4 March 2025

• Finance: The Income Tax Bill, 2025 classifies Virtual Digital Assets as capital assets taxable at 30 per cent.
• Women: NITI Aayog's report shows women borrowers tripled between 2019 and 2024; PM Mudra Yojana disbursed 2.22 lakh crore rupees to women.
• Energy: The National Green Hydrogen Mission with a 19,744 crore rupee outlay launched pilot hydrogen vehicles across 10 routes.
• Wildlife: A dolphin survey counted 6,327 Gangetic dolphins across 8 states and 8,507 km of rivers.
• Defence: The National Board for Wildlife, chaired by the Prime Minister, approved new project clearances.

GS area: Economy, Society (Women's Issues)

NITI Aayog released "From Borrowers to Builders: Women's Role in India's Financial Growth Story," documenting a structural shift in women's access to formal finance.

• Women borrowers: Tripled between 2019 and 2024.
• Credit monitoring: 27 million women monitored their credit in 2024, a 42 per cent increase over the previous year.
• Business loans: Women's share of business loans rose by 14 per cent.
• PM Mudra Yojana: Disbursed 2.22 lakh crore rupees to 4.24 crore women borrowers. The scheme provides collateral-free loans up to 10 lakh rupees to micro-enterprises.
• Challenges: 79 per cent of women entrepreneurs are self-financed. Credit aversion and poor banking experience remain barriers.
• Jan Dhan: The Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana opened over 29 crore women's accounts, creating the banking infrastructure that Mudra leverages.

UPSC tests the three Mudra loan categories: Shishu (up to 50,000), Kishor (50,001 to 5 lakh) and Tarun (5 lakh to 10 lakh).

Static linkage: Women's issues, financial inclusion, government schemes.

GS area: Economy (Taxation), Technology

The Income Tax Bill, 2025, introduced to simplify the 1961 Act, defines and taxes Virtual Digital Assets.

• Definition: VDAs include cryptocurrencies, NFTs, stablecoins and other digital tokens that use blockchain or cryptographic technology.
• Classification: Treated as capital assets and property.
• Tax rate: 30 per cent on transfers of VDAs, regardless of holding period.
• TDS: 1 per cent TDS on buyer for transactions above the threshold.
• Loss provisions: Losses from VDA cannot be set off against gains from other assets.
• New concept: "Tax year" replaces "assessment year." The tax year is simply the financial year (April 1 to March 31).
• Sections removed: Outdated provisions like Section 54E (capital gains rollover) removed.

The Bill does not change the substantive tax burden on VDAs but clarifies their legal classification, ending ambiguity that had allowed tax disputes.

Static linkage: Economy (taxation), digital economy.

GS area: Economy (Energy), Environment

The National Green Hydrogen Mission showed progress with pilot hydrogen vehicles flagged off on 10 routes.

• Mission details: Launched January 4, 2023. Budget: 19,744 crore rupees over the period 2023 to 2030.
• Production target: 5 million metric tonnes of green hydrogen annually by 2030.
• Vehicle pilots: 37 hydrogen-fuelled vehicles deployed across 10 routes, with IOCL setting up refuelling stations.
• SIGHT programme: The Strategic Interventions for Green Hydrogen Transition programme is a sub-component that incentivises domestic electrolyser manufacturing.
• Two hydrogen hubs: Planned to demonstrate the full value chain from production to end use.
• Green vs blue hydrogen: Green hydrogen is produced by electrolysis using renewable electricity. Blue hydrogen uses natural gas with carbon capture. Grey hydrogen (most common) uses natural gas without capture.

India imports 85 per cent of its fossil fuel needs. Green hydrogen offers domestic energy security and export opportunity.

Static linkage: Economy (energy transition), environment (decarbonisation).

GS area: Environment (Wildlife), Geography

A comprehensive survey counted 6,327 Gangetic dolphins across 8 states and 8,507 km of rivers.

• Scientific name: Platanista gangetica.
• IUCN status: Endangered.
• National Aquatic Animal: Declared in 2009.
• Schedule I: Protected under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, Schedule I, which carries the highest protection.
• Key feature: Functionally blind. Uses echolocation to navigate and hunt.
• Distribution: Ganga, Brahmaputra, Chambal, Gandak and their tributaries across Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand.
• Threats: Fishing nets, boat strikes, habitat fragmentation by dams, water abstraction and pollution.

The dolphin is used as an indicator species for river health: a rising dolphin population signals cleaner, better-flowing rivers. The Namami Gange data showed improving dolphin numbers in cleaner Ganga stretches.

Static linkage: Environment and ecology (river ecosystem, wildlife conservation).

GS area: Economy (Resources), International Relations

India secured a 9,000 square kilometre copper-cobalt exploration block in Zambia through the Geological Survey of India.

• Zambia's rank: 7th largest copper producer globally.
• Resource significance: Cobalt and copper are essential for EV batteries, electronics and defence systems.
• India's approach: Part of the Critical Mineral Mission launched alongside the 2025-26 Budget.
• GSI role: The Geological Survey of India, under the Ministry of Mines, leads international geological exploration partnerships.
• Other critical mineral initiatives: India-Australia Critical Minerals Partnership; KABIL (Khanij Bidesh India Limited) conducting overseas exploration.

Critical minerals are those whose supply chains are concentrated in a few countries and for which there are limited substitutes in emerging technology applications.

Static linkage: Economy (resources, mining), international relations.

GS area: Environment (Governance), Polity

The National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) approved project clearances, including infrastructure in buffer zones.

• Structure: 47-member body chaired by the Prime Minister.
• Functions: Sets policy for wildlife conservation. Approves or rejects projects in Protected Areas and within 10 km of National Parks and Sanctuaries.
• Legal basis: Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, Section 5A, added by the 2002 amendment.
• Standing Committee: The Standing Committee of NBWL (chaired by the Environment Minister) handles routine clearance cases; the full Board for sensitive decisions.
• Distinction: The Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) under the Forest Conservation Act handles diversion of forest land for non-forest use. NBWL handles proximity to protected areas.

Static linkage: Environment (governance), conservation law.

GS area: Economy (Public Sector)

IRCTC (Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation) and IRFC (Indian Railway Finance Corporation) were granted Navratna status, becoming the 25th and 26th Navratna CPSEs.

• Navratna requirements:
  • Rating of "Excellent" or "Very Good" in MoU evaluation for at least 3 of the last 5 years.
  • Score of 60 or above on financial and managerial composite performance.
• Financial autonomy: Navratna CPSEs can invest up to 1,000 crore rupees or 15 per cent of net worth (whichever is lower) without government approval.
• Categories: Maharatna, Navratna, Miniratna (Category I and II). Maharatna CPSEs can invest up to 5,000 crore rupees.

Static linkage: Economy (public sector undertakings), government policy.

• EPIC numbers: The Election Commission noted ongoing deduplication of EPIC (Electors Photo Identity Card) numbers across states due to historical decentralised issuance systems.
• Bose metal phenomenon: Researchers found Bose metal properties in niobium diselenide (NbSe₂), where Cooper pairs form without full superconducting coherence.