1 April 2026

• West Asia: Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz entered its first full month. India's 485 seafarers are stranded in the Gulf zone with 18 Indian-flagged vessels.
• Economy: February IIP came in at 5.2 per cent with capital goods at a 28-month high, but consumer non-durables contracted for a second straight month. A K-shaped reading.
• Polity: The opposition filed the first-ever impeachment notice against a Chief Election Commissioner, citing West Bengal's Special Intensive Revision.
• Disaster Finance: The 16th Finance Commission's disaster-risk formula drew sharp criticism for penalising hazard-prone states like Odisha.

GS area: International Relations, Geography, Economy

Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz following Operation Epic Fury (launched 28 February 2026) moved into month two. India's exposure is structural.

• Strait of Hormuz: A narrow passage linking the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman. Iran sits on the northern shore. Oman's Musandam exclave and the UAE sit on the south. Roughly 20 per cent of globally traded oil and about 21 million barrels a day transit this single route.
• India's import profile: India imports about 90 per cent of its crude. West Asia is the dominant source. There is no bypass.
• Seafarers stranded: 485 Indian crew members aboard 18 Indian-flagged vessels were unable to leave the Gulf zone as of 1 April.
• Economic projections: EY estimated a one-percentage-point erosion in GDP growth if the conflict persisted. Retail inflation could rise 1.5 percentage points above the baseline. The Current Account Deficit widens when crude prices surge.
• Article 51: The Indian Constitution's directive that the state promote international peace and security. India invoked the Non-Aligned Movement doctrine and the UN Charter Article 2(4) prohibition on force to call for de-escalation.

Static linkage: World geography (chokepoints), Indian Ocean trade routes, India's energy security.

GS area: Economy

The Index of Industrial Production for February 2026 came in at 5.2 per cent, one of the better prints in two years. The headline concealed a split.

• IIP: The Index of Industrial Production measures factory output. It is released by the Central Statistics Office under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI). The base year is 2011-12.
• Capital goods: 12.5 per cent growth, a 28-month high. Investment demand is holding up.
• Consumer non-durables: Contracted 0.6 per cent for the second consecutive month. Rural income stress is visible here. Consumer non-durables are items consumed quickly by households, such as soap, edible oil and matches.
• Eight Core Industries: Grew 2.3 per cent, sharply lower than the headline. These eight sectors (coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement, electricity) carry a weight of about 40.27 per cent in IIP. Their divergence from the headline is a warning sign.
• Private Final Consumption Expenditure: This national accounts measure of household spending had been declining as a share of GDP through 2025, reinforcing the rural demand story.

Static linkage: Indian Economy, economic indicators.

GS area: Polity (elections, institutions)

193 opposition members of Parliament filed a notice to impeach the Chief Election Commissioner. This is the first such move in Indian history.

• Article 324: Vests the superintendence, direction and control of elections in the Election Commission of India. The CEC derives authority from here.
• Article 324(5): The Chief Election Commissioner may be removed only through a process identical to that for a Supreme Court judge, requiring an address by both Houses and a special majority. This is what makes the notice significant even if it fails.
• Chief Election Commissioners and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023: Governs the appointment and conditions of service of the CEC and ECs. The Act replaced an earlier system and was itself challenged.
• Special Intensive Revision in West Bengal: The trigger. The SIR exercise deleted 58 lakh names at the draft stage. About 60 lakh were placed "under adjudication." The opposition alleged bulk Form 6 submissions of 30,000 or more were made by a party to pad rolls, followed by mass deletions of genuine voters.
• Form 6: The application a citizen files to be included in the electoral roll for the first time.

The notice will not proceed without a Speaker's reference and a parliamentary majority. Its value is political, not procedural.

Static linkage: Parliament and state legislatures, election law.

GS area: Economy (fiscal federalism), Governance

The 16th Finance Commission allocated Rs 2,04,401 crore to the State Disaster Response Fund across five years, a 59.5 per cent increase over the 15th Commission's Rs 1,28,122 crore. The methodology drew criticism from states with high hazard exposure but low population.

• Article 280: Requires the President to constitute a Finance Commission every five years. The Commission recommends the distribution of tax revenues between the Union and states.
• State Disaster Response Fund: The primary kitty from which states finance disaster relief. The National Disaster Response Fund supplements it for large-scale calamities.
• Disaster Management Act, 2005: Created the NDRF and SDRF framework and the National Disaster Management Authority.
• Sendai Framework 2015-2030: India's international commitment on disaster risk reduction. Targets include reducing disaster mortality and economic losses.
• The DRI formula: The Commission used Hazard x Exposure (total state population) x Vulnerability (inverse per capita NSDP). Population is the dominant variable. Odisha has a computed DRI of 79.8, receiving less than the formula for Bihar (224.2) and UP (413.2) simply because it has fewer people despite facing more frequent and severe cyclones and floods.
• Kerala example: The 2018 floods caused damages of about Rs 31,000 crore. Kerala is underfunded under the formula for the same reason.

The structural flaw: disasters kill people by hazard intensity, not by head count. A formula that weights population heavily rewards large states over vulnerable small ones.

Static linkage: Disaster management, fiscal federalism, Finance Commission.

GS area: Science and Technology, International Relations

The proliferation of commercial satellite launches has brought renewed attention to orbital debris and the inadequacy of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty.

• Outer Space Treaty (1967): Article VI makes states responsible for national space activities including those by private entities. Article VII makes launching states liable for damage caused by space objects.
• Liability Convention (1972): Imposes absolute liability for damage caused on Earth's surface. Damage in orbit requires proof of fault.
• Registration Convention (1976): States must register all space objects with the UN Secretary-General.
• COPUOS: The UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. It adopted voluntary debris-mitigation guidelines in 2007 but has no enforcement power.
• Kessler Syndrome: The scenario where debris density in a given orbital shell reaches a threshold at which collisions generate more debris than decay removes, making the shell unusable. A coin-sized piece of debris travelling at orbital velocity can destroy an active satellite.
• IN-SPACe: India's National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre, created in 2020, authorises private launch activities. India signed the Artemis Accords in June 2023.

The problem with the treaty regime: private operators face no binding debris-removal obligations and can register in permissive jurisdictions to avoid national regulation.

Static linkage: Space law, India's space programme.

GS area: Internal Security, Governance

The government reported that 42,000 square kilometres of the Bastar division in Chhattisgarh had been largely cleared of Maoist presence by the 31 March 2026 deadline set by the Home Minister.

• Affected districts, then and now: LWE-affected districts stood at 230 in 2005, fell to 126 by 2014, and now number two (Bijapur and Sukma in Bastar alone).
• SAMADHAN doctrine: The eight-pronged strategy: Smart Leadership, Aggressive Strategy, Motivation, Actionable Intelligence, Dashboard-based KPIs, Harnessing Technology, Action on Finance, No weapon/supply access to militants.
• Fifth Schedule (Article 244): Governs administration of Scheduled Areas (mostly tribal regions) where Governors have special powers. The Red Corridor overlaps heavily with Schedule V areas.
• PESA Act, 1996: Extends Panchayati Raj to Schedule V areas. It gives Gram Sabhas in tribal areas rights over natural resources, local governance, and resolution of disputes. Implementation gaps created a governance vacuum that Maoism exploited.
• Forest Rights Act, 2006: Recognises individual and community forest rights of tribals. Land-rights grievances underpinned Maoist recruitment.
• NIA: The National Investigation Agency seized Rs 40 crore in Maoist assets and has over 100 active anti-Naxal cases.

The key test ahead is governance quality in cleared areas. Security gains that are not followed by land rights, courts, schools and livelihoods tend to reverse.

Static linkage: Internal security, tribal rights, Fifth Schedule.

• India-Bangladesh border: BSF issued a directive on 26 March 2026 for deploying crocodile and snake patrols in riverine and forest stretches of the 4,096 km border. The fenced portion is 2,954 km; about 371 km remains unfenced.
• Strategic Petroleum Reserves: India holds about 5.3 million tonnes across three underground caverns at Padur, Mangaluru and Visakhapatnam. Coverage: roughly 9 to 12 days of consumption, against an IEA standard of 90 days.