Daily Current Affairs · Last published 17 September 2026

UPSC Prelims Current Affairs: 17 September 2026

The US House passes a bill threatening 100 percent tariffs on India over Russian oil, and India rejects the Pakistan-China Boundary Commission as legally baseless.

EconomyUS sanctions legislation and tariff threats over Russian oil imports

US House passes Russia sanctions bill that could impose 100 percent tariffs on India

The US House of Representatives passed the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 by a vote of 262 to 159 on 16 September 2026, sending the Bill to President Donald Trump for his signature. The legislation authorises the President to impose tariffs of up to 100 percent on the largest buyers of Russian oil and gas, a group that includes India and China, with the stated aim of cutting off revenue that funds Russia's war in Ukraine. The Senate had passed the same Bill by an 86 to 11 vote in August 2026. The Act is named for Senator Lindsey Graham, its lead sponsor, who died in July 2026.

Mains: GS2The Bill hands the US President discretionary power to tariff India's Russian oil purchases even as India has consistently defended these imports as a sovereign energy security choice, a live test case for a Mains answer on the limits of India's strategic autonomy under external economic pressure.

Source: The Hindu, 17 September 2026 ↗

Current AffairsIndia's territorial claims over Pakistan occupied Kashmir

India rejects Pakistan-China Boundary Joint Commission as having no legal basis

India on 16 September 2026 rejected the Pakistan-China Boundary Joint Commission, calling it a body without any legal basis, after Pakistan and China held the Commission's first meeting in Islamabad. Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said there is no boundary between Pakistan and China to demarcate, since the territory concerned is Indian territory under illegal occupation. He said any so called boundary cooperation between China and Pakistan concerning Indian territory would be completely unacceptable and would have no bearing on India's sovereignty over it.

Mains: GS2India's protest rests on its longstanding position that the 1963 China-Pakistan Boundary Agreement itself has no legal validity, since Pakistan had no sovereign right to cede territory in Jammu and Kashmir, a precedent a Mains answer on India's claims over Pakistan occupied Kashmir can draw on directly.

Source: The Hindu, 17 September 2026 ↗Read the related note →

Current AffairsIndia-Pakistan maritime incidents and diplomatic protest

Pakistan Navy vessel collides with Indian warship in North Arabian Sea, envoy summoned

A Pakistan Navy vessel, identified as PNS Hunain, collided with an Indian Navy warship on the evening of 15 September 2026 in international waters of the North Arabian Sea, roughly 120 nautical miles off the coast of Oman. Indian officials said the Pakistani vessel approached at high speed and was unable to manoeuvre safely, causing the collision, and that it suffered damage and returned to its home port while the Indian warship continued its routine surveillance mission undamaged. India summoned Pakistan's Charge d'Affaires on 16 September and lodged a protest over the unprofessional conduct of Pakistani naval units, while Pakistan lodged its own counter protest, describing the incident as a highly provocative and unacceptable action by the Indian vessel.

Mains: GS2The two countries' competing accounts, India blaming Pakistani seamanship and Pakistan blaming Indian provocation, show the absence of any bilateral hotline or confidence building mechanism at sea comparable to what India and China have built along the Line of Actual Control, a comparison a Mains answer on India-Pakistan relations can use.

Source: The Indian Express, 17 September 2026 ↗

EconomyUPI merchant discount rate and digital payments regulation

Plea in Supreme Court challenges 0.4% merchant discount rate on UPI payments above Rs 2,000

A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the Centre's 14 September 2026 notification permitting a merchant discount rate of 0.4 percent on UPI person to merchant transactions above Rs 2,000, effective from 15 October. The petition, filed by advocate Anjan Datta, contends that the levy amounts to an unauthorised charge on a public digital payments system. UPI transactions up to Rs 2,000 and all person to person transfers remain free of the charge, and small merchants receiving up to Rs 1 lakh a month through UPI QR codes are exempted from it.

Mains: GS2The petition frames a regulator's payment system fee as needing the same parliamentary sanction as a tax, a distinction a Mains answer on delegated legislation and the limits of executive rule making over public digital infrastructure can use.

Source: The Hindu, 17 September 2026 ↗Read the related note →Earlier coverage: 16 September 2026

EconomySocial security coverage and EPFO wage ceiling revision

Cabinet raises EPFO wage ceiling from Rs 15,000 to Rs 25,000 a month

The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved raising the wage ceiling for mandatory coverage under the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation from Rs 15,000 to Rs 25,000 a month, effective from 17 September 2026. The decision is expected to bring more than 51 lakh additional employees within mandatory EPFO coverage, expanding their access to provident fund savings, pension protection under the Employees' Pension Scheme, and insurance cover under the Employees' Deposit Linked Insurance Scheme. This is the first revision of the ceiling in twelve years, since it was last raised from Rs 6,500 to Rs 15,000 in September 2014.

Mains: GS3The ceiling stayed frozen at a fraction of prevailing wages for over a decade before this revision, a concrete data point for a Mains answer on why India's formal sector social security net has structurally lagged wage growth even as the Code on Social Security, 2020 remains largely unimplemented.

Source: Business Standard, 17 September 2026 ↗Read the related note →

PolityFunctioning and reconstitution of statutory regulatory bodies

Centre reconstitutes CBFC with 18 member panel after more than six years

The Central Board of Film Certification was reconstituted on 16 September 2026 with an eighteen member panel, more than six years after the three year term of its previous board lapsed in 2020. The new board, headed by CBFC chairperson Shashi Shekhar Vempati, includes actors Preity Zinta, Pankaj Tripathi, Suniel Shetty, Pallavi Joshi and Prosenjit Chatterjee, filmmaker Priyadarshan and three time Grammy winning musician Ricky Kej, among others, and has been constituted for three years or until further orders. Only two members of the outgoing board, theatre director Waman Kendre and writer Ramesh Patange, have been retained.

Mains: GS2The previous board's members continued in office for six years past their three year term under a rule letting them serve until successors are named, a real instance a Mains answer on accountability gaps in the functioning of statutory regulatory bodies can cite.

Source: Free Press Journal, 17 September 2026 ↗Read the related note →

Current AffairsDadasaheb Phalke Award and National Film Awards

Kannada actor Anant Nag to receive Dadasaheb Phalke Award for 2024

The Union government announced on 16 September 2026 that veteran Kannada actor Anant Nag will receive the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for 2024, India's highest honour in cinema, for his contribution to Indian cinema and an illustrious career that has inspired generations, on the recommendation of the Dadasaheb Phalke Award Selection Committee. The award will be presented at the 72nd National Film Awards ceremony in Kevadia, Gujarat, on 22 September 2026. Anant Nag, who has acted in more than 300 films across five decades, more than 200 of them in Kannada, becomes only the second Kannada film actor after Dr Rajkumar, who won it in 1995, to receive the honour.