Current Affairs – March 26, 2026

{GS1 – Geo} India Targets 5000 tonnes of Rare-Earth Permanent Magnet (REPM) by 2030 **

Context (PIB): India has set a target of 5,000 tonnes of domestic rare-earth permanent magnet (REPM) production capacity by 2030.

Demand: Domestic demand is projected to double from 4,000 tonnes to 8,000 tonnes by 2030.
Magnet Types: India is developing Samarium-Cobalt (Sm-Co) and Neodymium-Iron-Boron (NdFeB) magnet technologies to expand domestic production.

India’s Current Progress and Initiatives

Sm-Co Plant: A Samarium-Cobalt magnet plant at Visakhapatnam is operational with an initial capacity of 500 tonnes per year.

Rare Earth Corridors: Rare earth corridors have been announced in Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, and Kerala for processing and value addition
Lithium Exploration: Preliminary survey work is currently in progress at Degana in Rajasthan and Reasi in Jammu & Kashmir.
Overseas Access: Khanij Bidesh India Limited (KABIL) has acquired a lithium exploration right at Catamarca, in Argentina.

Regulatory Reforms

National Mission: National Critical Mineral Mission (NCMM) aims to build a self-reliant end-to-end value chain specifically for high-tech, defence, and green energy sectors.
Manufacturing: Rare Earth Permanent Magnet (REPM) Scheme offers incentives to develop a 6,000 MTPA domestic production capacity for high-performance sintered magnets.
Private Mining: MMDR Amendment Act, 2023, removed lithium and five other minerals from the atomic category to allow private sector mining for the first time.
Public Hearing: Mining projects for critical minerals like lithium and REE are exempt from mandatory public hearings.
Royalty Rates: Government notified competitive royalty rates for lithium (3%), niobium (3%), and rare earth elements (1%).

India’s Rare Earth Element (REE) Landscape

Reserves: India holds the third-largest REE reserves, accounting for 6% of the global total.
Production Gap: It contributes less than 1% to global REE production.
Principal Source: Monazite is India’s primary REE source, predominantly yielding Light REEs like lanthanum, cerium, neodymium, and praseodymium.
Import Dependence: India imports 85-90% of its rare earth magnets from China, followed by Japan and Germany.

{GS2 – Governance} Immigration, Visa, Foreigners Registration & Tracking (IVFRT) Scheme *

Context (PIB): Union Cabinet approved continuation of the Immigration, Visa, Foreigners Registration & Tracking (IVFRT) Scheme for five years, till March, 2031.

IVFRT Scheme is a Central Sector e-Governance project to modernise India’s immigration, visa, and foreigner management ecosystem.
It was approved in 2010 and launched in mission mode under the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP).
Nodal Agency: It is managed by the Ministry of Home Affairs, and executed by the Bureau of Immigration with technical support from the National Informatics Centre.
Objective: Interlink and digitise visa issuance, immigration clearance, and foreigner tracking to balance seamless travel facilitation with strict national security.
IVFRT 3.0 (2026–2031): It focuses on three pillars — emerging technology, core infrastructure transformation, and service optimisation via mobile services and self-service kiosks.
Statutory Basis: The upgrade aligns with the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025, strengthening the system’s digital ability to manage illegal migration.
Key Gains: 91.24% of e-Visa applications are now cleared within 72 hours, while e-gates of Fast Track Immigration-Trusted Traveller Programme (FTI-TTP) reduce clearance time to about 30 seconds.

{GS2 – Governance} Foreign Contribution Regulation Amendment Bill, 2026 introduced in Lok Sabha **

Context (TH): Government has introduced the FCRA Amendment Bill to address operational gaps, tighten regulation of foreign funds, & create a new authority to manage assets of NGOs that lose their licence.

Proposed Amendments to FCRA

Designated Authority: To manage, take over, or dispose of assets created from foreign funds when NGO registration is cancelled/suspended.
Expanded Definition: Widened to include directors, trustees, partners, governing members, and persons controlling the organisation.
Liability of Officials: Key functionaries to be held accountable for FCRA violations, unless they prove due diligence.
Prior Approval: State agencies must seek Central government approval before initiating FCRA probes.
Timelines & Registration Rules: Introduces fixed timelines for fund utilisation and automatic cancellation on non-renewal/expiry.
Penalty: Reduces maximum imprisonment from 5 years to 1 year, with clearer and consistent penalties.

Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA)

Enactment: Originally enacted in 1976, later replaced by FCRA, 2010, with amendments in 2020.
Purpose: Regulates foreign donations and funding to individuals, NGOs, and organisations to ensure they do not affect national interest or security.
Administering Authority: Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
Registration Requirement: NGOs must obtain FCRA registration or prior permission to receive foreign contributions legally.
2020 Amendment: Prohibits sub-granting of foreign funds, mandates Aadhaar identification, and requires a designated SBI account in New Delhi.

{GS2 – MoCA} Modified UDAN Scheme **

Context (TH | LM): Union Cabinet approved the redesigned UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik) scheme as ‘Modified UDAN’ to strengthen regional air connectivity.

The scheme will run for 10 years from FY 2026-27 to FY 2035-36, with a sixfold budget increase.
Key Focus: It prioritises the Northeast, hill regions, islands, and remote districts to improve last-mile and emergency connectivity.
Expansion Target: Develop 100 airports from unserved airstrips using a “challenge-based approach” and build 200 modern helipads in remote regions.
Funding Shift: Regional Connectivity Fund (RCF) now receives direct support from the Union government, replacing passenger- levy-based financing.
Extended Subsidy: Viability Gap Funding (VGF) support period is extended from three to five years for airline sustainability.
Indigenisation: The revamped scheme proposes procurement of Made-in-India aircraft, HAL Dhruv helicopters and HAL Dornier aircraft, for state-owned carriers.

About UDAN Scheme

Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) launched UDAN in 2016 for a period of 10 years under the National Civil Aviation Policy (NCAP).
Objective: To make air travel more affordable and connect Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities for more balanced regional development.
Nodal Agency: Airports Authority of India (AAI) implements the scheme.
Key Features: Airlines get fee waivers for parking and navigation, subsidised fares for about 50% of seats, and State support for land, utilities, and security.

Read More > UDAN

{GS2 – IR} 14^th Ministerial Conference (MC14) of WTO **

Context (TH): The 14^th Ministerial Conference (MC14) of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) is taking place in Yaoundé, Cameroon.

About WTO Ministerial Conference

The Ministerial Conference is the highest decision-making body of the WTO.
Provision: It was established under the Marrakesh Agreement, which requires meetings at least once every two years.
Authority: It is the highest forum empowered to create, amend, or negotiate global trade rules.

Key Agendas of WTO MC14

Dispute Reform: Restore a fully functional, two-tier binding dispute resolution system, which has been paralysed since 2019.
Agriculture Security: Secure a permanent solution for public stockholding, reduce trade-distorting subsidies, and improve market access.
Fisheries Subsidies: Finalise “Phase 2” rules to ban harmful subsidies that contribute to overcapacity and overfishing.
Digital Trade: Decide continuation of E-commerce Moratorium on customs duties for electronic transmissions, currently set to expire this year.
Plurilateral Integration: Incorporate Joint Statement Initiatives (JSI) like Investment Facilitation for Development (IFD) into the formal WTO legal framework.
LDC Graduation: Establish transition mechanisms for countries losing Least Developed Country (LDC) status and related trade benefits.

WTO E-commerce Moratorium is a 1998 agreement under which members commit to not imposing customs duties on electronic transmissions (e.g., software, music, films, digital services).

Key Challenges for WTO MC14

Geopolitical Fragmentation: Rising “friend-shoring” and national security exceptions are undermining the Most-Favoured-Nation (MFN) principle.
Consensus Erosion: The push for flexible plurilateral negotiations challenges the unanimous decision-making model that gives all members an equal voice.
Digital Sovereignty: E-commerce moratorium creates a trade-off between global corporate interests and the “policy space” that developing states need to regulate digital trade.
Institutional Deadlock: The absence of a functional Appellate Body has shifted the WTO from a “rules-based” to a “power-based” negotiation system.
Policy Asymmetry: Outdated subsidy benchmarks continue to unfairly restrict food security programmes of developing nations while protecting historical subsidies of developed ones.
Multilateral Irrelevance: The proliferation of Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs) is bypassing the WTO as the primary venue for global rule-making.

{GS3 – Envi} India’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) for 2031-2035 **

Context (PIB): Union Cabinet approved India’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) for the 2031-2035 period.

Implementation: India’s NDC is operationalised through the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) and its nine national missions.

Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC)

NDCs are self-defined national climate action plans submitted under the Paris Agreement.
Legal Nature: Paris Agreement mandates reporting frameworks, but does not legally enforce achievement of NDC targets.
Ratchet Mechanism: Countries must submit updated NDCs to the UNFCCC every five years.
Ambition Rule: Each successive NDC must be more ambitious than the previous submission.
Core Components: An NDC includes quantified mitigation targets, adaptation strategies, and conditional commitments linked to international support.
Transparency: Countries must submit ICTU (Information to Facilitate Clarity, Transparency, and Understanding) alongside NDCs to explain their targets.
Monitoring: UNFCCC assesses collective progress through the Global Stocktake (GST), conducted every five years.
NDC 3.0: The third round of NDCs, due for submission by 2025-2026, covers climate targets for 2035.

India’s Updated Targets under NDC 3.0

Emission Intensity: A 47% cut in GDP emissions intensity from 2005 levels by 2035.
Non-Fossil Share: 60% of cumulative installed electric power capacity from non-fossil sources by 2035.
Carbon Sink: An additional 3.5-4.0 billion tonnes of CO₂ equivalent sink through forest and tree cover by 2035 from 2005 levels.

Qualitative Targets

Sustainable Lifestyle: Embed sustainability into everyday life through the Mission LiFE movement.
Green Growth: Expand renewables, battery storage, green corridors, and cleaner manufacturing aligned with Viksit Bharat @ 2047.
Climate Adaptation: Scale up resilience across coastal ecosystems, agriculture, Himalayan states, and disaster management.
Green Finance: Mobilise domestic resources and demand new, additional, low-cost climate finance from developed nations.
Capacity Building: Strengthen institutional capacity, R&D, and international collaboration for climate technology innovation.

Commitment	NDC 2.0 (2030)	NDC 3.0 (2035)	Current Progress
Emissions Intensity	45% reduction (2005 base year)	47% reduction (2005 base year)	36% reduction (2020)
Non-Fossil Capacity	50% installed capacity	60% installed capacity	52.57% (Feb 2026)
Carbon Sink (CO₂ eq.)	2.5-3.0 billion tonnes	3.5-4.0 billion tonnes	2.29 billion tonnes (2021)

{GS3 – S&T} Antibiotic-Resistant Typhoid

Context (TH): A recent study shows antibiotic-resistant typhoid is imposing a major economic burden in India, with fluoroquinolone-resistant infections accounting for about 87% of total typhoid-related costs in 2023.

Fluoroquinolones are a class of broad-spectrum antibiotics commonly used to treat bacterial infections, including typhoid, respiratory infections, and urinary tract infections.

What is Typhoid Fever?

Typhoid is a bacterial infectious disease caused by Salmonella Typhi.
Transmission: Spreads through contaminated food and water, especially in areas with poor sanitation.
Symptoms: High fever, fatigue, headache, abdominal pain, and weakness.
Treatment & Prevention: Treated with antibiotics, but prevention relies on safe water, sanitation, hygiene (WASH), and vaccination.
Typhoid Conjugate Vaccine (TCV): A single-dose injectable vaccine against Salmonella Typhi, offering long-term protection for children from 6 months of age.

Why Antibiotic Resistance Matters?

Antibiotic resistance is a condition where bacteria evolve to survive despite antibiotic treatment.
Cause: By overuse or misuse of antibiotics, allowing resistant bacteria to multiply.
Impact: Makes infections harder to treat, increases treatment duration, cost, and risk of death.
Examples: Seen in diseases like typhoid, tuberculosis, and hospital-acquired infections.
WHO recognises antimicrobial resistance as a major global public health threat.

{Prelims – Geo} Aghanashini-Vedavathi River-Linking Project *

Context (NIE): UNESCO has advised the Government of India to strictly follow World Heritage Conservation norms for the proposed Aghanashini-Vedavathi river-linking project.

Legal Basis: The advisory invokes the 1972 World Heritage Convention, which places the responsibility for protecting natural heritage on the respective signatory countries.
WHS Impact: The project passes through the Western Ghats, which were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2012.

About Aghanashini-Vedavathi Project

It is a proposed river-linking project in Karnataka to transfer surplus monsoon water from the west-flowing Aghanashini to the east-flowing Vedavathi basin.
Purpose: The project aims to address chronic water scarcity in drought-prone interior districts and support irrigation across 2 lakh hectares.
Infrastructure: Diverted water will travel through a 194-km pipeline to fill the Vani Vilas Sagar reservoir.

About Aghanashini River

Aghanashini is one of the last major free-flowing rivers in peninsular India, with its natural course largely untouched by dams or large-scale diversions.
Course: It originates near Sirsi (Gadihalli) in the Western Ghats & empties into Arabian Sea near Kumta.
Major Tributaries: Donihalla, Chandika Hole, and Bakurhole.

About Vedavathi River

Vedavathi, a right-bank tributary of the Tungabhadra, is the lifeline of the semi-arid regions of central Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
Origin: It is formed by the confluence of the Veda and Avathi rivers, both originating in the Bababudanagiri Hills of the Western Ghats.
Course: The river flows northeast through Karnataka, briefly enters Andhra Pradesh, and re-enters Karnataka to merge with the Tungabhadra at Siruguppa.

{Prelims – Initiatives} National District Mineral Foundation Summit

Context (DDN): Ministry of Mines organised the National District Mineral Foundation Summit 2026 under the theme “Effective Utilisation of District Mineral Funds for ADP/ABP Areas.”

Objective: The summit aimed to strengthen inter-governmental coordination to improve outcome-oriented utilisation of DMF funds.

District Mineral Foundation (DMF)

District Mineral Foundation (DMF) is a statutory, non-profit trust established by State Governments in mining-affected districts.
Legal Basis: DMFs were instituted under Section 9B of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2015 (MMDR Act).
Objective: They work for the benefit of persons and areas affected by mining-related operations.
Funding: It is funded through mandatory contributions from mining lease holders, paid in addition to standard royalties.
Contribution Rate: Central Government fixed contribution rates at 10% of royalty for leases granted on or after January 12, 2015.
Fund Use: The funds are non-lapsable and are used for implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Khanij Kshetra Kalyan Yojana (PMKKKY).
Leadership: District Magistrate heads DMF and acts as Chairperson of its Governing Council.
Scheduled Areas: In Fifth Schedule areas, Gram Sabha approval is required for all DMF plans, programmes, and projects.

{Prelims – IR} G7 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting

Context (DDN): EAM S. Jaishankar will attend the G7 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in France.

While India is not a G7 member, it has been invited as a partner country by France, the current chair.
India will participate in discussions with the G7 and partner countries on global issues.

Group of 7 (G7)

G7 is an informal group of 7 advanced economies: the USA, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, and Japan, along with the European Union.
Originated in 1975 (G6) to address global economic crises; Canada joined in 1976, group became G7.
Russia joined in 1998, forming the G8, but was suspended in 2014 after the annexation of Crimea.
It is a non-treaty-based forum with no permanent secretariat; decisions are based on consensus.

{Prelims – Eco} Variable Rate Repo (VRR) *

Context (BL): Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced a liquidity infusion of ₹1.25 lakh crore through Variable Rate Repo (VRR) auctions to manage year-end banking stability.

VRR is a monetary policy instrument employed by the RBI under the Liquidity Management Framework to inject liquidity during temporary shortages.
Mechanism: Under VRR, banks borrow short-term funds from RBI by pledging eligible Government Securities (G-Secs) as collateral.
Rate Determination: The VRR cut-off rate is set by market bidding, but generally remains at or above the policy repo rate.
Tenor: VRR operations are mainly conducted for 7 days, though RBI may use overnight to 14-day repos based on liquidity requirements.

Repo Rate is the fixed interest rate at which the RBI lends short-term funds against collateral of government securities. The current rate is 5.25%, unchanged since February 2026.

Read More > RBI’s Instruments of Monetary Policy

{Prelims – Agri} National Centre for Organic and Natural Farming

Context (PIB): National Centre for Organic and Natural Farming (NCONF) organised a seminar and exhibition to promote organic and natural farming across India.

NCONF is the apex nodal organisation for promoting and developing chemical-free, sustainable agriculture like organic, natural, and regenerative farming.
Originally established in 2004 as National Centre of Organic Farming, it was renamed NCONF in 2022.
Administrative Setup: It operates under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare with its headquarters in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh.
Certification: Serves as the secretariat for India’s Participatory Guarantee System (PGS), a decentralised, low-cost, peer-review certification for organic produce.
Programme Execution: Implements the National Project on Organic Farming (NPOF) and plays a key role in the National Mission on Natural Farming (NMNF).

Natural Farming: A chemical-free system relying fully on ‘on-farm’ biological processes instead of synthetic inputs; Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Himachal Pradesh lead in India.
Organic Farming: A holistic production system that avoids synthetic fertilisers, pesticides, growth regulators, and artificial feed additives.
- India ranks first among organic producers and second in organic cultivation area; Sikkim became the world’s first 100% organic state in 2016.

{Prelims – Species} Sperm Whale (Physeter macrocephalus) *

Context (DTE): Scientists have recorded footage of sub-adult sperm whales headbutting, challenging the earlier hypothesis that only adult males used their heads for combat.
Sperm Whale is the largest toothed predator on Earth & the only living member of the genus Physeter.
Brain Size: It has the largest brain of all living animals, with its head making up one-third of its total body length.
Spermaceti: The head contains a large cavity filled with a waxy liquid called spermaceti, used for echolocation and buoyancy regulation.
Blowhole: Unlike most whales, its asymmetrical blowhole is positioned on the left side of the snout.
Echolocation: It produces the loudest sound of any living creature (up to 230 dB) for echolocation.
Habitat: Sperm whales prefer ice-free oceans deeper than 1,000 metres, especially near submarine canyons and continental shelf edges.
Distribution: It has a cosmopolitan distribution across all deep oceans, from the equator to the edges of the Arctic and Antarctic.
Diet: The whale primarily feeds on deep-sea squid; males at higher latitudes also consume bottom-dwelling sharks, rays and fish.
Social Units: Females and young form stable units of about 12 individuals; distinct clan groups communicate using unique click patterns called ‘codas’.
Ecological Role: It acts as a “whale pump”, transporting nutrients from deep-sea feeding zones to the surface through faeces.
Key Threats: Vessel strikes, entanglement in fishing gear, ocean noise pollution, plastic ingestion.
Conservation Status: IUCN: Vulnerable; CITES: Appendix I; CMS: Appendix I; WPA: Schedule II

{Prelims – Envi} National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) *

Context (PIB): National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) launched a new short-term Internship Programme for graduates and postgraduates focusing on biodiversity conservation.

NBA is an autonomous statutory body established in 2003 under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC).
Mandate: It implements the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 (as updated by the Amendment Act, 2023).
Key Functions: It operationalises Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS), supports compliance with the Nagoya Protocol, combats biopiracy, and advises States on Biodiversity Heritage Sites (BHS).
Composition: NBA is led by a Central Government-appointed Chairperson, includes ex officio ministry members and non-official biodiversity experts.
Key Initiatives: It has formed an Expert Committee on Invasive Alien Species and expanded conservation capacity through the Biodiversity Samrakshan Internship Programme (BSIP).