UPSC Current Affairs 30 July 2026

• The report confirmed that the YUVIKA 2026 session was successfully executed from 11 May to 22 May 2026, expanding its reach to 456 students across 9 major ISRO centres.

• "Catch Them Young": Created by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to seed an early interest in space technology and space sciences among high schoolers.
• STEM Promotion: Designed to motivate young students to pursue higher education and research careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.

• Target Audience: Exclusively tailored for Class 9 students studying within any recognized school ecosystem in India.
• Structure: A intensive two-week fully residential training experience held annually during the summer break.
• Funding: Fully funded by the Department of Space; all costs for student travel, boarding, lodging, and materials are completely covered by ISRO.
• Merit-Based System: Candidates are selected automatically based on a weighted matrix of Class 8 academic scores, online quiz performance, and participation in science fairs, sports, or school clubs (NCC/Scouts).
• Rural Advantage: A 15% reservation/weightage bonus is purposefully allocated to children studying in rural and remote areas to ensure structural inclusivity.

• Expanded Footprint: Scaled up to train 456 meritorious students from 28 States and 8 Union Territories, compared to 350 students in the previous batch.
• 9 Host ISRO Centres: Sessions were distributed across premium facilities like VSSC (Thiruvananthapuram), SDSC SHAR (Sriharikota), NRSC (Hyderabad), URSC (Bengaluru), SAC (Ahmedabad), IIRS (Dehradun), NE-SAC (Shillong), and two new additions—IPRC (Mahendragiri) and RRSC West (Jodhpur).
• Experiential Learning: Students assembled Chandrayaan-3 DIY kits, coded basic robotics, watched a live RH200 rocket launch, and conducted sky-gazing sessions.
• Global Interaction: Participants engaged in a live, direct virtual interaction with scientists stationed at India’s Bharati Station in Antarctica, alongside mentoring from senior scientists and Indian Gaganyaatris.

• Target Focus: It regulates emissions strictly from international civil aviation, which is excluded from the UNFCCC's Paris Agreement.
• Carbon Neutral Growth: The primary goal is stabilizing net carbon emissions from international aviation against an established 2019 baseline.
• Offsetting System: Airlines exceeding the baseline must purchase and retire certified carbon credits called Eligible Emissions Units (EEUs) from approved programs (e.g., Gold Standard, Verra).
• Double Counting Prevention: Host countries must formally authorize EEUs to ensure emissions cuts are not claimed by both the airline and the host nation.

• Pilot Phase (2021–2023): Initial voluntary phase for ICAO member states to test reporting mechanisms.
• Phase 1 (2024–2026): Current voluntary phase, which has seen participation steadily grow to 130 member nations.
• Phase 2 (2027–2035): Fully mandatory phase for all qualifying ICAO member states, excluding least developed nations and small aviation markets.

• Applicability: It applies strictly to routes where both the departure and destination countries participate in the scheme.
• Operator Limit: Aircraft operators emitting 10,000 tonnes or more of CO₂ annually from international flights must strictly comply with its Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) systems.
• Exemptions: Military, humanitarian, and firefighting aviation operations are fully exempt from the mechanism.
• Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF): Airlines can directly lower their offsetting obligations by blending renewables or lower-carbon aviation fuels that meet specific sustainability criteria.
• In-Sector Complements: The scheme works alongside technological innovations, operational efficiency upgrades, and smarter flying structures.

• The inaugural shipment was flagged off by Assam CM Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma.

• Product Range: The 5,627-litre shipment features popular flavors (Vanilla, Chocolate, Butterscotch, Strawberry, Mango) in various packaging options for retail and institutional use.
• Distribution Target: The products will reach major cities in Bhutan, including Thimphu, Paro, Phuentsholing, and Wangdue.
• Manufacturer & Marketer: Produced by the West Assam Milk Producers' Cooperative Union Limited (WAMUL) and marketed by North East Dairy and Foods Limited (NEDFL).
• Economic Impact: Supports local dairy farmers through a cooperative network, driving rural economic growth.
• Production & Logistics: Produced at a 60,000-litre capacity plant in Guwahati, with support from the World Bank-funded APART project.
• Export Support: Facilitated by the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA).

• Announcing the launch ahead of the India Mobile Congress (IMC) 2026 theme reveal, Union Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia highlighted this Centre-State partnership as a major step to turn India into a global telecom hub.

• Location: The landmark zone will be set up in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh.
• Land Area: It will span a massive area of about 350 acres, provided entirely by the State Government.
• Central Funding: The Central Government has approved ₹493 crore to kickstart Phase-I of the project.
• Investment Potential: The dedicated cluster is projected to attract private investments worth ₹12,000 to ₹15,000 crore in the coming years.
• Core Purpose: Moving past standard Special Economic Zones (SEZs), the TMZ offers a specialized "plug-and-play" system tailored exclusively for telecom hardware, data centres, and chip manufacturers.
• Manufacturing Focus: The facility will locally manufacture next-generation telecom equipment, semiconductors, mobile phones, optical fibres, and advanced solutions for 5G and 6G technologies.
• Job Creation: The initial phase is expected to generate approximately 5,000 direct jobs, boosting regional economic growth.
• Beneficiaries: It will act as a primary catalyst for telecom equipment manufacturers, MSMEs, tech startups, and downstream suppliers across the telecom value chain.
• Governance: Following the MoU signing, a Special Purpose Company (SPC) will be formulated to manage and execute the development.

• Boost Milk Procurement: Increase milk procurement by dairy cooperatives by 50% over the next five years.
• Empower Women Farmers: Target women-led dairy cooperatives to grant financial independence and direct income control.
• Eradicate Malnutrition: Enhance nationwide availability of nutrient-dense dairy products.
• Provide Market Access: Bring unorganized, uncovered Panchayats and rural regions into the formal organized dairy network.

• Procurement Goals: Raise absolute milk procurement from 660 lakh kg per day to 1,007 lakh kg (100 million kg) per day by 2028–29.
• Growth Rate Acceleration: Lift the annual milk procurement growth rate in the cooperative sector from 6% to over 9%.
• New Cooperatives: Establish 75,000 new Dairy Cooperative Societies (DCS) across uncovered areas.
• Infrastructure Upgrades: Modernize and strengthen 46,422 existing societies by providing automated testing equipment and Bulk Milk Coolers (BMCs).

• The Four Pillars: The program rests on four key domains: empowering women, enhancing local milk production, reinforcing infrastructure, and boosting dairy exports.
• Expansion & Deepening: Execution relies on a two-pronged strategy—expanding cooperative coverage to untouched villages and deepening penetration where networks already exist
• Integration with PACS: Set up multipurpose mechanized Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies (PACS) at the village level, equipping them with financial aid to establish milk routes.
• Financial Inclusion: Launch dedicated credit and debit cards for women farmers associated with the cooperative dairy sector to support seamless digital payouts.

• This critical population crash has prompted the National Research Centre on Camel (NRCC) to launch an emergency scientific breeding and conservation programme.

• Distinct Appearance: Popularly known as the "White Camel" due to its unique white coat.
• Compact Stature: It holds the status of being the smallest camel breed in India.
• Body Build: Features a medium-sized, highly robust body frame with a well-developed hump.

• Primary Regions: Native to the Malwa region of Madhya Pradesh and parts of Rajasthan.
• Specific Districts: Found across Mandsaur, Neemuch, Ratlam, and Gwalior in MP, and Kota, Bundi, Jhalawar, and Baran in Rajasthan.
• Climate Resilience: Extremely well-adapted to both semi-arid and humid microclimates, making them more resilient to rainfall than typical desert camel breeds.

• High Milk Yield: Highly valued for dairy potential, with a female yielding roughly 4 to 5 kg of milk per cycle.
• Work Capacity: Historically relied upon as a dual-purpose pack animal for rural transit, agricultural transport, and pulling heavy loads.

• Rapid Mechanisation: The rise of tractors and motor vehicles has completely phased out the use of draft animals.
• Socio-Economic Shifts: Shrinking profits from traditional pastoral livelihoods have forced the youth away from camel rearing.
• Shrinking Pastures: Urban encroachment and land fragmentation have heavily destroyed their traditional grazing commons.

• What it is: SHetA2 is a chemically manufactured, low-molecular-weight small molecule therapy designed to be easily absorbed by the body.
• The Formulation: It is currently being evaluated as a cost-effective, take-home oral capsule or vaginal suppository.
• Primary Target: It specifically targets Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia (CIN)—the abnormal, precancerous cell changes caused by persistent high-risk Human Papillomavirus (HPV) infections.
• Therapy vs. Vaccine: Unlike preventive HPV vaccines, SHetA2 is purely therapeutic and intended for women who already have developed precancerous lesions. It does not prevent initial HPV infection.
• Alternative to Surgery: If successful, it will replace current invasive, ablative surgeries like Loop Electrosurgical Excision Procedure (LEEP), preserving healthy cervical tissue and protecting future pregnancy outcomes.

• Proteins Targeted: The drug selectively targets three host cell chaperone proteins: mortalin, Hsc70, and Grp78.
• Disrupting the Virus: It breaks the protective bond between these host proteins and the virus's cancer-causing E7 oncoprotein.
• Cell Death Induction: Stripped of its host protection, the viral E7 protein is destroyed, restoring tumour suppressor proteins (p53 and Rb) to trigger programmed cell death (apoptosis) in abnormal cells.
• Zero Systemic Toxicity: Preclinical and Phase I trials demonstrate that the therapy selectively kills tumour cells while completely sparing healthy tissues without major side effects.

• Joint Partnership: The molecule is the result of an international collaboration between scientists at ICMR-NICPR (India) and the University of Oklahoma’s Stephenson Cancer Center (USA).
• Recent Stage: While Phase I safety trials have been conducted in the US for advanced solid tumours, the drug is still years away from routine clinical use until extensive efficacy trials are completed by Emcure.

• The breakthrough was published in the scientific journal Arachnology by scientists from the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) and the Wildlife Institute of India.

• Taxonomy: It belongs to the family Barychelidae (brush-footed spiders) under the infraorder Mygalomorphae, making it a relative of tarantulas.
• Physical Profile: The identified female holotype specimen measures 15 millimetres in length. It features black legs covered in greyish bristle-like hairs and a lighter abdomen marked with unique chevron shapes.
• Geographic Range: Discovered near the Nandeshwar Mahadev Temple in Ahilyanagar district, Maharashtra, India.
• Global Context: This discovery marks the eighth Tigidia species found in India. Globally, this ancient genus is entirely restricted to just three regions: India, Madagascar, and Mauritius.
• Burrow Architecture: It resides in 4 to 10-centimetre deep, silk-lined vertical burrows-built underneath rocks where the soil retains moisture. The burrow features two distinct openings and ends in a bulb-shaped underground chamber.
• Behavior: Like all trapdoor spiders, it is a long-living, sedentary predator that stays heavily camouflaged inside its burrow and springs out to ambush passing insects.
• Conservation Threats: The species faces ecological pressure from local land-use changes, soil extraction, and plastic pollution generated by tourism.

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