7 July 2024

• Health: Heat wave mortality data for 2024 summer compiled. North India recorded over 100 heat-related deaths across May and June, the highest in several years.
• Polity: UPSC announced the results of the Civil Services Preliminary Examination 2024. Over 14,000 candidates qualified for Mains.
• International: PM Modi's visit to Russia (8-9 July) announced. The visit will cover strategic partnership and bilateral trade discussions.
• Economy: India's current account showed a surplus in Q4 FY2024, a rare occurrence driven by services exports and remittances.

GS area: Economy

India's current account recorded a surplus in Q4 (January to March 2024), a rare position for a country that typically runs a current account deficit due to large merchandise trade and energy import bills.

• Current account components: Merchandise trade (goods), services trade (IT and business services), primary income (profit and interest flows), and secondary income (remittances). India's strength is in services exports and remittances; its weakness is in goods trade, particularly energy imports.
• Q4 FY2024 outcome: A surplus driven by strong services exports (India's IT and business process services grew) and high remittance inflows. The current account deficit for full-year FY2024 was 0.7 per cent of GDP, one of the lowest in recent years.
• Balance of Payments vs Balance of Trade: The BoP covers all international transactions including capital flows (FDI, FPI, external commercial borrowings). The Balance of Trade covers only goods. A BoP surplus means more foreign exchange entered India than left across all transactions.
• Capital account: Q4 FY2024 also showed a net surplus in the capital account as FDI and FPI inflows exceeded outflows.

Static linkage: External sector (Indian economy), monetary policy.

GS area: Governance, Polity

The Union Public Service Commission declared the results of the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination 2024 on 1 July 2024. Over 14,000 candidates qualified to appear for the Mains examination.

• UPSC structure: Constituted under Article 315 of the Constitution. It is the central recruiting authority for All India Services (IAS, IPS, IFoS) and Group A and B Central Services.
• Three-stage process: Preliminary (objective, qualifying nature), Mains (written, carries 1,750 marks), and Personality Test (Interview, carries 275 marks).
• Vacancy context: The number of vacancies advertised for Civil Services 2024 was in the range of 1,056 posts across services.
• Puja Khedkar controversy: Probationary IAS officer Puja Khedkar faced scrutiny over alleged misrepresentation of OBC non-creamy layer and disability certificates. The controversy highlighted verification gaps in civil services selection.

Static linkage: UPSC (Polity), Article 315 to 323, civil services framework.

GS area: International Relations

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Russia was announced for 8 and 9 July 2024. This was his first visit to Moscow in five years.

• Annual India-Russia Summit: The highest institutionalized bilateral dialogue. The last summit-level meeting between Modi and Putin was in Vladivostok in 2019.
• Trade target: The two sides were expected to discuss progress toward the USD 100 billion bilateral trade target by 2030.
• Defence backdrop: Russia remains India's largest defence supplier, accounting for around 45 per cent of India's defence imports.
• Rupee-rouble trade: India-Russia bilateral trade reached 65 billion dollars in FY2023-24. Rupee-rouble transactions doubled in 2024. Russia's Sberbank reported a six-fold increase in rupee deposits since January 2024.
• Ukraine context: PM Modi's visit came amid India's sustained abstention on UN resolutions condemning Russia's actions in Ukraine. India has maintained that the crisis must be resolved through dialogue.

Static linkage: India-Russia relations (IR), India's strategic autonomy.

GS area: Environment, Disaster Management

North India recorded unusually high heat-wave mortality in the 2024 summer season. The India Meteorological Department attributed the severity to a combination of delayed pre-monsoon rainfall and urban heat island effects.

• Heat wave definition: IMD defines a heat wave when the maximum temperature of a station reaches at least 40 degrees Celsius in plains and 30 degrees in hilly regions, and the departure from normal is at least 4.5 degrees.
• Mortality pattern: The elderly, outdoor workers, and urban populations in poorly ventilated housing face the highest risk.
• National Action Plan on Climate Change: One of its eight missions is the National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency. India lacks a dedicated heat wave mortality tracking system.
• Urban heat island: Cities absorb more heat than rural areas because of concrete and asphalt. Minimum night temperatures in cities do not fall as much, preventing physiological recovery.

Static linkage: Climate change impacts (Environment), disaster management framework.

GS area: Economy, Science and Technology

India's services exports continue to grow as a share of global services trade. The IT-BPM sector is the primary driver.

• IT-BPM exports: India's information technology and business process management sector exported over 245 billion dollars in FY2024.
• India's global ranking: Second largest exporter of digitally delivered services after the United States.
• GIFT City: Gujarat International Finance Tec-City hosts India's first International Financial Services Centre (IFSC). It allows offshore financial services to be conducted in India under a special regulatory framework.
• Nasscom: The industry body that represents the IT-BPM sector. Lobbies on visa, taxation, and data localisation policies affecting exports.

Static linkage: Service sector (Economy), India's export strategy.

• Aphelion 2024: Earth was at its farthest point from the Sun (aphelion) in early July 2024, at approximately 152 million km. The perihelion (closest approach, about 147 million km) occurs in early January. Seasons are determined by axial tilt, not distance from the Sun.
• Sea groynes in Kerala: Concrete groynes built perpendicular to the coastline trap sediment and reduce coastal erosion. Kerala deployed new groynes along its vulnerable shoreline to prevent sea encroachment on coastal villages.
• SEHER Programme: A joint initiative of the Women Entrepreneurship Platform (part of NITI Aayog) and TransUnion CIBIL to build financial literacy and business skills among women entrepreneurs. India has 63 million MSMEs of which about 20 per cent are women-owned.