Current Affairs Quiz 15 October 2026

The Maritime State Development Council (MSDC) was established in 1997 and serves, in the Ministry’s words, as the apex advisory body for the development of India’s maritime sector. For almost three decades it worked without a statute.

The Indian Ports Act, 2025 (Act No. 27 of 2025) changed that. It received assent on 21 August 2025, came into force on 1 April 2026 and, through section 85(1), repealed the Indian Ports Act, 1908.

Under section 3(1) the Council was established by S.O. 2524(E) of 15 May 2026, chaired by the Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways. Section 3 also provides that members receive no remuneration and that membership is not deemed an office of profit.

The Act leaves room for the States: Section 77(1) lets the State Government make rules by notification in the State Gazette. At its 21st meeting in Mumbai on 13 October 2026, the first since it became a statutory consultative body, the Council instructed all States and Union Territories to notify these rules within three months, and set March 2027 for the One Nation One Port Process reforms and integration with the Maritime Single Window (Sagar Setu) at all ports.

The Combined Maritime Forces is a multinational maritime partnership commanded by a US Navy Vice Admiral, who also serves as Commander, U.S. Navy Central Command (NAVCENT) and U.S. 5th Fleet. It works through five task forces: CTF 150 for maritime security operations outside the Arabian Gulf, CTF 151 for counter-piracy, CTF 152 for maritime security operations inside the Arabian Gulf, CTF 153 for Red Sea maritime security, and CTF 154, established in May 2023, for training.

CTF 154’s training rests on five core pillars: Maritime Domain Awareness, Law of the Sea, Maritime Interdiction Operations, Maritime Rescue and Assistance, and Leadership Development. India joined the CMF as an Associate Partner in 2022 and became a full member in 2023.

On 11 February 2026, at CMF Headquarters in Manama, Bahrain, Cmde Milind M Mokashi took over command of CTF 154 from the outgoing Commander of the Italian Navy, the first time an Indian Navy contingent led a CMF task force. The command was relinquished at a ceremony in Manama on 14 October 2026.

During the tenure the task force held Southern Readiness 26-2 at Kochi, the first major CMF training exercise hosted by India.

The RDI Scheme places a corpus of ₹1 lakh crore in two tiers. The first is a Special Purpose Fund (SPF) established within the Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF), which acts as the custodian of funds.

The ANRF Act, 2023 (No. 25 of 2023) provides for special purpose funds and makes the Prime Minister the ex officio President of the Foundation’s Governing Board. The second tier is made up of Second Level Fund Managers (SLFMs), which channel capital to Eligible Technology Enterprises at Technology Readiness Level 4 and above, mainly as long-term concessional loans, with RDIF support capped at 50% of the total assessed project cost.

On the European Commission’s scale, TRL 4 means technology validated in the lab, so the Scheme backs technologies past the laboratory stage rather than basic research. The first cohort of 19 SLFMs, 14 Alternative Investment Funds and 5 Focused Research Organisations, carries a total RDIF commitment of ₹7,131 crore, approved by the Empowered Group of Secretaries.

Advanced Chemicals, Petrochemicals and Material Technologies has since been included as an additional eligible technology area, and the Technology Development Board has agreed to support ideaForge with ₹151 crore of debt financing for its YETI heavy-lift drone.

The Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), an autonomous institution under the Ministry of Culture, is holding an international conference on ‘Bharat’s Cultural Connections across the Globe’ from 14 to 16 October 2026 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, inaugurated by Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat. The conference marks the centenary of the Greater India Society, established in Calcutta on 14 October 1926, and seeks to renew the Society’s scholarly legacy through interdisciplinary research and international collaboration.

It is organised under the Brihattar Bharat Scheme (2026-2031), an initiative of the ICR Division of the Ministry of Culture implemented by IGNCA. The deliberations cover ten themes, examining shared traditions in philosophy, religion, languages, arts, textiles, cuisine, performing arts, trade and diaspora communities.

The project involves scholars from around 51 countries, envisages a structured five-year agenda for international academic exchange, and seeks to explore multinational nominations of shared intangible cultural heritage to UNESCO’s Representative List. The Minister said that Brihattar Bharat should be understood not as a political or territorial claim, but as a broad sphere of cultural and historical connections.

For an aspirant, it is a ready example of heritage used as soft power.

A bilateral trade deficit is the gap between what a country imports from a partner and what it exports to it. According to data released by China’s General Administration of Customs and reported by The Hindu, India’s exports to China grew about 40% in the first three quarters of 2026; these are China’s figures.

Two-way trade rose 25.4% to $144.45 billion, imports from China rose 23.3% to $125.19 billion and exports to China rose 40.7%, albeit from a much smaller base, to $19.26 billion. The deficit stood at $105.93 billion and, in the paper’s words, is on track to surpass last year’s record of $116.12 billion.

The arithmetic explains why: imports are more than six times exports, so a lower growth rate on the larger number adds far more dollars. The Hindu notes India’s continued reliance on finished goods from China, including electronics and machinery, and Chinese export controls in sectors from fertilizers to rare earths.

At their meeting in New Delhi last month, Prime Minister Modi and President Xi underlined the need to address structural trade imbalance and supply chain issues, according to the Ministry of External Affairs.

Form 6, prescribed under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, is the application for inclusion of a name in the electoral roll by a first-time voter or on shifting from one constituency to another. The petitioners in the Delhi SIR case say, as The Hindu reported, that it requires an applicant to affirm that they are applying for inclusion ‘for the first time’.

Section 31 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 provides for imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year, or a fine, or both, for a false declaration. In the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Delhi, 47,56,722 electors, or 32.78% of the voters on the roll before the SIR, were left out of the draft roll in the ASDD category (Absent, Shifted, Dead or Duplicate), and, according to the petition, Form 6 is the only route open to them.

Petitioners Anjali Bhardwaj and Amrita Johri have asked the Supreme Court that the Election Commission either allow these voters to file Form 8 (for shifted voters) or create a new form, so that they need not apply as first-time voters. A Bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant passed no order on 14 October 2026; it advanced the hearing to 28 October, the Chief Justice remarking that the court was thinking of passing an order to deal with the issue.

The International Day of Rural Women falls on 15 October. It was established by the United Nations General Assembly in resolution 62/136 of 18 December 2007 and first observed on 15 October 2008.

In India, the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare is organising the national-level celebration of Mahila Kisan Diwas 2026 on 15 October 2026 at the Dr. B. R. Ambedkar International Centre, New Delhi, on the theme ‘Role of Women Farmers in Building Developed Agriculture and a Developed India.’ The Ministry cites the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), conducted by the National Statistics Office under MoSPI: females constituted 59.8% of the total workforce engaged in agricultural activities during January to December 2025. The UN has declared 2026 the International Year of the Woman Farmer, which the release calls a global platform to recognise the contributions of women farmers to agrifood systems.

From sowing, transplanting and harvesting to livestock management and seed conservation, women contribute across Indian agriculture, and the release stresses strengthening their access to resources, technology and institutional support. For Mains, this is the feminisation of agriculture: support for women farmers is a question of farm productivity as well as of gender justice.

Article 22(1) gives an arrested person the right to be told the grounds of arrest as soon as may be and to consult a lawyer of their choice. Article 22(2) requires production before the nearest magistrate within 24 hours, excluding journey time, and Article 22(3) says neither clause covers an enemy alien or a preventive detainee.

In the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, Section 47 requires the grounds of an arrest without warrant to be communicated forthwith (formerly CrPC Section 50), and Section 58 keeps the 24-hour limit (formerly CrPC Section 57). The Supreme Court has tightened these safeguards.

Mihir Rajesh Shah (6 November 2025) requires written grounds, in the arrestee’s language, in all offences, and written grounds must reach the arrestee at least two hours before production for remand. Pankaj Bansal arose under the PMLA and Prabir Purkayastha under the UAPA.

Older landmarks still apply: D.K. Basu (decided 18 December 1996, reported (1997) 1 SCC 416) on arrest requirements and Arnesh Kumar (2014) against automatic arrest for offences punishable with up to seven years. The two-hour mark is an outer limit, not an alternative to a reasonable time, and release for an illegal arrest is not default bail.

The National Human Rights Commission was set up on 12 October 1993 under the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993; a body created by an Act of Parliament is a statutory body. On its 33rd Foundation Day it held a function and a National Conference on the theme ‘Water as the Elixir of Life: Advancing Human Dignity through the Right to Water’ at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.

Chief Justice of India Justice Surya Kant was the Chief Guest, and NHRC Chairperson Justice V. Ramasubramanian also spoke. The Chief Justice noted that people sometimes say the Commission can only recommend and cannot command, and offered instead the image of a solitary lighthouse that casts ‘a guiding light for those adrift in the darkness’.

He also said that the right to water must be understood not only as a right of the present but also as a responsibility towards the future. At the conference the Secretary, Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, said safe drinking water is integral to human dignity, public health and the right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution.

For an aspirant, the point is that a recommendatory body draws its weight from its credibility.

The Prime Minister is scheduled to inaugurate and dedicate to the nation five development projects worth around ₹3,350 crore in Ladakh on 15 October 2026, via video conferencing. Among them is the 298-km Nimmu-Padum-Darcha Road, constructed by the Border Roads Organisation.

It connects Nimmu in Leh with Darcha in Himachal Pradesh through the remote Zanskar Valley, and provides an alternative connectivity corridor to Ladakh, supplementing the Srinagar-Leh and Manali-Leh highways. Its strategic importance, in the release’s words, lies in enhancing operational mobility and strengthening logistical support for the Armed Forces, and it will also benefit residents of Zanskar by improving access to healthcare, education, markets and essential services.

The other projects include the 9 MW Hanu Small Hydroelectric Project with the 66 kV Dah-Hanu-Khaltsi transmission line, India’s first Petroglyph Conservation Park at Sindhu Ghat, Leh, for Ladakh’s prehistoric rock art, and water bodies across 40 villages under Project Him Sarovar. For Prelims, fix the road on the map from Leh through Padum in Zanskar to Darcha in Himachal Pradesh; for Mains, use it as an example of border infrastructure that serves both defence logistics and remote communities.

In The Hindu, P.S. Srinivas and Anisha Sircar argue that India’s China+1 lessons lie within its own States, chiefly Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Two schemes carry the electronics push.

The Large Scale Electronics Manufacturing PLI, approved by the Cabinet on 21 March 2020 and notified on 1 April 2020, pays 4% to 6% on incremental sales over the base year 2019-20, and its tenure was extended to FY 2025-26. The Electronics Component Manufacturing Scheme (ECMS), approved by the Cabinet on 28 March 2025 and notified on 8 April 2025, is not a PLI scheme: it uses turnover-linked, hybrid and capex incentives, and its outlay of Rs 22,919 crore was raised to Rs 40,000 crore by the Union Budget 2026-27.

ECMS approvals are commitments, not finished factories. On investment rules, Press Note 3 of 17 April 2020 sent investment from land-border countries through the Government route; an easing approved by the Cabinet on 10 March 2026 allows up to 10% non-controlling beneficial ownership through the automatic route.

DPIIT’s State-wise FDI figures run only from October 2019, so the shares are cumulative: Maharashtra 31.35%, Karnataka 20.66% and Gujarat 14.82% to March 2026, with Tamil Nadu fifth.

The Indian Ports Act, 2025 (Act No. 27 of 2025) gave the Maritime State Development Council (MSDC) a statute. Section 3(1) says the Central Government ‘shall, by notification, establish’ a Council ‘to be called the Maritime State Development Council’, and S.O. 2524(E) of 15 May 2026 did so.

Every member under section 3(2) sits ex officio. The Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways is the Chairperson.

The members are the Minister-in-charge of ports of each State; the Minister-in-charge of the Union Territory of Puducherry and the Administrators of all other coastal Union Territories; an Indian Navy officer and an Indian Coast Guard officer, each equivalent in rank to a Secretary to the Government of India and dealing with coastal security; and the Secretary of the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways as Member Secretary. Under section 6, the Council makes recommendations to the Government on the adequacy of the legal framework, the growth of and competition in the port sector, and port connectivity, and it advises on the formulation of the national perspective plan referred to in section 12.

Its role is consultative. Sarbananda Sonowal called its 21st meeting in Mumbai ‘cooperative federalism in maritime governance’.

The RDI Scheme runs a corpus of ₹1 lakh crore through two tiers. The first is a Special Purpose Fund established within the Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF), which acts as the custodian of funds.

From it, funds go to a variety of second level fund managers, mainly as long-term concessional loans; equity may also be used, especially for startups. The Governing Board of ANRF, chaired by the Prime Minister, gives overarching strategic direction.

The Executive Council of ANRF approves the Scheme’s guidelines and recommends second level fund managers. The Empowered Group of Secretaries, led by the Cabinet Secretary, approves scheme changes, sectors, types of projects and second level fund managers, and reviews performance.

The Department of Science and Technology is the nodal department. Support goes to projects at Technology Readiness Level 4 or above and is limited to 50% of the total assessed project cost; for equity it is capped at 50% of each funding round.

The first cohort of 19 Second Level Fund Managers, 14 Alternative Investment Funds and 5 Focused Research Organisations, went through the ANRF’s Executive Council and then the EGoS. The fund managers are expected to mobilise private capital equal to the RDIF contribution.

The Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, set up by Regulation (EU) 2023/956 of 10 May 2023, puts a carbon price on selected imports into the European Union: cement, iron and steel, aluminium, fertilisers, electricity and hydrogen. The importer pays for the carbon embedded in the goods, at a price linked to the EU Emissions Trading System.

The legal duty falls on the EU importer, not on the Indian exporter, whose stake lies in the emissions data it must supply and in the carbon cost its buyer has to bear. During the transitional period, from 1 October 2023 to 31 December 2025, importers only reported embedded emissions; from 1 January 2026 the definitive regime applies and importers must surrender CBAM certificates for their imports, with certificate sales on the common central platform starting in February 2027.

The price for the third quarter of 2026 was €82.32 per tonne of CO2. In December 2025 the European Commission proposed extending CBAM to 180 steel and aluminium-intensive downstream products, like machinery and appliances, from 1 January 2028; that is not yet law.

The India-EU FTA gives an assurance and cooperation on CBAM, not an exemption. India’s own carbon market runs under the Carbon Credit Trading Scheme, notified in 2023, with the Bureau of Energy Efficiency as Administrator and Grid India as Registry.

The Code on Wages, 2019 was made effective from 21 November 2025, one of four labour codes that rationalise 29 laws, and section 69 repeals the Minimum Wages Act, 1948. Section 5 bars any employer from paying less than the notified minimum rate of wages.

Under section 6(6)(a), the government ‘shall primarily take into account the skill of workers required for working under the categories of unskilled, skilled, semi-skilled and highly-skilled or geographical area or both’. Under section 6(6)(b), it may also take into account arduous work, hazardous occupations or processes, or underground work.

Skill and area are alternatives, and arduousness is optional. The Union schedule shows how area enters: for agriculture in Area A, the category of urban areas with the highest costs of living, the daily rate for unskilled work is Rs 537 from 1 October 2026.

The Centre sets a National Floor Wage, and States cannot fix minimum wages below it. Under the old law, minimum wages applied only to scheduled employments; the Code covers all employees.

In The Hindu, Vasudevan Mukunth argues that ‘unskilled’ is a label the state sustains, one that lowers the pay and safety of workers whose jobs demand real skill.

The Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM), under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, was launched on 24 September 2013. It aimed to reduce the poverty and vulnerability of urban poor households by enabling them to access gainful self-employment and skilled wage employment, through strong grassroots institutions of the poor.

Poor urban women formed self-help groups that built a savings corpus, the basis for bank linkages, and the groups joined into Area Level Federations and City Level Federations. When its implementation period ended on 30 September 2024, 10,02,545 SHGs had been formed, a cumulative count rather than a count of groups active today.

A pilot, Deendayal Jan Aajeevika-Shehari (DJAY-S), ran from 1 October 2024 in 25 select cities, and the Ministry proposed a new Deendayal Jan Aajeevika Yojana in December 2024; no approval of it had been announced as of 15 October 2026. In the Ministry’s words, urban poverty alleviation is a State subject, and the Government of India supplements the States’ efforts.

PM SVANidhi, launched in June 2020, lends to street vendors, not SHGs. The rural mission, DAY-NRLM, is separate and still reports progress.

The Indian Express argues that letting DAY-NULM end without a successor was a mistake.

The Hindu’s editorial argues that Punjab’s drug trade and targeted killings feed each other, and that arrest tallies are no substitute for convictions, forfeiture and rehabilitation. The NDPS Act, 1985 grades punishment by quantity: small, more than small but less than commercial, and commercial, with commercial quantity attracting rigorous imprisonment of 10 to 20 years.

Section 27A punishes financing illicit traffic and harbouring offenders. Under Section 37 every offence is cognizable, and for commercial quantity and offences under Sections 19, 24 and 27A the accused cannot be released on bail unless the twin conditions are met.

Chapter VA (Sections 68A to 68Y), inserted by Act 2 of 1989, provides for forfeiture of illegally acquired property. Section 68A(2) lists the persons it applies to, among them persons convicted of offences punishable with ten years or more and persons detained under the PITNDPS Act, 1988, and it also reaches their relatives, their associates and later holders of such property.

Attachment or freezing of property is an investigative step; forfeiture is the final loss of the property. Section 64A offers immunity to addicts who voluntarily seek treatment.

Punjab’s campaign, ‘Yudh Nashian Virudh’, reports arrests and property action, not convictions.