Current Affairs – June 23, 2026

{GS1 – IS} AI and Gender Bias

Context (DTE): UN Women warns AI systems reinforce gender bias, misrepresent women, and worsen gender-based violence, with study showing gender bias in 44.2% of AI and gender-racial bias in 25.7%.

How AI Perpetuates Gender Bias

Algorithmic Stereotypes: Large Language Models (LLMs) associate women with “home,” “family,” and “children,” while linking men with “executive,” “salary,” and “business.”
Misogyny Normalisation: About 20% of LLM responses to gender-based prompts display sexist attitudes, often portraying women as subordinate or objectified.
Digital Violence: Nearly 25% of women journalists and activists report AI-assisted abuse. ~95% of online deepfakes are non-consensual pornography, targeting women in most cases.

Measures for Gender-Responsive AI

Policy Reforms & Audits: Mandate binding gender action plans in national digital strategies and enforce independent gender-impact and algorithmic audits across the AI lifecycle before public deployment.
Data & Workforce Diversity: Use datasets with intersectional identities; utilise initiatives like UN Women’s AI School to increase women’s representation on tech firms’ boards and teams.
Global Standardisation: Align domestic AI regulations with human rights frameworks like the UNESCO Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence.

Read More > AI and Ethics

{GS1 – IS} Children’s Climate Risk Report 2026 **

Context (UNICEF): United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) published the Children’s Climate Risk Report 2026 to assess the compounding child rights crisis driven by the climate crisis.

Key Findings of the Report

Nearly half of the world’s children (1.1 billion) face at least three overlapping climate hazards. More than 4 million face six hazards simultaneously.
Drought is the most widespread hazard, exposing 1.8 billion children (over three-quarters of the global total) to agricultural or meteorological drought.
Two in three children globally face increasingly severe heatwaves, while 1.2 billion face extreme heat conditions. Over 1 billion children face a malaria risk as climate change expands mosquito habitats.
Climate change could push an additional 40 million children into stunting and 28 million into wasting by 2050. Only 2.4% of climate finance is allocated to child-responsive infrastructure or social services.

India-Specific Findings

97% of India’s children (411.62 million) face at least two overlapping climate- or disaster-related hazards. 55% of the child population face at least three simultaneous climate hazards.
Drought is the most widespread threat in India, affecting over 96% of children. Climate hazards disrupted schooling for 54.78 million students in India in 2024, with heatwaves the leading cause.

{GS2 – Polity} Sunset Clause

Context (BS): India is considering advocating for a sunset clause in its proposed interim trade agreement with the US to safeguard against volatile tariff policies.

A sunset clause is a legal mechanism that causes laws, regulations, or agreements to expire automatically on a set date unless renewed. It removes outdated laws, prevents overreach of emergency powers, and limits fiscal losses by capping tax breaks, subsidies, and incentives.
In bilateral investment treaties, a sunset clause, also known as a survival clause, protects existing foreign investments for a set period after the treaty ends.
Origin: Roman Law; in India by Lord Cornwallis through the 1793 Permanent Settlement Act.
Sunset v/s Review Clause: A sunset clause expires unless renewed, while a review clause requires periodic evaluation without ending legal validity.

Context (TH): Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has banned 16 fixed-dose combinations (FDCs) to eliminate unproven formulations from the pharmaceutical market.

The nationwide prohibition was imposed under Section 26A of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940.

About Fixed-Dose Combinations (FDCs)

A fixed-dose combination combines several active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) in a specific ratio within a single pill or topical medication.
Every first-time drug combination is legally classified as a new drug and requires manufacturing approval from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) before domestic marketing.
The WHO and NLEM classify a combination as medically rational only if it demonstrates a distinct therapeutic advantage in safety or patient compliance.

The Indian pharmaceutical market contains over 6,000 fixed-dose combinations, while the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) approves only 22 rational formulations.

Benefits & Challenges with FDCs

Benefits for FDCs	Challenges with FDCs
Enhanced Compliance: Reduced daily pill burden helps patients complete long treatment regimens.	Dosage Inflexibility: Fixed ratios prevent doctors from adjusting one drug’s dose without changing the other.
Therapeutic Synergy: Drug synergy can produce clinical outcomes that single ingredients cannot achieve on their own.	Attribution Loss: Blending multiple drugs makes it difficult to identify which ingredient caused an adverse reaction.
Economic Efficiency: Shared manufacturing and packaging reduce production costs and make treatments more affordable.	Price-Cap Escape: Mixing price-controlled drugs with unregulated additives allows companies to evade government price caps.
Resistance Prevention: Multi-pathway attacks on pathogens help prevent resistance in treatments such as TB and HIV therapy.	Resistance Acceleration: Arbitrary antibiotic combinations disrupt drug absorption, accelerating the emergence of microbial resistance.

{GS3 – Envi} Western Ghats Ecologically Sensitive Areas (ESAs) *

Context (IE): Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) is finalizing the demarcation of ESAs in the Western Ghats (WGs) across three states.

The Centre’s original draft notification had come in 2014, and has undergone 5 revisions since then, but disagreements with the state governments on the areas earmarked for declaration as ESAs within their jurisdictions have not been fully resolved.

What is ESA?

ESAs are designated buffer zones surrounding protected areas such as National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries. They are notified under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.
Aims to minimize negative impacts of human activities on fragile ecosystems by regulating intensity of land use. Activities like new mining and quarrying projects, setting up of thermal power plants, and operation of most-polluting red-category of industries, etc., are completely banned or heavily restricted in ESAs.

Western Ghats

Also known as Sahyadri Range, it is an ancient mountain chain extending 1,600 km along the western coast of the Indian peninsula. It spans 6 states – Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu.

Significance of Western Ghats

WGs are among the four of the world’s 36 biodiversity hotspots located in India. The other three biodiversity hotspots are the Himalayas, the Indo-Burma region, and the Sundaland.
Are a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the world’s eight ‘hottest hotspots’ of biological diversity.
Hydrological Role: Acts as the “Water Tower of Peninsular India“, serving as the source for major east-flowing rivers (Godavari, Krishna, Cauvery).
Unique Ecosystems: Home to tropical evergreen forests, grasslands, endangered Myristica swamps, and high-altitude stunted evergreen patches known as Shola forests.
Endemic Fauna: Habitat for flagship threatened species like the Lion-tailed Macaque, & Nilgiri Tahr.

Committees on Wester Ghats Conservation

Parameter	Madhav Gadgil Committee (2011)	K. Kasturirangan Panel (2013)
Approach	Pro-Conservation: Treated the entire Western Ghats landscape as single continuous eco-system.	Balanced/Pro-Development: Categorized the terrain into Natural Landscapes (to protect) and Cultural Landscapes (to permit human habitations).
Proposed ESA Coverage	129,037 sq. km (100% of the Western Ghats region).	~60,000 sq. km (Reduced to ~37% of the total area based on ground-truthing).
Zoning Strategy	Graded Classification: Eco-Sensitive Zones (ESZ) I, II, and III.	Broad classification: Strict prohibition on highly polluting industries; regulated development elsewhere.

{GS3 – Infra} India Leads in Ship Recycling **

Context (PIB): According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s (UNCTAD) 2025 Review of Maritime Transport, India leads the world in ship recycling.

State of Ship Recycling in India

India became the world’s leading ship-recycling country in 2025, with a 35.4% share of the global market.
Approximately 3 million Gross Tons (GT) of ships were recycled in 2025, marking a 60% annual increase.
With over 16,000 vessels expected to be recycled over the next decade, India is positioned to dismantle 500 to 600 vessels annually. The industry is heavily concentrated in Alang, Gujarat.
The country achieved its Maritime India Vision (MIV) 2030 target of reaching the top spot five years early.

Significance & Challenges Associated with Ship Recycling

India’s Advantages in Ship Recycling	Challenges Associated
Tidal Advantage: Alang’s high tidal range and sloping beaches make beaching and dismantling cost-effective.	EU Exclusion: Pending EU Ship Recycling Regulation (EUSRR) approval bars Indian yards from bidding on European-flagged vessels.
Captive Market: Recovered vessel steel reduces reliance on raw-material imports by feeding India’s re-rolling mills.	Price Competition: Bangladesh and Pakistan undercut on price due to historically lower compliance costs.
Established Ecosystem: Decades of operation have built a downstream supply chain that absorbs salvaged materials.	Hazard Management: Extracting asbestos and other toxic materials requires costly oversight to protect workers.
Compliance Edge: Over 115 Hong Kong Convention (HKC)-compliant yards provide a legally safe destination for retiring fleets.	Shipbuilding Deficit: Recycling credits tied to new-ship purchases are limited by India’s manufacturing capacity.

State Interventions for the Ship Recycling Sector

Statutory Law: Recycling of Ships Act, 2019, regulates yard operating procedures and restricts hazardous materials on board vessels to protect workers and the coastal environment.
Compliance Funding: Modernisation Financial Assistance programme deployed ₹53.5 crore to help 115 facilities upgrade their infrastructure and achieve Hong Kong Convention (HKC) certification.
Fleet Renewal: Ship-breaking Credit Note (SCN) provides owners with a credit worth 40% of their scrap value, redeemable against up to 5% of the cost of a new Indian-built vessel.
Capacity Expansion: Alang Master Plan coordinates state-backed infrastructure development to double national recycling capacity to 9 million LDT to meet future global demand.

Read More> India’s Shipbuilding Sector

{GS3 – S&T} India’s Space Sector **

Context (PIB): India’s space sector has evolved from a scientific endeavour into a strategic national asset, marking a shift from building capability to asserting global leadership under Space Vision 2047.

Major Recent Space Achievements of India

Lunar First: Chandrayaan-3 made India the first country to soft-land near the Moon’s south pole and the fourth nation, after the US, Russia, and China, to land on the lunar surface.
Mars Entry: With Mangalyaan entering Martian orbit, India became the first country to reach Mars on its maiden attempt, and ISRO the fourth space agency, after NASA, Roscosmos, and ESA, to orbit Mars.
Solar Observatory: Aditya-L1, India’s first dedicated solar mission, placed in a halo orbit around the Sun-Earth L1 Lagrange Point, has released more than 27 TB of solar observation data.
Human Spaceflight: Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla flew to the International Space Station aboard SpaceX Dragon on the Axiom-4 mission to conduct seven microgravity experiments.
Reusable Technology: RLV-TD programme completed a hypersonic flight experiment and three runway landing experiments, validating autonomous navigation and reusable thermal protection systems.
Indigenous Electronics: ISRO co-developed VIKRAM 3201, India’s first indigenous 32-bit space-grade microprocessor, alongside KALPANA32, to reduce reliance on foreign components.
Radar Satellite: NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) satellite, jointly developed by ISRO and NASA, was launched from Sriharikota to monitor changes in land, glaciers, forests, and oceans globally

Challenges Facing the Indian Space Sector

Legislative Vacuum: The absence of a dedicated Space Activities Act leaves private space entities without a statutory framework for liability, dispute resolution, and risk-sharing.
Supply Vulnerability: Indian manufacturers import more than 90% of space-grade semiconductors and 100% of aerospace-grade carbon fibre, leaving the sector exposed to geopolitical supply shocks.
Orbital Congestion: Rapid proliferation of global mega-constellations is congesting LEO orbits critical to India’s Earth observation assets, with Indian satellites recording over 1.5 lakh close-approach alerts and performing 18 Collision Avoidance Manoeuvres in 2025 alone.
Capital Gestation: The absence of sovereign-backed insurance guarantees deters venture capital participation in upstream space ventures with a seven- to ten-year revenue gestation period.

Government Reforms in Space Sector

Policy Deregulation: Indian Space Policy 2023 dismantled the historical state monopoly and authorised end-to-end private participation across satellite manufacturing, launch vehicles, and data services.
Investment Liberalisation: February 2024 FDI policy opened the sector to global capital and permitted 100% automatic FDI in component manufacturing, 74% in satellite operations, and 49% in launch vehicles.
Ecosystem Financing: A ₹1,000 crore Space Venture Capital Fund and a ₹500 crore Technology Adoption Fund were established to finance deep-tech startups and scale up capital-intensive capabilities.
Regulatory Architecture: IN-SPACe provides a single-window regulatory node and enforces the Norms, Guidelines and Procedures 2024 to ensure predictable private-sector licensing.
Commercial Arm: NewSpace India Limited, established in 2019 to commercialise ISRO’s technologies and launch services, increased its revenues tenfold from FY 2021-22 to ₹3,246 crore by FY 2024–25.
Infrastructure Expansion: Union Cabinet approved the 3^rd Launch Pad at Sriharikota and a new spaceport at Kulasekarapattinam to address launch capacity constraints and accommodate next-gen vehicles.
Procurement-driven Model: A consortium of Indian startups was awarded the first PPP contract, worth ₹1,200 crore, to deploy a 12-satellite Earth Observation constellation by 2030.

Read More> India’s Space Economy

{Prelims – Agri} Khurasani Imli

Context (TOI): Khurasani Imli from the Mandu region of Madhya Pradesh has received a GI tag.

It is the fruit of the African baobab tree (Adansonia digitata), and is known locally as Mandav Imli. Rich in vitamin C, antioxidants, and minerals, it has a distinct, mild sweet-and-sour taste.

Baobab Tree

Baobab is a drought-resistant tree with water-storing trunks and branches that look upside-down. Of the eight species, six are found in Madagascar, one in Africa, and one in Australia (Adansonia gregorii).
It is a keystone species (large ecological impact relative to their population size or biomass).
Introduced in India during Mahmud Khilji’s reign (15^th century), Mandu hosts India’s largest baobab cluster; the tree is also found in Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Karnataka.

{Prelims – Agri} Biochar *

Context (TH): Recent report estimates scaling biochar from surplus agricultural residue could remove up to 450 MT of CO₂ annually by 2030, while reducing crop-residue burning in India.

Biochar is a fine-grained, carbon-rich substance produced by heating organic biomass in a low-oxygen, high-temperature environment through pyrolysis.
Applications: Used for soil improvement, carbon sequestration, wastewater treatment (heavy metal removal such as chromium, arsenic), stubble management, and production of clean fuels (syngas and bio-oil).
Significance: Enhances soil fertility, soil water-holding capacity (10–25%), microbial activity, and crop productivity (by 30%), lower soil nitrous oxide emissions by 30–50%, promotes growth of nitrogen-fixing microbes.

{Prelims – IS} BGP Hijacking

Context (IE): Telegram’s CEO claimed platform access outside India, including the UAE, was disrupted through Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) hijacking.

BGP is the Internet’s inter-domain routing system, directing data packets across Autonomous Systems (ASs) that make up the Internet. In BGP hijacking, attackers disrupt it by falsely claiming control over an Internet Protocol (IP) address prefix to reroute traffic.
Risks: Traffic interception, surveillance, man-in-the-middle attacks, unauthorised censorship, espionage, and cross-border network disruptions.

{Prelims – S&T} Dunagiri, Sanshodhak and Agray Warships

Context (LM): Prime Minister inducted three indigenously designed and built warships into the Indian Navy at the Shyama Prasad Mookerjee Port in Kolkata.

Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) constructed all three warships using more than 75% indigenous components, and all three were designed by the Navy’s Warship Design Bureau (WDB).

Name	Features
Dunagiri	5^th Project 17A stealth frigate of the Nilgiri class. It runs on a Combined Diesel or Gas (CODOG) propulsion and carries BrahMos surface-to-surface missiles and the Medium Range Surface-to-Air Missile (MRSAM) system.
Sanshodhak	4^th and final Survey Vessel (Large) of the Sandhayak class, conducting coastal and deep-water hydrographic surveys. It carries Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs), Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs), and digital side-scan sonar systems.
Agray	Fourth Arnala-class Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft. It detects and engages submarines in littoral waters, replacing the ageing Abhay-class corvettes. The craft carries lightweight torpedoes, indigenous rocket launchers, and the DRDO Abhay hull-mounted sonar. It is among largest Indian warships powered by waterjets.

{Prelims – S&T} Fibre-Optic Drones

Context (IE): Fibre-optic drones have emerged as an important tool in modern asymmetric warfare, prominently used in the Russia–Ukraine war and the Israel–Hezbollah conflict.

Fibre-optic drones are unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) connected to their operator through a fibre-optic cable spool, instead of radiofrequency (RF) communication.
Since they emit minimal RF signals, they are resistant to jamming, spoofing, and electronic warfare systems.
Real-Time Transmission: They transmit control commands and live video feeds through pulses of light, ensuring secure and uninterrupted communication.
Limitation: Physical cable limits operational range & mobility, and the cable remains vulnerable to breakage from obstacles, enemy action, or adverse weather.

{Prelims – Sci} Ammonia *

Context (TH): Recently, a devastating ammonia gas leak at a seafood processing plant in Tamil Nadu resulted in multiple fatalities and widespread hospitalizations.

Ammonia is a clear, colourless gas with a sharp, pungent odour often compared to that of rotting fish.
It consists of one nitrogen atom and three hydrogen atoms (NH₃). It can be compressed into a liquid and readily dissolves in water.
It occurs naturally in the environment and is also produced through various industrial processes.
Applications: Due to its excellent heat-exchange properties and low cost, it is the preferred choice for industrial refrigeration, large-scale food and seafood processing plants, and commercial fertilizer manufacturing.
Impact on Human Body: High exposure may cause lung damage (pulmonary edema), chemical burns, blindness, breathing difficulties, and even death due to suffocation.