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  • What’s behind the vault of India’s gold exchange

    Why in the News?

    India’s gold exchange ecosystem, built on Electronic Gold Receipts (EGR), now sits at the centre of how Indians hold and trade gold. The shift exposes a tension between gold as a physical, trust based asset and a dematerialised, exchange traded instrument.

    What is an Electronic Gold Receipt?

    • Definition: An Electronic Gold Receipt (EGR) is a Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) regulated digital security representing actual physical gold stored in secure, accredited vaults.
    • Purpose: EGRs let investors buy, sell, and trade gold on exchanges such as the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) and the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), without holding physical metal at home.

    How does an Electronic Gold Receipt actually work?

    • Vaulting: A depositor delivers physical gold to a SEBI accredited vault manager, who verifies purity and weight.
    • Dematerialisation: The vault manager issues an EGR, a dematerialised instrument representing the deposited gold. It is credited to the depositor’s demat account.
    • Exchange trading: The EGR then trades on the gold exchange like a security, separating the instrument’s liquidity from the physical gold’s custody.
    • Fungibility: Standardised purity and weight bands let EGRs from different depositors trade interchangeably, making the exchange function like a market rather than a set of individual claims.

    What problem does this solve that physical gold trading could not?

    • Price discovery: A centralised exchange produces a transparent, real time domestic gold price instead of fragmented jeweller quotes.
    • Storage risk: Vault custody by regulated managers removes the theft and storage burden from individual holders.
    • Import dependence: A liquid domestic exchange gives India a reference price less dependent on London or Dubai benchmarks.
    • Quality assurance: Mandatory purity verification and standardised weight bands remove the adulteration risk common in unorganised physical gold trade.
    • Two way convertibility: An EGR can convert back into physical gold and back again, allowing arbitrage that keeps the receipt aligned with physical gold prices.

    Challenges to Electronic Gold Receipts

    • Ecosystem complexity as due diligence burden: The EGR ecosystem distributes responsibility across vault managers, depositories, exchanges, clearing corporations, and brokers. An investor’s risk assessment must span multiple entities.
    • Early stage caution: Informed participation requires investors to understand this multi institutional framework before adoption.
    • Liquidity constraints: EGR trading volumes remain well behind Gold Exchange Traded Funds (ETF), resulting in thinner markets and wider bid ask spreads.
    • Ongoing holding costs: Vaulting, storage, and withdrawal fees continue as long as the gold remains deposited, unlike Gold ETFs and Sovereign Gold Bonds (SGB).
    • Vault manager risk: SEBI mandates minimum net worth, insurance, and a financial security deposit for every vault manager, but residual operational and financial risk remains.

    Conclusion

    The EGR system converts gold from an asset held on trust in a locker into a regulated, tradeable instrument. Its long term success depends on depositor confidence, vault managers, and depositories performing as certified.

  • Do not surrender to China, do not depend on the U.S.

    PYQ Linkage
    [UPSC 2024]:     “The West is fostering India as an alternative to reduce dependence on China’s supply chain and as a strategic ally to counter China’s political and economic dominance.” Explain this statement with examples.
    Linkage: The PYQ discusses the West-India-China triangle, supply-chain diversification, and countering Chinese dominance. The article’s prescribed path of supply-chain resilience and diversification away from China directly extends this PYQ’s theme, while adding the caution against over-reliance on the U.S. as well.

    Mentor’s Comment

    The Trump administration’s unpredictable policies, punitive tariffs, withdrawal of preferential trade status, renewed outreach to Islamabad, and tightened H-1B visa rules, have triggered a domestic business-lobby push to reset India’s China policy. The debate pits the risk of continued dependence on an unreliable United States against the risk of premature capitulation to a revisionist, hostile China. At stake is whether India abandons hard-won post-Galwan strategic leverage in a moment of geopolitical anxiety.

    Why has an unpredictable Washington triggered a domestic push to reset India’s China policy?

    1. Trump-era volatility: The current U.S. administration hit India with punitive tariffs on steel and aluminium, stripped its preferential trade status, and renewed ties with Islamabad, alongside tightened H-1B visa rules.
    2. Lobby’s core claim: An influential business lobby argues India’s confrontational China posture has been synchronised with Washington’s “containment” agenda rather than India’s own national interests.
    3. Economic dependency argument: The lobby contends deep reliance on Chinese technology, supply chains, industrial inputs and capital means a dogmatic anti-China stance stymies India’s own growth while barely denting Beijing’s economy.
    4. Flip-flop risk framing: Washington’s historical pattern of escalating tensions one day and striking bilateral deals the next could leave an overextended India exposed to Chinese retaliation.
    5. Partial concession: The warning against subordinating Indian interests to an unpredictable Washington is valid on its own terms. This validity does not by itself justify a China reset.

    Why is a hasty, unreciprocated economic embrace of China a dangerous prescription?

    1. Convenience mistaken for security: The reset proposal confuses tactical business convenience with long-term national security.
    2. Cost of premature capitulation: It ignores a decade of unprovoked Chinese hostility, deepens asymmetric dependency, and strips India of leverage as the global order enters its most volatile phase since the Cold War.
    3. Motive critique: The primary domestic driver of the reset argument is a business lobby focused on short-term balance sheets, seeking cheap Chinese capital, machinery and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs).
    4. Structural blind spot: This view treats international trade as an apolitical transaction, divorced from the realities of comprehensive national power.
    5. Selective memory: Advocating a return to the pre-2020 status quo requires forgetting twelve years of relentless PLA and CCP aggression, recasting a coherent containment strategy as isolated border skirmishes.

    What is China’s actual record of territorial aggression and economic coercion against India?

    1. Border aggression timeline: Depsang (2013), Chumar (2014), Doklam (2017) and the fatal Galwan Valley clashes (2020) mark systematic attempts to alter the Line of Actual Control (LAC) through salami-slicing tactics.
    2. Territorial claims: China continues to assert claims over the entire state of Arunachal Pradesh and renames geographical features in areas it does not control.
    3. Demographic weaponisation: Stapled visas are issued to residents of Jammu and Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh to contest India’s internal geography.
    4. Economic coercion: China has withheld critical machinery and industrial inputs and weaponised its monopoly over rare earths and tunnel-boring machines during bilateral disputes.
    5. Pakistan nexus: China provided Islamabad real-time tactical satellite data and intelligence during Operation Sindoor (May 2025), shifting from military supplier to an active, hostile participant in Pakistan’s security architecture against India.

    Why is the assumption that economic concessions will produce Chinese reciprocity a myth?

    1. Structural goal mismatch: China’s foreign policy in Asia is built on establishing a unipolar continent; Beijing does not view New Delhi as a peer.
    2. Diplomatic obstruction: China has used its UNSC veto to shield Pakistan-based terrorist organisations and has blocked India’s bids for UNSC permanent membership and Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) membership.
    3. Trade deficit risk: Unconditional market access would expand an already asymmetric trade deficit, with China’s annual trade surplus over India already exceeding $100 billion.
    4. Kill-switch risk: Deepening reliance hands Beijing an economic lever that could paralyse Indian industry and strip New Delhi of independent strategic decision-making in a future crisis.
    5. Behavioural logic: China respects power and exploits vulnerability. Signalling that India cannot sustain a prolonged stand-off would confirm that Beijing’s multi-domain pressure strategy is working.
    6. Leverage once lost: Post-Galwan restrictions on Chinese apps, investment and telecom infrastructure are crucial diplomatic leverage, not emotional reactions. Dismantling them for minor economic relief would be an act of unilateral disarmament.

    Is India’s China-reset debate really a false choice between two unreliable powers?

    1. Valid criticism, wrong conclusion: Washington’s unpredictable shifts make it unwise to rely entirely on the U.S. as a security guarantor.
    2. Structural reality: The United States will always prioritise its own domestic and global calculations, leaving New Delhi to stand alone on the heights of Ladakh.
    3. False binary: Washington’s unreliability does not require India to run into the arms of an actively hostile neighbour.
    4. Middle space: An immense strategic space exists between subordinating India’s national interests to the U.S. and conceding an unconditional economic and political surrender to China.

    What strategic path should India actually tread instead of tilting toward either power?

    1. Strategic patience: Internal fortification, not reactive alignment with either power, is the correct approach for New Delhi.
    2. Supply-chain resilience: India must accelerate diversification of trade partnerships across Europe, East Asia and the Global South.
    3. Domestic capacity-building: Domestic manufacturing capability must be built aggressively, even at the cost of short-term inflation.
    4. Structural framing: China represents a generational, structural challenge to India’s rise, not a cyclical irritant resolvable through a reset.
    5. Risk of panic-driven policy: A hasty rethink driven by panic over Washington, or by a short-term-profit-driven business lobby, would leave India permanently exposed, economically vulnerable and strategically diminished.

    Conclusion

    India’s debate over resetting China policy conflates a legitimate criticism of U.S. unpredictability with an illegitimate case for capitulating to Beijing. A decade of Chinese salami-slicing, economic coercion, and intelligence support to Pakistan during Operation Sindoor makes reciprocity from Beijing implausible, while abandoning post-Galwan restrictions on Chinese capital and technology would amount to unilateral disarmament. Neither subordinating strategic autonomy to Washington nor surrendering economic leverage to Beijing serves India’s interests. What remains unresolved is how India absorbs the short-term costs of supply-chain diversification and domestic manufacturing build-up without domestic political pressure forcing a premature tilt toward either power.

  • Why India must modernise the way the government publishes laws and regulations 

    Why in the News?

    India’s legal publishing system still runs on PDF-based gazettes, a format created in the early 1990s, forcing citizens, lawyers and even courts to search scattered notifications to determine which provisions of law are actually in force. In one documented case, sections of a 2005 amendment to the Code of Criminal Procedure remained unnotified and legally void for more than two decades without public knowledge. This exposes a gap between the constitutional promise that laws be knowable in advance and the administrative reality of an opaque, print-oriented publishing format.

    Why must a law be knowable before it can be enforced?

    1. Historical precedent: Mahatma Gandhi’s first act against the 1906 Transvaal “Black Act” was to translate and publish the ordinance in full in Indian Opinion, so that Indians could read exactly what was being done to them.
    2. Underlying principle: A community cannot defend its rights against a law it cannot read.
    3. Constitutional expectation: Bills before Parliament or a State Assembly are meant to be made known to the people in advance of enactment.
    4. Practical breach: Bills are often not placed in the public domain before they are introduced.
    5. Judicial dimension: The judiciary is expected to know the state of the law it adjudicates, which presupposes that the state of the law is discoverable.

    Where does India’s legal publishing system actually fail?

    1. Fragmentation: Laws governing citizens include Acts and their amendments, rules, regulations, BIS standards, road standards, circulars and municipal bylaws.
    2. No single source: There is no single place to find out what the law actually is; it lies scattered across multiple websites.
    3. Discovery problem: Citizens struggle to find the law currently in force.
    4. Historical-state problem: Even after locating a copy, determining what the law was on a given date is a separate and difficult exercise.
    5. Primary publishing channel: Government uses gazettes as its primary means of publishing laws and bringing them into force.

    Can a provision bind citizens if its own government cannot confirm it is in force?

    1. Case origin: A legal publisher was incorporating changes made by the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Act, 2005 into the principal Act.
    2. Search failure: The amendment left it to the government to decide when its various sections would come into force, and no gazette notifying Sections 16, 25, 28(a), 28(b), 38, 42(a), 42(b), 42(f)(iii) and (iv), and 44(a) could be found.
    3. RTI confirmation: An RTI application to the Ministry of Home Affairs confirmed that these sections have never been notified.
    4. Legal consequence: More than two decades later, these sections are still not valid law.
    5. Systemic implication: If a central ministry itself cannot demonstrate whether a provision is in force, publication by gazette has failed at its most basic function.

    What technical flaw locks Indian law into this opacity?

    1. Format origin: Gazettes are published as PDFs, a format created in the early 1990s to ensure a digital document looks identical on every device by embedding fonts and images.
    2. Print-fidelity trade-off: This makes PDFs easy to share and print but very hard to extract the structure and meaning of a legal document from.
    3. Lost hierarchy: A law is inherently hierarchical, with chapters, parts, sections and subsections, but a PDF exposes none of that hierarchy.
    4. Language barrier: Many gazettes published in regional languages use proprietary fonts that display correctly on a PDF viewer but cannot be searched in that regional language or read on most websites.
    5. Amendment tracking: A format that cannot expose structure also cannot show precisely what changed across successive amendments to an Act.

    What do global legal-publishing models demonstrate is possible?

    1. Akoma Ntoso, Africa: Many African countries have adopted the Akoma Ntoso standard, a markup language designed specifically for legal documents; Akoma Ntoso is an open markup format that encodes a law’s structure, semantics and language rather than only its printed appearance.
    2. Indigo platform, Africa: These countries use Indigo, an open-source legal publishing platform that lets users add or edit laws and see precisely what changed across an Act’s successive amendments, with subordinate rules tagged to their principal Act.
    3. USLM, United States: The United States publishes every law and amendment in USLM (United States Legislative Markup), a variant of Akoma Ntoso, generating PDF and HTML versions automatically from it using a stylesheet.
    4. Federal Register, United States: All past issues of the Federal Register have been converted into this format and made available for bulk download, allowing commercial legal vendors, nonprofits and think tanks to build citizen-facing tools on top of it.
    5. CLML, United Kingdom: The United Kingdom publishes its legislation at legislation.gov.uk, run by The National Archives, using Crown Legislation Markup Language (CLML), another modified version of Akoma Ntoso.
    6. Convergence toward one standard: The National Archives has stated it aims to move towards Akoma Ntoso itself, since Akoma Ntoso is emerging as the international standard, is less complex, and is supported by a wider pool of experts and suppliers.

    What is at stake for Indian democracy if this publishing model is not upgraded?

    1. Structural lag: While the rest of the world has moved away from PDF publishing, India remains dependent on a standard built more than three decades back.
    2. Persistent barrier: Until the government upgrades its legal publishing software stack, access to the law will remain unnecessarily difficult for citizens, lawyers, judges and other stakeholders in a democracy.
    3. Precedent from the internet: The internet itself was built on open standards, which every stakeholder came together to adopt.
    4. Ambedkar’s distinction: Dr B.R. Ambedkar reminded that a democracy needs more than a government “for the people”; it needs a government “by the people.”
    5. Contractor-capture risk: Laws are the raw material of democracy, and leaving their publication to a handful of contractors will only deepen the obscurity around them.
    6. Reform payoff: If the government instead consults citizens and standardises legal publishing, it could transform how the state communicates with the people and make them active participants in democracy.

    Conclusion

    The central failure identified is not the absence of law but the absence of a reliable way to know the law: India’s PDF-and-gazette-based publishing system leaves entire provisions practically undiscoverable even as they legally bind citizens. Other democracies have already shown that open, structured legal markup standards (Akoma Ntoso, USLM, CLML) can make a law’s text, hierarchy and amendment history transparent and machine-readable. Until India upgrades this publishing infrastructure, the rule of law will remain formally intact but practically inaccessible, with its administration effectively outsourced to a narrow set of contractors rather than opened to citizens.

    PYQ Linkage

    [UPSC 2018] E-Governance is not only about utilization of the power of new technology, but also much about critical importance of the ‘use value’ of information. Explain.

    Linkage: The PYQ argues that e-governance’s value lies in making information usable, not merely digitised. The article’s central claim mirrors this exactly, PDF gazettes are digitised but not structurally usable, while open markup standards make the “use value” of legal information real.

  • Insurers seek first third party premium hike in four years

    Why in News?

    Non life insurers are pressing for their first motor third party premium hike in four years, citing a Supreme Court judgment recognising the economic value of homemakers’ unpaid domestic work.

    Key Highlights

    • In its 11 June 2026 judgment, the Supreme Court held that unpaid domestic work performed by homemakers has measurable economic value and must be fairly considered while awarding compensation under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.
    • Insurers argue that the ruling is likely to increase compensation payouts, adding to existing underwriting losses.
    • They have requested an upward revision in motor third party insurance premiums, the first such increase in four years.
    • The Central Government, in consultation with the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), notifies third party premium rates.

    Motor Third Party (TP) Insurance

    • Mandatory under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 for all motor vehicles operating in India.
    • Covers death, bodily injury, or property damage caused to a third party due to the insured vehicle.
    • Does not cover damage to the insured vehicle; that requires comprehensive motor insurance.
    • Premium rates are regulated by the Central Government, based on recommendations from IRDAI.

    Value Addition

    • IRDAI: Statutory regulator established under the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority Act, 1999.
    • Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT): Adjudicates compensation claims arising from road accidents under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.
    • Significance of the Supreme Court ruling: Strengthens recognition of the economic contribution of unpaid care work, advancing substantive gender equality and ensuring more equitable compensation in accident claims.

    [2026] With reference to different Committees in India, consider the following details :

    Sl. No.CommitteeObjectiveOrganization under which it was formed
    1R.N. Malhotra CommitteeComprehensive reforms of Insurance sector in IndiaInsurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India
    2L.C. Gupta CommitteePreparing a roadmap for the introduction of derivatives trading in IndiaSecurities and Exchange Board of India
    3Urjit R. Patel CommitteePreparing a roadmap for reforming bank lending to the Housing sectorReserve Bank of India
    4Y.H. Malegam CommitteePreparing a roadmap for reforms in Microfinance sector in IndiaReserve Bank of India


    In which of the above rows are all the details correctly matched ?

    [A] 2 only

    [B] 2 and 3

    [C] 1, 3 and 4

    [D] 2 and 4

  • 3 Great Indian Bustard Chicks Placed in Rewilding Tunnel

    Why in News?

    Three Great Indian Bustard (Godawan) chicks bred at the Godawan Conservation Centre, Jaisalmer, have been placed in a specially designed rewilding tunnel to prepare them for release into the Desert National Park under India’s captive breeding and species recovery programme.

    Background

    • The initiative is part of the Great Indian Bustard Recovery Programme, implemented by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) in collaboration with the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Rajasthan Forest Department and international conservation partners.

    Great Indian Bustard (Ardeotis nigriceps)

    • One of the heaviest flying birds in the world and endemic to the Indian subcontinent.
    • Locally known as Godawan in Rajasthan.
    • Inhabits arid grasslands, scrublands and semi-desert ecosystems.
    • Rajasthan’s Desert National Park holds the largest surviving wild population.

    Conservation Status

    • IUCN Red List: Critically Endangered
    • Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972: Schedule I (highest protection)
    • CITES: Appendix I
    • CMS (Bonn Convention): Appendix I

    Major Threats

    • Collision with overhead power transmission lines (largest cause of mortality).
    • Habitat loss and fragmentation due to agriculture, infrastructure and renewable energy projects.
    • Predation of eggs and chicks by feral dogs and other predators.
    • Low reproductive rate (typically one egg per breeding season).

    Conservation Measures

    • National Conservation Action Plan for Great Indian Bustard (2013).
    • Species Recovery Programme under the Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats (IDWH) scheme.
    • Captive Breeding Centre at Jaisalmer for population augmentation.
    • Undergrounding or bird diverters on power lines in priority habitats following Supreme Court directions.
    • Habitat protection and predator management in key breeding areas.

    [2012] Which one of the following groups of animals belongs to the category of endangered species?
    (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

  • Drawing parallels between A.P., TN airport projects

    Why in News?

    With the Prime Minister set to inaugurate the Bhogapuram Greenfield International Airport in Andhra Pradesh on August 1, an analysis compared its execution with Tamil Nadu’s stalled Parandur airport project.

    Key Highlights

    • Bhogapuram Greenfield International Airport is scheduled for inauguration on 1 August 2026.
    • Parandur Greenfield Airport in Tamil Nadu continues to face delays due to land acquisition and rehabilitation concerns.
    • Land acquisition, compensation, and rehabilitation of affected families remain the principal bottlenecks in large greenfield infrastructure projects.
    • The comparison highlights the importance of timely clearances, stakeholder consultation, and fair compensation for successful infrastructure development.

    Greenfield Airport

    • A new airport developed from scratch on previously undeveloped land, unlike a brownfield airport, which expands or upgrades an existing airport.
    • In India, greenfield airports are approved under the Greenfield Airports Policy, 2008.
    • Approval is granted by the Ministry of Civil Aviation after assessing:
      • Demand and traffic potential
      • Site suitability
      • Environmental and statutory clearances
      • Financial viability
    • Airports are generally developed through public, private, or Public-Private Partnership (PPP) models.

    Value Addition

    • Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Civil Aviation.
    • Airport Development Agency: Airports Authority of India (AAI) provides technical support and develops many airports.
    • Constitutional Basis for Land Acquisition: Governed by the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (RFCTLARR) Act, 2013, which mandates fair compensation, rehabilitation, and social impact assessment.
    • Significance: Greenfield airports improve regional connectivity under the UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik) scheme, promote tourism, attract investment, and support balanced regional economic development.

    [2024] Consider the following airports:

    1. Donyi Polo Airport

    2. Kushinagar International Airport

    3. Vijayawada International Airport.

    In the recent past, which of the above have been constructed as Greenfield projects?

    (a) 1 and 2 only

    (b) 2 and 3 only

    (c) 1 and 3 only

    (d) 1, 2 and 3.

  • Nilekani to lead task force on exams: Modi

    Why in News?

    Prime Minister Modi constituted a six member high powered task force headed by Nandan Nilekani to recommend steps to secure India’s examination system, as the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026 is set to be introduced in Parliament.

    Key Highlights

    • The task force is headed by Nandan Nilekani and includes S. Somanath, Tapan Deka, V. Kamakoti, Anita Karwal, and Amrit Lal Meena.
    • It has been tasked with recommending measures to make the public examination system leak proof, transparent, secure, and technology driven.
    • The Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026 is scheduled to be introduced during the Monsoon Session of Parliament.
    • The proposed reforms seek to strengthen exam security, digital monitoring, accountability, and integrity in recruitment and entrance examinations.
    • Pralhad Joshi has assumed additional charge as Union Education Minister following the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan.

    Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024

    • Enacted to prevent unfair practices such as paper leaks, impersonation, and organised cheating in public examinations.
    • Covers examinations conducted by bodies such as: UPSC, SSC, RRBs, NTA, IBPS, and Other notified central recruitment agencies
    • Prescribes:
      • Imprisonment of 3 to 5 years and a fine up to ₹10 lakh for individuals involved in unfair means.
      • Imprisonment of 5 to 10 years and a fine of at least ₹1 crore for organised paper leak syndicates.
    • Offences are cognizable, non-bailable, and non-compoundable.

    [2024, GS2, 15 marks] What are the aims and objects of the recently passed and enforced, The Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024? Whether University/State Education Board examinations, too, are covered under the Act?”

    [2018] Consider the following statements:

    1. As per the right to education (RTE) Act, to be eligible for appointment as a teacher in a state, a person would be required to possess the minimum qualification laid down by the concerned State council of Teacher education.
    2. As per the RTE Act, for teaching primary classes, a candidate is required to pass a Teacher Eligibility Test conducted in accordance with the National Council of Teacher Education guidelines
    3. In India, more than 90 % of teacher education institutions are directly under the State Governments.

    Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

    [A] 1 and 2

    [B] 2 only

    [C] 1 and 3

    [D] 3 only

    1. Trump’s new forced labour tariffs face global pushback and legal questions

      Why in News?

      The United States’ new forced labour tariffs under Section 301, covering more than 60 countries, face legal pushback from Brazil and Australia over WTO compliance.

      Key Highlights

      • Tariffs are imposed under a Section 301 forced labour enforcement investigation, covering over 60 trading partners.
      • Brazil and Australia are contesting the tariffs’ compliance with WTO rules.
      • The dispute remains open, legally and diplomatically.

      Section 301 (U.S. Trade Act, 1974)

      • Empowers the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) to investigate and respond to unfair foreign trade practices.
      • Authorises the U.S. to impose tariffs or other trade restrictions if another country’s actions are found to burden or restrict U.S. commerce.
      • Frequently used in disputes involving intellectual property, market access, subsidies, and labour practices.

      World Trade Organization (WTO)

      • Established in 1995, succeeding the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), 1947.
      • Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.
      • Objective: Ensure rules-based, predictable, and non-discriminatory international trade.
      • Functions include administering trade agreements, resolving disputes, monitoring trade policies, and providing technical assistance.

      Value Addition

      • Most-Favoured-Nation (MFN) Principle (Article I, GATT): WTO members must treat all trading partners equally unless an exception applies.
      • Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU): Discourages unilateral trade retaliation and requires members to resolve disputes through the WTO mechanism.
      • Relevance for India: Increasing use of unilateral tariffs by major economies can affect export competitiveness and test the credibility of the multilateral trading system.

      [2018, GS2, 15 marks] What are the key areas of reform if the WTO has to survive in the present context of ‘Trade War’, especially keeping in mind the interest of India?”

    2. Rajasthan farmers object to GI tag for Unjha jeera and saunf

      Why in News?

      Rajasthan’s cumin and fennel farmers have objected to Geographical Indication tags granted to Gujarat’s ‘Unjha Jeera’ and ‘Unjha Fennel’ (saunf), arguing Unjha is a trading hub, not the growing region.

      Key Highlights

      1. The GI tags for ‘Unjha Jeera’ and ‘Unjha Fennel’ were registered in the name of Gujarat’s Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC), Unjha.
      2. Farmers from Rajasthan contend that a significant share of the crops is cultivated in Rajasthan, making the GI registration misleading.
      3. The Unjha APMC has defended the GI registrations, citing over 1,000 pages of scientific, historical, and commercial evidence submitted during the registration process.
      4. The dispute raises questions over the criteria for GI registration, particularly the link between a product’s reputation, production area, and marketing centre.

      Geographical Indication (GI) Tag

      • A Geographical Indication (GI) identifies goods that possess qualities, reputation, or characteristics essentially attributable to their geographical origin.
      • Governed by the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999.
      • Registration is granted by the Geographical Indications Registry, Chennai, under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).
      • Validity: 10 years, renewable indefinitely.
      • GI protection applies to agricultural products, natural products, handicrafts, manufactured goods, and foodstuffs.

      Value Addition

      • First GI tag in India: Darjeeling Tea (2004-05).
      • Benefits of GI: Protects producers from misuse, preserves traditional knowledge, enhances product value, promotes exports, and supports rural livelihoods.
      • Difference from Trademark: A GI belongs collectively to eligible producers from a specific region, whereas a trademark is an exclusive right owned by an individual or company.

      [2018] India enacted The Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999 in order to comply with the obligations to

      (a) ILO

      (b) IMF

      (c) UNCTAD

      (d) WTO

    3. Maritime sector posts remarkable growth

      Why in News?

      An analysis of India’s port sector found capacity utilisation at about 60%, against a global benchmark of 70%, as Sagarmala 2.0 continues to expand port linked infrastructure.

      Key Highlights

      1. Port capacity utilisation stands at roughly 60%, below the 70% global benchmark.
      2. Sagarmala 2.0 is the next phase of the Sagarmala Programme, aligned with the Maritime Amrit Kaal Vision (MAKV) 2047.
      3. MAKV 2047 targets positioning India as a global maritime innovation hub.

      Sagarmala Programme

      • Launched in 2015 by the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways.
      • Vision: Port-led development to accelerate economic growth and reduce logistics costs.
      • Four key pillars:
        • Port modernisation and new port development
        • Port connectivity enhancement
        • Port-led industrialisation
        • Coastal community development

      [2026] Consider the following statements with reference to the Sagarmala Programme of the Government of India:

      I. The Sagarmala Programme seeks to achieve port led economic growth through cost effective and sustainable coastal infrastructure.

      II. The success of the Sagarmala Programme is reflected in significant growth in coastal and inland waterway shipping, along with improved global port rankings.

      III. Sagarmala 2.0 aims to position India as a global maritime innovation hub aligned with Atmanirbhar Bharat and Viksit Bharat 2047 visions.

      Which of the following relationships among the above statements is/are correct?

      (a) 1 only

      (b) 1 and 2

      (c) 2 and 3

      (d) 3 only

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