Current Affairs – January 15, 2026

{GS2 – Polity} Malayalam Language Bill, 2025

Context (TH): An inter-state debate between Kerala and Karnataka arose after the Kerala Legislative Assembly passed the Malayalam Language Bill, 2025.

Language Transition: The Bill seeks to replace Kerala’s English-Malayalam bilingual system with Malayalam as the sole official language.
Karnataka’s Opposition: Karnataka argues the Bill violates Articles 29 and 30, which protect linguistic minorities’ fundamental rights to preserve language and script.

About the Malayalam Language Bill, 2025

Official Status: Malayalam is designated as the exclusive official language for all state administrative and governmental purposes.
School Language: The Bill mandates Malayalam as the compulsory first language in government and aided schools up to Class X.
Legislative Drafting: All State Bills and Ordinances must be drafted and introduced in Malayalam.
Judicial Language: Judicial orders and court proceedings, particularly in District and Sessions Courts, will be progressively translated into Malayalam.
Digital Enablement: The IT Department will develop open-source software and AI tools that are natively functional in Malayalam.
Public Signage: Government department signboards, advertisements, and public notices will prioritise Malayalam usage.
Product Labelling: All products manufactured or sold in Kerala must carry directions and labels written in Malayalam.

Safeguards for Linguistic Minorities

Minority Communication: In designated areas, Tamil, Kannada, Tulu, and Konkani speakers may communicate with the government in their mother tongues.
Exam Exemptions: Non-Malayali and foreign students are exempt from Malayalam examinations in Classes 9, 10, and higher secondary levels.
Student Choice: Students whose mother tongue is not Malayalam may choose other languages offered in the National Education Curriculum.

Criticisms of the Bill

Border Access: Kannada- and Tamil-speaking residents in border districts like Kasaragod may face barriers to access government services and courts.
Learning Burden: Declaring Malayalam as the compulsory first language may impose a cognitive load on students from minority communities.
Drafting Process: The Bill’s drafting phase reportedly lacked adequate representation of district-level linguistic diversity.

Context (LL | BT): SC issued directions to ensure effective implementation of Section 12(1)(c) of the RTE Act, 2009, mandating 25% free admission in private unaided schools for EWS.

Major Directives of the Supreme Court

Rules Under Section 38: States/UTs directed to frame subordinate legislation prescribing the method and manner of admissions under neighbourhood schools.
Mandatory Consultation: Rules to be prepared in consultation with NCPCR, State Commissions for Protection of Child Rights, and National/State Advisory Councils.
NCPCR Monitoring Role: Court impleaded NCPCR citing its monitoring mandate under Section 31 of the RTE Act, and recognised its existing Standard Operating Procedure.
Deadline Compliance: NCPCR to collate information on states issuing rules before March 31.

Significance Of Directives by SC

Uniform Compliance: Though RTE mandates 25% free seats, it has been effectively implemented only in 16 States/UTs, showing wide enforcement gaps.
Seat Utilisation: Even where quota exists, weak systems leave seats vacant; E.g., Delhi had 3,506 vacant EWS seats out of 33,212 in 2025–26.
Equity Access: Private schooling is a major channel, with ~30% rural children enrolled in 2024.

Court-Backed Suggestions for Better Implementation

Dedicated Online Portal: States/UTs should build a single portal for RTE quota admissions to reduce discretion and ensure transparent selection.
Three-Language Information: Admission process details must be published in Hindi, English and the local language to reduce exclusion due to language barriers.
Advance Seat Disclosure: Schools must publish the number of RTE quota seats well before applications begin to prevent hidden seat manipulation.
Help-Desks During Application: Support desks should operate at schools, District/Block offices, Block committees or Jan Sewa Kendras to assist parents.
Defect-Correction Window: Instead of rejecting applications for minor mistakes, states should provide a time window for correction with assistance.
Time-Bound Grievance Redressal: A complaint mechanism must be set up with strict timelines and an escalation system for denials and admission disputes.

Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009

Legal Basis: It made education a fundamental right for every child between the ages of 6 and 14, through the insertion of Article 21A in the Constitution.
Free And Compulsory Education: Government must ensure free elementary education (no fees/charges) and compulsory admission, attendance and completion.

Provisions of the RTE Act

Schooling Coverage: The Act places a legal obligation on the state to provide free and compulsory elementary education (Classes 1 to 8) to all children in this age group.
Teacher Norms: Schools must comply with minimum norms for Pupil Teacher Ratios (PTRs), buildings and infrastructure, school-working days, and teacher-working hours.
Neighbourhood School: Child has the right to be admitted to a neighbourhood school, promoting inclusion and reducing social barriers.
Quality Standards: Mandates norms for infrastructure, learning environment, and prohibits physical punishment and mental harassment.

{GS2 – MoRD} National Campaign on Entrepreneurship *

Context (PIB | DDN): The Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) launched the National Campaign on Entrepreneurship under the DAY-NRLM.

DAY-NRLM: Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana–National Rural Livelihoods Mission, launched in 2011, aims to reduce poverty through strong SHG institutions, self-employment, financial inclusion, livelihood diversification, and social empowerment.

Objective: to accelerate inclusive non-farm rural enterprise development and strengthen grassroots entrepreneurial capacity.
It builds on proven models like the Start-up Village Entrepreneurship Programme (SVEP) and strengthens ties with formal financial institutions.
Key Targets:
- Capacity Building: Training 50,000 Community Resource Persons (CRPs) to serve as enterprise promoters at the grassroots level.
- Entrepreneurship Training: Providing Entrepreneurship Development Programme (EDP) training to 50 lakh women members of Self-Help Groups (SHGs) nationwide.
- Lakhpati Didi Goal: Supporting the government’s target to create 3 crore “Lakhpati Didis“—women SHG members earning ₹1 lakh or more annually.

Read More > DAY-NRLM

{GS3 – IE} Jobless Growth Risks

Context (TH): ILO in its World Employment and Social Outlook: Trends 2026 report warned that global unemployment may remain low, but job quality is worsening, especially for youth and women.

Key Findings of the ILO Report

Unemployment Flat: Global unemployment projected at 4.9%, affecting about 186 million people in 2026, staying similar till 2027.
Jobs Gap High: Wider labour underutilisation (“jobs gap”) projected at 408 million, showing hidden distress beyond headline unemployment.
Working Poor: Around 284 million workers still live in extreme poverty, earning below $3/day.
Poverty Slowdown: Worker extreme poverty share fell only 3.1 percentage points (2015–25) to 7.9%, far slower than the 15 percentage points drop in the previous decade.
Informality Rising: Informal employment is projected at 2.1 billion workers by 2026.
Informality Shift: Global informality rate increased by 0.3 percentage points (2015–25), mainly due to higher employment share in Africa and Southern Asia.

Gender Concerns

Low Participation: Women form only two-fifths of global employment, showing structural barriers.
Labour Force Gap: Women are 24.2 percentage points less likely than men to be in the labour force.
NEET Burden: Young women are 14.4 percentage points more likely than young men to be NEET (Not in Employment, Education or Training).

Youth Concerns

Youth Unemployment: Global youth unemployment rose to 12.4% in 2025 from 12.3% in 2024, signalling weak entry-level job creation.
Youth NEET Rise: Youth NEET share rose to 20.0% in 2025, up from 19.9% in 2024.

Emerging Drivers of Risk

Trade Uncertainty: Rising trade uncertainty may cut returns to labour and reduce real wages for both skilled and unskilled workers.
Income Loss Zones: Estimated wage/income losses could be up to 0.45% in South-Eastern Asia and up to 0.3% in Europe and Southern Asia due to trade-policy uncertainty shocks.

ILO Roadmap for Tackling Jobless Growth

Decent Work Push: Align recovery policies with the ILO Decent Work Agenda to expand quality jobs, wages and protections to all sectors.
Women Workforce Entry: Expand childcare, paid leave, and safe work norms to close labour force gaps; E.g., Nordic childcare systems that sustain high female participation.
Minimum Income Floor: Protect the working poor through cash-support frameworks; E.g., the ILO Social Protection Floors Recommendation (2012) used by countries to ensure basic income security.
Formalisation Drive: Expand formal work through ILO Recommendation 204 (Transition from Informal to Formal Economy, 2015) and universalised social protection.

{GS3 – IE} Export Preparedness Index (EPI) 2024 **

Context (PIB): NITI Aayog released the 4^th edition of the Export Preparedness Index (EPI) 2024.

It assesses export readiness across States and Union Territories, identifying structural gaps, growth drivers, and policy opportunities to enhance competitiveness.
EPI 2024 is structured around four pillars—Export Infrastructure, Business Ecosystem, Policy and Governance, and Export Performance.
These pillars are further divided into 13 sub-pillars and 70 indicators for a detailed assessment.
New Metrics: The 2024 edition adds indicators for Macroeconomic Stability, Cost Competitiveness, Human Capital, Financial Access, and the MSME Ecosystem.
Categories: States and UTs are grouped into Large States, Small States, North-Eastern States, and Union Territories; each category is classified as Leaders, Challengers, or Aspirers.
District Focus: Districts have been highlighted as core units of competitiveness, translating national export goals into local strategies.
Significance: EPI provides an evidence-based framework to support India’s USD 1 trillion in merchandise exports by 2030 and Viksit Bharat @2047.

Key Highlights

Export Scale: India’s FY2023-24 exports hit a record ₹65 lakh crore, with global trade share rising from 1.7% to 1.8%, driven by IT and business services.
Top Performer: Maharashtra ranked first among Large States, followed by Tamil Nadu and Gujarat.
Landlocked State: Uttar Pradesh emerged as the top performer, ranking fourth nationwide.
Small States & UTs: Uttarakhand ranked first, followed by Jammu and Kashmir and Nagaland.

Read More > Initiatives for Export Promotion

{GS3 – Envi} Warmest La Niña Shock **

Context (DTE): Berkeley Earth Annual Temperature Report 2025 reports that 2025 became the warmest La Niña year on record, despite La Niña’s usual cooling influence.

Key Findings of the Report

High Global Anomaly: The global annual average temperature anomaly in 2025 reached +1.44°C, despite months of La Niña influence. It ranked as the 3^rd warmest year globally.
Record Heat Footprint: About 9.1% of Earth’s surface recorded its highest annual average temperature in 2025, showing widespread extreme heat conditions.
Land Vs Ocean Extremes: Record warmth covered 10.6% of land areas and 8.3% of ocean areas, showing widespread heating across systems.
Population Exposure: Around 770 million people (8.5% of the global population) experienced record warm annual temperatures, mainly across Asia.
No Record Cold: The report noted no regions recorded a record cold year.
Warmest-Year Streak: The last 11 years include all 11 warmest years in the instrumental record.

About La Niña

Meaning: La Niña is the cool phase of the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), marked by cooler-than-normal sea surface temperatures in the equatorial Pacific.
Cycle Nature: La Niña usually occurs every few years and can last multiple months, sometimes appearing in consecutive years (“double-dip” events).
Triple dip La Nina: La Nina event that lasted for about three years (began in 2020 to early 2023).

Effects of La Nina

Abnormally heavy monsoons in India and Southeast Asia.
Cool and wet winter weather in southeastern Africa, wet weather in eastern Australia.
Cold winter in western Canada and northwestern United States.
Winter drought in the southern United States.

{GS3 – DM} UNDRR Report on the Invisible Costs of Wildfire Disasters **

Context (UNDRR): The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) released ‘The invisible costs of wildfire disasters in 2025’, analysing the visible and invisible impacts of the wildfire crisis.

Visible Damages of Wildfire Disasters

Economic Losses: UNDRR estimates that global wildfire damages exceed $250 billion, while insurance coverage is only $40 billion.
Commercial Damage: Smoke and soot cause direct physical damage to high-value crops and degrade factory inventories.
Land Burned: Wildfires consumed about 390 million hectares globally in 2025, equivalent to 92% of the European Union’s land area.
Forest Loss: Remote sensing shows that wildfires caused nearly 75% of forest loss in UNESCO World Heritage sites in 2025.
Carbon Emissions: Global wildfire events released over 8 billion tonnes of CO₂ in 2024-2025, contributing to increased greenhouse gas levels.
Air Pollution: Monitoring stations detected smoke pollution levels reaching as high as 60 times the WHO safety threshold during peak fire periods.

Invisible Damages of Wildfire Disasters

Socio-Economic Impacts

Excess Mortality: Smoke inhalation causes unrecorded respiratory and cardiac deaths, far exceeding immediate wildfire fatality counts.
Economic Ripples: Regional economies face prolonged stagnation due to persistent business closures and disrupted supply chains.
Human Capital: School closures and displacement permanently reduce the future productivity and lifetime earning potential of affected children.
Gender Burden: Post-disaster recovery deepens gender inequality as women bear disproportionate unpaid care and reconstruction work.
Social Inequality: Informal and low-income workers lose their livelihoods without insurance protection available to asset-owning households.
Housing Inflation: Destruction of housing units triggers rent inflation as displaced populations compete for limited shelter.

Environmental & Climate Impacts

Ecosystem Services: Ash and toxic runoff degrade watersheds, impair drinking water quality, and raise long-term treatment costs.
Climate Feedbacks: During 2024-25, wildfires released 8 billion tonnes of CO₂, destroying carbon sinks and intensifying climate feedback loops.
Biodiversity Loss: Repeated and intense wildfires allow invasive species to permanently replace native ecosystems.

Forest Fires in India

Economic Cost: The annual economic cost of forest fires in India is estimated at $21 billion.
Asset Exposure: India ranks first globally for infrastructure and physical assets exposed to wildfires, with $44 billion at risk.
Forest Exposure: About 54% of India’s forests face occasional fires, while 7.5% experience moderately frequent fires.
Human Impact: 15 million Indians were affected during the 2024-2025 fire season, the highest number worldwide.
Accounting Shift: The Environmental Accounting on Forests 2025 report began treating wildfires as a primary indicator of forest degradation.

Read More> Forest Fires: Causes & Impacts

{Prelims – IR} India to Host the 18^th BRICS Summit

Context (NOA): External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar formally launched India’s BRICS 2026 Chairship by unveiling the official logo, theme, and website.

This marks India’s first BRICS leadership in its expanded 10-nation configuration.
The 18^th BRICS Summit theme is “Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability.”

About BRICS

About: BRICS is an intergovernmental organisation of emerging economies that seeks to create a more multipolar global order.
Objective: It aims to counterbalance the influence of the G7 and Western countries and to advocate for reforms in global financial institutions.
Foundation: Brazil, Russia, India, and China formed the BRIC group in 2009. South Africa joined in 2010, formally renaming it BRICS.
Expansion: Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the UAE became full members of BRICS in 2024.
Latest Inclusion: In 2025, Indonesia became the first Southeast Asian country in BRICS.
Partner Category: A new ‘Partner’ category was created, comprising 13 countries, including Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, and Vietnam.
Global Weight: Expanded BRICS+ accounts for about 50% of the global population and 40% of global GDP (in PPP)

Key Institutions

New Development Bank: Headquartered in Shanghai, it finances infrastructure and sustainable development projects in member and developing countries.
Contingent Reserve Arrangement: Offers liquidity support to members experiencing short-term balance-of-payments challenges.
BRICS Interbank Cooperation Mechanism: Facilitates local-currency payments, extends trade credit lines, and finances joint investment projects.
BRICS Grain Exchange: Proposed by Russia, it aims to create an independent price agency for agricultural commodities.
BRICS Remote Sensing Satellite Constellation: Offers satellite data sharing for disaster response, crop monitoring, and water resource management.

In 2001, British economist Jim O’Neill coined the term “BRIC” to describe Brazil, Russia, India, and China as leading emerging economies.

{Prelims – Eco} Deflation

Context (TOI): India’s retail inflation fell to a 12-year low of 2.2% in 2025, with food prices entering deflation (-0.2%) for the first time since 2014.

Deflation is a persistent fall in the general price level (negative inflation), which increases the purchasing power of money.
Major Causes: Includes weak aggregate demand, productivity-led oversupply, or monetary contraction driven by tight credit and high interest rates.
Key Effects: It triggers a ‘deflationary spiral’, in which consumers postpone purchases, reducing business profits, raising unemployment, and increasing the real debt burden.
Policy Measures: Expansionary monetary policy (lowering repo rate, quantitative easing, injecting liquidity via OMOs) and expansionary fiscal policy (increasing public expenditure, cutting taxes).
Deflation vs Disinflation: Deflation is a fall in prices, while disinflation is a reduction in the rate of inflation, or a slow rise in prices.

Read More > Inflation

{Prelims – S&T} Ultracold Atoms

Context (IE): Ultracold atoms are enabling the world’s most precise atomic clocks and are emerging platforms for quantum simulation and quantum computing.

About Ultracold Atoms

Meaning: Atoms cooled to just a few billionths of a degree above absolute zero (absolute zero is minus 273.15 degrees Celsius).
Quantum Behaviour: At such low temperatures, atoms behave like overlapping waves, so quantum effects become visible at a larger scale.

How They Are Made?

Laser Cooling: Laser light is tuned slightly below an atomic transition so atoms absorb photons opposite to motion & slow down. Repeated absorption & re-emission works like a braking force, reducing speed.
Nobel Link: Cooling and trapping atoms using laser light was recognised with the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics. It laid the foundation of modern cold-atom physics.
Deep Cooling: Laser cooling alone cannot reach the lowest temperatures, so hottest atoms are allowed to escape in a second step. The remaining atoms redistribute energy and cool further.
Dark Spot Trap: A “dark spot” inside the light trap shelters the coldest atoms from stray light that causes heating. This prevents re-heating and helps reach absolute temperature.

Key Applications

Atomic Clocks: Cold atoms improve time precision since atoms are nearly motionless, stabilising “tick”.
Navigation Link: Atomic clocks are essential for GPS timing and internet synchronisation.
Gravity Sensors: Cold-atom gravimeters can detect underground structures and monitor volcanoes.

{Prelims – Defence} 78^th Indian Army Day Parade Held Outside Cantonment

Context (ET): The 78^th Indian Army Day parade in Jaipur marked the first time the main event was held outside a military cantonment.

Historic Venue: Traditionally, the parade was held at Cariappa Parade Ground in Delhi Cantonment until 2023, when it adopted a rotating city format.
New Unit: The parade showcased the first public appearance of the newly raised Bhairav Battalion.

Indian Army Day

Indian Army Day is observed annually on January 15 to honour the selfless service of soldiers.
Command Transition: It marks the day when K. M. Cariappa was appointed the first Indian Commander-in-Chief of the Army in 1949.
- He succeeded Sir Francis Roy Bucher, the last British Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army.
Annual Theme: The theme for 2026 is “Year of Networking and Data Centricity.”

Read More> Indian Army Day

{Prelims – Reports} Global Economic Prospects Report 2026 *

Context (ET): The World Bank released the Global Economic Prospects 2026 report, upgrading global growth estimates amid resilience to trade tensions.

Global Economic Prospects is a biannual World Bank report that assesses trends, risks, and growth projections in the global economy.

Key Highlights of the Report

Weak Decade: The 2020s remain on track to be the weakest decade for global economic growth since the 1960s.
Global Slowdown: Global economic growth is projected to ease to 2.6% in 2026 from 2.7% in 2025.
Advanced Economies: Growth in advanced economies is expected to slow to 1.6% in 2026 due to persistently high interest rates.
EMDE Momentum: Emerging Market and Developing Economies (EMDEs) are projected to sustain steady growth of 4.0% in 2026.
Catch-Up Erosion: Catch-up growth is weakening, with nearly one-fourth of developing countries now poorer than in 2019.
Trade Deceleration: Global trade growth is projected to slow to 2.2% in 2026 amid rising protectionism.
Inflation Easing: Global headline inflation is expected to decline to 2.6% in 2026 from 3.4% in 2025.
Jobless Growth: In many developing economies, weak job creation is turning demographic expansion into an economic burden.
Fiscal Stress: Public debt in several developing countries has reached historic highs, sharply constraining fiscal space for development.

India-Specific Findings

Growth Leader: India remains the fastest-growing major economy, with growth estimated at 7.2% for 2025-26.
Demand Driver: Private consumption continues to be the main growth driver, supported by rising household expenditure.
Fiscal Consolidation: India is reducing its fiscal deficit as expenditure declines outweigh revenue losses from recent tax cuts.

Key Recommendations

Fiscal Rules: Adopt strict fiscal rules to restore credibility and attract long-term foreign investment.
Supply Reforms: Prioritise supply-side reforms, including labour law improvements and ease of doing business, to raise productivity.
Human Capital: Invest in education and health to maintain workforce employability amid structural economic changes.
Global Cooperation: Resist geoeconomic fragmentation and cooperate on climate finance and debt relief for poorer nations.

{Prelims – Reports} Global Risks Report 2026 by World Economic Forum *

Context (TH): The World Economic Forum released the Global Risks Report 2026 with the central theme “Age of Competition.”

Global Warning: The report warns against “multipolarity without multilateralism,” where fragmentation and confrontation increasingly replace international cooperation.

World Economic Forum releases the Global Risks Report annually to assess major threats to global stability over the short term (2 years) and the long term (10 years).

Key Findings of Global Risk Report 2026

Short-Term Risks: Geoeconomic confrontation ranks first over the next two years, followed closely by misinformation and disinformation.
Economic Weaponisation: The report identifies the “weaponisation of economic determinants” as a central driver of current global instability.
Long-Term Risks: Extreme weather events remain the top ten-year risk, with biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse following.
AI Disruptions: Adverse outcomes of AI are the fastest-rising long-term risk, driven by labour displacement and autonomous warfare.
Social Polarisation: Technological risks are increasingly intensifying political and social polarisation within countries.

India-Specific Findings

Cyber Insecurity: Cyber insecurity is India’s most significant national risk, ahead of inequality and weak public services.
Water Conflict: The Indus River Basin is flagged as a potential flashpoint for future water conflicts between India and Pakistan.
Digital Success: India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is recognised as a global best practice in digital public infrastructure.

{Prelims – Indices} Henley Passport Index *

Context (NDTV): In the 2026 Henley Passport Index, the Indian passport rose five places to rank 80^th globally, up from 85^th in 2025.

Indian passport holders can now travel to 55 destinations without a pre-approved visa.
Singapore remains the world’s strongest passport, with access to 192 destinations, followed by Japan and South Korea in second place.
The Index is published by Henley and Partners, ranking passports by the number of destinations accessible without a visa.
The index relies on data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which maintains the world’s largest travel information database.