20 June 2025

• A tripartite MoU now links DEPwD, NIOS and NCERT to expand inclusive schooling for children with disabilities.
• The Competition Commission of India has replaced vague pricing benchmarks with Average Total Cost for predatory pricing cases.
• IIT Delhi leads India in the QS 2026 rankings at 123rd globally. India has 54 universities in the list.
• International Day of Yoga falls on 21 June. This year's theme ties yoga to planetary health.
• Delhi plans to use cloud seeding as a pollution-control tool for the first time in any Indian city.

GS Paper 2 (Governance: Social Justice, Education)

The Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities signed a tripartite MoU with the National Institute of Open Schooling and the National Council of Educational Research and Training. The agreement targets mainstreaming children with disabilities into India's education system.

• Scale of the problem: 7 per cent of Indian children aged 0 to 19 years have disabilities as per Census 2011. The absolute number runs into millions.
• Current coverage under Samagra Shiksha: 21 lakh Children with Special Needs (CWSN) are enrolled under the scheme. The scheme provides Rs 3,500 per child per year for inclusive education support.
• Legal mandate: the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016 mandates inclusive education for persons with benchmark disabilities in government-funded institutions.
• Special educator shortage: only approximately 27,700 special educators serve the system nationwide. Against 21 lakh enrolled CWSN, this is a severe gap.
• NIOS role: the National Institute of Open Schooling provides flexible, open-access schooling. It can accommodate learners who cannot attend conventional classrooms.
• NCERT's Barkha series: NCERT uses Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in its Barkha series. UDL designs curriculum to be accessible from the outset rather than retrofitting accommodation.
• DEPwD: functions under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. It implements the RPwD Act 2016.

The special educator gap is the binding constraint. The MoU creates a coordination framework, but without a rapid scale-up in trained educators, the framework cannot deliver the last mile.

Revises topics: Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016, Samagra Shiksha, Social Justice Legislation

GS Paper 3 (Economy: Competition Policy)

The Competition Commission of India notified the Determination of Cost of Production Regulations 2025. These replace an older framework that relied on "market value" as a benchmark, which courts found too vague to apply consistently.

• Predatory pricing defined: selling goods or services below cost to drive competitors out of the market. It harms competition even if it benefits consumers in the short run.
• New benchmark: Average Total Cost (ATC). ATC includes all fixed and variable costs of production divided by output. Pricing below ATC with predatory intent is now the actionable threshold.
• Problem with old rules: "market value" was undefined and subjective. Firms could argue market value was whatever they charged. Courts repeatedly found the old standard too imprecise to sustain enforcement.
• Expert involvement: the new rules mandate expert economic analysis for technical cost assessments. This addresses the capacity gap within CCI.
• Real-time monitoring: CCI gains tools for real-time market monitoring. This matters in platform and digital markets where predatory pricing can play out within months.
• MSME protection: predatory pricing by large platforms most often targets small businesses. The reforms are framed as protecting the MSME ecosystem.
• OECD alignment: average variable cost and average total cost benchmarks are standard OECD best practice for competition authorities.

Revises topics: Competition Commission of India, Predatory Pricing, MSME Policy

GS Paper 2 (Governance: e-Governance) and GS Paper 3 (Science and Technology: AI)

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology's Bhashini programme signed an MoU with the Ministry of Panchayati Raj. The integration targets real-time language translation for rural governance.

• Bhashini (National Language Translation Mission): developed by MeitY. It is an AI-powered platform for real-time translation across India's scheduled and major regional languages.
• Integration target: eGramSwaraj is the unified digital platform for Panchayati Raj institutions. It hosts gram panchayat plans, fund flows and meeting records. Bhashini integration would allow officials and citizens to interact in their own language.
• Policy rationale: local government processes are conducted in Hindi or English in states where neither is the first language. The translation barrier excludes elected representatives and citizens from accessing their own governance documents.
• Prelims relevance: Bhashini links to two constitutional provisions. The Eighth Schedule lists India's 22 scheduled languages. Article 343 to 351 govern language policy for Union communications.
• GS II and III crossover: digital inclusion through AI is a theme in both governance papers.

Revises topics: e-Governance Initiatives, Official Language Policy, AI in Public Administration

GS Paper 3 (Environment: Forest Conservation)

The Green India Mission is one of the eight national missions under the National Action Plan on Climate Change. Its 2025 implementation focuses on four specific ecosystems.

• Launched: 2014. Implementing ministry: Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC).
• Targets: increase forest and tree cover by 5 million hectares (mha). Improve quality of forest and tree cover on a further 5 mha. Sequester 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO2-equivalent by 2030.
• 2025 focus landscapes: the Aravallis, Western Ghats, Himalayas and coastal mangroves. These four landscapes were selected for their ecological fragility and high carbon sequestration potential.
• Aravalli significance: the Aravallis are India's oldest mountain range. They serve as a green buffer preventing the Thar Desert from advancing eastward. Degradation here has direct consequences for Delhi and Haryana air quality.
• Mangrove significance: mangroves sequester carbon at rates 3 to 5 times higher than tropical forests per unit area. India's mangrove cover increased slightly in the 2021 forest survey.

Revises topics: National Action Plan on Climate Change, Forest Survey of India, Mangrove Conservation

GS Paper 2 (Governance: Higher Education)

The QS World University Rankings 2026 were released. India has 54 universities ranked, making it the fourth most represented country globally by number of institutions.

• IIT Delhi: ranked 123rd globally. It leads all Indian institutions.
• IIT Madras: jumped from 227th to 180th. A gain of 47 positions.
• First-time entrants: 8 Indian institutions entered the rankings for the first time in 2026.
• Overall improvement rate: 48 per cent of India's ranked institutions improved their positions compared to 2025.
• QS methodology: ranks on Academic Reputation (40%), Employer Reputation (10%), Faculty-Student Ratio (20%), Citations per Faculty (20%), International Faculty Ratio (5%) and International Student Ratio (5%).
• Policy context: the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) is India's own domestic ranking system. QS is the international comparator. NEP 2020 targeted 10 Indian institutions in the global top 100 by 2030. None is there yet.

Revises topics: Higher Education Policy, National Education Policy 2020, Research and Innovation

GS Paper 2 (Governance: Soft Power) and GS Paper 1 (Culture)

The 11th International Day of Yoga is observed on 21 June 2025. Yoga Day is a product of Indian diplomatic initiative and has become one of the largest globally coordinated health observances.

• Established by: UN General Assembly Resolution 69/131, adopted 11 December 2014. India proposed the resolution. The first Yoga Day was observed on 21 June 2015.
• Theme 2025: "Yoga for One Earth, One Health." The theme connects individual wellness to planetary health and biodiversity.
• Global participation: 175 UN member states participate. India-led count puts global practitioners at 24.53 crore in 2024, up from 9 crore in 2018.
• PM Modi's venue: Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh). The Prime Minister has led the Yoga Day main event every year since 2015 from different cities.
• Ministry: Ministry of AYUSH (Ayurveda Yoga Unani Siddha Homeopathy). It coordinates the national and international events.
• Harit Yoga: a new initiative combining yoga sessions with tree-planting drives at event venues. It links the Yoga Day theme to Green India Mission goals.
• Why 21 June: it is the summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere. The longest day of the year has significance in yogic tradition as a day of awareness.

Revises topics: India's Soft Power Diplomacy, AYUSH Ministry, UN Resolutions Proposed by India

GS Paper 3 (Environment: Pollution Control Technology)

Delhi's government has approved a cloud seeding project to address severe air pollution. It is the first urban application of cloud seeding specifically for pollution control in India.

• Budget: Rs 3.21 crore. This is a pilot-scale expenditure.
• Implementing agencies: IIT Kanpur for cloud seeding technology design and the India Meteorological Department for cloud identification and flight coordination.
• Method: silver iodide and rock salt are the primary seeding agents. Aircraft disperse these particles into suitable cloud formations. The particles act as condensation nuclei around which water droplets form. Rain follows.
• Target area: approximately 100 square kilometres covering Delhi's most polluted zones.
• Flight plan: five flights of 90 minutes each per seeding event.
• Limitation: cloud seeding requires existing clouds. It cannot create rain from a clear sky. Delhi's worst pollution peaks in October to November when post-monsoon skies are often clear. Seeding can only accelerate rainfall when the meteorological preconditions exist.

The dependence on existing cloud cover is the central vulnerability. The technology is not a substitute for source-side pollution reduction.

Revises topics: Air Pollution Control, Weather Modification Technology, Delhi Pollution Crisis

GS Paper 2 (International Relations: Nuclear Disarmament)

The NPT provides the essential background for understanding both India's nuclear doctrine and the tensions raised by SIPRI's 2025 data. UPSC frequently tests NPT structure.

• Signed: 1968. Entered into force: 1970.
• Membership: 191 countries. It is the most widely adhered arms control treaty.
• Non-signatories: India, Pakistan and Israel have never signed the NPT. North Korea signed but announced withdrawal in 2003 under Article 10.
• Article 10: permits withdrawal from the treaty with 90 days notice to the UN Security Council and all parties if "extraordinary events" jeopardise national interests.
• Five recognised nuclear-weapon states (P5 plus): USA, UK, Russia, France and China. They committed to eventual disarmament under Article 6. No disarmament timeline exists.
• India's objection to the NPT: India considers the treaty discriminatory because it permanently enshrines a two-tier system. India pursued a civilian nuclear deal (123 Agreement with USA, 2008) and the India-specific NSG waiver as an alternative path to nuclear legitimacy.
• NSG membership: India applied for Nuclear Suppliers Group membership. China blocks Indian entry on the grounds that India has not signed the NPT.

Revises topics: India's Nuclear Doctrine, NPT Architecture, Indo-US Civil Nuclear Deal

GS Paper 2 (Governance: Social Justice) and GS Paper 1 (Culture)

The Kerala Forest Department established three community libraries inside the Idukki Wildlife Sanctuary. The initiative serves tribal families living within the sanctuary boundaries.

• Name: Thaliru, a Malayalam word meaning "tender shoot." It evokes growth and new beginnings.
• Location: Idukki Wildlife Sanctuary, Kerala. The sanctuary is in the Western Ghats.
• Beneficiaries: 623 tribal families residing within the sanctuary.
• Implementing bodies: the Kerala Forest Department and eco-development committees. Eco-development committees are community bodies established around protected areas to integrate local populations into conservation.
• Theme: "Reading is the true addiction." The initiative frames literacy as a community good and a conservation tool.
• Relevance to Scheduled Tribes: tribal communities within wildlife sanctuaries have rights under the Forest Rights Act 2006. Physical infrastructure like libraries within sanctuaries is unusual and represents a recognition of the community's long-term presence.

Revises topics: Forest Rights Act 2006, Tribal Welfare, Protected Area Governance

• Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a curriculum framework that builds in multiple means of representation, expression and engagement from design stage. It originated in the USA and is referenced in India's NEP 2020.
• The Aravallis stretch from Gujarat to Delhi for about 800 km and are geologically the remnants of a Precambrian mountain system older than the Himalayas.
• QS ranks universities on six criteria. India scores well on Employer Reputation and Academic Reputation but loses points on faculty-student ratio and international diversity.
• Rock salt is used alongside silver iodide in cloud seeding because it is hygroscopic, meaning it absorbs moisture and promotes droplet formation at lower altitudes than silver iodide.
• The 123 Agreement between India and the USA was signed in 2008 and opened Indian civilian nuclear facilities to IAEA inspection while allowing fuel imports and reactor technology transfer.