Current Affairs – September 22, 2025

{GS2 – Polity – IC – Judiciary} Central Administrative Tribunal *

Context (PIB): The 10^th All India Conference of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) was held in New Delhi to discuss reforms for more effective justice delivery.

CAT, empowered by Article 323A and established under the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985, is a quasi-judicial body that adjudicates disputes related to the services of public servants.

Article 323A: Inserted by the 42^nd Amendment (1976), it allows Parliament to establish administrative tribunals for Union services and for States either individually or jointly (with State approval).

Composition: CAT has a main bench in New Delhi and 18 outlying benches, with 69 Members—35 Judicial (including Chairperson) and 34 Administrative.
- Judicial Members must be High Court judges; Administrative Members require senior service experience at the Additional Secretary level or above.

Functioning: Provides swift justice for employees of the Union government and notified PSUs in service disputes based on principles of natural justice, with a 92.9% disposal rate.
Appeals: Judicial review of CAT orders can be sought via writs under Articles 226 or 227 before High Courts, with further appeal to the Supreme Court under Article 136.

Read More > Tribunals in India

Context (TH): India’s Out-of-Pocket Expenditure (OOPE), at 39.4% of Total Health Expenditure (THE), remains a primary driver of medical impoverishment & a critical barrier to Universal Health Coverage.

The National Health Authority (NHA) defines OOPE as direct household payments for health services at the point of care, excluding third-party reimbursements or subsidies.

NHA Data on OOPE

Sustained Decline: OOPE fell from 62.6% (2014-15) to 39.4% (2021-22), reflecting a major structural shift toward public health financing.
Public Funding: Government health expenditure increased from 29% of the Total Health Expenditure (2014-15) to 41.4% (2019-20), reflecting a significant expansion in public spending on health.
Global Gap: India’s OOPE remains nearly double the global average (18-20%), revealing persistent gaps in financial risk protection.

Issues with NHA Estimates

Data Lag: Reliance on outdated National Sample Survey (NSS) 2017-18 data forces extrapolations, masking current household health spending realities.
Pandemic Blindspot: The model ignores the V-shaped cost surge during COVID-19, distorting actual financial risk patterns.
Macroeconomic Contradiction: National Income Accounts show health’s GDP share rising, while NHA depicts steady OOPE decline.

Factors Behind High OOPE

Limited Funding: India invests ~2% of its GDP in healthcare, well below the WHO’s 5% target, forcing families to turn to private healthcare services.
Private Reliance: Nearly 70% of outpatient and 60% of inpatient treatments are delivered privately, significantly increasing healthcare costs.
Expensive Medications: Medications make up ~60% of outpatient OOPE, with price disparities reaching up to 3400%, heavily burdening average patients.
Insurance Gap: An estimated 40 crore Indians, the “missing middle“, lack health insurance, exposing them to high financial risk from medical costs.
Weak PHCs: Inadequate primary health centres (PHCs) lead to the referral of even minor illnesses to tertiary hospitals, which unnecessarily raises treatment costs.

Missing Middle: Households that are too poor to afford private health insurance yet not poor enough to qualify for government-subsidised schemes.

Consequences of High OOPE

Catastrophic Spending: 17% of Indian households spend over 10% of their income on health, eroding savings and jeopardising financial stability
Poverty Induction: Healthcare costs push ~55 million Indians into poverty annually (WHO-World Bank), reinforcing deep socioeconomic disparities.
Debt Cycle: Families resort to high-interest informal loans for treatment, triggering distress asset sales and intergenerational debt.
Care Denial: Fear of unaffordable costs leads to postponed care, resulting in advanced diseases and preventable mortality.
Inequality Expansion: OOPE disproportionately burdens rural poor, women, and informal workers, exacerbating existing social and health inequities.

Catastrophic Health Expenditure (CHE): WHO defines CHE as health spending above 40% of capacity-to-pay, with SDG indicators additionally using a 10% expenditure threshold.

Way Forward

Integrated Data: Combine NSS, CES, and CMIE datasets to build a reliable and precise national health expenditure framework.
Fiscal Commitment: Increase public health spending to 2.5% of GDP (NHP 2017 target) to lessen household financial burdens.
Holistic Insurance: Expand Ayushman Bharat to include outpatient services, adopting Thailand’s model of holistic financial protection.
PHC Empowerment: Equip Ayushman Arogya Mandirs with free essential medicines and diagnostics to establish them as credible first-contact points.
Price Regulation: Empower the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) to enforce price controls on a broader range of essential medicines and diagnostics.

NSS: The National Sample Survey provides large-scale household data on consumption, employment, and health expenditure through periodic rounds.
CES: The Consumer Expenditure Survey measures household spending patterns, offering insights into poverty, inequality, and living standards nationally.
CMIE: The Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy conducts independent surveys on employment, consumption, and business activity, filling real-time data gaps.

Read More > Universal Health Coverage in India

{GS2 – Governance – Initiatives} CAG Deploys AI to Uncover Fraud in Welfare Schemes

Context (IE): The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) reported that AI/ML-based audits detected widespread fraud in states’ beneficiary schemes, saving public funds from misuse.

CAG will expand remote audits across all digitised departments, enhancing transparency in GST, DBT, and procurement records.

Remote Audit: A technology-driven audit method where digitised departmental records are reviewed remotely, lessening executive workload and enabling broader, real-time oversight.

About the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India (CAG)

Constitutional Basis: Established under Article 148, the CAG is an independent constitutional authority responsible for auditing Union, State, and PSU finances.
Appointment & Tenure: Appointed by the President, the CAG serves a term of six years or until he reaches age 65, whichever is earlier.
Removal Process: The President may remove the CAG after an address by both Houses of Parliament, passed with a special majority, on grounds of proven misbehaviour or incapacity.
Independence: Safeguards include fixed tenure, expenses charged on the Consolidated Fund of India, and a prohibition on holding future government office.
Audit Mandate: Article 149 requires the CAG to audit Union, State, and PSU accounts through compliance, performance, and financial audits.
Reporting Chain: Under Article 151, Union audit reports are sent to the President, and State reports go to Governors, who submit them to legislatures for review by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
- PSU Reports: Under the CAG’s Act, 1971, PSU audit reports go to the concerned government, are tabled in the legislature, and are reviewed by the Committee on Public Undertakings (COPU).

{GS2 – Governance – Initiatives} Facial Recognition in Anganwadis

Context (TH): The Ministry of Women & Child Development mandated Facial Recognition Software (FRS) in Anganwadis, integrated with the Poshan Tracker app, aiming to curb fraud in welfare programs.

About Anganwadis

Established in 1975 under ICDS, Anganwadis provide preschool education, basic health services, and Take-Home Rations for children under three and pregnant & lactating women.
India has about 1.4 million Anganwadi centres staffed by local women as Anganwadi Workers (AWW) and Anganwadi Helpers (AWH).

Key Issues and Concerns with FRS

Technical Issues: Limited phone capacity, poor internet, and mismatched photos and Aadhaar numbers delay authentication, excluding genuine beneficiaries.
Worker Strain: Repeated photo captures, constant app updates, and inadequate training overburden AWWs and increase community tensions.
Stigmatisation Risk: Using FRS, often associated with criminal contexts, can stigmatise vulnerable women and children by depicting them as suspects rather than beneficiaries.
Rights Violation: Mandatory facial recognition presumes guilt, undermines dignity, and conflicts with the principles of natural justice.

Way Forward

Verification Alternatives: Use manual registers and community monitoring, overseen by SHGs, to prevent exclusion when technology fails.
Worker Training: AWWs need reliable smartphones, stable internet, and structured training to handle digital systems effectively and minimise failures.
Structural Reforms: Prioritise transparency, ensure quality and consistent supply by decentralising production and distribution through SHGs and Mahila Mandals.

{GS2 – Governance – Initiatives} NITI Aayog Plans Manufacturing & Infrastructure Index *

Context (DTE): NITI Aayog is creating a Manufacturing & Infrastructure Index to evaluate and compare states’ performance in policies, infrastructure, logistics, and approvals.

It is exploring an Indian Ocean Region community for critical metals and minerals to build resilient supply chains, inspired by the European Coal and Steel Community.
About the Index: It will integrate policies, infrastructure, logistics, and approvals into a scorecard to foster competitive–cooperative federalism by enabling comparisons among states.
IOR Community: Research inspired by the European Coal and Steel Community aims to develop resilient critical minerals supply chains in the Indian Ocean to reduce chokepoint vulnerabilities.

The European Coal and Steel Community, founded in 1951 by six nations, managed coal and steel to foster peace and eventually evolved into the European Union.

{GS2 – IR – Israel-Palestine} International Recognition of Palestinian Statehood

Context (TH): Australia, Canada, & United Kingdom recently formally recognised the State of Palestine, ahead of the UN General Assembly session, with countries like France & Portugal expected to follow.

Out of 193 United Nations member states, 147, including major powers like India, China, and Russia, have already recognised the Palestinian state.

Implications

For Palestinians: Recognition strengthens diplomatic legitimacy for sovereignty and increases global pressure on Israel to allow aid and resume peace talks.
For Israel: It signals diplomatic isolation among traditional Western allies while raising concerns that recognition strengthens Hamas and weakens Israel’s security position.
For Geopolitics: Marks a historic shift as Western nations align with the UN majority, reviving two-state solution debates and pressuring the U.S. to reconcile with allies.

The two-state solution is a proposed framework to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by creating two independent states, coexisting side by side with mutual peace, security, and recognition.

{GS3 – IE – Development} CAG Report on Rising Public Debt of Indian States **

Context (IE): A first-of-its-kind report released by CAG K. Sanjay Murthy provided a decade-long analysis (2013-14 to 2022-23) of the fiscal health of states.

Key Findings of the Report

Trebled Debt: The combined debt of states increased threefold from ₹17.57 lakh crore in 2013-14 to ₹59.60 lakh crore in 2022-23, accounting for 22.17% of GDP.
Debt-to-GSDP: The ratio rose from 16.66 % in 2013-14 to 22.96 % in 2022-23, with Punjab (40.35 %), Nagaland (37.15 %), and WB (33.70 %) having the highest, and Odisha (8.45 %) the lowest.
Debt Burden: State debt ranged from 128–191 % of revenue receipts and 127–190 % of non-debt receipts between 2014-15 and 2020-21.
Golden Rule Breach: 11 states used borrowed funds to finance their current expenditures.
Capital Gap: In Andhra Pradesh and Punjab, capital expenditure was under 30% of net borrowings, indicating unsustainable debt use.

GSDP: Gross State Domestic Product is the annual value of goods and services produced within a state.
Golden Rule: Borrowings should be used only for creating capital assets, not for routine expenses like salaries, pensions, or subsidies.

About Public Debt

Public debt is the government’s liabilities from borrowings like market loans, treasury bills, bonds, bank advances, Ways and Means Advances, institutional loans, and Union loans under the Consolidated Fund.
Legal Framework: Debt is managed by the Union and states, under the FRBM Act and state fiscal law, with the RBI as the primary agent.
Fiscal Benchmarks: The NK Singh Committee recommended a 40 % debt-to-GDP ratio for the Union and 20 % for states as sustainable thresholds.

{GS3 – Infra – Transportation} Samudra Se Samriddhi Event **

Context (PIB): PM inaugurated and launched maritime projects worth ₹34,200 crore in Bhavnagar, Gujarat, under the ‘Samudra se Samriddhi’ initiative to strengthen India’s maritime infrastructure.

Next-Gen Reforms: Introduction of ‘One Nation, One Document’ and ‘One Nation, One Port’ for simplified trade processes.
Investment Push: ₹70,000 crore earmarked for three schemes: financial support to shipbuilding, adoption of modern technology, and improved design/quality standards.

Key Port-Led Development Initiatives

State / Place	Project / Initiative
Mumbai	International Cruise Terminal at Indira Dock
Kolkata	New container terminal at Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port
Odisha -Paradip	Container berth & cargo handling facilities
Gujarat -Tuna Tekra (Bhavnagar)	Multi-Cargo Terminal
Gujarat – Kandla (Deendayal Port)	Green Bio-Methanol Plant
Tamil Nadu – Ennore (Kamarajar Port)	Firefighting facilities & modern road connectivity
Tamil Nadu – Chennai	Coastal protection works & sea-wall construction
Andaman & Nicobar – Car Nicobar	Sea-wall construction

Challenges in India’s Maritime Sector

Domestic Shipbuilding: India’s share in trade through Indian-built ships has fallen from 40% to just 5%.
Dependence on Foreign Ships: India pays nearly $75 billion (₹6 lakh crore) annually as freight to foreign shipping companies, almost equal to India’s defence budget.
Job Loss: Millions of jobs are created abroad due to the outsourcing of shipping, instead of strengthening the local industry.

Strategic Implications and Benefits

Multiplier Effect: Shipbuilding drives allied industries like steel, machinery, electronics, and textiles, creating 6-7 indirect jobs per shipyard job.
Global Trade Share: India accounts for 10% of maritime trade; the target is to triple by 2047.
Seafarers: India now contributes over 3 lakh seafarers, ranking among the top three globally.

{GS3 – Envi – Conservation} Morocco Ratifies the UN High Seas Treaty

Context (TH | MWN): Morocco became the 60^th country to ratify the UN High Seas Treaty, enabling its global enforcement from January 2026.

High Seas are areas of the ocean beyond national jurisdiction, outside territorial waters and Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs).

About High Seas Treaty

The High Seas Treaty, officially known as the Agreement on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ Agreement), was adopted in 2023 under UNCLOS.
Objective: It aims to conserve and sustainably use marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction, covering 2/3^rd of the world’s oceans and nearly 1/2 of Earth’s surface.
Significance: It is the first legally binding global framework to regulate overfishing, deep-sea mining, benefit sharing, and marine protected areas in international waters.
India’s Position: Signed the treaty in 2024, aligning with its blue economy & conservation commitments.
Key Challenge: Enforcement remains difficult since major maritime powers like the USA, China, Russia, and Japan have not yet ratified.

Key Provisions

Marine Protected Areas: Countries can designate protected zones in international waters to conserve biodiversity and reduce human impacts.
Environmental Assessments: Any planned activity in high seas areas, such as mining or large-scale fishing, must first be assessed for its impact on marine ecosystems.
Benefit Sharing: Benefits from marine genetic resources, like deep-sea organism material used in medicines or biotech, must be shared fairly among countries.
Capacity Building: The treaty provides for technology transfer, financial aid, and scientific cooperation to help developing countries participate effectively in ocean conservation.

Read In-Depth About > High Seas Treaty

{Prelims – IR – Events} Bharat International Rice Conference (BIRC) 2025

Context (NOA): The Bharat International Rice Conference (BIRC) 2025 will take place at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi, on 30-31 October 2025.

Importance of the Conference

It is recognised as the world’s largest rice-focused event, bringing together farmers, global buyers, exporters, and policymakers.
Showcases India’s rice diversity, quality, and innovation, while strengthening business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-government (B2G) linkages across the global rice value chain.
Supports India’s vision to double agricultural and agri-based exports within five years.

India, the world’s largest rice exporter (40% of global trade), is set to ship 22.5 million tonnes in 2025 while projecting record production of 149 million tonnes for 2025-26.

{Prelims – S&T – Defence} India Launches Tri-Services Academia Technology Symposium

Context (PIB): The maiden Tri-Services Academia Technology Symposium (T-SATS) will convene in New Delhi to foster innovation and defence–academia collaboration.

Host Agency: The Indian Army under the aegis of Headquarters Integrated Defence Staff (HQ IDS).
Objective: To promote indigenous niche technology solutions critical for national defence modernisation.
Theme: “Vivek va Anusandhan se Vijay” (Victory Through Wisdom and Innovation).

{Prelims – Awards} Dadasaheb Phalke Award 2023 *

Context (PIB): The Dadasaheb Phalke Award 2023 will be presented to actor Mohanlal Viswanathan Nair at the 71^st National Film Awards ceremony.

Shri Mohanlal is a renowned actor, producer, and singer from Kerala, known for his contributions to Malayalam cinema and has been honoured with the Padma Shri (2001) and Padma Bhushan (2019).

About Dadasaheb Phalke Award

The Dadasaheb Phalke Award, instituted in 1969, is the highest honour in Indian cinema and was first conferred on actress Devika Rani.
It commemorates Dadasaheb Phalke, director of Raja Harishchandra (1913), India’s first feature film.
The award includes a Swarna Kamal (Golden Lotus) medallion, a shawl, and a cash prize of ₹10 lakh.

{Prelims} One Liners

In News – Japan Agency Upgrades India’s Rating (PIB): Japan’s credit rating agency, R&I Information, has upgraded India’s long-term sovereign rating to BBB+ from BBB, keeping the outlook stable.
In News – India’s First PM MITRA Park (TH): PM Modi laid the foundation for India’s first PM Mega Integrated Textile Region and Apparel (PM MITRA) Park in Dhar, Madhya Pradesh, and launched the Swasth Nari Sashakt Parivar Abhiyan to enhance women’s health.
IS Issues – Non-Functional CCTVs at Police Stations (TH): SC proposes AI-based control rooms to detect non-functional CCTVs in police stations, citing custodial deaths and non-compliance with its 2020 directive mandating camera installation for accountability and protection of rights.
Awards – India’s Official Entry for Oscar (TOI): Neeraj Ghaywan’s film “Homebound” has been selected as India’s official entry for the International Feature Film category at the 98^th Academy Awards.