Current affairs — 6 October 2026

Prelims pointers

• The ICC unsealed warrants on October 5, 2026 against four senior Taliban leaders accused of the crime against humanity of gender persecution.
• The four wanted leaders are Hibatullah Akhundzada, Abdul Hakim Haqqani, Habibullah Agha and Neda Mohammad Nadim.
• Akhundzada is the Taliban’s supreme leader, Haqqani heads Afghanistan’s Supreme Court, Agha is Education Minister and Nadim is Higher Education Minister.
• The charges cover gender-based persecution and political persecution of people perceived as allies of girls and women.
• The ICC has no police force to execute its warrants, and the Taliban remains in control of Afghanistan.

Prelims pointers

• Exercise Mountain Guardian 2026 is an India-UAE army exercise held at the Foreign Training Node, Chaubatia, Uttarakhand.
• The exercise runs from October 5 to October 18 and focuses on mountain warfare and interoperability.
• Its 92 personnel are equally divided between the Indian Army and the UAE Army.
• The Indian contingent is from a Bhairav Battalion, while the UAE contingent is from a Mountain Infantry Battalion.
• Training includes joint planning, firing, surveillance, drone operations, rock climbing, obstacle work and integrated field exercises.

Prelims pointers

• Two male Great Indian Bustards were released into the wild at Desert National Park in Jaisalmer, and nine more birds were awaiting release.
• The conservation plan has 97 birds; 57 are captive-bred and produced 29 chicks this year and 24 in the previous year.
• The Great Indian Bustard population was about 1,260 in 1969, fell to 600 by 2000, and was estimated at 140-175 in Rajasthan by the 2010s.
• High-tension power lines threaten the heavy, poor-sighted bustard because it tends to fly at approximately the same height as the lines.
• The Supreme Court’s 2021 undergrounding direction was later modified to cover only a subset of power lines within the bird’s critical habitat.

Prelims pointers

• A three-judge Supreme Court Bench headed by CJI Surya Kant asked the Calcutta High Court to decide the Great Nicobar petitions without delay.
• The Centre described the project, which includes a container terminal, as worth over ₹72,000 crore and of national and strategic value.
• The NGT cleared the environmental clearance subject to conditions and creation of a High Powered Committee; it later rejected a review in April 2023.
• The Calcutta High Court had rejected the Centre’s preliminary locus standi objection in May and listed constitutional issues for November 25 and 26.
• The petitions allege that diversion of over 130 sq. km of tropical forest violates the Forest Rights Act, 2006 and threatens Shompen and Nicobarese culture.

Prelims pointers

• On October 5, 2026, the Supreme Court issued notices to the ECI and the Centre on pleas concerning decisions allegedly taken without the approval of the two Election Commissioners.
• The Supreme Court refused an interim direction that would have restrained CEC Gyanesh Kumar from taking decisions until final disposal of the petition.
• The Court said it had not approved modifications to Form 6 being used during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in several States.
• Form 6 is required for eligible citizens seeking inclusion in the electoral roll for the first time.
• A September 26 ECI statement said non-SIR-period forms applicable under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960 would be used outside the SIR period.

Prelims pointers

• The Election Commission constituted 19 Appellate Tribunals for West Bengal on March 21, but only 16 remained functional.
• Only 1.26 lakh of the 38.31 lakh appeals had been cleared, which the report described as approximately 3%.
• On March 10, the Supreme Court directed that a separate appellate body hear challenges to electoral-roll decisions.
• On April 16, the Supreme Court ordered that voters whose appeals succeeded be added through a supplementary list.
• The special door-to-door Form 6 drive for voters omitted during the SIR did not apply to people whose tribunal appeals were pending.

Prelims pointers

• New York Governor Kathy Hochul declared a statewide disaster emergency over the measles outbreak on Monday.
• New York had reported 108 measles cases during the year when the disaster emergency was declared.
• Since July 15, New York recorded 92 measles cases across 18 counties, according to the Governor.
• Pennsylvania had reported 977 cases, many in rural counties located along the New York border.
• The order requires measles-mumps-rubella shots to be reported to New York State or New York City immunization registries within 72 hours.

Prelims pointers

• The shipment carried 540 metric tonnes of methanol made by State-owned Assam Petrochemicals Limited at Namrup.
• DLB Patkai, pushed by the tug Kushal Konwar, left Bogibeel Terminal for Pangaon port in Dhaka’s Narayanganj.
• The vessel’s route covers about 768 km on the Brahmaputra’s National Waterway-2 and continues on the Indo-Bangladesh Protocol Route.
• The 891-km Brahmaputra stretch from Sadiya to Dhubri was declared National Waterway-2 in 1988.
• India and Bangladesh signed a river-trade protocol in 1972; regular cargo service on National Waterway-2 resumed in December 2017.