14 July 2025

• Society: India's income inequality Gini stands at 0.61 (WID 2023), among the highest globally, sharply contradicting the World Bank's consumption-based figure of 0.255.
• Internal security: Over 4,000 refugees from Myanmar's Chin State entered Mizoram through Champhai district after violent clashes. Free Movement Regime was suspended in 2024.
• Health: India's first indigenous dengue vaccine DengiAll (by Panacea Biotec) is in Phase 3 trials with 8,000-plus participants across 20 centres.
• Science: The interstellar object 3I/Atlas, discovered by the ATLAS telescope in Chile, moves at 60 km/s and is estimated to be 7 billion years old.
• Agriculture: A five-year India-Saudi DAP import agreement will bring 3.1 million metric tonnes annually from Saudi Arabia's Ma'aden.

GS area: Economy (poverty and inequality), Polity (Directive Principles)

The World Bank cited a falling consumption Gini coefficient (0.288 in 2011-12 to 0.255 in 2022-23) to claim India has among the lowest inequality globally. Multiple studies dispute this.

• Income inequality Gini (WID 2023): 0.61. This is among the highest globally. The difference between consumption and income Gini is methodologically significant: consumption surveys miss high-income earners and underreport savings.
• Wealth inequality Gini: 0.75 in 2023. Extreme concentration at the top.
• Tax data gap: Only 6 crore individuals file income tax in India. A country of 140 crore with only 6 crore income-tax filers has a large informal economy that escapes survey capture.
• Constitutional frame: Article 38(2) directs the state to minimise inequalities in income, status and facilities. Article 39(c) directs that economic system does not concentrate wealth to the common detriment.
• No wealth census: India has never conducted a systematic wealth survey. Consumption surveys undercount the rich.

Static linkage: Economy (poverty, inequality, Gini), Polity (Directive Principles, Articles 38 and 39).

GS area: Society (migration), Environment (climate change), Disaster Management

Climate-induced displacement is accelerating in Bundelkhand (drought) and Bangladesh's Jamuna River floodplain (erosion). India lacks legal protection for climate migrants.

• Scale: 20 million people are internally displaced annually by climate disasters globally.
• Bundelkhand: Faced 8 to 9 droughts between 1998 and 2009. Temperatures are projected to rise 2 to 3.5 degrees Celsius by 2100 in the region.
• Bangladesh-Jamuna: The village of Charpauli lost over 500 houses in one week from riverbank erosion. Banks are eroding 12 to 52 metres annually.
• Legal gap in India: No statutory recognition of climate migrants. The Disaster Management Act of 2005 applies to sudden-onset disasters and does not cover slow-onset events like drought-induced migration.
• Policy need: Social protection portability (allowing migrants to access welfare benefits at destination), climate-resilient rural employment and a national climate migration index.

Static linkage: Environment (climate change, disaster management), society (migration, internal displacement).

GS area: Economy (financial inclusion)

Despite 96 per cent bank account penetration under Jan Dhan, poor households are returning to informal borrowing.

• CMIE 2023: 4.2 per cent fall in formal credit access among poor households.
• Informal borrowing rise: 5.8 per cent increase simultaneously.
• NABARD 2019: 75 per cent of rural adults rely on informal credit.
• Outstanding informal credit: 1.4 lakh crore rupees (2022).
• Root cause: Jan Dhan accounts exist but collateral requirements, documentation burden and loan officer discretion exclude the poor from formal credit. Money-lenders remain available without these barriers.

Static linkage: Economy (financial inclusion, Jan Dhan, informal sector, rural credit).

GS area: Science and Technology (astronomy)

The ATLAS telescope in Chile discovered 3I/Atlas, the third confirmed interstellar object.

• Speed: Approximately 60 km per second, too fast to have originated in our solar system.
• Estimated age: 7 billion years, older than our 4.6-billion-year-old solar system.
• Current distance from Earth: 917 million km at time of discovery.
• Predecessors: ʻOumuamua (2017) and Borisov comet (2019) were the first two confirmed interstellar objects.
• Significance: Interstellar objects carry material from other stellar systems, providing clues about planetary formation elsewhere.

Static linkage: Science and technology (astronomy, space science, planetary science).

GS area: Science and Technology (health, biotechnology)

Panacea Biotec, supported by ICMR, is developing DengiAll, India's first indigenous dengue vaccine.

• Type: Tetravalent. Protects against all 4 dengue serotypes (DEN-1, DEN-2, DEN-3, DEN-4).
• Importance of tetravalency: Previous vaccines that covered fewer serotypes caused paradoxical dengue enhancement in some recipients.
• Phase 3 trials: Over 8,000 participants enrolled across 20 centres. Nearly 80 per cent enrolment complete.
• Follow-up: Two-year monitoring period.
• Origin strain: TV003/TV005, developed by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH).
• India's dengue burden: India reports the highest dengue burden globally in absolute numbers.

Static linkage: Science and technology (vaccines, biotechnology, ICMR).

GS area: Economy (agriculture, international trade)

India and Saudi Arabia signed a five-year agreement for Diammonium Phosphate (DAP) imports from 2025-26.

• Indian parties: IPL (Indian Potash Limited), KRIBHCO and Coromandel International.
• Saudi party: Ma'aden (Saudi Arabian Mining Company), a state-owned mining giant.
• Volume: 3.1 million metric tonnes annually.
• Additional component: Joint research on fertilizers suited to specific regions.
• Strategic significance: DAP is the primary phosphatic fertilizer in India. India imports most of its DAP. Saudi Arabia is the world's largest phosphate exporter. This deal secures supply at predictable volumes.

Static linkage: Economy (agriculture, fertilizers, food security, import dependence).

GS area: Internal Security, International Relations (Myanmar)

Over 4,000 refugees from Myanmar's Chin State entered Mizoram's Champhai district in July 2025 following violent clashes between Chin rebel groups.

• Entry points: Zokhawthar, Saikhumphai and Vaphai in Champhai district.
• Ethnic link: The Chins of Myanmar and the Mizos of India share ethnic, cultural and linguistic roots. The 1,643-km India-Myanmar border is porous in this region.
• Free Movement Regime: The arrangement that allowed border communities to move freely within 16 km on either side was suspended in 2024 due to rising violence and refugee flows.
• India's policy challenge: India is not a signatory to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention. There is no domestic refugee law. Refugees from Myanmar are handled case by case under general foreigners law.

Static linkage: Internal security (border, refugees, Myanmar), international relations (India-Myanmar, UNHCR).

• Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve threat: The National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) approved a coal mining project (Durgapur Opencast) in a tiger corridor connected to Tadoba Andhari in Chandrapur, Maharashtra. 80.77 hectares of forest will be diverted. Wildlife Institute of India was commissioned for a 18.07 crore rupees management plan.
• ICMR-NIE salt consumption: Urban India consumes 9.2g of salt per day and rural India 5.6g, both exceeding the WHO limit of 5g. A three-year low-sodium salt pilot in Punjab and Telangana showed a 7/4 mmHg blood pressure reduction.