Current Affairs – December 14, 2025

{GS3 – IE} Current Status of Production Linked Incentive Scheme **

Context (TH): The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) released its Year-End Review 2025, highlighting the outcomes of the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes.

Investment: PLI schemes have attracted over ₹1.88 lakh crore of actual investment across 14 sectors.
Output: These investments have generated incremental production and sales of over ₹17 lakh crore.
Employment: The schemes have created more than 12.3 lakh direct and indirect jobs.
Export: Exports under PLI schemes have crossed ₹7.5 lakh crore.
- Key Contributors: Electronics, Pharmaceuticals, Telecom & Networking products, and Food Processing.

Other Key Findings of the Year-End Review

Startup India: 2.01 lakh recognised startups have created more than 21 lakh jobs.
- Gender Inclusivity: 48% of recognised startups have at least one woman director.
- Geographic Shift: Half of India’s future startups are expected to emerge from non-metro cities.
ONDC: The Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) has processed more than 326 million orders.
Compliance Reform: Over 47,000 compliance issues have been reduced, and 4,458 legal provisions have been decriminalised.
- NSWS: The National Single Window System has granted more than 8.29 lakh approvals so far.
PM GatiShakti: PM GatiShakti has onboarded 3,022 infrastructure projects worth ₹76.4 lakh crore.
GII Ranking: India’s rank in the Global Innovation Index improved to 38th in the 2025 rankings.
Patent: Domestic patent filings increased by 425% from 2014 to 2024, crossing 63,000 filings.

About Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme

About Scheme: PLI offers performance-based incentives for incremental sales of products manufactured in India.
Objective: It aims to expand domestic manufacturing, attract foreign investment, reduce import dependence, and create jobs.
Launch Year: The scheme was launched in March 2020 under the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative.
- The first phase targeted three sectors: mobile manufacturing, pharmaceutical ingredients (bulk drugs), and medical devices.
Nodal Agency: DPIIT under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry acts as the coordinating authority.
- Oversight: The Empowered Group of Secretaries, chaired by the Cabinet Secretary, monitors scheme implementation.
- Sectoral: Each sector is managed by its respective ministry as the implementing authority.
Output Basis: Incentives are released only after companies meet specified incremental production and sales targets.
Time Duration: Each sector’s PLI scheme runs for a fixed period of four to six years.
- Base Year: A designated financial year, often FY 2019-20, is used to compute incremental sales.
Coverage: Fourteen strategic sectors are covered to support national economic growth and security.
Eligibility: Eligible manufacturing units must be physically located within India.
- Threshold: Firms must meet annual thresholds for incremental investment and incremental production or sales turnover.

Read More> Initiatives for Export Promotion

{GS3 – IE} India’s Crude Oil Diversification **

Context (TH): The Parliamentary Committee has urged closer coordination between the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG) and the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to diversify crude oil sources.

India imports ~89% of its crude oil needs, exposing it to global supply shocks.

Why Crude Oil Diversification Is Critical for India?

Energy Security Resilience: Heavy dependence on a few suppliers exposes India to geopolitical shocks. E.g. the Russia–Ukraine war (2022) pushed Brent crude above $120/barrel, straining India’s supply chain.
Fiscal Stability: Oil imports drive current account deficit and inflation transmission. E.g. Petroleum imports form ~30% of India’s total import bill (MoPNG).
Strategic Autonomy: Overdependence constrains foreign policy choices. E.g. Payment and insurance hurdles in Iranian and Russian crude trade post sanctions.
Supply Route Security: Chokepoints heighten vulnerability to disruptions. E.g. Nearly 60% of India’s crude passes through the Strait of Hormuz, a high-risk corridor.

Challenges In Crude Oil Diversification

Ageing Oilfields: Domestic production decline weakens bargaining power abroad. E.g. Crude output fell from 34.2 MMT (2018-19) to ~28.7 MMT (2024-25) despite higher capex.
Price Volatility: Wide crude price swings complicate long-term contracting. E.g. Brent crude fluctuated between $70–$120/barrel (2021–24).
Capex Inefficiency: Upstream PSU capex rose from ₹1.33 lakh crore (2020–21) to ₹1.70 lakh crore (2024–25) without output gains.
Regulatory Uncertainty: Host-country tax and policy changes affect project viability. E.g. ICRIER notes regulatory risks reducing returns in Africa & Latin America assets.

Way Forward

Diplomatic Coordination: Integrate the MoPNG with MEA for upstream asset access; E.g. targeted energy diplomacy with West Asia & Africa, which supply ~65% of India’s crude.
Contract Flexibility: Expand hedging and flexible term contracts to manage volatility; E.g. spot-term mix helped India absorb the 2022 oil price shock without shortages.
Route Diversification: Strengthen alternate import routes and storage buffers; E.g. expand Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR) beyond current ~39 MMT.
Domestic Revival: Scale Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) and frontier basin exploration; E.g. EOR can raise recovery by 5–15% in mature fields (ONGC estimates).

Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR), also known as tertiary recovery, is a process used to extract additional crude oil from a reservoir after primary and secondary recovery methods become uneconomical

{GS3 – Infra} Underlying Challenges in India’s Civil Aviation Sector **

Context (TH): A wave of mass flight cancellations by IndiGo exposed structural weaknesses and longstanding regulatory gaps in India’s civil aviation sector.

Challenges Faced by India’s Civil Aviation Sector

Regulatory Capture: The DGCA remains under the Ministry despite the 2006 ICAO audit recommending independent oversight.
Market Duopoly: Dominance of IndiGo (60%) and the Tata Group (20%) makes nationwide operations vulnerable to disruptions.
Fuel Cost: High taxes and GST exclusions make Aviation Turbine Fuel form 40-50% of total airline operating expenses.
Currency Risk: Dollar-denominated costs raise operating expenses and reduce profits when the Rupee weakens.
Route Mortality: Over 100 UDAN routes closed after government subsidies ended due to a lack of commercial viability.
Pilot Shortage: Insufficient trained pilots make compliance with Flight Duty Time Limitations difficult.
ATCO Shortage: Inadequate Air Traffic Controller (ATCO) strength reduces safe-handling capacity during peak traffic.
MRO Gap: Limited domestic MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul) capacity makes airlines rely on foreign servicing for major maintenance.

Way Forward

Implement Convention: Strictly implement the 2025 Protection of Interests in Aircraft Objects Act to secure lessor rights during defaults.
Reform ATF: Bring Aviation Turbine Fuel under GST to allow airlines to claim Input Tax Credit for reducing operating costs.
Expand MRO: Reduce GST on MRO services to 5% and attract OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturer) like Safran to strengthen domestic maintenance capacity.
Optimise FDTL: Introduce stricter Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) norms in phases to manage pilot fatigue without causing capacity shocks.
Build Hubs: Develop coordinated flight banks and a “Hub and Spoke” model at Delhi and Jewar to capture international transit traffic.
Sustain UDAN: Use targeted Viability Gap Funding and smaller aircraft to keep regional routes commercially viable.

India’s Civil Aviation Sector

Market Scale: India is the third-largest domestic aviation market with 376 million passengers in FY24.
- Target: Metro airports are targeting an annual handling capacity of 468 million passengers.
Women Pilots: Women constitute 15% of India’s pilot workforce, three times the global average.
Airport Expansion: Operational airports increased from 74 in 2014 to ~160 in 2025.
Freight Volume: Airports handled 3.36 MMT of cargo in FY24, reflecting a 7% year-on-year increase.
Green Airports: 93 airports have transitioned to 100% green energy.

{GS3 – S&T} Scientists Performed OTOCs using ‘Willow’ Quantum Chip

Context (TH): Scientists measured Out-of-Time-Order Correlators (OTOCs) using Google’s 65-qubit “Willow” superconducting quantum chip.
Speed: The quantum computer ran the “Quantum Echoes” algorithm nearly 13,000 times faster than the best-known classical algorithm.

Out-of-Time-Order Correlators (OTOCs)

Chaos Metric: OTOCs measure quantum chaos by showing how a tiny present disturbance changes a measurement taken later within a quantum system.
Time-Reversal: The system receives a tiny nudge and is forced to retrace its earlier steps to undo the disturbance.
- Echo Check: If the system returns to its start, it is stable; a weak or missing echo shows the information was irreversibly scrambled.
Hardware: High sensitivity makes OTOCs a reliable metric for testing quantum computing hardware.

Quantum Chaos: Explains how unpredictable behaviour turns into system-specific predictable patterns at quantum scales.
Information Scrambling: Describes information mixing thoroughly across a system so that it cannot be recovered in its original form.

About Quantum Computing

Qubit Concept: Quantum computing uses qubits that can exist in multiple states simultaneously; unlike classical bits, which are restricted to 0 or 1.
Core Function: It uses superposition, entanglement, and interference to solve complex problems far faster than classical computers.
Quantum Advantage: This refers to the point where a quantum computer performs a meaningful task faster or more efficiently than any classical computer.
NQM Target: The National Quantum Mission (NQM) aims to build 50-1000-qubit systems and develop secure quantum networks and advanced quantum sensors.

About Q-Day

Meaning: Q-Day refers to a future moment when quantum computers become powerful enough to break today’s public-key encryption systems.
Quantum Threat: Modern encryption depends on complex mathematical problems, but quantum computers could solve them quickly using algorithms like Shor’s.
- RSA-2048 is the widely used public-key standard that multiplies two large prime numbers to produce a very large product for encryption.
Harvest Strategy: Malicious actors are already using a “harvest now, decrypt later” approach by storing encrypted data for future quantum decryption.
Risk Response: Global efforts now prioritise post-quantum cryptography (PQC), which relies on algorithms secure against both classical and quantum attacks.
- PQC Standards: U.S. NIST has approved CRYSTALS-Kyber algorithm for encryption, Dilithium for digital signatures, and SPHINCS+ for backup.

Read More> Quantum Computing

{Prelims – Envi} 50 Years of CITES *

Context (DTE): The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES) marked its 50^th anniversary at CoP20 in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

It was the first CITES Conference of the Parties (CoP) held in Central Asia.

The CoP is the main decision-making body, convening every 2 to 3 years to evaluate progress and update the Appendices, which determine the protection level for species.

Key Outcomes

Species Uplistings: The convention added 77 species to the CITES Appendices, including major uplistings for sharks and iguanas, to strengthen trade controls.
Bird Protections: The meeting enhanced trade safeguards for several bird groups, including African hornbills, vultures, and threatened songbirds.
Asian Big Cats: Members approved an independent reporting system to support evidence-based decisions on species such as tigers, leopards, and Asiatic lions.
Illegal Trade: Delegates focused on fighting illegal wildlife trade, emphasising technology use, online crime monitoring, and regional cooperation in the Samarkand Declaration.
Funding Decision: Parties approved a 6.98% budget increase to support operations for 2026–2028.

About CITES

CITES is a multilateral treaty to ensure that international trade in wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival.
Proposed in 1963 at an IUCN meeting, signed in 1973 in Washington, D.C., it came into effect in 1975.
The Convention has 185 Parties and oversees trade in over 40,000 species.
The treaty is legally binding but doesn’t override national laws; Parties must enact domestic laws to implement CITES.
It classifies species into three Appendices based on threat level.
- Appendix I: Covers species threatened with extinction, receiving the highest protection; commercial trade is generally prohibited.
- Appendix II: Covers species that are not endangered but may become so without regulation; commercial trade is allowed with permits.
- Appendix III: Covers species listed by individual countries seeking international support to regulate trade, which requires permits or certificates of origin depending on the country.

Read More > 50 Years of CITES

{Prelims – Eco} ADB Raises India’s FY26 Growth Outlook

Context (BS): The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has revised India’s FY26 GDP growth projection upward to 7.2%, marking a sharp upgrade from its earlier estimate of 6.5%.

Key Details

Momentum: Q2 GDP expanded 8.2% (six-quarter high), taking first-half growth to about 8%, signalling sustained near-term momentum behind the revision.
Drivers: Revision reflects stronger domestic consumption (stimulated by recent tax cuts) and higher investment, with supply-side support from robust manufacturing and services expansion.
Regional Impact: India’s stronger outlook lifts Asia’s 2025 growth projection to 5.1% (from 4.8%), making India the principal engine of the region’s faster expansion.

About Asian Development Bank (ADB)

Overview: Multilateral development bank established in, based in Manila, Philippines. Has 69 members (49 from Asia-Pacific, 19 non-regional); India is a founding member.
Functions: Provides loans, grants and technical assistance with major public-sector lending focused on education, environment and private-sector development.
Governance: Follows a weighted-voting structure with major shareholders being Japan and the US at 15.7% each, China at 6.4% and India at 6.3%. The ADB President is traditionally from Japan.
Publications: Releases the Asian Development Outlook (flagship) along with Key Indicators for Asia and the Pacific, the Asian Development Review, and the Asian Economic Integration Report.

{Prelims – IR} IndiaAI and UN Women Collaboration

Context (PIB): IndiaAI and UN Women India have launched a worldwide call for nominations to identify real-world AI solutions promoting gender equality.

This collaboration aims to showcase measurable, verifiable AI applications that benefit women and girls, particularly in the Global South.

About IndiaAI

IndiaAI functions as an independent business division under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), executing the IndiaAI Mission.
IndiaAI Mission was launched in 2024 for ‘Making AI in India and Making AI Work for India”.
The mission aims to position India as a global leader in Artificial Intelligence and democratise the benefits of AI.

About UN Women

UN Women is the United Nations (UN) agency dedicated to promoting gender equality and empowering women and girls.
It was established in 2010 by the UN General Assembly through the merger of four pre-existing women-focused entities to improve impact and efficiency.
Mission: To realise the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 5 (Gender Equality).
Structure: Headquartered in New York, UN Women works in over 120 countries via regional offices.
Governance: The Executive Board, elected by the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), provides operational and policy guidelines.
UN Women India: Supports Gender-Responsive Budgeting (GRB) in national planning and provides technical support to accelerate gender equality initiatives.

{Prelims – IR} India–Liberia MoU on Pharmacopoeial Cooperation

Context (NOA): India and Liberia signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen cooperation in pharmacopoeia.

It aims to promote shared quality standards and improve access to safe and affordable medicines in West African countries.
The MoU encompasses knowledge exchange and training provisions for Liberian regulatory staff.
Significance: The agreement reinforces India’s commitments to universal health coverage, while strengthening India–Africa diplomatic ties.

About Liberia

Liberia is a West African country and the first independent republic in Africa.
Borders: Sierra Leone to the northwest, Guinea to the north, the Ivory Coast to the east, and the Atlantic Ocean to the south and southwest.
Economy: It relies on natural resources and foreign investment; key exports include rubber, iron ore, diamonds, and timber.

Read More > India-Africa Relations

{Prelims – Infra} Indian Railways’ Renewable Energy Push

Context (PIB): Indian Railways is expanding its use of renewable energy as part of its plan to become a net-zero carbon emitter by 2030.

Key Developments

Renewable Traction: Indian Railways has commissioned 812 MW solar and 93 MW wind power for traction, and also secured 1,600 MW round-the-clock hybrid supply.
Electrification: About 99.2% of the broad-gauge network is electrified via mission-mode work, with route electrification jumping from 21,801 km (pre-2014) to 46,900 km (2014–25).
IGBT Locomotives: Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT)-based locomotives with regenerative braking are being deployed, which improves energy efficiency.
Engine Transition: Coal and diesel engines are being phased out, with steam engines retained only on UNESCO heritage routes, while advancing a hydrogen-train pilot for cleaner propulsion.

About Indian Railways

India’s national rail system, established in 1853 under colonial administration, now runs roughly 69,000 km of route (4^th largest rail network globally) and employs about 1.25 million people.
It carries over 7 billion passengers (FY25) and handled about 1,590 million tonnes of freight in 2023-24, making it central to national mobility and logistics.

Read More > India’s Railway Sector

{Prelims – PAN} Charaichung Festival

Context (DD): Assam’s Majuli hosts the Charaichung Festival to revive Charaichung, the first protected bird sanctuary of Asia.

Festival Purpose: Charaichung Festival is an annual event to conserve the Charaichung Bird Sanctuary.
Local Initiative: It is a community-led effort organised by Majuli-based NGO “Majulir Sahitya”.

About Charaichung Bird Sanctuary

Origin: Created in 1633 by Ahom king Pratap Singha on Majuli island as a protected bird site; not a legally notified sanctuary under the Wildlife (Protection) Act.
Avifauna: Supports ~150 species including storks, herons, egrets, whistling ducks, ibises and migratory waterfowl along the Central Asian Flyway.
Ecology: Part of the Brahmaputra floodplain-wetland system providing breeding, roosting and wintering habitats for wetland and water birds.
Threats: Degraded by rapid riverbank erosion, wetland shrinkage, siltation, altered hydrology and fragmentation of avian habitats across Majuli.

Read More > Pulicat Bird Sanctuary

{Prelims – Diseases} Haemorrhagic Septicaemia

Context (TH): Ten blackbucks died at Tata Steel Zoological Park, Jamshedpur, with preliminary findings suggesting haemorrhagic septicaemia (Pasteurellosis).

About Haemorrhagic Septicaemia

Haemorrhagic Septicaemia (Pasteurellosis) is a bacterial disease caused by Pasteurella multocida; it mainly affects cattle, buffaloes and some wild antelopes.
Spreads through inhalation or ingestion via contaminated feed, water, droplets or fomites; outbreaks are common in humid, monsoon-like conditions.
Endemic to South & Southeast Asia, Africa, parts of the Middle East and southern Europe; major livestock losses occur in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Highly acute with high mortality and morbidity; symptoms include high fever, rapid swelling of throat/neck and respiratory distress, often leading to sudden death.
- Younger animals are more susceptible than adults.
Control relies on annual vaccination in endemic zones and rapid antibiotic treatment (early stage only); prevention includes sanitation, isolation and biosecurity measures

Read More > Anthrax

{Prelims – In News} Shilp Didi Programme

Context (PIB): The Union Textiles Secretary, at the National Handicrafts and Heritage Week, outlined the government’s Shilp Didi Programme and its role in supporting women artisans.

About Shilp Didi Programme

Overview: Launched in 2024 by the Ministry of Textiles, the programme trains and supports women artisans (“Shilp Didis”) to strengthen design, digital skills and entrepreneurship.
Coverage: The pilot phase includes 100 women artisans from 72 districts across 23 states, covering 30 handicraft traditions such as textiles, pottery, metal crafts and embroidery.
Training: Artisans receive e-training on entrepreneurship, social media and e-commerce, supported by National Handicrafts Development Programme (NHDP) clusters for design, marketing and sales.
Market Access: The programme provides visibility through Dilli Haat, craft fairs, curated events, and e-commerce platforms, helping women artisans expand markets and enhance income.