Current Affairs – July 12, 2025

{GS2 – Governance – Welfare} Revamping Anganwadis for Viksit Bharat

• Context (TP): As Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) marks 50 years, serving over 100 million through 1.4 million Anganwadi Centres, it must now evolve into an urban-inclusive, tech-enabled, rights-based system to meet Viksit Bharat 2047 goals.

Role of ICDS in India’s Human Capital Mission ICDS provides a lifecycle-based package including nutrition, immunisation, health check-ups, preschool education, and counselling. It integrates Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0, merging key schemes like Poshan Abhiyaan and the Scheme for Adolescent Girls. With 101 million beneficiaries on the Poshan Tracker, ICDS has begun its digital shift, though full transformation remains ongoing.

Persistent Gaps

• Nutrition and Health:
  • Stunting affects 36% of children under age five.
  • Underweight prevalence stands at 32.1%.
  • Anaemia impacts 67% of children and 57% of women of reproductive age.
  • Only 11% of children (6-23 months) receive an adequate diet, highlighting severe nutritional gaps.
• Early Learning Deficits: Over 85% of brain development occurs by age six, yet early stimulation and cognitive support are lacking. NAS 2021 reveals declining learning outcomes in higher grades pointing to weak foundational care in early years.
• Women’s Empowerment: While 47% of women are part of the labour force, caregiving responsibilities remain a major barrier cited by 53% as a reason for not working.
  • The Palna Scheme (Anganwadi-cum-creche) currently reaches only 5% of Anganwadi Centres, limiting support for working mothers.
• Urban neglect: Only 10% of AWCs in urban areas, despite urban child population set to reach 50% by 2047.

Key Policy Directions for Viksit Bharat

• Anganwadis as Learning Centres: Treat Anganwadi Workers (AWWs) as frontline educators, with structured training, career progression, and performance-based scorecards for quality improvement.
  • This transformation should prioritise early stimulation, cognitive development, and active parental engagement, especially for children under the age of 3.
• Gender-Sensitive Care Economy: Expand the Palna Scheme for AWC-cum-creches, currently limited to just 5% coverage, and promote shared caregiving through targeted SBCC campaigns.
  • Replicating successful models from Odisha, Karnataka, and MSME clusters can support women’s employment through safe, certified, and workplace-aligned childcare.
• Urban ICDS 2.0: Prioritise urban expansion via Smart Cities convergence and ULB capacity building. Explore mobile AWCs, hub-and-spoke centres, tele-nutrition, and fee-based creche models.
• Tech-Driven Service Delivery: Leverage technology by deploying AI to identify high-risk children, monitor meal quality, and personalise Anganwadi Worker (AWW) training.
  • Integrate platforms like Poshan Tracker and UDISE for seamless lifecycle monitoring, learning fairs, and parent-focused interventions such as Maharashtra’s Aarambh model.
• Focus on First 1,000 Days & Adolescents: Emphasise nutrition, care, and stimulation from preconception to age 2.
  • Address adolescent mental health, early pregnancies (6.8% of girls aged 15-19), and undernutrition with targeted interventions.

Way Forward

• Rebuild AWCs as aspirational public spaces for early learning, health, and community mobilisation.
• Measure key behaviours with clear KPIs for 2047 at household, state, and national levels.
• Position ICDS as a key pillar of human capital formation under Article 45, SDGs, and the National Education Policy 2020.

{GS2 – IR – Issues} Sovereign Debt Crisis in the Global South

• Context (DTE): At the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) in Seville, the doubling of developing countries’ share in global debt (from 16% in 2010 to 30% in 2023) highlights deep flaws in the global financial architecture.

Current Trends

• Record Debt Servicing: Developing countries spent $1.4 trillion on foreign debt in 2023, the highest in 20 years.
• Rising Burden: Over 54 countries now allocate more than 10% of revenues to interest payments, with Africa hit the hardest.
• Crowding Out Development: In many LMICs (Low and Middle-Income Countries), debt servicing exceeds the cost of meeting climate goals, diverting crucial resources from public services.

Structural Inequities in Global Finance

• Discriminatory Lending Rates: Borrowing costs for developing countries are 2-4 times that of the US, and 6-12 times that of Germany.
• Credit Rating Bias: Ratings by credit agencies are often skewed against the Global South, treating them as inherently “high-risk”. The UNDP estimates that unfair ratings cost African countries $24 billion in excess interest and $46 billion in missed lending.
• Pandemic Spending Divide: While Global North countries spent 12% of GDP on pandemic recovery, emerging markets managed only 6%, and low-income countries just 3%.
• Skewed Access to Climate Finance: Burdened by expensive debt, Global South countries are unable to invest adequately in climate action or development, exacerbating global inequality.

Implications

• Human Development: Escalating debt burdens are shrinking fiscal space, limiting investments in essential sectors like education, healthcare, and infrastructure, undermining progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
• Climate Action: Rising debt servicing costs are diverting funds away from climate adaptation and mitigation efforts, leaving vulnerable nations less equipped to tackle environmental crises.
• Sovereign Autonomy: Countries in the Global South increasingly face a stark policy dilemma, prioritise debt repayment or meet the basic needs of their populations.

Way Forward

• Reform Credit Rating Agencies: Ensure greater transparency, accountability, and inclusion of climate vulnerability and development goals in assessments.
• Design Fair Lending Frameworks: Establish a UN-led Sovereign Debt Restructuring Mechanism to prevent debt spirals and allow breathing space for development.
• Expand Climate Finance Access: Mobilize climate-specific concessional finance for debt-ridden LMICs to meet mitigation and adaptation goals.
• Strengthen South-South Alliances: Encourage cooperation on alternative financial instruments and resilience funds free from Global North conditions.

Also read > Evolving Geopolitics of Global North & Global South

{GS2 – Social Sector – Health} Eat Right India

• Context (PIB): India faces rising non-communicable diseases, unsafe food practices, and unsustainable consumption. In response, FSSAI’s Eat Right India initiative integrates nutrition, food safety, and sustainability, aligning with POSHAN Abhiyaan and the SDGs.

Eat Right India

• Launched in 2018, Eat Right India is anchored on three key pillars:
  • Eat Safe: Ensures food safety across the entire supply chain.
  • Eat Healthy: Promotes balanced, nutritious diets to combat lifestyle diseases.
  • Eat Sustainable: Encourages environmentally responsible food practices.

Why It Matters?

• Rising lifestyle diseases like heart disease, diabetes, and hypertension are closely tied to unhealthy diets.
• Food safety concerns such as chemical residues, adulteration, and contamination disproportionately impact vulnerable populations.
• Urbanisation & processed food consumption demand stronger regulation & greater public awareness.

Recent Policy Updates (2024–25)

• Stop Obesity Campaign (2025): It urges a 10% reduction in salt and oil intake.
• Microplastics Research Project: A joint effort with CSIR, ICAR, and BITS Pilani to monitor nano-contaminants in food.

• Stakeholder Ecosystem: The success of Eat Right India lies in its whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach, integrating ministries (Health, WCD, Urban Affairs), private sector entities (via CSR), training partners, academia, NGOs, and citizens.
  • This collaborative model has mobilised national-level policy into grassroots action.

Tech-Driven Governance

• FoSCoS: Streamlines digital licensing and compliance for food businesses.
• Food Safety Connect App: Provides real-time grievance redressal and inspection tracking.
• Food Safety on Wheels: Mobile labs that spread awareness and conduct food tests across rural areas.
• Poshan Tracker & Jaivik Bharat Portal: Digital tools for monitoring beneficiary services and promoting organic produce.

Way Forward

• Regulate & Educate: Expand hygiene rating mandates and continue public campaigns like “Aaj Se Thoda Kam” which is an FSSAI-led public campaign urging citizens to reduce their intake of salt, sugar, and fat to prevent lifestyle diseases and promote healthier eating habits.
• Strengthen Urban-Rural Convergence: Scale up Eat Right models in Smart Cities while linking with rural health missions.
• Promote Behavioural Nudges: Use SBCC (Social and Behaviour Change Communication) for sustainable dietary changes.
• Leverage Innovation: Expand AI tools for food quality analysis, target high-risk populations, and improve training modules.

{GS3 – Agri – Laws} Amendments to the Plant Treaty

• Context (TH): Indian farmers and activists are opposing proposed amendments to the Plant Treaty, citing threats to seed sovereignty and the rights of farmers.

International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture

• Also known as the Plant Treaty, it is a binding agreement adopted in 2001 during the FAO’s 31st session in Madrid and took effect in 2004.
• The FAO administers it in Rome with 149 member countries and the EU, including India.
  • ICAR–NBPGR is India’s nodal agency for the treaty-related coordination.
• It encourages the preservation and sharing of plant genetic resources to enhance food security and support climate resilience.
• This is the first globally binding treaty to officially acknowledge the importance of indigenous and smallholder farmers in conserving agrobiodiversity.

Key Components of the Plant Treaty

• Multilateral System (MLS): It enables members to share & access food and forage crops listed in Annexe I for research, breeding, and conservation.
• Standard Material Transfer Agreement (SMTA): A treaty-based contract granting access to MLS crops that mandates benefit-sharing if the crops are used commercially.
• Farmers’ Rights (Article 9): Recognizes rights to save, use, exchange, and sell farm-saved material, and share benefits from genetic resources.
• Benefit Sharing Fund: Financed by SMTA users and donors to support on-farm conservation and capacity-building in developing countries.
• Annexe I: It lists 64 key crops vital for global food security, including rice, wheat, maize, potato, and sorghum, shared under the MLS.
• IPR Limitation Clause: It prevents exclusive rights claims on MLS materials that could limit others from using them.

Proposed Amendments

• Annexe I Expansion: Aims to include all Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (PGRFA) within the MLS.
  • PGRFA refers to any plant genetic material with actual or potential value for food and agriculture.
• Mandatory SMTA: Designates SMTA as the exclusive mechanism for accessing any listed PGRFA, overriding national frameworks.
• Centralised Governance: Transfers decision-making authority on access from national biodiversity agencies to the Treaty’s Governing Body.

India’s Concerns

• Sovereignty Undermined: The expanded MLS might require India to give access to native genetic resources without retaining national control.
• Legal Conflict: The proposal conflicts with India’s PPV&FR Act and BD Act, which regulate seed access and benefit-sharing.
• Farmers’ Rights at Risk: Article 9 protections and India’s seed-saving traditions could be compromised by uniform global regulations.
• Federal Dilution: State Biodiversity Boards may lose powers under a centralised access regime.

{GS3 – Envi – Conservation} Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF)

• Context (IE): As aviation emissions are on rise, Sustainable Aviation Fuel offers a low-carbon alternative.

What is Sustainable Aviation Fuel?

• Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), also known as ‘aviation biofuel’, shares similar characteristics with Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF).
• It can be sourced from municipal solid waste, oils and fats (such as oilseeds and algae oils), agricultural residues (Including Sugarcane bagasse, husk, and corn), and wood wastes.

Significance of SAF

• Green energy: With the Aviation Sector accounting for 2.5% global GHG emissions, SAF can reduce them by 80% in the future. Then it can decarbonise aviation by up to 60%, enabling an energy transition.
• Adoption: SAF can be adopted without making any modifications to existing aircraft engine designs or fuel infrastructure.
• Cleaner Skies: SAF produces significantly less particulate matter, and hence, clouds formed from condensation are cleaner. Thus, it mitigates the existing issue of soot and NOx emissions from ATF.
• Imports: India’s massive potential in SAF can reduce dependence on imports for ATF and can shield from price fluctuation.
• Affordability & Accessibility: Being Atmanirbharta in the aviation sector can make air travel less costly and reach various sections of society.

India’s Potential in SAF

• Global Player: India is a part of CORSIA and launched the Global Biofuel Alliance at the G20 in 2023 to expedite the adoption of biofuels and SAF
• National Policy: Instead of following global goals, India has its own nationally determined targets that it is progressively implementing. e.g., the SAF blending target of 5% by 2030 and up to 15% by 2040.
• Source: Nearly 500MT of Agricultural residue in India is an added advantage. (MNRE).

The Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) requires airlines to offset emissions growth after 2020, encouraging SAF use for compliance.

Existing Barriers

• High Cost: Production cost of SAF is double that of the conventional fuel.
• Infrastructure: Production, Storage, and supply require the installation of new infrastructure.
• Feedstock: Issue of year-round availability of the feedstock source.

Way forward

• Global partnerships: Strengthening alliances globally, like WEF’s ‘Skies for Tomorrow’, providing financial support.
• Production Cost: Cutting production cost by Tax Incentives and PPP models.
• Innovation: Investing in R&D in green energy with academia and private entities.

{GS3 – Envi – RE} Strategic Mineral Clubs for Securing India’s Green Transition

• Context (IE): The recent launch of the Quad’s Critical Minerals Initiative underscores the rising importance of minilateral mineral alliances. As global supply chains shift away from China, India’s strategic mineral diplomacy is crucial for securing resources, tech ties, and industrial resilience.

India’s Approach to Mineral Diplomacy

• Bilateral Partnerships: India has inked deals with Argentina, Zambia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo for mineral exploration and mining.
  • However, Indian firms often lack advanced extraction tech, access to concessional finance and risk appetite for politically unstable regions
• Collaborative Ventures: With the UAE, UK, and US, India is exploring joint ventures in processing and recycling of minerals.
  • These must be backed by long-term assured supplies to prevent “stranded assets” and ensure viability of processing hubs.
• Minilateral Groupings: Forums like the Minerals Security Partnership (MSP) and Quad’s new initiative offer India access to blended finance and export credit, technical expertise from countries like Japan and Australia and joint R&D and innovation infrastructure.
  • These clubs help de-risk investments, enhance resilience of supply chains, and promote shared technological development.

Strategic Challenges and Risks

• Risk of Low-Value Positioning: India may become a processing hub or transit centre, while value-added activities like component manufacturing may shift to the Global North.
• Technology & IP Barriers: Experiences from vaccines and clean tech show that Western nations often resist technology transfer and hoard IPRs.
• Unpredictable Trade Partners: Shifts in global leadership (e.g., the return of protectionist regimes) could disrupt mineral flows and affect access.

Way Forward

• Strengthen Domestic Value Chains: India must move beyond raw mineral imports to build strong capabilities in exploration and mining, refining and recycling and clean-tech manufacturing (e.g., EVs, solar modules, battery cells).
• Indigenous R&D and Workforce Skilling: International mineral partnerships must mandate long-term investments in Indian scientific innovation and large-scale skilling programs to create a future-ready workforce.
• Leverage ESG Diplomacy: Through strategic alliances, India should influence global Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) standards and present Global South concerns in forums shaped by Western narratives.
• Act as a Global Bridge: Utilize historical and developmental ties with Africa and Southeast Asia to access mineral reserves. Position itself as a trusted mediator between the Global South (resource-rich) and the Global North (tech-driven).

{GS3 – Infra – Issues} Infrastructural Issues in India

• Context (IE): The Gambhira Bridge over Mahi River near Padra in Gujarat’s Vadodara district collapsed.

Key Infrastructural Issues in India

• Lack of Regular Maintenance and Structural Audits: Absence of Post-Renovation Audits and Weak Maintenance Protocols. E.g. Morbi Bridge Collapse.
• Inadequate Real-Time Monitoring Systems: No real-time structural health monitoring systems, poor supervision and delay in corrective action. E.g. Aguwani-Sultanganj bridge failure.
• Inadequate Engineering & Overloading: Poor load-bearing assessments and rushed project timelines led to structural failure and loss of lives. E.g. Nagpur flyover collapse.
• Legal issues: India faces a lack of codified infrastructural standards and overlapping jurisdictions of government bodies. E.g. MoRTH, State and Central PWDs, ULBs.

Way forward

• Routine Visual Inspections: Bridges should undergo visual checks every 6–12 months to detect surface-level damage like cracks, rust, seepage, or joint displacement.
• Vibration Monitoring: Installing vibration sensors helps identify internal stress early in structural response.
• Load Management Systems: Weigh-in-motion sensors should be used to monitor axle loads and restrict overloaded vehicles, especially on older bridges.
• Digital Health Monitoring: Long-term digital systems should be implemented to continuously track the condition of key structural components and flag early warning signs.
• Standards: Codification of Infrastructural standards uniformly across the country.

{GS3 – S&T – Defence} Rising Global Military Spending

• Context (TH): At the June 2025 NATO Summit, members pledged to raise defence spending to 5% of GDP by 2035, up from the 2% benchmark. Amid rising global conflicts, the move has sparked debate over its impact on peace, development, and sustainability.

Implications for Global Development

• Crowding Out of Public Welfare Spending: Rising defence budgets divert funds from essential public services like healthcare, education, and nutrition.
• UN and Development Funding: UN Budget (2025) was $44 billion; only $6 billion raised so far. In stark contrast, $1 billion was spent on missile interceptors during the 12-day Israel-Iran war.
  • Major cuts by donor countries especially the US under President Trump have weakened key global development efforts, including USAID, which once helped prevent 91 million deaths.
• SDGs Undermined: Ending extreme poverty by 2030 requires just $70 billion/year only 0.1% of the GNI of high-income countries.
• Health Equity Undermined: 4.5 billion people still lack access to comprehensive health services. Just $1 per capita annually for NCD prevention could save 7 million lives by 2030.
• Climate Impact of Militarisation: Increasing defence spending to 3.5% of GDP by NATO could raise global GHG emissions by 200 million tonnes annually.

India’s Defence vs Welfare Dilemma

• Defence Surge: Military spending: ₹6.81 lakh crore in 2025 + ₹50,000 crore emergency allocation post Operation Sindoor.
  • India ranks 5^th globally in military expenditure ($86.1 billion).
  • Part of a global remilitarisation trend driven by NATO’s new 5% of GDP defence pledge.
• Development Trade-offs: Public health spending is 1.84% of GDP, far below the 2.5% National Health Policy target. In contrast, Ayushman Bharat, which covers 58 crore people, received only ₹7,200 crore in the 2023–24 budget.
• Rising defence allocations risk crowding out funds for health, nutrition, education, and poverty alleviation.
• Risk of Developmental Setbacks: Public sentiment post-conflict may tilt policy towards militarisation, threatening social sector allocations.
  • Middle- and low-income countries face heightened risk, where defence spending severely strained developmental priorities. For example, Ukraine (34% of GDP on military) and Lebanon (29%)

Way Forward

• Reprioritising Global Governance: Reaffirm UN funding commitments for peacekeeping and humanitarian aid. Enhance multilateral development finance to counter the hollowing of welfare budgets.
• Balance Defence with Development: Adopt Defence Sustainability Indexing, aligning military budgets with SDG financing goals. Institutionalise sunset clauses for emergency defence outlays to avoid budgetary inertia.
• Global Compact on Military Transparency: Push for a global pact on military spending transparency and environmental reporting. Leverage platforms like the G20, BRICS, & SCO for demilitarisation dialogue.

{Prelims – In News} Comet 3I/ATLAS

• Context (IE): 3I/ATLAS is a small comet from outside our solar system, moving toward the Sun.

• This is the third such interstellar object, after 1I/ʻOumuamua (2017) and 2I/Borisov (2019).
• It was observed by the NASA-funded ATLAS telescope in Rio Hurtado, Chile.
• Initially called C/2025 N1 (ATLAS), it was later renamed 3I/ATLAS by the Minor Planet Center (MPC —a global authority for tracking and naming small celestial bodies like asteroids and comets).

Key Features of 3I/ATLAS

• Tail and Coma: 3I/ATLAS has a faint coma and a short tail, making it invisible to the naked eye.
• Composition: Its icy nucleus confirms its nature as an actual comet and not an asteroid.
• Trajectory: It follows a hyperbolic orbit, unlike solar system objects, confirming its interstellar origin.
• Distance at Perihelion: It will pass 1.4 AU (210milion km) from the Sun, just inside Mars’ orbit.

Coma: a faint gas cloud that forms as the comet warms near the Sun. Perihelion is the point where a comet or planet comes closest to the Sun in its orbit; the farthest point is called aphelion.

Credit: IE

{Prelims – Sci – Bio – Diseases} Scoliosis

• Context (TH): In India, awareness of scoliosis is low due to limited research, even though about 2–3% of the population is affected.

Credit: TH

• Scoliosis is a progressive spinal disorder marked by abnormal sideways curves, usually forming an ‘S’ or ‘C’ shape. It influences bone growth but does not decrease life expectancy.
• Risk Group: Women face a higher risk of progressive worsening of spinal curvature. It usually begins in childhood or adolescence but can occur at any age.
• Common Symptoms: Uneven shoulders, arched ribs, unsteady body movements and sometimes chronic back pain or breathing difficulties.
• Causes: Genetic factors, neuromuscular disorders, abnormal vertebral development, etc.

{Species – Discovery} Pethia dibrugarhensis

• Context (TOI): Researchers from ICAR–Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute discovered a new fish species, Pethia dibrugarhensis, in the Brahmaputra River in Dibrugarh, Assam.

• It is a small freshwater fish from the Cyprinidae family, classified as a barb (common in South Asia).
  • Goldfish, koi, and rohu are common examples of Cyprinidae fish.
• It inhabits moderately fast-flowing waters of the Brahmaputra with mud, sand, and stone, coexisting with small freshwater species.

Barb Fishes: Small to medium freshwater fishes from the Cyprinidae family having shiny scales with one or more pairs of barbels near the mouth.

• Physical description: The species has an incomplete lateral line used for detecting vibrations in water. A large black blotch covers the caudal peduncle, extending up and down.

Credit: TOI

• Absence of Sensory Organs: Though a barb, it lacks barbels and humeral marks; rare within its group.
  • Barbels are sensory organs near the mouth of certain fish, used to detect food in murky or low-visibility waters.

Caudal Peduncle: It is the narrow region before the tail fin that helps in swimming and propulsion. ICAR–CIFRI: It is a leading ICAR fisheries research institute based in Barrackpore, West Bengal, mandated to safeguard aquatic biodiversity, promote sustainable inland fisheries, and increase open water productivity.