📘 QUESTION:

Consider the following statements regarding the Code on Wages, 2019:
1. It subsumes four existing labour laws related to wages and bonus.
2. It mandates a national minimum wage, below which no state can fix its minimum wage.
3. The Code defines "employee" to include persons employed in a managerial capacity.
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

📘 QUESTION:

With reference to the Industrial Relations Code, 2020, consider the following statements:
1. The definition of 'strike' under the Code includes mass casual leave by a body of persons employed in any industry.
2. No person employed in an industrial establishment shall go on strike without giving a notice of sixty days.
3. The Code prohibits strikes during conciliation proceedings and for seven days after their conclusion.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

A) 1 and 2 only

B) 2 and 3 only

C) 1 and 3 only

D) 1, 2 and 3

📘 QUESTION:

With reference to labour laws in India, consider the following statements:
1. The right to form a trade union is a fundamental right under Article 19(1)(c) of the Constitution.
2. The Factories Act, 1948, mandates payment of equal remuneration for work of similar nature.
3. The Payment of Wages Act, 1936, primarily regulates the payment of wages to persons employed in factories and industrial establishments.

A) 1 and 2 only

B) 1 and 3 only

C) 2 and 3 only

D) 1, 2 and 3

📘 QUESTION:

Which of the following is NOT one of the four new Labour Codes passed by the Parliament of India?

A) The Code on Wages, 2019

B) The Industrial Relations Code, 2020

C) The Employees' Compensation Code, 2021

D) The Code on Social Security, 2020

Today's important headlines:

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📰 Headline:
India's Russian oil imports become costlier as discounts shrink

📌 Summary:

* India's imports of Russian crude remained high, but the price advantage has reduced due to renewed geopolitical tensions and tighter sanctions.
* The renewed conflict in West Asia and stricter enforcement of sanctions have increased freight, insurance and transaction costs.
* India continues to diversify its crude import basket while balancing energy security with strategic autonomy.
* The issue is important for India's import bill, current account deficit and inflation.

💡 Prelims Fact:
Russia has been India's largest supplier of crude oil since 2023, overtaking Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📰 Headline:
US tariff concerns for India's textile exports

📌 Summary:

* Indian textile exporters have expressed concerns over fresh US tariff measures despite India's relatively diversified export base.
* Higher tariffs could affect competitiveness in labour-intensive sectors such as garments and textiles.
* India is exploring market diversification and trade negotiations to reduce export risks.
* The development highlights the importance of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and resilient supply chains.

💡 Prelims Fact:
The textile sector is among India's largest employment generators after agriculture.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📰 Headline:
SEBI proposes major reforms for Portfolio Management Services (PMS)

📌 Summary:

* SEBI has proposed changes to strengthen regulation of Portfolio Management Services.
* The reforms aim to improve transparency, investor protection and risk management.
* The proposals include changes in investment norms, disclosures and governance standards.
* Stronger regulation is intended to boost confidence in India's capital markets.

💡 Prelims Fact:
SEBI is the statutory regulator of India's securities market, established under the SEBI Act, 1992.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📰 Headline:
India and US continue negotiations on Bilateral Trade Agreement

📌 Summary:

* India and the US are continuing discussions on a proposed Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA).
* Negotiations focus on tariffs, market access and sector-specific concerns.
* A successful agreement could increase trade, investment and technology cooperation.
* The US is India's largest trading partner in goods and services combined.

💡 Prelims Fact:
A Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) aims to reduce trade barriers between two countries through negotiated commitments.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📰 Headline:
West Asia conflict escalates amid drone and missile attacks

📌 Summary:

* Fresh drone and missile attacks have intensified tensions across West Asia.
* The conflict has disrupted shipping routes and increased uncertainty in global energy markets.
* Rising geopolitical risks may affect crude oil prices and global supply chains.
* India closely monitors the situation because of its energy imports and large diaspora in the region.

💡 Prelims Fact:
The Strait of Hormuz carries nearly one-fifth of global oil trade, making it strategically significant.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📰 Headline:
Wildfires spread across parts of Europe

📌 Summary:

* Severe wildfires have forced evacuations in parts of France and Spain.
* Extreme heat, prolonged dry conditions and climate change have increased wildfire frequency and intensity.
* Wildfires damage biodiversity, forests and local livelihoods while increasing greenhouse gas emissions.
* The event highlights the growing impacts of climate change on ecosystems.

💡 Prelims Fact:
Wildfires release large quantities of carbon dioxide, reducing forests' capacity to act as carbon sinks.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Today's important headlines:

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📰 Headline:
US Tariff Hike: India Faces 10% Levy

📌 Summary:

The US announced a 10% tariff on several imports, with India among the affected countries.
The move reflects continuing trade tensions and could affect India's exports to the US in sectors such as engineering goods, textiles and other manufactured products.
India is expected to continue negotiations through bilateral trade talks to reduce tariff barriers.
The issue is important for UPSC from the perspective of India–US trade relations and global protectionism.

💡 Prelims Fact:
The United States is India's largest trading partner in goods and services combined.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📰 Headline:
Centre Introduces Copyright Exception for AI Training

📌 Summary:

The government proposed allowing the use of copyrighted material for training Artificial Intelligence models under certain conditions.
The objective is to promote AI innovation while balancing creators' rights.
The proposal is likely to become part of India's evolving digital and AI governance framework.
The issue raises questions regarding intellectual property rights, fair use and responsible AI development.

💡 Prelims Fact:
Copyright in India is governed by the Copyright Act, 1957, administered by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📰 Headline:
New Unified Immigration Law Approved

📌 Summary:

Parliament cleared the Immigration and Foreigners Bill, replacing several older laws governing the entry and stay of foreigners.
The law aims to simplify immigration procedures and strengthen national security.
It provides a unified legal framework for visas, registration, monitoring and deportation of foreign nationals.
The legislation modernizes India's immigration administration to address emerging security challenges.

💡 Prelims Fact:
Immigration and visa administration in India is handled by the Ministry of Home Affairs.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📰 Headline:
India Attracts Higher Foreign Portfolio Investment

📌 Summary:

India accounted for around 10% of global portfolio investment inflows during the reported period.
Strong macroeconomic fundamentals, stable growth and investor confidence supported the inflows.
Sustained FPI inflows help strengthen capital markets and improve investment availability.
However, such investments remain volatile and are influenced by global interest rates and geopolitical developments.

💡 Prelims Fact:
Foreign Portfolio Investment (FPI) refers to investment in financial assets such as shares and bonds without acquiring management control.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📰 Headline:
Drone Attacks Escalate Iraq–US–Iran Tensions

📌 Summary:

Drone strikes targeted US military facilities in Iraq amid rising regional tensions.
The incidents highlight the continuing proxy conflict involving Iran-backed armed groups.
Escalation could affect security in West Asia and global energy markets.
The developments have implications for India's energy security and diaspora interests in the region.

💡 Prelims Fact:
Iraq is one of the important crude oil suppliers to India.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📰 Headline:
Wildfires Spread Across France and Spain

📌 Summary:

Large-scale wildfires forced mass evacuations in parts of France and Spain due to extreme heat and dry weather.
Scientists link the increasing frequency of such fires to climate change and prolonged heatwaves.
Wildfires threaten biodiversity, human settlements and air quality.
The event highlights the growing impact of climate change on Europe.

💡 Prelims Fact:
Heatwaves, drought and strong winds are major natural factors contributing to the spread of wildfires.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Today's important headlines:
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

📰 Headline:
High-powered task force to reform India's examination system
📌 Summary:
- The Union Government has set up a high-level task force under Nandan Nilekani to recommend reforms in public examinations.
- The move follows concerns over paper leaks and irregularities in recruitment and entrance exams.
- The panel will suggest measures to improve transparency, use of technology, cybersecurity, and institutional accountability.
- The recommendations are expected to strengthen the implementation of the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) framework.
💡 Prelims Fact:
The Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024 aims to curb cheating, paper leaks, and organized malpractice in public examinations.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

📰 Headline:
India's plans under Indus Waters Treaty face Pakistan's objections
📌 Summary:
- India is moving ahead with projects under the Indus Waters Treaty while Pakistan has raised objections.
- The issue reflects continuing water-related tensions despite the treaty surviving multiple wars.
- The treaty governs the sharing of the Indus river system between India and Pakistan through a World Bank-brokered mechanism.
- Water security and treaty obligations remain important topics in India-Pakistan relations.
💡 Prelims Fact:
The Indus Waters Treaty (1960) allocates the Eastern Rivers (Ravi, Beas, Sutlej) to India and the Western Rivers (Indus, Jhelum, Chenab) primarily to Pakistan.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

📰 Headline:
UNESCO adds new World Heritage Sites
📌 Summary:
- UNESCO has included Greece's Mount Olympus and Denmark's Jelling burial landscape in the World Heritage List.
- The additions recognize sites of outstanding universal cultural or natural value.
- The listings highlight the importance of conservation, sustainable tourism, and protection of heritage.
- Such developments are relevant for questions on UNESCO and global heritage conservation.
💡 Prelims Fact:
UNESCO World Heritage Sites are selected based on criteria relating to Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) and are protected under the 1972 World Heritage Convention.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

📰 Headline:
Why Assam is witnessing unprecedented floods
📌 Summary:
- An analysis explains that Assam's floods are becoming more severe due to intense rainfall, climate change, and changes in river systems.
- Encroachment of floodplains and loss of wetlands have reduced the land's natural flood-buffering capacity.
- The Brahmaputra's high sediment load and changing river channels worsen flood impacts.
- The issue underlines the need for integrated river basin management and climate adaptation.
💡 Prelims Fact:
The Brahmaputra carries one of the world's highest sediment loads, making Assam highly vulnerable to annual floods and riverbank erosion.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

📰 Headline:
AI and quantum computing may transform healthcare
📌 Summary:
- Advances in Artificial Intelligence and quantum computing could improve disease detection, drug discovery, and personalized treatment.
- AI can analyze large medical datasets, while quantum computing may solve highly complex biological problems faster.
- Experts caution that challenges related to ethics, privacy, and computational limitations remain.
- The technologies are expected to play a major role in future public health systems.
💡 Prelims Fact:
Unlike classical computers that use bits (0 or 1), quantum computers use qubits, which can exist in multiple states simultaneously through superposition.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

📰 Headline:
Trump's tariff threat raises concerns for Indian pharmaceutical exports
📌 Summary:
- Proposed tariff measures in the United States could affect India's generic drug exports.
- India is one of the world's largest suppliers of affordable generic medicines, especially to the US market.
- Higher tariffs may reduce export competitiveness and impact pharmaceutical revenues.

💡 Prelims Fact:
India is often called the "Pharmacy of the World" because it is among the largest global producers and exporters of generic medicines.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

📢 Today's Quiz: Indian Polity 🚀

We are starting today's quiz.

Answer the following questions and test your knowledge 💡

📘 QUESTION:

Consider the following statements regarding the President of India:
1. The President is elected by an electoral college consisting of elected members of both Houses of Parliament and State Legislative Assemblies.
2. The President can be removed from office through impeachment by a resolution passed by a simple majority in both Houses of Parliament.
3. The President has a constitutional discretion to return a Money Bill for reconsideration to the Parliament.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

A) 1 only

B) 1 and 2

C) 2 and 3

D) 1, 2 and 3

📘 QUESTION:

Which of the following parts of the Indian Constitution most explicitly embodies the concept of a 'Welfare State'?

A) Preamble

B) Fundamental Rights

C) Directive Principles of State Policy (DPSP)

D) Fundamental Duties

📘 QUESTION:

Which of the following changes were introduced by the 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1976?
1. Made the President bound by the advice of the Council of Ministers.
2. Added three new words to the Preamble: Socialist, Secular, and Integrity.
3. Empowered the Supreme Court to transfer judges from one High Court to another.
Select the correct answer using the code given below:

A) 1 and 2 only

B) 2 and 3 only

C) 1 and 3 only

D) 1, 2 and 3

📘 QUESTION:

Which of the following is NOT a ground on which a court exercises judicial review in India?

A) Violation of Fundamental Rights

B) Unconstitutionality of a law

C) Policy disagreement by the court

D) Arbitrariness of executive action