Current affairs — 18 September 2026

In the early hours of 17 September 2026 (IST) — the evening of 16 September in Washington — the US House of Representatives voted 262–159 to concur in the Senate's amendments to H.R. 5334, sending the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 to the President. The Act was presented to the White House on 17 September 2026 and awaits assent. Its Section 113 authorises duties of up to 100% ad valorem on all goods from countries that keep buying Russian crude oil or natural gas — a category in which India and China are the two named targets. Responding the same day, the Ministry of External Affairs said India “remains firmly committed to ensuring energy security for its 1.4 billion people” and would continue sourcing “on the basis of evolving market dynamics”.

New Zealand's Parliament passed the India Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill at its third reading by 93 votes to 29 on 16 September 2026, clearing the last domestic hurdle to bringing the India–New Zealand Free Trade Agreement into force. India's Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal indicated the agreement could become operational as early as October 2026 once both sides complete ratification. The Bill was carried by the governing National and ACT parties together with the opposition Labour party, and opposed by New Zealand First, the Greens, Te Pāti Māori and two independents — a coalition partner voting against its own government's trade deal.

On 17 September 2026 the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare announced that over ₹2.9 crore had been transferred by Direct Benefit Transfer to 2,550 smallholder farmers in Punjab and Haryana as payment for soil carbon stored and greenhouse gases avoided on their fields — the first time Indian farmers have been paid for carbon sequestered in their own soil. The transfer was made at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, by Dr M. L. Jat, Secretary of the Department of Agricultural Research and Education and Director General of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). Individual payments ranged from about ₹3,000 to ₹15,000, covering roughly 30,000 acres and more than 50,000 carbon credits issued under the Verra VM0042 methodology.

On 17 September 2026 the Ministry of Earth Sciences announced that India's 51st Doppler Weather Radar had become operational at Sambalpur, Odisha, with Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Dr Jitendra Singh stating that the radar network has grown from 14 to 51 over the past twelve years and that about 40 more radars are planned under Mission Mausam. The installation had been inaugurated on site the previous day by Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi at Gangadhar Meher University, in the presence of IMD Director General Dr Mrutyunjay Mohapatra. The Minister said the radar would “bridge an important observational gap” over interior Odisha.

On 17 September 2026 the Ministry of Coal launched the 16th round of commercial coal mine auctions, offering 25 coal blocks across nine States, and on the same occasion executed Coal Mine Development and Production Agreements (CMDPAs) for six mines auctioned in earlier tranches. The event was presided over by Shri Satish Chandra Dubey, Minister of State for Coal and Mines, with Coal Secretary Shri Vikram Dev Dutt. The six mines carry combined geological reserves of about 1,504 million tonnes and a peak rated capacity of 11.62 million tonnes a year, and are expected to generate annual revenue of ₹1,984 crore, capital investment of ₹1,743 crore and about 15,700 jobs. With this round, the total number of coal mines auctioned since 2020 reaches 147.

The Third BIMSTEC Conference on Traditional Medicine Knowledge, Genetic Resources and Intellectual Property Rights concluded in Goa on 17 September 2026 after two days, hosted by the Ministry of Ayush at the All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA), Goa, and attended by all seven BIMSTEC Member States. The meeting adopted an outcome styled the “Goa Conclusions”, under which members agreed to support one another across intellectual property, genetic resources and traditional medicine knowledge, and the BIMSTEC Nodal Group identified four areas of cooperation — institutional and policy cooperation, standards and trade, documentation and capacity building, and implementation mechanisms. The inaugural session was chaired by Smt. Monalisa Dash, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Ayush, with the inaugural address by Prof. Vaidya P. K. Prajapati, Director of AIIA.

On 17 September 2026, Advocate Prashant Bhushan mentioned before Chief Justice of India Surya Kant a writ petition under Article 32 challenging the conduct of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Delhi, and the Court agreed to take it up, listing it for 21 September 2026 with other Delhi SIR matters. The petition, Anjali Bharadwaj and Another v. Election Commission of India, does not challenge the SIR itself. It challenges the opacity of the notices issued under it: 33,12,919 electors in the draft roll have been served notices, of whom 19,33,134 are flagged for “Logical Discrepancies” and 13,79,785 for “No Mapping” — two categories that appear in no published Commission instruction. A further 47,56,722 electors were excluded from the draft roll altogether.

The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has proposed an amendment to the Drugs Rules, 1945 making closed-circuit television surveillance mandatory at retail premises that dispense prescription medicines — in practice those under Schedule H, Schedule H1 and Schedule X. The draft, issued as G.S.R. 791(E) on 8 September 2026 and reported on 17–18 September 2026, inserts a new sub-rule into Rule 65 and requires recordings to be preserved for at least three months. Wholesale transactions are excluded; the requirement applies only to retail sale between a pharmacy and a patient. Objections and suggestions may be filed for 30 days. The proposal was examined by the Drugs Consultative Committee, which agreed as early as March 2025 that cameras should be positioned to verify sales compliance, and was recommended by the Drugs Technical Advisory Board.

PM Vishwakarma completed three years on 17 September 2026, having crossed its registration target of 30 lakh beneficiaries. Figures released by the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises as on 15 September 2026 show 24.37 lakh artisans given basic skill training, 18.16 lakh toolkits distributed, and 6.19 lakh collateral-free loans sanctioned worth about ₹5,316 crore. A further 8.11 lakh beneficiaries have received over ₹42 crore in digital-transaction incentives, more than 30,000 have been onboarded on e-commerce platforms and over 12,000 trained in the use of AI tools for branding and marketing. An evaluation cited by the Ministry reports that 93% of surveyed beneficiaries saw moderate to significant income gains after training.

On 17 September 2026 a bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V. Mohana directed the Chief Secretary of Manipur to file an affidavit explaining the deaths — “especially unnatural deaths” — of displaced persons in the State's relief camps, and questioned compensation of ₹20,000 to ₹30,000 paid to the families of those who died. The Court was told that post-mortems had been conducted in only 20 of 34 death cases, and directed the Manipur State Legal Services Authority to ensure that FIRs are registered in every unnatural-death case and investigated expeditiously. The Chief Justice told the State's counsel: “Tell your Chief Secretary not to invite orders.”