Current Affairs – July 13, 2026

{GS2 – IR} India-New Zealand ‘Strategic Partnership’

Context (PIB): Prime Minister’s visit to Auckland was the first visit by an Indian Prime Minister to New Zealand in four decades.

PM Modi was honoured with a Māori Pōwhiri, a formal welcome ceremony of the Māori (the indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand), featuring the ‘Haka’ dance.

Key Outcomes of the Visit

Roadmap to 2030: Elevated bilateral relations to a ‘Strategic Partnership’ covering six key areas: political-diplomatic, defence-security, trade-economy, people-culture-sport, education-science-disaster, and regional-multilateral cooperation.
Free Trade Agreement: Commits both countries to early entry into force and targets doubling bilateral goods and services trade to NZ$7 billion (₹35,000 crore) by 2030.
Mutual Recognition Arrangement: Operationalised under the Customs Cooperation Arrangement to simplify clearance procedures for trusted traders.
Maritime Security Dialogue: Institutionalises annual foreign-ministry-led coordination for maritime security policy and regional alignment.
Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative: New Zealand adopted Maritime Security as its priority pillar within the seven-pillar IPOI framework, with an initial focus on illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
Joint Working Group on Counter-Terrorism: Formalises bilateral intelligence sharing and policy coordination to counter terrorist financing, safe havens, and cross-border terrorism.
Climate and Energy Platforms: New Zealand joined the Global Biofuels Alliance and reaffirmed its cooperation under the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI).
Agricultural Productivity Partnership: Launches a Kiwifruit Action Plan with two dedicated Centres of Excellence in Nagaland and Uttarakhand to enhance productivity and agricultural innovation.
Seafarer Mobility: Advances mutual recognition of competency certificates among maritime authorities to improve workforce mobility and strengthen bilateral maritime industries.
Civilisational Ties: Established cultural and traditional medicine cooperation alongside a framework between the New Zealand Maritime Museum and India’s National Maritime Heritage Complex at Lothal.
Research Collaboration: NCPOR and the University of Canterbury partnered on Antarctic research, while NIFTEM-Kundli and Massey University signed an MoU on food technology and student mobility.

Read More> India-New Zealand Relations

Context (AIR): Central Government has amended the Drugs Rules, 1945, to strengthen the regulation of High Alcohol-Containing Drug Formulations.

Key Highlights

Exemption Removed: The existing Schedule K exemption from licensing requirements for formulations containing ethyl alcohol has been withdrawn.
Threshold Defined: Formulations exceeding 12% v/v ethyl alcohol in quantities above 30 millilitres no longer qualify for the exemption. Such products must now obtain requisite licenses under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940.
Regulatory Intent: The move aims to curb misuse of high alcohol content formulations and tighten oversight of their manufacture and sale.

About Schedule K

Schedule K is a schedule under the Drugs Rules, 1945, framed under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940. It lists specified classes of drugs that are exempt from certain provisions of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, and the Drugs Rules, 1945, subject to prescribed conditions.
The objective is to facilitate the availability of essential medicines by relaxing certain licensing and regulatory requirements for specific categories of drugs.

{GS3 – Envi} High Mercury Levels Found in Cosmetics

Context (IE): A study found mercury levels up to 20 times above the permissible limit of one part per million in some cosmetics, raising health and regulatory concerns.

Mercury is used in cosmetics because it inhibits the enzyme involved in melanin production, reducing pigmentation and creating the appearance of lighter skin within days.
Beyond cosmetics, mercury enters the human body through contaminated fish and seafood, contaminated water, and rice grown in mercury-affected soil.

Melanin is the natural biological pigment responsible for giving color to skin, hair, and the irises of eyes. It protects against the harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun. It is produced by specialized cells called melanocytes, which are located in the bottom layer of skin’s outer surface (epidermis).

How Does Mercury Affect Health?

Kidneys: Mercury can be absorbed through the skin and accumulate in the body, particularly in the kidneys and nervous system, increasing the risk of kidney damage or kidney failure.
Nervous System: Mercury is neurotoxic, it damages the brain and nervous system. Symptoms include tremors, memory loss, irritability, and impaired coordination.
Developmental Harm: Methylmercury crosses the placenta, so prenatal exposure can impair fetal brain development, leading to cognitive and motor deficits in children.
Cardiovascular Effects: Some studies link chronic exposure to increased cardiovascular risk.
Minamata Disease: A severe methylmercury poisoning syndrome first identified in Japan in the 1950s, caused by industrial wastewater contamination, marked by severe neurological damage.

Minamata Convention on Mercury (2013)

Legally binding global treaty under the UN Environment Programme that protects human health and the environment from anthropogenic mercury pollution.
Adopted in 2013, it regulates the entire lifecycle of mercury, including its trade, use in products and industrial processes, and safe disposal.

{GS3 – IE – Industry} India’s Textile Sector: Pathway to Circular Growth

Context (PIB): The Ministry of Textiles released a report on India’s Textile Future, emphasising the need to adopt circular economy principles across the textile value chain.

Significance of the Textile Sector

Often called the “spinning wheel” of India’s industrial growth, the textile and apparel sector contributes ~2% to GDP and ~11% of manufacturing GVA.
It is India’s 2^nd largest employer after agriculture, providing livelihoods to over 45 million people.
India is the 6^th largest textile and apparel exporter, with a 4% global market share.

Need for Circularity in India’s Textile Sector

Waste Burden: India’s textile industry contributes 8.5% of global textile waste and ranks third among dry municipal solid-waste generators.
Resource Pressure: Cotton cultivation requires extensive freshwater and synthetic fertilisers, leading to land degradation and groundwater depletion.
Chemical Pollution: Wet processing and dyeing release toxic chemicals that often contaminate local water with heavy metals and carcinogens.
Export Compliance: The EU, a key market for India, enforces EPR laws and Digital Product Passports (DPPs); without circularity, traceability, and recyclability, India risks exclusion.

Current Landscape

India manages approximately 7.8 million tonnes of textile waste annually, with over 70% recovered for recycling, upcycling, downcycling, or reuse.
Pre-Consumer Waste (Factory Scrap): Nearly 95% is recovered, with the spinning sector reintegrating almost all internal waste back into production.
Post-Consumer Waste (Household & Retail): About 55% of this waste is diverted from landfills through India’s extensive collection and sorting network.

Key Government Initiatives

PM MITRA Parks: Massive textile parks with sustainable infrastructure, featuring Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETPs) to optimise water reuse.
Indian Carbon Market (ICM) Integration: The government has added the carbon-heavy textile sector to the requirements for disclosing Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions.
RAMP Programme: Introduced MSE-SPICE with a 25% capital subsidy for circular methods and MSE-GIFT with a 2% interest subvention for green technology upgrades to finance small businesses.
National Technical Textiles Mission (NTTM): Funds scientific research to chemically and mechanically convert tough textile waste into industrial advanced materials.
Eco Mark Scheme: Establishes national eco-labelling standards for textile products, easing the transition into markets with strict environmental standards.
Mission LiFE: Promotes clothing reuse, swapping, circular economies, and less fast-fashion consumption through lifestyle change.
Industrial Innovation: The SURE Initiative, led by CMAI and the UN in India, is India’s largest voluntary fashion-sector sustainability commitment.

{GS3 – IS} Changing Nature of Terrorism **

Context (TH): Recent reports suggest a noteworthy decline in global terrorism in 2025 representing a 22% reduction in overall attacks and 28% drop in deaths.

However, terrorism is not declining but reorganizing, making the world unevenly unsafe despite an overall reduction in violence.

Key Changes Observed in Pattern of Terrorism

Geographical Confinement: Nearly 70% of all terrorism-related deaths are compressed into five countries (like Pakistan, Burkina Faso, Congo) already suffering from chronic systemic fragility.
Decentralised Attacks: Rise of decentralised, transnational, and rapid digital recruitment has facilitated lone wolf attacks, white collar terrorism shifting terror methodology to high-impact individual strikes incited on online echo-chambers.
- Violent terror attacks by extremist individuals acting upon their radicalised beliefs are termed as Lone-wolf attacks.
Product of Institutional or Diplomatic Collapse: ~99% of all terrorism-related deaths occur in nations already entangled in armed conflict indicating correlation between political instability and extremism.
Rising attacks in Frontier zones: Over 60% of attacks take place within 100 kilometres of international borders that offer operational sanctuaries unhindered by state authority.
Cyberterrorism: Leveraging cyberspace to conduct attacks on critical infrastructure, financial institutions, and government networks.

Challenges in Curbing Modern Terrorism

Global Conflicts: E.g., the West Asia has caused mass displacement and systematic erosion of state institutions creating a uniquely fertile breeding ground for extremist resurgence.
Adaptive Nature: Modern terrorist organisations adapt by fragmenting, localising, and exploiting domestic grievances, making them increasingly difficult to contain.
Balancing Security and Civil Liberties: Mass surveillance, data collection, and counter-radicalization programs raise concerns over privacy rights and potential for government overreach.
Policy Gap in Counterterrorism: Shift towards bioterrorism, cyber terrorism, drones, Artificial Intelligence (AI), cryptocurrency-enabled financing are difficult to monitor with current counter strategies.

{GS3 – S&T} Hydrogen-Powered Trains **

Context (IE): India’s first indigenously developed hydrogen-powered train will be flagged off on the 89-km Jind–Sonipat section in Haryana.

The 10-coach trainset is the world’s longest and most powerful hydrogen-powered train developed for broad-gauge operations.

About Hydrogen-Powered Train

A hydrogen-powered train reacts compressed hydrogen with oxygen inside Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cells to generate electricity, replacing diesel traction with zero-emission propulsion.
Fuel cells convert hydrogen’s chemical energy into electricity through electrochemical reactions, without burning hydrogen. Hydrogen does not generate energy independently; it must first be produced using an external energy source, such as renewable electricity.
Zero Emission: The propulsion system produces no carbon emissions, with water vapour as the only byproduct of the electrochemical reaction.

How Hydrogen-Powered Train Technology Works

Hydrogen Production: Renewable-powered electrolysers generate green hydrogen by splitting water, which is then stored in trackside tanks and roof-mounted Type-IV composite cylinders at 350 bar.
Oxygen Supply: High-capacity compressors deliver filtered atmospheric air to the cathodes of Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cells, sustaining continuous electrochemical reactions.
Thermal Control: Closed-loop liquid-cooling systems keep fuel-cell stacks within the optimal 60-80°C range, ensuring efficient proton conduction.
Power Generation: A platinum catalyst splits hydrogen at the anode; electrons travel through an external circuit as direct current while protons combine with oxygen at the cathode, emitting only water.
Energy Buffering: Lithium iron phosphate batteries handle peak acceleration demands and recover energy through regenerative braking.

Significance of Hydrogen-Powered Trains for India

Range Gain: Hydrogen’s gravimetric energy density of 120 MJ/kg, nearly triple that of diesel’s 43 MJ/kg, permits a 1,000-km range without additional locomotive weight.
Carbon Avoidance: PEM fuel cells prevent 893 tonnes of CO₂ and particulate emissions each year per trainset, supporting Indian Railways’ goal to achieve net-zero emissions by 2030.
Acoustic Mitigation: A 60% reduction in noise from combustion-free fuel cells helps protect endemic fauna along ecologically sensitive heritage routes like Kalka-Shimla.
Infrastructure Substitution: Hydrogen-powered traction offers clean transportation on heritage routes where rugged terrain makes overhead electrification financially unviable.
Import Shield: Replacing Indian Railways’ ~1 billion litres of annual diesel use with domestic green hydrogen helps buffer operations from crude oil price shocks.
Grid Balancing: Harnessing surplus renewable electricity for hydrogen production transforms railway depots into strategic, decentralised assets for grid balancing.

Challenges Associated with Hydrogen-Powered Trains

Capital Barrier: The combined costs of ₹80 crore per trainset and ₹70 crore for route infrastructure create a significant financial barrier compared to traditional diesel locomotives.
Cost Disadvantage: Green hydrogen priced at $3.5-$5/kg is still not competitive with diesel until domestic production drops to a $2/kg breakeven point.
Performance Ceiling: A 75 km/h operational limit on pilot corridors restricts the performance of broad-gauge lines compared to conventional electric locomotives.
Storage Risk: Compressed-gas storage at 350-700 bar or cryogenic storage at −253°C significantly increases containment complexity and supply-chain safety risks.
Efficiency Deficit: A 30% well-to-wheel conversion efficiency wastes more primary electricity than direct-overhead electrification systems.
Water Intensity: The electrolysis process requires approximately 9 litres of demineralised water per kilogram of green hydrogen, putting pressure on groundwater resources along arid railway corridors.

Read More> Hydrogen Fuel Technology

{Prelims – Geo – PG} Seafloor Spreading

Context (TOI): Researchers captured the first direct, in-situ observation of a complete seafloor spreading.

Findings provide an unprecedented look at one of Earth’s fundamental geological processes, offering insights on separation of tectonic plates, behaviour of magma beneath seafloor and formation of new oceanic crust.

Key Highlights of the Research

Researchers found magma moving under the crust, seafloor sinking by 4 m and spreading apart by more than 1 m, leading to an eruption that poured 160 million cubic meters of lava over 16 days.
Much of this movement happened without severe earthquakes, potentially because magmatic processes allow the plates to slide apart smoothly.
The new observations suggest that seafloor spreading may happen in bursts rather than through perfectly steady motion.
Decades of gradual stress can accumulate before being released during short-lived episodes involving magma intrusion, fault movement and volcanic eruption.

{Prelims – Sci} Leucine *

Context (TH): A study explains how the amino acid leucine protects mitochondria, the cell’s energy-producing organelles, offering insights relevant to metabolic and age-related diseases.

Mitochondria are membrane-bound organelles known as the “powerhouses of the cell.” They generate Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) through cellular respiration, which serves as the primary energy currency required for almost all biological processes.

What is Leucine?

Leucine is an essential amino acid, meaning it cannot be synthesized by the human body and must be obtained through the diet. It belongs to the Branched-Chain Amino Acid (BCAA) group, along with isoleucine and valine.
It is essential for muscle growth and repair, protein synthesis, energy metabolism, tissue regeneration, and maintenance of overall cellular health.

How Leucine Protects Mitochondria?

Leucine helps maintain the integrity of the outer mitochondrial membrane, thereby preserving mitochondrial function.
It interacts with a protein called SEL1L, which is involved in identifying and removing damaged or misfolded proteins.
By protecting mitochondrial membrane proteins from excessive degradation, leucine prevents the premature breakdown of healthy mitochondria.

Context (TH): Veterinary scientists detected Parrot Bornavirus 4 (PaBV-4) for the first time among captive birds in Assam, Bengaluru, and Kolkata.

PaBV-4 is a contagious single-stranded RNA Orthobornavirus that primarily infects psittacine birds like parrots, macaws, cockatiels, and parakeets.
Mainly causes Proventricular Dilatation Disease (PDD), damaging the gastrointestinal tract and central nervous system. Affected birds lose weight, regurgitate, pass undigested seed, and experience ataxia and seizures.
Transmission: Many infected birds remain asymptomatic, acting as silent carriers spreading the virus via faeces, urine, and feather dander. It is highly resilient in aqueous environments.
Treatment: No cure, antiviral treatment, or vaccine exists.

{Prelims – Geo} Paizhen Fault *

Context (IT): Chinese geologists revealed that the Medog Hydropower Station being built on the Yarlung Tsangpo (Brahmaputra) River in Tibet is directly above the Paizhen Fault.

Medog project, located 50 km before the Yarlung Tsangpo enters Arunachal Pradesh, could cause severe flash floods, ecological damage, and sediment disruption in India and Bangladesh if a fault-induced failure occurs.

The Paizhen Fault is an active seismic zone in the eastern Himalayan region of south-eastern Tibet. It forms part of a fault network created by the ongoing collision of the Indian and Eurasian plates.
It has remained active since the Early Pleistocene epoch (~2.6 million years ago); ongoing activity is evidenced by the 6.9-magnitude earthquake in Tibet in 2017 near the northern end of the Paizhen Fault.

{Prelims – Misc} One-Liners

IS – World Population Day (TH): Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare observed World Population Day on July 11, 2026. It was established by United Nations Development Programme in 1989. The theme for 2026 “Realizing the hopes and aspirations of young people – today and for the future.”
IR – Phu Quoc Island (TH): Phu Quoc was in the news after a speedboat carrying Indian tourists capsized near the island, resulting in the deaths of 15 Indian tourists. Phu Quoc is Vietnam’s largest island, situated in the Gulf of Thailand. It sits closer to Cambodia than to mainland Vietnam, and Cambodia maintains a historical territorial claim over it.