History
The Battles of Imphal & Kohima:
-
- In World War II, the Battles of Imphal and Kohima (1944) were fought in Northeast India.
- The Japanese 15th Army and the Indian National Army (INA) under Subhas Chandra Bose attacked Imphal and Kohima, aiming to cut Allied supply lines and invade India.
- Fierce fighting and strategic defence by the British 14th Army, along with logistical superiority, led to heavy Japanese and INA losses and forced their retreat to Burma.
- The battle was pivotal for the Allied war effort in Asia, although it later became a lesser-known episode in global and Indian historical narratives.
(TH)
Science & Technology
‘AI for Viksit Bharat Roadmap’ and ‘Frontier Tech Repository’:
-
- NITI Aayog launched two initiatives: the “AI for Viksit Bharat Roadmap” and the “NITI Frontier Tech Repository” under its Frontier Tech Hub.
- The roadmap aims to accelerate adoption of AI for economic growth and innovation, with a practical sector-specific action plan.
- Leaders stressed AI’s key role in boosting productivity, inclusive growth, and enabling India’s ambition for global technology leadership.
- NITI Aayog’s Frontier Tech Repository: is an initiative to prepare India for emerging frontier technologies like AI, quantum computing, and biotechnology, aiming for inclusive growth and national security.
- It engages experts from government, industry, and academia to identify challenges, opportunities, and develop strategies for India’s technological readiness towards Viksit Bharat 2047.
- The Hub promotes human-centric technology applications in critical sectors such as health, agriculture, education, and national security, showcasing successful real-world use cases.
- It fosters partnerships with states and government bodies to catalyze R&D, scale technology deployment, and measure economic and societal impacts.
- The Hub also emphasizes global outreach to share India’s development model and collaborate internationally for technology adoption and innovation.
- It highlights 200+ impact stories across sectors like agriculture, healthcare, education, and national security, showcasing real-world technology adoption.
(TH)
Geography & Environment
Carlsberg Ridge:
-
- It is an underwater mid-ocean ridge in the western Indian Ocean.
- Separating the African and Indo-Australian plates.
- It is a divergent tectonic plate boundary where the two plates are moving apart.
- The ridge contains polymetallic nodules and is rich in minerals such as cobalt, copper, gold, and zinc, deposited by hydrothermal activity and magma.
- It is a seismically active region, with major earthquakes occurring along the ridge.
- Discovered in 1928 by the Danish research vessel Dana, it was named after the Carlsberg Foundation, which sponsored the expedition.
- India holds exploration licenses from the International Seabed Authority for the region.
(TH)
Afanasy-Nikitin Sea-mound (ANS):
-
- The ANS is in the Central Indian Basin, southeast of Sri Lanka and below the equator.
- It is a substantial feature, measuring 400 kilometres long and 150 kilometres wide.
- It features a main plateau rising about 1,200 meters above the surrounding ocean floor, which lies at a depth of approximately 4,800 meters.
- The ANS is rich in cobalt, nickel, manganese, and copper, which are essential metals for various industries, including electronics, batteries, and electric vehicles.
- India has applied to the International Seabed Authority (ISBA) for exploration rights to the cobalt-rich seamount, signalling a significant resource interest.
- Like other seamounts, the ANS is recognized as a hotspot for marine life.
(TH)
International Seabed Authority (ISA):
-
- It is an intergovernmental organization based in Kingston, Jamaica.
- It was established by the UNCLOS and the 1994 Agreement relating to the Implementation of Part XI of UNCLOS.
- ISA oversees activities in “The Area”—the deep seabed and its subsoil beyond the limits of national jurisdiction.
- Organizes and controls all mineral-related activities in The Area, from exploration to exploitation.
- A primary focus is protecting the marine environment from the potential harmful effects of deep-sea mining.
- ISA develops the Mining Code, which includes the regulations, rules, and procedures for prospecting, exploration, and exploitation of deep-sea minerals.
(TH)
Facts/Data
Economy:
-
- India’s trade deficit contracted by more than 54% to $9.9 billion in August, driven by a surge in merchandise exports, a continued strong performance in services exports, and a significant reduction in merchandise imports.
- The trade deficit stood at $21.7 billion in August last year.
- India’s total exports increased to $69.2 billion in August 2025, up 9.3% over its level in August last year. Within this, merchandise exports increased to $35.1 billion in August 2025, compared with $32.9 billion in August last year, a growth of 6.7%. Services exports increased to $34.1 billion in August 2025, compared with $30.4 billion in August last year.
- On the import side, India’s total imports fell to $79 billion in August 2025, compared with $85 billion in August last year, a contraction of 7%.
- Services imports increased marginally to $17.45 billion in August 2025 from $16.5 billion in August last year.
(TH)
Society:
-
- A recent UNICEF report, ‘Feeding Profit: How Food Environments Are Failing Children’, estimates that one in five children and adolescents between 5 and 19 years are ‘living with overweight’.
- It highlights that children and adolescents are increasingly being exposed to “unhealthy food environments” through advertisements and food service facilities and even lack adequate legal protections against such environments.
- A rise in the density of ‘chain’ outlets, which include convenience stores, supermarkets and hypermarkets with more than 10 outlets.
- According to the report, chain outlets influence food access and diets by facilitating the widespread availability and promotion of unhealthy foods and beverages.
- Unhealthy foods and beverages were more commonly available in schools than fresh fruits or vegetables.
- Report emphasised that mandatory national legal measures and policies are vital to creating healthy food environments.
- Data show that only 18% of the 202 countries analysed had mandatory nutrition standards for school meals, and only 19% have national taxes for both unhealthy foods and sugar-sweetened beverages.
(TH)
Security:
-
- Enforcement Directorate (ED) said the agency has secured convictions in 50 of the 53 cases in the special courts under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), achieving a conviction rate of more than 94%, and facilitated restitution of assets worth over ₹34,000 crore to victims and legitimate claimants.
(TH)
Terms in the News
Involution:
-
- In economics, involution describes a state of intense competition or effort that yields diminishing returns, leading to increasing internal complexity and stagnation rather than progress or improved outcomes.
- The term originated with Clifford Geertz’swork on agricultural intensification in Indonesia and has recently been applied to contemporary economic issues, particularly in China.
(TH)
Miscellaneous
INS Nistar:
-
- It is a new, indigenously built Diving Support Vessel of the Indian Navy, made its first port call at Singapore for the multinational Exercise Pacific Reach 2025.
- The vessel is equipped with advanced systems, including Side Scan Sonar, Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs), and deep-sea diving facilities.
- The exercise involves over 40 nations, hosted by Singapore, and focuses on submarine rescue operations and best practices.
- INS Nistar acts as the mothership for Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicles (DSRV)and will participate in harbour and sea phases, including multiple rescue and intervention drills in the South China Sea.
- The event aims to enhance international cooperation and interoperability in submarine rescue.
(PIB)
Public Financial Asset Management (PFAM) Program:
-
- Shri Vivekanand Gupta, Regional Provident Fund Commissioner of EPFO, has been selected as the only Indian and first EPFO official for the prestigious Public Financial Asset Management (PFAM) Program 2025–26.
- It is jointly organised by World Bank–Milken Institute.
- The program, hosted at Bayes Business School, UK, brings professionals from central banks, sovereign wealth, and pension funds, for advanced training in capital markets and asset management.
- This achievement highlights EPFO’s commitment to global best practices and enhances its global standing in financial governance and long-term asset management.
(PIB)
PRACTICE MCQ’S
Q1. Consider the following statements in the recent context of exploration of polymetallic nodules:
1. India holds exploration licenses from the International Seabed Authority for the Carlsberg Ridge and Afanasy-Nikitin Sea-mound.
2. The Carlsberg Ridge is a tectonic boundary, and the Afanasy-Nikitin Seamount (ANS) is a volcanic feature in the Indian Ocean.
3. Both these locations are rich in minerals and polymetallic nodules.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
a) 1 and 2 only
b) 2 and 3 only
c) 1 and 3 only
d) 1, 2 and 3
Answer: B
Explanation:
Statement 1 is incorrect: The Carlsberg Ridge has been granted, the Afanasy-Nikitin Sea (ANS) mount is yet to be approved.
Statement 2 is correct: The Carlsberg Ridge is a tectonic boundary, and the Afanasy-Nikitin Seamount (ANS) is a volcanic feature in the Indian Ocean.
Statement 3 is correct: Both these locations are rich in minerals and polymetallic nodules.
Q2. Consider the following statements about International Seabed Authority (ISA):
1. It was established by the UNCLOS and the 1994 Agreement.
2. Its headquarter is in Rome, Italy.
3. Organizes and controls all mineral-related activities in The Area, from exploration to exploitation.
How many of the statements given are correct?
a) Only one
b) Only two
c) All three
d) None
Answer: B
Explanation:
Statement 1 is correct: It was established by the UNCLOS and the 1994 Agreement.
Statement 2 is incorrect: It is an intergovernmental organization based in Kingston, Jamaica.
Statement 3 is correct: Organizes and controls all mineral-related activities in The Area, from exploration to exploitation.
Q3. Consider the following statements:
1. Kohima was established as the capital of Nagaland in 1973 and serves as the state’s administrative centre.
2. It was the site of one of the bloodiest battles of World War II, the Battle of Kohima, in 1944.
Which of the statements given above is/are incorrect?
a) 1 only
b) 2 only
c) Both 1 and 2
d) Neither 1 nor 2
Answer: A
Explanation:
Statement 1 is incorrect: Kohima was established as the capital of Nagaland in 1963 and serves as the state’s administrative centre.
Statement 2 is correct: It was the site of one of the bloodiest battles of World War II, the Battle of Kohima, in 1944.
Q4. Consider the following statements about Public Financial Asset Management (PFAM) Program:
1. It is jointly organised by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Milken Institute.
2. The program brings professionals from central banks, sovereign wealth, and pension funds, for advanced training in capital markets and asset management.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
a) 1 only
b) 2 only
c) Both 1 and 2
d) Neither 1 nor 2
Answer: B
Explanation:
Statement 1 is incorrect: It is jointly organised by World Bank and Milken Institute.
Statement 2 is correct: The program brings professionals from central banks, sovereign wealth, and pension funds, for advanced training in capital markets and asset management.
Q5. Which of the following statements correctly explain the term ‘Involution’, recently seen in the news?
a) Increasing prices of goods with decrease in supply.
b) Increasing price of commodity with increase in demand.
c) Intense competition in sector of economy leading to stagnation.
d) Increase in competition due to entry of foreign companies in domestic economy leading to decrease in prices of goods.
Answer: C
Explanation: involution describes a state of intense competition or effort that yields diminishing returns, leading to increasing internal complexity and stagnation rather than progress or improved outcomes.
Spread the Word
