Current Affairs — 2 September 2026

1. Article 17 and the Law of Untouchability — The Haldwani Ritual Row

GS Paper II | Polity — Fundamental Rights, Social Justice

Core Context: A "shuddhikaran" (purification) ceremony conducted at a public ground in Haldwani, days after a prominent Dalit leader addressed a rally there, has reopened a long-standing constitutional puzzle: does symbolically "purifying" a space after a person's presence amount to practising untouchability, an act the Constitution abolishes "in any form" under Article 17? Since the Constitution itself never defines untouchability, courts have had to work out its meaning case by case, and this incident tests whether the idea extends beyond the more familiar practice of denying someone physical entry.

Latest Developments:

• Article 17 is one of the few Fundamental Rights that binds private individuals directly and not just the State, making it enforceable horizontally rather than only against government action.
• The Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955 (originally the Untouchability Offences Act, 1955, renamed in 1976) criminalises preaching, practising or enforcing any disability arising from untouchability, including insulting a person on the ground of untouchability under Section 7(1)(d).
• The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 separately penalises intentional insult or intimidation of an SC/ST person in public view when the accused does not belong to that community, but courts have insisted the insult must be clearly linked to the person's caste identity.
• In Sukanya Shantha versus Union of India (2024), the Supreme Court struck down caste-based discriminatory provisions in prison manuals, holding that untouchability springs from notions of ritual purity and pollution and that no stigma can attach to a person's mere presence or touch.
• An older Rajasthan High Court ruling, Surya Narayan Choudhary versus State of Rajasthan (1988), had barred a temple from imposing a purification ritual on Dalit devotees as a condition for entry, treating it as a clear case of caste-based differential treatment.
• The Haldwani case differs because the ritual followed, rather than preceded, use of the venue, so the outcome will hinge on whether the act can be shown to be rooted in caste-based pollution beliefs rather than unrelated political friction.

UPSC Prelims Pointers:

• Article 17 abolishes untouchability and forbids its practice "in any form"; enforcing any resulting disability is a punishable offence.
• Articles 14, 15 and 17 are often invoked together in untouchability-related litigation.
• The Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955 is the principal statute operationalising Article 17.
• Article 47, a Directive Principle, obliges the State to raise nutrition levels and public health standards, and has at times been read alongside social-health concerns in this space.
• Horizontal application of Fundamental Rights — binding private parties, not just the State — is otherwise rare and mainly seen in Articles 15(2) and 17.

2. The 'Distinguished Jurist' Route to the Supreme Court — Article 124(3)

GS Paper II | Polity — Judiciary, Appointments

Core Context: Article 124(3) of the Constitution lays down three routes by which a person can become a Supreme Court judge: serving as a High Court judge for five years, practising as an advocate for ten years, or being recognised by the President as a "distinguished jurist." While the first two routes have populated the Bench for over seven decades, the third has never once been used, and a sitting Supreme Court judge has now called for its serious reconsideration as a way of widening the pool of talent reaching the apex court.

Latest Developments:

• The clause traces back to the Constituent Assembly debates of May 1949, when it was added on the suggestion that judicial talent should not be confined only to sitting judges or practising advocates.
• B.R. Ambedkar did not object to the idea in principle and only questioned whether the word "eminent" might have served better than "distinguished," leaving the precise wording to the Drafting Committee.
• No clear legal definition of "distinguished jurist" exists, and it is generally understood to cover legal academics, researchers and scholars who may lack courtroom experience, creating uncertainty about eligibility.
• Bar Council rules that generally bar full-time law teachers from simultaneously practising law add a further practical hurdle to using this route.
• Appointments to the Supreme Court today go through the collegium system, a process built around recommendations by sitting judges and not originally designed with academic nominees in mind.
• Comparisons are often drawn with the International Court of Justice at The Hague, where judges are chosen explicitly for scholarly distinction rather than courtroom practice.

UPSC Prelims Pointers:

• Article 124(3) lists the three eligibility routes for Supreme Court judgeship: High Court judge (five years), advocate (ten years), or distinguished jurist.
• A similar "distinguished jurist" route for High Courts was inserted by the 42nd Amendment during the Emergency and later removed by the 44th Amendment, leaving only the Supreme Court route intact.
• The collegium system, evolved through judicial pronouncements rather than a specific constitutional article, currently governs the process of judicial appointments.
• Justice V. Mohana, elevated through the direct Bar route in 2026, is a recent example of the advocate pathway being used.

3. Article 142 and the Supreme Court's Power to Do 'Complete Justice'

GS Paper II | Polity — Judiciary, Constitutional Provisions

Core Context: Using its powers under Article 142, the Supreme Court directed that all FIRs filed across the country against students and protesters connected with the NEET-UG paper-leak agitation be quashed and closed. The order once again brings into focus one of the Constitution's most powerful and least constrained provisions, which allows the Court to pass any order it considers necessary to secure complete justice in a matter before it.

Latest Developments:

• Article 142(1) empowers the Supreme Court to pass any decree or order needed to do complete justice in a pending case, and such orders are enforceable throughout India.
• Article 142(2) gives the Court wide powers relating to securing the attendance of witnesses, ordering discovery of documents, and investigating or punishing contempt of court.
• In cases such as Union Carbide Corporation versus Union of India and the Delhi Judicial Service Association matter, the Supreme Court has held that ordinary statutory limits cannot restrict the exercise of this constitutional power.
• The power is exclusive to the Supreme Court; High Courts cannot invoke an equivalent power while deciding writ petitions under Article 226, as clarified in Anil Kumar Jain versus Maya Jain.
• The Court has also cautioned against overreach — in the 1963 Prem Chand Garg case, it held that Article 142 cannot be used in a manner that violates fundamental rights or ignores substantive legal provisions.

UPSC Prelims Pointers:

• Article 142 is often called the Supreme Court's power to do "complete justice."
• It is available only to the Supreme Court, not to High Courts.
• The provision has been used in high-profile matters ranging from environmental compensation to electoral and criminal-law questions where existing statutes fell short.
• Its use is not absolute — it cannot override fundamental rights or clear statutory provisions.

4. V-Dem's Democracy Index — India's Score at a 50-Year Low

GS Paper II / GS Paper IV | Polity, International Relations, Ethics

Core Context: The latest report from the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) project has placed India's Electoral Democracy Index at its lowest level since 1975, the year the Emergency was imposed, continuing a downward trend the report says has persisted since 2009. The V-Dem Index is a widely cited global tool that evaluates democracy not merely through the holding of elections but across several institutional and civil-liberties dimensions.

Latest Developments:

• The V-Dem Institute, based at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, compiles the index using a multidimensional framework covering electoral integrity, civil liberties, institutional autonomy, judicial accountability, freedom of expression and public administration.
• The report classifies India among countries undergoing gradual "autocratisation," a term it uses for the steady weakening of democratic institutions rather than an abrupt breakdown.
• Indicators on judicial accountability, corruption control, the autonomy of election-management bodies and impartial public administration are reported to be at their lowest levels in five decades.
• The report also notes a decline in indicators covering academic and cultural expression, alongside rising instances of harassment faced by journalists.

UPSC Prelims Pointers:

• V-Dem stands for "Varieties of Democracy," a research project based at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
• The report is one of several global democracy indices, alongside instruments like the Economist Intelligence Unit's Democracy Index and Freedom House's rankings, that are frequently referenced in the Indian policy discourse.
• "Autocratisation" describes a gradual erosion of democratic institutions, as distinct from a sudden authoritarian takeover.
• Topics like judicial independence, separation of powers, and institutional accountability connect this theme directly to GS Paper II Polity and GS Paper IV Ethics on institutional integrity.

5. Semicon 2.0 — India's ₹1.27 Lakh Crore Push for Chip Design

GS Paper III | Economy, Science and Technology

Core Context: The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has notified the operational framework of Semicon 2.0, a ₹1.27 lakh crore semiconductor mission that shifts India's chip strategy from primarily building fabrication and packaging plants towards creating home-grown, Indian-owned chip designs and intellectual property. India today supplies roughly a fifth of the world's semiconductor design engineers, yet almost all of them design chips owned by foreign companies, leaving India with very little indigenous chip intellectual property of its own.

Latest Developments:

• Semicon 2.0 builds on Semicon 1.0 (2021), a ₹76,000 crore scheme that focused mainly on manufacturing and helped bring in projects such as Micron's assembly-testing plant in Gujarat and Tata's fabrication unit in Dholera.
• The new mission is organised into six pillars and ten categories, with its first pillar dedicated entirely to chip design across three tracks: a strategic track for nationally critical chips funded directly by the government, a commercial track offering design-tool access and seed funding to start-ups, and a Deployment-Linked Incentive offering reimbursement on the sale of new Indian-designed chips.
• Overseas Citizens of India who set up and headquarter companies in India, keeping all design work and intellectual property within the country, have now been made eligible for support, a notable widening of the scheme's earlier scope.
• Additional support extends to the wider ecosystem, including capital support for silicon wafer fabrication plants, compound semiconductor and packaging facilities, and for firms manufacturing specialised chemicals, gases and equipment used in chip production.
• The mission also sets an ambitious target of training a large number of additional semiconductor engineers through university and technical-college programmes to build a skilled domestic workforce.

UPSC Prelims Pointers:

• A "fabless" company designs chips but outsources their physical manufacturing to specialised foundries; well-known global examples include Qualcomm and Nvidia.
• EDA (Electronic Design Automation) tools are the specialised software used to design chip layouts; their high cost is a major barrier for start-ups.
• SoC stands for System-on-Chip, where a processor, memory and other components are integrated onto a single chip.
• ATMP refers to Assembly, Testing, Marking and Packaging, the stage of chip manufacturing where Semicon 1.0 investments were concentrated.
• The nodal agency for the mission is the India Semiconductor Mission under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, working with the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing as a technical partner.

6. India's GDP Growth in Q1 FY27 — 7.8 Per Cent and the Swadeshi Appeal

GS Paper III | Economy — National Income, External Sector

Core Context: India's economy expanded by 7.8% in the April–June 2026 quarter, up from 6.9% in the same quarter a year earlier, keeping India the fastest-growing major economy in the world even as conflict in West Asia and global supply-chain disruptions continue. The Prime Minister linked this performance to India's underlying resilience while also renewing an earlier appeal to citizens to conserve foreign exchange by moderating discretionary spending on gold, foreign travel and destination weddings abroad.

Latest Developments:

• The growth figure comfortably exceeds the International Monetary Fund's projected global growth of roughly 3.2% for 2026 and keeps India ahead of China's growth, which is estimated near 5%.
• The government's Swadeshi messaging targets the current account deficit, which tends to widen when spending on gold imports, outbound tourism and destination weddings abroad increases sharply.
• Continuing tension in West Asia keeps crude oil prices elevated, raising India's import bill and adding pressure on the current account and the rupee.
• A parallel "Wed in India" push encourages domestic destination weddings as a forex-conserving complement to the supply-side "Make in India" campaign.
• Strong performances in manufacturing, services and construction were the principal drivers of the quarter's growth print, according to data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.

UPSC Prelims Pointers:

• India measures GDP at constant prices using 2011-12 as the base year; the 7.8% figure is real, inflation-adjusted growth.
• Q1 of FY27 corresponds to the April–June 2026 quarter.
• GVA (Gross Value Added) plus taxes minus subsidies equals GDP at market prices — a formula UPSC aspirants should be comfortable recalling.
• The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) is the nodal body releasing India's quarterly GDP estimates.
• The current account deficit and the balance of payments are recurring GS Paper III themes connected to this story.

7. The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope — NASA's Next Flagship Observatory

GS Paper III | Science and Technology — Space

Core Context: NASA has launched the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, adding a third flagship observatory to a lineage that already includes the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes. Roman is designed to survey enormous areas of sky at near-infrared wavelengths, aiming to shed light on dark energy, conduct a statistical census of exoplanets, and map the large-scale structure of the universe.

Latest Developments:

• Named after Nancy Grace Roman, NASA's first chief astronomer and often called the "Mother of Hubble" for her role in securing support for that earlier mission, the new telescope carries a 2.4-metre primary mirror, the same size as Hubble's, but with a field of view more than a hundred times larger.
• Its Wide-Field Instrument allows it to survey the entire plane of the Milky Way in about a month, a task that would take Hubble close to a century of continuous observation.
• A dedicated coronagraph instrument can suppress the glare of a host star by more than a billionfold, enabling direct imaging and analysis of very faint objects nearby, including exoplanets.
• Roman will use gravitational microlensing, where a foreground star's gravity briefly magnifies the light of a background star, to detect exoplanets including free-floating "rogue" planets that have no parent star.
• The telescope operates from a stable position near the Sun-Earth Lagrange Point 2, roughly 1.5 million kilometres from Earth, the same general region used by the James Webb Space Telescope.

UPSC Prelims Pointers:

• Hubble (1990) observes mainly in ultraviolet and visible light; James Webb (2021) observes in infrared with great depth on individual targets; Roman (2026) observes in near-infrared across very wide areas for statistical surveys.
• Dark energy is estimated to make up about 68% of the universe's total energy content, dark matter about 27%, and ordinary matter only about 5%.
• Baryon acoustic oscillations and weak gravitational lensing are two techniques Roman will use as cosmic "rulers" to study the universe's expansion history.
• The Sun-Earth Lagrange Point 2 (L2) is a gravitationally stable location used by several major space observatories for uninterrupted, thermally stable observation.

8. Plasma Wakefield Accelerators — Compressing Kilometres into a Tabletop

GS Paper III | Science and Technology — Particle Physics

Core Context: Plasma wakefield accelerators represent an alternative to conventional particle accelerators like the 27-kilometre Large Hadron Collider at CERN, using the electric fields generated within a plasma wave to accelerate electrons across distances measured in centimetres rather than kilometres. The technology could eventually make certain kinds of high-energy physics research, medical treatment and imaging equipment dramatically more compact and affordable.

Latest Developments:

• A laser pulse fired into a gas strips electrons from atoms to create a plasma; the pulse pushes the lighter electrons aside while the heavier ions barely move, and as the electrons snap back they overshoot and oscillate, creating a travelling wave of alternating electric fields known as the wake.
• A trailing bunch of electrons injected at the right phase within this wake experiences an intense accelerating field, similar to a surfer catching a wave, and gains energy over a very short distance.
• Field gradients in plasma wakefield accelerators can reach roughly a hundred gigavolts per metre, several orders of magnitude stronger than the fields used in conventional radio-frequency accelerator cavities.
• Current plasma wakefield devices can push electrons to energies of a few tens of giga-electronvolts, still far below the several thousand giga-electronvolts achieved by the Large Hadron Collider, and beam stability remains an active research challenge.
• Potential applications include compact X-ray free-electron lasers for biological imaging, more portable equipment for cancer therapy, and tabletop high-energy physics experiments for university laboratories.

UPSC Prelims Pointers:

• The Large Hadron Collider at CERN has a circumference of 27 kilometres and accelerates protons to about 6.5 TeV (tera-electronvolts) per beam.
• CERN's AWAKE experiment is recognised as the first proton-driven plasma wakefield accelerator in the world.
• "Wakefield" refers to the trailing electric-field structure created behind a driving laser or particle pulse moving through plasma.
• This topic connects to broader UPSC interest in frontier physics and India's own accelerator and fusion research efforts.

9. Global Coral Reefs Under Stress — the 7th GCRMN Status Report

GS Paper III | Environment and Ecology

Core Context: The Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network has released its seventh Status of Coral Reefs of the World report, recording a 9.5% average decline in global hard coral cover and warning that reefs are now experiencing near-annual bleaching stress with recovery windows shrinking to just four to six years, far shorter than the decade or more corals typically need to regenerate after a major disturbance.

Latest Developments:

• Global hard coral cover fell by about 8.9% between 2023 and 2024 alone, the sharpest single-year decline on record, relative to a 1980-2009 baseline.
• In 2024, some 87% of monitored reefs experienced unprecedented heat anomalies, with over 40% exposed to extreme mortality thresholds.
• Major mass bleaching events, which historically recurred roughly once a decade, are now happening every four to six years, a pace that outstrips the time slow-growing corals need to recover.
• Regional hotspots include the Caribbean basin, where average hard coral cover has fallen to around 1%, the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef, where keystone reef-building coral species have suffered over 90% mortality in parts of Belize, and the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman region, where roughly half of hard coral cover was lost between 2020 and 2024.
• Rising sea-surface temperatures are identified as the principal driver, compounded by coastal urbanisation, bottom-trawling, port dredging, untreated runoff and ocean acidification, which together weaken coral immunity and slow the formation of coral skeletons.

UPSC Prelims Pointers:

• Coral bleaching occurs when heat-stressed coral polyps expel the symbiotic algae (zooxanthellae) that give them colour and nutrients, leaving the coral skeleton white and vulnerable.
• The Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN) is the body that compiles this periodic global status assessment.
• Coral reefs are estimated to support around a quarter of all marine life despite covering a very small fraction of the ocean floor.
• The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework's "30 by 30" target — protecting 30% of the planet's land and sea by 2030 — is directly relevant to reef conservation efforts.

10. Vembanad Lake — A Robotic Fix for Kerala's Water Hyacinth Crisis

GS Paper III | Environment — Wetlands, Invasive Species

Core Context: A one-month robotic pilot project has begun at Kumarakom on Vembanad Lake, Kerala's largest lake and a Ramsar-designated wetland, to combat a severe infestation of water hyacinth using an unmanned surface vehicle fitted with a mechanical harvesting system. The infestation has disrupted ferry services, blocked backwater tourism routes and hampered the movement of agricultural produce from the Kuttanad region, widely known as the rice bowl of Kerala.

Latest Developments:

• Between six and seven of the thirty-two daily ferry services connecting Muhamma and Kumarakom have had to be cancelled because the invasive weed damages boat propellers.
• The State Wetland Authority of Kerala is the nodal agency for the pilot, with the Centre for Water Resources Development and Management in Kozhikode leading the technical effort and the Foundation for Environmental Research and Innovation in Kochi implementing it on the ground.
• The robotic system is intended to mechanically harvest hyacinth without requiring workers to enter infested water, and the collected biomass is planned to be converted into compost, biogas, handicrafts or biomass briquettes as part of a circular-economy approach.
• Water hyacinth, native to the Amazon basin and introduced to Asia as an ornamental plant in the nineteenth century, can double its biomass within about two weeks under nutrient-rich conditions, making manual and conventional mechanical removal insufficient on their own.

UPSC Prelims Pointers:

• Water hyacinth's scientific name is Eichhornia crassipes, and the IUCN lists it among the world's hundred worst invasive alien species.
• Vembanad-Kol was designated a Ramsar wetland in 2002 and is one of India's more than seventy-five Ramsar sites.
• The Kuttanad farming system, associated with below-sea-level cultivation, has been recognised by the FAO as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System.
• Dense hyacinth mats block sunlight and deplete dissolved oxygen in water, creating conditions harmful to fish and other aquatic life.

11. Seven Years of the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019 — Road Safety Stocktake

GS Paper III | Infrastructure — Road Transport

Core Context: Seven years after the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019 came into force, experts have reviewed its implementation against continuing high road-fatality numbers, with India recording nearly 1.77 lakh road deaths in 2024. The Act had shifted India's road-safety approach towards a "Safe Systems" model, combining stronger penalties, emergency-care provisions and infrastructure accountability, but enforcement gaps persist across states.

Latest Developments:

• India recorded 4,87,707 road accidents and 1,77,175 fatalities in 2024, averaging close to 485 deaths a day, with accident severity (deaths per hundred accidents) having risen from 21.6 in 2005 to 36.3 in 2024.
• National Highways accounted for only 31% of accidents but 36.6% of fatalities, underscoring the particular danger of high-speed corridors.
• The working-age population of 18 to 45 years made up 66.1% of all road deaths, with two-wheeler riders and pedestrians together comprising over two-thirds of fatalities.
• Key legal provisions include Good Samaritan protection for bystanders who assist accident victims, a mandate for cashless emergency trauma care during the crucial "golden hour" after a crash, and penalties on road contractors and consultants for unsafe road design under Section 198A.
• Persistent challenges include uneven enforcement of penalty rates across states, weak compliance on child restraint systems in vehicles and school transport, unresolved accident "black spots," and emergency medical networks that remain concentrated in larger cities.

UPSC Prelims Pointers:

• The Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019 amended the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, and introduced the "Safe Systems" approach to road safety.
• Section 134A provides Good Samaritan protection; Section 162 mandates cashless golden-hour treatment; Section 198A penalises unsafe road engineering by contractors.
• The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) is the nodal ministry publishing annual road-accident data for India.
• iRAD (Integrated Road Accident Database) is the digital system used to record and analyse road-crash data nationally.

12. Maharani Avantibai Lodhi — Remembering an 1857 Warrior Queen

GS Paper I | History — 1857 Revolt, Women in the Freedom Struggle

Core Context: The Defence Minister unveiled a statue of Maharani Avantibai Lodhi in Lucknow, drawing a link between the valour of women rulers during the 1857 uprising and the combat roles performed by women officers of the Indian armed forces during Operation Sindoor. The tribute has renewed interest in a lesser-known but significant figure of the 1857 rebellion.

Latest Developments:

• Avantibai Lodhi (1831-1858) was the queen-regent of the princely estate of Ramgarh, located in present-day Dindori and Mandla districts of Madhya Pradesh, and is remembered alongside figures like Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi and Rani Durgavati as one of India's celebrated warrior women.
• After her husband, Raja Vikramaditya Singh, was incapacitated by illness, she took over as regent to protect the inheritance of her minor sons, but the British East India Company refused to recognise the heirs and placed the estate under the Court of Wards.
• She expelled the British-appointed administrators from Ramgarh, encouraged farmers to resist British revenue demands, and built a regional coalition with the Gond ruler Raja Shankar Shah, reportedly sending glass bangles as a symbolic call to arms to neighbouring rulers.
• In late 1857 she led an army of about 4,000 troops to a decisive victory at the Battle of Kheri near Mandla, forcing British forces to retreat, before continuing guerrilla resistance from the hilly forests of Devhargarh.
• She died on 20 March 1858 at Sukhi-Talaiya, choosing to take her own life with her sword rather than be captured, after being surrounded by superior British forces.

UPSC Prelims Pointers:

• Avantibai Lodhi is associated with Ramgarh in present-day Madhya Pradesh and the Battle of Kheri near Mandla.
• She is often grouped with other women leaders of 1857 such as Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi, Rani Durgavati and Jhalkari Bai.
• The Court of Wards was a colonial-era mechanism used by the British to administer the estates of minors or incapacitated rulers.
• This topic frequently overlaps with GS Paper I questions on the role of women in India's freedom movement and regional uprisings during 1857.

13. Ramon Magsaysay Awards 2026 and the UNCLOS Connection

GS Paper I / GS Paper II | Society — Awards, International Relations — Law of the Sea

Core Context: The Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation announced its 2026 laureates on the 119th birth anniversary of former Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay, honouring Singaporean diplomat Tommy Koh, Bangladeshi humanitarian worker Runa Khan, and Myanmar human-rights defender Bo Kyi. Often described as Asia's equivalent of the Nobel Prize, the award recognises individuals and institutions that have shown exceptional courage and integrity in transforming their societies.

Latest Developments:

• Tommy Koh was recognised for six decades of work in diplomacy and international law, notably for presiding over the negotiations that produced the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in 1982.
• Runa Khan was honoured for delivering floating healthcare, education and disaster relief to climate-vulnerable communities in Bangladesh through her organisation, Friendship.
• Bo Kyi was recognised for his work defending political prisoners and documenting human-rights abuses in Myanmar through the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.
• The award was established in 1957 by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund to honour Ramon Magsaysay, the seventh President of the Philippines, and has recognised more than 350 leaders and organisations across Asia since fixed categories were phased out in 2009.
• Notable past Indian recipients include Mother Teresa, Satyajit Ray, Jayaprakash Narayan, Aruna Roy and Arvind Kejriwal.

UPSC Prelims Pointers:

• UNCLOS (1982) governs maritime zones: the Territorial Sea extends to 12 nautical miles, the Contiguous Zone to 24 nautical miles, the Exclusive Economic Zone to 200 nautical miles, and the Continental Shelf can extend up to 350 nautical miles in certain cases.
• India ratified UNCLOS in 1995.
• The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) is UNCLOS's dedicated dispute-settlement body, while the International Seabed Authority governs mineral resources on the seabed beyond national jurisdiction.
• The Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation is based in Manila, Philippines.

14. Larak Island and the Strait of Hormuz

GS Paper I | Geography — Places in the News, International Relations

Core Context: United States military forces carried out precision strikes on Larak Island, a small but strategically located Iranian island in the Strait of Hormuz, after reportedly detecting personnel of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps preparing to launch rockets carrying naval sea mines into the waterway. The episode has drawn attention to one of the world's most sensitive maritime chokepoints, through which a very large share of global oil shipments pass.

Latest Developments:

• Larak Island lies close to the narrowest shipping lanes connecting the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman, positioned east of Qeshm Island and south of Hormuz Island, off the coast of the Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas.
• Geologically, the island is a salt plug formed through the upward movement of buoyant underground salt deposits, giving it rugged terrain of rock salt, sandstone and iron oxide rising to about 138 metres.
• It hosts historic fortifications dating to sixteenth-century Portuguese presence in the region, alongside modern military installations used by Iran's naval and coastal defence forces.
• The island's coral reef ecosystem, home to dozens of documented coral species, adds an ecological dimension to a location that is otherwise defined by its military significance.

UPSC Prelims Pointers:

• The Strait of Hormuz connects the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea, and is one of the world's most critical energy-shipping chokepoints.
• Larak Island is governed by Iran and lies near other strategically significant islands such as Qeshm and Hormuz.
• The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is a branch of Iran's armed forces with a significant presence in Gulf maritime security matters.
• This theme connects to the broader UPSC interest in world chokepoints such as the Strait of Malacca, Bab-el-Mandeb and the Suez Canal.

15. FSSAI's Proposed Red Hexagonal Warning Labels

GS Paper II | Social Issues — Public Health, Food Regulation

Core Context: Acting on a Supreme Court directive, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India has proposed red hexagonal front-of-pack warning labels for packaged foods that are high in added sugar, salt or saturated fat, based on thresholds drawn from the Dietary Guidelines for Indians 2024 prepared by the ICMR's National Institute of Nutrition.

Latest Developments:

• The rollout is planned in two phases: the first phase will label products that exceed thresholds in two or more nutrients, while the second phase will extend labelling to products crossing the threshold in even a single nutrient.
• Sweetened beverages are proposed to carry a separate, distinct warning label under the plan.
• The hexagonal shape was chosen deliberately to signal caution unambiguously, in contrast to the earlier Health Star Rating approach, which some felt was perceived as a positive endorsement rather than a warning.
• International comparisons are often drawn with Chile's black octagonal warning labels introduced in 2016, which were associated with a marked drop in sugary-drink consumption.

UPSC Prelims Pointers:

• FSSAI stands for the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, a statutory body functioning under the FSSAI Act, 2006, and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
• Front-of-pack (FoP) labelling refers to nutrition warnings placed prominently on the front of packaged food, as opposed to detailed nutrition tables on the back.
• The Dietary Guidelines for Indians are prepared by the ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition and periodically updated.
• This theme connects to broader public-health governance topics such as non-communicable disease prevention and consumer protection.