Current affairs — 11 October 2026

Prelims pointers

• The OHCHR statement was issued on October 10, 2026 over reported mass detentions linked to Delhi demonstrations.
• The UN spokesperson named demonstrators, protest leaders, civil-society members, lawyers and journalists among those reportedly detained.
• OHCHR said restrictions on peaceful protests should meet the tests of necessity and proportionality.
• India's Permanent Mission in Geneva called the statement unwarranted interference in India's internal affairs.
• The Indian Mission said assembly is protected subject to reasonable restrictions in the interest of public order.

Prelims pointers

• Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita replaced Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
• Section 163 BNSS empowers an executive magistrate to issue prohibitory orders where immediate prevention or speedy remedy is desirable.
• Delhi Police said Section 163 orders in the New Delhi district barred unauthorised public assemblies, demonstrations and protests.
• Former Supreme Court judge Abhay S. Oka said Article 22 requires grounds for deprivation of liberty to be communicated as soon as may be.
• The article says the Supreme Court has not conclusively settled how far formal-arrest safeguards apply to temporary restraints on personal liberty.

Prelims pointers

• Mirror-image forms of a chiral molecule are called enantiomers, while a 50:50 laboratory mixture is called a racemate.
• Living systems show homochirality: amino acids are in the L form, while sugars in DNA are in the D form.
• Charles Frank’s 1953 model combined autocatalysis, enantioselective catalysis and suppression of the mirror form.
• Kagan showed in 1986 that nonlinear effects can make a product chirally purer than the catalyst ingredients.
• Soai’s autocatalytic reaction amplified a 0.00005% excess to more than 99.5% purity in three rounds.

Prelims pointers

• Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel received the 2026 Medicine Nobel for light-gated ion channels and optogenetics.
• Optogenetics enables selected cells or biological processes to be controlled using light-sensitive proteins.
• Hegemann and Nagel discovered channelrhodopsin in Chlamydomonas, a single-celled alga, in the early 2000s.
• Blue light opens channelrhodopsin, allowing charged ions to enter the cell and generate an electrical impulse.
• A 2013 study used light-regulated adenylate cyclase and cAMP to investigate entry, movement and exit of Toxoplasma gondii.

Prelims pointers

• The Budhi Gandaki River flows through north-central Nepal, merges into the Trishuli and is a key waterway near Kathmandu.
• Nepal's National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority evacuated villagers and warned others to move to safer areas.
• The October 11 flash flood destroyed homes and structures, but no casualties were immediately reported and its cause remained under investigation.
• A government warning prompted evacuation in Arughat, a riverside town on a highway connecting Kathmandu with other parts of Nepal.
• The earlier August border flood affected nearly 33,000 people, damaged or destroyed about 7,500 homes and carried a $4.77 billion rebuilding estimate.

Prelims pointers

• The Saudi-led coalition said a projectile struck the King Khalid International Airport complex containing domestic-flight terminals 3 and 4.
• A missile attack on the same Riyadh airport a day earlier killed 12 people and wounded more than 300.
• King Khalid International Airport remained closed, and authorities moved Riyadh’s schools online.
• The Bab el-Mandeb Strait lies at the southern end of the Red Sea off Yemen, according to the article.
• The Houthi warning covered Saudi airports and airspace but exempted airports in Mecca and Medina.

Prelims pointers

• India's Attorney General told the Supreme Court that India did not intend to reopen the Katchatheevu agreements of 1974 and 1976 with Sri Lanka.
• The Katchatheevu case was scheduled to be heard next in February 2027 by a Bench including Justices Sanjay Kumar and Sanjeev Sachdeva.
• The Court observed that New Delhi and Tamil Nadu should sensitise fishermen to refrain from crossing into Sri Lankan waters.
• Katchatheevu lies close to the International Maritime Boundary Line on the Sri Lankan side, near marine resource-rich waters off northern Sri Lanka.
• The article links recurring arrests of Tamil Nadu fishermen to crossing the maritime boundary and using destructive bottom-trawling methods.

Prelims pointers

• TRISHNA expands to Thermal Infra-Red Imaging Satellite for High-resolution Natural Resource Assessment and is an ISRO-CNES mission.
• An ISRO official said on October 11, 2026 that TRISHNA was due for launch in the next 12–16 months on the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle.
• TRISHNA is the third India-France satellite collaboration after Megha-Tropiques and SARAL, or Satellite with ARGOS and ALTIKA.
• CNES is developing the Thermal Infra-Red payload, while ISRO is developing the Visible-Near Infra-Red Short Wave Infra-Red payload.
• The satellite will monitor surface temperature, emissivity, and biophysical and radiation variables, and its science data will follow an open-data policy.

Prelims pointers

• The Special Bench comprised Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana and sat on Sunday to hear petitions over Delhi restrictions.
• Notices went to the Union Home Secretary, Delhi Police Commissioner and DMRC chairperson over alleged violation of the Court’s October 9 order.
• Police were directed to review road barricades, protect Internet connectivity and lift Section 163 BNSS orders around courts.
• The Court said there should be no detention except according to law, particularly outside the four-kilometre central Delhi prohibitory zone.
• The government said entry and exit were restricted at 45 of Delhi’s 303 Metro stations on October 10, while total Metro service volume was unchanged.

Prelims pointers

• The Gaekwad family’s Raja Ravi Varma collection is housed at Laxmi Vilas Palace and the Maharaja Fatehsingh Museum in Vadodara.
• Raja Ravi Varma lived from 1848 to 1906 and was commissioned by the Gaekwad royal family in 1888.
• The paintings travelled to London’s Victoria and Albert Museum about a decade ago and to Mumbai’s National Gallery of Modern Art about two decades ago.
• A secure, climate-controlled storage facility of 20,000 square feet is being built to house more than 40,000 objects.
• The collection includes paintings, sculptures, decorative arts, armoury, royal regalia, textiles and photographic archives.

Prelims pointers

• Yuva Sangam Phase VII is being implemented by the Department of Higher Education under the Ministry of Education.
• The programme operates under Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat and aims to strengthen national integration and youth connections.
• Phase VII provides participants from 20 paired States and Union Territories with cultural and educational exposure.
• Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University is the Uttarakhand delegation’s nodal institute, while IIT Kharagpur is its host in West Bengal.
• The Uttarakhand delegation began its visit on October 7, met Governor R.N. Ravi on October 8, and visited Prinsep Ghat and the Sundervan on October 9, 2026.

Prelims pointers

• INS Trishul is identified as an Indian Navy guided-missile stealth frigate participating in KONKAN-26 with the Royal Navy.
• KONKAN-26 is the annual India–UK bilateral maritime exercise and is being conducted off Plymouth from 8–15 October 2026.
• The Harbour Phase includes professional interactions, cross-deck visits, sports, cultural engagements and opening the ship to visitors.
• The Sea Phase covers air, surface and sub-surface domains, including air defence, seamanship and anti-submarine exercises.
• The release links KONKAN-26 to the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership outlined in the India–UK Vision 2035.

Prelims pointers

• The Mission for Aatmanirbharta in Pulses was launched on October 11, 2025, with ₹11,440 crore allocated from 2025–26 to 2030–31.
• By 2030–31, the Mission targets nearly 350 lakh tonnes of pulse production and yield of 1,130 kg per hectare.
• It plans 87.5 lakh free seed kits, 126 lakh quintals of certified seed and an additional 35 lakh hectares under pulses over six years.
• The cluster-based strategy covers 489 districts, while the Mission envisages establishing 1,000 pulse-processing units.
• NCCF and NAFED are authorised to procure 100% of Tur, Masoor and Urad from willing registered farmers during 2025–26 to 2028–29.

Prelims pointers

• Development projects worth over ₹13,000 crore were inaugurated, dedicated or given foundation stones in Chennai on 11 October 2026.
• The address says metro services expanded from five Indian cities in 2014 to 25 cities, while the network grew from about 250 km to over 1,100 km.
• An advanced lubricant base-oil project was presented as creating employment and helping reduce India’s imports.
• About ₹17,000 crore is to be invested in developing VOC Port at Thoothukudi as a mega container and green-energy hub.
• PM Matsya Sampada Yojana support in Tamil Nadu includes fishing harbours, landing centres, cold-chain facilities and transport vehicles for fish.

Prelims pointers

• INS Sahyadri arrived at Vladivostok, Russia, on 10 October 2026 for the bilateral naval Exercise INDRA 2026.
• Exercise INDRA 2026 between the Indian Navy and Russian Federation Navy is scheduled for 13–18 October 2026.
• MAHASAGAR is expanded in the release as Mutual and Holistic Advancement for Security and Growth Across Regions.
• The deployment follows the 23rd India–Russia Annual Summit held on 4–5 December 2025.
• INDRA 2026 comprises a harbour phase followed by coordinated activities at sea to improve understanding, coordination and interoperability.

Prelims pointers

• ICMR-CHAMP is being established at Keylong in Lahaul and Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh.
• The Indian Council of Medical Research is establishing the centre under the Department of Health Research, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
• The release describes ICMR-CHAMP as ICMR’s first dedicated centre for high-altitude medicine and public-health research.
• Its mandate includes high-altitude physiology, mountain medicine, climate-sensitive diseases, maternal and child health, occupational health and disaster medicine.
• The centre will explore telemedicine, digital-health platforms, drone-enabled healthcare logistics and real-time public-health surveillance.