Current Affairs — Wednesday, 15 July 2026

Mains themes

• UPSC can frame the Strait of Hormuz as a case study in maritime security, freedom of navigation, coercive diplomacy, and the limits of fee-based or military control over international waterways.
• UPSC may test the legal conditions, safeguards, and constitutional trade-offs involved when a court proceeds without the accused in serious criminal cases, especially after the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 replaced the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 framework.
• UPSC may frame the issue as a democracy-and-governance question: how digital mobilisation expands participation, but also incentivises polarisation, personal attacks, and weak accountability. The analytical focus can be on balancing Article 19(1)(a) with Article 19(2), and on institutional reforms that improve deliberation and political accountability.