Current Affairs
Daily developments, reduced to what matters for the UPSC syllabus and your next answer.
- PrelimsEnvironment
Living Planet Report 2026: monitored populations down 73% since 1970
The Living Planet Report 2026 records a 73% decline in the indexed average size of monitored vertebrate populations between 1970 and 2022. Freshwater populations declined most. India shows species recoveries, but experts highlight gaps beyond protected areas and growing human-wildlife conflict.
Read brief → - PrelimsPolity
Jantar Mantar protest denial puts the right to assemble in focus
Permission had not been granted as of 8 October for a planned 10 October 2026 protest at Jantar Mantar. Organisers sought the Chief Election Commissioner’s resignation over alleged voter deletions. The dispute highlights peaceful assembly, reasonable restrictions and remedies against administrative decisions.
Read brief → - PrelimsInternational Relations
New Delhi BRICS summit: consensus on reform, limits on unity
India hosted the 18th BRICS summit on 12–13 September 2026. The New Delhi Declaration called for reform of global institutions. An editorial argues that expansion has widened the grouping’s reach but deepened internal differences, limiting unity on strategic and economic questions.
Read brief → - GS2International Relations
South African jurist Navi Pillay wins 2026 Nobel Peace Prize
The Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize to Navi Pillay, a South African jurist and former UN human rights chief, for her efforts to promote international law. The committee said the rule of law underpins the system set up to keep peace. Her career spans apartheid-era courts, war-crimes tribunals and UN inquiries.
Read brief → - GS2Polity
Gandhi's methods return to the centre of India's protest politics
Opposition MPs protested in New Delhi in early October 2026 over concerns about electoral processes, invoking Gandhi’s non-violent resistance. An opinion piece argues that Gandhi’s ideas on peaceful dissent and grassroots change are finding new use. It also points out that his legacy is claimed across the political spectrum and remains open to criticism.
Read brief → - GS3Environment
Stubble fires persist as crop cycle, incentives and weak monitoring collide
Paddy straw burning in Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh returns every October and November, worsening north India’s winter air. An analysis traces it to groundwater laws, assured paddy procurement and a short gap before wheat sowing. Satellite data also understate the problem, because farmers now burn in the evening, after the satellites pass overhead.
Read brief → - GS2Social Justice
Centre plans 30% trade-margin cap on all non-scheduled cancer drugs
The Centre plans to cap the trade margin on all non-scheduled anti-cancer medicines at 30% of the maximum retail price. The pricing regulator found average mark-ups of about 170% between distributor and patient. A 2019 pilot on 42 cancer drugs cut some prices by up to 85%, but savings will depend on careful monitoring.
Read brief → - GS3Economy
GST Council recommends ending arrest powers in shift to trust-based tax
At its 57th meeting on 8 October 2026, the GST Council recommended procedural reforms without changing tax rates. They include scrapping officers’ arrest powers, raising the prosecution threshold to ₹5 crore and dropping notices below ₹10,000. Most changes need amendments to the GST laws and are expected from 1 April 2027.
Read brief →