UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past week | May 5 to May 11, 2025

Event

• The Global Space Exploration Conference 2025

— The Global Space Exploration Conference (GLEX) 2025 was held in New Delhi for the first time from May 7 to 9, 2025, with the theme of “Reaching New Worlds: A Space Exploration Renaissance.”

— It is jointly organised by the International Astronautical Federation (IAF), the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) as the host, and the Astronautical Society of India (ASI) as the co-host.

— GLEX 2025 is designed to encourage the sharing of programmatic, technical, and policy information, as well as collaborative solutions, challenges, lessons learned, and paths forward among all nations that desire to explore space.

— On the sidelines of GLEX, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and European Space Agency (ESA) inked a Joint Statement of Intent on Human Space Exploration.

 

Polity

• Cashless Treatment of Road Accident Victims Scheme, 2025

— The Centre has notified a cashless treatment scheme for road accident victims. The accident victim shall be entitled to cashless treatment for an amount up to Rs 1.5 lakh at any designated hospital under the scheme, which came into force on May 5, 2025.

— The victim shall be entitled to cashless treatment at any designated hospital for an amount up to Rs 1,50,000 per victim for a maximum period of seven days from the date of such accident.

— It also says that the designated hospital has to administer medical treatment to the victim immediately after the victim is brought to the hospital.

— The State Road Safety Council has been designated as the nodal agency for the implementation of the scheme.

— According to MoRTH data, in 2023 over 4.80 lakh road accidents took place in the country which resulted in over 1.72 lakh people fatalities.

 

Defence

• Operation Sindoor

— India launched ‘Operation Sindoor’ in the wee hours of 7th May, hitting nine terror locations in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). India’s retaliatory attack is ostensibly considered a reference to only men being singled out based on their faith before being killed in Pahalgam.

— The attacks were made at nine locations, which were terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Learn more about these sites.

Operation Sindoor map; not to scale.

India’s past military operations with Pakistan

→ Operation Riddle and Operation Ablaze (1965 Indo-Pak War): Op Riddle was the Indian military’s response to the offensive launched by Pakistan under the code names of Operation Gibraltar and Grand Slam in 1965.  Op Ablaze was the Indian Army’s pre-emptive mobilisation plan in April 1965, following rising tensions and skirmishes along the India-Pakistan border, particularly in the Rann of Kutch area.

→ Operation Cactus Lily, Operations Trident and Python (1971 Indo-Pak War): Operation Cactus Lily, also known as The Meghna Heli Bridge or the Crossing of the Meghna, was an air assault operation conducted in December 1971 during the Bangladesh Liberation War. Operations Trident and Python was also in the context of the Indo-Pak War of 1971.

→ Operation Meghdoot (Siachen conflict): The Indian Army launched Operation Meghdoot in April 1984 to secure strategic heights on Siachen with the deployment of troops.

→ Operation Vijay (1999 Kargil conflict): It was the codename for the Indian military operation launched in May 1999 to reclaim areas occupied by Pakistani forces during the Kargil War.

→ Operation Bandar: The Balakot airstrike after the Pulwama terror attack by the Jaish-e-Mohammed on a CRPF convoy in February 2019, leading to the killing of 40 soldiers, was codenamed ‘Operation Bandar.

During the 1988 coup attempt in the Maldives, it was India’s military intervention that enabled the country to thwart the coup. Do you know the name of the operation?

Mock drills conducted in schools. (Tashi Tobgyal)

• Civil Defence Mock Drill- Operation Abhyaas

— Amid rising tensions between India and Pakistan following the Pahalgam attack, the Centre has directed all states and Union Territories to conduct mock drills on May 7 and strengthen civil defence mechanisms across 244 categorised Civil Defence Districts in the event of a hostile attack.  It is conducted under the Civil Defence Act of 1968. It is given the codename of Operation Abhyaas.

— Civil Defence Districts are demarcated areas or regions, including towns and districts, which the government designates for the implementation of civil defence programmes. These are demarcated on the recommendation of the Ministry of Defence.

— World over, civil defence refers to government programs which provide guidance and assistance in preparing for, responding to, and recovering from public emergencies due to conflict or natural disasters

— The Act has been suitably amended by the Civil Defence (Amendment) Act, 2009, by Notification No. 3 of 2010, to include disaster management as an additional function for the Civil Defence Corps.

• Defence systems used by India to thwart Pakistan’s attempted attacks

— A day after India hit terror bases in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) under Operation Sindoor, its defence systems thwarted Pakistan’s attempted attacks on military targets in northern and western India on Thursday (May 8).

— HAROP: It is understood that Israeli HAROPs, a type of unmanned combat aerial vehicle, were used to neutralise the attempt. HAROP is a kind of loitering munition. This category of weapons is named so because they loiter in the air close to the designated target. They cause destruction by crashing into their targets with the explosive payload that they carry, earning names such as “suicide drones” and “kamikaze drones”.

— HAMMER: The Highly Agile and Manoeuvrable Munition Extended Range (HAMMER) air-to-ground precision-guided weapon system for the Rafale fighter aircraft has a range of up to 70 km, and can also be fitted to bombs and various guided systems.

— SCALP: This is an air-launched cruise missile with stealth features, designed for long-range deep strikes. SCALP-EG (Système de Croisière Autonome à Longue Portée — Emploi Général), known as Storm Shadow in Britain, can be operated at night and in all weather conditions.

— BRAHMOS: These supersonic cruise missiles are operationalised in all three defence services. It is built by BrahMos Aerospace, a joint venture between India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Russia’s NPO Mashinostroyeniya. The missile operates on a ‘Fire and Forget Principle’, adopting varieties of flights on its way to the target.

— S400 Triumf: The S-400 is considered one of the most advanced and potent air defence systems in the world. It was developed by Russia’s Almaz Central Design Bureau. It can protect against almost all sorts of aerial attacks, including drones, missiles, rockets, and even fighter jets. The system, intended to act as a shield over a particular area, is a long-range surface-to-air missile system.

• Mission Sankalp

— The operation, Mission Sankalp, began on April 21 and involves the mobilisation of 24,000 troops, including those from the Indian Air Force (IAF), to the inter-state border. It is still underway.

— “Mission Sankalp will bring an end to the six-decade-long menace of Left-Wing Extremism in Bastar and other parts of the country,” said Sundarraj P, Inspector General of Police for the Bastar Range in Chhattisgarh.

— Under this mission, some 24,000 security personnel have surrounded the Karregutta hills along the Chhattisgarh-Telangana border to “end the menace of Left-Wing Extremism” in Bastar.

— The Karregutta hills run for almost 60 km along the Chhattisgarh-Telangana border. They have particularly steep slopes, which pose difficulties in accessing the heights on both the Chhattisgarh and Telangana sides.

 

• Songar Drones

— Pakistan’s attempted drone incursion in 36 military and civilian sites between the intervening night of Thursday (May 8) and Friday (May 9) likely involved Turkish-made Asisguard Songar drones, India said on Friday.

— It is designed and manufactured by a Turkey-based defence company, Asisguard.

— The drone has a width of 140 cm from rotor to rotor, and a maximum take-off weight of 45 kg. It has the ability to perform 35 minutes of duty without a payload.

— It can ascend to an altitude of up to 3,000 m above mean sea level and 300 m above ground level. The drone can be used for both day and night military operations.

— Songar drones use both Global Positioning System (GPS) and GLONASS navigation systems for communications during operations.

• Abdali Weapon System

— On 3rd May, Pakistan test-fired a ballistic missile called the Abdali Weapon System, as part of Ex INDUS.

— The Abdali is a ballistic missile — a missile that uses projectile motion to travel towards its target, and is powered by a rocket for only the initial, short duration of its journey.

 

International Cooperation

• India-UK Free Trade Agreement

— India and the United Kingdom inked a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) on May 6, bringing to an end around three years of negotiations.

— Once the deal comes into effect, the UK tariffs on footwear, textiles, automobile components, electrical machinery, minerals, and base metals — currently in the 2-18 per cent range — will be eliminated.

— India, on its part, has agreed to cut tariffs on whiskey and gin to 75 per cent from 150 per cent, and further to 40 per cent over 10 years. It will also slash automotive tariffs to 10 per cent from 100 per cent to 10 per cent under a quota, the UK said in a statement.

— India was Britain’s 11th-largest trading partner in 2024. Trade between the two nations totalled £42.6 billion in 2024. The agreement is expected to boost bilateral trade by £25.5 billion a year, from 2040 onwards, Britain said.

 

Environment

The European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) — the world’s first system that imposes carbon emission tariffs on iron, steel, aluminium and cement, among other such items imported into the 27-nation bloc.

• Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) 

— The UK’s Carbon tax has emerged as a key sticking point in talks aimed at finalising the India-UK trade deal. As the UK remains unwilling to grant any concessions under its CBAM, India has suggested a “rebalancing mechanism” which would require the UK to compensate Indian industry for losses incurred due to the regulation.

— The EU came up with the CBAM in 2021, which was rolled out in 2023. CBAM taxes certain products coming in from other countries on the basis of their emissions footprint in their production process. For instance, if the imported steel was produced through a process that entailed higher emissions than the emissions standards for that product in Europe, it would be taxed.

— It allows industries in Europe to remain competitive while continuing to maintain high environmental standards. It prevents these industries from relocating their production to countries where the production might be cheap owing to less strict emission norms, a situation described as carbon leakage.

— The Indian government has called the CBAM, or carbon tax, an “unfair” measure and a violation of the “common but differentiated responsibilities” (CBDR) principle of multilateral climate negotiations.

 

Science and Technology

• Genome-edited rice varieties

— The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has developed the world’s first genome-edited (GE) rice varieties with superior yields, drought and salinity tolerance, and high nitrogen-use efficiency traits. They are named ‘Kamala’ and ‘Pusa DST Rice 1’.

— They have bred improved GE mutants of the popular Samba Mahsuri (BPT-5204) and Cottondora Sannalu (MTU-1010) varieties using CRISPR-Cas SDN-1 (Site-Directed Nucleases-1) technologies.

— Difference between genome-edited and Genetically Modified: The latter involves the introduction of genes from unrelated species into host plants. These could, for example, be genes from Bacillus thuringiensis, a soil bacterium, that code for the production of proteins toxic to various insect pests in cotton. GE, on the other hand, entails mere “editing” of genes naturally present in the host plant, leading to mutation or changes in their DNA sequence. No foreign genes or DNA are incorporated.

— The new GE line – called IET-32072 or ‘Kamala’ – is claimed to have recorded an average paddy (rice with husk) yield of 5.37 tonnes per hectare with a potential of 9 tonnes. This is higher than the corresponding average and potential yields of 4.5 tonnes and 6.5 tonnes/hectare from its parent Samba Mahsuri (BPT-5204) variety. It also matures in about 130 days (from seed to grain), 15-20 days earlier than Samba Mahsuri.

— The GE SDN-1 mutant line – called IET-32043 or Pusa DST Rice 1 – is claimed to have recorded an average paddy yield of 3.508 tonnes/hectare under inland salinity stress conditions, compared to 3.199 tonnes of the parent (MTU-1010) variety.

• One Day One Genome Mission

— The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) has over the past five months released detailed graphical summaries, infographics, and other details of over 100 bacterial genomes as part of the ‘One Day One Genome’ initiative launched to harness the microbial potential of India.

— This initiative was announced in New Delhi on November 9, 2024, on the first foundation day of the Biotechnology Research and Innovation Council (BRIC), an autonomous body under the (DBT), Ministry of Science and Technology.

— It aims to make genomic data more accessible to researchers, students, and the general public.

Do you know about the genome editing technology? In 2019, UPSC asked a question on the Cas9 protein.

 

Diseases

(Just FYI: UPSC has consistently included questions on health and diseases in its examinations over the years. For instance, in 2014, a question about the Ebola virus appeared in the Prelims, and in 2017, a question about the Zika virus was featured. Therefore, it is crucial to stay updated on diseases that are currently in the news.)

The Nipah virus is present in bat urine and potentially, bat faeces, saliva, and birthing fluids. (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

• NIPAH Virus

— A 42-year-old woman in Kerala’s Malappuram district tested positive for the Nipah, a zoonotic virus with a high mortality rate.

— Nipah is a viral infection that mainly affects animals such as bats, pigs, dogs, and horses but can jump to humans who come in contact with the infected animals and cause a serious disease. The transmission can happen due to “consumption of raw date palm sap or fruit that has been contaminated with saliva or urine from infected bats.

— According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), its symptoms are fever, headache, cough, sore throat, difficulty in breathing, and vomiting. In severe cases, disorientation, drowsiness, seizures, encephalitis (swelling of the brain) can occur, progressing to coma and death.

 

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.)

Pope Leo XIV appears on the central loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica after being chosen the 267th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, at the Vatican, Thursday, May 8, 2025. (Source: AP Photo)

• Pope Leo XIV

— Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, 69, was elected the 267th pope after two days of deliberations at the papal conclave.

— He is the first American to be elected Pope. He chose the name Pope Leo XIV as he appeared at the Sistine Chapel balcony after his election.

— Pope Leo’s election comes weeks after the death of Pope Francis. Francis was the first Latin American pope, led the Church for 12 years, and was known for his efforts to modernise the institution.

— Papal Conclave: It is the secret electoral process to elect a pope when “Sede Vacante” (meaning the Holy Chair is vacant) is incurred, following the demise of a pope or his resignation from the post.

 

Awards

• Pulitzer Prize

— Reuters won the Pulitzer Prize in investigative reporting for a series of stories that penetrated the international trade in the chemicals used to make fentanyl, the drug at the heart of a crisis that has killed some 450,000 Americans and counting.

— Other winners of the most prestigious awards in American journalism included the New York Times, which won four Pulitzers, and the New Yorker magazine, which won three, largely in recognition of their coverage of overseas wars. It was the 13th Pulitzer for Reuters, all since 2008.

 

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) Consider the following statements about the Civil Defence Mock Drill:

1. It is conducted in the Civil Defence Districts, which are demarcated by the Ministry of External Affairs..

2. It is only conducted in the case of a military attack.

3. It is conducted under the Civil Defence Act of 1958.

How many of the above statements are correct?

(a) Only one

(b) Only two

(c) All three

(d) None

(2) Consider the following pairs:

Military Operation	Related to
1. Operation Riddle	1965 Indo-Pak War
2. Operation Cactus Lily	1988 coup attempt in the Maldives
3. Operation Vijay	1999 Kargil conflict
4. Operation Pawan	IPKF mission in Sri Lanka

How many pairs given above are correctly matched?

(a) Only one pair

(b) Only two pairs

(c) Only three pairs

(d) All four pairs

(3) With reference to the BrahMos missile, consider the following statements: (CDS 2022)

1. It has a flight range of up to 290 km.

2. It is capable of attaining a speed of 2.8 Mach.

3. Its cruising altitude could be up to 30 km.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 and 2

(b) 2 only

(c) 1 and 3

(d) 3 only

Previous Articles

UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past week | April 28 to May 4, 2025

UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past week | April 21 to April 27, 2025

UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past week | April 14 to April 20, 2025

UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past week | April 7 to April 13, 2025

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