27 October 2025

• Polity: The concept of constitutional morality received renewed editorial attention, distinguishing it from popular morality (the Hart-Devlin debate).
• Economy: RBI announced new rupee-settlement measures with Nepal to reduce dollar dependency in bilateral trade.
• Environment: Delhi government implemented cloud-seeding trials with IIT-Kanpur to reduce air pollution before winter.
• Energy: India released the National Geothermal Energy Policy 2025, identifying 10,600 MW of potential from 381 hot springs.
• Technology: India's National Blockchain Framework 2025 was released, setting standards for government and private-sector blockchain applications.

GS area: Polity (Constitutional Law, Judiciary)

The editorial revisited the distinction between constitutional morality and popular morality, particularly in the context of landmark Supreme Court cases.

• Hart-Devlin debate (1960s, UK): H.L.A. Hart argued that law should only prohibit acts that cause harm to others (liberal position). Lord Patrick Devlin argued that law may enforce shared social morality to prevent social disintegration (conservative position).
• Constitutional morality: the morality embedded in and arising from the Constitution itself, not the moral preferences of the majority. It includes dignity, equality, liberty and fraternity.
• Popular morality: the moral views of the dominant social group or majority, which can reflect prejudice, discrimination and historical oppression.
• Indian Supreme Court cases:
  • Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala (1973): established the Basic Structure Doctrine. Even constitutional amendments cannot abrogate fundamental rights or the Constitution's basic structure.
  • Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India (2018): decriminalised consensual same-sex relations (Section 377 IPC). The court held that popular morality cannot override constitutional morality.
  • Joseph Shine v. Union of India (2018): struck down adultery as a criminal offence. Constitutional morality was the guiding principle.
• B.R. Ambedkar on constitutional morality: he coined the phrase in the Constituent Assembly debates (1948), arguing it meant adherence to constitutional norms in governance even when popular sentiment differed.

Static linkage: Constitutional law, fundamental rights, judicial interpretation.

GS area: Economy (International Trade, Banking, India-Nepal)

The RBI announced measures to expand Indian rupee settlement in India-Nepal bilateral trade.

• Current system: India-Nepal trade uses the Indian Rupee (INR) through correspondent banking, but dollar-denominated trade still dominates.
• RBI measure: authorised additional Nepalese banks to open Vostro accounts (rupee accounts held by a foreign bank in India) to settle trade in INR.
• Rationale: reduces dollar dependency; saves foreign exchange; strengthens economic interdependence with Nepal.
• India-Nepal treaty: Treaty of Peace and Friendship 1950 grants open border and free movement of goods and people.
• India-Nepal trade: India is Nepal's largest trade partner. Nepal runs a significant trade deficit with India.
• Remittances: Indian workers in Nepal and Nepali workers in India both generate remittance flows. Rupee settlement reduces conversion costs.
• Vostro account: a foreign bank's rupee-denominated account held with an Indian correspondent bank. It enables foreign banks to settle rupee transactions without converting to dollars.

Static linkage: India-Nepal relations, international trade, RBI policy.

GS area: Environment (Air Pollution, Technology, Disaster Management)

Delhi government conducted cloud-seeding trials with IIT-Kanpur to reduce air pollution by inducing artificial rainfall.

• Cloud seeding mechanism: silver iodide (AgI) particles are dispersed into clouds by aircraft. AgI crystals act as ice nuclei. Water droplets coalesce around them and fall as rain.
• Effectiveness: studies show 10-30 per cent increase in precipitation in targeted areas. Not a cure for smog; rainwashed air typically rebounds within hours to days.
• Delhi's winter air quality: November-January is the worst period. The Air Quality Index (AQI) routinely reaches the "Severe" (401-500) category, driven by farm stubble burning (Punjab, Haryana), vehicle emissions, construction dust and temperature inversion.
• Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP): tiered system managed by CPCB (Central Pollution Control Board). Four stages triggered by AQI levels; Stage IV bans trucks and construction.
• AQI categories: Good (0-50), Satisfactory (51-100), Moderate (101-200), Poor (201-300), Very Poor (301-400), Severe (401-500).
• IIT-Kanpur role: India's primary research institution for cloud-seeding in recent years. Earlier experiments conducted in Maharashtra for drought relief.
• Concerns: silver iodide environmental toxicity at scale; risk of flood events from accidental over-seeding; no comprehensive long-term safety data.

Static linkage: Environmental pollution, technology, governance.

GS area: Environment (Renewable Energy, Geography)

India released the National Geothermal Energy Policy 2025, the first dedicated policy for harnessing geothermal energy.

• India's geothermal potential: 10,600 MW estimated from 381 identified hot spring sites across seven geothermal provinces.
• Seven geothermal provinces: Himalayan (Puga Valley, Ladakh), Cambay (Gujarat), Son-Narmada-Tapi (Madhya Pradesh), West Coast, Godavari, Mahanadi, and Andaman-Nicobar.
• Puga Valley, Ladakh: highest-priority pilot site. Geothermal gradient of 70-90 degrees Celsius per kilometre (vs national average of 22 degrees). Project by ONGC and GDC (Geothermal Development Corp.) for 1 MW pilot.
• How geothermal works: heat from the Earth's interior converts groundwater to steam; steam drives a turbine; the cooled water is reinjected into the reservoir (closed loop). Unlike solar and wind, it works 24/7 (baseload power).
• MNRE (Ministry of New and Renewable Energy): nodal ministry. The policy mandates fiscal incentives similar to those under the National Solar Mission.
• Current installed geothermal capacity in India: zero (as of 2025). The policy targets 1,000 MW by 2030.

Static linkage: Energy policy, geography (hot springs), renewable energy.

GS area: Science and Technology (Digital Governance)

The Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) released the National Blockchain Framework 2025.

• Purpose: standardise blockchain-based applications across government and industry; prevent fragmented proprietary systems from becoming interoperability barriers.
• Key components:
  • NIC-managed permissioned blockchain for government land records, certificate verification and supply chains.
  • Interoperability protocols with private and public blockchains.
  • Sandbox for regulatory experimentation.
• Blockchain basics:
  • Distributed ledger: records shared across multiple nodes.
  • Immutability: once added, blocks cannot be altered without changing all subsequent blocks.
  • Consensus mechanisms: Proof of Work (PoW, energy-intensive), Proof of Stake (PoS, energy-efficient).
• Current use in India: MCA21 (Ministry of Corporate Affairs), Digital India Land Records modernisation (DILRMP), food safety traceability (FSSAI pilot).
• Concerns: scalability limits; energy use of some blockchains; regulatory uncertainty for cryptocurrency-linked applications.

Static linkage: Digital governance, science and technology policy.

• Rani Chennamma 200th anniversary (posthumous): Rani Chennamma of Kittur died in captivity at Bailhongal Fort on 21 February 1829, five years after her defeat. 27 October marks her birth anniversary celebrations in Karnataka. She is regarded as one of India's earliest freedom fighters.
• Fiscal federalism: Articles 270-280: Article 270 distributes taxes shared between Union and states. Article 275 provides grants to states. Article 280 establishes the Finance Commission (15th Finance Commission's period: 2021-2026). These articles underpin the cooperative fiscal federal model.
• National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC): UGC's accreditation body for higher education institutions. NAAC introduced Binary Accreditation in 2023 alongside the existing grading system. Binary Accreditation declares an institution "Accredited" or "Not Accredited" based on a minimum threshold score.