Current Affairs – June 18, 2026

{GS1 – IS} Do Welfare Schemes Make the Poor Lazy? **

• Context (LM): Nobel Laureate economist Abhijit Banerjee has challenged the popular belief that welfare schemes and free transfers make the poor dependent or reduce their willingness to work.

Why Welfare Can Increase Productivity?

• Breaking the Poverty Trap: Extreme poverty often limits opportunities and reduces individuals’ ability to invest in productive activities.
• Restoring Hope and Agency: Access to assets and resources creates confidence that economic mobility is possible, encouraging greater effort and risk-taking.
• Enhancing Human Capital: Welfare schemes improve nutrition, health, education, and skill development, thereby increasing long-term productivity.
• Reducing Financial Stress: Income support reduces uncertainty and allows individuals to focus on work, education, and entrepreneurship.

Concerns and Way Forward

{GS2 – Governance} Rebuilding Gen Z’s Trust in Governance

• Context (IE): Examination controversies, governance failures, and accountability gaps have triggered a growing trust deficit among India’s youth.

Why is Trust Eroding?

• Fairness & Merit Concerns: Exam paper leaks (e.g. NEET-UG) and recruitment irregularities undermine faith in meritocracy and equal opportunity.
• Deficit of Empathy: Incidents affecting vulnerable groups (e.g., demolition drives, displacement) create perceptions of insensitive governance (images of children saving books during demolition).
• Public Safety Failures: Repeated infrastructure collapses, urban fires, and administrative negligence (e.g. Noida techie death) expose gaps between rules and their implementation.
• Weak Accountability: Delayed investigations and diffused responsibility weaken public confidence in institutions.

Ethical Issues Involved

• Public Trust: Trust is the foundation of the citizen–state fiduciary relationship. Failures in exams, safety, or service delivery erode this relationship.
• Procedural Justice: Citizens expect transparent, impartial, and merit-based processes; fairness in procedure is often as important as outcomes.
• Integrity & Responsibility: Public institutions must exercise authority with honesty, competence, and accountability.
• Accountability & Answerability: Authorities must accept responsibility for actions and omissions; diffused accountability weakens democratic legitimacy and public confidence.
• Compassion in Governance: Ethical governance requires balancing legality with human sensitivity and empathy.

{GS2 – IR} India-Thailand Relations

• Context (DDN): The 10^th Thailand-India Defence Dialogue in Bangkok saw both nations agree to strengthen collaborations in defence manufacturing, technological research, and innovation.

• India-Thailand relations, anchored in shared heritage, Buddhism, and Ramayana tradition, were formalised as a Strategic Partnership in 2025.
• The partnership bridges India’s Act East Policy with Thailand’s Act West Policy.
• Economic Relations: Thailand is a key ASEAN trading partner for India, supported by the India-ASEAN FTA. Focus areas include semiconductors, AI, Automotive, MSMEs, and Tourism.
• Infrastructure: The India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway is being developed to create overland commercial routes between South and Southeast Asia.
• Multilateral Cooperation: Through BIMSTEC and Mekong-Ganga Cooperation on regional issues.
• Security Cooperation: Includes patrols in the Andaman Sea and joint exercises like MAITREE (Army), SIAM BHARAT (Air Force), and Ex-Ayutthaya (Navy).

{GS2 – IR} 52^nd Group of Seven (G7) Annual Summit *

• Context (NOA): Prime Minister Modi attended the 52^nd G7 Summit in Évian-les-Bains, France, marking India’s 13^th appearance and its seventh consecutive attendance at the forum.

• The summit was hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron under the central theme: “Working Together to Address Major International Challenges.” The U.S. will take over the rotating presidency to host the 53^rd G7 Summit in 2027.

About Group of Seven (G7)

• G7 is an informal intergovernmental forum of seven advanced economies. It began as Group of Six (G6) in 1975, formed by leading industrialised democracies to address inflation and recession caused by 1973 energy crisis.
• Canada joined the following year to form the G7; Russia was admitted in 1998, creating the G8, before being suspended in 2014 after annexing Crimea.
• Members: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, and the US. The European Union is a permanent, full, non-enumerated member of the G7.
• Has no permanent secretariat or legally binding charter, and its communiqués carry only political, not legal, force. The presidency rotates annually among the member nations.

Key Outcomes of the 52^nd G7 Summit

• Debt Relief: Members pledged debt-restructuring support for vulnerable middle-income countries currently excluded from the G20 Common Framework.
• Economic Stability: Statement for a More Balanced, Durable, and Resilient Growth was adopted to curb industrial overcapacity and restore free transit through the Strait of Hormuz.
• Economic Security: G7 Leaders’ Declaration on Securing Supply Chains for Critical Minerals was adopted to diversify value chains through the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII).
• Medical Cooperation: Leaders’ Call on the Fight Against Cancer elevated research into paediatric and adolescent cancers, alongside global genomic data sharing, to a leader-level priority for the first time.
• Pandemic Response: Members called for a coordinated international response to the Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda.
• Digital Safety: Call on a Safer Digital Space for Minors was approved to establish international safeguards through safety-by-design platforms, countering AI deepfakes and algorithmic risks.

Read More> G7: Evolution and Importance for India

{GS2 – Social Sector} India’s Transition to a Knowledge Civilisation

• Context (IE | IE): India must shift from a digital services hub to a “knowledge civilisation” to attain geostrategic autonomy by integrating cognitive power with Indian Knowledge Systems’ soft power.

Knowledge as Strategic Power

• Cognitive Power: National security and military strength now depend on innovation cultures and intellectual capital across AI, biotechnology, quantum systems, and semiconductors.
• Strategic Disciplines: Climate science, disaster management, and advanced cyber operations translate directly into tangible geopolitical influence on the global stage.
• Civilisational Power: Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS) provide soft power to shape global debates on sustainability, pluralism, and human-centred technology.
• Information Statecraft: The intellectual capacity to shape global narratives and communicate credibility strengthens national security in hybrid-conflict environments.

Barriers to India’s Knowledge Transition

• R&D Gap: India’s Gross Domestic Expenditure on R&D stagnates at 0.64% of GDP, well below US & China (2.5-3.5%); the private sector contributes 36-41%, much less than 70-75% in advanced economies.
• Ecosystem Silos: Institutional fragmentation, bureaucratic control, limited funding, and weak autonomy isolate ministries, universities, and industries from interdisciplinary research.
• Learning Barrier: Rote memorisation pedagogy restricts creativity and problem-solving, while weak vernacular STEM education limits grassroots participation in the knowledge economy.
• IKS Dilemma: Academia often confuses empirical indigenous sciences (Apara Vidya) with spiritual philosophy (Para Vidya), leading to unscientific chauvinism or a total disconnect.
• Brain Drain: Skilled Indian researchers migrate abroad for better laboratories, careers, and intellectual freedom, depleting India’s sovereign intellectual capital.

{GS3 – Envi} India’s Land Restoration Progress

• Context (IE): As per a report prepared by the MoEFCC and IUCN, India has restored ~21.76 million hectares of degraded land during 2011–2020, surpassing its original Bonn Challenge pledge.

• The restored landscapes sequestered about 461.14 million tonnes of carbon.
• Restoration Methods: Afforestation, natural regeneration, agroforestry, silviculture, & mangrove restoration.
• Leading States: Telangana topped with 4.18 million hectares restored, followed by Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Gujarat, and Andhra Pradesh.
• Progress was driven by CAMPA, Green India Mission, National Afforestation Programme, and MGNREGS.
• Despite progress, 97.85 million hectares (29.77% of India’s geographical area) remains affected by land degradation and desertification.

{Prelims – A&C} Dancing Girl Figurine

• Context (IE): NCERT will restore the original image of the ‘Dancing Girl’ in its new Class 9 Art textbook.

• The Dancing Girl is a bronze statuette crafted using the lost-wax (cire perdue) casting technique.
• It was excavated in 1926 by Ernest Mackay under John Marshall at Mohenjo-daro, a key city of the Indus Valley Civilisation (Harappan civilisation).
• It dates to the Mature Harappan phase, around 2500 BCE. The figure is in a Tribhanga posture, with the right hand on the hip and the left arm adorned with bangles.

{Prelims – Agri} Sea Silk

• Context (IE): South Korean researchers recreated sea silk from clam waste and identified the cause of its long-lasting metallic shimmer.

• Scientists used pen shells (Atrina pectinata), a clam species cultivated for food in Korea. They found that sea silk’s golden glow comes from layered nanoscale photonin proteins that bend and reflect light.
• Sea silk, known as the “golden fibre of the sea,” was traditionally harvested from byssus threads of Pinna nobilis, a Mediterranean giant fan mussel. It is critically endangered because of pathogen outbreaks, overfishing, climate change, and pollution.

{Prelims – IE} State Development Loans (SDLs)

• Context (BS): Nine states have raised ₹20,461 crore through State Development Loans (SDLs).

• SDLs are market borrowings raised by State Governments through bonds to finance development expenditure and fiscal deficits. Generally carry higher yields than Central Government Securities (G-Secs) and have maturities ranging from 5–30 years.
• They are auctioned by the Reserve Bank of India through eKuber on behalf of the State Governments.
• Constitutional Basis: State borrowing powers are governed by Article 293 of the Constitution of India.

{Prelims – IE} RISE Conclave 2026

• Context (PIB): 6^th edition of Research, Industry, Start-up and Entrepreneurship (RISE) Conclave 2026 concluded in Bengaluru. It was hosted by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) under the aegis of the Ministry of Science and Technology.

• Theme: Innovation & Entrepreneurship Driven Growth for Viksit Bharat 2047.
• It focused on aligning scientific research with commercial applications, and it brought together policymakers, industry leaders, start-ups and researchers to support India’s vision for Viksit Bharat 2047.

{Prelims – Infra} Kishau Multi-Purpose Dam Project

• Context (NOA): Union Home Minister Amit Shah chaired a high-level meeting that broke a decades-long deadlock over the Kishau Multi-Purpose Dam Project.

• Kishau Dam is a proposed hydroelectric and water-resource project under construction on the Tons River (the Yamuna’s largest tributary) at the Himachal Pradesh-Uttarakhand border.
• Declared a National Project, it represents a model of cooperative federalism among six beneficiary states: Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, and Rajasthan.
  • Central Government funds 90% of the project’s water component as Central Assistance, with the six participating states sharing the remaining 10%.
• Resource Swap: Himachal Pradesh’s water share will be supplied to Delhi and Rajasthan, and in return, both states will cover Himachal’s financial obligations for the power component.

{Prelims – IR} World Gold Council (WGC)

• Context (TH): World Gold Council’s (WGC) 2026 Central Bank Gold Reserves (CBGR) survey indicate that the central banks around the world would accumulate more gold in the future.

• The WGC is an international organization representing the world’s leading gold mining companies and works to promote the responsible and sustainable use of gold.
• It was established in 1987 and is headquartered in London, United Kingdom.
• The Council promotes gold investment, supports market development, and conducts research on global gold demand, supply, and prices. It encourages responsible and sustainable gold mining practices through various industry initiatives.

{Prelims – Polity} Anti-Defection Law *

• Context (TH): The merger of 20 Trinamool Congress (TMC) MPs with the National People’s Congress of India (NPCI) has reignited debate over the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution.

• 10^th Schedule also known as Anti-Defection Law was inserted into the Constitution by the 52^nd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1985. It seeks to curb political defections, rampant in the 1960s and 1970s.
• It disqualifies a legislator for 1. Voluntarily giving up membership of the political party on whose ticket they were elected, 2. Voting or abstaining from voting against the party whip without prior permission. 3. Independent legislator joining a political party, 4. Nominated legislator joining any political party six months after the day they become a legislator.
• However, the law exempts legislators from disqualification in cases of a merger, provided at least two-thirds of the members of a legislative party agree to merge with another political party.
  • Neither the members who choose to merge nor those who remain with the original party face disqualification under this provision.
• The Schedule applies to members of both Parliament and State Legislatures.

Read More > Anti-Defection Law

{Prelims – S&T} Lunar Soil Composition at Shiv Shakti Point and ALHA 81005

• Context (IE): Data from the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) aboard Chandrayaan-3’s Pragyan rover reveals that lunar soil at Shiv Shakti Point is chemically similar to the meteorite ALHA 81005.

• Both the soil and the meteorite are rich in iron and magnesium but deficient in aluminium. They occupy a rare compositional position between ferroan anorthosite (lighter, upper-crust rocks) and Mg-suite lithologies (heavier, deep-crust or mantle rocks).
• ALHA 81005, discovered in Antarctica’s Allan Hills in 1982, is the first meteorite conclusively proven to have originated from the Moon.
• Statio Shiv Shakti is the lunar landing site where India’s Chandrayaan-3 touched down on 23 August 2023. It is ~600 kilometres from the Moon’s South Pole. The site lies within a low-relief plain between two impact craters: Manzinus C and Simpelius N.

Read More> Chandrayaan Programme

{Prelims – Social Sector} ‘Brain-Eating Amoeba’

• Context (IE): Kerala has reported a significant rise in cases of Brain-Eating Amoeba (Amoebic Meningoencephalitis) in recent years.

• Brain-eating amoeba refers to free-living microscopic organisms that infect the brain and central nervous system, causing severe inflammation and often fatal disease.
• There are two main types of brain-eating amoeba infections:
  1. Primary Amoebic Meningoencephalitis (PAM): It is caused by Naegleria fowleri. Infection occurs when contaminated water enters the body through the nose and reaches the brain. It has an extremely high fatality rate of around 97%.
  2. Granulomatous Amoebic Encephalitis (GAE): Caused by Acanthamoeba commonly found in water, soil, & dust and primarily affects immunocompromised individuals. It has a comparatively better survival rate than PAM.

{Prelims – Misc} One-Liners

• Envi – Wind Turbine Materials and Resources Utility Tracker (WT-MARUT) (NOA): India’s first dedicated digital platform to streamline the domestic wind turbine supply chain, launched by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) at the Global Wind Day Conference 2026 in Goa.
  • It digitally records and tracks every wind turbine component to ensure end-to-end supply chain traceability, regulatory compliance, and transparent documentation.
• IR – US Indo-Pacific Command (HT): The US administration reverted USINDOPACOM to its original name, US Pacific Command (USPACOM), reversing a 2018 rebranding that recognised India’s strategic importance. This keeps its mission and area of responsibility unchanged but may signal a realignment away from the “Indo-Pacific” framework and the Quad.
  • USPACOM is the oldest and largest US unified combatant command, established in 1947, overseeing the widest geographic theatre (from the US West Coast to India’s western border).