1 January 2026

• Defence: DRDO successfully completed a salvo launch of two Pralay missiles off the Odisha coast, a key milestone in user evaluation trials.
• Economy: India's GDP growth registered 7.8% in Q1 and 8.2% in Q2 of FY 2025-26, per the RBI Financial Stability Report.
• Governance: PM chaired the 50th meeting of PRAGATI, the technology-driven governance and monitoring platform.
• Agriculture: NCRB data covering 1995 to 2023 show over 3.94 lakh farmer and agricultural labourer suicides.
• International: Bulgaria adopted the euro on 1 January 2026, becoming the 21st eurozone member.

GS area: Science and Technology, Defence

DRDO successfully conducted a salvo launch of two Pralay missiles in quick succession from the same launcher off the Odisha coast. The test completed a key milestone in user evaluation trials before induction into the armed forces.

• Type: Solid-propellant, quasi-ballistic surface-to-surface missile developed indigenously under Atmanirbhar Bharat.
• Range: 150 to 500 km with precision strike capability.
• Salvo capability: Both missiles were launched from the same launcher without reset, demonstrating rapid response in conventional deterrence scenarios.
• Quasi-ballistic trajectory: The missile follows a depressed, manoeuvring path that makes interception harder than a standard ballistic arc.

Static linkage: Atmanirbhar Bharat in defence, ballistic versus cruise missiles.

GS area: Economy

The Reserve Bank of India released its December 2025 Financial Stability Report. The headline number is GDP growth: 7.8% in Q1 FY 2025-26 and 8.2% in Q2, supported by strong private consumption and public investment.

• Publication: The RBI releases the Financial Stability Report twice a year. It assesses systemic risks to the financial sector and stress-tests banks for resilience.
• Growth drivers: Private consumption and public capital expenditure were the twin engines. The report flags global uncertainties as a risk to sustaining momentum.
• Not the GDP data source: The Finance Ministry's Department of Economic Affairs, through MoSPI's National Statistics Office, releases GDP estimates. The RBI cites those figures in its analysis.

The distinction between who releases GDP data (MoSPI-NSO) and who uses it (RBI) is a recurring trap in prelims. MoSPI's National Statistics Office is the source.

Static linkage: National income accounting, RBI functions.

GS area: Society, Agriculture

The National Crime Records Bureau released data covering 28 years of farmer and agricultural labourer suicides. The scale demands prelims attention.

• Total deaths (1995 to 2023): Over 3.94 lakh farmers and agricultural labourers died by suicide.
• Annual average: Approximately 13,600 deaths per year across the period.
• 2023 figures: 10,786 deaths, representing a 75% increase over 2022.
• First-time crossover: In 2023 agricultural labourers (6,096 deaths) outnumbered cultivators (4,690 deaths) for the first time.
• Regional concentration: Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana together account for over 70% of all cases.
• Root causes identified: Wage insecurity, seasonal unemployment, rising input costs and limited social protection.

The jump to labourers overtaking cultivators is analytically significant. It points to distress deeper in the agricultural workforce than tenant-farmer data alone captures.

Static linkage: Agricultural distress (economy), welfare schemes for farmers.

GS area: Governance

The Prime Minister chaired the 50th meeting of PRAGATI (Pro-Active Governance And Timely Implementation). The platform is a recurring prelims item because of its structure and scale.

• Launched: 25 March 2015 by the Prime Minister's Office.
• Architecture: Three-tier digital platform linking the PMO at the apex, Union Government secretaries in the middle tier and State Chief Secretaries at the base.
• Scale by 2026: Over 3,300 projects worth more than 85 lakh crore rupees reviewed. Around 7,156 issues resolved.
• Land acquisition accounts for approximately 35% of project delays surfaced on the platform.

Static linkage: E-governance, cooperative federalism.

GS area: International Relations, Geography

Bulgaria formally adopted the euro on 1 January 2026, becoming the 21st member of the eurozone.

• Previous currency: The Bulgarian lev, in use since 1881.
• Location: Southeastern Europe on the Balkan Peninsula. Bulgaria borders Romania to the north, Greece and Turkey to the south, Serbia and North Macedonia to the west, and the Black Sea to the east.
• Eurozone facts: Established by the Maastricht Treaty (1992). Physical euro coins and notes entered circulation in 2002. The European Central Bank governs monetary policy for all members.
• Geographic features: Bulgaria spans the Danubian Plain in the north, the Balkan Mountains running east to west, and the Rila-Rhodope Massif in the south (which contains Mount Musala, the highest peak in the Balkans).

Static linkage: European Union institutions, world geography (Balkan Peninsula).

GS area: Economy, Society

Gig workers from Swiggy, Zomato, Blinkit and Zepto went on nationwide strikes on Christmas and New Year's Eve demanding a ban on ultra-fast 10-minute delivery models.

• Core grievance: Ultra-compressed delivery windows turn public roads into performance arenas. Workers cite occupational injury and road-safety costs that are externalized onto the public.
• Labour code gap: The Code on Social Security 2020 defines gig and platform workers for the first time. It does not yet give them minimum-wage or job-security coverage because they are classified as self-employed.
• Scale: India's gig economy employs an estimated 7.7 million workers. The NITI Aayog projects 24 million gig jobs by 2030.
• IFAT data: NFHS and ILO estimates place gig workers largely outside formal social protection nets.

The self-employed classification is the legal crux. It is the reason the labour codes defined this category but stopped short of full protection. That gap is prelims-worthy.

Static linkage: Labour codes (economy), gig economy.

GS area: International Relations

India and Pakistan completed their 35th consecutive annual exchange of lists of nuclear installations on 1 January 2026.

• Legal basis: A bilateral agreement signed on 31 December 1988 requires each country to notify the other of nuclear installations and facilities at the start of every calendar year. It entered into force on 27 January 1991.
• Scope: The agreement prohibits attacks on listed nuclear sites. The list exchange is the practical implementation of that prohibition.
• Also exchanged: India and Pakistan simultaneously exchanged a list of prisoners. India notified Pakistan of 257 Indian prisoners held in Pakistani jails: 199 fishermen and 58 civilians.

Static linkage: India-Pakistan relations, nuclear security agreements.

GS area: International Relations, Geography

Finland seized a vessel suspected of damaging undersea telecom cables in the Baltic Sea, bringing renewed attention to this strategic waterway.

• Location: A semi-enclosed arm of the North Atlantic in northern Europe, surrounded by Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Germany.
• Water type: Brackish, making it the world's largest expanse of brackish water.
• Connection to North Sea: Three narrow straits: the Øresund, the Great Belt and the Little Belt.
• Strategic infrastructure: Major energy pipelines, power cables and telecom cables run across the Baltic seabed. NATO members border most of the sea.

Static linkage: Geopolitics of undersea infrastructure, world geography (seas).

GS area: Science and Technology, Governance

The government banned oral formulations of nimesulide exceeding 100 mg.

• Legal basis: Section 26A of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act 1940 empowers the central government to prohibit manufacture, sale and distribution of a drug in public interest.
• Drug class: Nimesulide is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) used for pain and fever.
• Reason: Hepatotoxicity risk at higher doses. The liver damage potential outweighs therapeutic benefit when the dose crosses 100 mg in a single oral formulation.

Static linkage: Drug regulation (governance), Drugs and Cosmetics Act.

GS area: Geography (Meteorology)

Winter Storm Ezra brought a bomb cyclone to the United States, disrupting holiday travel. The term has a precise meteorological definition.

• Explosive cyclogenesis: A bomb cyclone occurs when a mid-latitude low-pressure system deepens by 24 or more millibars within 24 hours. The speed of pressure drop distinguishes it from a regular storm.
• Formation: Cold polar air collides with warm, moisture-rich ocean air. The rapid temperature gradient drives rapid deepening.
• Effects: Blizzards, freezing rain, hurricane-force winds and temperature swings of 40 to 50 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Not a tropical cyclone: Bomb cyclones are mid-latitude systems. They are distinct from hurricanes, which form in tropical regions.

Static linkage: Atmospheric pressure systems, extra-tropical cyclones (geography).

GS area: Environment and Biodiversity

Peru became the first country to grant legal rights to insects, specifically stingless bees in the Amazon.

• Scale: Approximately 500 stingless bee species exist globally, with nearly half found in the Amazon. Peru alone hosts over 170 species.
• Ecological role: Stingless bees pollinate roughly 80% of Amazonian flora. They support cacao, coffee, avocado and blueberry production.
• Rights granted: The right to exist, flourish, regenerate natural cycles and live in pollution-free habitats.
• Rights of Nature doctrine: This is the first legal recognition of insect rights globally and advances a broader legal framework that treats ecosystems and their inhabitants as rights-holders rather than property.

Static linkage: Biodiversity, environmental law.

• Market Access Support (MAS): Under the NIRYAT DISHA sub-scheme and the Export Promotion Mission, the scheme supports MSMEs and first-time exporters through buyer-seller meets, trade fairs and airfare support for exporters with turnover up to 75 lakh rupees. MSME participation minimum is 35%.
• Amazonian stingless bees: Described above; among the oldest bee species at around 80 million years.