Current Affairs – September 03, 2025

{GS2 – Polity – IC – Judiciary} Gender Imbalance in the Supreme Court of India

• Context (TH): With Justice B.V. Nagarathna as the sole woman among 34 judges, the Supreme Court shows stark gender imbalance, only 11 women (3.8% of 287) appointed since 1950.

Systemic Barriers

• Opaque Process: Collegium appointments still weigh caste and religion, while gender remains sidelined as a formal criterion.
• Bar Pathways: Only one woman (Justice Indu Malhotra) has been elevated directly from the Bar, against nine men.
• Late Appointments: Women are usually appointed at later stages of their careers, reducing their tenure and scope to shape judicial direction.
• Missing Diversity: No woman judge has ever been appointed from the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, or other marginalised communities.

Implications

• Representation Gap: Women constitute nearly half of India’s population, but remain severely underrepresented in the top judiciary.
• Judicial Outcomes: Absence of gender diversity restricts the infusion of varied perspectives, essential for sensitive adjudication, especially on issues concerning women’s rights.
• Public Trust: Lack of gender inclusion weakens the perception of the judiciary as a representative and egalitarian institution.

Way Forward

• Gender Criterion: Institutionalise gender, alongside caste & religion, as a key factor in the appointments.
• Collegium Transparency: Ensure criteria for selection are publicly shared to promote accountability.
• Bar Elevation: Actively elevate women Senior Advocates from the Bar to the Bench.
• Representation: Promote women judges from varied caste and minority backgrounds for diversity.
• Tenure Planning: Appoint women at younger ages to allow longer and more impactful judicial service.

Read More> Political Representation of Women | Gender Equality in India

{GS2 – Social Sector – Health – Issues} Health Insurance Schemes in India **

• Context (TH): Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) and State Health Insurance Programmes (SHIPs) highlight insurance-led challenges in achieving equitable Universal Health Coverage (UHC).

Current Trends in the Insurance Scheme Landscape

• Expanding Coverage: PM-JAY and SHIPs jointly cover nearly 80% citizens.
• Growing Budgets: Combined outlay reached about ₹28,000 crore in FY 2023–24.
• Rising Spending: SHIP allocations increased 8–25% annually since 2018.
• Low Utilisation: Only 35% insured patients used benefits under PM-JAY/SHIPs.
• Public–Private Split: Public hospitals form 51% empanelment but capture only one-third payouts.

Significance of Insurance Schemes

• Inclusive Coverage: Government insurance widens healthcare access and narrows social inequalities.
• System Relief: Insurance helps decongest hospitals and promotes timely medical treatment.
• Infrastructure: Risk pooling supports the growth of hospitals & health infrastructure nationwide.
• Poverty Reduction: By reducing health shocks, insurance supports poverty alleviation and mobility.
• Social Legitimacy: Public insurance reinforces healthcare as a right, not a discretionary service.

Structural Challenges in Insurance Schemes

• Private Bias: Public funds primarily flow to profit-driven, weakly regulated private hospitals.
• Hospitalisation Skew: Insurance favours costly inpatient admissions, neglecting basic primary care.
• Payment Delays: PM-JAY dues of ₹12,161 crore forced service suspension, eroding system credibility.
• Unequal Treatment: Private hospitals discourage insured patients, while public hospitals favour them.
• Fraud Cases: Over 3,200 hospitals flagged for false claims, undermining the scheme’s integrity.

Reforms for Equitable Health Financing

• Public Spending: Raise health expenditure from 1.9% GDP to 2.5% under the NHP-2017 target.
• Gatekeeping: Adopt Thailand-style capitation with gatekeeping, routing to primary centres first.
• Non-Profit: Implement Canada-style non-profit hospital funding to curb private profiteering.
• Timely Payments: Ensure NHA clears claims within 30 days to retain provider trust.
• Fraud Control: Deploy AI-based monitoring and audits to detect and prevent false claims.

Read More> Healthcare Expenditure in India | Universal Health Coverage in India

{GS2 – Social Sector – Health – Diseases} Mapping India’s Cancer Burden

• Context (IE): Analysis of cancer registries reported 15.6 lakh cases and 8.74 lakh deaths across India during 2024, highlighting the rising national cancer burden.

Significant Trends in Cancer Burden

Gender Disparities

• Women Share: Women formed a majority with 51.1% cases but had lower deaths at 45%.
• Lower Deaths: Breast and cervical cancers, forming 40% of female cases, are easier to detect and treat.
• Male Mortality: Lung and gastric cancers drive male mortality, being harder to detect and treat.

Type-Specific Trends

• Male Pattern: Oral cancer has overtaken lung cancer as the most common in men.
• Female Pattern: Breast cancer remains the leading cancer type among women nationwide.
• Overall Burden: Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in India overall.

Regional Variations

• National Risk: Lifetime cancer risk in India is 11%, below the global average of ~20%.
• Northeast: NE states have the highest cancer incidence, with leading cervical, oral, & female lung cases.
  • Drivers: Tobacco, fermented fat, smoked meats, spicy food, soda additives, and higher infections.
• Mizoram: Mizoram shows the highest lifetime risk — 21.1% men, 18.9% women.

Lifestyle Risks

• Tobacco Use: Adult tobacco consumption declined from 34.6% to 28.6% (2009–17).
• Alcohol Impact: Alcohol raises the risk of oral, gastric, colorectal, and seven total cancers.
• Dual Effect: Combined tobacco and alcohol use significantly amplifies overall cancer risk.

Broader Implications of the Data

• Registry Limits: Limited 10-18% registry coverage weakens India’s cancer surveillance.
• Epidemiological Shift: Lifestyle-driven cancers are increasing as infection-linked cancers decline.
• Hidden Burden: Rising cancer incidence reflects long latency of past tobacco and alcohol use.
• Policy Signal: Regional disparities highlight urgency of decentralised, state-specific cancer strategies.

Read More> Cancer

{GS3 – Infra – Initiatives} Four Years of Account Aggregator Framework

• Context (PIB): The Account Aggregator (AA) framework has completed four years, enabling secure, consent-based financial data sharing across 2.2 billion accounts of 112 million users.

• AAs consolidate users’ financial data from multiple sources and share it with service providers.
• Regulation: Operate as RBI-regulated NBFCs on a user-consent model, functioning only as data intermediaries without rights to view, store, or monetise data.
• Integration with DPI: Recognised as part of India’s Digital Public Infrastructure during G20 Presidency 2023, alongside Aadhaar, UPI, and ONDC.

Read More> Digital Public Infrastructure

{GS3 – IE – Industry} India’s First Indigenous Chip ‘Vikram’ *

• Context (TOI): PM Modi unveiled India’s first indigenous semiconductor chip, the Vikram processor developed by ISRO, at Semicon India 2025.

Credit: NewsBytes

India’s Semiconductor Mission

• Under the India Semiconductor Mission (2021), five chip units are under construction.
• ₹76,000 crore Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme; ₹65,000 crore committed.
• 23 projects under the Design Linked Incentive (DLI) scheme.
• Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test (OSAT) Pilot Line Facility launched in Sanand, Gujarat.

Read More> Semiconductor Industry | India’s Semiconductor Push

{GS3 – Envi – RE} India’s Urban Clean Energy Transition **

• Context (DTE): The World Resources Institute (WRI) India report on India’s energy transition emphasizes cities, which contribute 60% of GDP, as vital demand aggregators for India’s clean energy goals.

Key Findings

Positive Urban Practices

• Energy Innovations: Local governments promote rooftop solar and LED streetlighting, with urban solar photovoltaic offering over 200 GW potential.
• National Example: Indore pioneered a carbon market consultancy through its Smart City initiatives.
• Mobility & Monitoring: Pune and Kochi advance electric public transport; Surat employs smart monitoring to enhance municipal energy efficiency.

Barriers to Urban Transition

• Capacity Gaps: Cities face deficits in technical expertise and institutional governance for clean energy.
• Financing Gaps: Weak municipal finance mechanisms obstruct the scaling of urban energy initiatives.
• Urbanisation Pressure: By 2040, 270 million more residents will intensify urban energy demand.

Suggestions of the Report

• Integrated Approaches: Cities must implement cross-sector interventions in transport, water, and waste.
• Collaborative Partnerships: Align cities, states, and private actors through multistakeholder initiatives.
• Institutional Capacity: Develop energy cells and formulate action plans within Urban Local Bodies.

Read More> Clean Energy Transition in India

{GS3 – Envi – Pollution} Rising Urban Noise Pollution **

• Context (TH): Urban noise pollution has emerged as an invisible public health crisis, eroding constitutional guarantees of peace and dignity.

About Noise Pollution

• Noise pollution is unwanted sound that harms health; in India, CPCB sets zone-specific limits with 55/45 dB for residential areas.
• Legal Framework: Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000, under the EPA, 1986, regulate standards and restrictions.
• Urban Exceedance: Urban noise exceeds CPCB limits, with 65–85% of Delhi sites breaching standards.

Impacts of Noise Pollution

• Auditory Loss: About 27% of industrial workers suffer from deafness; exposure to over 85 dB causes permanent hearing loss.
• Cardiovascular Risk: Increases risks of ischemic heart disease, hypertension, and early death.
• Cognitive Impact: Disrupts hormones, disturbs sleep, and impairs concentration, memory, and learning.
• Ecological Stress: Disrupts bird song patterns and social signalling, indicating urban biodiversity stress.

Issues Leading to Rising Noise

• Institutional Inertia: The National Ambient Noise Monitoring Network suffers from poor sensor placement and enforcement gaps, undermining Article 21.
• Fragmented Governance: Uncoordinated SPCBs, police, and municipalities breach the environmental duty outlined in Article 48A.
• Regulatory Breaches: Vehicular noise, honking, and night construction infringe on peaceful living.
• Cultural Normalisation: Civic apathy toward noise weakens public resistance and accountability.

Way Forward

• National Policy: Adopt a National Acoustic Policy similar to air quality standards.
• Local Empowerment: Decentralising NANMN access enables municipalities to enforce noise control.
• Enforcement Linkage: Monitoring must link to penalties and zoning to prevent rights violations.
• Public Awareness: Sustained campaigns beyond symbolism to foster civic sensitivity to dignified living.

{GS3 – Envi – Pollution} Airborne Bacteria in Delhi

• Context (PIB): A Bose Institute study reveals that pathogenic bacteria responsible for respiratory, gastrointestinal, oral, and skin infections are twice as prevalent in densely populated areas of Delhi.

• This is due to high PM2.5 levels worsened by western disturbances that lower temperatures, increase humidity, stagnate winds, and accumulate pollutants.
• PM2.5 particles serve as carriers, extending bacterial survival, facilitating deep lung penetration, and maintaining persistence during hazy winter–summer transitions.

Credit: PIB

Read More> Delhi Air Pollution

{GS3 – S&T – Tech} India’s Indigenous Brain Injury Diagnostic Tool *

• Context (TH): The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has unveiled CEREBO, a handheld, non-invasive diagnostic tool for traumatic brain injuries (TBI).

• Uses near-infrared spectroscopy & machine learning to detect intracranial bleeding in under a minute.
• Provides radiation-free, colour-coded, cost-effective results, safe for infants and pregnant women.
• It has potential use in ambulances, rural clinics, trauma centres, and military healthcare.

Related Healthcare Developments

• CT-Cal Score: Coronary Artery Calcium (CT-Cal) Score, a non-invasive heart test using CT scans to measure coronary calcium, improving risk stratification for heart attacks.
• Drug Pricing: Parliamentary Committee highlights that many cancer drugs fall outside Drug Price Control Order (DPCO) price control, causing affordability issues.
• Mercury-Based Devices: Call for elimination in line with the Minamata Convention on Mercury.
• Preventive Health: Emphasis on early screening (blood sugar, lipid profile, mammography) to reduce long-term disease burden.

{Prelims – In News} Nijasharana Ambigara Chowdaiah

• Context (IT): Karnataka witnessed massive protests demanding legal action against derogatory remarks targeting 12^th-century saint and poet, Nijasharana Ambigara Chowdaiah.

• Born into a ferryman’s family, later became a devotee of Basavanna and embraced Lingayatism.
• His vachanas condemned caste hierarchy, exploitation of women, and emphasised social equality.

{Prelims} One Liners

• In News – Adi Vaani App (TH): The Ministry of Tribal Affairs launched the Adi Vaani app for Adivasi language translation to and from Hindi and English.
• Economy – Current Account Deficit (IE): India recorded a $2.4 billion (0.2% of GDP) current account deficit in Q1 2025. Current Account Deficit = Imports – Exports (including goods, services & transfers).
• Military Exercises – Exercise Maitree (PIB): The 14^th edition of India-Thailand bilateral annual army exercise Maitree began at Umroi, Meghalaya.
• Space – ISRO Announcement of Opportunity (TH): ISRO issued an Announcement of Opportunity to enable scientific analysis and data utilisation from all Chandrayaan-3 lander (Vikram) and rover (Pragyan) experiments. It is open to all Indian faculty and researchers from recognised institutions.