Current Affairs – December 27, 2025

{GS2 – Polity} Electoral Funding in India **

Context (IE): Electoral funding reform is essential to ensure a level playing field, preventing financial dominance from distorting democratic competition.

About Electoral Funding

Electoral funding refers to resources raised by political parties and candidates for campaign expenses, organisational activities, and voter outreach.
The Supreme Court in 2024 held that under Article 19(1)(a), a voter’s “Right to Know” the source of political funding is fundamental to ensuring informed electoral choice.
The abolition of anonymous electoral bonds in 2024 has led to a surge in ‘Electoral Trust’ donations, with the ruling party receiving about 82% of total disbursements.

Electoral Funding Mechanisms in India

Individual Donations: Sections 29B and 29C of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, regulate individual contributions and mandate annual disclosure of donations exceeding ₹20,000.
- Section 13A of the Income Tax Act, 1961, exempts parties from tax if accounts are audited and mandates traceable banking channels for donations above ₹2,000.
Corporate Contributions: The Companies Act, 2013 permits corporate donations for companies with 7.5% net profit following the 2024 Supreme Court ruling,
Electoral Trusts: They are non-profit entities mandated to distribute 95% of annual receipts to parties and disclose aggregate inflows to the Election Commission.
State Funding: India provides indirect state funding through tax exemptions, subsidised land for party offices, and free airtime on Prasar Bharati platforms.
Foreign Funding: The Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) amendment (2018) permits donations from Indian companies with a majority foreign shareholding.

Challenges in Electoral Funding

Fear of Retribution: Donors often avoid funding opposition parties due to fear of investigative harassment, resulting in heavy funding concentration with ruling parties.
Spending Asymmetry: Political parties have no legal spending ceiling, unlike candidates, driving an unchecked escalation in campaign expenditure.
Shadow Campaigning: Unregulated digital spending through AI content, influencers, and consultancies bypasses Election Commission expenditure monitoring mechanisms.
Big Money Influence: Funding is dominated by large corporations, deepening politico-corporate linkages in electoral politics.
Foreign Influence Risk: Permitting foreign-linked corporate donations raises risks of indirect external influence over domestic political outcomes.

Reforms and Innovative Mechanisms

IPL Model: A centralised pooling mechanism to create a National Election Fund and redistribute corporate donations through the Election Commission using vote share.
Public Funding: State funding of elections following recommendations of the 2^nd Administrative Reforms Commission and Dinesh Goswami Committee (1990).
Democracy Vouchers: Citizen-issued vouchers allowing voters to allocate public funds for candidates, shifting accountability from donors to the electorate.
RTI Inclusion: Bringing political parties under the Right to Information Act, classifying them as ‘public authorities’ to improve financial transparency.
Zero-Cash Rule: A complete ban on cash donations to ensure a full digital trail for all political funding.
Audit and Caps: Party-level spending ceilings and audits by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG)–empanelled auditors to strengthen financial integrity.

{GS2 – Governance} Digital Governance Initiatives **

Context (PIB | DDN): Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) launched five digital governance initiatives to strengthen transparency, efficiency, and citizen-centric administration.

Key Initiatives Launched

Ex-Servicemen Reservation Guidelines, a consolidated, user-friendly reference manual standardising reservation rules across Central Ministries.
AI-powered Recruitment Rules Generator to auto-draft recruitment rules, reducing procedural delays.
e-HRMS 2.0 App to enable digital access to service records and HR processes for employees.
iGOT AI Sarthi and iGOT AI Tutor to personalise learning pathways and map competency requirements.
Karmayogi Learning Lab 2.0 to create immersive digital training content using augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), gamification and interactive simulations.

Benefits of Digital Governance in India

Transparency Gains: Aadhaar-linked Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) reduced human discretion, saving ₹3.5 lakh crore by eliminating ghost beneficiaries.
Administrative Efficiency: e-Office 7.0 achieved 93% digital file handling across Central Ministries, accelerating decisions and record management.
Equitable Access: UMANG delivered over 2,300 government services in 23 languages through a single mobile platform, democratising access to government services
Last-Mile Connectivity: BharatNet connected 2.14 lakh Gram Panchayats, and widespread 5G connectivity enabled telemedicine, e-education, and digital crop insurance access.
Grievance Redressal: AI-enabled Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) resolved over 7,900 grievances daily through outcome-based monitoring.
Financial Formalisation: Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) led by UPI processes over 10 billion monthly transactions, formalising workers through digital financial footprints.

Read More > E-Governance in India

{GS3 – Envi} Status of India’s Particulate Pollution

Context (IE): A recent analysis by CREA shows that a large share of Delhi’s fine particulate pollution is formed through atmospheric chemical reactions rather than being directly emitted.

Key Findings from the Study

Annual Contribution: Secondary ammonium sulfate accounts for nearly one-third of Delhi’s annual PM2.5 pollution, making it a dominant component of fine particulate matter.
Seasonal Peaks: Its share rises to 49% during the post-monsoon period and 41% in winter, compared to about 21% in summer and monsoon, explaining the severity of seasonal smog.
High Secondary Share: Up to 42% of India’s PM2.5 burden consists of secondary particulate matter.
SO₂ Dominance: India is the largest global emitter of sulphur dioxide (SO₂), with coal-fired power plants contributing ~60% of national SO₂ emissions, directly fuelling secondary PM2.5 formation.
Regulatory Gap: Around 78% of coal-based thermal power plants are exempt from installing flue gas desulphurisation (FGD) systems, significantly weakening SO₂ control at source.
State-Level Concentration: The highest annual ammonium sulphate share in PM2.5 is observed in Chhattisgarh (42%) and Odisha (41%), both dominated by coal power generation.

About Secondary Ammonium Sulfate

Nature: A secondary inorganic aerosol that is not directly emitted but formed in the atmosphere.
Formation Process: Sulphur dioxide from coal-based power plants and industries oxidises into sulfate, which then reacts with ammonia released mainly from agriculture.
Weather Sensitivity: High humidity and low wind conditions accelerate its formation.
Health Impact: As a PM2.5 component, it is strongly linked to respiratory & cardiovascular diseases.
Nationwide Spread: Across Indian states, ammonium sulphate contributes 17–42% of PM2.5 mass annually, with most states clustering between 30–40%, indicating a national-scale phenomenon.

Read More> Delhi Air Pollution

{GS3 – Envi} Diversion of Forest Land for Non-Forestry Use

Context (TH): Supreme Court of India reaffirmed that forest land cannot be used for non-forestry purposes without prior central government approval.

The Court held that state government leases for agriculture on forest land without central approval are illegal.

Framework of Forest Land Use for Non-Forestry Purposes

Governing Law: Use of forest land for non-forestry purposes is regulated by the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, 1980.
Non-Forestry Use: Non-forestry purposes include clearing forest land for cultivation or any use other than re-afforestation.
Central Approval: State governments cannot permit non-forestry use of forest land without prior approval of the Central Government.
Advisory Review: The Forest Advisory Committee examines diversion proposals and advises approval or rejection based on environmental impacts.
Processing Authority: Diversion proposals are processed and approved through the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
Delegated Powers: State governments may divert forest land below one hectare for specified public utility projects.
Appeal Right: Any aggrieved person may appeal decisions on non-forestry use of forest land before the National Green Tribunal (NGT).
- A party dissatisfied with the NGT order may appeal to the Supreme Court within 90 days.

Compensatory Obligations

NPV Payment: User agencies must pay Net Present Value (NPV) based on forest quality and density of diverted land.
Compensatory Afforestation: Plantation is required on equivalent non-forest land or on double degraded forest land.
Fund Authority: Compensatory afforestation funds are administered by the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA).

Key Exemptions

Amendment Scope: The 2023 amendment removes mandatory central approval for specified categories of forest land diversion.
- Border Projects: Strategic linear projects within 100 km of international borders, LOC or the LAC.
- Security Works: Up to 10 hectares of forest land for security infrastructure.
- LWE Utilities: Public utility projects up to 5 hectares in Left-Wing Extremism-affected areas
Permitted Activities: Government-owned zoos, safaris, and eco-tourism facilities are excluded from “non-forestry purposes.”

{GS3 – S&T} Governance Foundations for the Agentic AI Age

Context (TH): The rapid rise of agentic AI systems has necessitated a fundamental shift in their governance, accountability, and risk management.

About Agentic AI

Agentic AI refers to autonomous, goal-directed systems capable of planning, reasoning, and executing multi-step tasks independently with minimal human oversight.
It operates on a continuous cycle of observe (gathering data), plan (reasoning via LLMs), act (executing via tools), and reflect (learning from outcomes).
Governance Challenge: Agentic AI requires supervision of intent and behaviour to prevent autonomous drift, where AI actions diverge from human intent.

Agentic AI Governance Frameworks

Traceability & Liability: Design integrated guardrails like immutable event logging linked to Agent IDs to ensure end-to-end auditability and legal accountability.
Data Controls: Least-privilege access and strict data-currency rules to prevent misuse and decisions based on obsolete information.
Intent Oversight: Fast real-time monitoring of agent intent to evaluate internal decision logic rather than outputs to maintain alignment with human objectives.
Context Awareness: Qualitative factors recognition, like socio-economic and cultural nuance within the agent for financial decision-making.
Unified Accountability: Clear responsibility distribution across people, processes, and technology to eliminate blame gaps during failures.
Bias Safeguards: Mechanisms to prevent reward hacking (unethical shortcuts to meet a goal) and bias amplification across multi-step autonomous loops.
Human-in-the-Loop: Mandatory non-negotiable human approval thresholds for high-stakes decisions involving rights, safety, or major financial outlays.
Risk-Based Regulation: A tiered regulatory approach where low-risk agents follow voluntary frameworks and high-risk systems comply with binding laws (EU AI Act).
Institutional Stewardship: Conversion of broad ethical principles into precise, enforceable technical benchmarks by National AI Safety Institutes.

Existing AI Governance Frameworks

EU AI Act: Categorises AI systems by risk, mandating transparent identification and effective human oversight for high-risk autonomous systems.
India’s Guidelines: Anchored in the ‘Seven Sutras’, the AI Governance Guidelines (2025) promote a techno-legal model where trust is engineered into system architecture.
NIST RMF: The AI Risk Management Framework serves as a widely adopted voluntary standard for identifying and mitigating algorithmic bias and system failures.
CLEAR Standard: Provides a specialised evaluation framework assessing agent performance across Cost, Latency, Efficacy, Assurance, and Reliability.

Read More > AI Agents | Global AI Governance

{Prelims – A&C} Circular Stone Labyrinth Discovered in Boramani Grasslands *

Context (IT): Archaeologists discovered a circular stone labyrinth in the Boramani grasslands of Solapur district, Maharashtra.

Structure: The labyrinth measures 50 by 50 feet and contains 15 concentric stone circuits. It is the largest circular stone labyrinth ever recorded in India.
Chronology: Archaeologists date the structure to 2,000 years ago, linking it to the Satavahana period.
Pattern: Its pattern closely matches motifs on ancient Cretan coins used across the Roman world.
Trade Function: These likely acted as landmarks guiding Roman merchants along inland trade routes.

{Prelims – Eco} Government E-Marketplace

Context (ET): Government E-Marketplace (GeM) enabled government entities to raise over ₹2,200 crore over the last four years via disposal of public assets.

About Government E-Marketplace (GeM)

It is India’s national public procurement portal launched in 2016 to enable a digital ecosystem for all Central and State government entities to purchase and sell goods and services.
It is set up as a Section 8 (non-profit) company under the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry, and it was made mandatory since 2017 for all ministries to do their procurement from GeM.
Features: Vendor onboarding, direct purchase and reverse auction modes, online contract generation, and Public Financial Management System (PFMS)-linked paperless payments.
Impact: Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) of approximately ₹4.58 lakh crore, and it has enabled MSMEs and women-led businesses to secure over ₹7.44 lakh crore in government orders.

About Public Financial Management System (PFMS)

It is a software application for fund management and real-time tracking of government expenditures, developed by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) under the Ministry of Finance.
Coverage: Primarily used for Central Schemes; States, Union Territories and Local Bodies access PFMS for central fund flows, while States may also route State scheme payments through it.
Controls: Enables Direct Beneficiary Transfers (DBT), tracks unspent balances, and generates real-time utilisation certificates (UCs) for expenditure monitoring.

Read More > Open Market Sale Scheme

{Prelims – Species} Himalayan Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes montana) *

Context (ETV): A brief roadside encounter with a Himalayan red fox near Pangong Tso in Ladakh has captured widespread attention on social media.

Pangong Tso is the world’s highest saltwater lake, located in Ladakh at about 4,350 metres. About one-third of the lake lies in India, while two-thirds extend into China’s Tibet region.

About the Himalayan red fox (Vulpes vulpes montana)

Himalayan red fox is a high-altitude subspecies of red fox adapted to cold desert environments.
Appearance: It has a thicker rusty-orange coat that turns deeper red in winter, and a long bushy tail with a white tip.
Diet: As an opportunistic omnivore, the species feeds on pikas, rodents, birds, berries, carrion, etc.
Habitat Preference: It inhabits alpine meadows, cold deserts, and montane forests at altitudes between 2,500 and 5,000 metres.
Distribution: The fox occurs across the Himalayas in India, Nepal, Bhutan, and China’s Tibetan Plateau.
Indian Range: It is found in Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh.
Ecological Role: As a primary predator of small mammals, the fox checks populations that could overgraze fragile alpine vegetation.
Key Threats: Habitat fragmentation, feral dog competition, tourism pressure, and road accidents.
Conservation Status: IUCN: Least Concern; CITES: Appendix III, WPA: Schedule II.

Read More> Pangong Lake

{Prelims – Species} Neelus sikkimensis

Context (TI): Researchers discovered Neelus sikkimensis, a new springtail species, from the high-altitude region of Sikkim.
Significance: The discovery records the genus Neelus for the first time in India, raising global species count to eight.
Taxonomy: Neelus sikkimensis belongs to the class Collembola, a group of tiny, eyeless, soil-dwelling micro-arthropods.
Appearance: It appears whitish with pale yellow patches and distinctive saw-like hairs on the upper lip.
Soil Habitat: The arthropod occupies a eu-edaphic niche, living deep in soil and moss layers with limited surface exposure.
Soil Engineer: The species supports soil health through organic decomposition and nutrient recycling.

{Prelims – S&T} SIRT6 Brain Enzyme

Context (TH): Scientists have discovered a new brain enzyme called SIRT6, believed to be central to explaining several neurodegenerative disorders.

Key Details

The SIRT6 enzyme is believed to function as the gatekeeper of the tryptophan metabolism in the brain; tryptophan is an essential amino acid associated with sleep.
As SIRT6 activity declines (due to ageing), the tryptophan regulation gets affected resulting in toxic by-products accumulating in the brain, causing several neurodegenerative disorders.
Research shows reduced SIRT6 levels could serve as biomarkers, enabling early detection of several neurodegenerative disorders associated with ageing.

Read More > Parkinson’s Disease

{Prelims – S&T} New Insights into Titan’s Interior Structure

Context (SA): A reanalysis of NASA’s Cassini spacecraft data indicates that Saturn’s moon Titan may not host a global subsurface ocean.

Earlier evidence (2008) inferred an ocean from strong tidal flexing caused by Saturn’s gravity, measured via Doppler shifts in Cassini’s radio signals during close flybys.
The revised model shows Titan’s flexibility can be explained by a partially molten ice-water mixture, which allows flexing but dissipates heat, preventing a fully liquid ocean.
Titan may still host localised pockets of warm liquid water (up to ~20 °C) cycling minerals from the rocky core to the icy crust, keeping the possibility of simple life alive.

Tidal Flexing: Repeated stretching and squeezing of a moon by its parent planet’s gravity, which generates internal deformation and heat, revealing clues about its interior structure.

{Prelims – Disease} Candida Auris

Context (EA): Scientists have discovered a genetic process which could lead to new ways to treat the deadly Candida Auris infection.

About Candida Auris

It is an emerging multidrug-resistant yeast (fungus) first identified in Japan in 2009, causing severe infections (mortality rate of 30%-60%) mainly in hospitals and long-term care facilities.
It can persist as asymptomatic colonies on the skin and the gut, enabling person-to-person spread, and via contaminated surfaces in healthcare facilities.
It causes invasive infections in the bloodstream, bone, ear and urinary tract, with typical symptoms being persistent fever and chills that do not respond to antibiotics.
Its diagnosis requires specialised tests like MALDI-TOF spectrometry, and its treatment mainly uses echinocandins (anti-fungal drug), with combination therapy for resistant strains.

Read More > Rare Diseases

{Prelims – In News} Punjab Designates Three New Holy Cities

Context (IE): Recently, the Punjab government has granted the “Holy City” status to Amritsar, Anandpur Sahib, and Talwandi Sabo.

Key Details

The cities host three of the five Takhts (imperial thrones) of Sikhism – the Akal Takht (Amritsar), Takht Keshgarh Sahib (Anandpur Sahib) and Takht Damdama Sahib (Talwandi Sabo).
- The other two Takhts are in Bihar (Takht Patna Sahib) and Maharashtra (Takht Hazur Sahib).
Hukumnamas (Divine Commands) on issues concerning the Sikh community are issued from the Takhts, with Akal Takht considered supreme among the five.
The new designation will lead to a ban on liquor, tobacco and cigarettes, and meat within the limits of all three cities, while additional facilities would be made to boost religious tourism.