Current Context: Vivekanand Gupta from Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has been selected for the World Bank–Milken Public Financial Asset Management (PFAM) Program 2025–26.

He is the first officer from EPFO and India to join this elite global financial cohort.

ABOUT THE PFAM PROGRAM

• Organised by: World Bank and Milken Institute
• Participants: 16 members from 13 countries
  • 11 from Central Banks
  • 3 from Sovereign Wealth Funds
  • 2 from major Pension Funds
• Focus Areas:
  • Capital market operations
  • Strategic long-term asset management
  • Governance frameworks for public financial institutions
• Objective: To build leadership in managing public financial assets efficiently and sustainably.

Observed every year on 17 September.

• Objective: To raise awareness about patient safety and urge global solidarity and action to reduce patient harm.
• Established by: World Health Organization (WHO)

Current Context: Albania appointed “Diella” — an AI-generated bot — as the world’s first AI Minister to handle and award public tenders for government projects.

ROLE OF AI IN GOVERNANCE

• Improves efficiency in urban planning, healthcare, disaster relief
• Reduces corruption through automation
• Enhances citizen service delivery (chatbots, multilingual apps)
• Challenges:
  • Risk to democracy, accountability, and transparency
  • Data privacy issues, bias and discrimination
  • Lack of legal framework for AI errors

Current Context: India voted in favour of a UN General Assembly resolution endorsing the New York Declaration on peaceful settlement of the Palestine issue.

ABOUT NEW YORK DECLARATION

• Calls for:
  • Immediate ceasefire in Gaza
  • Establishment of an independent, sovereign, economically viable Palestinian State
  • Disarmament of Hamas and its exclusion from governance
  • Normalisation of ties between Israel and Arab states
  • Collective security guarantees for all parties

Current Context: Delhi High Court passed an interim order protecting actor Abhishek Bachchan’s personality rights, stopping misuse of his name, image, voice, or persona for commercial gain without consent.

ABOUT PERSONALITY RIGHTS

• Give individuals exclusive commercial control over their identity.
• Covers name, image, voice, behaviour, and unique personal attributes.
• Not defined by statute in India, but protected under:
  • Common law
  • Article 21 (Right to Privacy)
  • Intellectual Property laws

Current Context: India participated in the 4th Coast Guard Global Summit in Rome and bid to host the next edition in 2027.

ABOUT INDIAN COAST GUARD

• Established: 1977
• Under: Ministry of Defence
• Motto: Vayam Rakshamah — “We Protect”
• Roles:
  • Protect ocean and offshore wealth (oil, fish, minerals)
  • Assist mariners in distress
  • Enforce maritime laws against poaching, smuggling, narcotics
  • Preserve marine environment and ecology
  • Collect scientific data and support Navy during wartime

Current Context: MoEFCC has approved the translocation of 8 tigers (3 males, 5 females) from Tadoba-Andhari and Pench Tiger Reserves to Sahyadri Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra.

ABOUT THE PROJECT

• Legal basis: Section 12 of Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972
• Aim: Revive tiger population in the northern Western Ghats
• Earlier approved by: National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA)

BENEFITS

• Restores predator-prey balance
• Reduces human-tiger conflict in overcrowded reserves
• Rewilds habitats where tigers were locally extinct

CONCERNS : Local protests, territorial disputes with existing tigers, poor prey base, weak forest management

ABOUT SAHYADRI TIGER RESERVE

• Established: 2010 (by merging Chandoli National Park and Koyna Wildlife Sanctuary)
• Location: Sahyadri ranges, Western Ghats, Maharashtra (northernmost tiger habitat in the Western Ghats)
• Reservoirs: Shivsagar (Koyna River), Vasant Sagar (Warana River)
• Fauna: Wild dog, leopard, gaur, sambar, mouse deer, hornbills, Indian river tern

Current Context: Union Government has announced the annual licensing policy for opium cultivation for 2025–26 under NDPS Rules, 1985.

ABOUT OPIUM & CULTIVATION POLICY

• Opium poppy produces opium gum rich in morphine, codeine, thebaine (medicinal alkaloids).
• India is the only country allowed by UN (1961 Single Convention) to produce gum opium.
• Cultivation permitted in: Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh (notified tracts).
• Licensing Authority: Central Bureau of Narcotics (CBN), Gwalior (Ministry of Finance).
• Farmers must sell entire produce to CBN at government-decided price.

Current Context: While no specific laws exist in India against the Pink Tax, the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) has ruled that companies must avoid gender-based price discrimination.

ABOUT PINK TAX

• Not a government tax — refers to extra cost charged for women’s products compared to similar men’s products.
• Seen in toys, haircuts, dry cleaning, razors, shampoos, lotions, clothing, salon services
• Originated in California, U.S. (1994) after studies showed:
  • Women’s personal care products cost 13% more,
  • Women’s clothing 7–8% costlier than men’s.
• In India:
  • No legal prohibition
  • Prices based on market demand
  • Studies show clear price gaps between male and female versions

Current Context: India ranked 99th out of 167 countries in the Sustainable Development Report 2025, but faces major challenges in achieving SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities).

ABOUT SDG 11 CHALLENGES

• Indicators under SDG 11:
  • Proportion of slum population
  • Air pollution (PM 2.5)
  • Access to improved piped water
  • Public transport availability

KEY FINDINGS

• Stagnant progress on slum population and PM 2.5 pollution levels
• Decline in access to piped water in 2025; only 65% households had it in 2022
• Water supply highly irregular — e.g. Mumbai gets just 5 hours/day
• High water cost in slums (30× more from tankers); only 45 lpcd supply vs. 135 lpcd norm
• Half of slum households live in non-pucca houses with overcrowding and tenure insecurity

ENVIRONMENTAL & DISASTER RISKS

• High exposure to pollution, flooding, landslides during monsoons
• Poor infrastructure increases loss of life, health risks, and income shocks
• Weak resilience building deepens urban poverty and inequality