Current Affairs – April 08, 2026

{GS1 – IS} Impact of Rising Energy Costs on Migrant Labourers

• Context (IE): Rising LPG prices and shortages in cities are forcing migrant workers to reconsider urban livelihoods and temporarily return to villages.

• Inflationary Pressure: Rising fuel costs are increasing food & daily expenses, worsening cost of living.
• Uncertainty & Stress: Migrants face economic insecurity and fear of future crises, influencing decisions to leave cities temporarily.
• Food Insecurity: High cooking costs force households to skip meals or shift to cheaper options.
• Unsafe Alternatives: Migrants increasingly rely on firewood or waste fuels, leading to health risks and unsafe living conditions.

Issues Faced by Migrant Labourers

• Job Insecurity: A large proportion of migrant workers are engaged in the informal sector without contracts or security, with about 122 million job losses during COVID-19.
• Poor Living Conditions: Migrant labourers often reside in overcrowded and unhygienic settlements with limited access to basic services like sanitation and healthcare.
• Wages Exploitation: They often encounter wage discrimination, delayed payments, and exploitation by contractors, earning less than local workers for similar tasks.
• Lack of Social Security: Due to interstate mobility, many migrants are excluded from welfare schemes, despite efforts such as PDS portability.
• Data Deficiency: The absence of reliable, real-time data on migrant workers hampers effective policymaking and crisis response.

Measures to Address Issues of Migrant Labourers

• Universal Social Security: Expand and ensure effective implementation of schemes like e-Shram Portal to provide portable benefits, including insurance, pensions, and welfare support.
• Portability of Welfare Benefits: Strengthen nationwide access to food security through One Nation One Ration Card to ensure migrants receive subsidised food anywhere in India.
• Improved Living & Working Conditions: Enforce labour laws and mandate employer responsibility for safe housing, sanitation, and occupational safety, especially in construction and informal sectors.
• Data & Registration: Develop a comprehensive, real-time migrant worker database through inter-state coordination to enable targeted policy interventions.
• Skill Development: Promote upskilling and integration into formal employment via schemes like PM Kaushal Vikas Yojana to enhance wages, mobility, and job security.

{GS2 – Governance} Sattankulam Case Verdict Renews Focus on Custodial Deaths in India **

• Context (TH | TH): A Tamil Nadu court awarded the death penalty to all nine policemen convicted in the 2020 Sattankulam custodial murder case.

• Custodial death is when a person dies in police or judicial custody because of physical assault, psychological pressure, or medical negligence.

Major Causes of Custodial Deaths

• Colonial Legacy: The Indian Police Act, 1861, maintains a coercive colonial policing system aimed at control rather than safeguarding citizens.
• Police Brutality: Investigating officers often use “third-degree” methods to obtain confessions, bypassing scientific and evidence-based practices.
• Prison Overcrowding: Indian prisons operate at 120.8% average occupancy, leading to neglect, poor living conditions, and increased vulnerability.
• Legal Gap: India signed the UN Convention Against Torture (UNCAT) in 1997 but has not ratified it or enacted a standalone anti-torture law.
• Structural Shield: Section 218 of the BNSS requires government sanction before courts can take cognisance of offences, delaying prosecution.

Constitutional and Legal Safeguards

• Constitutional Safeguard: Articles 20, 21, and 22 protect against self-incrimination, arbitrary punishment, and detention beyond 24 hours without magistrate production.
• NHRC Guidelines (1993): Require every custodial death or rape to be reported within 24 hours.
• Hansura Bai Mandate (2025): Supreme Court mandates transfer of custodial death probes to an independent agency if local police are implicated.
• Magisterial Inquiry: Section 196 of the BNSS permits Executive Magistrates to carry out inquiries into all custodial deaths.

Judicial Precedents

• D.K. Basu v. State of WB (1997): Supreme Court established 11 mandatory guidelines for arrest, detention and mandatory medical examinations.
• Prakash Singh v. UoI (2006):  Mandated establishment of independent Police Complaints Authorities to examine serious police misconduct.
• Paramvir Singh Saini v. Baljit Singh (2020): CCTV with audio recording in all police stations and the interrogation offices of central investigative agencies.

Read More > Custodial Deaths in India

{GS2 – Governance} Annual Survey of Incorporated Services Sector Enterprises *

• Context (PIB | DDN): Recently launched by the National Statistics Office, ASISSE is India’s first-ever survey of India’s incorporated services sector.

• Objective: It aims to create a comprehensive database to support data-driven policymaking and economic analysis.
• Legal Framework: Conducted under the Collection of Statistics Act, 2008.
• Sectoral Coverage: Covers services like trade, transport, hospitality, IT, education, and healthcare.
• Enterprise Covered: It will include companies incorporated under the Companies Act, 1956/2013 and LLPs registered under the Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008.
• Economic Importance: Focuses on the service sector, contributing over 50% of GDP and major employment generation.
• Complementary Data Framework: ASISSE will complement the Annual Survey of Industries (manufacturing) and the Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises (unincorporated sector).
• Transparency Push: Supported by a “Know Your Survey” guide to improve awareness & participation.

{GS3 – IE} 11 Years of Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana

• Context (NOA): Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) has completed 11 years since its launch in April 2015, targeting financial inclusion for unfunded micro-enterprises.

About Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY)

• PMMY is a Central Sector Scheme under the Ministry of Finance providing collateral-free credit to micro and small enterprises.
• Target Sectors: It targets non-corporate, non-farm income-generating activities in manufacturing, trading, services, and allied agriculture.
• Loan Tiers: Loans are divided into four tiers based on business growth stage and funding needs.
  1. Shishu: Up to ₹50,000 for startups and initial-phase businesses.
  2. Kishore: ₹50,001 to ₹5 lakh for businesses seeking to scale or stabilise.
  3. Tarun: ₹5,00,001 to ₹10 lakh for established enterprises seeking substantial growth.
  4. Tarun Plus: ₹10 lakh to ₹20 lakh for entrepreneurs who have successfully repaid a prior Tarun loan.
• Collateral Limit: It requires no security or third-party guarantee for loans up to ₹20 lakh.
• Rate Determination: Lending institutions (Banks, NBFCs, MFIs) determine interest rates based on RBI guidelines and borrower profile.
• Repayment Terms: PMMY offers flexible repayment tenures of 3 to 7 years, often with a moratorium period of up to 6-12 months.
• Working Capital: The Mudra Card (a RuPay debit card) allows borrowers to manage working capital with credit-limit flexibility.
• Nodal Agency: MUDRA (Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency Ltd.), a subsidiary of SIDBI, is the central nodal agency for PMMY.
• Monitoring Mechanism: Performance is tracked via the State Level Bankers’ Committee (SLBC) to ensure geographic penetration across all districts.
• Digital Portals: JanSamarth and Udyamimitra portals are the official digital gateways for paperless PMMY loan applications.

Achievements of PM Mudra Yojana

• Loans Sanctioned: PM Mudra Yojana has sanctioned over 57.79 crore loans since its inception.
• Total Disbursement: It has disbursed more than ₹40.07 lakh crore to micro and small enterprises.
• Women Beneficiaries: 67% of all beneficiaries are women, holding 38.29 crore accounts.
• Social Inclusion: 49% of total loan beneficiaries belong to SC, ST, and Other Backward Classes.
• New Entrepreneurs: The scheme has granted over 12 crore loans to first-time business owners.
• Loan Size: Average loan size has increased from ₹38,000 in FY16 to ₹1.25 lakh in FY26.
• Formalisation: Over 1.5 crore Mudra borrowers are formally registered as MSMEs via the Udyam portal.

Persisting Bottlenecks for PM Mudra Yojana

• Asset Quality: NPA rate for Scheduled Commercial Banks under Mudra stands at 9.81%, compared to the overall MSME NPA average of 3.6%.
• Shishu Dominance: About 80% of Mudra loans fall under the Shishu category (up to ₹50,000), primarily supporting subsistence rather than scalable growth.
• Rejection Rate: 30% of Mudra loan applications are rejected due to insufficient documentation, lack of credit history, or New-to-Credit status.
• Regional Skew: Credit outreach remains uneven, with states like Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh dominating, while the northeastern regions show lower participation.
• Capacity Gaps: Only 25% of Mudra beneficiaries receive formal skill training, and 60% reportedly do not fully understand their loan repayment terms.

Read More> Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana: Achievements & Limitations

{GS3 – IE} India’s Oil Import Dependence

• Context (TH): India entered the Iran war–induced energy crisis with a very high degree of import dependence, making it highly exposed to external shocks.

Extent of Oil Import Dependence

• Import: India imported ~91% of its crude oil requirement in February 2026, marking a historic peak.
• Volume: Total oil imports increased by ~33% year-on-year to 205.3 lakh tonnes.
• Refinery Dependence: About 90.8% of crude processed in Indian refineries was imported, indicating minimal domestic production support.
• Dependence on West Asia: West Asia contributed 54.4% of India’s oil imports, one of the highest shares in recent years.
• Strategic Risk: Heavy regional concentration increases vulnerability to conflicts, chokepoints, and supply disruptions.
• Russian Import: Russia’s share declined to 26.5% in February 2026 from a peak of 40.2% in May 2025 due to geopolitical factors.

Impact of the Iran War on Energy Security

• Energy Routes: Conflict has affected shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the route of around 40% of India’s crude oil imports and over 80% of LPG imports.
• LNG Import: LNG imports are also affected as Qatar supplies nearly half of India’s LNG imports.
• Energy Insecurity: India’s high dependence has magnified the impact of disruptions on its energy security framework.
• Rising Import Bill: Higher prices significantly increase India’s oil import expenditure and fiscal burden.

Policy Measures for Energy Security

• Source Diversification: India should expand crude sourcing from Russia, the USA, Africa, and Latin America to reduce regional concentration risks.
• Strategic Petroleum Reserves: Strengthening and expanding Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR) can cushion short-term supply disruptions.
• Energy Transition Push: Accelerating renewables, green hydrogen, ethanol blending, and EV adoption can reduce long-term dependence on oil.
• Domestic Production: Enhancing domestic exploration under policies like the Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy (HELP) and the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) can reduce the import burden.
• Energy Diplomacy: Securing long-term supply contracts and investing in overseas oil assets can ensure stable and diversified supply chains.

{GS3 – Envi} India Drafts Rules on Tar Balls **

• Context (NIE): The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) released India’s first draft rules to manage tar balls for preventing marine pollution.

• Indian Occurrence: Tar balls often wash ashore along India’s west coast due to dense Arabian Sea shipping routes and monsoon currents.
• Rules Mandate: State governments must classify coastal pollution caused by tar balls as a State Disaster.
• Nodal Agency: Indian Coast Guard will lead monitoring and surveillance under the National Oil Spill Disaster Contingency Plan (NOSDCP).

About Tar Balls

• Tar balls are dark, sticky lumps of weathered crude oil resulting from oil spills, ship discharges, pipeline leaks, or seabed seepage.
• They form when floating oil slicks weather; lighter hydrocarbons evaporate, and heavier residues mix with seawater, creating dense emulsions.
• Ecological Impact: Tar balls are highly toxic, suffocate benthic organisms, disrupt turtle nesting beaches, and contaminate fragile coastal food webs.
• Economic Impact: Shoreline accumulation degrades beaches, harms tourism, and endangers artisanal fishing communities’ livelihoods.
• Biodegradation Limit: Marine bacteria such as Alcanivorax slowly degrade tar balls, but their dense core delays natural breakdown.
• Mitigation: Manual shoreline sweeping is the main cleanup method, while disposal requires incineration or use as fuel in cement industries.

{GS3 – S&T} India’s Internet Censorship Regime **

• Context (TH): Recent studies reveal inconsistencies in website blocking across Internet Service Providers (ISPs), raising concerns over arbitrary internet censorship in India.

Legal & Constitutional Framework

• IT Act, 2000: Section 69A allows the government to block websites to protect national interests; Section 79 provides safe harbour to intermediaries like ISPs if they follow takedown orders.
  • The landmark Shreya Singhal (2015) judgment upheld Section 69A, requiring safeguards like review committees and hearing rights.
• IT Rules, 2021: Regulates social media, OTT, and digital news, mandating a three-tier grievance redressal system and compulsory adherence within strict timelines.
• Telecom Act, 2023: Replaces the Telegraph Act and consolidates legal authority to suspend internet services during emergencies.
• Constitutional Basis: Article 19(1)(a) guarantees freedom of speech and expression, while Article 19(2) allows reasonable restrictions on grounds of sovereignty, security, public order, and morality.

Technical Mechanisms & Implementation

• DNS Poisoning: ISPs manipulate DNS responses to redirect users to false IP addresses instead of blocked websites. It’s the most affordable blocking method.
• HTTP Interception: In non-HTTPS connections, ISPs intercept user web traffic & display a block page.
• SNI Filtering: In HTTPS connections, ISPs check website names during initial connection and block access if they match a prohibited domain.

Key Concerns and Issues

• Opaque Orders: Section 69A blocking orders are confidential, denying website operators prior notice and restricting their ability to defend their content.
• Enforcement Gaps: An empirical study using 2025 data found only 1,414 of 43,083 domains blocked uniformly across six major ISPs, indicating severe inconsistencies.
• Access Inequality: Unequal digital access continues because websites blocked by one regional ISP often remain fully accessible via another provider.
• Overbroad Blocking: Vague guidelines lead intermediaries to over-censor, blocking entire domains instead of specific URLs.
• Delayed Unblocking: Platforms remain restricted due to slow ISP compliance with unblocking directives.

Policy Imperatives and Strategic Reforms

• Public Disclosure: Create a public database of blocked domains and reasons, restricting confidentiality to critical national security cases.
• Uniform Standards: Develop clear guidelines to prevent arbitrary ISP practices and ensure uniform legal enforcement across India.
• Independent Oversight: Empower statutory oversight committees to regularly review executive blocking decisions and ensure compliance with constitutional safeguards.
• Appellate Remedies: Mandate prior notification and establish strong appellate mechanisms for website operators and users to challenge blocking directives.

{Prelims – Geo} Mohra Power Project

• Context (TOI): Jammu & Kashmir government is reviving the historic Mohra Power Project to accelerate hydel power development while the Indus Water Treaty remains in abeyance.
• Mohra Power Project, also called the Mahura Project, stands on the Jhelum River in Uri, Baramulla.
• It was commissioned in 1905 as the first hydroelectric plant in the Kashmir Valley.
• It was built as a run-of-the-river plant with about 5 MW capacity, now being upgraded to 10.5 MW.
• Unique Feature: The plant used an 11-km wooden flume (artificial channel) of deodar logs to channel water across steep mountains.

{Prelims – Initiatives} Poshan Pakhwada 2026

• Context (PIB): The Ministry of Women and Child Development is observing the 8^th Poshan Pakhwada (9–23 April 2026) under POSHAN Abhiyaan.

• Objective: It is a 15-day awareness campaign to promote behavioural change and improve nutritional outcomes among children and women.
• Theme: “Maximising Brain Development in the First Six Years of Life”.
• Focus Areas: Includes maternal nutrition, breastfeeding, complementary feeding, early stimulation, and play-based learning.
• Implementation Mechanism: Through Anganwadi Centres with Jan Bhagidari (people’s participation).
• Activities: Poshan Panchayats, awareness drives, early learning activities, & healthy lifestyle campaigns.

{Prelims – Species} Indian Crested Porcupines are Damaging Saffron Yield in Kashmir *

• Context (TOI): Saffron farmers in Kashmir are experiencing significant losses because of damage caused by Indian crested porcupines.

• Damage Mechanism: Unlike surface-grazing pests, porcupines are nocturnal burrowers that dig deep to consume saffron corms (underground stem)
• Soil Degradation: Their extensive tunnelling ruins soil structure, making recovery harder for future saffron crops.

About Indian Crested Porcupine (Hystrix indica)

• Indian crested porcupine is a large, nocturnal rodent native to South Asia and the Middle East.
• Appearance: It has brown or black quills with alternating white bands and a coarse crest of long hairs on the neck.
• Rattle: Specialised hollow quills at the base of its tail shake to produce a loud rattling warning sound.
• Habitat Preference: The species thrives in diverse environments, ranging from temperate forests to agricultural fields.
• Distribution: Its range spans Southwest and Central Asia, from Turkey and the Middle East to India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.
• Diet: Primarily herbivorous, but also practices osteophagia (chewing bones or antlers) to wear down their continuously growing incisors and to source calcium for quill growth.
• Grouping: It lives in small family groups within complex, self-dug burrow systems or natural caves.
• Ecological Role: The porcupine acts as a habitat modifier by aerating soil through digging and aiding seed dispersal.
• Key Threats: Human-wildlife conflict, habitat loss, hunting for meat and decorative quills.
• Conservation Status: IUCN: Least Concern; WPA: Schedule I

{Prelims – S&T} Mission MITRA *

• Context (TH): ISRO has launched Mission MITRA to study astronaut performance under extreme conditions for Gaganyaan.

• Mission Name: MITRA – Mapping of Interoperable Traits and Response Assessment.
• Location & Conditions: Conducted in Leh at ~3,500 m altitude. Simulates space-like conditions: hypoxia (low oxygen), extreme cold and isolation.
• Key Focus Areas: Human factors in space missions; Crew-ground interoperability; Psychological resilience & communication under stress.
• Significance: Uses analogue missions (Earth-based simulations) to test astronaut performance.