UPSC current affairs, 27 October 2026

• NFHS-5 found 67.1% of children and 59.1% of adolescent girls anaemic.
• Double-fortified salt is fortified with both iron and iodine; about 95% of Indian households already use iodised salt.
• Fortified rice under government programmes carries iron, folic acid and vitamin B12.

Gives a costed, low-cost intervention for GS2 questions on malnutrition and public health; the op-ed cites a cost of about ₹14 to 20 per person a year and a benefit-cost ratio of 4.2:1 for DFS.

2024 · GS2 · 10 marks Poverty and malnutrition create a vicious cycle, adversely affecting human capital formation. What steps can be taken to break the cycle?

How to use it: Food fortification through double-fortified salt and fortified rice, combined with Anaemia Mukt Bharat's supplementation and deworming, is a concrete step to break the malnutrition cycle.

• Section 126 of the BNSS allows an Executive Magistrate to require a bond for keeping the peace for a period not exceeding one year.
• Judicial Magistrates of the first and second class are provided for under Section 9 of the BNSS.

Useful for GS2 on separation of powers and personal liberty: police officers acting as magistrates in preventive detention can raise Article 21 and Article 19(1)(b) concerns, and SEM orders remain subject to judicial review.

• The Central Consumer Protection Authority notified the Guidelines for Prevention and Regulation of Dark Patterns on 30 November 2023 under Section 18 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.
• The 2023 guidelines list 13 specified dark patterns, including the subscription trap.
• New York City's click-to-cancel rule is enforced by its Department of Consumer and Worker Protection.

Gives a comparative example for GS2 consumer protection in the digital economy: rules on easy cancellation tackle dark patterns that exploit consumer inertia.

• Cyclone Arnab was forecast to make landfall between Bapatla and Visakhapatnam, on the Andhra Pradesh and Yanam coasts.
• Odisha identified 466 cyclone and flood shelters ahead of Cyclone Arnab.
• Odisha's evacuations covered eight districts, including Nabarangpur, Gajapati and Malkangiri.

An example for GS3 disaster management: early evacuation, shelters and warnings against fake alerts are the core of a zero-casualty approach to cyclones.

• The Mecca Joint Defence Agreement between Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkiye was signed in August 2026.
• Under the pact, an armed attack on any one member is treated as an attack on all three.

Relevant to GS2 on West Asia: new security blocs and their talks with Iran shape the regional balance, including security in the Strait of Hormuz.

• Section 44(3) of the DPDP Act, 2023 amends Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act, and is among the provisions challenged.
• The petitioners say Section 17(2) exempts research and archiving but not public-interest journalism.
• The petition argues the Data Protection Board is selected by the executive and has no required judicial member.

Useful for GS2 on balancing privacy (Article 21) with press freedom and the right to information: the petition cites the Electoral Bonds judgment to argue that the right to know cannot be subordinated to privacy.

2024 · GS3 · 10 marks Describe the context and salient features of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023.

How to use it: Shows contested features of the DPDP Act: no journalism exemption, Section 44(3)'s amendment of RTI Section 8(1)(j), and an executive-selected Data Protection Board.

• Judges of High Courts, including Chief Justices, are appointed by the President under Article 217 of the Constitution.
• Article 223 provides for appointing an acting Chief Justice of a High Court.
• Justice Koshy's parent High Court is Chhattisgarh; he was serving in the Telangana High Court.

An example for GS2 on judicial appointments: the collegium recommends Chief Justices, and acting arrangements fill the gap until the President appoints.

2025 · GS2 · 15 marks Discuss the evolution of collegium system in India. Critically examine the advantages and disadvantages of the system of appointment of the Judges of the Supreme Court of India and that of the USA.

How to use it: Illustrates the collegium at work: it recommended four High Court Chief Justices, with formal appointment by the President under Article 217 and acting Chief Justices under Article 223 meanwhile.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi met President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in New Delhi in September 2026.
• India says both sides use existing diplomatic and military mechanisms to avoid misunderstanding and miscalculation along the LAC.

Useful for GS2 India-China relations: the normalisation since the 2020 Galwan clash rests on patrolling understandings, and face-offs in Arunachal Pradesh show how fragile they remain.

• More than 4,000 proposals have been submitted against 229 challenges issued by the Indian Navy, the Minister said.
• Rajnath Singh said naval contracts worth over ₹1,900 crore have resulted from these innovation efforts.
• Swavlamban is the Indian Navy's Naval Innovation and Indigenisation Seminar.

Feeds GS3 defence indigenisation: the speech frames self-reliance as competitiveness and supply-chain security, not just domestic production, while acknowledging that some external dependencies may persist until alternatives are developed.

• Renewable capacity including large hydropower is about 292 GW, roughly 53% of India's installed capacity.
• India's installed solar capacity is about 162 GW.
• Pumped storage hydropower and battery storage can shift daytime solar surplus to night-time peak demand.

Useful for GS3 energy transition: the article argues India must move from adding capacity to ensuring reliable, flexible power when it is needed.

2022 · GS3 · 15 marks Do you think India will meet 50 percent of its energy needs from renewable energy by 2030? Justify your answer. How will the shift of subsidies from fossil fuels to renewables help achieve the above objective? Explain.

How to use it: Renewables are already about 53% of installed capacity, but meeting demand from them needs storage, transmission and flexible markets to cover night-time deficits.

• Buxa Tiger Reserve is in West Bengal; the tigress was translocated from Valmiki Tiger Reserve in Bihar.
• The tigress crossed the Sankosh river to enter the Raimona forest area in Assam.
• Buxa had no confirmed resident tiger population for nearly a decade; a tiger was sighted there in 2021.

An example for GS3 conservation: radio-collar monitoring of a translocated tigress that has moved across a state boundary shows why reintroduction needs cooperation between states.

• Section 4A of the Census Act, 1948 deals with making officers and staff of local authorities available for census work.
• Census 2027 population enumeration in Goa, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and non-snow-bound Uttarakhand runs from 1 December 2026 to 4 January 2027.

Useful for GS2 on governance and state-citizen relations: the dispute weighs the state's need for census staff against the autonomy of private unaided institutions.

• The spectacled cobra is Naja naja and the monocled cobra is Naja kaouthia.
• Nanobodies are small antibody fragments derived from camelid antibodies.
• India reports nearly 50,000 snakebite deaths a year, according to IISc.

An example for GS3 on science for public health: a recombinant antivenom that works across several Indian cobra species, tested in mice, could help reduce snakebite deaths.

• The WMO forecasts the Niño 3.4 anomaly for October to December 2026 at about +3.7°C, above the previous record of +2.6°C in November 2015 to January 2016.
• The WMO expects a positive Indian Ocean Dipole to peak in October 2026 and then decline.
• The WMO estimate draws on a consensus of 13 national and international forecasting centres.

Feeds GS1 and GS3 on climate variability and food security: a strong El Niño raises the risk of heat extremes, droughts and floods, and the WMO forecasts drier conditions over the Indian subcontinent.

• The AABHAR Collection on GeM was launched in July 2024.
• Its sellers include the Central Cottage Industries Emporium and Khadi India of the Khadi and Village Industries Commission.
• The collection features One District One Product (ODOP) and Geographical Indication (GI) tagged products.

An example for GS3 on using public procurement to support artisans and local products.

• PARIVARTAN offers a 5% interest subvention on vehicle loans and a 100% road tax concession for 10 years.
• It adds a minimum 8% discount on top of the manufacturer's discount, plus fuel vouchers and registration fee waivers where applicable.
• Registered Vehicle Scrapping Facilities (RVSFs) take part in the scheme.

Useful for GS3 air pollution: fleet renewal with scrapping incentives targets emissions from old commercial vehicles in Delhi-NCR.

• The Indian Institute of Creative Technologies (IICT), Mumbai, set up in 2025, is a National Centre of Excellence for AVGC-XR.
• The Union Budget 2026-27 provides ₹250 crore for AVGC Content Creator Labs in 15,000 secondary schools and 500 colleges.
• CSIR is organising ESTIC-2026 at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi, from 27 to 29 October 2026.

An example for GS3 on emerging technology and the creative economy, with state AVGC-XR policies showing how states compete for investment and jobs.