🔆 Strengthening Agriculture & Rural Livelihoods

✅ ATMA: Farmer-centric agri-extension in 734 districts
✅ STRY: Skill training for rural youth (86,000+ trained)
✅ SMAM: 40–50% subsidy on farm machinery
✅ DAY-NRLM: SHG-led non-farm livelihoods, women entrepreneurship & market access

📝 Mains Question:
How do ATMA, STRY, SMAM and DAY-NRLM together address structural challenges in Indian agriculture and rural livelihoods?

#GS3 #GS2

🔆 Stable Fertiliser Prices & Balanced Nutrient Use

✅ Urea MRP unchanged since 2018; DAP prices stable since 2023–24
✅ Govt absorbs subsidy on Urea & P&K fertilisers to protect farmers
✅ Fertiliser availability monitored via iFMS portal & weekly State reviews
✅ Push for organic, bio, nano fertilisers under Fertiliser Control Order
✅ PKVY & MOVCDNER promote organic farming with DBT support
✅ Soil Health Card Scheme ensures balanced & judicious fertiliser use

📝 Mains Question:
How does India’s fertiliser subsidy and soil health strategy balance farm income support with long-term soil sustainability?

#GS3 #Agriculture

https://t.me/Upsc_agriculture_mains

🔆 GI-Tagged Indi Lime Enters Oman Market

✅ 3 MT GI-tagged Indi Lime from Vijayapura, Karnataka exported to Oman
✅ Marks first agri-export to Oman under India–Oman CEPA
✅ Follows successful exports to UAE & UK
✅ GI tag boosts premium pricing, shelf life & global demand
✅ Supported by APEDA → higher farmer income & export diversification

📝 Mains Question:
How do GI tags and FTAs like India–Oman CEPA strengthen India’s agri-exports and farmer incomes?

#GS3 #Agriculture

https://t.me/Upsc_agriculture_mains

Subject wise MCQ UPSC

Upsc economy - https://t.me/prelims_economy_mcqs/11813

Polity - https://t.me/Upsc_Prelims_Polity_Mcqs/7

Mapping - https://t.me/Geography_mapping_MCQ/12711

History - https://t.me/upsc_prelims_history_mcq/15

🔆 Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) – Oct 2025

✅ Key Findings (CWS, Age 15+):
🟢 LFPR: Rural 57.8% | Urban 50.5% | All-India 55.4%
🟢 WPR: Rural 55.2% | Urban 47.0% | All-India 52.5%
🟢 Unemployment Rate: Rural 4.4% | Urban 7.0% | All-India 5.2%
🟢 Female LFPR: Rural 38.4% > Urban 25.4%
🟢 Urban women UR significantly higher (9.7%)

✅ What’s New in PLFS (2025 Revamp):
🟢 Monthly labour market estimates (earlier quarterly/urban-only)
🟢 Higher sample size & better district coverage
🟢 NIC-2025 adopted for improved sectoral classification

📍 Source: PLFS Monthly Bulletin, Oct 2025 | MoSPI

📝 UPSC Mains Practice Question
📌 What do the latest PLFS findings reveal about structural issues in India’s labour market, especially female participation and urban unemployment? Suggest policy measures.

#Economy

🔆 PM SVANidhi 2.0

📍 What’s new?
The Cabinet has extended & restructured PM SVANidhi till 31 March 2030, targeting 1.15 crore street vendors (incl. 50 lakh new).

📍 About PM SVANidhi (2020)
✅ Launched by MoHUA to support street vendors hit by COVID-19
✅ Collateral-free working capital loans in tranches
✅ Incentives: interest subsidy, digital transaction cashback, higher next loan eligibility
✅ SVANidhi se Samriddhi: links vendors with social security & welfare schemes

📍 Performance so far (July 2025)
✅ 96 lakh+ loans disbursed
✅ ₹13,797 crore credit support
✅ Benefited 68 lakh vendors
🏆 PM’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration (2023)

📍 PM SVANidhi 2.0 – Key Enhancements
✅ Higher loan amounts in 1st & 2nd tranches
✅ UPI-linked RuPay Credit Card after 2nd loan repayment
✅ Coverage expanded to census towns & peri-urban areas
✅ Monthly Lok Kalyan Melas to deepen welfare convergence
✅ Capacity building in entrepreneurship, digital skills & food safety (with FSSAI)
✅ Joint implementation: MoHUA + DFS

📍 Why it matters?
🔹 Strengthens urban informal economy
🔹 Boosts financial inclusion & digitalisation
🔹 Supports self-employment & livelihoods

📝 Mains Question:
How does PM SVANidhi 2.0 strengthen livelihood security and financial inclusion of urban informal workers?

#goverment_schemes

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🔆 SHANTI Bill, 2025

📍 Why in News?
Introduced in Lok Sabha, the Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India (SHANTI) Bill, 2025 seeks to open nuclear power to private players while reforming India’s liability and regulatory architecture.

📍 What the Bill Does (Big Picture)
✅ Replaces Atomic Energy Act, 1962 + CLND Act, 2010 → single, unified nuclear law
✅ Ends operational monopoly of Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited
✅ Aligns India with global nuclear liability norms to attract capital & technology
✅ Enables SMRs & advanced reactors for clean baseload power

📍 Key Provisions (Added Nuance)
✅ Private & Foreign Entry: Build, own, operate & decommission plants (PPP/JVs allowed)
✅ Strategic Areas Reserved for State:
▪ Nuclear fuel cycle
▪ Heavy water production
▪ Radioactive waste management
✅ Independent Regulator:
▪ Statutory status to Atomic Energy Regulatory Board
▪ Accountability to Parliament (not executive control alone)
✅ Liability Reform:
▪ Supplier liability removed
▪ Operator liability capped by plant capacity (predictability for investors)
▪ Govt steps in beyond cap → risk socialisation
✅ Atomic Disputes Tribunal: Faster dispute resolution, investor confidence
✅ Technology Push:
▪ SMRs, Bharat Small Reactors
▪ Molten Salt & HTGRs → grid stability + decarbonisation

📍 Why Reform Was Needed (Extra Context)
🔹 Capital Intensity: ~₹15 lakh crore needed for 100 GW by 2047
🔹 NPCIL Constraints: Delays (e.g., Kudankulam), limited EPC bandwidth
🔹 Climate Imperative: Nuclear as 24×7 low-carbon baseload, unlike intermittent renewables
🔹 Energy Security: Reduces fossil fuel import dependence

📍 Core Concerns (Governance Lens)
⚠️ Dilution of “Polluter Pays” principle
⚠️ Risk of moral hazard with capped liability
⚠️ Public trust deficit due to memories of Bhopal Gas Tragedy
⚠️ Long-term waste disposal & decommissioning clarity still evolving

📍 What Must Be Strengthened (Way Forward)
✅ True operational autonomy for AERB
✅ Periodic review of liability caps (inflation & risk-indexed)
✅ Mandatory safety audits & public disclosure
✅ Robust Centre–State nuclear emergency protocols
✅ Clear financing responsibility for waste & decommissioning

📝 Mains Question (GS-3)
Private participation in nuclear energy can accelerate India’s clean energy transition but also raises governance concerns. Discuss.

#GS3
#prelims
#science_technology
#science_and_technology

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🔆 India–Netherlands Trade Boost

✅ India–Netherlands Joint Trade & Investment Committee (JTIC) set up via MoU
✅ Institutional platform for regular trade & investment dialogue
✅ Focus on removing trade barriers, promoting two-way investments
✅ Special thrust on MSMEs, technology transfer & supply chains
✅ Annual meetings, co-chaired at senior official level

📝 Mains Question:
How do institutional mechanisms like JTIC strengthen bilateral trade, investment flows and supply-chain resilience?

#GS2 #GS3

https://t.me/PIB_UPSC

🔆 Energy Independence & Clean Transition

📍 Key points:
• Energy independence = economic + strategic + geopolitical necessity
• Clean & diversified energy mix aligned with Atmanirbhar Bharat
• Nuclear energy critical for 24×7 power (AI, data centres, advanced computing)
• Hybrid model → renewables + nuclear + hydrogen
• Target: Net Zero 2070 | 100 GW nuclear capacity by 2047

📝 Mains Question:
Why is nuclear energy important for India’s clean energy transition and energy security in a geopolitically uncertain world? Discuss.

#GS3 #Energy

https://t.me/PIB_UPSC

🔆 30 Years of PESA Act, 1996 (1996–2025)

📍 What is PESA?
✅ Extends Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) to Fifth Schedule Areas (Article 244)
✅ Ensures tribal self-governance in Scheduled Areas
✅ Applicable to 10 States: Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan & Telangana

📍 Constitutional Background
✅ PRIs granted constitutional status by 73rd Constitutional Amendment (1993)
✅ Scheduled Areas initially excluded → addressed through PESA Act, 1996

📍 Salient Features of PESA
✅ Gram Sabha Empowerment: Mandatory consent for land acquisition, development projects, minor forest produce & minor minerals
✅ Regulatory Powers: Control over intoxicants, land alienation, village markets & money-lending
✅ Cultural Protection: Safeguards customary laws, traditional institutions & tribal identity
✅ Legal Supremacy: Overrides conflicting State laws in Scheduled Areas

📍 Why PESA Remains Under-Realised?
✅ Absence of mandatory timelines for framing rules
✅ Bureaucratic dominance over Gram Sabhas
✅ Inadequate devolution of Funds, Functions & Functionaries (3Fs)

📍 Recent Initiatives to Strengthen PESA
✅ PESA–GPDP Portal (2024) for planning & monitoring
✅ Dedicated PESA Cell under Ministry of Panchayati Raj
✅ Centres of Excellence in universities (e.g. IGNTU)
✅ Training manuals translated into regional & tribal languages (Santhali, Gondi, Bhili, Mundari)

#goverment_schemes

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🔆 NITI Aayog Report: Internationalisation of Higher Education in India

✅ Focus on “Internationalisation at Home” (NEP 2020)
✅ Targets 1 lakh foreign students by 2030
✅ Push for global academic mobility, research collaboration & branch campuses
✅ Positions higher education as soft power tool for Viksit Bharat 2047
✅ 22 policy recommendations + 76 action pathways for global hub ambition

📍 Mains Question
📝 How can internationalisation of higher education strengthen India’s soft power and knowledge economy?

#GS2 #Education
#goverment_schemes

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🔆 INS ANJADIP Delivered to Indian Navy

📍 What?
✅ ‘Anjadip’ — 3rd Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft (ASW-SWC)
✅ Delivered on 22 Dec 2025
✅ Built by GRSE, Kolkata under PPP with L&T Shipyard (Kattupalli)

📍 Key Features
✅ Length: ~77 metres
✅ Waterjet propulsion (largest in its class)
✅ Equipped with Lightweight Torpedoes, ASW Rockets & Shallow-water SONAR

📍 Significance
✅ Boosts anti-submarine, coastal surveillance & mine-laying capability
✅ 80%+ indigenous content → Aatmanirbhar Bharat
✅ Named after Anjadip Island (off Karwar, Karnataka)

#GS3 #Defence

🔆 Celebration of Intergenerational Bonds — PIB

📍 What happened?
✅ Programme held on 22 Dec 2025 at Chhatarpur, Madhya Pradesh
✅ Organised by Department of Social Justice & Empowerment

📍 Objective
✅ Strengthen emotional, social & cultural bonding between generations
✅ Promote active & dignified ageing

📍 Key Highlights
✅ Interaction between senior citizens, youth & children
✅ Cultural performances, dialogue sessions & walkathon
✅ Emphasis on values, tradition & social cohesion

📍 Government Focus
✅ Intergenerational engagement as pillar of inclusive society
✅ Link with schemes like Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana & Elderline 14567

📌 UPSC Mains
How can intergenerational bonding initiatives contribute to social cohesion and active ageing in India?

#GS2 #GS1 #SocialJustice #society

https://t.me/upsc_society_gs

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