National Affairs
- The southwest monsoon covered India nine days ahead of schedule.
- PM Modi inaugurated three major infrastructure projects in Uttar Pradesh.
- The Supreme Court sought the Centre’s stand on legalising same-sex marriage.
- Delhi is planning its first-ever artificial rain via cloud seeding to fight pollution.
- Bihar became India’s first state to roll out a mobile-based e-voting system for local body elections via the E-SECBHR app.
- The app uses blockchain technology and facial recognition to ensure secure, tamper-proof remote voting.
- This system aims to increase voting by elderly, disabled, or remote voters and could inspire wider digital electoral reforms.
- Assam witnessed fresh floods, displacing thousands due to heavy rain.
- Odisha reported a passenger train derailment with no casualties.
- The Delhi government imposed fines for open garbage burning.
- Supreme Court stayed the demolition of unauthorized colonies in Delhi.
- Punjab farmers resumed protests demanding pending sugarcane dues.
- Health Ministry flagged a rise in dengue cases in urban areas.
- Heatwave alerts were issued for parts of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.
- CBI raided several locations linked to an alleged ₹200 crore bank fraud.
- The ECI began delisting 345 inactive Registered Unrecognised Political Parties (RUPPs).
- Model Rules were notified to ease tree felling for agroforestry on farmlands.
Governance & Economy
- India’s forex reserves rose by over $1 billion last week.
- India’s services PMI hit a 13-year high showing robust economic growth.
- Sensex closed higher for the third straight session, driven by banking stocks.
- Fuel prices remained unchanged amid global crude fluctuations.
- India’s external debt stood at $624 billion by March-end 2025.
- Remittances to India rose 14% to $135.46 billion in FY25.
- Remittances now cover 47% of India’s merchandise trade deficit.
- Karnataka launched a new startup policy to attract tech investment.
- GST Council will meet soon to discuss bringing petrol and diesel under GST.
- India Energy Stack announced as a digital platform for the entire power sector.
Science & Technology
- ISRO announced plans to launch Chandrayaan-3 soon.
- Delhi’s artificial rain project uses cloud seeding with IIT Kanpur’s help.
- Synthetic Human Genome (SynHG) Project aims to create synthetic DNA.
- James Webb Telescope discovered its first exoplanet, TWA 7b.
Environment & Climate
- Revised guidelines issued under the National Bioenergy Programme to boost biogas and biomass use.
- Rules for ‘Waste to Energy’ and ‘Biomass’ projects were simplified for MSMEs.
- Agroforestry model rules target ease of permission for farmers growing trees with crops.
- Secondary pollutants contribute nearly one-third of India’s PM2.5 air pollution.
- Dhole (Asiatic wild dog) spotted again in Assam’s Kaziranga-Karbi Anglong region.
- Ecologist Madhav Gadgil urged putting forest communities at the centre of Western Ghats conservation to fix poor governance and non-implementation of Forest Rights.
- Western Ghats are home to 7,400+ species with high endemism, regulating monsoons and originating major rivers like Godavari, Krishna, and Kaveri.
- Formation of the Ghats linked to Precambrian uplift, Deccan Trap volcanism, and escarpment faulting along the Indian plate’s drift.
- Issues like flawed forest data, industrial pollution, monoculture plantations, pesticide use, and unsustainable forest fires continue to threaten the Ghats.
- Committees like the Gadgil Panel (WGEEP) and Kasturirangan Committee gave conflicting recommendations — from community-led ESA zones to diluted ESA coverage.
- Revised guidelines under the National Bioenergy Programme Phase-I support flexible biomass project approvals, performance-based subsidies, and IoT monitoring for transparency.
- The new biomass norms make it easier for small pellet and briquette producers to contribute to stubble management and rural waste-to-energy initiatives.
- Sariska Tiger Reserve’s proposed boundary change faces backlash as it could allow marble and limestone mines to reopen, threatening tiger habitat recovery.
- Sariska was the first reserve to reintroduce tigers after local extinction in 2004 — its tiger population has now rebounded to 48.
Health & Social
- UN reports highlighted India’s sharp decline in maternal and child mortality rates.
- Zero-dose children percentage dropped from 0.11% to 0.06% in one year.
- India maintained a polio-free status through National Immunization Days.
- Universal Immunization Programme now covers 12 vaccine-preventable diseases.
- Mission Indradhanush and VHNDs continue to strengthen grassroots immunisation.
International
- The Prime Minister visited Cyprus, marking the first Indian PM visit in 23 years.
- India signed a defence cooperation pact with Vietnam to strengthen maritime ties.
- Minister of State for Defence attended Madagascar’s 65th Independence Day.
- Pakistan’s new budget includes higher defence spending amid economic stress.
- The Hong Kong Convention (HKC) by IMO regulates safe recycling of end-of-life ships to prevent worker hazards and marine pollution.
- HKC mandates an Inventory of Hazardous Materials (IHM) onboard ships and certified recycling yards with strict Ship Recycling Plans.
- The treaty encourages India’s ship recycling yards to get globally recognised, aligning with environmental safeguards and blue economy norms.
Culture & Miscellaneous
- National Turmeric Board HQ inaugurated in Telangana to boost turmeric exports.
- India remains the world’s largest turmeric producer with 70% global share.
- Kolhapuri Chappals gained attention after a global brand used their design.
- Researchers confirmed that botrytis fungi can’t be cloned due to multi-nuclei chromosomes.
- Madagascar’s link with the Indian Monsoon is highlighted by the Mascarene High.
Infrastructure & Digital Governance
- The India Energy Stack (IES) is a Digital Public Infrastructure that aims to modernise India’s entire power sector through secure, real-time data flow.
- IES includes unique digital IDs for energy assets, consent-based data sharing, and open APIs for third-party energy tech solutions.
- Pilot projects for IES will run in Delhi, Gujarat, and Mumbai, with a national rollout planned based on feedback and scale.
- Expected outcomes include improved grid resilience, better renewable integration, and consumer empowerment like UPI did for banking.
Statistics & Surveys
- June 29 marked the 19th National Statistics Day, celebrating the legacy of Prof. P.C. Mahalanobis, India’s ‘Father of Statistics’.
- The day highlighted 75 years of the National Sample Survey (NSS) which drives socio-economic data for policy, covering consumption, employment, health, and agriculture.
- Mahalanobis founded the ISI Kolkata and pioneered the Mahalanobis Distance — a key multivariate statistical tool still used globally.
- His planning vision shaped India’s Second Five-Year Plan, focusing on heavy industry, and laid foundations for scientific sampling in governance.
Culture & Heritage
- The Early Harappan burial at Lakhapar village, Gujarat, suggests cultural links between Harappans and Chalcolithic Saurashtra communities.
- Findings like pre-Prabhas pottery and sandstone structures point to advanced habitation and cross-regional trade during 3300–2600 BCE.
- The site complements other Early Harappan cemeteries like Juna Khatiya, expanding knowledge of Gujarat’s proto-urban past.
Agriculture & Rural Economy
- The National Turmeric Board headquarters was inaugurated in Telangana, the ‘Turmeric Capital of India’, after decades of farmer demand.
- The Board will coordinate value addition, branding, export infrastructure, and research to push India’s turmeric exports to USD 1 billion by 2030.
- India produces over 75% of global turmeric, with major growers like Maharashtra, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Meghalaya.
Mapping
- Sariska’s location in the Aravalli Hills makes it a vital link in the Northern Aravalli Leopard and Wildlife Corridor.
- The Ghats’ location across six states and role in trapping monsoon winds make them key in India’s physiography for map-based prelims questions.
Special Intensive Revision (SIR)
Context: The Election Commission (EC) has issued a clarification to ease the documentation burden for voters during Bihar’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, amid political debate over possible voter exclusions.
Key Highlights:
- Bihar’s SIR covers nearly 7.9 crore voters, requiring verification of voter details with extra birth proof for those born after 1987.
- The EC has now uploaded the 2003 electoral rolls (with 4.96 crore electors) online and offline to help people check old records easily.
- Major relaxation: If a voter’s parent’s name appears in the 2003 rolls, the voter does not need to submit separate parental birth proofs — an extract from the roll will suffice.
- This eases the process for around 60% of Bihar’s electorate, who can verify family linkage directly using the old list and only need to submit their own documents.
- Voters not listed in 2003 must still provide approved documents to prove eligibility, and fill an additional declaration form.
- Booth-level officers have been instructed to provide hard copies of the 2003 list to local voters and keep it available on the EC website.
- The clarification comes amid opposition concerns that the SIR could lead to large-scale disenfranchisement if verification rules were too strict.
Index of Industrial Production (IIP)
Context: India’s Index of Industrial Production (IIP) growth dropped to a nine-month low of 1.2% in May, reflecting a broad-based slowdown in mining, electricity, primary goods, and consumer goods sectors.
Key Highlights:
- Overall IIP growth fell sharply to 1.2% in May, down from stronger levels in previous months.
- Manufacturing sector growth almost halved to 2.6%, compared to its pace last May.
- Electricity output contracted by 5.8%, a significant drop from 13.7% growth a year ago, dragging overall IIP down.
- The mining sector and primary goods output both showed contraction, worsening the industrial slowdown.
- Weakness in consumer goods production signals tepid demand, raising concern about domestic consumption recovery.
- This slowdown could affect overall GDP momentum, with analysts watching if the trend persists in the monsoon and festival quarters.
New climate-monitoring satellite, GOSAT-GW
Context: Japan has successfully launched a new climate-monitoring satellite, GOSAT-GW, on the final flight of its trusted H-2A rocket, which will now be replaced by newer, more cost-competitive launch systems to strengthen Japan’s position in the global satellite market.
Key Highlights:
- The H-2A rocket lifted off from Tanegashima Space Centre, placing the Global Observing Satellite for Greenhouse Gases and Water Cycle (GOSAT-GW) into orbit to track carbon, methane, sea surface temperature, and precipitation with high resolution.
- GOSAT-GW is the third in Japan’s series of satellites dedicated to greenhouse gas monitoring, and will share critical climate data with international agencies like the U.S. NOAA.
- This launch marks the 50th and final mission for the H-2A, which first flew in 2001 and had a 98% success rate, with only one failure in 2003.
- Notable missions include the SLIM moon lander and Hayabusa2 asteroid probe, showing Japan’s strong record in planetary exploration.
- The H-2A will be fully replaced by the new H3 rocket, co-developed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and JAXA.
- The H3 aims to carry larger payloads at half the cost of the H-2A to compete better in the commercial launch market; it has now completed four successful flights since overcoming a failed debut in 2023.
- Japan is also developing the smaller Epsilon rocket system for lighter payloads, expanding its launch options to cover varied commercial customer needs.
- Japan’s stable and cost-competitive launch capability is seen as critical for climate monitoring, space science, and national security.
Goods and Services Tax (GST) completes eight years
Context: As India’s Goods and Services Tax (GST) completes eight years on July 1, tax experts have called for next-phase reforms (GST 2.0) to make the indirect tax regime simpler, broader-based, and more efficient.
Key Highlights:
- GST replaced multiple state and central taxes in 2017, removing inter-state tax differences and simplifying compliance for businesses.
- Experts agree GST is more uniform than the earlier regime but stress that further rationalisation and simplification are overdue.
- One key reform: Bring petroleum products — petrol, diesel, natural gas — under GST, which is legally possible but needs the GST Council’s nod.
- Excluding fuel causes tax cascading, pushes up industry costs (especially transport, oil & gas), and hurts cash flows.
- Another priority: Reduce GST’s multiple tax slabs — currently five main rates (0%, 5%, 12%, 18%, 28%) plus special rates on gold and precious metals — to improve compliance and predictability.
- Experts also urge fewer input tax credit restrictions and more efficient audits and investigations to cut unnecessary litigation.
- India’s GST faces huge pending disputes partly due to the delay in setting up the GST Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT) — a missing link in speedy resolution.
- The government has taken steps towards rate rationalisation and compliance automation, but procedural complexity and high-value disputes remain a hurdle.
Financial Stability Report (FSR)
Context: In its latest Financial Stability Report (FSR), the RBI says India continues to be a major global growth driver despite global economic headwinds, thanks to resilient fundamentals, healthy financial institutions, and prudent macro policies.
Key Highlights:
- The RBI Governor noted India’s growth momentum is driven by strong domestic demand, robust macro fundamentals, and policy stability.
- The inflation outlook is benign, with greater confidence that price levels will stay aligned with RBI’s targets.
- India’s financial system is resilient, supported by healthy capital buffers, low NPAs, and strong profitability in banks and NBFCs.
- Stress tests confirm that banks and NBFCs will remain well-capitalised even under adverse economic shocks.
- Corporate balance sheets are stronger post-pandemic, adding to macro stability and credit growth potential.
- Monetary policy remains accommodative with low market volatility, keeping financial conditions supportive for growth.
- The RBI flagged geopolitical tensions, capital outflows, and trade disruptions as immediate risks to stability.
- Rising global public debt is a major concern amid global economic uncertainty, which could spill over to emerging markets like India.