UPSC current affairs, 13 October 2026

• The National Disaster Response Fund has its legal basis in the Disaster Management Act, 2005.
• The Manual for Drought Management was issued by the Union Ministry of Agriculture in 2009 and updated in 2016 and 2020.
• This year's summer monsoon was the poorest since 2015.

Useful for drought management and Centre-State disaster finance: delays in NDRF aid, incentives to over-declare drought, and the case for insurance and income support over long-term projects.

2014 · GS3 · 12.5 marks Drought has been recognised as a disaster in view of its spatial expanse, temporal duration, slow onset and lasting effect on various vulnerable sections. With a focus on the September 2010 guidelines from the National…

How to use it: Shows drought's spatial spread (217 of 240 Karnataka taluks), the role of the Drought Manual and NDRF, and relief measures such as micro-irrigation and insurance.

• Form 6 is used for inclusion of names in the electoral roll and Form 7 for objections and deletions.
• The op-ed argues that Section 28 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 empowers only the Central government to make rules under the Act.

Feeds GS2 debates on the independence and accountability of constitutional bodies and the integrity of electoral rolls.

• Article 348(1)(a) requires Supreme Court and High Court proceedings to be in English until Parliament provides otherwise.
• Under Article 348(2), a Governor, with the President's consent, can authorise Hindi or a State language in High Court proceedings, but not judgments.
• SUVAS (Supreme Court Vidhik Anuvaad Software), launched in November 2019, uses AI to translate judgments into Indian languages.

Useful for access to justice and separation of powers: translation tools can widen access without changing English as the language of record.

• The Living Planet Index, published every two years by WWF, uses the geometric mean of changes in monitored vertebrate populations.
• Average declines since 1970 were 95% in Latin America and the Caribbean, 80% in Africa, 49% in Asia and 23% in Europe.
• Habitat loss and degradation, overexploitation, climate change, pollution, invasive species and disease are the main threats listed.

Helps answer biodiversity questions with correct interpretation of indices and the case for targeting conservation at populations in serious trouble.

• The SIR of electoral rolls is conducted under Section 21(3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1950.
• In Lal Babu Hussein (1995), the Supreme Court held that an applicant's presence in the existing roll must be given adequate weight when citizenship is examined.
• On 9 October, the ECI capped the number of Form 7 objections one individual can file.

Directly useful for questions on the ECI's powers in revising rolls, the burden of proof on voters, and safeguards against wrongful exclusion.

2026 · GS2 · 10 marks Is the right to vote a fundamental right? Discuss the position of the Election Commission of India while undertaking the revision of electoral rolls. Can it also examine the question of citizenship of the voters?

How to use it: The SIR rests on Section 21(3) of the RP Act, 1950, while Lal Babu Hussein (1995) requires due weight to existing enrolment when citizenship is examined.

• The Strait of Hormuz carries roughly 20 to 25% of the world's seaborne oil and about 20% of LNG.
• The MT Valthera is Marshall Islands-flagged and the MT Petro Dolphin is Nicaragua-flagged.

Feeds GS2 on India and West Asia and GS3 energy security: safety of Indian seafarers and freedom of navigation through chokepoints.

• The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority fixes ceiling prices of scheduled medicines and monitors non-scheduled ones.
• Under the Drugs (Prices Control) Order, 2013, the MRP of non-scheduled drugs cannot rise by more than 10% a year.
• In 2019 the NPPA capped trade margins on 42 non-scheduled anti-cancer drugs.

Feeds GS2 health access and regulation: trade-margin rationalisation as a tool against out-of-pocket health spending.

• The Siang Upper Multipurpose Project in Arunachal Pradesh is planned at 11,200 MW.
• China approved a 60,000 MW hydropower project on the lower Yarlung Tsangpo in December 2024.
• The Adi community lives in the Siang valley, where the project is proposed.

Illustrates the trade-off between strategic water security against China and indigenous rights and consent in large dam projects.

• The Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee, under the Environment Ministry, is the apex body for approving GM crops.
• GM crops are regulated under the 1989 Rules notified under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.
• The Vip3A Bt gene is effective against pink bollworm, unlike the Cry1Ac and Cry2Ab genes in approved Bt cotton.

Useful for GM crop regulation and farm technology debates: how regulatory delay can drive an illegal seed market.

• Private firms fund roughly 40% of India's R&D, against about 75% in the US and China.
• The Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF) was set up to give strategic direction to research and mobilise funds for it.

Supplies arguments for GS3 science and technology policy: separate funding for discovery, translation and deployment, and shared research infrastructure.

• PM-WANI, approved in December 2020, lets Public Data Offices offer Wi-Fi without a licence or registration.
• BharatNet, launched in 2011, is run by Bharat Broadband Network Ltd (BBNL).
• TRAI released a consultation paper on scaling up public Wi-Fi in April 2026.

Useful for digital divide and last-mile connectivity: public Wi-Fi on unlicensed spectrum can cut costs and ease mobile network congestion.

• PERM labour certification is required for most US employment-based green card applications.
• As of June 2026, 356,360 approved Indian EB-2 petitions were waiting for visas.
• Employment at Global Capability Centres in India grew from 1.9 million in FY2024 to 2.36 million in FY2026.

Feeds GS2 India-US relations and the diaspora, and GS3 jobs: offshoring and GCCs as a response to tighter US migration rules.

• The IMF's World Economic Outlook projects India's growth at 7% for 2026-27, up from 6.4% in July.
• The RBI recently raised its growth forecast for the current fiscal year to 7.1%.

Useful for India's growth outlook amid global shocks: domestic demand and services as buffers against oil and conflict risks.

• India's forex reserves fell by 12.95 billion dollars to 734.60 billion dollars in the week ended 2 October.
• The RBI measures include limits on rebooking cancelled forex derivative contracts and tighter documentation rules.

Illustrates the RBI's toolkit for managing exchange rate volatility beyond reserve sales, and the role of crude prices and capital flows.

• Business-to-consumer e-invoicing under GST will begin from April 1, 2027.
• The Invoice Management System (IMS) helps match credit details between sellers and buyers.

Useful for tax administration reform: technology and behavioural nudges to improve compliance and curb input tax credit fraud.

• INS Mangrol is the third Mahe-class Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft, built by Cochin Shipyard Limited.
• The ship uses waterjet propulsion for manoeuvrability in shallow and confined waters.
• The ship carries forward the name of an earlier minesweeper.

An example of indigenisation in defence shipbuilding and strengthened coastal defence in the Indian Ocean Region.

• IMD's Cyclone Warning and Marine Weather Services Decision Support System is a WebGIS-based platform.
• IMD's pre-cyclone exercise meeting has been held since 2008 to review preparedness before the cyclone season.

Supports answers on early warning systems and disaster preparedness, building on forecasts for cyclones Phailin (2013) and Hudhud (2014).

• RSETIs are Rural Self Employment Training Institutes; the MoU aims at uniform training standards and capacity building across them.
• Candidate registration will use Kaushal Panjee and the Aadhaar Enabled Biometric Attendance System (AEBAS).

Feeds questions on skilling for rural self-employment and inclusion of vulnerable groups in entrepreneurship.

2023 · GS2 · 15 marks Skill development programs have succeeded in increasing human resources supply to various sectors. In the context of the statement analyze the linkages between education, skill and employment.

How to use it: The plan to train 6.35 lakh rural youth, including women, SC/ST and persons with disabilities, through NSQF-aligned courses links skilling to self-employment.

• Negotiations on the India-UK CETA began in January 2022.
• Indian exporters use the eCoO 2.0 platform to self-certify origin and claim CETA preferences.
• The 17th JETCO meeting will be held in the UK in 2027.

Useful for India's new-generation trade agreements and how implementation mechanisms help businesses use preferences.

• PM GatiShakti covers seven engines: roads, railways, ports, waterways, airports, mass transport and logistics infrastructure.
• The Network Planning Group and the Empowered Group of Secretaries are part of its institutional framework.
• Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya, set up in 2022, is a university for transport and logistics.

An example of data-driven, multimodal infrastructure planning; the page cites reduced overlap with forest land in expressway planning.