News at a Glance
| Topic | GS Paper | Context & Key Facts |
| Protecting India’s Geriatric Population from Heat Burden | GS1 – IS – Population | Heat deaths among elderly up 55% (2000–04 vs 2017–21); geriatric pop. (10.5%) to double by 2050; rural, poor, women at greatest risk; gaps: policy blind spot, weak real-time data; solutions: targeted protection, health training, cooling tech, inter-ministry plans, robust warning systems |
| Census 2027 & Disability Inclusion | GS1 – IS – Population | First digital Census in 17 yrs; will mainstream disability for policy (SDGs, RPwDA); currently only 23.8% working (vs 50% without disability), 46% illiterate, undercounting due to outdated methodology; suggests better training, accessible tools, NGO role, privacy shields. |
| Separate Census Enumeration for PVTGs | GS2 – Vulnerable Sections | Ministry seeks separate count for PVTGs (75 groups, 18 states + 1 UT); previous census lumping limits welfare targeting; better data crucial for interventions like PM-JANMAN, addressing invisibility of most marginalized tribes. |
| Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (11 years) | GS2 – Welfare Schemes | Over 56.2 cr accounts, 56% women, rural-led, ₹2.68 lakh cr balances; DBT, UPI, insurance, crisis response enabled; challenges: dormant accounts, credit/digital use, awareness gaps. Way forward: revive accts, more credit/insurance, local literacy, AI-driven tech access. |
| Online Gaming Regulation Act, 2025 | GS2 – Governance – Laws | Bans real money gaming (RMGs; eg. poker) with jail/fine, promotes e-sports/social gaming; empowers CERT-IN, Interpol; state-centre jurisdiction conflict; court battles ongoing on skill vs chance and GST/taxation[TH]. |
| Project Aarohan | Prelims – Govt Schemes | NHAI scholarship for toll-worker children; ₹12,000/year (XI–UG), ₹50,000 (PG), focus on EWS, girls, mentorship. |
| UPM J1040−3551 AabBab | Prelims – Space | Rare Milky Way 4-star system: 2 red dwarfs+2 brown dwarfs (first confirmed), helps formation and dark matter research. |
| MiG-21 | Prelims – Defence | IAF retires MiG-21 (Sept 2025), backbone for 6+ decades, major wars; last home-built “interceptor”, Bison shot down F-16 in 2019. |
| Digital Services Taxes (DSTs) | Prelims – Economy | DST: tax on digital revenues; India withdrew 6%/2% levies as per OECD digital tax deal, US threatened tariffs if DSTs re-imposed. |
| Sci-Hub Ban / One Nation One Subscription | Prelims – Policy/Ed. | Sci-Hub blocked by Delhi HC; ONOS scheme (₹6,000 cr) phases for 13K+ journals to all Indian institutions; aims to end piracy, ensure research access. |
| NDA for Carbon Markets | GS3 – Envi – UNFCCC | India sets up NDA (21-member inter-ministry) for carbon market under Paris Agreement Article 6; enables ERU trading, aligns with NDCs (45% intensity cut by 2030). |
| EY: India to be 2nd Largest PPP Economy | GS3 – IE – Development | Projected $34.2T (PPP) GDP by 2038, 3rd largest by MER; youthful pop, high savings, falling debt-to-GDP; behind China and US. |
| Vocational Training System in India | GS3 – IE – Employment | Low ITI utilization (48%), only 3.8% formally skilled; high job mismatch; solutions: school-level VET, upgraded ITIs, Credit Framework, graded funding, PPP, PMKVY, learning from Germany/Singapore. |
| 4th Industrial Revolution & Indigenization | GS3 – IE – Industry | India set for domestically-made chip; strengths: young workforce, 20% global chip design, 1.6L startups; challenges: imports, infra, skilling, regulatory lag. Policy: Indian Semiconductor Mission, PLI, Digital India. |
| Product Nation Push | GS3 – IE – Exports | Shift from contract manufacturing to high-value, IP-led exports; challenges: IP/design, logistics, skills; PLI, Semicon India, RDI corpus, standards, cluster-based GVCs encouraged. |
| Dairy Sector | GS3 – Agri – Dairy | India: #1 milk producer, 3.5% GDP; only 33% in organized sector; women/farmers major beneficiaries; low yields, scale, mechanization, fodder shortages. Solutions: yield drive, co-ops, tech, export strategies. |
| NDA for Carbon Markets (repeated) | GS3 – Envi – UNFCCC | As above: NDA under Article 6 for ERU approval, compliance; India to cut 45% emission intensity by 2030. |
| Landslide in Vaishno Devi | GS3 – DM – Issues | Heavy rain, fragile Himalayas, and anthropogenic stress caused landslide, deaths near shrine; underscores need for slope mgmt, afforestation, route regulation, and disaster prep. |
| Glanders | Prelims – Diseases | Infectious, notifiable equine disease; National Action Plan with One Health focus; WOAH monitored. |