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UPSC Weekly Current Affairs 31 Aug – 6 Sep 2026

2 daily editions · 20 topics · 5 MCQs · National & International

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21 Sep – 27 Sep 202614 Sep – 20 Sep 20267 Sep – 13 Sep 202631 Aug – 6 Sep 2026

Weekly at a glance

All topics — key facts for revision

5 September 2026

Full notes with diagrams →
SCI-TECH EOS-05 Launched: India's First Imaging Satellite in Geosynchronous Orbit
  • 19th flight of the GSLV, flown with a 4-metre diameter ogive composite payload fairing; the vehicle is nicknamed the 'Naughty Boy' for its patchy early record.
  • EOS-05 carries a multispectral VNIR imager (6 bands, 42 m resolution), a hyperspectral VNIR sensor (158 bands, 318 m) and a hyperspectral SWIR sensor (256 bands, 191 m).
  • Designed to image a selected field every 5 minutes and the entire Indian landmass every 30 minutes at 42 m resolution under cloud-free conditions.
  • From a geosynchronous perch (~36,000 km) it gives persistent, near-real-time coverage — unlike sun-synchronous LEO satellites that revisit only once in days.
ECONOMY Services PMI Rises to 54.1; Composite Output Index Steady at 54.3
  • A PMI reading above 50 signals expansion; below 50 signals contraction. It is a diffusion index built from a monthly survey of purchasing managers.
  • Services PMI at 54.1 remains below its long-run average of 54.5 — growth is positive but sub-trend.
  • Job creation hit a 15-month high, with about 11% of surveyed firms adding staff; aggregate employment grew at the fastest pace in 14 months.
  • Output prices rose at the fastest pace since March as firms passed on higher costs of digital platforms, electricity, labour and marketing.
SCI-TECH BIO-NIVESH Launched to Channel Private Capital into Biotech Start-ups
  • The inaugural edition brought together 20 high-potential biotech/deep-tech start-ups and about 50 curated investors.
  • BIRAC (Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council) acts as the Second-Level Fund Manager for biotechnology under the ₹1 lakh crore Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) Fund.
  • The RDI Fund is designed to supply long-term 'patient capital' for strategic, high-risk projects that conventional venture capital avoids.
  • BIO-NIVESH will be a recurring platform, with subsequent editions planned in other cities to link regional biotech clusters to capital.
DEFENCE IAF Successfully Tests Indigenous Khagantak-243 Long-Range Glide Bomb
  • A glide bomb is an unpowered munition released from an aircraft that glides to the target using deployable wings and a guidance kit — no rocket motor.
  • Range of 140+ km places it firmly in the stand-off class, letting aircraft strike without entering enemy air-defence envelopes.
  • Represents private-sector + PSU + armed-forces co-development, the model pushed under Make-in-India and iDEX.
  • Officials cautioned that the trial is one developmental step, not induction into operational service.
ECONOMY GeM and Textiles Committee Sign MoU for a 'Waste-to-Value-to-Market' Ecosystem
  • Signed by Ajit B. Chavan (CEO, GeM) and Kartikay Dhanda (Secretary, Textiles Committee).
  • GeM is the national public procurement portal under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, mandatory for central government buying.
  • The Textiles Committee is a statutory body under the Textiles Committee Act, 1963, tasked with quality assurance of textiles.
  • Creates guaranteed demand for recycled textile products — the key missing link in India's circular-economy value chains.
SOCIETY President Confers National Teachers' Awards on 69 Educators
  • The 48 school teachers were drawn from 27 States, 7 Union Territories and 6 Central Government organisations.
  • The higher-education set covered 12 faculty from central institutions, 5 from State universities (3 government, 2 private) and 4 from polytechnics.
  • Selection follows a three-tier online, self-nomination based process — district, State/organisation and national jury — designed to remove discretion.
  • The President urged teachers to update knowledge continuously, embrace technology and build classrooms where students question, explore and think independently.
POLITY 31-Member Joint Parliamentary Committee Constituted on the FCRA (Amendment) Bill, 2026
  • Composition: 21 members from the Lok Sabha and 10 from the Rajya Sabha, reflecting the ratio of strength between the Houses.
  • The Committee must submit its report by the last day of the Winter Session (November–December 2026).
  • The parent law is the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010, administered by the Ministry of Home Affairs; it was last substantially amended in 2020.
  • Core tension: national security and transparency in foreign funding versus the freedom of association under Article 19(1)(c) and the space for civil society.
IR 'RAKSHA': India Unveils a 10-Year Defence Diplomacy Roadmap
  • Built on four pillars: Strategic Partnerships, Capacity Building, Indigenous Defence Exports, and Maritime Security.
  • Capacity building covers joint exercises, training slots for friendly foreign countries and knowledge-sharing.
  • Positions India as a 'Net Security Provider' in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) and as an anchor of a rules-based order.
  • Frames defence exports as an instrument of diplomacy, not merely commerce — exports create long-term strategic dependencies and goodwill.
ENVIRONMENT India and Germany Sign Joint Declaration on Wetland Conservation
  • Focus areas: scientific cooperation, knowledge-sharing on wetland management, climate adaptation, biodiversity conservation and joint projects.
  • The IGEF has been the bilateral environmental policy platform since 2008; this is its fourth edition.
  • 'Wise use' is the operative principle of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands (1971, Ramsar, Iran), which India joined in 1982.
  • India has the largest network of Ramsar sites in Asia; wetlands act as carbon sinks, flood buffers, groundwater rechargers and biodiversity refugia.

6 September 2026

Full notes with diagrams →
SCI-TECH EOS-05 lifts off on GSLV-F17: India's first imaging satellite bound for geostationary orbit
  • GSLV-F17 lifted off at 2:55 am IST from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, with separation 18 minutes after launch.
  • The 51.7 m tall, 420.5 tonne three-stage vehicle used an indigenous cryogenic upper stage; EOS-05 is the heaviest payload ever flown on a GSLV.
  • The satellite will raise itself to about 36,000 km, where its orbital period matches Earth's rotation — giving a continuous 'stare' over the Indian landmass.
  • It was the 107th launch from Sriharikota and the 19th GSLV flight, redeeming the 2021 GSLV-F10 / EOS-03 failure.
  • Imagery will feed agriculture, disaster management and strategic needs; unlike low-earth-orbit satellites, the revisit is continuous rather than periodic.
SCI-TECH India Semiconductor Mission 2.0 shifts focus from fabs to equipment, materials and chip IP
  • ISM 1.0 was approved in December 2021 with a ₹76,000 crore incentive corpus; 10 projects across 6 states had been sanctioned by December 2025.
  • Approved units span silicon fabs, a silicon-carbide (compound semiconductor) facility, advanced packaging and ATMP/OSAT plants.
  • ISM 2.0 rests on three pillars: semiconductor equipment and materials made in India, full-stack Indian semiconductor IP, and supply-chain resilience.
  • Budget 2026-27 provides ₹1,000 crore for ISM 2.0 within an ₹8,000 crore modified programme outlay for the year.
  • FY27 targets include ₹4,000 crore of fab investment, ₹11,000 crore in ATMP/OSAT, support for 30 design companies and 10 semiconductor IP cores.
ECONOMY RBI to drain ₹7 lakh crore as banking liquidity surplus hits a record
  • Banking system liquidity surplus stood at about ₹10.32 lakh crore as on 3 September 2026 — a record high.
  • The auction reverses on 7 October 2026; banks may seek premature or partial reversal through the e-Kuber portal.
  • The RBI had already absorbed ₹6.02 lakh crore through two VRRR auctions, and ran 32 VRRR operations between August and early September.
  • Special forex measures mobilised about $136.38 billion by 31 August, of which the FCNR(B) window alone brought in $127.23 billion.
  • Excess liquidity drags the weighted average call rate below the repo rate, weakening monetary transmission.
ECONOMY Current account deficit widens to $4.2 billion in Q1 FY27
  • The merchandise trade deficit widened sharply to $86.1 billion from $68.9 billion a year ago.
  • Net services receipts rose to $51.6 billion from $47.9 billion, led by computer services, other business services and transport.
  • Private transfer receipts — largely remittances — jumped to $42.9 billion from $33.2 billion.
  • Net FDI inflow improved to $6.1 billion against $5.2 billion in the year-ago quarter.
  • A CAD near 0.5% of GDP stays comfortably below the 2.5-3% band generally treated as the stress threshold for India.
POLITY Special NIA court convicts all ten accused in the 2013 Jhiram Ghati ambush
  • The ambush took place on 25 May 2013 in Jhiram Valley, Bastar district, Chhattisgarh, on a convoy returning from a political rally.
  • 29 people were killed, among them Nand Kumar Patel, Mahendra Karma, Vidya Charan Shukla and Uday Mudliyar.
  • The case moved from state police to the National Investigation Agency, which filed its charge sheet in September 2014; 101 witnesses were examined.
  • The NIA, created under the NIA Act, 2008, is India's central counter-terror agency and can investigate scheduled offences across states without prior state consent.
  • LWE violence has contracted to a small cluster of districts, with the government working to a target of ending Maoist violence by 31 March 2026.
IR India and China hold their first Corps Commander talks in the eastern sector
  • The Indian side was led by Lieutenant General Girish Kalia, commander of 3 Corps.
  • 3 Corps and 4 Corps (Tezpur) together hold responsibility for the LAC in the eastern sector.
  • The meeting follows the National Security Adviser's visit to China and understandings on maintaining peace and tranquillity along the LAC.
  • The core difficulty remains differing perceptions of the alignment of the LAC, which is not a delimited boundary.
IR UNGA votes 164-1 to 'correct the map'; India backs equal-area projections
  • The resolution was adopted on 5 September 2026 by 164 votes to 1, with the Equal Earth projection promoted as the alternative.
  • India's representative argued the text should endorse the equal-area principle rather than any single projection, leaving states free to choose.
  • India also stressed that its sovereign territory, including Jammu and Kashmir, must be depicted accurately on UN maps.
  • Mercator makes Greenland (2.16 million sq km) look as large as Africa (30.37 million sq km) — a roughly 14-fold error.
IR New Delhi readies for the 18th BRICS Summit on 12-13 September
  • Theme of India's chairship: 'Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability'.
  • Priorities include climate action, clean energy, digital public infrastructure, innovation, supply-chain resilience and reformed multilateralism.
  • An inaugural iBRICS investor summit runs alongside, drawing more than 500 investors and finance leaders.
  • The grouping now spans Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa along with Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the UAE and Indonesia, besides a set of partner countries.
SOCIETY Vibrant Villages Programme reframes the border hamlet as the 'first village'
  • India shares more than 15,000 km of land border with seven neighbours; the longest stretches are with Bangladesh (4,096.7 km), China (3,488 km) and Pakistan (3,323 km).
  • VVP-I, launched in April 2023, is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme covering northern border villages in Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Ladakh.
  • VVP-II extends coverage to blocks along the other international borders and is a Central Sector Scheme funded fully by the Union; it was launched from Cachar, Assam.
  • Interventions cover all-weather road connectivity, electricity including renewables, telecom, housing, health, education, tourism circuits and cooperative livelihoods.
ENVIRONMENT Vulture conservation moves 'from crisis to recovery' on Vulture Awareness Day
  • India hosts nine vulture species; four are Critically Endangered — White-rumped, Indian (Long-billed), Slender-billed and Red-headed — and the Egyptian Vulture is Endangered.
  • Gyps vulture populations crashed by more than 97% from the 1990s, driven by the veterinary anti-inflammatory diclofenac in cattle carcasses; its veterinary use was banned in 2006.
  • Melghat and Pench tiger reserves have emerged as the most successful reintroduction sites — 29 birds released between December 2025 and January 2026 with a 78% survival rate.
  • A Vulture Safe Zone is a landscape of roughly 100 km radius around a colony kept free of vulture-toxic drugs — diclofenac, aceclofenac, ketoprofen, nimesulide; meloxicam is the safe substitute.
REPORT India's Vinaya Prakash Singh re-elected Secretary-General of the Asian-Pacific Postal Union
  • The APPU is a Restricted Union of the Universal Postal Union under Article 8 of the UPU Constitution, and the only such body in the Asia-Pacific.
  • It traces its origins to 1961 and took its present form on 1 July 1982; it is headquartered in Bangkok, Thailand, with 32 member countries.
  • The UPU, established in 1874 and headquartered in Berne, Switzerland, is the specialised agency of the United Nations for postal cooperation — the second-oldest international organisation.
  • India has held the APPU Secretary-General's office since 2022, the first time an Indian occupies the post.

Prelims rapid-fire — 18 facts

EOS-05 launch vehicle — GSLV-F17, the 19th flight of the GSLV, from the Second Launch Pad, Sriharikota.
FCRA JPC head — Dr Sanjay Jaiswal; 31 members — 21 Lok Sabha + 10 Rajya Sabha.
August 2026 gross GST — ₹1,99,853 crore, up 14.8%; refunds up 67.9%.
RAKSHA pillars — Strategic Partnerships, Capacity Building, Indigenous Exports, Maritime Security — a 10-year roadmap.
Teachers' Day awards — 69 educators honoured — 48 school + 21 higher education/polytechnic.
Khagantak-243 — Indigenous 300-kg class glide bomb, range 140+ km, by BEL and JSR Dynamics.
68th Ramon Magsaysay Awards — Tommy Koh (Singapore), Runa Khan (Bangladesh), Bo Kyi (Myanmar).
Gollala Gudi Temple — Declared a Monument of National Importance by the ASI — Telangana's 10th protected site.
First non-medical woman two-star officer — Air Vice Marshal Shakti Sharma of the Indian Air Force.
Kalyani Strategic Systems + Thales — Pact for 70mm rocket systems in India; first unit expected early 2027; counter-drone role.
Odisha disaster-risk pacts — OSDMA with UNDP and CivicDataLab — HRVA across 30 districts, 'Zero Casualty' goal.
India-US trade deal condition — India will sign the BTA only on a preferential tariff edge over rivals; 9 FTAs already cover ~$60 trillion of GDP.
The IAF's Sarang helicopter display team, flying the indigenous Dhruv ALH, is in Egypt for the El Alamein International Airshow (8-10 September 2026).
GSLV-F17 was the 19th GSLV flight and the 107th launch from Sriharikota.
Meloxicam is the vulture-safe alternative to diclofenac, whose veterinary use India banned in 2006.
Sentencing in the Jhiram Ghati case is fixed for 16 September 2026 by the special NIA court at Jagdalpur, Bastar.
The BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement is a $100 billion currency-swap net; the New Development Bank sits in Shanghai.
Equal Earth, Gall-Peters and Mollweide are equal-area projections; Mercator is conformal and used for navigation.

Data points of the period

₹1,99,853 crore
Gross GST Collection — August 2026
Up 14.8% year-on-year from ₹1,74,116 crore — a record for the month. Net collections after refunds stood at ₹1,68,057 crore (+8.3%) because refunds surged 67.9% to ₹31,795 crore. Imports (+29.0%) far outpaced domestic revenue (+9.3%). Component-wise: CGST ₹38,413 cr, SGST ₹46,316 cr, IGST ₹1,15,124 cr. For April–August 2026, gross collections reached ₹10,42,757 crore (+11.0%). Exam angle: GST is a destination-based, multi-stage, value-added tax; the GST Council (Article 279A) is the recommendatory federal body — Centre holds one-third of the weighted votes, all States together two-thirds, and decisions need a three-fourths majority of members present and voting.
7.8%
India's real GDP growth, Q1 FY27 (April-June 2026)
Against the central bank's 7% projection. Manufacturing grew 9.2% (from 8.3%) and services 10% (from 8%), while mining contracted 2.4% and agriculture eased to 3.6%. Real gross fixed capital formation rose 11.9%, lifting the investment rate to 34.3% of GDP from 31.4%. Nominal GDP grew 10.3%. Inflation is projected at 5.9% for October-December 2026.

5 practice MCQs — UPSC Prelims pattern

Q1. With reference to EOS-05, recently launched by ISRO, consider the following statements: 1. It was placed in orbit by the PSLV from the First Launch Pad at Sriharikota. 2. It is India's first imaging satellite to operate from a geosynchronous orbit. 3. It carries both multispectral and hyperspectral imaging payloads. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. 1 and 2 only
  2. 2 and 3 only
  3. 1 and 3 only
  4. 1, 2 and 3
Show answer
Answer: B
Statement 1 is incorrect — EOS-05 was launched by GSLV-F17 from the Second Launch Pad. Statements 2 and 3 are correct: it is described as India's first imaging satellite from a geosynchronous orbit and carries a multispectral VNIR imager plus hyperspectral VNIR and SWIR sensors.

Q2. Consider the following statements regarding a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC): 1. It consists of members drawn from both Houses of Parliament. 2. It is a permanent (standing) committee of Parliament. 3. Its recommendations on a Bill are binding on the Government. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. 1 only
  2. 1 and 2 only
  3. 2 and 3 only
  4. 1, 2 and 3
Show answer
Answer: A
Only statement 1 is correct. A JPC is an ad hoc committee, constituted for a specific purpose and dissolved once it reports — so statement 2 is wrong. Committee recommendations are advisory/recommendatory, not binding on the Government — so statement 3 is wrong. The FCRA (Amendment) Bill JPC has 21 Lok Sabha and 10 Rajya Sabha members.

Q3. The Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), frequently in the news, is best described as:

  1. A production-based index compiled from factory output returns
  2. A survey-based diffusion index where a reading above 50 indicates expansion
  3. A price index used by the RBI for inflation targeting
  4. A composite index of stock-market capitalisation of listed manufacturers
Show answer
Answer: B
PMI is a survey-based diffusion index derived from responses of purchasing managers; a reading above 50 signals expansion over the previous month and below 50 a contraction. It is a leading indicator, unlike the production-based IIP. India's services PMI was 54.1 in August 2026 with the composite at 54.3.

Q4. With reference to the recently launched EOS-05 mission, consider the following statements: 1. It was placed in orbit by the GSLV, which uses an indigenous cryogenic upper stage. 2. It is India's first imaging satellite intended for a geostationary orbit. 3. A geostationary orbit lies at an altitude of about 800 km above the equator. Which of the statements given above are correct?

  1. 1 and 2 only
  2. 2 and 3 only
  3. 1 and 3 only
  4. 1, 2 and 3
Show answer
Answer: a
Statements 1 and 2 are correct. Statement 3 is wrong — a geostationary orbit lies at roughly 35,786 km above the equator; 800 km is typical of a Sun-synchronous polar orbit.

Q5. Consider the following pairs of map projections and their properties: 1. Mercator — conformal, preserves angles 2. Equal Earth — equal-area, preserves relative size 3. Mollweide — equal-area How many of the pairs given above are correctly matched?

  1. Only one
  2. Only two
  3. All three
  4. None
Show answer
Answer: c
All three pairs are correctly matched. Mercator preserves angles and is useful for navigation but inflates high-latitude landmasses; Equal Earth and Mollweide are equal-area projections that preserve relative size while distorting shape.

Mains practice questions

  1. India's space programme is increasingly being framed as a service to governance rather than a symbol of prestige. In light of recent Earth-observation missions, examine how space-based assets can strengthen India's disaster management and agricultural resilience. (250 words, 15 marks)
  2. "Border villages are not the last settlements of the country but its first." Examine how the Vibrant Villages Programme seeks to translate this idea into policy, and assess the challenges in its implementation. (250 words, 15 marks)

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