23 September 2025

• Polity: GST 2.0 "Bachat Utsav" new slab structure rolled out 22-23 September 2025.
• Space: India's 52 surveillance satellites to launch from 2026; IS4OM (ISRO's space situational awareness centre) tracks orbital debris.
• Environment: CPCB identifies 807 polluted river sites across India; Maharashtra leads with 54 sites.
• Science: Phytosaur fossil a Late Triassic reptile found in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan; only third specimen in India.
• Society: India's transgender population: 92% denied employment; only 0.04% of population per 2011 Census; Telangana, Tamil Nadu lead in welfare programmes.

GS area: Social Justice, Polity

• Definition: The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 defines transgender as those whose gender does not match the sex assigned at birth including trans men, trans women, intersex persons, and gender-queers.
• NALSA v. Union of India (2014): Landmark Supreme Court ruling recognising transgender persons as the "third gender." Directed states to guarantee rights in education, employment, and healthcare. Mandated identification as transgender without sex-reassignment surgery requirement.
• Population: Census 2011 approximately 4.88 lakh (4,87,803). The actual figure may be much higher due to social stigma and undercounting.
• Welfare gaps: 92% denied employment; 86% have no identity documents; 47% denied healthcare; 49% are homeless at some point.
• Welfare leaders (2025): Telangana dedicated transgender welfare board, pension scheme, community housing. Tamil Nadu transgender welfare board (1994, oldest in India). Kerala "G-Suite" programme for employment in government.
• Central scheme: Garima Greh shelter homes for transgender persons (Ministry of Social Justice). SMILE scheme (Support for Marginalised Individuals for Livelihood and Enterprise) skill development and credit support.
• Challenges in Act implementation: No anti-discrimination enforcement mechanism; no reservation in employment or education; certificate process is complex; no criminalisation of violence against transgender persons.

Static linkage: Social justice (transgender rights, vulnerable groups), polity (fundamental rights, Article 14-21).

GS area: Science and Technology, Security

• Context: India's space economy targets USD 44 billion by 2033. India operates over 50 active satellites. Orbital debris threatens $1 trillion+ global space infrastructure.
• IS4OM (ISRO System for Safe and Sustainable Space Operations Management):
  • Launched in 2022.
  • Tracks space debris, predicts collision risks, and issues collision avoidance manoeuvres for ISRO satellites.
  • India's national Space Situational Awareness (SSA) hub.
• Project NETRA (Network for Space Objects Tracking and Analysis):
  • Space surveillance network radar, telescopes, data processing.
  • Detects and tracks objects in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) as small as 10 cm.
• 52 surveillance satellites: India announced plans to launch a constellation of 52 surveillance satellites starting 2026 covering ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance) for national security.
• Orbital debris: ~9,000 tonnes of space debris in orbit. Kessler Syndrome cascading collisions that could render certain orbital bands unusable.
• Legal framework: UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS). Outer Space Treaty (1967) space is a global commons. No binding international debris removal law.

Static linkage: Science and technology (space policy, orbital debris), security.

GS area: Environment, Governance

• Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB):
  • Statutory body under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
  • Established under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974.
  • Monitors water quality across India.
• Key findings (2025 report):
  • 807 polluted river sites identified across 30 states and UTs.
  • 296 Priority River Sites (PRS) most critically polluted.
  • Maharashtra: 54 sites (highest count).
  • Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Kerala: high counts.
• BOD criterion: Biological Oxygen Demand organic pollution marker. WHO standard: less than 1 mg/L for drinking water. BOD more than 3 mg/L: polluted stretch.
• Primary pollutants: Untreated domestic sewage (most significant), industrial effluents, agricultural runoff, open defecation near water bodies.
• Namami Gange Programme: ₹20,000 crore allocation for Ganga basin. NGRBA (National Ganga River Basin Authority). Hybrid Annuity Model for STPs.
• Challenge: India's total sewage treatment capacity is only 28% of daily sewage generated (approximately 72,000 MLD treated vs ~2,57,000 MLD generated).

Static linkage: Environment (river pollution, water quality), governance (CPCB, Namami Gange).

GS area: Science and Technology, Art and Culture (Prehistoric)

• Find: Phytosaur skull and limb fragments discovered near Jaisalmer, Rajasthan.
• Age: Late Triassic approximately 215 million years ago.
• Significance: Only the third phytosaur specimen found in India. Previous specimens from Andhra Pradesh.
• Phytosaurs: Archosaurs (large reptiles) that looked superficially like modern crocodilians but were not closely related. Key distinction nostrils positioned near the eyes (not at the tip of the snout as in modern crocodiles).
• Geological context: Jaisalmer's Thar Desert region sits on ancient Gondwana sedimentary layers rich in Late Triassic and Jurassic fossils (marine, terrestrial, and flying reptiles).
• Previous Jaisalmer discoveries: Plesiosaurs (marine reptiles), Ichthyosaurs, and Jurassic marine fauna from the Jaisalmer Formation.
• Gondwana: Ancient supercontinent that split ~180 million years ago India drifted northward from Gondwana, colliding with Eurasia ~50 million years ago to form the Himalayas.

Static linkage: Science (palaeontology, prehistoric India, Gondwana).

GS area: Security, Governance

• CORE: Civil-Oriented Rehabilitation and Engagement Programme a 5-day workshop conducted by HQ Integrated Defence Staff.
• Objective: Improve coordination between military, civil services, and policymakers for national security management.
• Integrated Defence Staff (IDS): Established in 2001 post-Kargil Review Committee recommendations. Coordinates among the three services and the Ministry of Defence.
• CDS (Chief of Defence Staff): Created in January 2020 single-point military adviser to the government. Chairs the Chiefs of Staff Committee and Department of Military Affairs.
• Civil-military gap in India: Historically, India's defence ministry is staffed predominantly by IAS officers with limited military representation in policy planning. The Kargil Review Committee recommended deeper integration.
• Policy context: The Theatre Commands restructuring (planned 5 theatre commands) aims to achieve integration below the service-chief level.

Static linkage: Security (civil-military relations, defence restructuring, CDS).

GS area: Geography

• Eruptions (September 2025): India's National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR) confirmed renewed eruptive activity at Barren Island in September 2025 lava flows and ash columns.
• Location: Andaman Sea, Bay of Bengal approximately 138 km northeast of Port Blair.
• Administrative status: Part of Andaman and Nicobar Islands (Union Territory).
• Type: Shield-and-stratovolcano hybrid. Part of the Pacific "Ring of Fire" extended volcanic arc (Sunda Arc).
• Activity history: Dormant for 150+ years until 1991. Active phases in 1991, 1994-95, 2005-06, 2010, 2017-18, and ongoing.
• Narcondam Island: Another volcanic island 250 km northeast of Port Blair dormant (extinct) volcano. Home to endangered Narcondam Hornbill.
• Geological context: The Andaman-Nicobar islands lie on the subduction zone where the Indo-Australian Plate dives under the Eurasian/Burma Plate generating seismic and volcanic activity.

Static linkage: Geography (India's volcanic geography, Andaman Islands, Ring of Fire).

GS area: Environment, Geography

• Species: Macaca radiata bonnet macaque.
• Distribution: Endemic to peninsular India south of the Godavari-Krishna river system. Found in Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Goa.
• IUCN status: Least Concern (population stable but facing urban habitat stress).
• Physical feature: Distinctive whorl of hair radiating from the crown of the head giving the "bonnet" name.
• Social structure: Large multi-male multi-female groups (unlike rhesus macaques). Well-studied for social cognition and cooperative behaviour.
• Research significance: Used extensively in biomedical and behavioural research. Subject of conservation concern due to agricultural conflict, road mortality, and live-capture for research.
• Difference from Rhesus macaque: Bonnet macaque is peninsular India (south of Vindhyas); rhesus macaque is found north of the Godavari-Krishna. Different social bonding patterns (bonnet macaques form "friendship bonds," rhesus form stricter hierarchies).

Static linkage: Environment (Indian primates, wildlife), geography.

• GST 2.0 Bachat Utsav: New GST slab restructuring 3-tier (8%, 16%, 25%) replacing 5%, 12%, 18%, 28%. Exempt list expanded to include insurance premiums. Rolled out 22-23 September 2025.
• AI-enabled wildlife centre at Betla NP: Jharkhand's Betla National Park received an AI-based camera network for real-time wildlife monitoring part of India's PROTECT initiative (wildlife surveillance).