Current Affairs – June 17, 2026

Context (IE): Following Canada’s Bill C-34 and Australia’s digital restrictions, the UK government has announced a total ban on children under 16 accessing social media, which will take effect in spring 2027.

DPDP Act, 2023: 1. Defines a ‘child’ as a person below 18 years. 2. Mandates verifiable parental consent for processing children’s personal data (Section 9). 3. Prohibits data fiduciaries from behavioural tracking, monitoring, and targeted advertising directed at children (Section 9(3)). The Act also allows the Centre to grant exemptions to specified entities such as educational institutions (Section 9(4)).
IT Rules, 2021: Significant social media intermediaries must deploy automated tools to proactively detect child sexual abuse material.
Legislative Gap: The IT Act, 2000, imposes no age-based access restriction on social media platforms. Government is preparing a separate law on age-based social media access for minors, favouring graded restrictions over a blanket ban.
Karnataka became the first Indian state to announce a ban on social media use by children under 16, while Andhra Pradesh announced a ban for children under 13.

For Regulation	Against Regulation
Mental Strain: Unregulated algorithms maximise screen time, contributing to anxiety, sleep disruption, and negative body image.	Peer Access: A blanket ban disadvantages marginalised students who rely on free social platforms for peer-to-peer learning.
Cognitive Harm: “Endless scroll” mechanics and constant notifications fracture attention spans and disrupt academic focus.	Risk Migration: Tech-savvy youth migrate toward unmonitored, encrypted, or dark-web platforms where exploitation risks are higher.
Cyber Safety: NCRB data shows a double-digit annual rise in cyberbullying cases targeting adolescents, with girls disproportionately affected.	Right to Information: Supreme Court, in Anuradha Bhasin v. Union of India (2020), held that internet access is integral to Article 19(1)(a).
CSAM Exposure: India reported 2.25 million cases of child sexual abuse material to global monitors in 2024, the highest in South Asia	Design Shift: Bans allow platforms to avoid accountability for safer algorithm design, shifting the burden onto parents.
Cumulative Harm: Social media harms accumulate through anxiety, sleep disruption, and attention deficits, with symptoms emerging only after damage is entrenched.	Over-Censorship: Aggressive content filters prompt platforms to over-censor legitimate educational discussions on mental, physical, and reproductive health.
State Duty: Until reaching the age of consent, the state and parents have a duty of care to limit exposure to manipulative platforms	Family Overreach: State-imposed bans infringe on family autonomy, replacing parental discretion with government overreach.

Rajya Sabha Ad-hoc Committee (2020): Mandate the pre-installation of screen-monitoring applications on all smart devices, and require ISPs to enable family-friendly network filters by default.
Joint Parliamentary Committee on the PDP Bill (2021): Classify social media platforms that fail to implement age-verification mechanisms as ‘accountable publishers’ rather than shielded intermediaries.
Committee on Empowerment of Women (2026): Implement strict KYC-based age verification across all digital platforms to prevent minors from bypassing age gates.
NCPCR (2023): Mandate social media intermediaries to proactively detect and remove child exploitation material using advanced filtering technologies before it circulates.
PRAGYATA Panel (2020): Impose strict, age-appropriate daily screen-time limits to mitigate the psychological and physical harms caused by excessive exposure to digital and social media among students.

Read More> Social Media Ban | Social Media Algorithms

{GS1 – IS} PC-PNDT Act, 1994 *

Context (IE): Supreme Court ruled that improper maintenance or omissions in medical Form F are not mere clerical errors, but substantive violations of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PC-PNDT) Act, 1994 aimed at preventing female foeticide.

Key Provisions of PC-PNDT Act, 1994

The Act prohibits any technology, treatment, or procedure intended to select or determine a child’s sex, before or after conception.
Permitted Use: Clinics may use prenatal diagnostic techniques only to detect genetic abnormalities, metabolic disorders, chromosomal abnormalities, or congenital anomalies.
- Eligibility: These procedures may be performed only if the mother is over 35, there is a history of multiple spontaneous abortions, or a family history of genetic disease, etc.
Registration: No Genetic Counselling Centre, Genetic Laboratory, or Genetic Clinic may operate or possess ultrasound machines unless registered under the Act.
Advertising Ban: It is illegal to publish, distribute, or display any advertisement for prenatal sex determination or pre-conception sex selection facilities.
Penalty: Offences are cognisable, non-bailable, and non-compoundable, carrying up to 3 years’ imprisonment for a first conviction and up to 5 years for subsequent convictions for erring doctors, husbands, or abetting family members. Pregnant women are exempt from prosecution.

Issues with the Act

Criminalising Typos: Minor clerical errors or incomplete columns on Form F are treated with the same severity as intentional illegal sex determination.
NIPT Blind Spot: Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NIPT) allows sex determination via maternal blood draw, bypassing the Act‘s ultrasound-centred tracking regime.
IVF Embryo Loophole: Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD), though permitted only for disease screening, reveals embryo sex as a by-product, letting clinics discard female embryos before implantation.
Enforcement Corruption: Vast, autonomous powers granted to local inspectors enable administrative harassment, bribery demands, and arbitrary sealing of compliant clinics.
Supply-Side Focus: The framework disproportionately penalises medical professionals while failing to address patriarchal family demands and societal son preference.

Proposed Reforms and Policy Interventions

Penal Calibration: Introduce a graded system of penalties that replaces harsh imprisonment with monetary fines for minor clerical errors on Form F.
Regulatory Convergence: Harmonise the PC-PNDT Act with Assisted Reproductive Technology laws to ensure mandatory oversight of IVF clinics and to monitor the unethical discarding of female embryos.
Technological Safeguards: Prohibit the direct-to-consumer import of NIPT (blood test) kits and require the installation of tamper-proof active tracking devices on ultrasound equipment.
Judicial Expediency: Establish dedicated fast-track courts to dispose of pending trials within a fixed timeframe and enforce mandatory legal training for district enforcement authorities.

{GS3 – Infra} Rail or Road Integrated Photovoltaics (RIPV)

Context (IE): Rail or Road Integrated Photovoltaics (RIPV) moving from pilots to practice in India can support the country’s transition to clean energy.

RIPV integrates solar PVs into existing roads and railway infrastructure (highway margins and track beds) to generate electricity from sunlight through the photovoltaic effect without requiring additional land.
Benefits: Enables point-of-use power generation, reduces transmission losses, supports EV charging and railway operations, and provides a stable, low-cost clean energy source.
Challenges: Asset security, vibration, dust accumulation, accident-related damage, monitoring difficulties, and maintenance issues along linear corridors.
Potential: India’s 1.4 lakh km of national highways and 99,000 km of railway tracks offer significant potential to contribute towards the 500 GW non-fossil fuel capacity target by 2030.
India has deployed RIPV projects on Samruddhi Mahamarg, Banaras Locomotive Works, and Delhi Metro, while countries such as Germany, China, and Switzerland have adopted similar models.

The photovoltaic effect converts sunlight into electricity via semiconductor cells. When sunlight hits a semiconductor (like silicon), it frees electrons, and an internal electric field drives these electrons in a single direction, producing Direct Current (DC).

{GS4 – Empathy} Crisis of Empathy in Medical Education

Context (IE): The recent controversy involving a medical student’s insensitive remarks about cadavers during a stand-up comedy performance has sparked an important debate about the erosion of empathy and ethical grounding in medical education in India.

Why Empathy Matters in Medicine?

Effective Healthcare Delivery: Empathy enables doctors to understand patient experiences beyond symptoms, improving diagnosis, communication, trust, and treatment adherence.
Better Patient Outcomes: Studies consistently show that empathetic care leads to better patient outcomes, reduced medical errors, and higher patient satisfaction.
Human Element in the Age of AI: As AI and health technology create growing distance between doctors and patients, empathy becomes the irreplaceable human dimension of medical practice.
Foundation of Medical Professionalism: Without empathy, a doctor may be technically competent but disconnected from the patient’s lived experience.

Factors Contributing to Erosion of Empathy

Exam-Centric Medical Education: Excessive focus on marks and factual knowledge leaves limited space for empathy, ethics, and professional values as they are neither rigorously assessed nor rewarded.
Tokenistic Ethics Training: Initiatives such as the Cadaveric Oath and ethics modules often remain ceremonial or introductory, failing to ensure long-term internalisation of ethical conduct.
Lack of Empathetic Role Models: Indifference displayed by some seniors and faculty can normalise emotional detachment and insensitive behaviour.
Influence of Social Media: The pursuit of virality and online attention may incentivise sensational content at the expense of professional ethics.
Neglect of Medical Humanities: Limited exposure to ethics, literature, philosophy, and social sciences can weaken students’ humanistic understanding despite strong technical training.

Way Forward

Integrate Ethics Across Training: Embed medical ethics, empathy, and professionalism throughout the curriculum rather than limiting them to introductory modules.
Assess Human Skills: Evaluate communication skills, empathy, and professional conduct alongside academic performance.
Promote Ethical Role Models: Encourage faculty and senior doctors to demonstrate respectful and patient-centric behaviour.
Foster Respect for Donors: Conduct cadaveric oaths, donor memorials, and reflective exercises to reinforce respect for body donors.

The recent controversy is not merely about an inappropriate joke; it is a reminder of the need to reaffirm the ethical foundations of medicine. The first lesson in medical education should not be anatomy alone, but dignity, compassion, and respect for human life. With AI and health technology creating growing distance between doctors and patients, the need for empathy as a core medical value is more urgent than ever.

{Prelims – Agri} Miyazaki Mango

Context (DDN): Ayodhya’s Shree Ram Mandir received the first locally grown Miyazaki mango, considered the world’s costliest mango.

Popularly known as the “Egg of the Sun” due to its bright red-purple colour and oval shape, Miyazaki Mango is a premium mango variety originating from Japan, particularly the Miyazaki Prefecture.
Fruits are rich in natural sugars, antioxidants, beta-carotene, folic acid, and vitamins A & C, giving them exceptional sweetness and nutritional value.

{Prelims – Envi} India–Japan Joint Crediting Mechanism *

Context (PIB): India and Japan have adopted the Rules of Implementation for the Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM) under Article 6.2 of the Paris Agreement.

JCM is a bilateral carbon-credit mechanism under the Paris Agreement, allowing countries to collaborate on emission-reduction projects and share the resulting carbon credits.
Under the India–Japan JCM, Japanese entities can now invest in low-carbon projects in India; the verified emission reductions are converted into carbon credits that help both countries achieve their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

{Prelims – IE} Namo Cities

Context (IE): NCR Planning Board has approved development of four greenfield “Namo Cities”, one each in NCR regions of Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan.

The Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) model will be adopted, with cities planned around Namo Bharat (RRTS) corridors and transport hubs.
Aim: To reduce pressure on Delhi, promote balanced regional growth, and create sustainable, smart urban centres in the NCR region.

TOD Model: An urban planning approach that promotes high-density, mixed-use development around public transport hubs (Metro, RRTS, etc.) to reduce private vehicle use, congestion, and pollution.

{Prelims – PIN World} Sulawesi Island

Context (AIR): A 6.7-magnitude earthquake has recently struck Indonesia’s Sulawesi Island.

Sulawesi, also known as Celebes, is located between Borneo (Kalimantan), the Maluku Islands, and the Philippines, and is known for its distinctive K-shaped geography.
It lies at the convergence of Eurasian, Indo-Australian, Pacific, and Philippine Sea Plates, making it highly prone to earthquakes and tsunamis.
The island is traversed by the Palu-Koro Fault, responsible for the 2018 Sulawesi earthquake and tsunami.
Biodiversity: Sulawesi lies within Wallacea, a unique biogeographical transition zone between Asia & Australia, and hosts many endemic species such as the Anoa and Babirusa.

{Prelims – PIN World} PM’s Visit to Slovakia

Context (AIR | DDN): PM Modi made the first-ever visit by an Indian Prime Minister to Slovakia since the country gained independence in 1993.

The visit elevated India-Slovakia ties to a Comprehensive Partnership, with major agreements in defence, AI, digital technologies, higher education, labour mobility, counterterrorism, and scientific research.
Slovakia conferred its highest State honour, the Order of the White Double Cross, First Class, on PM Modi.

About Slovakia

Slovakia is a landlocked country in Central Europe, bordered by Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine, and Hungary. Bratislava, located on banks of Danube River, is the capital.
Became independent in 1993 after the peaceful dissolution of Czechoslovakia (the “Velvet Divorce“).
Geography: Known for the Carpathian Mountains and the High Tatras mountain range. Major rivers are the Danube, Váh, and Hron.
Economy: Known as the “Detroit of Europe” due to its strong automobile manufacturing industry.

{Prelims – S&T} Long-Range Land Attack Cruise Missile (LRLACM)

Context (HT): DRDO successfully test-fired the Long-Range Land Attack Cruise Missile (LRLACM) from Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Island off the Odisha coast.

LRLACM is an indigenous, subsonic, terrain-hugging cruise missile designed to strike high-value stationary targets, often compared to the US Tomahawk missile.
The missile features a strike range of over 1,000 km at cruise speeds of approximately Mach 0.8. It is propelled by the indigenous Manik Small Turbofan Engine.
LRLACM is the direct successor to the Nirbhay cruise missile, designed for tri-service integration across the Army, Navy, and Air Force.

Context (TH): Ministry of Finance notified 2-Bromo-4-Methylpropiophenone as a controlled substance under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

Rationale: The compound acts as a chemical precursor for synthesising mephedrone, also called Meow Meow or M-CAT, a highly addictive synthetic psychotropic stimulant.
It is an aromatic ketone, usually found as a white crystalline powder; it’s used to synthesise approved medicines, including analgesics, sedatives, and anticonvulsants.

NDPS Act, 1985

It prohibits illegal manufacture, cultivation, possession, sale, purchase, transport, storage, and consumption of any narcotic drug or psychotropic substance.
- Exception: Allows medical and scientific use; the 2014 amendment created the ‘Essential narcotic drugs’ category for drugs like morphine used for pain relief and palliative care.
Enforcement Agency: Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), established in 1986 under the provisions of this Act, is the nodal agency.

Context (PIB): Ministry of Health and Family Welfare amended the Drugs Rules, 1945, to prohibit over-the-counter sale of syrup-based medications, including cough syrups, mandating prescriptions.

The amendment removes “syrups” from Schedule K, eliminating previous exemptions for manufacture, distribution, and retail sale in villages.
Rationale: To address recreational misuse of habit-forming ingredients like codeine in syrups and prevent child deaths caused by diethylene glycol (DEG) contamination.

Drugs Rules, 1945

Framed under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, it regulates the import, manufacture, distribution, and sale of medicines, homeopathic products, and cosmetics in India.
The Rules classify pharmaceuticals into schedules—Schedule H for prescription-only medicines; Schedule X for habit-forming drugs with stricter controls; Schedule K grants exemptions from certain provisions of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, and related Rules.
Enforcement Body: Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) and State Drug Regulatory Authorities (SDRAs).

{Prelims – Misc} One-Liners

Envi – World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought (PIB): Observed on June 17, with Kenya hosting, the 2026 theme is “Rangelands: Recognise. Respect. Restore.” UNGA established the observance in 1994 to mark the adoption of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), the sole legally binding framework for combating desertification and drought. It promotes Land Degradation Neutrality, in which human activity causes no net loss of land health.
Social Sector – Yoga Park Portal (PIB): Digital initiative of the Ministry of Ayush to transform existing public parks into community wellness hubs for yoga, meditation, and preventive healthcare.
Agri – Tripura Sarinda (DDN): A traditional tribal bowed string instrument from Tripura that received the Geographical Indication tag. Artisans craft it from a single solid wood block with a hollow resonator. It became Tripura’s 4^th GI-tagged product after Queen Pineapple, Risha or Pachra tribal attire, & Matabari Peda.
Geo – ArsenSafe (TH): Developed by Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bhubaneswar, it is a compact, portable and hand-held arsenic detection device that would help improve water quality monitoring and public health. It can accurately detect arsenic without the need for laboratory infrastructure and chemicals.