Current affairs — 12 October 2026

Prelims pointers

• The 2026 Mysuru Dasara was inaugurated atop Chamundi Hills as an 11-day festival.
• Abhinava Gavisiddeshwara Swami of Gavimutt, Koppal, lit the lamp and showered flowers on Goddess Chamundeshwari’s idol.
• More than 200 seers and religious heads attended the Mysuru Dasara inauguration for the first time.
• Events include a flower show, citywide illumination, sports, cultural programmes, a food festival, a book fair and traditional wrestling.
• The seer linked the Dasara tradition to the Wadiyar dynasty and recalled Basavanna’s 12th-century message, “Kayakave Kailasa”.

Prelims pointers

• The Supreme Court said people gathering peacefully should not be illegally detained during the Delhi protests.
• The Court asked authorities to keep Delhi Metro and Internet services functioning, subject to maintenance of law and order.
• Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana issued notice to the Centre during a special sitting on October 11, 2026.
• Three CJP leaders were released after appearing before an executive magistrate on a condition not to breach the peace for one year.
• Delhi Police officials said 20 FIRs had been registered in connection with the October 10 CJP protest.

Prelims pointers

• The Niño3.4 monitoring region recorded an all-time-high sea-surface temperature of 29.70°C in September 2026, according to Copernicus.
• Copernicus said a warming-adjusted index did not yet show the current El Niño as stronger than earlier major events.
• Strong El Niño events used for comparison occurred in 1982-83, 1997-98 and 2015-16.
• Global average sea-surface temperature reached 21.05°C in September 2026, above the previous September record of 20.92°C in 2023.
• El Niño generally occurs every two to seven years, lasts around nine to 12 months, and warms the central and eastern equatorial Pacific.

Prelims pointers

• A study found that 2024 had a record-breaking number of heavy and extreme rainfall events, alongside simultaneous warming in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.
• Models suggest the unusual rainfall pattern observed in 2024 could become typical by 2050 if present warming trends continue.
• High blood pressure raises blood vasopressin levels, while ageing causes cartilage cells to produce receptors for the hormone.
• Blocking vasopressin receptors with specific drugs stopped the accelerated cartilage damage described in the osteoarthritis study.
• AlphaProof Nexus paired language models with Lean and solved nine Erdős problems, proved 44 open conjectures and advanced optimisation theory.

Prelims pointers

• Prosopis juliflora was introduced to India in 1877 and spread partly through cattle that consumed its pods and dispersed its seeds.
• Prosopis juliflora is a deep-rooted phreatophyte capable of exploiting altered water and soil regimes, including irrigation-related moisture conditions.
• India uses about 35-40 million tonnes of urea annually, while atmospheric nitrogen deposition adds 10-30 kg per hectare each year in many regions.
• Heavy grazing can suppress palatable plants while allowing thorny, chemically defended and disturbance-tolerant species such as Lantana camara to persist.
• The article recommends least-harm restoration through careful local removal, phased planting, intergenerational care and meaningful human livelihoods.

Prelims pointers

• In agile frogs, excessive heat during the tadpole stage can cause genetically female XX individuals to develop into physically normal, fertile males.
• Researchers paired 20 sex-reversed males with 20 sex-concordant males, matching them for body size and arrival time at breeding ponds.
• Sex-reversed males comprised roughly 20% of sampled wild populations but accounted for only 4% of egg clutches across 16 populations.
• Sex reversal occurred in 61% of offspring sired by sex-reversed males, compared with 17% of offspring sired by sex-concordant males.
• When exposed to an artificial heatwave and ranavirus, tadpoles sired by sex-reversed males carried higher viral loads.

Prelims pointers

• Ectotherms include fish, reptiles, amphibians and insects; their body temperatures vary with outside conditions, and they comprise more than 99% of animals.
• The study synthesised 60 years of research on 138 ectotherm species from around the world.
• For each 1°C of warming, the heat tolerance of embryos and juvenile ectotherms increased by only 0.13°C on average.
• Lesueur’s velvet geckos from eggs incubated at 23.2°C tolerated 40.2°C, while those incubated at 27°C tolerated only 38.7°C.
• Trees, shrubs, burrows, ponds, caves, logs and rocks can provide the cool spaces that animals need during heatwaves.

Prelims pointers

• The R4 in this report comprises Turkiye, Pakistan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
• The R4 demanded an immediate and unconditional halt to the Houthi attacks on Riyadh’s international airport.
• Turkiye and Pakistan signed a joint defence pact with Saudi Arabia in August 2026 under which an attack on one is an attack on all.
• Turkiye’s parliament had not yet officially ratified the joint defence pact, which was expected to be submitted to it in the coming days.
• Turkiye agreed to join a Saudi-led coalition intended to ensure navigational safety in the Red Sea.

Prelims pointers

• The IPCC has 195 member states, whose representatives were expected to meet in Addis Ababa on October 12, 2026.
• The IPCC plans three reports covering climate causes, vulnerabilities and adaptation, and options to prevent further warming.
• Working-group chairs proposed approval of all three reports by September 2028; opponents wanted the second and third delayed to 2029.
• The November 2028 UN climate talks are due to assess progress towards goals set in the Paris agreement reached in 2015.
• India, Kenya, Saudi Arabia, Russia and China sought more time so scientists from less-resourced countries could contribute meaningfully.

Prelims pointers

• Robert E. Hall and Michael Woodford won the 2026 economics prize for the microeconomic foundations of macroeconomic stabilisation.
• Hall is associated with Stanford University, while Woodford is associated with Columbia University.
• The official name is the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel.
• The economics prize was created through a donation from Sweden's central bank in 1968 and was not among the original five Nobel prizes.
• The 2026 award carries 12 million Swedish kronor, about $1.2 million, and is to be presented on December 10.

Prelims pointers

• The RBI issued two foreign-exchange regulatory circulars on October 10, 2026 amid pressure on the rupee.
• Authorised Dealers may not permit rebooking of INR-linked forex derivatives cancelled after the directions were issued, while rollover at maturity remains permitted under existing rules.
• The threshold for specified forex derivative transactions without establishing underlying exposure was cut from $100 million to $5 million.
• For eligible INR-linked derivatives above $2 million used to hedge current-account exposures, the cash Foreign Exchange Risk Reserve equals 20% of the INR-equivalent notional amount.
• Authorised Dealers must retain an undertaking confirming that the same underlying exposure has not been hedged with another dealer.

Prelims pointers

• South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff initially did not specify whether the North Korean projectile was ballistic or how far it travelled.
• The Japanese Prime Minister’s office detected the October 12 launch and described the weapon as a suspected ballistic missile.
• South Korea flight-tested its first domestically developed hypersonic weapon on October 9, 2026.
• The South Korean hypersonic weapon was designed to fly at least five times the speed of sound and evade missile-defence systems.
• North Korea described its October 3 test as involving a hypersonic intermediate-range missile designed to evade defences in South Korea and Japan.

Prelims pointers

• Consumer Price Index-based retail inflation rose to 5.54% in September 2026 from 4.83% in August.
• The September inflation rate was the highest reading in the new CPI index series released in January.
• Inflation in the food basket increased to 7.74% from 5.97% in the previous month.
• The government released the September retail-inflation data on October 12, 2026.
• The RBI raised the benchmark repo rate by 25 basis points to 5.50% in the preceding week amid inflation concerns.

Prelims pointers

• Robert E. Hall and Michael Woodford jointly received the 2026 Economics Nobel for the microeconomic foundations of macroeconomic stabilisation.
• Stabilisation policy addresses swings in growth, output, inflation, unemployment and business cycles.
• Hall showed that expectations about future constraints affect current household spending, with a 1978 paper providing empirical support.
• Woodford's papers beginning in the 1990s showed that firms often set prices for a period rather than adjusting them continuously.
• Woodford linked aggregate inflation to expectations and current output and stressed that public understanding of future policy affects its impact.

Prelims pointers

• The Strait of Hormuz is described in the report as a waterway crucial to global energy flows.
• Iran has imposed a blockade on the Strait of Hormuz since U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran in February triggered war in West Asia.
• The United States has counter-blockaded Iranian ports, and U.S. forces routinely escort vessels crossing the strait.
• The Guards’ navy said the supertanker disabled its transponders, ignored its warnings, was hit and caught fire.
• Guards naval commander Ali Ozmaei said transponder-disabling vessels seeking to avoid detection would be considered hostile and face a severe response.

Prelims pointers

• Telangana's procurement portfolio includes 3,000 MW of solar power integrated with a 6,000 MWh battery energy storage system.
• The programme also proposes 800 MW of wind power and 2,000 MW of renewable energy round-the-clock power.
• A separate 2,000 MWh FDRE battery storage component is proposed for a 15-year period.
• The State's peak electricity demand had reached 19,892 MW, according to officials quoted in the report.
• Private developers will finance, own and operate competitively bid projects without State capital investment, budgetary support or government guarantee.

Prelims pointers

• The proposed 30% trade-margin cap would cover non-scheduled patented and non-patented cancer medicines identified by an expert committee headed by the Director General of Health Services.
• The NPPA is to examine the expert committee's recommendations before issuing a notification to implement the proposed cap.
• The Centre estimated that trade-margin rationalisation could reduce anti-cancer drug MRPs by 20%–70% and save about ₹2,500 crore annually.
• In 2019, the NPPA imposed a 30% margin cap at the first point of sale on 42 selected non-scheduled anti-cancer medicines.
• Schedule I ceiling prices under the DPCO use the simple average price to retailer of qualifying brands and generics, plus a 16% margin.

Prelims pointers

• President Droupadi Murmu made fresh Governor appointments across six States on October 12, 2026.
• Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar moved from the governorship of Keralam to become Governor of Tamil Nadu.
• Om Prakash Mathur moved from the governorship of Sikkim to become Governor of Keralam.
• Dushyant Gautam and Braj Mohan Ram were appointed Governors of Sikkim and Odisha, respectively.
• Sudha Yadav was appointed Governor of Karnataka, while Dhal Singh Bisen was given charge as Governor of Uttarakhand.

Prelims pointers

• The Northeast monsoon accounts for a major share of Tamil Nadu's annual rainfall.
• Its expected onset over the south peninsula was likely to coincide with the Southwest monsoon's withdrawal from the rest of India.
• The RMC was monitoring a system likely to influence a low-pressure area's formation over the Southeast Bay of Bengal.
• An upper-air cyclonic circulation over the Gulf of Mannar and adjoining south Tamil Nadu coast was sustaining the wet spell.
• Heavy rain was forecast in parts of Tamil Nadu from October 15 and could continue until October 18, 2026.

Prelims pointers

• Final electoral rolls were published for all 117 Punjab Assembly constituencies after the Special Intensive Revision.
• The SIR began on June 25, 2026, and house-to-house enumeration by Booth Level Officers ran through August 3.
• The August 13 draft roll had 1,93,94,435 electors; the final roll had 2,01,00,727, a 3.64% increase.
• Of 35,49,036 electors issued notices, 86,038 were marked ineligible after verification and speaking orders.
• The final service-voter roll from a special summary revision used October 1, 2026 as its qualifying date.

Prelims pointers

• The 16th JETCO in New Delhi was the first such meeting since India-UK CETA negotiations began in January 2022.
• Indian exporters sent more than 50 consignments to the UK on the day CETA entered into force.
• The first CETA Certificates of Origin were issued through India’s eCoO 2.0 platform using self-certification.
• The first tariff-free Scottish salmon reached India within a fortnight, while Scotch whisky entered under reduced tariffs.
• The two sides will begin annual CETA-utilisation data exchanges one year after entry into force, including lower-tariff claims and business feedback.

Prelims pointers

• Piyush Goyal called for India and the United Kingdom to double bilateral trade by 2030 under the framework of India-UK Vision 2035.
• The source says CETA provides zero-duty access in the UK market for most Indian exports and creates opportunities in services.
• The five cooperation priorities cover clean energy and infrastructure, advanced manufacturing, technology, financial services, and healthcare and consumers.
• Financial-services cooperation was proposed between the City of London and GIFT City in Gandhinagar, including fintech and cross-border payments.
• The 16th JETCO was the first session after CETA was signed and entered into force on 15 July 2026.

Prelims pointers

• The second Exercise Tarang Shakti was hosted by the Indian Air Force at Air Force Station Jodhpur from September 26 to October 12, 2026.
• Seven foreign countries participated: Australia, Bangladesh, France, Germany, Sri Lanka, the UAE and the United States.
• Tarang Shakti 2026 included 32 observer nations and used the theme “Power in Partnership”.
• The exercise combined combat, transport, surveillance and air-to-air refuelling capabilities to support joint missions and interoperability.
• Indigenous platforms at the exercise included LCA Tejas and LCH Prachand, while its Open Day drew more than 20,000 visitors.

Prelims pointers

• IBSAMAR is a trilateral maritime exercise among the navies of India, Brazil and South Africa under the IBSA framework.
• The exercise has been conducted biennially since 2008; the 2026 event is its ninth edition, IBSAMAR IX.
• IBSAMAR IX carries the theme “Stronger Together Towards a Shared Future in the Maritime Domain”.
• India is represented by guided-missile stealth frigate INS Tarkash with an integral Chetak helicopter.
• The training spectrum includes surface, anti-air and anti-submarine warfare, maritime interdiction, anti-piracy, search-and-rescue and damage control.

Prelims pointers

• PMDDKY was announced in Union Budget 2025-26 and formally launched on 11 October 2025 to cover 100 districts.
• The scheme targets districts with low productivity, low cropping intensity and lower agricultural credit disbursement.
• PMDDKY converges 36 Central schemes of 11 Ministries and Departments along with relevant State Government schemes.
• District performance is monitored through a dedicated dashboard using 121 indicators and monthly rankings.
• Khet Bachao Abhiyan is scheduled across all States from 22 October to 30 November 2026 to promote balanced fertiliser use and soil health.

Prelims pointers

• Nirmala Sitharaman’s official Singapore visit ran from October 8 to 11, 2026.
• The two sides reviewed outcomes of the fourth India–Singapore Ministerial Roundtable and the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
• Singapore’s financial authorities discussed asset tokenisation, digital money, CBDCs, interoperability and trusted settlement arrangements with India.
• Investors were encouraged to examine opportunities through the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund and GIFT IFSC.
• India–ASEAN cooperation was discussed in the run-up to Singapore’s ASEAN chairmanship in 2027.

Prelims pointers

• IBCA is a treaty-based inter-governmental international organisation headquartered in India.
• Its conservation mandate covers lion, tiger, leopard, snow leopard, cheetah, jaguar and puma.
• India pledged an initial ₹150 crore to IBCA for five years, covering 2023-24 through 2027-28.
• The release reported 29 member countries, five observer countries and 11 other countries consenting to join IBCA.
• IBCA’s PRIME cat-health programme was organised for veterinary doctors from 20 countries.

Prelims pointers

• APARC—Atmospheric Processes and their Role in Climate—is a core project of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP).
• The APARC General Assembly 2026 was a five-day event at IITM Pune from October 12 to 16, 2026.
• The assembly had more than 550 participants, including 380 in-person attendees and approximately 180 virtual researchers.
• Its 67 oral presentations comprised 9 keynotes, 17 invited talks and 41 contributed talks, alongside more than 400 posters.
• The six themes included climate-system representation, atmospheric composition, climate forcing, tropical extremes, prediction and science for society.

Prelims pointers

• PMDDKY prioritises 100 districts with low agricultural productivity, low cropping intensity or inadequate institutional credit flow.
• District collectors prepared the scheme framework around ground conditions and were asked to review district agricultural action plans monthly.
• The Minister called for mission-mode cultivation of pulses and oilseeds in rice-fallow areas left uncultivated after paddy harvesting.
• The convergence approach covers water management, food processing, cooperation, FPOs, animal husbandry, dairy, fisheries, MSMEs and skills.
• Nearly 16,000 ICAR scientists, along with KVKs, ATMA and agricultural universities, were identified as channels for taking research to farmers.

Prelims pointers

• INS Mangrol (P82), commissioned on October 12, 2026, is the third Mahe-class Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft.
• Cochin Shipyard Limited, Kochi, designed and built INS Mangrol with more than 80% indigenous content.
• The vessel is intended for anti-submarine warfare, underwater surveillance, Low-Intensity Maritime Operations and mine warfare-related tasks.
• INS Mangrol uses three diesel engine-driven waterjet propulsion units for manoeuvrability and rapid response in shallow waters.
• The ship is named after Mangrol in Gujarat’s Junagadh district and carries forward the name of the minesweeper INS Mangrol (M85).

Prelims pointers

• At the end of June 2026, India had 1,114.17 million Internet subscribers: 1,087.50 million broadband and 26.67 million narrowband subscribers.
• Total telephone subscriptions reached 1,348.08 million at the end of June 2026, and overall tele-density stood at 94.31%.
• Wireless mobile data use reached 84,424 PB during April–June 2026, while average monthly use per wireless data subscriber was 28.39 GB.
• Monthly wireless ARPU rose to ₹187.12 in the June 2026 quarter, while average revenue realisation per GB declined to ₹7.13.
• As of June 30, 2026, pay DTH operators reported 48.56 million active subscribers and 578 community radio stations were operational.

Prelims pointers

• Military sources from both sides said fighting around Taiz had killed more than 60 people in the preceding 24 hours.
• A pro-government military source said Houthi fighters blocked every exit from Taiz and carried out several attacks overnight.
• The reported fighting killed 22 members of pro-government forces and at least 40 Houthi fighters, according to sources from the respective sides.
• The Health Ministry warned that medicine, medical equipment and fuel in Taiz were on the verge of running out.
• Taiz lies inland from the Red Sea coast and the Bab al-Mandab strait, where the Houthis had captured territory in a rapid offensive.

Prelims pointers

• The PKK reportedly vacated the Hebat, Yajk, Sabri and Sason camps in the Baze area of northern Iraq's Metina region on October 8.
• The withdrawal was reported by Turkiye's state-run Anadolu news agency, citing unidentified security officials; the PKK gave no immediate comment.
• The PKK announced last year that it would disarm and disband after a call from its imprisoned leader, Abdullah Ocalan.
• A Turkish conditional-pardon measure can take effect only after the National Security Council confirms that the PKK has fully dissolved and disarmed.
• The PKK launched its armed insurgency in 1984 and later shifted its demands from an independent Kurdish state to autonomy and expanded rights in Turkiye.

Prelims pointers

• Federal forces and an allied militia entered Adwa after TPLF forces left the town on Saturday.
• Adwa is a populous northwestern Tigrayan town roughly 40 kilometres from the Eritrean border.
• Clashes between Ethiopia’s federal army and the TPLF erupted in late September.
• Mekelle fell to government forces earlier in the month after the TPLF evacuated; flights later resumed and telecommunications were restored.
• Ethiopia and Eritrea fought a border war from 1998 to 2000, and both traded accusations over the renewed fighting.

Prelims pointers

• Chief Justice of India Surya Kant headed the three-judge Bench considering firecracker restrictions.
• The Court sought a balance between religious sentiments and public-health concerns in Delhi and neighbouring regions.
• Amicus curiae Aparajita Singh highlighted pollution risks for children, senior citizens and people with health vulnerabilities.
• The Commission for Air Quality Management was described as the statutory body responsible for air-quality management in the region.
• The Bench cautioned against difficult-to-enforce restrictions, and the next hearing was fixed for October 15.