VB–G RAM G Bill

• The Viksit Bharat–Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (or VB–G RAM G Bill), 2025 seeks to replace the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), 2005.
• State governments will notify a scheme consistent with the Bill, within six months from its commencement.

Key Features of the Bill

• Employment Guarantee: Increased to 125 days (from 100 days) per financial year to every rural household to undertake unskilled manual work.
• State governments now can suspend the scheme for a period of up to 60 days to ensure availability of agricultural labour during sowing and harvesting season.
• Durable Asset Creation (under four priority themes): Water Security, Core Rural Infrastructure, Livelihood-related Infrastructure, and Special Works for Extreme Weather Events.

Planning Architecture:

• Viksit Gram Panchayat Plans (VGPPs) prepared by Gram Panchayats will be integrated with PM Gati Shakti.
• VGPPs will be aggregated through the Viksit Bharat National Rural Infrastructure Stack (VB-NRIS) to enable coordinated national rural infrastructure planning.
• Panchayats will be graded based on development levels.
• Higher allocations towards underperforming panchayats to reduce regional disparities.

Institutional Oversight:

• Central and State Gramin Rozgar Guarantee Councils: for reviewing, monitoring, and advising on scheme implementation.
• National and State Level Steering Committees: to provide recommendations on financial allocations, inter-ministerial convergence, and strategic oversight.
• Transparency & Monitoring: Focus on digitization (e.g. biometric authentication, AI-enabled analytics); Social Audit by Gram Sabha & Grievance Redressal at Block and District levels.

India–Jordan Joint Statement (2025)

• Prime Minister of India visit to Jordan marked 75 years of India–Jordan diplomatic relations, culminating in a joint statement outlining a roadmap for deeper bilateral cooperation.

India–Jordan Joint Statement : Key highlights and outcomes

• Political cooperation: Commitment to sustained high-level engagements, regular political consultations and joint working groups; next round to be held in New Delhi.
• Trade and economy: Bilateral trade at billion (2024); India is Jordan’s 3rd-largest trading partner; decision to convene the 11th Trade & Economic Joint Committee (2026).
• Connectivity and logistics: Emphasis on leveraging Jordan’s strategic transit infrastructure to enhance regional and private-sector collaboration.
• Digital & technology partnership: Letter of Intent to share India’s Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) experience; expansion of the India–Jordan IT Centre of Excellence in Amman.
• Capacity building: Expansion of ITEC training slots from 35 to 50, strengthening human resource development.
• Health & agriculture: Cooperation in telemedicine, training of health professionals, and fertiliser/phosphate collaboration to enhance food security.
• Water & green cooperation: MoUs on water resources management (aquifer management, water-saving technologies) and renewable energy (joint research and training).
• Cultural & people-to-people ties: Cultural Exchange Programme (2025–2029) and Petra–Ellora twinning to boost heritage cooperation and tourism.
• Multilateral convergence: Jordan’s interest in joining Indian-led initiatives like the International Solar Alliance, CDRI and Global Biofuels Alliance.

AFMS launches India’s first AI-driven community screening programme for Diabetic Retinopathy

Source: PIB

• The Armed Forces Medical Services (AFMS) launched India’s first AI-driven community screening programme for Diabetic Retinopathy (DR).
• The initiative uses MadhuNetrAI, an AI platform, to enable early detection and referral of diabetic eye disease at the community level.
• A nation-first, AI-enabled community screening programme for Diabetic Retinopathy, rolled out by AFMS in collaboration with Dr. Rajendra Prasad Centre for Ophthalmic Sciences (RPC), AIIMS, and the eHealth AI Unit, MoHFW.

Aim:

• Early detection and timely referral of Diabetic Retinopathy.
• Build real-time national health intelligence on DR prevalence and geography.
• Reduce preventable diabetes-related blindness through scalable screening.

Key features:

• AI-based screening & grading of retinal images captured via handheld fundus cameras.
• Community-level deployment by trained Medical Officers, nurses and health assistants.
• Automated triaging with referrals for vision-threatening DR to vitreo-retina specialists.
• Real-time dashboards for prevalence and geographic mapping to aid policy planning.
• Pilot across 7 diverse locations: Pune, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Dharamshala, Gaya, Jorhat, Kochi.
• Integration with NCD programmes via district health administrations for continuity of care.

Significance

• Public health impact: Tackles a major complication of diabetes with early, accessible screening.
• AI in healthcare: Demonstrates safe, practical integration of AI into routine public health systems.
• Equity & reach: Enables screening in rural, hilly, coastal and remote regions.

The RESPOND Basket 2025

• ISRO has released the RESPOND Basket 2025, inviting research proposals from academia aligned with its current and future mission needs.
• The RESPOND Basket is a curated set of mission-oriented research problem statements identified by ISRO and Department of Space (DoS) centres.
• It guides academia towards targeted research that directly supports ISRO’s upcoming space missions and R&D priorities.

Published by:

• Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)
• Under the aegis of the Department of Space (DoS), Government of India

Aim:

• To bridge academia and national space missions through focused, collaborative research.
• To leverage academic innovation, advanced research and human capital for solving complex space-technology challenges.

Key features

• Mission-aligned problem statements: Derived from ISRO’s immediate and future programmatic requirements.
• Open to premier institutions: Universities and recognised academic and R&D institutions across India can apply.
• Technical orientation: ISRO scientists provide detailed technical briefings on expectations and outcomes.
• Digital submission: Proposals to be submitted through the I-GRASP portal.
• Interactive engagement: Enables two-way exchange between ISRO scientists and academic researchers.

Significance:

• Strengthens ISRO–academia partnership, a critical pillar of India’s space ecosystem.
• Ensures problem-driven research, reducing the gap between theory and mission deployment.
• Builds a future-ready talent pipeline for India’s expanding space programme.

Param Vir Chakra

• On Vijay Diwas 2025, President Droupadi Murmu inaugurated the ‘Param Vir Dirgha’ at Rashtrapati Bhavan, where portraits of all 21 Param Vir Chakra awardees were displayed.
• This replaced portraits of British Aide-de-Camps, symbolising India’s continued effort to shed colonial legacies.

About Param Vir Chakra:

• The Param Vir Chakra is India’s highest military gallantry award, conferred for the most conspicuous bravery, valour, and supreme sacrifice in the presence of the enemy during wartime.
• Instituted in: 26 January 1950, coinciding with the enforcement of the Constitution of India.

Key features:

• Open to personnel of all ranks of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Territorial Army and other lawfully constituted armed forces.
• Can be awarded posthumously; the majority of recipients have received it after martyrdom.
• Comes with a monthly honorarium of ₹3,000, with an additional ₹3,000 for each bar awarded.

Criteria for award:

• Awarded only in wartime.
• Recognises exceptional courage, indomitable spirit, and self-sacrifice in the face of the enemy.

Winners so far:

• 21 awardees till date.
• 14 awarded posthumously.
• Conferred across four major wars fought by India.

About Aide-de-Camps (ADCs):

• An Aide-de-Camp is a personal military officer attached to high constitutional authorities such as the President, Governors, or Chiefs of Services.

Rank and background:

• Typically, a Major (Army), Lieutenant Commander (Navy), or Squadron Leader (Air Force).

Key functions:

• Managing the daily schedule and official engagements of the dignitary.
• Coordinating ceremonial duties, state visits, and protocol events.
• Acting as a liaison between Rashtrapati Bhavan and civil or military authorities.
• Assisting in protocol, coordination, and security arrangements.

The Tianjin Declaration

• At the 2025 Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Tianjin, India joined other SCO members in endorsing the Tianjin Declaration, committing to deepen cooperation in Artificial Intelligence (AI) governance and capacity building.
• The Tianjin Declaration is the outcome document adopted by the SCO Council of Heads of States at the 2025 Tianjin Summit, outlining collective positions on security, development, technology, and institutional reforms.

Key outcomes

• AI cooperation framework: Emphasised that all countries have equal rights to develop and use AI, aligning with the UN General Assembly resolution on AI capacity building.
• Risk mitigation in AI: SCO members committed to improving security, accountability, transparency, inclusiveness, trustworthiness and fairness of AI systems.
• Roadmap adoption: Supported implementation of the SCO AI Cooperation Roadmap to guide joint research, standards and capacity building.
• Regional AI centre: Welcomed the UNGA resolution proposing a Regional AI Centre in Dushanbe, strengthening Central Asia’s digital ecosystem.

Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO):

• The SCO is a permanent intergovernmental organisation focused on regional security, economic cooperation and people-to-people ties across Eurasia.
• Established in: 15 June 2001, Shanghai (evolved from the Shanghai Five mechanism).

Headquarters:

• Secretariat: Beijing, China
• RATS (Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure): Tashkent, Uzbekistan

Members:

• 10 Member States- India, China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Iran, Belarus
• 2 Observer States- Afghanistan, Mongolia

Aims:

• Strengthen mutual trust, friendship and good-neighbourliness.
• Promote cooperation in politics, security, economy, science & technology, energy, transport, culture and education.

Key functions and mechanisms

• Security cooperation: Counter-terrorism, separatism and extremism through RATS.
• Economic cooperation: Trade, connectivity, energy and infrastructure initiatives.
• Technology & innovation: Growing focus on digital economy, cybersecurity and AI.

Decision-making bodies

1. Council of Heads of States (CHS): supreme body
2. Council of Heads of Government (CHG): economic and budgetary matters
3. Council of National Coordinators: coordination mechanism

Official languages: Russian and Chinese.

PM Modi’s Visit to Ethiopia

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Ethiopia as the second leg of his three-nation tour, following Jordan.

Ethiopia

• Location: Ethiopia is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa bordering Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya, Sudan, and South Sudan.
• History: It is among the world’s oldest continuously existing states & was never formally colonized.
• Geography: The Simien Mountains, called the “Roof of Africa,” are located in Ethiopia.
• The Danakil Depression, among the hottest places on Earth, lies 125 metres below sea level.

Key Outcome of the Visit

• PM Modi received the ‘Great Honour Nishan of Ethiopia’, the highest civilian award for foreign leaders.
• Both countries agreed to elevate bilateral relations to a Strategic Partnership.
• India signed an MoU on Ethiopia’s debt restructuring under the G20 Common Framework.
• An agreement on Mutual Assistance in Customs Matters was signed to ease trade barriers.
• India agreed to set up a Data Centre at Ethiopia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
• The countries signed an arrangement for cooperation in UN Peacekeeping Operations Training.

Overview of India-Ethiopia Bilateral Relations

• The countries are often called civilizational twins, with recorded ties dating back over 2,000 years.
• Trade: India is Ethiopia’s second-largest trading partner and among the largest foreign investors.
• Bilateral trade reached $550 million in 2024-25, with Indian exports worth $476 million.
• India exports pharmaceuticals, steel, and machinery, and imports pulses, oilseeds, and spices.
• Credit: Ethiopia is the largest recipient of Indian concessional Credit in Africa, with $1B sanctioned.
• Diaspora: The Siddi communities in Gujarat & Karnataka trace their ancestry to Ethiopia.

Kenduadih Gas Leak Crisis

• A carbon monoxide (CO) gas leak in Kenduadih, Jharkhand’s Jharia coalfields, causing deaths and mass displacement, has exposed chronic vulnerabilities arising from legacy mining.
• Legacy Mining: Decades of unregulated, pre-nationalisation coal mining left behind underground fires, gas pockets, and unstable seams, creating long-term safety hazards for present-day settlements.

Vulnerability Of Kenduadih

• Toxic Gas Exposure: CO levels reportedly reached ~2,000 ppm, capable of causing asphyxiation during sleep, leading to at least two confirmed deaths.
• Habitation: Around 1,200 families continue to live above fire-affected seams, amplifying human risk.
• Invisible Risk: Carbon monoxide is colourless and odourless, making detection.
• Emergency Preparedness: Allegations of ambulances without oxygen and delayed medical response.

Jharia Master Plan (JMP)

• Objective: To extinguish underground fires and relocate residents from unsafe zones.
• Timeline: Original plan notified in 2009, ended in 2021; Revised JMP approved in June 2025.
• Rehabilitation Strategy: Construction of ~16,000 housing units at sites like Belgarhia township.
• Current Status: ~3,700 flats occupied; remaining construction ongoing with a 2028 target.

Concerns Regarding Jharia Master Plan

• Forced Displacement: Residents allege that evacuation is driven more by land clearance than safety.
• Livelihood Disruption: Belgarhia lies 15–20 km away, disconnecting families from social networks.
• Quality of Rehabilitation: Earlier phases faced criticism for small housing units and poor amenities.
• Delayed Fire Control: Underground fires continue despite decades of planning, undermining credibility.

Way Forward

• Scientific Audit: Independent gas-mapping studies, like third-party CO monitoring, before evacuation.
• Transparent Data: Disclosure of gas readings through real-time dashboards accessible to residents.
• Polluter-Pays Norms: Enforce norms, with compensation funded by BCCL (Bharat Coking Coal Limited).
• Community Consent: Participatory planning through local committees in rehabilitation decisions.

National Disaster Mitigation Fund

• The Union Government has extended the National Disaster Mitigation Fund (NDMF) to Panchayati Raj Institutions.

About National Disaster Mitigation Fund

• It was established by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs in 2021 to fund projects that prevent or reduce the long-term impact of natural disasters.
• It was mandated under Section 47 of the Disaster Management Act (DMA), 2005 and is administered by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) under the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.
• The 15th Finance Commission allocated ₹13,693 crore to the NDMF for 2021-26, marking India’s first dedicated national funding window exclusively for disaster mitigation.
• Key focus areas of the NDMF include urban flooding, drought-prone states and seismic risk zones.

National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA)

• It was constituted in 2006 under the Disaster Management Act, 2005 as the apex body for disaster management in India and is chaired ex officio by the Prime Minister.
• It consists of a Vice-Chairperson and up to eight members, all appointed by the Central Government, and functions through specialised divisions.
• It approves the National Disaster Management Plan, issues binding guidelines to Centre and States, administers disaster funding like NDRF and NDMF, and oversees national preparedness measures.

Exercise Ekatha

• The Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff (DCNS) of the Indian Navy is visiting the Maldives to attend the closing ceremony of Exercise Ekatha 2025.

About Exercise Ekatha

• It is an annual bilateral maritime exercise established in 2017 between the Indian Navy and the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF).
• It is hosted alternatively by India and the Maldives, and is aimed at enhancing naval interoperability and maritime cooperation between the two forces.
• India and Maldives also conduct Exercise DOSTI, a biennial trilateral maritime drill (with Sri Lanka), and Exercise EKUVERIN, an annual army exercise focused on counter-insurgency and disaster response.
• The 14th edition of India-Maldives bilateral Exercise EKUVERIN concluded in Thiruvananthapuram after two weeks of intensive training to enhance interoperability between the Indian Army and the Maldives National Defence Forces.

New Snakehead Fish ‘Channa bhoi’

• Scientists discovered a new snakehead fish species, Channa bhoi, in Meghalaya.
• The species was named after the indigenous Bhoi community of the Khasi tribe in Meghalaya.
• Taxonomy: It belongs to the Gachua group of dwarf snakeheads, known for high endemism in the Eastern Himalayas.
• Appearance: The fish has a bluish-grey body with distinctive black spots present on each scale.
• Habitat: It inhabits shallow, slow-flowing mountain streams with dense riparian vegetation.
• Distribution: The species is endemic to the Ri-Bhoi district of Meghalaya.
• Role: It is a micro-predator and acts as a key indicator of freshwater ecosystem health.

Macrocephalosaurus mariensis

• Scientists discovered CAPPA/UFSM 0295, a rare hatchling fossil of Macrocephalosaurus mariensis, in southern Brazil.
• mariensis was a herbivorous rhynchosaur species that lived during the Late Triassic Period.
• It was a four-legged reptile with a barrel-shaped body, growing to over two metres in length.
• The species had a distinctive downward-curved, beak-like snout used for cropping low vegetation.
• Fossils of M. mariensis are found exclusively in the Santa Maria region of southern Brazil.
• Rhynchosaurs were extinct herbivorous quadrupedal reptiles with downturned parrot-like beaks that thrived during the Triassic Period.