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Type: Prelims Only

  • FCRA Amendment Bill, 2026 faces demand for JPC scrutiny

    Why in the News

    The Opposition, the Mizoram Chief Minister, and Christian bodies are pressing for the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026 to be referred to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) before the coming session.

    What is the FCRA?

    1. Definition: The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010 (FCRA) governs the receipt and use of foreign funds by individuals, associations, and NGOs in India.
    2. Registration regime: Organisations need FCRA registration or prior permission to receive foreign donations, with periodic renewal.

    Why is the amendment contested?

    1. Compliance burden: Critics argue tighter conditions could choke funding for civil society and faith-based organisations.
    2. Federal and minority concern: State governments and church bodies see the changes as targeting specific organisations.
    3. Scrutiny demand: Referral to a JPC is sought to allow detailed clause-by-clause examination before passage.

    Requirement for JPC Referral

    A Bill can be referred to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) when:

    1. Either House proposes referral: The Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha may move a motion to refer the Bill to a JPC.
    2. House approval: The motion must be approved by the concerned House.
    3. Agreement of both Houses: Since a JPC includes members from both Houses, the other House must also agree to the referral.
    4. Government or Opposition request: Referral can be proposed by the government or opposition, but Parliament decides.
    5. No constitutional compulsion: There is no mandatory constitutional requirement that a Bill must be sent to a JPC.

    Note: A Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) is not a constitutional body, as the Constitution of India does not explicitly provide for or mandate its creation. Instead, a JPC is an ad-hoc (temporary) parliamentary committee established by the Parliament of India under the Rules of Procedure of the houses for a specific purpose, duration, and mandate

    [2025, GS2, 10 marks] Civil Society Organizations are often perceived as being anti-State actors rather than non-State actors. Do you agree? Justify.”

    [2014] Which one of the following is the largest Committee of the Parliament?

    [A] The Committee on Public Accounts

    [B] The Committee on Estimates

    [C] The Committee on Public Undertakings

    [D] The Committee on Petitions.

  • VB-GRAM G rural jobs fall in its first month

    Why in the News

    After replacing MGNREGS on 1 July 2026, the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) [VB-GRAM G] recorded nearly a 50% year-on-year decline in rural employment generated during its first month.

    What is VB-GRAM G?

    1. New framework: Replaced MGNREGS from 1 July 2026.
    2. Employment guarantee: Increased from 100 to 125 days per rural household.
    3. Digital monitoring: Retains face-authentication-based attendance.

    Why did employment fall?

    1. Transition friction: Migration of registrations, job cards and payment systems disrupted work allocation.
    2. Sowing season: Provision for pausing employment demand during peak agricultural operations reduced July person-days.
    3. Comparability issue: Comparing July 2026 with July 2025 may exaggerate the decline because the institutional framework has changed.
    4. Implementation lag: Initial administrative bottlenecks may have temporarily reduced employment generation.

    MGNREGS: Back to Basics

    • Ministry: Ministry of Rural Development.
    • Legal basis: MGNREGA, 2005.
    • Guarantee: At least 100 days of wage employment per rural household.
    • Nature: Demand-driven, rights-based employment programme.
    • Eligibility: Rural households whose adult members volunteer for unskilled manual work.

    [2011] Among the following who are eligible to benefit from the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act?

    (a) Adult members of only the scheduled caste and scheduled tribe households

    (b) Adult members of below poverty line (BPL) households

    (c) Adult members of households of all backward communities

    (d) Adult members of any household.

  • Gujarat port concessions near expiry, reopening the BOOT debate

    Why in the News

    Concessions for Gujarat’s Pipavav and Mundra ports near expiry, reopening the debate on the Build-Own-Operate-Transfer (BOOT) model and how India structures private port infrastructure.

    What is the BOOT model?

    1. Definition: Under Build-Own-Operate-Transfer (BOOT), a private operator finances, builds, and runs an asset for a fixed concession period, then transfers it back to the public authority.
    2. Application: Gujarat’s 1997 BOOT framework let private players develop ports like Mundra and Pipavav on state maritime board land.

    What is at stake as concessions expire?

    1. Asset transfer terms: Expiry forces a decision on renewal, renegotiation, or transfer of high-value operating ports.
    2. Investment signal: The treatment of expiring concessions shapes confidence for greenfield private ports such as Vizhinjam and Dhamra.
    3. Federal split: Major ports fall under the Centre while non-major ports like Gujarat’s fall under state maritime boards, complicating policy.

    “[2026] Consider the following statements with reference to the Sagarmala Programme of the Government of India :
    I. The Sagarmala Programme seeks to achieve port-led economic growth through cost-effective and sustainable coastal infrastructure.
    II. The success of the Sagarmala Programme is reflected in significant growth in coastal and inland waterway shipping, along with improved global port rankings.
    III. Sagarmala 2.0 aims to position India as global maritime innovation hub aligned with Atmanirbhar Bharat and Viksit Bharat 2047 visions.
    Which of the following relationships among the above statements is/are correct?
    1. Statement II validates the effectiveness of the strategies envisioned in statement I.
    2. Statement III extends the objectives of statement I by embedding them into a future-oriented innovation framework.
    3. Statement I contradicts statement III by focusing only on traditional infrastructure instead of modern innovation.
    Select the answer using the code given below:

    [A] 1 only

    [B] 1 and 2

    [C] 2 and 3

    [D] 3 only

  • India crosses 300 GW of non-fossil power capacity

    Why in the News

    India’s non-fossil fuel capacity has crossed 300 GW, achieving about 60% of the 500 GW target for 2030. The key challenge is converting installed capacity into actual electricity generation.

    What is the 500 GW Target?

    1. Panchamrit pledge: India committed at COP26, Glasgow (2021) to achieve 500 GW of non-fossil electricity capacity by 2030.
    2. Coverage: Includes solar, wind, hydro and nuclear capacity.
    3. Not total capacity: It excludes fossil-fuel capacity such as coal and gas.

    Why Capacity ≠ Generation?

    1. Capacity factors: Solar and wind are intermittent, so installed capacity does not translate proportionately into electricity generated.
    2. Storage gap: Batteries and pumped-storage hydropower are needed to provide reliable renewable power.
    3. Grid constraints: Transmission and grid-balancing infrastructure must expand alongside renewable capacity.
    4. Peak demand mismatch: Renewable generation may not coincide with periods of highest electricity demand.

    Value Addition

    • Panchamrit: 500 GW non-fossil capacity by 2030; 50% energy requirements from renewables; reduce projected carbon emissions by 1 billion tonnes; reduce emissions intensity by 45%; achieve net zero by 2070.
    • Key challenge: Shift from capacity addition → reliable, dispatchable clean power.

    “[2022, GS3, 15 marks] Do you think India will meet 50 percent of its energy needs from renewable energy by 2030? Justify your answer. How will the shift of subsidies from fossil fuels to renewables help achieve the above objective? Explain.”

    [2026] Consider the following statements with reference to India’s response to climate change:
    I. India’s Long-Term Low Emission Development Strategy (LT-LEDS) is a crucial tool for achieving net-zero emissions by 2070
    II. India’s 4th Biennial Update Report (BUR-4) submitted in December, 2024 recorded around 8% decrease in Greenhouse gas emissions in 2020 over 2019.
    III. Climate-resilient development necessarily depends on quick and short-term achievement of emission reduction targets.
    Which of the following relationships among the above statements is/are correct?
    1. Statement I is empirically supported by statement II.
    2. Statement III contradicts the approach implicit in statement I.
    3. Statement I and statement III together establish the premise of long-term sustainability.
    Select the answer using the code given below:

    [A] 1 only

    [B] 1 and 2

    [C] 2 and 3

    [D] 3 only

  • India’s Lepidoptera Diversity

    Why in the News?

    The Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) has published the Catalogue of Lepidoptera (Butterflies & Moths) of India in the peer-reviewed journal Zootaxa. The catalogue, prepared over nearly 12 years, provides an updated national inventory of India’s butterfly and moth diversity.

    Key Findings

    • India has 13,703 species of Lepidoptera.
    • This represents about 8.25% of the world’s known Lepidoptera.
    • Butterflies: 1,417 species
    • Moths: 12,286 species
    • These are distributed across: 3,705 genera, 240 subfamilies, 102 families, 31 superfamilies

    Geometroidea

    • 2,205 species of Geometroidea have been catalogued in India.
    • They belong to: 479 genera, 13 subfamilies, and 4 families
    • They constitute around 8.8% of the world’s known Geometroidea.
    • Many are nocturnal pollinators, complementing daytime pollinators such as butterflies.
    • Note: Geometridae is a very large family of slender-bodied, broad-winged moths.

  • Phoenix Species Project

    Why in the News

    The Phoenix Species Project, led by Re:wild and the Bezos Earth Fund with the IUCN Species Survival Commission, has launched a $200 million global initiative to recover 100 of the world’s most threatened species.

    What is the Phoenix Species Project?

    • Target: 100 species classified as Critically Endangered (CR) or Extinct in the Wild (EW) on the IUCN Red List.
    • Geographical spread: 30 countries.
    • Species covered: Mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, invertebrates and plants.
    • Funding: $200 million
      • $100 million from Bezos Earth Fund
      • $100 million from Re:wild and supporting foundations.
    • Approach: Long-term, locally led species recovery rather than short-term conservation grants.

    Important species under the project

    • Bowmouth guitarfish: Threatened by the shark-fin trade; found in shallow waters from South Africa to Japan and Australia.
    • Hickory Nut Gorge green salamander: Restricted to a small canyon in North Carolina.
    • Charco Azul pupfish: Extinct in the wild; freshwater habitat was lost due to drought and water extraction.
    • Night parrot: Rare, nocturnal ground-dwelling bird of Australia’s arid regions.

  • AI agents flagged as a new cybersecurity risk

    Why in the News

    Leading AI developers and a national safety institute reported that AI agents took unauthorised actions during controlled cyber tests, highlighting a new category of AI safety and cybersecurity risk.

    What is an AI Agent?

    • AI Agent: An AI system that can perceive, plan, decide and act toward a goal with limited human supervision.
    • Unlike a conventional AI model that mainly generates an output, an agent can use tools, access systems and execute actions.
    • Core feature: Autonomy + goal-directed action

    What did the Tests Reveal?

    • Agents sometimes acted beyond their given instructions.
    • Such behaviour indicates that increasing autonomy can create risks beyond conventional software bugs or model errors.
    • Findings involved OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta and the UK AI Security Institute.

    Alignment Failure vs Capability Failure

    Alignment Failure

    • AI’s behaviour or strategy conflicts with human intent.
    • The system may technically pursue its objective but do so in an unauthorised or undesirable manner.

    Capability Failure

    • AI fails because of inadequate capability, reasoning or execution.
    • The problem is inability rather than deliberate deviation from the intended objective.

    “[2020] With the present state of development, Artificial Intelligence can effectively do which of the following?
    1. Bring down electricity consumption in industrial units
    2. Create meaningful short stories and songs
    3. Disease diagnosis
    4. Text-to-Speech Conversion
    5. Wireless transmission of electrical energy
    Select the correct answer using the code given below:
    (a) 1, 2, 3 and 5 only
    (b) 1, 3 and 4 only
    (c) 2, 4 and 5 only
    (d) 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5

  • El Nino and hoarding push up Karnataka rice prices

    Why in the News

    Deficit June to July rainfall, linked to El Niño, along with hoarding and war driven demand, pushed up rice prices in Karnataka while kharif paddy sowing remained below target. The episode highlights the vulnerability created by water intensive paddy cultivation during drought conditions.

    What drove the shock?

    • Rainfall deficit: El Niño associated dry conditions affected monsoon rainfall.
    • Low sowing: Paddy acreage remained below the kharif target.
    • Reservoir stress: Low storage reduced irrigation availability.
    • Tungabhadra canal breach: Further disrupted water supply.

    Why is Paddy Water Intensive?

    • Conventional transplanted rice requires substantial water, particularly during crop establishment.
    • Dependence on irrigation reservoirs makes paddy cultivation vulnerable to drought and declining storage.
    • Concentration of paddy in water stressed regions can create a water-energy-food nexus problem.

    Sustainable Alternatives

    1. Direct Seeded Rice (DSR)

    • Seeds are sown directly instead of raising and transplanting seedlings.
    • Reduces water and labour requirements.
    • Avoids prolonged standing water associated with conventional transplantation.

    2. Crop Diversification

    • Shift from paddy towards relatively less water intensive crops such as jowar, bajra, pulses and oilseeds.
    • Can improve water-use efficiency and climate resilience.

    3. Micro-irrigation and Water Management

    • Efficient irrigation, laser land levelling, rainwater harvesting and improved farm water management can reduce water wastage.

    MSP Dimension

    • Paddy receives MSP support, providing farmers with a price assurance mechanism.
    • For 2026-27, the MSP for paddy (common) is ₹2,441/quintal.
    • However, assured prices can also influence farmers to continue cultivating water intensive crops even in water stressed regions.

    “[2019] With reference to the cultivation of Kharif crops in India in the last five years, consider the following statements:
    1. Area under rice cultivation is the highest.
    2. Area under the cultivation of jowar is more than that of oilseeds.
    3. Area of cotton cultivation is more than that of sugarcane.
    4. Area under sugarcane cultivation has steadily decreased.
    Which of the statements given above are correct?
    (a) 1 and 3 only
    (b) 2, 3 and 4 only
    (c) 2 and 4 only
    (d) 1, 2, 3 and 4
    Answer: (a)”

  • Oil companies reject contamination claims against E20 petrol

    Why in the News

    Oil marketing companies rejected contamination allegations against E20 petrol after pan India testing, highlighting concerns over fuel quality, engine compatibility and consumer confidence.

    What is the Ethanol Blending Programme?

    • Objective: Reduce crude oil import dependence, improve energy security and support farmers.
    • E20: Petrol containing 20% ethanol.
    • India achieved the E20 blending target ahead of its earlier 2030 deadline.
    • Key Feedstocks: Sugarcane and molasses. Maize, and Surplus rice and other approved agricultural feedstocks

    Technical Trade-offs

    • Lower energy density: May reduce fuel economy.
    • Engine compatibility: Older vehicles may require compatible components.
    • Higher octane: Ethanol has a high octane rating and can improve combustion characteristics.

    “[2020] According to India’s National Policy on Biofuels, which of the following can be used as raw materials for the production of biofuels?
    1. Cassava
    2. Damaged wheat grains
    3. Groundnut seeds
    4. Horse gram
    5. Rotten potatoes
    6. Sugar beet
    Select the correct answer using the code given below:
    (a) 1, 2, 5 and 6 only
    (b) 1, 3, 4 and 6 only
    (c) 2, 3, 4 and 5 only
    (d) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6

  • Parliamentary panel wants a satellite to monitor Himalayan forest fires

    Why in the News

    A Parliamentary Standing Committee recommended a dedicated geostationary satellite to monitor forest fires in the Himalayan region, noting India’s reliance on foreign satellites. The gap being addressed is between the scale of the fire threat and India’s own detection capability.

    What did the committee recommend?

    1. Dedicated satellite: A geostationary satellite for near real time forest fire detection over the Himalayas.
    2. Institutional build out: National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) regional centres for faster response.
    3. Policy instruments: A National Pine Needle Utilisation Policy and a possible National Forest Fire Management Act.

    Why is current detection inadequate?

    1. Foreign dependence: India relies on the US operated AQUA and Suomi NPP satellites for fire alerts.
    2. Coverage lag: Polar orbiting satellites pass at fixed times, missing fast spreading fires.

    Why is the Himalayan region especially vulnerable?

    1. Fire load: The region carries a large share of national forest fire incidents.
    2. Pine needles: Accumulated dry pine needles act as highly flammable fuel.

    What are the challenges to the proposal?

    1. Cost and time: Building and launching a dedicated satellite needs sustained funding.
    2. Ground capacity: Detection is only useful with trained response teams on the ground.
    3. Policy status: The recommendations are not yet enacted measures.

    “[2019] For the measurement/estimation of which of the following are satellite images/remote sensing data used?
    1. Chlorophyll content in the vegetation of a specific location
    2. Greenhouse gas emissions from rice paddies of a specific location
    3. Land surface temperatures of a specific location
    Select the correct answer using the code given below.
    (a) 1 only
    (b) 2 and 3 only
    (c) 3 only
    (d) 1, 2 and 3