Current Affairs — 5 September 2026

1. National Policy on Geothermal Energy 2025 and India's First High-Altitude Geothermal Wells

Basic Concept

Geothermal energy is low-carbon, renewable thermal energy generated deep within the Earth's interior through radioactive decay of isotopes such as uranium, thorium and potassium, combined with residual heat from the planet's formation. In geologically active zones along tectonic plate boundaries, rift basins and deep crustal faults, mantle convection drives hydrothermal fluids upward, where they get trapped in permeable reservoir rocks as steam or superheated water. When drilled, this fluid spins steam turbines to generate electricity, after which the condensed fluid is reinjected to maintain reservoir pressure. For UPSC aspirants, this topic bridges Geography (plate tectonics, geothermal provinces), Economy (energy security) and Environment (non-fossil energy targets under India's Net Zero 2070 commitment). Unlike solar and wind, geothermal offers round-the-clock baseload power.

Core Context

India's geothermal ambitions took a concrete step forward this week with the commissioning of the country's first two 1,000-metre-deep geothermal wells, backed by the newly notified National Policy on Geothermal Energy 2025, which for the first time gives States a clear legal and fiscal framework to develop this long-dormant resource.

Latest Developments

• India commissioned its first two 1,000-metre-deep geothermal wells at Puga Valley in Ladakh's Changthang region, at an altitude exceeding 14,000 feet, to support a 1 MW demonstration-scale geothermal power plant under the Carbon-Neutral Ladakh vision.
• The Geological Survey of India estimates India's theoretical geothermal potential at approximately 10.6 GW, spread across 381 mapped hot springs in 10 geothermal provinces, including the Himalayan Province, the Son-Narmada-Tapi (SONATA) Lineament, the Cambay Graben and the West Coast Province.
• The National Policy on Geothermal Energy 2025 empowers States/UTs to grant exploration permits (3-5 years) and development leases (up to 30 years), permits repurposing of abandoned oil and gas wells for geothermal use, and offers up to 100% government R&D funding and 70% support for private start-ups under the RE-RTD Programme.
• Other active projects include retrofitting depleted oil wells at Ankleshwar (Gujarat), a hybrid solar-geothermal demonstration at Gandhinagar, and shallow geothermal cooling research in Hyderabad.
• Key challenges include high upfront exploration risk, extreme high-altitude logistical constraints, corrosion from mineral-laden fluids, risk of induced seismicity from Enhanced Geothermal Systems, and dependence on imported drilling and turbine technology.

UPSC Prelims Pointers

• Geothermal brines can contain valuable critical minerals such as lithium, cesium, rubidium and boron, extractable under the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957.
• Capacity Utilisation Factor (CUF) for geothermal plants can exceed 85-90%, far higher than solar or wind, making it valuable as clean baseload power.
• Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) hydraulically fracture hot dry rock to create artificial permeability; Advanced Geothermal Systems (AGS) use closed-loop circulation without fracturing.
• The National Geothermal Data Repository (NGDR) integrates data from GSI, the Ministry of Mines and the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons.

2. Faster EV Adoption and Battery Localisation Could Cut India's Import Bill by $125 Billion

Basic Concept

India imports the bulk of its crude oil and lithium-ion battery cells, exposing its economy to global price shocks and straining the current account. Electric mobility and domestic battery manufacturing sit within India's broader Atmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India) agenda and its climate commitments under the Paris Agreement. This links three static-syllabus threads: energy security (GS3 Economy), industrial policy and manufacturing localisation (GS3 Economy), and decarbonisation of transport under India's Nationally Determined Contributions (GS3 Environment).

Core Context

A new study puts hard numbers on how much India stands to save by accelerating this transition, giving policymakers a fresh evidence base for the pace of EV adoption and the urgency of building a domestic battery-cell industry.

Latest Developments

• A study by the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) projects that under an 'Ambitious' EV-adoption scenario combined with high domestic battery-cell manufacturing, India's annual oil-and-battery import bill could fall from about $153 billion to roughly $28 billion by 2050 — a saving of nearly $125 billion a year.
• Faster electrification alone, even without domestic battery manufacturing, could save around $94 billion annually by reducing crude oil imports.
• High domestic battery-cell localisation could add a further $31 billion in annual savings by 2050.
• India's annual EV battery demand could reach around 573 GWh by 2050 under faster electrification, underlining the strategic case for indigenous cell manufacturing.
• The study finds that higher global crude prices amplify the benefits of electrification by reducing India's exposure to volatile petroleum import costs.

UPSC Prelims Pointers

• India's Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) battery storage supports domestic cell manufacturing.
• Atmanirbhar Bharat, launched in 2020, aims at self-reliance across strategic sectors including energy and critical technologies.
• Under India's updated Nationally Determined Contributions, transport-sector decarbonisation is a key lever alongside renewable energy expansion.

3. Supreme Court Pushes States to Raise District Judiciary Retirement Age to 62

Basic Concept

The district judiciary — comprising subordinate and district courts — is the first point of contact with the justice system for most citizens, handling the overwhelming majority of India's litigation. Service conditions of judicial officers, including retirement age, are governed by State-specific rules framed under Articles 233-237 of the Constitution (appointment and control of district judges), subject to the Supreme Court's overarching jurisdiction under the long-running All India Judges Association case dating back to 1992. Chronic vacancies, combined with slow recruitment, are widely identified by the Law Commission as a leading cause of case backlog.

Core Context

That constitutional jurisdiction was exercised again this week: with district-court pendency crossing 5.18 crore cases, a three-judge Supreme Court bench converted its earlier suggestion on retirement age into a firm two-week deadline for States to respond.

Latest Developments

• With 5.18 crore cases pending in district courts, a three-judge Supreme Court bench headed by the Chief Justice directed States to decide within two weeks on raising the retirement age of district judicial officers from 60 to 62 years.
• Seven States — Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal — have already agreed and were directed to amend service rules within two months.
• The enhancement is conditional on a suitability assessment at age 60, modelled on the Madras High Court's approach, so that only officers of proven competence and integrity continue in service.
• The Court rejected States' financial-burden objection, citing a 1992 precedent that called such costs 'negligible' against the benefit of retaining experienced judicial officers, and noted that extending service actually defers retiral payouts, yielding short-term savings.
• The matter is listed again in October, with several States yet to respond.

UPSC Prelims Pointers

• Articles 233 to 237 of the Constitution deal with subordinate courts, including appointment, posting and promotion of district judges.
• The All India Judges Association case is the key constitutional reference point for service conditions of the subordinate judiciary.
• Total pendency across the Indian judiciary: roughly 80,000 cases in the Supreme Court, over 60 lakh in High Courts, and the bulk in district/subordinate courts — together exceeding 5 crore cases.

4. MoSPI Releases National Accounts Statistics 2026 with New Base Year 2022-23

Basic Concept

National income accounting separates real economic growth from price-level changes using deflators. India's GDP estimation has historically leaned on the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) as a deflator, but WPI measures prices only at the first point of sale and had grown outdated relative to the economy's actual structure. Base-year revisions and deflator changes are recurring, high-value UPSC topics under GS3 Economy because they test conceptual clarity on GDP, GVA and price indices.

Core Context

This year's revision is the most significant methodological overhaul in over a decade, because for the first time the deflator itself — not just the base year — has been replaced, changing how sectoral growth numbers are read.

Latest Developments

• The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) released National Accounts Statistics 2026, shifting the GDP deflator from the WPI to the new Producer Price Index (PPI), alongside a revised Index of Industrial Production (IIP) and a new Banking Services Price Index (BkSPI) — all rebased to 2022-23.
• The release covers 60 statistical statements, including Final Estimates for 2022-23 and 2023-24, First Revised Estimates for 2024-25 and Provisional Estimates for 2025-26, along with updated Supply and Use Tables.
• At constant prices, revisions are most visible in manufacturing, mining & quarrying and trade services, where PPI replaces WPI as deflator.
• At current prices, revisions are concentrated in General Government and Departmental Enterprises, driven by updated Net Fixed Capital Stock and Consumption of Fixed Capital estimates.

UPSC Prelims Pointers

• GVA (Gross Value Added) = GDP at market prices minus product taxes plus product subsidies; GDP is derived from GVA.
• The sequence of GDP estimates is: Advance Estimates (Jan/Feb) to Provisional Estimates to First Revised Estimates to Second Revised Estimates to Final Estimates.
• PPI measures prices at each stage of production, making it a more accurate deflator than WPI, which only captures first-point-of-sale prices.
• MoSPI is the nodal ministry for national accounts, CPI, WPI/PPI and other official statistics.

5. Autonomous Hill Development Councils (LAHDCs) Extended to All Seven Districts of Ladakh

Basic Concept

Ladakh's system of Autonomous Hill Development Councils is a distinctive experiment in asymmetric local self-governance, designed for a remote, high-altitude, culturally distinct region. It was modelled on West Bengal's Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council and emerged from sustained political agitation by the Ladakhi population for regional autonomy — an example, for GS2 Polity, of how India's federal and local-governance architecture adapts to specific regional demands rather than a uniform template.

Core Context

That governance framework has now caught up with Ladakh's expanded administrative map: with five new districts carved out in 2026, the Lieutenant Governor has extended elected self-rule to the entire Union Territory for the first time.

Latest Developments

• Ladakh's Lieutenant Governor approved a notification extending LAHDCs to all seven districts of the Union Territory, expanding elected local self-governance beyond Leh and Kargil into the five newly created districts of Sham, Nubra, Changthang, Zanskar and Drass.
• LAHDC Leh was established in 1995 and LAHDC Kargil in 2003; the framework was widened after Ladakh's 2019 reorganisation as a Union Territory and the 2026 creation of five new districts.
• Each council has 30 members serving five-year terms — 26 directly elected and 4 nominated to represent women and religious minorities — headed by a Chief Executive Councillor with Cabinet Minister rank, while the district's Deputy Commissioner serves ex-officio as Chief Executive Officer.
• LAHDCs control land allotment, un-demarcated forest management, education, health centres, sanitation, local roads, agriculture, pasture management and preservation of Ladakh's monastic and cultural heritage.

UPSC Prelims Pointers

• LAHDCs were formally enabled by the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council Act, 1997 (building on the 1995 Act).
• Ladakh became a Union Territory (without legislature) in August 2019 following the reorganisation of Jammu & Kashmir.
• The Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council is the historical model for LAHDCs.

6. Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Summit Sees Diplomatic Strain Amid China-Taiwan Tensions

Basic Concept

The Pacific Islands Forum is the principal political and economic grouping of Oceania, a region of small island states that punches above its weight in global climate diplomacy due to its acute vulnerability to sea-level rise. For GS2 International Relations, PIF illustrates how small island developing states use collective platforms to gain bargaining power, and how great-power competition increasingly plays out even in small, historically low-profile multilateral forums.

Core Context

This year's summit became a live illustration of that vulnerability, as Chinese pressure over Taiwan's role in Forum proceedings visibly strained attendance and diplomatic unity among member states.

Latest Developments

• The 2026 PIF leaders' summit faced sharp diplomatic turbulence and reduced high-level attendance amid escalating pressure from China over Taiwan's role in Forum proceedings.
• PIF's Post-Forum Dialogue mechanism engages external partners including the US, EU, China, Japan and India, making it a venue where competing powers seek influence over Pacific island states.
• The episode highlights the vulnerability of small multilateral groupings to major-power pressure, with implications for how India calibrates its own outreach to Pacific Island states under its Act East and broader Indo-Pacific policies.

UPSC Prelims Pointers

• PIF was founded in 1971 in Wellington as the South Pacific Forum, renamed Pacific Islands Forum in 1999.
• It has 18 members, including Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Papua New Guinea and several small island states such as Tuvalu, Nauru and Kiribati.
• The Biketawa Declaration is PIF's framework for regional security cooperation and crisis response.

7. UIDAI's Offline Verification Seeking Entity (OVSE) Framework Adopted by Education Institutions

Basic Concept

Aadhaar-based identity verification has traditionally relied on real-time queries to UIDAI's Central Identities Data Repository (CIDR), raising concerns about data security, server load and privacy. The OVSE framework is UIDAI's privacy-by-design alternative that verifies identity locally without a live central-database query. This connects to GS2 Governance (e-governance, service delivery), GS3 Science & Technology (data protection) and India's Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) narrative built around Aadhaar, UPI and DigiLocker.

Core Context

That framework has now moved from concept to real-world deployment in the education sector, with two institutions becoming the first in the country to run their verification processes entirely offline.

Latest Developments

• The Punjab School Education Board became India's first school education board, and Maharishi Dayanand University, Rohtak, the first university, to adopt UIDAI's OVSE framework for paperless identity verification.
• Under OVSE, verification happens locally on-device using verifiable digital credentials and consented, digitally signed data, without a live connection to UIDAI's central database.
• Verifying entities are barred from storing plain Aadhaar numbers; data must be masked or redacted, reducing data-leak risk.
• The framework is expected to speed up processes like school admissions, exam registration and certificate issuance by eliminating repetitive physical document verification.

UPSC Prelims Pointers

• UIDAI functions under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).
• OVSE is distinct from Aadhaar's online/e-KYC authentication, as it does not require real-time connectivity to CIDR.
• Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) — comprising Aadhaar, UPI and DigiLocker — is a key theme in India's G20 and global digital governance narrative.

8. Himalayan Hanging Glaciers and India's Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF) Risk

Basic Concept

A hanging glacier is an ice mass perched on a steep slope above a valley floor, distinct from valley glaciers that flow gradually downhill; it can detach suddenly, releasing ice, rock and water in a catastrophic mass movement. This links GS1 Geography (Himalayan geomorphology, river systems) with GS3 Disaster Management (GLOF risk, early warning systems), and is a recurring theme following the 2021 Chamoli disaster, where a similar ice-rock avalanche destroyed hydropower infrastructure and killed over 200 people in the Rishiganga valley.

Core Context

That static risk became urgent news again this week when a glacial collapse in Nepal triggered devastating flash floods, pulling renewed attention onto an existing scientific inventory of similarly unstable ice in an Indian river basin.

Latest Developments

• Devastating flash floods in Nepal triggered by a glacial collapse in August 2026 revived attention on an April 2026 Nature study mapping 219 hanging glaciers in the Alaknanda basin of Uttarakhand, covering about 71.7 sq km with an estimated ice volume of 2.39 cubic km.
• Nearly one-third of this unstable ice is concentrated in the Upper Alaknanda basin, the Badrinath-Mana sector, where simulated avalanche flows could exceed 50 metres in height.
• The study projects a 120% rise in buildings and infrastructure at risk in the basin by 2030 compared to 2000, and a 17% rise in exposed population, driven by pilgrimage and tourism development along the Badrinath highway (NH-58).
• Comparing India's 2021 Chamoli disaster (no prior monitoring, 200+ deaths) with Switzerland's 2025 Blatten avalanche (near-complete evacuation after months of monitoring, one death), researchers concluded the difference was preparedness and early warning, not chance.
• Permafrost thaw beneath hanging glaciers removes the frozen substrate anchoring ice to bedrock, causing sudden detachment — a mechanism previously observed mainly in Greenland and Antarctica but now appearing in the Himalaya.

UPSC Prelims Pointers

• GLOF (Glacial Lake Outburst Flood) occurs when a glacial lake — moraine-dammed or ice-dammed — drains catastrophically; NDMA has issued GLOF risk-reduction guidelines.
• The Alaknanda is one of the two headstreams of the Ganga (the other being the Bhagirathi); they meet at Devprayag.
• The Alaknanda basin covers major Himalayan pilgrimage centres including Badrinath, Kedarnath and Joshimath.
• The Indus Suture Zone, the tectonic boundary between the Indian and Eurasian plates, is linked to both geothermal activity and cryospheric instability in Ladakh and the Garhwal-Kumaon Himalaya.

9. UNEP Report: 1.5°C Paris Target to Be Breached; Overshoot-and-Removal Now the Fallback Pathway

Basic Concept

The Paris Agreement (2015) commits countries to keep global warming 'well below 2°C' while pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. This is core to GS3 Environment (climate change, international climate governance) and GS2 IR (multilateral environmental negotiations), and is frequently tested through questions on the Paris Agreement's structure, Nationally Determined Contributions and the equity principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibilities (CBDR).

Core Context

The UN's own environment agency has now put an official number on what scientists have privately conceded for years — that this target is essentially lost — forcing a public shift in the global climate conversation towards a fallback strategy.

Latest Developments

• A UN Environment Programme report has formally acknowledged that the 1.5°C target will be breached within the next few years, with current warming already around 1.4°C above pre-industrial levels.
• Based on existing national policies, the report projects warming of about 2.6°C by the end of the century — far above both Paris targets.
• The proposed fallback pathway involves limiting peak warming ('overshoot') to around 1.8°C, then drawing down atmospheric CO2 through large-scale Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) to eventually bring temperatures back to 1.5°C — a process that could take around 50 years to reverse a single decade of excess warming.
• CDR options include afforestation, Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS), Direct Air Capture (DAC) and enhanced weathering, but each faces major land, cost or scale constraints.
• Critics warn the overshoot-and-removal framework risks becoming a 'moral hazard' that reduces pressure for immediate emission cuts, especially after the US withdrawal from Paris Agreement commitments.

UPSC Prelims Pointers

• UNEP, headquartered in Nairobi, also publishes the annual Emissions Gap Report and Adaptation Gap Report.
• AMOC (Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation) is a major ocean current system whose weakening is flagged as a climate tipping point.
• COP28 (Dubai, 2023) saw the first explicit COP decision-text reference to 'transitioning away' from fossil fuels.

10. Saptakoteshwar Temple Restoration in Goa Unearths Kadamba and Vijayanagara-Era Relics

Basic Concept

Goa's pre-Portuguese history remains comparatively under-documented because colonial administration and the Goa Inquisition systematically destroyed temples and records after the 16th century. This connects to GS1 Art & Culture (temple architecture, medieval dynasties) and GS1/GS3 Heritage Conservation, a recurring theme in both Prelims (dynasty-monument matching) and Mains (colonial impact on Indian heritage).

Core Context

Ongoing restoration work at one such erased site has now physically surfaced evidence of that layered history, giving archaeologists tangible proof of the temple's successive rebuilding across three distinct political eras.

Latest Developments

• Restoration work at the ancient Saptakoteshwar temple site on Divar Island, Goa, uncovered a Kirtimukh doorway motif, a carved pillar capital and remnants of a Dev Khostam (idol platform), confirming successive reconstructions across centuries.
• The original temple, dedicated to a major Shaiva deity, was linked to the Kadamba dynasty (10th-14th century), which ruled Goa from Chandrapur; it was destroyed by the Bahmani Sultanate and rebuilt in 1391 under Vijayanagara patronage.
• Portuguese authorities destroyed the Vijayanagara-era temple in the 16th century during systematic temple demolitions in the 'Old Conquests' region; the deity's idol was secretly relocated across the Mandovi River to Bicholim, where Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj established a new shrine in 1668.
• The Goa government's Kotiteerth Corridor Development Project is developing the Divar site as a heritage and pilgrimage memorial.

UPSC Prelims Pointers

• The Kadamba dynasty of Goa ruled from Chandrapur (modern Chandor) between the 10th and 14th centuries.
• The Goa Inquisition (1561-1812) was a Portuguese ecclesiastical court that enforced religious conversion and destroyed temples in Goa's 'Old Conquests' talukas (Tiswadi, Bardez, Salcete).
• A Kirtimukh is a guardian face motif traditionally placed above temple door-frames (torana) in Indian temple architecture.

11. Prelims Bytes: Quick-Fire Facts

Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and Teachers' Day

Teachers' Day is observed every year on 5 September to mark the birth anniversary of Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (born 1888), a philosopher-statesman who served as India's first Vice President (1952-62) and second President (1962-67). He chaired the University Education Commission (1948-49), whose recommendations led to the creation of the University Grants Commission (UGC), and was the first recipient of the Bharat Ratna in 1954.

The Northern Goshawk (Punjab's State Bird)

The Northern Goshawk, locally called Baaj, is Punjab's official state bird and is revered in Sikh tradition as the companion of Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh Guru. It is a forest-adapted raptor of the family Accipitridae, categorised as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, known for its high-speed pursuit hunting style.

Kenya and the Tata Chemicals Lake Magadi Dispute

Kenya's President ordered Tata Chemicals to halt soda ash operations at Lake Magadi, a saline soda lake in the Great Rift Valley, citing insufficient local value-addition and jobs; Tata Chemicals Magadi Limited has operated there since a 2005 acquisition, on a lease dating back to 1928 extended until 2053. The Rift Valley's chain of soda lakes (Magadi, Nakuru, Bogoria) sits on volcanic valley floors formed by the tectonic splitting of the Kenyan highlands — a useful Mapping and Physical Geography reference.

Endangered Freshwater Turtles in Haryana

The Shri Guru Gorakh Nath Community Reserve in Haryana's Fatehabad district, notified in 2019, has reportedly become unsuitable for its protected turtle population due to untreated sewage. It hosts three Schedule I species under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 — the Critically Endangered red-crowned roofed turtle (Batagur kachuga), the Indian softshell turtle and the Indian peacock turtle (Hardella thurjii). A Community Reserve is a category of protected area under the WPA (2002 amendment) where conservation is community-managed, distinct from National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries.

12. India's Ageing Farmers and the Question of Who Will Grow Its Food

Basic Concept

India's food-security debate has traditionally centred on production volumes, foodgrain stocks and monsoon performance, sitting under GS3 Agriculture. Farm demographics and rural-urban migration are the less-discussed dimension, connecting to GS1 Indian Society and to Mains essays on the future of Indian agriculture.

Core Context

A closer look at who actually works India's farms reveals a demographic mismatch that could quietly undermine food security long before any production shock does.

Latest Developments

• India has a median age of about 29 years, yet the average age of its farmers is estimated at 50-55 years, reflecting a demographic paradox between a young nation and an ageing agricultural workforce.
• Surveys cited in agrarian-distress research found that only about 1.2% of rural youth aspire to become farmers, with over two-thirds citing the lack of remunerative prices in unorganised markets as a key push factor toward migration.
• As per the National Statistical Office's Situation Assessment Survey of Agricultural Households, 70.4% of agricultural households operate less than one hectare of land, limiting economies of scale and capacity to adopt modern technology.
• Average monthly income of an agricultural household rose from Rs 6,426 in 2012-13 to Rs 10,218 in 2018-19 — an improvement, but still modest compared to non-farm opportunities.
• Potential consequences of an ageing farm workforce include rising labour shortages, greater dependence on mechanisation, changing cropping patterns, and land being leased out, consolidated or left fallow, with labour-intensive sectors like horticulture and livestock especially exposed.

UPSC Prelims Pointers

• The Situation Assessment Survey of Agricultural Households is conducted by the National Statistical Office (NSO) under MoSPI.
• The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) runs an 'Attracting and Retaining Youth in Agriculture' programme to promote agri-entrepreneurship.
• India's average landholding size has been shrinking over successive Agriculture Censuses, a structural constraint on farm mechanisation and income.

13. Science News: Affordable-Healthcare Technology Hub at IIT Kharagpur Enters Self-Sustaining Phase

Basic Concept

The Common Research and Technology Development Hub (CRTDH) scheme of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), under the Ministry of Science & Technology, funds shared translational-research infrastructure so that MSMEs, start-ups and individual innovators can access costly equipment and technical expertise they could not otherwise afford — bridging the classic 'lab-to-market' gap in India's innovation ecosystem. This is relevant to GS3 Science & Technology (indigenisation, health-tech policy) and GS2 Governance (public-private translational research models).

Core Context

One of the earliest CRTDHs set up under this scheme has now completed its funded phase and proven the model can survive on its own — a milestone the government is holding up as validation of the entire programme design.

Latest Developments

• The DSIR-CRTDH on Affordable Healthcare at IIT Kharagpur, established in 2019, has completed its grant-supported phase and transitioned into a self-sustaining national facility that will meet operating costs through user fees, industry sponsorships and translational partnerships.
• The Sustainable Phase was inaugurated by Dr. N. Kalaiselvi, Secretary of DSIR and Director General of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).
• The hub has facilitated over 20 technology transfers, many already commercialised, and has partnered with clinical and non-governmental organisations to set up rural health units for deploying affordable healthcare technologies.
• IIT Kharagpur's leadership highlighted 'frugal innovation' — engineering robust, accessible medical technologies usable by frontline health workers in settings without sophisticated infrastructure — as the guiding design philosophy.

UPSC Prelims Pointers

• DSIR (Department of Scientific and Industrial Research) functions under the Ministry of Science & Technology and also houses the CSIR network of national laboratories.
• CRTDHs are shared translational-research infrastructure hubs set up under DSIR's scheme to help MSMEs and start-ups access costly equipment and technical expertise.
• 'Frugal innovation' refers to designing low-cost, resource-efficient technologies suited to constrained, real-world settings — a concept relevant to India's broader affordable-healthcare and Make in India narratives.

14. Science News: Molecular Profiling of Social Spider Venom Reveals Anti-Cancer, Antimicrobial Leads

Basic Concept

Bioprospecting — the systematic search for biologically active compounds in nature — is an important and underexplored avenue for drug discovery in a biodiversity-rich country like India. This links GS3 Science & Technology (biotechnology, drug discovery) with GS3 Environment (biodiversity conservation) and GS2 Governance (intellectual property, benefit-sharing under the Biological Diversity Act, 2002).

Core Context

Indian researchers have now applied this bioprospecting approach to a locally found social spider, producing findings significant enough to be published in a major international journal.

Latest Developments

• Indian researchers produced the first comprehensive molecular inventory of the venom gland of Stegodyphus sarasinorum, a permanently social, colony-forming spider found across South Asia — one of fewer than 25 of the world's roughly 50,000 known spider species that live socially.
• Using transcriptomics, proteomics and UHPLC-MS metabolomics, the study identified 31 proteins, 32 additional proteomic markers and 81 metabolites in the venom, with extracts showing dose-dependent cytotoxicity against Dalton's Lymphoma Ascites cancer cells in laboratory tests.
• Researchers cautioned that laboratory cytotoxicity does not by itself establish clinical efficacy — extensive in-vivo validation and toxicity profiling would be required before any drug development.
• The study was published in the open-access journal Scientific Reports, underlining India's push to characterise its biodiversity, including underexplored arachnid fauna, at the molecular level.

UPSC Prelims Pointers

• Spider venoms are complex biochemical mixtures shaped by millions of years of co-evolution with prey, making them a rich but underused source of drug-discovery scaffolds.
• The Biological Diversity Act, 2002 and the National Biodiversity Authority govern access to India's biological resources and associated benefit-sharing for such research.
• Stegodyphus sarasinorum belongs to the family Eresidae and is known for cooperative hunting and communal silk nests.

15. Practice MCQs

Practice MCQs

Q1. Consider the following statements regarding the National Policy on Geothermal Energy, 2025:
1. It permits repurposing of abandoned oil and gas wells for geothermal power generation.
2. The Geological Survey of India has mapped natural hot springs across ten geothermal provinces of the country.
3. Geothermal power plants in India typically have a lower Capacity Utilisation Factor than solar power plants.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

• (a) 1 and 2 only
• (b) 2 and 3 only
• (c) 1, 2 and 3
• (d) 1 only

Answer: (a) 1 and 2 only

Explanation: Statements 1 and 2 are correct as per the National Policy on Geothermal Energy, 2025 and GSI's mapping of 381 hot springs across 10 provinces. Statement 3 is incorrect — geothermal plants have a much higher Capacity Utilisation Factor (85-90%+) than solar plants, since they provide round-the-clock baseload power unaffected by weather or daylight.

Q2. The Autonomous Hill Development Councils (LAHDCs) of Ladakh were established on the administrative pattern of which of the following?

• (a) Bodoland Territorial Council
• (b) Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council
• (c) Gorkhaland Territorial Administration
• (d) Sixth Schedule Autonomous District Councils of Assam

Answer: (b) Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council

Explanation: LAHDCs were conceived on the pattern of West Bengal's Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council, following sustained demands from the Ladakhi population for regional autonomy. LAHDC Leh was set up in 1995 and LAHDC Kargil in 2003, later formalised under the LAHDC Act, 1997.

Q3. With reference to India's National Accounts Statistics 2026, consider the following statements:
1. The base year for national accounts has been revised to 2022-23.
2. The Producer Price Index has replaced the Wholesale Price Index as a deflator in national income estimation.
3. The Banking Services Price Index measures the volume growth of banking-sector transactions.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

• (a) 1 and 2 only
• (b) 2 and 3 only
• (c) 1, 2 and 3
• (d) 1 and 3 only

Answer: (c) 1, 2 and 3

Explanation: All three statements are correct. National Accounts Statistics 2026 rebased GDP estimation to 2022-23 and replaced WPI with PPI as the deflator, while introducing the BkSPI to measure real growth in banking-service transaction volumes — together improving the accuracy of India's GDP measurement.

Q4. A 'hanging glacier', as referred to in recent reports on Himalayan glacial hazards, is best described as:

• (a) A glacier that has stopped moving entirely due to permafrost freezing
• (b) An ice mass perched on a steep slope, detached from the main valley glacier, prone to sudden collapse
• (c) A glacial lake formed by moraine damming at high altitude
• (d) A glacier that flows exclusively through a river valley without any elevation change

Answer: (b) An ice mass perched on a steep slope, detached from the main valley glacier, prone to sudden collapse

Explanation: A hanging glacier is an ice mass on a steep slope, decoupled from the main valley glacier body, that can detach suddenly and cause catastrophic avalanches — as highlighted by the Nature study on 219 hanging glaciers in the Alaknanda basin and the Chamoli (2021) and Nepal (2026) disasters. A moraine-dammed lake is a distinct feature associated with GLOFs, not a hanging glacier itself.

Q5. Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, in whose honour India observes Teachers' Day, is associated with which of the following?
1. Chairmanship of the University Education Commission that led to the creation of the UGC.
2. Service as India's Ambassador to the Soviet Union.
3. Being the first recipient of the Bharat Ratna.
Select the correct answer using the code below:

• (a) 1 and 2 only
• (b) 2 and 3 only
• (c) 1, 2 and 3
• (d) 1 and 3 only

Answer: (c) 1, 2 and 3

Explanation: All three are correct. Radhakrishnan chaired the University Education Commission (1948-49) which led to the UGC's creation, served as India's Ambassador to the USSR (1949-52), and was among the first recipients of the Bharat Ratna in 1954, its inaugural year.