Daily Current Affairs 18 October 2026

The 18 October 2026 edition leads with the Supreme Court’s order, dated 15 October and made public on 17 October, holding that the right to access and use the internet is a fundamental right under Article 21 read with Article 19(1)(a), children included, and directing the Union to create a National Hash & URL List Database to detect and remove child sexual exploitation and abuse material; and with the US executive order dated 16 October that waived the duties under the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026, among them a 100 percent duty on goods from the largest five importers of Russian crude oil and natural gas that knowingly make new purchases on or after 18 October 2026; The Indian Express counts India among the top buyers of Russian oil.

The roundup covers the NPPA notification capping trade margins on 137 non-scheduled anti-cancer drugs at 30% of MRP from 9 November, two FSSAI drafts (no added sucrose or fructose in food for infants up to six months; pesticide residue limits for acetamiprid and imidacloprid in tea), a Supreme Court ruling that the State is the custodian, not the owner, of temple property, a Supreme Court ruling that private citizens can file complaints over false election affidavits under Section 125A of the RoP Act, the portal of the Court’s High Powered Enquiry Committee on the July protest violence, the National Biodiversity Authority’s Rs 1.19 crore benefit-sharing disbursal and the SSC’s “Q Vault” question bank. The editorial section carries an Indian Express column arguing that parental consent, the remedy the column says no side opposes, would make children’s right conditional, and two The Hindu explainers: on the notice telling actor Imran Khan, a US citizen with an OCI card, to leave India, and what OCI status and Article 21 allow; and on why Big Tech gives away open-weight AI models and how open weights differ from open source.