Current affairs — 30 October 2026

Prelims pointers

• The Division Bench comprised Justice Sanjay Dhar and Justice Rajnesh Oswal and struck down the levy to the extent challenged.
• The court held that water-usage charges on hydropower projects amounted to a tax on electricity generation beyond State legislative competence.
• The 2010 Act sought revenue from private and public water users, including electricity-generating companies; the projected annual revenue was about ₹850 crore.
• Eleven independent hydropower companies challenged the Act, arguing that their use of water was non-consumptive.
• The J&K administration defended the law by citing Entries 17, 49 and 50 of List II in the Constitution’s Seventh Schedule.

Prelims pointers

• The United States, Denmark and Greenland signed the Arctic security agreement at the United Nations on September 22, 2026.
• Greenland is an autonomous part of the Kingdom of Denmark and has extensive control over domestic affairs under the 2009 Self-Government Act.
• Under Greenland’s self-government arrangement, foreign, defence and security policy remain with Denmark.
• The agreement expands the American military presence while reaffirming Danish sovereignty and Greenland’s right to self-determination.
• Entry into force is conditional on completion of the necessary parliamentary procedures in Denmark and Greenland.

Prelims pointers

• The 19-month-old radio-collared cheetah cub KNG22 was found injured on October 25 and died during treatment in Jabalpur on October 27, 2026.
• The cub was found in compartment 748 of the Sheopur Territorial Forest Division, about 50 kilometres from Kuno’s boundaries.
• Five firearm metal pellets were recovered from the cub’s body, including one pellet from a lung.
• The State special task force includes forest and police officers; a Union government team also visited the area on October 28.
• Investigators were examining poaching, revenge killing and self-defence, but officials said no strong evidence of poaching had yet been found.

Prelims pointers

• The Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee demanded a Special Development Board to expedite welfare programmes in the Kotia group of villages in Koraput district.
• Both Odisha and Andhra Pradesh claim jurisdiction over Kotia; the dispute intensified after Andhra Pradesh announced local polls there.
• Bhakta Charan Das said Odisha was carved out of the Madras Presidency on a linguistic basis on April 1, 1936.
• Das described 21 villages as disputed and alleged that most residents possess Aadhaar, ration and voter identity cards issued by both States.
• The region was described as containing bauxite, manganese, graphite and gold, while Kotia and Deomali were cited for tourism potential.

Prelims pointers

• The 50-metre, three-stage GSLV-F18 has a lift-off mass of 420 tonnes and carries the 2,232 kg NVS-03 satellite.
• The planned transfer orbit has a 170 km perigee, 37,023 km apogee and 20.75-degree inclination.
• NVS-03 will fly with its pyrotechnic valves already open to bypass the connector failure that stranded NVS-02.
• NVS-03 carries an indigenous rubidium atomic clock developed by the Space Applications Centre.
• The satellite will transmit in L1, L5 and S bands, with L1 supporting compatibility with modern civilian smartphones and wearables.

Prelims pointers

• Marco Rubio was to host G20 foreign ministers in Atlanta on October 30, 2026, including Russia’s Sergei Lavrov.
• A diplomatic source expected a United States-drafted chair summary instead of a consensus final declaration.
• The Atlanta meeting was intended to prepare for a December G20 leaders’ summit at the Doral resort in Miami.
• Energy prices rose after US-Israel strikes on Iran were followed by Tehran’s blockage of the Strait of Hormuz.
• The United States is set to hand the rotating G20 leadership to Britain.

Prelims pointers

• Insect pests cause roughly 20% of global annual crop losses, and that share is projected to rise with warming.
• Crop protection continues to rely heavily on chemical insecticides.
• NIPGR researchers identified a previously uncharacterised protein involved in warning undamaged leaves after insect attack.
• A bite on one leaf can generate an alarm that reaches other leaves within minutes, despite plants lacking a nervous system.
• Scientists studying plant defence have shown that chewing of a leaf activates defence systems.

Prelims pointers

• The commission reported more than 75,000 Palestinian deaths since October 7, 2023, including at least 21,500 children and 11,000 women.
• The commission said the death toll continued to rise despite the October 2025 ceasefire.
• It reported 34,176 Palestinians still displaced in the West Bank as of August 2026 following operations since January 2025.
• Justice Srinivasan Muralidhar called for compliance with the International Court of Justice’s July 2024 advisory opinion.
• Israel’s UN representative Danny Danon rejected the commission’s findings, while the commission defended its evidence protocols.

Prelims pointers

• Nearly 7.4 million cubic metres of water reportedly surged from breached Shintaphu Lake into the Mo river.
• Over 4,000 people from 10 places in Kumargram and Tufanganj were moved to safe areas.
• Residents in the Sankosh catchment and along its tributaries were asked to evacuate immediately.
• Some lock gates were initially reported damaged by rising water pressure, though afternoon water levels were stable.
• The India Meteorological Department forecast heavy rainfall in Alipurduar on October 30, potentially complicating the situation.

Prelims pointers

• RBI’s notification is dated October 30, 2026, and concerns Section 51A of UAPA, 1967.
• The applicable RBI Know Your Customer Directions, 2025, were dated November 28, 2025.
• The MEA cited UNSC press release SC/16494 dated October 29, 2026.
• The Resolution 1988 Committee amended five entries on the Taliban Sanctions List.
• The listed individuals and entities face an assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo.

Prelims pointers

• Optional self-enumeration is scheduled from January 10 to January 24, 2027, immediately before house-to-house enumeration.
• Door-to-door Population Enumeration is notified for January 25 to February 28, 2027, followed by revision from March 1 to 5.
• The Census reference moment is 00:00 hours on March 1, 2027.
• The notification invokes Section 3 of the Census Act, 1948, read with Rules 6A and 6D of the Census Rules, 1990.
• Census 2027 is described as India’s first digital Census and the first to enumerate caste and permit self-enumeration.

Prelims pointers

• ECI told the Supreme Court that false Form 7s found during Uttar Pradesh’s SIR were not accepted.
• The court directed ECI to investigate the allegations, act as necessary and file a compliance report.
• The petition alleged false particulars, invalid identifiers, forged signatures and bulk deletion requests.
• The petitioner sought penal action under Section 31 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950.
• ECI said BLOs were told not to digitise unchecked forms or accept Form 7 applications in bulk.

Prelims pointers

• India imported 209.4 lakh tonnes of crude oil in September 2026.
• The September oil import bill was nearly $14.3 billion, 33% above September 2025.
• India imported no U.S. oil in September after a prior 12-month average of just over 5%.
• Russia’s share of India’s oil imports fell from about 51% in July to 33% in September.
• The UAE’s share reached an all-time high of 26.5% after monthly import volumes rose 67%.

Prelims pointers

• The Supreme Court found a formal extension of Keralam’s SIR re-verification deadline unnecessary.
• The Bench described correction of electoral records and voter inclusion as a continuing process.
• Petitioners may submit details of people who missed the enumeration-form deadline.
• The ECI agreed to examine the representations and was directed to report to the court.
• The three-judge Bench included CJI Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana.

Prelims pointers

• The Supreme Court asked MeitY to formulate measures against commercial exploitation of court live streams.
• The Bench was headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant.
• Suggestions from High Courts and other stakeholders had been forwarded to MeitY.
• Earlier court orders banned unauthorised use and circulation of live-streamed proceedings online.
• Prashant Bhushan proposed verifiable digital signatures or watermarks on official court clips.

Prelims pointers

• New Delhi will host CGIAR Science and Partnership Week from 12 to 17 April 2027.
• The event is being organised by ICAR under DARE, together with CGIAR.
• ICAR scientists have worked with CGIAR for more than 50 years.
• Ten CGIAR research centres work in India across crops, water, livestock, fish, nutrition and policy.
• The first CGIAR Science Week took place in Nairobi, Kenya, in April 2025.

Prelims pointers

• Development projects worth over ₹14,000 crore were launched in Banaskantha, Gujarat.
• The latest PM-KISAN instalment sent more than 18 thousand crore rupees to about 10 crore farmers.
• Nearly 12 lakh solar pumps distributed under PM-KUSUM were said to have saved over 80 crore litres of diesel.
• About 150 crore vaccine doses had been administered to livestock belonging to over 8 crore farmers.
• More than 4,000 modern Anganwadis were inaugurated for about 4 lakh children and pregnant mothers in Gujarat.

Prelims pointers

• The relic exposition in Arunachal Pradesh is scheduled from 31 October to 21 November 2026.
• Public programmes will take place at Tawang, Bomdila and Namsai.
• William Claxton Peppé excavated a stupa at Piprahwa in 1898.
• ASI excavations from 1971 to 1977 found two caskets containing a total of 22 bone relics.
• Twenty of the 22 relics are at the National Museum, while two are at the Indian Museum, Kolkata.

Prelims pointers

• Total receipts through September 2026 were ₹18,35,422 crore, or 50.3% of the corresponding Budget Estimate.
• Tax revenue net to the Centre was ₹12,76,088 crore and non-tax revenue was ₹4,80,732 crore.
• Tax devolution to State Governments totalled ₹6,99,409 crore, ₹67,658 crore above the previous year.
• Total expenditure was ₹25,49,835 crore, or 47.7% of the corresponding Budget Estimate.
• Capital-account expenditure was ₹6,54,547 crore, while interest payments were ₹6,46,010 crore.

Prelims pointers

• UPI can be used for online bookings at At the Top, Burj Khalifa, and Resorts World Sentosa.
• NIPL is the international arm of the National Payments Corporation of India.
• NIPL partnered with NEOPAY and Emaar Entertainment for UPI acceptance at the UAE attraction.
• FOMO Pay collaborated on expanding UPI acceptance to Resorts World Sentosa in Singapore.
• The release lists ten UPI-accepting countries and says Uzbekistan is set to become the eleventh.

Prelims pointers

• The committee was announced in the Union Budget 2026-27 and later constituted by the Government of India.
• Former Central Vigilance Commissioner Suresh N. Patel is the committee’s chairman.
• The committee has a tenure of six months, with the Joint Secretary for Banking as Member Secretary.
• Its regulatory review includes Regional Rural Banks and Cooperative Banks.
• Its mandate includes AI and digital innovation, cyber safeguards, and review of Priority Sector Lending and the Lead Bank Scheme.

Prelims pointers

• PAVAN stands for Platform for Air quality Vigilance and Analytics for NCR.
• PAVAN-I3C integrates more than 30 APIs and data streams from multiple agencies.
• The platform combines data from 111 Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Stations in Delhi-NCR.
• Its coverage includes over 2,300 industries and more than 3,200 active construction sites.
• PAVAN-I3C follows the principle ‘Detect, Analyse, Act’ and uses alert-based compliance management.

Prelims pointers

• ESTIC 2026 was held at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi from 27 to 29 October 2026.
• The conclave was jointly organised by 12 ministries and departments under the Principal Scientific Adviser’s guidance.
• DRDO led the thematic session on Semiconductors and Next-Generation Chips.
• GaAs- and GaN-based MMICs are used as building blocks in advanced radar and electronic-warfare applications.
• Infrared focal plane arrays support target detection and tracking by imaging-infrared seekers during the terminal phase.

Prelims pointers

• INS Tarkash arrived at Port Louis, Mauritius, on 30 October 2026 during a Southern Indian Ocean Region deployment.
• The crew’s programme includes joint training and professional engagement with personnel of the Mauritius Coast Guard.
• INS Tarkash is to participate in the 192nd Aapravasi Diwas events on 2 November 2026.
• Aapravasi Diwas commemorates the first indentured labourers from India arriving at Aapravasi Ghat on 2 November 1834.
• MAHASAGAR is expanded in the release as Mutual and Holistic Advancement for Security and Growth Across Regions.

Prelims pointers

• TRAI released draft responsible-AI guidelines for telecommunication networks and services.
• The Government of India released the India AI Governance Guidelines in February 2026.
• The national AI governance framework is anchored in seven guiding principles.
• Part 4 of the national guidelines provides practical guidance for industry actors and regulators.
• Stakeholders may submit written comments on TRAI’s draft by 27 November 2026.

Prelims pointers

• DBN, the Tamil Nadu government and TANFINET signed the BharatNet utilisation agreement.
• The agreement operates under the State-led model of the Amended BharatNet Program.
• The Union Cabinet approved the Amended BharatNet Program on 4 August 2023.
• Subsidy support is expected to facilitate more than five lakh rural home fibre connections in Tamil Nadu.
• A total of 4,767 Tamil Nadu villages are to receive connectivity on demand.

Prelims pointers

• The 19th India–BLEU Joint Economic Commission met in Luxembourg on 29 October 2026.
• India’s Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal was one of the session’s three co-chairs.
• Logistics discussions included air connectivity and ports.
• The three sides discussed renewable energy, FinTech, digital transformation, healthcare and agro-food processing.
• The meeting explored deeper cooperation in aerospace, research, higher education and skill development.

Prelims pointers

• The DPIIT–ONDC roundtable included more than 40 leaders from FMCG companies.
• DigiDukaan had connected over 21,000 retailers with more than 450 brands by September 2026.
• The connected retailers were spread across Hyderabad, Jaipur and Mumbai.
• Hyderabad had more than 16,000 onboarded retailers and repeat-ordering rates of 73–78% per month.
• Forty per cent of retailers in an initial study reported lower inventory for products procured through DigiDukaan.

Prelims pointers

• Of 137 commercial coal mines allocated since 2020, 25 were producing.
• India produced 1,041 million tonnes of coal in financial year 2025–26.
• Coal was reported to supply more than 70% of India’s electricity.
• The 2020 framework allowed 100% foreign direct investment through the automatic route.
• Average mining-plan approval time was reduced from nine months to 4.5 months.

Prelims pointers

• The 41 selected SCBs account for about 95% of total non-food credit extended by all SCBs.
• Non-food bank credit grew 19.1% year-on-year, compared with 11.2% a year earlier.
• Agriculture and allied activities and industry each recorded 19.5% year-on-year credit growth.
• Services credit grew 28.3% year-on-year, compared with 9.9% in the previous-year period.
• Personal-loan credit grew 17.3% year-on-year, compared with 11.5% a year earlier.

Prelims pointers

• Services exports were $39,305 million and imports were $20,097 million in September 2026.
• September year-on-year growth was 7.2% for services exports and 12.6% for imports.
• July 2026 services exports were $38,253 million and imports were $20,606 million.
• August 2026 services exports were $35,471 million and imports were $18,934 million.
• RBI described the July–September figures as provisional and the growth rates as revised.

Prelims pointers

• The outstanding-loan WALR of SCBs remained unchanged at 8.96% in September 2026.
• The WALR on fresh rupee loans fell from 8.61% in August to 8.51% in September 2026.
• The one-year median MCLR declined from 8.61% in September to 8.55% in October 2026.
• The outstanding-term-deposit WADTDR edged down from 6.56% to 6.55% in September 2026.
• The fresh-term-deposit WADTDR declined from 5.67% in August to 5.61% in September 2026.