Daily Current Affairs · Last published 21 September 2026
UPSC Prelims Current Affairs: 21 September 2026
Advani and Jaishankar receive Delhi SIR discrepancy notices, Cochin Shipyard lays the keel for India's first missile vessel, and LPG subsidy needs Aadhaar from October.
Advani, Jaishankar and Dhankhar among 33.13 lakh voters served Delhi SIR discrepancy notices
The Delhi Chief Electoral Officer's office said on 19 September 2026 that of the 97,53,577 electors on Delhi's Special Intensive Revision draft roll, 33,12,919 have been issued notices flagging discrepancies, including 13,79,785 classified as No Mapping with the last SIR conducted in 2002 and 19,33,134 under Logical Discrepancies. Those served notices include former deputy prime minister L K Advani, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, former vice president Jagdeep Dhankhar and Election Commissioner S S Sandhu, most for names that could not be matched to their 2002 electoral roll entries. Officials clarified that a discrepancy notice does not by itself mean deletion from the rolls, and affected voters can respond with supporting documents before the final roll is published.
EAM Jaishankar to lead India's delegation at 81st UNGA, address high level session on 26 September
The Ministry of External Affairs announced on 20 September 2026 that External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will lead India's delegation to the United States for the high level week of the 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly, running from 22 to 28 September in New York. Jaishankar is scheduled to address the General Debate on 26 September and will hold a series of bilateral and plurilateral meetings on the sidelines of the session. The visit follows India's recent run of multilateral engagement, including hosting the BRICS Summit in New Delhi earlier in September.
Cochin Shipyard lays keel for Indian Navy's first Next Generation Missile Vessel
Cochin Shipyard Limited held the keel laying ceremony for the first of six Next Generation Missile Vessels being built for the Indian Navy at Kochi on 18 September 2026, with Vice Admiral Sanjay Sadhu, Controller of Warship Production and Acquisition, as chief guest. The NGMVs, ordered under a contract signed with the Navy in March 2023, are high speed stealth corvettes designed for anti-surface warfare and maritime strike operations, intended to act as a potent instrument of sea denial at maritime choke points, and will be armed with missiles such as BrahMos. The defence ministry said the project's major role defining equipment is being indigenously developed and manufactured, in line with the government's Aatmanirbhar Bharat and Make in India objectives.
Non-ferrous metal scrap EPR rules face CPCB portal delay ahead of October deadlines
India's Extended Producer Responsibility rules for scrap of aluminium, copper, zinc and their alloys, which came into force on 1 April 2026 under the Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management and Transboundary Movement) Amendment Rules, 2025, are facing implementation gaps ahead of their October 2026 deadlines, Business Standard reported on 20 September 2026. Industry sources said the Central Pollution Control Board's online compliance portal, due to become functional by 1 October under Rule 50(3), remains inoperative, while the average life parameter CPCB must specify to calculate each producer's annual recycling target has not yet been published. The rules set the recycling target at 10 percent of the relevant year's non-ferrous product quantity for 2026-27, and the first half yearly compliance returns are due by 31 October 2026.
LPG subsidy to require Aadhaar biometric authentication from 1 October
The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas announced on 19 September 2026 that domestic LPG consumers must complete Biometric Aadhaar Authentication to book subsidised refills at the regulated Retail Selling Price from 1 October 2026, after the original 30 June deadline was extended several times. The ministry said linking each connection to an Aadhaar authenticated consumer prevents diversion of subsidised cylinders for commercial use and removes duplicate or ineligible connections, and that consumers unable or unwilling to authenticate can still buy LPG but at the unsubsidised market price. As of 19 September 2026, 27.43 crore of India's domestic LPG consumers, or 89.9 percent, had completed the authentication, with the government's implicit monthly subsidy running at about Rs 210 per 14.2 kilogram cylinder against accumulated under recoveries of over Rs 62,000 crore for state oil marketing companies as of 31 August 2026.
FPIs pull Rs 2.45 lakh crore from Indian equities in 2026, already past all of 2025's outflow
Foreign Portfolio Investors withdrew Rs 20,974 crore from Indian equities in September 2026 up to 18 September, data reported by Business Standard on 20 September 2026 showed, amid higher US interest rates and bond yields, elevated crude oil prices and a weakening rupee. The September selling took total FPI outflow from Indian equities in 2026 to Rs 2.45 lakh crore, already surpassing the Rs 1.66 lakh crore withdrawn during the whole of 2025. The rupee traded at a record low of around 95.92 to 95.96 per US dollar during the week, adding to the pressure on foreign investor sentiment.
DDU-GKY 2.0 to begin skill training for 34,920 rural youth across 14 states and UTs in October
The Ministry of Rural Development said on 19 September 2026 that 1,164 training batches covering 34,920 rural youth will begin under the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana 2.0 from October 2026 across 14 states and union territories, against a first phase sanctioned target of 3,57,112 rural youth for 2026-28. DDU-GKY 2.0 introduces an integrated digital portal meant to manage the scheme's full lifecycle, from targeting to training to placement, to improve monitoring and transparency. States and union territories have been asked to complete allocation of targets to Project Implementing Agencies by 31 October 2026 to ensure timely mobilisation of eligible youth.