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Why edible oils are worst affected by food inflation
Why in the News
Edible oil prices, once set mainly by harvests, are now set as much by fuel policy. Indonesia has raised its diesel mandate from B40 to B50 (diesel that is half palm oil biodiesel), the world’s first such blend. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) index of world vegetable oil prices reached 198.6 points in September, 18.3% above a year earlier and the highest since June 2022.
What is a biodiesel blending mandate, and why does it lift edible oil prices?
1. Blending mandate: A government rule that fuel sellers must mix a minimum share of biofuel into fossil fuel. Indonesia and Malaysia require palm oil biodiesel in diesel, as India requires at least 20% ethanol in petrol.
2. Biodiesel: Fatty Acid Methyl Esters (FAME) are vegetable oil based biodiesel. Makers react the fats in palm, soyabean or rapeseed oil with methanol (transesterification) to make it.
3. Food to fuel diversion: Oil used as fuel is not available for cooking, so higher blends tighten supply. A quarter or more of world soyabean, palm and rapeseed oil goes to biodiesel.
4. The takeaway: Fuel use and cooking use now compete for the same oil, so each rise in a blend mandate lifts edible oil prices.
How far has Indonesia pushed the mandate?
1. Decade long climb: Indonesia raised its blend step by step over a decade, adding home demand for palm oil and cutting fuel imports. The latest step, B50 in July 2026, has a three month transition.
2. Supply loss: The latest step absorbs an extra 4.7 million tonnes of Indonesian palm oil at home, leaving that much less for export.
3. Export outlook: Indonesia’s palm oil association projects exports to fall by nearly a fifth by 2027 as biodiesel use climbs.
4. Other producers: Malaysia began a phased B15 rollout in June 2026. The United States and European Union divert over half their soyabean and rapeseed oil to biofuels.
What else is tightening supply?
1. El Nino: This Pacific warming, in a “very strong” phase, is expected to peak in October to December. Palm trees shed flowers and young fruit bunches under water stress, so yields fall 8 to 12 months later.
2. Black Sea shipping: Russia and Ukraine have larger sunflower crops, but navigation through the Sea of Azov has stopped since 10 July and Black Sea ports are suspended.
3. Crude oil: Brent (the global crude benchmark) above $100 a barrel, amid the West Asia conflict, raises the incentive to divert food oil to fuel.
What does it mean for India?
1. Import dependence: India imports roughly 8 million tonnes of palm oil in 2025-26, largely from Indonesia and Malaysia, so the mandate hits it directly.
2. Record imports: Lower domestic output is expected to push imports to a new record of 17.2 million tonnes in 2026-27.
3. Costlier cargoes: Landed prices (cost on arrival at port) of crude palm, soyabean and sunflower oil are above their October 2025 averages.
Challenges
1. High import dependence: India imports about 57% of its edible oil and is the world’s largest importer, so global price shocks reach Indian households.
2. Rainfed farming: Over 70% of oilseed cultivation depends on the monsoon, so drought years cut output.
3. Weak price assurance: Oilseeds lack the assured procurement that rice and wheat enjoy, discouraging farmers.
Way Forward
1. Mission scale up: Push the National Mission on Edible Oils, covering oilseeds and oil palm, towards its 2030-31 self reliance target.
2. Assured procurement: Extend assured purchase and price support to oilseeds so farmers sow more.
3. Wider sourcing: Spread imports across more origins to cut reliance on Indonesia and Malaysia.
Conclusion
Fuel security in producing countries now competes with food security in importing ones such as India. The next signals are how deeply the weather pattern cuts palm output and whether other producers follow Indonesia.
Key numbers
1. FAO indices: Overall index 136 in September, highest since November 2022; vegetable oil index peaked at 251.8 (March 2022) and bottomed at 115.8 (June 2023).
2. Share of world oil to biodiesel: Soyabean oil about 25%, palm oil 28%, rapeseed oil 29%.
3. Indonesia’s mandates: B20 (2016), B30 (January 2020), B35 (August 2023), B40 (January 2025).
4. Indonesian palm oil: Biodiesel use rises from 12.7 million tonnes (2025) to 17.4 (2027); exports fall from 32.3 to 26.5.
5. US and EU diversion, 2026-27: 8.07 of 14.94 million tonnes of soyabean oil (US); 6.1 of 10.67 of rapeseed oil (EU).
6. India 2026-27: Domestic oil output is 9.2 million tonnes (9.7 in 2025-26); imports are 8.2 palm, 5 soyabean and 3.5 sunflower.
Matching Previous Year Question
“[2022] In India, which one of the following is responsible for maintaining price stability by controlling inflation ? (a) Department of Consumer Affairs (b) Expenditure Management Commission (c) Financial Stability and Development Council (d) Reserve Bank of India (a) Department of Consumer Affairs (b) Expenditure Management Commission (c) Financial Stability and Development Council (d) Reserve Bank of India ANSWER: (d)”
October 9, 2026
Calibrating India’s inbound investment framework
Why in the News
India’s gross inward foreign direct investment (FDI) reached a record $94.8 billion in FY26, and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) World Investment Report 2026 ranks India 11th among top FDI destinations. Yet pledges still convert slowly into built projects, because the remaining hurdles lie inside India, between the Centre and States and among its agencies.
Why do investment pledges fail to become projects?
1. Pledge versus project: A pledge becomes a working factory only after land, approvals, power, taxes and dispute settlement fall into place.
2. Global backdrop: International project finance (money raised for individual projects) is about a quarter below its 2021 peak, and India follows the trend.
3. Greenfield lag: India drew about $7 billion in greenfield data centre investment (new facilities built from scratch) in the first three quarters of 2025, among the top ten but behind Thailand, Spain, South Korea, the United States and France.
4. Internal negotiations: The hurdles left are domestic: the Centre must agree with States, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) with line Ministries, and central rules with State notifications.
5. The takeaway: Fixing these gaps helps Indian firms as much as foreign investors, so coordination is now the main reform task.
Which domestic bottlenecks slow investment?
1. Approvals: DPIIT coordinates but does not decide, so a 12 week deadline set in May 2026 is met unevenly. Eg. Tata Electronics’ Dholera semiconductor facility shows coordination can work.
2. Courts: The Commercial Courts Act, 2015 and Mediation Act, 2023 sped up commercial disputes, and arbitration is now the corporate default. Smaller firms still rely on courts.
3. Labour codes: Parliament merged 29 labour laws into four codes, with Central Rules notified in May 2026. Labour is a Concurrent List subject (both Centre and States legislate), so each State must notify rules. Gujarat moved first.
4. Tax certainty: The Taxation Laws (Amendment) Act, 2021 ended disputes over taxing past deals by withdrawing demands on Vodafone and Cairn Energy. A relaunched Vivad se Vishwas scheme cut the direct tax litigation backlog.
5. Quality Control Orders: These make Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) certification compulsory, like an ISI mark. Their number grew from under 70 to nearly 790, the Gauba Committee found, before orders on PVC, aluminium and zinc were withdrawn.
What do pacts abroad and a home success show?
1. Coming pacts: After the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi, December visits to Canada and Brussels are expected to see free trade agreements signed.
2. Pact with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA): The Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement sets a $100 billion investment target but has no independent forum for investor disputes.
3. Swiss treaty: Switzerland is separately negotiating a bilateral investment treaty, offering a template for talks with the European Union and the United Kingdom.
4. Singapore model: Its Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) brought over $195 billion in cumulative FDI since 2000, and its investor protection rules are a blueprint for treaty talks.
5. Mobile phones: Coordinated policy raised production 33 fold since FY15, and local output now meets almost all domestic demand.
Challenges
1. Policy uncertainty: Frequent changes to FDI, licensing and tax rules make returns hard to plan.
2. Land disputes: Legal complexity and local resistance delay land acquisition. Eg. POSCO’s shelved Odisha plant.
3. Border nation curbs: Press Note 3 routes investment from land border countries through government approval.
Way Forward
1. Enforceable approval clock: Give the nodal agency authority to enforce the approval deadline across line Ministries.
2. Court capacity: Staff commercial benches and mediation centres better, so smaller firms get faster resolution.
3. Aligned State rules: States should notify rules under all four labour codes on a common timeline.
4. Investor protection: Add independent investor dispute mechanisms to new pacts, using the Swiss treaty and Singapore agreement as templates.
Conclusion
India has largely won the argument for foreign capital, and the unfinished work is coordination across levels of government. Whether coming trade pacts carry credible investor protection, and whether States align their rules, will decide how many pledges become projects.
Key numbers
1. FDI inflow growth: Up 44% (UNCTAD, 2026).
2. Data centre leaders, first three quarters of 2025: France $69 billion, United States $29 billion, South Korea $21 billion.
3. Court backlog: Nearly 48 million pending cases in April, about six million in High Courts.
4. Certification burden: Up to Rs 20 lakh and six to eight months for imported components.
5. Mobile phones: Output from Rs 180 billion to Rs 6.27 trillion since FY15; exports Rs 2.59 trillion; 99.2% of domestic demand met locally.
Matching Previous Year Question
“[2022] Which one of the following situations best reflects “Indirect Transfers” often talked about in media recently with reference to India ? (a) An Indian company investing in a foreign enterprise and paying taxes to the foreign country on the profits arising out of its investment (b) A foreign company investing in India and paying taxes to the country of its base on the profits arising out of its investment (c) An Indian company purchases tangible assets in a foreign country and sells such assets after their value increases and transfers the proceeds to India (d) A foreign company transfers shares and such shares derive their substantial value from assets located in India ANSWER: (d)”
October 9, 2026
Nobel Prize in Chemistry: Mirror-image molecules and the chemistry of life
Why in the News
Chemists have moved from making mirror-image molecules as near-even mixtures of both forms to producing one form almost exclusively, as living cells do. The 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has gone to Henri B Kagan of France and Kenso Soai of Japan “for the discovery of non-linear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis“.
What is chirality, and why does life use only one form?
1. What it is: Some molecules exist in two forms that are mirror images but cannot be superimposed, like a person’s left and right hands. This property is called chirality.
2. Enantiomers: The two forms, called enantiomers, have the same atoms joined in the same order. Only their three-dimensional arrangement differs.
3. Homochirality: Life’s building blocks, such as the amino acids in proteins and the sugars in DNA, use only one form. This preference is called homochirality.
4. Laboratory problem: Ordinary chemical reactions produce both enantiomers in almost equal amounts, so chemists had to separate the form they wanted.
5. The takeaway: Making only the form the body uses lets chemists copy what living cells do, which is why the work matters for medicines.
How did Kagan and Soai make one form dominate?
1. Marckwald’s start: In the early 1900s, German chemist Willy Marckwald used a chiral catalyst (a chemical that speeds a reaction without being used up) and got slightly more of one form.
2. Stalled progress: Later attempts failed to raise this asymmetry, and chemists did not understand how a chiral catalyst skewed the result.
3. Kagan’s non-linear effect: Chemists assumed a linear relationship: a product favours one form only as much as its catalyst. In the 1980s, Kagan showed a catalyst barely favouring one form could yield a product strongly favouring it.
4. Soai’s autocatalysis: In an autocatalytic reaction, the product itself acts as the catalyst. From the 1990s, Soai spent about a decade building one in which a single enantiomer copied itself.
5. Near-total selectivity: Soai’s final product held 99.5% of one enantiomer, close to the preference seen in living systems.
Why does it matter beyond the laboratory?
1. Medicines: Many drug molecules are chiral, and the human body uses only one form. The other form can be ineffective or even harmful.
2. Cleaner manufacture: Drug makers once produced both forms and then separated the useful one, an expensive and wasteful process. Asymmetric synthesis now makes the needed form directly and is widely used.
3. Wider uses: The same approach serves other products that interact with living organisms, such as flavours, fragrances and pesticides.
4. Origin of life: The work shows homochirality can arise in a laboratory, not only in nature. It does not explain how life itself came to prefer one form.
What does the thalidomide tragedy show?
1. Morning sickness drug: Thalidomide, a sedative marketed by a West German company from the late 1950s, was widely prescribed, including to pregnant women for morning sickness.
2. Birth defects: By 1961, doctors had linked it to severe birth defects in thousands of babies across 46 countries, many with phocomelia (severely shortened or absent limbs).
3. Mirror-image problem: One enantiomer produced the desired effect and the other caused the defects. The two forms were later found to interconvert in the body.
Challenges
1. Conversion inside the body: Some drugs switch between forms after they are taken, so a pure enantiomer alone cannot guarantee safety. Eg. Thalidomide.
2. Narrow reactions: Autocatalytic reactions like Soai’s work only for specific molecules, so extending them to many industrial products is difficult.
3. Testing burden: Each enantiomer of a new drug must be studied separately for its effects, which raises development time and cost.
4. Unsolved origin: The work shows how one form can come to dominate, but not why life settled on the forms it uses.
Way Forward
1. Enantiomer-level safety review: Drug regulators should require data on both forms of a chiral drug, and on their interconversion, before approval.
2. Greener generic manufacture: Indian drug makers can use asymmetric catalysis to cut waste and cost in producing active ingredients.
3. Origin-of-life research: Fund research linking autocatalysis to how homochirality first emerged on the early Earth.
Conclusion
Chemists can now make the one mirror-image form that living systems use, a capability that medicine and agriculture already rely on. Why life chose one form in the first place remains unanswered, and that is where this work points next.
Matching Previous Year Question
“[2026] ‘X’, born in the UK, was conferred the Nobel Prize in 2025. He was a professor in an American university when the prize was announced. Identify ‘X’: (a) Michel H. Devoret (b) Richard Robson (c) John Clarke (d) Joel Mokyr ANSWER: C”
October 8, 2026
Centre eases access to defence testing facilities for companies, waives charges for key projects
Why in the News
Testing a government-backed defence prototype at the Defence Ministry’s ranges has moved from a paid service with arbitration of disputes to a free service with conciliation. The Defence Minister has approved a revised Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) that eases access to Ministry testing facilities for Indian defence companies, start-ups and innovators.
What are proof ranges, and why do defence firms need them?
1. What it is: A proof range is a secured area where weapons and ammunition are test-fired to prove they perform as designed. It works like a driving test track for weapons.
2. Facility network: The SOP lists the proof ranges, field firing ranges and laboratory test facilities of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Government Quality Assurance agencies and the three Services.
3. Access problem: Private firms rarely own such ranges, so they cannot prove a prototype without using state facilities.
4. The takeaway: Testing is the step between a prototype and an order, so easier access shortens the path from an idea to a fielded weapon.
What has the revised SOP changed?
1. Charge waiver: The Ministry waives proof and testing charges for its developmental projects, such as Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX), the Technology Development Fund (TDF) and Make, which back Indian firms building defence equipment.
2. Reserved slots: A three-day slot every quarter is reserved at proof ranges for proof firing of government-sponsored developmental projects.
3. Self-initiated projects: The reserved slots also cover developmental projects that indigenous defence firms take up on their own initiative.
4. Simpler paperwork: The SOP simplifies documentation to make the process more transparent and predictable for industry.
5. Conciliation over arbitration: A conciliation agreement clause replaces the arbitration provision of the earlier SOP.
What are conciliation and arbitration?
1. Arbitration: A third party hears both sides and imposes a binding award that the parties must accept.
2. Conciliation: A neutral helps the parties reach a voluntary settlement, so no outcome is imposed on either side.
3. Why the switch: The Ministry expects conciliation to bring faster resolution of issues between industry and the authorities.
Why does it matter for defence self-reliance?
1. Atmanirbharta: The Ministry expects the change to support “atmanirbharta” (self-reliance) in defence, innovation and defence exports.
2. Lower entry cost: Start-ups under iDEX and TDF work on limited grants, so waived fees lower the cost of proving a prototype.
3. Predictable scheduling: A guaranteed quarterly slot lets a firm plan its development timeline around a known test window.
4. Rewarding private initiative: Covering self-initiated projects supports firms that invest their own money, not only those holding government development contracts.
Challenges
1. Limited range time: A three-day quarterly window is short when many projects compete for the same range.
2. Services’ own trials: Ranges belong to DRDO and the Services, whose own trials can take precedence over industry slots.
3. Tests without orders: Passing a trial does not by itself guarantee a production order, so firms still carry the risk of developing a product nobody buys.
4. Non-binding conciliation: With no binding award to fall back on, a dispute can stay open if either side refuses to settle.
Way Forward
1. More range capacity: Add slots and facilities as the number of developmental projects grows.
2. Transparent booking: Publish range availability and allocate slots through an open online system.
3. Test-to-order link: Tie successful trials under iDEX, TDF and Make to assured procurement decisions.
Conclusion
Testing, long a cost and scheduling hurdle for private defence firms, is now cheaper and more predictable for government-backed prototypes. Whether the reserved slots translate into faster trials and more production orders is the measure to watch.
Back2Basics: Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX)
1. Launch: It was launched in 2018 by the Department of Defence Production, Ministry of Defence.
2. Executing body: It is run by the Defence Innovation Organisation (DIO), a not-for-profit company founded by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL).
3. How it works: It funds start-ups, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and individual innovators to solve problem statements set by the Services, through challenges such as the Defence India Startup Challenge.
4. ADITI: Acing Development of Innovative Technologies with iDEX (ADITI) offers larger grants for critical and strategic technologies. See “Govt. to ease MSME, start-up entry into R&D in defence” (16 September 2026).
Matching Previous Year Question
“[2026] Consider the following statements about Mission Sudarshan Chakra of India: 1. It aims to enhance India’s air defence, ballistic missile defence and aerial offensive capabilities. 2. Designed to enhance rapid, precise, and powerful defence responses, reinforcing India’s strategic autonomy. 3. One of the aims is to cover all public places of India by an expanded nationwide security shield by 2035. (a) 1, 2 and 3 (b) 1 and 2 only (c) 2 and 3 only (d) 1 only ANSWER: A”
October 8, 2026
AI companions and child safety
Why in the News
Children increasingly turn to artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots as emotional confidants, because these apps are always available, appear empathetic and respond endlessly. California’s Senate Bill 1119, known as “Adam’s Law”, now mandates safeguards for AI companion chatbots. India’s digital laws have no comparable framework for these psychological risks to children.
What are AI companions, and why do children turn to them?
1. What it is: An AI companion is a chatbot built for ongoing, personal conversation. It works like an always-available friend who replies to anything.
2. Shifting confidant: A child in distress once turned to a parent, friend or counsellor, a role now passing to AI chatbots.
3. Risks of prolonged use: Long interactions with a chatbot can create emotional dependence, open the door to psychological manipulation and expose a child to harmful advice.
4. The takeaway: The more a chatbot behaves like a friend, the more a child’s wellbeing depends on how its maker designed it.
What did the Adam Raine case and Adam’s Law change?
1. Adam Raine case: In April 2025, a 16-year-old in the United States died by suicide. His family alleged ChatGPT discussed suicide with him for months and helped draft his farewell note.
2. Wrongful-death lawsuit: The family sued OpenAI, ChatGPT’s maker, claiming its product caused his death. The ongoing case has started a debate on tech firms’ duties to vulnerable children.
3. Adam’s Law safeguards: Enacted in September 2026, the law requires crisis-detection protocols that spot a child at risk, parental controls, alerts when children disable safety settings, and independent safety audits.
Why are India’s laws not equipped for this harm?
1. Data and abuse laws: The Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, 2023 requires verifiable parental consent for children’s data. The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 targets sexual abuse.
2. IT Act’s focus: The Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000 targets conventional cybercrime. None of the three laws governs the psychological risks of AI companions.
3. Hidden harm: Psychological harm builds up over thousands of harmless-looking exchanges shaped by product design and algorithmic responses, so it is hard to detect.
4. Investigation gap: India’s cybercrime machinery is not built to examine algorithmic behaviour or use chatbot interactions as evidence of harm.
5. Platform accountability: Platforms whose products now sit inside children’s emotional lives must also answer for the harm, not only the government.
How can India protect children without stifling AI innovation?
1. Constitutional basis: Article 21 guarantees the right to life and personal liberty. Article 39(f) directs the State to let children develop in freedom and dignity.
2. Wider duty of protection: Child protection must now cover interactions with AI chatbots, not only personal data and physical safety.
3. Risk of over-regulation: Over-restrictive rules could stifle innovation and burden emerging enterprises.
4. Indian design, not a copy: California’s law should prompt India to set its own priorities, suited to its institutional capacities and digital realities, not copy it.
Challenges
1. Engagement-driven design: Companion apps gain from longer conversations, so their design can reward the very dependence that harms children.
2. Weak age checks: Platforms cannot reliably confirm a user’s age, so child-specific safeguards are easy to bypass.
3. Privacy trade-off: Crisis detection and parental oversight require watching chats, which can intrude on children’s privacy and evolving autonomy.
Way Forward
1. Age-appropriate safeguards: Require child-safe defaults and crisis-response mechanisms that route at-risk children to human help.
2. Independent safety assessments: Mandate third-party safety audits of companion apps open to children.
3. Privacy-respecting oversight: Give parents oversight tools designed to respect a child’s privacy and growing autonomy.
4. Investigation capacity: Train cybercrime units to examine algorithmic behaviour and treat chatbot logs as evidence.
Conclusion
Children already confide in AI, so the question is whether the institutions charged with protecting them can keep pace. India’s choice between a dedicated framework for AI companions and stretching existing laws will decide how far platforms answer for harm.
Government Initiatives on AI Regulation in India
1. No dedicated AI law: India has chosen not to enact a dedicated AI Act. It relies on existing laws such as the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.
2. IT Amendment Rules, 2026: They mandate prominent labelling of synthetically generated information (AI-made content) and require harmful deepfakes to be taken down within 3 hours.
3. India AI Governance Guidelines: They set out a principle-based techno-legal framework, pairing law with built-in technical safeguards, resting on Seven Sutras such as “People First” and “Accountability”.
4. AI Safety Institute: Proposed under the guidelines and the IndiaAI Mission’s Safe and Trusted AI pillar, it would test and benchmark AI systems.
Matching Previous Year Question
“[2026] Which of the following statements with regard to Large Language Models (LLMs) used in machine learning is/are correct? 1. LLMs assign probabilities to the next possible words and then pick the one with the highest probability. 2. LLMs process data through mathematical optimization to minimise prediction errors. 3. LLMs produce unbiased outputs. (a) 1 only (b) 1 and 2 only (c) 2 and 3 only (d) 1, 2 and 3 ANSWER: B”
October 8, 2026
WHO underlines rise in obesity among children, issues guidelines
Why in the News
Care for obese children is moving from limited treatment options to weight-loss drugs such as semaglutide, now approved for children over 12. The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued guidelines that recommend against these drugs and bariatric surgery for children below nine, and advise restraint for adolescents aged 10 to 19. Obesity in these age groups has quadrupled since 1990, rising from 2% to 8%.
What is childhood obesity, and why act early?
1. What it is: Obesity is an excess of body fat that harms health. In children it sets in during the years when the body and eating habits form.
2. Early disease: Children living with obesity develop lifestyle diseases much earlier in life, so they live longer with the complications these diseases bring.
3. Clinical picture: The Indian Society for Paediatric and Adolescent Endocrinology (ISPAE) president reports a three-fold rise in obese children at his clinic. Most already have fatty liver, high cholesterol or prediabetes (blood sugar above normal, below diabetes level).
4. The takeaway: Obesity in childhood front-loads a lifetime of disease, which is why WHO puts daily habits, not medicines, at the centre of care.
What do the WHO guidelines recommend?
1. Foundation of care: WHO’s Director of Nutrition and Food Safety says care rests on healthy eating, physical activity and sustainable behaviour change, not on medicine or surgery.
2. Lifestyle measures first: Structured diets, physical activity and behaviour-change interventions are rated “strong in favour”, WHO’s firmest backing, for children and adolescents alike. Digital, technology-driven interventions get conditional support.
3. Children below nine: WHO rates pharmacotherapy (treatment with weight-loss drugs) and bariatric surgery (an operation that shrinks the stomach) “strong against”. Surgery can also hamper a child’s growth.
4. Adolescents: Drugs and surgery are conditionally allowed for those with morbid obesity and linked lifestyle conditions, or where other measures fail within six months.
5. Evidence gap: WHO says there is no long-term data on the efficacy and effects of these drugs in children.
What are GLP-1 drugs?
1. What they are: Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) drugs are medicines that curb appetite, so patients eat less and lose weight. Semaglutide is one of them.
2. Scope of WHO advice: WHO’s caution for children is not specific to GLP-1 drugs and covers all weight-loss medicines.
How large is the burden, worldwide and in India?
1. Global scale: About 170 million children and adolescents lived with obesity in 2024.
2. India’s projection: India’s obese children and adolescents are set to reach 27 million by 2030, about 11% of the global burden, per the Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey (CNNS).
3. Under-fives: National Family Health Survey (NFHS) data show overweight and obesity among under-fives more than doubled, rising 127%.
4. Adolescent girls and boys: Over the same period, overweight and obesity rose 125% among adolescent girls and 288% among adolescent boys.
Where does the debate on drugs for children stand?
1. Severe cases only: The ISPAE president holds that semaglutide should be limited to children living with morbid obesity and complications.
2. Case for early action: Some diabetologists urge aggressive early intervention, because losing weight can prolong the lives of obese children.
3. National guidelines: ISPAE is drafting guidelines on GLP-1 drugs in children, so that they are not over-used yet still reach those who need them.
Challenges
1. Pressure to medicate: Easier access to GLP-1 drugs creates pressure to prescribe them to children who need only diet and activity changes.
2. Unhealthy food environment: Cheap processed snacks and sugary drinks are easy for children to buy, which makes healthy eating hard to sustain.
3. Double burden of malnutrition: India still has high child undernutrition, so nutrition programmes built around feeding more can overlook rising obesity.
Way Forward
1. National paediatric protocol: Finalise ISPAE’s guidelines and align drug use in Indian children with WHO’s age limits.
2. School-based prevention: Use school health programmes to build daily physical activity and healthier meals into the school day.
3. Routine screening: Record children’s weight and height at school health check-ups, so obesity is caught before co-morbidities set in.
4. Indian safety studies: Fund long-term studies on how weight-loss drugs affect Indian adolescents.
Conclusion
Childhood obesity has become a question of treatment as well as prevention, and WHO has drawn a firm line against drugs and surgery for young children. Whether India’s paediatric guidelines keep weight-loss drugs for severe adolescent cases only is the next thing to watch.
Key numbers
1. Children aged 5 to 9 living with obesity (2024): 70 million (WHO).
2. Adolescents aged 10 to 19 living with obesity (2024): 100 million (WHO).
3. NFHS comparison window for the rises above: 2005-06 to 2019-21.
Matching Previous Year Question
“[2024, GS2, 15 marks] In a crucial domain like the public healthcare system, the Indian State should play a vital role to contain the adverse impact of marketisation of the system. Suggest some measures through which the State can enhance the reach of public healthcare at the grassroots level.”
October 8, 2026
Up to 30% of cotton area under ‘illegal’ GM hybrids, finds study
Why in the News
India permits only two Bt genes in cotton, yet up to 30% of its cotton area now grows hybrids carrying unapproved genetically modified (GM) traits. A field study commissioned by the Federation of Seed Industry of India (FSII) and the National Seed Association of India (NSAI) puts that area at 26.2 to 29 lakh hectares of the 114.8 lakh hectares sown in 2025-26.
What are the approved and the illegal GM traits in cotton?
1. Bt cotton: Bt cotton carries genes from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), a soil bacterium. Its genes make proteins toxic to bollworm pests, giving the plant a built-in insecticide.
2. Approved genes: India allows only two such genes, cry1Ac and cry2Ab.
3. Herbicide tolerance (HT): The cp4-epsps gene, from another soil bacterium, makes cotton tolerant to glyphosate, a weedkiller. Normal cotton cannot be sprayed with it, because it kills crop and weeds alike.
4. Vip3A: Also derived from Bt, this gene works differently from the cry genes and controls a broader spectrum of bollworm larvae. Neither it nor cp4-epsps is approved for any crop.
5. The takeaway: Farmers are planting traits the government never cleared, so the approval system no longer decides what India’s cotton fields grow.
What did the field study find?
1. Hotspot sampling: The Jodhpur-based South Asia Biotechnology Centre collected 227 geo-tagged seed and leaf samples from 16 ‘hotspot’ districts of Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan.
2. How genes were detected: Hotspots were chosen from glyphosate sales, farmer interactions and seed market intelligence. Samples went through quick lateral flow strip tests and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), a lab test detecting a gene’s protein.
3. Herbicide-tolerant gene: The cp4-epsps gene was present in 72.69% of samples, rising to 88.64% in Telangana.
4. Vip3A gene: The next-generation insect-resistance gene turned up in 53.74% of samples.
Why are farmers turning to unapproved seed?
1. Labour shortage: An acute shortage of farm labour has made manual weeding costly and hard to arrange.
2. Cost of weed control: A season of glyphosate spraying costs under Rs 1,000 an acre, against Rs 12,000 to 15,000 for manual weeding.
3. Pink bollworm: The pink bollworm now damages first-generation Bt hybrids, so farmers seek Vip3A, which controls it.
How large has the illegal seed market grown?
1. Legal seed sales fall: Sales of legal Bt cotton hybrid seed fell to 463 lakh packets in 2025-26, a sign of farmers’ shift to herbicide-tolerant Bt (HTBt) hybrids.
2. Glyphosate imports: Imports of glyphosate jumped 29% in 2025-26 alongside the shift.
3. Illegal HTBt market: The unauthorised HTBt seed market reached 82 to 88 lakh packets, conservatively worth Rs 820 to 880 crore.
4. Regulatory bypass: Farmers and a sophisticated supplier network are bypassing the country’s biosafety and regulatory approval system.
Challenges
1. Untested traits in the field: Unapproved genes skip biosafety assessment, leaving effects on soil, other crops and consumers unexamined.
2. Rising herbicide load: HT cotton spreads glyphosate spraying into a crop on which the herbicide cannot normally be used.
3. No recourse for farmers: Illegal seed has no accountable seller, so a failed crop leaves farmers without remedy.
4. Approval lagging demand: Approved traits no longer control pink bollworm or weeds affordably, pushing farmers to illegal seed.
Way Forward
1. Time-bound trait assessment: The Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC), India’s GM crop regulator, should assess HT and Vip3A traits within fixed timelines.
2. Action on supply networks: State agriculture departments should use the hotspot data to trace and prosecute illegal seed suppliers.
3. Strip tests at sale points: Deploy lateral flow strip tests at seed outlets in hotspot districts.
4. Cheaper legal weed control: Support mechanised weeding in labour-short districts to narrow the cost gap driving HT adoption.
Conclusion
Cotton farmers have chosen their GM traits ahead of the regulator. Whether the regulator formally assesses these traits or enforces the ban against the supplier network is the decision to watch.
Key numbers
1. Farmers sampled: Fields of 984 farmers.
2. HT gene by State: Maharashtra 70.92%, Andhra Pradesh 62.86%, Rajasthan 57.14%.
3. Vip3A by State: Maharashtra 58.16%, Rajasthan 57.14%, Andhra Pradesh 54.29%, Telangana 38.64%.
4. Illegal HTBt share of cotton area, 2025-26: Gujarat 30 to 32%, Telangana 27 to 30%, Maharashtra 25 to 28%, Andhra Pradesh 15 to 18%, Rajasthan 8 to 10%.
5. Market shift: Legal Bt seed 596 lakh packets (2022-23); illegal HTBt about 35 lakh packets (2017-18), at about Rs 1,000 a packet.
6. Glyphosate imports: 27,721 kilolitres (2024-25) to 35,642 kilolitres (2025-26).
Matching Previous Year Question
“[2021] “Bollgard I and Bollgard II technologies are mentioned in the context of: (a) Clonal propagation of crop plants (b) Developing genetically modified crop plants (c) Production of plant growth substances (d) Production of biofertilizers ANSWER: (b)”
October 8, 2026
GPS study aims to reduce human-animal conflicts in Assam
Why in the News
Assam has moved from a major knowledge gap on where its wild elephants go to a five-year satellite-tracked map of how they move through forests, tea plantations, farmland and riverine habitats. The Assam Forest Department and World Wide Fund for Nature-India (WWF-India) released the study during the 72nd Wildlife Week to guide habitat protection and reduce human-elephant conflict.
What did the tracking study do?
1. GPS satellite tracking: Collars fitted on wild elephants record their position through the Global Positioning System (GPS), much like a phone sharing its live location. Researchers then map where and when the animals move.
2. Who was tracked: Four female-led herds and a solitary male were followed in Udalguri, Sonitpur and Biswanath, three high-conflict districts on the northern bank of the Brahmaputra.
3. Scale of data: Over five years, tracking generated more than 38,000 GPS locations across multi-use landscapes, areas shared by forests, farms and plantations.
4. The report: The findings appear in ‘Tracking the Giants: Movement and Habitat-Use Patterns of GPS-Collared Elephants in Assam’.
5. The takeaway: Assam now has baseline information on where elephant ranging overlaps human land use, the exact zone where conflict arises, so prevention can be targeted there.
What did the elephants’ movements reveal?
1. Core habitats: Sonai-Rupai, Behali and Bornadi Wildlife Sanctuaries were used extensively. Protected areas and reserve forests stayed important elephant habitat for much of the year.
2. Tea plantations as pathways: Elephants used tea plantations as movement pathways and secondary habitats, places to pass through and stay outside forests, which often brought them close to people.
3. Paddy season expansion: Herds showed a strong seasonal pattern. The home ranges of female-led herds expanded during the paddy cropping season, a period of high human-elephant conflict.
Why does Assam need this map?
1. Conflict toll: Human-elephant conflict has killed 1,147 people and 246 elephants in Assam over the past decade, the State’s Forest Minister told the Assembly.
2. Elephant stronghold: The 2025 Synchronised All India Elephant Census found Assam to be the northeast’s stronghold of Asian elephants, with about 4,149 animals.
3. Planning uses: The Minister said the study will guide conservation planning, wildlife-friendly infrastructure and safer coexistence between people and wildlife.
4. What conflict management needs: WWF-India’s elephant programme said preventing conflict requires knowing where elephants move, which habitats and land they use, and how this shifts across seasons.
Challenges
1. Small sample: Five tracked groups in three districts cannot capture elephant behaviour across the whole State.
2. Working landscapes: Tea estates double as elephant pathways and workplaces, so daily contact between people and elephants is built into the landscape.
3. Crop losses and retaliation: Herds range widest when paddy is in the field, and crop losses push farmers towards illegal electric fencing and poisoning.
4. Data to action gap: A movement map changes nothing on the ground until it shapes fences, roads and land-use decisions.
Way Forward
1. Secure mapped pathways: Protect the sanctuary and tea-garden routes the study mapped, treating them as elephant corridors.
2. Seasonal early warning: Use tracking data to send alerts to villages near herd routes during the paddy season.
3. Wildlife-sensitive development: Fold movement data into road, rail and zoning decisions before projects are approved.
4. Faster compensation: Pay crop and life losses quickly and transparently through direct benefit transfer, so tolerance for elephants does not erode.
Conclusion
Assam now knows where its elephants go and when, which lets conflict management move from reacting to raids to planning for them. The test is whether the State turns these maps into protected pathways and seasonal warnings before the next paddy season.
Back2Basics: Asian elephant
1. Conservation status: Endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, and listed in Appendix I of the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS).
2. India’s share: India holds the largest wild Asian elephant population, about 60% of the global total by the 2017 census.
3. Range States: Karnataka has the highest population, followed by Assam and Kerala.
4. Project Elephant (1992): The central scheme protects elephant habitats and corridors, to reduce crop damage and accidental deaths.
Matching Previous Year Question
“[2026] Which of the following statements with regard to the arrival of Amur Falcons at Doyang Lake in Nagaland each year from Mongolia is/are correct? 1. It showcases how sustained local conservation efforts can contribute to the arrival and protection of international migratory birds. 2. It reflects the global success of advanced tracking technologies that guide migratory birds back to their stopover sites. 3. It confirms that Amur Falcons have adapted to permanent residency in India due to favourable habitat changes. (a) 1 only (b) 1 and 2 (c) 2 and 3 (d) 3 only ANSWER: A”
October 8, 2026
From the brink to a comeback, hope for India’s wildlife
Why in the News
A Great Indian Bustard chick has hatched in Kutch, Gujarat, after a decade, one of several recoveries showing threatened species can return from the brink of extinction. Highlighted during Wildlife Week (October 2 to 8), these gains last only where States sustain funding, science and community participation over many years.
What is species recovery, and what framework does India have?
1. What recovery means: Species recovery brings a population back from near extinction by restoring habitat and prey, breeding animals and returning them to the wild, much like rehabilitating a patient.
2. Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats (IDWH): This Union scheme backs recovery of 24 identified species, with States doing research, habitat work, protection and community outreach. Eg. great Indian bustard, Sangai, dugong, hangul.
3. Threat largely unmeasured: 1,012 assessed Indian animal species are threatened on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, the global extinction-risk register. Assessments cover only 7.2% of documented species.
4. National Red List Roadmap: India launched it at the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Abu Dhabi in 2025, aiming for National Red Data Books, registers of species at risk, for plants and animals by 2030.
5. The takeaway: The IDWH list is only a starting point; a national risk picture must show where recovery goes next.
How have threatened species recovered in India?
1. Nilgiri tahr: Tamil Nadu’s Project Nilgiri Tahr surveys, radio-collars and maps the tahr across Tamil Nadu and Keralam with the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and IUCN. Counts rose from 1,303 to 1,364 in a year.
2. Vultures: India’s ban on veterinary diclofenac, which had caused catastrophic vulture losses, was the crucial step:
  - the Jatayu Conservation Breeding Centre, Pinjore, run by the Haryana Forest Department and the Bombay Natural History Society, breeds white-rumped, long-billed and slender-billed vultures;
  - Tamil Nadu’s Segur Plateau remains an important habitat, with breeding populations in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve.
3. Large mammals in protected landscapes: Protection with community support has helped:
  - Asiatic lions in Gujarat now occupy a wider part of Saurashtra;
  - greater one-horned rhinos thrive in Assam’s Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary, which has exceptionally high rhino density;
  - Meghalaya’s plan for the clouded leopard, its State animal, covers 14 priority landscapes.
4. Dugong: Tamil Nadu set up India’s first dugong conservation reserve across 448.34 sq km of Palk Bay seagrass, where a WII baseline estimated 270 dugongs.
5. Snow leopard: India’s first scientific population assessment estimated 718 snow leopards in 2024. In Himachal Pradesh’s Kibber, local women help forest teams set camera traps.
Why do recoveries abroad show that sustained action and money work?
1. Iberian lynx: In Spain and Portugal, restoring habitat and prey, captive breeding and release lifted mature lynx from 62 to 648 in about two decades.
2. Oryx and saiga: The scimitar-horned oryx has returned to the wild in Chad, and the saiga antelope has recovered in Kazakhstan.
3. Phoenix Species Project: Re:wild and the Bezos Earth Fund have committed $200 million to recover 100 of the world’s most threatened species, showing recovery needs dependable money.
Challenges
1. Neglected species: Species that receive little public attention struggle to attract funding.
2. Plans not reaching the ground: Recovery plans fail unless political commitment shapes land use, infrastructure and livelihood decisions.
3. Costs borne by communities: Fishermen who release dugongs caught in their nets can lose valuable gear.
Way Forward
1. Sustained State budgets: State leaders should prioritise recovery, bring departments together and fund it across successive budgets.
2. State conservation funds: Pool government, industry, philanthropy and science, as Tamil Nadu’s Endangered Species Conservation Fund does for the mahseer, striped hyena, Madras hedgehog, lion-tailed macaque and hornbill.
3. Field science and training: Place scientists close to the field, and train staff in surveys, conservation breeding and genetic analysis.
4. Community partnership: Involve communities in surveys and ground decisions, and compensate losses, as Tamil Nadu does for fishermen’s nets.
Conclusion
India has shown that threatened species can return when protection, science and local stewardship last for years. Whether States keep paying once the first gains arrive will decide which species follow.
Key numbers
1. India’s share of global biodiversity: 2.4% of world land area; nearly 8% of flora and 7.5% of fauna.
2. Megadiversity: one of 17 megadiverse countries, with parts of 4 of the world’s 36 biodiversity hotspots.
3. Endemism: around 28% of India’s plants and over 30% of its animals are found nowhere else.
4. IUCN Red List coverage: 7,516 Indian animal species assessed.
5. Vultures, Madhya Pradesh census: 8,397 (2019) to 12,981 (2025).
6. Asiatic lions, Gujarat: 674 (2020) to 891 (2025).
Matching Previous Year Question
“[2024] Consider the following statements: Statement-I: The Indian Flying Fox is placed under the “vermin” category in the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972. Statement-II: The Indian Flying Fox feeds on the blood of other animals. Which one of the following is correct in respect of the above statements? (a) Both statement I and Statement II are correct and statement II explains statement I (b) Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct, but Statement-II does not explain Statement-I (c) Staement- I is correct , but Statement II is incorrect* (d) Statement-I is incorrect, but Statement-II is correct ANSWER:”
October 8, 2026
India’s stakes in the Global Pandemic Agreement
Why in the News
The World Health Organization (WHO) Pandemic Agreement (PA) promises poorer countries a fair share of vaccines in the next pandemic, but it cannot be ratified until the system to deliver that share is agreed. At the United Nations High Level Meeting (UN HLM), India backed the Political Declaration on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response (PPPR) on the basis of national sovereignty.
What is the Pandemic Agreement, and why can it not be ratified yet?
1. What it is: The PA is a WHO agreement fixing in advance what countries owe one another in a pandemic, like a fire code. It anchors an emerging global legal regime on pandemics.
2. Adoption: 124 WHO member states, India among them, adopted the PA last year, with none against and 11 abstaining.
3. Missing annex: The PA is not yet open for ratification, because talks continue on its Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing (PABS) annex.
4. What PABS does: Countries sharing samples of a dangerous pathogen get a share of the resulting vaccines and medicines, so low-income and lower-middle-income countries (LICs and LMICs) are not left out.
5. The takeaway: Even unratified, this first-of-its-kind regime will decide whether the inequities of COVID-19 repeat.
What is One Health?
1. Meaning: One Health manages the health of people, animals and ecosystems as one connected system.
2. Pandemic link: The human-animal-environment interface is a key source of pandemic outbreaks, so joint surveillance catches disease jumping between species, called “spillover”, early.
Where do the Global North and the Global South disagree?
1. Sovereignty versus solidarity: North and South split over balancing national sovereignty, each country’s control of its health policy, against international solidarity.
2. Unfunded One Health targets: African countries refused binding One Health duties to monitor the human-animal-environment interface without significant funding for fragile health systems.
3. Harmonising national rules: Whether global frameworks should align national pandemic regulations stayed contested.
4. Real-time vaccine sharing: Whether private manufacturers must share vaccines in real time at affordable prices stayed open.
5. Technology transfer: Global North countries refused binding targets on technology transfer, sharing know-how to make vaccines and medicines.
What did India argue at the UN High Level Meeting?
1. Two tests of coordination: India said coordination must be shown through:
  - equitable access to drugs, vaccines and therapeutics, plus global public goods, resources open to all, such as digital infrastructure;
  - respect for the primacy of member states in shaping policy to national circumstance.
2. Bridge between blocs: India acknowledged both sides’ concerns, insisting “Global Solidarity must be demonstrated through action”.
3. United States rejection: The United States rejected the Declaration, calling PABS and the WHO’s power to declare pandemics a challenge to its national interests.
Why must India lead the Global South, and what are its three options?
1. Stake in equity: India, the “pharmacy of the world”, is among the largest vaccine makers by volume yet depends on others:
  - global firms hold the patents on vaccines India makes;
  - it imports Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs), the chemicals that make a medicine work.
2. Technical partnerships: Joint work on One Health, surveillance and health workforce can build Global South trust and practical compromises on sovereignty.
3. Existing groupings: India can use three platforms:
  - the H20 summit, a G-7 and G-20 health partnership, under the UK’s G-20 leadership in late 2027;
  - the Global Initiative for Digital Health, launched in India’s 2023 G-20 presidency;
  - the European Union’s ‘Partners for Multilateralism’, co-sponsored by India.
4. Domestic alignment: India’s rules on access to biological material and benefit sharing must meet the equity standards it demands abroad.
5. Global public goods: India offered its digital health infrastructure, laboratory networks and One Health work as global public goods for South-South Cooperation among developing countries.
Challenges
1. Unfunded obligations: Binding duties without assured money burden the weakest systems most.
2. Sovereignty dilution: When both blocs treat sovereignty as paramount, common rules shrink to voluntary pledges.
3. A major power outside: A regime the United States rejects loses reach over the firms and funds based there.
Way Forward
1. Conclude the PABS annex: Member states should finalise PABS with enforceable benefit-sharing terms, so the PA opens for ratification.
2. Funded monitoring: Pair binding surveillance duties with guaranteed financing for fragile health systems.
3. Licensing for supply: India should seek voluntary licences from patent holders, so Indian plants can supply the Global South in a pandemic.
Conclusion
The Pandemic Agreement now stands or falls on settling benefit sharing and funding on terms the Global South accepts. Whether the PABS annex closes on that balance, with India shaping it, is the test.
Matching Previous Year Question
“[2026] Which of the following international conventions have NOT been ratified by India? 1. Employment Policy Convention 2. Abolition of Forced Labour Convention 3. International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families 4. Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War 5. Convention on Reduction of Statelessness (a) 2 and 4 (b) 1 and 2 (c) 3 and 4 only (d) 3, 4 and 5 ANSWER:”
October 8, 2026

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