11 March 2024

• Defence: India successfully tested the Agni-5 missile with MIRV technology under Mission Divyastra, making India only the sixth country to demonstrate Multiple Independently Targetable Re-entry Vehicle capability.
• Polity: The Centre notified the Citizenship Amendment Act Rules 2024, enabling persecuted minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan to apply for Indian citizenship online.
• Economy: India's sponge iron industry flagged a raw material crisis: iron ore exports nearly tripled in 2023, reaching 44 million tonnes after the withdrawal of export duty on lower-grade ore.
• Infrastructure: The Sela Tunnel in Arunachal Pradesh was inaugurated, providing all-weather connectivity to Tawang at 13,700 feet.

GS area: Defence, Science and Technology

India conducted the first flight test of the Agni-5 missile armed with MIRV technology on 11 March 2024. Prime Minister Narendra Modi witnessed the test from DRDO's facility in Odisha. The mission was codenamed Divyastra.

Key facts:

• MIRV: Multiple Independently Targetable Re-entry Vehicle. A single ballistic missile carries several warheads, each of which can be directed at a separate target.
• Agni-5 range: over 5,000 kilometres. This places it in the intercontinental ballistic missile class by range, though India designates it an ICBM-class surface-to-surface missile.
• Strategic significance: MIRV increases deterrence because a single missile can overwhelm missile defence systems. India's nuclear arsenal moves from a simple minimum deterrent to a more complex one.
• MIRV club: the technology is confirmed only in five other countries: United States, Russia, United Kingdom, France and China. India is the sixth.
• Developer: DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation), indigenous design with no foreign technology.

Static linkage: Defence (India's nuclear programme), science and technology.

GS area: Polity (citizenship)

The Ministry of Home Affairs notified the CAA Rules 2024, enabling the Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 to take operational effect. The Act was passed in December 2019 but could not be implemented without notified rules. Four years later, the rules arrived.

Eligible applicants:

• Persecuted minorities from three countries: Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan.
• Six religious communities: Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, Christians.
• Condition: must have entered India on or before 31 December 2014.
• Residency requirement for naturalisation: reduced from 11 years to 5 years.

Application process:

• Fully online portal managed by the Ministry of Home Affairs.
• Applicants submit documents including proof of entry (rental agreements, educational certificates from country of origin) and a certificate from a recognised community institution confirming membership of the eligible religious group.
• Knowledge of any language in the Eighth Schedule required.
• The Empowered Committee (chaired by the Director of Census Operations in each state) issues the citizenship certificate.

Constitutional controversy: the Act excludes Muslim minorities and has been challenged under Article 14 (equality before law) on grounds that the classification is not based on a reasonable and intelligible differentia with a rational nexus to the Act's stated objective.

Static linkage: Polity (citizenship, fundamental rights, Parliament).

GS area: Internal security, Geography

The Sela Tunnel was inaugurated in Arunachal Pradesh, providing all-weather road access to Tawang district for the first time. Key facts:

• Altitude: 13,700 feet above sea level.
• Record: the world's longest twin-lane tunnel above 13,000 feet elevation.
• Connection: links Tezpur in Assam to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh. The Sela Pass (at over 13,700 feet) was previously the critical chokepoint; snow closed the pass for several months each year.
• Constructor: Border Roads Organisation (BRO), under the Ministry of Defence.
• Method: New Austrian Tunnelling Method (NATM), a technique that uses the surrounding rock as a structural element to reduce material use.
• Strategic relevance: Tawang is close to the Line of Actual Control with China. All-weather access allows faster troop and supply movement.

Static linkage: Internal security (border connectivity), geography.

GS area: Economy (industry)

India is the world's largest producer of sponge iron (direct-reduced iron) since 2003. Sponge iron contributes 30 per cent of India's total steel production. The crisis:

• Cause: the government withdrew export duty on iron ore with below 58 per cent iron content in November 2022 to support mining companies.
• Effect: iron ore exports nearly tripled in 2023 to 44 million tonnes, creating a domestic raw material shortage for sponge iron producers.
• Industry demand: a complete export ban on iron ore to protect domestic steel supply chains.
• National Steel Policy 2017 target: 80 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of sponge iron production by 2030-31.

Static linkage: Economy (industry, minerals policy).

• Supreme Court on Rajya Sabha elections: ruled that Rajya Sabha elections fall within the scope of Article 194(2), which protects legislative privileges. The Court held that parliamentary privileges extend beyond purely legislative activities and are part of the Constitution's Basic Structure.
• Democracy Report 2024 (V-Dem Institute): India downgraded to "one of the world's worst autocracies" on the Electoral Democracy Index, ranked 110. Liberal Component Index: 92. The report covers 202 countries and draws on assessments from 4,200 scholars. The institute is at the University of Gothenburg.