Category: Defence and Security

Context:

• The 13th edition of the joint military Exercise KHANJAR between India and Kyrgyzstan begins recently at Misamari in Sonitpur district of Assam.

About Exercise Khanjar:

• • Countries involved: It is the Joint Special Forces Exercise held between India and Kyrgyzstan.
  • Origin: Initiated in December 2011 in Nahan, India. It became an annual event following PM Narendra Modi’s 2015 visit to the Kyrgyz Republic.
  • Format: The exercise is conducted annually, alternating between India and Kyrgyzstan.
  • Focus Areas: Specialised skills such as sniping, complex building intervention, mountain craft, and insertion/extraction techniques.

• Strategic Significance:

• • • Strengthens bilateral defence cooperation and strategic trust.
    • Addresses shared regional security concerns like international terrorism and extremism.
    • Promotes interoperability between elite units of both nations.

• About Exercise Khanjar-XIII:

• • It is held in Misamari in the Sonitpur district of Assam. 
  • The 14-day-long military exercise aims to enhance interoperability between the Special Forces of both nations.
  • Indian Contingent is represented by troops from the Parachute Regiment (Special Forces), while Kyrgyzstan Contingent is represented by the ILBRIS Special Forces Brigade (Scorpion Brigade)
  • The 2026 exercise will focus on joint operations in urban warfare and counter-terrorism scenarios under the United Nations mandate.
  • The training modules will include close-quarter battle techniques, room intervention procedures, hostage-rescue simulations, counter-terrorism operations, and joint tactical manoeuvres.

Source:

• • • News on AIR

Category: Geography

Context:

• India and Bhutan recently deliberated on the commercial optimization of power output from the Punatsangchhu-II Hydroelectric Project (1020 MW).

About Punatsangchhu-II Hydroelectric Project:

• Nature: It is a 1020 MW run-of-the-river hydroelectric power project.

• • Location: It is located in the Wangdue Phodrang district of Bhutan on the right bank of the Punatsangchhu River.
  • Development: The project is being developed by the Punatsangchhu II Hydroelectric Project Authority, under an Inter-Government Agreement (IGA) between the Royal Government of Bhutan and the Government of India.
  • Funding: It is funded by the Government of India (GoI): 30% grant and 70% loan at 10% annual interest, repayable in 30 equated semi-annual installments commencing one year after the mean date of operation. 

• Significance: With the completion of the Punatsangchhu-II project, Bhutan’s installed power generation capacity has increased by about 40 percent to over 3500 MW.

• Structure: The project involves the construction of a 91 m-high and 223.8 m-long concrete gravity dam, along with a diversion tunnel with a discharge capacity of 1118 cubic metres per second.
• Cofferdams: The project involves a 168.75 m-long and 22 m-high upper cofferdam and a 102.02 m-long and 13.5 m-tall downstream cofferdam. It will also comprise an underground powerhouse equipped with six Francis turbines of 170 MW capacity each.

Source:

• The Hindu

Category: Government Schemes

Context:

• Recently, the union minister of minority affairs informed the Rajya Sabha about the Pradhan Mantri Virasat Ka Samvardhan (PM VIKAS) scheme.

About PM VIKAS Scheme:

• Full Form: PM VIKAS stands for Pradhan Mantri Virasat Ka Samvardhan.

• • Nature: It is a Central Sector Scheme launched in 2025.

• Objective: It aims to ensure inclusive growth for not only the minority and artisan communities but also for the youth and women. 

• • Convergent Umbrella Scheme: PM VIKAS integrates five erstwhile schemes of the Ministry to streamline resources and enhance impact:
    • Seekho aur Kamao: Skill development for minority youth.
    • USTTAD: Upgrading skills in traditional arts and crafts.
    • Hamari Dharohar: Preservation of the rich heritage of minority communities.
    • Nai Roshni: Leadership development for minority women.
    • Nai Manzil: Education and skilling for school dropouts.

• Nodal Ministry: The nodal ministry for the scheme is Ministry of Minority Affairs.

• Target Beneficiaries: It targets primarily Indian nationals from the six notified minority communities: Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Jains, and Parsis.

• • Inclusive Mandates: The scheme emphasizes gender inclusivity, with 33% of seats in skilling and 50% in education earmarked for women. A 3% reservation is also provided for Persons with Disabilities (PwDs).
  • Timeline: It is aligned with the 15th Finance Commission cycle, targeting benefits for approximately 9 lakh candidates through 2025–26.

• Collaboration: It is implemented in convergence with the Skill India Mission and the Skill India Portal (SIP).

• • Credit access: It facilitates credit access through the National Minorities Development & Finance Corporation (NMDFC) and market support via the Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH).

• Focus areas:

• • Skill Development: To build capacity of minority communities through targeted interventions by providing skill training support in need-based courses and ensuring employment.
  • Cultural Preservation: To preserve and promote the cultural heritage including traditional arts and craft forms by propagation of literature/ documents/ manuscripts and showcasing their unique ICH.
  • Educational Support: To provide formal education and certification up to 8th, 10th, and 12th through open schooling to school dropouts from minority communities.
  • Leadership and Entrepreneurship: To empower women from minority communities and instil confidence amongst them by providing leadership and entrepreneurship support.

Source:

• • • PIB

Category: Environment and Ecology

Context:

• Recently, scientists from the Botanical Survey of India have identified a new species of flowering plant in Pakhal Wildlife Sanctuary and named it as Dicliptera pakhalica.

About Pakhal Wildlife Sanctuary:

• Location: It is located in the Warangal district of Telangana.

• Vegetation: It has mixed deciduous forests.

• Lake: The Pakhal Wildlife Sanctuary houses the Pakhal Lake which was excavated on the orders of King Ganapati Deva of the Kakatiya empire in 1213 AD. 

• Flora:  It consists of bamboo, teak, and diverse flora, including Terminalia, Pterocarpus, and Mohua. It also consists of various kinds of herbs, shrubs and climbers.

• Fauna: These include Leopard, wild boar, panthers, hyenas, sloth bear, chital, mountain gazelle, blackbuck etc.

About Dicliptera Pakhalica:

• Nature: It is a flowering plant species belongs to the Acanthaceae family.

• Habitat: The plant was found growing along stream banks and rocky areas.

• Flowering season: It flowers between November and January, with fruiting extending from December to March. 
• Significance: The species occurs in association with other native plants such as Tarenna asiatica, Eranthemum purpurascens, Ruellia prostrata and Mallotus philippensis, among others.

Source:

• • • The New Indian Express

Category: Science and Technology

Context:

• Researchers have developed a flexible, low-cost biosensor capable of detecting myoglobin which is associated with the early stages of a heart attack.

About Myoglobin:

• Nature: It is a small protein that accounts for about 2% of total muscle protein. 

• • Presence: It is found predominantly in striated muscle tissue, namely skeletal muscle and cardiac muscle. Specifically, it is in the cytoplasm of cardiac myocytes and the sarcoplasm of oxidative skeletal muscle fibers.
  • Primary function: It acts as an intracellular storage site (reservoir) for oxygen in muscle tissues, releasing it during high metabolic demand or hypoxia.
  • Structure: It encodes a single polypeptide chain with one oxygen binding site.
  • Association with hemoglobin: It is one of the members of the globin superfamily, which also includes hemoglobin. It often gets compared structurally and functionally to hemoglobin. Hemoglobin has 4 polypeptide chains and four oxygen binding sites. 
  • Composition: It is made of amino acids, iron and other molecules that work together to hold onto oxygen.
  • Transports Oxygen: It transports oxygen from the bloodstream to your muscles when they need it to convert stored energy into movements. It serves as a sensitive indicator of cellular damage when detected in urine or plasma. It serves as a buffer of intracellular oxygen concentrations and as an oxygen reservoir in muscle. 
  • Enzymatic functions: It is necessary for the decomposition of bioactive nitric oxide to nitrate. The removal of nitric oxide enhances mitochondrial respiration.

• Nobel Prize Connection: The three-dimensional structure of myoglobin was the first to be determined by X-ray crystallography, earning John Kendrew and Max Perutz the 1962 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

• Significance:

• • Biomarker for Heart Attacks: It is an early indicator of cardiac injury. Elevated levels appear in the blood within 1–3 hours of a heart attack, though it lacks specificity compared to Troponin because it also rises during general muscle injury.
  • Toxicity: While vital in muscles, free myoglobin in the bloodstream (often from rhabdomyolysis—severe muscle breakdown) is filtered by the kidneys and can be toxic, potentially leading to kidney failure.
  • Colour of Meat: The “red liquid” in meat packages is not blood, but a mixture of water and myoglobin. Its oxidation state determines whether meat looks purple-red, bright red, or brown.
  • Diving mammals: Animals like whales and seals have exceptionally high levels of myoglobin (10–30 times more than humans), enabling them to stay submerged for long periods.

Source:

• • • • • The Hindu

(GS Paper III – Indian Economy, Public Finance)

Context (Introduction)

The Union Budget 2026–27 has been presented at a time when India is pursuing the ambitious goal of becoming a developed economy by 2047, amid global uncertainty and domestic structural constraints. While the Budget outlines an expansive developmental vision, it also brings to the fore a critical concern: the slowing pace of fiscal consolidation and its implications for macroeconomic stability and long-term growth.

Current Fiscal Position: Key Trends

• Shift in Expenditure Composition: Revenue expenditure has declined from 88% of total expenditure in 2014–15 to about 77% in 2026–27 (BE), reflecting conscious fiscal restructuring.
• Rationalisation of Subsidies: Central subsidies have reduced by about 7 percentage points of total expenditure over the decade.
• Capital Expenditure Push: Capital expenditure has increased its share and supported post-COVID growth, remaining around 3.1% of GDP in recent years.
• Moderating Capex Growth: Capex growth slowed from 28.3% (2023–24) to 4.2% (2025–26 RE), with a modest rebound to 11.5% in 2026–27 (BE).
• Cautious Revenue Projections: Tax revenue assumptions for 2026–27 appear realistic, avoiding over-optimism.

Revenue Constraints and Tax Buoyancy Issues

• Declining Tax Buoyancy: Overall gross tax buoyancy has fallen to 0.8 in 2026–27 (BE), below the desirable benchmark of 1.
• Direct vs Indirect Taxes: Direct taxes show buoyancy of 1.1, but indirect taxes lag significantly at 0.3.
• GST Underperformance: GST collections are projected to grow slower than GDP, weakening overall revenue elasticity.
• Need for Indirect Tax Reform: Enhancing GST efficiency and compliance is essential to raise revenue buoyancy without increasing rates.

Centre–State Fiscal Dynamics

• Status Quo on Tax Devolution: The Sixteenth Finance Commission (FC16) retained States’ share in the divisible pool at 41%.
• Reduction in Grants: FC16 discontinued revenue deficit grants and reduced overall Finance Commission grants from 0.43% of GDP (2025–26 RE) to 0.33% (2026–27 BE).
• Increased Burden on States: Lower grants constrain States’ fiscal space even as they shoulder greater responsibility for welfare and capital spending.

Slowing Pace of Fiscal Consolidation

• Diminishing Deficit Reduction: Annual fiscal deficit reduction has slowed from 0.7 percentage points (2024–25) to just 0.1 percentage point in 2026–27 (BE).
• Shift to Debt Targeting: Emphasis on debt-to-GDP targeting without a clear glide path for fiscal deficit weakens transparency.
• Interdependence of Targets: Debt-GDP and fiscal deficit ratios move together and depend critically on nominal GDP growth assumptions.
• FRBM Credibility at Stake: The Budget does not clearly indicate when the FRBM targets of 3% fiscal deficit and 40% debt-GDP ratio will be achieved.

Risks from High Public Debt

• Rising Interest Burden: Effective interest rate on government debt is estimated at 7.12% in 2026–27, increasing steadily.
• Crowding Out Effect: Interest payments absorb nearly 40% of revenue receipts, limiting space for developmental expenditure.
• Private Investment Constraint: High combined Centre–State deficits (8–9% of GDP) reduce investible resources for the private sector.
• Growth–Stability Trade-off: Sustained growth cannot rely indefinitely on public capex without reviving private investment.

Way Forward: Recalibrating Fiscal Strategy

• Restore Tax Buoyancy: Strengthen GST administration, widen base, and improve compliance to raise indirect tax elasticity.
• Transparent Fiscal Roadmap: Publish a clear five-year glide path for fiscal deficit and debt-GDP ratios with growth assumptions.
• Balance Capex with Consolidation: Maintain productive public investment while ensuring credible deficit reduction.
• Reinforce Centre–State Fiscal Federalism: Reassess grant structures to prevent erosion of State-level fiscal capacity.
• Support Private Investment: Fiscal consolidation must create room for credit availability and crowd-in private capital.

Conclusion

Budget 2026–27 presents a credible development vision, but the slowing pace of fiscal consolidation raises concerns about long-term macroeconomic stability. Sustained growth towards Viksit Bharat 2047 requires not only strategic expenditure but also disciplined fiscal management. Reinvigorating tax buoyancy, restoring transparency in fiscal targets, and balancing public investment with private sector revival are essential to ensure that growth remains durable and inclusive.

Mains Question

1. Fiscal consolidation is essential for sustaining high growth while preserving macroeconomic stability. Examine the challenges to India’s fiscal consolidation path and suggest measures to achieve this. (250 words)

Source: The Hindu 

(GS Paper II – Statutory Bodies | GS Paper III – Competition, Digital Economy)

Context (Introduction)

The Supreme Court’s scrutiny of Meta–WhatsApp’s data-sharing practices has brought the Competition Commission of India (CCI) into sharp focus, highlighting how competition law must respond to monopolistic digital platforms, coerced consent, and the economic value of user data in India’s rapidly expanding digital economy.

Competition Commission of India: Mandate and Nature

• The Competition Commission of India is a statutory, quasi-judicial body established under the Competition Act, 2002.
• Its core mandate is to prevent anti-competitive practices, promote fair competition, protect consumer interests, and ensure freedom of trade.
• The CCI exercises adjudicatory, investigative, and remedial powers, including penalties, behavioural remedies, and structural directions.
• In digital markets, the CCI increasingly addresses abuse of dominance, network effects, data concentration, and platform monopolies.

WhatsApp–Meta Case: CCI’s Intervention

• In 2021, WhatsApp introduced a “take-it-or-leave-it” privacy policy, mandating greater data sharing with Meta.
• The CCI held that WhatsApp’s near-monopoly in India (over 500 million users) eliminated meaningful choice, making consent coercive rather than voluntary.
• The Commission imposed a penalty of ₹213 crore and ordered restrictions on data sharing for advertising purposes, recognising data as a source of competitive advantage.
• The ruling reflected a shift from viewing data as a privacy issue alone to recognising it as a competition assetthat can distort markets.

Judicial Trajectory and Supreme Court’s Concerns

• While the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal upheld the finding of abuse of dominance, it diluted the CCI’s remedial directions.
• The Supreme Court of India, however, adopted a more structural view of digital dominance.
• The Court questioned whether “consent” is meaningful in a monopolistic ecosystem, especially in a country with uneven digital literacy.
• It raised concerns beyond privacy, including economic value extraction, rent-sharing, and whether citizens should be protected from exploitative data monetisation.
• By impleading the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, the Court signalled the need for policy coherence between competition law and data governance.

Digital Markets and CCI’s Evolving Role: Comparable Cases

• In the Google Android case, the CCI penalised Google for forcing pre-installation of apps, recognising ecosystem-level dominance.
• In Amazon–Flipkart investigations, the CCI examined preferential listings and deep discounting in e-commerce.
• These cases underline the CCI’s gradual move toward ex-ante regulation in winner-takes-all digital markets.

Key Challenges Before the CCI

• Network Effects: Dominant platforms become indispensable, weakening consumer exit options.
• Data Asymmetry: Firms control vast datasets that competitors and users cannot access.
• Overlap with Data Protection Law: The DPDP Act, 2023 protects privacy but does not address economic exploitation of data.
• Limited Structural Remedies: Penalties alone are insufficient deterrents for trillion-dollar platforms.
• Digital Literacy Gap: Formal consent mechanisms often fail in practice due to information asymmetry.

Need for Reforms and Way Forward

• Explicit Digital Competition Framework: Introduce ex-ante obligations for gatekeeper platforms, similar to the EU’s Digital Markets Act.
• Data as an Economic Resource: Recognise user data as a source of value, requiring fair-use and non-extractive practices.
• Stronger Remedies: Empower CCI to impose time-bound data-sharing restrictions and interoperability mandates.
• Institutional Coordination: Align CCI’s mandate with data protection authorities to address privacy–competition overlaps.
• Capacity Building: Enhance technical expertise within the CCI for algorithmic audits and digital market assessments.
• User-Centric Standards: Shift from formal consent to meaningful, comprehensible consent standards.

Conclusion

The Meta–WhatsApp case marks a turning point in India’s competition jurisprudence. As digital platforms become essential infrastructure, the CCI’s role must evolve from penalising misconduct to structurally disciplining digital power. Effective regulation will determine whether India’s digital economy remains inclusive or becomes extractive.

Mains Question

1. Digital platforms challenge traditional notions of competition and consumer choice.
   Examine the role of the Competition Commission of India in regulating digital market dominance, with reference to recent judicial Judgements. (250 words)