UPSC Current Affairs 12 June 2026

• Parliamentary Acquaintance: To allow young individuals to understand the complete functioning of a television channel and gain familiarity with democratic parliamentary operations.
• Core Responsibilities: Interns research policy matters, analyze national/international events, critically review legislative bills, and assist in audio-visual program production.

• Nationality: Open exclusively to Indian citizens.
• Academic Background: Candidates should possess a steady academic track record.
• Preferred Domains: Highly qualified students or graduates in journalism, law, economics, arts, sociology, or business management.
• Key Skills: Strong deep-dive desk research skills, high-quality writing capability, and flair for social media management or audio-visual production.

• Departments Allocated: Placements span across both technical and editorial wings of the channel.
• Duration: Varies depending on specific batches; ranges from short-term practical training (1 month) up to standard research terms of 6 months.
• Stipend: Selected long-term interns receive a monthly honorarium generally ranging between ₹30,000 to ₹50,000 (potentially up to ₹60,000 depending on qualifications and experience).

• WhatsApp Ecosystem: Operates entirely within the standard WhatsApp application, removing the need for farmers to download any external or complex mobile apps.
• Direct Helpline: Farmers can access the free service instantly by simply saving the official contact number +91 4024598180 and text-chatting with the AI bot.
• 24/7 Availability: The automated chatbot provides round-the-clock, real-time troubleshooting at any hour of the day or night.

• Regional Language Capabilities: The AI agent is designed to understand and reply seamlessly in major Indian regional languages—including Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, and English.
• Natural Processing: Farmers can type queries or voice their concerns naturally in their local vernacular dialect to get standardized help.

• Soybeans and Groundnuts
• Rapeseed-Mustard and Sunflowers
• Sesame, Niger, and Safflower seeds
• Castor and Linseed crops.

• Sowing & Seed Selection: Guidance on choosing the ideal climate-resilient crop varieties and hybrid seeds.
• Pest & Disease Management: Immediate field troubleshooting and bio-control remedies to limit crop damage.
• Nutrient & Irrigation Practices: Scientific schedules detailing fertilizer usage and water management.
• Post-Harvest Guidance: Strategies for drying, grading, storage, and reducing post-harvest losses to maximize market value.

• Primary Developer: Conceptualized and engineered by the ICAR-Indian Institute of Oilseeds Research (IIOR) based out of Hyderabad.
• Knowledge Network: Powered by data aggregated from elite national bodies, including the National Seeds Research and Training Institute (NSRI), the Indian Institute of Grains Research (IIGR), and the Directorate of Rapeseed-Mustard Research (DRMR).

• Instant Digital Corridor: Establishes direct API integration between different countries' retail fast-payment systems (like India’s UPI with Singapore’s Pay Now or Nepal’s NPI).
• Executing Agencies: Built and maintained internationally via NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL) alongside foreign clearing houses.
• Elimination of Intermediaries: Bypasses traditional, multi-layered correspondent banking systems, drastically lowering transfer friction.

• Inward to India: Transfers from Nepal to India are capped at ₹15,000 per transaction and ₹100,000 per month.
• Outward from India: Remittances from India to Nepal allow up to ₹200,000 per transaction with no fixed monthly ceiling.
• Banking Support: Supported directly across major commercial banks including State Bank of India (SBI), HDFC, ICICI, and Axis Bank.

• Cost Reduction: Directly targets the G20 global roadmap objective of reducing average cross-border remittance costs to under 3% (and targeting 1% by 2027).
• Cash Independence: Eliminates physical currency exchange charges and the risk of carrying large cash volumes across international borders.
• Financial Inclusion: Allows migrant workers, students, and small traders to send money home securely using basic smartphone wallets.

• Active Network: India's UPI cross-border remittance and merchant payment framework is now live or integrated across 9 global destinations.
• Partner Nations: Currently includes Bhutan, Cambodia, France, Mauritius, Nepal, Qatar, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and the UAE.

• Latin Meaning: The term "forum non conveniens" directly translates to an "inconvenient forum".
• Discretionary Power: It is a common law principle allowing a court to stay or dismiss a civil case even if it possesses valid legal jurisdiction over the parties and subject matter.
• Alternative Venue Requirement: The court invokes this power only when another competent court or jurisdiction exists that is significantly more appropriate and convenient to decide the matter.

• Defendant-Driven Objection: The doctrine is not automatically applied by a court; it must generally be raised as a formal challenge by the defendant.
• Burden of Proof: The defendant bears the entire responsibility of proving why the plaintiff's chosen forum is improper and why an alternative court serves the ends of justice better.
• Multi-Fora Prerequisite: It applies exclusively when multiple courts or legal venues are simultaneously available to the litigant for seeking the exact same legal remedy.

• Private Interests: Physical convenience of the litigating parties, expenses, and ease of access to local witnesses or physical evidence.
• Public Interests: Administrative difficulties for the court, local public interest in the dispute, and the specific applicable laws governing the case.
• Adequacy of Alternative: The court will deny the dismissal if the foreign or alternative judicial system is grossly inadequate or fails to guarantee a fair trial.

• Article 226(1) Supremacy: Under Article 226(1), a writ petition can be filed based on the physical situs (location) of the respondent's office.
• Availability of Records: In petitions seeking a writ of certiorari, critical administrative records are held directly by the government offices.
• No Hardship to Respondents: Because the citizen files the case where the authority's office is located, the forum is already convenient to the respondents; thus, using "inconvenience" to dismiss the plea is invalid.
• Global Domain: Beyond domestic public law, the doctrine remains a pillar of Private International Law (Conflict of Laws) to prevent "forum shopping" in cross-border corporate or maritime disputes.

• Nodal Governance: Developed under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and executed on the ground by TRIFED (Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India).
• Cultural Naming: The word ‘Risa’ is inspired directly by the traditional handwoven stole of Tripura, a historical tribal attire item worn by indigenous communities.
• Primary Objective: To reposition raw tribal arts as high-end aspirational merchandise while establishing direct, fair-profit linkages for grassroots weavers.

• Design Intervention: Partnering with elite Indian fashion designers (such as Anju Modi, Manish Tripathi, and Gaurav Jai Gupta) to blend contemporary style demands with authentic tribal weaves.
• Capacity Building: Upskilling tribal communities and women-led self-help cooperatives to handle complex stitching and meet international market quality checks.
• Infrastructure Setup: Setting up modern design clusters and fully integrated sewing/stitching manufacturing units closer to tribal villages.
• Premium Packaging: Collaborating with the National Institute of Design (NID), Haryana to create environmentally sustainable, premium custom packaging for luxury retail clients.

• Weaves & Silks: Eri Silk and Muga Silk (Assam), Santal Cotton (Jharkhand), Changpa Pashmina (Ladakh), and Kotpad Cotton (Odisha).
• Intricate Embroideries: Dongria Embroidery (Odisha) and Toda Embroidery (Tamil Nadu).
• Lifestyle Handicrafts: Longpi Pottery (Manipur), Turtuk Brass Cutlery (Ladakh), and Dokhra Art (Chhattisgarh).

• Administrative Classification: SCS is a special designation granted by the Central Government to assist states facing geographical, historical, and socio-economic development disadvantages.
• No Constitutional Mandate: The Constitution of India does not contain any explicit provision for "Special Category Status".
• Historical Origin: It was introduced in 1969 based on the recommendations of the Fifth Finance Commission and governed under the Gadgil-Mukherjee Formula.
• Distinction From Special Status: SCS deals purely with financial/economic assistance, whereas "Special Status" (like the erstwhile Article 370 for J&K or Article 371 for various states) confers specific political, legislative, and cultural rights.

• Hilly and difficult terrain.
• Low population density and/or a sizable tribal population.
• Strategic international border location.
• Economic and infrastructural backwardness.
• Non-viable nature of state finances.

• 90:10 Scheme Splitting: For all Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS), the Centre funds 90% of the cost as a grant, while the state contributes only 10% (compared to a standard 60:40 split for regular states).
• Non-Lapsable Funds: Unspent central funds allocated to an SCS state do not lapse at the end of the financial year; they automatically roll over to the next year.
• Tax Concessions: Industries operating in these states enjoy massive exemptions from central excise, customs duties, income tax, and corporate tax to incentivize private investment.

• The 8 Northeastern States: Assam, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Sikkim, and Tripura.
• The 3 Himalayan/Hill States: Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Telangana (allocated SCS during its structural bifurcation from Andhra Pradesh).
• Note: Jammu & Kashmir was the first to receive it in 1969, but its status changed following its conversion into a Union Territory.

• The 14th Finance Commission Ruling: The 14th Finance Commission effectively recommended the dissolution of the SCS tag for new states. It aimed to correct resource gaps by increasing the direct tax devolution pool to all states from 32% to 42%.
• The "Floodgate" Fear: The Central Government fears that granting SCS to Bihar or Andhra Pradesh would trigger immediate, valid counter-demands from states like Odisha, Rajasthan, and Jharkhand.
• The Special Package Compromise: Instead of permanent SCS status, the Centre has adopted a policy of granting targeted financial assistance through "Special Packages" to support specific projects like building state capitals or mitigating natural disasters.

• Technical Definition: Involves any procedural alteration, partial removal, or total removal of the external female genitalia for cultural, social, or non-medical reasons.
• No Health Benefits: The World Health Organization emphasizes that the practice provides zero physiological or medical benefit and causes irreversible anatomical harm.
• Global Footprint: Currently documented across at least 94 nations globally, with massive concentration zones spanning Africa, Asia, and parts of the Middle East.
• Impact Metric: More than 230 million girls and women alive today are registered survivors of FGM.

• Type 1 (Clitoridectomy): Partial or total removal of the clitoral glis and/or the prepuce.
• Type 2 (Excision): Partial or total removal of the clitoral glans and the labia minora.
• Type 3 (Infibulation): The narrowing of the vaginal opening through the creation of a covering seal. This is achieved by cutting and stitching the labia minora or majora.
• Type 4: All other harmful, invasive non-medical procedures. This includes pricking, piercing, scraping, incising, or cauterizing the genital tissue.

• Gender Inequality: Rooted profoundly in structural gender inequality and attempts to rigidly control female sexuality and fidelity.
• Social Conformity: Driven by localized community pressure to ensure a girl remains "marriageable" or to avoid intense social exclusion and ostracism.
• Purity Myths: Perpetuated by deep-seated traditional beliefs surrounding aesthetic beauty, hygiene, modesty, and perceived religious requirements (though not endorsed by any major religious texts).

• Immediate Risks: Severe hemorrhaging (bleeding), acute shock, local tissue infections, transmission of viruses via unsterilized blades, and direct risk of death.
• Long-Term Damage: Chronic urinary tract infections, severe menstrual blockage, painful cysts, permanent scar tissue formation, and profound psychological trauma.
• Obstetric Complications: Severe difficulties during later child birth, vastly increasing the risk of maternal mortality and newborn deaths.

• Human Rights Violations: Formally classified as an extreme violation of the fundamental rights of children, bodily integrity, and the right to live free from torture.
• Global Treaties: Prohibited globally under provisions of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
• Sustainable Development Goals (SDG): Targeted for absolute global elimination by 2030 under SDG Goal 5.3.

• Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC): The most prevalent form, accounting for approximately 85% of all documented cases. It includes adenocarcinomas and squamous cell carcinomas.
• Small Cell Lung Cancer (SCLC): Highly aggressive, fast-spreading subtype accounting for 13%–15% of cases, heavily associated with a history of intensive smoking.

• Tobacco Smoking: Remains the absolute leading driver, causing roughly 85% of all diagnoses globally.
• The Non-Smoker Surge: An increasing percentage of modern diagnoses occurs in individuals who have never smoked, predominantly impacting women.
• Environmental Toxins: Extended exposure to cancer-causing radon gas, secondhand smoke, asbestos, arsenic, and heavy diesel exhaust.
• Air Pollution: High fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) density in urban centers is directly linked to cellular mutations in lung tissues.

• A persistent, worsening cough that does not clear up after several weeks.
• Hemoptysis (coughing up blood or rust-coloured sputum).
• Shortness of breath (dyspnea), unexplained wheezing, and chronic chest pain.
• Unintended, rapid weight loss and severe fatigue.

• Global Fatality Leader: Statistically ranks as the No. 1 cause of cancer-related mortality globally, causing roughly 1.8 million deaths annually.
• Late-Stage Discovery Gap: Most cases are caught at Stage 3 or Stage 4 after local metastasis, because the lungs lack pain receptors to trigger early warning signs.
• Survival Disparity: Caught early, the 5-year survival rate stands at a strong 65%. However, if the cancer metastasizes to distant organs, the 5-year survival rate drops drastically to around 10%.

• Surgical Resection: Physical removal of infected lung lobes (lobectomy) for localized early-stage tumours.
• Targeted Biomarker Therapy: Tailored drugs designed to explicitly block oncogenic mutations (such as EGFR inhibitors or ALK positive gene-targeted medications).
• Immunotherapy (Checkpoint Inhibitors): Monoclonal antibodies (like anti-PD-1 or PD-L1 agents) that unmask cancer cells, letting the patient’s own immune T-cells identify and destroy the tumour.

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