Current Affairs Quiz 30 September 2026

ENSO has three phases: El Niño (warm), La Niña (cool) and neutral. During El Niño, the trade winds weaken, warm water shifts east towards South America, and rising air moves away from the Indian Ocean, so India tends to get a weaker south-west monsoon; not every El Niño year is a drought year.

The Indian Ocean Dipole compares sea surface temperatures in the western and eastern Indian Ocean; a positive phase usually helps the monsoon. Rabi crops depend on stored water, residual soil moisture and winter rain from western disturbances, so a weak monsoon and a warm, dry El Niño winter reduce yields, and heat in February and March shrivels wheat grain.

The 2026 Rabi plan shifts low-rainfall districts from water-intensive crops to pulses and oilseeds, promotes pulses in eastern rice fallows, runs a Khet Bachao Abhiyan for balanced fertiliser use from 22 October to 30 November, and promises full procurement of tur, urad and masoor at MSP.

The Holistic Development of Great Nicobar Island, conceived by NITI Aayog, includes an international container transshipment terminal at Galathea Bay, a dual-use airport, a township and a gas-and-solar power plant, requiring about 130.75 sq km of forest. Its strategic value lies near the Six Degree Channel and the western approach to the Strait of Malacca.

The Forest Rights Act, 2006 recognises individual and community rights of forest-dwelling Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers; an Environment Ministry circular of 3 August 2009 requires certification that these rights are settled, and Gram Sabha consent, before forest diversion. In Orissa Mining Corporation v. MoEF (2013, Niyamgiri), the Supreme Court upheld the Gram Sabha’s role.

The Shompen Policy of 2015 asks that their welfare be given priority when large-scale projects are considered. Indira Point on Great Nicobar is India’s southernmost point; the Ten Degree Channel separates the Andaman and Nicobar groups.

Preventive detention is detention without trial to prevent a person from acting in a manner prejudicial to specified interests; punitive detention follows conviction. The Constitution permits it with safeguards: Article 22(4) requires an Advisory Board report for detention beyond three months, Article 22(5) requires communication of grounds and the earliest opportunity to make a representation, and Article 22(6) allows facts to be withheld in the public interest.

Parliament has exclusive power over preventive detention for defence, foreign affairs and security of India (List I, Entry 9), and shares power with the States for security of a State, public order and essential supplies (List III, Entry 3). Under the NSA, a District Magistrate’s order lapses in 12 days unless the State approves it, grounds are to be given ordinarily within five days, and the case goes to an Advisory Board within three weeks.

Courts have held preventive detention to be a “necessary evil” (Rekha, 2011) and distinguished public order from law and order (Banka Sneha Sheela, 2021).

Delhi-NCR’s winter pollution comes from a base of vehicle, dust, industrial and waste-burning emissions, made worse by paddy stubble burning in October-November, festival firecrackers and meteorology: low winds, falling temperatures and temperature inversion trap pollutants near the ground. GRAP was first notified by the Environment Ministry in January 2017 after the Supreme Court’s orders in the M.C. Mehta case, and was enforced by the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA), set up in 1998.

CAQM replaced EPCA and has powers to issue binding directions across the NCR and adjoining areas. GRAP’s stages escalate from dust control and PUC checks, through curbs on diesel generators and parking fees, to bans on construction and older vehicles, and finally to bans on polluting trucks, work from home and online schooling.

The National Clean Air Programme (2019) is a separate national programme for about 131 cities.

Articles 2 to 4 give Parliament wide power over the territory of States: Article 2 covers admission of new States, Article 3 the formation of new States and alteration of existing ones, and Article 4 makes consequential changes to the First and Fourth Schedules and exempts these laws from Article 368. The State legislature’s views are sought but are not binding, a feature often cited to describe Indian federalism as “an indestructible Union of destructible States”.

The J&K Reorganisation Act, 2019 created the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir with a legislature (Article 239A applied as for Puducherry) and Ladakh without one, from 31 October 2019. In In Re: Article 370 (11 December 2023), the Supreme Court upheld the abrogation, recorded the Union’s assurance that Statehood would be restored, and directed Assembly elections by 30 September 2024.

The Government of India has said Statehood will be restored at the appropriate time; 24 seats of the Assembly are reserved for Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

Puttaswamy (2017) laid down that any restriction of privacy must meet the tests of legality (a law), a legitimate aim, proportionality (suitability, necessity and balancing) and procedural safeguards. The Aadhaar judgment of 2018, also titled Puttaswamy, applied these tests and upheld Aadhaar with limits.

The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 regulates processing of digital personal data: it defines data fiduciaries and principals, requires notice and consent or specified legitimate uses, gives rights to access, correction and erasure, creates the Data Protection Board of India, and provides penalties up to Rs 250 crore. The DPDP Rules were notified in November 2025, with most operative provisions applying 18 months later.

Interception of communications is governed separately by the IT Act, 2000 (Section 69) and the Telecommunications Act, 2023. In the Pegasus case, a technical committee supervised by Justice R.V. Raveendran reported in 2022 that it found malware on some phones but could not conclude it was Pegasus.

The Constitution protects Scheduled Tribes through Article 46 (promotion of their educational and economic interests), Article 244 with the Fifth Schedule (Scheduled Areas in ten States, with Tribes Advisory Councils and the Governor’s power to modify laws) and the Sixth Schedule (autonomous district councils in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram), Article 338A (National Commission for Scheduled Tribes) and Article 275(1) grants. Land alienation is addressed by State laws restricting transfer of tribal land; in Kerala, a 1975 law on restoring alienated land was replaced in 1999 by one that allowed alternative land, which tribal groups opposed.

The Forest Rights Act, 2006 recognises individual and community forest rights, with a three-tier process of Gram Sabha, Sub-Divisional Level Committee and District Level Committee. The Muthanga agitation of 2003, led by the Adivasi Gothra Maha Sabha under C.K. Janu and M. Geethanandan, occupied sanctuary land in Wayanad to demand the land promised after a 2001 agreement.

The UN Security Council has 15 members: five permanent members with the veto (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States) under Article 27(3), and ten non-permanent members elected for two-year terms. Council reform, including expansion of both categories, is discussed in the Intergovernmental Negotiations launched in 2009; India pursues a permanent seat with the G4 (Brazil, Germany, Japan) and the L.69 group of developing countries.

Because any Charter amendment needs the consent of all five permanent members, reform has stalled. The veto initiative does not restrict the veto but makes its use accountable to the Assembly.

The Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) advises the General Assembly on budgets. The theme of the 81st session in 2026 was “Restoring Trust, Managing Transformation: a UN that delivers for all”.

The Secretary-General’s UN80 Initiative of 2025 seeks efficiency and reform of the system.

Article 44, a Directive Principle, asks the State to endeavour to secure a Uniform Civil Code for citizens throughout India. Goa has long had a common civil code based on the Portuguese Civil Code of 1867.

Uttarakhand enacted the Uniform Civil Code, Uttarakhand, 2024, in force from 27 January 2025; it covers marriage, divorce, succession and live-in relationships and excludes Scheduled Tribes. The Supreme Court urged a UCC in Shah Bano (1985) and Sarla Mudgal (1995); the 21st Law Commission said in 2018 that a UCC was neither necessary nor desirable at that stage and suggested reforming discriminatory provisions within personal laws.

The 22nd Law Commission invited views in 2023. Critics of the Uttarakhand code point to compulsory registration of live-in relationships, criminal penalties in family law and the absence of marital property rights; supporters see it as a step towards equality before the law and gender justice.

The Maharashtra committee on a UCC was set up in July 2026 under Justice Ranjana Desai.

Drug regulation in India is shared. The Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 and the Drugs Rules, 1945 govern manufacture, sale and distribution; the CDSCO, under the Directorate General of Health Services in the Health Ministry, approves new drugs, regulates imports and clinical trials, and coordinates with State drug controllers, who license manufacturing units and pharmacies and enforce quality.

Schedule H lists prescription-only drugs; Schedule H1, added in 2013, covers certain antibiotics, anti-tuberculosis drugs and habit-forming drugs, and requires a red warning label and a sale register; Schedule X covers narcotic and psychotropic drugs. Over-the-counter sale of antibiotics fuels antimicrobial resistance, which India addresses through the National Action Plan on AMR and campaigns such as the Red Line.

Kerala’s Operation AMRITH targets non-prescription antibiotic sales. Drug pricing is handled separately by the Department of Pharmaceuticals and the NPPA, set up in 1997.

Any surveillance measure must pass the proportionality test laid down in Puttaswamy (2017).

The post-war order rested on two pillars. In Europe, the Yalta Conference of February 1945 among Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin shaped spheres of influence.

In Asia, the Treaty of San Francisco, signed on 8 September 1951 by Japan and most Allied Powers, formally ended the war, and the US-Japan Security Treaty of the same day began the US alliance network in the region. India stayed away from the San Francisco conference, objecting to terms such as continued foreign bases in Japan, and concluded its own Treaty of Peace with Japan in 1952, waiving reparations.

The China seat question ended in 1971 with Resolution 2758. Over two million Indians served in the British Indian Army in the Second World War, fighting in North Africa, Italy, East Africa and Burma, including the decisive battles of Imphal and Kohima in 1944.

India signed the UN Charter in 1945 and is a founding member.

The Patents Act, 1970 enabled India’s generic pharmaceutical industry by allowing only process patents in food, medicine and chemicals. The WTO’s TRIPS Agreement of 1995 required product patents in all fields, with a transition to 2005; amendments of 1999, 2002 and 2005 complied while keeping flexibilities: Section 3(d) against evergreening, compulsory licences under Section 84, pre-grant and post-grant opposition, and the requirement to report working of patents.

The Doha Declaration of 2001 affirmed that TRIPS should be interpreted to protect public health. Disputes are resolved in commercial courts and divisions under the Commercial Courts Act, 2015; arbitration is governed by the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 and mediation by the Mediation Act, 2023.

After the IPAB’s abolition, the Delhi High Court set up an Intellectual Property Division in 2021 and framed IP Division Rules in 2022. Patents are administered by the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks under DPIIT.

In normal times about a fifth of the world’s oil trade passes through the Strait of Hormuz, including a large share of India’s crude and LNG imports from Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait and Qatar. Bypass routes include Saudi Arabia’s East-West (Petroline) pipeline from the eastern oilfields to Yanbu on the Red Sea and the UAE’s Habshan-Fujairah pipeline to the Gulf of Oman.

Iran’s Chabahar port, where India has been developing the Shahid Beheshti terminal, lies on the Gulf of Oman outside the Strait, while Bandar Abbas lies at the Strait. India imports about 85 to 90 per cent of its crude oil and about half its natural gas by sea.

Its strategic petroleum reserves, built by Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd, are at Visakhapatnam, Mangaluru and Padur, with about 5.33 million tonnes of capacity. The Navy has escorted Indian-flagged tankers through the Strait under Operation Urja Suraksha during the current conflict.

The SCO grew out of the Shanghai Five (1996) and was founded in 2001 by China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan joined in 2017, Iran in 2023 and Belarus in 2024.

Its permanent bodies are the Secretariat in Beijing and the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure in Tashkent; its highest body is the Council of Heads of State, followed by the Council of Heads of Government. The chair rotates annually among members, and the chair hosts the summit.

India chaired the SCO in 2023 and held the summit virtually. India uses the SCO to engage Central Asia, press its concerns on terrorism, and has declined to endorse China’s Belt and Road Initiative in SCO documents.

On 29 September 2026, India rejected Turkish President Erdogan’s references to Jammu and Kashmir at the UN General Assembly, saying no external party has any locus standi on a matter of India’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.

The Ramsar Convention on wetlands was signed in 1971 at Ramsar, Iran; India became a party in 1982, and its first sites were Chilika and Keoladeo. In India, wetlands are protected under the Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017, which set up State Wetland Authorities and bar activities such as encroachment, solid waste dumping and conversion.

Sambhar Lake, about 80 km west of Jaipur, is fed by seasonal streams including the Mendha and Rupangarh, and is a winter habitat for flamingos; it is also a major source of salt. In 2019, thousands of migratory birds died there of avian botulism.

The National Green Tribunal, set up under the NGT Act, 2010, has its principal bench in New Delhi and zonal benches in Bhopal, Pune, Kolkata and Chennai. Its Central Zone Bench at Bhopal formed a joint committee of the Jaipur Collector, the State Wetland Authority, the CPCB and the Rajasthan State Pollution Control Board, to report within six weeks.

India’s drug pricing rests on the Drugs (Prices Control) Order, 2013, which adopted a market-based method: the ceiling price of a scheduled formulation is the simple average of the prices of all brands with at least a 1 per cent market share, plus a retailer margin of 16 per cent. Scheduled formulations are those in the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM 2022 has 384 medicines).

The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority, set up in 1997 under the Department of Pharmaceuticals, fixes and revises prices and monitors compliance. In 2019, the NPPA used its extraordinary powers under paragraph 19 to cap trade margins at 30 per cent on 42 non-scheduled anti-cancer medicines, cutting the MRP of hundreds of brands.

The Supreme Court’s current case, on petitions seeking stricter enforcement against overpricing, next comes up on 12 October 2026; our 23 September deep dive covered the earlier hearing.

Parliamentary privileges are special rights and immunities that let legislatures and their members function without interference: freedom of speech in the House, immunity from court proceedings for anything said or any vote given (Articles 105(2) and 194(2)), the right to publish proceedings, and the power to punish for breach of privilege and contempt. Article 105(3) and Article 194(3) originally equated Indian privileges with those of the British House of Commons; the 44th Amendment (1978) replaced this with a reference to the privileges existing before it.

In M.S.M. Sharma (1959), the Court held that privileges prevail over the freedom of speech under Article 19(1)(a). In Sita Soren (2024), a seven-judge Bench held that immunity does not cover bribery.

The N. Ravi case arose in 2003 when the Tamil Nadu Speaker ordered the arrest of journalists of The Hindu; it was referred to seven judges in 2004 because of conflicting precedents.