Current Affairs – August 10, 2026

{GS1 – A&C} Bhojshala Vagdevi Idol

• Context (IE): India renewed its diplomatic push at the BRICS Culture Ministers’ Meeting in Bhopal to repatriate the 11^th-century Vagdevi idol from the British Museum in London.

• The effort follows a Madhya Pradesh High Court ruling formally recognizing the disputed Bhojshala complex in Dhar as a temple dedicated to the deity.
• Vagdevi idol is a white marble sculpture associated with the Bhojshala complex in Dhar, commissioned during the reign of King Bhoja of the Paramara dynasty.
• Originally a four-armed figure, it now has two broken arms. The pedestal bears Sanskrit and Devanagari inscriptions mentioning King Bhoja, Vararuci (the court poet Dhanapala), and the sculptor Manathala.
• While Indian scholars and devotees identify the figure as Vagdevi (Goddess Saraswati), the British Museum catalogues it as the Jain deity Ambika.
• Major General William Kincaid excavated the idol from the ruins of the old city palace in Dhar in 1875.

Read More> Bhojshala-Kamal Maula Complex

{GS1 – IS} Gender Sensitivity Report *

• Context (TH): Supreme Court released an updated gender sensitivity report, “Judgments and Gender: Sensitivity and Compassion in Writing Judgments“.

• It replaces the 2023 Handbook on Combating Gender Stereotypes to promote trauma-informed, survivor-centric adjudication across Indian courts.

Key Recommendations of the Report

• Victim-Centric Justice: While the 2023 manual focused on language, the 2026 framework establishes protocols to prevent secondary victimization during trials.
  • Cross-Examination: Judges must intervene actively to stop humiliating or irrelevant questions about a survivor’s personal or sexual history.
  • Identity Protection: Supports in-camera proceedings, video conferencing, and protecting identities using pseudonyms or initials.
  • Trauma-Informed Approach: Cautions judges against adverse conclusions drawn solely from delayed reporting, absence of physical injuries, or testimony inconsistencies.
• Inclusive Language: The handbook expands the glossary of terms judges must avoid, stripping patriarchal, moralistic, and victim-blaming undertones.
  • Term Substitution: Replaces terms like “helpless woman,” “poor helpless minor girl,” or references to “chastity” or “honor” with “survivor,” “complainant,” or “minor victim“.
  • Legal Precision: Advises against explaining offenses through physiological justifications like “hormonal changes” or “lust,” substituting legally precise terms like “sexual assault“.
• Inclusivity Framework: Report introduces SOGIESC (Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression, and Sex Characteristics) framework to ensure dignified treatment of LGBTQIA+ & gender-diverse individuals.

Read More> Gender Sensitivity in the Indian Judiciary

{GS1 – MIH} Rabindranath Tagore

• Context (NOA): Home Minister offered salutations to Rabindranath Tagore on his death anniversary.

About Rabindranath Tagore

• He was the youngest son of Debendranath Tagore (leader of Brahmo Samaj), a Bengali poet, song composer, and painter who brought the use of colloquial language into Bengali literature, thereby freeing it from traditional models based on classical Sanskrit.
• He was born in Calcutta on May 7, 1861 and died on August 7, 1941, Calcutta.
• Education: Throughout his childhood, he was educated by tutors and wrote extensively.

• In 1877, he sailed to England and was schooled in Brighton, East Sussex, and at University College, studying law and attending lectures on English literature.

• Awards: Became the first non-European and first lyricist to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913 for his work Gitanjali (1912).
  • He was awarded a knighthood in 1915, but he repudiated it in 1919 as a protest against Amritsar (Jallianwala Bagh) Massacre.
• Contribution to Education: In 1901 Tagore founded an experimental school in rural West Bengal at Shantiniketan (“Abode of Peace”), where he sought to blend the best in the Indian and Western traditions.
  • He settled permanently at the school, which became Visva-Bharati University in 1921.
• Contribution in Freedom Movement: He was a prominent leader particularly during partition of Bengal (1905), and two of his compositions became the national anthems of India (Jana Gana Mana) and Bangladesh (Amar Sonar Bangla).
• Key Literary Works: Sonar Tari (1894), Manasi (1890), Chitra (1914), The Post Office (1914), Nastanirh (1901), Chokher Bali (1903) Noukadubi (1906), Gora (1910), Ghare Baire (1916) and Shesher Kabita (1929).
  • He often published first in Bengali, then translated his own work to English.

Read More> Rabindranath Tagore: Compositions, View on Nation & Relevance

{GS2 – Polity} Fostering Fiscal Federalism **

• Context (TH): Tamil Nadu Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution urging Union to ensure the State’s fair share of tax devolution, as per constitutional principle of fiscal federalism.

Key issues with Fiscal Federalism in India

• Vertical Fiscal Imbalance: Constitution assigns larger and more buoyant tax bases to Union, while States bear major expenditure responsibilities in health, education, agriculture, etc.
• Cesses & Surcharges: Increasing use of Cesses and surcharges reduce the effective pool of resources as they are not part of the divisible pool shared with States.
• GST Related Issues: GST created a common national market and improved tax harmonisation, but States surrendered several independent indirect-tax instruments.
• Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS): This constitutes the significant part of Centre–State transfers requiring matching contribution from states with centrally determined parameters.
• Weak Own-Revenue Capacity: Weak property-tax collection, user charges and other local revenues make states and local governments heavily dependent on transfers.

Way Forward

• Reform Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS): Shift from detailed centrally prescribed implementation plans towards outcome-based transfers, allowing States greater flexibility.
• Make GST More Cooperative: Strengthen the GST Council as a forum for consensus-based fiscal decision-making.
• Strengthen States’ Own Revenue Capacity: States should improve tax administration, property registration, excise collection, non-tax revenues, adopt greater digitisation and data analytics.
• Institutionalise Fiscal Discipline: Bring off-budget borrowings, guarantees and contingent liabilities into transparent fiscal accounts; strengthening FRBM frameworks at both Union and State levels.
• Empower Third Tier: Fiscal federalism should move beyond Centre–State relations towards genuine three-tier fiscal federalism by ensuring regularly constituting State Finance Commissions (SFCs).
• Strengthen Cooperative Institutions: Regular meetings of the Inter-State Council, GST Council and Finance Commission–State consultations can reduce fiscal tensions bringing greater transparency.

Read More> Issues in Financial Devolution

{GS2 – Polity} Report on India’s Tribunal System **

• Context (PIB): Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice presented its 166^th Report on India’s tribunal system.

Key Issues Highlighted

• Severe Vacancies: Critical vacancies remain in leadership and technical roles. ITAT has 27 of 126 Member posts and all 7 Deputy Registrar positions vacant. NGT has 5 Judicial and 6 Expert Members, below the minimum of 10 each.
• Pendency Surge: Tribunal backlogs soared, with ITAT noting a 19,275 increase in pending cases in 5 months, highlighting significant delays in case disposal.
• Temporary Staffing: Over 95% of NCLT’s administrative staff are contractual, and TDSAT’s staff are fixed at 52 posts since 2001, weakening institutional continuity.
• Regional Imbalance: Railway Claims Tribunal (RCT) cases are concentrated in UP, Bihar, and Mumbai due to dense railway networks, causing mismatches between regional demand and judicial capacity.
• Access Gaps: Limited specialized training weakens technical capacity, while TDSAT’s unchanged member structure since 2001 creates gaps in managing cyber fraud and AI. Linguistic and geographic barriers further limit access, with RCT providing legal aid at just 9 of 23 benches.
• Infrastructure Deficits: NCLT courtrooms fall short of National Court Management Systems (NCMS) standards. RCT relies on Zonal Railways for budgets, limiting modern court administration.
• Digital and Cybersecurity Gaps: Full implementation of the e-RCT Project is pending. NGT lacks a dedicated IT division, and outdated ITAT systems expose financial data to cybersecurity risks.

Major Recommendations

• Proactive Recruitment: Start Member selection well before anticipated vacancies and maintain reserve panels for immediate replacement of resigning Group B and C staff.
• Disposal Timelines: File Written Statements within 45 days and Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) reports within 60 days, with Bench-level compliance monitoring.
• Capital Budgets: Provide separate capital budgets for timely infrastructure upgrades and reduce dependence on parent ministries for administrative approvals.
• Technology Upgrade: Mandate regular cybersecurity audits, vulnerability assessments, data-protection reviews, and updates for e-filing, mobile apps, and virtual-hearing systems.
• Public Dashboards: Establish bench-wise, real-time performance and case-disposal dashboards to improve transparency and strengthen policy-level scrutiny.
• Capacity Building: Provide continuous professional training in specialized and emerging fields, including digital tax jurisprudence, transfer pricing, and international taxation.
• Justice Access: Provide multilingual information, universal filing similar to a “Zero FIR” model, and expand legal-aid desks. Run railway safety campaigns in UP, Bihar, and Mumbai to cut accidents and cases.

Read More > Tribunals in India

{GS2 – Polity} Creamy Layer in SC/ST Reservations

• Context (TH): Union government has opposed petitions seeking creamy-layer exclusion for SCs and STs, arguing the principle for OBCs doesn’t apply to SC/ST reservations.

Arguments Against Creamy Layer for SC/ST

• Caste-Class Divide: Higher income or educational attainment does not necessarily eliminate caste prejudice, social exclusion, or historic structural discrimination.
• Representation Principle: Reservations under Articles 15(4) and 16(4) seek substantive equality, rather than functioning primarily as poverty-alleviation measures.
• Empirical Deficit: India lacks a comprehensive, nationwide study showing systematic capture of benefits by relatively advanced SC/ST groups.
• Constitutional Conflict: SC/ST status derives from Articles 341 and 342, making individual exclusion constitutionally problematic unless explicitly amended by legislation.
• Representative Erosion: Excluding educated, economically secure members may weaken SC/ST representation and their voice in administration, academia, and public institutions.

Read More > Sub-categorisation of SC

{GS3 – DM} Parliamentary Standing Committee’s Report on Disaster Management

• Context (PIB): Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs presented the 261^st report on ‘Disaster Management’.

Key Highlights of the Report

Read More> Community-Based Disaster Risk Reduction in India

{Prelims – Envi} Roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa)

• Context (DTE): Roselle was highlighted on International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples (August 9) for its nutritional security and climate resilience.

• It is a hardy shrub native to Africa and cultivated across tropical and subtropical Asia, Africa, and the Americas. In India, it’s mainly grown by indigenous and tribal communities.
• Commonly called Mesta or Chukur in India, it is also known as Bhenda Dal in Odisha’s Malkangiri, Gongura in Telugu, and Patwa in Hindi.
• It thrives in warm, rainfed uplands with minimal inputs and can grow on marginal land with limited water.
• Nutritional Value: Provides vitamin C, iron, and calcium; its red calyces are rich in anthocyanins, which are antioxidants and offer cardiovascular and liver benefits.
• Economic Uses: The fleshy calyces make herbal teas, jams, and pickles; stalks provide Mesta fiber for commercial use or as a raw jute substitute.

{Prelims – Envi} Slender-Billed Vultures *

• Context (TH): Five slender-billed vultures bred in captivity at the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS)’s conservation facility in Assam were released into the wild, marking the 1^st such release anywhere in the world.

• Distribution: Found primarily in the Indian subcontinent, including parts of India, Nepal and Bangladesh. In India, it occurs mainly in the northern & northeastern regions.
• Habitat: Open habitats, grasslands, agricultural landscapes and areas around human settlements where livestock carcasses are available.
• Diet: Primarily feeds on carrion (dead animals) and plays an important role as a natural scavenger.
• IUCN: CR | CITES: Appendix II | WPA: Schedule I
• India has undertaken vulture conservation breeding programmes, established Vulture Safe Zones, and banned the veterinary use of Diclofenac.

{Prelims – Geo} places/features in Arunachal Pradesh

• Context (PIB): Government of India, in consultation with Arunachal Pradesh, has identified 27 places/features using standard names on Survey of India maps.

• The move aims to ensure their accurate recognition and enhance public awareness of these locations.
• Places Include: Land area (Longju, Maja, Bisa, Bara Kundun, Chhota Kundun ,Dhan Bari), Passes (Dzo La, Riza La, Pukur La, Thag La), and Lake (Sambho Sarovar), etc.

{Prelims – IR} Mecca Joint Defense Agreement

• Context (IE): Saudi Arabia, Türkiye, and Pakistan signed the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, creating a trilateral mutual-security framework.

• The agreement expands the 2025 Saudi Arabia-Pakistan Strategic Mutual Defense Agreement (SMDA) by incorporating Türkiye into the security framework.
• Geopolitical Drivers: Declining confidence in US security guarantees, Saudi diversification efforts beyond Western dependence, and Türkiye’s pursuit of wider regional influence.
• Key Features:
  • Collective Deterrence: An armed attack against any member will be treated as an attack against all three, resembling NATO’s Article 5.
  • Defense-Industrial Cooperation: Expands military coordination, defense-industrial collaboration, and joint security planning to strengthen interoperable, self-reliant defense capabilities.
• Implications for India: The pact complicates India’s West Asian diplomacy by linking Saudi Arabia, a key partner, to Pakistan and Türkiye. Deeper Saudi-Pakistan-Türkiye defense ties, amid Chinese defense technology links to both, could limit India’s role in regional security networks.

{Prelims – S&T} Privately-built 800 kN FFSC Rocket Engine

• Context (TH I TH): Bengaluru based space company unveiled India’s first privately built 800 kN Full-Flow Staged Combustion (FFSC) LOX-Methane rocket engine, named EVEREST.

• Developed by Astrobase (recipients of IN-SPACe’s Technology Adoption Fund) making it 4th commercial company to develop a high thrust flow FFSC engine globally.
• India became the 4th nation to have FFSC engine technology after Russia, U.S., and China.
• Globally only three commercial companies have made these engine i.e., SpaceX (SpaceX’s Raptor is operational as of now) and Stoke Space, both from the USA and Land Space from China.
• Key Features of EVEREST: Offers 800 kN thrust, 340 seconds of specific impulse, and a 50%-110% throttle range, designed for reusable medium-lift launch vehicles.

About Full-Flow Staged Combustion (FFSC) Engines

• Very powerful engines where propellant flows from tank/source to rocket engine’s combustion chamber.
• Staged combustion refers to combustion taking place in two stages wherein fuel flows into rocket engine from one side and the oxidiser from the other side.
  • Fuel and oxidiser which is burnt and gases generated out of it are used for turning turbines.
  • Gases generated are put back into rocket combustion chamber so that propellant is not wasted.
• Comparison with Conventional Engines: Unlike FFSC, here only a portion of propellants is used to drive turbopumps.

• Significance: It unlocks reusable launch capabilities up to 30 tonnes to low earth orbit and a possible medium lift platform for launching commercial and strategic missions from abroad.

{Prelims – S&T} FAIR (Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research)

• Context (PIB): India developed a critical equipment for International Mega Science project FAIR.

• India has provided 1^st of 3 beam catchers, key component of Super-FRS for producing radioactive ion beams.
• It was designed by Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute (CSIR-CMERI) in Durgapur under the supervision of Bose Institute.

About International Mega Science Project, FAIR

• It is a large multipurpose particle accelerator facility being built at Darmstadt, Germany.
  • India became one of founding members by signing a convention on 2010 at Wisbaden, Germany.
• India’s Contribution: Funded jointly (50:50) by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) of Government of India.
• Implementation: Bose institute, Kolkata, an autonomous R&D Institute under Department of Science & Technology, Ministry of Science & Technology has been designated as Indian shareholder in the FAIR GmbH and the nodal Indian Institution for the implementation of FAIR programme in India.
• India’s Contribution: Includes certain cash components and a number of in-kind supplies.
  • Several key elements for the accelerator such as ultra-high vacuum chambers, power converters, IT and diagnostic cables and beam catchers are some of the in-kind supplies from India.

{Prelims – Misc} One Liners

• Envi – Begonia neelamorum (TOI): New begonia species discovered in Keyi Panyor district, Arunachal Pradesh. It is a small, tuberous perennial plant with a single light-green, double-serrated leaf and small white flowers. The plant grows exclusively on steep, moist rock walls along the Keyi River at 1,000 m elevation.
• IS – World Tribal Day (TH): Celebrated on 9^th August. Officially known as International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. Established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1994, it honours the first meeting of the UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations held in 1982.
  • 2026 Theme: “Honouring Indigenous Midwives: Safeguarding Life and Well-being.”