India - Israel Joint Declaration on Fisheries and Aquaculture

• India and Israel signed a Joint Ministerial Declaration of Intent to deepen cooperation in fisheries and aquaculture during the Global Summit on Blue Food Security 2026 in Eilat.

India–Israel Joint Declaration on Fisheries and Aquaculture:

• A bilateral declaration between India and Israel to strengthen collaboration in fisheries and aquaculture through technology transfer, joint research, innovation, and capacity building, aligned with sustainable and climate-resilient development goals.

Key features

• Advanced aquaculture technologies: Cooperation on RAS, biofloc, cage culture, aquaponics, mariculture, seaweed farming, and aquarium systems.
• Genetic & seed improvement: Joint work on high-yield species, pathogen-free seed, brood stock development, and genetic enhancement programmes.
• Water & resource efficiency: Adoption of Israeli water-saving and water-management technologies in aquaculture systems.
• Innovation & startups: Promotion of startups and R&D ecosystems to advance the Blue Economy.
• Monitoring & traceability: Technology-driven fisheries monitoring, data systems, transparency, and traceability for responsible fishing.
• Capacity building: Training in deep-sea fishing, vessel design, coastal aquaculture, processing, marketing, and infrastructure (harbours, landing centres).

Significance:

• Enhances productivity and resilience of fisheries, supporting nutrition and coastal livelihoods.
• Integrates technology, sustainability, and entrepreneurship to unlock ocean-based growth.
• Promotes efficient water use, sustainable practices, and ecosystem conservation.

Thiruvalluvar Day

• Prime Minister of India paid homage to Thiruvalluvar on Thiruvalluvar Day and urged citizens to read the Tirukkural, highlighting its timeless ethical and social values.

Thiruvalluvar: Who he was?

• Thiruvalluvar was a celebrated Tamil poet–philosopher, traditionally linked to the Sangam/post-Sangam intellectual milieu, revered as a moral teacher across South India.

History:

• His exact dates are debated (often placed roughly between 300 BCE and 600 CE in different traditions), but he is strongly associated in popular memory with Mylapore (Chennai).

Key contributions

• Ethical philosophy for common life: Presented practical morality for individuals, society and rulers through concise couplets.
• Governance and statecraft: Laid down ideals of just rule, good administration, and public welfare.
• Universal humanism: Advocated values like truth, compassion, self-control, non-violence, and social harmony beyond sectarian boundaries.

Tirukkural:

• The Tirukkural is a classical Tamil text of 1,330 short couplets (kurals) offering teachings on ethics, polity/economics, and love.

Author:

• Traditionally attributed to Thiruvalluvar.

Key features

• Structure: 3 books — Aram (Virtue), Porul (Wealth/Polity), Inbam (Love).
• Style: Extremely concise aphorisms, easy to remember, rich in meaning.
• Scope: Covers personal conduct, social life, governance, justice, leadership, friendship, and family life.
• Universal tone: Often seen as secular and widely applicable, hence called “Tamil Veda” in popular tradition.

Significance

• Ethics for public life: A foundational source for thinking on integrity, justice, duty, and welfare-oriented governance.
• Cultural identity: A pillar of Tamil literary heritage and civilisational continuity.
• Global influence: Among the most translated Tamil works and frequently cited for universal moral reasoning.

Traditional Indelible Ink

• Maharashtra’s State Election Commission has decided to revert to traditional indelible ink for zilla parishad and panchayat samiti elections after complaints that marker-pen ink used in municipal polls could be wiped off.

Traditional Indelible Ink:

• Indelible ink is a permanent marking ink applied on a voter’s finger after voting to indicate that the person has already exercised their franchise and cannot vote again.

Origin:

• India began using indelible ink in 1962 (Third General Election) as a simple, low-cost and effective method to prevent impersonation and repeat voting.

Manufactured by:

• The ink is manufactured exclusively by Mysore Paints and Varnish Limited, a Karnataka government undertaking, using a closely guarded formula developed by India’s National Physical Laboratory.

Aim:

• To prevent multiple voting.
• To ensure the integrity and credibility of elections, especially in large-scale polls with millions of voters.

Key features:

• Silver nitrate–based formulation: Reacts with keratin in the skin and exposure to light, creating a chemical stain rather than a surface coating.
• Dark, long-lasting stain: Penetrates the upper skin layer and nail, making the mark clearly visible for days.
• Difficult to remove: Does not wash off with soap, water or common chemicals, ensuring voter marking remains intact.
• Standardised application point: Applied on the left index finger across the nail and cuticle, where removal is hardest.
• Extended visibility period: Skin mark fades in 3–4 days, while nail stain lasts 2–4 weeks until it grows out.

Significance:

• Acts as a visible and universally understood electoral safeguard.
• Enhances public trust in free and fair elections.
• Proven reliability over six decades of Indian elections.

Project Suncatcher

• Google Research has unveiled Project Suncatcher, exploring AI datacentres in low-Earth orbit powered entirely by solar energy to tackle AI’s surging electricity demand.

Project Suncatcher:

• Project Suncatcher is a concept and research programme to place AI datacentres in low-Earth orbit (LEO), operating continuously on solar power to run energy-intensive AI workloads.
• Launched by: Google (Google Research).

Aim:

• Cut AI’s energy footprint by using uninterrupted solar power.
• Decouple AI compute growth from terrestrial grids, land use, and water-intensive cooling.

How it works?

• Deploys densely clustered satellites (not a sparse global swarm) flying in sun-synchronous orbits to ensure constant sunlight.
• AI workloads are distributed across satellites using ultra-high-bandwidth inter-satellite links; Earth downlinks handle only inputs/outputs.
• Uses radiation-tolerant TPUs and specialised thermal designs to operate in vacuum.

Key features:

• Always-on solar energy – no atmosphere, no night cycles in chosen orbits.
• Petabit-scale inter-satellite networking to support distributed AI training/inference.
• Radiation-hard compute – tests show TPUs tolerate doses beyond multi-year mission needs.
• Minimal Earth bandwidth dependency compared to internal cluster bandwidth.
• Scalable constellation architecture, with satellites replaced as units age out.

Significance:

• Offers a new path to power AI sustainably as model sizes and training runs explode.
• Reduces pressure on grids, water, and land near terrestrial datacentres.

Kruger National Park

• Kruger National Park was temporarily shut to day visitors after severe flooding caused multiple rivers to overflow due to prolonged heavy rainfall.

Kruger National Park:

• Kruger National Park is South Africa’s largest and oldest national park, and one of Africa’s most renowned wildlife reserves, globally famous for conservation and eco-tourism.
• Located in: It lies in northeastern South Africa, spanning the provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga, bordering Mozambique and Zimbabwe.

History:

• Originally proclaimed as the Sabi Game Reserve in 1898.
• Declared a national park in 1926 and named after Paul Kruger, former President of the South African Republic.
• It became South Africa’s first national park and a cornerstone of modern wildlife conservation in the region.

Geographical features:

• Covers about 19,623 sq km, stretching ~360 km north–south.
• Characterised by savannah grasslands, riverine forests, and bushveld ecosystems.
• Major rivers include the Limpopo, Letaba, Olifants, Sabie and Crocodile, which sustain wildlife but also make parts of the park flood-prone.
• Forms part of the Kruger-to-Canyons Biosphere Reserve, recognised by UNESCO.

Significance:

• Home to the Big Five (lion, leopard, elephant, rhino, buffalo) and hundreds of bird, reptile, and mammal species.
• A key pillar of Africa’s conservation science, anti-poaching efforts, and transboundary biodiversity corridors.

10 Years of Startup India

• Context (PIB): The National Startup Day on January 16, 2026, will mark the tenth anniversary of the Startup India initiative.

Startup India:

• Startup India is a flagship initiative launched in 2016 to promote an inclusive ecosystem for innovation and entrepreneurship.
• The initiative is managed by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
• Action Plan: It has a three-pillar framework that focuses on regulatory simplification, funding support and incentives, and industry–academia partnerships for innovation.
• Regulatory Ease: Eligible startups can self-certify compliance with six labour laws and three environmental laws for up to five years.
• Tax Exemptions: Eligible startups can claim a three-year income tax holiday within their first ten years under Section 80-IAC of the Income Tax Act.
• IPR Support: Startups receive an 80% rebate on patent filing fees and a 50% rebate on trademark filing, along with fast-tracked examinations.
• Funding Mechanisms: Includes the Fund of Funds for Startups (FFS) managed by SIDBI, the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS), and a Credit Guarantee Scheme for Startups (CGSS).

Key Achievements

• India has emerged as third-largest startup ecosystem with over two lakh DPIIT-recognised startups.
• Startups have created over 2.1 million direct jobs and millions of indirect opportunities in the gig economy and supply chains.
• Unicorn Growth: India hosts 125 unicorns with a combined valuation exceeding $389 billion.
• Inclusivity: More than 53% of recognised startups now originate in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities; about 48% of recognised startups have at least one-woman director.

Reforms for India’s Developed Economy Target 2047

• India aims to become a $7–10 trillion economy in the next decade, but the key challenge is financing growth in a stable and durable way.

India’s Key Targets for 2047

• Developed Nation: India aims to become a developed country by 2047 (“Viksit Bharat @2047”).
• Economy Size: Target of around US$ 30 trillion GDP by 2047.
• Per Capita Income: NITI Aayog approach paper suggests ~US$ 18,000 per capita income by 2047.
• Energy Independence: The government has a stated goal of energy independence by 2047.

Core Risk Identified for India

• Savings Erosion: Net household financial savings fell to a multi-decade low of ~5.3% of GDP (FY2023), weakening domestic long-term capital formation.
• Debt-Led Growth: Household debt has risen to over 40%, with borrowing increasingly used for consumption and lifestyle spending, reducing future savings potential.
• Bank Tenor Mismatch: Bank deposits are largely short/medium-term, <1-year deposits are ~39.6% (PSBs) and ~39.5% (private banks), while 1–3 years add ~21.7% and ~26.2%.
• Low Capital Efficiency: India’s ICOR ~4 to 5.5 means high investment is needed to sustain fast growth. With execution delays, returns fall, and more capital gets locked for the same output.

Reforms For India’s Developed Economy

1. Rebuild Long-Term Domestic Savings

• Savings Revival: Expand pension/insurance penetration and nudge long-term household savings; E.g., stronger Atal Pension Yojana coverage with auto-enrolment models.
• Debt Discipline: Reduce dependence on leverage-driven consumption as household debt is already above 40%. E.g. Promote financial literacy and incentivise systematic long-term savings behaviour.

2. Shift Long-Tenor Financing to Markets

• Bond Deepening: Expand corporate bond market depth and liquidity beyond AAA issuers and private placements, also improve secondary market trading and widen investor participation.
• Institutional Flow: Increase long-term funds from pensions and insurers into infrastructure and manufacturing bonds. E.g. Credit enhancement and risk-sharing tools to support long-term lending.

      3. Improve Capital Efficiency

• Execution Reform: Reduce time and cost overruns through faster approvals, predictable regulation and clearer contracts to improve investment productivity.
• Regulatory Certainty: Ensure stable policy and enforcement so investors can plan long-horizon projects.

4. Leverage Start-ups and Deep Tech

• Deep-Tech Push: Create long-horizon capital and mission-linked incentives; E.g., India Semiconductor Mission-style support for deep tech clusters.
• Patient Capital: Create long-horizon risk capital and industry-academia linkages for longer gestation innovation by building policy frameworks that match deep-tech timelines and scale-up needs.

Tokenising India’s Credit System

• India’s Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) improved financial inclusion, but credit depth remains weak; the next reform push is financial asset tokenisation to digitise rights.

Financial Asset Tokenisation

• Financial Asset Tokenisation is the digital representation of ownership rights and financial claims (such as bonds, fund units, and receivables) on a programmable ledger.
• It makes financial assets transferable, pledgeable and enforceable with embedded rules.

Issue of Credit System in India

• Low Credit Depth: Domestic bank credit to the private sector remains around ~50% of GDP, far below countries with deep credit markets highlights a structural mismatch.
• MSME Shortfall: Only ~19% of MSME credit demand (FY21) is met through formal channels, leaving an estimated ~₹80 lakh crore credit gap despite priority sector lending and credit guarantee schemes.
• Friction Bottlenecks: Credit is constrained by slow settlement cycles, fragmented asset registries and weak enforceability, not by lack of payment rails.
• Data Without Collateral: DPI (Aadhaar e-KYC, UPI, Account Aggregator) digitised cash-flow visibility, but it still cannot convert verified cash flows into enforceable collateral, limiting credit depth.
• Static Asset Processing: Digital assets remain as static records, not programmable financial claims. Hence, collateralisation & settlement stay slow and dispute-prone.

How Tokenisation Fixes the Credit System?

• Programmable Claims: Tokenisation embeds ownership directly into the asset, converting instruments from passive records into programmable financial claims, which improves lender confidence.
• Faster Settlement: Settlement and servicing become built-in attributes of the token, reducing back-office delays and reconciliation frictions, improving liquidity and lowering transaction costs.
• Working Data Rails: India already has strong DPI foundations, enabling scalable verification. This lowers information asymmetry and improves underwriting quality across lenders.
• Bridging Missing Layer: Tokenisation adds the next layer by converting verified financial information into pledgeable, transferable digital assets, enabling continuous asset-based monitoring.
• Ecosystem Linkages: When linked with platforms like ONDC enterprise data, tokenised claims can reflect real-time business cashflows, which can improve MSME credit access.

Way Forward

• B2B Sequencing: Start with B2B tokenisation (receivables, bonds) before retail scaling to prove reliability.
• Joint Sandbox: Launch a SEBI–IFSCA sandbox to test tokenised bonds with controlled exposure; E.g., phased pilots with audited MRV-like compliance.
• Custody Guardrails: Mandate licensed custodians & recovery protocols for insolvency and fraud.
• Tax Differentiation: Separate taxation of asset-backed tokens from speculative crypto-assets to channel capital productively; E.g., neutral tax for tokenised securities.

India ready to share its Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) with the Commonwealth Nations

• The Commonwealth is a voluntary association of 56 independent and equal countries. It is home to 2.7 billion people, including both advanced economies and developing countries.

What is Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI)?

• India is hosting the Conference of Speakers and Presiding Officers of the Commonwealth (CSPOC) for the 4th time.
• DPI are a set of shared, secure, and interoperable digital systems that are built on open standards and governed by enabling rules (i.e., policies, regulations, institutions).
• DPI typically operates as a three-layered "stack":

1. Identity Layer: Provides unique identification (e.g., Aadhaar).
2. Payments Layer: Enables interoperable, low-cost, real-time transactions (e.g., Unified Payments Interface or UPI).
3. Data Layer: Facilitates secure, consent-based data sharing (e.g., Account Aggregator framework).

Significance of DPI

• Effective Public Service Delivery: Government e-Marketplace (GeM) surpasses ₹5 lakh crore Gross Merchandise Value.
• Payment revolution: UPI powers 85% of India’s digital payments and nearly 50% of global real-time digital payments.
• Breaking Language Barriers: BHASHINI (BHASHa INterface for India) supports 35+ Indian languages, 1,600+ AI models, and 22+ languages.
• E-Governance: UMANG app offers 2,300 services in 23 languages, with 8.71 crore registrations.
• Soft Power Diplomacy: DPI potentially promotes cross-border digital partnership and positions India as a trusted digital partner.

Key Initiatives by India to enhance the reach of Indian DPI at international levels:

• India Stack Global: Aims to share the success of Indian DPIs with the global community.
• Includes key projects: Aadhaar, UPI, U-WIN, API Setu, DigiLocker, Aarogya Setu, Government eMarketplace, UMANG, DIKSHA, eSanjeevani, eHospital etc.
• Global DPI Repository (GDPIR): An initiative of the Indian G20 Presidency designed to be a resource for key lessons and knowledge available from G20 members and guest countries.
• Other: India has signed MoUs with countries like Armenia, Sierra Leone, Suriname, etc. for sharing India Stack.

Orobanche Threat to Mustard Crops

• Orobanche aegyptiaca, or Margoja, has emerged as a hidden threat to mustard crops.
• Impact: Severe infestations have reduced mustard yields by nearly half across many areas, threatening edible oil self-sufficiency targets.

Orobanche

• It is a root-parasitic weed that lacks chlorophyll and cannot photosynthesise independently.
• It attaches to host roots via a specialised organ called a haustorium to extract nutrients, water, & carbon.
• Hidden Threat: Early growth remains underground, causing major crop damage before the shoots emerge above the soil.
• Proliferation: A single plant produces up to five lakh microscopic seeds viable for nearly 20 years.
• Host Range: It mainly attacks mustard but also affects tomato, potato, lentil, and cabbage.
• Geographical Spread: Infestations are concentrated in the semi-arid mustard belts of Rajasthan, Haryana, and Madhya Pradesh.

Management and Solutions

• HT Hybrids: Herbicide-tolerant hybrids like Pioneer-45S42CL resist imidazolinone herbicides, enabling selective weed control.
• GM Research: Scientists are developing GM mustard variants tolerant to multiple broad-spectrum herbicides, thereby reducing resistance risks.
• Soil Solarisation: Clear polyethene mulch applied during summer raises soil temperatures, destroying up to 95% of viable Orobanche seeds.
• Nitrogen Fertilisation: High nitrogen application suppresses Orobanche growth, though not all crops tolerate high nitrogen levels.

Donald Trump Receives 2025 Nobel Peace Prize Medal from Maria Machado

• U.S. President Donald Trump accepted the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize medal at the White House from María Corina Machado.
• The Venezuelan opposition leader handed over the physical gold medal as recognition of commitment to Venezuela’s freedom.
• Official Clarification: The Norwegian Nobel Institute clarified that only the physical medal can change ownership, not the Nobel Peace Prize title itself.

Nobel Prize Rules

• Title Status: Nobel Prize laureate status cannot be transferred, shared, revoked, or reassigned under any circumstances.
• Final Decisions: Decisions of Nobel Prize awarding bodies are final and cannot be appealed by individuals or institutions.
• Revocation Rule: Once announced, a Nobel Prize cannot be revoked, regardless of any future actions by the laureate.
• Sharing Limit: A Nobel Prize may be shared by a maximum of three individuals in one award year.
• Peace Exception: The Nobel Peace Prize can also be awarded to an organisation.
• Posthumous Bar: The prizes are not awarded if the recipient dies before the official announcement.
• Lecture Duty: Every Nobel laureate must deliver a public lecture related to the prize, usually within six months of receiving it.

Karan Fries and Vrindavani Cattle Breeds

• The National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources (NBAGR) registered the Karan Fries and Vrindavani cattle breeds to boost national dairy productivity.
• The breeds can produce about 1.5–3 times more milk per 10-month lactation than indigenous breeds.
• Karan Fries: Developed by the National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI), it is a cross between exotic Holstein-Friesian bulls and indigenous Tharparkar cattle.
• Vrindavani: Developed by ICAR-Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI), it is a blend of exotic Holstein-Friesian, Brown Swiss, Jersey, and indigenous Hariana cattle.

About NBGAR

• NBAGR serves as India’s nodal agency for identification, characterisation, and registration of livestock and poultry genetic resources.
• Established in 1984, based in Karnal, Haryana, it functions as an autonomous body under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).
• National Repository: The National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) recognises NBAGR as the national germplasm repository for domesticated animals.
• Global Linkage: It serves as India’s nodal agency for the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and monitors SDG Target 2.5.

New Study on Role of Magnetic Fields in Star Formation

• Context (PIB): A recent study by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) provided new insights into how magnetic fields regulate star formation.
• Researchers examined the L328 molecular cloud (about 700 light-years away) using data from the POL-2 polarimeter on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope in Hawaii.

Key Findings

• Multi-Scale Connectivity: Magnetic fields remain highly ordered and connected from large molecular clouds to dense star-forming cores.
• Field Orientation: The magnetic field maintains a consistent northeast–southwest alignment, guiding the inward collapse of matter.
• Magnetic Balance: The study identifies magnetic criticality—the balance between magnetic pressure and gravitational pull—as a decisive factor for star formation.
• In sub-critical cores, where magnetic support exceeds gravity, a cloud core can remain starless.
• Strength Scaling: Near the L328 core, magnetic forces, gravity, and turbulence are about ten times stronger than thermal energy, strongly shaping star formation.

Menkes Disease

• The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Zycubo (copper histidinate) as the first treatment for Menkes disease.
• Menkes disease, also known as kinky hair syndrome, is a severe genetic disorder that affects infants at 2–3 months of age.
• It is caused by a defect in the ATP7A gene, which produces a protein responsible for transporting copper across cell membranes.
• The disease impairs copper absorption and transport, causing accumulation in the intestine and kidneys, while the brain and liver become severely copper-deficient.
• The condition primarily affects males; females are usually asymptomatic carriers.
• Incidence: It is a rare disease occurring in approximately 1 per 100,000–250,000 live births worldwide.
• Symptoms: Include brittle, colourless “steely” hair, seizures, hypotonia, developmental delay, bone weakness, and fragile blood vessels.
• Copper is an essential trace mineral important for cellular energy production, connective tissue formation, iron metabolism, and brain development.

Responsible Nations Index

• The World Intellectual Foundation (WIF) is set to formally launch the Responsible Nations Index (RNI) in New Delhi.
• RNI is an India-led initiative that assesses 154 countries on responsible governance, social well-being, environmental stewardship, and global responsibility.
• The index moves beyond traditional power and GDP metrics, relying on transparent global data to deliver credible and comparable evaluations.
• It is structured around three key dimensions—internal responsibility, environmental responsibility, and external responsibility.
• It was developed in partnership with Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Mumbai.
• The index promotes global dialogue on ethics, responsibility, food security, and sustainable leadership in international affairs.
• The WIF is a New Delhi–based, global, non-partisan think tank, founded in 2021, that unites diverse stakeholders to advance pragmatic ideas for global prosperity and peace.