Important topics and their relevance in UPSC CSE exam for April 8, 2026. If you missed the April 7, 2026 UPSC CSE exam key from the Indian Express, read it herePreliminary Examination: Indian Polity and Governance-Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc.Mains Examination: General Studies II: Salient features of the Representation of People’s ActWhat’s the ongoing story: Of the 60,06,675 names under adjudication in West Bengal after they had been left out of electoral rolls, 27,16,393, or 45.22%, stand “deleted”, as per the first such data shared by the Election Commission of India (ECI).Key Points to Ponder:• What is Special Intensive Revision (SIR)?• Why EC has conducted the Special Intensive Revision (SIR)?• Under which provision does the Election Commission of India (ECI) conduct a “Special Intensive Revision” (SIR) of electoral rolls?• What is the primary objective of the “Special Intensive Revision” (SIR) of electoral rolls?Story continues below this ad• What are the constitutional and legal mandates empowering the ECI to carry out Special Intensive Revision?• How SIR will impact on electoral integrity?• What are the challenges and implications of requiring birth date/place proof for different age cohorts during roll revision?• How digital integration via ECINET can enhance transparency and accountability in electoral roll management.• Compare the SIR measures in West Bengal with SIR measures in Bihar.Key Takeaways:Story continues below this ad• On Monday midnight, the ECI released its final Supplementary List after the adjudication process began a month ago.• This means that the total number of voters in Bengal has fallen to 6.77 crore from 7.66 crore at the start of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise. In other words, 89 lakh people have been removed from voter lists, a fall of 11.62%.• The highest number of cases under adjudication were in the minority-dominated Murshidabad district (11 lakh), followed by Malda (8.28 lakh), South 24 Parganas (5.22 lakh) and North 24 Parganas (5 lakh). Jhargram and Kalimpong had the fewest pending cases at 6,682 and 6,790 cases, respectively.• As per the ECI’s district-wise data, in terms of percentage, the most number of voters now stand deleted in Matua-dominated Nadia (77.86%). The other high-deletion districts are Hooghly (70.33%), which has a high proportion of Muslims, (high proportion of muslim and matua) followed by Purba Bardhaman (57.4%), North 24 Parganas (55.08%) and Paschim Bardhaman (53.72%).Story continues below this ad• However, minority-dominated Malda, Murshidabad, North Dinajpur and South 24 Parganas, where the number of adjudication cases were among the highest, have seen fewer deletions in terms of percentage, at 28.91%, 41.33%, 36.84% and 42.70% respectively – though in terms of numbers, their share is high.• The adjudication was carried out by 705 judicial officers under the supervision of the Supreme Court. On Monday, the apex court did not accept a plea to extend the time before electoral lists were frozen.Do You Know:• The SIR started on October 27 last year, and after the final list was published on February 28, the total number of voters had fallen to 7.04 crore, including 60.06 lakh electors whose names were flagged for review by Supreme Court-appointed judicial officers.• SIR, or Special Intensive Revision, is a large-scale verification exercise that the ECI undertakes when it believes the routine annual “Summary Revision” is not enough to clean the voter rolls. It involves house-to-house enumeration, pre-filled forms, online submissions, and fresh verification of old voter data.Article 324 of the Indian Constitution grants ECI ‘plenary powers’ to supervise and update electoral rolls. Section 21 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, also allows the Commission to order an intensive revision whenever it finds inaccuracies in the existing rolls.Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:EC failed Bengal voters, SC should look againStory continues below this adPrevious year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:1) Right to vote and to be elected in India is a (UPSC CSE, 2017)(a) Fundamental Right(b) Natural Right(c) Constitutional Right(d) Legal RightNationThere can’t be 3-day untouchability…Art 17 can’t apply for 3 days: SC judgePreliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.Mains Examination: General Studies I: Salient features of Indian Society, Social empowermentWhat’s the ongoing story: Supreme Court’s Justice B V Nagarathna on Tuesday said that there cannot be a three day untouchability every month for women and ending on the fourth day. The judge, who is part of a nine-judge bench in the Sabarimala case, was referring to applicability of Article 17 (abolition of untouchability) of Constitution to the case.Key Points to Ponder:Story continues below this ad• What exactly Supreme Court’s Justice B V Nagarathna said and why?• Sabarimala Temple-know in detail• What was the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Sabarimala temple case?• What are the constitutional provisions related to religious freedom?• What Articles 14, 15, 25 and 51A(e) of the Constitution of India says?• “Article 25 is a balance between what was existing and what has to be done in future”-AnalyseKey Takeaways:Story continues below this ad• The bench is hearing petitions seeking a review of its 2018 judgment lifting age restrictions on the entry of women into the Sabarimala temple in Kerala.• The hearing, which began with Solicitor General Tushar Mehta starting the proceedings on behalf of the Centre, saw Justice Nagarathna pointing out the applicability of Article 17 in the context of Sabarimala case.• Before the judge shared her thoughts, Mehta had taken exception to the 2018 verdict which held that the prohibition of women entry based on menstrual impurity was a form of untouchability.• During the hearing, Justice B V Nagarathna observed that if there is a social ill, which is being branded as a religious practice, the court can certainly distinguish between the two.Story continues below this ad• Justice B V Nagarathna also noted that Article 25 is a balance between what was existing and what has to be done in future.• Chief Justice of India Surya Kant is presiding over the bench, which also includes Justices B V Nagarathna, M M Sundresh, Ahsanuddin Amanullah, Aravind Kumar, Augustine George Masih, Prasanna B Varale, R Mahadevan and Joymalya Bagchi.Do You Know:• The Sabarimala Temple is located atop a hill, 3000 metres above the sea level, at Sabarimala in Pathanamthitta district of Kerala. One has to trek upwards from Pamba, the base of the hill, to reach the temple. The temple is administered by the Travancore Devaswom Board, an autonomous authority under the state government which manages numerous other Hindu shrines in the state as well. The Thazhamon Madom is identified as the main family of priests who look after the temple.• Unlike other Hindu temples in the state, Sabarimala Sree Dharma Sastha temple is not open year-round. It opens for devotees to offer prayers for the first five days of every month in the Malayalam calendar, as well as during the annual ‘mandalam’ and ‘makaravilakku’ festivals between mid-November to mid-January.• On September 28 (2018), a five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court delivered a landmark ruling, literally opening doors for women of all ages to offer prayers at the hilltop shrine. The verdict overturned a 1991 Kerala High Court order that barred women pilgrims between the age of 10-50, citing ‘pre-existing and age-old’ traditions at the shrine.Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:Sabarimala: Everything you need to know about the unique temple, its myth and pilgrimagePrevious year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:2) Which one of the following categories of Fundamental Rights incorporates protection against untouchability as a form of discrimination? (UPSC CSE, 2020)a) Right against Exploitationb) Right to Freedomc) Right to Constitutional Remediesd) Right to EqualityPrevious year UPSC Mains Question Covering similar theme:How is the Indian concept of secularism different from the western model of secularism? Discuss. (2016)The Editorial PageIn Delhi’s support for Arab Gulf, a return of the Bombay school of thoughtPreliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importanceMains Examination: General Studies II: Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interestsWhat’s the ongoing story: C. Raja Mohan Writes-The Bombay School saw India’s security beginning at sea. Its leading figures — John Malcolm and Mountstuart Elphinstone — viewed Persia and Arabia as the natural outer ring of India’s defence.Key Points to Ponder:• Iran war and India’s stand-know in detail• What is Bombay School and Ludhiana School?• India’s West Asia policy-know in detail• What is the impact of diaspora on India’s diplomacy?• What are the future prospects of India–Gulf relations?Key Takeaways:C. Raja Mohan Writes-• Whether the Iran war escalates into a more devastating confrontation or cools into a diplomatic mode this week, one fact is now beyond dispute: The Gulf has moved decisively to the very top of India’s strategic priorities. Geography alone should have made this happen long ago.• India’s approach to the current war suggests that Delhi will no longer treat the Gulf as a peripheral region.• The First Anglo Afghan War (1839-42) was the decisive collision between these two schools. The Ludhiana School prevailed in policy, pushing the Raj into Kabul to install a friendly ruler. The catastrophic retreat from Afghanistan vindicated the Bombay School’s scepticism about continental adventures. Yet the Ludhiana logic proved resilient. As the Raj consolidated the Punjab and fretted about Russian expansion, the Ludhiana School entrenched itself.• The revival of the Bombay School does not mean India can ignore the challenges on its northwestern marches. The enduring hostility with Pakistan remains real. The task for Delhi is not to choose between maritime and continental imperatives but to integrate them — to anchor maritime India firmly in the Gulf while maintaining credible military deterrence on the land frontier.Do You Know:C. Raja Mohan Writes-• The story begins in the late 18th century, when the British Raj, newly ascendant in the Subcontinent, confronted a dramatic external shock: Napoleon’s conquest of Egypt in 1798. His ambitions in the eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East exposed the vulnerability of the Indian empire’s western approaches. The result was the birth of the “Great Game”, the prolonged contest between Britain and its European rivals for influence across the territorial arc from the Levant to the Hindu Kush. Out of this crucible emerged two distinct strategic visions. Both saw the need for defending India well beyond its territorial borders. They diverged on questions of geographic focus and policy instruments.• The Bombay School, shaped by the commercial dynamism of the emerging Parsi and Gujarati capitalists operating in the space created by the empire in western India and the Arabian Sea, saw India’s security beginning at sea. Its leading figures — John Malcolm and Mountstuart Elphinstone — viewed Persia and Arabia as the natural outer ring of India’s defence.• The Ludhiana School — where the East India Company agents were located before gaining full control of the Punjab — was continental in orientation. Figures such as Henry Lawrence, John Lawrence, and Claude Wade operated in a world shaped by tribal politics, feudal forces, and shifting alliances in the effort to prevent European penetration through Central Asia and Afghanistan.Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:Pause welcome but path ahead forbidding: Ceasefire needs to hold, 5 minefields mark the US-Iran chasmPrevious year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:3) Which of the following is not a member of ‘Gulf Cooperation Council’? (UPSC CSE, 2016)(a) Iran(c) Oman(b) Saudi Arabia(d) KuwaitPhule’s life and thought, a constitutional projectPreliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importanceMains Examination: General Studies I: Modern Indian history from about the middle of the eighteenth century until the present- significant events, personalities, issues.What’s the ongoing story: As we mark the beginning of the bicentenary year of Mahatma Jyotirao Phule, born on April 11, 1827, he is rightly remembered as a social reformer, educator, fierce critic of caste, and pioneer of women’s education.Key Points to Ponder:• Who was Mahatma Jyotirao Phule and Savitribai Phule?• Know the contributions of Jyotirao Phule in women empowerment• What social reform movements were initiated by Mahatma Jyotirao Phule and Savitribai Phule?• What is the significance of Satyashodhak Samaj?• How Mahatma Jyotirao Phule’s work impacted on Indian society?• Know the relevance of Phule’s ideas today.Key Takeaways:• Phule’s life and thought can be understood as a constitutional project. Even if it did not produce a legal text, it reimagined the foundations of social order on the principles of equality, dignity, and the redistribution of power.• Born into a Shudra community, Phule experienced firsthand the injustices of a graded society. Yet, what transformed experience into critique was his encounter with new intellectual resources.• Reading English classic texts furnished him with a vocabulary through which he could begin to articulate claims of rights, equality, and justice. A transformational moment was his engagement with Thomas Paine’s Rights of Man in 1847.• Paine wrote that every individual possesses certain natural rights due to “his existence”, and certain civil rights for “being a member of society”. Paine also understood a constitution as a foundational structure of political power. A constitution is a “body of elements” containing the principles on which government is organised, with the ultimate purpose of promoting “the general happiness”.• Phule’s subsequent interventions aimed at promoting the rights of all through institutional and structural efforts: The establishment of schools for women and oppressed castes, the opening of public wells to those deemed “untouchable”, and advocacy for widow remarriage alongside a critique of child marriage.• Phule was also a keen observer of global constitutional developments. In his seminal work Gulamgiri (Slavery), 1873, he situated the struggle against caste oppression within a transnational history of emancipation.Do You Know:• Mahatma Jyotirao and Savitribai Phule stand out as an extraordinary couple in the social and educational history of India. They spearheaded path-breaking work towards female education and empowerment, and towards ending caste- and gender-based discrimination.• In 1840, at a time when child marriages were common, Savitri at the age of ten was married to Jyotirao, who was thirteen years old at the time. The couple later in life strove to oppose child marriage and also organised widow remarriages.• Together, by 1848, the Phules started a school for girls, Shudras and Ati-Shudras in Poona. The historic work was started by Jyotirao when he was just 21 years old, ably supported by his 18-year-old wife.• In 1853, Jyotirao-Savitribai opened a care centre for pregnant widows to have safe deliveries and to end the practice of infanticide owing to social norms. The Balhatya Pratibandhak Griha (Home for the Prevention of Infanticide) started in their own house at 395, Ganj Peth, Pune.• Jyotirao and Savitri did not have biological children, and adopted the child of a widow. Yashwantrao grew up to be a doctor, rendering his services in the 1897 Bubonic plague.The Satyashodhak Samaj (The Truth-Seeker’s Society) was established on September 24, 1873 by Jyotirao-Savitribai and other like-minded people. The Samaj advocated for social changes that went against prevalent traditions, including economical weddings, inter-caste marriages, eradication of child marriages, and widow remarriage.Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:Knowledge nugget of the day: Jyotirao PhulePrevious year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:4) The Vital-Vidhvansak, the first monthly journal to have the untouchable people as its target audience was published by (UPSC CSE, 2020)(a) Gopal Baba Walangkar(b) Jyotiba Phule(c) Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi(d) Bhimrao Ranji AmbedkarThe Ideas PageMissing link in India’s natural-birth story: MidwivesPreliminary Examination: Current events of national importance, Social development.Mains Examination: General Studies I: Population and associated issues, Social empowermentWhat’s the ongoing story: In 2008–09, C-sections accounted for about 6.4 per cent of institutional births in India. By 2024–25, that figure had crossed 27 per cent. The WHO recommends 10–15 per cent as the optimal population-level rate.Key Points to Ponder:• What is the definition of midwifery?• What is the difference between a midwife and an OB?• Why midwifery becomes urgent?• What is the Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR)?• What are the main causes of maternal deaths?• What are the regional disparities in maternal mortality in India?• What is the significance of reducing maternal mortality?• What are the challenges faced by India in achieving the MMR target of below 70 by 2030?• What measures should be taken to reduce maternal mortality in India?Key Takeaways:Veena Iyer Writes-• The maternal mortality ratio has fallen from 130 per lakh live births in 2014-16 to 93 in 2019-21, and over 33 years, maternal deaths have reduced by 86 per cent — against a global reduction of 48 per cent. These are extraordinary numbers. But it also shows us something sinister.• The cost for a C-section in a small-town private hospital is roughly Rs 40,000, while in large cities it often crosses Rs 1,00,000. Deliveries account for 70 to 80 per cent of the earnings of private gynaecologists. Cultural factors compound this: In parts of India, many women prefer surgical delivery; some families request surgery to align with auspicious dates.• The case against unnecessary caesareans is real. The immediate risks to the mother are well established: Infection, haemorrhage, adhesions, and complications in future pregnancies. Less widely known is that caesarean significantly increases the risk of scar endometriosis — a condition where endometrial tissue implants itself along the surgical wound, causing cyclical pain that can develop years after the birth.• For the child, the science is more tentative. The disruption to gut microbiota at birth is real, but also partially reversible: Exclusive breastfeeding has been shown to restore it. The long-term signals are harder to dismiss: C-section children are more likely to develop respiratory tract infections, asthma, and obesity.Do You Know:• A trained professional midwife is not simply a substitute for an obstetrician at a normal birth. She is the person who holds space for a normal birth to happen — who recognises that labour is not a medical emergency, who supports a woman through it without the clock-watching and liability anxiety. Professional midwives are trained to identify risk conditions, and refer to specialists when medically indicated, making surgical intervention the exception, not the default.• India took a right step with the Nurse Practitioner in Midwifery programme in 2018. Approximately 1,500 midwives have been produced to date, far fewer than the nearly 90,000 midwives we would need for the public-health system alone.Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:Lancet study shows challenge before India in meeting 2030 maternal mortality goalsPrevious year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:5) With reference to the ‘Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan’, consider the following statements: (UPSC CSE, 2024)1. This scheme guarantees a minimum package of antenatal care services to women in their second and third trimesters of pregnancy and six months post-delivery health care service in any government health facility.2. Under this scheme, private sector health care providers of certain specialities can volunteer to provide services at nearby government health facilities.Which of the statements given above is/are correct?(a) 1 only(b) 2 only(c) Both 1 and 2(d) Neither 1 nor 2ExplainedKalpakkam: ‘Critical’ step in 3-stage nuclear programmePreliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance and General ScienceMains Examination: General Studies III: Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life.What’s the ongoing story: India is one of the few countries in the world with a long experience of developing nuclear technologies, including the generation of nuclear power. This includes a mastery over the pressurised heavy water reactor (PHWR) technology, or reactors that use natural uranium as fuel and heavy water (deuterium oxide) as coolant and moderator.Key Points to Ponder:• Map Work-Mark Nuclear power plants in India including Kalpakkam nuclear power plant• India’s three-stage nuclear programme-why it is called three stage?• What are the three distinct, sequential stages in three-stage nuclear programme?• What is criticality in nuclear reactor?• Attaining criticality is a key milestone-why?• What is core loading?• What is the civil nuclear programme?• What is Nuclear Energy?• Why do we need nuclear energy?• What are the types of nuclear reactor?• What is the current Status of Nuclear Energy and Nuclear power plants in India?Key Takeaways:• These reactors now comprise the bulk of India’s installed atomic power capacity of 8,180 MWe (megawatt electric), alongside some imported light water reactors (LWRs) units.• Two other technologies are a work-in-progress: atomic reactors called fast breeders and a longstanding project that aims at eventually fabricating thorium-based nuclear reactors.• These three technologies (PHWRs-FBRs-Thorium reactors), progressing in series, make up India’s ambitious three-stage nuclear power programme. This programme envisages a pathway to utilising India’s abundant thorium reserves – found in coastal and inland placer sands on the beaches of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat, and in the inland riverine sands of Jharkhand and West Bengal – to generate electricity.• The vital second stage of India’s three-stage nuclear programme got a boost Monday with the country’s first indigenous Fast Breeder Reactor (FBR) at Kalpakkam in Tamil Nadu attaining criticality.• Attaining criticality, or going critical, means the initiation of a self-sustaining nuclear fission reaction that will eventually lead to the generation of power by the 500-megawatt electric (MWe) FBR.• Attaining criticality is a key milestone before full power generation, indicating that the reactor core is functioning as designed and that each fission event in the core now releases a sufficient number of neutrons to sustain an ongoing series of reactions.Do You Know:• A little over two years ago, the completion of ‘core loading’, or the process of placing nuclear fuel assemblies inside the core of a nuclear reactor, was completed in March 2024 in case of the Kalpakkam FBR. This reactor will initially use uranium-plutonium mixed oxide (MOX) fuel, with a ‘blanket’ of a Uranium isotope (U238) around the fuel core that will undergo nuclear transmutation to produce more fuel – therefore, the name ‘breeder’.• Nuclear transmutation involves the conversion of a chemical element or isotope into another chemical element, with the numbers of protons or neutrons in the nucleus of the atom undergoing a change.• The first stage entails the setting up of PHWRs and associated fuel cycle facilities, which is currently in progress. For the PHWR programme, the India-US civil nuclear deal has opened the doors for India to buy uranium for its domestic reactors, thus increasing the pace of its nuclear programme.• In the second stage of India’s nuclear power programme, the FBRs would be deployed at scale. Fast reactors are essentially designed to produce more fuel than they consume and in the Indian context, ‘higher breeding’ is desired so that the rate at which the power capacity can grow would be higher.• FBRs enable the potential to harness the energy of natural uranium by over 60 times through multiple recycles. These breeder reactors are also crucial for enlarging the inventory of plutonium — produced after the first stage PHWRs — so that a much larger irradiation capacity to produce an isotope of Uranium (U-233) at scale for use in the third stage programme can be built up.Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:Knowledge Nugget: India’s three-stage nuclear programme — A must-know for UPSC examsExplained: India’s first indigenous Fast Breeder Reactor begins ‘core loading’, why it mattersPrevious year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:6) In India, why are some nuclear reactors kept under “IAEA safeguards” while others are not? (UPSC CSE, 2020)(a) Some use uranium and others use thorium(b) Some use imported uranium and others use domestic supplies(c) Some are operated by foreign enterprises and others are operated by domestic enterprises(d) Some are State-owned and others are privately ownedWhy Artemis II crew went farther from Earth than anyone beforePreliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.Mains Examination: General Studies III: Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics, nano-technology, biotechnology and issues relating to intellectual property rights.What’s the ongoing story: The four astronauts of NASA’s Artemis II mission on Monday (April 6) travelled 252,756 miles (406,771 kilometers) away from Earth. The Orion spacecraft, in setting the new record, swung around the far side of the Moon.Key Points to Ponder:• Artemis II mission-know its key highlights• What are the objectives of the Artemis program?• What is the significance of Artemis II mission?• What is so great about going to the Moon when it has already been done more than 50 years ago?• Apollo programme and Artemis II mission-what are the key differences?• What are the future missions in the Artemis programme?• What was the Artemis II flight path?• How does the ‘free-return trajectory’ work?• What makes this flight plan attractive?• What next for the Artemis programme?Key Takeaways:• The record before this was the 4,00,171 km travelled by Apollo-13 in 1970, though in that case, the mission had to deviate farther than its intended path due to a malfunction.• For Artemis II, the distance was part of the plan, but setting this record is not the mission’s main objective. The distance is a function of the path Artemis II is following to fulfill its goals.• The first crewed lunar mission since December 1972, Artemis II is not a landing mission. Instead, it is a highly regulated flyby designed to test the limits of the Orion spacecraft.• The mission holds significance as it will be the first time humans will venture further than low Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in 1972.Do You Know:• Prioritising crew safety and fuel efficiency, this free-return trajectory is executed in two distinct phases:—The High Earth Orbit (HEO): Initially, rather than aiming directly for the Moon, Orion pushed into an elliptical path around Earth, stretching outward to roughly 74,000 km. This afforded the crew a 42-hour window to conduct critical checks on the environmental control and life support systems (ECLSS). Should any system have failed here, the spacecraft remained within Earth’s gravitational pull, allowing an abort and splashdown within hours.—The Translunar Slingshot: Once cleared for deep space, Orion was pushed toward the Moon by the European Service Module, aiming for a precise point roughly 10,300 km beyond the lunar far side. This allowed the Moon’s gravity to act as a tether, catching the spacecraft and whipping it around the far side directly back toward Earth’s atmosphere.Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:Apollo to Artemis: Humanity’s first trip to moon in over 50 yearsPrevious year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:7) Consider the following space missions: (UPSC CSE, 2025)I. Axiom-4II. SpaDeXIII. GaganyaanHow many of the space missions given above encourage and support microgravity research?(a) Only one(b) Only two(c) All three(d) NonePrevious year UPSC Main Question Covering similar theme:What is India’s plan to have its own space station and how will it benefit our space programme? (2019) PRELIMS ANSWER KEY1.(c) 2.(d) 3.(a) 4.(a) 5.(b) 6.(b) 7.(c) For any queries and feedback, contact priya.shukla@indianexpress.comSubscribe to our UPSC newsletter. Stay updated with the latest UPSC articles by joining our Telegram channel – IndianExpress UPSC Hub, and follow us on Instagram and X.