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UPSC/KPSC Current Affairs: 7th December 2025

Amit Shah says circular economy will raise dairy farmers’ income in 5 years

Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on Saturday expressed confidence that the implementation of the circular economy model across the country will increase dairy farmers’ income by 20% over the next five years.Mr. Shah was addressing cattle rearers associated with Banas Dairy at an event held at Sanadar village in Gujarat’s Vav-Tharad district to mark the inauguration of the dairy’s bio-CNG and fertilizer plant and the ground-breaking of its milk powder plant.He praised Banas Dairy’s management for successfully developing a model for a circular economy in the dairy sector, which includes generating extra income for farmers through various means.Mr. Shah informed the audience that he had brought several MPs to Banaskantha to understand the circular economy model of Banas Dairy.“So far, our cooperative dairies have received huge success in procuring milk from farmers and giving back the income generated from selling milk products. Now, the time has come to focus on the circular economy. You will get your share from the income generated by the dairy by selling biogas and fertilizer produced from cattle dung procured from farmers,” he said.Mr. Shah also informed the gathering that chairpersons and managing directors of all the major cooperative dairies will visit Banas Dairy in January 2026 to understand more about the initiatives taken by the dairy, considered Asia’s largest dairy with a turnover of ₹24,000 crore.“Apart from the usual milk products like paneer and curd, there are many products that are in demand across the globe, but they are not produced in India. If we focus on those products, dairy farmers can earn extra income,” he said.The Minister said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has created a system wherein dairies will get the required finance and technology to adopt this circular economy model, which also includes leather production from hides harvested from the cattle that die naturally.He expressed confidence that targets set by Prime Minister under the ‘White Revolution 2.0’ initiative will be achieved through collective efforts.Mr. Shah also praised women dairy farmers for their contribution and efforts in strengthening the sector in this arid region of Gujarat.

NGO in Rajasthan targets 38 districts to end child marriageChittorgarh and Bhilwara districts have a child marriage prevalence of over 40%, while nine other districts have a 30% to 40% prevalence; NGO to focus on community efforts, legal interventions

A civil society network has selected 38 high-risk districts in Rajasthan to conduct an intensive drive to completely weed out the practice of child marriage over the next year, through community efforts and legal interventions.

The drive will extend support to the State government’s actions and use the resources of village panchayats to spread awareness in far-off areas.

Just Rights for Children (JRC), working with 17 partner organisations in the State, claims to have prevented 22,480 child marriages in Rajasthan during the last year.

The villages falling within the 38 districts selected for the drive have been identified as “high-prevalence areas” in terms of child marriages, according to the National Family Health Survey-5 (NFHS-5), conducted from 2019 to 2021.

As per the NFHS-5, the prevalence of child marriage in Rajasthan is 25.4%, barely above the national average of 23.3% (the share of women aged 20-24 who married before turning 18). Various districts in the State, however, show huge disparity. Chittorgarh and Bhilwara districts have a child marriage prevalence of over 40%, while nine districts — Jhalawar, Tonk, Sawai Madhopur, Bundi, Bharatpur, Karauli, Bikaner, Alwar, and Pratapgarh — have a prevalence of over 30%. There are nine more districts where the child marriage prevalence is between 23% and 29.9%.

JRC founder Bhuwan Ribhu said here on Saturday that community groups, faith leaders, village panchayats, and citizens would play an important role in the drive. “Child marriage is a crime against children. We will make every possible effort to completely eliminate child marriages through collective work,” Mr. Ribhu said.

The Union Ministry of Women and Child Development also launched a 100-day nationwide movement on Friday to help end child marriage in the country by 2030. India has committed to the global target of eliminating the practice by that date, in line with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Assam govt. reinforces two-child policy for jobs, electoral participation

The Assam government has notified an amendment to a 2017 policy on population and women empowerment to reinforce the two-child norm for eligibility in government jobs, self-help groups (SHGs), and electoral participation.Certain communities have, however, been allowed to have up to three children without losing access to government jobs and benefits, and the eligibility to contest elections to panchayats and urban local bodies.These groups are Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), “Tea Garden Tribes”, and the Matak and Moran communities.‘Effective immediately’The Population and Women Empowerment Policy of Assam (Amendment), 2025, will come into force immediately, the December 5 notification issued by the State’s Health and Family Welfare Department read.According to this notification, candidates with only two children will be eligible for government employment, and existing government servants must strictly adhere to the two-child norm as role models for society.It further said that individuals, male or female, who marry below the legal age, will become ineligible for government jobs or the State’s employment-generation schemes.The revised framework states that the SHGs with members who uniformly adhere to the two-child (three-child for communities enjoying the relaxation) policy will receive special government incentives.The notification says that the government may legislate legal provisions to bar people with more than two children from taking part in panchayat and municipal elections, and consider similar legal provisions for election or nomination to other statutory bodies and committees.“In addition to the two-child norm, Government may, in aid of creating an educated society and population structure, put minimum educational qualifications as eligibility criteria for contesting elections to panchayats and urban local bodies,” the notification reads.“The Government of Assam will take up with the Government of India the issue of ensuring that MLAs adhere to the family planning norms. The two-child norm will be proposed as the yardstick for anyone contesting election to the State legislature. In case any MLA from the State flouts the family planning norms, i.e., having more than two children, he or she may be disqualified from his/her membership and be debarred from contesting polls in future,” it says.

India emerging as a major hub of renewable energy: Joshi

India has emerged as a major player in generating renewable energy, a mark of transition from fossil fuel energy, by adding 31.25 gigawatt (GW), including 24.28 GW of solar power, in the current financial year alone, Union Minister of New and Renewable Energy Pralhad Joshi said.

Speaking at Global Energy Leaders’ Summit 2025, Mr. Joshi said: “It took nearly 70 years to reach the milestone of one Terawatt of power from renewable sources. However, the second Terawatt capacity in renewable energy sector was achieved in just two years.” It is indicative of India’s growth in the renewable energy sector, he said.

“India is a key driver of this explosive global surge in renewable energy. In the last 11 years, the country’s solar capacity has grown from 2.8 GW to around 130 GW, a rise of more than 4,500%. Between 2022 and 2024 alone, India contributed 46 GW to global solar additions, becoming the third-largest contributor,” said the Minister.

Similarly, module manufacturing in 2014 was 2 GW… that has now grown to 120 GW, he informed.

Although India holds the world’s fifth-largest coal reserves and is the second largest consumer of coal, a balanced approach is needed, he said.

Focus Odisha

Mr. Joshi said Odisha was fast emerging as a major renewable energy hub with 3.1 GW renewable energy capacity and 34% clean share in the power mix.

The Union Minister said the Centre had sanctioned 1.5 lakh new rooftop solar systems (1 kW each).

“Over 1.6 lakh households in Odisha applied for rooftop solar; 23,000 installations completed with ₹147 crore subsidy transferred to beneficiaries. Under PM Surya Ghar, 1.5 lakh rooftop solar systems (1 kW each) have been approved for Odisha, benefiting 7-8 lakh people,” he said.

What did Putin’s visit to India achieve?Where do India-Russia relations stand? What did the two sides agree on during the recent summit? What statements did both leaders make on the Ukraine war? Why is Putin’s visit significant at this juncture when India is negotiating a free trade agreement with the U.S.?

Strong ties: President Droupadi Murmu, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Vice-President C.P. Radhakrishnan, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi converse at a state banquet at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on December 5. PTISuhasini HaidarThe story so far:In terms of protocol, the government gave Russian President Vladimir Putin his warmest welcome yet. Prime Minister Narendra Modi received him on the red carpet at the New Delhi tarmac, and then travelled with him to the PM’s residence for a private dinner. At the end of the 30-hour trip, President Droupadi Murmu hosted him for a banquet as well. Mr. Modi called the India-Russia relationship steady like a “pole star (dhruva tara)”. However, the outcome of the Modi-Putin summit has been modest.What are the main takeaways?Ahead of Mr. Putin’s visit, his first since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the India-Pakistan conflict this year, and the downturn in India-U.S. ties, there was considerable speculation that the two sides were working on a substantial set of agreements on defence cooperation, procurement and technology transfer deals in aircraft, air defence systems, drones and missiles. However, the meeting between Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his Russian counterpart Andrei Belousov before Mr. Putin landed, ended without any announcements. Instead, the focus was squarely on economic cooperation, and taking forward the roadmap on the “Development of Strategic Areas of India — Russia Economic Cooperation till 2030” that was launched during Mr. Modi’s visit to Moscow in 2024. To this end, they announced a “Labour Mobility Agreement” that will facilitate Indian skilled workers to work in Russia, where manpower shortages for three million jobs are expected by the end of the decade. Russian and Indian fertilizer companies also signed an MoU to build a urea plant in Russia. Apart from this, the two sides signed agreements on maritime cooperation, ports and customs. The two sides expected to smooth the path for bilateral trade, particularly via the Chennai-Vladivostok Eastern Maritime Corridor and International North South Transport Corridor. India and Russia agreed to continue working towards enhancing the settlement of bilateral trade in their national currencies. There were no announcements, however, on oil procurement, that made up more than $60 billion of the $69 billion trade last year, nor were there any concrete outcomes on space and nuclear cooperation.Was the Ukraine war a factor?Mr. Putin’s visit to India, at a time the Ukraine war could head into its fourth year, was significant, as it came during intense negotiations over a U.S.-led peace proposal aimed at ending the conflict last week in Moscow. In comments to the media prior to their talks, Mr. Modi thanked Mr. Putin for “always keeping India briefed” about the conflict, and hoping for it to end. “India is not neutral, it stands on the side of peace,” Mr. Modi said. Mr. Putin too said he hoped for peace, and signalled some hope for the U.S. proposal. However, the larger shadow over the talks was of Western sanctions on Russia that have exacted a high cost on India. While Mr. Putin promised “uninterrupted fuel supplies to India”, and the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has said it would only bow to “commercial considerations” on oil purchases, it would seem European sanctions on Russian and Indian oil companies as well as the hefty 25% tariff added on to Indian goods by the U.S. have dented India’s resolve. Figures show, that in 2025, the year-on-year intake of Russian oil has been cut drastically (38% y-o-y down in value in October 2025). The two sides may have also stayed away from announcements in the field of defence, space and nuclear cooperation during Mr. Putin’s visit, just in case the U.S. revisits its 2018 CAATSA (Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act) law that sanctions strategic purchases from Russia. In addition, a warning shot from three European Ambassadors (the U.K., Germany and France) in an article criticising Russia for the war in Ukraine, that appeared just days before Mr. Putin’s visit, may have given the government some reason to pause, even though the MEA called the article’s “public advice” to India, “unacceptable”. It is also significant that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who had last year criticised Mr. Modi for embracing Mr. Putin in Moscow, remained silent on the hugs and bonhomie in Delhi, possibly due to some deft diplomacy by New Delhi, and owing to the sensitive stage the U.S.-led peace talks are at.What can be the way forward?For New Delhi, an end to the conflict in Ukraine will ease the tightrope walk it is currently being forced into due to the deep polarisation between Russia and Europe, and as Russia’s dependency on China grows. Mr. Putin’s visit came just a month before likely visits from German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and the European Union’s top leadership Ursula Von Der Leyen and Antonio Costa for Republic Day. The EU-India Summit is being held after a long gap, and the EU-India Free Trade Agreement is expected to be signed. In February, New Delhi expects French President Emmanuel Macron and other Western leaders at the Artificial Intelligence Summit, and Canadian PM Mark Carney thereafter. Meanwhile, the India-U.S. free trade agreement, that hopes to see a rollback of excessive U.S. tariffs, is also in a decisive phase. In that sense, New Delhi hoped the Putin-visit, that was long delayed, would be a “win-win.” It wanted the visit to be a reaffirmation of its traditional ties with Russia, while ensuring the outcomes did not raise a protest from the West. This would allow India to continue to uphold its decades-old policy of “strategic autonomy.”Western sanctions on Russia that have exacted a high cost on India cast a shadow on the summit.

Jantar Mantar now in Mysuru

UPSC/KPSC Current Affairs: 6th December 2025

UPSC/KPSC Current Affairs: 5th December 2025

UPSC/KPSC Current Affairs: 4th December 2025

• ‘States will have to abide by terms of Samagra Shiksha to receive funds’

Context: Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan reiterated the Centre’s position that all States will have to abide by conditions laid under the Samagra Shiksha to receive funds.

• Answering a question raised by Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas asking for reasons for withholding/ delay in releasing the Central share, Mr. Pradhan in a written reply said: “The release of Central share depends on the submission of the utilisation certificates, audit reports in respect of funds released earlier, physical and financial progress reports, State contributions and compliance with the scheme norms.”
• During the Question Hour, Mr. Brittas cited dues worth ₹1,160.52 crore since 2022-23 under the Samagra Shiksha scheme.
• The scheme was launched in 2018 while the National Education Policy (NEP) was launched in 2020 and the PM-Shri in 2022. He asked if the States were being compelled to accept NEP 2020 or the 2022 scheme as a condition for receiving funds under a 2018 scheme and termed it “arm-twisting”.
• Mr. Pradhan, responding to him, accused Mr. Brittas of “misleading” the House and said it was not a partisan policy. He said non-BJP ruled States like Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Punjab and Telangana were getting funds under the scheme.
• The Minister said the government was ready to release all pending dues, subject to fulfilment of the conditions of implementation of NEP.
• In a supplementary question, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s R. Girirajan asked Mr. Pradhan on when the Centre plans to release Tamil Nadu’s dues. The Minister did not directly respond to the question. He instead pointed to the Supreme Court’s recent observations in response to a public interest litigation (PIL) plea, urging the Union and the Tamil Nadu governments to have talks on the issue of establishing Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs) in the State.
• “Tamil Nadu can’t put conditions, saying this much we will implement, this much we will not implement,” he said.

• NCBC suggests exclusion of 35 communities from West Bengal’s Central OBC list

Context: Even as the Supreme Court is hearing matters related to Muslim communities populating West Bengal’s State OBC lists, the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) has now recommended to the Union government to exclude 35 communities from the State’s Central OBC list, most of which are Muslim.

• “This recommendation was made in continuation of the NCBC’s scrutiny of West Bengal’s OBC list in light of a high number of Muslim communities being listed as OBCs.
• Most of the communities in the list of 35 recommended for exclusion are such Muslim communities. One or two of them may be non-Muslim communities,” said Hansraj Gangaram Ahir, under whose chairpersonship the recommendation was made. West Bengal is months away from its next Assembly election.
• Mr. Ahir, whose tenure as NCBC chairperson ended on December 1 this year, spoke to The Hindu after the Social Justice Ministry told Parliament this week that the Commission had tendered its advice to the government to exclude 35 communities from the Central OBC list of West Bengal. Mr. Ahir, however, refused to specify the communities recommended for exclusion, saying: “That is a matter for the government to decide.”
• The recommendation to exclude these communities came months after the NCBC initiated a probe into 37 communities included in the Central OBC list of West Bengal in 2014, just ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
• Of these, 35 were Muslim communities. Responding to direct questions about the NCBC’s scrutiny of these 37 communities in Lok Sabha, the Social Justice Ministry said on Tuesday that 35 communities had been recommended for exclusion from West Bengal’s Central OBC list.
• The government said the NCBC tendered its advice on the exclusions in West Bengal in January this year.
• The Ministry is in possession of NCBC advice for inclusion and exclusion in Central OBC lists of nine States.
• Centre is not considering any proposal to classify denotified tribes, RS told

Context: Five years after the Union Government initiated an ethnographic effort to classify 268 denotified, nomadic, and semi-nomadic tribes who were thought to have never been classified before, the Union government told Parliament on Wednesday that it is not considering any proposal to classify these communities into Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, and OBC categories afresh.

• This comes two years after the Anthropological Survey of India completed the ethnographic study of these communities and recommended their reclassification.
• In their report submitted in 2023, the AnSI had recommended fresh classification of 85 of these communities, reclassification of nine others, and noted that many others were only partially classified.
• This exercise was initiated in 2019 after the government constituted the Development Welfare Board for Denotified, Nomadic, and Semi-Nomadic Communities (DWBDNC). This board was set up following the Idate Commission’s report of 2017, which had also flagged the need for these communities’ proper classification into SC, ST, or OBC lists, as have previous Commissions that have looked into denotified communities.
• While setting up the board, the government entrusted the task of classification of these communities to a NITI Aayog panel, which had commissioned the Anthropological Survey of India to study them.

Pressure for quota

• Responding to questions in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday about this study and the government’s plans to finalise the classification of these communities, the Social Justice Ministry said, “There is no proposal under consideration.”
• This comes even as civil society organisations representing the denotified communities in north India have been pushing the government to recognise them as a separate scheduled category akin to SCs, STs, and OBCs. Their rationale has been that very few States were issuing community certificates to these communities, in the absence of which, they are unable to claim benefits meant for them.
• The Ministry said that the Development Welfare Board was already administering the SEED scheme for the welfare of all denotified, nomadic, and semi-nomadic communities. However, officials of the Board have told The Hindu previously that a major reason for the slow uptake of the SEED scheme was the lack of clarity on how to classify these communities.
• Gyanesh Kumar takes charge at International IDEA council  

Context: Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on Wednesday assumed charge as Chairman of the Council of Member States of the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) for 2026.

• In his acceptance speech at Stockholm, Sweden, Mr. Kumar highlighted the scale of India’s democratic exercise, noting that the country has over 900 million electors across 28 States and eight Union Territories.
• In the 2024 General Election, India witnessed a breathtaking democratic spectacle in which over 20,000 candidates from 743 political parties, including six national and 67 State parties, participated, he said.

• Man-animal conflict frays India’s wildlife conservation principles

Context: India’s countryside continues to witness a deepening crisis of human-wildlife conflict, with increasing instances of wild animals straying into farmland and towns that often result in deaths of both wildlife and people, and calls to ‘contain’ animal numbers.

• In many parts of Assam, Odisha, Karnataka and other States, farmers now regularly report herds of wild elephants entering paddy, sugarcane or banana fields during the night.
• According to a report by the World Wide Fund for Nature and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), this kind of human-wildlife conflict has become “one of the main threats to the long-term survival of many emblematic species in India.”
• As India’s infrastructural footprint expands, natural habitats shrink and become fragmented. That fragmentation forces animals to cross into human-dominated landscapes in search of food or migration routes, raising the odds of conflict.
• About 186 elephants were killed after being hit by trains across India between 2009-10 and 2020-21, according to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC).
• As per the data furnished by the Project Elephant Division of the Ministry, Assam accounted for the highest number of elephant casualties on railway tracks (62), followed by West Bengal (57), and Odisha (27).
• “Within a human lifetime, we have witnessed extraordinary and unprecedented changes to our planet,” warns Margaret Kinnaird, Global Wildlife Practice Leader at WWF Global. “Human–wildlife conflict, in tandem with other threats, has decimated species that were once common — and pushed rarer ones to the brink.”
• Agriculture near forests draws elephants into human fields, increasing conflict. Villages in the vicinity of several tiger reserves in India have seen instances of crop raids by nilgai, deer and bison, prompting calls by angry locals to declare these species as ‘vermin’.
• Meanwhile, sensitive scavengers such as vultures suffer silently. Once numbering in the tens of millions across South Asia, several vulture species have seen catastrophic declines — over 95% in some species — driven by a combination of habitat disruption, poisoning from veterinary drugs, and disturbance around their traditional carcass-feeding sites. Without vultures to dispose of animal carcasses, rural India has witnessed a rise in rotting carcasses, stray dogs, and associated public health risks.
• Recognising the urgency, the Centre has rolled out a national-level strategy. The National Human-Wildlife Conflict Mitigation Strategy and Action Plan seeks to address key drivers of conflict — habitat fragmentation, damaged corridors, and retaliatory killing — by promoting mitigation measures, data-driven monitoring, and stronger habitat protection.

• Higher duties on cigarettes will be shared with States: FM

Context: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman clarified that the tax hikes she was proposing on cigarettes was not a cess but an excise duty, which would be part of the divisible pool of taxes that are shared with the States.

• The Lok Sabha passed the Central Excise (Amendment) Bill, 2025.
• Delivering her reply to the debate on the Bill in the Lok Sabha, Ms. Sitharaman said that the duty on cigarettes had been higher in the pre-Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime. It was then reduced to a “nominal” rate under GST as cigarettes also attracted a compensation cess.
• With that compensation cess set to be withdrawn soon once the government repays the interest on loans it had taken to compensate states during the pandemic period, the Centre has introduced this Bill to increase the base excise duty on cigarettes so that the tax incidence on them does not fall.
• “This is not a new law, this is not an additional tax or something that the Centre is taking away,” Ms. Sitharaman said.
• “Many MPs here observed that this is a cess. This is not a cess, this is excise duty. Excise duty existed before GST. The amount will be redistributed to the States as per the Finance Commission’s recommendations.”
• The Finance Minister also sought to address some MPs’ concerns that the new tax would increase the price of beedis and thereby harm the lakhs of beedi workers in the country.
• “There is no change in the tax incidence on beedi,” the FM clarified. “Not even a single paisa of tax has been increased.”
• Ms. Sitharaman also spoke about how tax rates on tobacco were increased annually in the pre-GST period, and how tobacco farmers needed to move away from growing tobacco. “Efforts have been made in the past and continue to be made to raise awareness among farmers about the harms of tobacco farming,” she explained.
• “Under the National Agricultural Development Scheme, the crop diversification programme has been covering 10 major tobacco-producing states—Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal — since 2015, and other efforts have been ongoing for decades.”
• She said between 2018 and 2021-22, more than 1.12 lakh acres of land were shifted away from tobacco cultivation to other crops.

UPSC/KPSC Current Affairs: 3rd December 2025

• Only 20% of candidates accepted PM Internship Scheme offers: data

Context: While the PM Internship Scheme’s pilot project has exceeded its target of providing 1.25 lakh internship opportunities in a year, it has found few takers among India’s youth, data presented to Parliament show.

• Over two phases, 1.65 lakh internship offers were made by companies to applicants.
• Of these offers, only 20% were accepted. Candidates cited locations, roles, and duration as reasons for declining offers. Of those who accepted offers, one-fifth of participants left their internships before completing them.

• The Prime Minister Internship Scheme (PMIS) was announced in the Union Budget 2024 with the aim of providing internship opportunities to one crore youth in India’s top 500 companies in five years. In October 2024, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs launched a pilot project for the scheme, targeting 1.25 lakh internship opportunities in a year.

Low acceptance rates

• Under the first round of the pilot project, companies posted more than 1.27 lakh internship opportunities on the scheme portal, for which 6.21 lakh applications were received. The companies made 82,000 internship offers, of which 8,700 or 10.6% of the offers were accepted.
• The Minister’s reply noted that, as of November 26, 4,565 candidates from the first round had left their internships without completing them. That is, more than half the candidates that started their internships in the first round left before finishing their term.
• In the second round of the pilot scheme from January onwards, companies posted over 1.18 lakh internship opportunities for which they received over 4.55 lakh applications. As of November 26, companies have made over 83,000 offers, of which 24,600 offers or 30% were accepted.
• So far, 2,053 candidates — or 8.3% of the ones who accepted internships in the second round — have left without completing their internships, the government.
• Taken together, this means that over the two rounds, 1.65 lakh internship offers were made, of which 33,300 (20.2%) offers were accepted. Of those that were accepted, 6,618 (19.9%) candidates quit their internships prematurely.
• The government had initially budgeted ₹840 crore for the pilot project, which was revised down to ₹380 crore in the financial year 2024-25. Of this, the pilot project has so far utilised ₹73.72 crore.

• One doctor available per 811 persons in India, RS told

Context: The doctor-population ratio in the country is 1:811.

• Assuming 80% of registered practitioners in both modern medicine and AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy) systems are available, the doctor-population ratio in the country is estimated to be 1:811, the Health Ministry.
• There are 13,88,185 registered modern medicine doctors in the country, and 7,51,768 registered practitioners in the AYUSH system of medicine.
• Many measures had been taken to improve the availability of doctors in under-served areas, a “hard-area allowance” was given to specialist doctors for serving in remote areas.

• WHO backs use of GLP-1 drugs for weight loss

Context: In a much-anticipated development, the World Health Organization has finally issued global guidelines on the use of popular weight loss drugs. These glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) therapies are being used for the treatment of obesity in adults.

• The WHO guidelines released on December 1 posit equitable access as the key element of using such therapies, and read them as one element of a full complement of actions against obesity.
• “While medication alone won’t solve this global health crisis, GLP-1 therapies can help millions overcome obesity and reduce its associated harms,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhonom Ghebreysus.
• With the guidelines, the WHO recognises that the GLP-1 class of drugs are indeed effective, and that they are likely to have an impact on the global costs of obesity.
• Beyond its health impacts, the global economic cost of obesity is predicted to reach $3 trillion annually by 2030. The guidelines can help efforts to reduce the skyrocketing health costs associated with managing the condition and associated health complications, the WHO.
• There are two primary components to the WHO’s recommendations: that GLP-1 therapies may be used by adults, excluding pregnant women, conditionally, for the long-term treatment of obesity; and that intensive behavioural interventions in diet and physical activity must be continued alongside the drugs.
• The WHO also specified that while the efficacy of these therapies in treating obesity and improving metabolic and other outcomes was evident, it was making a conditional recommendation partly because of the limited data available on long-term efficacy, safety and probable outcomes when the drugs are discontinued, but also because of their costs which put them out of the reach of many people.
• Obesity is a complex chronic disease and a major driver of noncommunicable diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, and some types of cancer. It also contributes to poorer outcomes for patients who have infectious diseases. It is only in recent years that the treatment for obesity has been revolutionised by the emergence of a class of drugs that not only effect significant weight loss, but also confer a whole range of metabolic benefits to individuals.

Equitable access

• A special communication in the recent issue of JAMA notes that “medication alone cannot solve the global obesity burden. The availability of GLP1 therapies should galvanise the global community to build a fair, integrated, and sustainable obesity ecosystem.
• Countries must ensure equitable access not only to comprehensive disease management, but also to health promotion and prevention policies and interventions targeting the general population and those at high risk.”
• For India, the costs of these drugs is a roadblock that needs more efforts, insurance coverage and development of generics. The real impact will be there only if a large segment of the population is able to afford these drugs.”
• The WHO clearly says no. Your diet and exercise are paramount, and only when those fail, and when you really need the help of a drug or if morbidly obese, then you go for these drugs.”

UPSC/KPSC Current Affairs: 2nd December 2025

Smartphone makers toldto pre-install Sanchar Saathi

Context: The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) ordered smartphone manufacturers to pre-install the Sanchar Saathi app on new devices sold from March 2026, and to make sure “that [the app’s] functionalities are not disabled or restricted”

• The app will be used to “verify authenticity of IMEIs used in mobile devices”, the order said.
• It is unclear if the app will have access to the IMEI number of devices it is pre-installed on, or if users will have to input the hardware identifier on their own.
• The app can be used to report scam calls, identify SIM cards registered under a person’s name, and remotely disable phones if they are stolen.
• It must be installed on devices sold from March, govt. tells phone makers; move will help safeguard people from buying non-genuine handsets and enable easy reporting of telecom resource misuse
• The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) ordered smartphone manufacturers to pre-install the Sanchar Saathi app on new devices sold from March 2026, and to make sure “that [the app’s] functionalities are not disabled or restricted”.
• The Sanchar Saathi app will be used to “verify authenticity of IMEIs used in mobile devices,” the order said. It is unclear if the app will have access to the IMEI number of devices it is pre-installed on, or if users will have to input the hardware identifier on their own.
• In a statement, the DoT said the move was meant to “safeguard the citizens from buying the non-genuine handsets, enabling easy reporting of suspected misuse of telecom resources and to increase effectiveness of the Sanchar Saathi initiative”. The Sanchar Saathi app, first introduced as a portal in 2023, has been used to report scam calls, enable users to identify SIM cards registered in their name, and remotely disable phones if they are stolen. It is much like the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) DND app, the commercial spam equivalent.

• SC gives CBI free hand to stop ‘digital arrest’ scams

Context: It says every type of scam defrauding victims, especially senior citizens, needs to be investigated; court directly ordering CBI, overriding state consent, to conduct probe is an extraordinary step.

• The Supreme Court tasked the Central Bureau of Investigation with cracking down on ‘digital arrest’ scammers and their associates, giving the agency a “free hand” to launch an anti-corruption probe into bankers involved in the opening of mule accounts linked to cybercrimes.
• A Bench of the Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi found “enough was enough”, and held that ‘digital arrest’ scams required the immediate attention of the CBI. A note provided by the Centre in the court showed that ₹3,000 crore had already been scammed by fraudsters from victims, mostly drawn from the elderly population, through ‘digital arrests’.
• “There is no second opinion that every type of cyberscam defrauding victims, especially senior citizens, is required to be investigated. The CBI shall investigate first the digital arrest scams. Other types of cyberscams [fraudulent investments, promise of part-time jobs] can come in the second and third stages,” the court observed in the order.
• The court directly ordering the CBI, overriding state consent, to conduct a pan-India probe and hunt down scammers is an extraordinary step. It cannot order the CBI, except when compelled by exceptional circumstances.
• Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Punjab, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Jharkhand, and Tripura have been directed to accord consent to the CBI under Section 6 of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act to investigate ‘digital arrest’ cases under the Information Technology Act, 2000 in their jurisdictions.
• The court directed the CBI to identify police officers from different States, and domain experts, to aid the investigation. “We want the CBI to undertake a comprehensive investigation on identified cybercrimes on a pan-India basis,” Chief Justice Kant observed.
• Considering the magnitude of the ‘digital arrest’ scams and widespread tentacles of the fraudsters, the Supreme Court directed the CBI to coordinate with the Interpol to identify cybercrime havens abroad. The court impleaded and issued notice to the Reserve Bank of India to respond on the use of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to trace ‘layering’ or the moving of the proceeds of crime through multiple bank accounts to escape detection.
• Invoking the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules of 2021, the apex court directed online intermediaries to cooperate with the CBI, and provide the agency assistance with regard to data in connection with investigation into ‘digital arrest’ cases.
• States and Union Territories have to ensure the establishment and operationalisation of regional cybercrime coordination centres to compile data on cybercrimes, and for initiating preventive measures against the offence, the court directed. They should be linked to the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C), which is designed to provide an ecosystem for law enforcement agencies to deal with cybercrime in a coordinated and comprehensive manner.
• The court said telecom operators had been careless in issuing SIM cards.

• Soon, digital e-stamping will be mandatory

Context: More than two decades after the e-stamp facility was launched, Karnataka will soon replace it with mandatory digital e-stamping for registerable and non-registerable documents.

• More than two decades after the e-stamp paper facility was launched, Karnataka will replace it with mandatory digital e-stamping for both registerable and non-registerable documents shortly.
• The new facility, which will become mandatory over the next few weeks, will not only bring convenience to public to get the stamp paper from the comforts of their home, but will also prevent misuse, including creating fake stamp papers.

Ease of buying

• From approaching a stamp paper vendor on specified days and time currently, the new facility will provide the ease of buying stamp paper online 24/7 from the comforts of home.
• Not only has it been made fully online, it is also not amenable to any tampering, the government claimed on Monday.
• While earlier if a stamp paper document was lost, public could not retrieve it, under the new facility, since the government will maintain digital record, documents can be retrieved using QR code.
• The e-stamping facility was introduced in Karnataka following the multi-crore fake stamp paper racket was unearthed in 2002-2003. Over the years, revenue from e-stamp paper has brought in substantial revenue to the government.
• If the stamp duty of about ₹45.90 crore was collected in 2009-2010 by issuing about 5.92 lakh certificates, it has gone up to about ₹2,320 crore in 2024-2025 when about 3.07 crore certificates were issued.

Misuse of e-stamp

• “The government has observed misuse of e-stamp papers. The misuse has been happening for several years. The misuse includes printing of e-stamp and taking colour photocopies of it. The e-stamp was also being misused to pay lesser pay than what was supposed to be paid,” Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda told presspersons here on Monday.
• He said that there were 54 classifications for registerable documents whose fees varied from a few hundreds to several thousands. “However, for transactions where several thousands had to be paid as duty, a ₹100 worth stamp paper was being bought, which is mis-classification. This was resulting in losses to the exchequer,” he said, adding that several such cases had been reported.

Tech upgrade

• The Minister said that the digital e-stamp had been mandated for registerable and non-registerable documents. “It has been noticed that nearly half of the non-registerable documents are used to file affidavits. With the changing times, the government has also moved up in the technology.”
• Centre moves Bills for pan masala cess and higher duties on tobacco products

Context: The Union government on Monday introduced a Bill in Parliament seeking to raise the excise duty on tobacco products, and another legislation targeting the manufacture of pan masala.

• Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tabled the two Bills — The Health Security se National Security Cess Bill, 2025 and the Central Excise (Amendment) Bill, 2025 — amid Opposition sloganeering. The Bills are aimed at replacing the revenue from the Goods and Services Tax (GST) compensation cess on tobacco products, which will be discontinued soon. The Health Security se National Security Cess also proposes to augment funding for health and national security through levy of cess on “machines installed, or other processes undertaken in the manufacture of pan masala”.

Launched in 2017

• The GST compensation cess was introduced in 2017 during the launch of the GST system. The proceeds were to be used to compensate States for any losses they faced due to the implementation of GST for a period of five years. During the COVID-19 pandemic years of 2020-21 and 2021-22, the proceeds from this cess fell short of the compensation requirement, leading to the Centre borrowing money to compensate the States.
• The compensation cess on tobacco products is to be discontinued once the government pays back interest on these loans.
• According to sources in the Ministry of Finance, this repayment will be completed in the next few months.
• However, with the removal of this cess, the effective tax rate on and revenues from tobacco products would fall significantly.
• To overcome this shortfall in revenue, the Central Excise (Amendment) Bill has been introduced “in order to give the government, the fiscal space to increase the rate of Central excise duty on tobacco and tobacco products so as to protect tax incidence”.
• “With the levy of GST and compensation cess on tobacco and tobacco products, the rates of central excise duties were reduced significantly to allow for the levy of compensation cess without large impact on their tax incidence,” the ‘Statement of objects and reasons’ of the Bill said.
• The Health Security se National Security Cess Bill seeks to “augment the resources for meeting expenditure on national security and for public health” by levying a cess on the “machines installed, or other processes undertaken in the manufacture of pan masala”.
• The Bill also allows for the imposition of this cess on “any other goods which may be notified”.
• “The cess is linked to the production capacity of machines or other processes rather than the quantity actually produced of such specified goods,” according to the ‘Statement of objects and reasons’ of the Bill.

• E-swathu 2.0 rolled out for property owners in rural areas

Context: In a bid to provide convenience to property owners in rural areas to get their documents without a hitch, the State government launched e-swathu 2.0.

• The facility was launched by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah at a function where Gandhi Grama Puraskara was conferred on 238 gram panchayats across the State, selected for the year 2023-2024.
• Mr. Siddaramaiah said that people’s participation would strengthen democracy, and gram panchayats should become power centres. The selected gram panchayats were given ₹5 lakh and a memento.

Increasing resources

• Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Priyank Kharge explained that legislation and rules had been brought to bring properties under tax net to increase the resources of gram panchayats. Till now, gram panchayats were providing drinking water, streetlights, roads and drainage facilities to properties that remained outside the panchayat limits and were developed without land conversion, and that it was causing financial strain on the gram panchayats.
• “Now these properties are being brought under tax net. The e-swathu 2.0 will help public to get the e khatha document for their properties. The whole process will be quick and transparent,” the Minister said. He also warned of possible teething problems in the initial days of the e-swathu being rolled out.
• Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar said that the public should make use of the facility, and that there was no need for people to run from pillar to post. “Pay tax through 11B and register the properties,” he said.

• Bioterrorism a serious threat, world not ready: Jaishankar

Context: Union Minister warns that ‘non-state actors’ can use biological agents; he says such threats cannot be handled in isolation, pitches for keeping Global South at the centre of strategies to tackle them.

• The world is not yet “adequately prepared” to deal with the threat of bioterrorism, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar.
• Speaking at a conference on 50 years of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), Mr. Jaishankar said “non-state actors” can resort to use of biological agents and that the Global South should be at the centre of preparations to deal with bioweapons.
• “Bioterrorism is a serious concern that the international community has to be adequately prepared for. Yet the BWC still lacks basic institutional structures,” said Mr. Jaishankar.

‘No compliance system’

• “It has no compliance system, it has no permanent technical body and no mechanism to track new scientific developments. These gaps must be bridged in order to strengthen confidence,” said the Minister, calling for BWC’s modernisation.
• He said India has proposed a National Implementation Framework that will cover “high-risk agents, oversight of dual-use research, domestic reporting and incident management”.
• Mr. Jaishankar said India is “committed to ensuring the non-proliferation of sensitive and dual-use goods and technologies”, and this has been supported by India’s strong legal and regulatory system.

Role of Global South

• The Minister said biological threats cannot be handled by countries in isolation from international stakeholders and called for making the Global South central to BWC.
• He described “unequal access to vaccines and medicines” as not just development issues but as “global risks”.
• “The Global South is the most vulnerable and has the most to gain from stronger biosecurity. It also has the most to contribute. Its voice must therefore shape the next 50 years of the BWC,” said Mr. Jaishankar, who highlighted India’s ‘vaccine diplomacy’ that took shape against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Armed forces to procure additional Heron Mk II UAVs

Context: To enhance their unmanned capabilities in the wake of Operation Sindoor, the Indian armed forces have signed up for more satellite-linked Heron Mk II Unmanned Aerial Vehicles under emergency procurement, sources in the Israeli defence industry said.

• According to the sources, the Army and Air Force, which already operate Heron Mk II drones, have placed additional orders while the Indian Navy is acquiring them for the first time. The Navy, which has long relied on Israeli-made Searcher UAVs for surveillance, will soon transition to the more advanced Heron Mk II platform.
• As per existing guidelines, under emergency procurement, armed forces can procure weapons systems, including entire systems, up to ₹300 crore.
• The Heron family, especially the Heron Mk II, has emerged as a key component of evolving combat environments due to its versatility and proven reliability. Indian Army has deployed these drones at forward bases in northern sector.
• In line with India’s push for defence indigenisation, several Israel defence industries, including state-owned defence manufacturers, are working with defence PSUs and private partners to enhance local production. The companies are also creating training, maintenance and integration capabilities within India, the official said.

• Lok Sabha passes Manipur GST Bill amid disruptions over SIR

Context: The Bill replaces an Ordinance which implemented reforms in Goods and Services Tax in Manipur; statutory resolution moved by Revolutionary Socialist Party member N.K. Premachandran disapproving the Bill was rejected by a voice vote.

• The Lok Sabha, on the first day of the Winter Session on Monday, passed a Bill to replace an Ordinance which implemented reforms in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in Manipur.
• There were frequent disruptions as the Opposition insisted on a debate on the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls under way in nine States and three Union Territories.
• Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman introduced the Manipur Goods and Services Tax (Second Amendment) Bill, 2025 in the afternoon, after one round of disruption.
• The Bill was passed post-lunch after a brief discussion, and a statutory resolution moved by Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) member N.K. Premachandran disapproving the Bill was rejected by a voice vote as Opposition members were protesting in the Well of the House. As soon as the House assembled on Monday, Speaker Om Birla began proceedings by paying respects to former members who passed away recently.
• Mr. Birla then congratulated the women’s teams for winning the ICC World Cup 2025 and the T20 Cricket World Cup for the Blind; the women’s kabaddi team that won the World Cup; and the athletes representing India at the Deaflympics.
• But as soon as the Question Hour was taken up, Opposition members started shouting slogans pressing for a discussion on the SIR. Mr. Birla tried running the House for about 20 minutes before adjourning until noon.
• When the House reassembled, Ms. Sitharaman introduced three Bills, including one to levy excise duty on tobacco and tobacco products and another to impose a new cess on the manufacture of pan masala, apart from tabling supplementary demands for grants for 2025-2026. The House functioned for about 12 minutes before it was adjourned until 2 p.m.
• When the House met at 2 p.m., Telugu Desam Party (TDP) member Krishna Prasad Tenneti, who was in the Chair, called Mr. Premachandran to speak on the resolution, but the RSP member told the presiding officer that the House was not in order.
• The Chair then called BJP member Shashank Mani, who spoke in favour of the Bill.
• The Bill was then passed by a voice vote amid vociferous protests by Opposition parties, who trooped into the Well of the House. Following this, the House was adjourned for the day.

• Army conducts combat launchof BrahMos cruise missile

Context: The Indian Army carried out a combat launch of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile from a test range in the Bay of Bengal.

• The Ministry of Defence confirmed that the mission was executed through a precisely coordinated effort involving a BrahMos unit of the Southern Command and elements of the Tri-Services Andaman & Nicobar Command. Lt. Gen. Dhiraj Seth, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Command, lauded the successful combat launch. The launch boosts the Army’s long-range strike capability and deterrence.

• CAD moderates to $12.3 billion in Q2

Context: India’s current account deficit (CAD) moderated to $12.3 billion (1.3% of GDP) in Q2 FY26 from $20.8 billion (2.2% of GDP) in Q2 FY25. Merchandise trade deficit at $87.4 billion in Q2 FY26 was lower than $88.5 billion in the same period last year, as per preliminary data on India’s balance of payments (BoP) for the second quarter, [July-September 2025-26], released by the RBI.

• Net services receipts increased to $50.9 billion in Q2 FY26 from $44.5 billion a year ago. Services exports have risen on a year-on-year basis in major categories such as computer services and other business services.
• Net outgo on the primary income account, mainly reflecting payments of investment income, increased to $12.2 billion in Q2 FY26 from $9.2 billion in the year-ago period.
• Personal transfer receipts under secondary income account, mainly representing remittances by Indians employed overseas, rose to $38.2 billion from $34.4 billion a year ago. In financial account, FDI recorded a net inflow of $2.9 billion as against a net outflow of $2.8 billion in the corresponding period of the previous year.

FPI outflow

Foreign portfolio investment (FPI) recorded a net outflow of $5.7 billion as against a net inflow of $19.9 billion a year ago. Net inflows under external commercial borrowings (ECBs) to India amounted to $1.6 billion compared with net inflows of $5 billion in the year ago period.

• Why does India need bioremediation?

Context: Human waste is leading to a world where access to clean air, water and soil is becoming increasingly difficult. The solution is two-pronged — reduce waste and clean up the waste already made.

What is bioremediation?

• Bioremediation literally means “restoring life through biology.” It harnesses microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi, algae and plants to sequester or transform toxic substances such as oil, pesticides, plastics, or heavy metals. These organisms metabolise these pollutants as food, breaking them down into harmless by-products such as water, carbon dioxide, or organic acids. In some cases, they can convert toxic metals into less dangerous forms that no longer leach into the soil or groundwater.
• There are two broad types of bioremediation — in situ bioremediation, where treatment happens directly at the contaminated site such as when oil-eating bacteria is sprayed on an ocean spill; or ex situ bioremediation, where contaminated soil or water is removed, treated in a controlled facility, and returned once cleaned.
• Modern bioremediation combines traditional microbiology with cutting-edge biotechnology. New biotechnologies are enabling humans to gain unprecedented insight into biology, allowing them to identify biomolecules with useful characteristics. These technologies also allow humans to replicate biomolecules under desired conditions of use, such as in sewage plants or agricultural lands. For example, genetically modified (GM) microbes are designed to degrade tough chemicals like plastics or oil residues that natural species struggle with.

Why does India need it?

• India’s rapid industrialisation has come at a heavy environmental cost. Although pollution has been reducing, rivers such as the Ganga and Yamuna receive untreated sewage and industrial effluents daily. Oil leaks, pesticide residues, and heavy-metal contamination threaten both ecosystems and public health.
• Traditional clean-up technologies are expensive, energy-intensive, and often create secondary pollution. Bioremediation offers a cheaper, scalable, and sustainable alternative, especially in a country where vast stretches of land and water are affected but resources for remediation are limited. Moreover, India’s diverse biodiversity is a huge advantage. Indigenous microbes adapted to local conditions, such as high temperatures or salinity, can outperform imported strains.

Where does India stand today?

• Bioremediation is gaining traction in India, though still largely in pilot phases. The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) has supported several projects through its Clean Technology Programme, encouraging partnerships between universities, public research institutions, and industries.
• The CSIR-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute has a mandate to propose and implement programmes related to bioremediation. Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology have experimented with a nanocomposite material synthesised from cotton that can be used to mop up oil spills and others have identified bacteria that can consume toxic pollutants in soils.
• Startups are also entering the space. Firms like Biotech Consortium India Limited (BCIL) and Econirmal Biotech offer microbial formulations for soil and wastewater treatment.
• However, widespread adoption faces challenges such as a lack of site-specific knowledge and the complex nature of pollutants, and a lack of unified bioremediation standards.

What are other countries doing?

• Japan integrates microbial and plant-based cleanup systems into its urban waste strategy. The European Union funds cross-country projects that use microbes to tackle oil spills and restore mining sites. China has made bioremediation a priority under its soil pollution control framework, using genetically improved bacteria to restore industrial wastelands.
• The opportunities for India are immense. Bioremediation can help restore rivers, reclaim land, and clean industrial sites, while creating jobs in biotechnology, environmental consulting, and waste management. It can also integrate with the government’s Swachh Bharat Mission, Namami Gange, and other green technology initiatives.

What are the risks?

• The introduction of genetically modified organisms into open environments need to be strictly monitored to prevent unintended ecological effects. Inadequate testing or poor containment can create fresh problems while solving old ones. Public engagement will be necessary to allow the smooth adoption of new technologies. India will need new biosafety guidelines, certification systems, and trained personnel to scale this technology responsibly

What next?

• First, there is a need to develop national standards for bioremediation protocols and microbial applications. Second, building regional bioremediation hubs linking universities, industries, and local governments would enable better understanding of local issues and identifying appropriate technologies for their resolution. Finally, public engagement would raise awareness that microbes can be allies, not threats, in environmental restoration.

• Can India become self-reliant in REE production?

How is China using its dominance over rare earth elements as a geopolitical strategy?

• The Union Cabinet has approved a ₹7,280-crore scheme to manufacture rare earth permanent magnets domestically. The scheme would facilitate the creation of integrated Rare Earth Permanent Magnet (REPM) manufacturing facilities, involving the conversion of rare earth oxides to metals, metals to alloys, and alloys to finished REPMs. This announcement comes at a time when China’s export controls are squeezing global supply chains.

What is extent of China’s dominance?

• Rare earth elements (REEs), a group of 17 minerals, are crucial for their high density, melting point and conductivity. They are moderately abundant, but hard to extract economically and sustainably. China built global supremacy in this sector by controlling 90% of global REE processing and 70% of production, despite holding only 30% of global reserves. In April, China imposed export restrictions on seven rare earth elements and finished magnets, in a bid to counter the trade war. This hit many sectors, especially the automobile sector. “EV makers are the worst hit,” said Pranay Kotasthane, deputy director of Takshashila Institution.
• Though China’s controls come amid a broader reshaping of global trade due to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs, they are not new. In 2009, Beijing imposed export quotas on REEs which was scrapped after it lost a World Trade Organisation case brought by the U.S. and others in 2015. “China realised that this is something which it can play in order to achieve its geopolitical, geostrategic and geoeconomic objectives. They played the same playbook in 2020 while restricting the export of graphite. In 2021, they started an export licensing plan in which they started restricting the supplies to certain industries,” Dr. Ram Singh, Professor (IB), Head (CDOE), Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, explained.

Why is India focusing on REEs?

• India’s focus on REEs is driven by its ambitions in electric mobility, renewable energy, electronics manufacturing and defence. These industries depend heavily on rare earth magnets and components.
• The country imported over 53,000 metric tonnes of REE magnets in FY 2024-25, despite having 8% of the world’s REE reserves — mainly in monazite sands across Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Yet, India produces less than 1% of global output. To fix this, the government launched the ₹16,300 crore National Critical Mineral Mission in January, with a total outlay of ₹34,300 crore spread over seven years, to achieve self-reliance. The mission focuses on exploration, processing, and recycling minerals like lithium, cobalt, and rare earths. To boost domestic production, the government has auctioned new mining blocks and is inviting private companies to participate in exploration and processing. “This sector was closed to the private sector until August 2023 and hence this is a new domain. China’s restrictions will help generate interest among private players,” Mr. Kotasthane said. However, he points out that only a handful of exploration licences were handed out. “The stumbling block is government regulations and control. Deregulating all segments of this supply chain, fast-tracking environmental regulations, and funding exploration projects to reduce information asymmetry is crucial,” he said.
• Dr. Singh cautioned that India still lacks refining infrastructure, skilled labour and innovation capacity. He also pointed out that domestic manufacturing would take years to take off given the long gestation period.
• “The good thing is that India isn’t in a particularly bad position,” Mr. Kotasthane said, pointing out that India’s monazite sands have several light rare earths, including Neodymium, which are used in magnets. “Several companies have plans to substantially increase capacity in the rare earth magnet recycling space from end-of-life electronic devices and appliances,” he added.

UPSC/KPSC Current Affairs: 1st December 2025

Cyclone Ditwah weakens; 3 die in rain-related incidents

Context: Cyclone Ditwah began to weaken even as it continued its slow northward movement over the Bay of Bengal, parallel to the coast of northern Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

• The centre of the cyclonic system stayed around 80 km from the coast as it moved at a speed of just 5 kmph, weakening to a deep depression, according to the Regional Meteorological Centre. It was expected to come within 30 km of the coastline.
• The Air Force moved about 300 National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel from Maharashtra and Gujarat to Chennai. In a social media post, Mr. Stalin said: “An IAF C-17 has airlifted NDRF teams and equipment from Pune and Vadodara to Chennai, enabling rapid deployment of over 300 NDRF personnel and around 35 tonnes of essential gear.”

SIR form deadline extended to Dec. 11 amid BLO distress

Context: Draft list will be released on Dec. 16; final roll will be published on Feb. 14; EC says additional week is being given for BLOs to share details with BLAs.

• Amid widespread reports of booth-level officers (BLO) facing severe stress, the Election Commission on Sunday extended the schedule of the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in nine States and three Union Territories by a week.
• The enumeration phase will now continue till December 11 instead of December 4. The draft list will be released on December 16 instead of December 9 and the final roll will be published on February 14 instead of February 7, the EC said in a statement.
• The poll body said that 99.65% of enumeration forms have been distributed so far, and 84.30% of completed forms have been digitised.
• Uttar Pradesh has the lowest digitisation rate at 69.56%. West Bengal, where the ruling Trinamool Congress has raised an alarm regarding pressure on BLOs, has completed the digitisation of 95.24% of forms.
• The first phase of SIR was conducted in Bihar and led to the deletion of more than 68 lakh names from the voter lists ahead of the Assembly election.

Centre’s citizenship scrutiny power is ‘limited’, EC says

Context: The Election Commission has dismissed arguments raised in the special intensive revision (SIR) case by the Opposition parties that only the Union government had exclusive authority to scrutinise citizenship, saying the Centre’s power was “limited” to inquiring into the circumstances in which Indian citizens voluntarily acquired foreign citizenship.

• The commission referred to Section 9 of the Citizenship Act, 1955, which deals with the termination of citizenship in cases of voluntary acquisition of foreign citizenship. Section 9 vests in the Centre the authority to determine “when or how” an Indian citizen acquired foreign citizenship.
• “The powers of the Central government are confined to reviewing the acquisition of foreign citizenship, and whether based on such acquisition, the Indian citizenship of a person should be terminated… It is only for this limited purpose that the exclusive jurisdiction has been vested in the Centre, to the exclusion of all other authorities. Every other aspect related to citizenship can be inquired into by other authorities,” the Election Commission argued in a 184-page affidavit.
• The ruling parties and their leaders in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and West Bengal have described the SIR as citizenship screening. Parties, including the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, have alleged that the EC was misusing the revision of electoral rolls to conduct a “de novo National Register of Citizens”.

• The poll body asserted its authority to “assess citizenship” for the purpose of registration in electoral rolls.
• Indian citizenship is one of the constitutional preconditions under Article 326 for entry into the voter list. “Even if we assume, without conceding, it is only the Centre which can appraise citizenship, it is imperative to note that proof of citizenship sought from existing electors under the SIR exercise is for a limited purpose, that is, registration in the electoral rolls which enable the right to vote,” the commission submitted. It emphasised that the SIR exercise was not meant to determine the status of citizenship.
• The commission reiterated that its power to scrutinise citizenship flowed directly from Article 324, which empowered it to supervise and control the conduct of elections, and Article 326. No parliamentary law could oust the EC’s jurisdiction, it said, noting that even the authority of Parliament to make laws on elections under Article 327 must align with the commission’s plenary powers.
• The Representation of the People Act (ROPA), 1950, through Sections 16 and 19, requires that voters must be Indian citizens. Section 16 disqualifies non-citizens from being included in the electoral roll, and electors must be “ordinarily resident” in a constituency to be registered. An SIR, conducted under Section 21(3) of ROPA, had to be “intense” and was triggered by “felt necessities”, it said. “The guidelines issued with respect to the SIR are constitutional and in the interest of maintaining the purity of the electoral rolls, which is a pre-requisite for free and fair elections that forms a Basic Feature of the Constitution,” it argued.
• It denied the Opposition’s claim that the SIR was unconstitutional because it shifted the burden of verification onto electors, who must fill up enumeration forms to avoid exclusion from the electoral rolls. The commission said the SIR was a “voter-friendly” and “cooperative exercise”. Electors were required only to sign their pre-filled forms delivered at their homes by booth-level officers.