Current Affairs Quiz 3 October 2026

Personal law sits in Entry 5 of the Concurrent List, so both Parliament and the States can legislate on it. Most personal law is central legislation: the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, the Special Marriage Act, 1954, the Indian Succession Act, 1925, and the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937.

A State code that departs from these is repugnant to them. Under Article 254(1) a repugnant State law is void to that extent, but under Article 254(2) it prevails in the State if it was reserved for the President’s consideration and received assent, subject to Parliament’s power to amend or repeal it later.

That is why Uttarakhand’s code (assent in March 2024, in force on 27 January 2025) and Gujarat’s code (assent on 17 September 2026) went to the President. Goa follows the Portuguese Civil Code of 1867, continued after liberation.

The Supreme Court urged a uniform code in Shah Bano (1985) and Sarla Mudgal (1995), while the 21st Law Commission (2018) found it neither necessary nor desirable at that stage.

The tripartite SoO with Kuki-Zo groups was first signed on 22 August 2008 by the Centre, the Manipur government and two umbrella bodies, the Kuki National Organisation and the United People’s Front, covering about two dozen groups. It was renewed periodically.

After ethnic violence between Meitei and Kuki-Zo people began on 3 May 2023, valley groups demanded its abrogation, and in February 2024 the State government declined to extend it. The Centre re-signed it on 4 September 2025 on revised ground rules: Manipur’s territorial integrity, relocation of seven camps, fewer camps, weapons moved to CRPF and BSF camps, and verification to weed out foreign nationals.

President’s Rule was imposed in February 2025 and revoked in February 2026. Other instruments in the North-East include the NSCN (I-M) ceasefire of 1997 and the Framework Agreement of 2015, and accords such as Bodo (2020) and Karbi Anglong (2021).

Article 355 obliges the Union to protect States against internal disturbance.

Fundamental rights fall into two groups. Rights available to all persons, citizens and foreigners alike, include Articles 14, 20, 21, 21A, 22 (except for enemy aliens), 23, 24 and 25 to 28.

Rights available only to citizens are Articles 15, 16, 19, 29 and 30. The Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025, in force from 1 September 2025, repealed the Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920, the Registration of Foreigners Act, 1939, the Foreigners Act, 1946 and the Immigration (Carriers’ Liability) Act, 2000.

Its Section 3 requires a valid passport and visa but bars entry or stay of anyone found inadmissible on grounds such as national security, sovereignty, relations with a foreign State or public health, and Section 7 lets the Centre regulate the entry, presence and departure of foreigners. Courts have held that the power to expel foreigners is wide (Hans Muller, 1955) and that the right not to be deported is ancillary to Article 19(1)(e), which is for citizens only (Mohammad Salimullah, 2021).

Article 21 still protects foreigners inside India, as with the Chakma refugees in NHRC v State of Arunachal Pradesh (1996).

Tribunals were meant to give specialised, faster adjudication outside ordinary courts. Article 323A covers administrative tribunals (the Central Administrative Tribunal was set up in 1985), while Article 323B lets legislatures create tribunals on subjects such as taxation, industrial disputes, land reforms and elections.

In L. Chandra Kumar (1997), the Supreme Court held that judicial review by High Courts is part of the basic structure, so tribunal decisions remain subject to it. A long line of Madras Bar Association cases challenged executive control over tribunal appointments, tenure and service conditions.

On 19 November 2025 a Bench led by Chief Justice B.R. Gavai struck down key parts of the Tribunals Reforms Act, 2021, including a four-year tenure and a minimum age of 50, and directed the Centre to create a National Tribunals Commission. Parliament passed the Tribunals Reforms Act, 2026 in August.

The Commission, headquartered in New Delhi, now runs selection for 16 tribunals and appellate bodies.

The Constitution does not state the separation of powers in one article, but distributes functions: Parliament (Article 79) makes laws, the executive (Articles 73 and 74) implements them, and the Supreme Court (Article 124) interprets them and tests their validity. Several provisions protect judicial independence: Articles 121 and 211 on discussion of judges’ conduct, Article 125 on salaries charged on the Consolidated Fund, and Article 124(4) on removal by special majority.

The Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill, 2024 and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024 were introduced in the Lok Sabha in December 2024 and referred to a Joint Parliamentary Committee chaired by P.P. Chaudhary. They follow the report of the High-Level Committee on simultaneous elections chaired by former President Ram Nath Kovind (March 2024).

Parliamentary committees have met judges before on the administration of justice, such as e-Courts in 2022 and legal aid in March 2023, but not on the merits of a pending Bill.

Strategic stocks are a buffer against supply shocks. The IEA’s collective actions have been rare: 1991 (Gulf War), 2005 (Hurricane Katrina), 2011 (Libya), two in 2022 after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (about 182.7 million barrels in all), and the record 400 million barrels agreed on 11 March 2026 during the war involving Iran.

India, which imports most of its crude, built underground rock-cavern reserves through Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd, a special purpose vehicle under the Oil Industry Development Board: Visakhapatnam (1.33 million tonnes), Mangaluru (1.5) and Padur (2.5), a total of 5.33 million tonnes, roughly nine to ten days of consumption. Phase II plans add Chandikhol in Odisha and a second facility at Padur, partly with private and foreign partners.

Part of the Mangaluru cavern has been leased to the UAE’s ADNOC. Refiners also hold commercial stocks, which together give India a larger cushion than the SPR alone.

Deeper cover would need more caverns and long-term supply contracts.

UPI, launched in 2016, lets bank accounts transact in real time through a single virtual address and has become the backbone of India’s digital public infrastructure for payments. NPCI operates it under the oversight of the Reserve Bank of India, which regulates payment systems under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007.

From January 2020, the government set the MDR at zero on RuPay debit cards and UPI through Section 10A of that Act and Section 269SU of the Income-tax Act, reimbursing banks through an incentive scheme. An NPCI circular of 15 September 2026 set a 0.4 per cent MDR, capped at Rs 300, on merchant payments above Rs 2,000 from 15 October 2026; the Supreme Court declined to stay it on 28 September and sought the Centre’s reply on the legal character of the charge.

Debates continue on market concentration among UPI apps, the cost of running the system, and fraud. India has linked UPI with several countries, including Singapore’s PayNow, for cross-border payments.

In June 2020 the government opened end-to-end space activities to private firms and created IN-SPACe as an autonomous body in the Department of Space to authorise and promote them. The Indian Space Policy, 2023 set out the roles of ISRO (research and development), NSIL (commercial arm, demand-driven missions) and IN-SPACe (authorisation and facilitation), and in 2024 the FDI policy for space was liberalised, with automatic-route limits for satellites, launch vehicles and components.

Private Indian firms now build satellites, launch vehicles and ground stations: Skyroot’s Vikram-S (2022) and Agnikul’s Agnibaan SOrTeD (2024) were early suborbital flights. Rideshare missions such as SpaceX’s Transporter series let small satellites reach orbit cheaply.

Thermal imaging has uses in agriculture (crop water stress), urban heat islands, forest fire detection and defence. Several States, including Gujarat, have notified space-tech policies to attract industry.

The Great Indian Bustard is a large ground bird of arid and semi-arid grasslands, protected under Schedule I of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972. Its population has fallen to about 150, with an estimate of 130 (plus or minus 20) in Rajasthan and a handful in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Karnataka.

Collisions with overhead power lines from renewable energy projects are the main cause of adult deaths; in M.K. Ranjitsinh v Union of India the Supreme Court ordered undergrounding of lines in priority areas in 2021 and modified the order in March 2024, recognising a right against the adverse effects of climate change. Project GIB, under way since 2013 with the Wildlife Institute of India and the Rajasthan Forest Department, set up conservation breeding centres at Sam and Ramdevra in Jaisalmer, where a captive flock of at least 98 birds has been raised: wild-collected eggs were incubated from 2019, and most of the flock is now born to captive pairs.

A “jumpstart” method, replacing infertile wild eggs with captive-laid ones, was also tried in Kutch. Survival of released captive-bred birds is expected to be low, so habitat protection remains the key.

Article 324 vests the superintendence, direction and control of electoral rolls and elections in the Election Commission. Article 325 provides for a single general roll per constituency, and Article 326 guarantees adult suffrage to every citizen of 18 or above, not otherwise disqualified.

The Representation of the People Act, 1950 deals with the allocation of seats, delimitation and electoral rolls, while the 1951 Act covers the conduct of elections, qualifications and disqualifications, and election disputes. The Registration of Electors Rules, 1960 prescribe Form 6 for inclusion, Form 7 for objections and deletions, and Form 8 for corrections.

Section 21(3) of the 1950 Act allows the Commission to order a special revision at any time. The Supreme Court upheld the 2025-26 Special Intensive Revision on 27 May 2026 while requiring reasoned notice, a hearing and an appeal.

In early October 2026 the Commission asked officials to re-enrol eligible electors left out within a month.

Project Tiger began on 1 April 1973 with nine reserves. After tigers disappeared from Sariska in 2004-05, the Tiger Task Force (2005) led to the 2006 amendment creating the NTCA and the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau.

The NTCA approves tiger conservation plans, sets standards for tourism, conducts the All India Tiger Estimation every four years with the Wildlife Institute of India, and lays down protocols for translocation. Section 38V provides for core or critical tiger habitats, from which relocation must be voluntary and based on informed consent, and for buffer zones where coexistence is promoted.

Reintroductions restored tigers in Sariska (from 2008) and Panna (from 2009); Buxa in North Bengal received its first tigress, from Valmiki in Bihar, on 2 October 2026, with seven tigers planned over two years. Buxa adjoins Phibsoo Wildlife Sanctuary in Bhutan and Manas in Assam.

The Forest Rights Act, 2006 governs the rights of forest dwellers, including in tiger reserves.

The Supreme Court began in January 1950 with eight sanctioned judges including the Chief Justice. Parliament has raised the number by law several times, to 31 in 2008 and 34 in 2019; an ordinance of 16 May 2026, replaced by an Act assented on 11 August 2026, raised it to 38.

Article 145(3) assumed constitutional questions would be heard by larger Benches, but the Court now sits mostly in Benches of two, largely on special leave petitions under Article 136. A question of interpretation, following State of Jammu and Kashmir v Thakur Ganga Singh (1959), arises only when parties advance rival readings of a provision.

Under Article 141, law declared by the Supreme Court binds all courts. In Campaign for Judicial Accountability (2017) and Shanti Bhushan (2018), the Court held that the Chief Justice is the Master of the Roster.

The Law Commission’s 229th Report (2009) proposed a Constitution Bench in Delhi and regional Benches for appeals.

Investment treaties allow foreign investors to sue host states before international tribunals. Disputes are usually heard under the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules or administered by ICSID, which is open only to states that have ratified its convention; because India is not a party, claims against it have used UNCITRAL rules, often seated at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague.

India adopted a cautious Model BIT in December 2015 after awards such as White Industries (2011), requiring five years of local remedies before arbitration and omitting most-favoured-nation treatment. Newer treaties with the UAE (2024), Uzbekistan (2024) and Israel (in force July 2026) shorten the local-remedies period or add state counterclaims.

UNCITRAL Working Group III is considering a permanent multilateral investment court, an appellate mechanism and rules on damages. A revised Indian model is reportedly awaiting Cabinet approval after the Union Budget 2025-26 promised a more investor-friendly approach.

The El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) has a warm phase (El Niño) and a cool phase (La Niña). El Niño is declared when sea surface temperature in the Niño 3.4 region of the equatorial Pacific stays at least 0.5 degrees Celsius above normal; above about 1.5 degrees it is called strong.

Its link with the monsoon is strong but not fixed: not every El Niño year is a drought year. The Indian Ocean Dipole compares the western and eastern Indian Ocean; a positive phase means a warmer west and tends to help the monsoon.

The India Meteorological Department, under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, issues monsoon forecasts, and INCOIS in Hyderabad forecasts ocean conditions, including marine heat waves that bleach corals and hit fisheries. The 1998 El Niño caused mass coral bleaching across the Indian Ocean, including Lakshadweep.

Ecologists have urged a coordinated network to monitor forests, wetlands and reefs during the 2026-27 event.

The nationalist press was central to India’s freedom movement, spreading political ideas and mobilising opinion despite curbs such as the Vernacular Press Act, 1878, which was repealed in 1882. Tilak’s Kesari and Mahratta carried his campaign for Swaraj; Azad’s Al-Hilal (1912) and later Al-Balagh appealed to Muslim nationalist opinion and were banned; Surendranath Banerjea’s The Bengalee voiced moderate nationalism.

Gandhi used Young India and Navajivan from 1919, and Harijan from 1933, to explain satyagraha, constructive work and his views on untouchability. In Young India of 28 August 1929 he called an awakened and intelligent public opinion the satyagrahi’s most potent weapon, and in 1920 he asked for an electorate that is impartial, independent and intelligent.

Other important papers include Amrita Bazar Patrika (Sisir Kumar Ghosh and Motilal Ghosh), The Hindu (1878), and Annie Besant’s New India.

Gandhi developed satyagraha in South Africa, launching it in the Transvaal in 1906 against the law requiring Asians to register. In India his early campaigns were local and specific: Champaran (1917) against the tinkathia system, Ahmedabad (1918) over mill wages, and Kheda (1918) for revenue remission, where Vallabhbhai Patel emerged as an organiser.

These were followed by the Rowlatt Satyagraha (1919), Non-Cooperation (1920-22), the Civil Disobedience Movement beginning with the Dandi March (12 March to 6 April 1930) and Quit India (1942). The Bardoli Satyagraha (1928), led by Patel, won him the title “Sardar”.

Gandhi insisted on purity of means: non-violence, truthfulness, and respect for the opponent. The Constitution protects peaceful assembly under Article 19(1)(b), subject to restrictions for public order under Article 19(3); the Supreme Court has held that a blanket ban on protests at a site is not acceptable (Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan, 2018) but that public ways cannot be blocked indefinitely (Amit Sahni, 2020).