UPSC Current Affairs 20 July 2026

• Full Form: National Action for Mechanised Sanitation Ecosystem.
• Type of Scheme: Central Sector Scheme (100% funded by the Union Government).
• Nodal Ministries: Jointly implemented by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MoSJE) and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA).
• Implementing Agency: National Safai Karamcharis Finance and Development Corporation (NSKFDC).
• Timeline & Coverage: Active from FY 2023–24 to FY 2025–26, spanning all 4,800+ Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) across India.
• Predecessor: It completely replaced the older Self-Employment Scheme for Rehabilitation of Manual Scavengers (SRMS).

• Zero Fatalities: To completely stop hazardous sanitation work deaths.
• No Direct Human Contact: To eliminate manual handling of human faecal matter and toxic waste.
• 100% Mechanisation: Moving all sewer and septic tank operations from manual labour to advanced machines (like vacuum trucks and robotic cleaners).
• Skilled Workforce: Certifying and training all sanitation workers to handle safety devices professionally.

• Sewer and Septic Tank Workers (SSWs): The original focus group for urban underground sanitation safety.
• Waste Pickers Added: The scheme expanded its target pool to include waste pickers, collectors, and sorters involved in solid waste management to give them social security.

• Digital Profiling & ID: Workers undergo Aadhaar-validated e-KYC to receive a unique NAMASTE ID, making an invisible workforce formally recognized.
• Health Security: Direct integration into Ayushman Bharat (PM-JAY) for free health insurance coverage.
• Safety Gear: Free distribution of high-grade PPE Kits and occupational safety tools.
• Financial Subsidies: Under the Swachhata Udyami Yojana (SUY), workers receive upfront capital subsidies (up to ₹7.50 lakh for individuals) to buy their own mechanised cleaning vehicles, transforming them into entrepreneurs ("Sanipreneurs").
• Alternative Livelihoods: Promoting financial self-reliance through Self-Help Groups (SHGs).

• Emergency Units: The setup of Emergency Response Sanitation Units (ERSUs) at municipal levels equipped with safety devices.
• Financial Reimbursements: Municipalities can claim up to ₹2,00,000 for reinforcing regional safety infrastructure.

• Definition: It is a severe, atypical, and potentially fatal form of pneumonia (lung infection).
• Causative Agent: It is caused by an environmental bacterium, primarily the species Legionella pneumophila.
• History: Discovered in 1976 after a mysterious respiratory outbreak among people attending an American Legion convention at a hotel in Philadelphia, USA.
• Pontiac Fever: Legionella can also cause a milder, flu-like illness without pneumonia known as Pontiac Fever, which resolves without intensive treatment.

• Inhalation of Mist: Infection occurs when people breathe in tiny aerosolized water droplets or mist contaminated with the bacteria.
• Not Contagious: It does not spread from person to person.
• Common Breeding Grounds: It thrives in man-made, warm water systems including central air conditioning cooling towers, hot tubs, public fountains, and large building plumbing networks.
• No Home AC Risk: Standard home and car air conditioners do not use water to cool the air, meaning they pose zero risk for transmitting the bacteria.

• Incubation Period: Symptoms generally appear 2 to 10 days after exposure.
• Initial Signs: High fever, severe headaches, muscle aches (myalgia), dry cough, and fatigue.
• Advanced Signs: Shortness of breath, chest pain, coughing up blood, and gastrointestinal symptoms like diarrhea, nausea, and abdominal pain.
• Severe Complications: Can lead to respiratory failure, acute kidney injury, mental confusion, and a fatal outcome in about 1 in 10 cases.

• Age: Adults over the age of 50.
• Lifestyles: Current or former heavy smokers, as well as individuals with a history of alcohol abuse.
• Chronic Conditions: People suffering from diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), or kidney diseases.
• Immunocompromised Status: Individuals undergoing chemotherapy, organ transplant recipients, or those taking immunosuppressive drugs.

• Diagnosis: Confirmed using lab tests like urinary antigen tests or checking respiratory secretions via PCR.
• Antibiotics Required: Unlike viral respiratory infections, Legionnaires' disease requires immediate antibiotic therapy (typically fluoroquinolones or macrolides).
• No Vaccine: There is currently no vaccine available to protect humans against the bacteria.
• Prevention: Focuses entirely on strict public engineering, regular decontamination, structural flushing, and keeping industrial water systems properly treated with biocides.

• Location: It is a unique freshwater and partly brackish water urban wetland situated about 20 kilometres south of Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
• Ramsar Site Designation: It was designated as a Ramsar Site of International Importance on April 8, 2022, legally protecting its critical status under international environmental treaties.
• Local Terminology: It is locally known by the generic Tamil name Kazhuveli, which translates directly to a floodplain or waterlogged area.
• Natural Urban Sponge: It drains a massive 250 sq. km catchment area across South Chennai, acting as the city's vital flood buffer by absorbing excess monsoon stormwater.
• Outlets: The marshland encompasses over 65 smaller interconnected satellite wetlands, discharging water into the Bay of Bengal through the Okkiyam Madavu channel and Kovalam Creek.

• Avian Haven: Historically renowned as a major migratory bird hub, supporting over 115 distinct bird species, including Glossy Ibis, Grey-headed Lapwings, and Pheasant-tailed Jacana.
• Flamingo Habitat: It is one of the rare urban coastal aquatic habitats in India capable of hosting both Greater and Lesser Flamingos simultaneously.
• Diverse Ecosystem: Beyond birds, the marsh supports 10 mammal species, 21 reptile species (such as Russell’s viper), 10 amphibians, 46 fish varieties, and various crustaceans.

• Massive Shrinkage: Spanning nearly 50 square kilometres in the 1940s, rapid urban expansion has shrunk the marshland by an alarming 90%, leaving behind a core protected forest of only about 698 hectares.
• Encroachment Proximity: The marsh is trapped amidst dense IT Corridors (Old Mahabalipuram Road), residential high-rises (Velachery, Perungudi), and Mass Rapid Transit tracks.
• Pollution and Leachate: Stagnant, untreated municipal sewage and toxic chemical leachate routinely seep into the wetland from the adjacent, unlined Perungudi dumpyard.
• Invasive Species Takeover: Nutrient-heavy water pollution has triggered severe outbreaks of invasive water hyacinths, turning parts of the marsh into hypoxic "dead zones" dominated by predatory African catfish.

• Geographic Site: The plant is being built at the Sankrail Food Park in Howrah, located near Kolkata, West Bengal.
• Financial Investment: The integrated project is backed by a massive budget allocation of ₹700 crore.
• Developing Authority: The facility is being constructed by the Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producers Union Limited (better known globally as Amul Dairy).

• Record Curd Production: Once fully completed, it will produce 1,000 metric tonnes (10 lakh kilograms) of curd and cultured dairy items every single day.
• Milk Processing Power: The facility possesses an ultimate processing capability of up to 30 lakh litres of fresh milk daily.
• Regional Product Focus: A primary manufacturing focus will be dedicated to Mishti Doi (sweet curd) and Tok Doi (sour curd) to cater to intense local Bengali consumer demand.
• Diverse Product Basket: Beyond curd, the plant's daily target outputs include Press Information Bureau (PIB):
  • 10 lakh litres of standard packaged milk
  • 2.5 lakh packs of flavoured milk
  • 2 lakh litres of Ultra-High Temperature (UHT) long-shelf-life milk
  • 1 lakh litres of ice cream
  • 20 metric tonnes of paneer
  • 10 metric tonnes each of ghee and traditional sweets

• Farmer Benefits: The mega-facility directly links and secures steady livelihoods for more than 1.25 lakh local dairy farming families across West Bengal.
• Women Empowerment: Over 30,000 women milk producers are explicitly integrated into this cooperative procurement network.
• Rural Employment: It is projected to generate thousands of direct factory jobs and indirect logistics employment opportunities across Eastern India.
• Breed Improvement Drive: Alongside the plant, the central government plans to allocate resources in Bengal to improve livestock breeds, striving to ensure rural families own highly productive milch animals.

• Host Country: It is organized and hosted biennially by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF).
• Origin of Name: The exercise takes its name from its strict emphasis on complex night flying over vast, unpopulated terrains.
• Historical Legacy: First conducted in 1983, the exercise marks 45 years of evolution into one of the world's leading air warfare drills.
• Primary Venues: The intensive training operates out of crucial northern RAAF bases: Darwin, Tindal, and Amberley.

• Massive Aircraft Presence: Features up to and exceeding 100 advanced fighter and support aircraft.
• Personnel Strength: Draws over 2,500 highly specialized military personnel from across the globe.
• Global Coalition: Brings together 19 to 20 participating nations, including India, Australia, the US, the UK, Japan, France, South Korea, and Singapore.

• Contingent Composition: The IAF has deployed four Rafale multirole fighter aircraft, two C-17 Globemaster III strategic transport aircraft, an IL-78 air-to-air refuelling tanker, and over 120 Air Warriors.
• First for Rafale: This edition marks the high-profile maiden appearance of IAF Rafale fighter jets in Exercise Pitch Black.
• Mission Goal: Focuses heavily on proving long-range expeditionary capabilities, validating complex day-and-night combat tactics, and mastering Large Force Employment (LFE) missions alongside 5th-generation platforms like the F-35.

• Interoperability: Aims to seamlessly integrate disparate international force structures into cohesive, high-intensity collaborative operations.
• Tactical Exchange: Serves as a dynamic real-world platform to exchange operational best practices, refine mission planning, and sharpen rapid deployment skills.
• Indo-Pacific Stability: Strengthens professional military ties and projects a unified commitment toward regional security and freedom of navigation across the Indo-Pacific.

• Massive Turnout: Approximately 20 lakh candidates appeared for the re-examination across 5,440 centres globally.
• Qualification Rate: A total of 11.21 lakh candidates officially qualified for medical admissions.
• National Toppers: Aryan Gupta (Punjab) and Panshul Bansal (Haryana) jointly secured the All India Rank (AIR) 1 and 2, respectively, both scoring 715 out of 720 marks.
• Women Outshine Men: Over 58% of the qualified candidates are women, achieving a qualification rate of 56.8% compared to 55.1% for male candidates.
• High Score Densities: 19 candidates scored above 700 marks, and 138 candidates crossed the 690-mark threshold.

• Mode Shift Announcement: Following the intense pen-and-paper leak crisis, the Central Government announced that NEET-UG will permanently transition into a Computer-Based Test (CBT) in future cycles to enhance security.
• Time Extension: The NTA added an extra 15 minutes to the exam duration, providing students a total of 3 hours and 15 minutes to attempt the paper.
• Radhakrishnan Committee Reforms: Measures like enhanced digital biometric screening and updated seating protocols recommended by the high-level Dr. K. Radhakrishnan Committee were implemented during the June re-test.

• Purpose: It is India's single, uniform gateway for admission to undergraduate medical programs including MBBS, BDS, AYUSH (BAMS, BUMS, BSMS, BHMS), and B.Sc. Nursing.
• Seat Matrix: Results determine admissions for roughly 1.37 lakh total medical seats, which includes about 1,08,000 MBBS slots spread across government and private institutions.
• Marking Pattern: Comprises 180 questions across Physics, Chemistry, Botany, and Zoology. Correct answers award +4 marks, while incorrect responses incur a -1 negative marking penalty.

• The Name: VISHWAS stands for Voluntary Compliance, Reduction in Litigation, and Speedy Resolution of Outstanding Damages/Penalties.
• Effective Window: The scheme retroactively came into effect on June 29, 2026, and will remain strictly operational for a limited duration of six months (ending in late December 2026).
• Target Audience: It is designed explicitly for employers and establishments that faced delayed filings of Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) contributions in the past.
• Governing Provisions: It exercises powers under Section 14B of the EPF & MP Act, 1952, and Section 128 of the Code on Social Security, 2020, to recover and settle penal damages.

Default Period Duration	Revised Concessional Penalty Rate
Up to 2 months	0.25% per month
Exceeding 2 months to less than 4 months	0.50% per month
Exceeding 4 months	1.00% per month

• Interest Prerequisite: To unlock the concessional penalty rates, employers must first fully remit and clear the entire statutory interest due under Section 7Q of the Act.
• Legal No-Appeal Undertaking: Applying establishments must formally submit a binding legal undertaking stating they will immediately withdraw any ongoing court cases and will not pursue further appeals regarding the settled dispute.
• Four Covered Categories: The scheme broadly processes:
  1. Cases where final penalty or damage orders are actively being challenged in courts.
  2. Cases where recovery certificates (RRC) have been issued but remain partially or completely unpaid.
  3. Cases where formal notices have been issued but the final adjudicating order is pending.
  4. Historical defaults where a formal notice has not yet been generated.
• Strict Fraud Exclusion: The scheme completely excludes and bars any cases involving deliberate fraud, financial misappropriation, or willful falsification of establishment records.

• 100% Digital Process: Employers must submit their applications entirely online via the EPFO Employer Portal using their authorized Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) or e-Sign.
• 15-Day Payment Window: Once the system automatically recalculates the reduced damages, the employer must accept the amount online and execute the final payment within exactly 15 days using a unique system-generated Vishwas ID.
• Establishment of VISHWAS Cells: Dedicated, fast-track "VISHWAS Cells" have been set up across all Zonal, Regional, and District EPFO offices across India to assist businesses and ensure rapid, error-free processing.
• Dispute Closure Certificate: Upon successful payment, the portal issues a digitally signed closure certificate that can be submitted to courts to officially extinguish the legal case.

• For Employers: Drastically minimizes the balance-sheet threat of legacy fines, reduces compliance costs, eliminates legal/advocate fee structures, and allows for a clean regulatory reboot.
• For Employees: Ensures that stuck social security funds and pending employer liabilities are rapidly recovered and safely deposited back into individual PF accounts without multi-year legal delays.

Download Pdf