UPSC current affairs, 15 October 2026

• The committee followed the 'High-powered Demography Mission' announced by the Prime Minister on 15 August 2025.
• Its 35-point questionnaire seeks district-wise and religion-wise data for the past 15 years.
• The inputs are to inform a permanent system for the legal identification, detention and deportation of illegal immigrants.

GS3 internal security and GS2 governance: how the state links demographic change in border areas to security and service delivery, and what data it gathers to do so.

• Total India-China trade rose 25.4% to $144.45 billion in January to September 2026.
• India's record trade deficit with China, set last year, was $116.12 billion.
• India's main exports to China are seafood products, naphtha and printed circuit boards.

GS2 and GS3: heavy reliance on Chinese finished goods and intermediates, with limited market access for Indian firms, makes the deficit a strategic as well as a trade concern.

• In January the Centre approved 22 ECMS proposals worth ₹41,863 crore, expected to create 33,791 direct jobs in eight states.
• Restrictions under Press Note 3 on investment from countries sharing a land border with India were eased in March 2026.
• DPIIT records FDI by the location of a company's head office, not where the money is spent.

GS3 industrial policy: the article argues that national incentives such as PLI and ECMS work only through state-level delivery, and notes that industrial growth is concentrated in southern and western states.

2024 · GS2 · 10 marks 'The West is fostering India as an alternative to reduce dependence on China's supply chain and as a strategic ally to counter China's political and economic dominance.' Explain this statement with examples.

How to use it: Foxconn and Tata Electronics investing in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka under the China+1 strategy is an example of India emerging as an alternative manufacturing base to China.

• Anoop Baranwal (2023) had mandated a selection committee of the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition and the Chief Justice of India.
• The 2023 Act replaced the Chief Justice of India on the selection committee with a Union Minister.
• A Constitution Bench has five or more judges and hears substantial questions of constitutional interpretation.

GS2 constitutional bodies: the independence of the Election Commission turns on how its members are chosen; the article also raises judicial recusal under the Bangalore Principles.

• Section 47 of the BNSS, which replaced Section 50 of the CrPC, requires police to communicate the grounds of arrest.
• Article 22(2) requires an arrested person to be produced before the nearest magistrate within 24 hours, excluding travel time.
• Pankaj Bansal (2023) required written grounds of arrest under the PMLA, and Prabir Purkayastha (2024) applied this to UAPA cases.

GS2 fundamental rights: procedural safeguards under Articles 21 and 22 and police accountability, with departmental action recommended against negligent officers.

2023 · GS2 · 15 marks "The Constitution of India is a living instrument with capabilities of enormous dynamism. It is a constitution made for a progressive society." Illustrate with special reference to the expanding horizons of the right…

How to use it: Rulings requiring written grounds of arrest and a magistrate's permission for re-arrest show personal liberty being widened through judicial interpretation.

• The Aravalli Range runs about 700 km across Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi and is one of the world's oldest mountain systems.
• The Environment Ministry's October 2025 report proposed defining Aravalli hills as landforms above 100 metres.
• The Supreme Court accepted that definition in November 2025 but put it in abeyance in December 2025 after protests.

GS3 conservation: a legal definition decides what is protected in a range that checks desertification and recharges groundwater; campaigners seek Critical Ecological Zone status.

• 2026 is the ASEAN-India Year of Maritime Cooperation.
• SAGAR stands for Security and Growth for All in the Region; MAHASAGAR, unveiled in 2025, stands for Mutual and Holistic Advancement for Security and Growth Across Regions.
• The Act East Policy was launched in 2014 with ASEAN at its core.

GS2 India and its extended neighbourhood: defence industrial ties and maritime domain awareness as the next layer of Act East in the Indo-Pacific.

• The Jeypore ground gecko (Cyrtodactylus jeyporensis) is endemic to Eastern Ghats forests of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh at 900 to 1,400 metres.
• It is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List and in Appendix II of CITES.
• It was rediscovered in 2010 after 130 years; its earlier habitat at Potangi was lost to NALCO bauxite mining.

GS3 mining versus biodiversity and GS2 tribal rights: endemic species loss and contested Forest Rights Act claims in the mineral-rich Eastern Ghats.

2025 · GS3 · 15 marks Mineral resources are fundamental to the country's economy and these are exploited by mining. Why is mining considered an environmental hazard? Explain the remedial measures required to reduce the environmental hazard…

How to use it: Opencast bauxite mining proposed in the Balda hills threatens an endangered endemic gecko and its reserve forest habitat, a concrete example of mining as an environmental hazard.

• Under MGNREGA, FRA title holders were entitled to 150 days of work a year, a provision introduced in January 2014.
• Section 5(4) of the VB-G RAM G Act allows work beyond the guaranteed days, but it is discretionary and names no beneficiary group.
• Only 15% of eligible households used the extra 50 days in 2025-26.

GS2 welfare of Scheduled Tribes: shows how an entitlement can lapse in a statutory overhaul unless it is carried over explicitly.

• The NPPA found average markups of about 170% on non-scheduled anti-cancer drugs, with some up to 700%.
• India's annual cancer drug turnover is about ₹12,500 crore, of which price-regulated scheduled drugs account for about ₹2,250 crore.
• Scheduled drugs are price-controlled under the Drugs (Prices Control) Order.

GS2 health: margin caps as a tool to make costly treatment affordable, with limits where patents restrict competition.

2024 · GS2 · 15 marks In a crucial domain like the public healthcare system the Indian State should play a vital role to contain the adverse impact of marketisation of the system. Suggest some measures through which the State can enhance…

How to use it: Capping trade margins on 110 cancer drugs to cut marked prices by up to 70% is an example of the State checking market pricing in healthcare.

• Section 301 of the US Trade Act of 1974 lets the President act against foreign trade practices seen as unfair or discriminatory.
• The Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning, Russia and Iran Act of 2026 threatens tariffs of up to 100% on buyers of Russian oil and gas.
• India's goods exports to the US rose 21% in August, while imports from the US rose 65%.

GS2 and GS3: unilateral US trade tools and sanctions on energy purchases constrain India's trade and energy choices.

2025 · GS3 · 10 marks What are the challenges before the Indian economy when the world is moving away from free trade and multilateralism to protectionism and bilateralism? How can these challenges be met?

How to use it: US Section 301 tariffs and the slow interim deal talks illustrate the challenges India faces as trade shifts from multilateral rules to bilateral bargaining.

• C-DOT works under the Department of Telecommunications.
• Cell broadcast lets sirens be activated remotely from a central system and targets only defined geographic areas.
• Cell broadcast technology was launched nationwide in May 2026 for disaster management alerts.

GS3 security and technology: chip import dependence as a strategic vulnerability, and uniform civil defence warning as a lesson from Operation Sindoor.

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: India imports about 90% of its chips despite a large chip design workforce, a core challenge for its semiconductor ambitions that DRDO links to risk in future conflicts.

• India and Canada have made progress on a uranium supply deal and on critical minerals cooperation.
• Canada plans to double its non-US trade over the next decade and sees India as a key partner.

GS2 bilateral relations: rebuilding ties through trade and energy alongside a security dialogue that addresses India's concerns about pro-Khalistan elements.

• DAY-NULM was launched in September 2013 by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation and renamed in 2016.
• By its end, DAY-NULM had helped form over 10 lakh SHGs.
• Bihar's JEEVIKA and Kerala's Kudumbashree are cited as models of SHG-led women's empowerment.

GS2 schemes for vulnerable sections: a gap between schemes puts SHG bank linkages and credit access at risk, a lesson for women-led development.

2021 · GS2 · 10 marks Can the vicious cycle of gender inequality, poverty and malnutrition be broken through microfinancing of women SHGs? Explain with examples.

How to use it: DAY-NULM's SHG network of over one crore urban poor women, now short of funds, shows both the reach of SHG-based livelihoods and their need for sustained support.

• Pillay worked at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.
• She is an ad hoc judge at the ICJ in the case brought by The Gambia against Myanmar over the Rohingya genocide.
• The Nobel Peace Prize is administered by the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

GS2 international institutions: political pressure on accountability mechanisms such as the ICC, and the rule of law as a basis for peace.

• India's net-zero target year is 2070.
• The EU's ReFuelEU Aviation regulation requires a 2% sustainable aviation fuel blend by 2025.
• The article says India's carbon price needs to reach $30 to 50 per tonne to change investment decisions in key sectors.

GS3 climate and trade: links decarbonisation to export competitiveness, while India continues to contest protectionism and seek finance and technology.

• LNG meets roughly half of India's natural gas requirement.
• About 60% of India's traditional LNG imports passed through the Strait of Hormuz; Oman's exports do not depend on it.
• Before the West Asia conflict, Qatar was India's main LNG source.

GS3 energy security: diversifying suppliers and routes away from a chokepoint, at the cost of buying on the spot market.

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: Oman replacing the US as top LNG supplier amid disruption in the Strait of Hormuz shows source and route diversification as a response to India's energy security challenges.

• Manufacturing contributes 16 to 17% of India's GDP; the National Manufacturing Mission targets 25% by 2035.
• The BHAVYA Portal, launched in June 2026, handles project submission, appraisal and monitoring.
• The BHAVYA-Rasayan Scheme extends the plug-and-play model to chemical parks.

GS3 industrial policy: a shift from industrial estates and SEZs to ready infrastructure and faster approvals that cut setup time and cost.

2023 · GS3 · 10 marks Faster economic growth requires increased share of the manufacturing sector in GDP, particularly of MSMEs. Comment on the present policies of the Government in this regard.

How to use it: BHAVYA's 100 plug-and-play industrial parks, meant to draw investment and support MSMEs, are a current policy example for raising manufacturing's share in GDP.

• SIOFA excludes highly migratory species listed in Annex I of UNCLOS and sedentary species under coastal state jurisdiction under Article 77(4).
• India has been a Contracting Party to the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission, which regulates tuna and tuna-like species, since 1996.
• Indian fishing vessels now operate largely within 60 to 80 nautical miles, and accession aims to extend fishing beyond the EEZ.

GS3 Blue Economy: takes the fishing fleet beyond the EEZ while committing India to curb IUU fishing and join the High Seas Boarding and Inspection Scheme.

• More than 5.8 crore cases are pending in courts across India.
• The 100 hotspot districts account for over half of the pendency in district courts.
• Alternative Dispute Resolution covers mediation, arbitration and conciliation.

GS2 judiciary: an evidence-based, district-level approach to pendency in the subordinate courts, where most litigants meet the justice system.