Mains Ready By December. Smash Mains & Smash PYQ Admissions Open
Talk to Mentor

Civilsdaily

Search results for: “”

  • Childhood obesity deepens the nutrition challenge

    Childhood obesity deepens the nutrition challenge

    Why in the News

    The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Child Nutrition Global Report 2025 found that obesity has, for the first time, overtaken underweight as the most common form of malnutrition among school-aged children worldwide. The World Health Organization (WHO) has now issued its first-ever guidelines on childhood obesity. Low- and middle-income countries such as India face a double burden of malnutrition: undernutrition and obesity at once.

    What is childhood obesity, and why is it rising?

    1. What it is: Childhood obesity is excess body fat that harms a child’s health. Like underweight, it is malnutrition, because the diet is wrong in quality, not only quantity.
    2. Changing diets and habits: Children are shifting to foods high in fat and sugar and poor in variety, vitamins and micronutrients. They also play and travel less actively.
    3. Roots in early life: Inadequate prenatal, infant and child nutrition, followed by energy-dense (high-calorie), micronutrient-poor food and too little physical activity, sets children on this path.
    4. The takeaway: Obesity is no longer a marker of affluent societies, so nutrition policy can no longer focus on hunger alone.

    What has the WHO guideline and the new data shown?

    1. First-ever guideline: WHO’s guidelines cover integrated management of obesity, meaning several approaches used together, in children aged 29 days to under 10 years.
    2. Scope of advice: The recommendations cover diet, physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep, behaviour change, digital health tools, pharmacotherapy (drug treatment) and bariatric surgery (weight-loss surgery).
    3. Global count: About 188 million children worldwide live with obesity.
    4. South Asia’s jump: South Asia had the world’s lowest share of overweight children at the turn of the century. By 2022 that share had risen nearly fivefold in every age band.
    5. India’s projection: By 2030, India is projected to have over 27 million obese children and adolescents.

    Why is this a double burden, not a replacement?

    1. Unfinished agenda: India still battles communicable diseases (infections that spread between people) and undernutrition. It now also faces rising risk factors for non-communicable diseases (NCDs), including obesity at younger ages.
    2. Adult diseases in children: NCDs once seen in adults now appear in obese children, so screening must start younger:
      • type 2 diabetes;
      • cardiovascular disease (disease of the heart and blood vessels);
      • metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (fat build-up in the liver).
    3. Lost productive years: Complications such as chronic kidney disease, chronic liver disease and some obesity-driven cancers will appear in younger, productive ages.

    How should policy reshape the child’s environment?

    1. Obesogenic environment: Policy must target “an environment that promotes gaining weight and one that is not conducive to weight loss” within the home or school.
    2. Role of each government: The Union and State governments set the agenda and frame policy. Local and municipal governments adapt and implement it.

    Challenges

    1. Weak marketing controls: The food environment is the hardest area to fix, because promotion of unhealthy food on television and other media faces weak curbs.
    2. No front-of-package labelling: Packaged foods carry no simple front label telling buyers how much fat, sugar or salt they contain.
    3. Local variation: One national design misses sub-national and regional differences in ethnicity and culture.
    4. Cost of action: These interventions need increased capital investment.

    Way Forward

    1. School drinks curbs: Limit sweetened beverages at schools, alongside health education and early intervention programmes.
    2. Meal and obesity guidelines: Establish meal and obesity guidelines and promote physical activity.
    3. Labelling and marketing rules: The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) should notify front-of-package labelling and tighten curbs on food marketing.
    4. Sin taxes: Use sin taxes (higher taxes on unhealthy products) to fund specific public health interventions.

    Conclusion

    India’s nutrition policy must now serve both underfed and overfed children. Whether the food environment, above all marketing and labelling, is regulated is the measure of how seriously the shift is taken.

    Key numbers

    1. Global prevalence of childhood obesity: roughly one in 10 children.
    2. India’s projected share of the global burden (2030): about 11%.

    Government Initiatives on Nutrition and Healthy Lifestyles

    1. Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0: Supplementary nutrition through anganwadis (community childcare centres) to reduce stunting and wasting among young children and mothers.
    2. PM POSHAN: One hot cooked meal a day for school children, formerly the Mid-Day Meal, with School Nutrition Gardens.
    3. Eat Right India: FSSAI’s campaign for safe and healthy food, urging “Aaj Se Thoda Kam” (a little less salt, sugar and fat).
    4. Fit India Movement: A national movement promoting daily fitness to counter sedentary lifestyles.

    Matching Previous Year Question

    “[2022] Consider the following statements : 1. The India Sanitation Coalition is a platform to promote sustainable sanitation and is funded by the Government of India and the World Health Organization. 2. The National Institute of Urban Affairs is an apex body of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs in Government of India and provides innovative solutions to address the challenges of Urban India. 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 ANSWER: (b)”

  • In the crossfire: on India and the Saudi-Houthi conflict

    In the crossfire: on India and the Saudi-Houthi conflict

    Why in the News

    An Indian national has been killed in a Houthi attack on Saudi Arabia’s Dammam airport, as the conflict between Riyadh and Yemen’s Shia militants escalates. Indians are the kingdom’s largest expatriate community, so the widening war puts their safety and India’s position in West Asia at stake.

    How did the Saudi-Houthi conflict reach this point?

    1. What it is: Saudi Arabia is fighting the Houthis, a Shia militia holding parts of northern Yemen and its entire Red Sea coast. The conflict began with their takeover of Sana’a, Yemen’s capital, in 2014.
    2. Saudi intervention: Saudi Arabia began bombing Yemen a year later to drive the Houthis out. Years of bombing one of the poorest Arab countries proved counterproductive, as the Houthis grew stronger rather than weaker.
    3. Houthi consolidation: The Houthis won support among the tribes of northern Yemen and built a powerful territorial army and naval force.
    4. Ceasefire collapse: The 2022 ceasefire collapsed in July 2026 after Saudi Arabia bombed Sana’a airport to stop an Iranian plane carrying a Houthi delegation from landing.
    5. The takeaway: A decade of air power has failed to defeat a militia that can now strike deep inside Saudi Arabia.

    Why is Saudi Arabia now so exposed?

    1. Escalation: The Houthis have attacked Saudi critical infrastructure, including oil facilities and airports. They have also launched a ground offensive against Saudi-backed forces in Yemen.
    2. Leadership test: The attacks are the biggest security challenge in decades for Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the main architect of the war on Yemen.
    3. Lost deterrence: Massive Saudi air strikes have neither defeated the Houthis nor restored the kingdom’s deterrence, the threat of punishment that stops an enemy from attacking.
    4. Few exits: The kingdom’s wealth, natural resources, infrastructure and fragile palace politics leave it exposed to missile and drone attacks. It has few good options for a way out.

    What is the human cost for Indians?

    1. Casualties: Since the fighting resumed in July, at least two Indians have been killed and 14 wounded.
    2. Yacht incident: The Houthis claimed that Saudi forces targeted a yacht carrying 14 Indians near Yemen’s Zuqar island in the Red Sea, with rescue operations under way.
    3. Stranded pilgrims: Flight disruptions have left thousands of Indian pilgrims stranded.

    Why must India go beyond solidarity with Riyadh?

    1. Current stance: India has condemned the Houthi attacks and says it “stands in solidarity” with Saudi Arabia.
    2. Wider risk: With no end in sight to the fighting and a high chance of Israel and the US resuming strikes on Iran, further instability would make India’s choices harder.
    3. Linked crises: Peace in the Persian Gulf first requires an end to the attacks on Iran, so backing one side alone cannot protect Indian interests in the region.

    Challenges

    1. Evacuation at scale: Moving thousands of pilgrims and workers out of a conflict zone needs aircraft, ships and host country clearances at short notice.
    2. Economic exposure: Saudi Arabia is a major source of remittances and crude oil for India, so instability there hits household incomes and fuel supply.
    3. Shipping route: Houthi control of Yemen’s Red Sea coast threatens the sea lane that carries much of India’s trade with Europe.
    4. Balancing act: India must keep working ties with both Saudi Arabia and Iran, and open support for one risks its ties with the other.

    Way Forward

    1. Contingency plan: India should prepare a contingency plan for worst-case scenarios across the Gulf.
    2. Pilgrims first: The immediate priority is to evacuate stranded Indian pilgrims. Eg. Operation Kaveri evacuated Indians from Sudan in 2023.
    3. Stronger position: India should articulate a clearer stand in favour of regional stability.
    4. Regional diplomacy: India should work with Arab countries and Tehran to push for a diplomatic settlement of the Iran crisis.

    Conclusion

    Solidarity with Riyadh protects a key partnership but does not by itself protect Indians caught in a widening war. What remains open is whether New Delhi moves from statements to evacuation planning and active diplomacy before strikes on Iran resume.

    Back2Basics: The Houthis

    1. Who they are: The Houthis, formally Ansar Allah, follow the Zaydi branch of Shia Islam. Zaydis make up about a third of Yemen’s people.
    2. Iran link: They are part of the network of Iran-backed armed groups that includes Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
    3. Red Sea attacks: They have attacked commercial shipping near the Bab-el-Mandeb strait. The strait carries nearly 12% of global maritime traffic.

    Matching Previous Year Question

    “No direct PYQ traced in the provided files. Thematic PYQ: [2025, GS2, 10 marks] With the waning of globalization, post-Cold War world is becoming a site of sovereign nationalism. Elucidate.”

  • Oskar Klein medal for physicist Ashoke Sen, first Indian to be honoured with top prize

    Oskar Klein medal for physicist Ashoke Sen, first Indian to be honoured with top prize

    Why in the News

    For the first time, an Indian has won the Oskar Klein medal, one of the highest honours in theoretical physics. Ashoke Sen, ICTS-Infosys Madhava Chair Professor at the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences (ICTS), Bengaluru, received the medal for his work on string theory.

    What is the Oskar Klein medal?

    1. What it is: The medal honours leading work in theoretical physics and carries an award lecture by the winner. It has been awarded every year since 1988.
    2. Who awards it: Stockholm University and the Nobel Committee for Physics of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences award it jointly.
    3. Sen’s lecture: As part of the award, Sen delivered a lecture titled ‘Gravity from Strings and Strings from Gravity’ at Stockholm University.
    4. The takeaway: An India-based physicist now holds an honour awarded jointly by the Nobel Committee for Physics.

    What is Sen’s work in string theory?

    1. String theory: It pictures the smallest particles as tiny vibrating strings, like one guitar string playing different notes, and tries to reconcile quantum theory (physics of the very small) with gravitation.
    2. Grand unified theory: String theory seeks a grand unified theory explaining all particles and forces at every scale, from subatomic particles to galaxies.
    3. S-duality: Sen did pioneering work on this symmetry. It links a theory with strong interactions to one with weak interactions, so hard problems in one can be solved through easier ones in the other.
    4. Black holes and string fields: Sen made a precision count of black hole entropy (a measure of the hidden internal states of a black hole). His advances in string field theory shaped modern string theory.
    5. Earlier honours: Sen has earlier won the Dirac medal and the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics.

    How does the medal fit a run of honours for Indian physicists?

    1. Deepak Dhar: The theoretical physicist was named winner of the Dirac medal earlier this year, the second Indian after Sen to win it.
    2. Two top medals: Dhar, also awarded the Boltzmann Medal a few years ago, is the only Indian to hold both the Dirac and Boltzmann medals.
    3. Jainendra Jain: Last year the Indian-origin American physicist, associated with several Indian institutions, was named one of the winners of the Wolf Prize.
    4. Standing of these prizes: All of them rank among the most prestigious honours in physics, considered just below the Nobel Prize.

    Conclusion

    Indian theoretical physics has moved from isolated honours to a steady run of the field’s top prizes, with Sen’s medal the latest. Whether that recognition is matched by deeper support for theoretical research in Indian institutions remains open.

    Back2Basics: International Centre for Theoretical Sciences (ICTS)

    1. What it is: A centre of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), located in Bengaluru.
    2. Founded: Established in 2007 to promote research in the theoretical sciences.
    3. Parent funding: TIFR is a national institute funded by the Department of Atomic Energy.
    4. What it does: It hosts long research programmes, schools and discussion meetings that bring international scientists to India.

    Matching Previous Year Question

    “[2017] The terms `Event Horizon’, ‘Singularity’, `String Theory’ and `Standard Model’ are sometimes seen in the news in the context of (a) Observation and understanding of the Universe (b) Study of the solar and the lunar eclipses (c) Placing satellites in the orbit of the Earth (d) Origin and evolution of living organisms on the Earth ANSWER: (a)”

  • On IT, India had early advantage. It hasn’t caught up with AI era

    Why in the News

    Anthropic suspended access to two of its frontier artificial intelligence (AI) models to comply with United States (US) Department of Commerce export controls. It restored access within three weeks. The episode shows frontier AI is now treated much like nuclear technology, and India, an early leader in IT services, has no frontier model of its own.

    What is frontier AI, and who controls access to it?

    1. What it is: Frontier AI means the most advanced general-purpose AI models, built by a handful of firms. Using them is like renting a service whose switch sits abroad.
    2. Control of access: Countries that build these models can turn access on or off. The US and China have their own; India does not.
    3. The takeaway: Without home-grown models, India’s use of the most advanced AI depends on another country’s export policy.

    Why did India’s IT lead not carry into AI?

    1. Low R&D: India spends about 0.84% of gross domestic product (GDP) on research and development (R&D), far below China and the US, so it lacks a base for frontier AI.
    2. Services model under threat: Indian firms prospered by customising and maintaining software built abroad. AI can now write, test and maintain code itself, which strikes at India’s labour advantage.
    3. Entry-level jobs: An Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) survey of 651 IT firms found 55% reporting a fall in entry-level employment, with senior-level jobs largely stable.
    4. Resilience so far: Global capability centres (offshore units of multinationals) are booming, and AI-linked hiring still exceeds layoffs.

    Is the IndiaAI Mission enough?

    1. IndiaAI Mission: The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) launched it in 2024 to build India’s AI ecosystem.
    2. Shared compute: Its shared computing pool has grown to over 45,000 GPUs (graphics processing units, the chips that train AI), offered at subsidised rates to start-ups and researchers.
    3. Scale gap: OpenAI’s projected 2026 costs for training and running its models, $45.8 billion, are not directly comparable with India’s budget but show the resource gap.
    4. Ecosystem, not just money: China’s experience shows the task is to build a research and innovation ecosystem for home-grown models, not simply to spend more.

    Does hosting data centres and chip units build AI capability?

    1. Policy shift: Policy now focuses on attracting data centres, which matter for training domestic models and for data sovereignty (keeping data under Indian law).
    2. Thin gains: Hardware is imported and most jobs end with construction, so the gain is small if the models running there are foreign-owned.
    3. Incentives on offer: Foreign cloud providers serving global operations from Indian data centres get a tax holiday (tax exemption) until 2047; States offer cheap land, water and electricity.
    4. Power demand: AI data centres are projected to add about 26.3 GW (gigawatts) of demand by FY32. They need round-the-clock power, which intermittent renewables cannot supply without costly storage.
    5. Chip units: Of the 12 approved semiconductor facilities, nine only assemble, test and package chips made elsewhere. Hosting alone risks locking India into the lowest-value-added link, the stage of the chain that earns least.

    Challenges

    1. Night-time power gap: Until storage and firm power exist, coal partly fills the gap, so stretched grids and other consumers bear the cost.
    2. No leading-edge chips: None of the approved facilities makes leading-edge AI chips, which would need a generational leap in manufacturing.
    3. Investor caution: Demanding too much in return for incentives can deter investors.

    Way Forward

    1. Compute-access guarantees: Require data centre investors receiving state support to guarantee compute access for Indian users.
    2. Sovereign cloud capacity: Secure cloud capacity under Indian control as a condition of incentives.
    3. Local linkages: Tie support to local linkages in hardware and services, so infrastructure builds domestic capability.

    Conclusion

    In its “landlord role”, India hosts infrastructure for models built elsewhere, so support without conditions subsidises foreign firms instead of building Indian capability. The test is whether incentive deals attach such conditions without driving investors away.

    Key numbers

    1. R&D spending, FY24 comparison: China 2.6% and the US 3.4% of GDP.
    2. IndiaAI Mission budget: about $1.2 billion over five years.
    3. Anthropic’s projected 2026 costs: $19 billion.

    Government Initiatives on AI and Semiconductors

    1. BharatGen: A government-funded multimodal large language model for public services and Indian use cases.
    2. Digital India Bhashini: Speech and translation tools across the 22 Scheduled Languages.
    3. India Semiconductor Mission 2.0: Builds on a ₹76,000 crore framework, with fiscal support of up to 50% for fabs (chip factories) and chip design.

    Matching Previous Year Question

    “[2026, GS3, 15 marks] What is agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI)? Explain its working. Describe its applications with suitable examples. Discuss the advantages, risks and challenges associated with agentic AI systems.”

  • UN needs a chief who can restore its moral authority

    Why in the News

    The United Nations (UN) is preparing to choose its 10th Secretary-General (UNSG) to succeed António Guterres, as wars, artificial intelligence (AI) and climate change strain institutions designed for 1945. The choice decides whether the UN keeps managing the consequences of global disorder or begins confronting its causes.

    What is the Secretary-General meant to be?

    1. What the office is: The UNSG, the UN’s chief administrative officer, is appointed by the General Assembly on the Security Council’s recommendation (Article 97 of the UN Charter). With no army, it works through persuasion.
    2. Hammarskjöld’s mission: Dag Hammarskjöld, a Swedish economist and diplomat, served as UNSG and died in a 1961 plane crash near Ndola, in present-day Zambia. He was on a mission to negotiate an end to fighting in Congo.
    3. The takeaway: His death fixed an image of the UNSG as an independent diplomat placing moral authority between nations and war. That role, moving toward danger rather than waiting for catastrophe, is now badly needed and under threat.

    Why is the UN struggling to keep up?

    1. Record conflict: State-based conflicts in 2025 reached their highest number since 1946.
    2. Changed nature of war: Modern wars draw in outside states, new technology and great power rivalries.
    3. Rules lagging: AI is reshaping security and economic power faster than governments can set safeguards. Climate commitments remain inadequate.

    What should the next UNSG do on AI and climate?

    1. Risks of AI: The technology that speeds discovery can also spread disinformation, automate cyberattacks, intensify surveillance and weaken human control over military decisions.
    2. Scientific panel: The UN has created a 40-member Independent International Scientific Panel on AI, but it can only advise, not make rules that bind states.
    3. Enforceable baseline: The next UNSG should seek a few enforceable minimum global rules:
      • mandatory safety evaluations for high-risk systems;
      • disclosure of serious AI incidents;
      • reliable identification of synthetic media (AI-generated images, audio and video);
      • meaningful human control over decisions involving lethal force.
    4. Climate accountability: Through country-level assessments of emissions, adaptation and financing, the UNSG can expose the gap between what countries promise and what they do. Summits then become implementation reviews that check delivery.
    5. Adaptation finance gap: International public finance for adaptation (measures to live with climate impacts) reached only $26 billion in 2023, far below what developing countries need.

    Can a UN built in 1945 keep its legitimacy?

    1. Frozen Council: The UN Security Council (UNSC) still reserves permanent membership and the veto (the power to block any decision) for five states, reflecting the settlement of the Second World War.
    2. Africa left out: Africa’s 54 countries are about 28% of UN membership, yet the continent has no permanent seat, which weakens the legitimacy of UN decisions.

    Challenges

    1. Veto over the choice: Because the Security Council recommends the candidate, any permanent member can block a UNSG likely to confront it.
    2. Persuasion without power: The office cannot enforce, so results depend on states choosing to cooperate.
    3. Funding squeeze: Late payment of dues leaves the Secretariat short. Eg. Arrears hit a record $1.57 billion in April 2026.

    Way Forward

    1. UN mediation corps: Create a permanent corps of diplomats, regional specialists, ceasefire negotiators and humanitarian access experts that deploys as tensions rise.
    2. Open selection: Use General Assembly dialogues with candidates to test each one’s plan on AI, climate and mediation.
    3. African permanent seats: Expand the Security Council’s permanent category to include Africa.

    Conclusion

    The UN’s weakness lies less in a shortage of bodies than in an office holding moral authority without power over the states that choose it. Whether the permanent members accept a Secretary-General willing to confront them on war, AI and climate is the test of this selection.

    Key numbers

    1. State-based conflicts (2025): 65, across 35 countries.
    2. Adaptation need: $310 to 365 billion a year for developing countries by 2035.
    3. Youngest UNSG: Hammarskjöld, appointed in 1953 at 47.

    About Reform of the United Nations

    1. UN80 Initiative: Launched by the Secretary-General in 2025 to modernise the UN through workstreams on efficiency, mandate review and structural change.
    2. Amendment route: Article 108 of the UN Charter requires two-thirds of members both to vote for an amendment in the General Assembly and to ratify it, including every permanent member.
    3. Competing models: The G4 (India, Brazil, Germany, Japan) seeks new permanent seats. The Uniting for Consensus group, including Pakistan and Italy, wants only new non-permanent seats.
    4. Ezulwini Consensus: Africa’s common position demands at least two permanent seats with the veto.

    Matching Previous Year Question

    “[2026] Consider the following statements about platforms for multilateral co-operation: 1. The ‘Colombo Process’ is a regional consultative process in which member states take binding decisions by consensus. 2. The ‘Abu Dhabi Dialogue’ is a voluntary non-binding consultative process among Asian countries of labour origin and destination to facilitate regional cooperation on contractual labour mobility. 3. The ‘Global Forum for Migration and Development’, created upon the proposal of a former UN Secretary General, is a voluntary forum whose decisions are non-binding. (a) 1, 2 and 3 (b) 1 and 3 only (c) 2 and 3 only (d) 2 only ANSWER: C”

  • A downturn in India-US ties, but all is not lost

    A downturn in India-US ties, but all is not lost

    Why in the News

    Hopes that Donald Trump’s 2024 election victory would bring a golden age in India-US ties have given way to an overt downturn, driven by tariffs, migration curbs and US warmth towards Pakistan. Beneath the strain, trade, defence and technology cooperation keep growing, so the relationship retains a base for recovery.

    What did India expect from Trump’s second term?

    1. A long-built partnership: The relationship had been built assiduously over 25 years, and the US was once described as India’s “natural ally”.
    2. The Compact agenda: During the Prime Minister’s US visit in February 2025, the two sides set an ambitious agenda under the US-India COMPACT (Catalyzing Opportunities for Military Partnership, Accelerated Commerce and Technology).
    3. Sectors covered: The agenda spanned defence, trade, critical and emerging technologies, nuclear energy, critical minerals, space and Indo-Pacific affairs.
    4. The takeaway: Trump’s brinkmanship, pushing disputes to the edge to extract concessions, has turned this long-built partnership into one marked by an enormous trust deficit.

    What has soured the ties?

    1. Weaponised trade: The US has resorted to an unprecedented weaponisation of trade, using tariffs as pressure. Eg. Harsh tariffs on India for its energy imports from Russia.
    2. Pakistan tilt: Washington has shown unexplained warmth towards Pakistan.
    3. Migration curbs: Republican focus on immigration has hit Indians on H-1B visas (US work visas for skilled professionals). The US Vice President called H-1B holders “indentured servants”.
    4. Public mood: The result is growing unease and distrust in India, with little sympathy for Trump before the US midterms of November 3.

    Why is US pressure over Russian oil seen as a double standard?

    1. Energy shock: The US war against Iran disrupted critical energy routes such as the Strait of Hormuz and plunged the world into an energy crisis. Middle East oil output remains down.
    2. Global spillover: China’s scramble for oil squeezed markets further, and soaring inflation drove protests in several European cities.
    3. Imports from Russia: India avoided such a crisis by importing energy for its 1.4 billion people from Russia and others. The US Congress and the White House seek to punish it for this.
    4. Unequal treatment: The US threatened India with 100% punitive tariffs. Its European allies got waivers and exemptions.
    5. US-Russia deal: The US itself agreed this month to import 36 million barrels of Russian diesel to lower domestic fuel prices.

    What keeps the relationship on track?

    1. Trade growth: Bilateral trade grew 12% last year to reach $240 billion.
    2. Investment pledges: Major American artificial intelligence (AI) companies have pledged close to $70 billion of investment in India. Micron opened its first chip assembly and test facility in India on the day the US attacked Iran.
    3. Strategic cooperation: The defence partnership is robust, and cooperation is growing in space, critical technologies and minerals, and intelligence-sharing.
    4. Trade target: The US Ambassador to India targets $500 billion in bilateral trade by 2030.

    Challenges

    1. Tariff threats: Punitive tariff threats over Russian oil force India to weigh energy security against access to the US market.
    2. Hyphenation with Pakistan: US warmth to Pakistan revives fears that Washington treats India and Pakistan alike. Eg. US claims of stopping Operation Sindoor.
    3. Diaspora under strain: Visa curbs and racist outbursts hurt the Indian diaspora, long a bridge between the two countries.

    Way Forward

    1. End weaponisation: India should press the Prime Minister’s position that the “weaponisation of trade, technology and sea routes” must stop.
    2. Full trade agreement: Both sides should turn the interim trade arrangement into a full bilateral trade agreement to remove tariff uncertainty.
    3. Ring-fence cooperation: Defence, technology and intelligence cooperation should be shielded from trade disputes.

    Conclusion

    India-US ties now run on two tracks, with trade and migration disputes on the surface and growing defence, technology and investment links underneath. The midterm verdict will show whether Washington’s pressure eases enough for the second track to set the tone.

    India-US Relations

    1. Defence foundations: Four foundational agreements on military information security, logistics, secure communications and geospatial data (GSOMIA, LEMOA, COMCASA and BECA) allow the two militaries to operate together.
    2. Defence framework: Under the COMPACT, a 10-year Defence Framework expands cooperation, including co-production of Javelin anti-tank guided missiles.
    3. Technology partnership: The Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET) has been rebranded as TRUST (Transforming the Relationship Utilizing Strategic Technology), covering semiconductors, AI and quantum computing.
    4. Interim trade deal: An interim trade deal cut effective US tariffs on Indian goods from 50% to 18%.

    Matching Previous Year Question

    “[2010] In the context of bilateral trade negotiations between India and European Union, what is the difference between European commission and European Council? 1. European Commission represents the EU in trade negotiations whereas European Council participated in the legislation of matters pertaining to economic policies of the European Union 2. European Commission comprises the heads of State of govt. of member countries whereas the European Council comprises of the persons nominated by European Parliament 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 ANSWER: (d)”

  • Falling short

    Why in the News

    US Secretary of State Marco Rubio‘s three-day visit, his second to India in five months, ended with no agreements announced and no joint press address. New Delhi had hoped for a reset in ties battered by two years of uncertainty over the Trump administration’s actions, and the visit fell short.

    Why did the timing of the visit raise hopes?

    1. Political calendar: The visit came just ahead of the US midterm elections, the midpoint of the US President’s second term. At this point an incumbent usually works on his legacy and looks for partners abroad.
    2. A likely contender: The Secretary of State is himself expected to contend for the next US presidency.
    3. The takeaway: A visit at this moment looked like a chance to repair ties, which is why its thin outcome stands out.

    What did New Delhi want from the visit?

    1. Trade deal: Positive moves towards concluding the Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA).
    2. Sanctions relief: Reassurance on US sanctions linked to India’s import of Russian oil.
    3. Leaders’ meetings: Preparations for the US President’s meetings with the Prime Minister at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Manila and the G-20 summit in Miami.
    4. Quad Summit and presidential visit: Plans for the Quad Summit and a date for the US President’s India visit. India has been trying to host the Quad Summit on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit.
    5. Gulf talks: The External Affairs Minister’s invitation let the Secretary of State meet the UAE Foreign Minister on the Gulf situation and on restoring energy security and connectivity.

    Why did the visit come up short?

    1. Mumbai, not Delhi: The itinerary covered Mumbai and the Reliance refinery at Jamnagar but not New Delhi. The US Ambassador announced this itinerary, and the Opposition used it to question the visit’s real purpose.
    2. Energy pitch: The Jamnagar stop fed speculation about major energy deals, as the Secretary of State pressed India to buy more American and US-licensed Venezuelan oil.
    3. Many visits, little movement: His two visits, and more than six US visits by the External Affairs Minister under this administration, have not settled the disputes.

    Can talk of “extraordinary” alignment survive the irritants?

    1. Unaddressed disputes: Issues on trade, tariffs, H-1B (US work visas for skilled professionals) restrictions and anti-immigrant measures remain unaddressed.
    2. Indian grievances: The US narrative on Operation Sindoor (2025), growing US ties with Pakistan, and US rhetoric on India’s economy, diaspora and Russian oil trade have added to India’s unhappiness.
    3. Symbolic goodwill: Both ministers attended the “Freedom 250” event in Mumbai, as they had at the 250th anniversary celebrations of US Independence Day in Delhi in May.
    4. US claim: The Secretary of State said no two countries agree on everything, but called US-India alignment on core issues of national interest “extraordinary”.

    Challenges

    1. Tariff uncertainty: Pending trade terms and sanctions threats over Russian oil keep Indian exporters unsure of access to the US market.
    2. Pressure on energy choices: US pushing of its own and Venezuelan oil narrows India’s freedom to pick suppliers on price.
    3. Pakistan hyphenation: US warmth towards Pakistan revives fears that Washington will treat India and Pakistan alike. Eg. US claims of having stopped Operation Sindoor.
    4. Migration curbs: Visa restrictions and anti-immigrant measures hurt the Indian diaspora, long a bridge between the two countries.

    Way Forward

    1. Close the trade deal: Both governments should conclude the BTA to end tariff uncertainty.
    2. Fix leaders’ dates: The two sides should use the Manila and Miami summits to set dates for the Quad Summit and the US President’s visit.
    3. Energy on commercial terms: India should buy US energy where prices compete, without giving up other suppliers.
    4. Concrete outcomes: The Secretary of State should turn talk of extraordinary alignment into concrete outcomes, so ties move past the difficulties of recent years.

    Conclusion

    The visit showed that symbolic events and warm words cannot substitute for settled outcomes on trade, energy and migration. What to watch is whether the coming leaders’ summits deliver a trade deal and a date for the US President’s visit.

    Back2Basics: India-US Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA)

    1. Launch: The two countries agreed to negotiate the BTA during the Prime Minister’s visit to Washington in February 2025.
    2. Target: The Mission 500 goal aims at bilateral trade of half a trillion dollars by 2030.
    3. Interim deal: An interim trade deal cut effective US tariffs on Indian goods from 50% to 18%. India agreed to significantly reduce its purchases of Russian crude.

    Matching Previous Year Question

    “No direct PYQ traced in the provided files. Thematic PYQ: [2025, GS2, 10 marks] India–Africa digital partnership is achieving mutual respect, co-development and long-term institutional partnerships. Elaborate.”

  • AI tools to be used to verify attendance in jobs scheme

    AI tools to be used to verify attendance in jobs scheme

    Why in the News

    Attendance checks under the rural jobs programme are moving from face authentication, which was beaten by photographing photographs, to a multi-layered artificial intelligence (AI) verification system that holds back wages until suspicious entries are cleared. The Union Rural Development Minister has announced an upgraded National Mobile Monitoring System (NMMS) for Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G).

    What is the NMMS, and why was face authentication not enough?

    1. What it is: The NMMS is a mobile application that records attendance through morning and afternoon photographs at the worksite. It works like a digital muster roll (a worksite’s attendance register) signed with a photo.
    2. Why face authentication came: The Ministry added face authentication in March 2026, under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 (MGNREGA), to answer concerns over fake attendance.
    3. What went wrong: Fraud continued at many worksites in several forms:
      • photo-to-photo capture instead of live work images;
      • recorded worker counts that did not match the actual count;
      • mismatches in the gender composition of workers;
      • the same photograph appearing in several muster rolls;
      • different workers in the morning and afternoon photographs.
    4. The takeaway: A check that matches a face, without proving a live person at the site, still lets wages flow for work that never happened.

    What does the upgraded system add?

    1. Anti-tampering: The new version carries safeguards against cloning (copying the app or a worker’s identity) and tampering.
    2. Liveness detection: The camera checks that a real, live worker stands before it, not a dummy image or an old photograph.
    3. Regional calibration: AI-based face verification has been adjusted so that it works across different States and geographical regions.
    4. Photo de-duplication: An AI-based de-duplication module flags suspicious or repeated photographs.
    5. Payment hold: Where an entry is flagged, the wage list and the Fund Transfer Order (FTO) are withheld automatically until checks are complete. The FTO is the order that releases wages to workers’ accounts.

    How are genuine workers protected?

    1. Offline attendance: Where a worksite has no network connectivity, attendance can be recorded offline.
    2. Exception mechanism: An authorised exception applies when face authentication fails for elderly workers or persons with disabilities, or when a phone develops technical problems.
    3. Stated aim: The government’s stated priority is to protect workers’ wages and ensure public funds are used transparently and for their intended purpose.

    Challenges

    1. Wrongful rejection: Face matching can fail on ageing faces, poor light or low-end phones, so genuine workers risk losing wages.
    2. Payment delays: Withholding a whole wage list over flagged entries can delay pay for every worker on it, not only the suspect ones.
    3. Biometric privacy: Storing the face data of crores of workers raises concerns under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023.
    4. New loopholes: Offline and exception routes, needed for fairness, can become fresh channels for fake entries if no one audits them.
    5. Work quality unchecked: Proving presence at a worksite does not show that the work was useful or correctly measured.

    Way Forward

    1. Time-bound review: Programme officers should clear flagged entries within a fixed number of days, so wages are not held indefinitely.
    2. Split the wage list: Release payments for clean entries separately from the flagged ones.
    3. Social audits: Gram Sabhas should audit offline and exception entries, which the software cannot verify.
    4. Publish failure rates: The Ministry should publish State-wise rates of failed face checks, so that faulty verification is corrected.

    Conclusion

    Attendance fraud has outrun each earlier fix, and the upgrade shifts the check from recognising a face to proving a live worker at the site. The test is whether it cuts fake entries without holding back wages owed to genuine workers.

    Back2Basics: VB-G RAM G

    1. What it is: The VB-G RAM G Act, 2025 replaced MGNREGA, and the new mission came into force in July 2026. The Ministry of Rural Development administers it.
    2. Guarantee: Rural households are guaranteed 125 days a year of unskilled manual work, up from 100 days under MGNREGA.
    3. Funding: States now bear about 40% of the cost, against about 10% under MGNREGA.
    4. Seasonal pause: States can notify a 60-day pause in work during peak sowing and harvest seasons.

    Matching Previous Year Question

    “[2019] The Service Area Approach was implemented under the purview of (a) Integrated Rural Programme (b) Lead Bank Scheme (c) Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (d) National Skill Development Mission ANSWER: (b)”

  • SC backs voters’ right to prosecute candidates

    Why in the News

    A false or concealed nomination affidavit can now be taken to court on a complaint by any private citizen, not only by a public servant or a competent authority. A two judge Bench of the Supreme Court has held that no law confines such complaints to officials, giving the citizen-voter a direct way to enforce honest disclosure by candidates.

    What is a false affidavit offence, and why does it matter?

    1. What the affidavit is: Every candidate files a sworn personal affidavit with the nomination, declaring assets, educational qualifications and criminal antecedents. It works like a sworn job application read by the voter.
    2. Why it exists: The affidavits are part of the legislative effort to keep elections pure and democracy healthy. Voters must be educated and well informed about the candidates seeking their vote.
    3. The offence: Filing false details or hiding facts to mislead voters is punishable under Section 125-A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 (RPA), with up to six months’ jail, a fine, or both.
    4. Nature of the offence: It is non-cognisable, so the police cannot investigate or arrest without a magistrate’s order, and bailable, so the accused has a right to bail.
    5. The takeaway: An affidavit is only as useful as its accuracy, so the question of who may complain about a false one decides whether disclosure has teeth.

    What did the Court decide about who can complain?

    1. The procedural bar: Section 195 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPC) allows a court to take cognisance (formally take up a case) of certain offences only on a complaint by a public servant.
    2. The holding: The Bench held that this restriction does not apply to Section 125-A. No court is barred from taking up the offence on a complaint by a private person.
    3. Legislative intent: Had Parliament wanted only public servants to complain about false affidavits, it could have amended Section 195 CrPC to say so.
    4. No limiting provision: No enactment says only a public servant may lodge a Section 125-A complaint. The Court said this absence strengthens its reading.

    Why does the ruling matter for electoral politics?

    1. Standing for voters: The ruling gives the vigilant citizen-voter locus standi (the legal right to bring a case) to act directly against dishonesty in electoral politics.
    2. Scrutiny from day one: Transparency now begins at the nomination stage, before a vote is cast, and no longer depends on an official choosing to complain.

    Challenges

    1. Light penalty: The maximum punishment under Section 125-A is small set against the gain of winning a seat by hiding facts.
    2. Frivolous complaints: Open standing lets rivals file politically motivated complaints to harass candidates during a campaign.
    3. Burden on the complainant: A private complainant must gather proof of hidden assets or cases without a police investigation.
    4. Slow trials: Criminal cases against elected representatives often outlast the term they were elected for.
    5. No truth check at scrutiny: Returning Officers check whether an affidavit is complete, not whether its contents are true.

    Way Forward

    1. Stiffer penalty: Parliament should raise the jail term for a false affidavit to at least two years, as the Law Commission’s 244th Report (2014) recommended.
    2. Time-bound trials: Special courts for cases against legislators should decide Section 125-A complaints within a fixed period.
    3. Data cross-checks: The Election Commission of India (ECI) should match declared assets against income tax records and publish mismatches.
    4. Early screening: Magistrates should test a complaint’s documentary basis before issuing summons, so that harassment complaints fail early.

    Conclusion

    The ruling moves the enforcement of candidate disclosure from officials to voters themselves. Whether it changes candidates’ behaviour depends on courts deciding such complaints quickly and on a penalty heavy enough to outweigh the gain from concealment.

    Back2Basics: Candidate affidavit (Form 26)

    1. Legal basis: Section 33A of the RPA requires the disclosure, made in an affidavit in Form 26 filed with the nomination paper.
    2. Origin: The duty traces to Union of India v. Association for Democratic Reforms (2002). That judgment recognised the voter’s right to know a candidate’s background.
    3. Party disclosure: Political parties must also publish their candidates’ criminal records on their websites and in newspapers.
    4. Voter access: The ECI’s Know Your Candidate app lets voters read these declarations.

    Matching Previous Year Question

    “[2020] Consider the following statements: 1. According to the Constitution of India, a person who is eligible to vote can be made a minister in a State for six months even if he/she is not a member of the Legislature of that State. 2. According to the Representation of People Act, 1951, a person convicted of a criminal offence and sentenced to imprisonment for five years is permanently disqualified from contesting an election even after his release from prison. 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 ANSWER: (d)”

  • SIR needs reform. But let’s go by numbers, not protestors’ slogans

    Why in the News

    Claims that 13 to 14 crore voters were deleted in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) come down to about 1 crore wrongly removed, once those never on the rolls are counted out. In the nine States with final rolls, home to three in five Indian adults, the rolls fall 7.1 crore short of the adult population, mostly young adults who had never registered.

    What does disenfranchisement actually mean here?

    1. What the SIR is: A house to house check of every roll entry by booth level officers, replacing the routine annual revision.
    2. What the Constitution requires: Article 326 sets three conditions: Indian citizenship, the age of eighteen and ordinary residence. Anyone meeting them is entitled to registration.
    3. What disenfranchisement is: It is the gap between the final roll and an expected roll, meaning one listing everyone who would normally register and no one else.
    4. The takeaway: Measuring deletions against all adults counts people who never registered as though they had been removed, which inflates about one crore wrongful removals into seven crore.

    How large is the shortfall once the unregistered are counted?

    1. Adults against names: The nine States hold 59.9 crore adults against 52.8 crore names on the final rolls.
    2. The young who never registered: On the Election Commission’s own rolls before the revision, four in ten young adults in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar were unregistered, 5.2 crore across the nine States.
    3. Older non-registrants: Another 1.5% of adults are older people who never registered, or who moved and never registered again.
    4. The expected roll: Those groups put 6.1 crore adults off the roll in the normal course, so the expected roll is 53.8 crore.

    Were the rolls clean before the revision?

    1. Names the rolls carried: Before the revision the nine States had 58.6 crore names, nearly 5 crore more than a clean roll holds.
    2. What the surplus was: The difference was the dead, the departed and the duplicated, which an intensive revision exists to remove.
    3. A critic concedes: One author of the higher estimate now accepts that the old rolls left out up to 10% of adults, and that most deletions are legitimate.
    4. Where the roll overshoots: Bihar’s final roll holds 7.4 crore names against 6.8 crore expected, largely migrants working elsewhere who stay registered at home.

    What does voluntary registration look like elsewhere?

    1. A roll never matches the population: Where registration is voluntary, the roll always falls short of the adults, and nobody calls that disenfranchisement.
    2. Canada: 4% to 7% of eligible Canadians are missing from the lists.
    3. Britain: 11% to 14% of Britons are missing.
    4. United States: A quarter of American voting age citizens are not on the rolls.

    Challenges

    1. Haste before elections: The revision was run quickly, often just before State elections, leaving little time for corrections.
    2. Paperwork on the poorest: Document demands and discrepancy notices over a misspelt name fell on poor and migrant voters, those least able to answer.
    3. Unequal impact: The discrepancy rules fell hardest on identifiable communities. Eg. Muslims in Murshidabad and Malda.
    4. Appointments law: The 2023 law on appointing Election Commissioners lets the government effectively choose them, which feeds doubt about its impartiality.

    Way Forward

    1. Burden on the state: Where citizenship is doubted the state should prove its case before a tribunal, not ask a registered citizen to prove it again.
    2. Publish the removals: The Election Commission should publish the national post-revision roll, and removals by reason, State and booth.
    3. Settle the passport question: The Commission and the Ministry of External Affairs should state jointly that a passport, issued after police verification, proves citizenship.
    4. Standing tribunals: Roll appeals should go to year round tribunals that decide them before the poll, not after it.

    Conclusion

    The case for reform does not rest on the largest available number, and inflating the count of excluded voters lets the Election Commission dismiss genuine exclusions with invented ones. Until a citizen on the roll is presumed a citizen unless the state shows otherwise, every revision will reopen the same dispute.

    Key numbers

    1. Share short: The nine States’ rolls are 12% below the projected adult population.
    2. Appeals in West Bengal: Fewer than 0.05% of 34 lakh appeals were heard before election day.
    3. Appeals upheld: Tribunals have since found 90% of appellants valid.
    4. West Bengal’s shortfall: The final roll fell about 60 lakh short of the expected roll.
    5. Unregistered young in Uttar Pradesh: 2.3 crore, counted by the Commission in 2024 before the revision.

    Matching Previous Year Question

    “[2026, GS2, 10 marks] Is the right to vote a fundamental right? Discuss the position of the Election Commission of India while undertaking the revision of electoral rolls. Can it also examine the question of citizenship of voters?”

More posts