Current affairs — 30 September 2026

On 29 September 2026, a Supreme Court Bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Sheel Nagu quashed the preventive detention of Mulla Afroz, an accused in the November 2024 Sambhal violence, under the National Security Act (NSA), 1980, and imposed costs of ₹10 lakh on the Uttar Pradesh government. The Court held that a confession made to a police officer, without independent supporting material, cannot by itself be the basis of detention under the NSA.

On 29 September 2026, a Supreme Court Bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta asked the Centre why the 16% retailer margin built into the Drugs (Prices Control) Order (DPCO), 2013 should not apply uniformly to all essential medicines, after flagging a cancer drug supplied to retailers for about ₹2,700–3,000 but sold for ₹27,000. Calling such mark-ups “carnage” whose ultimate loser is the taxpayer, the Bench listed the petitions of advocate Kishan Chand Jain and paediatric surgeon Dr Sanjay Kulshrestha for 12 October 2026.

The Union government, through the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), has filed a special leave petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court seeking a stay of the Calcutta High Court's order and of all pending proceedings in petitions alleging that the Forest Rights Act, 2006 (FRA) was violated in obtaining consent for the ₹92,000-crore Great Nicobar Island (GNI) project. Supreme Court records show the SLP was filed on 24 July 2026 and is tentatively listed for 5 October 2026.

An Indian delegation led by Alok Dimri, Joint Secretary (Multilaterals and Economic Relations) in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), is attending the three-day meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Council of National Coordinators in Islamabad that began on 28 September 2026 — the first official Indian visit to Pakistan since Operation Sindoor. Pakistan announced it will host the SCO Summit in August 2027.

On 29 September 2026, the Technology Development Board (TDB), a statutory body under the Department of Science and Technology (DST), posted a notice that invitations for funding under the ₹1 lakh crore Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) Fund would close after this month “due to administrative reasons”. TDB is the only agency currently selecting beneficiaries, and it has run out of money after one round, putting the Government's flagship deep-tech financing programme on pause.

A special report in The Hindu (30 September 2026) documents a long-running practice in rural Maharashtra: in some villages, gram panchayat members are chosen “unopposed” (binvirodh) and no ballot is held, in some places for up to 70 years. The practice raises a constitutional question. When local elites manufacture consensus, does the 73rd Amendment's promise of elected, representative panchayats survive?

On 30 September 2026, researchers of Lokniti-CSDS published two analyses of the Status of Policing in India Report (SPIR) 2026, released on 24 September by Common Cause and Lokniti-CSDS under the theme ‘Cybercrime – Victim Perspectives and Systemic Responses’. Based on a survey of 8,306 citizens in 16 States, the report maps who is targeted by cyber fraud and how victims get the police to act. A day earlier, an IIT Madras study reported that highly educated, digitally literate professionals are frequent victims of financial cybercrime.

On 29 September 2026, at the close of the two-day National Agriculture Conference – Rabi Campaign 2026-27 in New Delhi, Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan set a national foodgrain production target of 373.93 million tonnes (MT) for 2026-27, including 177.72 MT for the rabi season. He said the 12% monsoon rainfall deficit and El Niño would not cause a ‘major crisis’ at the national level.

The international price of sulphur has risen nearly four-fold in a year — from $280 per tonne (July 2025) to $1,050 per tonne (July 2026) — according to data analysed by The Hindu on 30 September 2026. A commodity that is mostly a by-product of oil and gas processing has been squeezed by Russia's export ban, the West Asia war and booming demand from battery-metal processing, raising the cost of India's phosphatic fertilisers.

On 29 September 2026, Uttarakhand Chief Secretary Anand Bardhan flagged off a scientific team to install the State's first early warning system for a glacial lake, at Vasundhara Tal (also written Vasudhara Tal) in Chamoli district. Experts from CSIR–Central Building Research Institute (CBRI), Roorkee and the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WIHG), Dehradun will work from 29 September to 15 October, backed by the SDRF, NDRF and ITBP.

On 29 September 2026, Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy met Union Jal Shakti Minister C.R. Patil in New Delhi and asked the Centre to facilitate talks with Maharashtra on building the long-pending Tummidihatti barrage, while also seeking Central Water Commission (CWC) approval for the Sammakka Sagar barrage on the Godavari.

On 29 September 2026, Irrigation Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy met Army Chief General Dhiraj Seth in New Delhi, after which the Military Secretary's Branch offered three Lieutenant Colonels of the Corps of Engineers — Satyadev Singh, Ranjit A. Menon, and H.V. Bhalla — for deputation to Telangana's irrigation projects.

On 29 September 2026, Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) and Telangana Power Generation Corporation (TGGENCO) finalised a daily coal-supply action plan of 75,500 tonnes to Telangana's four state thermal power plants, agreed by the two CMDs over a video conference.

On 29 September 2026, the Telangana Southern Power Distribution Company (TGSPDCL) recorded an all-time-high electricity demand of 12,044 MW at 3:52 PM, surpassing its previous record of 11,828 MW, set on 11 September 2026.

On 29 September 2026, Uzbekistan-based carrier Centrum Air launched a twice-weekly direct flight between Hyderabad and Tashkent, operating via Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) — the first direct air link between South India and Central Asia.

The National Medical Commission (NMC) approved the college-wise postgraduate (PG) medical seat matrix for Telangana for academic year 2026-27 on 29 September 2026, fixing a total of 3,981 seats across government, private and deemed medical colleges — spread over 692 course-wise entries at 37-plus colleges.

The Telangana State Level Police Recruitment Board (TSLPRB) announced, on 30 September 2026, that it has made Aadhaar face authentication mandatory for applicants in its ongoing Police Constable recruitment drive (7,437 posts), with Chairman V.V. Srinivasa Rao stating this makes TSLPRB the first government recruitment agency to adopt the method.

On 30 September 2026, at the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, Telangana archer Chikitha Taniparthi won two compound-archery gold medals on the same day.

On 30 September 2026, Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan approved Price Support Scheme (PSS) procurement of pulses and oilseeds for Kharif 2026-27 across Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana, totalling ₹5,547.99 crore for about 7.06 lakh tonnes.

Track inspections at Kondapur and Nagole were held on Tuesday, 29 September 2026, after which Joint Transport Commissioner M. Chandra Shekhar Goud confirmed that Telangana's Transport Department will use AI-based video analytics to assess driving-licence test performance, developed jointly with Maruti Suzuki India Ltd.

On 29 September 2026, Revenue and Housing Minister Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy laid the foundation stone for "Indiramma Towers" — G+10 apartment blocks comprising 480 flats, costing ₹43.20 crore, at Red Hills, in the Nampally Assembly constituency, Hyderabad.

On 30 September 2026, US food-delivery company DoorDash inaugurated a hub at Hitec City, Hyderabad, formally opened by Telangana IT Minister D. Sridhar Babu. The hub starts with about 500 employees, scaling to 3,000-plus over two years.

The Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2027 were released globally on 30 September 2026 (around 4:31 AM IST). The University of Hyderabad (UoH) improved to the 801-1000 band, up from 1001-1200 in the previous edition.

Speaking at a cybersecurity symposium on the evening of Tuesday, 29 September 2026, Telangana Cyber Security Bureau (TGCSB) Director Shikha Goel said Telangana cyber police had recovered ₹455 crore from cyber frauds over the preceding two years, and that nearly 60% of cyber-fraud financial losses in the state are linked to investment and stock-market scams.