Current Affairs: 4th November 2025

• SIR of electoral rolls begins in 12 States and U.T.s today

Context: The Election Commission will begin the enumeration phase of the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in 12 States and Union Territories.

• The SIR exercise will cover close to 51 crore voters in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Puducherry, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and Lakshadweep.
• Among these, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, and Puducherry will go to the polls in 2026.
• The first round of the clean-up exercise was carried out in Bihar earlier this year, during which more than 68 lakh names were deleted from the electoral rolls.
• The house-to-house enumeration process will take place from November 4 to December 4. The poll body will publish the draft rolls on December 9, after which claims and objections can be submitted from December 9 to January 8. Notices will be issued, and hearings and verifications will take place from December 9 to January 31. The final electoral rolls will be published on February 7.
• In most of these States, the SIR exercise was last carried out between 2002 and 2004.
• The poll body has implemented certain changes to the SIR 2.0, drawing upon insights gained from the experience in Bihar. Among the most significant changes is the directive that no documents should be collected from electors during the enumeration phase.
• The poll body took this decision after it found in Bihar that a substantial number of voters could be traced to the electoral rolls prepared after the preceding SIR.
• Secondly, prior to the announcement of the SIR, the poll body had begun the process of matching the current voters’ lists with those from the years 2002 to 2004, during which the last SIR was conducted in these states. This procedure has been referred to as pre-mapping. So most States are expected to have the lists of people whose names were already there in the voters’ list, and they are thus not expected to submit any of the 11 indicative documents along with their enumeration forms.
• Aadhaar has been added as the 12th document, as directed by the Supreme Court, but only as proof of identity and not of citizenship.
• The poll body has also amended the enumeration form, incorporating a column where a parent or a relative can provide a signature in the absence of the voter. This signature will be counter-signed by the booth-level officer (BLO).
• For electors whose enumeration forms have not been returned, the BLO may ascertain a probable cause, including death or duplication, through inquiries conducted with neighbouring electors and document these findings.
• Since the draft electoral rolls will only include the names of those who have submitted the enumeration forms, booth-wise lists of electors whose names have not been included in the draft rolls will be displayed on the notice board of the respective Panchayat Bhavan or the urban local body office and at the offices of the block development officers. This will enable the general public to access the aforementioned voters’ lists, along with the probable reasons for the non-inclusion of their names.
• The electoral registration officers will issue a notice only after the publication of the draft rolls to those electors who could not be linked with the previous SIR in order to ascertain their eligibility.
• Also, unlike Bihar, the voter rolls of all States will be available for mapping the names of voters and their parents or guardians. This means that voters can check their names in the voter list of any State in the country, not just in the State where they are currently residing.
• In another modification to the process, fresh voter registrations will be carried out simultaneously during the house-to-house enumeration exercise. The BLO will carry at least 30 blank Form 6s along with blank declaration forms to provide to anyone who seeks to enrol as a new elector.

• State announces ₹600 crore fund to push ‘Deep Tech Decade’

Context: The Karnataka government said it was entering into a ‘Deep Tech Decade’ and also announced an investment pool of ₹600 crore to kick off various initiatives to trigger growth in deep-tech across the State.

• Addressing a media conference, Minister for IT/BT, Panchayat Raj and Rural Development Priyank Kharge said the government’s ₹600 crore investment commitment would power the ‘Deep Tech Decade’, aimed at positioning Karnataka as the deep tech capital of India.
• “This initiative reflects our vision to create a robust deep-tech pipeline supporting entrepreneurs working on technologies such as AI, ML, quantum computing, advanced manufacturing, robotics, and sustainability-driven innovation,” he said.
• He further said the government was also in talks with various players in the venture capital industry, including the ones he met last week, to expand the size of this investment pool to ₹1,000 crore or more.
• “It is not that ₹600 crore will be enough for deep-tech growth for the whole decade. We will re-look at the investment required. We will certainly require more funds to create deep-tech and AI startups across the State and for this we are also exploring to create joint funds in collaboration with venture capital players.” The Minister further said the blueprint of the rollout and funding was already ready as the State was absolutely serious about retaining its global leadership in the technology landscape.
• According to Mr. Kharge, the ₹600 crore investment earmarked for deep-tech would comprise ₹150 crore for DeepTech Elevate Fund, with a special focus on AI and frontier technologies; ₹80 crore under the Elevate Beyond Bengaluru Fund to promote startups in Mysuru, Mangaluru, Hubballi-Dharwad and Kalaburagi; ₹75 crore through the KITVIN Fund for equity-based investments in deep-tech and AI startups, with funding between ₹50 lakh to ₹2 crore; ₹48 crore for new incubators and accelerators at IIT and IIIT Dharwad and Kalaburagi; and ₹110 crore for business incubators in higher education institutions, nurturing early innovation and entrepreneurship across 11 institutions already cleared by the Cabinet.
• He said the government would explore a fund-of-funds through co-investment models with the VC ecosystem to ensure continuous capital flow and scalability across the deep-tech value chain.
• The Minister further said, the 28th edition of the Bengaluru Tech Summit (BTS 2025), the State’s tech exposition scheduled from November 18 to 20 at the Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (BIEC), would feature Future Makers Conclave (FMC).

• Need for shift in focus from food security to nutrition security: PM

Context: Modi addresses experts at first Emerging Science Technology and Innovation Conclave, which replaces the Indian Science Congress.

• In his inaugural address at the first Emerging Science Technology and Innovation Conclave (ESTIC), Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India’s scientists should generate ideas to move from food security to nutrition security; create biofortified crops to address malnutrition; develop low-cost fertilizers; better map India’s genomic biodiversity for personalised medicine; and arrive at new and cheap innovation in clean battery storage.
• “This conclave should make a collective roadmap towards achieving these goals,” Mr. Modi said, addressing an auditorium full of representatives from scientific Ministries, and technologists.
• Commencing his speech by congratulating the Indian women’s cricket team on their maiden World Cup win, he said the 21st century was an epoch of “unusual changes” that were being shaped by science and technology.

Doubling R&D

• India’s expenditure on research and development had doubled in the past decade, the number of patents registered had grown 17 times, and the number of “deep-tech start-ups” risen to 6,000, Mr. Modi said.
• India had made operational a fund of ₹1 lakh crore via the Anusandhan National Research Foundation, which would help scientists and technologists in the public and private sectors to invest more substantially in research and development, he said.
• The ESTIC replaces the Indian Science Congress, the oldest congregation of scientists in India, with a history predating Independence. Over the years, the Indian Science Congress had gone into oblivion, with its last session held in 2023.
• The ESTIC continues till November 5, with sessions on quantum science, bio-engineering and energy environment, and climate.

• Great Nicobar project: map ready for denotification of tribal reserve

Context: The Andaman and Nicobar Islands administration has prepared a map for the denotification and renotification of tribal reserve land for the Great Nicobar Island mega-infrastructure project, and will soon be finalising the sites for setting up towers in these lands.

• The administration has also said that transit accommodation to initially serve all Great Nicobar Island project staff has been constructed, and that a “Comprehensive Tribal Welfare Plan” is slated to be finalised by next month.
• The administration made a presentation to this effect to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Integrated Development Corporation’s (ANIIDCO) Monitoring Committee overseeing tribal-related matters for the ₹92,000-crore infrastructure project proposed on the Great Nicobar Island, which includes a transhipment port, an airport, a power plant, and a township. The project is being developed by the ANIIDCO, even as forest and environment clearances issued for the project are under challenge in courts and tribunals.
• In a meeting of the monitoring committee on tribal-related matters held in October, the Tribal Welfare Department of the islands’ administration noted that a Geographic Information System (GIS) map had been prepared for the denotification and renotification of land with help from the Forest Department. Additionally, sites for towers will be finalised after consultations with the Assistant Commissioner of Campbell Bay and the Andaman Adim Janjati Vikas Samiti, the administration body representing the Shompen people.
• Notably, any denotification of tribal reserve land for the GNI project requires that forest rights over it be first settled under the Forest Rights Act, 2006. This finalisation of maps for denotification comes even as the Calcutta High Court is hearing petitions challenging the administration’s claim that it had settled forest rights here as per law.

• India, Bahrain hold talks on boosting defence, trade ties

Context: India reiterated that the Gaza peace plan of U.S. President Donald Trump will lead to a “lasting” solution to the West Asian conflict.

• Welcoming Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Alzayani, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said there are “unprecedented” changes in the West Asian region as well as in the world.
• “So I take the opportunity to reiterate our support for the Gaza Peace Plan which we hope will lead to a lasting and durable solution,” said Mr. Jaishankar in his opening remarks.
• A joint statement issued after the meeting of the High Joint Commission headed by Mr. Jaishankar and Mr. Alzayani said that India and Bahrain expressed optimism for “enhancing future collaboration in the areas of defence and security”. The joint statement also mentioned unequivocal condemnation of “terrorism, in all its forms and manifestations and reaffirmed strong commitment to combat terrorism, including cross border terrorism.”
• The two sides highlighted that India is among the top five trading partners of the Kingdom of Bahrain.
• Both sides agreed to develop a common understanding to commence Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) negotiations, which will help eliminate double taxation, provide tax certainty and promote trade and investment.

• ‘Digital arrests’ are a very big challenge; victims, mostly elderly, lost ₹3,000 cr. in India alone: SC

Context: The Supreme Court said more than ₹3,000 crore had been scammed by fraudsters from victims, mostly drawn from the elderly population, through “digital arrests”.

• A Bench headed by Justice Surya Kant was referring to a confidential report submitted by the Union government. Justice Kant, who is the Chief Justice of India-designate, said the report showed that the problem of digital arrests was a “very big challenge”. “Much more than we thought…” Justice Kant observed.
• “The report shows the extent of fraud is very big… ₹3,000 crore was collected from victims in India alone. What would be the suffering at the global level?” Justice Kant asked.
• Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta, for the Centre, agreed with Justice Kant, saying digital arrest scam was initially found to be beyond what they had expected.
• Justice Kant said the judiciary would pass harsh and stringent orders to strengthen the hands of the agencies against the fraudsters, “give you all support”. “Otherwise, this problem will magnify, and the victims are aged people,” Mr. Mehta said.
• In an earlier hearing, the Supreme Court had orally mooted tasking the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) with probing the menace of digital arrests orchestrated by fraudsters posing as judges and police officers who use forged documents.
• Attorney-General R. Venkataramani had submitted that these cyber crimes originate from across the border and were fashioned by “money-laundering gangs”.

‘Scam compounds’

• The Solicitor-General had informed that the organised cybercrimes behind digital arrests were generated from “scam compounds” and done at a large-scale level.
• The Supreme Court had originally taken suo motu cognisance of a case of digital arrest of a senior citizen couple in Haryana’s Ambala on the basis of forged orders of the court and probe agencies by fraudsters to extort ₹1.05 crore. However, the court was later informed that there were numerous cases across the country in which innocent people, especially senior citizens, were threatened with “cyber arrests” by criminals, who misuse Artificial Intelligence and other advanced technology to morph courtrooms and police stations, unless they cough up huge sums of money.
• “The impact of the problem is great. There is not only a financial but also a human angle. Gullible people are promised employment abroad and reduced to the status of human slaves. Criminals morph the faces of judges and make calls to victims with the Court rooms shown as the background,” Mr. Mehta had said.

• Delhi HC upholds FSSAI ban on ‘ORS’ tagged drinks

Context: The Delhi High Court has rejected a plea challenging the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India’s (FSSAI) decision to ban the use of the word ‘ORS’ (Oral Rehydration Solution) in the naming of any fruit-based, non-carbonated, or ready-to-drink beverages.

• Justice Sachin Datta passed the order on October 31, dismissing a petition by Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd., which had challenged the FSSAI’s directive restricting the use of the label ‘ORS’ for its brand Rebalanz VITORS.
• On October 14, the FSSAI withdrew all prior permissions for using the term ‘ORS’ in product names or branding unless they met the medical standards.

• India, New Zealand begin fourth round of FTA talks

Context: India and New Zealand began the fourth round of negotiations towards a free trade agreement, with the Indian team visiting Auckland until November 7, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry announced.

• “Negotiations in this round are focusing on key areas, including trade in goods, trade in services, and rules of origin,” the statement added. “Both sides are working constructively to build on the progress achieved in earlier rounds.”

• Strong demand lifts manufacturing PMI to 59.2 in October

Context: Manufacturing activity accelerated to 59.2 in October, nearly a 17-year high, driven by strong demand and the Goods and Services Tax (GST) rate reductions, according to a private sector survey.

• The seasonally adjusted HSBC India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index in October was higher than the 57.7 in September, which it said indicated a quicker improvement in the health of the sector.
• October’s 59.2 was just lower than the 59.3 recorded in August, which was the highest in 17-and-a-half years.
• “Manufacturing sector conditions in India continued to strengthen in October, buoyed by GST relief, productivity gains and tech investment,” the report noted.

Rise in new orders

• “A faster increase in new orders boosted growth of output and buying levels, and the latter drove a near-record expansion in input inventories.”
• According to the survey, companies attributed the increase in new orders to “advertising, buoyant demand and the GST reform”.

• UAE is supplying weapons to RSF militia, says Sudan’s ambassador to India Eltom

Context: Sudan is not in a state of civil war and is confronting attacks from “non-regional actors” that include the UAE, which is supplying weapons to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia that has been killing civilians in El Fasher city in Darfur in western Sudan, said the Sudanese ambassador to India.

• Addressing a press conference at the Embassy here, Ambassador Mohammed Abdalla Ali Eltom said stopping the supply of weapons by the UAE to the RSF will be the “first step” in “ending the war”.
• “Sudan is not facing a civil war. We are confronting conspiracies of non-regional actors. The RSF is acting like a proxy foreign powers and a few countries in the region are acting as corridors for arms supply to the RSF,” said Mr. Eltom, explaining that the UAE’s weapons are being channelled through Libya and Chad.
• “The militia threatens to destabilise the entire region from the Red Sea to the Central African region. Therefore, the international community must designate the RSF as a terrorist organisation and impose targeted sanctions on them and on all weapons suppliers that are supporting the RSF,” said Mr. Eltom.
• The RSF, which has been carrying out attacks in El Fasher, is using “strategic drones” that are capable of flying for long duration which indicate that state-level armed forces are involved in arming the RSF.
• The Sudanese envoy acknowledged India’s humanitarian assistance to Sudan during the crisis that has been continuing since April 2023. He appreciated India’s decision to maintain the embassy in Sudan despite the violence.
• He also confirmed that an Indian national was captured by RSF in El Fasher as  militants entered the city on October 26.

• Has cloud seeding been effective?

Context: For the first time in nearly 50 years, Delhi conducted two cloud seeding trials with the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IITK) last week. The aim was to induce rain over Delhi to settle the build of smog and particulate matter that had deteriorated the air quality.

What is cloud seeding?

• Cloud seeding involves spraying a salt mixture into clouds. The science is that such seeding, which is done by aircraft fitted with flares that fire the salt mixture into clouds, can induce ice or water vapour within the clouds to form water droplets. When lots of such droplets coalesce, they can pour down as rain.

What has been its history?

• Cloud seeding has been around for at least three quarters of a century with mixed success. Beginning in the 1940s, General Electric scientists William Schaefer and Bernard Vonnegut chanced upon the principle of using dry ice to form ice crystals in their lab freezer. They then decided to experiment on real clouds. It was reported that they successfully made it snow over Pittsfield in Massachusetts, U.S. This got the U.S. government excited and a formal programme called Project Cirrus was born. While creating rain was certainly on the back of their minds, the big excitement was the prospect of taming hurricanes, which did not pan out well. In the 1950s and 60s, the use of cloud seeding as a weather modification tool became popular. The Soviets seeded clouds over Leningrad to protect May Day parades — years before China used cloud seeding for clear skies ahead of the inaugural ceremony of the Olympics in 2008. The U.S. launched Project Skywater, dumping silver iodide from planes over the Rockies.

What has India’s experience been?

• Nearly coincident with Project Cirrus, S.K. Banerji, the first Indian Director General of the India Meteorological Department (IMD), oversaw the first cloud seeding experiments in Kolkata by releasing salt and silver iodide in hydrogen balloons in 1952.
• Most of these were administered as rockets that were fired from the ground. And while these experiments seemed to suggest that on the days when seeding was done, there was more rain compared to days when there was no seeding, it wasn’t verifiable if the rain was due to natural sources or from the seeding.
• There was even an attempt to conduct such seeding in Delhi in 1962 but it failed.
• It’s only from the 1970s that researchers properly started to use planes and fly to the top of the clouds to spray salt solutions. They also studied cloud physics, condensation, what kind of clouds gave rain, which ones didn’t, and so on. Several States, when grappling with drought, have experimented with cloud seeding. The results have been sporadic and there was never any systematic way to tell how much rain could reasonably be expected if a certain amount of salt mixture was scattered. There was also less clarity on where exactly one could expect rain. The cost-benefit also was not clear, given that hiring aircraft, pilots, technical personnel and making salt mixtures was expensive.

What was the CAIPEEX?

• Initiated by the Pune-based Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology in 2009, Cloud Aerosol Interaction and Precipitation Enhancement Experiment (CAIPEEX) was a systematic scientific investigation to quantify if there were any benefits from cloud seeding.
• For that it actually studied the interior world of clouds, its physics, and water droplet formation for nearly a decade after which from 2017-2019 they physically identified, using radar and other instruments, clouds that were suitable for seeding.
• This experiment was conducted over a drought prone region called Solapur, Maharashtra, and hence a natural test ground to measure enhancement (if there was any). Once the clouds were identified they flew aircraft and fired flares of calcium chloride (no silver iodide used) into some clouds and left others ‘unseeded.’
• Their overall finding was that Solapur got an extra 867 million litres of water — which is considerable. In terms of rainfall measured on the ground: seeded clouds gave an average 46% more rain at the seeded locations relative to the unseeded ones.
• Over a 100 square km area downwind, there was 18% more rain in the seed versus unseeded.

What happened in Delhi?

• There were two flights on October 28 when IIT Kanpur flew its own plane and flared clouds. The results were disappointing with no rainfall triggered, though researchers at IITK said that some parts of Delhi reported a ‘light drizzle’ and a ‘small improvement’ in air quality. The drawback was the quality of clouds.
• The CAIPEEX demonstrated that only monsoon clouds which had a certain quantity of moisture could hope to yield sufficient water. Such clouds are absent in the post-monsoon over Delhi.
• For seven years, there have been various proposals for seeding over Delhi that have been discouraged by scientists due to the winter atmospheric characteristics. IIT Kanpur has however said that it will continue ‘trials’ during this season.

• What are the challenges with the High Seas Treaty?

Context: The High Seas Treaty was ratified by over 60 countries in September; it will now be enforced in January 2026. The treaty sets rules to preserve and use marine biodiversity sustainably and addresses threats from climate change, overfishing and pollution.

What is the treaty about?

• The Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) agreement, as the High Seas treaty is formally referred to, creates an all-inclusive framework to govern and manage common marine biodiversity.
• It identifies Marine Genetic Resources (MGRs) as the common heritage of humankind, insisting on a fair and equitable sharing of benefits.
• Besides, the Area-Based Management Tools (ABMTs) include Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) that can be recognised to protect biodiversity.
• This will help in improving climate resilience and provide food security, combining science and indigenous knowledge.
• The treaty also entails Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) for events potentially affecting these areas, especially when cumulative and transboundary impacts are taken into account.
• The first steps for the treaty began two decades ago. In 2004, the UN General Assembly formed an ad-hoc working group to fix the gap in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), 1982, which did not have clear guidelines on protecting BBNJ. By 2011, states had agreed to negotiate on four key issues, mainly MGRs, ABMTs, EIAs, and capacity building and technology transfer. Following this, four Intergovernmental Conference sessions were held between 2018 and 2023. The parties to these discussions finally reached an agreement in March 2023, which led to the adoption of the treaty in June 2023.

What are the major issues?

• First is the uncertainty over the principles of “common heritage of humankind” and “freedom of the high seas.” The “common heritage principle” supports equitable access and benefit-sharing of marine resources for all, while the “freedom on the high seas” stresses on unrestricted rights of states to carry out navigation, resource usage and research activities. However, the common heritage principle is only applicable partially, especially when it comes to MGRs. This shows a compromise instead of a resolution. It also creates ambiguity in exploration, research and benefit sharing.
• Second, is the use of MGRs. The governance of MGRs was earlier not defined, raising concerns over “biopiracy” and unfair exploitation by developed countries. Developing nations were concerned that they would be excluded from the profits of scientific discoveries from the high seas. The treaty now includes a framework on sharing monetary and non-monetary benefits, but with no clear details on how such benefits will be calculated or shared.
• Third is the reluctance of big powers to get engaged. The treaty is under threat due to non-participation from the U.S., China, and Russia, who are yet to ratify the treaty.
• Fourth, is interaction with multilateral institutions. The treaty must coexist and not ignore existing international institutions, such as the International Seabed Authority (ISA) and Regional Fisheries Management Organisations (RFMOs). The BBNJ agreement must also blend with existing international treaties to prevent legal conflicts and lead to more fragmentation of ocean governance.

What next?

• The treaty provides more clarity to the UNCLOS provisions, focusing on science-based requirements for EIAs, ABMTs and benefit sharing.
• However, the ambiguous language in the MGRs and the common heritage of humankind principle challenge the execution of the treaty.
• There is a need for dynamic management of MPAs, and regular monitoring. To deliver the BBNJ, linking climate-biodiversity with the ocean will be crucial for resilient management.