KAS Current Affairs: Current Affairs is the living pulse of the KPSC syllabus. It is not a standalone subject to be memorized in isolation; rather, it is a dynamic thread that weaves together History, Economy, Polity, and Ethics across both the Preliminary and Main stages. In the context of the upcoming examinations, transitioning from simply “reading the news” to “studying the syllabus through the news” is the critical shift that separates a serious aspirant from a casual reader.
The “Syllabus-First” Philosophy
By following a current affairs pattern strictly mapped to the KPSC syllabus, you ensure that every hour spent reading the newspaper is an hour spent building your exam rank.
Preliminary Examination
Paper-I: Current Events of National and International Importance
UAE announces exit from OPEC group
Context: The UAE announced that it will leave the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) effective May 1, stripping the oil cartel of one of its largest producers and further weakening its leverage over global oil supplies and prices.
- Making the announcement via its state-run WAM news agency, the UAE said it would also be leaving the wider OPEC+ group, which Russia had led in order to try to stabilise oil prices.
- “This decision reflects the UAE’s long-term strategic and economic vision and evolving energy profile, including accelerated investment in domestic energy production, and reinforces its commitment to a responsible, reliable, and forward-looking role in global energy markets,” the UAE said.
- “Following its exit, the UAE will continue to act responsibly, bringing additional production to market in a gradual and measured manner, aligned with demand and market conditions,” it added.
- The move had been rumoured as a possibility for some time, as the UAE pushed back in recent years against production quotas it felt had been too low — meaning it was not able to sell as much oil to the world as it had wanted.
- The UAE has had increasingly frosty relations with Saudi Arabia, OPEC’s largest producer, over political and economic matters in West Asia, even after both came under attack by fellow OPEC member Iran during the current war.
- The UAE’s withdrawal from OPEC will not necessarily have any immediate effects in markets since oil supplies are sharply constrained by the war in Iran, which has closed off the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway through which one-fifth of global oil supplies is transported.
- OPEC, based in Vienna, accounts for roughly 40% of the world’s oil output, but its market power had been waning in recent years as the U.S. ramped up production. The UAE had been a longtime member of OPEC, first through its emirate of Abu Dhabi in 1967 and later when the UAE became its own country in 1971. It had been producing around 3.4 million barrels of crude a day just before the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Iran on February 28.
Paper-II: Current Events of State Importance and Important Government Schemes and Programs
Main Examination
Paper-I: Essays
Essay – 1: Topic of International/National Importance
Essay-2: Topic of State importance/Local Importance
Paper-II: General Studies 1
Paper-III: General Studies 2
Paper-IV: General Studies 3
Paper-V: General Studies 4