UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past week | March 24 to March 30, 2025

Report

(FYI: The data provided in these reports can be used to substantiate your Mains answer and create a broad understanding of the topic.)

• India BioEconomy Report

— The India BioEconomy Report, released by the Department of Biotechnology, says there is ample opportunity for this sector to grow to about $300 billion by 2030, and to $1 trillion by 2047.

— Bioeconomy refers to the industrial use of biological resources (plants, animals, and microorganisms), and the replication of natural biological processes in the production of goods and services.

— In 2024, the government unveiled the BioE3 policy (Biotechnology for Economy, Environment and Employment) to establish India as a global hub for bio-manufacturing, and a major centre for research and development in biotechnology.

Cumulative global glacier mass changes since 1975. The graph shows the sum of annual mass changes relative to 1975. Data source: WGMS

• The United Nations World Water Development Report 2025 – Mountains and glaciers: Water towers

— On the occasion of the first-ever World Day for Glaciers on March 21, UNESCO released The United Nations World Water Development Report 2025 – Mountains and Glaciers: Water Towers.

— According to the UNESCO report, snow cover in nearly all mountain regions has reduced, especially in spring and summer, with an expected further decrease in the coming decades. Snow cover is the total of all the snow and ice on the ground. It includes new snow and previous snow and ice that have not melted.

— According to the report, Glaciers are disappearing faster than ever, with the last three-year period seeing the largest glacial mass loss on record.

 

Event

• March 23 celebrated as Shaheed Diwas

— Every year, March 23 is celebrated as Shaheed Diwas to commemorate the execution of Bhagat Singh, along with his fellow revolutionaries Sukhdev Thapar and Shivaram Rajguru.

— They were hanged to death in Lahore Central Jail in 1931 for the murder of British police officer John Saunders.

“But mere faith and blind faith is dangerous: it dulls the brain and makes a man reactionary” – Bhagat Singh. Read about the significance of this quote here.

 

Economy

• Google Tax

— In the Financial Bill 2025, the government has proposed to abolish the “Google Tax.”

— An equilasation levy is colloquially called ‘Google tax.’ It is levied to ‘equalise’ the tax component of a resident e-commerce company as well as a non-resident e-commerce company.

— The government introduced levy 6 per cent equilisation levy (EL) charge on digital ads in 2016. It is only applicable on payments exceeding Rs 1 lakh a year to a non-resident service provider for online advertisements.

 

Polity

• Heat Action Plan

— A new study has found that most of the heat action plans (HAPs) put forth by multiple Indian cities lack long-term strategies to tackle the growing threat of extreme heat in the country.

— A heat action plan is essentially an early warning system and preparedness plan for extreme heat events. It presents both immediate as well as longer-term actions to increase preparedness, information-sharing, and response coordination to reduce the health impacts of extreme heat on vulnerable populations.

• NJAC, though declared unconstitutional, has become a hot topic
  

— Amid allegations of cash recovery from the residence of Delhi High Court judge Justice Yashwant Varma, the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act, which Parliament passed in 2014, came up in Parliament.

— In August 2014, Parliament passed the Constitution (99th Amendment) Act, 2014, and the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act, 2014. These two laws provided for an independent commission to appoint judges to the SC and High Courts, replacing the collegium system.

— The 99th Amendment expanded Article 124 to create the NJAC as a constitutional body to replace the collegium system. Its composition would be:

• The CJI as ex officio chairperson;
• Two senior-most Supreme Court judges as ex officio members;
• The Union Minister of Law and Justice as an ex officio member; and
• Two eminent persons from civil society to be nominated by a committee comprising the CJI, the Prime Minister, and the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha. (One of the eminent persons was to be nominated from SC/ ST/ OBC/ minorities or women).

— The laws were repealed in October 2015 after the Supreme Court struck them down.

• Deepfakes

— According to a status report submitted by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) to the Delhi High Court, deepfakes women during state elections, a rise in scam content using AI, better enforcement rather than new laws, and lack of uniform definition for “deepfake” were some of the concerns raised by the stakeholders.

— Deepfakes constitute fake content — often in the form of videos but also other media formats such as pictures or audio — created using powerful artificial intelligence (AI) tools.

— It is an amalgamation of the words “deep learning” and “fake” and it means fabricated videos generated from existing face-swapping techniques and technology.

— Deepfakes have been a big concern for democracies around the world. There is a need for a policy framework to deal with it.

Do you know about the global initiatives related to deepfakes? How is the Bletchley Declaration related to this topic?

• Sahkar Taxi 

— Union Minister for Cooperation Amit Shah had told Lok Sabha that a ‘Sahkar Taxi’ on the lines of Ola and Uber will be rolled out in the near future.

— Two-wheelers, taxis, rickshaws and four-wheelers can register and the profit will go directly to the driver.

— The objective of this initiative is to ensure democratic management by active participation of all members and to ensure that maximum profit earned by such cooperative taxi society is distributed equitably among the taxi drivers who will be members of that society.

Why is it important?

In November 2024, India hosted the ICA Global Cooperative Conference 2024. India hosted it for the first time in the event’s 130-year history. The conference theme, “Cooperatives Build Prosperity for All,” highlights the people-centered, purpose-driven, and progress-oriented nature of cooperatives. At the conference, PM Modi launched the UN International Year of Cooperatives 2025.

 

International Cooperation

Myanmar Earthquake Update: The 80-member NDRF team prepares to depart for earthquake-hit Myanmar to assist in rescue operations. (Photo: X/ @DrSJaishankar)

• Operation Brahma

— A powerful earthquake of magnitude 7.7 and at least six aftershocks struck central Myanmar, leading to the death of at least 1,400 people and leaving many injured.

— Earthquakes are relatively common in Myanmar due to the Sagaing Fault, which runs north to south through the centre of Myanmar and has a history of significant seismic activity.

— India acted quickly by being the “first responder” and launched Operation Brahma to aid rescue and relief work, pitching in with tonnes of rations, tents, medicines, sleeping bags, rescue teams and equipment, a canine squad and a fully functional field hospital.

Read about other humanitarian evacuation missions of India.

• 10CFR810

— The US Department of Energy (DoE) approved Holtec International’s application for specific authorisation with respect to the restrictive regulation that is referred to as “10CFR810”. (Part 810 of Title 10, Code of Federal Regulations of the US Atomic Energy Act of 1954).

— It permits Holtec to transfer “unclassified small modular reactor (SMR) technology” to three firms in India: its regional subsidiary Holtec Asia; Tata Consulting Engineers Ltd; and Larsen & Toubro Ltd.

— This comes weeks after an announcement on renewed nuclear cooperation between the two countries to “fully realise” the US-India 123 Civil Nuclear Agreement.

— SMRs are essentially advanced small nuclear reactors that have a power capacity of 30MWe to 300 MWe (megawatt electrical) per unit. The relatively simpler and modular design of SMRs—enabling their components to be assembled in a factory instead of being constructed on-site—lowers costs and allows flexible deployment, making them a much more attractive proposition in recent years.

Let’s recall: What is the New Nuclear Mission announced in the Union Budget 2025? What aim has been set for SMR technology?

 

Defence

• Varuna Exercise

— The bilateral joint maritime exercise of India and France was held from 19 to 22 March 2025 off the coast of Goa. 

— It stands as a powerful reminder of the deep bonds uniting the Indian and French Navies in their pursuit of maritime peace and security.

— Don’t take these military exercises lightly. In Prelims 2024, UPSC has asked a question about Mitra Shakti. Do you know which two countries participate in Exercise Mitra Shakti?

Active Recall: Dharma Guardian is conducted between which two countries?

 

Science and Technology

An image showing examples of galaxies in different shapes, all captured by the Euclid telescope during its first observations of the Deep Field areas. (Photo Credit: MPE)

• Euclid

— European Space Agency (ESA)’s telescope, Euclid, captured high-resolution images of 26 million galaxies, opening up a huge treasure trove towards studying the dark universe.

— Euclid is a 1.2-metre telescope designed to map large spatial structures, like galaxies, in our universe and help reconstruct how the universe expanded and how galaxy structures are shaped the way they appear today.

— It was launched in July 2023. It has two scientific payloads: Near-Infrared Spectrometer and Photometer (NISP) and Visible Imager (VIS).

Do you know what the difference is between dark matter and dark energy?

• Asbestos

— The Ministry of Education has banned the use of asbestos in the construction or refurbishment of Kendriya Vidyalayas (KVs) and Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs).

— Asbestos, which was once common in home insulation and other products, is banned in more than 50 countries. It is used by the chlor-alkali industry, which produces bleach, caustic soda and other products.

— Asbestos exposure is known to cause lung cancer, mesothelioma and other cancers. It is classified as a Group 1 carcinogen.

• Gaia

— The European Space Agency (ESA) shut down its space observatory mission, Gaia, on March 27, which was launched in December 2013.

— Originally named Global Astrometric Interferometer for Astrophysics (GAIA) was designed for astrometry, the science of mapping the cosmos, through precise measurement of the location and movement of stars and other celestial bodies.

— It was positioned in the Lagrange point 2 (L2), around 1.5 million kilometres ‘behind’ the Earth, when viewed from the Sun.

— A spacecraft in a halo orbit around L2 can have all its instruments pointing away from the Earth, to get an uninterrupted view of the deep space.

— The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and Euclid are presently in orbit around L2. The Planck mission, which carried out path-breaking observations of the cosmic microwave background radiation, was also located there.

Here is a question for you. Which ISRO satellite is positioned at L1?

Matsya-6000 has successfully completed wet tests and facilitated multiple manned dives in the Bay of Bengal. (Credit: NIOT)

• Matsya-6000

— Matsya-6000, the submersible vehicle set to transport three Indians into the deep sea in 2026, has successfully completed wet tests and facilitated multiple manned dives in the Bay of Bengal for deep sea exploration.

— It is developed under the Ministry of Earth Sciences’ Deep Ocean Mission. It supports the Blue Economy Initiatives of the Government of India. Also, the United Nations has declared the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030).

— Matsya-6000 offers an endurance of 12 hours under normal operations and up to 96 hours in case of emergency for human safety.

• Opioid Fentanyl

— The United States has named India, along with China, a “state actor” in enabling direct and indirect supply of precursor chemicals and equipment used by drug traffickers, particularly in the production of illicit fentanyl.

— Fentanyl is a potent, fast-acting synthetic opioid, meaning it can be chemically manufactured in a laboratory. Unlike opioids, such as morphine and codeine, which are derived from the opium poppy plants, fentanyl is entirely synthetic.

A self-portrait by NASA’s Curiosity rover taken in 2018. (Photo: NASA)

• Martian Dust

— According to the study, ‘Potential Health Impacts, Treatments, and Countermeasures of Martian Dust on Future Human Space Exploration, ’ Martian dust of Mars is likely to cause respiratory issues and an elevated risk of disease among astronauts.

— Researchers found that the size of a Martian dust particle is quite small (it is about 4% the width of a human hair), which makes it more hazardous for humans.

— The findings are significant as NASA and the Chinese Manned Space Agency (CMS) plan to send their astronauts to Mars in the following decade. Their missions involve astronauts staying on Mars for months, and eventually lead to the creation of long-duration habitats on the surface.

 

Persons in News

(Just FYI: Noting historical personalities’ anniversaries aids UPSC prep. UPSC often includes such personalities in questions, so revisiting their lives refreshes your static syllabus.)

Japanese mathematician Masaki Kashiwara. (The Abel Prize)

•  Masaki Kashiwara 

— Japanese mathematician Masaki Kashiwara was awarded this year’s Abel Prize. He was awarded “for his fundamental contributions to algebraic analysis and representation theory, in particular the development of the theory of D-modules and the discovery of crystal bases,” according to the Abel citation.

— The Abel prize is often considered to be an equivalent of the Nobel prize, which does not have a category for mathematics.

— The prize includes a monetary award of 7.5 million kroner (roughly $720,000) and a glass plaque designed by Norwegian artist Henrik Haugan.

— The Abel Prize “recognises pioneering scientific achievements in mathematics”. It is named after Norwegian mathematician Niels Henrik Abel (1802-29), who in his short life made pioneering contributions to multiple fields.

 

Places in News

(Just FYI: The location of the place is important, considering that UPSC has asked several questions about places that were in the news, such as Aleppo and Kirkuk, in the 2018 UPSC Prelims. The best way to remember them is to plot them on a world map.)

• Vikramshila University

— The bihar government has recently identified 202.14 acres at Antichak village in Bhagalpur district for the Vikramshila Central University.

— The university was founded by Pala king Dharmapala (770–810 C.E.) of the Pala dynasty in the late 8th to early 9 Century AD. He also established the Sompura University. Nalanda and Vikramshila flourished during his reign.

— At its peak, subjects such as theology, philosophy, grammar, metaphysics and logic were taught at Vikramshila. But the most important branch of learning were the tantras because Vikramshila flourished in the days of tantricism, when occult sciences and magic were subjects of study both in Buddhism as well as Hinduism.

— The university produced several eminent scholars, among them Atisa Dipankara, who played a key role in the establishment of Buddhism in Tibet.

Do you know about the Khalimpur Copper plate inscription?

Test Your Knowledge

(Note: The best way to remember facts for UPSC and other competitive exams is to recall them through MCQs. Try to solve the following questions on your own.)

(1) With the present state of development, Artificial Intelligence can effectively do which of the following? (UPSC CSE 2020)

1. Bring down electricity consumption in industrial units

2. Create meaningful short stories and songs

3. Disease diagnosis

4. Text-to-Speech Conversion

5. Wireless transmission of electrical energy

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

(a) 1, 2, 3 and 5 only

(b) 1, 3 and 4 only

(c) 2, 4 and 5 only

(d) 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5

(2) Consider the following statements about BioE3 policy:

1. BioE3 policy has been launched by NITI Aayog to strengthen cooperative federalism.

2. It aims to achieve a ‘Net Zero’ carbon economy.

Which of the following statements is/are correct?

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 only

(c) Both 1 and 2

(d) Neither 1 nor 2

(3) Consider the following events in the history of India:

1. Establishment of Vikramshila University

2. Destruction of Nalanda University by Bakhtiyar Khilji

3. Establishment of Chola power by Parantaka – 1

4. Pala dynasty was founded by Gopala

What is the correct chronological order of the above events, starting from the earliest time?

(a) 2-1-4-3

(b) 4-2-3-1

(c) 4-1-3-2

(d) 3-4-1-2

Answer key

1. (b)   2. (b)  3. (c)

Previous Articles

UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past week | March 17 to March 23, 2025

UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past week | March 10 to March 16, 2025

UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past week | March 3 to March 9, 2025

UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past week | February 24 to March 2, 2025

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