22 April 2026

• Environment: Earth Day (22 April) 2026 themed "Planet vs Plastics": global review of Single-Use Plastic commitments two years after the Nairobi resolution.
• Economy: SEBI amended the Mutual Fund norms to mandate Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) screening for all equity-oriented funds by October 2026.
• Polity: The Constitutional Bench on the PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) and twin conditions for bail reserved its judgment.
• Science: India's PARAM Rudra supercomputer ranked 30th in the global TOP500 list.

GS area: Environment (pollution, international agreements)

Earth Day 2026 observed its 56th anniversary with the theme "Planet vs Plastics," marking two years since the UN Environment Assembly in Nairobi agreed to negotiate a global plastic pollution treaty.

• Earth Day history: First celebrated on 22 April 1970 in the United States. Credited as a catalyst for the creation of the US Environmental Protection Agency and the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts.
• UNEA Nairobi Resolution (2022): UNEA-5.2 adopted Resolution 5/14, launching negotiations for a legally binding global instrument to end plastic pollution by end-2024. The deadline was not met; negotiations continued into 2026.
• INC-6 (Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee): The sixth and (intended) final session of negotiations was held in Ottawa, Canada in April 2026. Agreement eluded negotiators due to the "high ambition" vs "production cap" divide.
• India's position: India supports binding commitments on plastic waste management but opposes a cap on plastic production (arguing that plastics from petrochemical industries support MSME employment). India advocated for a tiered compliance framework with differentiated obligations for developing countries.
• Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2022: India already prohibits 19 categories of single-use plastics. The rules mandate minimum 75-micron carry-bag thickness, EPR (Extended Producer Responsibility) for plastic packaging.
• Microplastics: Detected in blood, breast milk and placentas in multiple countries. The WHO has declared microplastics a health concern but evidence of dose-response toxicity is still emerging.

Static linkage: Environmental law, plastics, international negotiations, India's position.

GS area: Economy (capital markets, ESG)

SEBI amended Mutual Fund regulations to require that all equity-oriented funds mandatorily screen for Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors before including a security in their portfolio, effective October 2026.

• ESG in mutual funds: Currently, only dedicated ESG-themed funds screen for ESG. The new rule extends mandatory screening (not a mandatory rejection, but a documented assessment) to all equity funds.
• SEBI's ESG framework: SEBI's existing ESG regulations require listed firms above a threshold to disclose under the BRSR (Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting) framework. The mutual fund mandate links disclosure to investment decision-making.
• Greenwashing risk: SEBI's circular expressly requires fund houses to document their ESG scoring methodology, to prevent mutual funds from labelling themselves "green" without substantive screening.
• The "Principles for Responsible Investment" (PRI): The UN-backed framework that over 5,000 investment institutions have signed, committing to consider ESG in investment decisions.
• India's ESG mutual fund AUM: About Rs 21,000 crore as of March 2026, less than 1 per cent of total equity mutual fund AUM. Mandatory screening is expected to expand this significantly.
• Exclusion vs engagement: The mandate allows funds to choose between excluding ESG-poor companies or engaging with them for improvement. This is a significant flexibility that critics argue may dilute the mandate's impact.

Static linkage: Capital markets, ESG, corporate governance.

GS area: Polity (criminal law, fundamental rights)

The five-judge constitutional bench of the Supreme Court reserved judgment on the constitutional challenge to Section 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), which imposes twin conditions for bail.

• PMLA, 2002: India's primary anti-money laundering law. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) investigates under PMLA. Non-compliance attracts up to 7 years imprisonment.
• Section 45 (twin conditions): For a person to get bail under PMLA, two conditions must be met: (1) the court must be satisfied that there are reasonable grounds to believe the accused is not guilty of the offence; and (2) the accused must be unlikely to commit an offence while on bail. Both conditions must be simultaneously satisfied.
• ** Vijay Madanlal Choudhary vs Union of India (2022):** The SC upheld Section 45 as constitutional, distinguishing it from UAPA's Section 43D(5). Critics argued the court had accepted near-absolute preventive detention in disguise.
• Article 21 challenge: The bench is now re-examining whether the twin conditions create an effective presumption of guilt, inverting the fundamental principle of "innocent until proven guilty."
• ED's prosecution rate: As of 2025, only 23 PMLA cases have resulted in final convictions, against over 5,500 arrests under the Act. The high arrest-to-conviction gap fuelled the Article 21 challenge.
• Property attachment: Under PMLA, the ED can attach property before chargesheet and before trial. Attachment can last for the duration of the trial, often years.

Static linkage: PMLA, bail jurisprudence, fundamental rights, ED.

GS area: Science and Technology (computing)

PARAM Rudra, India's most powerful supercomputer developed under the National Supercomputing Mission (NSM), was ranked 30th in the TOP500 list of global supercomputers with a peak performance of 43.4 petaflops.

• National Supercomputing Mission (NSM): Launched in 2015 with a budget of Rs 4,500 crore. Aims to create a network of supercomputing facilities at IITs, IISc, IISER and national labs. Implemented jointly by MeitY and DST.
• PARAM Rudra specs: 43.4 petaflops (quadrillion floating-point operations per second). Located at C-DAC, Pune. Uses India-assembled BladeCenter servers with a mix of Intel and NVIDIA GPU components.
• C-DAC (Centre for Development of Advanced Computing): The government institution behind PARAM supercomputers since PARAM 8000 in 1991. India's PARAM 8000 was one of the world's fastest computers in 1991.
• TOP500: A biannual ranking of the world's 500 fastest supercomputers, measured by the LINPACK benchmark. The US, China and Japan dominate the top 10.
• Application areas: Drug discovery (protein folding), climate modelling (monsoon prediction), materials science, aerodynamics (ISRO and DRDO use).
• Data localisation policy: India's computing capacity is relevant to its Digital India and data localisation policy discussions. Domestic supercomputing reduces dependence on US cloud for sensitive workloads.

Static linkage: Science and Technology, computing, digital governance.

GS area: Disaster Management, Governance

The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) released a draft amendment to the National Building Code (NBC) 2016, requiring all new constructions in 25 high-flood-risk cities to include permeable surfaces covering at least 30 per cent of the plot area.

• National Building Code (NBC): India's model code for building design, construction and material standards. Adoption is by state governments; the NBC is not directly mandatory without state notification.
• Urban flooding causes: Impervious surfaces (concrete, asphalt) prevent rainwater infiltration. All runoff goes to drains, which are often undersized. Clogged drains, encroached natural drainage channels and waterlogging result.
• Permeable pavement: Uses interlocking paving blocks with gaps, porous concrete or permeable asphalt that allow rainwater to percolate into the soil. Reduces peak runoff by 30-50 per cent.
• 25 high-risk cities: Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Patna, Vadodara and 19 others designated based on flood damage records (1990-2025).
• Chennai 2015 floods: India's most damaging urban flood event in recent decades. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) report cited encroachment of Adyar, Cooum and Buckingham Canal as primary causes.
• Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS): Set up under the BIS Act, 2016. Formulates national standards for products and processes. The NBC is one of its outputs.

Static linkage: Disaster management, urban planning, climate adaptation.

• Soaring vulture population in Uttarakhand: A 2026 census found 1,247 Himalayan Griffon and 834 Bearded Vultures in Uttarakhand, suggesting recovery after the diclofenac ban.
• GSTN upgrade: The Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) completed its migration to a new cloud infrastructure, reducing return-filing outages. India has 1.47 crore GST-registered businesses.