13 October 2026Current Affairs & GK Compendium — August 2026

Daily Current Affairs & GK Compendium — 13 October 2026

Regional Security: First BIMSTEC Home Ministers meeting adopts historic Delhi Declaration in New Delhi strengthening counterterrorism cooperation.

Curated For:

Executive Briefing

High-level takeaways from today's compendium (PIB, The Hindu, Indian Express)

Regional Security: First BIMSTEC Home Ministers meeting adopts historic Delhi Declaration in New Delhi strengthening counterterrorism cooperation.
Monetary Operations: Reserve Bank opens dedicated dollar window for oil marketing companies while tightening foreign exchange derivative norms.
Fiscal Governance: Goods and Services Tax Council recommends crucial procedural compliance reforms and decriminalisation of minor infractions.
Defence Indigenization: Garden Reach Shipbuilders launches third next generation offshore patrol vessel INS Shreyas in Kolkata yard.
Digital Governance: IT Ministry awards unified agentic artificial intelligence platform contract to CoRover for seamless DigiLocker integration.

Objective One-Liners

Rapid-fire factual bullets tailored for SSC, Banking, Railways & State PSC Prelims

Host City for the Inaugural BIMSTEC Home Ministers' Meeting 2026: New Delhi.

Official Declaration Adopted at First BIMSTEC Home Ministers' Meeting: Delhi Declaration.

Permanent Headquarters of the BIMSTEC Secretariat: Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Name of Third Next Generation Offshore Patrol Vessel Launched by GRSE: INS Shreyas (Yard 3040).

Revised Minimum Daily CRR Maintenance Ratio Mandated by RBI: 99% of Prescribed CRR.

Constitutional Article Establishing the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council: Article 279A.

Startup Selected by NeGD to Develop Unified Agentic AI for DigiLocker: CoRover.ai.

Nodal Ministry Sponsoring Project DRISHTI for Spatial Survey of Delhi Colonies: Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA).

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Regional Security, Counter-Terrorism and Multilateral Diplomacy

Topic ARegional Security, Counter-Terrorism and Multilateral Diplomacy

First BIMSTEC Home Ministers' Meeting Concludes in New Delhi with Adoption of the 'Delhi Declaration'

The inaugural Home Ministers' Meeting of BIMSTEC concluded in New Delhi on 13 October 2026, chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

Key Facts & Dimensions

Adoption of Delhi Declaration: Ministers from all seven member states (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand) unanimously adopted the Delhi Declaration recognizing the Bay of Bengal as a common security space.
Counter-Terrorism & Anti-Trafficking Architecture: Reaffirmed zero tolerance for terrorism, called for coordinated UNSC 1267 implementation, and agreed on joint actions against cross-border human trafficking and scam compound operations.
Enforcement Conventions: Urged full implementation of the 2021 BIMSTEC Convention on Combating International Terrorism and the 2022 Convention on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters, while establishing the BIMSTEC Drug Offences Monitoring Desk (BDOMD).

Exam Takeaway & GS Relevance

UPSC GS-II (BIMSTEC, Regional Groupings, Neighbourhood First) and GS-III (Internal Security, Border Management).

Economy, Banking Regulation and Monetary Operations

Topic AEconomy, Banking Regulation and Monetary Operations

Reserve Bank of India Launches Special Forex Window for Oil Marketing Companies and Tightens Derivative Regulations

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) established a dedicated foreign exchange facility to service the complete daily dollar requirements of state-run Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) and introduced stringent restrictions on rupee currency derivatives.

Key Facts & Dimensions

Targeted OMC Dollar Window: Routes daily foreign currency procurement of IOCL, HPCL, and BPCL directly through the central bank window, isolating daily crude demand shocks from the interbank spot market.
Forex Derivative Guardrails: Prohibited Authorised Dealer Category-I banks from allowing clients to rebook cancelled rupee derivative contracts.
Authorised Dealer Threshold Revision: Lowered the threshold limit across AD banks from USD 100 million to USD 5 million.
Enhanced CRR Maintenance Ratio: Raised the minimum daily maintenance requirement of the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) for scheduled commercial banks from 90% to 99% of prescribed CRR effective 16 October 2026.

Exam Takeaway & GS Relevance

UPSC GS-III (Indian Economy, Monetary Policy Operations, Exchange Rate Stability) and Banking Exams (IBPS/SBI PO/RBI Grade B).

Fiscal Federalism and Indirect Taxation Reforms

Topic AFiscal Federalism and Indirect Taxation Reforms

57th GST Council Meeting Recommends Process Rationalization and Decriminalisation Measures

Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman chaired the 57th meeting of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council in New Delhi.

Key Facts & Dimensions

Next-Gen Process Reforms: Streamlined end-to-end procedural workflows governing taxpayer registration, automated return filing, expedited refund processing, and dispute adjudication.
Decriminalisation & Trade Facilitation: Reaffirmed higher monetary thresholds for launching penal prosecutions, narrowing criminal liabilities to intentional evasion syndicates.
Statutory Clarifications: Issued formal clarifications on applicable GST rates and exemptions across emerging digital and green transition supplies.

Exam Takeaway & GS Relevance

UPSC GS-II (Fiscal Federalism, GST Council Mandate under Article 279A) and GS-III (Tax Reforms, Ease of Doing Business).

Defence Modernization and Indigenous Shipbuilding

Topic ADefence Modernization and Indigenous Shipbuilding

Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Launches 'INS Shreyas' (Yard 3040) in Kolkata

Defence PSU Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE) Limited launched 'INS Shreyas', the third of four Next Generation Offshore Patrol Vessels (NGOPVs) for the Indian Navy, in Kolkata.

Key Facts & Dimensions

Indigenous Design & Construction: Built under Aatmanirbhar Bharat and Make in India frameworks with over 60% indigenous material content.
Technical Specifications: Measures 113 meters in length and 14.6 meters in width, displacing ~3,000 tonnes with a maximum speed of 23 knots and an endurance of 8,500 nautical miles.
Operational Roles: Engineered for EEZ surveillance, protection of offshore assets, anti-piracy deterrence, and Visit, Board, Search and Seizure (VBSS) operations.

Exam Takeaway & GS Relevance

UPSC GS-III (Indigenization of Technology, Maritime Security Architecture) and Defence Exams (CDS/NDA/AFCAT).

Digital Public Infrastructure and Emerging Technology

Topic ADigital Public Infrastructure and Emerging Technology

MeitY Empanels CoRover to Build Unified Agentic AI Assistant for Citizen Services

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), through the National e-Governance Division (NeGD), selected CoRover.ai under a Quality-and-Cost-Based Selection (QCBS) tender to create a Unified Agentic AI platform.

Key Facts & Dimensions

Standardized Framework: Deploys a reusable government-wide conversational and agentic architecture utilizing an 'ask, do, and escalate' functional model.
DigiLocker Integration: DigiLocker serves as the initial flagship deployment, enabling citizens to retrieve, verify, and share accredited identity documents via conversational voice and text queries.
Cybersecurity & Safety: Enforces prompt engineering safeguards, human-in-the-loop escalation paths, and automated defense mechanisms against adversarial jailbreaking.

Exam Takeaway & GS Relevance

UPSC GS-III (Artificial Intelligence, E-Governance, Digital India Mission) and SSC CGL.

Static GK Foundations

Essential background concepts and core static knowledge tied to today's news

Focus #1

BIMSTEC Institutional Framework and Security Architecture

•Foundational Background: Established on 6 June 1997 through the Bangkok Declaration. Originally founded as BIST-EC (Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand Economic Cooperation), it expanded to include Myanmar in late 1997, and Bhutan and Nepal in February 2004.
•Permanent Secretariat: Headquartered in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The Charter of BIMSTEC formally entered into force in 2024 following ratification across member states.
•Institutional Pillar Distribution: India serves as the lead shepherd nation for the Security pillar, which encompasses counter-terrorism, transnational crime, disaster management, and energy cooperation.
•Core Conventions: BIMSTEC Convention on Combating International Terrorism, Transnational Organised Crime and Illicit Drug Trafficking (2021) and BIMSTEC Convention on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters (2022).

Focus #2

Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) and Central Bank Forex Windows

•Statutory Mandate of CRR: Under Section 42(1) of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, all scheduled banks are required to maintain a designated percentage of their Net Demand and Time Liabilities (NDTL) as cash balances with the RBI without earning interest.
•Daily Maintenance Discipline: While the average CRR is calculated across a reporting fortnight, the RBI specifies a minimum daily maintenance threshold (raised from 90% to 99%) to eliminate excessive intra-fortnight liquidity hoarding and speculative interbank lending.
•Special Oil Window Dynamics: By providing direct foreign exchange credit lines to state oil refiners (IOCL, HPCL, BPCL), the RBI prevents daily dollar demand spikes from destabilizing the spot rupee exchange rate.

Focus #3

Constitutional Mandate and Decision-Making in the GST Council

•Constitutional Provision: Inserted by the 101st Constitutional Amendment Act, 2016, Article 279A empowered the President of India to constitute the GST Council within 60 days of commencement.
•Composition: Union Finance Minister (Chairperson), Union Minister of State in charge of Revenue or Finance (Member), and State Ministers in charge of Finance or Taxation nominated by each State Government (Members).
•Weighted Voting Formula: Central Government exercises one-third (33.33%) of total weighted votes cast, while all State Governments combined exercise two-thirds (66.67%). Decisions require a supermajority of at least three-fourths (75%) of weighted votes of members present and voting.

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Daily Current Affairs MCQs & PYQs

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Progress

0 of 5 Answered

Q1PYQ • UPSC Civil Services Prelims 2020

If the RBI decides to adopt an expansionist monetary policy, which of the following would it not do? 1. Cut and optimize the Statutory Liquidity Ratio 2. Increase the Marginal Standing Facility rate 3. Cut the Bank Rate and Repo Rate Select the correct answer using the code given below:

Q2PYQ • UPSC Civil Services Prelims (Polity)

Consider the following statements regarding the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council: 1. It is a constitutional body established under Article 279A of the Constitution of India. 2. The Union Finance Minister serves as the Chairperson of the Council. 3. Every decision of the Council is taken by a majority of not less than three-fourths of the weighted votes of the members present and voting. Which of the statements given above are correct?

Q3Daily MCQ • STANDARD

With reference to the First BIMSTEC Home Ministers' Meeting held in New Delhi in October 2026, consider the following statements: 1. The meeting concluded with the unanimous adoption of the Delhi Declaration. 2. The declaration recognized the Bay of Bengal region as a common security space against transnational crime and terrorism. 3. BIMSTEC was founded through the Bangkok Declaration and maintains its permanent secretariat in New Delhi. Which of the statements given above are correct?

Q4Daily MCQ • STANDARD

With reference to recent regulatory interventions by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) concerning foreign exchange and commercial banking liquidity, consider the following statements: 1. The RBI established a dedicated foreign exchange window to meet the dollar requirements of state-run oil marketing companies. 2. Authorised Dealers are permitted to allow corporate entities to freely rebook cancelled Indian Rupee derivative contracts without limits. 3. The minimum daily maintenance requirement of the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) for scheduled banks was raised to 99% of the prescribed requirement. Which of the statements given above are correct?

Q5Daily MCQ • STANDARD

Regarding the Next Generation Offshore Patrol Vessels (NGOPVs) constructed for the Indian Navy, consider the following statements: 1. INS Shreyas is the third of four NGOPVs launched by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) in Kolkata. 2. These vessels are designed to undertake exclusive economic zone (EEZ) surveillance, anti-piracy missions, and visit, board, search and seizure (VBSS) operations. 3. The vessels are completely imported from foreign shipyards under the Buy (Global) procurement category. Which of the statements given above are correct?