UPSC Current Affairs 22 June 2026

• State: Situated in the Gwalior-Chambal region of Madhya Pradesh, India.
• Districts: Spreads across the Sheopur and Morena districts.
• Topography: Nestled near the Central Indian Vindhyan Hills. The terrain is a mix of expansive plateaus, valleys, and seasonal streams.
• Lifeline River: The Kuno River (a major tributary of the Chambal River) cuts through the park from south to north, serving as its primary water source.

• Establishment: Originally set up as a Wildlife Sanctuary in 1981 with an initial area of roughly 344 sq. km.
• Upgradation: Ameliorated and upgraded to a National Park in December 2018.
• Area: Currently covers a core area of 748.76 sq. km surrounded by a buffer zone of 557.27 sq. km.
• Human Relocation: Between 1998 and 2003, 24 local villages (including the Sahariya Adivasi community) were relocated outside the core area to minimize biotic pressure and prepare the habitat for apex predators.

• Forest Type: Primarily consists of Southern and Northern Tropical Dry Deciduous Forests, interspersed with dry Savannah forests and vast grasslands.
• Dominant Trees: Heavily dominated by Kardhai (which turns green with just atmospheric humidity), Khair, and Salai trees.

• Apex Predators: Houses the Indian leopard, jungle cat, Indian wolf, striped hyena, dhole (wild dog), and the newly reintroduced African cheetah.
• Prey Base: Rich population of Chital (spotted deer), Sambar, Nilgai, Chinkara, Blackbuck, and Barking deer.
• Historical Monuments: The park's interior features remnants of ancient forts such as Palpur Ki Gadhi, Amet, and Maitoni, which attract heritage tourists.

• PM Modi in Kolkata: India's primary national celebration shifted to West Bengal Kolkata's historic Red Road, where Prime Minister Modi performed the Common Yoga Protocol along with thousands of practitioners.
• New Guinness World Record: A special nationwide live countdown session on 14 June 2026 saw more than 4,00,000 people joining simultaneously, setting a world record.
• Massive Global Footprint: Celebrations scaled up significantly with events organized across 2,500 locations globally spanning over 210 Indian Missions and posts.

• Official Theme: The theme for IDY 2026 is "Yoga for Healthy Ageing".
• Alignment with WHO: The theme directly supports the goals of the World Health Organization (WHO) Decade of Healthy Ageing (2021–2030).
• Target Objective: It focuses on active living, promoting physical vitality, reducing fall risks, safeguarding cognitive health, and enhancing the quality of life for the elderly.

• Yoga Sangam Portal: The Ministry of Ayush relaunched the Yoga Sangam Portal to manage decentralized mass yoga demonstrations across the nation.
• Yoga Park Portal: Launched by the Indian government to support developing dedicated, permanent yoga infrastructure across states and institutions.
• Iconic Heritage Sites: The Ministry of Culture held specialized events at 100 iconic heritage sites across India, including the Red Fort, Konark, Hampi, and Mahabalipuram.
• UN Headquarters Event: The Permanent Mission of India to the UN hosted a flagship event on June 18, 2026, at the North Lawn Area of the UN Headquarters in New York.
• Yoga 365 Campaign: A massive year-round outreach project that provided free yoga training to over two lakh individuals, granting them Yog Mitra certifications.

• The Origin: Prime Minister Narendra Modi first proposed the idea during his speech at the 69th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in September 2014.
• UN Proclamation: On 11 December 2014, the UNGA officially designated June 21 as the International Day of Yoga through a resolution co-sponsored by a record 175 member nations.
• First Observance: The first International Day of Yoga was celebrated worldwide on 21 June 2015.
• Why June 21? The date marks the Summer Solstice, which is the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere and holds immense spiritual and cultural importance across various civilisations.

• Class & Project: Fifth guided-missile stealth frigate built under the Project 17A (Nilgiri-class) initiative.
• Builder: Fabricated by Kolkata-based Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE).
• Specifications: Spans 149 metres in length with a displacement exceeding 6,600 tonnes.
• Weapons System: Equipped with lethal BrahMos surface-to-surface missiles alongside Medium Range Surface-to-Air Missile (MRSAM) grids.
• Role: Operates as a frontline combatant designed for anti-air, anti-surface, and deep anti-submarine operations.

• Class & Project: Fourth and final platform of the Sandhayak-class Survey Vessels Large (SVL) project.
• Literal Meaning: The name "Sanshodhak" translates natively to "Researcher".
• Key Weaponry/Tech: Fitted with advanced Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs), Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs), and multibeam echo-sounders.
• Role: Conducts full-scale coastal and deep-water hydrographic surveys while amassing oceanographic and geophysical datasets for both civilian and defence operations.

• Class & Project: Fourth vessel under the Arnala-class Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft (ASW-SWC) category.
• Weaponry & Systems: Loaded with indigenously built rocket launchers, lightweight torpedoes, and specialized shallow-water sonars.
• Role: Engineered for coastal surveillance, tracking subsurface profiles, and destroying underwater threats in littoral (shallow) waters.

• High Indigenous Content: All three vessels integrate over 80% domestic systems, components, and weaponry, strengthening local defence supply chains.
• Maritime Security: Bolsters India's net security provider role in the Indo-Pacific amid shifting geopolitical dynamics.
• Economic Footprint: The execution of these massive shipbuilding projects directly generated thousands of skilled manufacturing jobs across Indian MSMEs.

• National Self-Reliance: The plant directly supports the Atmanirbhar Bharat and Viksit Bharat visions by localizing critical high-tech materials.
• Target Material: It focuses on the manufacturing of high-purity deuterated solvents and specialized compounds.
• Aiding Frontier Research: The output will cater to advanced scientific research, defence protocols, and frontier technological applications.

• Chemical Nature: These are chemical substances where standard hydrogen atoms are replaced with deuterium (2H or D) which is a stable, non-radioactive isotope of hydrogen.
• The Isotope Effect: Carbon-Deuterium (C-D) bonds are shorter and 6 to 10 times more stable than Carbon-Hydrogen (C-H) bonds. This significantly slows down chemical and metabolic breakdown rates.

• Pharmaceuticals: Vital for creating deuterated drugs (APIs). They extend a drug's half-life in the body, lower required dosages, minimize side effects, and prevent toxic metabolite formation.
• Analytical Chemistry: Used as standard transparent solvents in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and mass spectrometry tracing.
• Electronics and High-Tech: Crucial for enhancing the structural longevity of semiconductors, OLED displays, and fiber optics.

• Heavy Water Board’s Mandate: The Heavy Water Board (HWB) has been aggressively leveraging its nuclear infrastructure to promote non-nuclear industrial applications of heavy water.
• Global Hub Ambitions: Combined with separate government-backed commercial projects—like the Technology Development Board (TDB) funding Clearsynth Labs for bulk industrial manufacturing—this infrastructure positions India to become a leading global supplier of specialty isotopic chemicals.

• Fast Disbursal: DPF quickly channels non-earmarked financing directly into a borrower country's national budget to meet sudden or anticipated development requirements.
• Policy-Based Lending: Funds are released only after the borrowing country meets specific, mutually agreed-upon institutional and legislative milestones called "prior actions".
• Broader Scope: DPF aims for long-term structural overhauls such as improving the investment climate, strengthening public financial management, and diversifying local economies.
• Lending Types: It can be extended flexibly in the form of direct loans, credits, grants, or official guarantees.
• Catastrophe Support: It includes specialized variants like the Catastrophe Deferred Drawdown Option (Cat DDO) to unlock instant liquidity following natural disasters or public health crises.

• Macroeconomic Framework: The country must maintain an adequate macroeconomic policy framework, verified continuously by the Bank alongside IMF assessments.
• Reform Implementation: Satisfactory ongoing progress of the country’s broad economic reform program is mandatory.
• Paris Agreement Alignment: All active DPF operations are legally required to align completely with the climate action objectives of the Paris Agreement.
• Social & Environmental Safeguards: The Bank conducts rigorous impact assessments to ensure policy shifts do not adversely affect vulnerable groups, forests, or natural ecosystems.
• Country Ownership: The design must rely heavily on domestic stakeholder consultation, ensuring local political ownership rather than conditions imposed externally.

• Labour Law Consolidation: The financing builds on the consolidation of 29 complex labour laws into 4 comprehensive Labour Codes, designed to streamline formal sector hiring.
• Gender Equality: Supporting updated regulations that reduce institutional barriers, making it legally and logistically easier for women to enter formal jobs.
• Tax Simplification: Assisting in the rollout of smooth, digitised compliance systems such as the Next-Generation GST framework.
• MSME Modernisation: Endorsing broader, more inclusive statutory definitions of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises to significantly extend credit and ease regulatory entry for entrepreneurs.
• Private Capital Mobilisation: Working in tandem with parallel International Finance Corporation (IFC) initiatives to draw private investments into underserved rural and semi-urban industrial spaces.

• The "Constitution for the Oceans": UNCLOS is an international treaty that provides a comprehensive legal framework for all ocean spaces, their uses, and resources.
• Maritime Zones: It divides the ocean into five distinct zones: Internal Waters, Territorial Sea, Contiguous Zone, Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), and High Seas.
• Common Heritage: It defines the deep seabed and its mineral resources beyond national jurisdictions as the "common heritage of mankind", managed collectively rather than exploited by individual superpowers.

• Establishment: ITLOS is an independent judicial body established by the Third United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which was opened for signature in 1982.
• Headquarters: The seat of the Tribunal is located in the city of Hamburg, Germany.
• Composition: The Tribunal consists of 21 independent judges elected from among persons of the highest reputation for fairness, integrity, and recognized competence in the field of maritime law.
• Representation: The composition ensures representation of the principal legal systems of the world and equitable geographical distribution.

• Dispute Settlement: It adjudicates disputes arising out of the interpretation and application of the UNCLOS treaty.
• Key Focus Areas: Its cases generally involve the delimitation of maritime zones, freedom of navigation, conservation of marine living resources, and the protection of the marine environment.
• Compulsory Powers: It possesses unique compulsory jurisdiction regarding the prompt release of vessels and crews detained abroad and the order of provisional measures (injunctions) to prevent immediate environmental damage.
• Open to Non-State Entities: Unlike the International Court of Justice (ICJ), ITLOS can open its doors to entities other than states, including international organizations, state enterprises, and private entities like shipowners.

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