Current Affairs – August 24, 2026

{GS1 – IS} India’s Education-Employment Gap **

• Context (IE | IT): NITI Aayog released the ‘Reimagining Skilling for Viksit Bharat@2047’ report, identifying education-to-employment gaps and proposing a skilling overhaul for employment and wage growth.

Key Gaps Identified

• NEET Burden: An estimated 8.7 crore Indian youth aged 15 to 29 fall into the “Not in Education, Employment, or Training” (NEET) category.
• Female Informality: Only 3% of women have formal jobs, while 71% work informally or are NEET.
• Qualification Mismatch: A weak link between formal education and employment results in only 8.25% of graduates securing roles that match their qualifications.
• Skill Deficit: Among existing workers, 36% face digital skill challenges, and 18% struggle with communication skills in the job market.
• Entrepreneurial Disconnect: 61% of higher-education students interested in entrepreneurship are unaware of pathways available to pursue it.

Systemic & Structural Bottlenecks

• Affordability Barrier: NEET youth face sunk education costs and no income, while low-income students struggle to afford paid skilling courses amid college expenses.
• Mobility Lock: Caregiving duties and household expectations confine women at home, cutting off access to training centers located even a few kilometers away.
• Degree-Skill Mismatch: Outdated curricula and the dominance of generic degrees leave 34% of higher-education students structurally unprepared for industry requirements.
• School Deficiency: Fewer than 1 in 12 secondary schools currently offer vocational subjects despite guidance in the NEP 2020.
• Outcome Disconnect: Despite ₹34,000 crore in skilling-related expenditure in 2025–26, outcomes remain uneven due to weak outcome orientation.

Recommendations by NITI Aayog

• School Integration: Introduce universal General Employability and Entrepreneurship Skills (GEES) from Class 6 and structured ‘Kaushal Tracks’ from Class 9 based on local industrial demand.
• Female Access: Provide targeted skill vouchers and trusted local training spaces for women to reduce affordability, caregiving, and mobility barriers.
• Curriculum Realignment: Expand Apprenticeship Embedded Degree and Diploma Programs in higher education to strengthen industry alignment and workplace learning.
• Mobility Pathway: Use National Credit Framework-aligned pathways and micro-credentials to help youth re-enter education without restarting their learning.
• Platform Unification: Create a centralized apprenticeship platform to list internship opportunities and connect students directly with potential MSME employers.

Read More > India’s Job Crisis | Education-Employment Paradox in India

{GS1 – IS} Rural-Urban Gap in India’s Female Labour Force Participation **

• Context (TH): The July 2026 PLFS shows a growing rural-urban gap in Female Labour Force Participation Rate (FLFPR), with rising rural rates and stagnating urban rates.

Trends in Female Labour Force Participation

• Overall Participation: FLFPR for those aged 15+ increased from 30% in 2019-20 to 40% in 2025.
• Rural-Urban Gap: The rural FLFPR expanded from 33.0% to 45.9% while the urban rate grew slowly from 23.3% to 27.7% during the same five-year period.
• Growth Share: Rural women accounted for 80% of the rise in female workers from 2017-18 to 2023-24.
• Leading States: West Bengal, UP, and Bihar led rural participation gains, while Rajasthan and Gujarat recorded urban annual increases of more than two percentage points.

Drivers of the Rural-Urban Gap

• Agricultural Absorption: Concentration in subsistence farming and unpaid family work sustains high rural female participation compared to lower urban levels.
• Distress Employment: Vulnerable household income compels rural women into low-productivity work as an economic necessity to cushion family finances.
• Methodological Effect: Broadened survey codes count unpaid domestic tasks as active employment, inflating rural female workforce beyond formal job gains.
• Enterprise Support: Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission credit and skilling expand self-employment opportunities for rural women.

Barriers to Urban Female Participation

• Industrial Saturation: Manufacturing employs only about 11.4% of workers, limiting expansion of formal jobs suitable for educated urban women.
• Income Effect: Patriarchal norms prompt women to leave the workforce as household incomes rise, reinforcing domesticity as a status symbol.
• Care Burden: Eldercare and childcare responsibilities during peak working years limit female participation to 48% (ages 25-35), compared to 98% for males.
• Mobility Barrier: Limited last-mile transit options and unsafe routes discourage women in cities, with 31% citing transit safety as a barrier to employment.

Way Forward

• Crèche Expansion: Enforce Section 11A crèche mandates under the Maternity Benefit Amendment Act through PPP daycare facilities in industrial corridors.
• Gender-Responsive Transport: Expand subsidized, safe public transport, like pink buses and women-only coaches, to reduce urban commuting barriers.
• Skill Alignment: Reskill urban women for gig work, formal care services and emerging digital sectors to reduce educated female unemployment.
• Rural Formalization: Scale agro-processing MSMEs and targeted credit to move rural women from subsistence self-employment into higher-margin value chains.

Read More > Female Labour Force Participation Rate in India

{GS3 – Agri} National Animal Disease Control Programme (NADCP)

• Context (PIB): NADCP has significantly reduced the incidence of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) and Brucellosis through nationwide vaccination, surveillance and strengthened veterinary infrastructure.

• Type: It is a 100% centrally funded Indian central sector scheme launched in September 2019.
• Aim: To control FMD and Brucellosis in livestock, targeting FMD eradication by 2030 through mass biannual vaccinations and lifetime calf vaccinations.
• Target: It targets 100% vaccination of all livestock against FMD twice a year and one time vaccination against Brucellosis in 4-8 months old female bovine calves in their lifetime
• LHDCP: Under the revised Livestock Health and Disease Control Programme (LHDCP), NADCP, and the Pashu Aushadhi initiative have been subsumed into a single umbrella scheme to facilitate integrated implementation and effective management of livestock health interventions.
• Key Achievements: FMD outbreaks declined from 132 in 2019 to 40 by 2025 and Brucellosis outbreaks declined from 22 in 2019 to 15 in 2025.

FMD

• Highly contagious viral vesicular disease of cloven-hoofed animals such as cattle, buffaloes, sheep, goats and pigs etc.
• Leads to reduction in milk yield, decreased growth rate, infertility, reduced working capacity in bullocks, trade embargo in the international market.
• Serotypes found in India includes O, A and Asia-1.

Brucellosis

• It is a reproductive disease of cattle and buffaloes caused by bacterium Brucella abortus.

• It is characterized by fever, induces abortion at the last stage of pregnancy, infertility, delayed heat, interrupted lactation resulting in loss of calves, loss in production of meat and milk.
• Bovine brucellosis is endemic in India and there is no curative treatment for bovines.

{GS3 – Agri} Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay Sanrakshan Abhiyan (PM-AASHA)

• Context (PIB): Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay Sanrakshan Abhiyan (PM AASHA) has ensured that benefits of Minimum Support Price (MSP) reach all farmers, including small and marginal farmers.

Key Highlights

• Genesis: September 2018.
• Objectives: Brings together multiple price support mechanisms under unified framework and strengthens MSP implementation stabilising farm incomes and ensuring food price stability.
• Implementation: Central nodal agencies and state governments prepare procurement infrastructure ensuring timely procurement operations.

Key Components of PM- AASHA

Price Support Scheme (PSS)

• Purpose: Ensures procurement of crop at MSP when market prices fall below MSP during harvest.
• Crops covered: Pulses, oilseeds, and copra.
• Procuring Agencies: National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) and National Cooperative Consumers' Federation of India Limited (NCCF) at request of state governments.
• Eligibility: Only registered farmers with valid land records.
• Procurement Structure: From 2024–25, procurement of pulses, oilseeds, and copra is allowed up to 25% of a State/UT’s production.
  • Procurement of Tur, Urad, and Masur is permitted up to 100% of State production.

Price Stabilization Fund (PSF)

• Purpose: Protects consumers from price volatility by maintaining buffer stocks of essential commodities like pulses, onions, and potatoes, set up to stabilize prices of key Agri-horticultural products.
  • It is now merged with PM-AASHA but continues to be managed by Department of Consumer Affairs.

Price Deficiency Payment Scheme (PDPS)

• Purpose: Produce is not physically procured. Instead, price difference between MSP and actual market price in the notified market, up to 15% of MSP value, is paid directly into bank accounts.
• Significance: Mainly used for oilseeds, reduces need for large procurement infrastructure and promotes market-based selling while still ensuring MSP protection to farmers.

Market Intervention Scheme (MIS)

• Purpose: Designed to procure a range of perishable agricultural and horticultural commodities, especially useful during glut situations when supply exceeds demand.
• Target Crops: Includes tomatoes, onions, and potatoes for which MSP does not apply.
• Operation: Activates when market prices drop by at least 10% over previous normal season's rates.
  • Operates through cost-sharing between Centre and State governments for operations undertaken by Central Nodal Agencies like NAFED and NCCF.

Read More> Doubling Farmers’ Income I PM Annadata Aay Sanrakshan Abhiyan

{GS3 – IE} Mobile Phone Manufacturing Scheme (MPMS)

• Context (TH): Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) notified the ₹62,500 crore Mobile Phone Manufacturing Scheme (MPMS) for FY 2026-27 to FY 2030-31.

• It replaces the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for Large Scale Electronics Manufacturing to scale domestic production and build competitive local smartphone brands.
• Targets: ₹39 lakh crore in cumulative production, ₹15 lakh crore in exports, 60,000 direct jobs, and 35–40% domestic value addition.
• Incentive: Offers cash payouts tied to incremental sales over a base year for two target segments: 1. Global manufacturers and 2. Domestic Indian brands.

Incentives for Target Segments

Read More> Reviving India’s Manufacturing Sector | India’s Electronic Hardware

{Prelims – A&C} Thiksey Monastery

• Context (DDN): US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor visited Thiksey Monastery in Ladakh.

• Thiksey Monastery is a 15^th-century Tibetan Buddhist monastery of the Gelug (Yellow Hat) sect, located in central Ladakh near Leh in the Indus Valley.
• The twelve-story white, red, and ochre complex, cascading down a hilltop, is nicknamed "Little Potala" for its resemblance to the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet.
• A 15-meter statue of Maitreya (Future Buddha), seated in the lotus position and spanning two floors, was built to commemorate the 14th Dalai Lama's 1970 visit.
• Festival: Resident lamas perform a sacred mask dance, known as Cham, during the two-day Thiksey Gustor Festival each autumn.

{Prelims – Envi} Narwhal (Monodon monoceros)

• Context (TH): Recent study revealed that a narwhal's tusk derives its strength from opposing twists in its outer and inner collagen fibril layers.

• The narwhal is a medium-sized toothed whale known as the "Unicorn of the Sea". Its only living close relative is the beluga whale.
• It has mottled black-and-white skin that lightens with age; it lacks a dorsal fin, an adaptation for swimming under thick ice.
• Unique Feature: Male narwhals have a spiraled tusk from the upper jaw that acts as a sensory organ detecting chemical and temperature changes in the ocean.
• Habitat: Frigid, deep-water coastal environments and seasonal ice-pack waters of Canada, Greenland, Svalbard, and Russia.
• Diet: They are suction feeders hunting benthic prey, including Greenland halibut, Arctic cod, and squid.
• IUCN: LC; CITES: Appendix II.
• Serves as a biological indicator of Arctic marine ecosystem stability.

{Prelims – IE} Online Bond Providers Platform (OBPP)

• Context (TH): SEBI has proposed an advertisement code for Online Bond Providers Platforms (OBPPs) to improve investor awareness and ensure responsible promotion of the bond market.

• OBPPs are SEBI-regulated online platforms that facilitate the buying, selling, and management of fixed income investment products such as Bonds and Sustainable Debt Instruments (SDIs).

Benefits of Investing through OBPPs

• Makes bond investing easier for retail investors by simplifying access to otherwise fragmented debt market.
• Brings multiple bond options onto one platform, enabling comparison of issuers, yields, credit ratings, maturities and cash-flow schedules.

{Prelims – S&T} INS Mangrol

• Context (TH): INS Mangrol, the 3^rd of eight Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft (ASW-SWC), was delivered to the Indian Navy.

• ASW-SWC are specialised naval vessels designed for detecting and neutralising submarines in shallow coastal waters.
• The vessel has been indigenously designed and constructed by Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL).
• It has been named after the coastal township of Mangrol in Gujarat, and has modern systems including lightweight torpedoes, indigenous ASW rockets, and advanced shallow-water sonars.

{Prelims – S&T} Polysilicon

• Context (TH): Government is working towards adding 30 GW of domestic polysilicon manufacturing capacity by 2030 and is exploring a subsidy scheme to support indigenous production.

• Polysilicon, or polycrystalline silicon, is a high-purity form of silicon consisting of multiple small silicon crystals.
• It is an important semiconductor material and is used primarily in solar photovoltaic (PV) cells and semiconductor and electronics industries.
• Polysilicon is processed into ingots, which are sliced into thin silicon wafers. These wafers form the basic material on which solar cells are manufactured. Multiple solar cells are assembled to produce a solar module (solar panel).
• China dominates the global supply chain, controlling over 90% to 93% of worldwide polysilicon production.

{Prelims – Social Sector} Squint Eye

• Context (TH): Study estimated that horizontal strabismus or squint eye affects 1.81% of global population.

About Squint Eye or Strabismus

• A condition in which the eyes are misaligned and do not look in the same direction simultaneously; the eye may turn inward (esotropia), outward (exotropia), upward or downward.
• Causes: In children, major risk factors include genetic factors, refractive errors, premature birth and low birth weight; in adults, causes include diabetes, thyroid and eye diseases, stroke, neurological disorders and trauma.
• Impacts: Misalignment can cause amblyopia (lazy eye) in children due to suppression of the affected eye's image, while adults may experience double/blurred vision, eye strain and headaches.

{Prelims – Social Sector} Ervebo Ebola Vaccine

• Context (IT): Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is receiving 70,000 doses of the Ervebo Ebola vaccine amid a rapidly worsening Ebola outbreak.

• Ervebo (rVSV-ZEBOV) is a single-dose vaccine used to protect against Ebola virus disease (EVD). It is a live, replication-competent recombinant viral vector vaccine.
• It uses a genetically engineered vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) vector expressing an Ebola virus glycoprotein.
• Ervebo is licensed for use against the Ebola virus, but not against Bundibugyo virus, which is responsible for the current outbreak.

{Prelims – Misc} One Liner

• In News – MV Ocean Winner (TH): A Panama-flagged bulk carrier that sank in the Bay of Bengal off Odisha.