6 October 2025

• Economy: The Critical Mineral Recycling Incentive Scheme was launched by the Ministry of Mines with a Rs 1,500 crore outlay.
• Employment: India needs to add 133 million workers to formal employment over 25 years. The INEP (Integrated National Employment Policy) framework was proposed.
• Disaster: Landslides in Darjeeling and Kalimpong killed 14 people. About 13 per cent of India's land area is landslide-prone per the Geological Survey of India.
• Defence: Exercise KONKAN-25, the India-UK bilateral naval exercise, commenced with INS Vikrant and HMS Prince of Wales as carrier battle group flagships.
• Environment: The IUCN World Conservation Congress opened in Abu Dhabi. India announced its first-ever National Red List of Endangered Species.

GS area: Economy (Minerals, Industry Policy)

The Ministry of Mines launched the Critical Mineral Recycling Incentive Scheme with an outlay of Rs 1,500 crore. It is part of the National Critical Mineral Mission (NCMM).

• Purpose: support the creation of new recycling units, expand existing capacity and modernise operations that recover critical minerals from secondary sources.
• Feedstock sources: e-waste, spent lithium-ion batteries and metal-rich industrial scraps.
• Benefit caps: Rs 50 crore for large recycling companies; Rs 25 crore for startups.
• Expected outcomes: 270 kilo tonnes of annual recycling capacity; 40 kilo tonnes of critical minerals recovered annually; Rs 8,000 crore in private sector investment; 70,000 direct and indirect jobs.
• Critical minerals in context: India currently imports most critical minerals used in solar panels, EV batteries, defence electronics and wind turbines. Domestic recycling is the near-term pathway to reduce import dependence while domestic mining is scaled.
• National Critical Mineral Mission: the parent framework. It covers exploration, mining, beneficiation, processing and recycling across all critical minerals.

Static linkage: Mineral policy, green energy transition, Make in India.

GS area: Economy (Employment, Labour)

India will add 133 million workers to its working-age population over the next 25 years. That represents 18 per cent of the incremental global workforce.

• Peak of working-age population: projected around 2043.
• MSME employment: 250 million workers, by far the largest source of organised-sector employment outside agriculture.
• Gig economy: 8 to 18 million workers currently; projected to reach 90 million by 2030.
• Female Labour Force Participation Rate: below 35 per cent as of PLFS 2024.
• Integrated National Employment Policy (INEP): proposed to consolidate fragmented scheme architectures into one framework with district-level delivery and monitoring.
• Employment-Linked Incentive (ELI) scheme: proposed specifically to close the female participation gap by subsidising formal first employment for women.
• Labour Codes 2020: four codes consolidated 29 central labour laws. Rules under the codes were notified in May 2026 (at the time of writing) but enforcement infrastructure remains patchy.
• Key scheme: Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) targets 40 crore youth for skilling.

Static linkage: Labour law, employment statistics, social security.

GS area: Environment (Biodiversity, International Organisations)

The IUCN World Conservation Congress opened in Abu Dhabi. It meets every four years. The previous congress was in Marseille in 2021.

• India's membership: India has been an IUCN State Member since 1969.
• India announced: its first-ever comprehensive National Red List of Endangered Species, to be produced in partnership with the Zoological Survey of India, Botanical Survey of India and IUCN's Centre for Species Survival.
• IUCN Red List categories: from Least Concern through Near Threatened, Vulnerable, Endangered, Critically Endangered, Extinct in the Wild and Extinct. Each category has numerical criteria based on population decline rates and range.
• Five congress themes: scaling up resilient conservation action; reducing climate overshoot risks; delivering on equity; transitioning to nature-positive economies; disruptive innovation.
• Expected attendance: over 9,000 delegates.

Static linkage: Biodiversity conservation, India's species conservation frameworks.

GS area: Defence (Naval exercises, India-UK relations)

Exercise KONKAN-25, the annual bilateral naval exercise between the Indian Navy and the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom, commenced off India's western coast.

• Indian assets: the carrier battle group centred on INS Vikrant, India's indigenously built aircraft carrier.
• UK assets: HMS Prince of Wales, the UK's Carrier Strike Group 25, with Norway and Japan also participating.
• Duration: 5 to 12 October 2025.
• Exercise focus: anti-air warfare, anti-surface warfare, anti-submarine warfare and flying operations from both carriers.
• Strategic framework: the India-UK "Vision 2035" Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
• Context: This is the first bilateral exercise since both nations deployed carrier battle groups simultaneously in the Indo-Pacific. The India-UK EFTA-parallel relationship is also deepening on the trade side.

Static linkage: India-UK relations, Indian Navy, Indo-Pacific strategy.

GS area: Disaster Management, Geography

Landslides killed 14 people in Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts of West Bengal.

• GSI data: 13 per cent of India's land, approximately 0.42 million square kilometres, is classified as landslide-prone by the Geological Survey of India.
• Northeast concentration: the Northeast and sub-Himalayan belt account for 42 per cent of landslide hazard zones.
• 2023 Sikkim GLOF: the Glacial Lake Outburst Flood in Sikkim caused Rs 25,000 crore in estimated damage. The Darjeeling-Kalimpong terrain is connected to the same geological zone.
• 15th Finance Commission: allocated Rs 2.28 lakh crore for disaster management over 2021-26. Of this, 30 per cent is for preparedness and mitigation; 70 per cent for response and reconstruction.
• PM's 10-Point Agenda on Disaster Risk Reduction (2016): India's national commitment framework aligned with the Sendai Framework (2015-2030).
• CDRI: Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure, founded by India. Active in G20, SCO, BIMSTEC and IORA.

Static linkage: Disaster management, Himalayan geology.

GS area: Governance, Health

The Union government revised Schedule M norms under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 to align with WHO-GMP and PIC/S standards. Implementation deadline: 31 December 2025.

• Schedule M: defines Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) for pharmaceutical manufacturing units in India.
• ALCOA+ data integrity principles: Attributable, Legible, Contemporaneous, Original, Accurate, Complete, Consistent, Enduring and Available. These principles govern record-keeping in pharmaceutical manufacturing.
• PIC/S: the Pharmaceutical Inspection Co-operation Scheme, a global network of pharmaceutical regulatory authorities. India's membership enables mutual recognition of inspection reports.
• Context: a series of export recalls and deaths linked to contaminated Indian cough syrups in 2022-23 triggered international pressure for stricter enforcement. The revised Schedule M is the legislative response.

Static linkage: Drug regulation, public health, trade.

• Manjeera River: a tributary of the Godavari flowing through Maharashtra, Karnataka and Telangana. Origin: Balaghat range near Ahmednagar at 823 metres altitude. Length: 724 kilometres. Catchment: 30,844 square kilometres. Confluence with Godavari at Basara, Nizamabad.
• Coral Triangle: covers more than 10 million square kilometres across Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Timor-Leste and Solomon Islands. Contains 75 per cent of the world's coral species and one-third of all reef fish species. Nicknamed the "Amazon of the seas." Supports food security for 120 million people.
• Tikhir tribe, Nagaland: a Naga tribe with a population of 7,537 (2011 census). Their annual Tsonglaknyi Shield Sanctification Festival runs 9 to 12 October each year.