Daily Briefing Current Affairs

GS-3COMPRESSED BIOGAS AND CIRCULAR ECONOMY

GOBARdhan's Tenfold CBG Bet: Pricing Out Revenue Risk, Not Just Capital Cost

The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas formally launched GOBARdhan, a unified 10-year national scheme for compressed biogas. It is the government's main instrument for raising natural gas from 6-7% to 15% of India's energy basket by 2030. It also marks a policy shift from SATAT's letter-of-intent model to a guaranteed-price, guaranteed-volume framework.

Sub TopicCOMPRESSED BIOGAS AND CLEAN ENERGY TRANSITIONSourcePIB, THE HINDU, PM INDIA, PSU…
UPSC Relevance9/10
Time to Read3 min read
Total Views30,220
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GS-3FOREX RESERVES AND EXCHANGE RATE MANAGEMENT

A $38 Billion Fall That Isn't a Crisis: Reading India's Forex Reserves Net of What the RBI Already Owes

RBI data released on October 2, 2026, showed foreign exchange reserves at $747.56 billion for the week ended September 25, down $38.15 billion from the record $785.71 billion on September 4. The fall follows a large concessional swap window for FCNR(B) deposits that ran from June 8 to August 31 and pushed the RBI's short forward book to a record $200 billion.

Sub TopicFALL IN FOREX RESERVES AND THE RBI'S SHORT FORWARD BOOKSourceRBI, INDIAN EXPRESS, REDIFF…
UPSC Relevance9/10
Time to Read3 min read
Total Views33,792
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GS-3ENERGY SECURITY

Who Carries the Risk at Hormuz? How Ship-to-Ship Transfers Turned India's Oil Diversification Into a Risk-Allocation Strategy

Kpler vessel-tracking data for September 2026 shows India's crude imports from five West Asian suppliers rising to a combined 2 million barrels per day, with their share of India's imports jumping from 26 percent in August to 36.7 percent. Russian imports fell for the second straight month, to 1.9 million barrels per day. The data comes as India continues talks with Washington on the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and…

Sub TopicSHIP-TO-SHIP TRANSFERS, WEST ASIAN CRUDE AND INDIA'S…SourceINDIAN EXPRESS, THE GUARDIAN…
UPSC Relevance9/10
Time to Read3 min read
Total Views31,336
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GS-3ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT

Amnesty Once, Never a Habit: What the Vanashakti Verdict Settles and the Bill It Leaves Unpaid

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change issued a direction on September 30, 2026, to take all pending post facto clearance cases to a logical conclusion. It comes two months after the Supreme Court's July 29, 2026 judgment in Vanashakti vs Union of India, delivered by a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi.

Sub TopicPOST FACTO ENVIRONMENTAL CLEARANCE AFTER THE VANASHAKTI…SourceMINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST…
UPSC Relevance9/10
Time to Read3 min read
Total Views37,833
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GS-3SPECIES RECOVERY AND REWILDING

Bred to 97, Released Into Danger: Why the Great Indian Bustard's Rewilding Is a Test, Not Yet a Recovery

The first-ever pilot release of captive-bred Great Indian Bustards is scheduled for October 4 in Desert National Park, Jaisalmer. Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav and Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma are likely to attend. The release formally opens the rewilding phase of Project GIB, which has run since 2013, with captive breeding from wild-collected eggs beginning in 2019.

Sub TopicGREAT INDIAN BUSTARD PILOT RELEASE AND POWER-LINE…SourceMINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST…
UPSC Relevance9/10
Time to Read3 min read
Total Views41,384
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