8 October 2025

• IAF Day: The Indian Air Force marks its 93rd Foundation Day. The MiG-21, in service for six decades, is formally retired.
• Nobel Physics: John Clarke, Michel Devoret and John Martinis win the Nobel Prize in Physics for macroscopic quantum tunnelling in superconducting circuits, the foundational work behind quantum computing.
• Logistics: India's logistics sector employs 22 million workers and contributes 14 per cent of GDP but costs 14 to 16 per cent of GDP, double the global benchmark.
• Scheme: PM-SETU (Prime Minister's Scheme for Empowerment through Technology Upgradation) was launched to upgrade 1,000 ITIs in a hub-and-spoke model.
• Technology: The EU's Entry/Exit System (EES) began deployment from 12 October 2025, affecting all non-EU visitors to the Schengen Zone including Indian travellers.

GS area: Defence (Indian Air Force)

The Indian Air Force celebrated its 93rd Foundation Day on 8 October 2025 at Hindon Air Base.

• Establishment: the IAF was established on 8 October 1932 during British rule. The first operational flight took place on 1 April 1933.
• Initial fleet: four Westland Wapiti biplanes.
• First squadron: No. 1 Squadron at Drigh Road aerodrome (now in Pakistan). Initial personnel: 6 RAF-trained Indian officers and 19 Havai Sepoys.
• Current rank: fourth-largest air force in the world.
• Motto: Nabha Sparsham Deeptham, "Touch the Sky with Glory", drawn from the Bhagavad Gita.
• MiG-21 retirement: the Soviet-era fighter had been in Indian service for over six decades. It is the longest-serving fighter jet in the IAF's history. Its retirement marks the end of an era that defined the force's transition from a colonial auxiliary to an independent modern air force.

Static linkage: Indian Air Force history, defence modernisation.

GS area: Science and Technology (Quantum Computing, Physics)

The 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to John Clarke (University of California, Berkeley), Michel H. Devoret (Yale University) and John Martinis (University of California, Santa Barbara).

• Discovery: macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantisation in superconducting circuits.
• Quantum tunnelling: a quantum mechanical phenomenon where particles pass through energy barriers they could not cross classically. In superconducting devices, Cooper pairs (paired electrons that carry current without resistance) tunnel through insulating layers.
• Macroscopic significance: the laureates showed that quantum effects such as tunnelling and energy quantisation can occur in circuits large enough to see, not just in single atoms. This was counterintuitive because quantum effects were believed to disappear at macroscopic scales.
• Foundation for quantum computing: these discoveries are the physical basis for superconducting qubits, the technology used in most current quantum computers including those built by Google, IBM and Intel.
• Qubit: the basic unit of quantum information. Unlike a classical bit (0 or 1), a qubit can exist in a superposition of 0 and 1 simultaneously until measured.
• Prize: approximately SEK 11 million.

Static linkage: Quantum technology, Nobel Prize in Physics.

GS area: Governance (Skill Development, Education)

The PM-SETU (Prime Minister's Scheme for Empowerment through Technology Upgradation) scheme was launched to modernise India's Industrial Training Institute network.

• Ministry: Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.
• Vision: "Government-owned, Industry-managed", the government retains ownership but hands management to industry consortia.
• Target: upgrade 1,000 ITIs across India.
• Structure: a Hub-and-Spoke model. 200 Hub ITIs each supported by 4 Spoke ITIs, totalling 800 Spoke ITIs.
• Funding: Rs 60,000 crore over 2025-2028, contributed by both Centre and States.
• Industry anchors: CII, FICCI and local industry associations are the management partners for each cluster.
• Focus sectors: manufacturing, agriculture, hospitality and new-age technology skills.

ITIs are India's principal formal vocational training institutions. Many have outdated equipment, inadequate faculty and low industry relevance. PM-SETU's industry management model attempts to fix the relevance gap. The scale of funding, Rs 60,000 crore, signals a genuine policy commitment.

Static linkage: Skill India Mission, education and employment.

GS area: Economy (Infrastructure, Trade)

The India Mobile Congress 2025 and associated policy discussions brought the logistics sector's structural challenges into focus.

• Market size: $215 billion (2021).
• Employment: 22 million workers.
• GDP contribution: 14 per cent.
• Logistics cost: 14 to 16 per cent of GDP, more than double China (8 per cent) and the United States (6 to 8 per cent).
• The multiplier: reducing logistics costs by 1 per cent adds 2 per cent to GDP, according to NITI Aayog calculations.
• Dedicated Freight Corridors: the Eastern and Western DFCs are 96 per cent operational.
• PM GatiShakti Master Plan (2021): a 1,700-layer GIS platform integrating 57 ministries and 36 states for infrastructure project coordination.
• National Logistics Policy (2022): targets reducing logistics costs to single digits as a percentage of GDP.
• Multimodal Logistics Parks: 35 approved nationwide.
• Maritime Amrit Kaal Vision 2047: port modernisation including green hydrogen hubs and shipbuilding expansion.

Static linkage: Infrastructure, trade logistics, GatiShakti.

GS area: International Relations (EU, Travel)

The European Union's Entry/Exit System began deployment from 12 October 2025, with full implementation expected by April 2026.

• Authority: the European Union; it applies across the Schengen Zone (27 EU states plus Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein).
• Who it affects: all non-EU citizens, including Indian travellers and British nationals post-Brexit.
• Function: a digital biometric border control system. It replaces the manual passport stamp. Fingerprints and facial images are captured and matched at entry.
• Purpose: track the 90-day limit within any 180-day period for non-EU visitors. Overstayers are flagged automatically.
• ETIAS integration: the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) is scheduled for 2026. It will require non-EU nationals to obtain pre-travel authorisation, similar to the US ESTA. India does not currently have a visa exemption to Schengen, so EES applies at the border stage for visa holders.

Static linkage: International relations, European Union, travel regulations.

GS area: Science and Technology (Telecommunications)

India Mobile Congress 2025 held at Yashobhoomi, New Delhi. The 9th edition.

• Organisers: Department of Telecommunications and the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI).
• Theme: "Innovate to Transform."
• Scale: 1.5 lakh visitors from more than 150 countries; 400 companies; 1,600 new use-cases demonstrated.
• Key focus areas: 5G rollout status, 6G research, artificial intelligence in telecom, quantum communication, semiconductor manufacturing, smart mobility, cybersecurity and green technology.
• Indian Defence: the IRSA (Indian Radio Software Architecture) Standard 1.0 was unveiled. It establishes a national software architecture for Software Defined Radios across the Army, Navy and Air Force. Developed by DRDO and the Integrated Defence Staff.

Static linkage: Telecommunications policy, Digital India.

• Red Sea geography: a narrow inlet of the Indian Ocean between northeastern Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. Length about 1,200 miles from Suez to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. Area: 4,50,000 square kilometres. Maximum depth: 3,040 metres. Age: approximately 30 million years. Formed by the separation of the African and Arabian tectonic plates.
• Gold Monetisation potential: India's household gold holdings are estimated at 25,000 tonnes valued at $2.4 trillion. That exceeds 50 per cent of India's GDP. India imports nearly 87 per cent of its annual gold demand. The interest cost of gold imports is a persistent drag on the current account.
• Port of Pasni (Pakistan): a US proposal for a $1.2 billion commercial deep-water port in Gwadar district, Balochistan. Located about 100 miles from the Iran border. Rail connectivity to the Reko Diq mineral belt planned. The proposal is framed as an alternative to China's BRI-funded Gwadar Port.