Current Affairs

NITI Aayog’s “Key Sectors to Position India as a Global Manufacturing Hub” (Vol-1) targets global leadership by 2047, shortlisting 12 sectors; first volume covers chemicals, textiles, telecom/network equipment and solar PV, using phased assessment and roadmap. It flags phenol/methanol/acetic acid (chemicals), textiles (2% GDP; exports $37.7 bn, FY2025), telecom (1.2 bn users; NTP-2025 targets by 2030), and solar (106 GW by Mar 2025; US 97% exports). Economic Survey 2025-26: manufacturing 17-18% real GVA, 38% GVO; secondary sector 25.8% GVA (2024-25), 8% growth; manufacturing employment 11.44% (2023-24).

Scientists have recorded the rare solitary Himalayan bee Colletes bhutanicus in India for the first time, in Tawang district, Arunachal Pradesh, at 1,500-3,800 m elevation. It belongs to genus Colletes, whose females nest individually rather than in hives. Earlier distribution was Bhutan and China (including Xizang/Tibet). Observed visiting 25 flowering plants, indicating pollination of wild vegetation and cultivated crops.

PIB brief: agriculture and allied sectors support ~46.1% workforce. GVA rose from ₹20.94 lakh crore (2014-15) to an estimated ₹52.08 lakh crore (2025-26). Farmer support schemes: Kisan Credit Card (KCC), PM-KISAN (₹4.47 lakh crore transfers), Pradhan Mantri Kisan Maandhan Yojana and PM Fasal Bima Yojana (92.46 crore insured applications since 2016-17). India contributes ~25% global milk; ranks 2nd in eggs, 4th in meat.

The President of India presented Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowships and Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards for 2024 and 2025. Established in 1953, Sangeet Natak Akademi is an autonomous body under the Ministry of Culture, focusing on India’s intangible heritage in music, dance and drama. Akademi Ratna is its highest honour with ₹3 lakh. Akademi Puraskar (since 1952) covers music, dance and theatre with ₹1 lakh plus Tamrapatra and Angavastram.

ILO’s “Global Employment Trends for Youth 2026” reports that in 2025 global youth unemployment rose to 12.4% (67 million, ages 15–24) and NEET reached 20% (257 million; +9 million since 2023), with women over two-thirds, driven by unpaid care, inadequate childcare and discrimination (notably Southern Asia, North Africa, Arab States). It notes 6.1% of youth jobs (15–29) highly AI-exposed, youth-to-adult unemployment ratio 3.43, and near-90% informality in low/lower-middle-income countries; recommends gender-responsive pro-employment policies, apprenticeships/skills, modernised PES with subsidies, portable social security, and AI safeguards in recruitment.

Parichha Weir (Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh), a 140-year-old dam built in 1886 across the 590-km Betwa (right-bank tributary of Yamuna), has been recognised as a World Heritage Irrigation Structure (WHIS) by the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID; established 1950). Proposed canal system (1855, Captain Strachey) serves Bundelkhand via Betwa Canal headworks; two-section rubble-stone masonry with an island. Award to be conferred in France in October at the 26th ICID International Congress and 77th IEC; Jhansi’s Sukwa-Dukwan Weir was listed in 2022. WHIS criteria: >100 years, still serving original purpose.

Government received 20 bids for the Rare Earth Permanent Magnets (REPM) Manufacturing Scheme to set up 6,000 MTPA integrated REPM capacity in India. With an outlay of ₹7,280 crore and 7-year duration, it provides 2 years for facility setup and 5 years for sales-linked incentive disbursal. Capacity will be allocated to 5 beneficiaries via global competitive bidding, covering oxides, metals, alloys and finished REPMs for EVs, wind turbines, electronics, aerospace and defence.

Scientists documented over 300 geographic populations of cascade frogs (genus Amolops) from fast-flowing forest streams and identified three new species: Ammachi’s Cascade Frog (Amolops ammachi) in Tripura’s Jampui Hills, Sendenyu Cascade Frog (A. sendenyu) in Nagaland, and Beautiful Cascade Frog (A. bella) in West Bengal. The study also records five Amolops species first time from India, using DNA dating showing diversification ~32 million years ago (Eocene-Oligocene transition) linked to east–west colonisation and early Himalayan uplift.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) World Economic Outlook reports 2026 debt-to-GDP estimates, defining the ratio as total public debt relative to gross domestic product. IMF estimates global debt at about 94% of world GDP in 2025, likely nearing 100% by 2029. Highest 2026 ratios: Japan 204.4%, Singapore 171.9%, Sudan 169.1%. India: 55.6% in BE 2026-27; 56.1% in RE 2025-26.

IAF and Royal Malaysian Air Force are conducting Exercise Udara Shakti 2026 at Subang Airbase, Malaysia. The 5-day, biennial drill (hosted in Malaysia) includes India’s Rafale debut, air combat manoeuvres, airlift/refuelling and SME exchanges, with Su-30MKM/MKI, F/A-18D and Rafales; cooperation is being institutionalised via a bilateral Su-30 Forum. Malaysia has shown interest in air-launched BrahMos; India exported ground-based BrahMos to the Philippines. Indian Army will join India–Thailand Exercise Maitree (instituted 2006; alternates hosts); after the 14th edition at Umroi, Meghalaya, it moves to Thailand for company-level counter-terrorism in semi-urban terrain with joint planning, ISR, tactical drills and a 48-hour validation.

Parliament passed the NCDC (Amendment) Bill, 2026 to amend the National Co-operative Development Corporation Act, 1962, expanding NCDC’s mandate and financial scope. It enables direct loans and grants to cooperative societies, new activities including industrial goods, and Centre-approved participation in share capital. It expands “foodstuffs” to items notified by the Centre, removes geographical restrictions for industrial goods, allows state funding to any co-operative development entity, without additional budgetary support. NCDC is a statutory body under the Ministry of Cooperation, set up in 1963.

Scientists have used generative AI to design completely new bacteriophage genomes from scratch. Bacteriophages are viruses that target bacteria. The AI model was trained on millions of existing genetic sequences, learned sequence patterns, and generated novel DNA sequences that do not exist in nature. The output could potentially function as a viral genetic blueprint, enabling customised viruses against drug-resistant bacteria.

Coal and Mines Minister G. Kishan Reddy introduced the Mines and Minerals Amendment Bill 2026 to amend mining regulations, restrict states from imposing additional taxes/cess/levies on mineral rights, and enhance central control over mineral-bearing lands, aiming efficiency and critical-mineral investment. It flags heavy, multiple, non-uniform, unpredictable and retrospective state levies. Principal law: MMDR Act, 1957. Supreme Court (2024): royalty not a tax; states may tax mineral rights (Entry 50) but Parliament may limit; states may tax mineral-bearing land (Entry 49) beyond Parliament’s limits; Entries 54/23/50 govern powers.

Researchers from Ashoka University developed ACSCeND (AI-based Cancer Stem-like Cell Profiler and Neoplasm Deconvoluter), an AI framework to identify hidden cancer stem-like cells (CSCs) and deconvolute neoplasms. CSCs are rare tumour cells that can survive treatment and drive recurrence, metastasis and drug resistance. ACSCeND analyses bulk tumour RNA sequencing using knowledge from single-cell sequencing, aiding precision medicine, new drug targets, scalability and cost-effectiveness.

NASA extended the Voyager 2 mission by one year as it continues operating in interstellar space beyond the heliopause. Launched in 1977, Voyager 2 is an interplanetary spacecraft exploring the outer Solar System and interstellar space. It is the only spacecraft to visit all four giant planets—Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune—and the first to fly by Uranus and Neptune.

Indian botanists from Government Victoria College and Sri Vyasa NSS College discovered a new fern, Pteris madhusoodananii, in the Kolli hills (Eastern Ghats), Tamil Nadu, near Puliansolai shola forest, during a taxonomic revision of southern Indian ferns. Named for Prof. Dr P.V. Madhusoodanan (former Botany HoD, University of Calicut), it is classified Critically Endangered: only two unprotected sites (~8 sq km), threatened by road building, logging and farmland conversion; stiff leathery deep-green fronds, prominent basal lobe, pinna-pinnule architecture, spores with a cingulum.

Tribal leaders alleged the Andaman and Nicobar Islands administration is attempting to shift the Shompen towards a “modern lifestyle”. The Shompen are a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group inhabiting dense tropical rainforests of Great Nicobar Island. They belong to the Mongoloid group; Census 2011 estimated their population at 229. Traditionally hunters-gatherers, they hunted wild pig, python, monitor lizard and crocodile, living semi-nomadically without being confined to a defined reserve forest.

Supreme Court ordered time-bound eviction of forest encroachments in Agasthyamalai Biosphere Reserve (ABR), removal of non-forestry activities in Kalakkad-Mundanthurai and Srivilliputhur-Megamalai Tiger Reserves, and barred diversion/new non-forest activity in ABR till clearance. Forest Rights Act, 2006 protects STs/traditional dwellers (pre-13 Dec 2005), Gram Sabha-led claims; eviction barred till verification; violations are atrocities under SC/ST Act (since 2016). ABR spans Kerala and Tamil Nadu districts, includes multiple sanctuaries/tiger reserves, UNESCO-listed (2016); Kanikkarans are original settlers.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has proposed a new loan interest-rate framework with tighter rules for floating-rate loans to improve benchmark linkage and rate transmission to borrowers. A floating-rate loan has an interest rate that changes periodically in line with an underlying benchmark such as the RBI repo rate, Treasury Bill yields, or other approved external benchmarks. Rate changes can alter EMI and/or tenure, aiding monetary policy transmission.

World Elephant Day 2026 highlights elephant ecology and conservation. Two groups: African (Loxodonta africana) and Asian (Elephas maximus); matriarchal herds; ~22-month gestation; keystone ecosystem engineers. Threats: habitat loss/fragmentation, conflict, poaching, electrocution, train hits, genetic isolation. Asian subspecies: Indian, Sumatran, Bornean, Sri Lankan; range 13 countries; India ~60% (22,446), Karnataka highest. Status: IUCN Endangered, WPA 1972 Schedule I, CITES Appendix I. India: Project Elephant (1992); CITES-MIKE; 33 reserves (14 states), 150 corridors; MEE 2023; Gajah Suchana; rail under/overpasses, ramps, sensors; Captive Elephant Rules 2024; Human–Wildlife Conflict advisory and elephant guidelines 2023.

Indian Navy’s Next Generation Offshore Patrol Vessel (NGOPV) ‘Shruti’ was launched at Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd (GRSE), Kolkata, under the NGOPV construction programme concurrently executed at GRSE and Goa Shipyard Limited. Indigenously designed, it is named after ‘Shruti’ (four Vedas). Crest shows Ursa Major and a red-white lighthouse. It supports maritime surveillance, SAR, offshore asset protection, HADR and anti-piracy. Specs: 3,000 tonnes; 23 knots; 8,500 nautical miles at 14 knots; aligned with Aatmanirbhar Bharat/Make in India.

Centre is promoting agarwood/agarwood oil exports from NER via Agarwood Cluster Development Project in Assam and Tripura under PM-DevINE, and an Agarwood International Trade and Research Centre in Agartala under North Eastern Council schemes. NER has ~96.6% of India’s ~139.89 million agarwood trees (Assam ~114.3 million; Tripura ~15.15 million). Agarwood (Aquilaria) yields chips and oil. Listed in CITES Appendix II; India submitted an NDF to avoid RST, enabling export quotas and regulating trade, while preventing wild extraction of propagules.

A mushroom collected in 2022 beneath sal (Shorea robusta) in Ri Bhoi district, Meghalaya, has been described as a new species, Russula griseopurpurata (named for its greyish-purple colour). Identification used microscopy, DNA sequencing and phylogenetic analysis. Recorded from Meghalaya and West Bengal at 320 m, it occurs singly/scattered under sal. Three specimens were studied; Meghalaya voucher GUBH 20331 produced ITS sequence PQ432811. Edibility is unestablished.

A tiger sighting was reported near Zero Point (Jhandi Dhaar), the highest point of Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary, Uttarakhand. Located in the Kumaon Himalaya (900–2,500 m), it is named after the 16th-century Bineshwar Mahadev (Shiva) temple. It has Western Himalayan sub-alpine coniferous forests and alpine shrubs/meadows, and was created to conserve Central Himalayan broadleaf oak; oak–rhododendron and chir pine dominate. Fauna includes barking deer, Himalayan bear, leopard and musk deer. It is an Important Bird Area (BirdLife International) with 200+ bird species, including Monal.

A crude oil spill from tanker Caroline Bezengi threatens a nature reserve near Oman’s Hallaniyat (Kuria Muria) Islands, a 5-island archipelago off southeast Oman in the Arabian Sea: Al-Hasikiyah, Al-Sawda, Al-Hallaniyah (only inhabited), Qarzawit, Al-Qibliyah. Rocky patches, coral reefs and sandy substrates overlap with a Key Biodiversity Area and an Ecologically/Biologically Significant Marine Area. Somali Current-driven seasonal upwelling post-monsoon fuels plankton blooms attracting whale sharks and humpback whales; islands lie on key sea routes.

During Phase-I NetRAD-ASMA, scientists detected an unusually thick ozone layer over the North Bay of Bengal at 21-23 km (lower stratosphere), persisting >1 day in day/night, indicating limited sunlight-driven chemistry. Analysis of convection, wind shear, transport and vertical motion attributes it to ozone-rich air transport followed by downward movement and compression. Evidence used ARIES’ 206.5 MHz ST Radar (Nainital), radars at Haringhata/Gadanki/Kochi, weather balloons, models, and Aura MLS and INSAT-3DR; normal ozone peak is 25-30 km, within the 15-35 km UV-shielding layer.