Current Affairs – March 15, 2026

{GS3 – IE} FATF Flags Stablecoins in Illicit Crypto Transactions **

• Context (TH): A recent Financial Action Task Force (FATF) report identified stablecoins as the primary vehicle for illicit virtual asset transactions.

• A stablecoin is a cryptocurrency that maintains stable value by pegging its price to another reserve asset such as a fiat currency, commodity, or other financial asset.

Key Findings of the FATF Report

• Illicit Share: Stablecoins accounted for 84% of illicit virtual asset transaction volume in 2025.
• Shift Reason: Criminals prefer stablecoins over volatile cryptocurrencies to preserve the value of laundered funds.
• State Actors: North Korea and Iran-linked groups increasingly favour USDT for sanctions evasion, proliferation financing, and weapons procurement.
• AML Gap: A significant share of stablecoin volume moves via unhosted self-custody wallets outside traditional Anti-Money Laundering (AML) controls.
• Cross-Chain Risk: Bridging stablecoins across blockchains obscures transaction trails and creates regulatory blind spots.
• Issuer Weakness: Many stablecoin issuers lack adequate systems to promptly freeze or burn tokens held by sanctioned entities.

Recommended Best Practices

• CDD Mandate: Stablecoin issuers must conduct Customer Due Diligence (CDD) during redemption to verify users and detect illegal activity.
• Wallet Controls: Regulatory frameworks should mandate stablecoin firms to maintain mandatory deny-lists for illicit wallets and implement allow-lists where appropriate.
• Travel Rule: Regulators must enforce the FATF Travel Rule to ensure sender and recipient details are included in all digital asset transfers.
• R-15 Compliance: Countries should fully implement FATF Recommendation 15 to impose compliance obligations on stablecoin issuers, intermediaries, custodians, and VASPs.

Read More > Stablecoins: Types, Risks Associated & Regulation

{GS3 – IE} Electrifying Industrial India **

• Context (TH): Rising geopolitical tensions in West Asia threaten the Strait of Hormuz, exposing India’s gas dependence and accelerating the urgency for electrifying industrial heat.

Need for Electrifying Industrial India

• Energy Efficiency: Conventional gas boilers lose 20–30% energy, whereas induction-based electric heating achieves over 90% efficiency.
• Energy Security: Electrification using renewables reduces import dependence and strengthens industrial thermal sovereignty. E.g., India imports ~50% natural gas.
• Emission Reduction: Electrifying industrial heat lowers fossil-fuel emissions, supporting India’s climate commitments and net-zero target by 2070.
• Cost Competitiveness: Rising global gas prices and declining renewable tariffs make electric heat technologies increasingly economical for industries.

Government Initiatives Supporting Industrial Electrification

• National Solar Mission: Promotes large-scale solar power generation to increase the share of renewable electricity available for industries.
• PAT Scheme: Perform, Achieve and Trade scheme, implemented by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency, to improve energy efficiency in energy-intensive industries.
• PLI Incentives: Production Linked Incentive schemes support domestic manufacturing of clean energy technologies, such as batteries and renewable energy equipment.
• Green Energy Corridors: Expands transmission networks to seamlessly integrate large-scale renewable energy into India’s national power grid.

{GS3 – Envi} Grid Congestion Challenges India’s Clean Energy Transition

• Context (TH): India’s expanding renewable capacity now faces grid congestion and power evacuation bottlenecks as key constraints on the clean-energy transition.

Consequences of Grid Congestion in India

• Loss Scale: Grid congestion wasted 2.3 TWh of solar electricity across India between May & Dec 2025.
• Stranded Capacity: Transmission bottlenecks stranded ~50 GW of renewable capacity as of early 2026.
• Curtailment Bias: Grid operators curtail Temporary General Network Access (T-GNA) projects during peak solar hours to safeguard projects with permanent access.
• Revenue Erosion: Grid congestion lowers realised tariffs by ₹0.25- ₹0.30 per kWh, directly impacting renewable developers’ revenues.
• Consumer Burden: Compensation for curtailed renewable power ($63-$76 million in 2025) increases electricity tariffs.

Factors behind Grid Congestion in India

• Timeline Gap: High-voltage transmission lines take 2 to 3 times longer to build than renewable energy projects, delaying power evacuation capacity.
• Location Mismatch: Renewable potential sites are distant from major demand centres such as Maharashtra and Delhi-NCR.
• Capacity Shortfall: India added 8,830 circuit kilometres (ckm) of transmission lines in FY2025, recording a 42% shortfall against the 15,253 ckm target.
• Static Operations: Grid operators rely on static security limits instead of Dynamic Line Rating (DLR) systems, reducing real-time transmission utilisation.
• Flexibility Gap: Slow deployment of STATCOMs, harmonic filters, and Special Protection Schemes (SPS) limits grid flexibility and power evacuation capacity.

Way Forward for Grid Reforms

• Institutional Mandate: Expand Grid India’s statutory mandate beyond grid stability to include efficient utilisation of transmission infrastructure.
• Planning Alignment: Align Central Transmission Utility (CTU) transmission planning with Grid India’s operational requirements to improve coordinated grid expansion.
• Congestion Rules: Mandate dynamic reallocation of unused grid capacity and proportionate curtailment rules across renewable projects.
• Regulatory Oversight: Implement automatic public audits when major transmission corridors consistently operate below their designed capacity.
• Market Mechanisms: Introduce nodal pricing to charge higher rates at congested grid points, discouraging excess power flows into overloaded corridors.

Read More> India’s Power Sector

{GS3 – S&T} Electric Bus Fire in Delhi

• Context (DTE): The recent incident of a Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) electric bus catching fire has spotlighted safety concerns in India’s growing electric public transport sector.

• Since electric buses began operating in Delhi in 2022, around five such fire incidents have been recorded, with most occurring in the last two years.

Causes of Electric Bus Fire

• Thermal Runaway: In Lithium-ion Batteries the excess internal heat can exceed the battery’s cooling capacity, triggering a chain reaction that can lead to fire or explosion.
• Battery Management System: Inefficient monitoring of battery temperature and performance can cause overheating and increase fire risk.
• Short Circuits: Defective wiring, poor insulation, or manufacturing defects can create short circuits that ignite battery components.
• Mechanical Stress: Continuous vibrations, shocks from poor road conditions, or collisions can damage battery cells and wiring.
• Poor Maintenance: Lack of regular checks on electrical systems, connectors, and battery packs may allow faults to go undetected.

Mitigation Strategies for Electric Bus Fires

• Battery Management Systems (BMS): Use AIS-156 compliant BMS with real-time monitoring of battery temperature, voltage and state of health to detect overheating early.
• Regular Maintenance: Conduct periodic checks of battery packs, electrical wiring, insulation and connectors to prevent internal short circuits and technical faults.
• Thermal Management: Install efficient cooling and heat-dissipation systems to reduce the risk of thermal runaway in lithium-ion batteries.
• Driver Training: Train drivers for early fire detection, safe passenger evacuation, and activation of battery cut-off systems during emergencies.

Read More> PM E-Drive Scheme

{GS3 – S&T} AI and National Security **

• Context (TH): Artificial intelligence is increasingly entangled with geopolitics and defence strategy, as recent disputes between U.S. and Chinese AI labs highlight emerging national security concerns.

Key Strategic Features of AI

• Dual-Use Technology: AI powers civilian services like medical diagnosis while also enabling military applications such as autonomous drones, surveillance, and battlefield intelligence.
• General-Purpose Technology: AI operates across sectors such as fraud detection in banking, traffic optimisation in smart cities, and predictive analysis in defence systems.
• Data-Driven Advantage: AI leadership relies on vast datasets, high-performance computing, and advanced chips, giving countries like the U.S. and China a competitive edge.
• Private-Sector Leadership: Frontier AI innovation is largely led by firms such as OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic rather than state laboratories.

Role of AI in National Security

• Autonomous Warfare: AI enables autonomous drones and robotic combat systems. E.g., AI-assisted targeting can shorten the military “kill chain” from hours to minutes.
• Intelligence Analysis: AI processes massive satellite and sensor data, like facial recognition and predictive analytics, to help detect threats and monitor borders in real time.
• Cyber Defence: AI strengthens cybersecurity by detecting malware and intrusions instantly. E.g., global cybercrime losses may exceed $10 trillion annually by 2025, driving AI-based defence tools.
• Information Warfare: AI enables deepfakes and automated propaganda campaigns, influencing elections and conflicts through large-scale misinformation on digital platforms.
• Tech Rivalry: AI leadership shapes geopolitical competition; countries like the U.S. and China invest billions annually, while semiconductor controls influence strategic technological dominance.

AI and India’s National Security

• Border Security: AI-driven drones and sensors under the Comprehensive Integrated Border Management System enhance real-time monitoring along the LAC and LoC.
• Cyber Defence: AI-based monitoring by the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team counters rising cyberattacks, with a doubling from 10.29 lakh (2022) to 22.68 lakh (2024).
• Defence Innovation: The Defence Artificial Intelligence Council promotes AI-enabled drones, surveillance systems, and autonomous military technologies.
• Tech Dependence: India imports nearly 90% of its semiconductor needs, exposing vulnerabilities in AI hardware supply chains and highlighting the need for domestic chip manufacturing.

{Prelims – Geo} Tephra Fallout from Kīlauea Volcano Eruption

• Context (USGS): Kīlauea volcano’s episodic eruptions have renewed focus on tephra fallout and its impact on nearby communities.

About Tephra

• Tephra describes all broken solid volcanic materials ejected during an explosive eruption.
• Landforms: Heavy tephra accumulation around volcanic vents forms cinder cones (steep conical hills).
• Climate Impact: Large tephra clouds can lead to temporary global cooling called a volcanic winter.
• Hazards: Airborne tephra damages aircraft engines, harms respiratory health, disrupts infrastructure, and may cause roofs to collapse.
• Agricultural Benefit: Weathered volcanic ash forms fertile soils known as Andisols, aiding farming.
• Geological Dating: Researchers utilise chemically distinct tephra layers to date fossils, artefacts, and past environmental changes.

{Prelims – Eco} CHAKRA Initiative

• Context (IE): State Bank of India (SBI) has launched CHAKRA – Centre of Excellence (CoE) to support financing in eight sunrise sectors that are expected to drive India’s future economic growth.

• Objective: The initiative aims to strengthen financing support, develop sectoral expertise, and improve risk assessment for new and capital-intensive industries.
• Sunrise Sectors: CHAKRA targets eight key sectors: renewable energy, advanced cell chemistry and battery storage, data centre infrastructure, smart infrastructure, electric mobility, green hydrogen, semiconductors, and decarbonisation.
• Investment Potential: These sectors are expected to attract about ₹100 lakh crore investment over the next five years.
• Debt Financing: The platform will provide debt capital to companies after they invest their initial equity to scale up projects.
• Global Partnerships: SBI has signed MoUs with around 21 financial institutions, including international banks such as MUFG Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation.
• Strategic Significance:  The initiative aims to boost innovation, sustainable growth, and technology-driven development in India.

{Prelims – S&T} ISRO Expanding Student Participation in Space Missions

• Context (PIB): ISRO has launched several initiatives to involve students and young researchers in satellite development and space missions.

• Student Satellite Programme: ISRO allows university students to design and build satellites with mentoring from scientists.
• Research & Internship: ISRO provides internships, project trainee programmes, and research opportunities for undergraduate, postgraduate, and PhD students.
• Space Technology Incubation Centres (STICs): These centres promote collaboration between universities and ISRO scientists, especially in tier-2 and tier-3 cities.
• RESPOND Programme: ISRO provides financial & technical support to universities for space research.
• Model Rocketry Competition: A national CanSat and Model Rocketry competition was organised in Kushinagar, U.P. by IN-SPACe.
• Space Education Promotion: The All-India Council for Technical Education approved a Space Technology Course under the Indian Space Policy 2023.

{Prelims – S&T} GPS Jamming *

• Context (IE): The West Asia conflict has caused a rise in electronic interference near the Strait of Hormuz, affecting commercial maritime traffic.

• Electronic Interference: Disruption of electronic devices due to unwanted electromagnetic signals; common methods include GPS jamming and spoofing.
• GPS Jamming: A transmitter (jammer) emits a strong radio signal that blocks Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals, causing receivers to lose location data.
• GPS Spoofing: A spoofer emits fake signals that mimic genuine ones, leading navigation receivers to display incorrect locations or routes.

Read More > Strait of Hormuz Crisis and Its Implications for India

{Prelims – Governance} SC Rejects Plea on Menstrual Leave *

• Context (NDTV): Supreme Court declined a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking a nationwide policy mandating menstrual leave for women.

• The Court observed that legally mandating menstrual leave might discourage employers from hiring women and impact their career prospects.
• Preventing Discrimination: Chief Justice of India cautioned that compulsory leave might reinforce stereotypes about women’s workplace capability.

Read More > Menstrual Leave in India