Current Affairs

The Prime Minister inaugurated the Sri Guru Bhairavaikya Mandira at Sri Adichunchanagiri Mahasamsthana Math, Mandya district, Karnataka, a memorial to Sri Sri Dr. Balagangadharanatha Maha Swamiji (71st pontiff; Padma Bhushan 2013). Built in traditional Dravidian style, it includes Jwala Peetha and Sri Kalabhairaveshwara Temple. The Math, a 1500–2000-year socio-spiritual Nath-Shaiva centre, follows nine principles and continues leadership to Jagadguru Nirmalanandanatha; the Swamiji founded 500+ educational institutions, hospitals, rural health centres, social reform and conservation initiatives.

Gujarat plans an Athlete Genome Database ahead of the 2030 Commonwealth Games, integrating genetic (genotype), physiological and performance data to use sports genomics for talent identification (traits linked to speed, endurance, strength). A 2023 study suggests genetic factors may contribute up to 66% of performance. Expected gains include injury prevention, personalised training, rehabilitation and optimisation, but raise concerns on fairness, genetic discrimination, privacy, athlete welfare and overemphasis on “designer athletes”, necessitating a regulatory-ethical framework.

Parliament passed the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2026, expanding the Jan Vishwas Act, 2023 (which amended 183 provisions across 42 laws). It amends 784 provisions across 79 Central laws, rationalising 1,018 offences: decriminalises 805 (civil penalties/warnings), removes 125 obsolete offences, makes 35 compoundable, and revises penalties for 53. It shifts enforcement from courts to adjudicating authorities amid 7,305 offences in 370 laws.

A Delhi court convicted an individual for illegal export of Shahtoosh shawls, highlighting enforcement against wildlife trade. Shahtoosh is the under-fleece of the Tibetan antelope (chiru), Pantholops hodgsonii, obtained by killing the animal; illegal spinning/weaving occurs mainly in Jammu and Kashmir. Trade is banned under CITES since 1975. Chiru inhabits cold deserts of the Tibetan plateau (Xinjiang, Qinghai); it is IUCN Near Threatened, CITES Appendix I, and protected under Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 (Schedules I and IV). Enforcement involves CBI, WCCB, Customs and Wildlife Institute of India.

A painting by Raja Ravi Varma sold for ₹167 crore, underlining Indian art’s cultural and economic value. Varma (1848–1906), from Kilimanoor, Travancore (present-day Kerala), belonged to Travancore’s royal family and is regarded as the father of modern Indian art. He blended Western oil techniques with realism, depicted Ramayana-Mahabharata themes, founded the Ravi Varma Fine Art Lithographic Press (1894), and received the Kaisar-i-Hind Gold Medal (1904) from Lord Curzon.

Iran threatened to block trade through the Red Sea amid tensions with the United States, underscoring the route’s strategic importance for global trade. The Red Sea is a fiord-type marginal sea (long, deep, narrow inlet), linked to the Gulf of Aden via Bab el Mandeb Strait and to the Mediterranean via the Suez Canal. It borders Egypt–Sudan–Eritrea (west) and Saudi Arabia–Yemen (east), with a northeastern extension to Israel and Jordan via the Gulf of Aqaba; it has very low precipitation and no river inflow.

Japan’s Sakurajima stratovolcano (Kagoshima Prefecture, Kyushu) erupted at the Minamidake summit crater, producing a 3.4 km ash plume, its first major eruption since Dec 2025. Located on the Pacific Ring of Fire due to Philippine Sea Plate subduction beneath the Eurasian Plate, it lies ~4 km from Kagoshima city and has been active since 1955. The 1914 eruption linked it to the mainland; JMA monitors ash, gas and aviation risks.

A new fossorial snake, Meghalaya Burrowing Reed Snake (Calamaria garoensis; genus Calamaria, family Colubridae), was described from Oragitok, West Garo Hills, Meghalaya, resolving confusion with Calamaria pavimentata. It inhabits moist forest soils and is restricted to West Garo Hills. Key traits: smooth dorsal scales (13 rows), short tail, faint nuchal ring, longitudinal stripes; insectivorous/vermivorous. It shows 6.3% genetic divergence, closest to C. mizoramensis. Not IUCN-assessed; highlights Garo Hills micro-endemism in Indo-Burma hotspot.

A juvenile hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata; family Cheloniidae) stranded on the Tamil Nadu coast was rehabilitated and released in the Gulf of Mannar. It inhabits tropical coral reefs, seagrass beds and shallow coastal waters; in India occurs in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep and Gulf of Mannar. Spongivorous; IUCN Critically Endangered, CITES Appendix I, Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 Schedule I; threats include fishing-gear entanglement, illegal tortoiseshell trade, reef degradation and climate change.

PM inaugurated Delhi–Dehradun Economic Corridor, a 210–213 km, 6-lane, access-controlled expressway implemented by NHAI (MoRTH), from Akshardham (Delhi) via Ghaziabad–Baghpat–Shamli–Saharanpur, linked to Eastern Peripheral Expressway at Mandola. Travel time cuts >6 hrs to ~2.5 hrs at 100 kmph. Includes 10.97 km elevated wildlife corridor in Rajaji Tiger Reserve with 340 m Daat Kali tunnel; afforestation 165.5 ha, 1.95 lakh trees, sound/light barriers; camera traps: 18 species. ATMS enables response within 10 minutes; CO2 reduced 240 million tonnes/20 years; WII validated underpass use; landslide mitigation per IRC.

Report “Military Escalation In The Middle East: Human Development Impacts Across Asia And The Pacific” finds South Asia faces highest economic losses; India may see ~2.5 million pushed into poverty. Vulnerabilities include dependence on West Asia for >40% oil and 90% LPG imports; US$48 billion non-oil exports at risk; >45% fertiliser imports from West Asia and 85% urea reliant on imported LNG; 9.37 million Indians in Gulf generate 38–40% remittances. Priorities: targeted cash transfers, MSME concessional credit/guarantees, renewables, input diversification, domestic food systems, and regional energy-food security cooperation.

Clashes occurred in Rayagada district, Odisha over an approach road to the Sijimali bauxite mine. Bauxite, a reddish-brown soft sedimentary rock of hydrated aluminium oxides/hydroxides with iron hydroxides and silica, is refined via the Bayer process; >90% becomes alumina/aluminium; also used in refractories, chemicals, cement, abrasives. Sijimali (Rayagada-Kalahandi, Eastern Ghats), operated by Vedanta, has 220–311 mt reserves; planned 6–9 mtpa for 50 years; Stage-1 forest clearance granted, Stage-2 pending. Odisha holds 41% of India’s bauxite resources and 73% output; also has major iron ore, coal, nickel, gemstones, graphite, ~17% of national mineral reserves.

In the Sabarimala case, the Solicitor General urged the Supreme Court to disregard the doctrine of constitutional morality. Constitutional morality denotes adherence to justice, liberty, equality and fraternity; it is not explicitly mentioned in the Constitution. The term was coined by George Grote and invoked by B R Ambedkar in the Constituent Assembly (1948). Courts use it to interpret provisions, protect rights and minorities; applied in Kesavananda Bharati (1973), Navtej Singh Johar, Joseph Shine and Sabarimala (2018).

Keytruda (pembrolizumab), an immunotherapy drug by Merck & Co., is a checkpoint inhibitor monoclonal antibody. It binds PD-1 receptors on T cells, blocking interaction with PD-L1 on cancer cells, thereby reactivating T cells to destroy tumours. Approved by the US FDA in 2014 for advanced skin cancer, it is used across multiple cancers, given as 30-minute IV infusion every 3/6 weeks, with a subcutaneous formulation.

Government expanded the Fund of Funds for Startups through FoF 2.0, building on the 2016 Startup India Action Plan, to improve venture capital access across sectors and growth stages. With a ₹10,000 crore corpus, it is governed by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. It contributes to SEBI-registered Alternative Investment Funds (privately pooled vehicles) for equity/equity-linked startup investments; eligible AIFs span the 16th and 17th Finance Commission cycles, screened by a Venture Capital Investment Committee, monitored by an Empowered Committee chaired by Secretary, DPIIT, and implemented by SIDBI with additional domestic agencies, including support for deep tech, micro VC, manufacturing and sector-agnostic startups.

National Agriculture Market (e-NAM), launched in April 2016, is a pan-India electronic trading platform to create a unified national market for agricultural commodities by digitally integrating mandis and enabling inter-state access beyond APMC limits. Implemented by Small Farmers Agribusiness Consortium under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, it uses web/app and AI-enabled quality assessment, integrates e-NWR (Warehousing Development and Regulation Act, 2007; WDRA warehouses), expanded mandis from 1389 (2024) to 1656 (March 2026), and enabled 13.25 crore MT trade worth ₹4.84 lakh crore (2016–March 2026), with 1.80 crore farmers, 2.73 lakh traders and 4724 FPOs.

Polling concluded at Laika and Dodhia stations inside Dibru-Saikhowa National Park, Assam. The park lies in Dibrugarh and Tinsukia, bounded by the Brahmaputra and Lohit (north) and Dibru River (south), and is a Biosphere Reserve. It has tropical monsoon climate; semi-evergreen/deciduous forests, canebrakes and grasslands; NE India’s largest salix swamp forest; flora includes pine, Tetrasperma, Dalbergia sissoo, Dillenia indica. It conserves white-winged wood duck; fauna include feral horses, hoolock gibbon, water buffalo, tiger, elephant, capped langur, slow loris, Gangetic river dolphin; an IBA with 382+ birds (Greater/Lesser Adjutant, Greater Crested Grebe).

IUCN has classified the emperor penguin as an endangered sentinel species, highlighting its utility in indicating ecosystem health and environmental stress. Sentinel species are organisms whose health provides early warning of ecosystem decline due to stressors such as pollution and disease. Typical traits include fixed territory, long lifespan, toxin accumulation, high sensitivity, and visibly apparent responses. Examples include frogs, canaries, honeybees and polar bears.

A study by the National Institute of Science Education and Research (autonomous under the Department of Atomic Energy) analysing 593 districts in 21 states links poverty increasingly with climate change. Recurring floods damage crops, infrastructure and housing; drought-prone regions face crop failure and debt cycles. Higher poverty risk persists among Scheduled Tribes. Service-sector diversification reduces poverty probability by ~1.9% per unit GSDP-share rise. It calls for district-specific strategies within NAPCC, SAPCC and SDG India Index, including climate-resilient agriculture, drought-resistant crops, efficient irrigation and non-farm jobs.

Sagarmala Programme (launched March 2015) aims at port-led development to improve logistics efficiency and reduce transport costs by integrating coastal shipping and inland waterways with road and rail. It envisages 845 projects worth ₹6.06 lakh crore; 315 projects worth ₹1.57 lakh crore are completed. It has 5 pillars and 24 categories, with an institutional framework including the National Sagarmala Apex Committee, Maritime States Development Council, State Sagarmala Committees, and Sagarmala Finance Corporation Limited; Sagarmala Development Company Limited was restructured into this in June 2025.

High-level US–Iran talks in Islamabad, mediated by Pakistan, collapsed after nearly 21 hours, marking first such political contact since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. US sought a clear commitment against nuclear weapons and reopening the Strait of Hormuz; Iran asserted Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty-based enrichment rights, refused to surrender >440 kg highly enriched uranium, and cited US promise breaches. Iran demanded sanctions relief, release of about $27 billion frozen assets, and reparations for airstrikes (refused). A two-week ceasefire window remains; India faces risks to energy/LPG supplies and Hormuz-dependent maritime trade.

UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs report highlights financing constraints in developing countries amid fragile macroeconomy, high borrowing costs, rollover risks and weak tax gains. It notes global fragmentation with alternative cross-border payment systems alongside SWIFT and an estimated $4 trillion annual SDG financing gap. It emphasises the Sevilla Commitment, adopted at the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (Sevilla, 2025), with 280 actions and a voluntary Sevilla Platform for Action.

A report on women’s placements in contractual/flexible IT/ITeS roles shows share rising to 40% in FY26 from 30% in FY22. Top roles: finance and accounting (43%), data science (34%), UX design/architecture (31%). Metro hubs: Bengaluru (21%), Hyderabad (20%), Pune (17%), Delhi NCR (13%), Chennai (9%); Tier II cities 11%. Participation by experience: <2 years 30%, 5–8 years 31%, 9–14 years 13%, >14 years 4%.

Union Cabinet approved a four-lane, access-controlled Barabanki–Bahraich highway (NH-927) in Uttar Pradesh. Under the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, the 101.5 km project will be implemented on Hybrid Annuity Mode. It will connect to Nepal via Rupaidiha Land Port and Nepalgunj, cutting travel time 150 to 75 minutes and raising speed 40 to 80 kmph. It strengthens the Rupaidiha–Nepalgunj trade corridor; India accounts for about 60% of Nepal’s trade, including rice, wheat, vegetables, dairy, medicines and consumer goods, reducing perishables’ spoilage and improving farmer incomes.