Art & Culture

Rupa Tarakasi (silver filigree)

• Cuttack’s silver filigree hub is struggling due to government curbs on silver imports.
• A 1,000-year-old city, Cuttack is famous for its Rupa Tarakasi (silver filigree) work of intricate design and fine craftsmanship. It has also received the Geographical Indication tag in March 2024.
• In Odia, “tara” means wire and “kasi” means to design. As part of Rupa tarakasi, silver bricks are transformed into thin fine wires or foils and used to create jewellery, artefacts or showpieces.
• Though the exact origin of the filigree art in Cuttack is unclear, it is known to have existed as far back as the 12th century, with the art form receiving considerable patronage under the Mughals.
• Typically, Tarakasi art is hereditary, with artisans learning it from their ancestors and supplying products to jewellery shops across the country and to Utkalika, the Odisha state-owned agency. The grand chandi medhas – or silver filigree tableaux – are also popular in puja pandals.

PM Modi’s gift diplomacy

• During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent five-nation diplomatic tour, he presented the diplomatic leaders a diverse range of gifts showcasing India’s cultural diversity.
• PM Modi gifted two exquisite garment accessories – a Muga silk stole from Assam, and an off-white Shirui Lily silk stole from Manipur – to his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni.
• Muga silk, known as the “golden silk” of Assam, is a rare textile from the Brahmaputra Valley. It is produced without any artificial dyes.
• The Shirui Lily silk stole draws its inspiration from the misty heights of Shirui Kashong Peak in Manipur. It is named after the rare Shirui Lily, a delicate bell-shaped flower with pale pinkish-white petals that blooms nowhere else in the world.
• Queen Máxima of the Netherlands was presented with a pair of Meenakari and Kundan earrings sourced from the royal ateliers of Rajasthan.
• Uniting two historic art forms – Meenakari (enamelling onto metal) and Kundan (the setting of uncut gemstones in refined gold foil) the orange and blue pair carried special significance for the Netherlands. While orange honours the Dutch royal House of Orange-Nassau, blue reflects serenity, openness and the nation’s enduring relationship with water.
• Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre received a pressed orchid painting and orchid paperweights made of real pressed orchids and ferns from Sikkim.
• Norwegian King Harald V was presented with an intricate silver sailboat model, a piece of Tarakasi, the ancient art of silver filigree from Odisha’s Cuttack.
• UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan was gifted a Rogan painting with the Tree of Life, sourced from the state of Gujarat. Rogan is a rare and exquisite textile art form from the Kutch region, and the Tree of Life motif in Rogan art is an ancient symbol of interconnectedness, strength, renewal and continuity.

Report

Sample Registration System (SRS) Statistical Report 2024

• The Sample Registration System is a large-scale demographic sample survey that is being conducted in a random sample of villages and urban blocks.
• It is released by the Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India.

What are the silent features of the SRS Report?

1. In 2024, the Crude Birth Rate (CBR) at the National level stands at 18.3 exhibiting a decline of 0.1 points over 2023. The maximum CBR has been reported in Bihar (26.8) and the minimum in Kerala (11.1).
2. The Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) declined by one point to 24 in 2024 at the National level. Chhattisgarh recorded the highest IMR at 36, while Kerala reported the lowest at 8.
3. Sex Ratio at Birth has gone up by 1 point to 918 in 2022-24 from 917 in 2021-23. Chhattisgarh and Kerala have reported the highest Sex Ratio at Birth at 978 and 974 respectively, while Uttarakhand has the lowest (872).
4. The Total Fertility Rate (TFR) is estimated at 1.9 in 2024. Bihar recorded the highest TFR at 2.9, while Delhi had the lowest at 1.2.

International Cooperation

Third India-Nordic summit 2026 

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in Norway for the third India-Nordic summit. He also visited three more countries – the Netherlands, Sweden and Italy.
• The first India-Nordic summit was held in Stockholm (2018) and the second in Copenhagen (2022), bringing together leaders of India, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland. Only the US holds an equivalent summit-level engagement with the Nordics.
• The India-Nordic trade in goods and services reached $19 billion in 2024 (exports $9.4 billion, imports $9.6 billion).

India-Sweden

• In Sweden, PM Modi was conferred with the ‘Royal Order of the Polar Star, Degree Commander Grand Cross,’ one of Sweden’s oldest and most distinguished honours, instituted in the 18th century. It was conferred by Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Victoria.
• The award is Sweden’s highest honour conferred on foreign Heads of Government in recognition of exceptional public service and contribution towards strengthening relations with Sweden.
• Prime Minister Modi is the first Asian leader to be conferred the award.
  
  Outcomes of the meeting:
  
  • India and Sweden elevated the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership. Both leaders endorsed the upgraded Joint Action Plan 2026–2030 to implement the Strategic Partnership.
  • The partnership rests on four pillars:
    1. Strategic Dialogue for Stability and Security;
    2. Next-Generation Economic Partnership;
    3. Emerging Technologies and Trusted Connectivity
    4. Shaping Tomorrow Together – People, Planet and Resilience.
  • They also agreed that a bilateral summit, “India–Sweden: Stronger Together – towards 2047”, will be held in India in 2027.
  • Both leaders called for a new four-year phase of Leadership Group for Industry Transition (LeadIT), LeadIT 3.0, to be announced at COP31. COP31 will be hosted in Antalya (Türkiye) from November 9-20, 2026.

India and the Netherlands 

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid an official visit to the Netherlands on 16-17 May 2026. This marked Prime Minister Modi’s second visit to the Netherlands.
• PM Modi and the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Rob Jetten  have decided to elevate their bilateral ties to a ‘Strategic Partnership’ by agreeing on a comprehensive five-year roadmap (2026–30).
• Both the leaders signed 17 pacts spanning semiconductors, critical minerals, migration, water management, and renewable energy.
• The MoU for semiconductor was signed between Tata Electronics and ASML, which aims to support the semiconductor fab facility in Dholera, Gujarat.

• On defence cooperation, they agreed to plan a structured Joint Tri-services interaction between the Ministries of Defence and the Directorates of International Military Cooperation to coordinate bilateral military cooperation, including cooperation between Defence Industry and Research Centres, the statement said.

India-Italy relationship

• PM Modi paid an official visit to Italy on 19-20 May 2026 on the invitation of the President of the Council of Ministers of the Italian Republic, Giorgia Meloni.
• Both leaders reaffirmed their commitment to cooperate on the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC).
  
  Major outcomes of the meeting:
  • They have decided to elevate India-Italy relations to the level of a Special Strategic Partnership.
  • They announced the creation of INNOVIT India, an innovation hub located in India aimed at strengthening cooperation between the respective innovation ecosystems, supporting startup acceleration programs, market access and business matching.
  • They also agreed to launch a ‘Dialogue on Maritime Security’, with the aim of increasing maritime security cooperation, coordination and the exchange of information and best practices in the maritime domain.
  • They welcomed the launch of ‘ICI-Italy Calls India: A University-Enterprise Talent Bridge’ aimed at enhancing the talent of Indian students enrolled in Italian universities by offering concrete pathways for guidance, matching and qualified integration into Italian enterprises.
  • They signed an MoU on “Italy’s participation in the development of the National Maritime Heritage Complex in Lothal”.
  • They also signed a MoU for cooperation in critical minerals.

IMEC

• The India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEEC or the IMEC) is a landmark project announced during the G20 Leaders’ event in New Delhi in 2023. It aimed to stimulate economic development by enhancing connectivity and integration among Asia, the Middle East, and Europe.
• It will have two separate corridors, the east corridor connecting India to the Arabian Gulf and the northern corridor connecting the Arabian Gulf to Europe, along with a railway route for supplementing trade exchanges between India, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Israel, and Europe.
• India, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, France, Germany, Italy, the European Union and the United States signed an MoU for its development, linked to the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII).

Economy

Surplus transfer from RBI

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has approved a record surplus transfer of Rs 2,86,588 crore to the Central Government for the accounting year 2025–26, offering a significant boost to the Centre’s finances.
• A significant contributor to higher surplus was the central bank’s large-scale sale of US dollars in the foreign exchange market to support the rupee amid persistent depreciation pressures, leading to substantial trading gains for the RBI.
• At the same time, the RBI raised the contingency risk buffer (CRB) to Rs 109,379 crore to create a safeguard in case geopolitical tensions escalate or crude oil prices worsen.
• CRB serves as the RBI’s financial safety cushion, consisting of funds reserved to absorb unexpected risks arising from currency volatility, interest-rate shocks, financial crises, market losses and operational risks.
• The transferable surplus for 2025-26 has been arrived at on the basis of the revised Economic Capital Framework (ECF) as approved by the Central Board, the RBI said.
• The revised ECF provides flexibility to maintain the CRB between the range of 4.5 per cent and 7.5 per cent of the size of the Balance Sheet. It has maintained the CRB at 6.5 per cent of the size of the RBI balance sheet.
• The Technical Committee of the RBI Board, headed by Y H Malegam, which reviewed the adequacy of reserves and a surplus distribution policy, had recommended, in 2013, a higher transfer to the government.

Defence

UAV-Launched Precision Guided Missile (ULPGM)-V3

• The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) on May 19 completed the final deliverable configuration development trials of the ULPGM-V3 in both air-to-ground and air-to-air modes.
• The trials were carried out using an integrated ground control system (GCS) to command and control the ULPGM weapon system.
• The GCS features state-of-the-art technologies to automate readiness and launch operations.
• The ULPGM-V3 is fitted with a high-definition dual-channel seeker, an advanced guidance system using multiple sensors to accurately track targets – allowing it to strike a wide range of threats.
• The missile can be deployed in both plains and high-altitude regions and is capable of operating during both day and night. It is also equipped with a two-way data link, enabling operators to change or update the target even after the missile has been launched.
• The missile can be fitted with three different types of warheads depending on the mission.
• The missile can engage both stationary and moving targets with precision in all-weather, day-and-night combat conditions.

Environment

Saranda’s Sal forests

• Despite the top court’s raps, Jharkhand has filed a review petition against the apex court’s reiterated order directing it to notify Saranda’s elephant forests as a wildlife sanctuary.
• Saranda, meaning seven hundred hills, forest division in West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand covers about 856 sq km, and 816 sq km is a reserved forest, and the rest is a protected forest.
• It is a biological hotspot and well known for its dense sal trees, rich wildlife, and natural beauty.
• It presently harbours elephants, four-horned antelope, and sloth bear, and is experiencing habitat degradation and fragmentation and is home to three elephant corridors, providing connectivity with other neighbouring forests.
• In 1968, undivided Bihar declared 314 sq km of sal forests as the Saranda Game Sanctuary.
• More than half a century later, efforts to secure the landscape under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 ran into prolonged resistance from the Jharkhand government, drawing repeated Supreme Court rebukes for showing “clear contempt” and even “taking the Court for a ride”.

Hollongapar Gibbon Sanctuary

• The first instance globally of a Western hoolock gibbon using an artificial canopy bridge over a railway line was recorded in Assam’s Hollongapar Gibbon Sanctuary recently.
• The Hoollongapar Gibbon Sanctuary, previously called the Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary or Hollongapar Reserve Forest, is an isolated evergreen forest in Jorhat district, Assam, India. It was renamed on May 25, 2004.
• It is home to India’s only gibbons, the hoolock gibbons, and Northeast India’s only nocturnal primate, the Bengal slow loris.
• The Hollongapar sanctuary got its first artificial canopy bridge in 2015. The rigid iron structure (see photo) remained unused because its design did not accommodate the hoolock gibbon’s specialised suspensory form of movement, known as brachiation, in which the animal swings hand-over-hand through the canopy.
• Arboreal (tree-dwelling) species rely on continuous tree canopies to move, forage, and disperse. Linear infrastructure such as roads, railways, powerlines and canals often interrupts this continuity, isolating wildlife populations in fragmented forest patches.

Hoolock Gibbon

• The forests of Northeast India are home to the country’s only apes: the western hoolock gibbon (Hoolock hoolock) and the eastern hoolock gibbon (Hoolock leuconedys).
• The western hoolock gibbon is found in all the states of the northeast, restricted between the south of the Brahmaputra River and east of the Dibang River. It is also found in eastern Bangladesh and north-west Myanmar. It is listed as Endangered in the IUCN Redlist and Schedule 1 of the Indian (Wildlife) Protection Act 1972.
• The eastern hoolock gibbon inhabits specific pockets of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam in India, southern China, and north-east Myanmar. It is listed as Vulnerable in the IUCN Redlist.

Delhi’s Sanjay Lake

• Due to heatwave conditions in Delhi, Sanjay Lake in East Delhi’s Trilokpuri turned into a fish graveyard.
• The deaths came amid rapidly receding water levels at the lake, with officials attributing the situation partly to a critical pipeline supplying treated water from Kondli sewage treatment plant (STP) to the lake developing leakages and remaining under repair.
• Environmental experts said low water levels during a heatwave may result in pollutants becoming more concentrated. Higher temperatures also reduce the ability of the water to hold dissolved oxygen, while decomposing organic matter and waste consume more oxygen.
• Sanjay Lake is a popular artificial lake in Delhi, developed by the Delhi Development Authority to provide a natural recreational spot for locals and tourists.

Diseases

(Just FYI: UPSC has consistently included questions on health and diseases in its examinations over the years. For instance, in 2014, a question about the Ebola virus appeared in the Prelims, and in 2017, a question about the Zika virus was featured. Therefore, it is crucial to stay updated on diseases that are currently in the news.)

Ebola Outbreak

• On May 16, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the latest Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda a “public health emergency of international concern”.
• Ebola is a zoonotic disease: that is, it originates in animals and can spill over to infect humans.
• According to a WHO fact sheet, fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family are presumed to be natural hosts of the Orthoebolavirus, which can get transmitted to humans when people come into close contact with the “blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected animals… found ill or dead”.
• It is caused by viruses belonging to the Orthoebolavirus genus of the filoviridae family.
• Of the six Orthoebolavirus species identified to date, three strains have been known to cause major outbreaks: the Ebola virus causing Ebola virus disease (also known as the Zaire strain), the Sudan virus causing Sudan virus disease, and the Bundibugyo virus causing Bundibugyo virus disease.
• WHO confirmed that the Bundibugyo strain has caused the current outbreak.

Persons in News

(Just FYI: Noting historical personalities’ anniversaries aids UPSC prep. UPSC often includes such personalities in questions, so revisiting their lives refreshes your static syllabus.)

Veera Pasi

• On May 20, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi unveiled a statue of Veera Pasi, a “forgotten hero” who had fought the British during the Revolt of 1857, in Raebareli.
• Veera Pasi was a trusted companion and commander of Rana Beni Madhav Baksh Singh, the ruler of the Shankarpur Estate in modern-day Raebareli during the 19th century.
• A Dalit belonging to the Pasi caste, Pasi was born on November 11, 1835, into an impoverished family in Lodhwari village of Raebareli district.
• He lost his parents at an early age and went to live at his sister’s house. In the local dialect, a brother living with his sister’s family was called “Veerna”, which later evolved into the name “Veera”.
• Pasi was recruited by Singh for his army, after he was impressed by the former’s strength and went on to become one of his most trusted lieutenants.
• According to local folklore, when the British captured Singh during the 1857 revolt, Pasi displayed remarkable bravery by rescuing Singh from prison. The British government then announced a reward of Rs 50,000 for the capture or information on Pasi’s whereabouts.

Places in News

(Just FYI: The location of the place is important, considering that UPSC has asked several questions about places that were in the news, such as Aleppo and Kirkuk, in the 2018 UPSC Prelims. The best way to remember them is to plot them on a world map.)

Afsluitdijk dam

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 17th May visited the iconic Dutch water management project Afsluitdijk – a 32-km dam and causeway.
• Afsluitdijk is considered a global benchmark in flood control and land reclamation, protecting large parts of the Netherlands from the North Sea while enabling freshwater storage.
• Constructed nearly 80 years ago, this 32-kilometer-long barrier dam separates the North Sea from a freshwater lake.
• The dam also protects large low-lying regions of the Netherlands from severe flooding, making it a global benchmark in flood control. Its most remarkable feature is that it blocks salty seawater and creates a vast freshwater reservoir inside.
• Besides freshwater storage, the Afsluitdijk project also integrates shipping, transportation connectivity, and renewable energy generation.
• During the PM visit to the Netherlands, a Letter of Intent was signed between India’s Ministry of Jal Shakti and the Netherlands’ Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management for technical cooperation on the Kalpasar Project of the Gujarat government.
• The Kalpasar Project envisions the construction of a massive dam across the Gulf of Khambhat to utilise the waters of seven rivers that currently flow into the sea.
• The project aims to create a vast freshwater reservoir in the gulf, integrating tidal power generation, irrigation, and transportation infrastructure development.

Colosseum 

• PM Modi and his Italian counterpart, Giorgia Meloni visited the iconic Colosseum, pictures from which took the Internet by storm.
• Constructed in 80 AD, the Colosseum was built under Emperor Vespasian. Although he died before it was completed, it was later finished under his two sons, Emperors Titus and Domitian. The name “Colosseum” originated from the colossal bronze statue of Emperor Nero.
• Located in the centre of Rome, it is the largest ancient amphitheatre and is the largest standing amphitheatre in the world. The oval-shaped building spans 6 acres and measures 189 meters long, 156 meters wide, and 894 meters tall, consisting of three levels with a series of semicircular arches.
• As per the official website, these arches are supported by pillars and columns of the travertine stone, and can accommodate up to 50,000 people. Its iconic arches stand nearly 30 metres tall, with a total of 80 arches forming part of its grand structure.
• The lower level was mainly used for administrative and organisational purposes, while the upper tiers were designed to accommodate large gatherings, assemblies, and public events for the Roman people.
• It is declared as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and ‘One of the New Seven Wonders of the World’.

Sports

(Just FYI: With the unpredictability of the UPSC examinations and questions like the ICC World Test Championship question 2021, you can’t be sure of anything. It is wise to know what it is and not go into too much detail.)

English Premier League

• Arsenal won the 2025/26 Premier League champions, winning the title for the first time in 22 years.
• It’s the 14th English title for Arsenal, putting them behind only Liverpool and Manchester United at 20.
• Arsenal’s success means the title has been won by three different clubs in the last three seasons, following Liverpool in 2024/25 and Man City in 2023/24.
• This is only the fifth time the Premier League has produced three or more different winners in successive seasons.

Awards

International Booker Prize 2026

• The book, Taiwan Travelogue by Yáng Shuāng-zǐ and translated by Lin King, was announced as the winner of the International Booker Prize 2026.
• The £50,000 (approximately Rs 65 lakh) prize, which is divided equally between author and translator, was presented by Natasha Brown.
• Taiwan Travelogue is the first book translated from Mandarin Chinese to win the International Booker Prize, and Yáng and King are the first Taiwanese and Taiwanese-American winners in the prize’s history.
• Launched first in 2005 as the Man Booker International Prize, it was a biennial honour awarded to a writer for their entire body of work.
• A biennial prize initially, it was then awarded for a body of work available in English, including translations, with Alice Munro, Lydia Davis and Philip Roth becoming some of the early winners.
• In 2015, the rules of the International Prize changed to make it an annual affair. The new rules stipulated that it will be awarded annually for a single book, written in another language and translated into English.

Test Your Knowledge

(Note: The best way to remember facts for UPSC and other competitive exams is to recall them through MCQs. Try to solve the following questions on your own.)

1. Consider the following statements:
   
   1. Banu Mushtaq’s short story collection Heart Lamp won the 2025 International Booker Prize.
   2. The award money of £50,000  is given only to the translator of the novel.
   3.  Geetanjali Shree was the first Indian author to win the International Booker Prize.
   
   Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
   (a) 1 and 2 only
   (b) 2 and 3 only
   (c) 1 and 3 only
   (d) 1, 2, and 3
   
   
2. Consider the following pairs: (UPSC CSE 2010)
   
   

   Sr.No.	Protected area	Well-known for
   1.	Bhiterkanika, Orissa	Salt Water Crocodile
   2.	Desert National Park, Rajasthan	Great Indian Bustard
   3.	Eravikulam, Kerala	Hoolock Gibbon

   
   Which of the pairs given above is/are correctly matched?
   (a) 1 only
   (b) 1 and 2 only
   (c) 2 only
   (d) 1, 2 and 3
   
   
3. With respect to the Western Hoolock Gibbons, which of the following statements is/are correct? (UPSC CSE 2026)
   
   1. A Sanctuary in North-east India is home to this ape species listed as Endangered in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.
   2. They have specialized brachiation and can easily swing between trees.
   3. They possess a strong and heavy build like gorillas, yet are remarkably agile tree climbers.
   
   (a) 1 only
   (b) 1 and 2
   (c) 2 and 3
   (d) 3 only

If you missed the UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past few weeks : Click Below Links

UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past week | 11– 17 May 2026 read it here

UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past week | 04–10 May 2026 read it here

UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past week | 27 April – 03 May 2026 read it here

UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past week | 20– 26 April 2026 read it here

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UPSC Current Affairs Pointers brings you essential current affairs of the past week, to aid you in your Prelims and Mains preparation of UPSC, State PCS and other competitive examinations.

Art & Culture

Anaimangalam Chola Copper Plates

• Amid Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit, the Dutch government handed over the Anaimangalam Chola Copper Plates to India, a culmination of a 14-year effort to get them back.
• Known in the Netherlands as the Leiden Plates, they are among the most significant surviving records of the Chola dynasty and among the most important artefacts of Tamil heritage held anywhere outside India.
• The Anaimangalam copper plates comprise a set of 21 large plates and three smaller ones, weighing approximately 30 kg, are bound together by a bronze ring bearing the royal seal of the Chola dynasty.
• These were issued to commemorate grants made by the renowned Chola ruler Rajaraja I (985-1014 CE) to a Buddhist vihara (monastery) at the Chola port town of Nagappattinam in Tamil Nadu.
• The vihara had been constructed by Chulamanivarman, the Sailendra ruler of Southeast Asia.
• The inscriptions on the plates are written in both Sanskrit and Tamil. As per Leiden University, the Sanskrit section traces the genealogy of the Chola dynasty, beginning with the mythical lineage linked to the Hindu god Vishnu.
• The Tamil text highlights the accomplishments of Rajaraja I, father of Rajendra I, including his donation of an entire village’s revenue to a Buddhist pagoda in the 21st year of his reign.

Report

(FYI: The data provided in these reports can be used to substantiate your Mains answer and create a broad understanding of the topic.)

NITI Aayog Education Quality Report 2026

• NITI Aayog has released a report titled, ‘School Education System in India: Temporal Analysis and Policy Roadmap for Quality Enhancement.’ The analysis provides for the decade from 2014-15 to 2024-25.
• Overall, school enrolment has dropped by about 8% over the past decade: from 26.95 crore in 2014-15 to 24.69 crore in 2024-25.
• Three reasons are cited for the drop:
  (i) demographic shifts, particularly falling fertility rates leading to a smaller school-age population
  (ii) the effects of school consolidations or mergers
  (iii) Challenges in retaining students at higher levels of education.
• The school enrollment in government schools dropped from 54.3% in 2014-15 to 49.25% in 2024-25. In contrast, enrolment in private schools jumped from 31.7% to 38.8%. The rest are in government-aided or other schools.
• NITI Aayog has marked secondary education as the “most fragile link” in the schooling cycle. The Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) at the secondary level has only seen a marginal rise over the past decade — from 75.68% to 78.7%.  The GER in the primary and upper primary levels is over 90%.

FYI

GER is the total enrollment at a particular level of education, expressed as a percentage of the official age-group population for that level.

• Drop-out level: The dropout rate at the primary level has fallen to near zero: from around 4% in 2014-15 to 0.3% in 2024-25. At the upper primary stage, the figure was 3.5% in 2024-25, close to the 3.77% a decade ago.
• The secondary stage dropout rate has dropped from 17.86% to 11.5% over the decade, but the rate remains the highest at this stage of schooling.

Event

Kimberley Process (KP) Intersessional Meeting

• The Kimberley Process (KP) Intersessional Meeting 2026 was held in Mumbai from 11th May to 14th May. India is holding the chair of KP for this year.
• India’s Kimberley Process 2026 Chairship is guided by the 3Cs: Credibility, Compliance, and Consumer Confidence in the natural diamond sector.
• The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) is a mechanism used by KP to prevent the trade of conflict diamonds. Launched in 2003, it is enforced individually by KP Participant countries to ensure that rough diamonds in the legitimate supply chain are KP-compliant.
• At present, the Kimberley Process has 60 participants representing 86 countries, with the European Union and its Member States participating as a single bloc.
• ‘Conflict diamonds’, also known as blood diamonds, are the rough diamonds mined and used by rebel movements or their allies to finance armed conflicts aimed at undermining legitimate governments.

About Diamonds

Diamond composition is pure carbon. In diamonds, each carbon atom is bonded to four other carbon atoms, forming a rigid three-dimensional structure. It is the hardest natural substance known and has a very high melting and boiling point.

Polity

MoU signed between RBIH and I4C

• In a push to curb cyber-enabled financial frauds, the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), under the Ministry of Home Affairs, and the Reserve Bank Innovation Hub (RBIH) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
• It aims to enhance fraud-risk intelligence sharing, analytical support, and operational coordination, with a particular focus on identifying and eliminating mule accounts — a key enabler of cyber fraud.
• Under the MoU, the I4C will share intelligence related to suspected mule accounts through its Suspect Registry, which will be integrated into AI-driven fraud detection systems such as MuleHunter.ai deployed across banks.
• The RBIH will use these datasets to train and enhance fraud-risk assessment models, enabling more proactive detection and prevention of suspicious transactions.

FYI

RBIH, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Reserve Bank of India, has been driving innovation in financial technologies, particularly in AI-based fraud detection systems.

SEHAT – Science Excellence for Health through Agricultural Transformation

• The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) jointly launched ‘SEHAT’.
• It is a national mission-mode programme designed to translate agricultural advancements into tangible health outcomes for the people .
• The mission focuses on five priority areas:
  1. Development and evaluation of biofortified and nutrient-dense crop varieties to address malnutrition and improve nutritional status;
  2. Strengthening integrated farming systems to promote dietary diversification, enhance farm incomes, and build resilience
  3. Addressing occupational health risks among agricultural workers through targeted, evidence-based interventions
  4. Advancing agriculture-enabled strategies for the prevention and management of non-communicable diseases
  5. Strengthening One Health preparedness through integrated surveillance, diagnostics, and research at the human–animal–environment interface

AI-enabled hyper-local weather forecasts

• The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has launched two advanced, Artificial Intelligence-based weather forecasting products for the core monsoon areas, which practice rain-fed agriculture.
• One is developed by the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF). One forecasting product has been specifically developed for Uttar Pradesh.
• This product incorporates AI and offers a spatial resolution of up to 1 km, meaning rainfall forecasts can now be provided for every 1 km geographical area, making it a highly localised and specific forecast.
• Another AI-driven rainfall forecasting product has been developed by Pune-based Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM).
• This forecasting system closely tracks how the monsoon will progress into various parts of the country, more specifically, every district. It is capable of generating district-level rainfall forecasts well in advance, and the updates will be made available every Wednesday.

National Sports Development Fund(NSDF)

• Contributions to the NSDF have more than halved in three years — from Rs 85.26 crore in 2023-24 to Rs 37.02 crore in 2025-26.
• The NSDF was established in 1998 under the Charitable Endowments Act, 1890.
• It is funded by donations from the public and private sectors, Non-Resident Indians (NRIs), and charities or non-profits, with contributions from the Government.
• The fund is governed by a Council headed by the Union Sports Minister — currently Mansukh Mandaviya.
• The Council also includes top office-bearers from Public Sector Undertakings, industry bodies like FICCI and CII, private-sector representatives and sports ministry officials.
• Day-to-day operations and grant approvals are handled by a six-member executive committee chaired by the Sports Secretary.

Economy

The Policy Move+

What is WHT?+

World vs India+

India’s WHT History+

Withholding Tax

• In order to attract foreign investors’ investment inflow, the government is considering slashing the ‘withholding tax’ rate on government bonds.
• At present, non-residents pay a withholding tax of about 20% on the interest they get on the government bonds they hold — one of the highest in the world — after a concessional rate of 5% ended in 2023.
• A high withholding tax is seen as a major deterrent for foreign capital inflows at a time when India is grappling with rising external pressures, including a sharp surge in crude oil prices.
• Withholding tax, or WHT, is a tax collected at the source of income. Instead of waiting for an investor or foreign company to pay taxes at the end of the financial year, the government requires the payer to deduct a portion of the income before it is remitted to the recipient.
• The deducted amount is then directly deposited with the government. In simple terms, whenever income is earned
• whether through employment, investments, royalties or other sources — the government ensures tax collection in advance through withholding tax.

Government Bonds

Government bonds or government securities, are tradable instruments issued by the Central Government or the State Governments. It is used by the government to borrow money from the public.

Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment (SASCI) scheme

• To incentivise greater clean energy adoption, the government is set to link the adoption of renewable energy to the SASCI scheme.
• The 2026-27 Union Budget allocated Rs 2 lakh crore as 50-year, interest-free capex loans for states called Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment (SASCI).
• Under this programme, while Rs 75,000 crore is ‘untied’ – or provided without any conditions – the majority is tied to the reform performance of each state across a variety of spheres ranging from power, mining, agriculture, and public finance, among others.
• As such, the better a state performs on these reform criteria, the more they can avail from the ‘tied’ component of the programme.
• The loans availed under the SASCI programme count over and above each states’ net borrowing ceiling, which is capped at 3% of their Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP), as per the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act.

Scheme for Promotion of Surface Coal/Lignite Gasification Projects

• The Union cabinet on 13th May has approved a new scheme to promote conversion of coal and lignite into synthesis gas (syngas) through the gasification process in a move to strengthen energy security.
• With an outlay of Rs 37,500 crore, the Scheme seeks to incentivise 25 projects for production of syngas and downstream products, targeting gasification of approximately 75 million tonne (mt) of coal/lignite.
• The new scheme is an addition to the existing viability gap funding scheme worth Rs 8,500 crore approved in 2024 for incentivising coal and lignite gasification projects.
• Coal gasification is a thermochemical process of converting coal into synthesis gas (syngas), which is a mixture of fuel-rich gases like carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), hydrogen (H2), and methane (CH4).
• The syngas can be used for producing Synthetic Natural Gas (SNG), electricity generation, energy fuel (methanol and ethanol), ammonia for fertilisers, and chemicals.
• The coal gasification process involves oxidation of coal at higher temperatures and pressures to produce syngas. There are two main types of gasification: Surface gasification and Underground coal gasification (UCG).
• In surface coal gasification, coal is first mined and then converted into gas in above-ground industrial reactors using oxygen, steam and high temperatures.
• In contrast, underground coal gasification converts coal into gas while it is still buried deep underground by injecting air or oxygen into coal seams through wells and extracting the resulting gas to the surface.
• The newly approved scheme primarily focuses on surface gasification projects

Prohibition on export of Sugar 

• Amid inflation and future supply concern, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has prohibited export of raw, white and refined sugar with immediate effect till September 30.
• The prohibition on sugar exports will not apply to the advance authorisation scheme (AAS), government-to-government exports, and consignments already in the physical export pipeline, it stated.
• As per the notification, the prohibition will also not apply to sugar exports to the European Union and the US under the preferential quota.

Advance Authorisation Scheme (AAS)

ASS allows the duty free import of input goods that are physically incorporated in an export product. In addition to any inputs, packaging material, fuel, oil, and catalyst which is consumed / utilized in the process of production of export products, is also allowed.

International Cooperation

BRICS foreign ministers’ meeting

• The BRICS Foreign Ministers’ meeting was held in India from 14 to 15 May 2026. The meeting was chaired by Dr. S. Jaishankar, External Affairs Minister.
• BRICS Foreign Ministers and Heads of Delegation from Member and Partner Countries participated in the meeting.
• BRICS stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, the original five members who were large, non-Western economies.
• In January 2025, Indonesia officially joined the BRICS as a full member taking total membership to 10. Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates are also part of the bloc.

India’s BRICS Presidency

India is hosting the 18th BRICS Summit. The theme for the BRICS is “Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability”. It draws inspiration from the Prime Minister’s “Humanity First and People-centric” vision for BRICS. It is guided by four broad priorities: resilience, innovation, cooperation, and sustainability. The BRICS logo consisted of lotus in the colours of the BRICS nations. It blends tradition with modernity, with petals reflecting the vibrant colours of all BRICS members and symbolising collective strength and unity. At the centre, the “Namaste” gesture conveys warmth, respect, and harmonious collaboration.

India-UAE deepen ties

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the United Arab Emirates on 15 May 2026 and held discussions with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
• Both the nations signed a slew of pacts including a framework for a strategic defence partnership, storage of 30 million barrels in Indian strategic petroleum reserves, supply of LPG and a ship repair cluster in Gujarat’s Vadinar.
• Strategic Collaboration Agreement was signed between Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Limited and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company to enhance UAE’s participation in India’s Strategic Petroleum Reserves to 30 million barrels, and work together to set up strategic gas reserves in India.
• The UAE has been the first country to partner with India in strategic petroleum reserves. In 2018, the ISPRL and ADNOC entered into an agreement for the UAE to store over 5 million barrels of crude oil reserves at ISPRL’s facility in Mangaluru.

Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPRs)

According to the statement made by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG) in the Rajya Sabha on March 23, India is currently holding 3.37 million tonnes of oil, or just about two-thirds of their total storage capacity (5.33 million tonnes of crude oil). The SPRs — spread across three locations in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka — are meant to act as a buffer for short-term supply shocks.

Environment

Kaziranga Wildlife

• An environmental activist has filed a complaint to the Supreme Court-mandated Central Empowered Committee (CEC) regarding alleged illegal construction within the Kaziranga Wildlife Corridor.
• The Kaziranga National Park, which has the world’s largest population of the one-horned rhinoceros and is home to 37 species of mammals and nearly 500 species of birds, is located on the Brahmaputra floodplains in Central Assam’s Nagaon and Eastern Assam’s Golaghat districts.

Science and Technology

Multi-Lane Free Flow (MLFF) tolling system

• On May 11, Delhi-NCR got its first and India’s second Multi-Lane Free Flow (MLFF) barrier-less tolling system on Mundka-Bakkarwala toll plaza on Urban Extension Road (UER)-II.
• Now, vehicles will not have to stop at the toll plaza for user fee or toll payment. The toll amount will be deducted with the help of high-performance Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) readers and Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras mounted over the gantry.
• The RFID and ANPR cameras work and read the FASTag and Vehicle registration Number (VRN) even when vehicles being driven at a speed of 80-100 kmph pass the gate, and the required amount gets deducted.
• According to the Economic Survey 2025-26, the MLFF is projected to be implemented across national highways and expressways with four or more lanes, by March 2029.

Hypersonic Missile Technology

• On 9th May, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) making a further breakthrough in hypersonic missile technology  achieved a 1,200-second runtime of its actively cooled scramjet full-scale combustor,
• The test was conducted at the Scramjet Connect Pipe Test (SCPT) facility in Hyderabad.
• The hypersonic cruise missile is capable of exceeding five times the speed of sound, or over 6,100 km per hour, for extended periods.
• The speed is achieved through a cutting-edge air-breathing engine, which utilises supersonic combustion to sustain long-duration flight.
• Supersonic Combustion Ramjet or Scramjet engine efficiently operates at hypersonic speeds and allows supersonic combustion.
• The fundamental change in a scramjet is that the air does not slow down in its combustion chamber but stays supersonic throughout the engine. This makes the design, development and operation of the scramjet far more challenging.
• Scramjet combustor in this technology incorporates an innovative flame stabilisation technique that holds a continuous flame inside the combustor with an air speed of more than 1.5 km per second.
• A specialised indigenous endothermic scramjet fuel was used in this.
• The fuel was jointly developed for the first time by the DRDL and industry partners. The fuel offers dual benefits of significant cooling improvement and ease of ignition.

Thermal Barrier Coating (TBC)

• Another key achievement amid the development of hypersonic technologies is the development of Thermal Barrier Coating (TBC).
• It is designed to withstand extreme temperatures encountered during hypersonic flight.
• A new advanced ceramic TBC having high thermal resistance and capable of operating beyond the melting point of steel has been jointly developed by DRDL and Department of Science and Technology (DST) facilities.

Methane

• Methane buildup in the cargo hold of a bulk carrier ship berthed at Kandla port, Kutch, is the likely reason for the death of three migrant workers from Uttar Pradesh on 13th May, 2026.
• Methane is a colourless, highly flammable gas which is the primary component of natural gas.
• Low level exposure of methane would not be expected to cause adverse health effects. However, exposure to high levels of methane can reduce the amount of oxygen breathed from the air. This can result in mood changes, slurred speech, vision problems, memory loss, nausea, vomiting, facial flushing and headache. This could also lead to death.

Health

PCOS is now PMOS

• One of the world’s most common women’s health conditions, previously known as Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), will now be called Polyendocrine Metabolic Ovarian Syndrome (PMOS).
• It has been renamed to better reflect its complex, multisystem nature.
• What was known as PCOS affects around one in eight women globally, or more than 170 million women.
• It is associated with a wide spectrum of symptoms including irregular or absent menstrual cycles, infertility, pregnancy complications, excess hair growth, acne, anxiety, depression, weight gain, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
• The earlier name reduced a complex, long-term endocrine disorder to a misunderstanding about ‘cysts’ and a narrow focus on the ovaries. This contributed to delayed diagnosis and inadequate treatment.
• Prof Teede, who led the renaming process, said decades of research have shown that the condition does not involve abnormal ovarian cysts. Instead, there are arrested follicles that may appear cyst-like on ultrasound.

Lormalzi

• Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly has launched donanemab in the Indian market under the brand name Lormalzi.
• The once-a-month 350 mg infusion has been shown to slow the progression of the disease by dissolving the amyloid beta protein plaques in the brain — a classical sign of the neuro-degenerative disease.
• This drug is an important innovation. Dementia currently affects approximately 8.8 million people in India, with Alzheimer’s disease accounting for the majority of cases. This number is projected to nearly double to 16.9 million by 2036.
• Donanemab is a monoclonal antibody that reduces amyloid beta protein plaques in the brain to slow down cognitive decline in patients with early Alzheimer’s disease.

Awards

National Florence Nightingale Awards 2026

• The National Florence Nightingale Awards for the year 2026 was awarded to fifteen Nursing professionals by the President to the nursing personnel, on the occasion of International Nurses Day (May 12, 2026).
• The award was instituted in 1973 by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare as a mark of recognition for the meritorious services rendered by nursing personnel to society.
• Each award includes a Certificate of Merit, a cash prize of one lakh rupees and a medal symbolising the nation’s gratitude for the invaluable service rendered by these health warriors.

Test Your Knowledge

(Note: The best way to remember facts for UPSC and other competitive exams is to recall them through MCQs. Try to solve the following questions on your own.)

1. Consider the following statements about the National Sports Development Fund (NSDF):
   1. Governed by a Council headed by the Union Sports Minister.
   2. Established in 1998 under the Charitable Endowments Act, 1890.
   
   Which of the statements mentioned above is/are correct?
   (a) 1 only
   (b) 2 only
   (c) Both 1 and 2
   (d) Neither 1 nor 2
   
   
2. Syngas is a mixture of
   Consider the following substances:
   I. Ethanol
   II. Nitroglycerine
   III. Urea
   
   Coal gasification technology can be used in the production of how many of them?
   (a) Only one
   (b) Only two
   (c) All the three
   (d) None

If you missed the UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past few weeks : Click Below Links

UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past week | 04–10 May 2026 read it here

UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past week | 27 April – 03 May 2026 read it here

UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past week | 20– 26 April 2026 read it here

UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past week | 13– 19 April 2026 read it here

UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past week | 06– 12 April 2026 read it here

The post UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past week | 11–17 May 2026 appeared first on Rma News: Latest News, Live Breaking News, Today News, Political News Updates.

Report

(FYI: The data provided in these reports can be used to substantiate your Mains answer and create a broad understanding of the topic.)

World Press Freedom Index 2026

• World Press Freedom Index, which evaluates 180 countries, recorded its lowest average score in the index’s 25-year history.
• It is an annual report published by Reporters Without Borders.
• For the first time in the Index’s 25-year history, more than half the world’s countries now fall into the “difficult” or “very serious” categories for press freedom.
• For the first time, in over half of the world’s countries and territories (52.2%), the state of press freedom is categorised as “difficult” or “very serious.” This category was a small minority (13.7%) in 2002.
• According to the Report, “The Index’s legal indicator has seen the most severe decline this year. This score deteriorated in more than 60% of states — 110 out of 180 — between 2025 and 2026. This is notably the case in India (157th), Egypt (169th), Israel (116th) and Georgia (135th).”
• The index measures five key areas—economic, legal, security, political, and social conditions affecting journalism. Among these, the legal environment has worsened the most this year.
• At the top of the index, Norway retained the number one position for the 10th consecutive year, while Eritrea remained at the bottom for the third year in a row.
• As for India, it slipped further down the rankings. From 151st place in 2025, it now stands at 157th in 2026, with a global score of 31.96. The country remains in the “very serious” category.

NCRB data

• According to the latest data released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), India witnessed an overall decline in crime cases with a 6% dip in 2024, recording 58.85 lakh cases as against 2023’s 62.41 lakh cases
• The NCRB calculates the crime rate on the basis of the number of cases registered per lakh population. It saw a dip during the period – from 448.3 in 2023 to 418.9 in 2024.
• Cyber crimes saw an almost 18% jump in the period.
• Crime against women showed a dip of 1.5% from the previous year, with 4.41 lakh cases lodged in 2024 as compared to 4.48 lakh the previous year.
• Telangana recorded the highest crime rate against women in the country in 2024. The state reported a crime rate of 128.6 cases per one lakh population, the highest in India, followed by Odisha at 118.3.

At a Glance+

Rising Threats+

Women & Children+

SC/ST & Trafficking+

Context+

Polity

Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme 5.0 

• With an aim to meet the additional credit needs of industries under distress amid the ongoing West Asia conflict, the Union Cabinet has approved a credit support scheme named ‘Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme 5.0’
• It targets additional credit flow of Rs 2.55 lakh crore including Rs 5,000 crore for airlines.
• The ECLGS was launched in May 2020 as part of the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan to support eligible MSMEs and other eligible businesses in meeting their operational liabilities amid disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
• 100% guarantee is provided to Member Lending Institutions (MLIs) in respect of the credit facility extended by them under the scheme to eligible borrowers.
• The later versions of the scheme have covered Mudra borrowers and other stressed sectors including healthcare, hospitality, leisure, travel, tourism and civil aviation.

 Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Bill, 2026

• The Union Cabinet on 5th May approved the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Bill, 2026, to increase the strength of judges in the Supreme Court from the existing 34 to 38.
• The Bill has amended the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, 1956.
• Currently, the Act provides for a maximum of 33 judges of the Supreme Court, excluding the Chief Justice of India. The amendment increases that to 37 judges, excluding the CJI.
• The last time the strength of the court was increased was in 2019, when an amendment raised it from 30 to 33, excluding the CJI. Originally, the Act had provided for a maximum of 10 judges, excluding the CJI, which was increased to 13 in 1960 and then 17 in 1977.
• The strength was further increased in 1986, 2008 and 2019.

Climate & Soll+

Growing Zones+

The Mission+

Mission for Cotton Productivity (2026–27 to 2030–31)

• The Centre on 5th May approved Rs 5,659.22 crore for the Mission for Cotton Productivity for five years (2026–27 to 2030–31). The scheme was announced in the Union Budget 2025-26.
• It is aligned with the 5F vision (Farm to Fibre to Factory to Fashion to Foreign) of the Government for the textile sector.
• It aims to provide “the best of science & technology support” to farmers and “ensure a steady supply of quality cotton” for the Indian textile industry.

About Cotton

Cotton, a semi-xerophyte, is grown in tropical and subtropical conditions. It is popularly called“White Gold” and primarily a Kharif crop. The minimum temperature required for better germination under field conditions is 15 degrees Celsius. The optimum temperature for vegetative growth is between 21 and 27 degrees Celsius, and it can tolerate temperatures to the extent of 43 degrees Celsius; however, temperatures below 21 degrees Celsius impact its growth.

International Cooperation

India-Vietnam elevate ties

• India and Vietnam have decided to elevate bilateral ties to ‘Enhanced Comprehensive Strategic Partnership’ during the recent visit of President of Vietnam To Lam.
• Both countries have set a new trade goal of $25 billion by 2030 and increased defence systems procurement.
• India was one of the first countries with whom Vietnam entered into a Strategic Partnership in 2007. This was also India’s first Strategic Partnership within the ASEAN region. The two countries elevated the relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in 2016.

Economy

New SOP for FDI 

• The government has issued a new Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) as per which foreign direct investment (FDI) proposals will be required to be processed within 12 weeks.
• As per the new SOP, the Department for Promotion of Industry & Internal Trade (DPIIT) is expected to disseminate the proposal to ministries concerned, Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) within two days.
• Under the new SOP, investments in broadcasting, telecommunications, space, private security agencies, defence, civil aviation, and mining and mineral separation of titanium-bearing minerals and ores, its value addition, and integrated activities shall require security clearance from MHA.

Environment

White-Bellied Heron

• A THDC India Ltd proposal seeking clearance for the Kalai-II hydroelectric project in Arunachal Pradesh does not make any mention of the habitat of the critically endangered White-Bellied Heron.
• Lohit River is a habitat for the critically endangered White-Bellied Heron, which has been accorded Scheduled-I status, the highest protection, under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
• The bird is critically endangered, as per the Red List of the International Union on Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The bird’s presence has been recorded both upstream and downstream of the Kalai-II project.
• It is endemic to the fast-flowing Himalayan freshwater riverine habitats, spanning across Bhutan, India, Myanmar, China, and Bangladesh.

They are an indicator of the health of the Himalayan freshwater ecosystem. Their elusive and highly habitat specific habit in feeding, nesting, and food selection make them great environmental sensors.

Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC)

• New researchers have suggested that the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), which regulates climate across much of the globe, may slow by up to 59% by 2100.
• The AMOC is a large system of ocean currents. It is the Atlantic branch of the ocean conveyor belt or thermohaline circulation (THC), and it distributes heat and nutrients throughout the world’s ocean basins.
• AMOC carries warm surface waters from the tropics towards the Northern Hemisphere, where it cools and sinks. It then returns to the tropics and then to the South Atlantic as a bottom current. From there, it is distributed to all ocean basins via the Antarctic circumpolar current.
• Gulf Stream, a part of the AMOC, is a warm current responsible for the mild climate on the Eastern coast of North America as well as Europe. Without a proper AMOC and Gulf Stream, Europe will be very cold.
• Though the AMOC is in the Atlantic, its breakdown would trigger chaos in the Pacific.
• El Niño is a periodic warming of the Pacific Ocean that disrupts global weather. Because global ocean currents and wind patterns are deeply interconnected, a sluggish AMOC traps heat in the southern hemisphere and leaves the North Pacific cooler.
• This throws off the delicate temperature balance that drives El Niño. Studies suggest a weaker AMOC will make El Niño events more unpredictable and extreme.
• According to researchers, freshwater from melting Greenland ice sheets and the Arctic region can make circulation weaker as it is not as dense as saltwater and doesn’t sink to the bottom.

Sulphur dioxide (SO₂) emissions from coal-fired power plants (CFPP)

• According to a study conducted by researchers from IIT Delhi, India could prevent an estimated 1,24,564 deaths every year by fully mitigating sulphur dioxide (SO₂) emissions from coal-fired power plants (CFPP).
• The study is among the first comprehensive attempts to quantify how SO₂ from CFPPs contributes not only to ambient SO₂ levels, but also to the formation of secondary fine particulate matter, or PM2.5.
• The researchers found that a decrease in these emissions could reduce annual PM2.5 exposure by 0.3-12 microgrammes per cubic metre and ambient SO₂ levels by 0.1-13.6 parts per billion across states.
• The CFPPs emit SO₂, which react in the atmosphere to form secondary inorganic aerosols, including sulphate, nitrate and ammonium. These pollutants add to PM2.5, the fine particulate matter linked to cardiovascular and respiratory diseases.
• The study comes amid continuing debate over the installation of flue gas desulphurisation (FGD) systems in CFPPs. Last year, the Ministry of Environment exempted the majority of India’s coal-based thermal plants from installing FGD systems.
• The FGD is a technology that removes SO₂ from exhaust gases of fossil fuel power plants and industrial boilers, reducing acid rain and air pollution.

Rusty-spotted cat 

• Researchers confirmed first photographic evidence of the rusty-spotted cat (Prionailurus rubiginosus), one of the world’s smallest species of wildcat in the Aravalli scrublands at the doorstep of Delhi.
• The rusty-spotted cat is classified as ‘Near Threatened’ on the IUCN Red List, and is protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act.
• The rusty-spotted cat measures no more than 35-48 cm in length, about half of which is bushy tail. It has short, reddish grey fur, with rusty spots on the back and sides.
• The cat is native to India, Nepal and Sri Lanka, where almost 75% of its habitat is believed to be under threat from land-use change, including agriculture and urban expansion. The animal is rarely documented due to its secretive nature and low density.

Science and Technology

Voyager 1  

• On April 17, scientists turned off the Low-energy Charged Particles experiment (LECP) to ensure Voyager 1 has more time available to continue its exploration of space beyond the solar system.
• Launched in 1977, Voyager 1 is one of the most important space missions ever undertaken.
• It was originally sent to study the outer planets, including Jupiter and Saturn, but it went far beyond its initial goal. Today, it is the most distant human-made object in space, travelling through interstellar space at high speed.
• The instrument that was powered down is known as the low-energy charged particles experiment (LECP). It has been operating almost continuously since Voyager 1 was launched in 1977.
• Over the years, the LECP has studied ions, electrons, and cosmic rays from both the solar system and interstellar space.
  

The Pathfinder

• Space-tech startup Pixxel on May 4, announced a partnership with LLM provider Sarvam AI to develop and build India’s first orbital data centre satellite called The Pathfinder.
• Expected to reach orbit by the end of 2026, the 200-kg satellite will house GPUs (graphics processing units) that will be used to carry out training and inference of Sarvam’s AI model.
• Unlike conventional satellite computing, which relies on low-power edge processors optimised for survival rather than performance, the Pathfinder satellite will house the same generation of hardware as on-ground data centres used to power frontier AI models.

GaN (Gallium Nitride) technology

• The Union Cabinet on May 5 approved two new semiconductor plants in India, including one that could be the country’s first display fabrication facility.
• With these, the government has approved a total of 12 chip plants under the first leg of the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM).
• Launched in 2021, ISM 1.0 was conceived as a state-backed push to build a full-stack chip ecosystem, from fabrication and packaging to design and display manufacturing.
• The recent approval is given to a Rs 3,068 crore compound semiconductor fabrication and assembly based on GaN (Gallium Nitride) technology for manufacturing Mini/Micro-LED display modules to be set up by Crystal Matrix Ltd.
• Semiconductors are made of materials such as silicon and possess a degree of electrical conductivity between that of a conductor and an insulator. Silicon has been the component mostly used in semiconductors.
• In recent years, gallium nitride (GaN), another semiconductor, is making its way into electronics as it is better suited for high power and high-frequency applications.
• Gallium Nitride is a material that is considered a better alternative to silicon. It is much better at conducting high voltage over longer times compared to silicon. It also allows electrical currents to travel faster through it.
• With lower heat, Gallium Nitride structures can be stacked closer to each other than other materials, which also means the overall structure (the charger) is smaller in size.

‘ANEEL’ fuel 

• Chicago-based nuclear fuel company Clean Core Thorium Energy (CCTE) announced that its patented ‘ANEEL’ fuel has completed its high burnup irradiation test in an Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) at Idaho National Laboratory (INL).
• It is only the second American company to have secured an export license from the US Department of Energy (DAE) to sell nuclear technology to India in nearly two decades.
• CCTE has developed a thorium-based fuel, called ANEEL or Advanced Nuclear Energy for Enriched Life, that can be deployed in the country’s Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs) at scale.
• ANEEL is a new type of fuel that blends thorium with HALEU (high-assay low-enriched uranium) which is an important step towards the third leg of India’s 3-stage nuclear programme.
• STAGE 3 of nuclear programme: The third stage will be based on the ThU233 cycle. U233 produced in the second stage can be used for the third stage of the power programme, which consists of advanced thermal and fast breeder reactors, for long-term energy security.
• PHWRs are said to be more suited to handling thorium because heavy water – an isotope of water that has an extra neutron on the hydrogen atom – absorbs fewer neutrons during the fission process, increasing the efficiency of the fission reaction by allowing more neutrons to be absorbed by the thorium.

Drishti satellite

• An Indian start-up, GalaxEye, rode on a SpaceX rocket on May 3 to launch a first-of-its-kind satellite, aptly called Drishti.
• Drishti is the first satellite of GalaxEye, a company started by alumni of IIT Madras. It rode on a Falcon 9 rocket by SpaceX from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, United States, as one of the 45 payloads on the CAS500-2 mission.
• Drishti is equipped to take optical images, very much like a normal camera, as well as radar-generated images of the same place at the same time, something that has not been tried before.
• That is the reason that the company has described their innovation as Opto-SAR technology. Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) captures radar generated images.
• Multi-spectral images are clear and easy to understand, but they are not effective during cloudy weather or nighttime, for instance. SAR signals can penetrate clouds and take continuous images, but they are not intuitive. Like X-ray images, they need experts to glean the information.
• The uniqueness of Drishti is that it has both the sensors that will enable simultaneous imaging.

Defence

Tactical Advanced Range Augmentation (TARA) system

• The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Indian Air Force (IAF) on May 7 successfully carried out the first flight trial of TARA system that can transform an unguided missile into a guided one.
• The TARA glide weapon system is primarily a modular kit that can be attached to a conventional unguided warhead. It helps the missile glide over long distances, and accurately strike a target.
• The system is believed to use a combination of inertial navigation and satellite-based positioning to steer the missile towards the target.
• The TARA system glides, rather than relying on a rocket motor. This makes it lightweight and cost-effective while still extending the missile’s range.
• Unguided bombs, which are referred to as gravity bombs or dumb bombs, can thus be upgraded to smart bombs, or precision-guided munitions, with relatively low effort. This can reduce the need to develop entirely new missile systems.
• This approach can substantially reduce costs while allowing rapid scaling of precision strike inventory.

Diseases

(Just FYI: UPSC has consistently included questions on health and diseases in its examinations over the years. For instance, in 2014, a question about the Ebola virus appeared in the Prelims, and in 2017, a question about the Zika virus was featured. Therefore, it is crucial to stay updated on diseases that are currently in the news.)

Hantavirus

• The outbreak aboard the Hondius has so far resulted in three deaths — a Dutch couple and a German national — while several others from Britain, the Netherlands, and Switzerland remain hospitalised in South Africa, Switzerland, and the Netherlands.
• Named after the Hantan River in South Korea, hantavirus is a family of rodent-borne viruses that can cause serious illness and death in humans.
• In most cases, it does not spread through casual contact between people. Still, humans run the risk of getting infected by breathing in contaminated air with rodent urine, droppings, or saliva, especially in closed or dusty spaces.
• Hantavirus infections have two main clinical presentations: Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS), a lung illness, and haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome, a kidney disease.
• Symptoms can appear between one and eight weeks after exposure and may initially resemble flu-like illness, including:
  • Fever
  • Muscle aches
  • Fatigue
  • Headaches
  • Chills

In severe cases, patients may develop respiratory failure and fluid buildup in the lungs.

• There is a lack of effective antiviral treatment for treating hantavirus infection. The medical approach to treatment focuses on providing supportive care — oxygen therapy, fluid management and intensive care for patients who experience severe symptoms.

Persons in News

Lieutenant General N S Raja Subramani

• The Centre has appointed Lieutenant General N S Raja Subramani (Retd) as the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), who shall also function as Secretary to the Government of India, Department of Military Affairs.
• He is the third person to assume the post after Gen Bipin Rawat and Gen Anil Chauhan.
• Vice-Admiral Krishna Swaminathan has been appointed as the next Chief of Naval Staff. He is presently the Western Naval Commander in Mumbai. He will take charge from the current CNS Admiral Dinesh Kumar Tripathi on May 31.

Tribhuvan Prasad Singh

• —A new variety of rose has been named after India’s first full-time secretary of the Planning Commission and 1936-batch ICS officer Tribhuvan Prasad Singh, better known as TP Singh.
• — “Tribhuvan”, as it is called, has been developed by South Asia’s leading nursery and rose breeder, K S Gopalaswamiengar Son, popularly known as KSG Son, at Chamarajpet, Bengaluru, over four and a half years. It is a hybrid of ‘Black Prince and Corrida’.
• — T P Singh (1913-1975), who later served as the country’s finance and agriculture secretary, is often recalled as one of leading policymakers post Independence.

Terms making buzz

Ecocide

• A recent report by Lebanon accused Israel’s military of committing “ecocide” during its 2023-24 invasion of southern Lebanon – reshaping both its “physical and ecological landscape”.
• Ecocide refers to the very worst harms caused to the environment by human actions, usually on a major industrial scale or affecting a huge area.
• The term was coined in 1970 by Prof Arthur W Galston – a Yale plant biologist whose early research contributed to the development of Agent Orange – to describe massive, long-term environmental devastation, particularly caused by the herbicide’s use in the Vietnam War.

Test Your Knowledge

(Note: The best way to remember facts for UPSC and other competitive exams is to recall them through MCQs. Try to solve the following questions on your own.)

1. Consider the following statements about the World Press Freedom Index 2026:
   
   1. Published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
   2. It recorded its lowest average score in the index’s 25-year history.
   3. India is ranked 151st.
   
   Which of the statements mentioned above is/are correct?
   (a) 1 and 2 only
   (b) 2 and 3 only
   (c) 1 and 3 only
   (d) 1, 2, and 3
   
2. With reference to – the White-Bellied Heron, consider the following statements:
   
   1. It is critically endangered as per the Red List of the International Union of Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
   2. Scheduled-I status of the Wildlife Protection Act.
   3. Found in Arunachal Pradesh.
   
   How many of the statements mentioned above is/are correct?
   (a) Only one
   (b) Only two
   (c) All three
   (d) None
   
3. “The crop is subtropical in nature. A hard frost is injurious to it. It requires at least 210 frost — free days and 50 to 100 centimeters of rainfall for its growth. A light well-drained soil capable of retaining moisture is ideally suited for the cultivation of the crop.” Which one of the following is that crop? (UPSC CSE 2020)
   
   (a) Cotton
   (b) Jute
   (c) Sugarcane
   (d) Tea

If you missed the UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past few weeks : Click Below Links

UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past week | 27 April – 03 May 2026 read it here

UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past week | 20– 26 April 2026 read it here

UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past week | 13– 19 April 2026 read it here

UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past week | 06– 12 April 2026 read it here

UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past week | 30 March – 5 April 2026 read it here

The post UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past week | 04–10 May 2026 appeared first on Rma News: Latest News, Live Breaking News, Today News, Political News Updates.

Index

(FYI: The data provided in these reports can be used to substantiate your Mains answer and create a broad understanding of the topic.)

Panchayat Advancement Index (PAI) 2.0

• The Union Ministry of Panchayati Raj released the second edition of the PAI. It assessed 2,59,867 rural local bodies based on their performance and progress on nine themes covering sustainable development goals (SDGs).
• It assesses panchayats based on their performance across 150 indicators covering nine SDGs during the 2023-24 financial year.
• The Gram Panchayats have been ranked under five categories based on their score on a scale of 0-100: ‘Achiever’ (90-100), ‘Front Runner’ (75-90), ‘Performer’ (60-75), ‘Aspirant’ (40-60) and ‘Beginner’ (below 40).
• Of the 2,59,867 Gram Panchayats, 3,635 have been ranked as ‘Front Runner’, 1,18,824 as ‘Performer’, 1,23,719 as ‘Aspirant’, and 13,689 as ‘Beginner’. No panchayat could make it to the ‘Achiever’ category.
• Among the ‘Front Runner’ panchayats, 943 were in Tripura, which constituted 80 per cent of the state’s total 1,176 rural local bodies. The state was followed by Kerala, where 10 per cent of its 941 Gram Panchayats have been assessed as ‘Front Runner’. With 8 per cent of its total 6,794 Gram panchayats assessed as ‘Front Runner’, Odisha stood next.

Polity

MHA updates citizenship rules

• The Union Home Ministry has notified the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2026.
• It has introduced electronic Overseas Citizen of India (e-OCI) cards, fully online applications, and stricter norms on dual passports for minors.
• A new provision allows issuance of electronic OCI (e-OCI) alongside physical cards, signalling a shift toward paperless identity for overseas Indians.
• A major update mandates that minors holding Indian passports cannot simultaneously possess passports of other countries, as inserted in a new proviso to rule 3 and this addresses concerns over dual citizenship misuse, though OCI status itself does not confer full citizenship rights.
• According to the notification, an application for registration as an Overseas Citizen of India cardholder under section 7A shall be made in Form XXVIII electronically on the designated online portal.

OCI

Introduced in August 2005, the OCI scheme provides for registration of all Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) who were citizens of India on January 26, 1950, or thereafter, or were eligible to become citizens of India on the said date. It was introduced by amending the Citizenship Act, 1955, in August 2005. In 2015, the government discontinued the PIO scheme, and PIO cardholders were required to convert to OCI.

Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Rules, 2026

• The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Rules, 2026, which was passed last year, came into force on May 1.
• The rules establish the Online Gaming Authority of India (OGAI) as the sectoral regulator, housed under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MietY).
• This authority has wide-ranging powers, including determining whether a game qualifies as an Online Money Game (played after depositing user fees/based on monetary stakes), Online Social Game (not involving staking money), or esports (competitive organised games involving skills like physical dexterity and strategic thinking).
• It can also issue directions, hear complaints, and impose penalties. Its composition is entirely government-led, with representatives from ministries including Home Affairs, Finance, Information & Broadcasting, Sports, and Law.
• In the case of online money games, which are banned, banks are required to act on OGAI directions — including suspending or restricting payments — effectively making the payments layer a key enforcement tool.
• The rules also introduce data localisation obligations, requiring gaming platforms offering social games or esports to store traffic and related data within India.

Online Gaming Authority of India (OGAI) — At a Glance

E-PRAAPTI portal 

• The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has launched a portal named E-PRAAPTI — EPF Aadhaar-Based Access Portal for Tracking Inoperative Accounts.
• It will help resolve the long-pending issue of unclaimed deposits. It will be helpful for those EPF members who do not have a Universal Account Number (UAN) and have EPF accounts in the physical mode.
• The portal will provide a streamlined Aadhaar-based authentication mechanism that will enable members to securely access their old EPF account which may not have an UAN linked with it and initiate the process for updating their member profile, followed by seamless UAN linking and activation.

Reconstitution of NITI Aayog

• The government has reconstituted the NITI Aayog, appointing Ashok Kumar Lahiri as its vice chairman and four new full-time members.
• He has replaced vice-chairman Suman Berry, who was serving in the post since April 2022.
• The Governing Council of NITI Aayog comprises the Prime Minister of India; Chief Ministers of all the States and Union Territories with Legislature; Lt Governors of other UTs; Ex-Officio Members; Vice Chairperson, NITI Aayog; Full-time Members, NITI Aayog and Special Invitees.
• First constituted in February 2015 and reconstituted in February 2021, the Governing Council embodies the objectives of cooperative federalism and presents a platform to discuss inter- sectoral, inter-departmental and federal issues to accelerate the implementation of the national development agenda.

First paperless state judiciary

During the two-day National Conclave on Technology and Judicial Education, Chief Justice of India Surya Kant declared Sikkim to be the first paperless state judiciary in the nation. He said integrating technology into judicial processes dismantles geographical barriers to help litigants overcome problems of terrain, finance and distance.

International Cooperation

Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)

• The United Arab Emirates has exited the OPEC and OPEC+ oil group effective May 1 in a major setback to oil exporting groups and its leader Saudi Arabia amid the war in West Asia.
• Founded in September 1960 at the Baghdad conference in Iraq, OPEC was originally established by five members — Iran, Kuwait, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.
• Prior to OPEC’s formation, Western multinational oil companies (often referred to as the Seven Sisters) largely dictated the prices paid to oil-producing nations.
• OPEC was created to counter this dominance, coordinating the petroleum policies of its member states to ensure that they received stable returns.
• The UAE formally joined the alliance in 1967, six years before the OPEC oil embargo was imposed on nations like the US and the Netherlands owing to their support of Israel in the Arab-Israeli war.
• The wider OPEC+ alliance was created in 2016. It included 10 major non-OPEC producers led by Russia. A response to the US’s booming shale oil production, OPEC+ produced over 40% of the world’s crude oil.
• OPEC, and OPEC+ by extension, derive their power through their influence in oil supply management. OPEC attempts to manage oil prices by regulating production limits and setting strict quotas for each of its member countries.

Defence

Vikram VT 21 

• The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) recently launched its Vikram VT 21 project with two Advanced Armoured Platforms — wheeled and tracked.
• An Advanced Armoured Platform (AAP), Vikram VT 21 is a modern military combat vehicle built with enhanced armour protection to withstand certain projectiles, blasts, and shrapnel plus which has improved mobility across varied terrains and integrated weapons and surveillance systems.
• The Vikram VT 21 project includes two variants. First is wheeled, which run on tyres and are faster, easier to maintain, and better suited for roads and urban and semi urban environments.
• Second is tracked, which moves on continuous tracks like tanks, offering superior grip, stability, and performance on rough, uneven, or off-road terrain.
• These vehicles are fitted with an indigenously designed 30 mm crewless turret — a remotely operated gun system mounted on top, with no soldier sitting inside it — built to improve mobility, firepower, and protection.

Environment

Mekong River pollution

• Demand for fish is reducing due to worries over contamination of the Mekong River and its tributaries.
• — The contamination is due to toxic runoff from rare earth mines upstream that is threatening millions who rely on those waters for farms and fisheries.
• Rising demand for rare earth materials is driving an unregulated mining boom centered in war-torn Myanmar, to the west, that is spreading to Laos, in the east.
• The Mekong originates in the Tibetan Plateau in China and flows to the South China Sea through Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam.
• Exposure to heavy metals such as arsenic, mercury, lead and cadmium raises risks of cancer, organ failure and developmental harm, especially for children and pregnant women.
• Thailand is bearing the brunt of the mining boom as such toxins imperil its global food exports — from bags of rice in U.S. supermarkets to edamame snacks served in Japan and garlic used in Malaysian kitchens.
• Rare earths are mined by digging up rock or washing chemicals through soil to extract the minerals, creating toxic waste. The physical footprint of this process is recognisable in satellite data.

Peacock Tarantula

• The Andhra Pradesh Forest Department, in collaboration with the Eastern Ghats Wildlife Society, has initiated a conservation status survey of the Peacock Tarantula (Poecilotheria metallica) in the vast landscape of the Nagarjunasagar Srisailam Tiger Reserve (NSTR).
• The genus Poecilotheria belongs to the family Theraphosidae and is made up of arboreal species of spiders, which are known to occur in India and Sri Lanka. The genus is represented by eight species in India and seven in Sri Lanka
• Peacock Tarantula is also called Gooty tarantula, or metallic tarantula because of its attractive iridescent colouration. The Gooty in the name comes from a town in Andhra Pradesh in India, where it was first discovered in 1899.
• Peacock Tarantula is found predominantly in the deciduous forests of central and southern India. It has a distinct blue hue, one that darkens with age and maturity.
• The tarantula preys upon a variety of insects, including crickets, grasshoppers, and other small bugs. This natural predation helps regulate insect numbers, preventing potential outbreaks and ensuring that no single insect species overwhelms the ecosystem
• By keeping insect populations in check, the Peacock Tarantula contributes to the overall health and stability of its environment, promoting biodiversity and supporting the intricate web of interactions that characterize its ecosystem.
• It is classified as ‘critically endangered’ by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Heatwave in India

• Light to moderate rainfall on 29th and 30th April, brought an end to a week-long spell of heatwaves in most parts of north and central India, the first of the season.
• Heatwave is a condition where the temperature of the place gets unusually and uncomfortably, higher than the normal. The thresholds defined by IMD are specific to India and are not universal definitions of heatwave.
• Summers have always been very warm in most parts of India, but heatwaves are very specific conditions defined by the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
• If the maximum temperature of a place gets at least 5℃ higher than normal, and this condition is reached at least two days in succession, the place is said to be experiencing a heatwave. If the temperature gets warmer than normal by 7℃, a severe heatwave is declared.
• A few other things are factored in before declaring a heatwave, particularly whether the place is located in plains or mountains and whether its normal temperature is below 40℃ or higher.
• There are two areas where heatwaves are common in India: one, the northwestern and central part extending into Bihar and Jharkhand, which is known as the core heatwave zone; and two, the eastern coast comprising Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.
• As many as 23 states in India are now affected by heatwaves. Each one of them, and hundreds of cities, now implement a heat action plan during summers.
• Incidentally, a heatwave is not yet considered a notified disaster under the Disaster Management Act in India. The Sixteenth Finance Commission, which submitted its report last year, recommended that both heatwaves and lightning be included as notified disasters.

Science and Technology

Sovereign cloud system

• The Indian government is considering mandating companies in critical sectors such as energy, telecom, and banking to use Made-in-India sovereign cloud systems.
• According to government officials, the move under discussion is aimed at reducing dependence on foreign cloud providers and strengthening data security.
• Cloud systems are on-demand, internet-based services that deliver computing resources—such as servers, data storage, databases, and software—hosted in remote data centres rather than on local hardware.
• Big businesses need cloud systems primarily for scalability and cost efficiency, allowing them to instantly scale IT infrastructure up or down to meet fluctuating demand without heavy capital investment.
• This consideration is made because last year Microsoft suddenly blocked oil refiner Nayara Energy from its IT services.
• A BLOCK by a cloud system provider can log out a client company from accessing its own data, communication channels and other tools and products. This can critically endanger operations in sectors such as telecom, energy and financial services.

Technology for pothole repairing

• The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is looking for a more effective, scientifically driven fix to the problem of potholes in the city.
• On the MCD’s table are three technologies for pothole repair, resurfacing, and road maintenance that have been patented by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-Central Road Research Institute (CSIR-CRRI).
• The technologies being examined are:
  
  (1) Ecofix, a ready-to-use steel-slag-based pothole-repair mix
  (2) Rejupave Rejuvenator, a material for dense carpet work and resurfacing of roads
  (3) Modified Mix Seal Surfacing or MSS+, a cold-mix surfacing technology that reduces the need to heat road material.

Nobitex crypto exchange

As per the recent reports by Reuters, Nobitex, a crypto exchange, is used by the Iranian state and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to route money to allies outside the conventional banking system.

Brothers Ali and Mohammad Kharrazi – using the family surname Aghamir – built Nobitex into the country’s dominant cryptocurrency provider. It handles an estimated 70% of Iran’s crypto transactions.

Vikram-1 

• Skyroot Aerospace has flagged off Vikram-1 rocket to Sriharikota, with the launch of the rocket slated for later this year.
• Vikram-1 is a multi-stage launch vehicle with solid and liquid fuel-based engines designed for launching satellites weighing up to 350kg to low earth orbit.
• The low earth orbit is the region of space from 160 km to 2,000 km above the surface of Earth.
• What makes Vikram-1 different is that the rocket is made of carbon composite instead of metals, and houses a 3D-printed indigenously made engine — making its manufacturing and assembly easier, quicker and cheaper.
• Skyroot was also the first private company to carry out a single-stage sub-orbital flight in 2022, followed by another company, Agnikul. A sub-orbital flight is launched at a slower speed than the orbital velocity, so it reaches outer space but cannot get into an orbit around Earth.

Multi-Lane Free Flow (MLFF)

• The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) on May 1 operationalised India’s first MLFF barrier-less tolling system at the Choryasi toll plaza on the Surat–Bharuch section of NH-48 in Gujarat.
• The MLFF system removes the need for boom barriers and vehicles to stop for toll collection. Instead, high-performance Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) readers and Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras read the FASTag and Vehicle Registration Number (VRN).
• ICICI Bank has developed the Choryasi toll collection system. An agreement between Indian Highways Management Company Limited (IHMCL) — NHAI’s tolling implementation agency — and the bank was signed in 2025.
• According to the Economic Survey 2025-26, the MLFF is projected to be implemented across all four-lane and above national highways and expressways by March 2029.

Cell-broadcasting technology and SACHET

• On May 2, India launched its Cell Broadcast messaging system using indigenous technology that would act as an instant disaster alert service for citizens.
• National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has successfully operationalized the Integrated Alert System (SACHET), developed by the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT).
• SACHET (which means ‘alert’), is an Integrated Alert System that aims to deliver disaster and emergency related alerts via SMS to mobile users within the geo-targeted areas.
• This is different from earlier sms alerts, here cell broadcast technology is used which mirrors the technologies used in countries such as Japan- J-alert system (which issued tsunami alerts).
• Cell Broadcast is a method of simultaneously sending short messages to multiple mobile phones within a defined geographic area.
• As part of day-to-day network functionality, cell towers communicate with phones within their reach, providing information such as the network it is connected to. This information is usually invisible to the user. Its only purpose is to help the network function as it should.
• The communication of information from cell towers to handsets, and the technology that enables it, are known broadly as cell broadcast.
• So, government authorities can harness this system of one-way communication between cell towers and phones to issue emergency alerts.
• The system essentially works by sending a single message from a mobile network tower to all phones connected to that tower at the same time, instead of sending individual SMS messages.
• Unlike SMS, which is a one-to-one channel, cell broadcast is a one-to-many technology. This means that one message can be sent to millions of devices within a few seconds.
• It needs no app or subscription as well. The only requirement is that the phone is switched on and configured to accept such messages (Settings → Safety and emergency →Wireless emergency alerts →Test alerts).

India’s first portable bedside MRI system

• In a first, AIIMS New Delhi has introduced India’s first portable bedside MRI system, marking a significant step in critical care and neuro diagnostics.
• The ultra–low-field device can be wheeled directly to a patient’s bedside, enabling rapid brain imaging for critically ill patients in ICUs, emergency settings, and neurosurgical care.
• Unlike conventional MRI machines that require dedicated suites and patient transport, this system eliminates the risks associated with moving unstable patients and allows imaging to be performed within the safety of the ICU environment.

Diseases

Autism

• A recent study by the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Delhi has found that children exposed to higher screen time before the age of one were more likely to show signs of autism by the age of three.
• Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) not only showed earlier and more problematic digital media use than peers but also had higher rates of sleep problems and reduced physical activity.
• ASD is a neurodevelopmental condition affecting brain development, characterised by persistent challenges in social communication, interaction, and restricted or repetitive behaviors.
• It is considered a “spectrum” because symptoms, severity, and abilities vary widely, ranging from individuals needing significant support to those who are highly independent.

Economy

Hybrid Annuity Mode (HAM) projects 

• The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has introduced stricter disqualification norms for Hybrid Annuity Mode (HAM) projects to prevent “catastrophic failures” caused by construction defects.
• The Ministry circular extends provisions earlier applied to Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) projects to HAM contracts as part of the ministry’s broader push to strengthen quality in national highway development.
• HAM is a variant of the Public-Private Partnership model, where the government pay 40% of the project cost during construction and the balance 60% as annuity payments over the operations period.

Guinness World Record for the Andaman and Nicobar administration

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands on May 2 set a new Guinness World Record by unfurling the largest Indian flag, underwater. The feat was achieved at Swaraj Dweep, formerly known as Havelock Island. The tricolour displayed underwater measured 60 metres in length and 40 metres in width.

Biofuel b50 in Indonesia 

• Amid the surge in oil prices because of the Iran war, Indonesia has announced the roll-out of the biofuel B50, a blend of 50% palm oil-based biodiesel and 50% conventional diesel.
• As Indonesia accounts for half of global palm oil exports (as of 2024), the shift toward a B50 programme, which reorients supply from export markets to domestic consumption, is expected to significantly influence global palm oil markets.
• For India, the implications are particularly pronounced. India imports around USD 8.5 billion of palm oil, and more than 50 per cent of it comes from Indonesia (as of 2024).
• Palm oil is extensively used across household cooking, the food processing industry, and industrial sectors such as soaps and oleochemicals.

Sports

(Just FYI: With the unpredictability of the UPSC examinations and questions like the ICC World Test Championship question 2021, you can’t be sure of anything. It is wise to know what it is and not go into too much detail.)

Thomas and Uber Cup 2026

• The 34th edition of the Thomas Cup – the men’s team world championships in badminton, and the 31st Uber Cup –  the women’s variant, was held in Horsens, Denmark. The finals were played on 3rd May.
• It is a biennial international championship. In 2022, India made history by winning the maiden Thomas cup and the women’s team won the bronze medal in the 2014 and 2016 editions.
• In the Thomas Cup 2026, the Indian team was defeated by the French team in the semi-final.
• The Thomas Cup 2026 edition was won by China after defeating France, marking their second win in a row (2024).
• The Republic of Korea earned its second Uber Cup title after beating the People’s Republic of China in the Finals.

Test Your Knowledge

(Note: The best way to remember facts for UPSC and other competitive exams is to recall them through MCQs. Try to solve the following questions on your own.)

1. Consider the following statements about the Online Gaming Authority of India (OGAI):
   
   1. It operates under the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.
   2. It determines whether a game qualifies as an Online Money Game.
   
   Which of the statements mentioned above is/are correct?
   (a) 1 only
   (b) 2 only
   (c) Both 1 and 2
   (d) None of the above
   
2. Consider the following statements:
   
   1. The Thomas Cup and Uber Cup are associated with badminton.
   2. Uber Cup is a women’s variant of the badminton championship.
   3. India won its maiden Uber Cup in 2022.
   
   How many of the statements mentioned above is/are correct?
   (a) Only one
   (b) Only two
   (c) All three
   (d) None

If you missed the UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past few weeks : Click Below Links

UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past week | 20– 26 April 2026 read it here

UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past week | 13– 19 April 2026 read it here

UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past week | 06– 12 April 2026 read it here

UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past week | 30 March – 5 April 2026 read it here

UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past week | 23– 29 March 2026 read it here

The post UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past week | 27 April – 03 May 2026 appeared first on Rma News: Latest News, Live Breaking News, Today News, Political News Updates.

Reports

(FYI: The data provided in these reports can be used to substantiate your Mains answer and create a broad understanding of the topic.)

New study on use of tobacco by the households

• A new study published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) Global Health, found that over 20.49 million households – 10.6% of all households in the country — could rise to a higher economic class just by stopping spending on tobacco and redirecting that money to other needs.
• The poorest households spend 6.4% of their entire monthly income on tobacco, the study found.
• India carries one of the world’s largest tobacco burdens. With over 267 million tobacco users, which is nearly a quarter of the adult population, tobacco is the single largest preventable cause of death and disease in the country, responsible for over a million deaths every year.
• Its established links to cancers of the mouth, throat, lung, and oesophagus as well as to heart disease and stroke, have long made it a central concern of public health policy.

Extreme events could impact 36% of land animal habitats by 2085, says new study

• By 2085, over a third of wildlife habitats on land could suffer multiple types of climate-driven extreme weather events, such as heatwaves, wildfires, and floods, if warming continues to rise in the second half of the century, according to a new study published in the Nature Ecology & Evolution journal.
• The study, led by researchers at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), Germany, analysed the impact of climate change in a medium-high emission scenario on nearly 34,000 vertebrate species.
• The most widespread impact will be from extreme heatwaves, the study found. By 2050, 74% of animal habitats on land will be exposed to heatwaves, 16% to wildfire, 8% to droughts, and 3% to floods if warming continues into the latter half of the century, the study said.

Polity

Judges recuse

• Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma of the Delhi High Court has refused to recuse from hearing a high-profile criminal revision petition arising out of the Delhi excise policy case, laying down a detailed, almost personal defence of judicial independence and institutional integrity.
• When there is a conflict of interest, a judge can withdraw from hearing a case to prevent creating a perception that she carried a bias while deciding the case.
• The practice stems from the cardinal principle of due process of law that nobody can be a judge in her own case. Any interest or conflict of interest would be a ground to withdraw from a case since a judge has a duty to act fair.
• Another instance for recusal is when an appeal is filed in the Supreme Court against a judgement of a High Court that may have been delivered by the SC judge when she was in the HC.
• There are no formal rules governing recusals, although several Supreme Court judgments have dealt with the issue. Since, there are no formal rules, it is often left to individual judges to record reasons for recusal.
• In Ranjit Thakur v Union of India (1987), the Supreme Court held that the test of the likelihood of bias is the reasonableness of the apprehension in the mind of the party.
• Once a request is made for recusal, the decision to recuse or not rests with the judge. There have been several cases where judges have refused to withdraw from a case.

Premature Release

• The Delhi High Court on April 16, 2026 criticised the Sentencing Review Board’s (SRB) latest rejection of Santosh Kumar Singh’s plea for premature release.
• The SRB, comprising senior state officials, including the DG of Prisons, the Police Commissions, and the Chief Secretary, is the body that must first examine each case and pass its recommendation to the government.
• Premature release allows life convicts to be released early if they are deemed to be reformed, rehabilitated and no longer a threat to society. The powers of clemency are derived from both constitutional and statutory frameworks.
• Section 473 of the BNSS (and Section 432 of the CrPC) grants state governments the power to remit sentences “at any time”.
• This is separate from the power of the President and the Governor to remit sentences under Articles 72 and 161 of the Constitution respectively.
• One of the restraints placed on the state government’s power of remission can be found under Section 475 of the BNSS (and Section 433A of the CrPC). For convicts serving a life sentence and have been found guilty of an offence punishable by death, the state cannot release them from prison until at least 14 years imprisonment have been served.

Congress moves privilege notice against PM Modi

• The Congress on 21st April moved a privilege notice against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for allegedly “having cast aspersions” on the “independence and integrity” of elected Members of Parliaments during his address to the nation on 18th April night.
• Parliamentary privileges are certain rights conferred to the MP for conducting the business of the Parliament. There is no codified list of the exact privileges, but it includes the right of free expression in the course of Parliamentary debates and MP will not be liable for court proceedings for this.
• According to the Constitution of India, Articles 105 and 122 outline the privileges of Parliament, while Articles 194 and 212 pertain to the privileges of state governments.
• If there is a belief that such a privilege has been breached, a motion can be raised by any member. It can be admitted by the Chairman. They can then refer it to the Privileges Committee.

Committee of Privileges

It examines all questions involving breach of certain rights, privileges, and immunities enjoyed by MPs. It is a Standing Committee. It examines the cases of breach of the privileges of the House and its members and recommends appropriate action. The Lok Sabha committee has 15 members, while the Rajya Sabha committee has 10 members.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

• Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) spending by companies listed on stock exchanges registered a sharp rise of 23% in FY25, reaching Rs 22,212 crore compared with Rs 18,011 crore in the previous financial year. The increase has been attributed largely to robust corporate profitability.
• CSR is a management framework through which companies incorporate social and environmental considerations into their business operations and interactions with stakeholders. It represents a long-term, structured commitment to societal development and welfare.
• According to the National CSR Portal, “Ministry of Corporate Affairs had issued ‘Voluntary Guidelines on Corporate Social Responsibility, 2009′ as a first step towards mainstreaming the concept of Business Responsibilities.
• This was further refined subsequently, as ‘National Voluntary Guidelines on Social, Environmental and Economic Responsibilities of Business, 2011‘.”
• Later, the Companies Act, 2013, made it mandatory for listed and unlisted organisations of a certain size and net worth to spend at least 2 per cent of their average net profit towards CSR.

The Mahanadi river dispute

• The Mahanadi originates in Chhattisgarh’s Dhamtari district and flows through Odisha, finally draining into the Bay of Bengal. It is a key river system in the region and has led to water-sharing disputes between the states since 2016.
• Odisha has alleged that Chhattisgarh has “unilaterally constructed” at least eight barrages along the river, which have impacted its flow into the state during the non-monsoon period. Odisha has termed the river a lifeline for the state, given its significance for agriculture, fisheries and power generation. According to official data, Mahanadi has a total catchment area of 1,41,600 sq km, of which 45.73% falls in Odisha, 53.9% in Chhattisgarh and a small patch in Madhya Pradesh.
• Chhattisgarh, on the other hand, has argued that given the large catchment area in the state, it was within its rights to use the river water. Chhattisgarh also pointed out that Odisha had commenced certain major and medium projects without informing it as the upper riparian State.
• Almost six months after Odisha and Chhattisgarh agreed on an “amicable solution” to resolve the long-pending Mahanadi water dispute, the tribunal formed to adjudicate the matter has given the states a last opportunity to devise a settlement formula.
• In its April 20 order, the Mahanadi Water Dispute Tribunal (MWDT) warned that it will proceed on merits if the two states are unable to finalise the settlement formula and ‘place on record’ any consensus on the issues by May 2.
• Headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice Bela M Trivedi, the tribunal also expressed its displeasure with the manner in which the proceedings of the references are being conducted.

Model Code of Conduct

• The Election Commission of India will “examine” the Opposition’s complaint against Prime Minister Narendra Modi that his address to the nation on April 18 was violative of the Model Code of Conduct, sources said on Tuesday (April 21).
• The Election Commission’s Model Code of Conduct is a set of guidelines issued to regulate political parties and candidates prior to elections. The rules range from issues related to speeches, polling day, polling booths, portfolios, content of election manifestos, processions and general conduct, so that free and fair elections are conducted.
• The MCC comes into force from the date the election schedule is announced until the date that the results are out.

International Cooperation 

India-South Korea

• President of South Korea, H.E. Lee Jae Myung, was on a state visit to India from 19-21 April 2026.
• India and South Korea have signed four MoUs for cooperation in the fields of Sports, Cultural and Creative Industries, Small and Medium Enterprises and for the establishment of the Industrial Cooperation Committee.
• During the visit, the Republic of Korea formally joined the International Solar Alliance and the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative.
• The bilateral trade between India and Korea has reached 27 billion dollars, and they have targeted to increase the bilateral trade to 50 billion dollars by 2030.

Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card

• During the official visit to Sri Lanka, Vice-President C P Radhakrishnan on April 19 announced the extension of the eligibility for Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card for the Indian community in the island nation till the sixth generation. Until now, this was limited to the fourth generation.
• Introduced in August 2005, the OCI scheme provides for registration of all Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) who were citizens of India on January 26, 1950, or thereafter, or were eligible to become citizens of India on the said date.
• It was introduced by amending the Citizenship Act, 1955, in August 2005. The Scheme was launched during the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas convention 2006 at Hyderabad. In 2015, the government discontinued the PIO scheme, and PIO cardholders were required to convert to OCI.
• An applicant is not eligible to get an OCI card if his/her parents or grandparents have ever been citizens of Pakistan or Bangladesh. However, the spouse of foreign origin of a citizen of India or spouse of foreign origin of an OCI, whose marriage has been registered and subsisted for not less than two years, can apply for an OCI card.

Economy

Paytm Payments Bank

• More than two years after barring Paytm Payments Bank from accepting deposits or top-ups, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) recently scrapped its banking licence with immediate effect.
• The central bank said the bank’s operations were conducted in a way that was “detrimental to the interest of the bank and its depositors.”
• Paytm Payments Bank has been under regulatory scrutiny since 2018 owing to multiple compliance concerns. The central bank identified violations related to know-your-customer (KYC) norms — rules designed to verify customer identities and prevent financial fraud.
• One of the key issues flagged by the RBI was that the bank had linked a single Permanent Account Number (PAN) to multiple customer accounts. This raised serious red flags, as such practices can potentially be used to bypass regulatory safeguards.
  Additionally, the RBI observed that the bank was allowing transactions beyond the prescribed limits for certain accounts, which heightened concerns around possible money laundering risks.
• Payments banks in India are tightly restricted — they can accept deposits only up to Rs two lakh per customer and are not allowed to offer loans or credit cards.

Environment

Marine Spatial Planning

• Odisha became the first state to launch the Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) in the second phase for integrated coastal and marine planning.
• It was launched after the Odisha government signed a memorandum of understanding with the National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR) under the Union Ministry of Earth Sciences.
• Sustainable ocean planning has been underway in India since 2019, with collaboration between India and Norway. In the first phase, it was taken up in two Union territories, Puducherry and Lakshadweep.
• The MSP is a tool for sustainable and integrated ocean management aimed at boosting the blue economy and strengthening climate resilience.
• In August 2025, the Odisha government also launched the Odisha Marine Biotechnology Research and Innovation Corridor (OMBRIC) to promote the use of biotechnology for marine environmental protection and economic development.

AMOC, or Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation

• It is part of a giant loop of water that snakes through the world’s oceans. It carries warm, salty water from the tropical Atlantic up past the Eastern Seaboard and toward Europe. There, the water releases its heat into the air and helps moderate the weather in Britain and the Nordic countries.
• In the process, the water cools, sinks and heads back south, where it goes on to influence rainfall patterns in Africa, South America and beyond.
• In a study published Friday in the journal Science Advances, researchers show that, under certain conditions, building a 50-mile-long dam across the Bering Strait—the shallow waterway that separates Russia and Alaska—could prevent a collapse of the AMOC, which plays a central role in regulating Earth’s climate.
• The AMOC (pronounced AY-mock) has weakened in recent decades, and a growing body of evidence suggests human-caused warming could someday cause it to shut down or slow significantly, with grave effects on the weather on multiple continents.
• Warming from greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is disrupting this vast oceanic conveyor belt. As temperatures rise, the Arctic gets rainier and Greenland’s ice sheet melts, more fresh water is pouring into the North Atlantic, making its surface less salty. That prevents the water of the AMOC from sinking at the loop’s northern end, which in turn causes it to draw less warm water northward from the tropics.
• Should the belt stop turning altogether, Northern Europe would grow colder, deprived of the warmth the AMOC brings. With less water moving north through the Atlantic, more of it would slosh toward the U.S. East Coast, raising sea levels there. Tropical rainfall patterns would be rearranged, parching some areas while dousing others.

Security Issues

US Secret Service

• A man armed with multiple weapons stormed through a security checkpoint at the Washington Hilton hotel, which hosted the annual White House Correspondent Dinner with US President Donald Trump on April 25.
• The episode has raised concerns about political violence in the US, coming after multiple security incidents involving Trump, in particular. Less than two years ago, he was shot at in a campaign rally, which led to the resignation of the then Director of the US Secret Service, Kimberly Cheatle.

• The Secret Service is the agency primarily tasked with protecting the US president. But this was not always the case; in fact, the agency was initially founded to combat counterfeiting of US currency. Today, it is best associated with sunglasses-wearing agents and the armoured limousine attached to the president, called The Beast, but its day-to-day role involves a large number of complex tasks.
• It was founded in 1865 and is one of the world’s oldest federal investigative law enforcement agencies. Its mandate changed after President William McKinley’s killing, who was the third US president assassinated after Abraham Lincoln and James A Garfield in 1865 and 1881, respectively.
• It assumed full-time responsibility for the safety of the US president in 1902. It works under the Department of Homeland Security and “employs approximately 3,200 special agents, 1,300 Uniformed Division officers, and more than 2,000 other technical, professional and administrative support personnel”, according to its website.

SPG

In India, the Special Protection Group (SPG) was established in 1985 — a year after the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi — to provide security cover to the Prime Minister, former Prime Ministers and their immediate family members. They work in collaboration with the Intelligence Bureau and local police forces.

Science and Technology

Narcotics Analysis & RAG-based Investigation Tool (NARIT-AI)

• The Gujarat Police has developed the NARIT-AI tool to help police make tighter cases under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act to ensure conviction.
• The tool, designed to help law enforcement agencies in handling complex narcotics cases under the NDPS framework.
• It will integrate legal provisions, case laws, and investigative procedures to provide real-time analytical support to investigating officers (IOs).
• NARIT-AI was developed using Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) technology.
• RAG is an AI framework that improves the accuracy of a large language model (LLM) by referencing trusted knowledge bases before generating responses, which in this case are laws, circulars, cases, and judgments on narcotics cases in India.

India’s first advanced 3D chip packaging unit

• The foundation stone for India’s first advanced 3D chip packaging unit was laid in Bhubaneswar, in a big boost to India’s growing semiconductor ambitions.
• The project is being implemented by the US-based 3D Glass Solutions Inc through its wholly owned Indian subsidiary Heterogeneous Integration Packaging Solutions Pvt Ltd. It is funded by Intel, among others. Intel’s CEO Lip-Bu Tan joined the ceremony virtually.
• 3D glass semiconductor technology is an advanced chip process that utilises specialised glass substrates to enable high-performance, three-dimensional integration of electrical components.
• Unlike traditional silicon, glass offers superior radio frequency performance, lower electrical loss, and enhanced thermal stability for passive component integration. The plant in Bhubaneswar will assemble and package these chips.

Defence

China’s new Atlas drone swarm system

• Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) unveiled its new Atlas drone swarm system (atelasi). The one-of-a-kind system combines features like simultaneous mass launch, control of nearly 100 drones, and a single human touchpoint to control them all.
• The system is like a mini-battlefield network on wheels, where drones are truck-launched, remotely navigated by a single operator, and capable of scouting, communicating, confusing, and attacking defence across a large perimeter. More importantly, it is a very small, independent unit that is easy to hide, camouflage, and operate from remote corners.
• China Electronic Technology Group Corporation (CETC) (zhongguo dianzi keji jituan gongsi), established in 2002, one of the leaders of China’s push for achieving civil-military integration, has manufactured the Atlas system.
• The Atlas system can simultaneously launch up to 96 small- and medium-sized speed drones that can form defensive structures and precision formations, both to defend and attack.
• The launch time between drones is less than three seconds. Thus, within 300 seconds, the system can launch all 96 drones for an attack, reconnaissance, or to confuse the adversary. For context, amid the recent West Asia war, the US advanced E-3 Sentry AWACS aircraft at the Prince Sultan Airbase in Saudi Arabia was destroyed by a swarm of 29 drones and a few ballistic missiles.

FYI

Currently, China’s Atlas system, at least theoretically, outpaces and outsmarts all its competitors.

Purely on scale, the US Department of War’s “Perdix” and Defense Advanced Research Project Agency’s “Offset” systems can launch 103 micro-drones and 250 unmanned systems, respectively. Even China’s “mothership” (Jiu Tian) can launch up to 100-150 drones. But Atlas stands out for its intelligence because, in modern military warfare, counting drones within the swarms is an outdated metric.

The real victory lies in the cognitive test: can these 90 to 100 drones think individually and as a unit, reroute, identify, reidentify targets, and execute multiple strikes — all with only a single human touchpoint. It is here that the Atlas Drone Swarm system outshines all its competitors, at least theoretically.

Sports

(Just FYI: With the unpredictability of the UPSC examinations and questions like the ICC World Test Championship question 2021, you can’t be sure of anything. It is wise to know what it is and not go into too much detail.)

Athletics Federation of India (AFI)

• The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) Board, an autonomous body set up by World Athletics, has downgraded the Athletics Federation of India (AFI), flagging concerns over the “extremely high” doping risk among athletes in the country.
• AFI has been downgraded to Category A, the highest-risk bracket for doping in international athletics.
• It means India’s track and field athletes will now have to comply with more stringent anti-doping stipulations, with all national team members having to undergo tests before major championships.
• Between 2002 and 2025, India was among the top two in the list of countries with the most Anti-Doping Rule Violations (ADRVs) in athletics, according to data presented in the AIU statement.

Person in News

Ashok Kumar Lahiri

• The government has reconstituted the NITI Aayog, appointing Ashok Kumar Lahiri as its vice chairman and four new full-time members.Lahiri, a former Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) and a member of the 15th Finance Commission, will take over from Suman Bery, whose term ends later this month.
• NITI Aayog is composed of a Chairperson (Prime Minister), a Vice-Chairperson appointed by the PM, a Governing Council (CMs of all states and Lt. Governors of UTs), and a Chief Executive Officer.  
• According to Niti Aayog’s official website, “NITI Aayog serves as the apex public policy think tank of the Government of India, and the nodal agency tasked with catalysing economic development and fostering cooperative federalism through the involvement of State Governments in the economic policymaking process using a bottom-up approach.”

John Ternus

• Apple has named John Ternus as its new chief executive to take over from Tim Cook, who is stepping down after 15 years of leading the technology major. Cook has been at the helm since 2011 after co-founder Steve Jobs resigned for health reasons, just before his passing. Ternus, who is currently the head of hardware engineering, will take over on September 1.

Test Your Knowledge

(Note: The best way to remember facts for UPSC and other competitive exams is to recall them through MCQs. Try to solve the following questions on your own.)

1. With reference to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) rules in India, consider the following statements: (UPSC CSE 2024)
   1. CSR rules specify that expenditures that benefit the company directly or its employees will not be considered as CSR activities.
   2. CSR rules do not specify minimum spending on CSR activities.
   
   Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
   (a) 1 only
   (b) 2 only
   (c) Both 1 and 2
   (d) Neither 1 nor 2
   
   
2. With reference to the Model Code of Conduct (MCC), consider the following statements:
   1. It is a set of guidelines issued to regulate political parties and candidates prior to elections.
   2. The MCC was first introduced in the state assembly elections in Karnataka.
   3. It does not contain provisions dealing with election manifestos.
   
   How many of the statements given above are correct?
   (a) Only one
   (b) Only two
   (c) All three
   (d) None

If you missed the UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past few weeks : Click Below Links

UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past week | 13– 19 April 2026 read it here

UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past week | 06– 12 April 2026 read it here

UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past week | 30 March – 5 April 2026 read it here

UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past week | 23– 29 March 2026 read it here

UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past week | 16– 22 March 2026 read it here

The post UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past week | 20 – 26 April 2026 appeared first on Rma News: Latest News, Live Breaking News, Today News, Political News Updates.

Polity

Official language of Meghalaya

• The Meghalaya cabinet on 16th April, 2026 announced the indigenous Khasi and Garo languages as the official languages of the state, in addition to English.
• The move comes amid a long-standing demand for the inclusion of Khasi and Garo – the languages of the state’s two largest tribes – in the Eight Schedule of the Constitution. Currently, all official business in the state is carried out in English.

Anticipatory bail

• The Supreme Court has refused to extend the transit anticipatory bail earlier granted to Congress leader Pawan Khera by the Telangana High Court.
• The FIR against Pawan Khera was filed by Riniki Bhuyan Sharma, following a press conference where Khera levelled serious allegations of financial and legal misconduct.
• Black’s Law Dictionary (4th edition) describes ‘bail’ as procuring “the release of a person from legal custody, by undertaking that he shall appear at the time and place designated and submit himself to the jurisdiction and judgement of the court.”
• As opposed to ordinary bail, which is granted to a person who is under arrest, in anticipatory bail, a person is directed to be released on bail even before arrest made.
• The Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS) contains provisions for anticipatory bail in Section 482 (earlier Section 438 of the Code of Criminal Procedure).  The provision empowers only the Sessions Court and High Court to grant anticipatory bail.
• Sub-section (1) of the provision reads: “When any person has reason to believe that he may be arrested on an accusation of having committed a non-bailable offence, he may apply to the High Court or the Court of Session for a direction under this section; and that Court may, if it thinks fit, direct that in the event of such arrest, he shall be released on bail.”
• In the 1980 Gurbaksh Singh Sibbia vs State of Punjab case, a five-judge Supreme Court bench led by then Chief Justice Y V Chandrachud ruled that S. 438 (1) is to be interpreted in the light of Article 21 of the Constitution (protection of life and personal liberty).

Constitution (One Hundred and Thirty-First Amendment) Bill, 2026

• This week, the Lok Sabha has taken up three bills, namely the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026, the Delimitation Bill, 2026, and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026, for consideration and passing.
• The 131st Amendment Bill failed to get 2/3rd majority in the Lok Sabha. Following the defeat, Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Kiren Rijiju told the Lok Sabha Speaker not to take up the two other Bills since these were linked to the Constitutional (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026.
• The Bill intended to increase the number of seats in the Lok Sabha from 543 to 850. Out of 850 seats, 815 members to be elected from the States and 35 members from the Union territories. The objective of the bill was to implement one-third reservation for women in the Lok Sabha as well as the assemblies of States and Union Territories.
• The Bill aimed to amend the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023, to expedite women’s reservation, a Delimitation Bill to set up a Delimitation Commission based on the latest available population figures, and a Bill to extend women’s reservation to Union Territories with Legislative Assemblies.
• The Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, which was passed in 2023, provided that a one-third reservation for women will come into effect after the delimitation exercise based on the first census after the commencement of the Act.

Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha

• Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh is set to be elected unopposed for a third term on 17th April, 2026, with the Opposition deciding to boycott the elections.
• The Deputy Chairman is a constitutional position created under Article 89 of the Constitution, which specifies that the Rajya Sabha shall choose one of its MPs to be the Deputy Chairman as often as the position becomes vacant.
• The Deputy Chair is the one position that is elected solely by members of Rajya Sabha. It is a critical position not just because s/he steps in when there is a vacancy in the office of Chairperson/Vice President but also because s/he plays a critical role in ensuring the smooth running of the House.

International Cooperation

9th Indian Ocean Conference

• India Foundation, in association with the Government of Mauritius, organised the 9th Indian Ocean Conference—IOC 2026—in Mauritius from April 10 to 12, 2026
• The theme of the conference was “Collective Stewardship for Indian Ocean Governance.”
• The conference brings together leaders, policymakers, and experts from across the Indian Ocean Region to deliberate on shared responsibilities, cooperative frameworks, and the future of regional governance.

Section 301 investigations

• Responding to two Section 301 investigations launched by the US in March 2026, on “structural excess capacity” and “forced labour”, the Indian government told Washington on 16th April, 2026, that its legal framework aligns with the forced labour standards of the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
• The US launched two Section 301 investigations against several countries, including India. While one cites structural excess capacity and overproduction in certain manufacturing sectors, the other cites failure to prohibit imports of goods produced using “forced” labour.
• Section 301 authorizes the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) to investigate whether foreign governments are engaging in “unfair” acts, policies, or practices that burden or restrict U.S. commerce.
• The Section 301 investigation assumes significance for India as US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that Trump’s tariffs could be restored by July to the level they were at before the Supreme Court struck them down.

Environment

State of India’s Bats (SoIbats), 2024-25 

• The first-ever national assessment, State of India’s Bats (SoIbats), 2024-25, pointed out that the bat species in India, around 135, are facing neglect due to a lack of research and are also under threat from urbanisation, deforestation, land-use changes, and climate impacts.
• SoIbats was conducted in collaboration with the Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF) and Bat Conservation International (BCI).
• Out of 135 bat species, 16 are endemic (about 12 percent of the total bat) or only found in India and seven of them are listed under the threatened category by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
• The report documented significant inter-variability in the distribution of bat species. West Bengal leads with 68 bat species, followed by 66 in Meghalaya, 52 in Uttarakhand 41 each in Kerala and Karnataka and 43 in Sikkim, denoting diversity.

Threatened Species+

Endemic Species+

State Rankings+

Science and Technology

Induction vs infrared cooktops

• Amidst the shortage and black market of LPG, there has been a shift toward electric alternatives, such as induction and infrared cooktops. Online retail platforms like Amazon India have reported a sharp spike in sales, with induction cooktops seeing up to an 18-fold jump compared to pre-war levels.
• A basic induction cooktop uses electricity to heat the vessel directly. It works by generating a rapidly changing electromagnetic field.
• When the metal pan is placed on the surface, it comes under the magnetic field. The electrical resistance of the metal creates an electrical friction between the two, which then converts the kinetic energy of the moving electrons directly into thermal energy or heat.
• Cookware: An induction works best with ferromagnetic cookware, which contains materials like cast iron or magnetic stainless steel that respond to magnetic fields. For this, there is a need for compatible cookware that makes it more expensive than the ones normally used on gas stoves.
• Unlike induction, infrared cooktops use a heated coil beneath a glass surface to generate radiant heat, which can then warm any type of vessel — including steel, aluminium, glass, and ceramic — without requiring magnetic compatibility.
• Process of heating: Unlike an induction cooktop, infrared cookstoves rely on radiant heating for heating the vessel. Put simply, electricity heats a coil or halogen element placed beneath a ceramic glass surface. As it heats, it begins to glow red-hot — similar to the heating wire in a toaster. This hot element then emits infrared radiation, a form of electromagnetic energy that is invisible to the human eye.
• This radiation passes through the glass surface and is absorbed by the base of the cookware. The absorbed energy causes the molecules in the vessel to vibrate, generating heat that cooks the food.
• Energy Efficiency: Induction cooktops convert 85–95% of electricity into heat by directly heating the vessel using electromagnetic fields. In contrast, infrared cooktops operate at around 70–80% efficiency, as heat is first generated in a coil, then transferred to the glass surface, and finally to the vessel.

An induction cooktop typically consumes slightly less electricity than an infrared cooktop for the same task. Induction cooktops use power electronics — usually rapid switching (pulse‑width modulation) or frequency adjustment — to control the heat. This allows them to maintain efficiency even at low heat settings like simmering.

Infrared cooktops usually reduce heat by adjusting the electricity waveform using a method called phase‑angle control. Here, the glowing coil turns on only for a short part of each cycle and then turns off, instead of staying on steadily. This method is simple and effective, but it distorts the current waveform and can reduce the power factor. For this, the grid has to supply extra current.

Multi-Lane Free Flow (MLFF) tolling system

• The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has issued directions to all FASTag-issuing banks to immediately validate Vehicle Registration Numbers (VRNs) or license plate numbers linked to the FASTags they have issued. It also comes in the backdrop of a push for a Multi-Lane Free Flow (MLFF) tolling system.
• The MLFF is an advanced facility that allows vehicles to pass through toll gates at high speeds, without stopping or slowing at toll plazas. Accurate VRN mapping with FASTag is critical for MLFF tolling.
• The MLFF or barrier-less tolling system does not have boom barriers. The toll is collected after high-performance Radio Frequency Identification readers and Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras read the FASTag and VRN. In the absence of human intervention in this process, a mismatch in the VRN linked to the FASTag could see commuters pass without paying the fee.
• FASTag is an electronic toll collection system managed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and the NHAI. FASTag sticker is usually pasted on the windscreen of a car. It was launched in 2014 as a pilot project and made mandatory at every toll plaza in the country in 2021.
• It uses Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology to communicate with scanners installed at toll plazas. Once the car crosses a toll plaza, the requisite toll amount is automatically deducted from a bank account or a prepaid wallet linked to the FASTag.

Sports Genomics Programme

• The ‘Sports Genomics Programme’ is launched by the Gujarat government to conduct whole genome sequencing of talented athletes in the state to identify and record genetic markers associated with endurance and power sports.
• According to GBRC Director Dr Snehal Bagatharia, “In a key study published in 2023, 128 genetic markers (DNA polymorphisms) showed a positive association with athlete status. A total of 41 markers were related to endurance, 45 to power, and 42 to strength.”
• It is being undertaken by the Gujarat Biotechnology Research Centre (GBRC), under the Department of Science and Technology of the state, in coordination with the Sports Authority of Gujarat.
• Under the programme, for which Rs 26.05 crore has been allocated for five years, the GBRC will collect at least 2,000 genetic samples per year over five years, with the 10,000 samples covering 10 sports – five endurance and power sports each.

Genome India Project

It was approved by the Union government in 2020 to create a comprehensive catalogue of genetic variations found in the Indian population. A map of genetic diversity is essential for understanding the history of our evolution, discovering the genetic basis for various diseases, and creating therapies of the future.

The human genome is essentially a biological instruction manual that we inherit from our parents. It is a tome written with just four letters, A,C,G, and T — the four bases that come together to create everyone’s unique genetic makeup.

India’s first indigenous quantum computing testing facility in Amaravati

• Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu formally launched India’s first indigenous quantum computing testing facility at SRM University in Amaravati.
• The Amaravati Quantum Reference Facility (AQRA) facility at Amravati was inaugurated on World Quantum Day (14th April), and with this, India now has open sovereign quantum infrastructure.

• The initiative features two distinct platforms: the 1Q testbed at Medha Towers and the 1S testbed at SRM University, Amaravati. It was launched under the Andhra Pradesh government’s flagship quantum technology hub which is under India’s National Quantum Mission.
• National Quantum Mission (NQM) was launched at a total cost of Rs. 6003.65 crore from 2023-24 to 2030-31, to seed, nurture, and scale up scientific and industrial R&D and create a vibrant & innovative ecosystem in Quantum Technology (QT).

Designer Rice

• Scientists at CSIR – National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, have developed a “designer rice” that packs three times the protein of normal grains while maintaining a low glycemic index (below 55) to help manage diabetes.
• Instead of genetic modification, the scientists have used food-processing technology. 
• They took broken rice, the bits usually sold at a discount—ground them into flour, and blended them with protein and micronutrients like iron, folic acid, and Vitamin B12. They then “reformed” this mixture into grains that look, feel, and taste exactly like the rice we know.
• Protein powerhouse: While normal rice has about 6–8 per cent protein, this version boasts over 20 per cent.
• Fortified defense: It bridges the gap for anaemia by embedding iron, folic acid, and Vitamin B12 directly into the grain’s structure.

Economy

Delhi Dehradun Economic Corridor

• The Delhi-Dehradun Expressway corridor was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 14, 2026
• The corridor is built at a cost of Rs 11,868 crore, the 210-km highway is expected to cut down travel time to 2.5 hours.
• Apart from connectivity to Dehradun, the highway is designed with a spur to Haridwar to facilitate connection with the Char Dham highway.

Man-Made Fibre (MMF)

• The Textiles Ministry is pushing for another round of customs duty cuts on several input items related to man-made fibre (MMF) to cushion war impact, The Indian Express has learned.
• The Indian Express had reported that the biggest impact of the war has been on the prices and availability of poly-ethylene terephthalate (PET).
• PET is used in polyester fibre that goes into the production of roughly 40% of India’s apparel production, as 60% is still cotton-based.
• Man-made fibres (MMF) are mainly of two types: synthetic and cellulosic. Synthetic fibres are produced from crude oil, and cellulosic fibres are from wood pulp. The main varieties of synthetic staple fibres are polyester, acrylic and polypropylene. Cellulosic fibre is viscose fibre, modal, etc.

Indian economy 6th largest in the World

• According to the latest World Economic Outlook (WEO) released by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), India is now the 6th largest economy in the world, slipping from the 4th position.
• According to the latest WEO, in 2026 India’s gross domestic product — the total value of all goods and services produced inside the country — will be around $4.15 trillion (up from $3.92 trillion in 2025) while the UK’s GDP will be $4.27 trillion (up from $4 trillion in 2025) and Japan’s GDP would actually fall from $4.48 trillion in 2025 to $4.38 trillion in 2026.

Persons in News

Péter Magyar

• Péter Magyar is set to become the Prime Minister of Hungary after defeating Viktor Orbán who had been in power for 16 years.
• The election witnessed a historic turnout of nearly 80%, the highest in its post-communist history of 36 years.
• Magyar now faces the unsavoury challenge of remaking the “illiberal democracy” Orbán leaves behind.
• His Tisza Party secured a comfortable two-thirds majority (138 of 199 seats based on a preliminary count), which will allow it to amend the constitution and undo several Orbán-era policies.
• Today, Hungary is the EU’s most corrupt member, according to the anti-corruption watchdog, Transparency National. It is also its poorest member regarding household welfare, according to 2025 Eurostat data.
• The European Commission has withheld an estimated €18 billion ($21 billion) in funding from Hungary since 2022 over concerns about its democratic backsliding — equivalent to roughly 10% of the country’s GDP.

Samrat Choudhary

• BJP leader Samrat Choudhary was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Bihar, marking the first time the party will lead a government in the state.
• Nitish Kumar, who is now a Rajya Sabha MP, relinquished the chief minister’s post on April 14, 2026, dissolving his Cabinet in which Choudhary was a deputy chief minister and held the crucial Home portfolio.

Anita Chaudhary

• Anita Chaudhary, a 30-year-old forest guard at Rajasthan’s Shergarh Wildlife Sanctuary, won the prestigious Machhli National Award from the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF).
• The WWF’s ‘Machchli National Award’, named after the famous Ranthambhore tigress and including a cash component of Rs 50,000, was the fourth recognition of her work.

Sadhvi Satish Sail

• Sadhvi Satish Sail was crowned Miss India World 2026 at the grand finale of the 61st Femina Miss India pageant held in Bhubaneswar.
• Crowned by her predecessor Nikita Porwal, Sail is all set to represent India at the Miss World 2027 pageant.

Sports

(Just FYI: With the unpredictability of the UPSC examinations and questions like the ICC World Test Championship question 2021, you can’t be sure of anything. It is wise to know what it is and not go into too much detail.)

Operation Upstream

• The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has decided to collaborate with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to take a ‘top to down’ approach to curb anti-doping activities in the nation as the Sports Ministry pushes for criminalization of suppliers of prohibited substances to athletes.
• Operation Upstream, a joint CBI-WADA action plan, will target supply chains that move prohibited performance-enhancing drugs, and punish coaches, physios of doping athletes.
• Currently, India is the country with the largest number of dope offenders in the WADA list of suspended athletes from 2024. The nation has been a regular feature in the top three list, pointing at a deep-rooted problem related to the usage of prohibited substances and performance-enhancing drugs.
• Other hurdles that India faces in curbing doping activities are the lack of personnel at the National Anti-Doping Agency and lapses in procedures at the National Dope Testing Laboratory (NDTL). One of the 29 WADA-accredited labs in the world, NDTL was suspended in 2019 due to non-conformities with international standards.

Test Your Knowledge

(Note: The best way to remember facts for UPSC and other competitive exams is to recall them through MCQs. Try to solve the following questions on your own.)

1. Consider the following statements about the anticipatory bail:
   
   1. In anticipatory bail, a person is directed to be released on bail even before an arrest is made.
   2. The Sessions Court and High Court can grant anticipatory bail.
   
   Which of the statements mentioned above is/are correct?
   (a) 1 only
   (b) 2 only
   (c) 1 and 2
   (d) None of the above
   
   
2. Consider the following statements:
   
   1.  Nicobar Flying Fox is listed as a Critically Endangered species on the IUCN Red List.
   2. West Bengal has the highest number of bat species as per the SoIbats, 2024-25.
   3. Most microbats use echolocation to navigate.
   
   Which of the statements mentioned above is/are correct?
   (a) 1 and 2 only
   (b) 2 and 3 only
   (c) 1 and 3 only
   (d) 1,2, and 3

If you missed the UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past few weeks : Click Below Links

UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past week | 06– 12 April 2026 read it here

UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past week | 30 March – 5 April 2026 read it here

UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past week | 23– 29 March 2026 read it here

UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past week | 16– 22 March 2026 read it here

UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past week | 09– 15 March 2026 read it here

The post UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past week | 13–19 April 2026 appeared first on Rma News: Latest News, Live Breaking News, Today News, Political News Updates.

Art & Culture

Japan’s Kabuki theater

• Handing down a name over generations is a central part of the Japanese traditional theater art of Kabuki, and that ceremony gets celebrated at theaters and special events every few years. Kabuki, dating to the 1600s, is still very much alive in modern-day Japan.
• The ritual is taking place with the eighth Kikugoro, who is having that honor passed down from his 83-year-old father, the seventh Kikugoro, who in turn got that name from his father.
• In the world of Kabuki, a stage name is handed down over generations in a family in a male-only hereditary system and carries a great responsibility and honor. A new successor must live up to the expectations for the style, spirit and skill that the stage name carries.
• Actors usually have three stage names during their Kabuki career as they mature. It is typically passed from father to son, the artform largely limited to Japanese men.
• Kabuki performances feature stylized dancing and makeup, powerful live music, and elaborate costumes and sets. Many popular storylines include star-crossed lovers, suicides and the pursuit of revenge.
• The Kabuki actors specializing in women roles are called “onnagata,” while others like Kikugoro play both men and women.

Event

International Conference on Spacecraft Mission Operations (SMOPS)

• The second edition of the International Conference on Spacecraft Mission Operations (SMOPS) was organised from 8-10 April, 2026 in Bangalore, India.
• The theme of the second edition of the International SMOPs Conference is “Innovative Operations for Smart and Sustainable Space Mission Management – Next Generation”.
• The conference is organised by Isro, the Astronautical Society of India (ASI), and the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA).

Economy

Bauxite Mining

• Clashes between tribal villagers and police near Kashipur in Odisha’s Rayagada district left at least 40 police personnel and 25 villagers injured on April 7.  The tribals’ opposition to the construction of a 3 km-long approach road leading to the Sijimali bauxite mine reflects their long-simmering discontent against the bauxite project.
• Sijimali is part of the Eastern Ghats hill ranges and is interspersed with valleys. The bauxite reserve, covering an area of 1,500 hectares, is spread over the Rayagada and Kalahandi districts.
• With an estimated reserve of 311 million tonnes of high-grade bauxite, Sijimali is located close to Vedanta’s alumina refinery at Lanjigarh in Kalahandi district, capable of producing 5 million tonnes per annum. The mine was handed over to Vedanta Limited in 2023 through an auction.
• Alumina is refined from bauxite ore and used to produce aluminium, which is instrumental in making everything from soda cans to aircraft. Aluminium’s strength, lightness and conductivity allow for a multiplicity of uses.
• It is also the most abundant metal in the Earth’s crust, and the third most common element, after Oxygen and Silicon.
• According to the Indian Bureau of Mines’ 2022 Yearbook, Odisha alone accounts for 41% of India’s bauxite resources, and was the leading producer in 2021-22, comprising about 73% of the total production.

Bitumen

• Road works under the Public Works Department (PWD), as well as major projects like Barapullah Phase III elevated corridor, have slowed down due to a rise in the price of petroleum-based products, including bitumen, triggered by the war in West Asia, The Indian Express has learnt.
• Bitumen, derived from crude oil, is mainly used as a binder in road construction, where it holds together materials like sand, gravel, and crushed stone to form asphalt. Waterproof, adhesive, and flexible, it helps roads withstand traffic load and weather conditions.

Venezuelan crude oil 

• India is likely to take delivery of around 10-12 million barrels of Venezuelan crude oil this month, the highest in over six years, according to data from commodity market analytics firm Kpler.
• The bulk of Venezuelan crude is classified as a heavy sour crude—heavy because it is thicker and denser than the lighter crude oil grades, and sour because of its high sulphur content.
• So, the amount of sulfur it contains determines whether it is sweet or sour. Sweet crude has very low levels of sulfur, well under 1%. Sour crude has as much as 1-2% of sulfur.
• Heavy sour crudes are usually notably cheaper than light sweet crudes, which means that the feedstock cost for the expensive-to-set-up complex refineries is much lower than that of a relatively less complex refinery that cannot handle heavy crude grades.
• That is why the US continues to import significant volumes of the cheaper heavy crudes, while exporting its domestic light crude oil at a premium in the international market.

Background:

India —  specifically private sector refining giant Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) — was a regular buyer of Venezuelan crude prior to the imposition of US sanctions on Caracas in 2019. Following the sanctions, oil imports from Venezuela stopped within a few months.

According to India’s official trade data, Caracas was New Delhi’s fifth-largest supplier of oil in 2019, providing close to 16 million tonnes, or about 117 million barrels, of crude to Indian refiners. The bilateral trade between India and Venezuela was $6.40 billion in 2019-20, of which Indian imports—primarily crude oil—were worth $6.06 billion.

RBI’s Monetary Policy

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) kept the policy repo rate unchanged at 5.25 per cent in its first bi-monthly Monetary Policy Statement for the financial year 2026–27 and the policy stance neutral.
• Under Section 45ZB of the amended RBI Act, 1934, the central government is empowered to constitute a six-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to determine the policy interest rate required to achieve the inflation target. The first such MPC was constituted on September 29, 2016.
• Section 45ZB says the MPC shall consist of the RBI Governor as its ex officio chairperson, the Deputy Governor in charge of monetary policy, an officer of the Bank to be nominated by the Central Board and three persons to be appointed by the central government.
• The MPC fixes the benchmark interest rate — or the base or reference rate that is used to set other interest rates — in India. The primary objective of the RBI’s monetary policy is to maintain price stability while keeping in mind the objective of growth. Price stability is a necessary precondition to sustainable growth.

What is a Bond?+

Price vs Yield+

Interest Rates Link+

Yield Curves+

RBI on FPI limit in Government Securities

• The RBI has kept the limits for foreign portfolio investment (FPI) investment in Government Securities (G-Secs), State Government Securities (SGSs), and corporate bonds unchanged at 6%, 2% and 15% respectively, of the outstanding stocks of securities for FY27 for the general route.
• Government Securities or G-Sec are debt instruments issued by the government to borrow money. The two key categories are treasury bills – short-term instruments which mature in 91 days, 182 days, or 364 days, and dated securities – long-term instruments which mature anywhere between 5 years and 40 years.
• When foreign portfolio investors make international investments in stocks, bonds, and other financial assets, it is known as FPI. It is different from the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), which is a direct investment in foreign businesses along with an interest and control over the operations and management.

Environment

Morels or Morchella

• In a major breakthrough, the Sheri Kashmir University of Agriculture and Sciences (SKUAST) in Srinagar has cultivated the most expensive and rare edible mushroom, Morels, for the first time in controlled conditions.
• Morels or Morchella, locally known as Kangaech, that grows naturally in specific high elevation forest ecosystems during a narrow rainy season costs anything between Rs 15,000 to Rs 40,000 per kilogram. It is also known as gucchi, and it is a fungus.
• Fungi in various forms (along with bacteria) are principal decomposers of dead organic material, turning it back into nutrients like phosphates and nitrates that are vital for plants. They can be deadly as well, like the death cap mushroom, aka Amanita phalloides.
• Having a high-export value, the cultivation of Morchella under controlled conditions is likely to open new frontiers in high value bioeconomy of Jammu and Kashmir.

Himalayan Griffon vultures

• Forest officials found 25 of the dead raptors near a villager living on the edge of the Dudhwa Tiger Reserve.
• Preliminary findings pointed to a suspected case of secondary poisoning. According to officials, rice laced with pesticides or some artificial chemical may have been left in the open, possibly to target stray dogs. It is suspected that the dogs ate the poisoned rice and the vulture feed on the dead dogs leading to secondary poisoning.
• The raptor (Gyps himalayensis) is listed as ‘Near Threatened’ on the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
• The population of three species i.e. White-backed Vulture, Slender billed Vulture and Long billed Vulture in the wild has declined drastically over the past decade. All three vulture species were listed by IUCN, the World Conservation Union, in 2000 as ‘Critically Endangered’.

Vultures in India

India has nine species of vultures in the wild. These are the Oriental White-backed Vulture (Gyps bengalensis), Slender billed Vulture (Gyps tenuirostris), Long billed Vulture (Gyps indicus), Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus), Red Headed Vulture (Sarcogyps calvus), Indian Griffon Vulture (Gyps fulvus), Himalayan Griffon (Gyps himalayensis), Cinereous Vulture (Aegypius monachus) and Bearded Vulture or Lammergeier (Gypaetus barbatus).

 Solid Waste Management (SWM) Rules, 2026 

• The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has notified the new Solid Waste Management (SWM) Rules, 2026 in January, which come into force on April 1, 2026, replacing the SWM Rules of 2016.
• Four streams of mandatory segregation at source: The government has spelt out a “waste hierarchy” and defined a “four-way” segregation of waste. The hierarchy comprises prevention, reduction, reuse, recycling, recovery and disposal as the last resort. The segregation system expands the ‘dry-waste-wet-waste’ system by adding sanitary waste and special-care waste.
• Discourage landfills: It imposes higher landfill fees. The new rules intend to make landfills the last stop for garbage disposal and only for non-usable, non-recyclable and non-energy-recoverable waste material.
• Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF): Industries have been given targets to replace solid fuel with refuse-derived fuel, which is obtained from various waste categories, with 6% use initially, and up to 15 % after six years.
• RDF is produced by shredding and dehydrating municipal solid waste with high calorific value. As per the new rule, waste with calorific value of 1500 kg calories or more must be used for energy generation through refuse-derived fuel or for co-processing in cement and thermal plants.

Tar-balls Management Rules 2026 

• The Center for the first time has proposed Tar-balls Management Rules to manage tar balls, the sticky, weathered residue from oil leaks, spills, effluents and accidents that causes on-shore and off-shore marine pollution.
• These tar balls contain toxic contaminants, such as heavy metals, trace elements, and persistent-organic pollutants, and pose environmental and health risks.
• It affects flora and fauna, and the tourism industry due to their deposition on beaches, especially India’s western coast, which sees tar balls wash ashore during monsoon due to strong winds and currents.
• The Rule assigns responsibilities for generation, collection, storage, transport, treatment, and disposal of this pollutant, including its repurposing as fuel in cement production.
• It has been proposed that state governments shall declare pollution in coastal areas due to tar balls as a state disaster, and they have to act under the Disaster Management Act.
• Currently, the National Oil Spill Disaster Contingency Plan (NOS-DCP) lays down a framework and responsibilities for responding to oil spills and preparing contingency plans.
• Oil facility owners will be liable to pay environmental compensation as per the ‘polluter pays principle’ if they fail to manage oil in an environmentally sound manner and lead to any oil spill.
• As part of a framework for disposal, the rules have proposed that tar balls having calorific value over 1,500 kilo-calories can be used as a fuel source in industrial processes, mainly in cement industries.

Renewable Capacity Statistics 2026

• As per the Renewable Energy Statistics 2026 published by the International Renewable Energy Agency  (IREA), India is now ranked third globally in Renewable Energy Installed Capacity, surpassing Brazil.
• As per the Statistics, 2025 saw the largest increase in renewable energy capacity to date – with the addition of 692 gigawatts (GW) of renewable capacity – expanding the stock of renewable power by 15.5%. Solar power alone accounted for nearly three-quarters of renewable additions, with a record 510 GW added during the year; while 159 GW of wind energy was added.

Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)

• The Government has directed all state and Central authorities to stop granting environmental clearances for new or additional HFC production beyond December 31, 2027.
• India is a party to the landmark Montreal Protocol of 1989 which was brought to tackle ozone depletion through phase-out of CFCs, with a complete ban from 2010.
• Later in 2021, India ratified the Kigali amendment to the protocol, which adopted a plan to phase down controlled applications of HFCs that were being used as a replacement for CFCs. This landmark amendment to the protocol was agreed upon in Kigali, Rwanda, in 2016.
• HFCs are known to be much worse than carbon dioxide in causing global warming. In fact, according to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the average global warming potential of 22 of the most used HFCs is about 2,500 times that of carbon dioxide.
• It is a Greenhouse gas, not directly impacting the ozone layer which is why they weren’t originally banned.
• The Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol seeks to eliminate 80-90 per cent of the HFCs currently in use by the year 2050. This is expected to avoid up to 0.5 degree Celsius of global temperature rise by 2100, while continuing to protect the ozone layer.

Polity

Directing to strengthen forensic science laboratories (FSLs)

• In a push to modernise India’s criminal justice system, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has issued comprehensive directives to chief secretaries of all states and UTs, directing them to strengthen forensic science laboratories (FSLs), fill vacancies, and clear backlogs within 90 days.
• The MHA has asked all the states to coordinate through the Directorate of Forensic Science Services (DFSS) and align with the new ‘Naveen Sanhitas’ – the trio of criminal laws replacing colonial-era codes.

Subansiri Lower hydel project

• Recently, Assam and Meghalaya have refused to purchase any power in excess of their allocated share from the Subansiri Lower hydro-electric project as this would “unnecessarily inflate their power purchase costs, a burden that ultimately impacts the end consumers.”
• Subansiri Lower hydel project at Gerukamukh on the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border was cleared in 2005.
• According to the Ministry of Environment and Forest, Subansiri River originates in Tibet and is the major right bank tributary of Brahmaputra traversing through Arunachal Pradesh.
• There are six major river basins in Arunachal Pradesh viz. Kameng, Subansiri, Siang (Dihang), Dibang, Lohit and Tirap with a large number of their tributaries draining the waters of vast catchment area into the Brahmaputra.
• At a meeting of the North Eastern Regional Power Committee (NERPC) last month, both states have also said they have already made adequate arrangements to meet long-term power needs.
• NERPC was established in 2005 under the Electricity Act 2003. It is a forum of the seven northeastern states for planning, development, and operation of the regional power sector.

Science and Technology

Fast Breeder Reactor

• India’s first indigenous Fast Breeder Reactor (FBR) at Kalpakkam in Tamil Nadu attains criticality.
• Attaining criticality, or going critical, means the initiation of a self-sustaining nuclear fission reaction that will eventually lead to the generation of power by the 500-megawatt electric (MWe) FBR.
• Attaining criticality is a key milestone before full power generation, indicating that the reactor core is functioning as designed and that each fission event in the core now releases a sufficient number of neutrons to sustain an ongoing series of reactions.
• This is the vital second stage of India’s nuclear programme.
  
  Three-stage nuclear programme
  
  STAGE 1: Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs) use natural uranium-based fuels to generate electricity, while producing fissile plutonium (Pu239), which can be extracted by reprocessing the spent fuel. It uses heavy water (deuterium oxide) both as a coolant and moderator. The programme has been supplemented by the construction of imported Light Water Reactors (LWRs).
  
  STAGE 2: It involves setting up Fast Breeder Reactors (FBRs) of the kind at Kalpakkam, using plutonium-based fuels, which can enhance nuclear power capacity, and convert fertile thorium into fissile uranium (U233). Reprocessing of the spent fuel is vital for efficient utilisation of the plutonium inventory.
  
  STAGE 3: The third stage will be based on the ThU233 cycle. U233 produced in the second stage can be used for the third stage of the power programme, which consists of advanced thermal and fast breeder reactors, for long-term energy security. The Advanced Heavy Water Reactor (AHWR) is proposed for this. Now, the use of molten salt reactors is also seen as an option.

Persons in News

(Just FYI: Noting historical personalities’ anniversaries aids UPSC prep. UPSC often includes such personalities in questions, so revisiting their lives refreshes your static syllabus.)

Jotirao Phule

• The bicentenary year of Mahatma Jotirao Phule—marking 200 years since his birth on April 11, 1827—began on April 11, 2026.
• Phule was born on April 11, 1827, and belonged to the Mali caste of gardeners and vegetable farmers. He was bestowed with the title of Mahatma on May 11, 1888 by a Maharashtrian social activist Vithalrao Krishnaji Vandekar.
• Phule along with his followers formed Satyashodhak Samaj in 1873 which meant ‘Seekers of Truth’ in order to attain equal social and economic benefits for the lower castes in Maharashtra.
  
  Note: The original edition incorrectly stated that the Satyashodhak Samaj was formed in 1848. This has now been corrected to reflect the accurate year.

• The Satyashodhak Samaj dedicated towards the removal of the socio-economic backwardness of Dalits was even supported by Chhatrapati Shahu, the Maratha ruler of Kolhapur state.
• In 1840, Jotirao Phule got married to Savitribai when he was merely 13 years old and Savitribai was 9 years old.
• The couple went on to open a school for girls in Bhidewada, Pune, in 1848. This became the country’s first girls’ school. Many more such schools were opened for girls, Shudras and Ati-Shudras (the backward castes and Dalits, respectively) in Pune, leading to discontent among Indian nationalists like Bal Gangadhar Tilak.

Asha Bhosle

• Legendary playback singer Asha Bhosle died in Mumbai on 12th April at the age of 92.
• She was honoured with the Padma Vibhushan in 2008 and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2001.
• She won her first Filmfare Awards for “Garibon Ki Suno” (Dus Lakh, 1967) and “Pardes Mein Rehne Do” (Shikar, 1969).
• She has also won National Film Awards for her work in films like Umrao Jaan and Ijaazat.

Places in News

(Just FYI: The location of the place is important, considering that UPSC has asked several questions about places that were in the news, such as Aleppo and Kirkuk, in the 2018 UPSC Prelims. The best way to remember them is to plot them on a world map.)

India’s first gourami fossil- Saharanpur district of UP

• This is the first time that scientists have discovered freshwater fish fossils from the Siwalik foothills in Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur district, including the first fossil record of gourami in India and only the second known globally.
• This indicates a well-structured and complex freshwater ecosystem in the Himalayan region during the Pliocene Epoch, some 5 million years ago.
• According to a peer-reviewed research study undertaken by multiple scientists, the set of otoliths (calcium carbonate structures for hearing and balance) is the first from the Pliocene period in this region in Saharanpur’s Mohand, and helps scientists understand ancient freshwater fish in northern India.
• The presence of snakeheads, gouramis, and gobies shows a clear food chain, with smaller fish as prey and snakeheads as predators.
• Siwalik Group, which ranges in age from 18.3 to 0.22 million years old, is a freshwater deposit exposed along the length of the Himalayan foothills that stretches from the Potwar Plateau of Pakistan in the west to Assam in the east.

Sports

(Just FYI: With the unpredictability of the UPSC examinations and questions like the ICC World Test Championship question 2021, you can’t be sure of anything. It is wise to know what it is and not go into too much detail.)

Asian Boxing Championship

• The Asian Boxing Championships were held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. India finished its campaign with 16 medals
• India finished second on the table with five gold, one fewer than Kazakhstan, but claimed the most medals overall.
• In the women’s competition, all 10 Indian boxers finished with a medal.
  • Minakshi Hooda (48kg), Preeti Pawar (54kg), Priya Ghanghas (60kg), and Arundhati Choudhary (70kg) bagged Gold
  • Jaismine Lamboria (57kg) and Alfiya Pathan (+80kg) took Silver
  • Nikhat Zareen (51kg), Ankushita Boro (65kg), Lovlina Borgohain (75kg) and Pooja Rani (80kg) clinched Bronze

• In the men’s competition, Asian Wrestling Championship, 6 Indian boxers finished with a medal
  • Vishvanath Suresh defeated Daichi Iwai of Japan to win gold in the men’s 50kg category, becoming the only Indian man to clinch gold at this edition of the continental event.
  • Sachin Siwach lost 2-3 to Orazbek Assylkulov of Kazakhstan, the reigning world champion, in the men’s 60kg final to clinch Silver
  • Harsh Choudhary (90kg), Akash (75kg), Lokesh (85kg) and Narender (+90kg) – settled for Bronze

Test Your Knowledge

(Note: The best way to remember facts for UPSC and other competitive exams is to recall them through MCQs. Try to solve the following questions on your own.)

1. With reference to “Gucchi” sometimes mentioned in the news, consider the following statements : (UPSC CSE 2022)
   
   1. It is a fungus.
   2. It grows in some Himalayan forest areas.
   3. It is commercially cultivated in the Himalayan foothills of north-eastern India.
   
   Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
   (a) 1 only
   (b) 2 only
   (c) 1 and 2 only
   (d) 2 and 3 only
   
   
2. Consider the following:
   
   1. It is a greenhouse gas.
   2. The Kigali amendment provides for its phasing out.
   3. It is not a ozone depleting substances (ODS).
   
   The above characteristics are the description of which of the following?
   (a) Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)
   (b) Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)
   (c) Halons
   (d) Methyl bromide
   
   
3. Vultures which used to be very common in Indian countryside some years ago are rarely seen nowadays. This is attributed to (UPSC CSE 2012)
   
   (a) the destruction of their nesting sites by new invasive species
   (b) a drug used by cattle owners for treating their diseased cattle
   (c) scarcity of food available to them
   (d) a widespread, persistent and fatal disease among them.

If you missed the UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past few weeks : Click Below Links

UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past week | 30 March – 5 April 2026 read it here

UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past week | 23– 29 March 2026 read it here

UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past week | 16– 22 March 2026 read it here

UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past week | 09– 15 March 2026 read it here

UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past week | 02– 08 March 2026 read it here

The post UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past week | 06–12 April 2026 appeared first on Rma News: Latest News, Live Breaking News, Today News, Political News Updates.

UPSC Current Affairs Pointers brings you essential current affairs of the past week, every Monday, to aid you in your Prelims and Mains preparation of UPSC, State PCS, and other competitive examinations.

International Cooperation

• World Trade Organisation’s 14th Ministerial Conference

— The WTO’s 14th Ministerial Conference (MC14) was held in Yaounde, Cameroon from 26th March to 29th March, 2026. The conference was chaired by Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana, Cameroon’s Minister of Trade. The Indian delegation is led by Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal.

— The Ministerial Conference is the topmost decision-making body of the WTO, which usually meets every two years.

— The World Trade Organization is the only international organization that deals with the rules of trade between countries. Founded in 1995, the WTO is run by its 166 members, and according to its rules, all decisions are taken through consensus, and any member can exercise a veto.

— Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is the seventh Director-General of the WTO. She is the first woman and the first African to serve as Director-General.

— It aims to promote free trade, which is done through trade agreements that are discussed and signed by the member states. The WTO also provides a forum for countries to negotiate trade rules and settle economic disputes between them.

— The WTO publishes the World Trade Report and Global Trade Outlook and Statistics.

• 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 15) to the Convention on Conservation of Migratory Species (CMS)

— The 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 15) to the Convention on Conservation of Migratory Species (CMS) of Wild Animals was held in Campo Grande, Brazil, from March 23 to March 29, 2026. The theme for this year is “Connecting Nature to sustain life.”

— The CMS is a legally binding global treaty, signed in 1979 under the United Nations Environment Programme, which aims to conserve migratory animals and their habitats across national habitats and across borders.

— Conference of the Parties is the principal decision-making body of the Convention, which meets once every three years and sets the budget and decides priorities for the following three years. At the COP, parties decide on whether to list new species or amend existing listings in the Appendices and consider reports submitted by each Party, the Scientific Council, and the Agreements established under the Convention.

— The CMS has two appendices. It is important to note that a migratory species can be listed in both the appendices.

* An Appendix I listing is for migratory species that are considered endangered. In the context of CMS, endangered refers to a species or regional population that has been assessed as Extinct in the Wild, Critically Endangered, or Endangered using the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species categories and criteria. If listed on Appendix-I, it would facilitate transboundary conservation efforts of these species.

* An Appendix II listing is for migratory species that have an unfavourable conservation status and which require international agreements for their conservation and management. A species that has been assessed as Extinct in the Wild, Critically Endangered, Endangered, Vulnerable, or Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List is eligible for consideration.

— India hosted the 13th CMS COP for the first time in 2020 and, with that, also formally assumed the role of CMS Presidency for the next three years. The theme of the COP13 was, “Migratory species connect the planet, and together we welcome them home!”

Important Day

• World Tuberculosis Day 2026

— World Tuberculosis Day is observed on March 24 every year. It aims to increase public awareness about the global epidemic of tuberculosis (TB) and the numerous efforts being taken to eliminate the disease.

— The date marks the day in 1882 when Dr. Robert Koch announced that he had discovered the bacterium that causes TB, which opened the way towards diagnosing and curing this disease.

— The theme of World TB Day 2026 is ‘Yes! We can end TB!’. It is a call to action and a message of hope, affirming that it is possible to get back on track and turn the tide on the TB epidemic, even in a challenging global environment.

— TB is caused by an organism called mycobacterium tuberculosis, which mainly affects the lungs, but can also impact other parts of the body. TB spreads through the air when an infected individual coughs, sneezes, or speaks.

— On this day, the government launched another TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan — 100 days’ campaign. The TB screening will be conducted using 2,000 AI-enabled hand-held X-ray devices, which AI tools can read for signs of TB, enabling early detection.

TB in numbers

The tuberculosis burden in India has continued to decline — with an estimated 27.1 lakh cases and just over 3 lakh deaths in 2024, according to the latest available data from the Global TB Report 2025. Globally, 10.7 million people fell ill and 1.23 million died in 2024, meaning India accounted for nearly a fourth of all the cases and deaths across the world.

Polity

• Supreme Court ruling on conversion

— The Supreme Court on March 24 held that a person who has converted to Christianity cannot continue to claim the protections available to the Scheduled Castes.

— The court’s ruling is essentially a reiteration of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950 that bars anyone professing a religion other than Hinduism, Sikhism or Buddhism from being treated as a member of a Scheduled Caste.

— This classification is reinforced by the Constitution itself. Article 366(24) defines Scheduled Castes as those groups notified by the President under Article 341. Both provisions work in tandem, and the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act adopts the same definitions.

— The result is that the legal identity of a person as a Scheduled Caste is inseparable from the religion they profess. Once their social membership to the community ends, the legal protections tied to it end as well.

• Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill, 2026

— This Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha on 24th March amid objections and demands from the Opposition to send it to a standing committee for further scrutiny.

— The amended Bill removes the right to gender self-identification recognised by the Supreme Court in the landmark National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India in 2014, and introduces medical certification for identity recognition.

• Central Armed Police Forces (General Administration) Bill, 2026

— The Centre has introduced the Central Armed Police Forces (General Administration) Bill, 2026, in the Rajya Sabha.

— The Bill defines the Central government as the Ministry of Home Affairs, the administrative ministry of all five CAPFs — the Border Security Force (BSF), the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), and the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB).

— According to the Bill,  50% of the posts are to be filled by deputation in the rank of IG, and a minimum of 67% of the posts at Additional DG rank will be filled by deputation. The posts in the ranks of Special DG and DG shall be filled exclusively by deputation.

— The Bill, if passed, is likely to effectively undo a Supreme Court verdict directing the Centre to progressively reduce the deputation of IPS officers in the CAPFs.

— On May 23, 2025, the Supreme Court directed a progressive reduction in the deputation of IPS officers in the CAPFs to the posts of DIG (Deputy Inspector General of Police) and IG (Inspector General) within a period of two years.

• UDAN 2.0

— The Union Cabinet has approved the Regional Connectivity Scheme – Modified UDAN, allocating Rs 28,840 crore for its implementation over the next ten years.

— It is scheduled to run from fiscal year 2026-27 to 2035-36.

— UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik) is an initiative by the government to connect the country’s under-served and unserved airports.

Economy

• India’s strategic petroleum reserves (SPRs)

— The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG) said in the Rajya Sabha on March 23 that India’s SPRs, which have a capacity to store 5.33 million tonnes of crude oil, are currently holding 3.37 million tonnes of oil, or just about two-thirds of their total storage capacity.

— The SPRs are meant to act as a buffer for short-term supply shocks. At full capacity, the three SPRs cover around 9.5 days of India’s crude oil supplies.

— India has SPRs at three locations in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. These are underground caverns at Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh (1.33 million tonnes); Mangaluru, Andhra Pradesh (1.5 million tonnes); and Padur, Karnataka (2.5 million tonnes).

— The concept of dedicated strategic reserves was first mooted in 1973, after the first oil crisis. Western strategic reserves have been tapped during the first Gulf War (1991), after Hurricane Katrina (2005), and in 2022 after global oil prices surged in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

— In India, ISPRL (Indian Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserve) is the special purpose vehicle as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Oil Industry Development Board tasked for building and managing the strategic crude storage.

— The International Energy Agency (IEA) recommends that countries should hold oil stocks equivalent to at least 90 days of their net oil imports. IEA members are obligated to maintain these levels of reserves; India is not a full member of the grouping but an associate member.

— The current total national capacity for storage of crude oil and petroleum products is 74 days, including commercial stocks with refiners; it is still lower than what the IEA recommends.

• Supply disruption of Helium

— The disruption in the global supply of helium because of the war in the Middle East and the severe restrictions on trade through the Gulf of Hormuz has begun to ring alarm bells in India’s healthcare sector, especially with regard to the cost of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans and the installation of MRI machines.

— Even though it has not reached an outright disruption in supply of helium,the supply disruptions, especially from Qatar, which supplies about a third of the world’s helium exports, have driven up prices significantly.

— Helium, a colourless, odourless, gas – the first of the six noble gases in the periodic table – is a non-renewable resource which, despite being the second most abundant element in the universe after hydrogen, is rare on Earth.

— Helium is produced commercially by extracting it from natural gas by a process known as cryogenic distillation. Qatar is the world’s third largest exporter of natural gas after the United States and Russia.

— Helium is critical for operating MRI machines. Helium in its liquid state is used to cool the intensely powerful superconducting magnets that are at the heart of MRI machines.

Environment

• India’s climate targets for the year 2035 

— India has announced its climate targets for the year 2035, making modest upgrades in its three existing commitments for 2030.

— In the new targets India has promised to attain at least 47 per cent reduction in emission intensity of its GDP (emission per unit of GDP) from 2005 baseline by 2035. Its current commitment, for the year 2030, is to achieve a 45 per cent reduction.

— By the year 2020, the last year for which emission intensity data has been published, India had already achieved a 36 per cent reduction over 2005 levels.

— India has also promised to ensure that at least 60 per cent of its total electricity generation capacity would comprise non-fossil fuel sources by 2035. The existing target for 2030 was 50 per cent, which has already been achieved well ahead of schedule.

— India’s third commitment relates to creation of additional capacity in its forests to absorb carbon dioxide. For 2035, India is targeting to enlarge this to 3.5 to 4 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent.

— This is India’s third nationally-determined contribution (NDCs), the first two having been submitted in 2015, pertaining to the year 2025, and then in 2022, for the year 2030.

— Each of the new targets marks a progression over existing commitments for 2030, a mandatory requirement under the 2015 Paris Agreement.

— Under this 2015 pact, every country is obligated to decide upon, and implement a set of climate actions that help the global fight against climate change. These are referred to as NDCs— emphasising the fact that countries themselves decide the nature and scale of climate actions.

• “Smog-eating” photocatalytic coatings

— As a part of a six-month collaboration between the Delhi government and IIT Madras, scientists are testing whether “smog-eating” photocatalytic coatings when applied on roads, pavements, and tiles, can dismantle key air pollutants and clean Delhi’s foul air.

— They have to test whether “smog-eating” photocatalytic coatings on public spaces could reduce pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), both key drivers of urban air pollution.

• Great Indian Bustard

— For the first time in a decade, Gujarat saw the birth of a Great Indian Bustard (GIB) chick on March 26. This is the country’s first birth of the critically endangered bird under the “jumpstart” method, where a female GIB in Kutch, which had laid an infertile egg, incubated a fertile egg chosen from a captive breeding centre in Jaisalmer.

— This is a significant development for the GIB conservation programme. Gujarat has only three surviving GIBs in the wild, and all are female. Hence, their eggs are all infertile.

— There are only an estimated 150 GIBs in the wild in the country, mostly in Rajasthan. The large bird, a key indicator species of the grassland habitat, has faced population decline over the years due to hunting, habitat loss, and, in recent years, collisions with energy transmission lines that criss-cross their habitat in Rajasthan and Gujarat.

Conservation status of GIB

IUCN Red List status of Great Indian Bustard: Critically Endangered

Wildlife Protection Act, 1972: Schedule I

Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS):  Appendix I

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES): Appendix 1

Science and Technology

• Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM)

— The 3,000-tonne Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM), supplied by German company Herrenknecht, for India’s maiden bullet train project has arrived in Mumbai.

— It marked a major step forward for the 21-km tunnel stretch of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail (MAHSR) project.

— Of the 508-km bullet train project, tunnels account for 27.4 km. Of this, 21 km comprises underground tunnels, while 6.4 km consists of surface tunnels.

Places in News

(Just FYI: The location of the place is important, considering that UPSC has asked several questions about places that were in the news, such as Aleppo and Kirkuk, in the 2018 UPSC Prelims. The best way to remember them is to plot them on a world map.)

• Dimona and Arad

— In the ongoing war in West Asia, Iranian missiles struck the Israeli city of Dimona, close to one of Israel’s key nuclear facilities, and nearby Arad. The strike in Arad alone injured 84 people.

— The Iranian barrage came hours after the US and Israel struck Tehran’s Natanz nuclear facility for the second time in the ongoing war.

• Litani River

— Israel struck ​a main bridge linking Lebanon’s south to the rest of the country after ordering its military to destroy all crossings over the Litani ‌River and to step up the demolition of homes near the southern border.

— According to the National Litani River Authority, “Litani River is the longest and largest river in Lebanon, with a length of 170 km, and its water capacity is approximately 750 million cubic meters per year.”

— “It originates from several springs called Al-Aleeq Springs, located at a distance of ten kilometers to the west of the city of Baalbek, at an altitude of one thousand meters.”

• Diego Gracia

— Iran has fired two ballistic missiles at Diego Garcia Island, a joint US-UK Indian Ocean base, in its longest attack since the outbreak of war in West Asia.

— Diego Garcia lies in the central Indian Ocean, south of India and southwest of Sri Lanka. It is the largest island in the Chagos Archipelago and one of only two critical US bomber bases in the Indo-Pacific region, the other being Andersen Air Force Base in Guam. The base hosts bombers, nuclear submarines, and guided-missile destroyers.

— Diego Garcia sits approximately 3,000 km from both the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait at the mouth of the Red Sea and the Malacca Strait near the South China Sea. This strategic location allows long-range bombers to reach the two critical maritime chokepoints. The base is also critical to US Space Force tracking infrastructure.

Awards

• US National Book Critics Circle Award 2026

— Indian Booker-winning novelist Arundhati Roy was awarded the United States National Book Critics Circle award for her memoir, Mother Mary Comes to Me in the Autobiography section.

— Mother Mary Comes to Me has been published in the United States by Scribner (now a part of Simon & Schuster), which has a legacy of publishing literary giants such as Ernest Hemingway, F Scott Fitzgerald, and Stephen King.

— South Korean Nobel laureate Han Kang won the fiction honour for her novel, We Do Not Part.

— Karen Hao, a journalist, took home the nonfiction prize for her investigation, Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI, which examines the company behind ChatGPT, whose reach and capabilities have been a subject of intense public debate around the globe, while Neige Sinno won the translation prize for Sad Tiger, which was rendered into English from the French by Natasha Lehrer.

— The National Book Critics Circle, founded in New York in 1974, comprises more than 850 critics and editors and each year honours the best books published in the United States.

— The book was also shortlisted for the 2026 Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction. The winner will be announced on 11 June 2026 at the Women’s Prize Trust’s summer party in London, receiving £30,000 and a limited-edition sculpture.

Sports

• SRY gene screening

— The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has added that athletes wanting to compete in the female category at the Olympics would have to undergo a one-time SRY gene screening. This would also apply to biological females. The SRY gene screening would be done via saliva, cheek swab or blood sample, the IOC said, adding that they are ‘unintrusive compared to other possible methods.’

— SRY stands for ‘sex determining region Y’. The SRY gene is a segment of DNA that is almost always on the Y chromosome, signalling the presence of testes/testicles and “initiating male sex development by the production of testosterone”, the IOC said.

— It has banned transgender women and DSD (Differences in Sex Development) athletes from competing in the female categories at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and beyond.

Test Your Knowledge

(Note: The best way to remember facts for UPSC and other competitive exams is to recall them through MCQs. Try to solve the following questions on your own.)

(1) Consider the following statements:

1. India hosted the 13th COP of the Conservation of Migratory Species (CMS) in 2020.

2. CMS has two appendices.

3. Species listed in one appendix can be listed in another.

4. The Bengal Florican and the Asian Elephant are listed as Appendix I of the CMS.

Which of the statements mentioned above is/are correct?

(a) 1 and 3 only

(b) 2 and 4 only

(c) 1, 2, and 4 only

(d) 1, 2, 3, and 4

(2) The SRY gene screening seen recently in the news is in which context?

(a) Test to verify the biological sex of athletes entering the female category

(b) Test the rare diseases impacting a child due to the mother’s chromosomes

(c) Test the rare diseases impacting a child due to the father’s chromosomes

(d) New policing tool to aid in forensic screening

(3) Which one of the following groups of animals belongs to the category of endangered species? (UPSC CES 2012)

(a) Great Indian Bustard, Musk Deer, Red Panda and Asiatic Wild Ass

(b) Kashmir Stag, Cheetal, Blue Bull and Great Indian Bustard

(c) Snow Leopard, Swamp Deer, Rhesus Monkey and Saras (Crane)

(d) Lion-tailed Macaque, Blue Bull, Hanuman Langur and Cheetal

Don’t miss | UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past week (23–29 March 2026) | UPSC Lifebloods | Hunk of Knowledge

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