16 April 2025

• Social Issues: India's elderly population will exceed 193 million by 2031 and 300 million by 2050. Atal Vayo Abhyudaya Yojana and related schemes were reviewed.
• Governance: India Justice Report 2025 found Karnataka top-ranked. No state met reserved quotas for women in police. 76 per cent of pending cases involve undertrials.
• Technology: Google Cloud's Ironwood TPU (seventh generation) for AI computation was in news.
• Polity: The Registration of Births and Deaths (Amendment) Act 2023 made Civil Registration System certificates the sole valid birth-proof documents.

GS area: Governance, Polity

The India Justice Report 2025 was released by Tata Trusts in collaboration with CHRI (Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative), DAKSH, the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, and TISS-Prayas.

• Ranking criteria: Police, Judiciary, Prisons, Legal Aid, and Human Rights Commissions.
• Top performers: Karnataka (6.78/10), Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu.
• Key finding: women in police: No state or union territory has met reserved quotas for women in the police force.
• CCTV gap: 17 per cent of police stations across India lack CCTV cameras.
• Undertrial crisis: 76 per cent of more than five crore pending cases involve undertrials. Undertrials are persons in custody awaiting trial who have not been convicted.
• Prison overcrowding: 176 prisons operate at more than 200 per cent of capacity.
• Legal aid funding: India spends approximately Rs 6 per capita annually on legal aid, making meaningful access to justice for the poor near-impossible.

Static linkage: Judiciary, justice delivery, fundamental rights (GS-2 Polity and Governance).

GS area: Social Issues, Governance

The ageing of India's population is an accelerating demographic reality requiring urgent policy attention.

• Numbers: 103.8 million elderly (2011), projected to reach 193.4 million by 2031 and 300 million by 2050.
• Government schemes:
  • Atal Vayo Abhyudaya Yojana (AVYAY): the flagship umbrella scheme for elderly welfare.
  • SACRED Portal: online platform reconnecting elderly job-seekers with employers.
  • Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana (RVY): provides assistive devices to BPL seniors.
  • IGNOAPS: cash transfer under the National Social Assistance Programme for elderly poor.
  • NPHCE: geriatric health services through district hospitals.
• Ageing horizon: By 2050, more than a fifth of Indians will be over 60.

Static linkage: Demographic change, elderly welfare schemes (GS-2 Social Issues).

GS area: Polity, Governance

The amended Registration of Births and Deaths Act 2023 and its implications for documentation were reviewed in April 2025.

• Governing law: The Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969 (amended in 2023).
• Registration timeline: 21 days mandatory from the event.
• Digital system: Civil Registration System (CRS) portal, operational from October 2023.
• New provision: CRS-issued certificates are now the sole valid birth-proof documents for all official purposes including passport, education, and employment.
• Gap: Approximately 10 per cent of births and deaths remain unregistered, primarily in remote and tribal areas.

Static linkage: Governance, civil registration, documentation (GS-2 Governance).

GS area: Economy, Environment

India's energy and hydrogen strategy was reviewed in the context of the Green Hydrogen Certification Scheme of India.

• Net Zero target: India aims for net zero by 2070.
• Non-fossil capacity goal: 500 GW by 2030.
• Nuclear expansion: 100 GW nuclear capacity by 2047.
• Green Hydrogen Certification Scheme (GHCI): Launched by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. Nodal agency: Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE).
• Certification metric: kg CO2 equivalent per kg H2. Only hydrogen produced with renewable energy is certified.
• Target: 5 million metric tonnes of green hydrogen production by 2030.
• Guarantee of Origin (GO): Ensures the legitimacy of certified green hydrogen.

Static linkage: Renewable energy, energy policy (GS-3 Economy, Environment).

GS area: Science and Technology

Google Cloud announced its seventh-generation Tensor Processing Unit, the Ironwood TPU, in April 2025.

• Purpose: Designed specifically for AI and machine learning tensor computations.
• Performance: Faster than general-purpose CPUs and GPUs for deep learning inference and training.
• Significance for India: India's AI investment of 1.4 billion dollars (UNCTAD 2025) means Indian AI startups access these chips primarily through cloud services rather than owning hardware.
• National Quantum Mission parallel: India's domestic AI chip ambitions sit within the IndiaAI Mission and the India Semiconductor Mission, though dedicated AI chip production is still nascent.

Static linkage: Artificial intelligence, semiconductor technology (GS-3 Science and Technology).

GS area: Environment, International Organisations

AQUASTAT was in news as SDG 6.4 (water-use efficiency and water stress) monitoring received attention.

• Agency: Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
• Established: 1990s.
• Coverage: 180+ variables across 180+ countries, with data going back to 1960.
• Purpose: Provides the global database for monitoring SDG 6.4 indicators on water-use efficiency and freshwater stress.

Static linkage: Water resources, international databases (GS-3 Environment).

• Tuti Island, Khartoum: Island at the confluence of the Blue Nile and the White Nile in Khartoum, Sudan. Serves as Khartoum's vegetable garden. Devastated by the ongoing Sudan civil war. Reclaimed by national army in 2025.
• World Pandemic Treaty: Developed by the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) under WHO, formed in December 2021. Based on a One Health approach linking human, animal, and environmental health. Legally binding but respects national sovereignty (no WHO mandate on lockdowns or vaccines).