Current affairs — 25 September 2026

On 24 September 2026, a Supreme Court Bench of CJI Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V. Mohana refused to interfere with the Telangana High Court’s 18 September 2026 judgment disqualifying Khairatabad MLA Danam Nagender under the Tenth Schedule. Elected on a BRS ticket, he joined the Congress in March 2024 and contested the Secunderabad Lok Sabha seat while still an MLA.

The President has returned the West Bengal Public Safety and Control of Anti-Social Activities Bill, 2026 — the ‘anti-goonda’ Bill of Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari’s BJP government — for reconsideration, it was reported on 24 September 2026. The Union government flagged that bringing NDPS Act, 1985 offences within the definition of ‘goonda’ (Section 2(d)(iii)(B)) overlaps with the PITNDPS Act, 1988 and may raise repugnancy under Article 254.

On 24 September 2026, a Supreme Court Bench of Justices P.S. Narasimha and R. Mahadevan reserved orders on the Union government’s miscellaneous application asking the Court to use Article 142 to give prospective effect to its 11 March 2026 judgment in Union of India v. Rohith Nathan, and to allow two years to establish equivalence of posts and frame a uniform creamy-layer policy.

On 22 September 2026, speaking in the General Debate of the 81st UN General Assembly, French President Emmanuel Macron renewed France’s call to “regulate” the Security Council veto in situations of mass atrocity, arguing that the veto is a “responsibility” and not a “privilege”. The Foreign Ministers of France and Mexico, Jean-Noël Barrot and Roberto Velasco, announced that 128 states now back their Political Declaration on Suspension of Veto Powers in Cases of Mass Atrocity — 21 of them in the last four months — and that the United Kingdom has joined, making it the first time two permanent members have accepted the principle.

On 24 September 2026, a Supreme Court Bench headed by Justice Vikram Nath gave Karnataka one week to respond to Tamil Nadu’s plea alleging a shortfall of about 20 TMC (thousand million cubic feet) of Cauvery water this season, and listed the case for 12 October.

On 24 September 2026, legislators across parties put 13 questions in the Odisha Legislative Assembly on revenue loss from the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2026, especially new Section 9D, which bars States from levying their own taxes, cesses or levies on mineral rights and mineral-bearing lands except on conditions set by the Union. Steel and Mines Minister Bibhuti Bhusan Jena replied that no quantified assessment had been made and that the impact would be measured only after the Centre frames the rules.

On 22 September 2026, at the United Nations in New York, US President Donald Trump, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenland’s Premier Jens-Frederik Nielsen signed an agreement that amends and supplements the 27 April 1951 US–Denmark agreement on the defence of Greenland. It lets the US set up new defence areas at Narsarsuaq in the south and Mestersvig in the east and expand Pituffik Space Base, while shutting out military presence and sensitive investment from states outside NATO.

25 September 2026 marks 12 years since the Make in India campaign was launched. An analysis of 12 metrics covering growth, investment, employment and exports finds that manufacturing has not materially raised its share of India’s growth, jobs or global exports. Gains from the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes are real but concentrated in a handful of sectors.

The Union government has cut the Basic Customs Duty (BCD) on imported crude edible oils — crude sunflower oil from 10% to nil, and crude soyabean and crude palm oil from 10% to 5% — with effect from 24 September 2026, reducing duties on the corresponding refined oils as well.

On 24 September 2026, Haryana announced a ‘Parali Protection Force’ of police, Agriculture Department and administrative officers at district and block level to stop paddy-stubble burning in the coming harvest, after Chief Secretary Anurag Rastogi reviewed the State’s action plan for compliance with directions of the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM).