Current Affairs – September 20, 2025

{GS2 – MoA&FW – Initiatives} National Agriculture Conference – Rabi Campaign

• Context (NOA | PIB): A two-day National Conference on Agriculture – Rabi Campaign 2025 took place in New Delhi to discuss strategies, targets, and preparations for the 2025–26 Rabi season.

Key Highlights

• The conference, themed “One Nation, One Agriculture, One Team”, emphasised cooperation among the Centre, states, and farmers.
• Production Target: A national food grain production target of 362.50 million tonnes was set for 2025–26, representing a 2.4% increase over the 2024–25 output.
• Viksit Krishi Sankalp Abhiyan: A key initiative for the “Lab to Land” vision, it will begin in October 2025 for Rabi crops.
• Farmer Support: The conference stressed enhancing Kisan Call Centres, Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, and Krishi Vigyan Kendras to boost farmer outreach and technology adoption.

Read More > Pulses Production in India

{GS2 – Polity – Laws} SC on Anticipatory Bail in Caste Crimes

• Context (TH): The Supreme Court cancelled a Bombay High Court order that had granted anticipatory bail to an accused in a caste crime case (Kiran vs Rajkumar Jivaraj Jain).
• The Court upheld Section 18 of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, which bars anticipatory bail for prima facie offences under the Act.

Why Anticipatory Bail is Barred under the SC/ST Act

• Section 18 of the Act expressly excludes anticipatory bail under Section 438 CrPC (now Section 482 BNSS).
• The provision prevents intimidation of victims and ensures effective prosecution of caste atrocities.
• The Court stressed that judges must not conduct a “mini-trial” at the bail stage, but only examine if a prima facie case exists.

Significance of the Ruling

• Reinforces the SC/ST Act as a substantive shield, not a procedural formality.
• Recognises that anticipatory bail exclusion is constitutionally sound, addressing the real risk of intimidation.
• Strengthens protection for Dalits and tribals in electoral contexts, linking caste justice with democratic participation.
• Affirms that allegations must be tested at trial, not diluted at the bail stage.

Read More > Statutory Bail

{GS2 – Polity – IC – Elections} Deletion of Names from Electoral Rolls

• Context (IE): Deletions of voter names from electoral rolls gained national attention after alleged fraudulent applications in Karnataka’s Aland constituency in 2023.

• More than 6,000 applications for voter deletions were submitted fraudulently in Aland, leading to an ECI investigation and an FIR regarding alleged electoral roll manipulation.

Deletion Procedure in Electoral Rolls

• Legal Mandate: Section 22 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, authorises Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) to delete names after a formal inquiry, either suo motu or on application.
  • Grounds: Death of elector, ceasing ordinary residence in constituency, duplicate enrolment elsewhere, or other legal ineligibility conditions.
• Citizen Initiative: Any registered elector can submit Form 7 within thirty days of draft roll publication to seek deletion of ineligible entries.
• Ground Verification: Booth Level Officers conduct field checks to confirm whether electors are dead, shifted, or duplicate, acting as first-level verification.
• Final Order: Following inquiry, EROs issue reasoned deletion orders, update electoral rolls, and archive supporting records for three years for accountability.

Safeguards in Electoral Deletion

• Mandatory Hearing: EROs are required to issue prior notice and hold hearings for affected voters, ensuring deletions are not made arbitrarily.
• Appeal Routes: Aggrieved electors contest deletion orders first with the District Magistrate and subsequently escalate to the Chief Electoral Officer.
• Penal Clause: Form 7 carries a statutory declaration warning that making false claims can result in imprisonment of up to one year and/or financial penalties.
• OTP Authentication: Submissions through Online Form 7 require OTP verification on the EC’s portal, preventing proxy entries via digital impersonation.

Read More > The Need for Food Literacy

{GS2 – Governance – Issues} Death Crescent and Death Triangle **

• Context (PIB): India had renamed the “Golden Triangle” and “Golden Crescent” as “Death Triangle” and “Death Crescent,” highlighting narcotics’ destructive social and economic consequences.

Rationale for the Name Change

• Deterrence Strategy: The “Death” terminology strips glamour, cautioning youth by linking narcotics consumption directly with mortality.
• Perception Management: The reframing positions narcotics solely as a threat to health and national security, removing earlier “Golden” economic associations.
• Policy Alignment: The shift reinforces India’s zero-tolerance approach under the NDPS Act, 1985, complementing nationwide Nasha Mukt Bharat campaigns.

About Death Crescent

• The Death Crescent spans Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran, constituting the primary illicit opium–heroin cultivation region in Southwest Asia.
• Primary Product: It accounts for almost 80% of global opium and heroin, with Afghanistan continuing to be the leading grower and exporter.
• Geopolitical Instability: Prolonged warfare and Taliban-linked insurgencies weaken governance, enabling widespread poppy cultivation and trafficking.

About Death Triangle

• The Death Triangle denotes the remote tri-border Mekong area of Myanmar, Laos, and Thailand, which has historically been a centre for illicit opium.
• Primary Product: Myanmar’s Shan State dominates synthetic methamphetamine production, while opium farming persists in adjacent highlands.
• Terrain Advantage: Remote mountains and dense forests conceal laboratories and provide safe corridors for drug smuggling.

{GS2 – Governance – Issues} Ladakh’s Statehood Demand **

• Context (TH): Activist Sonam Wangchuk’s hunger strike in Leh has revived demands for Ladakh’s statehood and stronger constitutional safeguards.

Demands of Protesters

• Statehood for Ladakh to ensure democratic governance and legislative powers.
• Inclusion under the Sixth Schedule to safeguard land, culture, language, and employment opportunities of the tribal population.

Background

• In 2019, Ladakh was carved out as a Union Territory after the revocation of Article 370 and bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir.
• Since then, civil society groups in Leh and Kargil have demanded stronger constitutional safeguards.
• In June 2025, the President notified four regulations for Ladakh, covering 85% reservation for Ladakhis in govt jobs, domiciles, languages, and hill councils.

Read More > Ladakh Protests

{GS2 – Social Sector – Health} Equalising Primary Food Consumption in India

• Context (PIB): The National Sample Survey (NSS) Household Consumption Survey (2024) revived data after a decade, enabling fresh poverty estimates.

• A World Bank (2025) report shows extreme poverty fell from 16.2% (2011-12) to 2.3% (2022-23), though new metrics reveal hidden food deprivation.

Thali as a Metric

• Poverty is often measured by calorie intake, but a more realistic measure considers balanced food consumption.
• Thali Index: As per Crisil, a home-cooked thali (rice, dal, vegetables, roti, curd, salad) costs ₹30.
• 2023-24 data: 50% of rural population and 20% of urban population could not afford two thalis per day.
  • Even with Public Distribution System (PDS) adjustment, deprivation remains high; 40% rural and 10% urban lack minimum consumption.
• Pulses: The main protein source for poorer households, remain severely under-consumed, with the poorest eating only half as much as the richest.

Role and Limits of PDS

• Success: The PDS has equalised cereal consumption (rice, wheat) across income groups.
• Issue: Subsidies are misdirected:
  • In rural India, the richest 5-10% receive subsidies almost equal to the poorest 5%, despite no need.
  • In urban India, subsidies are more progressive, but 80% of households still access PDS cereals even when above basic needs.
• Constraint: Cereal consumption is already saturated across classes, forming only 10% of household expenditure, limiting nutritional impact.

Policy Proposal

• Subsidy Reform: Restructure food subsidies by trimming excess cereal entitlements, especially for households already above the consumption norm (two thalis/day).
• Pulse Access: Expand PDS to pulses, ensuring affordable protein access for the poorest.
• Cost Rationalisation: Rationalise subsidies to reduce stocking costs of FCI and free resources for nutrition-sensitive interventions.
• Targeted PDS: Design a compact, targeted PDS that raises the poorest household’s food consumption to the highest observed level.

{GS2 – IR – Issues} Strategic Significance of International Borders

• Context (WION): International borders shape geopolitics, trade, and security, offering strategic leverage while simultaneously intensifying defence imperatives and resource governance challenges.

Countries with the Most International Borders

• Russia: A transcontinental nation with 16 neighbours, it holds global influence but demands expensive defence, Arctic security, and diplomacy.
• China: Sharing 14 borders with nations like India, Russia, and Myanmar, and facing disputes in the South and East China Seas, China’s geographic centrality heightens vulnerabilities.
• Brazil: Bounded by 10 countries, it underpins trade and biodiversity but is threatened by deforestation, illegal mining, and trafficking in the Amazon basin.
• DRC: Encompassing 9 borders and a narrow Atlantic outlet, the Democratic Republic of Congo is strategically central for African trade, but conflict spillovers and poor governance weaken its potential.
• Germany: Bordering 9 European states and the North and Baltic Seas, Germany’s position strengthens EU trade and logistics, but migration challenges its capacity to balance openness with security.

India’s Position

• India shares seven land borders and two maritime neighbours, positioning it at a strategic crossroads between major global trade routes and geopolitical interests.
• Challenges: Difficult terrains of mountains, deserts, and rivers complicate defence and infrastructure, while turmoil in neighbouring states heightens border management and regional security challenges.

Read More From > PMF IAS Indian Physical Geography | Diplomatic Challenges in India’s Neighbourhood

{GS3 – Envi – Species} Ant Queen Gives Birth to Two Different Species *

• Context (IE): Researchers discovered that the Messor ibericus ants can reproduce males of a different species, Messor structor, thereby overturning biological rules of species-specific reproduction.

• Although some ant species rely on cross-species mating to reproduce hybrid workers, M. ibericus are unique as queens internally reproduce foreign males inside their nests.

Biological Principle

• In ants, males usually come from unfertilized eggs that carry only maternal nuclear DNA, while females develop from fertilized eggs containing both maternal and paternal nuclear DNA.
• System Altered: M. ibericus queens defy this rule by eliminating their own egg DNA and substituting it with paternal DNA obtained from stored M. structor sperm.
• Mitochondrial Proof: As a result, the foreign male-heirs inherit mitochondria from the M. ibericus queen and nuclear DNA from M. structor sperm, demonstrating a mixed lineage.
  • Otherwise, a true M. structor male would receive both mitochondria and nuclear DNA exclusively from an M. structor mother.

Mechanism Involved

• Sperm Preservation: In her mating flight, the queen M. ibericus copulates with both species and stores their sperm in a spermatheca.
• Egg Preparation: When producing certain male eggs, the queen removes her own nuclear DNA from the eggs, retaining only the cytoplasm and mitochondria.
• DNA Substitution: In this prepared egg, the queen injects nuclear DNA from stored M. structor sperm, which completely reprograms the cell.
• Structor Male Birth: The reprogrammed egg matures into an M. structor male, even though an M. ibericus queen laid it.
• Colony Balance: These foreign males supply sperm to create hybrid workers, while M. ibericus sperm ensures new queens, maintaining both labour and reproductive supply.

{GS3 – Envi – Plastic Pollution} Single-Use Plastic in India *

• Context (TH): Though India imposed a nationwide ban on single-use plastic items, widespread usage continues due to weak enforcement and civic apathy.

• Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016 define a single-use plastic (SUP) commodity as “a plastic item intended to be used once for the same purpose before being disposed of or recycled.”
• A blanket national ban was introduced in 2021 on 19 identified SUP items under the Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016 and the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Guidelines, 2022.
  • The list includes earbuds, straws, cutlery, plates, cups, wrapping films, banners <100 microns, etc.
  • Karnataka in 2016 became the first state to ban SUP under the Environment Protection Act, 1986.

Read More > Plastic Waste Management Rules | Plastic Treaty

{Prelims – Social Sector – Health} 5^th National Pharmacovigilance Week *

• Context (PIB): Recently, the Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission (IPC), as National Coordination Centre for the Pharmacovigilance Programme of India, inaugurated the 5^th National Pharmacovigilance Week.

• Focus: Greater patient participation & building a curiosity-driven culture in pharmacovigilance.

• Awards:
  • Patient Safety Excellence Award: ADR Monitoring Centre, Varanasi.
  • Patient Connect Award: Mr Delli Kumar T., Andhra Pradesh.