UPSC Current Affairs 10 October 2026

• The Origin: The framework agreement for comprehensive economic cooperation was initially signed in October 2003.
• Signing & Implementation: The specific Trade in Goods agreement (AITIGA) was signed on 13 August 2009 and entered into force on 1 January 2010.
• Scope: It focuses strictly on physical merchandise and goods; separate agreements handle services and investments.

• Duty Reductions: Both sides originally agreed to progressively slash or entirely eliminate import duties on 76.4% of goods.
• Exclusions: Highly sensitive items (such as palm oil, coffee, tea, and pepper) were placed on exclusion lists to protect domestic industries and farmers.

• Trade Volume: ASEAN is one of India's most critical economic partners, commanding roughly an 11% share of India's total global trade.
• Geopolitical Alignment: For India, the pact facilitates integration with Southeast Asian value chains. For ASEAN, it functions as a strategic trade diversification route.

• The ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA) is a multilateral free trade agreement signed between India and the 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

• Addressing Trade Deficit: India has pushed for this review to rectify a growing trade asymmetry, aiming to secure better market access and fairer concessions for Indian exporters.
• Simplification: The review aims to make trade codes simpler, lower cross-border transaction costs, and make rules more user-friendly for businesses.
• Sub-Committees: The structural review is being executed by eight designated sub-committees, including those dealing with Rules of Origin, Customs Procedures & Trade Facilitation, and Market Access.

• Data Scale: The findings are backed by the analysis of 35,803 population trends covering 5,790 vertebrate species worldwide.
• Freshwater Crisis: Freshwater species populations are suffering the worst damage, crashing by an average of 85%.
• The Silver Lining: Despite the negative global average, around half (50%) of the individual monitored populations are actually stable (7%) or increasing (43%). The overall index is pulled down because the scale of decreasing trends heavily outweighs the increasing ones.

• Latin America and the Caribbean: -95% (Steepest decline globally)
• Africa: -80%
• Asia-Pacific: -49%
• North America: -28%
• Europe and Central Asia: -23%
  (Note: Industrialized regions like Europe and North America show lower percentage declines because massive impacts on their nature had already occurred prior to the 1970 baseline).

• Habitat Destruction: Habitat loss and degradation (driven by mining, land conversion, and logging) remain the most frequent threats.
• Other Threats: Overexploitation, climate change, pollution, invasive species, and wildlife diseases follow closely as major drivers.
• Economic Dependencies: The report notes that roughly half of global GDP ($58 trillion) is moderately or highly dependent on nature, meaning ecological degradation directly threatens global economic security.

• Wild Tigers: Global tiger populations increased by more than 70% between 2010 and 2025.
• India’s Success: India stands out as a prime example showing that biodiversity decline can be reversed through strong scientific governance and community participation, registering notable population increases in tigers, Asiatic lions, greater one-horned rhinoceroses, and vultures.
• Other Notable Recoveries: Green sea turtles and Atlantic bluefin tuna have recovered significantly and are no longer listed as Endangered. Southern African elephant and California sea otter populations are also showing stable or growing trends.

• Energy: While a positive transition is underway—with solar power now the cheapest source of new electricity generation in most nations—the shift must accelerate.
• Food & Agriculture: Society must quickly transition to nature-positive production, promote sustainable diets, and aggressively cut down on food loss and waste.
• Finance: Financial systems must pivot away from funding destructive practices and redirect capital towards projects that actively restore ecosystems.

• Improving Quality and Bridging Data Gaps: The first pillar focuses on expanding the data coverage, improving the timeliness, and strengthening the overall reliability of environmental accounts.
• Policy-Oriented Communication: The second pillar ensures that the compiled accounts are easily accessible and actionable for policymakers, the media, and researchers via simplified tools like policy briefing notes and FAQs.

• Natural and Physical Assets: Detailed coverage of forests, land, soil resources, and water availability.
• Sub-surface Resources: Inclusion of minerals and energy accounts.
• Climate and Biodiversity Ecosystems: Measurement of carbon stocks, biodiversity metrics, and unique ecosystem functions like pollination services (which measure the economic impact of pollinators on agricultural security).

• Transition to Biennial Publications: The publication EnviStats India: Environment Statistics will transition from an annual release to a biennial schedule starting from 2025/2026, shifting its primary focus to open-access online datasets.
• Uniform Earth Observation Standards: To ensure data comparability across different geographies, MoSPI is implementing uniform satellite imagery protocols, spatial resolution benchmarks, and sensor intervals.
• Sub-National Implementation: To scale operations across the country, all states and Union Territories have been directed to create Inter-Departmental Groups (IDGs) on environmental accounting. Eighteen states and UTs have already notified their respective groups.
• International Commitment Mapping: The strategy explicitly maps environmental accounting indicators to track progress for the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (covering 40 indicators across 9 SDGs) and aligns with the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF).

• Intensity Profile: Though it briefly peaked as a major Category 3 hurricane with 120 mph winds over the Gulf of Mexico, wind shear caused it to slightly downgrade to a high-end Category 2 storm right before hitting land.
• The El Niño Factor: The exceptionally quiet and delayed 2026 Atlantic season is directly attributed to a record-strong El Niño pattern. This climate phenomenon creates intense vertical wind shear and dry air across the Atlantic, suppressing normal storm formation.
• Pronunciation: According to the National Hurricane Center (NHC), the storm's name is officially pronounced ees-ah-EE'-ahs.

• Power Outages: Hundreds of thousands of residents across the southeastern US have already lost power as the storm's outer bands down lines.
• Storm Surge: Experts warn of a "life-threatening" storm surge reaching up to 7 feet (1.5 to 2.1 meters) above normal levels, capable of extreme coastal inundation.
• Inland Flooding: Forecasters project massive rainfall totals of 4 to 8 inches (and higher in isolated spots), threatening severe flash flooding as the system marches inland through Alabama, Georgia, the Midwest, and Northeast US through Monday.
• Tornado Risks: Extreme wind warnings have been issued alongside spinning atmospheric conditions ripe for sudden inland tornadoes.

• Background: Born in 1941 to a poor family of Indian Tamil origin under the apartheid regime in Durban, South Africa.
• Pioneer for Equality: She overcame deep structural discrimination to become a lawyer, defending anti-apartheid activists and fighting for political prisoners' rights.
• Judicial Firsts: She was the first woman of colour to be elevated to the Supreme Court Bench of South Africa.

• Rwanda Tribunal Landmark: As a judge on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), she played a historic role in establishing that sexual violence and rape can constitute acts of genocide under international law.
• Global Leadership: She served as a judge on the International Criminal Court (ICC) and later led the United Nations human rights office as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2008 to 2014.
• Current Roles: At 85 years old, she continues her work in international justice, currently serving with the United Nations' primary judicial body, the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

• Core Theme: The central theme of this year's prize is peace through justice, emphasizing that the rule of law underpins peaceful dispute resolution.
• Reason for Selection: Pillay was selected for being "instrumental in ensuring that war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide are prosecuted," guided by an exceptional moral compass and dedication to universal legal principles.

• The Reward: The prize includes a cash award of 12.0 million Swedish Krona (SEK).
• The Nomination Pool: Pillay was selected from a massive pool of 287 total candidates (208 individuals and 79 organizations).
• The Award Ceremony: In accordance with tradition, the prize will be officially presented on December 10, 2026, in Oslo, Norway, marking the anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death.

• Date and Time: Friday, October 9, 2026, hitting just before 15:00 local time.
• Magnitude: The main shock registered at 7.7 magnitude (initially estimated at 8.0 before being revised). The primary aftershock registered at 6.6 magnitude.
• Epicentre: Located about 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) southwest of the remote community of Pitaloza Arriba in the south-central/southwestern province of Herrera.
• Depth: A shallow quake, striking at a depth of approximately 10 to 12.6 kilometres. Shallow quakes are typically felt more intensely on the surface.
• Emergency Activation: Panama’s President, José Raúl Mulino, immediately activated nationwide emergency services and deployed response teams to evaluate structural integrity and assist affected citizens.
• International Aid: The leaders of Colombia and Venezuela have officially reached out to offer emergency disaster response assistance to Panama.

• Human Impact: Over 4.6 million people felt the tremors. While thousands fled into the streets in panic, Panama appears to have miraculously escaped mass casualties or widespread deaths. Several injuries have been reported due to falling debris.
• Structural Collapses: High-profile damages occurred in the towns of Penonomé and Soná. Part of the Dos Continentes hotel collapsed, and a hospital in Penonomé had to evacuate patients to be treated outdoors.
• Historical Heritage Site Losses: The colonial-style Church of San Atanasio in the Los Santos province—declared a National Historic Heritage Site in 1938—suffered a collapse. The 400-year-old cathedral bell tower in Atalaya was also heavily damaged.
• Utility Disruption: Widespread power outages caused by the shaking led to temporary shutdowns and operational interruptions at multiple water treatment plants.
• Transportation & Logistics:
  • Panama Canal: Remained fully functional. Technical teams inspected the facilities and confirmed that shipping traffic through the key global trade route continued uninterrupted.
  • Aviation & Roads: The Tocumen International Airport resumed operations after checking structural safety. Meanwhile, large cracks and fissures have torn up major roadways, particularly in the Veraguas province.

• Acronym Meaning: PRASHAST stands for Pre-Assessment Holistic Screening Tool.
• What It Is: It is a school-based digital disability screening checklist and portal that functions as an initial screening and referral mechanism for school students.
• Development Agency: It was developed by the Central Institute of Educational Technology (CIET) under the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT).
• Evolution: Originally launched in September 2022, the system was updated to PRASHAST 2.0, which offers advanced digital features and integration with the government's UDISE+ portal for smoother data tracking and monitoring.
• Access Link: The module and screening dashboard can be accessed directly at the official PRASHAST Portal.

• Target Categories: The tool helps identify children with 21 different disability conditions recognized under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act, 2016.
• Hidden Conditions: It is specifically engineered to target disabilities that lack visible structural symptoms, which schools traditionally fail to identify early due to a lack of systematic screening parameters.
• Policy Alignment: The initiative directly aligns with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 to foster equitable, accessible, and inclusive classroom environments across India.

• Part-1 (Initial Screening): Conducted by regular classroom teachers. They observe students for 1 to 2 months across diverse environments (classrooms, playgrounds, social circles) and fill out an objective-type, observable indicator checklist.
• Part-2 (Validation): Handled by special educators, school counsellors, or school heads. They review the preliminary observations from Part-1, tentatively categorize the disability condition, and facilitate formal medical assessment referrals.

1. Sensitisation: Training school staff on behavioural/screening indicators using multi-lingual modules (available in 12 Indian languages).
2. Digital Screening: Regular teachers log observable ticks via the checklist on the web portal or the PRASHAST Mobile App.
3. Evaluation: Special educators examine data to filter out cases requiring medical evaluation.
4. Certification: Students are officially routed to authorized medical camps for formal disability certification.
5. Welfare Delivery: Validated CwSN students are seamlessly connected to specialized educational aids, customized learning provisions, and government scholarships.

• Beyond the Classroom: The initiative stresses that inclusive schooling is a collective liability.
• Staff Inclusivity: The training modules target not just educators, but also non-teaching support staff—including school bus drivers, conductors, clerical teams, wardens, receptionists, and midday meal workers—ensuring a child feels safe and supported in every square foot of the school campus.

• The Target Virus: The vaccine protects against the Human Papillomavirus (HPV), an incredibly common sexually transmitted infection.
• Cancer Prevention: Persistent infection with high-risk HPV strains causes 95% of cervical cancers, alongside other malignancies such as penile, anal, vaginal, and throat cancers.
• How it Works: The vaccine uses non-infectious, virus-like particles to trigger the immune system into producing antibodies, offering 93% to 100% lifetime efficacy against the targeted strains.

• CERVAVAC: India’s first indigenously developed, gender-neutral quadrivalent vaccine targeting HPV types 6, 11, 16, and 18. It is approved for both boys and girls aged 9 to 26.
• Gardasil & Gardasil 9: Manufactured by Merck, these are widely used quadrivalent and nonavalent vaccines. Gardasil 9 covers 9 different HPV strains, providing the broadest spectrum of protection.
• Cervarix: A bivalent vaccine focused primarily on strains 16 and 18, which cause 70% of all cervical cancers.

• Prime Target Age: The vaccine is most effective when administered between 9 and 14 years of age before any exposure to the virus.
• Dosage Schedules: The WHO recommends a single-dose or two-dose schedule for young adolescents to optimize public health coverage and affordability. A three-dose schedule is typically reserved for individuals vaccinated later in life (ages 15–26) or those who are immunocompromised.
• National Immunization Drives: India launched a massive nationwide campaign providing free single-dose Gardasil vaccinations to 1.15 crore (11.5 million) 14-year-old girls. This initiative aims to tackle the heavy disease burden, as India historically accounts for 25% of global cervical cancer deaths.

• Extensively Proven: More than 500 million doses have been administered worldwide since 2006 under rigorous surveillance.
• Side Effects: The vaccine has a reassuring safety profile. Minor side effects are limited to temporary injection site soreness, mild fever, or brief dizziness (syncope) immediately following administration.
• Duration: Studies confirm robust, active protection lasting at least 5 to 10 years, with mathematical models projecting lifelong immune memory.

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