Current Affairs – September 10, 2025

{GS2 – Polity – IC – Elections} SC Allows Aadhaar as Identity

• Context (IE): The Supreme Court directed the Election Commission to accept Aadhaar as an additional identity document during Bihar’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

• The Court reiterated that Aadhaar is not a citizenship proof, but an identity proof under Section 23(4) of the Representation of the People Act 1950.
• The Election Commission retains authority to verify Aadhaar’s genuineness before acceptance.

Read More About > Special Intensive Revision of Electoral Rolls

{GS2 – Polity – IC – FRs} Personality Rights in India **

• Context (LM): Recently, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan moved the Delhi High Court to protect her personality rights and prevent unauthorised use of her name and image by unidentified defendants (“John Does”).

About Personality Rights

• Personality rights allow individuals to control unauthorised use of personal attributes, like name, image, voice and distinct traits.
• They are part of privacy and property rights and are also recognised as publicity or celebrity rights.
• Legal Nature: Indian law lacks explicit statute; it relies on Article 21, Copyright Act, and Trademarks Act.
• Personality vs Consumer Rights: Personality rights protect against identity misuse, while consumer rights regulate market fairness and protection.

Read in Detail About > Personality Rights

{GS2 – Polity – IC – FRs} Rajasthan’s Anti-Conversion Bill

• Context (TH): Rajasthan Assembly passed the Rajasthan Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Bill, 2025, imposing stringent penalties on coercive religious conversions.

• Expanded: Conversion now includes marriages undertaken solely for religious conversion purposes.
  • Annulled: Such marriages may be annulled by competent family courts.
• Non-Bailable: All related offences are non-bailable, limiting courts’ bail discretion.
• Penalty: Punishments range from seven years to life imprisonment with fines up to ₹25 lakh.
  • Property: Assets linked with unlawful conversions can be confiscated by authorities.
• Notice: Converts must inform the District Magistrate before conversion, enabling prior oversight.
• Significance: The law reinforces freedom of religion while preventing coercive conversions.
• Concerns: Critics fear harassment, misuse, and constraints on genuine conversions.

Read More > Religious Conversions

{GS2 – Governance – Initiatives} Ceasefire Renewal and Inter-District Connectivity in Manipur

• Context (IE): The Ministry of Home Affairs has renewed the Suspension of Operations (SoO) agreement and announced the “free movement” of NH-02 ahead of PM Modi’s visit to Manipur.

Suspension of Operations Agreement (SoO)

• The SoO signed in 2008 is a tripartite ceasefire pact between the Centre, the Manipur government, and insurgent groups Kuki National Organisation (KNO) and United People’s Front (UPF).
• It lapsed in 2024 after state withdrawal and ethnic violence in May 2023.
• Renegotiated Terms: Respect for Manipur’s territorial integrity, relocation of camps, arms deposition, verification of cadres, direct stipend transfers, and monitoring by a Joint Group.

NH-02 Free Movement

• NH-02 connects Imphal valley with hill districts, linking Kuki-Zo and Meitei-majority areas.
• Reopened for commuters and essential goods, easing hardened inter-district boundaries.

Read More > President’s Rule in Manipur

{GS2 – Vulnerable Sections – Women} National Annual Report and Index 2025 *

• Context (TH | TH): The National Commission for Women (NCW) released the National Annual Report and Index on Women’s Safety (NARI) 2025, India’s first perception-based safety index.

• Objective: To capture unreported harassment and assess women’s safety perceptions beyond official crime statistics.
• Methodology: Surveyed 12,770 women across 31 cities and assigned a benchmark safety score of 65%, categorising cities as above or below this threshold.

Key Findings

• Safest Cities: Kohima, Visakhapatnam, Bhubaneswar, linked to stronger gender equity, infrastructure, and policing.
• Least Safe Cities: Patna, Jaipur, and Delhi are associated with patriarchal norms, weak institutions, and poor infrastructure.
• Perceived Safety: 60% of women felt safe overall, but only 65% felt safe during the day; 35% felt unsafe at night, with Delhi showing 8% safe during the day.
• Education Spaces: Institutions felt safe by day, but safety perceptions declined after dark or off-campus.
• Workplace: 91% felt safe at work, though half were unsure about POSH policy implementation.
• Reporting Gap: Only one-third reported incidents; 22% were officially registered, and 16% addressed.
• Harassment Pattern: 7% of women experienced harassment overall, rising to 14% among those under 24; neighbourhoods and transport were key hotspots.

{GS3 – IE – Urbanization} Building Climate-Resilient Cities in India **

• Context (IE): With cities set to host nearly a billion people by 2050, rapid urbanisation brings rising climate risks, offering only a narrow window to build resilient infrastructure.

Key Challenges

• Flooding: By 2030, two-thirds of urban dwellers risk pluvial flooding, with losses up to $30 bn by 2070.
• Extreme Heat: Urban heat island effect raises city temperatures by 3-5°C above rural areas.
• Vulnerable Housing: More than half of the housing stock required by 2070 has yet to be constructed.
• Transport Risks: Even 10-20% road inundation can disrupt half the transport network.
• Weak Municipal Services: Inefficient waste, drainage, water, and energy management.
• Governance & Finance Gaps: Weak institutional capacity and limited private investment.

Way Forward

• Smart Zoning: Enforce no-build zones in floodplains, coasts, and landslide-prone areas using GIS-based master plans.
• Green Infra: Expand wetlands and green corridors to manage floods and heat.
• Resilient Transport: Build elevated metro, flood-proof roads, and evacuation routes under Smart City Mission and Gati Shakti.
• Climate Finance: Use Urban Climate Bonds and the PPPs model for drainage and green mobility.

Read More > India’s Urban Transition | Environmental Crisis in India | National Plan to Build New Cities

{GS3 – Envi – Species} Pallas’s Cat in Arunachal Pradesh *

• Context (DH): A WWF-India survey in Arunachal Pradesh documented six wild cat species above 4,200 meters, including the first photographic evidence of the elusive Pallas’s cat.

About the Pallas’s Cat (Otocolobus manul)

• The Pallas’s cat, also called the manul, is a small, solitary, elusive and crepuscular wildcat.
• Appearance: Flattened face, high-set eyes, and low-set, rounded ears.
  • Fur: Dense silvery winter fur seasonally turns light brown in summer.
• Habitat: Inhabits rocky montane steppes and cold deserts with sparse precipitation.
  • Crevices: Prefers rocky crevices offering camouflage, thermal refuge, and predator avoidance.
• Global Distribution: Occurs across Central Asia, the Himalayas, the Tibetan Plateau, Iran, & Mongolia.
  • India Range: Confirmed in Ladakh, Sikkim, Himachal, and recently in Arunachal Pradesh.
• Ecological Role: Mesopredator regulating rodents and pikas, maintaining ecosystem balance.
• Threats: They include habitat degradation, prey decline from poisoning, hunting, and climate change.
• Status: IUCN: Least Concern | CITES: Appendix II | CMS: Appendix II | WPA: Schedule I (Part I)

Source: IUCN

{GS3 – Envi – CC} Offshore Aquifers and Water Scarcity **

• Context (IE): Recently, scientists in the first systematic undersea drilling campaign collected ~50,000 litres of freshwater from the Atlantic Ocean.

Formation and Origin

• Ice Age Hypothesis: Rainwater seeped underground when sea levels were lower.
• Onshore Connection: Linked with land aquifers recharged by rainfall.
• Protection Layer: Compact, clay-rich sediment can form an impermeable “cap” that prevents lighter fresh water from rising and mixing with seawater.

Significance for Water Security

• Water Supplies: A Potential new source to ease freshwater scarcity for coastal regions.
• Global Water Crisis: UN (2023) warns freshwater demand may exceed supply by ~40% by 2030, climate change, pollution and mismanagement worsen the crisis.
• Climate resilience: Could provide strategic buffers during droughts and declining terrestrial groundwater recharge.

Challenges to Sustainable Utilisation

• High cost: The recent extraction campaign cost ~$25 million, as offshore drilling and specialised infrastructure are expensive.
• Technical hurdles: Need wells that prevent saltwater intrusion, safe subsea pumping and reliable onshore transfer systems.
• Governance & rights: Questions on ownership, allocation, and the rights of indigenous, fishing and coastal communities remain unresolved.
• Sustainability risk: If aquifers are palaeowater (non-renewable), exploitation could irreversibly deplete a finite store.

Way Forward

• Scientific Audit: Fund multidisciplinary studies to map offshore aquifers, assess volumes, recharge rates and renewability.
• Environmental Assessment: Mandatory, independent marine-impact and cumulative-effects studies before any withdrawal.
• Cost–Benefit Analysis: Compare extraction costs with alternatives (desalination, inter-basin transfer, conservation) and prioritise potable use.

{GS3 – DM – Issues} Avalanche at Siachen Base Camp *

• Context (IE): Recently, an avalanche struck an Indian Army base camp in the Siachen Glacier, Ladakh, killing three soldiers.

About Avalanches

• Definition: An avalanche is a sudden, rapid flow of snow, ice, and debris down a mountainside.
• Triggered by: Heavy snowfall, rapid temperature changes, vibrations (earthquakes, artillery fire).
• Types:
  • Snow Avalanches: These include small slides of dry, powdery snow and slab avalanches (large, cohesive slabs of snow that break off and slide down).
  • Rock Avalanches: Consist of massive chunks of rock breaking off and sliding down steep slopes.
  • Ice Avalanches: Common around glaciers, where large ice masses break off and slide down slopes.
  • Debris Avalanches: Contain soil, loose stones, & a mix of materials that move downhill with force.

Read in Detail > Avalanches

About Siachen Glacier

• Located in the eastern Karakoram Range of the Himalayas, stretching 76 km.
• Lies immediately south of the great drainage divide, separating the Eurasian Plate from the Indian Plate, sometimes called the “Third Pole” due to massive glaciation.
• World’s highest & coldest battlefield, with altitudes above 20,000 ft and temperatures as low as –60°C.
• Source of the Nubra River, a key tributary of the Shyok River in Ladakh.

Read More About > Siachen Glacier

{GS3 – S&T – Cybersecurity} Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)

• Context (TH): With rising cyber threats, Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) has become essential for securing digital accounts.

How TOTP Works?

• Generates a one-time 6-digit password valid for ~30 seconds, rendering intercepted codes useless.
• Server & user device share a secret key; cryptographic algorithms convert this into a time-based code.
• Codes can be generated via authenticator apps (Google Authenticator, Authy) or hardware tokens.

Significance

• India recorded 22.7 lakh cybercrime cases in 2024, highlighting the urgent need for 2FA.
• Secure authentication supports Digital India initiatives, UPI payments, and ONDC transactions.
• Low-cost 2FA methods like SMS OTPs provide protection to rural and semi-urban users.
• Robust 2FA is essential for safeguarding government portals, defence systems, & critical infrastructure.

{GS3 – S&T – BioTech} Protein P47 *

• Context (DD | PIB): Indian researchers have discovered that the protein p47 acts as a mechanical chaperone.

About P-47 Protein

• A cofactor protein, traditionally known as a helper for p97, is involved in protein trafficking, degradation, and membrane fusion.
• Previously considered only a supporting factor, it is now shown to stabilise and protect proteins under mechanical stress actively.

Key Findings of the Study

• Using single-molecule magnetic tweezers, scientists simulated the mechanical forces proteins experience inside cells.
• Found that p47 directly binds to stretched proteins, assisting their refolding even under constant pulling forces.
• Significance: Provides the first single-molecule evidence of a cofactor protein exhibiting autonomous protective activity.
• Opens new avenues for treating diseases linked to protein instability, including heart muscle disorders.

{Prelims – S&T – Tech} Cholesterol-Based Nanomaterials

• Context (PIB): Scientists have demonstrated that cholesterol can be used to design novel nanomaterials for spintronics and quantum technologies.

Key Findings

• Cholesterol: Its chirality (molecular “handedness”) and flexibility make it apt for spintronic materials.
• Spin Control: By combining cholesterol with metal ions, researchers created nanomaterials that selectively filter and control electron spins.
• Chemical Tunability: Allows precise manipulation of spin information for quantum use.
• Energy Efficiency: Potential for low-power, high-speed memory chips, aiding greener technologies.

{Prelims – Awards} Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan 2025 Awards *

• Context (PIB): The top cities under Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan 2025, conducted under the National Clean Air Programme, were awarded by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

Key Highlights

• Award Categories: Three categories based on population honoured 11 best-performing cities.
  • Category 1 (>10 lakh): Indore ranked 1^st (200/200), followed by Jabalpur, Agra, and Surat.
  • Category 2 (3–10 lakh): Amravati topped with 200/200, followed by Jhansi, Moradabad, and Alwar.
  • Category 3 (<3 lakh): Dewas ranked 1^st, followed by Parwanoo and Angul.
• PM10 Reduction: 103 cities improved air quality; 25 achieved at least a 40% reduction since 2017.

New Initiatives and Launches

• Ward-Level Guidelines: Annual survey expanded to ward-level to enhance citizen participation.
• Best Practices Compendium: Released to showcase replicable urban air quality strategies nationwide.

{Prelims – In News} C. P. Radhakrishnan

• Context (TH): National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate Chandrapuram Ponnusamy Radhakrishnan has been elected as the 15^th Vice-President of India.

• He served as Governor of Jharkhand in 2023 and was subsequently appointed Governor of Maharashtra in 2024.
• A native of Tiruppur in Tamil Nadu, he was elected twice to the Lok Sabha from Coimbatore in 1998 & 1999, serving until 2004.

Read More > Vice President of India

{Prelims} One Liners

• In News – French PM Resigned (IE): French Prime Minister François Bayrou resigned after losing a confidence vote at the National Assembly (French lower house) over proposed austerity measures.
• In News – Japan PM to Resign (CNN): Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is set to resign after the ruling coalition lost majorities in both houses of the National Diet (Japan’s bicameral legislature).
• In News – Bhupen Hazarika (TOI): 2025 marks the birth centenary of Bharat Ratna Bhupen Hazarika, who globalised Assam’s folk and Indian music traditions.