CA-31/03/2026

• Beginning: Rooted in a 1967 peasant uprising in Naxalbari, West Bengal, led by Charu Majumdar and Kanu Sanyal.
• Core Belief: Follows Maoist political sentiment, aiming to overthrow the democratic state through armed revolution and "people's war".
• Primary Group: The Communist Party of India (Maoist), formed in 2004 by the merger of the People's War Group (PWG) and the Maoist Communist Centre (MCC). 

• Tribal Alienation: Large-scale displacement due to mining and industrial projects without adequate compensation.
• Governance Deficit: Lack of basic infrastructure like schools, healthcare, and police presence in remote forest areas.
• Socio-Economic Inequality: Poverty and unemployment among marginalized communities provided fertile ground for recruitment. 

• Operation SAMADHAN: A multi-pronged approach involving Smart leadership, Aggressive strategy, Motivation, Actionable intelligence, Dashboard-based KPIs, Harnessing technology, and choking Finances.
• Financial Choking: Using the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) to seize assets (over ₹90 crore) and dismantle urban support networks.
• Infrastructure Push: Construction of over 17,000 km of roads and installation of nearly 10,000 mobile towers to improve connectivity and security reach.
• Surrender & Rehabilitation: Attractive policies offering up to ₹5 lakh and monthly stipends led to over 10,000 surrenders between 2015 and 2025. 

• Casualty Reduction: Violent incidents declined by over 53%, and security force deaths dropped by 73% compared to the 2004–2014 decade.
• Area Liberation: Long-held bastions like Abujhmaad (Chhattisgarh) and Buddha Pahar (Jharkhand) were brought under administrative control after decades of Maoist dominance.
• Police Fortification: The number of fortified police stations increased from 66 in 2014 to over 600 by 2026.

• Birth: Born on October 4, 1857, in Mandvi, Kutch district, Gujarat.
• Scholarship: A renowned scholar of Sanskrit and other languages, he was the first non-Brahmin to be conferred the title of 'Pandit' by the scholars of Kashi in 1877.
• Education & Legal Career: A graduate of Balliol College, Oxford, he was the first Indian Bar-at-law and served as the Divan of several princely states, including Ratlam and Junagadh. 

• Indian Home Rule Society: Founded on February 18, 1905, to advocate for complete self-rule (Swaraj).
• India House: Established a student residence in London (1905–1910) that became a major hub for Indian revolutionaries abroad.
• The Indian Sociologist: Launched this monthly journal to spread nationalist ideas and critique British colonial policies. 

• Inspirations: Deeply influenced by Swami Dayanand Saraswati (founder of Arya Samaj), Herbert Spencer, and Bal Gangadhar Tilak.
• Mentorship: He mentored and inspired a generation of revolutionaries, most notably Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, as well as Madam Bhikhaiji Cama and Lala Hardayal.
• Arya Samaj: Served as the first President of the Bombay Arya Samaj. 

• Exile: To avoid arrest by British authorities, he moved his headquarters to Paris in 1907 and later to Geneva, Switzerland, in 1914.
• Death: Passed away on March 30, 1930, in Geneva.
• Return of Ashes: In 2003, his ashes (and those of his wife Bhanumati) were brought back to India from Geneva by then-Gujarat CM Narendra Modi.
• Memorial: A memorial named Kranti Teerth, featuring a replica of India House, was inaugurated in 2010 at his birthplace in Mandvi.

• Development: An indigenous Make-in-India platform designed by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) under the Ministry of Education.
• Core Function: A multilingual translation tool that uses an in-house Large Language Model (LLM) combined with human-in-the-loop validation to ensure high accuracy for technical and scientific content.
• Language Support: Supports translation across 22 scheduled Indian languages and over 89 global languages.

• Text & Documents: Tools like Bujji (bulk document translation) and Chutki (real-time writing assistant) preserve original layouts and formatting.
• Voice & Audio: Features Bharat Sandesh for live phone call translation and Bharat Audio Live for multilingual voice communication.
• Video: Bharat Tube translates YouTube videos and live channels into Indian regional languages.
• Geospatial (GEO-AI): Provides geospatial intelligence for mapping urban assets, forests, and infrastructure in real time.

• Educational Impact: It is a primary tool for the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, facilitating the translation of engineering, medical, and law textbooks to enable students to study in their mother tongues.
• Legal & Governance: Used to translate high court judgements (Kerala High Court) and provide citizens access to government schemes through voice-based multilingual forms.
• Security & Privacy: Being a government-developed tool, it emphasizes data security and does not store user information for third-party use.

• Developers: Jointly created by the CSIR-Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) in New Delhi and the CSIR-Indian Institute of Petroleum (IIP) in Dehradun.
• Mechanism (Pyrolysis): The process involves heating post-harvest rice straw (parali) or other biomass at high temperatures in the absence of oxygen to produce bio-oil.
• Upgrading: This bio-oil is chemically upgraded into a bio-binder that possesses the same adhesive and waterproofing properties as petroleum-based bitumen. 

• Blending Capacity: Research and field trials have shown that 20% to 30% of conventional petroleum-based bitumen can be replaced with bio-bitumen without compromising road durability.
• Performance: The bio-blend offers improved high-temperature stability and greater resistance to "rutting" (indentations from heavy tires) compared to traditional asphalt. 

• Import Substitution: India currently imports nearly half of its annual bitumen requirement. Even a 15% blend can save roughly ₹4,500 crore per year.
• Emissions Reduction: The use of bio-bitumen reduces lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 70% compared to traditional fossil-fuel-based methods.
• Waste to Wealth: It creates an economic value for agricultural waste, providing farmers with an additional income stream and incentivizing them to stop field burning.
• Sustainability: It aligns with the Viksit Bharat 2047 vision and India's Net Zero commitments by promoting a circular economy in the infrastructure sector. 

• Pilot Success: Successful trial stretches have already been laid on the Jorabat-Shillong Expressway (NH-40) in Meghalaya and parts of NH-44 (Nagpur-Mansar Bypass). 

• Vessel Type: An Arnala-class Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft (ASW SWC).
• Builder: Indigenously designed and built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE), Kolkata, in collaboration with L&T Kattupalli.
• Legacy Name: Reincarnation of the erstwhile INS Agray (a 1241 PE Class Patrol Vessel), which was decommissioned in 2017.

• Designed for subsurface surveillance in coastal and shallow waters.
• Capable of Low-Intensity Maritime Operations (LIMO), mine-laying, and search-and-attack missions.
• Able to conduct coordinated anti-submarine operations with naval aircraft.

• Dimensions: Approximately 77.6 metres long and 10.5 metres wide; Displacement: 900 tonnes.
• Propulsion: Powered by three diesel engines and a waterjet propulsion system, making it part of the largest class of such vessels in the Indian Navy.
• Speed & Endurance: Capable of a maximum speed of 25 knots with an endurance of over 1,800 nautical miles.

• Weapons: Equipped with lightweight torpedoes, indigenous ASW rockets, and anti-submarine mines.
• Guns: Armed with a 30 mm Naval Surface Gun and two 12.7 mm Stabilized Remote-Control Guns (SRCG).
• Sensors: Features advanced shallow-water SONAR, including a Hull-Mounted Sonar and Low-Frequency Variable Depth Sonar.
• Indigenisation: Boasts over 80% indigenous content, aligning with the Aatmanirbhar Bharat initiative. 

• Located at Centre for Marine Living Resources & Ecology (CMLRE), Kochi, Kerala, under Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES).
• Houses over 3,500 taxonomically identified, geo-referenced specimens of deep-sea fauna.
• Collection includes marine invertebrates (cnidarians, annelids, molluscs, arthropods, echinoderms) and vertebrates (elasmobranchs like sharks/rays, teleost fishes).

• Secure custody of biological samples, including DNA sequences and voucher specimens.
• Official custodian for type specimens of new deep-sea species found in Indian waters.
• Serves as scientific reference hub for research, validation, and capacity building in deep-sea taxonomy.

• Supports India's blue economy by centralizing deep-sea data for sustainable resource use.
• Aligns with UN Decade of Ocean Science (2021–2030) for marine research and conservation.
• Aids deep-sea missions, biotechnological innovation, and biodiversity protection in Indian EEZ.

• Objective: To improve the safety and operational performance of selected existing dams and strengthen dam safety institutions at both state and central levels.
• Scale: Part of a larger 10-year program (Phase II & III) covering 736 dams across 19 states and 3 central agencies.
• Timeline: The current phase is scheduled to run from April 2021 to March 2031. 

• Funding: A total budget outlay of ₹10,211 crore for both phases (Phase II: ₹5,107 crore).
• External Assistance: Co-financed by the World Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), providing US$ 250 million each for Phase-II.
• Cost Sharing: The funding pattern is 80:20 for Special Category States, 70:30 for General Category States, and 50:50 for Central Agencies. 

• DHARMA Tool: Utilises the Dam Health and Rehabilitation Monitoring Application (DHARMA), a web-based tool for data capture and smart management of water assets.
• Climate Resilience: Includes flood forecasting systems, integrated reservoir operations, and early warning systems to mitigate climate risks.
• Revenue Generation: Explores alternative revenue streams at selected dams, such as floating solar panels, fisheries, and water recreation. 

• Global Ranking: India ranks third globally (after China and the USA) with over 5,300 large dams in operation.

• Risk Mitigation: Addresses the challenge of ageing infrastructure, as over 1,000 large dams in India were projected to be roughly 50 years old by 2025.
• Employment: Expected to generate approximately 10 lakh person-days for unskilled workers and 2.5 lakh person-days for professionals.

• Critical & Strategic Minerals: A dedicated category of 24 minerals (e.g., Lithium, Cobalt, Titanium) crucial for high-tech industries and national security, auctioned directly by the Central Government since 2023.
• Major Minerals: Includes Iron Ore, Limestone, and Bauxite; revenues from these auctions accrue to the respective State Governments.
• Offshore Blocks: Exploration reports for 10 offshore blocks (polymetallic nodules in the Andaman Sea and lime-mud off Gujarat) have been identified for upcoming auctions. 

• Gujarat: Led the nation with 32 blocks auctioned.
• Rajasthan: Followed closely with 30 blocks.
• New Entrants: Tamil Nadu successfully conducted its first-ever mineral block auctions, and Uttarakhand auctioned its first magnesite block. 

• Energy Transition: Critical minerals are the backbone of solar panels, wind turbines, and Electric Vehicle (EV) batteries.
• Reducing Import Dependence: India aims to secure domestic supplies to avoid over-reliance on countries like China, which dominates the global processing and refining of these minerals.
• Revenue Generation: Record auctions are significantly strengthening the fiscal position of mineral-bearing states through increased royalties and contributions to District Mineral Foundations (DMF). 

• MMDR Act Amendments: Recent changes empower the Centre to auction critical minerals directly and have introduced Mineral Exchanges—electronic platforms for transparent trading of minerals and metals.
• National Critical Minerals Mission (NCMM): A strategic framework launched to oversee production, recycling from e-waste, and global acquisition of mineral assets. 

• Location: A narrow waterway connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden (and the Indian Ocean).
• Borders: Lies between Yemen on the Arabian Peninsula and Djibouti and Eritrea in the Horn of Africa.
• Dimensions:
  • Width: Approximately 26–32 km at its narrowest point.
  • Length: Stretches roughly 70 miles (113 km).
• Perim Island: This Yemeni island divides the strait into two channels: the western channel (Dact-el-Mayun) and the eastern channel (Bab Iskender/Alexander's Strait). 

• Suez Link: It is the southern gateway to the Suez Canal. Without it, ships must travel around the Cape of Good Hope (South Africa), adding ~6,000 km and 10–15 days to the journey.
• Trade Volume: Handles roughly 10% to 12% of global maritime trade annually.
• Oil & Energy: Approximately 4 to 9 million barrels of oil pass through daily (pre-crisis levels).
• "Gate of Tears": Its name (Bab al-Mandab) translates to "Gate of Lamentation/Tears" in Arabic, historically referring to its dangerous navigation and frequent shipwrecks. 

• Traffic Collapse: Confirmed transits through the strait have dropped by over 52% in the last two weeks as operators avoid kinetic risks from missiles and drones.
• Rerouting Patterns: Global shipping has shifted toward long-distance rerouting around Africa, while Saudi Arabia is attempting to pivot exports via Red Sea terminals (like Yanbu) to bypass the closed Strait of Hormuz.
• Military Presence: The area remains heavily militarised, with global naval task forces (like Operation Prosperity Guardian) attempting to safeguard the corridor against Houthi drones, mines, and explosive boats. 

• Insurance Premiums: The region is classified as a "high-risk zone", with insurance costs skyrocketing for any vessel attempting transit.
• Supply Chain Strain: Delays are causing shortages and price hikes for manufactured goods (electronics, vehicles) and perishable food items traded between Asia and Europe. 

• Definition: Intense radio emissions from the Sun's atmosphere, primarily associated with solar flares and Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs).
• Source: Caused by the acceleration of electrons to high energies during solar magnetic activity.
• Frequency Range: Observed across a wide spectrum, from kilohertz (kHz) to gigahertz (GHz). 

• Type I: Short-lived, narrow-band noise storms.
• Type II (Slow-drifting): Triggered by shock waves moving through the solar corona at speeds of ~1,000 km/s. These are critical for predicting incoming CMEs.
• Type III (Fast-drifting): Associated with solar flares and very rapid electron acceleration.
• Type IV & V: Broadband emissions often following major flares. 

• Navigation Systems: Can interfere with Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) like GPS by reducing the signal-to-noise ratio, leading to a "loss of lock".
• Communication Blackouts: High-frequency (HF) radio signals used by aviation and maritime sectors can be completely blocked for minutes or hours.
• Satellite Operations: Intense bursts can introduce noise into satellite-to-ground links, potentially disrupting command and control.
• Solar Cycle Context: These events are more frequent as we reach the peak of Solar Cycle 25, which is currently active. 

• International Efforts: Monitored by a global network of instruments like CALLISTO and dedicated observatories such as the Gauribidanur Radio Observatory in India.
• Predictive Value: Because radio waves travel at the speed of light, they provide an "early warning" of slower-moving particles (CMEs) that may reach Earth 1–3 days later.

• Definition: A global agreement where WTO members refrain from imposing customs duties on electronic transmissions.
• Scope: Covers cross-border digital goods and services, including software downloads, e-books, music/movie streaming, and video games.
• Origin: First adopted in 1998 at the Geneva Ministerial Conference to encourage early digital trade growth. 

• Predictability: Ensures a stable, duty-free environment for global tech giants like Amazon, Microsoft, and Apple.
• Digital Integration: The OECD notes the moratorium accounts for roughly 25% of digital trade integration and helps small businesses scale internationally.
• Cost Efficiency: Proponents argue that the administrative costs of tracking "data at the border" would outweigh the actual revenue gained from small tariffs. 

• Revenue Loss: Developing nations estimate they lose roughly $10 billion annually in potential tariff revenue; India’s share of this loss is estimated at over $500 million per year.
• Digital Divide: Opponents argue the moratorium cements the dominance of advanced "Big Tech" firms from developed nations while hindering the growth of infant digital industries in the Global South.
• Policy Space: Countries like India and Brazil seek the "policy space" to regulate digital imports as they increasingly replace physical goods (e.g., streaming vs. DVDs). 

• Legal Basis for Tariffs: Countries now have the legal right to introduce import duties on digital transmissions for the first time since the internet's global expansion.
• TRIPS Safeguard Loss: The failure to extend also led to the expiry of the safeguard against "non-violation" complaints under the TRIPS Agreement, potentially exposing India’s intellectual property rules (like those preventing patent "evergreening") to legal challenges.
• Business Uncertainty: Industry bodies like the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) have warned that the lapse creates a "patchwork of national rules," increasing costs for MSMEs and consumers. 

• E-Commerce Agreement (ECA): While the multilateral moratorium failed, 66 WTO members (including the EU, Australia, and Japan—but not the U.S. or India) endorsed a separate "E-Commerce Agreement" to establish baseline digital trade rules among themselves. 

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