Preliminary Examination
Paper-I: Current Events of National and International Importance
Paper-II: Current Events of State Importance and Important Government Schemes and Programs
State urges Maharashtra govt. to give Kannada option in TET
Context: The Karnataka government has urged the Maharashtra government to provide an option for candidates to appear for the Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) in Kannada medium also for those who are serving in Kannada-medium schools in Maharashtra.
- With the Supreme Court mandating all serving teachers to clear the TET by 2027 to ensure job security, the Maharashtra government has issued Kannada-medium school teachers recruitment notification to fill up vacancies in Kannada-medium schools of Maharashtra.
- The current-unavailability of TET in Kannada medium has caused significant distress and professional uncertainty among those serving as Kannada medium teachers in these schools.
- “These linguistic minority students and teachers come under the protection of constitutional provision of Articles 30, 347, 350, 350A and 350B,”.
- There was around 377 Kannada-medium schools with 44,860 students in Jatta, Akkalkot, Dakshin Solapur where about 80% linguistic minority Kannadigas live.
In recognition of Basavanna’s ideology, State of Kansas proclaims April 20 as ‘Basava Day’
Context: The State of Kansas in the U.S. has recognised the ideology of Karnataka’s 12th century social reformer Basavanna by proclaiming April 20, Basava Jayanti, as “Basava Day” in Kansas. The proclamation was made by Kansas Governor Laura Kelly.
- The proclamation said: “Basava Day honours the birth and teachings of Jagadguru Basavanna, also known as Basava, a 12th century Indian philosopher and a social reformer who was said to have been a mystic by temperament, an idealist by choice, a statesman by profession, a man of letters by taste, a humanist by sympathy, and a social reformer by conviction, whose message continues to inspire people around the world.”
- It also observes that Basava’s vision remains highly relevant today of a just society, free from all discrimination.
- This proclamation celebrates the vibrant contributions of the Lingayat community and the broader Indian-American diaspora to the cultural fabric of Kansas.”
Karnataka makes audit of adolescent pregnancies mandatory
Context: In a move aimed at strengthening adolescent health and addressing early pregnancies, the State government has made it mandatory to audit all adolescent pregnancy cases involving girls aged 10 to 18 years.
- The audit will be carried out by the respective Taluk Health Officers across the State, covering all such cases reported through both government and private health establishments.
- Adolescent pregnancy continues to be a significant public health and social concern, with implications for maternal health, neonatal outcomes and long-term socio-economic development. Pregnancies in this age group are associated with higher risks of complications, adverse birth outcomes, school dropout and increased social vulnerability. Citing global estimates, nearly half of adolescent pregnancies are unintended.
- The Health Department had directed private hospitals to mandatorily report cases of minor pregnancies under the POCSO Act, warning that failure to do so will invite legal action against both doctors and hospital managements.
- While programmes such as the National Health Mission and the Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK) focus on adolescent health through counselling, awareness and access to services, the persistence of teenage pregnancies points to gaps that require systematic review.
- Under the new framework, all adolescent pregnancies must be mandatorily reported on the Reproductive and Child Health platform. The audit will examine factors such as age at marriage, educational status, awareness of reproductive health, access to contraception and counselling services, and socio-economic vulnerabilities. It will assess linkages with schemes such as RKSK, ICDS and school health programmes.
- At the taluk level, an audit committee headed by the THO will be set up, with members including health inspectors, Primary Health Centre medical officer, ASHA supervisors, anganwadi supervisors and, where applicable, school representatives.
- Based on the findings, the health system will undertake measures including counselling through designated centres, provision of contraceptive services and pregnancy testing kits, and identification of vulnerable adolescents such as school dropouts, migrants and those from socially disadvantaged backgrounds.
Main Examination
Paper-I: Essays
Essay – 1: Topic of International/National Importance
Essay-2: Topic of State importance/Local Importance
Paper-II: General Studies 1
Paper-III: General Studies 2
‘Records on caste census decision can’t be disclosed’
Context: The Union government has stated that records of the Inter-Ministerial deliberations, inputs, and suggestions referred to in making the decision to enumerate caste in the 2027 Census are exempt from public disclosure under the Right to Information Act, 2005.
- Responding to a request for these records filed by The Hindu under the RTI Act, the Union Cabinet Secretariat said that these records were exempt from disclosure under Section 8(1)(i) of the 2005 law. This section says the government is not obligated to disclose Cabinet papers, provided that “the matter is over” or “complete”; and provided that “the decisions of Council of Ministers, the reasons thereof, and the material on the basis of which the decisions were taken shall be made public after the decision has been taken”.
- On April 30, the Centre posted a statement, saying, “Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs has decided to include caste enumeration in the upcoming Census.” On March 25, responding to requests for information on records relied upon for this decision, the Cabinet Secretariat said, “The information sought is exempted from disclosure under Section 8(1)(i) of the RTI Act.”
Paper-IV: General Studies 3
Fast breeder nuclear reactor at Kalpakkam takes ‘critical’ leap forward
Context: The prototype fast breeder reactor (PFBR) at Kalpakkam, Chennai, had achieved “criticality”. This means that the nuclear reaction in the reactor had become safely self-sustaining, and was on its way to being able to produce electricity.
- While it will be some months before the PFBR is powered up to its full capacity, and even longer before it produces useful electricity, multiple experiments have to be conducted at low power to check if it’s running as expected, which must be evaluated by the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board before it grants a go-ahead for commercial power operation, this the beginning of the second stage of India’s nuclear programme.
Since it was first formally approved as a project by the government in 2003, the PFBR at Kalpakkam has taken over two decades to reach this stage.
PFBR as a bridge
- India’s nuclear reactors are heavily dependent on imported uranium. The country’s three-stage programme, conceived in the 1950s, envisages being able to be independent of imported uranium, creating its own stockpile of suitable uranium, and eventually harnessing thorium, of which it has vast stores. The PFBR development serves as an essential bridge.
- “What this means is that we are now on our way to extract 80-100 times more energy from a given quantity of uranium.”
- The PFBR is a 500 MW sodium-cooled, pool-type fast breeder reactor designed by the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research and built by Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam Limited, both operating under the Department of Atomic Energy.
Uranium powerhouse
- India’s pressurised heavy water reactors (PHWR) burn up uranium to produce electricity and small quantities of plutonium. However, less than 1% of the energy from this uranium (that can be used as heat and make electricity) is extracted from these reactors. The ‘depleted’ uranium in India isn’t considered ‘waste’ but is reprocessed and stored. It, however, cannot be used back in the existing PHWRs.
- “The PFBR reactor is designed to use the ‘spent’ uranium from the PHWR as well as produce more plutonium. We are no longer using fresh, mined uranium here. As a thumb rule, this means that the 1% energy extracted can go up to nearly 10% for a single cycle and for every additional cycle 10% more. The efficiency of the uranium that is mined goes up substantially.
- “The burn-up or the energy extracted goes from about 8,000 units (in a PHWR) to nearly 100,000 units,”.
Two more reactors
- India’s current plan, Mr. Grover said, was to construct two more PFBR at Kalpakkam, though this would only be following a proper assessment of the performance of the PFBR for a year. In the current scheme of things, the PFBR will produce only “marginally more” plutonium.
- “Our current priority is to use the uranium that we have far more efficiently. There is a reprocessing plant to come up on site at Kalpakkam which will use the processed spent fuel from the PFBR and for the two future PFBR. The PFBR will use depleted uranium (from the Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors or PHWRs).
- In the future, we will use thorium, but that is still a long time away, and what kind of reactors we will use for that, we need more work and have to wait and watch,” he said, adding, “These reactors are self-sustaining but as and when we need more plutonium in the future, the design has to be optimised to extract more plutonium.”
- Currently, India has a fleet of 18-20 PHWRs that use natural uranium as fuel and produce plutonium-239 (Pu-239) as a by-product in spent fuel. India’s full fleet of 23 nuclear reactors have a combined capacity of 7.48 GW. India hopes to have 100 GW by 2047 and this is premised on a larger fleet of Bharat Small Modular Reactors (which are scaled down PHWR) that are in the pipeline.
- A significant technological challenge that has led to delays in the PFBR is the use of liquid sodium as a coolant to manage the extremely high heat from fissioning uranium atoms in the PFBR. In India’s current reactors, the heat is largely absorbed by ‘heavy water’, or in some cases, ordinary water. Once fully operational, the PFBR is expected to generate 500 MW of electricity, with a design life of 40 years.
Paper-V: General Studies 4