Current Affairs Today, September 13, 2026, Complete News Roundup

🗞️ Why in News Beyond the day’s deep dives, five developments shape the 13 September 2026 roundup. The New Delhi Declaration adopted at the 18th BRICS Summit condemned the Pahalgam terror attack of April 2025 in Jammu and Kashmir and called for a ceasefire and a two-state solution in Gaza. Day Two of the summit convened the open session on “Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability: Shaping the Future for Inclusive Global Growth” with member and partner-country leaders. SEBI’s Closing Auction Session consultation on the expiry-day settlement price for equity derivatives, released on 12 September 2026, proposes a Blended VWAP of the last 30 minutes of continuous trading and the 10-minute closing auction. China Eastern and then Air China had already returned to Indian routes, and China Southern’s Guangzhou-Delhi announcement makes it the third Chinese carrier back on the India network. And Xi Jinping’s decision to travel to New Delhi ends a seven-year gap since the Mamallapuram informal summit of 11-12 October 2019.

The New Delhi Declaration: Middle East, Terrorism, Tariffs

The 140-paragraph New Delhi Declaration, adopted unanimously by BRICS leaders on 12 September 2026, is one of the most comprehensive summit documents produced by the enlarged grouping. Its most quoted paragraph in the Indian press strongly condemned the April 2025 Pahalgam terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir, in which 26 civilians were killed. The declaration called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and reiterated support for a two-state solution, and separately expressed deep concern over the continued escalation of tensions in West Asia, without naming any country.

Mains one-liner. For India, the Delhi Declaration’s specific reference to Pahalgam is the concrete counter-terror deliverable of the Chairship: it carries forward the condemnation first made at Rio de Janeiro in 2025, which eleven governments including China and Iran have now endorsed twice.

BRICS Day Two: The Open Session on Inclusive Global Growth

The Day Two open session at Bharat Mandapam on 13 September 2026 was structured around “Shaping the Future for Inclusive Global Growth” and brought together leaders of the eleven BRICS members with Partner Country leaders and outreach invitees. The Prime Minister’s Day Two intervention warned against the weaponisation of critical minerals and supply chains, described by the Indian press as a veiled reference to China’s export-licensing practices in rare earths and processed critical minerals, without naming any country.

Mains one-liner. The critical-minerals framing lets India express a concern that most of BRICS shares without naming China in a room where China sits, and doubles as the intellectual scaffolding for India’s own National Critical Minerals Mission and the Ministry of Mines’ 2023 list of 30 critical minerals.

SEBI Blended VWAP: The Two Options

The SEBI consultation paper of 12 September 2026 on the equity-derivatives expiry-day settlement price, whose comment window is open until 3 October 2026, sets out two options. Option 1 is a Blended VWAP of the last 30 minutes of continuous trading plus the 10-minute Closing Auction Session, designed to be more manipulation-resistant. Option 2 is to continue with the existing 30-minute continuous-trading VWAP. As background, CAS has been live in the equity cash segment since 2026 (from 3 August), running from 15:15 to 15:35.

Mains one-liner. The debate is a textbook case of market microstructure policy: reducing scope for last-minute price manipulation on F&O expiry days without shortening the window so much that trades become non-representative.

Chinese Carriers Back on Indian Routes: The Order of Return

China Southern Airlines’ Guangzhou-Delhi service, effective 21 September 2026, makes it the third Chinese carrier back on India routes since the 2020 civil-aviation freeze. As background, China Eastern was first, restoring Shanghai-Delhi in November 2025 and Kunming-Kolkata in April 2026, and Air China followed with Beijing-Delhi in April 2026. Direct passenger flights between India and China had ceased in 2020 in the wake of the COVID-19 shutdown and were then held back by the wider post-Galwan bilateral freeze.

Mains one-liner. Civil aviation resumption is the most visible operational deliverable of the diplomatic thaw and, unlike the boundary paragraph, is measurable in flight-count terms week on week.

The Seven-Year Arc: Mamallapuram to New Delhi

Xi Jinping’s last visit to India was the second informal summit at Mamallapuram on 11-12 October 2019, held near Chennai amid the Arjuna’s Penance, Pancha Rathas and Shore Temple monuments. Between that visit and BRICS 2026, the Galwan clash of June 2020 froze the relationship, the ninth round of Corps Commanders’ talks produced disengagement at Pangong Tso in February 2021, the October 2024 disengagement announcement in the run-up to the Kazan BRICS Summit reopened the diplomatic channel, and 2025-26 saw NSA-level Special Representatives’ talks and expert group meetings. Xi’s presence at Bharat Mandapam on 12-13 September 2026 and the bilateral with Prime Minister Modi is the visible marker of that arc, not its terminus.

Mains one-liner. A relationship this asymmetric and this contested does not normalise on a single summit visit; what New Delhi demonstrates is a stable diplomatic architecture that survives the summit and prints a bilateral readout at the end of it.

📌 Facts Corner, Knowledgepedia

Prelims, statement-ready facts:

• The New Delhi Declaration was adopted at the 18th BRICS Summit on 12 September 2026, is approximately 140 paragraphs, and is titled “Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability”.
• The declaration condemned the April 2025 Pahalgam terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir; called for a ceasefire in Gaza and a two-state solution; and backed UNSC reform with greater roles for India and Brazil.
• Day Two of the summit on 13 September 2026 was structured around “Shaping the Future for Inclusive Global Growth”.
• BRICS Partner Countries (10): Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Vietnam.
• The Prime Minister’s Day Two intervention warned against the weaponisation of critical supply chains and rare earths.
• SEBI’s consultation paper of 12 September 2026 on expiry-day derivatives settlement is open for comment until 3 October 2026.
• Option 1: Blended VWAP (30 minutes continuous plus 10-minute closing auction). Option 2: the existing 30-minute VWAP.
• As background, CAS in the equity cash segment has been live since 2026, from 15:15 to 15:35.
• Order of return: China Eastern (2025), Air China (April 2026), China Southern (from 21 September 2026).
• Xi Jinping’s last India visit before BRICS 2026 was the Mamallapuram informal summit on 11-12 October 2019.
• The Galwan clash was on 15-16 June 2020; the Kazan disengagement announcement was October 2024; the 25th Special Representatives round was on 25 August 2026.

Prelims, the traps:

• The Pahalgam attack referenced in the Delhi Declaration was on 22 April 2025, not 2026, and killed 26 civilians.
• The Pahalgam condemnation is not a BRICS first; the Rio de Janeiro Declaration (2025) had already condemned it.
• The BRICS declaration is adopted, not signed in a treaty sense; it is a political declaration, not a legally binding instrument.
• China Eastern, not Air China, was the first Chinese carrier back; the three returned in stages.
• The Mamallapuram summit was an informal summit, not a state visit; it was the second such after Wuhan (2018).
• CAS was not introduced by the 12 September SEBI paper. As background, it has been live in the equity cash segment since 2026; the paper revisits the expiry-day settlement price for derivatives in its light.

Mains, arguments and keywords:

• BRICS as a plurilateral counter-terrorism vehicle: the Pahalgam condemnation, repeated from Rio 2025, is now a settled position.
• Critical-minerals framing: substitute-import strategy, National Critical Minerals Mission, MoM 30-mineral list (2023).
• Market microstructure and F&O expiry-day integrity: closing auctions, Blended VWAP, LSE/NYSE/Euronext comparators.
• India-China civil aviation resumption as a measurable normalisation indicator.
• Post-Galwan India-China stabilisation architecture: WMCC, Special Representatives, senior military commanders, foreign minister-level.
• Keywords: New Delhi Declaration, Partner Countries, Blended VWAP, CAS, WMCC, Special Representatives, Mamallapuram, Kazan disengagement.

Interview, be ready for:

• “Why does the repeated Pahalgam reference matter?” Because a second consecutive condemnation, after Rio 2025, turns a one-off into a settled BRICS position that includes China and Iran.
• “Should India read Xi’s visit as a strategic reset?” No, but as institutional maintenance. The relationship is now conducted through more channels more frequently: Special Representatives, WMCC, senior military commanders, foreign ministers, and, at the summit level, the BRICS venue. A reset requires resolution of the boundary; maintenance requires stability of the mechanisms.
• “How should SEBI weigh Option 1 versus Option 2 in the CAS consultation?” Option 1 is closer to global best practice and more manipulation-resistant on structural grounds; Option 2, the existing 30-minute VWAP, needs no system change. A cautious regulator could retain Option 2 while publishing a review milestone, and migrate to Option 1 when readiness is proven.

Sources: PIB, Ministry of External Affairs, PMIndia, SEBI, GKToday

Source: Current Affairs Today, September 13, 2026, Complete News Roundup — Ujiyari.com | Free UPSC & State PCS Current Affairs