Current affairs — 9 October 2026

Prelims pointers

• Louis Pasteur’s work in 1848 showed that non-living molecules can exist in mirror-image forms.
• Chirality denotes molecular handedness, while homochirality is the predominance of one handed form.
• Proteins in living cells use L-amino acids, whereas sugars incorporated in human DNA have D-handedness.
• The article says thalidomide’s mirror-image forms interact differently with biological molecules because of their three-dimensional shapes.
• Kenso Soai showed that a small initial excess of one molecular form can be amplified when the product catalyses formation of the same handedness.

Prelims pointers

• The Monetary Policy Committee raised interest rates by 25 basis points and changed its stance from neutral to calibrated tightening.
• The RBI projected retail inflation at 4.9% in Q2, compared with its August projection of 4.7%.
• Retail inflation was projected to rise to 6% in Q3 before easing to 5.7% in Q4.
• The RBI raised its 2026–27 GDP-growth forecast to 7.1% from the 6.7% projected in August.
• The editorial identified strategic buffers, trade controls, anti-hoarding steps and open-market operations as government tools against food inflation.

Prelims pointers

• Gold, silver and platinum imports by banks and nominated agencies attract 3% IGST from April 1, 2026.
• The earlier exemption ended because the designated-bank and agency list was not extended beyond March 31, 2026.
• In May 2026, import duty on gold and silver rose from 6% to 15%, while platinum duty rose from 6.4% to 15.4%.
• Gold imports during April–August 2026–27 increased 3.38% to $17.47 billion.
• Silver imports during April–August 2026–27 declined 8.81% to $1.74 billion.

Prelims pointers

• A ytterbium atomic clock cited in the article would miss one second in 23 billion years.
• Thorium-229 has a nuclear transition energy low enough to be triggered by an ultraviolet laser rather than X-rays or gamma rays.
• A nuclear-clock feedback loop checks how readily thorium-229 nuclei are excited and corrects drift in the laser frequency.
• The Chinese teams embedded thorium-229 in calcium fluoride crystals, creating an architecture that could support compact, portable clocks.
• The Austria-Germany team compared thorium-229 and ytterbium clocks to search for ultralight dark matter but detected no signal.

Prelims pointers

• The GST Council’s 57th meeting was held on October 8, 2026 and focused on process reforms rather than GST-rate changes.
• The government said 61% of taxpayers were already receiving automatic GST registration within three working days.
• An optional annual-return scheme for B2C firms with turnover up to ₹5 crore received in-principle approval but required further consideration.
• Refund acknowledgements are intended within 10 days instead of 15, with 90% of claims released within three working days after risk assessment.
• The Council recommended removing GST officers’ arrest powers and raising the prosecution threshold from ₹1 crore to ₹5 crore.

Prelims pointers

• Greenfield investment refers to investment by companies in new ventures located in another country.
• India received 5.7% of global greenfield investment during 2020–25, compared with China’s 2.8% share.
• Strategic sectors increased from 16% to 44% of global greenfield investment between 2020 and 2025.
• AI infrastructure and related technologies received 12.4% of the $845.7 billion in global greenfield investment during 2020–25.
• UNCTAD projected India’s GDP to grow 7.3% in 2026 and 6.8% in 2027, while noting slowing household-consumption growth.

Prelims pointers

• Navanethem ‘Navi’ Pillay was born on September 23, 1941, in apartheid-era South Africa to Indian parents of Tamil descent.
• In 1967, Pillay became the first woman to open a law practice in Natal and later the first non-white woman on South Africa’s High Court.
• In 1973, Pillay helped secure legal counsel and basic amenities for political prisoners held on Robben Island.
• Pillay served as an ICC judge from 2003 until August 2008 and as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2008 to 2014.
• Pillay co-founded Equality Now with Jessica Neuwirth and Feryal Gharahi in 1992 to advance women’s legal rights.

Prelims pointers

• On October 9, 2026, the International Criminal Court described U.S. sanctions against it as an attack on international law.
• U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington would ban transactions with what he called a “rogue court”.
• The ICC said the sanctions were intended to intimidate its staff and disrupt the court’s activities.
• ICC President Tomoko Akane said the court would act independently and impartially on the basis of law and evidence.
• The court called on its 125 member states to support the institution, saying its fate also rested with the states that created it.

Prelims pointers

• Article 201 of the Constitution deals with Bills reserved for consideration of the President.
• The proposed government resolution is likely to be moved under Rule 118 of the Assembly's Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business.
• If the Assembly passes the resolution, its request to the President must go through the Governor.
• The Assembly passed the Private Universities Bill, 2025 on March 25, 2025.
• Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar referred the Bill to the President in September 2025.

Prelims pointers

• Karnataka won the award for Highest Under-Construction Wind Power Capacity of 9 GW.
• The award was presented at the eighth edition of Windergy 2026.
• The Indian Wind Turbine Manufacturers' Association organised Windergy 2026.
• Windergy 2026 was held at the Chennai Trade Centre.
• The Energy Department said it would work with Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Limited and other stakeholders to facilitate timely project execution.

Prelims pointers

• Purnima Shaw and R. K. Sinha co-authored RBI Working Paper No. 01/2026 on State-level inflation data gaps during Covid.
• State-wise official inflation figures were unavailable for April and May 2020 and April and May 2021.
• The paper used granular Inflation Expectations Survey of Households data to estimate State-wise CPI-U inflation for the four missing months.
• IESH continued to be conducted and disseminated every two months during the pandemic period.
• Aggregated State-wise estimates closely followed the all-India official CPI inflation series.

Prelims pointers

• Fifteen SIDM Champion Awards 2026 were presented at the Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers’ eighth annual session in New Delhi.
• India’s defence exports reached a record ₹38,424 crore in 2025-26, more than 60% above the previous financial year.
• The Defence Minister reiterated a target of ₹50,000 crore in defence exports by 2029.
• The Minister recalled a proposal to raise the private sector’s share in total defence production from approximately 24% to 50%.
• Established in 2017, SIDM represents large enterprises, MSMEs, startups, academia and foreign original-equipment manufacturers.

Prelims pointers

• The 2017 Interconnection Regulations mandate annual audits of Digital Addressable Systems used by television-channel distributors.
• Schedule X of the Interconnection Regulations specifies DRM-system requirements, primarily for IPTV-based distribution services.
• TRAI’s March 10, 2026 audit manual covered Schedule III systems, including CAS, SMS and set-top-box-based systems.
• The draft covers pre-signal or compliance audits and annual subscription audits, with prescribed timelines and documentary requirements.
• The draft defines roles for Distribution Platform Operators, broadcasters and auditors; stakeholder comments are due by 30.10.2026.

Prelims pointers

• The ITU roundtable concerned implementation of standards to combat fraudulent communications and was held during India Mobile Congress 2026.
• India’s five-layer approach includes spoofed-call blocking, C-DOT’s ASTR, Sanchar Saathi, the Digital Intelligence Platform and measures for emerging channels.
• The release says ASTR helped disconnect over 82 lakh fraudulent connections, while Sanchar Saathi recorded around 25 million downloads.
• The Digital Intelligence Platform connects more than 1,600 telecom operators, banks, law-enforcement agencies and other organisations.
• India welcomed ITU-proposed joint trials of caller-identity verification involving governments, regulators, operators and technology companies.

Prelims pointers

• The 3rd International Bharat 6G Symposium 2026 was organised by the Bharat 6G Alliance alongside India Mobile Congress 2026 in New Delhi.
• The symposium discussed the roadmap towards IMT-2030, including 5G-Advanced foundations, spectrum, WRC-27, trials and AI-native networks.
• The Bharat 6G Alliance exchanged five MoUs with GSMA, one6G, GTI Alliance, 6G Innovation Forum Taiwan and VOICE.
• The Alliance released ten white papers and reports, including a Progress Report on 6G Joint Principles.
• Established in July 2023, the Bharat 6G Alliance is an industry-led platform linking telecom providers, industry, startups, academia and research institutions.

Prelims pointers

• The 15th AITIGA Joint Committee meeting was held at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta from October 6 to 9, 2026.
• Nitin Kumar Yadav of India's Department of Commerce and Mastura Ahmad Mustafa of Malaysia co-chaired the meeting.
• AITIGA's Joint Committee has eight sub-committees, three of which held hybrid meetings alongside the 15th meeting.
• The three sub-committees that met covered Legal and Institutional Issues, National Treatment on Market Access, and Rules of Origin.
• The next AITIGA Joint Committee meeting is scheduled for January 2027 in India in hybrid mode.

Prelims pointers

• The Department of Telecommunications and the International Telecommunication Union jointly organised the AI for Good Lab workshop at IMC 2026 in New Delhi.
• The AI for Good Lab framework has three pillars: AI Readiness and Policy, AI Skills Development, and Public AI Infrastructure.
• India is one of ten pilot countries and is contributing experience with shared compute, open datasets and Digital Public Infrastructure.
• The IndiaAI Mission has onboarded more than 38,000 high-end GPUs and is adding another 20,000 GPUs.
• The Telecommunication Engineering Centre has developed national standards on AI fairness, robustness and incident reporting.

Prelims pointers

• Mangrol is the third Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft built by Cochin Shipyard Limited, Kochi.
• The ship is scheduled for commissioning on 12 October 2026 at Naval Dockyard, Mumbai.
• Mangrol is named after a coastal town and fishing harbour in Gujarat’s Junagadh district and succeeds the name of former minesweeper INS Mangrol (M85).
• The craft has over 80% indigenous content and carries Abhay Hull-Mounted Sonar, lightweight torpedoes, an indigenous anti-submarine rocket launcher and the Maareech decoy system.
• Mangrol uses three diesel engines with waterjet propulsion and can perform underwater surveillance, Low-Intensity Maritime Operations and mine warfare-related tasks.

Prelims pointers

• Project Seabird Phase IIA infrastructure was inaugurated at Naval Base Karwar on 8 October 2026 by the Chief of Defence Staff and Secretary, Department of Military Affairs.
• The residential package includes separate 60-dwelling-unit towers for married Senior Sailors and Naval Defence Civilians.
• The inaugurated facilities also include in-living accommodation for 156 Defence Security Corps personnel and a kindergarten school.
• Phase IIA supports the basing of ships and submarines and includes a dual-use Naval Air Station, a full-fledged Naval Dockyard and logistics facilities.
• The project sources over 90% of materials and equipment domestically and is intended to be Indian Green Building Council Gold rated upon completion.

Prelims pointers

• One hundred 5G Use Case Labs were awarded to academic institutions in October 2023, and all became operational by April 2025.
• The government initiative to establish the 100 labs has an outlay of ₹97.67 crore.
• By August 2026, more than 17,400 students had used the labs, while 97 institutions offered 5G courses enrolling over 21,000 students.
• The labs contributed to 634 products and use cases, 158 intellectual-property filings and 32 granted patents.
• The 2026 5G Innovation Hackathon received over 1,400 proposals; 50 teams received seed funding and 35 showcased innovations at IMC 2026.

Prelims pointers

• The Mukul Wasnik-led parliamentary committee presented its 382nd Report on NTA reforms on 9 October 2026; it had adopted the report on 25 August 2026.
• NTA conducts examinations taken by about 1.2 crore students annually; only 23 of its 39 sanctioned officers were in position, implying a 41% vacancy.
• The committee recommended a phased transition of NEET-UG to computer-based testing, supported by 1,000 secure government CBT centres and at least one test centre in each district.
• It proposed a publicly accessible National Registry of Blacklisted Examination Vendors covering firms, associated persons, the disqualification and the authority imposing it.
• The report recommended an annual Equity Audit of participation, pass and cutoff-achievement rates by State, gender, school-board type, medium and social category.

Prelims pointers

• The tenth India Mobile Congress is being held at Yashobhoomi, New Delhi, from 7 to 10 October 2026 under the theme “Scale Without Boundaries”.
• Aadhaar, DigiLocker, UMANG and Entity Locker are displayed as digital foundations for identity, documents and access to government services.
• API Setu demonstrates API-based integration and information exchange, while UX4G focuses on citizen-centric design of digital assets.
• Digital India BHASHINI demonstrates AI and language technologies for access to digital content and services across Indian languages.
• Software Technology Parks of India is showcasing 14 STPI-incubated startups at the MeitY pavilion.

Prelims pointers

• The Ministry of Cooperation held the ninth National Review Workshop in Bastar, Chhattisgarh, on October 8–9, 2026.
• States were asked to prepare prioritised action plans with assigned responsibility, realistic timelines and regular monitoring.
• The target is to establish about 95,000 Primary Agricultural Credit Societies over the next two to three years.
• First-phase PACS computerisation components are to be completed by December 2026; the existing scheme is scheduled to end in March 2027.
• The Ministry described pledge finance linked to decentralised storage as an additional mechanism, not a replacement for MSP procurement.

Prelims pointers

• The United States suspended Permanent Labour Certification, or PERM, for eight technology outsourcing companies.
• The affected firms included Infosys, TCS, Wipro, Cognizant, HCL, Capgemini, Microsoft and Adobe.
• PERM can enable employer sponsorship for permanent residence after a search for a comparably qualified American worker.
• The U.S. said the eight firms’ use of the process aided over 2,30,000 H1B approvals and 1,00,000 permanent residencies since 2009.
• The report said Indian nationals account for about 70% of all H1B visa holders in the United States.

Prelims pointers

• Navanethem “Navi” Pillay, a former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, received the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize.
• The Norwegian Nobel Committee credited her work toward prosecuting war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
• Pillay dedicated the prize to survivors of international crimes and to practitioners and defenders of international justice.
• Her career included anti-apartheid legal work in South Africa and work connected with justice for the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
• Pillay served on the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem and Israel.

Prelims pointers

• Three Saudi citizens, including an airline pilot, were killed in attacks on Riyadh airport and a Saudia aircraft.
• The Houthis claimed a ballistic-missile attack on the airport, while the Saudi statement did not identify the attackers.
• At least 124 Riyadh flights had been cancelled by Friday afternoon, after hundreds were cancelled the previous day.
• European aviation guidance cited risks from missile and drone overflights, interception activity, misidentification and falling debris.
• The Bab el-Mandeb Strait was described as part of a crucial alternative shipping route to the Strait of Hormuz.

Prelims pointers

• The Makkah Joint Defence Agreement was signed by Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkiye on August 7 after a summit in Mecca.
• The pact treats an armed attack against any one of its three members as an attack against all three.
• Its Strategic Political and Defence Committee met in Riyadh on October 5 and decided to deploy forces in Saudi Arabia.
• Pakistan said its forces had served in Saudi Arabia in logistical or training capacities since 1982.
• Pakistan described the alliance as defensive and said its forces would not cross into Yemen to attack the Houthis.

Prelims pointers

• Russia requested the extradition of ICC President Tomoko Akane and eight other court officials from the Netherlands and other countries.
• The extradition requests followed the ICC’s 2023 arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin over the Ukraine war.
• The Moscow City Court sentenced the nine ICC officials in absentia to prison terms before the extradition requests.
• Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Japan had consistently supported the ICC and would continue to do so.
• U.S. sanctions on ICC staff freeze covered assets in U.S. jurisdictions and prevent officials and their families from entering the country.

Prelims pointers

• The notification was issued under the heading of Section 42(1) of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934.
• The RBI increased scheduled banks' daily minimum CRR maintenance from 90% to 99% of the required CRR.
• The higher daily minimum applies from the reporting fortnight beginning October 16, 2026.
• The average CRR maintained daily during the reporting fortnight must not be below the CRR prescribed by the RBI.
• Notification RBI/2026-27/290 was dated October 9, 2026 and addressed to all scheduled banks.

Prelims pointers

• Pezeshkian said dialogue requires mutual respect and commitments and must be free from pressure and threats.
• The United States and Iran agreed in June to a memorandum of understanding outlining a framework to end the conflict.
• Indirect U.S.-Iran talks held around the UN General Assembly did not produce a diplomatic breakthrough.
• Negotiations shifted toward reopening the Strait of Hormuz, described as a key route for Gulf oil shipments.
• The Commonwealth of Independent States was established in 1991 as a dialogue platform for former Soviet republics.

Prelims pointers

• Round 75 of OBICUS covers July–September 2026, corresponding to Q2 of 2026-27.
• RBI has conducted the quarterly Order Books, Inventories and Capacity Utilisation Survey of manufacturing since 2008.
• OBICUS records new, backlog and pending orders along with end-quarter inventories.
• Inventory data are split into finished goods, work-in-progress and raw materials, while capacity utilisation is estimated from company responses.
• OBICUS findings provide input for monetary-policy formulation, while company-level data are treated as confidential and never disclosed.