Current Affairs – July 17, 2026

{GS1 – PI} Kumarasami Kamaraj

• Context (PIB): PM Modi paid tribute to freedom fighter and former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K. Kamaraj (1903-1975) on his birth anniversary.

• Born on 15 July 1903 into the marginalised Nadar community in Virudhunagar, Madras province, he joined the freedom struggle following the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.
• Participated in Non-Cooperation Movement, Nagpur Flag Satyagraha and Rajagopalachari-led Vedaranyam Salt Satyagraha, which brought his first imprisonment. He was jailed for three years during the Quit India Movement (1942) for organising protests.
• He joined the AICC in 1931, led the provincial Congress Committee in 1940, and was elected to the Constituent Assembly in 1946 and to the Lok Sabha in 1952.
• Kamaraj served three consecutive terms as Madras Chief Minister from 1954 to 1963 and is considered the first non-English-speaking CM of an Indian state.
• Education Reforms: Abolished Hereditary Education Policy (Kula Kalvi Thittam), expanded free education, and established village schools, earning the title ‘Kalvi Thanthai’ (Father of Education). He introduced the statewide Free Noon Meal Scheme (1956), influencing India’s Midday Meal Scheme.
• Kamaraj Plan (1963): Proposed that senior Congress ministers leave government positions to rebuild the party in the aftermath of the Indo-China war.

• He was called the “Kingmaker” of Indian politics for ensuring the smooth succession of Prime Ministers after the deaths of Jawaharlal Nehru (1964) and Lal Bahadur Shastri (1966).
• Honours: Known as Perunthalaivar (Great Leader), he received the Bharat Ratna posthumously in 1976.

{GS2 – Governance} Legality of Hunger Strikes in India *

• Context (TH): Multiple Supreme Court orders have highlighted the state’s paternalistic duty of care to preserve the life of a person on a hunger strike without disrupting right to dissent.

Key Provisions Associated with Hunger Strikes in India

• Legal Status: There is no law in country that prohibits an individual from going on a hunger strike.
  • It is neither unconstitutional nor barred under any law rather is a form of protest accepted, both historically and legally in our constitutional jurisprudence.
  • Previously Mahatma Gandhi used fasting as a form of non-violent resistance, also used by Manipur activist Irom Sharmila and anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare, etc.
• Legal Reform: Section 309 of the IPC (Indian Penal Code) criminalized the attempt to commit suicide which was replaced by the Section 226 of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
  • Section 226 prescribes punishment for attempt to suicide only in cases where it involves compelling/restraining the public servant in performance of his/her official duty.
• Associated Constitutional Provision: Article 19(1)(b) ensures right to peacefully assemble and hold public meetings or processions without arms. However, reasonable restrictions can be imposed in interests of public order, sovereignty, and integrity of India.

{GS2 – IR} Global Nuclear Non-Proliferation Regime

• Context (TH): Stalled negotiations over Iran’s nuclear programme have renewed concerns about the fairness and credibility of the global nuclear non-proliferation order.

Global Framework for Nuclear Non-Proliferation

Challenges with Non-Proliferation Framework

• Structural Asymmetry: The NPT allows recognised powers to modernise nuclear triads without strict disarmament deadlines. The US and Russia hold nearly 90% of the global arsenals.
• Treaty Erosion: Russia suspended participation in New START in 2023, and its subsequent expiry removed binding limits on arsenals, inspections, and data exchanges.
• Procedural Paralysis: Absolute consensus allows individual states to block NPT Review Conference outcomes over regional conflicts or compliance disputes.
• Technological Disruptions: Integrating AI, cyber warfare, and hypersonic glide vehicles into command-and-control frameworks shortens decision times and raises nuclear escalation risks.
• Geopolitical Selectivity: Aggressive sanctions on threshold states and the normalisation of non-signatory outliers undermine universal enforcement of non-proliferation.

{GS2 – Polity} Digitisation of India’s Judiciary **

• Context (IE): Initiated under the e-Courts Mission Mode Project—conceptualised by the Supreme Court’s e-Committee and developed by NIC—virtual courts in India have evolved from pandemic-era necessity to a permanent part of the judicial system.

• India has 30 Virtual Courts for online adjudication of minor offences like traffic challans. The Supreme Court holds fully virtual proceedings every Monday and Friday.

Benefits of Virtual Courts and Judicial Digitisation

• Inclusive Access: Online hearings assist women, senior advocates, and people with disabilities facing mobility or caregiving issues.
• Backlog Relief: E-filing, digital summons, and automated petty-offence disposal free judicial time for complex cases, reducing judicial pendency.
• Climate Gains: Paperless proceedings and reduced travel lower resource consumption, logistical delays, and the judiciary’s operational carbon footprint.
• Cost Reduction: Digital proceedings lower infrastructure costs, incidental litigation, and security expenses for transporting prisoners to physical courtrooms.

Key Concerns and Implementation Challenges

• Profiling Risk: ICJS integration may enable comprehensive citizen profiling, potentially violating privacy protections recognised in the Puttaswamy judgment.
• Digital Divide: Unreliable internet access, limited digital devices, and low technological literacy exclude many rural litigants and small-town legal practitioners.
• Cyber Threats: Data breaches, hacking, identity misuse, and unauthorised recordings can compromise confidential proceedings and sensitive judicial information.
• Openness Compromise: Restricted virtual links or the absence of live-streaming can weaken the constitutional principle of publicly accessible court proceedings.

Way Forward

• Data Governance: Mandate purpose limitation, data localisation, access controls, and audit trails across interconnected justice databases.
• Last-Mile Access: Expand e-Sewa Kendras, deploy mobile video-conferencing units, and set up digital desks at the panchayat level.
• Cybersecurity Framework: Use end-to-end encryption and customised indigenous software to protect judicial data and confidential proceedings.
• Hybrid Model: Retain routine arguments and summary cases online while conducting sensitive evidentiary proceedings primarily through physical hearings.
• Open-Court Safeguards: Codify guidelines for listing all virtual hearing links, mandate live-streaming of non-sensitive cases, and in-camera proceedings for sexual offences and family disputes.

Read More > AI in Indian Judiciary

{GS3 – Agri} 98^th Foundation Day of ICAR *

• Context (PIB): Marking ICAR’s 98^th Foundation Day, the Union Ministry of Agriculture unveiled the “Developed Agriculture and Prosperous Farmers” roadmap as a key pillar of Viksit Bharat 2047.

7 Major Goals Announced

1. 100 Climate-Smart Villages: Developing at least 100 villages before ICAR’s centenary to demonstrate climate-resilient farming, water conservation, and risk-reduction models.
2. One Institute-One Grand Innovation: Mandating every ICAR institute deliver at least one breakthrough technological innovation, vaccine, or crop variety within two years.
3. Farmers Outreach: Extending advanced technologies and real-time research to 100 million farmers.
4. Mission ICAR-100: Transforming Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) into innovation hubs for large-scale demonstrations, with each KVK visiting at least 100 villages.
5. ICAR Open Digital Knowledge Platform: Creating a mobile-first platform providing free crop advisories, soil-test results, and instructional videos via smartphones.
6. Countering Counterfeit Inputs: Enforcing stricter laws to eliminate counterfeit seeds and pesticides.
7. ₹10,000 Crore Internal Revenue by 2029: Scaling technology commercialisation, licensing, and seed and vaccine sales to build institutional self-reliance.

Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)

• Established in 1929 (originally as the Imperial Council of Agricultural Research), ICAR is the apex body for coordinating agricultural research and education in India.
• It is an autonomous organisation under the Department of Agricultural Research and Education, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
• Union Agriculture Minister serves as the ICAR Society’s ex officio President, and the Minister of State for Agriculture serves as Vice-President.
• Key Functions:
  • Accredits agricultural universities, colleges, and academic programmes through the National Agricultural Education Accreditation Board (NAEAB).
  • Develops high-yielding, climate-resilient, disease-resistant crops and livestock; conserves germplasm for long-term research.
  • Being the world’s largest agricultural research and education network, it manages over 100 institutes, 4 deemed universities, and 70+ agricultural universities.
  • Operates KVKs to demonstrate new technologies and farming practices directly to farmers.

{GS3 – Envi} 7^th Governing Body Meeting of National CAMPA *

• Context (TH): 7^th Governing Body Meeting of National CAMPA in Coimbatore marked a shift from conventional compensatory afforestation toward landscape-based ecological restoration.

• Aastha Van Sanrakshan Yojana (AVSY) was approved with an initial corpus of ₹3,000 crore (2026–31) to conserve nearly 15,000 sacred groves (Aastha Vans).
• MISHTI (Mangrove Initiative for Shoreline Habitats and Tangible Incomes) was extended for three years until 2029, with an added ₹500 crore, taking the total outlay to ₹600 crore.
• Four wildlife recovery programmes were approved to strengthen scientific monitoring, anti-poaching measures, and habitat restoration:
  1. Gangetic Dolphins: Recovery action plan focused on major freshwater river systems.
  2. Project Snow Leopard Phase-II: Including the 2^nd nationwide population estimate in the Himalaya.
  3. Indian Rhinoceros: Conservation plan for habitat protection and anti-poaching enforcement.
  4. Wild Water Buffalo: Scientific habitat management to secure the remaining population.
  • Sangai (Brow-antlered Deer): Continued financial and operational support for conservation.
• Three digital governance initiatives were mandated to track fund utilisation and project verification:
  1. Digital Annual Plan of Operations: End-to-end workflow for planning, approval, and monitoring.
  2. GIS Lab: Uses satellite imagery and field verification for real-time tracking of afforestation projects.
  3. Harit-SANKALP: Provides QR-based traceability and unique IDs for nurseries and seed sources.

{Prelims – Geo} Indian Plate Built the “Roof of the World”

• Context (DTE): A study provides new evidence explaining how the Indian tectonic plate shaped the Tibetan Plateau, often referred to as the “Roof of the World”.

Key Findings

• Indian Plate Under thrusting: The study confirms that the Indian continental plate moved beneath the Asian (Eurasian) plate between 45 and 20 million years ago, driving the uplift of the Tibetan Plateau.
• Researchers found that western and central Tibet experienced different uplift (exhumation) histories because the Indian plate penetrated farther beneath western Tibet than beneath the central region.
  • This difference explains why western Tibet is more rugged, while central Tibet has relatively smoother topography.

{Prelims – PIN World} Greater Tunb Island *

• Context (TH): Greater Tunb was in the news after US targeted Iranian military installations on the island amid escalating tensions in the Strait of Hormuz.

• Greater Tunb is located in the Persian Gulf, near the Strait of Hormuz. The island, under Iranian control since 1971, is regarded as a strategically important location in the strait.
• It is one of the three disputed islands in the Persian Gulf. Other two are Lesser Tunb and Abu Musa.
• The island is administered by Iran, while the United Arab Emirates (UAE) also claims sovereignty over it.

{Prelims – Sci} Intron

• Context (TH): Researchers visually tracked an RNA molecule, called intron, jumping from one organism to another, directly capturing cross-species gene transfer without any carrier.

• Jumping genes are responsible for antibiotic resistance and in the development of several cancers.

About Intron

• The intron is a special kind of RNA molecule with two unique roles: it cuts itself out of precursor rRNA and joins its own ends to acquire a circular structure.
  • Ribonucleic acid (abbreviated RNA) is a nucleic acid present in all living cells that has structural similarities to DNA. Unlike DNA, however, RNA is most often single-stranded.
• It is highly efficient and contains information that allows it to jump.
• Visual confirmation through laboratory culture identified that an intron could jump across two different domains of life.

{Prelims – Social Sector} Cyclosporiasis

• Context (TH I IE): A widespread outbreak of cyclosporiasis has been reported in the United States.

• It is an intestinal illness caused by a microscopic, single-celled protozoan called Cyclospora cayetanensis.
• Transmission by consuming food or water contaminated with the parasite. Unlike many other foodborne pathogens, cyclosporiasis is not passed directly from person to person.
• Cyclospora infections are frequently underdiagnosed because the parasite is invisible on standard tests and requires specific staining or ultraviolet fluorescence techniques.

{Prelims – Misc} One-Liners

• Envi – Project GIANT (Greenland Ice Sheet to Atlantic Tipping Points) (DDN): A five-year (2025–2030) international research initiative led by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) to study how melting Greenland glaciers threaten to trigger a collapse of Atlantic Ocean currents.
  • It deployed an autonomous robot fleet in Greenland’s fjords to observe how the region’s freshwater melt interacts with the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC).
• Envi – Lestes paloti (TH): A new spreadwing damselfly species discovered in Kerala’s Western Ghats. It changes from brown in dry seasons to bluish during the monsoon for camouflage. Unlike similar species, it inhabits scrub around homes and hillocks, not open water. This discovery corrected a taxonomic mistake, revealing that earlier southern Indian records of Lestes nodalis were misidentifications of this new species.
• A&C – Harela Festival (HT): A Hindu folk festival celebrated on the first day of Shravan (Kark Sankranti), mainly in the Kumaon region of Uttarakhand, marking the onset of the monsoon and the sowing cycle. It also commemorates the divine wedding of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati.
• IR – UNAMA (TH): A Bangladeshi diplomat has been appointed as the head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). It is created by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in 2002 through Resolution 1401, following the Bonn Agreement after the fall of the Taliban regime.