Daily edition · Wednesday

UPSC Current Affairs, 21 October 2026

17 stories from the news of the day, each in short with why it matters for Prelims and Mains. Practise their UPSC-style questions and take the daily quiz in CAShorts.

World & IRPrelimsGS3

India, US review ties in Mumbai, hold trilateral with UAE

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio reviewed India–US relations in Mumbai on 20 October 2026 and reaffirmed their commitment to work towards an early conclusion of the Bilateral Trade Agreement. With UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, they also held a trilateral meeting on trade, investment, technology and artificial intelligence.
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PolityPrelimsGS2

ECI lets EROs decide SIR discrepancy notices; hearings made exceptional

The Election Commission of India has changed its ECINet software and procedures for notices issued in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) now decide logical-discrepancy cases themselves, voters may offer documents beyond the 13 listed categories, and personal hearings are held only in exceptional cases.
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NationalGS3GS2

Tamil Nadu funds 25 extra work days beyond VB-G RAM G's 125

Tamil Nadu has sanctioned Rs 100 crore for 'Vetri 150', a State-funded scheme giving 25 more days of wage work to vulnerable rural households that complete the 125 days guaranteed under the Centre's VB-G RAM G Act, 2025. The extra days, taking them to 150 in 2026-27, go first to women-headed, Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and forest-rights households.
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Sci-TechPrelimsGS3

Japan launches MMX probe to bring back a sample from Phobos

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched the Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) probe on an H3 rocket from Tanegashima Space Center on 20 October 2026. MMX is to orbit Phobos, the larger moon of Mars, land on it twice and return at least 10 grams of its surface material to Earth in 2031.
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NationalGS1Prelims

Chhattisgarh's Sirpur enters India's UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List

India has placed the Sirpur Cultural and Archaeological Landscape in Chhattisgarh on its UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List, in an entry submitted on 28 September 2026 under criteria (ii) and (iv). The site, dating from the 5th to the 12th century CE, holds Hindu, Buddhist and Jain monuments. A detailed nomination dossier must follow before any inscription.
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PolityGS2GS1

SC directs Northeast panel to recommend law changes against racial harassment

The Supreme Court, by an order of 14 October 2026, directed the Monitoring Committee set up by the Union Home Ministry to recommend, by 18 December, changes in law to protect people from the Northeast against violence and harassment elsewhere in India. It also ordered that every complainant's full details, including the address, be recorded on receipt.
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EconomyGS3Prelims

No tax deducted on interest from NDB's Maharajah rupee bonds

The Centre has notified that the New Development Bank need not deduct tax at source on interest it pays holders of its Maharajah INR Bonds. The Central Board of Direct Taxes notification of 19 October 2026, under the Income-tax Act, 2025, covers resident holders and Foreign Institutional Investors for the tax year 2026-27 and later years.
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World & IRPrelimsGS3

India at UN renews offer of a multilateral No First Use pact

India has reiterated at the UN General Assembly's First Committee that it is ready to make its No First Use pledge, and its pledge not to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear-weapon states, part of a multilateral legal agreement. India also reaffirmed its voluntary nuclear testing moratorium and said decisions to use nuclear weapons must remain under human control.
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PolityPrelimsGS4

Delhi HC: RTI security exemptions shield PM's IAF flight records

The Delhi High Court on 15 October 2026 set aside a 2020 Central Information Commission order that told the Indian Air Force to release Special Flight Returns on the Prime Minister's foreign visits. It held the records exempt under sections 8(1)(a) and 8(1)(g) of the Right to Information Act, 2005, citing national security and the Prime Minister's safety.
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PolityGS2GS3

Supreme Court directs Centre to publicise Section 164A interim relief scheme

The Supreme Court on 16 October 2026 directed the Union Government to give wide publicity to the Compensation to Victims (Interim Relief) Scheme, 2026, framed under Section 164A of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. It ordered the scheme's publication in the Official Gazette at the earliest and asked the Centre whether it covers accidents involving uninsured vehicles.
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PolityGS2Prelims

Dissent against a court verdict is not enmity: Karnataka High Court

The Karnataka High Court has quashed a 2019 FIR against 13 people accused of painting roadside slogans that called a Supreme Court judgment a 'denial of justice'. Relying on the Supreme Court's 2024 ruling in Javed Ahmad Hajam, it held that voicing dissatisfaction with a verdict does not attract sections 153A or 295A of the Indian Penal Code.
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World & IRPrelimsGS2

SCO Council of Heads of Government adopts 2027 budget in Dushanbe

The 25th meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation's Council of Heads of Government, in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, on 20 October 2026, adopted a Joint Communiqué with the SCO budget for 2027 and a new action plan for economic cooperation. Representing India, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh called for dismantling the entire ecosystem of terrorism and for connectivity that respects sovereignty.
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World & IRPrelimsGS2

UN dues: India tells Fifth Committee the Charter requires full, timely payment

India told the UN General Assembly's Fifth Committee on 19 October 2026 that, as a major troop-contributing country, it holds that the UN Charter requires Member States to pay their contributions in full and on time. As of 30 September 2026, members owed $1.462 billion to the regular budget and about $4.1 billion to peacekeeping, per the UN Secretariat.
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PolityPrelimsGS2

Punjab and Haryana HC: blocked users must get copy of intimation

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has held that a user whose content is blocked by a Section 79(3)(b) intimation under the Information Technology Act, 2000 must get a copy when sent to the intermediary. In a ruling reported on 20 October 2026, it voided a Superintendent of Police's intimation to Meta, as the amended Rules require DIG rank.
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DefencePrelimsGS3

Central Industrial Security Force moves to sector-based commands from 1 November

The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) will replace its territorial sectors with sector-specific sectors from 1 November 2026, in a reorganisation approved by the Ministry of Home Affairs. New sectors will cover power, coal, steel, petroleum and natural gas, the west and east coast ports, and government buildings, monuments and metro systems. Airport and atomic-energy-and-space sectors stay unchanged.
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PolityGS2Prelims

J&K orders Darbar Move: offices to reopen in Jammu on 2 November

Jammu and Kashmir's General Administration Department on 19 October 2026 ordered the annual Darbar Move for winter 2026-27. Forty-one offices, including every Civil Secretariat department, will shift to Jammu in full and 50 in camp. All will reopen in Jammu on 2 November, with J&K Police escorting the employees' bus convoys.
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PolityGS2Prelims

Citizenship Act: minor keeps Indian citizenship after father turns UK citizen

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court held on 13 October 2026 that a minor born Indian keeps citizenship though his father later became a United Kingdom citizen. Section 8(2) of the Citizenship Act, 1955 ends a minor's citizenship on a parent's renunciation; acquiring foreign citizenship falls under section 9. The passport office must decide renewal within three months.
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