Daily Current Affairs for UPSC IAS: 11th Sep 2026

What are Levees?

Nearly 2,000 kilometres of levees built along the Mississippi River over the past century helped protect cities and farmland from major floods.

• A levee is a structure, either natural or artificial, built along the edges of a stream or river channel to prevent flooding of the adjacent land.
• It can also be used to divert the river to increase land for construction.
• In some countries, levees are used to prevent water from flowing inland from the sea or diverting the river’s course, revealing fertile soil.
• They can also be used to prevent rivers from overflowing into cities during storms.
• They are very important features, but if they break, the consequences are disastrous.
• A majority of levees form from earth material.
• The flow of a water body pushes river sediments to the sides, thus creating a levee.
• The riverbank forms a levee made of silk, sediment, and other material such as dead plants to the side as the water flows.
• They stretch parallel to the river and control the flow.
• Natural levees can be reinforced using artificial material.
• In cases where levees do not exist, then artificial ones are constructed. They are made by piling rocks, sand, and soil along the riverbank.
• When the river flow is too strong, they can be made of metal, wood, or plastic material. In some places, they are made of concrete.
• Levees are constructed to a variety of heights and widths and with a variety of materials. The height or width of a levee often depends upon possible rain and storm events.
• One of the largest modern systems of levees is that built along the Mississippi River In the central United States.

Sea Levees:

• A majority of the leaves are used to control the flow of the river, but others are built along the coast.
• The Netherlands is a prime example of how dams, levees, and dikes can be used to control tides.
• The reclaimed land is then used for agricultural or residential use.
• A levee was also constructed along the coast of the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick in Canada to prevent high tides from flowing inland.

Gooty Fort:

After review, the Union Ministry of Communications and Department of Posts recently forwarded the proposal for a commemorative postage stamp on Gooty Fort.

• Gooty Fort, also known as Ravadurg and Gutti Kota, is an ancient hilltop fortress located in the town of Gooty in the Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh.
• Inscriptions found here appear to be from the reign of the Western Chalukya king Vikramaditya VI Tribhuvanamalla (1076 CE – 1126 CE).
• It was also the site of a major battle between the Western Chalukyas and the Cholas under Vira Rajendra (1063 CE – 1070 CE) when the latter laid siege to the fort.
• The defenders fought well and hard and beat back the Cholas.
• The area later was taken over by the Vijayanagar empire and once was the abode of one of the most powerful Hindu rulers of all time,
• The Qutb Shahi dynasty succeeded the Vijayanagar empire and subsequently fell into the hands of the Mughals when their capital of Golconda was annexed.
• In the 18th century, the Maratha general Murari Rao captured the fort area and revamped the structure to strengthen it.
• Hyder Ali, the then ruler of the Mysore kingdom and father of Tipu Sultan, forced Murari Rao to surrender when he ran out of water supplies.
• With the onset of the British invasion of India, the important fort fell into the hands of the British East India Company.
• It is a blend of Hindu-Islamic architecture.
• It was made of granite rocks, and the domes were constructed with fine stone, mortar, and lime, ensuring sustainability.
• Built in the shape of a shell, this fort actually comprises 15 small forts with different gateways.
• The outer wall with bastions connects all the gateways of smaller forts.
• The fort also features two imposing buildings, one of which is a gymnasium, while other is a barrack.
• On the edge of the cliff, there is a pavilion of polished limestone called Morari Rao’s seat.
• Various wells were created at the top of the hill.
• There are several temples within the fort, like the Lakshmi Narasimha Temple, Nageswara Swami Temple, Hanuman Temple, Jyothimma Temple, and the Ramaswamy Temple.
• There is also a Dargah inside the fortification.
• There are several ruined structures on the upper level of the fort.

Nandankanan Zoological Park:

Nandankanan Zoological Park recently introduced musical therapy for the five abandoned baby orangutans to help them cope with stress.

• Nandankanan, literally meaning “The Garden of Heaven”, is located on the banks of Kanjia Lake in Odisha.
• Unlike other zoos in the country, it has been built inside a natural forest (Chandaka Forest), which is moist deciduous in nature and remains semi-evergreen.
• It also contains a botanical garden, and part of it has been declared a sanctuary.
• It is the first zoo in India to gain membership in the World Association of Zoos & Aquariums (WAZA).
• It is the sole zoo in India to inspire an express train named after it—the Nandankanan Express, as recognised by the Indian Railways.
• Since its inception, the zoo has been successful in breeding several endangered species, including Leopard, Tiger, Lion-tailed macaque, Asiatic lion, Nilgiri langur, Mouse deer, Indian pangolin, Indian crocodiles, Ratel, Brow-antlered deer, and many other water and land birds.
• Nandankanan has the distinction of being the first zoo in the world to breed Melanistic and White tigers and the sole conservation breeding center for Indian Pangolins across the globe.
• It is the first zoo in the country to feature an open-top enclosure for leopards and also the first where endangered Ratels were born in captivity.
• It is also known for being the first one to begin captive breeding of Gharials.

Mocha Port:

The Iran-aligned Houthis recently took control of the Yemeni port city of Mocha, advancing strategically down the Red Sea coast.

• Mokha, or Mocha, is a historic town located in southwestern Yemen, on the Red Sea.
• It was long famous as Arabia’s chief coffee-exporting center and the source of the term mocha.
• It is the chief port on the northern approach to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
• Tradition holds that Mokha was founded in the 14th century by Sheikh ʿAlī ibn ʿUmar al-Shādhilī, the leader of a Sufi order (tariqa) who is supposed to have brought coffee drinking to Arabia from Ethiopia across the strait.
• An important trade center through the 17th century, it was regularly visited by Indian traders, who traded finished metal products for Yemeni coffee and myrrh.
• It also dealt with Egyptian merchants, who sailed to Mokha on the summer northwesterly Red Sea winds.
• Coffee for the European and Middle East markets was Mokha’s chief export from the 15th century.
• Trading establishments were maintained there by the British East India Company, the Dutch East India Company, and, briefly, the Danes and the French.
• Long under Ottoman suzerainty, Mokha was surrendered to the imam of the Zaydī Shiʿah, Muḥammad al-Muʾayyad I, in 1636.
• It prospered in the 17th and early 18th centuries; even the port of Zeila (in present Somalia, across the Gulf of Aden) became tributary to Mokha and its rulers until 1884.
• The Ottomans held the town again from 1849 to 1918.
• The conflicts between the European powers and the Ottoman Empire, and those between the Ottoman Empire and the Zaydī imams, contributed to the port’s decline.
• The decline was hastened by the development of coffee plantations on the island of Java (now in Indonesia) by the Dutch and by the rise of the South American coffee industry (early 18th century).
• The modern port was established in 1955 and came to serve as a minor logistics and military hub between the major commercial ports of Aden and Hodeidah.

Exercise Yudh Abhyas 2026:

The United States Army and Indian Army recently commenced Exercise Yudh Abhyas 2026, marking the 22nd iteration of the premier annual bilateral training event between the two nations.

• It is the annual bilateral military exercise between the Indian Army and the United States Army.
• It focuses on enhancing interoperability, joint operational capabilities, and military cooperation between the two countries.
• 2026 Edition is the 22nd edition of the exercise.
• The first phase is scheduled at the Mahajan Field Firing Range in Rajasthan, near the Pakistan border.
• The forces will then move to the high-altitude terrain of Auli in Uttarakhand, close to the Line of Actual Control with China.
• It focuses on high-altitude warfare, long-range precision fires, counter-drone capabilities, and greater operational interoperability.
• It features the deployment of Arctic-trained soldiers from the US Army’s 11th Airborne Division, based at Fort Wainwright, Alaska, to the high altitudes of India.
• The exercise is bolstered by the participation of the 3rd Multi-Domain Task Force, introducing advanced long-range precision fires and integrated command-and-control systems to the bilateral framework.
• The drills consist of a command post exercise and a field training exercise, culminating in a combined live-fire demonstration involving U.S. and Indian long-range precision fires and rocket systems.
• Operating under the strategic framework of Operation Pathways, this year’s exercise marks a historic milestone with the first-of-its-kind deployment of advanced counterdrone systems to India.
• The integration of the mobile low, slow, small unmanned aircraft integrated defeat system (MLIDS) allows both nations to adapt together to emerging battlefield threats and reinforce regional readiness.

Alpha Genome Atlas:

Google has unveiled the AlphaGenome Atlas.

• AlphaGenome Atlas is an extensive, high-resolution digital directory designed to predict how genetic alterations impact molecular biology.
• It is an AI-powered interactive resource, mapping the predicted impact of all 9 billion DNA variants.
• It works in a regular web browser, without any coding required, and is free for academic researchers.
• It is a 1 petabyte (PB) dataset containing every single possible nucleotide variant alongside an AlphaGenome Variant Impact (AVI) score.
• It is available to researchers around the world, with coding and non-coding variations available.
• It provides several powerful, interconnected resources, allowing researchers to link variants directly to the functional DNA sequences they disrupt.

Key Technical Features:

• Molecular effect predictions: Atlas contains thousands of molecular effect predictions for each variant, across multiple important aspects of gene regulation, spanning hundreds of human and mouse cell types and tissues.
• AVI score: A single number describing the impact for each genetic variant.
• AVI feature attributions: Each AVI score is also linked to distinct biological features driving it, such as the aspects of gene regulation predicted by AlphaGenome or the protein impact score from AlphaMissense.
• DNA sequence motifs: A comprehensive collection of over 2,500 recurrent DNA sequences — the “words” of the genome — and their locations.

Bakhira Lake:

A new study that measured magnetic minerals accumulated in sediments below the Bakhira Lake over 25000 years helped track past changes in climate and how they have influenced rainfall, weathering, sediment transport and lake processes in northern India.

• Bakhira Lake is located in the Ghaghara–Rapti alluvial system.
• It represents a perennial oxbow/floodplain wetland formed through the migration and subsequent cut-off of the Rapti River.
• It is one of the largest wetlands in Uttar Pradesh.
• It was designated as a Ramsar Site in 2022.
• Its floodplain–lacustrine setting favours the accumulation and preservation of sediments derived from both the lake and surrounding catchment.
• It serves as a vital wintering and breeding ground for numerous migratory and resident waterfowl species.
• Oxbow Lake is formed when a meandering river cuts off a loop, leaving behind a crescent-shaped water body
• It is common in floodplains where rivers frequently change course
• It usually shallow and may dry up over time due to silt deposition
• It is rich in nutrients, making them suitable for agriculture and fishing nearby
• Example: Oxbow lakes along the Ganga River plains.

Red-Naped Ibis:

A new study of red-naped ibises in Udaipur found diverse bacteria in their faeces, including multidrug-resistant strains.

• Red-Naped Ibis is a common, resident, non-migratory wading bird.
• It is also known as the Indian black ibis or black ibis.
• It is found in a variety of habitats, including lakes, marshes, riverbeds, and irrigated farmlands. It is often found in dry fields, away from water bodies.
• It is widespread across the plains of the Indian Subcontinent.
• It is a common breeding resident in regions such as Haryana, Punjab, and the Gangetic plain, extending into southern India but absent from forested and arid zones.
• It is diurnal, active during the day, and often seen foraging in small groups.
• It is also an opportunistic omnivore, consuming insects, amphibians, reptiles, small fish, livestock carcasses and occasionally plant material.
• The species has declined greatly due to hunting and habitat loss.
• Conservation Status:
  • IUCN Red List: Least Concern
  • Wild Life Protection Act 1972:Schedule-II.

Perylene diimide:

A team of researchers integrated amino acid (aspartic acid) with a light-absorbing organic molecule, perylene diimide (PDI) and allowed the molecules to spontaneously organize themselves through supramolecular self-assembly.

• Perylene diimide is a derivative of perylene.
• It initially synthesized and explored as an organic dye, has since gained significant recognition for its outstanding optical and electronic properties.
• PDIs exhibit exceptional optical characteristics.
• It has strong absorption and high fluorescence quantum yield, along with remarkable electronic properties, such as high electron affinity and superior charge carrier mobility.
• It has a role as a fluorochrome. It is a dicarboximide and an organic heteropolycyclic compound.
• The molecular architecture and electrical properties are closely related in semiconducting organic electronic materials
• PDI derivatives are considered as potential candidates for photovoltaic applications and organic electronics.
• They behave as n-type organic semiconductor materials and have been used in fabrication of solar cells, photovoltaic devices, dye lasers.

Endometriosis:

A latest study by the Indian Council of Medical Research-National Institute for Research on Women’s Health (ICMR-NIRWoH), Mumbai, has found that genetic factors contribute to a woman’s risk of developing endometriosis.

• Endometriosis is a complex disease where tissue lining the uterus overgrows outside it.
• It is caused by a mix of genetics, hormones, environment, and lifestyle.
• People with endometriosis have higher rates of other immune-mediated conditions, such as lupus, multiple sclerosis, and inflammatory bowel disease.
• There is no cure for endometriosis, but treatments are available for the symptoms and problems it causes.
• It affects about 10 per cent of women of reproductive age globally; India accounts for an estimated 50 million cases, representing nearly 18 per cent of the global burden.

The 18th BRICS Summit:

India is set to host the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi on September 12–13, 2026, marking its fourth Chairship of the grouping since its inception.The annual apex summit of heads of state and government of BRICS—a major intergovernmental and geopolitical alliance of leading emerging market economies dedicated to restructuring multilateralism, fostering economic integration, and coordinating political and security strategies.

Host & Venue: Hosted by India in New Delhi.

Theme: “Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability.”

• Lotus Symbol: Represents purity, resilience and progress.
• Colourful Petals: Reflect the colours of all BRICS members, symbolising collective strength and unity.
• Namaste Gesture: Represents India’s spirit of warmth, respect and harmonious cooperation.

Full & Partner Membership:

• 11 Full Members: Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the UAE (joined 2024), and Indonesia (joined January 2025).
• Partner Countries (10): Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.