Daily Current Affairs · Last published 15 September 2026
UPSC Prelims Current Affairs: 15 September 2026
India expands emergency power exports to flood hit Nepal, retail inflation climbs to 4.82 percent, and India hosts its first World Circular Economy Forum.
TRAI examines Airtel and Jio complaints against Vodafone Idea over number portability
Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio have alleged that Vodafone Idea representatives contacted their customers while posing as staff of rival operators, warning them of tariff hikes, and separately restricted SMS requests to the short code 1900 used to generate unique porting codes in some telecom circles. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India said it would examine the representations received from both operators, while Vodafone Idea has denied any wrongdoing, saying it has complied with all applicable rules and will present its position to the regulator. Mobile number portability, introduced in India in 2011, allows a subscriber to switch operators while retaining the same number.
India approves 654 MW power export to Nepal for 18 hours a day after flood damage
India's Ministry of Power has approved export of up to 654 megawatts of electricity to Nepal for 18 hours a day, from 13 September to 31 December 2026, after flash floods triggered by a glacial mountain collapse on the China Nepal border on 26 August destroyed or damaged more than two dozen hydropower projects in Nepal. The approval covers up to 600 MW through the Muzaffarpur Dhalkebar 400 kV transmission line and up to 54 MW through the Tanakpur Mahendranagar 132 kV line, helping Nepal, which lost roughly a tenth of its generation capacity in the floods, meet its domestic power demand. Nepal had been exporting close to 1,000 MW of surplus hydropower to India during the wet season before the floods cut its exports to around 650 MW.
Retail inflation climbs to 4.82 percent in August, above RBI's target for third month
India's retail inflation, measured by the Consumer Price Index, accelerated to 4.82 percent in August 2026 from 4.45 percent in July, staying above the Reserve Bank of India's 4 percent target for a third consecutive month as food prices firmed. Rural inflation rose to 5.23 percent against 4.31 percent in urban areas, while the Consumer Food Price Index climbed to 5.95 percent from 5.52 percent in July, driven by sharp increases in the prices of onion, garlic and ginger. The reading is the highest recorded under the revised 2024 CPI series, and comes as the RBI projects inflation for 2026-27 at around 5 percent.
India hosts World Circular Economy Forum for the first time in South Asia, at Gandhinagar
India began hosting the World Circular Economy Forum (WCEF) 2026 at Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, from 15 to 18 September, the first time the global forum has been held in South Asia. Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav and Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel jointly inaugurated the forum, themed Circular Economy: Transition for People and Prosperity, whose main programme of four plenaries and sixteen parallel thematic sessions runs on 15 and 16 September alongside an expo of more than 125 exhibitors. The forum is jointly organised by India's Central Pollution Control Board and the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra, and is expected to draw more than 2,000 stakeholders from over 65 countries.
Bangladesh says it wants to reset relationship with India after BRICS summit
Bangladesh's State Minister for Foreign Affairs, Humaiun Kobir, said the country wants to reset its relationship with India and build a new phase of bilateral engagement based on mutual interest and direct dialogue, describing ties during former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's tenure as uncomfortable. The remarks came days after India hosted the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi on 12 and 13 September, to which Bangladesh's Prime Minister Tarique Rahman was not invited, with the invitation instead going to the BIMSTEC chair. Bangladesh's insistence that India extradite Sheikh Hasina, who has been in India since her government fell, remains a friction point even as both sides explore a possible bilateral summit later this year.
Pakistan raises bounty on JeM chief Masood Azhar to PKR 70 lakh ahead of FATF review
Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency has listed Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar in its Red Book of most wanted terrorists and raised the bounty for information leading to his capture to PKR 70 lakh, weeks ahead of the Financial Action Task Force's plenary meeting scheduled for October. Azhar, wanted in India for the 2001 Parliament attack and the 2019 Pulwama bombing that killed 40 paramilitary personnel, is widely believed by Indian intelligence to be living in Pakistan despite Islamabad's repeated denials. India has previously accused Pakistan of timing such gestures to avoid being placed back on the FATF grey list rather than reflecting genuine action against terror financing networks.
Defence Ministry report finds PLA deployment along LAC reduced in 2025
The Ministry of Defence's Annual Report 2025-26, released on 13 September, recorded a significant reduction in the deployment of China's People's Liberation Army opposite India's northern borders during 2025, even as Beijing continued to maintain ten combined arms brigade sized formations in areas along the Line of Actual Control and in traditional training areas. The report attributed the improvement to sustained political, diplomatic and military engagement, including three meetings between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping since October 2024 and an August 2026 meeting between India's National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing. The Ministry cautioned that the Indian Army's own deployment across all LAC sectors remains robust and prepared for any contingency, since much of the terrain on the Chinese side is flat plateau that would let the PLA move troops and equipment back quickly.
New species of legless amphibian discovered in Maharashtra's Western Ghats
A multi-institutional team of researchers, including from the Zoological Survey of India, Pune's Wildlife Research and Conservation Society, and the Mhadei Research Centre in Goa, has described a new species of subterranean, legless amphibian named Gegeneophis chandgadi from the Chandgad area of Kolhapur district in Maharashtra's northern Western Ghats. The species, a type of caecilian, was found living in human inhabited residential and agricultural land rather than inside a protected forest, which researchers said shows that critical subterranean biodiversity can persist well outside formally protected boundaries. The discovery brings the total number of known Gegeneophis species in India to 12, of which 11 are found nowhere else but the Western Ghats.