18 February 2025

• Nuclear fusion: China's EAST reactor set a world record of 1,066 seconds of sustained plasma at 70 million degrees Celsius. Previous record was 403 seconds.
• Governance: New Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar appointed under the CEC Act 2023. Constitutional morality doctrine reviewed.
• Agriculture: PM-AASHA scheme extended to 2025-26. APEDA cleared first commercial pomegranate export to Australia from Solapur.
• Water quality: Fecal coliform detected in Ganga and Yamuna at Prayagraj during Maha Kumbh 2025.

GS area: Science and Technology

China's Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) achieved a world record in January 2025:

• Achievement: 1,066 seconds of sustained plasma operation at approximately 70 million degrees Celsius.
• Previous record: 403 seconds (set in 2023). The new record more than doubled it.
• Mechanism: Superconducting magnets confine extremely hot plasma in a donut-shaped (toroidal) chamber. The goal is to replicate the fusion process that powers the Sun.
• ITER connection: China contributes 9 per cent to the construction and operation of ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor). ITER is under construction in Cadarache, France, as the first large-scale experimental fusion reactor involving 35 nations.
• Why fusion matters: Fusion uses hydrogen isotopes (deuterium and tritium) as fuel. It produces no carbon emissions and no long-lived radioactive waste. Commercially viable fusion would be a game-changing energy source.

India is a member of the ITER project. The Plasma Research Laboratory (PRL) and the Institute for Plasma Research (IPR) in Gandhinagar are India's primary fusion research institutions.

Static linkage: Science and technology (energy, nuclear).

GS area: Polity (constitutional bodies)

Gyanesh Kumar was appointed as the new Chief Election Commissioner. Dr Vivek Joshi was appointed as Election Commissioner. The institutional context:

• Constitutional basis: Article 324.
• New selection mechanism: Under the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act 2023, the selection committee comprises the PM, a union cabinet minister and the Leader of the Opposition.
• Term and salary: Six years or until age 65. Salary equivalent to the Cabinet Secretary.
• Controversy: The 2023 Act excluded the Chief Justice of India from the selection committee, departing from the Supreme Court's interim direction in the Anoop Baranwal case.

Static linkage: Polity (constitutional bodies, elections).

GS area: Polity, Governance

Constitutional morality refers to adherence to constitutional values that go beyond mere technical legal compliance:

• Origin of the concept: George Grote, a 19th-century British historian of ancient Greece, used it to describe the spirit of Athenian democracy. Dr B.R. Ambedkar imported it into the Indian constitutional debate to argue that the Constitution must shape public morals rather than merely codify existing ones.
• Supreme Court invocations: The concept was explicitly applied in Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India (2018) (decriminalisation of Section 377 IPC), K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India (2018) (right to privacy) and Krishnamoorthy v. Sivakumar (2015).
• Contrast with popular morality: Constitutional morality may require positions that diverge from majority public opinion (for example, protecting minority rights against majoritarian legislation).

Static linkage: Polity (fundamental rights, judiciary).

GS area: Economy (agriculture), Government schemes

The Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay Sanrakshan Abhiyan (PM-AASHA) was extended through 2025-26:

• Ministry: Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
• Implementing agencies: NAFED, NCCF and state governments.
• Components:
  • Price Support Scheme (PSS): Physical procurement at MSP when prices fall below.
  • Price Stabilisation Fund (PSF): Buffer stocking of price-sensitive commodities.
  • Price Deficit Payment Scheme (PDPS): DBT to farmers for the difference between MSP and market price.
  • Market Intervention Scheme (MIS): For perishables not covered by MSP.
• New feature: 100 per cent procurement commitment for Tur, Urad and Masur lentils from 2024-25 onwards.

PM-AASHA is distinct from the Minimum Support Price announcement (which is made by CACP). PM-AASHA provides the mechanism to actually pay farmers MSP-level prices when the market fails.

Static linkage: Agriculture (Indian economy, government schemes).

GS area: Economy (agriculture, trade)

APEDA (Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority) cleared the first commercial trial export of pomegranates to Australia:

• APEDA: Established in 1986. Under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
• Varieties exported: Sangola and Bhagwa from Solapur, Maharashtra.
• Why Solapur: Ideal agro-climatic conditions (semi-arid, high temperature, clay-loam soil) for pomegranate cultivation.
• Australia quarantine: Strict phytosanitary requirements. The clearance demonstrates compliance with Australian biosecurity standards.

India is the world's largest pomegranate producer. Maharashtra accounts for the majority of domestic production.

Static linkage: Agriculture (trade, Indian economy).

GS area: Environment (water pollution)

Fecal coliform bacteria were detected in the Ganga and Yamuna at Prayagraj during Maha Kumbh 2025:

• CPCB permissible limit for bathing: 2,500 Fecal Coliform Units per 100 millilitres.
• Drinking water standard: E. coli must be completely absent.
• Health implications: Fecal coliform contamination indicates sewage discharge into the river. It is associated with typhoid, cholera and hepatitis A.
• Ganga Action Plan: Originally launched in 1985. Succeeded by the Namami Gange programme (2015), which is a 20,000-crore-rupee integrated conservation mission.
• Maha Kumbh schedule: Held every 12 years at Prayagraj. The 2025 edition ran from January to February.

Static linkage: Environment (water pollution, rivers).

GS area: Environment (biodiversity)

A new survey recorded 15 new species in Parambikulam Tiger Reserve:

• Location: Palakkad and Thrissur districts, Kerala (Western Ghats).
• Area: 643.66 square kilometres.
• UNESCO status: Part of the Western Ghats UNESCO World Heritage Site (Anamalai Sub-Cluster).
• Notable fauna: Lion-tailed macaque, Malabar giant squirrel, Nilgiri langur and various endemic birds.
• New recorded species: Included birds, butterflies and odonates (dragonflies and damselflies).

Static linkage: Biodiversity and conservation (environment and ecology).

• DICGC deposit insurance: The Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC) currently insures deposits up to 5 lakh rupees per depositor per bank. It is a subsidiary of the RBI. The Finance Ministry was considering raising the limit above 5 lakh rupees.
• Syria's UNESCO heritage sites: Palmyra (2,000-year-old Roman ruins, Silk Road hub, Homs Governorate) and Crac des Chevaliers (12th-century Crusader castle) are both damaged from the civil war. Restoration efforts are underway.
• DDoS attack: Karnataka's Kaveri 2.0 property registration portal was disrupted by a Distributed Denial of Service attack. The attack floods a server with traffic from multiple sources to overwhelm it.