If you are preparing for CLAT, you already know that the General Knowledge and Current Affairs section is unlike any other part of the exam. It doesn't reward rote memorisation of random facts — it rewards understanding. The Consortium of NLUs has, over the last few years, shifted almost entirely to a passage-based format, where a current event is presented as a comprehension passage and you are tested on your ability to connect it to legal, constitutional, and policy concepts.

This means that from 2025 onward, "current affairs" for CLAT is really "current affairs with a legal lens." A GST reform isn't just an economic headline — it's a story about cooperative federalism and Article 246A. A Supreme Court verdict isn't just news — it's a test of whether you understand the reasoning behind the judgment. This blog walks you through the most important developments from 2025 up to now, organised the way CLAT actually tests them: national polity and law, landmark judgments, international relations, economy, and awards/science — followed by a practical strategy to lock all of it in before your exam.

1. National Polity, Governance, and Law

The Pahalgam Terror Attack and Operation Sindoor

This is arguably the single biggest national security event of the current affairs cycle, and CLAT loves it because it touches counter-terrorism law, international treaties, and India's foreign policy all at once. On April 22, 2025, terrorists opened fire on tourists in the Baisaran Valley near Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, killing 26 people. The attack was linked to Pakistan-based terror outfits. In response, India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, 2025 — a precision military operation involving missile strikes on terror infrastructure inside Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. As part of its response, India also announced the suspension of the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan, a move with major implications for international water-sharing law and bilateral treaty obligations. For CLAT, understand three things clearly: the sequence of events, the legal basis for treaty suspension, and how this episode reshaped India-Pakistan relations for the rest of 2025 and into 2026.

The Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025

This is one of the most legally rich topics in recent years, and it combines property law, minority rights, and constitutional interpretation. The Act, which came into effect in April 2025, made major changes to how Waqf properties are governed — including mandatory registration of Waqf properties, the inclusion of non-Muslim members on Waqf boards, and changes to the long-standing doctrine of "Waqf by user" (where land could be treated as Waqf property based on long-term religious use, even without a formal deed). The law was challenged before the Supreme Court on grounds of constitutional validity, and the Court's hearings — which examined arguments rooted in Article 26 (freedom to manage religious affairs) and property rights — ran through much of 2025. In September 2025, the Court declined to stay the entire Act but placed certain provisions on hold pending further hearings. Know the core changes the Act introduced, the constitutional articles invoked by both sides, and the broad outcome of the litigation.

GST 2.0 — The Biggest Tax Reform Since 2017

In September 2025, the GST Council approved what many are calling the most significant restructuring of India's Goods and Services Tax since its introduction in July 2017. The reform — popularly termed "GST 2.0" — simplified the slab structure down to essentially two primary rates (5% and 18%), aiming to boost consumption that had remained sluggish since the pandemic. Beyond the economics, this is a governance story: it required consensus-building between the Centre and states through the GST Council, and it touches on fiscal federalism under Article 246A and Article 279A of the Constitution. For CLAT, this topic sits at the intersection of Economics and Polity — know why the reform happened, what changed, and why it matters for Centre-state financial relations.

One Nation, One Election (ONOE)

The idea of synchronising Lok Sabha and State Assembly elections has moved from a political proposal to an active constitutional debate, and it has already featured in CLAT passages. The core idea: instead of India holding some election every year (Lok Sabha one year, a handful of state elections the next, then civic polls), all elections would be conducted together once every five years, similar to the pattern that existed from 1951 to 1967. Supporters argue it reduces election expenditure and policy paralysis caused by the constant "election mode"; critics raise concerns about federalism, the tenure of state governments that fall mid-cycle, and the practicality of synchronising India's staggered electoral history. As a CLAT aspirant, you should be comfortable explaining both the mechanics of the proposal and the constitutional objections raised against it — this is a classic "explain both sides" passage topic.

Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of Electoral Rolls

Another polity topic that has generated sustained debate through 2025 and 2026 is the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, an exercise aimed at cleaning up and verifying voter lists. Critics have argued that a rushed or poorly implemented SIR can disproportionately affect vulnerable and marginalised populations by removing genuine voters from the rolls, while the Election Commission has defended it as necessary for electoral integrity. This topic connects directly to Article 326 (universal adult suffrage) and the judiciary's role as a check on executive and constitutional-body overreach — a favourite CLAT theme.

Governor's Powers and Centre-State Relations

Centre-state tension over the Governor's role in granting or withholding assent to state bills has been one of the most consistently tested polity topics. The core legal question: does Article 200 impose an implicit time limit within which a Governor must act on a bill passed by the state legislature, or can a Governor sit on a bill indefinitely? This issue escalated to the point of a Presidential Reference to the Supreme Court, seeking clarity on the scope of gubernatorial discretion. Understand the constitutional provision at stake (Article 200 and, by extension, Article 201), the states that raised the issue, and the broader theme of federalism versus gubernatorial discretion that this dispute represents.

2. Landmark Supreme Court Judgments (2025–2026)

CLAT's Legal Reasoning and Current Affairs sections both draw heavily on recent Supreme Court rulings, so treat this as a high-yield zone. Alongside the Waqf Act hearing and the Presidential Reference on Governor's powers discussed above, keep these in your notes:

• Retrospective Environmental Clearances: In May 2025, the Court had barred the Ministry of Environment from granting retrospective environmental clearances to projects that violated environmental norms. In November 2025, in a significant reversal, a 2:1 majority recalled that verdict, allowing retrospective clearances (with penalties) so that stalled public infrastructure projects worth thousands of crores could proceed. This is a good example of how environmental law, public interest, and economic pragmatism can pull in different directions within the same bench.

• Public Premises Act vs. State Rent Control Laws: In December 2025, the Court held that the central Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1971 overrides state Rent Control legislations — a ruling with major implications for how public sector undertakings can reclaim government properties from long-term occupants.

• Judicial Accountability: The controversy involving allegations of judicial misconduct and the process of judicial impeachment also featured prominently through 2025, reviving debate on how India investigates and disciplines sitting judges — a topic worth knowing at a conceptual level (the in-house procedure, the role of Parliament in impeachment, and why reform of this process is frequently debated).

• Caste Census: Developments around the conduct and scope of a caste-based census also made headlines, tying into the larger, ongoing debate on reservation policy and Article 15/16.

For each judgment, build a simple three-part note: Issue → What the Court held → Which constitutional provision or Article it involved. This format is exactly how CLAT frames its passage-based questions, so practising it while you read is far more useful than memorising case names alone.

3. International Relations and Foreign Policy

India-Pakistan Relations Post-Pahalgam

Beyond Operation Sindoor itself, the broader trajectory of India-Pakistan relations through 2025 and into 2026 — including the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty and the diplomatic fallout — remains one of the most tested international topics for CLAT, because it combines international law (treaty law, the law of armed conflict, self-defence under the UN Charter) with foreign policy.

The US Tariff Shock and Strained India-US Ties

Trade relations between India and the United States took a sharp turn through 2025 and 2026. In April 2025, the Trump administration announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on goods from over 180 countries, hitting Indian exports with a steep duty — among the highest tariffs India has faced from the US in recent trade history — justified on the basis that India's own effective tariffs (including GST and regulatory barriers) on US goods were comparatively high. Tensions deepened further, with the US also revoking a sanctions waiver related to India's involvement in developing Iran's Chabahar port, and disruptions to the H-1B visa programme that affects thousands of Indian tech professionals. Together, these moves have been described as a "triple blow" to US-India relations, even as the two countries continue to engage diplomatically. For CLAT, know the sequence, the stated justification (WTO/GATT-related trade arguments), and the broader theme of how great-power trade policy affects Indian law and business — a natural bridge to questions on international trade law.

SCO Summit and India's Multilateral Diplomacy

In late August and early September 2025, India participated in the 25th Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Tianjin, China. The summit focused on counter-terrorism cooperation, economic and financial collaboration, and reform of global governance structures — with India emphasising cooperation across security, connectivity, and economic opportunity. This ties into India's broader multilateral engagement through platforms like BRICS, G20, and the SCO, all worth tracking for how India positions itself amid shifting global alliances.

India-EU Free Trade Agreement Negotiations

Ongoing negotiations for a comprehensive India-EU Free Trade Agreement have continued to be a live topic through 2025–2026, involving complex questions of international trade law (such as the Most Favoured Nation principle under GATT and the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism) and their implications for Indian industry and constitutional trade provisions. This is a good example of a topic that rewards depth over breadth — understand the core sticking points rather than trying to memorise every round of talks.

4. Economy and Governance

The GST 2.0 reform (discussed above) is the standout economic story of this cycle, but don't ignore the broader economic backdrop: global agencies such as Moody's revised India's GDP growth projections downward for the coming fiscal year, citing external shocks including energy price volatility linked to tensions in West Asia and the impact of US tariffs on Indian exports. Understanding how external geopolitical shocks (tariffs, regional conflicts, energy prices) translate into domestic economic projections is a recurring CLAT theme — it tests whether you can connect an international event to its economic consequence for India, which is precisely the kind of inferential reading the exam rewards.

5. Awards, Science, and Sports Highlights

While these topics carry lower weightage than polity or international relations, they show up reliably in a handful of questions each year, so a quick, organised pass is worth your time:

• Nobel Peace Prize 2025: Awarded to María Corina Machado, a Venezuelan opposition leader known for her activism against the Chávez and Maduro administrations. Remember, for context, that only two Indians have ever won the Nobel Peace Prize — Mother Teresa and Kailash Satyarthi.

• Chess World Cup: Uzbekistan's Javokhir Sindarov became the youngest player ever to win the World Cup title, defeating China's Wei Yi, in a tournament held in Goa, India, that saw a record number of Indian participants. On the women's side, India's Divya Deshmukh won the Women's Chess World Cup.

• Science and Technology: Keep a running list of major ISRO missions, India's evolving approach to AI governance and regulation, and any new space-related international agreements — these increasingly show up as short current-affairs snippets tied to policy debates around technology law.

6. How to Actually Study This (Without Burning Out)

Knowing what to study is only half the job — here's a realistic way to lock it in:

1. Anchor your window correctly. CLAT's passage-based GK questions typically draw from events roughly 11 months before the exam month, but ongoing issues (Centre-state disputes, India-Pakistan relations, Supreme Court cases still in progress) need two to three years of background context. Don't just memorise the last six months in isolation — know how each story got here.

2. Read one serious source daily, for 30–45 minutes. The Hindu (especially the editorial and legal-affairs pages) remains the gold standard, supplemented by LiveLaw or a similar legal news source for Supreme Court and High Court developments. Avoid relying solely on weekly "capsules" — they're useful for revision, not for building understanding.

3. Make monthly notes, not daily ones. Trying to note down every single day's news is exhausting and unsustainable. Instead, condense each month into a one-page summary organised by category: Polity, International Relations, Economy, Legal/Judicial, Awards & Science.

4. Use the Issue → Holding → Article format for every judgment. This mirrors exactly how CLAT frames its Legal GK questions, so practising this format while reading is more valuable than passive reading.

5. Practice with passage-based mocks, not just fact lists. Since the actual exam presents current affairs as a comprehension passage, testing yourself with one current-affairs passage a day in the final two to three months before your exam will build the specific skill CLAT is testing — reading comprehension applied to real events, not memory recall.

6. Revise in the final month — don't add new material. In the weeks right before the exam, shift entirely to revising your own notes and reviewing mistakes from mock tests. Adding brand-new topics at the last minute usually does more harm than good.

Final Word

CLAT's current affairs section can feel overwhelming because the news cycle never stops. But the exam isn't testing whether you've read everything — it's testing whether you understand the handful of stories that actually matter: how India responded to a security crisis, how a major tax reform reshaped federal relations, how the judiciary is drawing lines around executive power, and how global trade tensions ripple into Indian policy. Master the stories in this guide, understand the "why" behind each one, and practice reading them the way CLAT presents them — as passages, not facts — and this section will become one of your strongest, not your most feared.