Current Affairs

KAS Current Affairs

KAS Current Affairs: Current Affairs is the living pulse of the KPSC syllabus. It is not a standalone subject to be memorized in isolation; rather, it is a dynamic thread that weaves together History, Economy, Polity, and Ethics across both the Preliminary and Main stages. In the context of the upcoming examinations, transitioning from simply “reading the news” to “studying the syllabus through the news” is the critical shift that separates a serious aspirant from a casual reader.

The “Syllabus-First” Philosophy
By following a current affairs pattern strictly mapped to the KPSC syllabus, you ensure that every hour spent reading the newspaper is an hour spent building your exam rank.

Preliminary Examination

Paper-I: Current Events of National and International Importance

Paper-II: Current Events of State Importance and Important Government
Schemes and Programs

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

Banking FDI for nuclear power projects on cards
Context: Initiatives to secure infusion of foreign direct investment (FDI) and from the banking sector to finance nuclear power projects are in the pipeline and headed for inter-ministerial consultation, informed Seema Jain, Member of Finance at the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE).

• “Financing will require all sorts of innovative measures to happen so that the kind of money and financial space is made for the sector.” “For that, banking FDI initiatives are also in the pipeline, the Atomic Energy Commission has already approved the [FDI] policy, and is now going for inter-ministerial consultations,”.
• Considering a standard baseline cost requirement for setting up of a nuclear reactor is about ₹22 crore per megawatt, instituting 100 gigawatts of nuclear energy-based power would require about ₹20 lakh crore financing.

Paper-III: General Studies 2

Finally, Rohith Vemula Bill to safeguard SC/ST students gets Cabinet nod
Context: It lists out about 30 ways in which atrocities may be committed against an SC/ST student in a higher education institution.

• The Karnataka Rohith Vemula (Prevention of Discrimination, Exclusion or Injustice) (Right to Education and Dignity) Bill, 2026, which had been widely debated but stuck in red tape for long, was cleared by the State Cabinet on Thursday.
• Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H.K. Patil, brienfing the press after the Cabinet meeting, said that the Bill — which aims to safeguard the right to education and dignity of the Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST) students, teaching faculty and non-teaching staff in institutions of higher learning — will be moved during the next legislature session.
• “We will not take the Ordinance route for this. There are some modifications from the original draft Bill,” he said, adding that the penal provisions of the Bill may undergo some modifications. It applies to public, private, charitable and deemed-to-be universities in Karnataka.
• As per the provisions of the draft Bill, for any violation of the law, the person in charge of the affairs of the institution is liable to imprisonment and a fine of up to ₹10 lakh.

Atrocities 

• The Bill lists out about 30 ways in which atrocities may be committed against an SC/ST student in a higher education institution, ranging from denial of admission, denial of amenities, bringing financial pressure, using casteist slurs, etc.
• It also details the mechanism of enquiry and appeal that an institution needs to adapt. Though an earlier draft of the Bill had been discussed in the Cabinet in June 2025 and was meant to be presented in the monsoon session, it did not happen. Several Dalit organisations had been building pressure on the government to ensure that the Bill is enacted and implemented at the earliest.
• Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi had last year written to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, urging him to implement this law. Following this, the Chief Minister had written back assuring that his government would enact the law to eliminate caste- and identity-based discrimination in educational institutions.

Constitution Amendment Bill, part of delimitation package, defeated
Context: The Bill falls short of the two-thirds mark of 352 votes, with 298 in favour and 230 against in the House where 528 members were present at the time of voting.

• A united Opposition defeated the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026, which sought to redistribute Lok Sabha seats on the basis of the 2011 Census to expedite the implementation of women’s reservation.
• A total of 298 members voted in favour of the Bill and 230 against it, with the House strength at the time of voting being 528. It failed to meet the two-thirds majority mark of 352 required for a Constitution Amendment Bill to pass.
• Following the defeat, the government withdrew two allied legislations — the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026, and the Delimitation Bill, 2026 — which were linked to the constitutional amendment.

Paper-IV: General Studies 3

Kerala botanist wins WWF award for app
Context: A botany researcher who developed an AI-powered mobile application to identify invasive plant species in Kerala has been awarded the WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) National Award.

• N. Alim Yusuf, a researcher at the Malabar Botanical Garden and Institute for Plant Sciences (MBGIPS), Olavanna, Kozhikode, received the honour for his innovative application capable of identifying nearly 100 invasive plant species recorded in Kerala.
• He was presented the award at the National ECHO Youth Innovation Summit 2026, held as part of the International Youth Biodiversity Conference in Telangana. As part of the recognition, he will also receive a seed grant of ₹1.5 lakh from the WWF to further develop and scale his project. His application, Neophyte ID, was earlier launched at the Kerala Science Congress held in Kochi in February this year.
• Powered by the advanced machine learning model YOLOv11, the app allows users to identify whether a plant is invasive simply by capturing its image.
• Available in both Malayalam and English, it also integrates geospatial tracking to map the spread of invasive species, offering valuable data for researchers and the Forest department.

Auto sector reaches ‘broad’ consensuson CAFE-III norms
Context: Latest proposal applies flatter compliance curve across five years rather than steep annual tightening, removes relaxations for lighter vehicles.

• A “broad” consensus emerged on the long-contested, upcoming carbon emission norms for cars for 2027 at a high-level inter-ministerial meeting, with small car makers making only “minor suggestions”, industry sources said.
• The draft proposal of Carbon Average Fuel Efficiency-3 floated by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency in September 2025, which has gone through multiple iterations, had reached a deadlock as the industry remained split between small and large car manufacturers over relaxations to the former.
• The latest proposal circulated last week applies a flatter compliance curve across five years rather than steep annual tightening, and removes relaxations offered to lighter vehicles.
• Auto industry sources said there was a “broad agreement” over the latest version of CAFE-3 norms at a discussion held with the industry representatives and top officials of the Ministry of Power, Ministry of Heavy Industries and Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.

Cabinet approves AI Centre of Excellence at E-City
Context: The State Cabinet has approved the establishment of a Centre of Excellence for Artificial Intelligence in Biotechnology (AI-CoE) at the Institute of Bioinformatics and Applied Biotechnology (IBAB) in Electronics City (Phase 1), Bengaluru.

• The centre will be set up over a period of four years with a total outlay of ₹20 crore, in partnership with IBAB and the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms (C-CAMP).
• “As we enter the decade of deep tech, our focus is on building future-ready capabilities at the intersection of Artificial Intelligence and biotechnology. This Centre of Excellence will strengthen our research ecosystem, accelerate innovation, and enable Karnataka to lead in high-impact, next-generation technologies,”.

Paper-V: General Studies 4

Source: The Hindu

KAS Current Affairs

KAS Current Affairs
Current Affairs is the living pulse of the KPSC syllabus. It is not a standalone subject to be memorized in isolation; rather, it is a dynamic thread that weaves together History, Economy, Polity, and Ethics across both the Preliminary and Main stages. In the context of the upcoming examinations, transitioning from simply “reading the news” to “studying the syllabus through the news” is the critical shift that separates a serious aspirant from a casual reader.

The “Syllabus-First” Philosophy
By following a current affairs pattern strictly mapped to the KPSC syllabus, you ensure that every hour spent reading the newspaper is an hour spent building your exam rank.

Preliminary Examination

Paper-I: Current Events of National and International Importance

Vaishali wins Candidates, to challenge Ju for world title
Context: R. Vaishali won the Women’s Candidates chess tournament in Cyprus and thus qualified for the World championship match to be played later this year. The Grandmaster from Chennai scored a crushing victory over Russia’s Kateryna Lagno in the final round to emerge as the clear winner.

• Vaishali finished with 8.5 points, half-a-point more than Kazakhstan’s Bibisara Assaubayeva, who was held to a draw by Divya Deshmukh. That draw ensured that Vaishali would go ahead of Assaubayeva in the points table.
• She will meet the reigning World champion China’s Ju Wenjun in the title match. Uzbekistan’s Javokhir Sindarov had won the open section of the Candidates with a round to spare, and he will meet D. Gukesh in the World championship match.
• She started out as the lowest seed. She started slowly, drawing her first four games. And then she lost in the fifth round.
• And yet, on Wednesday night at Pegeia, Cyprus, it was R. Vaishali who had the last smile. She staged a coup at the Women’s Candidates chess tournament. She won the event, becoming the first Indian woman to do it.
• She has qualified to play the World title match. Only one Indian has been there before: Koneru Humpy, one of the strongest players of all time in women’s chess.
• Vaishali will play the World title match against China’s Ju Wenjun, which will be held later this year. She may start that event as the underdog, too. But Ju is unlikely to take her lightly.
• Vaishali has the ability to raise her game at the right time. Like she did in Cyprus. After losing in the fifth round to Zhu Jiner, the top seed, she bounced back admirably, winning her next two rounds to get her campaign back on track.
• Going into the last three rounds, she had a comfortable lead of one point, but she lost to her nemesis Zhu again, in the 12th round (the Candidates is an eight-player round-robin tournament). She drew the penultimate round to share the lead with Bibisara Assaubayeva. She showed her class in the final round encounter against Katerya Lagno to write her own name in history books.
• The Candidates is only the latest in the series of some stunning victories for Vaishali. She has won the Grand Swiss twice, thus earning the qualification for the Candidates in successive editions.
• She is one of the few women to get the Grandmaster title and was part of the Olympiad-winning team. Till a few years ago though, she was overshadowed by her prodigious younger brother R. Praggnanandhaa.
• She once told this correspondent how bad she felt when she first lost to him when he was a little boy. She considers it lucky she has such a strong player at home.

Samrat Choudhary sworn in as Bihar’s first BJP CM
Context: The newly elected leader of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA), Samrat Choudhary, was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Bihar, marking the end of Nitish Kumar’s record tenure in the post.

• Two senior leaders from the JD(U), Bijendra Prasad Yadav and Vijay Kumar Choudhary, took oath as Ministers. Both have been designated as Deputy CMs in the new BJP-led NDA government in the State.

Paper-II: Current Events of State Importance and Important Government
Schemes and Programs

Devanuru Mahadeva chosen for Kannada and Culture Department’s Pampa Award
Context: Noted writer Devanuru Mahadeva has been chosen for the prestigious Pampa Award 2025-26 of the Kannada and Culture Department.

• Religious personalities Siddarama Sharana of Beldale and Bhanu Keethi Bhattaraka Swami of Jain Mutt of Kambadahalli have been chosen for the Basava National Award and Bhagwan Mahaveer National Peace Award, respectively.
• According to a statement by Kannada and Culture Minister Shivaraj Tangadagi, the others chosen for different awards are: Allabhaksh Meerasaheb Mirji (K.G. Kundanagara Gadinada Sahitya Award); Sukanya Maruthi (Danachintamani Attimabbe award); G.V. Sharada (Dr. Gubbi Veeranna award); Prasanna (B.V. Karanth award); Gangarama Chandala (Dr. Siddalingaiah Literary award); V. Hari Ram (Varna Shilpi Venkatappa award); Ashok Gudigar (Jakanachari award); M. Mahadevaiah and B. Lakshmana (Janapadasri award); Siddanagouda Patil (Sangolli Rayanna Award); K. Neela (Akka Mahadevi award); S.G. Siddaramaiah (Kayakayogi Siddarameshwara award); Kallinatha Shastry (Kumaravyasa award), and Prathibha Prahlad (Natyarani Shantala award).

Refer for pampa awards: Karnataka Government

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

Unemployment rate shows a slight increase in March

• The unemployment rate (UR) for persons aged 15 and above stood at 5.1% in March, up by 0.2 percentile points from February, largely due to urban joblessness, according to the Periodic Labour Force Survey prepared by the National Statistics Office.
• The report said UR in rural areas was 4.3%, while in urban areas it was 6.8%. Among women aged 15 and above, the UR was 4.1% in rural areas and 9% in urban areas.
• The female Labour Force Participation Rate declined to 34.4% in March from 35.3% in February. The Worker Population Ratio for persons aged 15 and above was 52.6% in March.

WPI inflation rises to 38-month high of 3.88%

• Wholesale price inflation rose sharply to an over 3-year high of 3.88% in March, driven by a sharp spike in rates of fuel, power and manufactured items amid the West Asia crisis. Government data showed Wholesale Price Index (WPI)-based inflation rose for the fifth straight month in March as core inflation accelerated, amid softening of primary food items.
• As higher energy prices eventually generalise to other commodity prices, we expect WPI inflation to rise further in the coming months.
• The high WPI inflation in March reflects elevated global commodity prices and the impact of the energy price shock since the beginning of the West Asia conflict.
• WPI inflation was 2.13% in February, and 2.25% in March last year. Inflation in the fuel and power basket spiked to 1.05% in March, from a deflation of 3.78% in February.

West Asia crisis: India’s exports plunge 7.44% in March; trade gap narrows
Context: Exports posted the steepest fall in five months, declining by 7.44% in March to $38.92 billion, while imports fell by over 6% due to the West Asia crisis, official data released showed.

• The trade deficit, however, narrowed to a nine-month low of $20.67 billion in March due to lower imports. Imports dipped by 6.51% to $59.59 billion in March, driven by a significant decline in inbound shipments of crude oil and gold, the data showed.
• For the full 2025-26 fiscal year, exports grew 0.93% to an all-time high of $441.78 billion, while imports rose 7.45% to $775 billion. The trade deficit ballooned to $333.2 billion due to a jump in gold and silver imports during the last fiscal. Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal told reporters that the country’s goods and services exports increased by an estimated 4.22% to an all-time high of $860.09 billion in 2025-26 against $825.26 billion in 2024-25.
• He said that despite global challenges, Indian exporters are showing resilience and are registering positive growth.
• The secretary said that India’s exports to the Middle East region fell 57.95% in March.

India laps up most of Venezuelan, Russian crude oil
Context: Amid a global crude oil crisis triggered by the Iran war and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, India is likely to have lapped up most of the increased crude oil shipments from Venezuela and Russia.

• As per BIMCO, one of the world’s largest shipping associations, global crude shipments fell 16% after the war began vis a vis first 9 weeks of the year.
• “This represents a reduction of 7.6 million barrels per day (mbpd) to 38.4 mbpd,” BIMCO said.
• With global shipments down, Venezuela increased shipments of crude oil by 0.4 million barrels per day, as did Russia from the Black Sea by 0.8 mbpd.
• “Combined, this accounts for 85% of increased shipments from countries outside of the Persian Gulf. India has been the main destination for the increased shipments,” BIMCO said.
• at least 17 tankers originating in Russia crossed the Suez Canal and bound for ports in India carrying Russian crude. Some have reached India.
• BIMCO said before the Iran war, the U.S. Energy Information Administration estimated global 2026 oil production at 79.9 mbpd. “The 7.6 mbpd reduction in seaborne shipments thereby means 9.5% of the previously expected crude oil production is currently not reaching markets. The reduction in shipments has naturally been driven by effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz.”
• “The United Arab Emirates managed to increase loadings from ports east of the Strait of Hormuz by 0.7 mbpd while Saudi Arabia increased shipments from Yanbu in the Red Sea by 3.0 mbpd,” it said, adding, shipments from the region fell 9 mbpd compared with earlier this year.
• Even if the Strait of Hormuz is fully reopened, shortages may remain. “[I]t may take a long time for crude oil and other energy shipments to return to previous volumes,” BIMCO’s chief shipping analyst Niels Rasmussen was quoted as saying.

Paper-III: General Studies 2

States’ seats will rise 50% after delimitation: Centre
Context: No State will lose current proportional strength in Parliament, says govt. functionary; while not mentioned in the draft Bills, Home Minister has assured party representatives of rise.

• All States will have their number of Lok Sabha seats increase by half after delimitation, and no State will lose its current proportional strength in Parliament.
• He said Union Home Minister Amit Shah would clarify this in Parliament during the debate on the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill and the Delimitation Bill. The debate begins.
• “If there is any requirement for change in the language of the draft Bill, that too will be addressed,” the government functionary said.
• Mr. Shah had assured party representatives that the strength of the Lok Sabha would increase by 50%, to be distributed across States in their existing proportions — that is, a 50% increase in the number of Lok Sabha seats from each individual State.
• However, this is not mentioned in the drafts of the Bills circulated by the government. In fact, the Bills propose an inter-State redistribution of Lok Sabha seats, which could make it impossible for current proportionate shares to be maintained.
• The senior functionary said this was a misreading of the drafts. “Those who are reading bits and pieces and interpreting them as reducing the relative strength of the South are missing the big picture,” the functionary said.
• Asked how this position squares with the proposed amendments to the Constitution and the provisions of the Delimitation Bill, the functionary said everything would be explained during the parliamentary debate. “There is no change in the assurance given by the government that all States will have their number of seats in the Lok Sabha increased by 50%. If Tamil Nadu has 39, it will have 58; Kerala has 20 and it will have 30,” the functionary said, asking to wait for the mechanics of it to be explained in Parliament.
• The drafts of the Bills have raised concerns that the States which have stabilised their population are set to lose their relative strength when the composition of the Lok Sabha is reapportioned between States as per the latest Census figures.

HC directs government to ‘strictly and faithfully’ implement menstrual leave policy
Context: The High Court of Karnataka (April 15, 2026) directed the State Government to ”strictly and faithfully” implement the menstrual leave (ML) policy, which mandates registered establishments to grant one day’s leave per month to women employees, aged between 18 and 52 years, during their menstrual cycle till the proposed law on ML is enacted.

• In the interregnum, the Court said, it shall be incumbent upon the State to ensure effective operationalisation of the policy through the issuance of suitable guidelines, circulars, and administrative instructions to secure its uniform, consistent and rigorous implementation across all sectors, including the unorganised sectors.
• Justice M. Nagaprasanna passed the order on a petition filed by 41-year-old Chandravva Hanumant Gokavi, who works in a hotel in Mudalgi of Gokak taluk in Belagavi district before the Dharwad bench of the Court.

No undue delay

• Upon enactment of the proposed law — Karnataka Menstrual Leave and Hygiene Bill, 2025, the State shall, without any undue delay frame appropriate rules to give full and meaningful effect of the mandate, the Court said.
• “This court would also observe that the State ought not be deterred or constrained by misplaced apprehensions founded upon a superficial invocation of Article 14. Men and women stand equal in the eyes of the law, yet they are biologically distinct. To acknowledge such differences, particularly in matters concerning health, dignity, and bodily autonomy, is not to transgress the guarantee of equality but to give it substantive meaning,” the court observed.

For unorganised sector

• The November 2025 notification stated that ML is available for all permanent, contract and outsourced women employees in the establishments registered under the Factories Act, 1948, the Karnataka Shops and Commercial Establishments Act, 1961, the Plantation Labour Act, 1951, the Beedi and Cigar Workers (Conditions of Employment) Act, 1966, and the Motor Transport Workers Act, 1961.

Ballot paper law notified
Context: Paving the way for the introduction of ballot papers in the local bodies election, The Karnataka Gram Swaraj and Panchayat Raj (Amendment) Act, 2026, was notified after it received Governor’s assent.

• The government reverted to paper ballots for local body elections in response to concerns about EVM credibility and voter privacy reflecting growing consensus to strengthen electoral mechanisms that prioritise anonymity and transparency, the Act said.

Entry of ‘fertile women’ antithetical to the identity of Sabarimala deity, says temple board in top court
Context: The Supreme Court said everybody is entitled to their individual conscience and no religion is superior to the other, even as the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) argued that the entry of “fertile women” between 10 and 50 years of age would be antithetical to the very manifestation and identity of the “special deity” at the Sabarimala temple in Kerala.

• Appearing before a nine-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, for the TDB (which manages the shrine), said there were about 1,000 temples dedicated to Lord Ayyappa in India. The shrine at Sabarimala was the only one with the deity in the form of a Naishtika Brahmachari (perennial celibate).
• Mr. Singhvi argued that the very foundation of the fame and prowess of the deity lay in the fact that Lord Ayyappa was in the Naishtika Brahmachari form. “The only reason people revere him is that he has eschewed all forms of grihastashram and embraced penance of a very high order. Worshippers observe vratham,” Mr. Singhvi submitted.
• He denied that women were excluded in toto. He said a “sub-classification” of women, that is, those aged between 10 years and 50 years, could not take the Sabarimala pilgrimage.
• The day-long hearing saw Justice B.V. Nagarathna orally observe that Article 25(2)(a) of the Constitution required “religious practices” to be left untouched. “You can regulate anything but a religious practice,” she remarked.
• She said Article 25 (freedom of conscience and religion) invoked equality for all religions. “No religion is superior to the other. Persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience. The truth is one. Scholars interpret it in different ways. That is why everybody is entitled to their individual conscience. Article 25(1) recognises that no path or conscience is superior to any other path or conscience… You may follow any path you wish,” Justice Nagarathna said.

How proposed delimitation would redraw political map
Context: On reallocation based on 2011 Census, southern and northeastern States stand to lose the most in seat share; Hindi-heartland States gain disproportionately.

• If the Lok Sabha’s strength is expanded to 850 and seats are allocated on the basis of the 2011 Census population, as the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill and the companion Delimitation Bill to be tabled in Parliament envisage, the southern States and the North-East would see a sharp erosion in their share of parliamentary representation, while the Hindi-heartland States of northern India would be the overwhelming beneficiaries.
• The two Bills, to be introduced in Parliament from April 16, seek to do a) raise the Lok Sabha ceiling from 543 to 850 seats (815 from States, 35 from Union Territories), b) replace the constitutional freeze that pegged seat allocation to the 1971 Census with an open-ended formula allowing Parliament to choose the Census basis by ordinary law, and c) constitute a Delimitation Commission that would use the latest published Census, currently the 2011 Census, to redraw boundaries and reallocate seats. The stated purpose is to operationalise women’s reservation under the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023.
• It is to be noted that Home Minister Amit Shah said in Coimbatore in February 2025 that southern States would not lose a single seat on a “pro rata basis”. Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal told The Hindu on April 13, 2026 that concerns about southern States were a “silly concern”, asserting there would be a “proportional increase across the country”.
• However, the Bills contain no mechanism to guarantee existing seat proportions. Article 81(2)(a) mandates population-proportional allocation and not a uniform percentage increase. In other words, delimitation will be based on population proportion according to the latest available Census.

Who gains and who loses

• Using 2011 Census population to allocate 850 seats proportionally and comparing against a uniform proportional increase (which preserves existing seat shares), the disparities become stark. The five States/UTs that gain the most seats compared to a proportional increase belong to the Hindi heartland. Four of the five States/UTs that lose the most belong to the South or the East. (Table 1)
• Aggregated by region, the pattern is unmistakable. The Hindi heartland’s (Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand and Delhi) share in the 850-seat House would rise from 38.1% to 43.1%. The South’s share would fall from 24.3% to 20.7%. The North-East would decline from 4.4% to 3.8%. The Eastern States would slip from 14.4% to 13.7%. (Table 2)
• The demographic roots of this asymmetry are visible in the latest fertility data. According to NFHS-5 (2019-21), all five southern States have total fertility rates between 1.5 and 1.8, well below the replacement level of 2.1 (Chart 3). Bihar (3.0), Meghalaya (2.9), Uttar Pradesh (2.4), Jharkhand (2.3), and Manipur (2.2) remain above replacement. The gap that drove the original 1976 freeze on seat allocation has narrowed over the decades, but it persists.
• States that invested in health, education, and family planning would see their share of parliamentary power shrink, while States that lagged on these indicators would gain the most. The data lays bare the core tension in the delimitation exercise: Article 81(2)(a) rewards demographic weight, not developmental achievement.

Bageshwar Dham gets govt. nod to receive foreign funds
Context: Dhirendra Krishna Shastri, leader of the religious body, advocates establishment of a ‘Hindu Rashtra’; FCRA registration mandatory for NGOs or associations to receive foreign donations.

• The Union Home Ministry has granted registration under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) to Baba Bageshwar Dham, a religious body led by Dhirendra Krishna Shastri, a Madhya Pradesh-based godman who seeks to establish ‘Hindu Rashtra’.
• Mr. Shastri, 29, is often courted by politicians and is known for his provocative statements on religious matters. His website has a separate section to collect donations from within India.
• Despite repeated attempts, the religious body could not be reached for comments.

Mandatory registration

• Registration under the FCRA is mandatory if a non-government organisation (NGO) or an association wants to receive foreign donations.
• NGOs can receive foreign contributions for social, educational, religious, economic, and cultural programmes and can be registered for at least one or multiple categories.
• The Shri Bageshwar Jan Seva Samiti Gadha at Chhatarpur in Madhya Pradesh has been registered under the ‘Religious (Hindu)’ programme, other than cultural, economic, educational and social categories.
• Till April 15, 38 NGOs have been granted FCRA registration, out of which six have stated ‘Religious (Hindu)’ as one of the programmes for which foreign funds are required. Other than Bageshwar Dham, those registered under the category are Ramakrisha Missions at Bolpur in West Bengal and Purnea in Bihar, Divya Jyoti Jagriti Sansthan in Delhi, The Institution at Dharmasthala in Karnataka, and Radha Soami Satsang at Agra, Uttar Pradesh.

Five-year validity

• A FCRA registration is valid for five years, after which the NGO has to apply for a renewal. Since 2015, the FCRA registrations of more than 18,000 NGOs have been cancelled. As on April 15, there are 14,538 FCRA-registered NGOs active in the country.
• During the Budget session of Parliament, which concluded on April 2, the Union government proposed to introduce the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026 to amend the 2010 Act. However, following an uproar by Opposition parties, its discussion and passage were deferred.
• The Chief Ministers of poll-bound Tamil Nadu and Kerala, and Christian groups opposed the Bill as it empowers the Ministry to take over the property and assets of an NGO if its FCRA registration is cancelled or suspended.

Paper-IV: General Studies 3

Yana Caves declared Geo-heritage Site of National Importance
Context: The geo-heritage site, as per the Department of Tourism, serves three purposes — conservation, education and tourism.

• Known for its striking black crystalline rock formations and religious significance, the Yana Caves in Karnataka has been declared a ‘Geo-heritage Site of National Importance’ by the Ministry of Mines through the Geological Survey of India (GSI).
• Located in the Western Ghats in Uttara Kannada district, Yana Caves features massive karst limestone structures, including two prominent monolithic outcrops — Bhairaveshwara Shikhara (120 m) and Mohini Shikhara (90 m). The site is also a popular short-trek destination, the GSI, in a letter said.
• The region hosts 61 identified karst landforms, shaped over time by natural geological processes. According to the GSI, the formations date back around 2.7 million years and are composed of Precambrian dolomitic limestone. Over millions of years, intense tropical weathering and chemical dissolution have sculpted the terrain into a distinctive karst landscape.
• “The twin monoliths dominate the area and are not only significant geological features but are also closely tied to local mythology, drawing pilgrims and visitors alike,” GSI said.
• A Geo-heritage Site of National Importance refers to a location with unique and irreplaceable geological features — such as formations, fossils or landscapes, recognised for their scientific, educational and aesthetic value. These sites serve as natural records of earth’s evolution and are protected for research and geotourism.
• The tag granted by the GSI for the State would mean protection of a rare geological asset, promotion of research and learning, and tourism-driven development around the site. The geo-heritage site, as per the Department of Tourism, serves three purposes, namely, conservation, education and tourism. It brings the site under formal recognition, helping prevent damage from unregulated development.
• It also turns the site into a scientific and educational resource, functioning as a natural laboratory where researchers, students and the public can study earth’s history, geological processes and past climate patterns.
• More than 90 sites across the country have so far been identified as National Geological Monuments, geo-heritage sites or potential geo-heritage locations. “The GSI on April 13 informed the Karnataka government that the declaration was made as part of its 176th Foundation Day celebrations,” Tourism Minister H.K. Patil said.

Amazon signs $11.57 bn deal for satellite firm Globalstar

• Amazon.com said it would acquire Globalstar in an $11.57 billion deal, bolstering its fledgling satellite business as it tries to catch up with Elon Musk’s Starlink.
• Tech companies are pouring in billions of dollars to capture the lucrative market for satellite-based connectivity, but it will be a tall order to match Starlink’s 10,000-unit-strong network.
• Through the deal, Amazon adds Globalstar’s two dozen satellites to its existing network of more than 200. Amazon has been working to ramp up its network by deploying about 3,200 satellites in Earth’s low orbit by 2029, with roughly half required to be in place by a July regulatory deadline.
• It is also preparing to roll out its satellite internet services later this year. Globalstar’s satellite network is designed for reliable, low-data connections directly to mobile devices, or Direct-to-Device (D2D).Reuters

Paper-V: General Studies 4

Source: The Hindu

KAS Current Affairs

Preliminary Examination

Paper-I: Current Events of National and International Importance

Paper-II: Current Events of State Importance and Important Government Schemes and Programs

Karnataka includes root canal treatment underAB PMJAY-CM’s ArK scheme
Context: In a move aimed at improving access to dental care and reducing avoidable tooth loss, the Karnataka government has approved the inclusion of root canal treatment (RCT) under the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana-Chief Minister’s Arogya Karnataka (AB PMJAY-CM’s ArK) scheme.

• A Government Order (GO) issued provides for the addition of specific procedure codes for root canal treatment under the Dental and Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery specialty of the scheme.
• The root canal treatment is undertaken to treat infection or inflammation of the dental pulp. If left untreated, it can spread to surrounding tissues, leading to complications such as abscess formation and eventual tooth loss. Officials said the decision is expected to benefit a large number of patients who currently opt for tooth extraction due to the high cost of root canal treatment.
• 2 procedures notified
• The order includes two categories- root canal treatment for anterior teeth and posterior teeth- which have been classified as Complex Secondary Procedures (2B) under the scheme.
• The Suvarna Arogya Suraksha Trust (SAST), the nodal agency that facilitates the scheme, has been directed to adopt Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) Tier-3 (non-NABH) rates.
• Accordingly, the package rate has been fixed at ₹1,360 for anterior teeth and ₹2,040 for posterior teeth, inclusive of all consumables and procedure-related costs.
• Addressing the gap
• At present, the scheme covers 12 procedures under dental and oral surgery, but does not include root canal treatment. The inclusion follows a proposal submitted by the SAST. Officials noted that preserving natural teeth helps maintain chewing function and avoids the need for costlier interventions.
• Cap on cases
• The government has capped the benefit at 50,000 cases or a financial outlay of ₹5 crore, whichever is lower. The approval has been granted under powers delegated to the Health Department to include new procedures within a specified budget ceiling. The standard guidelines of the AB PMJAY-CM’s ArK scheme will apply to these procedures.

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

‘India’s FY 27 growth outlook cut to 6.6%’
Context: The World Bank has revised downwards India’s growth outlook for 2026-27 to 6.6% from 7.2%, citing the impact of the war in West Asia on household and government consumption, as well as on industrial activity.

• The India Development Update report by the World Bank said that “in the absence of the conflict”, India’s GDP growth was projected at 7.2%, a reflection of better-than-expected growth in 2025-26, “strong initial momentum” in the fourth quarter of that year and a “broad pro-growth reform agenda”.
• “Growth is now projected at 6.6% in FY27, reflecting headwinds from the Middle East conflict — assuming an extended disruption in global energy (oil and gas) supply till end-2026,” the report said.
• The India Development Update report is a companion to the South Asia Economic Update 2026. That report had projected growth in South Asia to slow to 6.3% in 2026 from 7% in 2025.
• The World Bank’s Acting Director for India Paul Procee noted that there are things that can be done to boost growth. “Boosting private sector-led growth will be critical to strengthening economic resilience and supporting more young people to enter the workforce,” Mr. Procee said.
• The report said that industrial activity is expected to slow to 7.5% in 2026-27 from 8.8% in the previous year. It said that the manufacturing sector — especially electronics, automobiles, and other tradable goods — will prop up industrial growth.
• “However, higher input costs and decreased export demand from the Gulf region will weigh on overall industrial growth,” the report said. “Business services are likely to be impacted by the global economic slowdown and higher input costs will adversely impact food and accommodation services.”

Paper-III: General Studies 2

Government notifies CAPF law; families protest, say it undermines rights of forces
Context: On a day when the families of Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) personnel protested at the Rajghat against the passing of the CAPF (General Administration) Bill, 2026, by Parliament on April 2, the President gave it her assent. Subsequently the CAPF, General Administration Act, 2026 was notified in the Gazette of India.

• The Act stated that in all CAPFs, 50% of the total posts in the rank of Inspector-General, at least 67% in the rank of Additional Director-General and all posts in the rank of Special Director-General and Director-General shall be filled by IPS officers on deputation.
• Till now, such postings were done based on executive orders. The Act will negate a May 23, 2025, Supreme Court order which asked the Home Ministry to “progressively reduce” IPS deputation in CAPFs up to the rank of I-Gs in the next two years.

Paper-IV: General Studies 3

Paper-V: General Studies 4

KAS Current Affairs

Preliminary Examination

Paper-I: Current Events of National and International Importance

Paper-II: Current Events of State Importance and Important Government Schemes and Programs

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

Steps into the past: 1,500-year-old reservoir unearthed on Elephanta Island near Mumbai
Context: As we trudged through the scrub jungle on a hill on the Elephanta Island off the Mumbai coast on March 17, Abhijit Ambekar declared with a flourish, “We will show you the wonder-discovery of our excavation.” Professor Abhijit Dandekar chipped in, “It is a show-stopper.”

• As we reached the trench, where several men and women were excavating the soil deep below, it was clear that it was a spectacular discovery. There it was: a series of steps leading to a reservoir below. In other words, it was a stepped reservoir or a reservoir built with a wide staircase of perfectly aligned stone blocks.
• Dr. Ambekar, director of the current excavation and Superintending Archaeologist, Mumbai Circle of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), estimated the stepped reservoir to be about 1,500 years old.
• “It is a massive structure — about 14.7 metres long, and 6.7 metres and 10.8 metres wide, forming a T-shape. The excavation has reached a depth of five metres so far. We have exposed 20 steps. The steps are built with stone-blocks which are not from the island. They were ferried from the mainland,” he said.
• While rock-cut cisterns have been found earlier on the Elephanta Island, the discovery of this stepped reservoir was important because it was a carefully designed architecture for storing water, Dr. Ambekar said. “Although the island receives a large amount of rainfall from the monsoon, very little seeps into the soil because of the island’s rocky nature, and the water runs off into the sea,” he said. Hence, this stepped reservoir, which was “a remarkable engineering work.”
• The ASI’s Mumbai Circle began the excavation here in November 2025. It has excavated 19 trenches, each measuring 10 metres x 10 metres.
• The excavation has so far yielded a beautifully built brick structure, which could be a dyeing vat for colouring textiles, a big storage pot, terracotta figurines, glass and stone bangles, beads made of carnelian and quartz and stone anchors. A total of about 3,000 amphorae sherds of Mediterranean origin and torpedo jar sherds from West Asia, including Mesopotamia, have been unearthed. Amphorae and torpedo jars were used for storing wine, oil and fish sauce. Their potsherds showed the island’s long-distance maritime contacts.
• Importantly, 60 copper, lead and silver coins have so far been found in the excavations. Several copper coins have been identified as belonging to ruler Krishnaraja of the Kalachuri dynasty of the sixth century CE, said Dr. Abhijit Dandekar, Department of Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology of Deccan College, Pune.
• The identification was made on the basis of the motif of a seated bull on the obverse and a temple symbol with the legend of Sri Krishnaraja on the reverse, he said.

Paper-III: General Studies 2

Groundwater extraction in State saw reduction in 2025
Context: Releasing the 2025 Groundwater Assessment Report, Minister Boseraju says the gains have been made owing to good rainfall, policy interventions, and large-scale water conservation initiatives implemented over the past two years.

• Karnataka has recorded a significant decline in groundwater usage along with a notable increase in annual recharge capacity, reflecting the impact of sustained water conservation efforts and good rainfall.

Improved indicators

• According to the report, overall groundwater extraction reduced from 68.44% in 2024 to 66.49% in 2025, indicating more responsible and sustainable usage patterns across the State.
• Also, the annual groundwater recharge capacity has increased from 18.74 billion cubic metres (BCM) in 2024 to 19.28 BCM in 2025, while annual extractable groundwater resources rose from 16.88 BCM to 17.41 BCM.
• The improvement has been driven largely by the expansion of water conservation structures across the State. Recharge through these structures increased by 29.11%, from 0.81 BCM to 1.04 BCM in a year.

Rural impact

• The report indicates improvement in groundwater status across 11 taluks, with several regions moving to safer categories. Chamarajanagar taluk has improved from ‘over-exploited’ to ‘critical’.
• Domestic groundwater extraction has declined by 0.58%, from 1,21,731 hectare-metres in 2024 to 1,21,023 hectare-metres in 2025. Officials attributed this reduction to increased reliance on surface water under the Jal Jeevan Mission.
• Mr. Boseraju said initiatives such as lake rejuvenation, year-round water supply through treated and surface water, sustained public awareness campaigns, and good rainfall have played a key role in reducing over-extraction and improving recharge.
• “Instead of depending solely on the 120-day monsoon, we are ensuring water availability across all 365 days through scientific management. This has strengthened long-term water security for both farmers and urban residents,” he said.

Digital Water Stack initiative

• Under this framework, the government will introduce space technology and AI-based satellite surveillance to obtain real-time data for continuous groundwater monitoring.

Cabinet clears draft amendment Bill over women’s reservation
Context: The Union Cabinet approved a draft amendment Bill to implement the Women’s Reservation Act by the 2029 Lok Sabha elections.

• The decision was taken at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, sources said. The amendment seeks to revise the implementation framework of the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, formally known as the Constitution (106th Amendment) Act, passed in 2023. Under the proposal, the strength of the Lok Sabha is set to rise from 543 to 816, following a fresh delimitation exercise.
• Of the expanded House, 273 seats, around one-third will be reserved for women. The quota will be applied vertically, providing reservation for women within the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe categories as well.
• In a significant departure from the existing law, the government plans to carry out delimitation based on the 2011 Census, rather than waiting for Census data from 2027.
• The Bill will be taken up for debate at the Budget Session from April 16-18.

Paper-IV: General Studies 3

‘Over 4,600 objects placed in orbit in 2025 after 315 space launches’
Context: The year 2025 saw 315 successful space launches globally, with about 4,651 objects placed in orbit. According to the Indian Space Situational Assessment Report (ISSAR) for 2025 released, a maximum number of payloads were deployed during 2025.

• The report stated that 4,651 objects were launched to orbits and 1,911 re-entered the atmosphere with a net annual growth of 74.5%.

27 satellites operational

• With regard to the Indian space assets in 2025, eight satellites were launched and four rocket bodies were placed in orbit. The report said that 12 Indian objects re-entered the atmosphere.
• It added that the IRNSS-1 D satellite was decommissioned 600 km above geosynchronous orbit. In total, there are 86 Indian satellites in orbit of which 27 are operational, 23 are defunct (still in orbit), and 36 decayed.
• Among the Indian rocket bodies, three Launch Vehicle Mark-3 (LVM-3) are still in orbit and five are decayed; four Small Satellite Launch Vehicles are decayed; four Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicles (GSLV) are in orbit and 10 have decayed, and 42 Polar Satellite Launch Vehicles (PSLV) are in orbit and 19 have decayed.
• The report also said that 563 and 519 orbital manoeuvres were carried out in low-earth orbit and geostationary orbit, respectively.
• Fourteen collision avoidance measures were carried out in low-earth orbit along with four in geostationary orbit, the ISSAR report said.

72-year-old man from Shivamogga dies of Kyasanur Forest Disease
Context: A 72-year-old man from Sagar taluk died of Kyasanur Forest Disease (KFD) at a private hospital in Manipal, Udupi district.

Tick-borne disease

• The KFD is a tick-borne disease, and people living near forest areas are particularly vulnerable to infection. The district administration and officials of the Health and Family Welfare Department are conducting awareness campaigns on preventing its spread. People visiting forest areas have been advised to apply tick-repellent oil on their hands and legs.’

India withdraws bid to host climate summit in 2028
Context: The government cites a review of its 2028 commitments, says report; the country had last hosted the summit in 2002, when it was a low-key affair.

• India has withdrawn its bid to host the 33rd edition of the Conference of Parties (COP 33) in 2028 — the annual United Nations climate talks, according to a report by Climate Home News (CHN).
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced India’s interest in hosting the COP33 at the COP28 in Dubai in 2023.
• The Ministry for Environment, Forests and Climate Change did not comment on the report, but The Hindu has independently confirmed its veracity.
• According to the CHN report, an April 2 letter by Rajat Agrawal, Joint Secretary in the Environment Ministry, to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) stated that India was withdrawing its candidacy following a “review of its commitments for 2028”.
• In July 2025, the Environment Ministry set up a dedicated cell for the “professional and logistical requirements” for organising the COP33. This followed a joint declaration at the 17th BRICS summit on July 7, where the member countries “welcomed” India’s candidacy.
• The hosting of the COP rotates among the UN’s five regional groups, with India belonging to the Asia Pacific group.
• The COP30 was held in Brazil. The edition this year is to be jointly hosted by Turkiye and Australia and the 2027 summit (COP32) is scheduled to be held in Ethiopia. With India withdrawing, South Korea is the only country that has so far expressed interest in hosting the COP33. India has hosted the summit only once — in 2002 (COP8) — when it was a relatively low-key affair.
• On March 25, India announced its updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), committing by 2035 to source 60% of its installed electricity capacity from non-fossil sources, reduce emissions intensity of GDP by 47%, and increase its carbon sink by 3.5-4 billion tonnes of CO₂ equivalent.

NTPC inks MoU with Électricité de France

• State-owned National Thermal Power Corp Ltd. (NTPC) said it had inked a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MoU) with French counterpart Électricité de France (EDF) to explore opportunities in India’s nuclear power space.
• According to a statement, the two entities would seek to establish a framework for jointly assessing “feasibility and approach for collaboration”.
• NTPC is targeting to institute 30 GW of nuclear capacity by 2047.

Indian scientists find new way to measure distances in deep space
Context: The dense and rapidly spinning remnant cores of dead stars are called pulsars; they emit beams of radio waves that sweep across the earthlike light from a lighthouse sweeps across ships at sea; pulsars have an extraordinarily fixed spinning rate, so the pulses arrive very regularly.

• Indian astronomers, including from IIT-Kanpur, have developed a new way to measure distances in the universe using the pulsating cores of dead stars, by studying how their radio emissions are distorted as they travel through space. The technique combines a pair of subtle effects that occur when pulsar signals pass through clouds of ionised gas in the Milky Way.
• The dense and rapidly spinning remnant cores of dead stars are called pulsars. They emit beams of radio waves that sweep across the earth like light from a lighthouse sweeps across ships at sea. Pulsars have an extraordinarily fixed spinning rate, so the pulses arrive very regularly. So astronomers have used them as cosmic clocks.
• Pulsar timing experiments use millisecond pulsars, which spin hundreds of times per second, to create precise timing models that predict the arrival of following pulses. Any difference in arrival time indicates the presence of another astrophysical event, such as those producing gravitational waves.
• But as these radio waves travel through the galaxy before reaching the earth, they also pass through clouds of ionised gas, or plasma, that contain free electrons that slightly alter the radio signal.

Way of light

• Astronomers measure one of these effects using a quantity called the dispersion measure (DM). As radio waves travel through the interstellar medium, free electrons slow down lower frequency waves more than higher frequency ones. This causes different frequencies to arrive at the earth at slightly different times. By measuring the delay caused by dispersion, astronomers can estimate how many electrons lie between the earth and the pulsar.
• In general, signals from more distant pulsars pass through more interstellar plasma and encounter more electrons. As a result, DM provides a rough estimate of how far away the pulsar is.
• Astronomers have long used DM to estimate the distance to pulsars. However, this method relies on models of electron distribution throughout the Milky Way that can be unreliable in complex regions such as the Gum Nebula, a vast region of ionised gas and one of the largest known nebulae in our galaxy. Possibly associated with a supernova explosion or ionisation by hot stars, the nebula contains the Vela Pulsar and regions that can strongly influence radio signals passing through it.

Wobbling signals

• The interstellar medium also affects pulsar signals in another way. As plasma is not perfectly smooth, its irregularities scatter radio waves as they travel through it. This scattering causes the signals to follow multiple paths before reaching the earth. The scattered waves interfere with each other, causing the pulsar’s brightness to vary with time.
• The term for this is scintillation, similar to the twinkling of stars in the night sky. Since the signals arrive by different paths and at slightly different times, the signal appears stretched out or smeared. This effect is known as scatter broadening.
• In the new study, published in the Monthly Notices of Royal Astronomical Society, the team combined DM with scatter broadening to refine the distance estimates. As scattering depends on how turbulent the plasma is, the electron density, and the location of the scattering region along the line of sight, the joint method revealed where the turbulent plasma is located between the earth and the pulsar much more accurately.
• “Previously, we had only one ‘soldier’— dispersion — to solve the problem,” the study’s lead author Ashish Kumar, formerly at IIT-Kanpur and now at the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics, said. “Now we have two: dispersion and scattering.”
• The study was carried out with co-authors Avinash Deshpande, former professor at the Raman Research Institute, and Pankaj Jain, a professor at IIT-Kanpur.

Systematic application

• “The authors have done a careful job of utilising a variety of measurements on 10 pulsars to constrain the structure of the interstellar medium in this region, including the distance to the dominant scattering region [the Gum Nebula],” Cornell University professor James Cordes, who wasn’t involved in the study, said.
• He also said combining scattering and dispersion to estimate pulsar distances is not entirely new and has been explored in pulsar studies for decades. In this study, however, the team applied the approach in a systematic way: they used both dispersion and scattering measurements together and adjusted their model step by step until it matched both the observed DM and the scatter broadening.
• The distance where the model and observations agreed was then taken to be the pulsar’s distance.
• Their work shows that much of the scattering affecting pulsars in this direction likely comes from turbulent layers of the Gum Nebula. Using observations of 10 pulsars in the same region of the sky as Gum Nebula, researchers also developed a refined model of the nebula’s electron distribution. Results showed that the Vela pulsar lies behind the nebula’s front shell.

No hard limit

• Scatter broadening depends on how strongly a pulsar’s signal is scattered along the line of sight. Calculating this exactly requires extensive analysis. So to simplify it, researchers combined the dependencies into a single parameter, called the k-factor, at a given frequency.
• Estimating the k-factor was the main technical challenge of the study, Dr. Kumar said, as it varies significantly in complex regions. However, one can determine its value for the target pulsar from a nearby pulsar at a known distance.
• For the Gum Nebula, the team analysed several pulsars in the region and calculated their individual k-factors. Instead of adopting a single number, they used a range of possible values to account for uncertainties in the scattering properties of the plasma. The team is now working on a follow-up study of roughly 300 pulsars across our galaxy to determine how the k-factor varies in different directions.
• Parallax-based measurements are extensively used in distance measurements. While the novel method offers several advantages over DM-only estimates, it cannot beat the “gold standards” of the parallax method in terms of accuracy, Dr. Kumar said.

• However, while certain parallax techniques have a “hard limit” on distance, the new method has no specific distance limitation. It could even be used to measure distances to objects outside the Milky Way, like the enigmatic fast radio bursts.

Why India wants fast breeder reactors

• In an important milestone, the prototype fast breeder reactor (PFBR) at Kalpakkam achieved criticality on April 6. The term ‘criticality’ is familiar to India: over the decades, it has been associated with the slow and tedious successes of India’s nuclear power programme. At the same time, in keeping with many terms in the nuclear vocabulary, ‘criticality’ is also often mistaken as an end goal. In reality, it is actually the first step.

What is criticality?

• A nuclear reactor becomes critical when its chain reaction is able to sustain itself. That is, when an atom’s nucleus undergoes nuclear fission, it releases neutrons that trigger at least one more fission reaction in the surrounding nuclei. Reactor engineers ensure this happens by controlling the composition of the fuel (the material whose nuclei undergo fission), how well the neutrons are able to ‘access’ more nuclei, and the temperature of the reactor. Once a reactor is critical, it also means it is in a kind of stable state. However, it does not mean that it is operating in a commercially viable way. That comes much later. After criticality, the operators keep the reactor running as it produces a low amount of power, for months if necessary, while they check if its operating parameters are within design limits. If an operator is sure that the parameters are, they can go to the next stage.

How do FBRs work?

• Most of India’s currently operating nuclear reactors are pressurised heavy water reactors (PHWRs). They are designed to support the fission of natural uranium. Natural uranium consists of 99.3% of uranium-238 and 0.7% of uranium-235. ‘235’ and ‘238’ denote the total number of protons and neutrons in the nucleus. In a PHWR, neutrons are introduced into the reactor, where a device called a moderator slows them down. This is necessary for the neutrons to cause uranium-235 to undergo fission. When it does, it releases heat, which the PHWR converts to electricity; a small amount of plutonium; and a few neutrons.
• PHWRs are inefficient because only a small fraction of the fuel, around 1%, undergoes fission before it becomes unusable.
• A fast-breeder reactor (FBR) is more efficient, achieving a fuel use rate of around 10% or more. Mainly, the fuel consists of plutonium, not uranium. The reactor core is surrounded by a ‘blanket’ of depleted uranium, like the unusable fuel produced by PHWRs. When a fast neutron bombards the blanket, the uranium nuclei are transmutated to plutonium nuclei, which are reprocessed as nuclear fuel. The plutonium-based fuel also uses the fast neutrons to undergo fission, releasing more fast neutrons.

What is India’s three-stage programme?

• The nuclear physicist Homi Bhabha is widely credited with conceiving India’s nuclear programme in the first years of its independence. The programme has three stages. In the first stage, PHWRs will use natural uranium to produce plutonium and depleted uranium and electricity. In the second stage, FBRs will use the plutonium and depleted uranium from the first stage to produce even more plutonium and electricity. Finally, future nuclear reactors will use plutonium and thorium to produce electricity.
• Bhabha came up with this programme because India has abundant quantities of thorium but only modest reserves of uranium.
• And in this scheme, FBRs have been envisaged as a bridge between the initial step, to use what we have, and the final step, to complete the cycle and thus make India self-sufficient in nuclear power.

Why are FBRs challenging?

• That an FBR is easier said than done would be a gross underestimate. The Indian government approved the PFBR more than two decades ago. It was designed by the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research and built by the Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam, Ltd. The latter proved to be more challenging than first expected.
• Among other features, the PFBR uses liquid sodium as coolant. Sodium becomes liquid at a higher temperature, and at higher temperature heat transfer is more efficient. Liquid sodium also does not need to be pressurised. However, it reacts violently with air and water, so the pumps, pipes, and tanks exposed to liquid sodium need to be perfectly sealed, with stringent leak detection protocols. Water-cooled reactors do not have such operational complexities, nor the additional cost.
• India is also not alone in confronting these challenges. Japan’s Monju Nuclear Power Plant suffered a sodium leak and fire in 1995, leading to long shutdowns; the plant eventually had to be decommissioned. The Superphénix in France was once the world’s largest breeder reactor but it was shut down as well, due to technical issues and high operating costs, which also fanned political opposition. Russia, however, has continued to maintain a small fleet of fast-breeder reactors.
• In other words, operators have shown FBRs to be technically feasible but they are not yet economically feasible; they have also not won broader public acceptance. Aside from the costs of making them, they also demand rigorous oversight — which depends on both engineering excellence and the safety culture.

How has India pursued FBRs?

• India is pursuing FBRs because, as discussed earlier, the three-stage nuclear programme prioritises long-term fuel security. Importantly, it is able to do so because India’s nuclear sector remains largely driven by the state. Its decision-making structure is relatively insulated from the ruling establishment: the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) reports directly to the Prime Minister’s Office. As a result, as long as there has been political stability, India has been able to sustain nuclear projects across electoral cycles.
• On the flip side, this insulation has reduced scrutiny of the nuclear power programme and protected it from the same pressure to deliver that assails other public sector enterprises like the Indian Railways and the National Highways Authority of India. Engineers have taken on projects with limited transparency on timelines and budgets. When one or both have slipped, the accountability has been spread across agencies. The PFBR’s original cost was ₹3,500 crore. It came to ₹6,800 crore in 2019. The DAE also sought multiple deadline extensions. In 2020, it said the PFBR would be commercialised in October 2022. That milestone is still pending.
• The economics of FBRs also remain uncertain. In addition to the aforementioned issues, the broader fuel cycle — especially the reprocessing of spent fuel and the fabrication of new fuel assemblies — will require its own infrastructure. And for this the nuclear establishment will have to set up new regulatory processes.

What next for the PFBR?

• The PFBR will be operated at a low power level to check its behaviour in different operating conditions. Engineers will collect the data from these tests to inform decisions about raising the reactor’s power output and refining safety protocols. Eventually, they will seek approval from the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board to operate the reactor in commercial mode.
• This entails running the PFBR at or near its rated capacity to generate electricity for the grid on a sustained basis, with standard operating procedures and clear regulatory oversight. At this point in time, the reactor will also have transitioned from being experimental to a commercial power plant.
• In parallel, the DAE will also develop fuel reprocessing facilities and plan for future FBRs. Once these aims are closer to being realised, the government and India will develop a clearer sense of whether the broader vision of a closed fuel cycle can be realised.

Paper-V: General Studies 4

KAS Current Affairs

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