 38 concerns cultivation of barren land and has become a point of contention over land ownership.
• Ladakh's fate was shaped by the Dogra conquest of 1834 and the Treaty of Amritsar of 1846.

Special provisions for regions and ecologically fragile governance: Ladakh's demands for direct elections, bureaucratic accountability and a freeze on major land decisions link autonomy to Himalayan ecology.

• Uttar Pradesh flagged the cost of the renewable energy transition, and West Bengal raised industrial power tariffs linked to thermal power dependence.
• Japan's sesame oil exports, despite importing seeds from India, were cited as an example of value addition India misses.

Cooperative federalism and growth: the meeting links farm incomes, food processing jobs and export expansion to the Viksit Bharat goal, noting India's modest global export share relative to China.

• Amodei proposes three parts: embedded evaluators, democratic coordination and global coordination.
• He also recommends restricting China's access to advanced AI chips and strengthening protection against model theft.

AI governance and safety: the essay argues for pacing, not stopping, so that evaluation, alignment and interpretability keep up with capabilities.

• The Houthis are an Iran-aligned Shia Islamist political and military organisation that emerged in Yemen in the 1990s.
• The UN Security Council also condemned attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea and Bab Al-Mandab Strait.

West Asian instability and energy security: the article says the attacks threaten global oil supplies and the Red Sea route for Gulf exports while traffic through the Strait of Hormuz faces blockades.

• Ayush Grid is the Ministry of Ayush's digital platform for e-governance and digital health.
• A July 2025 WHO, ITU and WIPO technical brief addressed responsible use of AI in traditional medicine, including Ayurveda.
• The e-CHARAK chatbot supports trade in medicinal plants.

Digital health and AI in healthcare: the release shows AI being used for decision support, research and language access in traditional medicine.

• NLC India's HELE thermal projects are at Ghatampur, Talabira and Machhakatta.
• NLC India pursues strategic mineral autonomy in India and abroad through KABIL.
• Pumped storage projects are planned in Tamil Nadu and Odisha.

Energy transition with energy security: a coal and lignite PSU expanding mining while adding renewables, storage and green hydrogen illustrates India's dual-track approach.

2025 · GS3 · 10 marks How can India achieve energy independence through clean technology by 2047? How can biotechnology play a crucial role in this endeavour?

How to use it: Gives a PSU example of clean energy plans to 2047: 32.7 GW of renewables, a 4 MW solar green hydrogen pilot, storage and carbon capture.

• The first NGMV is being built at Cochin Shipyard Limited, Kochi, under a contract concluded with CSL in March 2023.
• The project is linked to Aatmanirbhar Bharat, Make in India and Make for the World.

Indigenisation of defence production: domestic shipbuilding of missile vessels supports self-reliance and naval readiness in the Indian Ocean Region.

• SCL Mohali unveiled the Device Manufacturing Integrated System (DMIS), for fab automation.
• C-DAC launched PARAM Vidya, an AI excellence lab, and PARAM Shavak-QS, a quantum simulation platform.
• RISC-V is an open-source instruction set architecture.

Semiconductor self-reliance: indigenous processors, design challenges and skilling in ATMP show how India is building a chip ecosystem.

2025 · GS3 · 15 marks India aims to become a semiconductor manufacturing hub. What are the challenges faced by the semiconductor industry in India? Mention the salient features of the India Semiconductor Mission.

How to use it: Adds recent steps toward a semiconductor hub: the RISC-V Grand Challenge under the Chips to Startup Programme using SHAKTI and VEGA, the Bharat AI-SoC Challenge, and a USD 200 billion market projection by 2035.