Current Affairs – August 03-04, 2025

{GS2 – Polity – IC – Elections} Green Election

• Context (TP): A successful green election model demonstrating low-waste, climate-conscious polling has prompted calls for nationwide replication by the Election Commission of India.

Key Pillars of a Green Election Framework

• Transitioning to green elections requires modular reforms in material, mobility, and messaging.
• Biodegradable Material: Use compostable booths, banners, and furnishings to eliminate plastic waste.
• Waste Segregation: Ensure three-bin waste management at all polling and counting centres.
• Green Booths: Construct booths using recyclable, reusable, and low-emission construction materials.
• Digital Outreach: Encourage social media campaigning over physical posters and printed materials.
• Public Transport Use: Promote carpooling and mass transit for voters and campaign workers.
• Green Incentives: Offer saplings to voters as symbolic rewards for sustainable participation.

{GS2 – Vulnerable Sections – Elderly} Kerala’s Draft Policy for Elder Persons

• Context (IE): Kerala, undergoing India’s fastest demographic ageing, released a draft policy ensuring institutional care, legal safeguards, and decentralised elder support.

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About the Draft State Policy for Elder Persons

• Policy Integration: The policy mainstreams elderly issues into State plans and institutional frameworks.
• Focus Areas: Prioritizes integrated care, social justice, and institutional elder support systems.
• Legal Expansion: Proposes a state-level law exceeding national elder welfare provisions.
• Budget Allocation: Reserves 5% state budget, 10% local funds, plus a property tax cess.
• Monitoring Tools: Applies community audits and digital tracking for elder service delivery.
• Trained Cadre: Deploys dedicated elder-care officers in each local government body.
• Oversight Bodies: Constitutes the Vayojana Commission and Council for policy oversight and advice.
• Peer Networks: Forms local elder groups for psychosocial care and mutual peer support.
• Care Planning: Mandates annual status reports and individual care plans by local governments.
• Disaster Inclusion: Establishes one-stop elder centres and geo-tags homes for disaster safety.

Read More> India’s Elderly Population

{GS2 – Social Sector – Education} Indian Knowledge Systems

• Context (TP): Aryabhatta College’s Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS) initiative reflects NEP 2020’s thrust on integrating traditional Indian knowledge into higher education through scientific methods.

About Indian Knowledge Systems

• It was introduced by the Ministry of Education (MoE) under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
• Aim: To revive and integrate India’s ancient intellectual traditions into modern education.
• IKS Centre: Over 50 government-funded Indian Knowledge Systems centres have been established.
• Functions:
  • Interdisciplinary Collaboration: Coordinate and promote interdisciplinary IKS research across national & international institutions.
  • Group Formation: Establish & mentor subject-specific research groups comprising scholars from diverse institutions.
  • Knowledge Dissemination: Promote popularisation schemes for Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS).
  • Funding Support: Facilitate funding avenues for IKS-related research projects & academic initiatives.
  • Policy Advocacy: Make policy recommendations for Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS) promotion.

Suggestions for Improvement

• Academic Integrity: Mandate evidence-based research & peer-review to uphold academic integrity and counter pseudoscience.
• Knowledge Pluralism: Incorporate Buddhist, Jain, tribal, & regional traditions alongside Vedic sources.
• Curricular Integration: Introduce IKS as optional, interdisciplinary courses complementing modern disciplines to ensure voluntary engagement.
• Learning Accessibility: Develop multilingual, digital teaching aids and train educators through FDPs for effective classroom implementation.
• Maintain Transparency: Clarify that IKS is academically driven, and engage openly with critics to build trust and credibility.
• Course Evaluation: Use feedback, audits, and external reviews to improve IKS course quality & relevance continuously.

{GS3 – IE – Employment} Education-Employment Paradox

• Context (TH): India faces a growing education-employment paradox, with expanding education not resulting in proportional jobs, highlighting systemic policy mismatches.

Issues Concerning Employability in Current Policy Frameworks

• Low Skilling Rate: Only 17% youth receive formal vocational training (NSDC 2022); far below the global peer average.
• Accreditation Deficit: 60% of private colleges lack NAAC recognition, impacting quality (UGC).
• NEP Rollout Issues: Kerala’s delayed four-year UG rollout reflects weak NEP 2020 implementation.
• Counselling Gap: According to NCERT’s NAS 2021, only 13% of schools provide formal career guidance.
• Opaque R&D Schemes: Missions like National Quantum, i-Hub, and i-STEM lack public audits, outcome data, and transparency in progress.

Policy Redirection for Education–Employability Alignment

• Career Counselling: Use models like Delhi’s Desh Ke Mentor to institutionalise early career guidance.
• Vocational–Academic integration: Implement Germany’s Berufsschule and Singapore’s ITE models.
• Placement Metrics: Add job outcome data to college accreditation and rankings (Tamil Nadu model).
• Curriculum–Skill Linkage: Gujarat’s Skill India–Samagra Shiksha pilot demonstrates how NSDC and MoE can incorporate skilling into formal education pathways.
• Skills Registry: A national tracker like NASSCOM’s registry can map degree-to-job outcomes effectively.

Read More > Changing Landscape of Employment in India

{GS3 – IE – Industry} Towards Industrial Self-Reliance

• Context (FE): India’s Aatmanirbhar Bharat & Viksit Bharat@2047 goals are driving self-reliance in heavy industries & automobiles through sustainable initiatives led by the Ministry of Heavy Industries.

Key Initiatives Promoting Self-Reliance

Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) Schemes

• Automobile Components: ₹25,938 crore allocated (FY23-FY27) to boost domestic production of Advanced Automotive Technology (AAT) with 6 OEMs & 7 component makers achieving over 50% value addition.
• Advanced Chemistry Cell: ₹18,100 crore under ACC to localise EV battery manufacturing, cut imports & ensure affordable, quality supply.

Electric Vehicle Push

• FAME I & II: Encouraged EV adoption and built early infrastructure.
• PM E-DRIVE (2024): Comprehensive support for electric 2Ws, 3Ws, buses, trucks, ambulances; modernises testing and certification.
• NITI Aayog Projection: 70% commercial cars, 30% private cars, 40% buses, and 80% two/three-wheelers will be electric by 2030.

Capital Goods Sector

• Competitiveness Enhancement Scheme: Initiated In 2014, under the Ministry of Heavy Industries, it was scaled up in 2022 with ₹1,207 crore.
  • Supports MSMEs via Samarth centres and advanced skilling while industry growth is from ₹1.59 lakh crore (FY15) to ₹3.84 lakh crore (FY25).
  • Sub-sectors such as machine tools, textile machinery, and heavy construction equipment have tripled in output.

Indigenous Rare Earth Magnet Production

• Focused on reducing import dependence for EV motors, wind turbines, & electronics, supported through R&D and strategic collaborations.

Innovation Acceleration

• CAMRAS programme (IISc Bengaluru): Catalysing robotics, defence, space, and green tech development through public-private partnerships.

Impact of India’s Automotive Shift

• Global Rank: India becomes the 3^rd largest automobile market, overtaking Japan.
• EV Surge: Sales rose from 2,343 (FY15) to 19.67 lakh (FY25), driven by FAME and state policies.
• Energy & Environment: Reduces oil imports & supports Net Zero 2070 targets through cleaner mobility.
• Industrial Growth: Strengthens EV supply chains, including batteries, semiconductors, & charging infra.
• Export Push: Boosts India’s role as a global hub for EVs and auto components.
• Job Creation: Expands employment in R&D, manufacturing, and green mobility sectors.

{GS3 – Envi – Issues} Bird Mortality Crisis in India’s Wind Energy Hub

• Context (TH): Recently, Nature Scientific Reports revealed that wind farms in Rajasthan’s Thar Desert have the highest bird mortality rates globally.

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Key Findings

• Alarming Mortality: Around 4,464 bird deaths per 1,000 sq. km annually, with an average of 1.24 deaths per turbine per month in the Thar region.
• Contributing Factors: Thar’s location on the Central Asian Flyway, poor turbine design, collision with power lines, and high-density raptor population (E.g., Eagles and Kites).
• Species Vulnerability: Large raptors are especially at risk due to their low flight agility, slow reproductive rates, and long lifespans.

Suggested Mitigation Measures

• Blade Visibility Enhancement: Painting one turbine blade black to reduce collisions.
• Timed Shutdowns: Halting turbine operations during peak bird migration periods.
• Eco-sensitive Planning: Avoiding wind farm development in biodiversity hotspots and critical flyway zones.

{GS3 – S&T – Cybersecurity} Bharat NCX 2025

• Context (PIB): Recently, the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) and Rashtriya Raksha University (RRU) organised the Bharat National Cybersecurity Exercise 2025, a significant initiative to bolster India’s cyber defence.

Key Highlights

• Focus Areas: Security of Industrial Control Systems (ICS), AI-driven threats such as adversarial AI attacks and deepfake manipulation.
• Core Modules: Security Operations Centres (SOC), Application Programming Interface (API) Security, Reverse Engineering & Malware Analysis (REMA), Digital Forensics & Incident Response (DFIR).
• Stratex (Strategic Exercise): Simulated national-level cyber crises to boost inter-agency coordination, real-time response and threat containment.
• Startup Exhibition: Showcased cybersecurity innovations and enabled knowledge-sharing among Chief Information Security Officers, promoting homegrown resilience.

Significance

• Boosted readiness to counter cyber threats in critical sectors like energy, defence, & communication.
• Promoted public-private-academic collaboration to strengthen the cybersecurity ecosystem.
• Advanced digital sovereignty through secure, self-reliant infrastructure under Digital India.

Read More > Cybersecurity in India

{Prelims – Envi – Species} New Antlion Species from Kerala

• Context (TH): Three antlion species were recorded for the first time in Kerala’s Western Ghats, marking a significant ecological extension of typically dry-zone species into humid forest habitats.

About Antlion

• Nocturnal Insects: Antlions are weak-flying insects active at night in arid ecosystems.
• Morphological Traits: Adults have long antennae and exhibit vertical, fluttering wing movement.
• Larval Pit Trap: Larvae dig conical sand pits to trap ants and other prey, inspiring the name ‘antlion’.
• Habitat Preference: Prefer loose, dry sandy soils suitable for larval pit construction.
• Ecological Indicator: Presence signals undisturbed, well-drained, arid or semi-arid ecosystems.
• Global Range: Inhabit dry tropical and subtropical zones across all major continents.
• Indian Spread: Common in arid regions of Rajasthan and peninsular semi-arid zones.

Newly Recorded Antlion Species

• Indopalpares pardus: India’s largest antlion; leopard-like wings offer effective camouflage.
• Palpares contrarius: Identified by rare wing venation unique to the Palparinae antlion group.
• Stenares harpyia: Large-bodied antlion with clubbed antennae and slow, moth-like flight.

• Range Extension: Represents expansion of dry-zone antlions into humid Western Ghats habitat.

Credit: TH

{Prelims – In News} National Waterway 57

• Context (PIB): Recently, National Waterway-57 on the Kopili River in Assam was operationalised with the first cargo trial run between Chandrapur (Kamrup) and Hatsingimari (South Salmara).

About National Waterway 57

• Geographic Location: NW-57 spans 46 km entirely along Assam’s Kopili River.
• Nodal Agency: It is managed by IWAI under the Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways.
• Objective: It supports intra-state water freight in line with the goals of Maritime India Vision 2030.

Significance

• Regional Revival: It revives Assam’s inland waterways and boosts economic activity.
• Modal Shift: Promotes freight transition from roads to waterways, reducing emissions and congestion.
• Network Expansion: NW-57 operationalised 1,168 km of cargo routes in Assam across four waterways.
  • These include NW-2 (Brahmaputra), NW-16 (Barak), NW-31 (Dhansiri), and NW-57 (Kopili).

Read More > Inland Waterways

{Prelims – In News} Chalo India Global Diaspora Campaign

• Context (PIB): The Ministry of Tourism recently announced that 30 e-tourist visas have been issued under the Chalo India Global Diaspora Campaign.

About Chalo India Global Diaspora Campaign

• The Chalo India Global Diaspora Campaign is a flagship initiative of the Ministry of Tourism launched in 2024 to engage the global Indian diaspora in promoting tourism to India.
• Objective: Promote Indian destinations, heritage sites, and products globally to boost global tourism share and foster cultural goodwill through the diaspora.
• e-Visa Provision: One lakh free e-visas will be issued to eligible foreign nominees.
• Diaspora Role: OCI cardholders serve as tourism ambassadors and can nominate five foreigners.
• Registration: A dedicated portal enables nomination and tracking of referred tourists.

{Prelims – In News} BlueBird Communications Satellite

• Context (TH): ISRO is set to launch the Block-2 BlueBird communications satellite aboard LVM3, following the successful deployment of the NISAR satellite.

About BlueBird Satellite

• BlueBird is an advanced American communications satellite developed by AST SpaceMobile.
• Launch Site: It will be launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota.
• Design: It weighs 6,500 kg with a 64 m² antenna for Low Earth Orbit (LEO) operations.
• Data Capability: It supports 40 MHz bandwidth with peak transmission speeds up to 120 Mbps.
• Application: It enables space-based broadband access and voice calls for smartphones.

Read More > Satellite-Based Internet Connectivity