Current affairs — 22 September 2026

Prelims pointers

• The Assembly debate concerned a Centre-issued draft notification on Ecologically Sensitive Areas based on the Kasturirangan report.
• Eshwar B. Khandre demanded that the Centre announce a special package for areas affected by the draft notification.
• A.S. Ponnanna said Karnataka had filed objections to the draft six times without the Centre revising it.
• B.Y. Vijayendra said the Madhav Gadgil committee examined Ecologically Sensitive Areas in the Western Ghats before the Kasturirangan committee was formed.
• Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar said the special Assembly session sought to take the Opposition into confidence.

Prelims pointers

• The Supreme Court ordered a fresh investigation into the 2012 rape and murder of a 17-year-old near Dharmasthala.
• Karnataka must form a tech-savvy SIT headed by a senior State police officer and exclude every officer from the earlier probe team.
• The fresh investigation must finish within three months, after which the police report must be filed before the court concerned.
• The judgment described a fair investigation as part of the constitutional right guaranteed under Article 21.
• The acquitted former accused cannot be investigated or prosecuted again after his acquittal because Article 20(2) protects him against double jeopardy.

Prelims pointers

• The House Committee examined alleged irregularities in Jal Jeevan Mission projects valued at ₹1,100 crore in Jammu and Kashmir.
• Its 18-point recommendations called for referral to an investigating agency and action warranted under law.
• The committee questioned the shift from GI to HDPE pipes because credible procurement and utilisation records were not produced.
• Site visits reportedly found distribution pipes laid above ground instead of being embedded as required by contract terms.
• The report said official records made false claims about Functional Household Tap Connections and covered habitations.

Prelims pointers

• The Cooperation Minister said a 100% drought declaration was expected by the end of September under NDRF norms.
• The State Agriculture Department reported more than 20 rainless days in at least 83 talukas across 20 districts.
• At least six districts, including Amravati, Solapur and Latur, recorded rainfall deficits of 40–50%.
• Initial relief measures included student fee waivers, electricity-bill waivers and deployment of water tankers.
• District administrations were told to revive water sources and build village supply networks rather than treat tankers as the first solution.

Prelims pointers

• Troy Meink disclosed on September 14 that the U.S. had deployed on-orbit space-control weapons, and Gen. Douglas Schiess confirmed it.
• U.S. doctrine defines space control as including both offensive and defensive operations, although Meink described the weapon as defensive.
• Article IV of the Outer Space Treaty prohibits nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction in orbit, not orbital weapons generally.
• Article III of the Outer Space Treaty requires activities in outer space to comply with international law.
• The editorial said the Liability Convention is difficult to apply when an autonomous, commercial, dual-use orbital asset initiates an unwanted defensive strike.

Prelims pointers

• Pilot chutes extract larger chutes, drogue chutes stabilise and slow the module, and main chutes provide final deceleration.
• The Gaganyaan crew module may be travelling about 170 metres per second in the lower atmosphere before parachute deceleration.
• Reefing initially limits the main canopy opening; a timed cutter later severs the cord so the canopy can fully inflate.
• Gaganyaan uses two mortar-deployed drogue chutes and three main chutes deployed by mortar-ejected pilot chutes.
• ADRDE in Agra, a laboratory under DRDO, is developing the parachute system; two main chains can safely land the module if one fails.

Prelims pointers

• The six species newly recorded in Periyar Tiger Reserve comprised one bird, one butterfly and four odonate species.
• The golden-headed cisticola, Cisticola exilis, was the new bird record; the reserve's cumulative bird count rose to 347.
• The common onyx, Horaga onyx, was the new butterfly record; the documented butterfly total rose to 284.
• The four new odonate records included parakeet darner, Fraser's clubtail, spiny horntail and Nilgiri clawtail; the reserve's odonate checklist rose to 111.
• The September 10-13 survey used 21 teams across 20 base camps and involved 75 delegates from 21 organisations, besides Forest Department personnel.

Prelims pointers

• Heart disease accounts for about 28.6 lakh deaths annually and roughly 27% of all deaths in India, according to the report.
• About 62% of India's cardiovascular-disease deaths occur prematurely between the ages of 40 and 69 years.
• Guidelines recommend that an ECG be obtained and interpreted within 10 minutes of contact with a medical team.
• Registry data indicate timely PCI for only 5-10 of every 100 patients, while 36-60 of every 100 undergo thrombolysis.
• India has about 2,500 cath labs and 6,500 cardiologists, with roughly 90% of cath labs in the private sector.

Prelims pointers

• The University of Chicago reaction uses triplet-state nitrenes together with blue light and oxygen to exchange carbon for nitrogen in a ring.
• The reaction temporarily opens the molecular ring, rearranges atoms and closes it with nitrogen in a former carbon position.
• For an indole that resisted existing methods, the nitrogen-containing product was obtained in 73% yield.
• A modified Vinca alkaloid had better metabolic properties and inhibited the hERG potassium channel less strongly.
• The method produced nitrogen variants of yohimbine and catharanthine but is not universal and uses toxic aryl azides.

Prelims pointers

• The house crow's scientific name is Corvus splendens, and the study examined its role in neem-seed dispersal across Rayalaseema.
• Endozoochory is the process described in the article in which birds disperse consumed seeds through their droppings.
• The study says crows eat ripe neem fruits from March to June and can disperse seeds one or two kilometres from the parent tree.
• Rayalaseema receives about 500-600 mm of rainfall, while local afforestation drives were reported to have survival rates below 40%.
• The researchers associated bird dispersal with about a 2% increase in urban greenery in parts of Rayalaseema.

Prelims pointers

• The meeting was the Seventh High-Level Meeting of the OPEC-India Energy Dialogue.
• The OPEC-India Energy Dialogue was launched in 2015 as a cooperative bilateral framework.
• The dialogue covers market stability, transparency, cooperation and long-term energy security.
• Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri and OPEC Secretary General Haitham Al Ghais addressed the engagement.
• The next round of the OPEC-India Energy Dialogue is to be held in Vienna, Austria, on a mutually agreed date.

Prelims pointers

• RBI had issued draft directions on novation of OTC derivative contracts through a press release dated July 9, 2025.
• The final instructions were inserted into directions covering OTC foreign-exchange, interest-rate, government-securities and credit derivative contracts.
• The four instruments include the 2016 Risk Management direction and derivative directions issued in 2025 and 2026.
• The instructions apply to any novation undertaken on or after September 22, 2026, the circular's issue date.
• RBI relied on section 45W of the RBI Act, 1934, read with section 45U, to issue the directions.

Prelims pointers

• The directions apply to All India Financial Institutions and took effect on September 22, 2026, their date of issue.
• RBI issued the amendment using section 45L of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934.
• New paragraphs 58A and 58B prescribe valuation rules for InvITs and REITs, respectively.
• Unquoted InvIT and REIT units are normally valued at the NAV disclosed by the relevant trust.
• Units are treated as worth ₹1 if required NAV disclosure is absent; this also applies to infrequently traded units.

Prelims pointers

• The Small Finance Banks amendment was issued on September 22, 2026 and came into effect on the date of issue.
• The RBI issued the amendment under Section 35A of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 and other enabling laws.
• New paragraph 82A governs InvIT units, while new paragraph 82B governs REIT units in the Small Finance Banks directions.
• Unquoted InvIT and REIT units are ordinarily valued at the NAV disclosed by the respective trust.
• Absent prescribed NAV disclosure, and for infrequently traded units, the amendment requires a value of ₹1 for its purposes.

Prelims pointers

• RBI issued the Local Area Banks Second Amendment Directions on September 22, 2026, and made them effective from the date of issue.
• The amendment was issued under Section 35A of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, along with other enabling laws.
• Paragraph 83A governs InvIT instruments, while paragraph 83B governs REIT instruments under the Local Area Banks directions.
• Quoted securities and units issued by InvITs or REITs are valued under the directions applicable to quoted securities.
• Unquoted units use the trust's disclosed NAV; failure to make prescribed NAV disclosures, or classification as infrequently traded, triggers a ₹1 value.

Prelims pointers

• The Third Amendment Directions, 2026 came into effect on September 22, 2026, the date of issue.
• RBI issued the amendment under Section 35A of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 and other enabling laws.
• Quoted securities and units issued by InvITs and REITs must follow the directions applicable to quoted securities.
• Unquoted InvIT and REIT units are to be valued at the NAV disclosed by the respective trust.
• A value of ₹1 applies when prescribed NAV disclosure is not made and also to units classified as infrequently traded under the relevant SEBI regulations.

Prelims pointers

• The Payments Banks Second Amendment Directions, 2026 took effect on their issue date, September 22, 2026.
• The RBI issued the amendment under Section 35A of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949.
• New paragraph 83A addresses InvIT units, while new paragraph 83B addresses REIT units for payments banks.
• Quoted securities and units of InvITs and REITs are to follow the Directions' valuation rules for quoted securities.
• Unquoted trust units use disclosed NAV; specified NAV non-disclosure and infrequently traded cases are treated at ₹1.

Prelims pointers

• Hooke's law relates a spring's restoring force to how much the spring has been compressed.
• The four fundamental forces are electromagnetic, gravitational, strong and weak; ordinary elastic force arises from electromagnetism.
• Collective atomic vibrations propagate as sound waves through a solid material.
• Two electrons paired through low-temperature lattice effects form a Cooper pair, named after physicist Leon Cooper.
• Cooper-pair formation produces superconductivity, and aluminium becomes superconducting at about −271.9°C.

Prelims pointers

• Maharashtra passed the Women Farmers' Empowerment Bill in July 2026 to recognise women as farmers irrespective of land ownership.
• A Woman Farmer Certificate may cover a woman resident engaged in agriculture for at least one agricultural season in a year.
• The law recognises landless cultivators, landless livestock rearers, agricultural labourers, plantation labourers and pastoralists.
• Women held only 14% of operational agricultural holdings under the Agricultural Census 2015-16 and formed 23% of PM-KISAN beneficiaries.
• Implementation may identify women through self-registration or the Gram Sabha and link certificates to Agri Stack for FarmerIDs.

Prelims pointers

• RBI released the Supervisory Data Quality Index, or sDQI, for scheduled commercial banks for June 2026.
• The sDQI measures four dimensions of data quality: accuracy, timeliness, completeness and consistency.
• The assessed information consists of returns and microdata submitted for supervisory assessments.
• The index assesses adherence to the RBI (Commercial Banks – Supervisory Returns) Directions, 2026.
• It also assesses adherence to the RBI (Small Finance Banks – Supervisory Returns) Directions, 2026.