2 August 2025

• Trade: US imposes 25 per cent tariff on Indian imports, citing defence and energy ties with Russia.
• India-UK FTA: The digital chapter of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement raises concerns about source-code access and data flow rules.
• History: Uthiramerur inscriptions from 920 CE surface in debates about India's indigenous democratic heritage.
• Environment: OECD report projects plastic waste in Asia will nearly double by 2050.
• Governance: NPCI revised UPI operational rules effective August 1 cap balance checks and auto-debit timing.

GS area: International Relations, Economy

US President Trump imposed 25 per cent tariffs on Indian imports, citing India's strategic ties with Russia and its average tariff of 17 per cent.

• Indian goods affected: Textiles, leather and gems now face 30 to 38 per cent combined duties in the US market.
• US argument: India maintains non-tariff barriers alongside high average tariffs, creating an unequal playing field. The US calls this a shift from strategic altruism to a transactional approach.
• India's position: Strategic autonomy : India does not align its trade or energy choices with US demands on Russia. This has costs.
• Executive Order 13846: The instrument used to sanction firms trading with Iran. A different authority governs the tariff action on India, but both reflect the same transactional doctrine.
• Implication for UPSC: Know the WTO framework for tariff disputes and India's use of Article XXI (national security exception) arguments.

Static linkage: International trade, India-US relations, WTO.

GS area: International Relations, Economy (Technology)

India's Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement with the United Kingdom includes a digital trade chapter whose concessions have raised strategic concerns.

• Source-code prohibition: India commits not to demand pre-emptive access to foreign software source code. This limits regulatory oversight of foreign software operating in India.
• Open government data: Public sector data becomes accessible to UK entities as raw material for AI models.
• Data flow commitment: India commits to enter consultations to extend equivalent disciplines on data flows, reducing future negotiating flexibility.
• The US comparison: The US rolled back similar source-code prohibitions in 2023 after domestic pushback. India has accepted terms the US itself rejected.
• What is also true: Zero customs duties on electronic transmissions protect India's software exports worth around $30 billion annually. The agreement also offers social security waivers reducing payroll costs for Indian workers on UK assignments.
• Balance: The trade gains are real. The digital sovereignty concessions are structural, long-term and nearly irreversible.

Static linkage: Trade agreements, digital governance, India-UK relations.

GS area: History (Ancient and Medieval India), Polity

The Uthiramerur inscription from around 920 CE, from Kanchipuram district in Tamil Nadu, documents local self-governance during the reign of Parantaka Chola I (907–955 CE).

• What the inscription records: The Kudavolai system : a ballot-pot method for electing local assembly members transparently.
• Eligibility rules: Voters had to be between 35 and 70 years of age, own land and demonstrate moral character. Criminals and debtors were disqualified.
• Sabha governance: The local assembly (Sabha) held legislative, judicial and administrative functions at the village level.
• Historical comparison: The inscription predates the Magna Carta (1215 CE) by roughly 300 years and is more participatory than most medieval European governance structures.
• Why it enters current debate: Arguments that democracy in India is a colonial inheritance are challenged by this evidence. The inscription presents democracy as a civilisational practice.

Static linkage: Chola administration, ancient polity, local self-government.

GS area: Economy (Banking and Finance)

New UPI operational rules from the National Payments Corporation of India took effect on August 1, 2025.

• Balance checks: Limited to 50 per day per app. Previously unlimited, this was contributing to system overloads.
• Auto-debit mandates: Can now only execute during non-peak hours to prevent transaction congestion.
• Transaction status checks: Capped at three per transaction with a minimum 90-second gap between checks.
• Linked account enquiries: Limited to 25 per day.
• Beneficiary bank name preview: Added as a fraud prevention step : the payer sees the recipient's bank name before confirming.
• Purpose: Reduce transaction lags and system overloads during peak payment windows while reducing UPI fraud.

Static linkage: Payment systems, NPCI, digital finance.

GS area: Governance (Health schemes)

The PM National Dialysis Programme now covers all 751 districts across 36 states and union territories.

• Centres operational: 1,704 dialysis centres as of June 2025.
• Services: Free haemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis for economically vulnerable patients with End-Stage Renal Disease.
• PMNDP IT Portal: Enables One Nation-One Dialysis portability : a patient can access dialysis at any registered centre anywhere in the country.
• ABHA integration: The 14-digit Ayushman Bharat Health Account number links patient records across centres for seamless care.

Static linkage: Health governance, welfare schemes.

GS area: Environment, International Relations

The International Court of Justice issued a ruling clarifying that the Kyoto Protocol of 1997 remains legally valid and binding despite the absence of new commitment periods after 2020.

• Kyoto Protocol: The first binding climate treaty, adopted in 1997 under the UNFCCC. Developed countries took legally binding emission reduction targets.
• The legal question: Does the protocol's silence on post-2020 commitments constitute termination? The ICJ said no.
• Consequence: Non-compliance may now constitute an internationally wrongful act under international law.
• CBDR reinforced: The Common but Differentiated Responsibilities principle : heavy historical emitters bear greater obligations : is reinforced by this ruling.
• Contrast with Paris Agreement: Paris Agreement NDCs are nationally determined and non-binding. The Kyoto compliance machinery is harder.

Static linkage: Climate law, international agreements, environment.

GS area: International Relations (Mapping)

Slovenia became the first European Union member state to impose a total arms embargo on Israel in August 2025.

• Slovenia geography: Central European democratic republic, formerly part of Yugoslavia.
• Capital: Ljubljana.
• EU and NATO membership: 2004.
• Neighbours: Austria, Hungary, Croatia and Italy. Coastline on the Gulf of Venice through Koper port.
• Karst topography: Slovenia gave the world the term "karst" : a landscape of sinkholes, caves and underground rivers. The Karst plateau is near Trieste.

Static linkage: European Union, Israel-Palestine conflict, mapping.

• Apna Ghar for truckers: Ministry of Petroleum launched rest facilities for truck drivers. 368 rest houses with 4,611 beds operational across major highways, bookable via mobile app.
• Mouse Deer (Silver-backed Chevrotain): Rediscovered in southern Vietnam after 30 years. World's smallest hoofed mammal, family Tragulidae. Can submerge underwater for five minutes to evade predators.
• OECD plastics report: Plastic waste in Southeast and East Asia projected to rise from 33 million tonnes (2022) to 56 million tonnes by 2050. Plastic leakage into the environment may nearly double.