Current Affairs – July 26, 2026

{GS3 – IE} Responsible Data-Centre Regulation for AI Future **

Context (IE): Rapid AI growth is expanding India’s data-centre capacity, raising environmental and infrastructural concerns that necessitate urgent responsible regulation.

About AI Data Centres

AI data centres operate using high-density graphics processing units (GPUs) that require continuous, immense power and generate extreme heat.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) projects global data-centre electricity consumption to exceed 945 terawatt-hours (TWh) by 2030.
India hosts 20% of global data but only 3% of data centres. Its AI data-centre market, worth $5.5 billion with 1.6 GW capacity, is projected to grow to $90 billion and 12-14 GW by 2035.

Imperative for Strict Regulation

Water Footprint: AI facilities use 1–1.5 litres per kWh of electricity for cooling servers; in India, this water requirement could double to 359 billion litres by 2030, worsening water stress.
Infrastructure Risks: Data centres face operational and financial risks, as the majority of districts in India face extreme floods (72%) and extreme heat (57%).
Grid Stress: Subsidised electricity for rising data-centre demand shifts infrastructure costs to consumers while private operators retain commercial gains.
Employment Paradox: Highly automated data centres generate little local employment despite receiving subsidised land, public incentives, and tax breaks.
Ecological Risks: States are fast-tracking hyperscale projects in ecologically fragile zones to attract investment, threatening local aquifers and soil stability.

Existing Regulations and Policy Gaps

Global Regulations: The U.S. uses local moratoriums; the EU mandates self-reporting under its Energy Efficiency Directive. Dublin and Amsterdam imposed moratoriums or strict limits on new data centres, but no global treaty governs AI infrastructure footprints.
India’s Approach:
- India lacks a binding national policy for data centre sustainability; 15 states provide subsidies and utility-duty exemptions without enforceable ecological limits.
- Weak Environmental Regulation: Voluntary BEE frameworks focus on energy performance but lack binding Water Usage Effectiveness (WUE) standards.
- Governance Fragmentation: MeitY promotes data-centre growth, while separate authorities enforce climate mandates, causing coordination gaps.

Way Forward

Impact Assessment: Reinstate mandatory comprehensive Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) above a defined megawatt threshold, with binding carbon and water caps.
Cooling Mandates: Phase out water-intensive cooling and mandate closed-loop liquid-cooling and heat-reuse systems that redirect ambient heat into industrial processes.
Green Co-location: Revise Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) to remove hyperscaler subsidies and require 24×7 clean-energy matching through additional renewable capacity.
Green Taxonomy: Introduce an AI-specific eco-certification system that links state incentives to hardware recycling, waste-heat reuse and near-zero evaporative water loss.
Standardised Benchmarks: Align standards with international coalitions like the Greening AI Data Centres Coalition (GADCC) to curb greenwashing and facilitate sustainable finance.

Read More > AI Data Centres in India

{GS3 – Infra} India’s Regional Aviation Network **

Context (PIB): The recently approved Modified UDAN scheme for FY 2026–27 to FY 2035–36 shifts regional aviation from short-term route subsidies to long-term infrastructure development.

Current Landscape

India is the world’s third-largest domestic aviation market, after the US and China.
Operational airports more than doubled from 74 in 2014 to 165 by July 2026, handling 412 million passengers in FY25.
The regional connectivity programme has operationalised 679 subsidised routes connecting 95 airports, heli-ports and water aerodromes.
Freight: Tier-2 and Tier-3 airports saw 23% annual growth in express cargo, driven by expanding e-commerce beyond cities.

Major Government Initiatives

UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik) (2016): Subsidises unserved and underserved routes, making air travel affordable. It has transported 1.68 crore passengers across 3.58 lakh flights.
Krishi Udan Scheme: Provides multi-layered subsidies for agricultural air transport, enhancing perishable crop value-realisation across remote Northeast and tribal areas.
Investment Reforms: India permits 100% automatic-route FDI in greenfield airports and incentivises domestic aircraft leasing through GIFT City.
National Green Aviation Policy & SUGAM: Promotes renewable energy and net-zero airport operations by 2030, with 104 airports currently operating on 100% green energy.
National Green Aviation Policy & SUGAM: Helps regional and domestic airports to operate entirely on 100% renewable energy to slash infrastructure running costs.

Key Challenges

Route Mortality: Nearly 50% of operationalised regional routes close after subsidies end because passenger demand remains commercially insufficient.
High Fuel Costs: State taxation of Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) compresses airline margins, as fuel accounts for up to 40% of operating costs.
Fleet Groundings: Global engine and component shortages have grounded part of India’s domestic fleet, delaying aircraft deployment and regional route expansion.
Workforce Shortages: A lack of type-rated commanders, maintenance engineers, and instructors constrains regional operations, while costly type ratings restrict pilot availability.
Infrastructure Underutilization: Regional airstrips lacking night-landing and precision-instrument systems face costly daytime-only operations and restricted flight scheduling.

Recent Reforms and New Initiatives

Modified UDAN (2026–2036): Allocates ₹28,840 crore to develop 100 airports from unserved airstrips and build 200 helipads; it extends Viability Gap Funding from 3 to 5 years with tapered support for sustained route operations.
GAGAN Navigation: The DGCA is deploying India’s indigenous GAGAN system for precision all-weather regional landings without expensive ground-based infrastructure.
ATF Stabilisation Fund: The Union Cabinet established a ₹10,000 crore fund in June 2026 to protect airlines from global ATF price volatility.
Domestic Hub-and-Spoke Framework: Introduced in mid-2026, this reform promotes regional hubs linking Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities with major airports to improve network connectivity.

{Prelims – Awards} Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award

Context (PIB): Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports invited nominations for the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award 2025.

Instituted in 1993, it is the country’s highest national award for adventure sports. It is named after Tenzing Norgay, one of the first two climbers to summit Mount Everest along with Edmund Hillary in 1953.
It is presented annually by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports for outstanding achievements, leadership, and lifetime contribution in adventure activities.
4 Categories: 1. Land Adventure, 2. Water (Sea) Adventure, 3. Air Adventure, 4. Lifetime Achievement.
Prize: Bronze statuette, certificate, blazer/saree and an award money of ₹15 lakh.
Status: It enjoys a status equivalent to the Arjuna Awards.

{Prelims – S&T} Kusha Missile

Context (PIB): DRDO successfully conducted the maiden flight test of the Kusha Long-Range Surface-to-Air Missile (LR-SAM) system.

Key Features

Indigenous Air Defence System: Developed by DRDO under Project Kusha to establish a robust indigenous long-range air defence network.
Comparable to Global Systems: Designed to rival advanced air defence systems such as Russia’s S-400 Triumf and the US MIM-104 Patriot.
Wide Threat Coverage: Capable of intercepting and neutralising a broad spectrum of aerial threats, including fighter aircraft, cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and large enemy aircraft, across a wide range and altitude envelope.

About Project Kusha

Developed by DRDO as the backbone of India’s future long-range air defence network.
The system is planned as a three-tier architecture comprising M1, M2 and M3 interceptor missiles with engagement ranges of approximately 150 km, 250 km and up to 350–400 km, respectively.
It also forms a key component of the proposed Mission Sudarshan Chakra, India’s plan to establish a multi-layered national air and missile defence shield by 2035.

{Prelims – Envi} Kutki (Picrorhiza kurroa)

Context (TH): Farmers in Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, demonstrated sustainable cultivation of Picrorhiza kurroa (Kutki) by harvesting side branches (stolons) instead of uprooting the plant.

Kutki is a perennial high-altitude medicinal herb with creeping woody rhizomes, toothed leaves, and pale purplish-blue flowers on cylindrical spikes. Also called Katuka or Katukarohini in Sanskrit.
Habitat: Grows on moist, rocky Himalayan slopes at 2,700–4,500 metres across Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Nepal, Bhutan, and the Tibetan Plateau.
Medicinal Value: It contains ‘Kutkin‘ (a bitter glycoside) in its roots, used for hepatoprotective (liver-protecting), anti-asthmatic, and stomachic properties.
IUCN: Endangered; CITES: Appendix II.

{Prelims – S&T} Indigenous Technology Transfer by CSIR

Context (PIB): Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) transferred 4 indigenous technologies developed by CSIR-Central Scientific Instruments Organisation (CSIO), Chandigarh, to industry partners:

Induction Motor Stethoscope (MSCOPE): Evaluates motor operational health through acoustic and vibration signatures.
Portable & Universal Motor-cum-Pump Performance Monitor (PU-MPPM): Measures and optimises real-time efficiency of industrial motors and water pumps.
i-Power Quality Analyser (IPQA): Tracks and diagnoses power disruptions, voltage fluctuations, and harmonics to prevent industrial equipment damage.
Optical Module and Beam Combiner Assembly: Defence-grade optic assembly for the Head-Up Display (HUD) in SU-30 aircraft.

CSIR commercially launched an IoT-enabled Service Delivery, Measurement, and Monitoring Sensing System to monitor water quality, quantity, and service delivery in rural areas.

CSIR is India’s premier publicly funded autonomous R&D organisation under the Ministry of Science and Technology. The Prime Minister serves as its ex-officio President.

Context (IE): A study published in the Lancet Public Health journal found a severe imbalance in India’s antibiotic consumption.

The study mapped local disease burdens across 186 countries to calculate optimal antibiotic needs using the WHO AWaRe system. 72% of countries used more antibiotics than necessary, while 60% still prescribed drugs the WHO considers no longer routine.

Classification of Antibiotics

WHO uses the AWaRe framework to categorise antibiotics into Access, Watch, and Reserve groups to optimise usage and curb resistance:
1. Access Group: Narrow-spectrum, first-line antibiotics with lower resistance potential, recommended for common infections.
2. Watch Group: Higher-potency, broad-spectrum agents with a greater risk of driving resistance, reserved for specific, severe conditions.
3. Reserve Group: Last-resort antibiotics protected for life-threatening, multidrug-resistant infections when all else fails.

Key Mismatches in India’s Antibiotic Consumption

Consumption: India’s actual antibiotic consumption is 18.3 DID (Defined Daily Doses per 1,000 inhabitants per day), exceeding the estimated optimal requirement of 14.7 DID.
Watch: Broad-spectrum drugs are heavily overused, with 9.3 DID consumption against a recommended optimal level of 6.0 DID.
Access: India underutilises safer first-line drugs, consuming just 4.5 DID against an optimal need of 7.8 DID. Only 27% of India’s total antibiotic use consists of Access drugs, missing the study’s benchmark (52.3%) and the WHO global target (70% by 2030).
Reserve: Despite rising superbug rates, India consumes fewer last-resort antibiotics (0.19 DID) than its optimal requirement (0.99 DID), signalling access barriers for critically ill patients.
Imbalance Driver: Unchecked over-the-counter (OTC) sales, the absence of rapid diagnostic tools in rural clinics, and physicians prescribing Watch drugs without localised hospital data.

Read More> Antimicrobial Resistance

Context (IE): Researchers from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru discovered potential applications of an ultrasound stimulation technology in treating oral cancer.

Key Findings

Low Frequency Ultrasound (LFU) mechanostimulation is a non-invasive therapy using low-frequency ultrasound (20–100 kHz) to mechanically disrupt cancer cells and improve treatment effectiveness.
Recent Findings: IISc researchers found that Stage IV oral cancer cells are selectively vulnerable to LFU, which breaks the tumour’s protective barrier, enhancing drug and immune-cell penetration. The technique also shows potential for breast cancer and melanoma (skin cancer) treatment.

Oral Cancer in India

Oral cancer is a significant health concern in India, accounting for about 1 in 4 of all global cases.
Oral cancer mortality increased by 11.18% nationally from 1990 to 2021

{Prelims – Misc} One-Liners

In News – National Broadcasting Day (NOA): India celebrates it annually on July 23 to mark the first radio broadcast from Bombay Station under the Indian Broadcasting Company (IBC). The British government took over and renamed it the Indian State Broadcasting Service (ISBS) in 1930; it became All India Radio (AIR) in 1936, and was officially renamed Akashvani in 1956. Akashvani and Doordarshan (DD) operate under Prasar Bharati, with the motto “Bahujan Hitaya: Bahujan Sukhaya”.
Sports – National Olympiad Programme (PIB): Selection and training programme for pre-university students to represent India at International Olympiads. Nodal Agency: Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education of Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai, under the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE).
- India won 12 Gold and 7 Silver medals at the 2026 International Olympiads. Every Indian participant won gold at the International Physics Olympiad and the International Chemistry Olympiad