1 August 2025

• Education: NEP 2020 push for Early Childhood Care brings Balvatika preschool classes to government schools for the first time.
• Space: NISAR satellite launched on July 30 from Sriharikota begins its 12-day repeat-cycle Earth observation mission.
• Economy: US sanctions six Indian companies for Iran petrochemical trade under Executive Order 13846.
• History: Bal Gangadhar Tilak's death anniversary : 105 years since the passing of the "Father of Indian Unrest".
• Environment: Asiatic lion cub deaths in Amreli raise conservation questions about the Gir ecosystem.

GS area: Science and Technology

India and the United States jointly launched NISAR on July 30, 2025, aboard GSLV-F16 from Sriharikota. It is the first satellite to carry two synthetic aperture radar frequencies developed by two space agencies.

• Full name: NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar.
• Orbit: Sun-synchronous, revisiting every location on Earth every 12 days.
• Weight: 2.8 tonnes; carries a 12-metre deployable reflector.
• Dual radar: NASA provided the L-band radar and Ka-band downlink system. ISRO provided the S-band radar and the satellite bus. Combining both frequencies on one platform is a global first.
• What it sees: Changes at centimetre level through clouds and forest canopy. Applications include glacier flow monitoring, mangrove mapping, crop tracking, urban subsidence detection and landslide early warning.
• Collaboration timeline: Joint development began around 2014. The mission took roughly 11 years from agreement to launch.
• Sendai Framework link: The satellite's disaster monitoring capability directly supports the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015–2030).

Static linkage: Space technology, India-US bilateral relations, disaster management.

GS area: Governance, Social Justice (Education)

Before the National Education Policy 2020, government schools admitted children only from Class 1. About 14 lakh Anganwadi centres served the 3–6 age group but without structured curriculum. NEP 2020 mandates universalisation of Early Childhood Care and Education by 2030 and introduces Balvatika : three years of pre-primary schooling inside government schools.

• Balvatika 1, 2, 3: These three pre-primary years are integrated into the 5+3+3+4 school structure NEP mandates.
• Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan: The central scheme that funds school education now includes a dedicated ECCE budget.
• Poshan bhi Padhai bhi: A convergence initiative integrating nutrition delivery and learning in Anganwadis targeting the 0–3 age group, which remains with Anganwadis after older children migrate to Balvatika.
• Evidence from the ground: The union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu recorded substantial migration of 4–6-year-olds to schools after introducing preschool classes.
• Implication: Anganwadis now refocus on infants and pregnant mothers. The shift redistributes government investment in early care.

Static linkage: Education (Governance GS-2), NEP 2020, welfare schemes.

GS area: History (Modern India)

August 1 marks 105 years since the death of Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak in Mumbai in 1920.

• Born: July 23, 1856 in Ratnagiri, Maharashtra.
• British label: "Father of Indian Unrest" : a hostile tag that became a badge of honour.
• Slogan: "Swaraj is my birthright and I shall have it."
• Newspapers: Founded Kesari (Marathi) and The Mahratta (English) to reach both vernacular and English-educated audiences.
• Mass mobilisation: Revived the Ganesh Utsav in 1893 and Shivaji Jayanti to unite communities through culture rather than petitions.
• Political trio: Led the Lal-Bal-Pal triumvirate (Lajpat Rai, Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal).
• Institutions: Co-founded the Deccan Education Society and Fergusson College, Pune.
• Books: Gita Rahasya, Arctic Home in the Vedas, Orion.
• Home Rule: Co-launched the Home Rule League in 1916 with Annie Besant.

Static linkage: Freedom struggle, modern Indian history.

GS area: Economy (Energy)

India's first fully indigenous 1 MW green hydrogen plant became operational at Deendayal Port, Kandla, Gujarat, developed with Larsen and Toubro.

• Output: About 140 metric tonnes of green hydrogen per year.
• Current use: Powers 11 hydrogen buses and port street lighting.
• Planned expansion: 5 MW by the end of FY 2025-26; 10 MW thereafter.
• Policy fit: The National Green Hydrogen Mission (2023) targets 5 million tonnes annual production capacity by 2030. Kandla is one of the early physical proof points.
• Maritime India Vision 2030: The port project aligns with this vision's decarbonisation goals.
• Construction speed: Built in four months, which the government cited as evidence of scalability.

Static linkage: Energy security, green hydrogen, National Green Hydrogen Mission.

GS area: International Relations

The United States sanctioned six Indian companies under Executive Order 13846 for trading petrochemicals with Iran.

• EO 13846: Targets entities that help Iran generate revenue through petroleum and petrochemical exports.
• Sanction effect: Asset freeze under US jurisdiction. No US individual or entity may trade with a designated firm.
• Scale of the action: Twenty global firms were sanctioned in this round. Six were Indian.
• India's exposure: Indian companies face secondary sanctions risk : the threat of being cut off from US financial markets even for transactions entirely outside US territory.
• Strategic tension: India maintains strategic autonomy on Iran trade, citing energy needs. The US frames Iran's petrochemical revenue as funding for proxy groups.
• Iranian geography for prelims: Tehran is the capital. Iran borders Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and Turkey. The Zagros and Alborz mountain ranges dominate its terrain.

Static linkage: India-US relations, energy geopolitics, international law.

GS area: Economy, Governance

The Union Cabinet approved a Rs 2,000 crore grant for NCDC over four years.

• NCDC established: 1963, under the Ministry of Cooperation.
• What it does: Finances the production, processing, marketing and storage of agricultural and allied commodities through cooperative societies.
• Scale: Serves over 13,000 cooperative societies with 2.9 crore members.
• Headquarters: New Delhi, with 18 regional and state offices.
• Why now: The Ministry of Cooperation (created 2021) has been pushing cooperative-led rural credit and supply chains. This grant is the capital injection for that push.

Static linkage: Cooperative movement, rural economy, welfare schemes.

GS area: Environment and Ecology

Three Asiatic lion cubs died in Amreli district; six more were under observation. The incident returned attention to the Gir ecosystem.

• Scientific name: Panthera leo persica.
• IUCN status: Vulnerable. Listed under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. CITES Appendix I.
• Only habitat: Gir National Park and the adjoining areas of Amreli, Junagadh and Bhavnagar districts in Gujarat.
• Population: The 16th Lion Population Estimation (2025) counted 891 lions, up from 674 in 2020 : a 32.2 per cent increase.
• Distinguishing feature from African lion: Sparse mane with visible ears, prominent belly fold, sandy to buff-grey coat.
• The conservation debate: All wild Asiatic lions live in one ecosystem. Conservationists have long argued for establishing a second population to guard against disease, flood or fire wiping out the only surviving group. The Kuno-Palpur site in Madhya Pradesh has been proposed but the transfer has not happened.

Static linkage: Biodiversity, wildlife conservation, species geography.

• NCDC grant details: The Rs 2,000 crore is spread over four financial years to capitalise NCDC's lending for agricultural cooperatives.
• Human Outer Planetary Exploration (HOPE): India's moon and Mars simulation station at Tso Kar in Ladakh. Two scientists conduct 10-day isolation experiments in an environment simulating space conditions. It feeds into India's crewed lunar mission goal for 2040.
• AICR agromet advisory: ICRISAT and ICAR launched an AI-powered WhatsApp bot for personalised climate advisories in regional languages. The pilot runs in Maharashtra through Agro-Meteorological Field Units.