Current Affairs Quiz 15 September 2026

FACT: Operation Deep Manifest targets trade-based evasion of the blanket import prohibition on Pakistan-origin goods notified through DGFT Notification No. 06/2025-26, which inserted Para 2.20A into the Foreign Trade Policy 2023 in May 2025. The 14 September 2026 seizure at CFS Ambad, Nashik, was of 13 containers of dates loaded at Karachi, trans-shipped at Jebel Ali (UAE) with UAE country-of-origin declarations, and consigned to a Mumbai-based importer.
ANALYSIS: This is manifest-and-document layer enforcement, not perimeter enforcement; it depends on intelligence that reconciles the port of loading with the port of destination.

FACT: The Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague issued its first-phase award on 9 October 1998 awarding Yemen sovereignty over the Zuqar-Hanish group (including Greater and Lesser Hanish), and its 17 December 1999 award delimiting the maritime boundary with Eritrea. ANALYSIS: The award is the reference document establishing that any occupation of the islands by an armed non-state actor is a violation of Yemeni sovereignty; it does not transfer sovereignty.

FACT: Bab-el-Mandeb (“Gate of Tears”) connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and the wider Indian Ocean. The African flank is Djibouti and Eritrea; the Arabian flank is Yemen.
Perim (Mayun) island splits it into two channels; the wider western channel (Dact-el-Mayun, about 26 km wide) carries the bulk of container and tanker traffic, while the narrower eastern channel (Bab Iskender) is used mainly for local traffic. ANALYSIS: The Strait of Hormuz is between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, which is a common confusion; option (a) describes Hormuz, not Bab-el-Mandeb.

FACT: The RBI notified its Scale-Based Regulation (SBR) framework for NBFCs in October 2021, effective 1 October 2022, and classified Tata Sons as an Upper Layer NBFC in September 2022. An Upper Layer NBFC is required to be listed on stock exchanges within three years of its identification.
By rejecting Tata Sons’ application to surrender its Core Investment Company registration by letter dated 11 September 2026, the RBI foreclosed the exit route from the SBR framework, effectively enforcing the listing obligation. ANALYSIS: A Small Finance Bank is a separate class of banking licence; there is no rule that requires transfer of shares to the Government or liquidation.

FACT: The Earth for All Survey 2026, titled Rebuild Trust, is the third in the Earth4All-Ipsos series and covered 17 countries: the G20 excluding China, Russia and Saudi Arabia, plus Sweden. ANALYSIS: The exclusion of China, Russia and Saudi Arabia and the addition of Sweden is important context; describing it as an all-G20 survey overstates its scope.

FACT: As reported by Down to Earth, the India results show about 60 per cent reporting high trust in government, down from 75 per cent in 2024, and 61 per cent agreeing that India would be better off with a strong leader unconstrained by parliament and elections, well above the 40 per cent global figure. ANALYSIS: The paradox, high trust in government coexisting with an above-global preference for a strong leader, is the finding worth carrying into an answer, not either figure alone.

FACT: The RBI’s weekly data for the week ended 4 September 2026 put reserves at a record USD 785.7 billion after a USD 44.9 billion rise. Foreign Currency Assets rose USD 47.5 billion to USD 648.17 billion, while gold fell USD 2.59 billion to USD 113.8 billion, so statement 2 is incorrect.
The inflows reflect the special FCNR(B) swap facility, which was closed on 31 August 2026 after the RBI received about USD 136.3 billion under it. ANALYSIS: Swap-driven reserves carry a future redemption obligation; composition and maturity matter as much as the headline.

FACT: Semicon 2.0 is the successor to the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM), which was approved in December 2021 with an outlay of Rs 76,000 crore. Semicon 2.0 carries an outlay of Rs 1,27,500 crore.
Under ISM 1.0, 12 semiconductor units were approved with investment of over Rs 1.64 lakh crore, most of them packaging (OSAT/ATMP) units. ANALYSIS: SEMICON India is an industry conference and exhibition organised with SEMI; Semicon 2.0 is the government scheme.
The two share a name but are different things.

FACT: The RBI Scale-Based Regulation framework, notified in October 2021 and effective 1 October 2022, has four layers: Base (small non-deposit-taking NBFCs), Middle (all deposit-taking NBFCs plus larger non-deposit-taking NBFCs), Upper (the top ten NBFCs by size and interconnectedness, plus any others meeting the RBI’s criteria) and Top (empty by default). Upper Layer NBFCs face bank-like regulation and a mandatory listing requirement.
ANALYSIS: The Top Layer would be populated only if the RBI concluded that an Upper Layer entity presents exceptional systemic risk warranting even higher requirements.

FACT: DRI is under the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, functioning as the apex intelligence-based anti-smuggling agency of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC). Its enforcement powers flow principally from the Customs Act, 1962, including provisions on mis-declaration, confiscation and prosecution.
It is not under the Ministry of Home Affairs, and it does not derive its principal enforcement authority from the UAPA. ANALYSIS: Options (a), (b) and (c) are correct; only option (d) is incorrect, making it the answer to a question that asks for the incorrect statement.

FACT: FCNR(B) deposits are foreign currency term deposits held by non-resident Indians and persons of Indian origin with authorised dealer banks in India, denominated in permitted foreign currencies. Interest rates and maturities are subject to RBI regulation.
In 2026 the RBI ran a special swap facility for fresh FCNR(B) deposits, announced in June and closed on 31 August, under which it received about USD 136.3 billion. ANALYSIS: FCNR(B) is distinct from NRE (rupee-denominated, repatriable) and NRO (rupee-denominated, for Indian-source income) accounts.

FACT: A CIC is an NBFC that holds at least 90 per cent of its net assets in equity shares, preference shares, bonds, debentures, debt or loans in group companies, so it may lend to group companies; statement 2 is therefore incorrect. Under Scale-Based Regulation, Upper Layer NBFCs must list within three years of identification.
Tata Sons was identified in the Upper Layer in September 2022, and the RBI’s rejection of its CIC surrender application by letter dated 11 September 2026 effectively enforces the listing obligation. ANALYSIS: The CIC test is about where the assets sit (group companies), not a ban on lending.

FACT: The Indian Navy launched Operation Sankalp on 19 June 2019 to reassure and escort Indian-flagged vessels in the Gulf of Oman and the Strait of Hormuz after attacks on merchant ships in the region. Its scope was later widened to the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Aden as maritime threats rose in the Red Sea theatre from late 2023.
ANALYSIS: Operation Sankalp is a national mission-based deployment; India is not a member of the US-led Operation Prosperity Guardian.

FACT: Houthi forces took the port of Mokha on the Yemeni Red Sea coast on 10 September 2026, Perim (Mayun) island inside Bab-el-Mandeb on 11 September 2026, and announced the capture of the Greater and Lesser Hanish islands, about 160 km to the north, on 14 September 2026. ANALYSIS: Three positions on both sides of the strait in under a week point to a strategy of position around the chokepoint rather than a one-off raid.