Highlights
- Economy: India's current account deficit for Q3 FY25 narrowed to 1.1 per cent of GDP, reflecting strong software services exports and moderated merchandise imports.
- Environment: Global Land Outlook 2025 flagged India as a "degradation hotspot" with 30 per cent of land under some degree of degradation.
- Science: India's Chandrayaan-3 mission data continued to yield lunar science publications in April 2025.
1. Current account deficit narrows: Q3 FY25
GS area: Economy
India's current account deficit (CAD) narrowed sharply to 1.1 per cent of GDP in Q3 FY25 from 1.5 per cent in Q3 FY24.
- Current account: Records all transactions in goods, services, primary income, and secondary income (remittances) between India and the rest of the world.
- CAD vs. surplus: A deficit means India spends more abroad than it earns. For India, this is typical given merchandise imports (oil, gold, electronics) exceed merchandise exports.
- Services offset: India's software, IT, and business process services exports now exceed USD 350 billion annually. Remittances (USD 124 billion in 2023-24) also cushion the CAD.
- Q3 FY25 drivers: Moderated crude oil prices reduced the oil import bill. Strong services surplus and robust remittances narrowed the CAD.
- RBI's comfort zone: CAD of 1 to 1.5 per cent of GDP is considered manageable. Above 2.5 per cent raises macro stability concerns.
Static linkage: Balance of payments, monetary policy, trade (GS-3 Economy).
2. Global Land Outlook 2025: India's degradation
GS area: Environment
The Global Land Outlook 2025 report by UNCCD placed India among the top five countries with land degradation concerns.
- UNCCD: United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, adopted in 1994. India is a signatory.
- Land degradation neutrality (LDN): A commitment to achieve no net loss of land by 2030. India committed to LDN in 2015.
- Scale: Approximately 30 per cent of India's land is under some degree of degradation, including approximately 120 million hectares.
- Types: Soil erosion, waterlogging in canal commands, dryland degradation from overgrazing, deforestation, and urbanisation.
- Government response: PMKSY (Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana) for irrigation efficiency. National Action Programme to Combat Desertification. MGNREGA as a tool for watershed development.
Static linkage: Land degradation, UNCCD, environmental governance (GS-3 Environment).
3. Chandrayaan-3 mission: lunar science outcomes
GS area: Science and Technology
ISRO's Chandrayaan-3 data continued to generate peer-reviewed science publications through April 2025.
- Mission summary: Chandrayaan-3 made a soft landing on 23 August 2023 at the south pole region of the Moon. India became the fourth nation to achieve a soft landing and the first to land near the lunar south pole.
- Vikram lander and Pragyan rover: Operated for approximately 14 days before the lunar night ended operations.
- Scientific findings confirmed by April 2025:
- Plasma density measurements near the lunar surface.
- Sulphur detection at the south pole for the first time.
- Near-surface temperature differential of 70 degrees C versus surface.
- Moonquake detection by ILSA (Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity).
- Water ice implications: South pole sulphur and ice confirmation data is relevant to future lunar habitation and ISRO's Chandrayaan-4 planning.
Static linkage: Space technology, ISRO, scientific missions (GS-3 Science and Technology).
4. Scheduled Tribes and Forest Rights: State compliance review
GS area: Polity, Governance, Social Justice
The Ministry of Tribal Affairs reviewed state-level compliance with the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006 in April 2025.
- FRA 2006: Recognises the rights of Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers (OTFDs) who have been living in forests for generations.
- Types of rights: Individual forest rights (land rights), community forest rights, and community forest resource rights (CFR, to manage and govern forest produce).
- Title grant data: As of March 2025, approximately 2.3 million individual titles and 72,000 community titles issued across India.
- States lagging: Rejection rates vary significantly by state. Karnataka, Gujarat, and Rajasthan have higher rejection rates.
- CFR rights: The most transformative provision, giving gram sabhas governance rights over forests. Implementation remains uneven.
Static linkage: Tribal rights, forest governance, social justice (GS-2 Social Justice, GS-3 Environment).
GS area: Economy
The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) reported India's agricultural exports for 2024-25.
- Total agri exports: Approximately USD 53 billion in 2024-25, the highest ever.
- Top commodities: Non-basmati rice, basmati rice, spices, buffalo meat, marine products.
- Non-basmati rice: India removed the export ban on non-basmati white rice in September 2024, restoring market share.
- Basmati: GI-tagged product. Premium export to the Middle East, Europe, and North America.
- APEDA's mandate: Promotion and development of export of scheduled products under the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority Act, 1985.
Static linkage: Agricultural exports, trade, food security (GS-3 Economy).
6. Briefly noted
- Scheduled Tribe sub-plan: Tribal Sub-Plan (TSP, now called Scheduled Tribe Component or STC) mandates that funds proportional to the tribal population share be allocated for tribal development in central and state budgets. It ensures a flow of funds proportional to tribal demographic share.
- Gati Shakti National Master Plan: The NMP aims to integrate 16 Ministries' infrastructure planning on a single geospatial platform. It enables synchronised infrastructure development by identifying gaps, conflicts, and opportunities across transport, energy, and digital connectivity projects.
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