https://upsc.help/Daily UPSC current affairs from The Hindu, Indian Express and PIB, with Prelims facts and Mains answers.en-IN https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-10-05/delhi-hc-visa-no-entry-right/https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-10-05/delhi-hc-visa-no-entry-right/Mon, 05 Oct 2026 00:30:00 GMTShe held a valid business visa. Her husband walked through immigration. She was sent back. Can a court help her? A citizen of Turkmenistan holding a valid business visa was refused entry at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport in March, while her husband was allowed in. She went to the Delhi High Court asking for a written order giving reasons and for permission to enter on her existing visa. She argued that the refusal was unexplained and that treating her differently from her husband was unfair under Articles 14 and 21. Justice Amit Mahajan dismissed the petition (Annagurbanova Yazbibi Hummetgulyyevna v. Union of India). The Hindu's explainer of 5 October 2026 sets out why the court held that getting a visa and being admitted at the border are two separate legal steps. https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-10-05/rabies-death-data-mismatch/https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-10-05/rabies-death-data-mismatch/Mon, 05 Oct 2026 00:30:00 GMTGovernment records show 54 rabies deaths in 2024. An ICMR survey estimates 5,726 a year. Which number guides policy? India's records of rabies deaths do not agree, and the gap is large enough to blur progress towards the national goal of ending dog-mediated rabies by 2030, The Hindu reported on 5 October 2026. The routine figure comes from surveillance by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). In a written reply in the Lok Sabha on 22 July 2025, the government reported 37,17,336 dog-bite cases and 54 suspected human rabies deaths in 2024. Against this stands a nationally representative estimate from the ICMR-National Institute of Epidemiology (NIE), Chennai, of 5,726 human rabies deaths a year, more than 100 times the reported count. The Hindu's report also sets out a third source, death certification under the Medical Certification of Cause of Death (MCCD) system, which gives yet another number. https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-10-05/next-gen-gst-first-year-review/https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-10-05/next-gen-gst-first-year-review/Mon, 05 Oct 2026 00:30:00 GMTRates were cut, yet collections rose 11.6%. Is that proof the reform worked, or simply the government's own scorecard? In an article in The Hindu on 5 October 2026, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman reviewed the first year of the "Next-Gen GST" reform. On 3 September 2025, the 56th meeting of the GST Council, which she chairs, replaced the four main rates of 5%, 12%, 18% and 28% with a standard rate of 18%, a merit rate of 5% and a special de-merit rate of 40%. The new rates took effect for most goods and services on 22 September 2025; tobacco products were deferred until compensation cess obligations are met. Small cars, motorcycles up to 350 cc, air conditioners, televisions and cement moved from 28% to 18%; individual life and health insurance were exempted; 33 lifesaving drugs went from 12% to nil; and UHT milk, pre-packaged paneer and Indian breads such as roti and paratha became nil-rated. https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-10-05/heis-overregulation-vbsa-oped/https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-10-05/heis-overregulation-vbsa-oped/Mon, 05 Oct 2026 00:30:00 GMTIndia's least-regulated institutes are its best. Should a new super-regulator mean more rules or more trust? An op-ed in The Hindu on 5 October 2026, titled "How regulation stifles HEIs", argues that India's higher education institutions (HEIs) are held back less by too little regulation than by too much. The writer says that inspections and accreditation have turned colleges towards producing documents rather than teaching: institutions learn to satisfy the inspector, and evidence files replace real engagement with students. The piece is written in the context of the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan (VBSA) Bill, 2025, which proposes one overarching regulator for higher education, and the writer warns that a new structure will not help if the habits of control remain. https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-10-05/india-us-trade-durable-terms-oped/https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-10-05/india-us-trade-durable-terms-oped/Mon, 05 Oct 2026 00:30:00 GMTIndia's concessions would be permanent; America's tariff rate can change overnight. What should India ask for instead? An op-ed in The Indian Express on 5 October 2026, "In trade deal with US, India needs to secure terms harder to reverse", by Soumya Bhowmik of the Observer Research Foundation, argues that India should judge a trade deal with the United States by how durable its terms are, not by how low a tariff rate it wins. The writer says the talks have stalled again, and points to an asymmetry. What India offers, such as cuts in industrial tariffs, opening of farm markets and purchase commitments, is hard to undo once given. What India receives is mainly a US tariff rate that Washington can revise at will. The op-ed therefore asks India to seek binding protections in the text. https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-10-04/classical-languages-five-coe-2026/https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-10-04/classical-languages-five-coe-2026/Sun, 04 Oct 2026 00:30:00 GMTClassical status came in 2024. Two years on, do Assamese, Bengali, Marathi, Pali and Prakrit finally get institutions? The Department of Higher Education in the Ministry of Education has approved five Centres of Excellence (CoEs) for the study of Classical Assamese, Classical Bengali, Classical Marathi, Classical Pali and Classical Prakrit, according to a PIB release of 3 October 2026. The centres will be at Tezpur University in Assam (Assamese), Visva-Bharati University in West Bengal (Bengali), Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research Institute (Deemed University), Pune in Maharashtra (Marathi), the Central University of Odisha (Pali) and the Central University of Gujarat (Prakrit). https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-10-04/ap-bc-quota-sc-appeal/https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-10-04/ap-bc-quota-sc-appeal/Sun, 04 Oct 2026 00:30:00 GMTCan a State give Backward Classes 34% of local body seats when the Supreme Court caps all quotas at 50%? The Andhra Pradesh government filed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court on Saturday, 3 October 2026, against a High Court judgment that struck down its reservation for Backward Classes (BCs) in local body elections. On 1 October a Division Bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court, led by Chief Justice Lisa Gill with Justice Challa Gunaranjan, quashed G.O. Ms. No. 105, which gave BCs 34% of seats in rural local bodies, and G.O. Rt. No. 1065, which gave 33.33% in urban local bodies. Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu said the State remains committed to 34% reservation for BCs. https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-10-04/karnataka-drought-ndrf-memorandum/https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-10-04/karnataka-drought-ndrf-memorandum/Sun, 04 Oct 2026 00:30:00 GMTKarnataka puts its drought loss at ₹46,324 crore. How much can the Centre's disaster fund actually pay? Karnataka Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar met the Centre's Inter-Ministerial Central Team (IMCT) on Saturday, 3 October 2026, and sought ₹7,142.64 crore from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) for drought relief. The State estimates drought losses at ₹46,324.50 crore across 177 taluks declared drought-hit. The demand has two parts: ₹3,705.30 crore sought earlier for the first 101 taluks, and a supplementary ₹3,437.34 crore for 76 taluks added later. https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-10-04/hasina-extradition-no-timeline/https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-10-04/hasina-extradition-no-timeline/Sun, 04 Oct 2026 00:30:00 GMTBangladesh wants its former Prime Minister back. Why does India say only its courts can set the clock? India's High Commissioner to Bangladesh, Dinesh Trivedi, said in Dhaka on Saturday, 3 October 2026, that India cannot give any deadline for the return of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina because Bangladesh's extradition request is being examined through a legal process. "The process is legal, and it is well structured," he said, adding that courts are involved and so no one can give a time frame. India's Ministry of External Affairs has said the request is being examined in line with established procedures. Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman had raised the issue with Mr. Trivedi at a meeting in Dhaka in August. https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-10-04/free-space-qkd-gandhinagar-link/https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-10-04/free-space-qkd-gandhinagar-link/Sun, 04 Oct 2026 00:30:00 GMTA secret key sent through open air across 5.56 km: how does physics catch an eavesdropper? The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) said on 3 October 2026 that India has demonstrated a free-space Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) link over 5.56 km. The field trial, on the night of 27 to 28 September, set up a quantum-secure channel through the open air between the Bhaskaracharya National Institute for Space Applications and Geo-informatics (BISAG-N) and IIT Gandhinagar. It was carried out by the quantum security firm QNu Labs with BISAG-N and IIT Gandhinagar. https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-10-03/gib-captive-bred-first-release/https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-10-03/gib-captive-bred-first-release/Sat, 03 Oct 2026 00:30:00 GMTAbout 140 bustards survive in the wild. Can birds raised in captivity cope with power lines and predators? India is set to release captive-bred Great Indian Bustards (GIBs) into the wild for the first time, The Indian Express reported on 3 October 2026. Two male chicks, four to six months old, will be set free in Desert National Park near Jaisalmer, Rajasthan. Each will carry a radio tag so that scientists can follow its movement and behaviour after release. The step marks the official start of the 'rewilding phase' of Project GIB, a recovery effort under way since 2013. Rewilding here means returning animals bred in captivity to their natural habitat so that they add to the wild population. The chicks come from conservation breeding centres in Jaisalmer, where the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) has so far bred 98 bustards in captivity. https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-10-03/post-facto-ec-appraisal-resumes/https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-10-03/post-facto-ec-appraisal-resumes/Sat, 03 Oct 2026 00:30:00 GMTCan a project that broke the law be cleared afterwards? The Centre reopens pending cases but bars new ones. The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has directed central and State expert bodies to resume appraising 'post facto' environmental clearance (EC) proposals, The Indian Express reported on 3 October 2026. A post facto EC is an approval given to a project that started work, expanded or modernised without first obtaining the environmental clearance that the law requires. The directive is narrow. Only proposals that were pending, rejected or returned will be processed, and no new post facto proposals will be accepted. Projects that already hold a post facto clearance remain valid. https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-10-03/national-tribunals-commission-rules/https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-10-03/national-tribunals-commission-rules/Sat, 03 Oct 2026 00:30:00 GMTWho should choose the judges of India's tribunals, the government or an independent body? New rules set up one. The Centre has issued the National Tribunals Commission and Qualification, Selection and Conditions of Service of Chairperson and Members of Tribunals Rules, 2026, dated 30 September 2026, The Hindu reported on 3 October 2026. The rules create a National Tribunals Commission (NTC), headquartered in Delhi, with a chairperson and four members, two judicial and two technical. The chairperson must be a retired Supreme Court judge or a retired Chief Justice of a High Court. The chairperson will be paid ₹2.5 lakh a month and each member ₹2.25 lakh. The Commission will handle the selection of chairpersons and members for 16 tribunals and appellate bodies. The stated aim is to improve efficiency and to ensure independence, transparency and uniformity in appointments. https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-10-03/cec-act-split-verdict-oped/https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-10-03/cec-act-split-verdict-oped/Sat, 03 Oct 2026 00:30:00 GMTTwo judges could not agree on who should even hear the case. What does that say about how India's top court is built? A two-judge bench of the Supreme Court, Justices Dipankar Datta and Satish Chandra Sharma, has delivered a split verdict in the challenge to the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023. The judges differed not on whether the law is valid but on whether a bench of two could decide that at all. Article 145(3) of the Constitution requires a bench of at least five judges for any case involving a substantial question of law as to the interpretation of the Constitution. Justice Datta read this as applying where there are genuinely differing interpretations of a constitutional provision, not to every challenge to a new statute. Justice Sharma held that, with no authoritative precedent on the 2023 Act, a Constitution Bench should hear it. The judges jointly referred the matter to the Chief Justice of India to consider setting up a Constitution Bench. https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-10-03/sco-islamabad-visit-explained/https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-10-03/sco-islamabad-visit-explained/Sat, 03 Oct 2026 00:30:00 GMTIndia shuns bilateral talks with Pakistan, yet an Indian diplomat went to Islamabad. What does SCO membership demand? An Indian official has made the first official visit to Pakistan since Operation Sindoor, The Indian Express explained on 3 October 2026. Alok Dimri, an Additional Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs, went to Islamabad for a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation's (SCO) national coordinators, senior officials who coordinate the members' multilateral cooperation within the SCO. The meeting was in Pakistan because Pakistan took over the SCO presidency after the Bishkek summit of 31 August and 1 September 2026; it is due to host the next summit in 2027. According to the Express, India treats attendance as an obligation of membership and as a way to gain situational awareness of Pakistan's plans under its presidency. https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-10-02/sc-echallan-dues-service-block/https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-10-02/sc-echallan-dues-service-block/Fri, 02 Oct 2026 00:30:00 GMTOf ₹49,194 crore in traffic fines issued, only ₹26,175 crore was collected. Can blocking services fix that? The Supreme Court has directed all States and Union Territories to stop key vehicle-related services for motorists who have not paid their traffic e-challans (electronic tickets issued for traffic violations). The order, dated 28 September 2026, was passed by a Bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and K.V. Viswanathan in S. Rajaseekaran v. Union of India, a road safety case the Court has been monitoring since 2012. The Bench noted that e-challans worth ₹49,194.05 crore had been issued across the country but only ₹26,175.05 crore had been recovered, leaving about ₹23,000 crore unpaid. It observed that issuing large numbers of e-challans serves little purpose unless the fines are actually recovered. https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-10-02/eci-left-out-voters-drive/https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-10-02/eci-left-out-voters-drive/Fri, 02 Oct 2026 00:30:00 GMTAfter the voter-roll clean-up, the Election Commission now has to find the eligible voters it may have lost. The Election Commission of India (ECI) has directed the 20 States and Union Territories where the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls is complete to run a special drive to enrol "left out and young/first time eligible electors". The written instruction was issued on 29 September 2026 and repeated at a video conference with State Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) on 1 October, The Indian Express reported. Enrolment is to happen through continuous updation, the routine process by which names are added to the roll between revisions, using Form 6, the application for inclusion of a new elector. https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-10-02/asi-factory-jobs-gap-oped/https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-10-02/asi-factory-jobs-gap-oped/Fri, 02 Oct 2026 00:30:00 GMTFactory output and wage bills are rising. So why are most non-farm workers still in informal units? The Annual Survey of Industries (ASI) 2024-25, released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation on 30 September 2026, shows a strong year for India's registered factories. Persons engaged rose from 1.96 crore to 2.10 crore, a growth of 7.19% that added more than 14 lakh jobs. Gross value added (GVA, the value of output minus inputs) grew 9.59%, output 7.81%, invested capital 11.10%, total emoluments 12.08% and net profit 7.73%. Five States (Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana) account for about 56% of factory employment. Five industries (basic metals, motor vehicles, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and food products) contribute more than 45% of GVA. https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-10-02/ladakh-28-standard-place-names/https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-10-02/ladakh-28-standard-place-names/Fri, 02 Oct 2026 00:30:00 GMTAtisha, Milarepa, Kanishka, Zorawar: why a list of Ladakh's peaks reads like a history syllabus. The Ministry of Home Affairs announced on 2 October 2026 that the Government of India, in consultation with the Union Territory of Ladakh, has identified 28 places and features in Ladakh by standard place and feature names on the official map of the Survey of India (SoI). The release says the aim is to facilitate "their accurate recognition and better awareness among the public at large". The updated map of Ladakh is available on the Survey of India's state maps page. The list has 10 peaks, 3 mountains, 2 passes, 2 glaciers, 1 valley, 1 lake, 1 river, 1 other water body and 7 land areas. https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-10-02/delhi-september-aqi-pm-paradox/https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-10-02/delhi-september-aqi-pm-paradox/Fri, 02 Oct 2026 00:30:00 GMTHow can the air quality index improve while the main pollutants get worse? The answer is in how the index is built. Delhi recorded an average Air Quality Index (AQI) of 102 in September 2026, the lowest September average in five years, according to figures released by the Union Environment Ministry on 30 September. The September average was 105 in 2025, 105 in 2024, 108 in 2023 and 104 in 2022. Between January and September 2026 the city had 194 days with AQI below 200, against 187 in 2025, 188 in 2024, 193 in 2023 and 146 in 2022, and 79 days in the poor to severe range, against 86, 86, 80 and 127 in those years. Average PM2.5 from 1 January to 28 September was 69 micrograms per cubic metre (µg/m³), the same as in 2025. https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-10-01/monsoon-2026-season-deficit/https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-10-01/monsoon-2026-season-deficit/Thu, 01 Oct 2026 00:30:00 GMTA dry June, a strong El Niño and a late rally: how did India end up with a 'deficient' monsoon? The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on 30 September 2026 that the June to September southwest monsoon brought 759.4 mm of rain against a Long Period Average (LPA, the 1971 to 2020 average) of 868.6 mm. That is 87% of the LPA, a shortfall of 12.6%. It is the weakest season since 2015, the fourth lowest since 2001 and the 13th lowest since 1901. Under IMD's categories, anything below 90% of the LPA is 'deficient'. Rain was uneven across months: June gave 65% of its normal, July 101%, August 84% and September 92%. https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-10-01/green-energy-corridor-phase-three/https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-10-01/green-energy-corridor-phase-three/Thu, 01 Oct 2026 00:30:00 GMTIndia can build solar parks fast. Can State grids carry their power, and store it for the evening? The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the Green Energy Corridor Phase-III (GEC-III) scheme on 30 September 2026. It will strengthen the Intra-State Transmission System (InSTS), the lines and substations inside each State, so that up to 135 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy can be evacuated across States and Union Territories. The total outlay is ₹1,86,405 crore: ₹1,36,378 crore for intra-State transmission and ₹50,000 crore for 50 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS). The Centre will give ₹54,082 crore as central financial support, about 29% of the outlay. The work is to be completed by 2032-33. https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-10-01/drug-markups-bitter-pills-editorial/https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-10-01/drug-markups-bitter-pills-editorial/Thu, 01 Oct 2026 00:30:00 GMTA cancer drug sold to the chemist at ₹2,700 reaches the patient at ₹27,000. Who decides that, and who stops it? The Hindu's editorial 'Bitter pills' (1 October 2026) takes up a Supreme Court hearing on drug prices. It notes that the Court 'has upbraided disparities between the price to retailer (PTR) and the maximum retail price (MRP) of certain drugs, including those used to treat cancers, in some instances up to 1,000%'. The PTR is what the chemist pays the company; the MRP is the most the patient can be charged. On 29 September 2026, a Bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta, hearing petitions by Kishan Chand Jain and others, was shown a cancer medicine with a PTR of about ₹2,700 and an MRP of about ₹27,000. 'This is carnage. Plain and simple,' the Bench said. https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-10-01/sc-firecrackers-no-total-ban/https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-10-01/sc-firecrackers-no-total-ban/Thu, 01 Oct 2026 00:30:00 GMTNeither a total ban nor round-the-clock bursting: where will the court draw the line this Deepavali? On 30 September 2026 a Bench of Justices M.M. Sundresh and P.B. Varale of the Supreme Court said it would neither impose a total ban on firecrackers nor allow unrestricted bursting. 'Neither we are going to agree with you for total ban. Nor are we going to allow them to do it 24 hours,' Justice Sundresh said. The Bench said it was trying to balance festival sentiment with harm to 'old people, sick people and the children'. It indicated it may allow next-generation joined green crackers recommended by CSIR-NEERI (the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research's National Environmental Engineering Research Institute), with conditions on noise, the size and number of shells and the interval between bursts. https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-10-01/cafe-three-fuel-norms-notified/https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-10-01/cafe-three-fuel-norms-notified/Thu, 01 Oct 2026 00:30:00 GMTEach electric car will count as three in a carmaker's fleet average. Will that speed up India's shift away from petrol? The Ministry of Power notified the third phase of the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE-III) norms on 30 September 2026. They apply from 1 April 2027 to 31 March 2032 to M1 vehicles, that is, cars and other passenger vehicles, made or imported for sale in India. CAFE norms do not limit each car. They set a target for the average fuel consumption (and so the carbon dioxide emissions) of all cars a company sells in a year, adjusted for the average weight of its fleet. For a fleet at the reference weight of 1,229 kg, the target falls from 3.996 litres per 100 km in 2027-28 to 3.3273 litres per 100 km in 2031-32, an improvement of about 16.7%. https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-30/sc-nsa-confession-sambhal-detention/https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-30/sc-nsa-confession-sambhal-detention/Wed, 30 Sep 2026 00:30:00 GMTCan the state lock up a man already on bail, using only what he allegedly told the police? On 29 September 2026, a Bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Sheel Nagu of the Supreme Court quashed the preventive detention of Mulla Afroz under the National Security Act, 1980 (NSA). He had been called the alleged mastermind of the violence in Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh, on 24 November 2024, which broke out during a court-ordered survey of the Shahi Jama Masjid and in which four people died. The Court held that a confessional statement cannot be the sole ground for an order under a preventive detention law, and that the surrounding circumstances have to be looked into. It found that the power of detention was illegally exercised, set aside the Allahabad High Court judgment that had upheld the detention, and imposed costs of ₹10 lakh on the Uttar Pradesh government. https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-30/edible-oil-duty-cut-explained/https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-30/edible-oil-duty-cut-explained/Wed, 30 Sep 2026 00:30:00 GMTCheaper cooking oil for the festivals, or a setback for India's oilseed farmers and its self-reliance mission? The Hindu's explainer of 30 September 2026 examines the Centre's decision to cut customs duties on edible oils. Under Notification No. 31/2026-Customs dated 23 September 2026, which took effect on 24 September, the basic customs duty on crude soybean oil and crude palm oil was halved from 10% to 5%, and on crude sunflower oil it was cut from 10% to nil. Duty on the refined versions was also lowered: refined soybean and palm oil from 32.5% to 27.5%, and refined sunflower oil from 32.5% to 22.5%. The government kept the effective duty gap between crude and refined oils at 19.25 percentage points, so that importing crude oil and refining it in India stays more attractive than importing refined oil. https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-30/spir-2026-cybercrime-victims/https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-30/spir-2026-cybercrime-victims/Wed, 30 Sep 2026 00:30:00 GMTIf the rich are scammed more often, why do the poor end up paying bribes to get their money back? The Hindu on 30 September 2026 analysed the Status of Policing in India Report (SPIR) 2026, released in New Delhi on 24 September by the NGO Common Cause and the Lokniti programme of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS). This edition is devoted to cybercrime from the victim's point of view. It is based on a survey of 8,306 people across 16 States. About one in eight respondents (13%) said they had been a victim of cybercrime in the past two to three years; of these, 54% had suffered financial fraud and 23% lost more than ₹20,000. About a third said they frequently received scam calls, such as fake delivery calls (33%), high-return investment offers (31%) and callers posing as bank officials (27%). https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-30/rdi-fund-deeptech-pause/https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-30/rdi-fund-deeptech-pause/Wed, 30 Sep 2026 00:30:00 GMTIndia's flagship fund to pull private money into research has stalled after one round. What went wrong? The Indian Express reported on 30 September 2026 that the Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) Fund, the government's ₹1 lakh crore scheme to finance private-sector research in deep-tech areas, has paused new applications. The Technology Development Board (TDB), one of the fund's managers, issued a notice citing 'administrative reasons' for not accepting applications after this month. According to the report, the TDB had received ₹2,000 crore, which was used up in the first round, in which about ₹2,192 crore in soft loans was approved for 22 companies. Thirteen more companies selected in a second round are still awaiting letters of intent, out of more than 300 applications received. https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-30/tiger-trafficking-landscape-oped/https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-30/tiger-trafficking-landscape-oped/Wed, 30 Sep 2026 00:30:00 GMTTigers leave reserves every night, and so do the traders who hunt them. Is protection still fenced in? An opinion article in The Indian Express on 30 September 2026 argues that India's tiger protection is too focused on what happens inside Protected Areas, while both tigers and the criminals who target them operate across much wider landscapes. Drawing on data from TRAFFIC, the global wildlife trade monitoring network, it notes that 2,551 tiger seizures involving at least 3,808 tigers were recorded between January 2000 and June 2025. TRAFFIC's 'Skin and Bones' report of November 2025 shows that India recorded the most seizures among tiger range countries, 880 incidents involving 981 tigers, about a quarter of all tigers seized worldwide. The report names India, China, Indonesia and Vietnam as the top countries by number of tiger seizures. https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-29/sc-delhi-ncr-women-safety-audit/https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-29/sc-delhi-ncr-women-safety-audit/Tue, 29 Sep 2026 00:30:00 GMTNirbhaya was 2012. Why is the Supreme Court still asking who answers for a dark park in 2026? On 28 September 2026, a Supreme Court bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and K. Vinod Chandran took suo motu cognisance (acted on its own, without anyone filing a petition) of recent sexual offences against women and girls in Delhi-NCR, and issued directions the same day. The case is titled In Re: Recent Rape Incidents in Delhi NCR. The court referred to the gang rape of a 17-year-old girl at Aastha Kunj Park, the gang rape and murder of a teenage girl in Swaroop Nagar, and the sexual assault of a minor on a sleeper bus that travelled 47 km from Greater Noida to Delhi without being stopped by police. The bench said one could not help drawing "painful parallels to the Nirbhaya incident of 2012" and found a "systematic failure" by police and administrative authorities to guarantee basic public safety. https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-29/sc-minors-social-media-rules/https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-29/sc-minors-social-media-rules/Tue, 29 Sep 2026 00:30:00 GMTIf a minor cannot sign a contract, how is a 13-year-old agreeing to a platform's terms of service? On 28 September 2026, a Supreme Court bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana asked the Union government to make statutory rules that stop social media companies from opening accounts for minors. The case is Just Rights for Children Alliance v Union of India, a public interest petition seeking safeguards against the use of social media and other digital platforms by children. Platforms today let children as young as 13 sign up by simply declaring their age. Justice Bagchi remarked that "a 15 year old child can have a Twitter account", and the bench said intermediaries should at least shape their membership so that the minimum threshold of 18 years is not breached. https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-29/iip-august-2026-growth/https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-29/iip-august-2026-growth/Tue, 29 Sep 2026 00:30:00 GMTFactories are humming and capital goods are up 16.9%. So why are everyday consumer goods barely growing? India's Index of Industrial Production (IIP), which measures the change in the volume of industrial output, grew 8% in August 2026 over August 2025, according to data released by the National Statistics Office (NSO) under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation on 28 September 2026. July's growth was revised up to 7.4% from the first estimate of 6.7%. Business Standard described August's figure as the second-fastest growth in over two years. Growth for April to August 2026 was 6.7%, against 4.2% in the same months of 2025. This is the new IIP series with base year 2022-23, whose first release covered April 2026 data. https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-29/jk-assembly-statehood-resolution/https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-29/jk-assembly-statehood-resolution/Tue, 29 Sep 2026 00:30:00 GMTAn elected House can ask for statehood, but only Parliament can grant it. What does the resolution change? On 28 September 2026, the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly passed by voice vote a resolution moved by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah seeking the immediate restoration of full statehood to the Union Territory, and asked that it be forwarded to the Government of India for action. Members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) walked out before the vote. Mr. Abdullah criticised the delay in restoring statehood and urged members to withdraw their amendments to the resolution, which they did before the voice vote. The BJP objected to the resolution's references to earlier Assembly resolutions of 26 June 2000 (on autonomy) and 6 November 2024 (on special status). https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-29/food-loss-waste-day-oped/https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-29/food-loss-waste-day-oped/Tue, 29 Sep 2026 00:30:00 GMTIndia grows enough food for 1.4 billion people. Why does so much of it rot before anyone eats it? Writing on the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste, observed every year on 29 September, an article in The Hindu argues that reducing food loss and waste is a "triple win" for India: better food security, lower greenhouse gas emissions and higher incomes along the value chain. The article notes that although India produces enough food for its 1.4 billion people, considerable food is lost between the farm and the plate. The UN General Assembly designated the day through resolution 74/209 of 19 December 2019, and it was first observed in 2020. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that about 13% of food produced is lost after harvest and before retail, and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) reports that 19% of food available to consumers, about 1.05 billion tonnes, is wasted in retail, food service and households. https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-28/voting-fundamental-right/https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-28/voting-fundamental-right/Mon, 28 Sep 2026 00:30:00 GMTIf voting is only a statutory right, how well is a voter protected when the rolls go wrong? The Hindu's Text & Context page examined whether the right to vote should be raised to the status of a fundamental right. The question has returned because of the controversy over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and an Indian Express report that two Election Commissioners, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, recorded at least 14 objections over 10 months to decisions taken under Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Several objections concerned how names are added to and deleted from the rolls. https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-28/tn-rti-exemption-withdrawn/https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-28/tn-rti-exemption-withdrawn/Mon, 28 Sep 2026 00:30:00 GMTCan a State simply declare one of its departments a security agency and shut it out of the RTI Act? The Tamil Nadu government on Sunday, 27 September 2026, rescinded a Government Order that had exempted the Public (Law and Order) Department from the Right to Information Act, 2005. The order, dated 21 September and issued by the Human Resources Management Department, had used Section 24(4) of the Act to treat the department as an intelligence and security organisation. The reversal followed strong criticism from Opposition parties, from some allies of the ruling party, and from transparency groups. https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-28/un-sea-level-declaration/https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-28/un-sea-level-declaration/Mon, 28 Sep 2026 00:30:00 GMTIf the sea swallows a country's land, does the country, and its ocean zone, disappear too? The UN General Assembly adopted a Declaration on Sea Level Rise by consensus on 24 September 2026. The text affirms that low-lying countries such as Fiji, Tuvalu and Vanuatu will keep their statehood, sovereign rights and membership of the United Nations even if rising seas submerge their territory. It also affirms that their maritime zones, once defined in line with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), will continue to stand even if coastlines retreat. https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-28/census-2027-progress/https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-28/census-2027-progress/Mon, 28 Sep 2026 00:30:00 GMTWhere does India's first digital, caste-counting Census stand, and why does it matter? In the 138th episode of Mann Ki Baat on 27 September 2026, Prime Minister Narendra Modi described Census 2027 as a national responsibility and urged citizens to take part. He said the first phase, which covers house-listing, is nearing completion across all States and Union Territories, with information on more than 32 crore families recorded. He added that more than 2.6 crore people had completed self-enumeration on their mobile phones, and that work was continuing in snow-bound and remote areas of Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand. https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-28/tata-sons-listing-rbi/https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-28/tata-sons-listing-rbi/Mon, 28 Sep 2026 00:30:00 GMTWhy should a privately held holding company be forced onto the stock market? An opinion article in The Indian Express argued that forcing Tata Sons, the holding company of the Tata group, to list on the stock exchanges is a step too far. The debate follows the Reserve Bank of India's rejection of Tata Sons' application to surrender its registration as a Core Investment Company (CIC), a move that would have taken it out of the RBI's rule that large non-banking financial companies must list. The issue is also tied to differences between Tata Trusts, the largest shareholder, which opposes listing, and the Shapoorji Pallonji group, the second-largest, which favours it. https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-27/nagarathna-family-adr/https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-27/nagarathna-family-adr/Sun, 27 Sep 2026 00:30:00 GMTCan mediation clear family court backlogs without weakening the rights of the weaker party? Supreme Court judge Justice B.V. Nagarathna, who chairs the top court's Committee for Family Court Matters, called for integrating alternative dispute resolution (ADR) with adjudication in family disputes. Speaking on 26 September at an eastern zone regional conference held with the Gauhati High Court in Guwahati, she said ADR brings speed, privacy and confidentiality to family matters. But she warned that mediation is not a substitute for adjudication, because a woman's bargaining position in mediation is only as strong as her legal entitlement. https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-27/un-enemy-state-clauses/https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-27/un-enemy-state-clauses/Sun, 27 Sep 2026 00:30:00 GMTWhy does the UN Charter, 81 years on, still single out the defeated powers of World War II? Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi used her address to the UN General Assembly on 22 September to call for deleting the 'enemy state' clauses from the UN Charter, arguing that the General Assembly had already resolved that they should go. China pushed back sharply. Its foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun called the clauses a vital institutional arrangement and accused Japan of denying its wartime history and remilitarising. The row turned dormant Charter text into a live diplomatic issue. https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-27/captive-coal-full-capacity/https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-27/captive-coal-full-capacity/Sun, 27 Sep 2026 00:30:00 GMTWhen can the government tell a factory's own power plant how much electricity to make? The Union Ministry of Power has invoked Section 11 of the Electricity Act, 2003 to direct captive coal-based power plants of 50 MW and above to run at maximum available capacity from 1 October to 31 December 2026. The order, issued on 25 September, covers 112 captive generating entities. The Ministry cited the prevailing demand-supply situation and an expected rise in electricity demand in the coming months, and said all generation sources, including captive plants, must be used to the maximum possible. https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-27/niyamgiri-vedanta-bid/https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-27/niyamgiri-vedanta-bid/Sun, 27 Sep 2026 00:30:00 GMTCan a mine that tribal gram sabhas rejected in 2013 be reopened, and who gets to decide? Vedanta Group chairman Anil Agarwal met Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on 26 September and urged the State to revive bauxite mining in the Niyamgiri hills of Rayagada and Kalahandi districts. Reports said the Chief Minister assured Vedanta of steps to facilitate the necessary permissions. The project was shelved about 13 years ago after opposition from the Dongria Kondh, a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG) that regards the hills as sacred. Tribal leaders said they would resist the renewed push with the same vigour as before. https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-27/kandla-e-methanol/https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-27/kandla-e-methanol/Sun, 27 Sep 2026 00:30:00 GMTCan an Indian port make green fuel for the ships that call at it? The foundation stone of India's first port-based e-methanol plant was laid at Deendayal Port Authority (DPA), Kandla, in Gujarat on 26 September in the presence of Union Ports, Shipping and Waterways Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. The Rs 2,300 crore facility will make 150 tonnes of e-methanol a day from renewable power, water and biogenic carbon dioxide, to fuel vessels on the Asia-Europe trade corridor. https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-26/afspa-extension-2026/https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-26/afspa-extension-2026/Sat, 26 Sep 2026 00:30:00 GMTWhy does the Centre keep renewing 'disturbed area' status in the North-East every six months? The Union Home Ministry has extended the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 in parts of Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh for another six months, from 1 October 2026 to 31 March 2027, unless it is withdrawn earlier. The notifications, issued on 25 September after a fresh review of the law and order situation, declare these areas 'disturbed' under Section 3 of the Act. The Ministry cited continuing security challenges in the North-East, particularly the prolonged ethnic conflict in Manipur. https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-26/census-caste-open-field/https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-26/census-caste-open-field/Sat, 26 Sep 2026 00:30:00 GMTIf every household writes its own caste name, how will the Census turn that into usable data? The Union government has not yet decided how caste data collected through an open field in Census 2027 will be sorted and tabulated, The Hindu reported. In the population enumeration phase, respondents who are not Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes will write their caste name freely, and can also choose a 'no caste' option. Officials said a proposal on classification will be prepared by the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, go to the Union Home Secretary, and then be decided by the Ministry or the Union Cabinet. https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-26/upi-mdr-subsidy/https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-26/upi-mdr-subsidy/Sat, 26 Sep 2026 00:30:00 GMTIf large merchants start paying for UPI, how much should the government still subsidise it? The Union government and banks will decide the size of the subsidy for UPI and RuPay debit card payments after a merchant discount rate (MDR) on some UPI payments takes effect on 15 October 2026, The Hindu reported. The Finance Ministry is consulting the Indian Banks' Association and traders' bodies such as the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) on the change. The Union Budget for 2026-27 has set aside ₹2,000 crore to promote low-value BHIM-UPI and RuPay debit card transactions. https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-26/nuclear-doctrine-review/https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-26/nuclear-doctrine-review/Sat, 26 Sep 2026 00:30:00 GMTIs a doctrine written in 2003 still enough for a neighbourhood with two nuclear rivals? An opinion article in The Hindu argued that India should revisit its nuclear doctrine to test it against a changed security environment, without necessarily revising its core principles. The doctrine has remained largely unchanged since it was operationalised in 2003. Since then, China's military rise has accelerated, Pakistan's nuclear posture has evolved, disruptive technologies have reshaped deterrence and geopolitical competition has become more multipolar. The piece suggests a review that reaffirms the principles while updating the capabilities and systems that make them credible. https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-26/subansiri-upper-clearance/https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-26/subansiri-upper-clearance/Sat, 26 Sep 2026 00:30:00 GMTCan Arunachal's big dams be built without paying too high a price in forests? The Union Environment Ministry's Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) has recommended environmental clearance for NHPC's 1,605 MW Subansiri Upper hydroelectric project in Arunachal Pradesh, the Indian Express reported. The recommendation is conditional. Final clearance depends on the project getting forest clearance for about 2,733 hectares of forest land, and NHPC must prepare a site-specific, time-bound Ecosystem Restoration and Biodiversity Management Plan. The EAC flagged that the impact would go beyond forest loss, affecting biodiversity, habitat continuity, wildlife movement and ecosystem services. https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-25/cec-removal/https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-25/cec-removal/Fri, 25 Sep 2026 00:30:00 GMTCan Parliament remove a Chief Election Commissioner, and how hard is it? Opposition leaders renewed their demand that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar resign, and asked the Supreme Court to act, after the Indian Express reported on 23 September that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had formally recorded objections 14 times in 10 months. Their objections related to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, including being kept out of decisions and the addition and deletion of voters' names. https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-25/make-in-india-12/https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-25/make-in-india-12/Fri, 25 Sep 2026 00:30:00 GMTOutput grew. Did manufacturing's share of jobs and exports? Make in India, launched on 25 September 2014, completed 12 years with assessments showing output gains but no structural shift. Under the revised national accounts series, manufacturing gross value added grew at a compound annual rate of about 10.9% between 2022-23 and 2025-26, and the manufacturing index of industrial production grew 7.0% in April to July 2026 over a year earlier. https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-25/unsc-veto/https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-25/unsc-veto/Fri, 25 Sep 2026 00:30:00 GMTFive countries can block any substantive resolution. Is that still defensible? The Hindu's debate page asks whether permanent membership and the veto of the UN Security Council should be abolished, as UN reform returns to the agenda during the General Assembly's high-level week. https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-25/swift-alternatives/https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-25/swift-alternatives/Fri, 25 Sep 2026 00:30:00 GMTWhen a messaging network becomes a sanctions tool, countries build their own. An explainer in The Hindu looks at the alternatives to SWIFT, the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication. SWIFT is a Belgium-based cooperative founded in 1973 that connects over 11,000 financial institutions in more than 200 countries. It is a messaging network, not a bank: it carries payment instructions between banks but does not move money itself. Because access is effectively controlled under EU and US sanctions regimes, disconnection from SWIFT, as happened to Iranian and many Russian banks, can cut a country off from much of global finance. https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-25/chhattisgarh-conversion/https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-25/chhattisgarh-conversion/Fri, 25 Sep 2026 00:30:00 GMTWhere does the right to propagate religion end and a ban on conversion begin? The Hindu reports that Chhattisgarh's new anti-conversion law has taken effect, and that some churches have put up notices telling non-Christians they enter at their own risk. The Chhattisgarh Freedom of Religion Bill, 2026 was passed by the Assembly by voice vote on 19 March, in the absence of the Congress, and received Governor Ramen Deka's assent in April. It replaces a 1968 law inherited from Madhya Pradesh and has five chapters and 31 sections. https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-24/india-eu-fta/https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-24/india-eu-fta/Thu, 24 Sep 2026 00:30:00 GMTNegotiated for nearly two decades, closed in January. What does India actually get? India and the European Union will sign their free trade agreement on 16 December 2026. Talks began in 2007, stalled in 2013, were relaunched in June 2022 and concluded in January 2026. https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-24/collegium-defence/https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-24/collegium-defence/Thu, 24 Sep 2026 00:30:00 GMTWho should pick judges, and who is to blame for vacancies? Supreme Court judge Justice Dipankar Datta defended the Collegium system and said the clamour against it was a weak attempt to hide the government's own dereliction and failure. The Court described the government's recent remarks on the Collegium as 'disquieting'. https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-24/quality-control-orders/https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-24/quality-control-orders/Thu, 24 Sep 2026 00:30:00 GMTMandatory standards are meant to protect buyers. Are they also taxing manufacturers? An op-ed in The Hindu argues that India's Quality Control Orders (QCOs), which make Bureau of Indian Standards certification mandatory before a product can be made, imported or sold, need a fresh reassessment because many of them now apply to industrial inputs rather than finished consumer goods, raising costs for manufacturers. https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-24/el-nino-drought/https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-24/el-nino-drought/Thu, 24 Sep 2026 00:30:00 GMTCrops are wilting, but the drought manual says wait. Why? A report cited by The Hindu estimates that this year's strong El Niño could add about 15,800 heat-related deaths in India. The El Niño year has also left large rainfall deficits: the national seasonal shortfall is around 15-17%, and several States, including Karnataka, which has declared 177 of its 239 talukas drought-hit, face severe shortages. https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-24/oic-kashmir/https://upsc.help/current-affairs/2026-09-24/oic-kashmir/Thu, 24 Sep 2026 00:30:00 GMTWhy India engages Gulf states one by one but dismisses the OIC as a bloc. India categorically rejected references to Jammu and Kashmir in the joint communique of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation's Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir, which met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. India said the OIC has no locus standi on matters internal to India and that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of the country.