Current affairs — 22 October 2026

Prelims pointers

• India and Poland are seeking to double bilateral trade from its current level of about $6 billion.
• The India-European Union Free Trade Agreement was expected to be signed on December 16, 2026.
• India and Poland were finalising a confidentiality agreement concerning classified defence information.
• A bilateral defence joint working group met in Warsaw in September 2026 to finalise agreements.
• Donald Tusk’s delegation included representatives of about 100 companies and Finance and Economy Minister Andrzej Domanski.

Prelims pointers

• The Jammu and Kashmir High Court case concerned preventive detention under the Public Safety Act.
• Justice Wasim Sadiq Nargal directed Srinagar’s Deputy Commissioner to appear personally at the next hearing.
• The detention rested on allegations of association with terrorist elements and activities prejudicial to State security.
• The court noted an apparent absence of specific material particulars in the stated grounds of detention.
• Justice Nargal called preventive detention an exceptional departure from the ordinary criminal process requiring strict safeguards.

Prelims pointers

• As of October 16, none of India's three licensed satellite-communications providers had security clearance for commercial satellite broadband.
• Only three NavIC satellites could provide PNT signals, while at least four are required for standalone positioning.
• In December 2025, the government said 2,170 ministries and departments hosted applications on MeghRaj.
• NPCI operates UPI, whose domestic infrastructure provides considerable independence from Visa and Mastercard.
• SIPRI placed India second among major-arms importers in 2021–2025, with Russia accounting for 40% of imports.

Prelims pointers

• Raghoo Puri delivered India's rebuttal in the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly on October 21, 2026.
• The disputed report was authored by UN Special Rapporteur Ben Saul and called D-Company India-based.
• India said Dawood Ibrahim and D-Company have been wanted in connection with terror attacks since 1993.
• Puri said Ibrahim fled India before the 2003 Security Council listing for association with Al-Qaeda.
• The listing discussed in India's response falls under the UN Security Council's 1267 Al-Qaeda sanctions regime.

Prelims pointers

• The WMO said tropical Pacific sea-surface temperatures may reach 3.8°C above average during November 2026-January 2027.
• The WMO declares an El Nino when the sea-surface temperature anomaly in the region is 0.5°C.
• El Nino is one of the three phases of the El Nino Southern Oscillation, alongside La Nina and a neutral phase.
• ENSO combines changes in central and eastern tropical Pacific sea temperatures with fluctuations in the atmosphere above.
• A very strong El Nino can bring drought to some regions, heavy rainfall and flooding to others, and increased heat widely.

Prelims pointers

• Iranian state television reported seven damaged oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz overnight on October 22, 2026.
• Four tankers were reportedly targeted and caught fire while they were transferring oil.
• Three other tankers were reportedly damaged and immobilised after striking naval mines.
• The report provided no details on possible casualties or the flags under which the tankers sailed.
• If verified, it would be the largest single-day vessel-damage count in the waterway since the war began on February 28.

Prelims pointers

• The migration described runs from the Eastern Ghats towards the Western Ghats during the North-East monsoon.
• The Nature and Butterfly Society began as a Facebook group in 2013 and helps organise observations and surveys.
• At Kalapatty Main Road, observers recorded 120 migrating butterflies per minute at 9.50 a.m. on October 18.
• Later generations, perhaps the third or fourth, fly back towards the Eastern Ghats around May.
• The society's Tamil Nadu checklist documents 329 butterfly species and supports baseline data for Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve.

Prelims pointers

• December Brent crude futures rose 3.2% to $112.35 a barrel on Thursday afternoon.
• Brent reached an intraday high of $112.67 a barrel, according to the report.
• West Texas Intermediate crude futures gained 2.47% to $99.55 a barrel.
• Houthi forces targeted King Fahd International Airport in Dammam.
• Saudi air defences intercepted an attempted drone attack near Aramco's Shaybah oil facility.

Prelims pointers

• The first detected human Shamonda virus case involved a severely immunocompromised patient in France who later died.
• Shamonda virus belongs to the Orthobunyavirus group and is typically spread to animals by small biting insects.
• Investigators believed the patient contracted the virus through a midge bite in eastern France.
• The virus was first detected in Nigeria in the mid-1960s and reached Europe for the first time at the end of July 2026.
• It had been detected in 14 western European countries, with cattle considered its principal animal hosts.

Prelims pointers

• The China Earthquake Networks Center reported a magnitude-7 earthquake in Tibet on October 22, 2026.
• The epicentre was in a high-altitude county in Nagqu, northern Tibet, at a depth of 10 km.
• The epicentre was recorded at 32.40° north latitude and 93.79° east longitude.
• The average elevation within 5 km of the epicentre was about 4,864 metres.
• The Tibetan Plateau lies where the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates meet and often collide.

Prelims pointers

• Uttar Pradesh Police recorded more than 16,000 encounter operations between 2017 and 2025.
• About 97% of the accused in those operations survived with a bullet wound to the leg.
• The NLU Delhi study examined 100 verified cases from January 2025 to May 2026 across more than 30 districts.
• In PUCL v. State of Maharashtra (2014), the Supreme Court laid down sixteen principles and mandated an independent inquiry in every case.
• The Allahabad High Court said in January 2026 that the power to punish belongs exclusively to the judiciary.

Prelims pointers

• Raksha Expo 2026 is scheduled for December 7–9 at Bharat Future City near Hyderabad.
• The expo will combine aerospace, space, defence and internal security on one platform.
• India's defence production reached ₹1.78 lakh crore in 2025–26, according to the report.
• India's defence exports touched ₹38,424 crore, described as an all-time high in the report.
• Telangana's aerospace exports rose from ₹15,900 crore in 2023–24 to ₹30,742 crore in 2024–25.

Prelims pointers

• The PIB release lists four outcomes from the official visit of the Prime Minister of Poland to India on October 22, 2026.
• India and Poland announced a target of doubling their bilateral trade by the year 2030.
• Poland joined the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure, abbreviated as CDRI in the release.
• The two sides announced the establishment of a Defence Industry Dialogue as the outcome in the defence area.
• India and Poland agreed to a dialogue on counter-terrorism as one of the visit outcomes.

Prelims pointers

• The Law Commission of India organised the conference at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi, where the Vice-President delivered the address.
• The Vice-President said the Constitution balances the strength of the Union with State responsibilities and legitimate autonomy.
• He cited the replacement of three colonial-era criminal laws and repeal of more than 1,700 obsolete laws in twelve years.
• State Law Commissions were urged to identify and recommend amendment or repeal of outdated laws for easier living and efficient governance.
• He called for coordination among the Law Commission of India, State Law Commissions and State Law Departments through inter-State consultations.

Prelims pointers

• The Prime Minister said reform of multilateral institutions is necessary and that the Global South must receive an appropriate voice.
• The address stated that India’s non-fossil electricity capacity had crossed 300 GW and its Fast Breeder Reactor had achieved criticality.
• The Prime Minister said India ranked third in research publications and approximately one-and-a-half lakh patents were filed during 2025.
• He said India held about twenty percent of the global chip-design workforce and students at Indian academic institutions had made over three hundred chip designs.
• The address said Penicillin G production restarted at Kakinada under the PLI framework, while API-sector investment exceeded five thousand crore rupees and about 40 projects had begun.

Prelims pointers

• President Droupadi Murmu attended Seva Samman Parv and Yuva Prabodhan during Nuakhai in Raipur on October 22, 2026.
• The President described Nuakhai as a celebration of agricultural traditions, gratitude toward nature and the spirit of community.
• She said respecting food, acknowledging farmers’ contributions and protecting natural resources are collective responsibilities.
• She linked the national goal of Viksit Bharat by 2047 with the equal participation of women in national and social affairs.
• The President said youth in Chhattisgarh had moved away from Naxalism and joined the mainstream through government efforts and their own will.

Prelims pointers

• The Loss and Damage Fund provisionally set aside $21.6 million for Nepal, including $1.6 million in oversight fees.
• The October 22, 2026 decision was the Fund's first allocation earmarked for a specific country.
• An August 26 ice-and-rock avalanche triggered flooding along the Bhotekoshi-Trishuli-Narayani river system.
• The Fund was established at COP27 in 2022, and its operational mechanism was agreed at COP28 the following year.
• The Fund had pledges exceeding $820 million but faced 176 requests from 119 countries worth about $2.8 billion.