UPSC Current Affairs 23 August 2026

• Host Country: Run by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) primarily out of RAAF Base Darwin.
• Scale of Exercise: A premier biennial multinational air combat exercise featuring air forces from over 20 participating nations.
• Indian Fleet Deployed: Four Rafale fighter aircraft from the 101 Squadron ("Alied Falcons"), alongside two C-17 Globemaster III strategic transport aircraft and over 120 Air Warriors.
• Core Focus: Executing complex Large Force Employment (LFE) missions within high-threat, multi-domain environments.
• Key Takeaway: Enhanced seamless tactical integration, cross-learning, and collaborative coalition warfare capabilities among partner nations.

• Host Country: Conducted alongside the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) at the Subang Air Base in Malaysia.
• Exercise Type: The 3rd edition of this biennial, bilateral air combat training drill, lasting 5 days.
• Combat Training: IAF aircrew flew high-intensity combat sorties with and against Malaysia's Russian-built Su-30MKM and American-built F/A-18 Hornet aircraft.
• Bilateral Objectives: Focused heavily on refining air combat tactics, optimizing combined operational flexibility, and executing Subject Matter Expert Exchanges (SMEE).

• Beyond the Cockpit: Collaboration extended across ranks to include mutual sharing of maintenance practices and collaborative mission planning.
• Indo-Pacific Alignment: The dual-nation deployment firmly reasserts India's commitment to regional stability and strategic defence partnerships across the Indo-Pacific region.

• Shipbuilder: Designed indigenously and constructed by Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL), Kochi.
• Class: Belongs to the Mahe-class of ASW shallow water crafts.
• High Indigenisation: Comprises over 80 percent indigenous content, reducing reliance on foreign defence imports.
• Standards: Constructed according to the strict international classification rules of Det Norske Veritas (DNV).

• Primary Role: Engineered for anti-submarine warfare (ASW) operations specifically in shallow coastal waters, where sub-surface tracking is highly challenging.
• Secondary Roles: Fully equipped for low-intensity maritime operations (LIMO), underwater surveillance, search and rescue (SAR) missions, and coastal security.
• Mine Warfare: Features specialized advanced mine-laying and mine warfare capabilities.

• Mechanism: Powered by high-efficiency waterjet propulsion for superior manoeuvrability in shallow regions.
• Speed: Capable of achieving a maximum speed of approximately 25 knots.
• Endurance: Operational range extends to an estimated 1,800 nautical miles.

• Combat Systems: Fitted with state-of-the-art indigenous torpedoes and anti-submarine rockets.
• Detection Technology: Packed with highly advanced radar systems and cutting-edge sonars for swift sub-surface detection.

• Geographical Name: Named after the prominent coastal town and minor fishing port of Mangrol, located in the Junagadh district of Gujarat.
• Legacy Preservation: Carries forward the heritage of the erstwhile INS Mangrol, an Indian Naval Minesweeper that served the nation until 2004.

• Dual Action: A common, OTC anti-cold and allergy drug pairing Chlorpheniramine Maleate (antihistamine) and Phenylephrine Hydrochloride (decongestant).
• Affected Products: Popular pediatric cold brands like Ascoril Flu, T-Minic, Solvin Cold, and Maxtra.

• Adverse Effects: Potential for severe drowsiness, excitability, and increased blood pressure/heart rate in young children.
• Safety Concerns: High risk of accidental overdose and limited evidence of effectiveness for common colds in this age group.

• Legal Enforcement: Effective immediately via the Official Gazette of India.
• Scope: The restriction applies specifically to children under four; the combination remains approved for older children and adults.
• OTC Sale Ban: Aligns with tightening regulations, making a doctor's prescription necessary.

• Manufacturer: Developed and manufactured by Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD).
• Vaccine Type: It is a replication-competent, live, attenuated recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus (rVSV) vaccine.
• Mechanism: It works by utilizing a harmless vesicular stomatitis virus as a backbone, genetically engineered to express a single, safe protein from the Zaire Ebola virus.
• Safety: Because it contains only a single viral protein and not the whole virus, it cannot cause Ebola virus disease in the recipient.
• Dosage: It is administered as a single-dose injection and does not require booster shots for its approved strain.

• Approved Indication: It is formally approved by major agencies like the U.S. FDA and the European Union for individuals 12 months of age and older.
• Primary Target: It provides over 95% proven efficacy against the Zaire ebolavirus species, historically the deadliest variant.
• Limitations: It is not officially licensed or globally recommended for routine protection against other species, such as Sudan virus or Bundibugyo virus, hence the need for the ongoing trials.

• The Global Emergency Stockpile: Managed by the International Coordinating Group (ICG)—a partnership including WHO, UNICEF, MSF, and the IFRC—with funding from Gavi.
• Inventory: The stockpile aims to permanently maintain 500,000 doses of Ervebo to guarantee equitable and swift rollout to any country experiencing a sudden outbreak.
• Track Record: Ervebo has served as a cornerstone of Ebola containment, notably deployed on a massive scale during the 2018–2020 Kivu epidemic to successfully bring transmission under control.

• Launch Date: September 2019 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
• Funding Model: 100% centrally funded Central Sector Scheme.
• Nodal Department: Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying (DAHD).
• Target Diseases: Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) and Brucellosis.
• Timeline Goals: Control FMD by 2025 and achieve complete eradication by 2030.

• FMD Protocol: 100% biannual (twice a year) vaccination of all cattle, buffalo, sheep, goats, and pigs.
• Brucellosis Protocol: One-time lifetime vaccination for all female bovine calves aged 4–8 months.
• Doses Delivered: Over 147.16 crore FMD vaccine doses have been administered to date.

• Bharat Pashudhan Portal: Over 39 crore livestock are digitally registered for tracking.
• Mobile Veterinary Units: 4,019 operational MVUs deliver doorstep healthcare via the 1962 helpline.
• Laboratory Backing: ICAR-NIFMD provides diagnostic kits and manages strict vaccine quality control.

• Farmer Prosperity: Benefited over 8.04 crore farmers by averting catastrophic livestock production losses.
• Productivity Gains: Contributed to a 69.4% surge in national milk production, reaching 247.87 million tonnes.
• One Health Mission: Addresses human-animal health interdependencies to block zoonotic public health threats.

• Digital Bridge: They act as an online ecosystem connecting corporate/government bond issuers with non-institutional retail investors.
• Mandatory Registration: Every online platform intending to sell bonds must register as a stockbroker under the debt segment of the NSE or BSE.
• Non-Custodial Role: OBPPs are strictly transaction facilitators. They do not hold investor funds or securities; instead, assets are directly credited to the user's personal Demat account.

• Lower Ticket Sizes: SEBI structurally reduced the barrier to entry, lowering the minimum bond investment value from ₹10 Lakhs down to just ₹10,000, heavily democratizing the debt market.
• Instant Discovery: Investors can seamlessly browse, filter, and compare various bonds based on credit ratings, maturities, yields, and legal offer documents.
• Price Transparency: By routing orders directly through the exchange's Request for Quote (RFQ) system, it eliminates opaque dealer markups and middleman costs.

• Permitted Securities: Platforms can only offer regulated fixed-income instruments like listed corporate bonds, public non-convertible debentures (NCDs), securitized debt instruments, and government securities.
• Investor Protection: Platforms are mandated to resolve any consumer complaints within a strict 30-day timeline and report them directly to SEBI.
• Market Risk Warning: While SEBI registration mitigates platform fraud risk, it does not guarantee the bond's safety or returns. Investors remain exposed to the default, credit, and liquidity risks of the actual bond issuer.

• Full Name: Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund.
• Launch Date: It was registered as a public charitable trust on March 27, 2020, following the sudden onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Core Mandate: To provide relief, financial assistance, and upgrade healthcare or pharmaceutical facilities during public health emergencies, natural calamities, or distress situations.

• Ex-officio Chairman: The Prime Minister of India.
• Ex-officio Trustees: The Union Ministers of Defence, Home Affairs, and Finance.
• Nominated Trustees: The Prime Minister has the power to nominate three eminent experts from fields like law, health, science, and philanthropy.
• Administrative Support: Run entirely through the infrastructure of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).

• Zero Budgetary Allocation: The fund consists entirely of voluntary public, institutional, and corporate contributions.
• Tax Exemptions: Donations are eligible for a 100% tax exemption under Section 80G of the Income Tax Act, 1961.
• Corporate CSR: Contributions made by Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) and corporates are explicitly counted as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) spending.
• Foreign Inflow: It enjoys a special exemption under Section 50 of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), enabling it to accept international funding.

Parameter	Government's Stand	Critics' Objection
RTI Act Ambit	It is not a "Public Authority" under Section 2(h) of the RTI Act because it does not receive direct government funding.	Activists state it uses the PMO's official address, staff, national emblem, and government website domains, making complete secrecy unethical.
CAG Auditing	It is audited by a private, independent Chartered Accountant firm (like standard public charitable trusts).	Since massive chunks of public money and institutional PSU funds are involved, a performance audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) is heavily demanded.
Parliament Scrutiny	Inadmissible for parliamentary questioning as it is not an official function of the Central Government.	Eliminates legislative oversight over a fund heavily associated with India's highest political office.
Comparison to PMNRF	Parallel coexistence is valid; the PM National Relief Fund is historically run similarly through the PMO without CAG audits.	Creating a parallel mechanism when the historic Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF) already existed was called unnecessary and redundant.

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