Current Affairs – July 29, 2026

{GS1 – A&C} Undavalli Caves

• Context (TH): Andhra Pradesh government organised a two-day Telugu Mahotsavam cultural festival at the Undavalli Caves to promote the Telugu language and heritage.

{GS2 – Governance} TV Ratings Policy, 2026

• Context (PIB): Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) issued the TV Ratings Policy, 2026, replacing the 2014 guidelines for television rating agencies.

• The 2026 policy makes MIB the only authority for registering, regulating, and monitoring TV rating agencies, eliminating regulatory overlap with TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India).
• Rating agencies must strictly comply with the data privacy provisions of the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, 2023.

Key Features

• Lower Entry Barriers: Reduces the minimum net-worth requirement for agencies from ₹20 crore to ₹5 crore to encourage competition.
• Platform Neutrality: Mandates that audience measurement must include data across Cable, DTH, connected TVs, and Over-The-Top (OTT) platforms.
• Demographic Representation: Requires agencies to increase metered homes from 50,000 to at least 80,000 for better data accuracy and diversity. Rating agencies must survey establishments every 3 years to reflect changing demographic profiles.
• Data Integrity: Requires excluding landing-page viewership data when calculating viewership, preventing channels from artificially inflating ratings.
• Governance Safeguards: Imposes restrictions on cross-holdings and consultancy activities, and mandates that at least 33% of directors be independent.
• Compliance and Enforcement: Mandates yearly independent audits and a graded penalty system to deter non-compliance and uphold ethical standards.

Read More > TRP

{GS2 – MoLE} Atal Beemit Vyakti Kalyan Yojana *

• Context (PIB): Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) has extended the operational timeline of the Atal Beemit Vyakti Kalyan Yojana (ABVKY) from July 1, 2026, to June 30, 2027.

• ABVKY is an unemployment relief scheme administered by the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) under the Ministry of Labour and Employment.
• Objective: To provide immediate short-term financial assistance to formal-sector workers covered by the ESI Act who face involuntary job loss.
• Compensation: Eligible workers receive up to 50% of their average daily earnings, via Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), for a maximum lifetime duration of 90 days.
• Medical Continuity: The insured beneficiary and their eligible dependents retain uninterrupted access to ESIC medical benefits during the relief cycle.
• Eligibility: The applicant must have:
  1. Been continuously engaged in insurable employment for at least 12 months immediately before the date of unemployment.
  2. Contributed to the ESIC database for a minimum of 78 days within a completed contribution period in the preceding 12 months.
• Disqualification: Relief is not admissible if unemployment arises from worker misconduct, voluntary retirement, a factory lockout, superannuation, or fraud.
• Claim Filing: Insured workers can independently submit claims online through the ESIC portal after a shortened waiting period of 30 days from the date of unemployment.

{GS3 – Envi} International Tiger Day

• Context (PIB): 29th July is observed every year as International Tiger Day, highlighting the global importance of tiger conservation.

• The day traces its origins to the Saint Petersburg Tiger Summit held in November 2010.

Measures to Protect Tigers in India

• Project Tiger: Flagship Centrally Sponsored Scheme implemented by Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC).
  • Project Tiger has established a network of 58 tiger reserves across 18 tiger-range States, covering 2.56% of India’s geographical area.
• Wildlife Protection Act, 1972: Section 38 V (3) of Act requires every State Government to prepare a Tiger Conservation Plan for each tiger reserve.
• National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA): Chaired by Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, ensures effective implementation of Project Tiger across the country.
• Tiger Task Force: It led to amendments to Wildlife (Protection) Act in 2006 establishing the NTCA and Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) as statutory bodies.
• Monitoring and Evaluation:
  • Monitoring System for Tigers – Intensive Protection and Ecological Status (M-STrIPES): Uses GPS, GPRS and remote sensing technologies for field monitoring.
  • Camera Trap Data Repository and Analysis Tool (CaTRAT): Automatically classify images by species. 
  • ExtractCompare: Identifies individual tigers using their unique stripe patterns.
• All India Tiger Estimation (AITE): Conducted every four years, led by NTCA in collaboration with the Wildlife Institute of India (WII).
  • NTCA’s camera trap survey holds Guinness World Record as world’s largest camera trap wildlife survey.
• Management Effectiveness Evaluation (MEE): By 2022, 51 tiger reserves had been evaluated it. Twelve reserves received “Excellent” ratings, while the average management score reached 78%.
• Global Efforts: International Big Cat Alliance (IBCA); Global Tiger Forum (GTF); Integrated Tiger Habitat Conservation Programme (ITHCP) (led by IUCN); Conservation Assured Tiger Standards , etc.

{GS3 – IS} OECD Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF)

• Context (IE | IE): The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) issued a Guidance Note to operationalise India’s adoption of the OECD’s Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF).

• Legal Basis: Section 509 of the Income-tax Act, 2025, and Rules 241–244 of the IT Rules, 2026.

About CARF

• Developed under the G20 mandate, CARF sets a standard for annual automatic exchange of crypto-transaction information among participating jurisdictions to combat cross-border crypto tax evasion.
• Asset Scope: Covers distributed-ledger-based cryptocurrencies, stablecoins and specified non-fungible tokens (NFTs), but excludes Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs).
• Compliance applies to Reporting Crypto-Asset Service Providers (RCASPs) that facilitate customer transactions, including centralised and decentralised exchanges and crypto ATMs.
• RCASPs must report crypto-to-fiat and crypto-to-crypto trades, external wallet transfers, and high-value retail payments over $50,000; they must verify user identities, tax residencies, and collect Taxpayer Identification Numbers (TINs) for international checks.
• Key Benefits for India: It exposes offshore holdings used to evade India’s 30% crypto-gains tax and 1% Tax Deducted at Source (TDS); curbs fund concealment, and strengthens enforcement under PMLA.
• Implementation Challenges: Decentralised Finance (DeFi) platforms lack central entities, complicating enforcement across jurisdictions. Small Web3 developers and domestic exchanges face high KYC and transaction-tracking costs.

{GS3 – S&T} Regulation of Facial Recognition Technology (FRT) in India **

• Context (TH): A Rajya Sabha MP moved the Supreme Court against the Delhi Police’s use of facial recognition technology (FRT) during the protest over the NEET-UG exam paper leaks.

Regulatory Framework for Facial Recognition Technology (FRT)

• Statutory Void: The absence of a dedicated parliamentary statute leaves police agencies to operate the National Automated Facial Recognition System through executive actions without legislative oversight.
• Data Protection Act: Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 regulates the collection, processing, and storage of unique facial biometrics as personal data.
  • Section 17 of the Act empowers the central government to exempt law enforcement agencies from mandatory consent requirements during biometric surveillance.
• Constitutional Privacy: Puttaswamy judgment requires any state-led facial surveillance to satisfy the constitutional grid of: legality, legitimate aim, and proportionality.
• Sectoral Governance: Individual government ecosystems like DigiYatra and AadhaarFaceRD deploy facial recognition using decentralised frameworks and localised administrative rules.
• Judicial Admissibility: Algorithmic forensic reports generated by facial recognition software must meet strict electronic-record thresholds under the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam to be admissible as evidence.
• Biometric Retention: Criminal Procedure (Identification) Act 2022 permits law enforcement to collect biological measurements from arrested individuals and retain records in national databases for 75 years.

Challenges with Facial Recognition Technology

• Threshold Arbitrariness: Delhi Police’s reliance on an unvalidated 80% similarity score to declare a positive match elevates probabilistic guesswork to actionable targeting.
• Protest Profiling: Cross-referencing real-time protest video feeds with centralised convict databases criminalises constitutional dissent by chilling public assembly.
• Familial Targeting: Algorithmic inability to differentiate shared genetic traits within historically overpoliced communities traps innocent extended families in cycles of institutional bias.
• Irreversible Breach: Permanent unalterability of facial geometry transforms any breach of a centralised biometric database into an irreversible event of identity theft.
• Consent Erasure: Integrating automated facial recognition into routine public infrastructure extinguishes the constitutional right to meaningful consent established under the Puttaswamy privacy framework.
• Due Process Denial: The proprietary opacity of neural networks prevents the cross-examination of biometric identification vectors, severely compromising constitutional fair trial guarantees.

Recommendations from NITI Aayog’s ‘Responsible AI for All’ Report (2022)

• Statutory Protection: Enact a data protection regime to ensure that government facial recognition deployment strictly satisfies the constitutional tests of legality, reasonableness, and proportionality.
• Ethical Oversight: Establish an autonomous ethical committee within deploying organisations to continuously assess societal implications and oversee risk mitigation measures.
• Algorithmic Transparency: Develop explainable AI systems that enable independent auditors and judges to accurately trace the algorithmic decision-making process for every facial match.
• Dataset Inclusivity: Train facial recognition models on diverse demographic datasets that accurately represent the Indian population to eliminate identification biases based on gender and skin tone.
• Operational Standards: Publish binding technical standards for facial recognition platforms to explicitly define acceptable thresholds for error rates and algorithmic bias.
• Grievance Redressal: Establish a transparent, human-in-the-loop dispute mechanism to allow citizens to contest wrongful algorithmic profiling and false-positive matches.

Read More> AI in Strengthening India’s Internal Security

{Prelims – Envi} Dhole (Cuon alpinus) *

• Context (IT | DTE): Camera-trap surveys confirmed the return of the dhole, or Asiatic wild dog, in Assam’s Bornadi Wildlife Sanctuary and Manipur’s Shirui Village.

• IUCN: Endangered; CITES: Appendix II; WPA: Schedule I.

{Prelims – Infra} India’s Seafarer Workforce

• Context (PIB): The BIMCO-ICS Seafarer Workforce Report 2026 ranked India as the second-largest seafarer supplier, with nearly 3.12 lakh maritime professionals.

• Global Share: Rose from 5.2% in 2015 to 12.16% in 2026, remaining behind the Philippines. India contributes over 1.4 lakh officers (13.41%) and 1.7 lakh ratings (11.29%).
• National Target: “Mission 20%” aims to increase India’s global maritime workforce share to 20%, supporting Maritime India Vision 2030 and Maritime Amrit Kaal Vision 2047.
• Gender Gap: Women make up under 2% of Indian seafarers due to infrastructural and cultural barriers.
• Key Challenges: Indian seafarers face severe security risks due to exposure in conflict zones, abandonment on foreign-flagged vessels, and exploitation by unregulated recruitment agencies.
• Government Interventions:
  • Legal Safeguards: The Merchant Shipping Act, 2025, replacing older statutes, protects abandoned seafarers and strengthens recruitment-agency oversight.
  • Conflict Zone Protocols: The Directorate General of Shipping (DGS) mandates 24×7 contact mechanisms, ISPS compliance and restricts Indian crew deployment in identified conflict areas.
  • Digital Compliance: The e-Samudra Portal and Centralised Biometric Attendance System (CAS) digitise certification verification and standardise maritime training compliance.

Read More > India’s Maritime Reforms

{Prelims – PIN World} Bab el-Mandeb *

• Context (TH): Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi movement announced a maritime blockade against Saudi Arabia, warning that Saudi-linked vessels transiting Bab el-Mandeb would be targeted.

About Bab el-Mandeb Strait

• Location: Strait between Arabia (northeast) and Africa (southwest) that connects the Red Sea (northwest) with the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean (southeast).
• It separates Yemen on Arabian Peninsula from Djibouti and Eritrea in Horn of Africa.
• Significance:
  • Strategic Maritime Chokepoint: At its narrowest point, it is only about 30 km wide yet forms the southern gateway to Suez Canal, linking Red Sea with Gulf of Aden and, ultimately, Indian Ocean.
  • Trade Transit: According to U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), around 9.3 million barrels of crude oil and petroleum products transited the Bab el-Mandeb each day in 2023.
  • Shortest Maritime Connection: Between Europe and Asia as instead of sailing around Cape of Good Hope at southern tip of Africa, vessels can transit the strait and Suez Canal, saving time and fuel.
  • Significance for India: Substantial share of India’s trade with Europe passes through Red Sea corridor, making it important for exporters of pharmaceuticals, engineering goods, textiles, crude oil, etc.

Read More> Red Sea Crisis | India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor

{Prelims – PIN World} Kyushu Island

• Kyushu is the 3rd largest and southernmost of Japan’s four main islands. It is bordered by the East China Sea to the west and the Pacific Ocean to the east.
• Kyushu is separated from the island of Honshu to the north by the Shimonoseki Strait and from Korea to the northwest by the Tsushima Strait, or Eastern Channel.
• Mount Aso is a massive active volcano featuring one of the largest calderas in the world, located in Kumamoto Prefecture on Kyushu Island.
• Developments in Japan’s semiconductor industry, with major investments in Kyushu, often referred to as “Silicon Island.”

{Prelims – S&T} Blue Straggler Star (BSS)

• Context (PIB): Indian astronomers, along with international collaborators, have discovered a BSS in the process of formation, providing rare direct observational evidence of how such stars are formed.

• Astronomers discovered that the binary star system TIC 327546480, located in the old open cluster Collinder 261 about 9,500 light-years away, hosts a BSS actively accreting mass from its companion, providing direct observational evidence for the mass-transfer theory of BSS formation.

What is BSS?

• BSS are stars found in star clusters that appear hotter, brighter, bluer, and more massive than other stars of the same age.
• They appear younger than the surrounding stars, making them an anomaly in stellar evolution.
• Their origin has long puzzled astronomers because all stars in a cluster are expected to have formed at nearly the same time.
• The most accepted theory is mass transfer in a binary star system, where one star transfers matter to its companion, making it hotter and more massive. Another mechanism is the merger (collision) of two stars, producing a rejuvenated star.

{Prelims – S&T} Nanofluid Electrolyte for Zinc-Air Batteries (ZABs)

• Context (PIB): Indian scientists have developed a nanofluid electrolyte to make water-based electrically rechargeable Zinc-Air Batteries (ZABs) an eco-friendly alternative to lithium-ion systems.

• Barrier: While ZABs offer high theoretical energy density and safe water-based chemistry, commercialisation has stalled due to two competing electrode problems:
  1. Anode (Zinc): Zinc metal suffers from unwanted hydrogen gas evolution, which wastes charge and rapidly corrodes the battery.
  2. Cathode (Air): Oxygen reactions are sluggish and typically require expensive precious-metal catalysts (like platinum or ruthenium) to function efficiently.
  • Trade-off: Previous attempts to chemically inhibit anode corrosion resulted in degraded cathode performance, forcing a compromise between battery lifespan and efficiency.
• Dual Fix: Researchers bypassed this deadlock by dispersing inexpensive silica and zinc oxide nanoparticles into the standard electrolyte. This nanofluid simultaneously suppresses anodic hydrogen generation and enhances cathodic oxygen kinetics.

{Prelims – Misc} One Liners

• Sports – Commonwealth Games Winners (IE): Gyaneshwari Yadav won the Silver Medal in Weightlifting at the Commonwealth Games Glasgow 2026.
  • Other winners: Rishikanta & Singh, Raja Muthupandi (Silver medal in Weightlifting), Bindyarani Devi (bronze medal in Weightlifting); Valluri Ajaya Babu (Silver medal in Weightlifting); Sharmila Dhankar (first para-athletics gold medal); Sarvesh Kushare (first Indian to win a silver medal in men’s high jump).
• Governance – International Film Festival of India (IFFI) (NOA): Asia’s oldest film festival, held annually in Goa, co-organised by National Film Development Corporation and Government of Goa. Theme for the 57^th edition (2026): Stories Without Borders.
  • ICFT-UNESCO Gandhi Medal is presented annually at IFFI to a film that best exemplifies Mahatma Gandhi’s ideals of peace, tolerance, and non-violence.
• A&C – World Nature Conservation Day (NOA): Observed globally on July 28 to promote sustainable practices, raise awareness about protecting natural resources, and safeguard Earth’s ecosystems.