Daily Current Affairs- 9th September 2026

Daily Current Affairs- 9th September 2026

Rajasthan’s Shekhawati Havelis Added to UNESCO Tentative List

In the News: The Painted Haveli Towns of Shekhawati in Rajasthan have been included in India’s UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List. UNESCO records the nomination as submitted on June 1, 2026. The serial cultural nomination covers historic ensembles across 14 towns in the Shekhawati region of Rajasthan.

Key Points:

• Tentative List Status: The nomination is officially titled “The Painted Haveli Towns of Shekhawati” and has UNESCO reference number 7028. It has been proposed under cultural criteria (iii), (iv) and (v). Inclusion on the Tentative List is an important preliminary stage before a property can be considered for the World Heritage List.
• Geographical Spread: The serial nomination comprises historic ensembles from 14 towns located across Jhunjhunu, Churu and Sikar districts of Rajasthan. Important centres include Mandawa, Nawalgarh, Fatehpur, Jhunjhunu, Churu and Sikar. Shekhawati lies in an arid and semi-desert region of northwestern Rajasthan.
• Architectural Importance: Shekhawati is especially known for courtyard-based merchant havelis decorated with extensive frescoes. The paintings depict mythology, everyday life, colonial encounters, technological developments, flora, fauna and historical personalities, effectively serving as visual records of social change.
• Mercantile Heritage: Much of Shekhawati’s architectural development was associated with prosperous Marwari merchant communities between the eighteenth and early twentieth centuries. Forts, bazaars, temples, havelis, stepwells and other water-management structures together created a distinctive form of settlement adapted to the region’s dry climate.

India Hosts Global Dryland Congress 2026

In the News: India is hosting the Global Dryland Congress 2026 in New Delhi from September 10 to 12, 2026. The three-day event is being jointly organised by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) at the National Agricultural Science Complex.

Key Points:

• Theme and Participation: The Congress is being held under the theme “Transforming Dryland Agriculture with South–South Cooperation.” More than 800 scientists, policymakers, farmer representatives and development partners from Asia, Africa and the Americas are expected to participate.
• Six Major Themes: Deliberations cover breeding for dryland crops, climate-resilient landscapes, nutrition and markets, resilient farming systems, seed systems, and gender and youth-centred transformation. These themes address food security, water scarcity, climate variability and sustainable agriculture in dry regions.
• ICAR-ICRISAT Partnership: The Congress also marks 50 years of collaboration between ICAR and ICRISAT. ICRISAT was established in 1972 and is headquartered in Hyderabad, India, while ICAR functions under the Department of Agricultural Research and Education of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
• Delhi Declaration and South-South Cooperation: The Congress is expected to culminate in the adoption of the “Delhi Declaration on Dryland (3D).” Its concluding day, September 12, also coincides with the United Nations Day for South–South Cooperation, with sessions devoted to South-South and Triangular Cooperation in agricultural research.

FATF Report on Underground Banking and Digital Hawala

In the News: The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) released a report on September 3, 2026, examining professional money laundering through underground banking, hawala and other similar service providers. The report also highlights the increasing use of technology in what FATF describes as “digital hawala.”

Key Points:

• Scale of the Problem: More than 80% of jurisdictions responding to FATF identified underground banking and hawala-type systems among the principal channels or techniques used in professional money laundering. FATF documented cases in which over EUR 500 million was laundered through such schemes within only a few months.
• Rise of Digital Hawala: Nearly 70% of respondents identified increasing integration of new technologies into informal value-transfer networks. These include encrypted messaging applications, mobile wallets, fintech platforms, instant payments, virtual assets such as stablecoins and even purpose-built hawala applications.
• Connection with Formal Finance: FATF warned that professional money launderers increasingly combine informal systems with bank accounts, payment service providers, virtual IBANs, prepaid cards and virtual-asset wallets. This can create entry and exit points between underground networks and the regulated financial system.
• FATF Basics: FATF is an intergovernmental body established by the G7 in 1989 and is based in Paris. It sets global standards against money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing through its 40 Recommendations. Giles Thomson of the United Kingdom became FATF President on July 1, 2026, while India’s Vivek Aggarwal became Vice-President.

What is Article 371(K), and what could it mean for Ladakh?

In the News: The Centre has proposed the possible creation of a new constitutional provision, Article 371(K), to provide special safeguards for Ladakh. The proposal was discussed between representatives from Ladakh and the Ministry of Home Affairs on September 9, 2026. Article 371(K) has not yet been inserted into the Constitution, and its precise provisions remain under negotiation.

Key Points:

• Purpose of the Proposal: The proposed provision is intended to address demands for constitutional protection of Ladakh’s land, employment opportunities, culture, language and local interests. Discussions have also considered greater political representation and an elected Union Territory-level institutional arrangement, though its final powers have not yet been settled.
• Background of Ladakh: Ladakh became a separate Union Territory without a legislature on October 31, 2019, under the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019. Since then, local groups have demanded stronger safeguards over land, employment, cultural identity and natural resources, along with greater participation in governance.
• Article 371 Framework: Articles 371 to 371J contain special constitutional provisions for different states and regions based on their particular historical, social or administrative circumstances. For example, Article 371J provides special arrangements relating to the Kalyana Karnataka region. A new Article 371(K), if adopted, would extend this special-provision framework to Ladakh.
• Difference from Sixth Schedule: Ladakh groups have also sought Sixth Schedule protection, which provides Autonomous District Councils in tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram under Articles 244(2) and 275(1). The proposed Article 371(K) model would be separately tailored for Ladakh and need not replicate the Sixth Schedule structure or its degree of autonomy.