27 January 2025

• Governance: Maharashtra FDA controversy: allowing homeopathic practitioners to prescribe allopathy medicines raises crosspathy concerns.
• Economy: External Commercial Borrowings outstanding at $190.4 billion as of September 2024; private sector holds 63%.
• Environment: Tidal flooding becoming more frequent in Ernakulam, Kerala due to coastal urbanisation and climate change.
• Polity: Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) to be operational from 1 April 2025 for central government employees.
• Governance: Birth right citizenship: India's 2003 amendment excluded children of illegal immigrants from birth-right citizenship.

GS area: Governance, Health

Maharashtra FDA allowed homeopathic practitioners holding a certificate course in modern pharmacology to prescribe allopathic medications.

• Driving force: 80% shortage of specialist doctors in rural health centres (Health Dynamics of India 2022-23).
• Scale of AYUSH: AYUSH health and wellness centres served 8.42 crore patients by 2022.
• Legal position: The Supreme Court in Poonam Verma vs. Ashwin Patel (1996) ruled that practising outside one's trained medical system constitutes medical negligence.
• Bombay High Court: Issued a stay on a 2017 notification that had earlier allowed similar cross-practice, citing patient safety risks.
• The core question: Bridging rural doctor shortages through cross-trained practitioners versus maintaining system integrity and patient safety.

Static linkage: Health policy, rural healthcare, AYUSH (Governance, GS Paper 2).

GS area: Governance, Economy

The Unified Pension Scheme was approved by the Cabinet on 24 August 2024 and is operational from 1 April 2025.

• Coverage: Central government employees recruited after 1 January 2004 (currently under NPS).
• Guaranteed pension: 50% of last drawn basic pay as monthly pension (for those with 25 or more years of service).
• Employee contribution: 10% of basic pay.
• Government contribution: 18% of employee's basic pay (higher than the current NPS government contribution).
• Minimum pension: Rs 10,000 per month after at least 10 years of service.
• Family pension: 60% of the employee's pension upon death.
• Regulatory body: PFRDA (Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority).
• Distinction from OPS: The Old Pension Scheme provided a defined benefit (50% of last salary) without employee contribution. UPS provides a similar guarantee but retains the contributory element.

Static linkage: Social security, pension policy (Governance, GS Paper 2).

GS area: Polity (Citizenship)

Trump's executive order to end US birthright citizenship brought comparative citizenship law into focus.

• USA: The 14th Amendment (ratified 1868) grants citizenship to all persons born or naturalised in the USA. Trump's order challenged this interpretation.
• India's evolution:
  • Article 5: Original Constitution granted citizenship by birth to those born before 26 January 1950.
  • Citizenship Act, 1955: Extended citizenship by birth provisions.
  • 1986 Amendment: Restricted birth-right citizenship to persons born in India with at least one Indian citizen parent.
  • 2003 Amendment: Further restricted. Persons born in India to illegal immigrants cannot claim citizenship by birth, regardless of how long their parents lived in India.
• Comparison: India moved progressively away from pure jus soli (citizenship by birth) toward jus sanguinis (citizenship by descent), unlike the USA's original 14th Amendment interpretation.

Static linkage: Citizenship, Fundamental Rights (Polity, GS Paper 2).

GS area: Geography, Disaster Management

Tidal flooding (also called "sunny day flooding" or "king tide flooding") was reported along the Ernakulam coast, Kerala.

• Mechanism: Occurs during high tide events associated with full or new moons when the gravitational pull of the Sun and Moon align (spring tides). Storm surges or offshore winds can intensify the flooding.
• Climate change link: Sea level rise means that high tide events which previously did not cause flooding now do. As sea levels rise, "king tides" push water further inland.
• India's vulnerability: Low-lying coastal districts in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, and West Bengal face tidal flooding risk. Mumbai's reclaimed land is particularly vulnerable.
• Distinction: Tidal flooding is different from storm-surge flooding (caused by cyclones) and riverine flooding (caused by heavy rainfall and river overflow).

Static linkage: Coastal geography, disaster management (GS Papers 1 and 3).

GS area: Economy (International Finance)

ECB data as of September 2024 was released.

• Total outstanding ECBs: $190.4 billion.
• Private sector share: 63% ($97.58 billion).
• Public sector share: 37% ($55.5 billion).
• New ECBs registered (April-November 2024): $33.8 billion.
• Hedging: 74% of private sector ECBs are hedged against currency risk.
• What are ECBs: Loans raised by Indian companies from foreign lenders. Regulated by RBI. Subject to an all-in cost ceiling and a minimum average maturity.
• ECBs vs FPI: ECBs are debt instruments (loans). FPI (Foreign Portfolio Investment) refers to equity and bond investments by foreign investors.

Static linkage: International finance, monetary policy (Economy, GS Paper 3).

• Surajpur Wetland (Uttar Pradesh): Lacustrine (lake-type) soil. Hosts migratory birds including Bar-headed Goose. Rare species: Bristled Grassbird and Sarus Crane. Threatened by untreated wastewater discharge and urban encroachment.
• Paraquat herbicide: Banned in over 70 countries. WHO Category 2 (moderately hazardous). Used in India for weed control. No antidote exists. Treatment is activated charcoal or Fuller's earth (multani mitti). Causes multi-organ failure in overdose.