31 May 2025

• Health: World No Tobacco Day (31 May). India has 268 million tobacco users. Tobacco causes 1.35 million deaths annually in India.
• Economy: India's index of eight core industries grew 6.8 per cent in April 2025. Steel and cement drove growth.
• International: India and Nepal signed the Pancheshwar Multipurpose Project Implementation Agreement, reviving the stalled mega-dam project.
• Environment: The 2025 Global Hunger Index ranked India 105 out of 127 countries, with a score of 27.3 (Serious category).
• Science: India's DRDO tested the indigenously developed laser-directed energy weapon, Prahar, neutralising drone swarms at 1.5 km range.

GS area: Health, Governance, Public Health

World No Tobacco Day (31 May) highlights the health and economic burden of tobacco in India.

• India's tobacco burden: 268 million current users (adults who use tobacco in any form). Tobacco causes about 1.35 million deaths annually in India (27 per cent of all cancer deaths).
• Types of use: Smoking (cigarettes, bidi) and smokeless tobacco (khaini, gutka, pan masala with tobacco). Smokeless tobacco is more prevalent in India than in most other countries.
• Legal framework: Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003 (COTPA). Prohibits sale to minors; bans smoking in public places; mandates graphic health warnings on packaging.
• NTCP: National Tobacco Control Programme (2007-08). Runs tobacco cessation clinics; enforces COTPA; monitors compliance.
• Economic cost: India spends about Rs 1,77,000 crore annually on tobacco-related health costs (World Bank 2021 estimate). Revenue from tobacco taxes is about Rs 38,000 crore, one-fifth of the health burden cost.
• WHO MPOWER package: Monitor; Protect from smoke; Offer cessation; Warn; Enforce bans; Raise taxes.

Static linkage: Public health, COTPA, cancer, NCD policy.

GS area: International Relations, Infrastructure, Water

India and Nepal signed the Implementation Agreement for the Pancheshwar Multipurpose Project.

• Location: On the Mahakali (Sharda) River at the India-Nepal border, near Champawat district, Uttarakhand.
• Legal basis: Mahakali Treaty (1996), which shares the Mahakali River's resources equally between India and Nepal.
• Project components:
  • Pancheshwar Dam: 315 metres tall. One of the world's tallest dams.
  • Power generation: 6,720 MW (3,360 MW each to India and Nepal).
  • Irrigation: 2.4 lakh hectares in Nepal and 6.4 lakh hectares in India.
• Why stalled earlier: Disagreement on power sharing ratios; Nepal's political instability; cost escalation estimates.
• Significance: Would make Nepal a major electricity exporter and transform the Uttarakhand and UP Terai economy. Also addresses flooding in Nepal's Terai region.

Static linkage: India-Nepal relations, bilateral water treaties, hydropower, Mahakali Treaty.

GS area: Defence Technology, National Security

DRDO successfully tested the Prahar laser-based directed energy weapon against drone swarms.

• Technology: High-power fibre laser that produces a concentrated beam. Destroys targets by burning through structural materials or disabling electronic components.
• Tested range: 1.5 km effective range against drone swarms.
• Advantages over conventional air defence:
  • Speed of light engagement (no projectile lag).
  • No ammunition depletion; cost per shot is effectively the cost of electricity.
  • Highly precise with no collateral fragmentation.
• Challenges: High power requirement; atmospheric scattering in rain, fog and dust; thermal management.
• Context: The proliferation of cheap commercial drones as weapons (used in Operation Sindoor, Ukraine, Gaza) has made directed energy weapons an urgent priority.
• Global context: USA (HEL-MD), Israel (Iron Beam), China and Russia all have operational laser weapon programmes.

Static linkage: Defence technology, drone warfare, directed energy, DRDO.

GS area: Social Justice, Governance, International Relations

India ranked 105 out of 127 countries in the 2025 Global Hunger Index (GHI).

• GHI Score: 27.3 (Serious category). Ranges: 0-9.9 (Low); 10-19.9 (Moderate); 20-34.9 (Serious); 35-49.9 (Alarming); 50+ (Extremely alarming).
• Four indicators: Undernourishment (33.3 per cent weight); Wasting (16.7 per cent); Stunting (16.7 per cent); Under-5 Mortality (33.3 per cent).
• India's indicators:
  • Undernourishment: 13.7 per cent.
  • Wasting: 18.7 per cent (highest in the world).
  • Stunting: 35.5 per cent.
  • Under-5 Mortality: 3.1 per cent.
• India's objections: India disputes the GHI methodology, arguing that undernourishment data is based on a dietary energy survey and does not account for India's food security programmes (PMGKAY, PDS).
• Worst performers: Yemen, Madagascar, Niger and DR Congo.

Static linkage: Food security, nutrition, social indices, welfare schemes.

GS area: Environment, Biodiversity

The IUCN Red List updated India's threatened species tally in 2025.

• Global summary: 9,251 species Critically Endangered; 16,399 Endangered; 22,707 Vulnerable. Total threatened species: 48,357.
• India-specific changes:
  • Gangetic River Dolphin: Moved from Endangered to Vulnerable (positive).
  • Indian Skimmer (Rynchops albicollis): Remains Endangered; population declined 30 per cent in 10 years.
  • Bengal Florican: Moved from Endangered to Critically Endangered (negative).
  • Andaman White-toothed Shrew: Newly listed as Endangered.
• IUCN categories: EX (Extinct); EW (Extinct in the Wild); CR (Critically Endangered); EN (Endangered); VU (Vulnerable); NT (Near Threatened); LC (Least Concern).
• India's biodiversity data gaps: Over 30 per cent of India's documented species have not been assessed on the IUCN Red List.

Static linkage: IUCN, biodiversity, endangered species, conservation.

• Quit India Movement anniversary (9 August): August 9, 1942. Gandhi's "Do or Die" call from Bombay's Gowalia Tank Maidan. Operation Zero Hour: the British arrested all top Congress leaders within 24 hours. Mass uprising continued leaderlessly.
• Anti-Desertification Day (17 June): India has 96.4 million hectares of degraded land (32 per cent of geographic area). Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh have the highest desertification.
• National Statistics Day (29 June): Marks the birth anniversary of PC Mahalanobis (29 June 1893), founder of ISI Kolkata and pioneer of India's statistical system and input-output analysis.