10 July 2025

• Education: PARAKH national assessment: only 28-31 per cent of Grade 9 students apply percentages in real-life scenarios. Punjab, Kerala and Himachal Pradesh lead. Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Jharkhand districts trail.
• Diplomacy: India's five-nation Africa-Americas tour wrapped up. PM Modi received Namibia's highest civilian honour, the Order of the Most Ancient Welwitschia Mirabilis.
• Defence: DRDO successfully tested the ERASR (Extended Range Anti-Submarine Rocket) from INS Kavaratti. 17 rockets tested with all objectives achieved.
• Environment: A study found a global ban on problematic plastics could save 4.7 to 8 trillion dollars by 2040.
• Infrastructure: Nine people died in the collapse of the Gambhira bridge over the Mahi River on 9 July 2025.

GS area: Education, Governance

PARAKH (Performance Assessment, Review and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development) is the national assessment body under NEP 2020. Its Rashtriya Sarvekshan found that learning levels in India have a structural gap.

• Grade 3: Only 55 per cent could arrange numbers up to 99. Only 58 per cent mastered two-digit arithmetic.
• Grade 6: Just 38 per cent solved daily-life math problems. Only 29 per cent worked with fractions.
• Grade 9: 28 to 31 per cent applied percentages and fractions in real contexts. Only 34 per cent could distinguish living from non-living organisms.
• Top performers: Punjab, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh.
• Lowest performers: Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir districts and Jharkhand.
• PARAKH's role: Established under NEP 2020 as an independent assessment body to move away from rote-based examination to holistic learning evaluation.

The numbers are an argument for systemic reform rather than individual remediation. If one-third of Grade 9 students cannot use basic percentages, the problem sits upstream.

Static linkage: Education (NEP 2020, PARAKH, learning outcomes, RTE).

GS area: International Relations

PM Modi's five-nation tour covered Ghana, Trinidad and Tobago, Argentina, Namibia and Brazil. The tour reinforced India's leadership among developing nations.

• Global South composition: 134 countries under the G77 framework. 120 of those are also in the Non-Aligned Movement.
• Africa and emissions: Africa contributes less than 4 per cent of global CO2 emissions yet faces the most severe climate shocks.
• Rare earths: China controls 70 per cent of rare earth processing globally. India is pursuing lithium deals in Argentina through KABIL (Khanij Bidesh India Limited).
• UPI in Namibia: India announced plans to introduce the UPI system in Namibia as part of the visit.
• Strategic purpose: Securing commodity supply chains (lithium, rare earths), expanding digital export infrastructure (UPI, fintech), and building voting coalitions in multilateral forums (UNSC reform, climate finance).

Static linkage: International relations (Global South, G77, NAM, KABIL, rare earths, UPI).

GS area: Economy (energy), Governance

The Union government released draft Petroleum and Natural Gas Rules, 2025, replacing rules from 1949 and 1959.

• Stabilisation clause: Protects licensees from future tax or royalty hikes. This reduces investor risk and encourages exploration.
• Third-party pipeline access: Mandatory access provisions prevent monopoly control of pipeline infrastructure.
• Renewable integration: Provisions for solar, wind and hydrogen to be developed on petroleum licence areas. A forward-looking change.
• GHG monitoring: Mandatory greenhouse gas reporting and provisions for carbon capture and storage.
• Government data ownership: All subsurface data collected by licensees belongs to the government.
• Adjudicating authority: A new body established for dispute resolution between licensees and the government.

Static linkage: Economy (energy security, oil and gas regulation), environment (GHG monitoring).

GS area: Environment (pollution, circular economy)

A study published in 2025 modelled the economic case for banning problematic plastics globally.

• Savings from an immediate ban: 8 trillion dollars between 2025 and 2040.
• Savings from a phased ban: 7 trillion dollars.
• Business-as-usual cost: 10 trillion dollars in damage from plastic pollution.
• Ban scenario cost: 2 trillion dollars (including transition costs for industry).
• Reduction in plastic use: 173 to 224 million tonnes.
• Reduction in mismanaged waste: 51 to 74 million tonnes.
• Private sector transition cost: 143 million dollars (a fraction of the broader savings).

Static linkage: Environment (plastic pollution, circular economy, single-use plastic ban).

GS area: Defence

DRDO successfully tested the Extended Range Anti-Submarine Rocket (ERASR) from INS Kavaratti.

• System type: Rocket-based anti-submarine weapon designed to be launched from surface ships.
• Features: Twin rocket motor for extended range, electronic time fuze for precise underwater detonation, high operational accuracy.
• Testing record: 17 rockets tested. All performance objectives achieved.
• INS Kavaratti: An anti-submarine corvette of the Indian Navy. Named after the capital of Lakshadweep.
• Strategic significance: Anti-submarine warfare is a critical gap in the Indian Navy given Chinese submarine activity in the Indian Ocean.

Static linkage: Defence (anti-submarine warfare, DRDO, Indian Navy).

GS area: Economy (disaster risk finance)

Catastrophe Bonds convert disaster risk into tradeable financial instruments.

• Mechanism: Investors buy bonds at high yields. If a predefined disaster event occurs (such as a 7.0 magnitude earthquake), the principal is forfeited by investors and paid to the affected government or insurer.
• Parametric trigger: Payout is based on the disaster parameters, not assessed damage. This removes the slow claim process.
• Benefit: Fast disbursal after disasters. Protects national budgets from fiscal shock.
• Growing relevance: Climate-related disasters are increasing in frequency and scale. Cat Bonds are part of the international climate adaptation finance discussion.

Static linkage: Economy (disaster risk finance, climate adaptation), international relations (climate finance).

GS area: Science and Technology

A consortium of 65 scientists from Germany, France, Japan, Italy, Finland and the UK is working to redefine the SI unit of the second using optical atomic clocks.

• Current definition: The second is defined by caesium-133 atom transitions (9.19 GHz).
• Optical clocks: Use transitions at optical frequencies (10^15 Hz), roughly 10,000 times faster than caesium. Higher frequency means finer ticks and more precision.
• Precision: Some optical clocks lose one second in 15 billion years.
• Target: Redefine the SI second by 2030.
• Materials in use: Strontium-87, Ytterbium-171 and Indium-115 ions.
• Applications: GPS, quantum communication, fundamental physics tests.

Static linkage: Science and technology (metrology, fundamental physics).

GS area: Geography (river systems), Disaster Management

Nine people died on 9 July 2025 when the Gambhira bridge collapsed into the Mahi (Mahisagar) River.

• Origin: Minda village, Dhar district, Madhya Pradesh at about 500 metres elevation.
• Length: 583 km.
• Course: Madhya Pradesh to Rajasthan to Gujarat. Empties into the Arabian Sea via the Gulf of Khambhat.
• Unique feature: Crosses the Tropic of Cancer twice, one of the few rivers to do so.
• Major dams: Mahi Bajaj Sagar (Rajasthan), Kadana dam (Gujarat) and Wanakbori Weir.

Static linkage: Indian geography (western rivers, Tropic of Cancer, dams), disaster management (bridge safety).