Current Affairs – February 01, 2026

{GS2 – IR} RBI-ESMA Cooperation on Central Counterparties (CCP)

• Context (ET): The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) signed an MoU for the regulation and supervision of Central Counterparties (CCPs).

• The MoU establishes a framework for cooperation and information sharing to facilitate EU recognition of Indian CCPs.
• Supervisory Mechanism: ESMA will follow a Reliance Model, relying on RBI’s regulatory and supervisory activities rather than direct inspections.
• Objective: To strengthen cross-border supervisory cooperation, support international clearing, and safeguard EU financial stability.
• Significance: The framework lowers regulatory costs, boosts EU bank participation in Indian markets, and complements the India–EU free trade agreement.

About Central Counterparties (CCPs)

• CCPs are financial institutions that act as intermediaries, guaranteeing trades even if one party defaults.
• It becomes the buyer to every seller and the seller to every buyer (a process known as novation).
• The core function of CCPs is to mitigate counterparty credit risk and prevent cascading defaults.
• They are classified as Systemically Important Financial Market Infrastructures (SIFMIs) because their failure could lead to economy-wide financial instability.
• Regulation: RBI regulates CCPs in the money market, G-Sec market, and foreign exchange market, while the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) regulates CCPs in the capital markets.
• Key Indian CCPs: Include Clearing Corporation of India Ltd (G-Secs, money, forex), National Securities Clearing Corporation Ltd (NSE), and Indian Clearing Corporation Ltd (BSE).

{GS3 – Agri} Economic Survey Recommends Aligning Policies for $100 Bn Agri-Export **

• Context (TH): The Economic Survey 2025-26 recommended a stable agricultural export policy to reach USD 100 billion in agricultural exports within four years.

Performance of India’s Agricultural Exports

• Export Growth: India’s agricultural exports reached USD 51.1 billion in FY25, registering a CAGR of 8.2% from FY20 to FY25.
  • Relative Performance: This growth outpaced the overall merchandise export CAGR of 6.9% during the same period.
• Processing Share: The share of processed food exports in India’s agri-food export basket rose steadily to 20.4% in FY25.
• Global Share: Despite being the world’s second-largest agricultural producer, India accounts for only 2.2% of global agricultural exports.
• Export Ranking: India is currently the world’s eighth-largest agricultural exporter by export value.
• Commodity Basket: Major agricultural exports include marine products, basmati rice, spices, buffalo meat, and sugar.
  • Lead Exports: India ranks first globally in exports of rice, spices, and buffalo meat.
• Trade Balance: An agricultural trade surplus of USD 13.4 billion was recorded in FY25; faster growth in imports of vegetable oils and pulses has reduced the overall trade surplus.
• Export Potential: The Economic Survey projects USD 100 billion in combined exports of agriculture, marine, and food products within four years.

Key Challenges in Agricultural Exports

• Policy Uncertainty: Ad hoc export bans on wheat, rice, and sugar create market uncertainty and undermine supplier credibility.
• Infrastructure Gaps: Inadequate post-harvest infrastructure, especially cold storage, limits access to high-value export markets.
• Climate Risks: Erratic rainfall, rising temperatures, and water scarcity threaten crop yields and the reliability of exports.
• Yield Constraints: Crop yields stay below global averages due to fragmented landholdings and inconsistent extension services.
• Market Access: Stringent sanitary and phytosanitary standards in importing countries constrain Indian agricultural exports.
• Policy Trade-offs: The expansion of maize-based ethanol production risks crop diversion and increased dependence on food imports.

Key Recommendations

• Private Investment: Strengthen private participation in food processing, cold chains, and logistics to improve export competitiveness.
• Growth Sectors: Expand high-growth sectors, such as horticulture, agroforestry, dairy, poultry, and fisheries, to diversify exports.
• Climate Research: Improve coordinated public–private research to enhance climate resilience and agricultural productivity.
• Value Addition: Promote processing capacity and value-added products to reduce dependence on a narrow export basket.
• GVC Integration: Shift from a “buy Indian” approach to deeper integration into global value chains.
• Market Systems: Improve price discovery through e-NAM and the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF) to support export-linked farming.

Read More> India’s Agricultural Exports

{GS3 – Envi} Tribal Land Rights in Great Nicobar

• Context (IE | TH): Tribal Council of Little & Great Nicobar alleged district officials asked them to sign “surrender certificates” giving up tsunami-hit ancestral lands linked to the Great Nicobar mega project.

Key Concerns by the Nicobar Tribal Council

• Consent Question: Community claims they were orally asked to sign surrender papers without prior notice or clarity on the scope.
• Rights Settlement Gap: Council argues that Forest Rights Act, 2006 processes are incomplete, yet authorities claim “rights settled” without verified field procedure.
• Rehabilitation Delay: 21 years after the 2004 tsunami displacement, demands to return to ancestral villages remain unaddressed despite repeated written representations.

About Great Nicobar Tribal Council

• Apex Representative Body: Tribal Council of Little and Great Nicobar is the primary collective voice of the Nicobarese Scheduled Tribe in these islands.
• Consultation Interface: Serves as the main channel for consultation with district/UT authorities on tribal reserve, forest access, and relocation decisions.
• Rights Advocacy Role: Approaches UT administration, Union Tribal Affairs Ministry and National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) on due process and community grievances.

About Great Nicobar Project

• Project Overview: The ₹72,000-crore Great Nicobar Project, formally called the Holistic Development of Great Nicobar Island, was approved by the Cabinet in 2021.
• Extent: The project is proposed to span over 166 sq. km, which is about 10% of Great Nicobar’s 910 sq km area, including 84 sq. km denotified Shompen and Nicobarese tribal reserves.
• Implementation: Conceived by NITI Aayog, executed by Andaman and Nicobar Islands Integrated Development Corporation Limited (ANIIDCO) through a phased 30-year plan.
• Greenfield City: A greenfield city has been proposed with 4 components: International Container Transhipment Terminal at Galathea Bay, Greenfield Airport, 450 MVA hybrid gas-solar plant and a township.

{GS3 – S&T} Digital Expansion Surge **

• Context (TH): India’s active internet users have climbed close to one billion, driven by rapid rural connectivity, marking a new phase in the country’s digital transformation.

Key Trends in India’s Internet Usage

• Massive User Expansion: India now hosts 958 million active internet users, recording steady year-on-year growth and reinforcing its position as a global digital powerhouse.
• Rural Digital Surge: Around 57% of active users now come from rural areas, showing a narrowing urban-rural digital divide and rising connectivity penetration.
• AI Goes Mainstream: Nearly 44% of users engage with AI-enabled tools such as voice search, chatbots and image-based search, with the highest adoption among youth.
• Short-Video Boom: Over 60% of internet users consume short-form video content, making it a primary driver of engagement across rural and urban populations.
• E-Commerce Evolution: Quick commerce and social commerce are transforming online shopping beyond traditional platforms, especially among urban users.
• Multi-Device Access Rising: Around one-fifth of users now access the internet through multiple devices, improving digital flexibility and engagement.
• Shared Device Enablement: A significant section of rural users depends on shared mobile devices, highlighting adaptive access models in low-income areas.
• Untapped Digital Potential: Nearly 38% of the population remains offline, indicating strong future growth scope for India’s digital economy.

Significance of Internet Connectivity

• Economic Growth Driver: The digital economy is set to contribute 20% to India’s GDP by 2029–30, overtaking traditional sectors.
• Employment Generator: Sectors like IT and e-commerce employed 14.67 million people in 2022–23.
• Financial Inclusion Enabler: Platforms like UPI, Aadhaar, and PMJDY streamline Direct Benefit Transfers (DBTs), reducing leakage and delays.
• Expanded Digital Education: Platforms such as SWAYAM and DIKSHA enabled continued learning during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.

{GS3 – S&T} Cybercrime and the Crisis of Global Governance

• Context (TH): Global cybercrime governance is facing a legitimacy crisis following the adoption of the United Nations Convention Against Cybercrime in 2024.

• Major democracies like the US, Japan, Canada, and India declined to sign, highlighting a widening gap between global cyber norms and national priorities.
• India’s Stand: India participated in negotiations but withheld its signature, citing risks to domestic privacy and data sovereignty.

Key Challenges in Global Cybercrime Governance

• Polycentric Governance: Global cybercrime governance has moved from a unified, UN-led approach to a fragmented, conflicting legal regime, increasing administrative burdens on states.
• Sovereignty Tension: Major digital powers’ refusal to sign the 2024 UN Convention shows mistrust in surrendering digital sovereignty and control over citizen data.
• Normative Divergence: A deep ideological divide between privacy-focused digital democracies and security-driven cyber-sovereignty regimes makes a single global standard nearly unattainable.
• Legal–Technical Lag: Slow treaty processes can’t keep up with rapidly evolving cybercrime, as AI-enabled attacks, deepfakes, and ransomware surpass international legal updates.
• Geopolitical Deadlock: Cyberspace is now a strategic grey zone, where political vetoes prevent attribution of state-sponsored attacks, fostering impunity.

India’s Strategic Way Forward

• Strategic Middle Path: Avoid exclusive bloc alignment and lead issue-based cyber frameworks, balancing development and security.
• Functional Sovereignty: Align the DPDP Act, 2023, and the proposed Digital India Act with global standards to ensure data control and cross-border interoperability.
• Indigenous Resilience: Strengthen the indigenous ecosystem for semiconductors, cloud, and core software, and mandate Zero-Trust Architecture across critical information infrastructure.
• Cyber-Diplomacy: Establish a specialised cyber-diplomacy division within MEA to integrate legal expertise with advanced technology for global norm-setting leadership.
• Threat Deterrence: CERT-In and I4C should adopt AI-driven threat hunting through strong public-private partnerships with India’s IT sector to counter hybrid cyber threats.

Read More > Cybercrimes in India

{GS3 – S&T} Antarctic Scientific Balloon Campaign

• Context (TOI): NASA completed a Scientific Balloon Programme campaign over Antarctica’s McMurdo Station, Ross Ice Shelf, for antimatter & ultra-high-energy particles studies.

About NASA Scientific Balloon Program

• Programme Overview: NASA uses high-altitude balloons to carry scientific payloads above most of Earth’s atmosphere, as a cheaper alternative to satellites.
• Strategic Value: Fills the gap between ground observatories and orbital missions by enabling long-duration data collection and rapid testing of new instruments.

Key Missions in the Campaign

• General Antiparticle Spectrometer (GAPS): Detect rare antimatter particles in Earth’s atmosphere to improve understanding of dark matter signals and cosmic particle physics.
• Payload for Ultrahigh Energy Observations (PUEO): Detect neutrinos / ultra-high-energy particles, which are extremely difficult to observe due to weak interactions.
• HiCal Beacons: Two hand-launched small balloons carrying radio beacons that generate signals similar to neutrino interactions, which help validate PUEO detection sensitivity.

Why is Antarctica ideal for Balloon Science?

• Stable Winds: Predictable circular wind patterns enable balloons to travel in long loops.
• Continuous Sunlight: Summer sunlight supports stable balloon altitude and long-duration operation.
• Clean Observation: A low-interference environment helps improve signal detection quality.

{Prelims – Geo} Lohit Valley

• Context (TH): The Indian Air Force carried out a high-risk operation to combat forest fires in the Lohit Valley of Arunachal Pradesh.

• Lohit Valley is India’s easternmost valley, situated in Arunachal Pradesh near the tri-junction of India, China, and Myanmar.
• The valley is named after the Lohit River, a major left-bank tributary of the Brahmaputra.

• Strategic Importance: The valley is a critical defence corridor; Walong was a major battleground in the 1962 Sino-Indian War.
• Infrastructure Landmark: The Dhola-Sadiya Bridge (Bhupen Hazarika Setu), India’s longest river bridge (9.15 km), connecting Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, is located here.
• Indigenous Communities: The region is inhabited by the Mishmi, Khampti, and Singpho tribes.
• Biodiversity: The valley is home to the hoolock gibbon, red panda, and the endemic Mishmi wren-babbler. It also hosts the Kamlang Wildlife Sanctuary.

{Prelims – MoSPI} PAIMANA Portal *

• Context (PIB): The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has operationalised a new web-based portal, PAIMANA.

• The PAIMANA (Project Assessment, Infrastructure Monitoring and Analytics for Nation-building) will monitor Central Sector infrastructure projects.
• It will serve as a centralised national repository, generating web-based analytical reports and improving data accuracy and operational efficiency.
• Key Features: It offers real-time dashboards, role-based user access, and advanced data analytics to support informed decision-making.

{Prelims – MoJS} WaSH Warriors Transforming Villages into ‘Swachh Sujal Gaon’

• Context (PIB): The Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation (DDWS), under the Ministry of Jal Shakti, hosted 58 WaSH Warriors during the 77^th Republic Day celebrations.

• Community Leaders: WaSH Warriors are grassroots rural leaders who lead Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WaSH) initiatives at the village level.
• State Nomination: States and Union Territories nominate WaSH Warriors for exemplary leadership in transforming villages into Swachh Sujal Gaons.
• Village Status: Swachh Sujal Gaon are villages that have achieved
  1. Har Ghar Jal Certification under Jal Jeevan Mission and
  2. ODF Plus Model Verified status under Swachh Bharat Mission – Grameen.

{Prelims – S&T} Autonomous V-BAT Drones *

• Context (TOI): The Indian Army has approved emergency procurement of US-made V-BAT unmanned aerial systems with Hivemind autonomy software to enhance autonomous surveillance.

About V-BAT Drone

• Type: Group 3 Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) with vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) capability.
• Design: Ducted-fan enclosed rotor system enabling runway-independent operations.
• Endurance: Over 12 hours of continuous flight for long-range missions.
• Engine: Heavy-fuel single-engine suitable for harsh terrains and logistics efficiency.
• Operational Flexibility: Can launch from rooftops, ship decks, confined spaces and remote areas.

About Hivemind Autonomy Software

• Core Function: Enables drones to sense, decide and act autonomously in complex environments.
• Adaptive Intelligence: Allows threat avoidance, real-time mission adjustment & minimal human control.
• Software Development Kit (SDK): Enables Indian forces to develop and customise mission-specific autonomous applications locally, supporting sovereign control over advanced military AI systems.

{Prelims – S&T} Potential Cure for Pancreatic Cancer

• Context (TOI): Spanish researchers have discovered a potential treatment for the most common and aggressive form of pancreatic cancer.

About the Discovery

• The therapy focuses on the KRAS oncogene, which drives over 90% of pancreatic cancer cases.
• Triple Therapy: Since KRAS has been resistant to a single drug, researchers used three agents to block the main and backup cancer pathways.
  • Daraxonrasib: A selective KRAS inhibitor that blocks the primary driver of tumour growth.
  • Afatinib: An approved lung cancer drug that blocks the backup pathways.
  • SD36: A PROTAC (Proteolysis-Targeting Chimaera) or protein degrader that disables the tumour’s stress-response system.
• Outcome: Preclinical trials in mice showed complete tumour regression without relapse for 200 days.
• Safety Profile: The triple therapy showed minimal side effects and significantly lower toxicity than conventional chemotherapy.