10 June 2025

• Space: Axiom-4 mission launch deferred again from its 10 June scheduled time due to weather at Kennedy Space Center. Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla awaited launch.
• Economy: FDI inflows in FY 2024-25 reached $81.04 billion, a 14 per cent rise and 3-year high. Maharashtra attracted the largest share at $19.6 billion (31 per cent).
• Urban: Delhi's E-Waste Recycling Eco Park at Holambi Kalan, North Delhi, announced. Capacity: 51,000 metric tonnes annually, covering all 106 e-waste categories.
• Sports: ICC Cricket Hall of Fame 2025 inductees included MS Dhoni, making him the 11th Indian player inducted. Eligibility requires retirement at least five years before induction.
• Welfare: Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan (PMSMA) marks nine years since launch (June 2016). It provides free antenatal care on the 9th of every month.

GS area: Economy (Foreign Direct Investment, Industrial policy)

India's gross FDI inflows in FY 2024-25 reached $81.04 billion, a 14 per cent increase over the previous year and a three-year high.

• Maharashtra: attracted $19.6 billion, or 31 per cent of total FDI. The state remains India's top FDI destination.
• Karnataka: $6.62 billion (20 per cent), driven by technology and electronics.
• Delhi: $6 billion (12 per cent), down sharply from its 32 per cent share in 2015-16.
• Gujarat: share rose to 11 per cent from 6 per cent, reflecting new manufacturing and port-based investment.
• Tamil Nadu: declined from 11 per cent to 7 per cent.
• Net FDI contrast: while gross FDI rose, net FDI (after subtracting repatriation and outward FDI) fell sharply. Net FDI in 2024-25 was only $0.4 billion, down from $44 billion in 2020-21. Repatriation by foreign companies reached 63.5 per cent of gross FDI.
• Manufacturing share: manufacturing FDI fell to 12 per cent of gross FDI, raising concerns about whether India is attracting productive investment or financial flows.
• India's outward FDI: Indian companies invested $29.2 billion abroad in 2024-25, reflecting the growing global ambition of domestic companies.

The divergence between gross FDI (record high) and net FDI (near zero) is the key analytical point. India's FDI policy has made entry easy, but retaining capital requires addressing regulatory friction, dispute resolution, and infrastructure gaps.

Static linkage: Economy (FDI, industrial policy, Balance of Payments).

GS area: Environment, Governance (Urban waste management)

Delhi announced an E-Waste Recycling Eco Park at Holambi Kalan, North Delhi.

• Model: Design-Build-Finance-Operate-Transfer (DBFOT) under Public-Private Partnership.
• Capacity: 51,000 metric tonnes of e-waste annually.
• Coverage: all 106 categories of e-waste recognised under the E-Waste (Management) Rules.
• Concession period: 15 years.
• Investment: Rs 150 crore. Revenue target: Rs 350 crore over the concession period.
• Timeline: 18 months for construction completion.
• E-Waste (Management) Rules: notified under the Environment Protection Act, 1986. The rules use an Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) framework: manufacturers and importers of electronic goods must ensure end-of-life collection and recycling.
• Scale of the problem: India generates about 3.2 million tonnes of e-waste annually (among the world's top producers). Much of it is handled by the informal sector without safe processing.

Static linkage: Environment (e-waste, EPR, waste management), Governance (PPP models).

GS area: Agriculture, Science and Technology (Botanical research)

Asafoetida (Heeng) flowered for the first time in India at CSIR-IHBT (Institute of Himalayan Bioresources Technology) in Palampur, Himachal Pradesh.

• Scientific name: Ferula assa-foetida. A flowering plant in the carrot family (Apiaceae).
• Maturation period: requires 5 years of growth before the resin-bearing stem can be harvested.
• Natural habitat: Iran, Afghanistan, and Central Asia. India has historically been the world's largest importer of heeng.
• Ideal Indian regions: Lahaul-Spiti, Kinnaur (Himachal Pradesh), Uttarkashi (Uttarakhand).
• Significance: CSIR-IHBT established India's first germplasm resource centre for heeng in 2022 using accessions from Iran and Afghanistan. Cultivating heeng domestically would reduce import dependence, estimated at $100 million annually.
• The resin: obtained by making incisions in the root. It is used as a spice (the substitute for garlic and onion in certain diets) and as a digestive medicine in Ayurveda.

Static linkage: Agriculture (import substitution, crop domestication), Science and Technology (botanical research).

GS area: Governance, Social policy (Maternal health schemes)

The Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan (PMSMA) completed nine years since its launch in June 2016.

• Launch: June 2016, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
• Core feature: free comprehensive antenatal care provided on the 9th of every month at government health facilities. The fixed date improves predictability for both providers and beneficiaries.
• e-PMSMA: extended version launched in January 2022, covering up to 45 days post-delivery with additional services and digital follow-up.
• Financial incentives: provided for completing additional antenatal care (ANC) visits beyond the standard three.
• Monitoring: digital follow-up via SMS alerts to pregnant women and Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs).
• Significance: India's maternal mortality ratio (MMR) has declined from 254 per lakh live births in 2004-06 to below 100. The PMSMA contributes by ensuring at least one physician-examined ANC visit.
• ASHAs: Accredited Social Health Activists are community health workers under the National Health Mission. They act as a bridge between communities and the health system.

Static linkage: Governance (health schemes), Social Justice (maternal health, ASHA).

GS area: Environment, Governance

An illegal waste incinerator operating inside the Bhagirathi Eco-Sensitive Zone of Gangotri National Park was flagged in June 2025.

• Location: Uttarkashi district, Uttarakhand.
• Area: 2,390 sq km.
• Key feature: contains the Gangotri Glacier, the primary source of the River Ganga (specifically the Bhagirathi, which merges with the Alaknanda at Devprayag to form the Ganga).
• Flora: Western Himalayan conifer forests, rhododendrons, and alpine meadows.
• Fauna: snow leopards, Himalayan musk deer, Himalayan tahr, and bharal (blue sheep).
• Eco-Sensitive Zone (ESZ): a buffer area declared around a protected area under the Environment Protection Act, 1986. Notified by the MoEFCC, ESZs prohibit activities that can damage the ecology.
• Issue: incinerator waste emissions within an ESZ violate the Environment Protection Act and the solid waste management norms. The case illustrates the governance gap in enforcement at remote protected areas.

Static linkage: Environment (national parks, Eco-Sensitive Zones, Himalayan ecology), Geography (Ganga river system).

• MS Dhoni, ICC Hall of Fame 2025: MS Dhoni was inducted as the 11th Indian into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame in 2025. The Hall of Fame was established in January 2009. Eligibility requires retirement for at least five years before induction. Other 2025 inductees include Hashim Amla and Matthew Hayden. Earlier Indian women inductees: Diana Edulji and Neetu David (both 2023).
• Axiom-4 deferral: the launch was postponed from its 10 June target due to weather. On 11 June, a liquid oxygen leak in the Falcon 9 booster caused another postponement. The mission eventually launched on 25 June 2025. Shubhanshu Shukla became the second Indian in space, 41 years after Rakesh Sharma.
• NIIF: the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund was established in 2015 with 49 per cent government ownership and 51 per cent global investors. AUM exceeds Rs 30,000 crore. It is registered as a Category II Alternative Investment Fund (AIF) with SEBI.