29 May 2025

• International: UN Peacekeepers Day (29 May). India is the largest contributor to UN peacekeeping operations with over 6,000 personnel deployed.
• Economy: India's core sector growth accelerated to 6.8 per cent in April 2025, led by steel, cement and refinery output.
• Environment: India's first Ocean Water Quality Portal was launched by the Ministry of Earth Sciences for real-time coastal monitoring.
• Defence: The Cabinet approved the acquisition of 26 Rafale Marine fighter jets for the Indian Navy's INS Vikrant aircraft carrier.
• Science: India's Genome India Project completed sequencing of 10,000 diverse Indian genomes.

GS area: International Relations, National Security, History

UN Peacekeepers Day (29 May) marks the date of the first UN peacekeeping mission in 1948.

• India's contribution: Over 6,000 personnel currently deployed across 12 missions. Largest troop contributor nationally since 2007. Total deployments since 1950: over 2 lakh personnel.
• First Indian mission (1950): Korea (UNCURK). First dedicated peacekeeping: Congo (ONUC) 1960.
• Key current missions: UNIFIL (Lebanon); MONUSCO (DRC); UNMISS (South Sudan); UNOCI.
• India's notable contributions: Operation UNPROFOR (Yugoslavia); UNOSOM (Somalia, 1993, where 18 Indian soldiers were killed); UNDOF (Golan Heights).
• Legal basis for peacekeeping: UN Charter Chapter VI (peaceful settlement, observer missions) and Chapter VII (enforcement, with UNSC authorisation). Most modern missions combine elements of both.
• Women in peacekeeping: India deployed the first all-women formed police unit to Liberia (2007).

Static linkage: UN Charter, collective security, India's foreign policy, multilateralism.

GS area: Economy, Industry, Index of Industrial Production

India's eight core industries recorded 6.8 per cent growth in April 2025.

• Eight core industries: Coal, Crude Oil, Natural Gas, Refinery Products, Fertilizers, Steel, Cement, Electricity. They have a combined weight of 40.27 per cent in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).
• Performance: Steel: 11.2 per cent; Cement: 9.4 per cent; Refinery Products: 8.1 per cent; Electricity: 7.5 per cent; Fertilizers: 5.2 per cent; Coal: 4.8 per cent; Natural Gas: 3.6 per cent; Crude Oil: minus 2.4 per cent (declining domestic production).
• IIP: Measures change in industrial output across Mining (14.37 per cent weight), Manufacturing (77.63 per cent) and Electricity (7.99 per cent). Base year: 2011-12.
• Publisher: Office of Economic Adviser, DPIIT, Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
• Link to monetary policy: Strong IIP combined with low inflation supports the RBI's accommodative monetary stance.

Static linkage: Industrial production, economic indicators, RBI, fiscal policy.

GS area: Defence Technology, National Security

The Cabinet approved the acquisition of 26 Rafale Marine jets for the Indian Navy.

• Rafale Marine: Carrier-borne variant of the Dassault Rafale fighter. Differs from the Air Force variant: strengthened undercarriage; arrestor hook; folding wing tips; shorter nose strut.
• Aircraft carrier: INS Vikrant (IAC-1). India's first indigenously designed and built aircraft carrier. Commissioned August 2022. Displacement: 45,000 tonnes. Built at Cochin Shipyard Ltd.
• STOBAR: Short Take-Off But Arrested Recovery. INS Vikrant uses a ski-jump ramp for launch and arrestor wires for recovery. Rafale Marine is compatible with STOBAR operations.
• Deal value: Approximately Rs 63,000 crore (approximately $7.5 billion).
• Offset clause: 50 per cent offset under DAP 2020, with Safran and Thales obligated to invest in Indian aerospace supply chain.
• BECA agreement relevance: India-France Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement for Geo-Spatial Cooperation enables Rafale's full sensor integration.

Static linkage: Defence procurement, naval power, Make in India, India-France relations.

GS area: Science and Technology, Biotechnology, Governance

India's Genome India Project completed sequencing of 10,000 Indian genomes from across India's diverse population.

• Project: Launched 2020. Funded by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) under MoS Ministry of Science. Coordinated by IISc Bangalore.
• Objective: Create a comprehensive genomic reference database for India's diverse population. Enable precision medicine tailored to Indian genetic variants.
• Diversity: Samples from 99 communities across India, covering linguistic, geographic and caste diversity. India's genetic diversity is among the world's highest, comparable to all of Europe combined.
• Key findings: Several genetic variants associated with Type 2 diabetes, hypertension and tuberculosis susceptibility have higher frequency in Indian populations than in global reference genomes (e.g., HapMap, 1000 Genomes).
• Applications: Drug development targeted at Indian populations; pharmacogenomics (how genes affect drug response); disease screening programmes.

Static linkage: Biotechnology, precision medicine, DBT, science policy.

GS area: Environment, Science and Technology, Governance

India launched its first Ocean Water Quality Portal for real-time coastal monitoring.

• Launched by: Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), through its ESSO (Earth System Science Organisation) network.
• Data sources: Integrated Coastal and Marine Area Management (ICMAM) project sensors; INCOIS (Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services); Argo floats (international programme).
• Parameters monitored: Temperature; salinity; dissolved oxygen; pH; turbidity; nutrient levels (nitrates, phosphates); harmful algal bloom detection.
• Coverage: 22 coastal states and 2 island UTs. Over 300 monitoring stations.
• Climate link: Ocean temperature and chemistry are key climate change indicators. Coral bleaching is triggered when SSTs (Sea Surface Temperatures) exceed bleaching thresholds by 1 degree Celsius for 4+ weeks.
• Lakshadweep: The most vulnerable coral reef system in India. Experienced bleaching events in 1998, 2010, 2016, 2020 and 2025.

Static linkage: Oceanography, climate change, coral reefs, marine pollution.

• Everest Day (29 May): Marks the first ascent of Mount Everest on 29 May 1953 by Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary. Tenzing Norgay was Indian. Mount Everest is known as Sagarmatha in Nepali and Chomolungma in Tibetan. Height: 8,848.86 metres (revised 2020 survey).
• Migratory species agreement: India has ratified the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS or Bonn Convention). CMS Secretariat: Bonn, Germany. India hosts significant migratory bird populations including Amur falcons (Nagaland) and flamingos (Kutch).
• PM SVANIDHI: PM Street Vendor's AtmaNirbhar Nidhi. Working capital loans to street vendors. Over 63 lakh loans disbursed since 2020.