UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past week | September 1 to September 7, 2025
UPSC Current Affairs 2025: Weekly roundup of important topics to help you in your Prelims and Mains preparation. Here are the key news highlights from the past week — SCO Summit, Asia Cup Hockey 2025, GST 2.0, and the Winners of the U.S. Open 2025.
India hockey team celebrate winning the Asia Cup after defeating Korea in the final. (Hockey India) Every Monday, we bring you UPSC Current Affairs Pointers—a concise, exam-focused guide to help you stay ahead in your Prelims and Mains preparation.
If you missed the UPSC Current Affairs Pointers 2025 of the past week | August 25 to August 31, 2025, read it here.
Reports
(FYI: The data provided in these reports can be used to substantiate your Mains answer, add value to your answers, and create a broad understanding of the topic.)
India’s IMR fell below the world average around 2021, and has been showing a faster decline than the global rate.
—Recently, the 2023 Sample Registration Survey carried out by the Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India (ORGI), was released.
—It is the largest demographic survey in the country, mandated to provide annual estimates of fertility as well as mortality indicators at the State and National level.
— It shows India’s Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) dropped more than 37 per cent in the last decade, from 40 deaths per 1,000 births in 2013 to 25 in 2023.
— India’s Total Fertility Rate (TFR) has fallen for the first time in two years to 1.9 in 2023. In 2021 and 2022, India’s TFR remained constant at 2.0. Bihar reported the highest TFR at 2.8, while Delhi recorded the lowest at 1.2
— India’s Crude Birth Rate (CBR), the number of children born per 1,000 people in the population in a year, during 2023 stands at 18.4, exhibiting a decline of 0.7 points over 2022. Among the bigger States/UTs, the maximum CBR has been reported in Bihar (25.8) and the minimum in Tamil Nadu (12.0).
— In 2023, the Under-5 Mortality Rate (U5MR) for the Country has shown a decline of 1 point from 2022 (29 in 2023 against 30 in 2022).
— India’s Sex Ratio at Birth has gone up by 3 points to 917 in 2021-23 from 914 in 2020-22. The highest Sex Ratio was registered in Chhattisgarh (974) and Kerala (971), while Uttarakhand has the lowest (868).
(Source: Census.gov.in)
| 📍Total Fertility Rate (TFR): According to the website of OECD, the total fertility rate in a specific year is defined as the total number of children that would be born to each woman if she were to live to the end of her child-bearing years and give birth to children in alignment with the prevailing age-specific fertility rates.
📍Crude Birth Rate (CBR): According to the WHO, The crude birth rate is the annual number of live births per 1,000 population. It is generally computed as a ratio. The numerator is the number of live births observed in a population during a reference period and the denominator is the number of person-years lived by the population during the same period. 📍Infant Mortality Rate (IMR): The infant mortality rate is the number of deaths of a baby that occur between the time it is born and 1 year of age out of every 1,000 live births. 📍Under-5 Mortality Rate: It is the number of children who die by the age of 5 years, per 1000 live births. |
— The World Health Organisation (WHO) has published two reports – ‘World Mental Health Today’ and ‘Mental Health Atlas 2024.’
— According to the report, Suicide accounts for one in every 100 deaths globally. An estimated 727,000 people across all ages lost their lives to suicide in 2021, with one suicide death happening in over 20 suicide attempts.
— The most common mental disorders are anxiety and depressive disorders, which together accounted for more than two-thirds of all mental health conditions in 2021.
— Younger adults aged 20–29 years are estimated to have the largest increases (1.8 per cent) in prevalence since 2011.
— Males are estimated to more commonly to have attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorders, and idiopathic disorder of intellectual development.
— Females are estimated to more often experience anxiety, depressive, and eating disorders.
— The study, by Janak Raj and Rakesh Mohan of the Centre for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP), is the first-of-its-kind bottoms-up sector-specific assessment of requirements of climate finance in India.
— According to the study, an additional investment of about $467 billion between now and 2030 would be needed to enable a significant decarbonisation of four of India’s most emissions-intensive sectors – power, steel, cement and road transport sectors.
— The study assessed the steel sector’s requirement till 2030 as $251 billion and that of cement to be $141 billion.
— The power sector, which is already undergoing a rapid transformation due to deployment of renewables, would need about $47 billion additional investment until 2030, while road transport would require $18 billion, the study said.
— The authors said the cumulative $467 billion would help India not just easily achieve its international commitments for 2030 under the Paris Agreement, but advance much further on the road to low-carbon development.
(Time to Revisit India’s climate goals)
— Key findings of an analysis by researchers from premier institutions, based on data collected from 43 cancer registries across the country between 2015 and 2019 — a period when 7.08 lakh cancer cases and 2.06 lakh deaths were recorded — provided a broader understanding of India’s Cancer Map.
— Women accounted for a higher proportion of the total cancer cases (51.1%) recorded in the registries but a lower proportion of deaths (45%).
— Oral cancer has overtaken lung cancer as the most common type of the disease among men.
— The incidence of cancers was the highest in the Northeast, with the highest occurrence of cervical cancer, lung cancer in women, and oral cancer in women all reported from states in this region.
— Breast and cervical cancers, which together account for 40% of cases in women, are easier to detect early and have better outcomes.
Events
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Minister of Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw and Union MoS Jitin Prasada with others during the ‘Semicon India 2025’, at Yashobhoomi, New Delhi. (@narendramodi/X via PTI Photo)
— The ‘Semicon India – 2025’, aimed at catalysing India’s Semiconductor ecosystem, was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Yashobhoomi in New Delhi.
— Semicon India – 2025 is a three-day Conference, from 2nd to 4th September, focused on advancing a robust, resilient, and drive forward vision of the India Semiconductor Mission.
— India Semiconductor Mission: It was launched in 2021 with a financial outlay of Rs 76,000 crore. So far, India has approved 10 semiconductor plants, including two fabrication facilities and eight packaging and testing facilities.
— It is marked annually on August 31 to commemorate the repeal of the British-era Criminal Tribes Act, 1871, which criminalised nomadic, semi-nomadic and denotified tribes.
— Denotified tribes (DNTs) are communities that were ‘notified’ as being ‘born criminal’ during the British regime under a series of laws starting with the Criminal Tribes Act of 1871.
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Commissions and Committees formed for DNTs 📍The Criminal Tribes Inquiry Committee, 1947 constituted in the United Provinces (now Uttar Pradesh) 📍Ananthasayanam Ayyangar Committee in 1949 (it was based on the report of this committee the Criminal Tribes Act was repealed) 📍In 1965, an Advisory Committee constituted for revision of the SC and ST list under the chairmanship of B N Lokur referred to denotified tribes. 📍A National Commission for De-notified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes (NCDNT) was constituted in 2006, headed by Balkrishna Sidram Renke. The Renke commission estimated their population at around 10.74 crore based on Census 2001. 📍To compile state-wide Denotified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes (DNT/ NT/ SNT), a commission was established under Bhiku Ramji Idate. As per the report, over 260 extremely marginalised communities have never been identified or included in any of the reserved categories. |
Polity
— The Ministry of Tribal Affairs has rolled out the Beta version of ‘Adi Vaani’, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) based translation tool that will serve as a foundation for large language models dedicated to tribal languages.
— Made using AI and efforts of academicians and educators proficient in tribal languages, the app will translate Hindi and English to tribal languages and vice-versa, and also aims to help digitize and preserve these languages.
— It was developed by a consortium led by the IIT-Delhi with Birla Institute of Technology and Science-Pilani, IIIT Naya Raipur, in collaboration with tribal research institutes in Jharkhand, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Meghalaya.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman with Minister of State Pankaj Chaudhary on Wednesday. (PTI)
— The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council, in its 56th meeting, cleared the next-generation reforms under the eight-year old indirect tax regime.
— It provided a two-slab structure of 5 per cent and 18 per cent with a demerit rate of 40 per cent rate only for super luxury, sin, and demerit goods.
— Sin goods are the products that are considered harmful to society, which may cause harm to health, or if they are considered harmful by a moral prism.
— All the rate changes, except those for tobacco and tobacco-related products, will come into effect from September 22.
— The GST regime came into force after the Constitutional (122nd Amendment) Bill was passed by both Houses of Parliament in 2016. It came into effect in 2017.
— The President set up the GST Council as a joint forum of the Centre and the states, under Article 279A (1) of the amended Constitution.
- BHARTI
— Recently, the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) launched its new initiative, BHARATI. BHARATI stands for Bharat’s Hub for Agritech, Resilience, Advancement and Incubation for Export Enablement.
— It has been designed to empower 100 agri-food and agri-tech startups, accelerate their journey, promote innovation and create new export opportunities for young entrepreneurs.
(Source: PIB)
- Bihar Rajya Jeevika Nidhi Saakh Sahkari Sangh Limited
— Recently, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi launched the Bihar Rajya Jeevika Nidhi Saakh Sahkari Sangh Limited.
— The objective of establishing the Jeevika Nidhi is to provide easy access to funds at affordable interest rates to community members associated with Jeevika. All registered cluster-level federations of Jeevika will become members of the Society.
— For the operation of this institution, the Government of Bihar as well as the Central government, will contribute funds. The Jeevika Nidhi has been conceived as an alternative financial system to reduce dependence on microfinance institutions and ensure the timely availability of larger loan amounts at lower interest rates.
(Source: pmindia.gov.in)
— The revised SoO agreement was signed between the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Manipur government, and 24 Kuki-Zo insurgent groups.
— The SoO agreement is essentially a tripartite ceasefire deal to initiate political dialogue. Signed in 2008, the agreement was between the Centre, the Manipur state government, and the KNO and the UPF, two umbrella groups comprising 24 separate Kuki-Zomi insurgent groups.
— After the conflict erupted in May, as insurgent groups on both sides of the Kuki-Meitei ethnic divide facilitated and participated in the violence, the agreement lapsed in 2024.
International Cooperation
Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Chinese President Xi Jinping during the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit in Tianjin, China, on Sunday. (PTI)
— The 25th Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) was held in Tianjin, China, from 31 August to 1 September 2025.
— The SCO declaration condemned the Pahalgam terror attack, which reference was omitted during the defence ministers meeting of SCO in June.
— PM Modi outlined India’s vision and policy regarding SCO. It is built on three pillars that are
S – Security
C – Connectivity
O – Opportunity
— Civilisation Dialogue Forum: PM Modi also proposed the formation of a ‘Civilisation Dialogue Forum’ to enhance people-to-people ties in the SCO, stating that this would provide a global platform for the countries to share ancient civilisation, culture, traditions, and literature.
— Global Governance Initiative (GGI): Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed the Global Governance Initiative (GGI) at the SCO plus leaders’ summit as he advocated practising multilateralism.
— Dialogue Partner Status to Lao People’s Democratic Republic: A decision was taken to grant the Lao People’s Democratic Republic the status of SCO Dialogue Partner and to grant SCO Observer status with the Commonwealth of Independent States.
— City of Cholpon-Ata designated “Tourist and Cultural Capital of the SCO” for 2025–2026: In accordance with the Organization’s tradition, the city of Cholpon-Ata in Kyrgyzstan was designated the “Tourist and Cultural Capital of the SCO” for 2025–2026.
— Kyrgyz Republic to host next SCO Summit: The chairmanship for 2025–2026 has passed to the Kyrgyz Republic. The head of Kyrgyzstan named the theme of the Kyrgyz chairmanship as “25 years of the SCO: together for a stable world, development, and prosperity”.
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About SCO SCO was established on June 15, 2001, in Shanghai as an international organisation. It consists of 10 member countries- India, Iran, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Belarus. India and Pakistan became full members in 2017. Belarus is the latest to join in 2023. The organisation has two permanent bodies: the Secretariat in Beijing, China, and the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) in Tashkent. Russian and Chinese are the official languages of the SCO. |
- Burkina Faso bans homosexuality
— Burkina Faso’s government has passed a law banning homosexuality, with those found guilty facing two to five years in prison.
— Burkina Faso joins the list of more than half of Africa’s 54 countries that have laws banning homosexuality with the penalties ranging from several years in prison to the death penalty.
— Burkina Faso has been run by the military under President Ibrahim Traore, following a coup in 2022 that the soldiers said was to stabilize the country amid a worsening security crisis and provide better governance.
— Last year, Burkina Faso along with Niger and Mali withdrew from the West Africa bloc known as ECOWAS.
Science and Technology
— Matanomadh, a thinly populated village nearly 100 km west of Bhuj town in Gujarat’s Kutch district, might end up as a potential test bed for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) ahead of its Mangalyaan-2 mission to Mars.
— Recently, the jarosite mineral found in Matanomadh in 2016 was confirmed to be around 55 million years old, corresponding with the Paleocene period in the geological timeline.
— The dating of this mineral, found in a few rock structures in Matanomadh, suggests that there was a similar geological occurrence on both the planets millions of years ago.
— The Matanomadh site could thus offer field-analogue missions for Mars, where rover motion, instrument testing, drilling, and geochemistry experiments could be performed.
— ISRO has been trying to simulate the living conditions and environment of Mars and Moon in a desolate high-altitude village in Ladakh through its HOPE (Himalayan Outpost for Planetary Exploration) mission.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw during the inauguration of ‘Semicon India 2025’ at Yashobhoomi, in New Delhi. (PMO via PTI Photo)
- Vikram 32-bit Chip
— India has marked a milestone in its chip-making journey at the Semicon India 2025 with the launch of its first fully ‘made in India’ 32-bit microprocessor, named Vikram.
— Vikram-32 is India’s first fully homegrown 32-bit microprocessor, built by ISRO’s Semiconductor Laboratory (SCL).
— The device can operate over a large temperature range -55°C to +125°C and it is packaged in a hermetic sealed 181 pin grid array package.
— Recently, the Trump administration has unfrozen a stalled Biden-era contract with Paragon Solutions, a spyware company founded in Israel. With this, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) can gain access to the company’s powerful hacking software — known as Graphite.
— Graphite is designed to gain remote access to a mobile phone and essentially take control of it.
— The user of the spyware can not only access the mobile user’s photos, read their messages, and track their whereabouts, but also monitor encrypted messages sent on platforms such as WhatsApp and Signal.
— The spyware also enables the phone to be used as a listening device by manipulating its recorder.
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 16th outbreak of Ebola in Congo is suspected of causing 15 deaths among 28 people with symptoms.
— The Ebola virus can spread quickly and be fatal in up to 90% of cases. Symptoms include fever, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle pain and at times internal and external bleeding.
— According to the WHO, the Ebola virus is transmitted to people from wild animals (such as fruit bats, porcupines and non-human primates) and then spreads in the human population through direct contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected people, and with contaminated objects such as sheets.
— The Ebola virus was first described in 1976 near the Ebola River in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
— Ebolavirus is one of 3 members of the Filoviridae family (filovirus), along with genus Marburgvirus and Cuevavirus
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.)
Leader of Bhumjai Thai Party Anutin Charnvirakul, left, talks to lawmakers at Parliament in Bangkok, Thailand. (AP photo)
— Thailand’s parliament on September 5 overwhelmingly voted to elect Anutin Charnvirakul of the Bhumjaithai Party (BJT) as the country’s next Prime Minister.
— He is Thailand’s third Prime Minister in two years, a week after Paetongtarn Shinawatra was dismissed from the post by the Constitutional Court.
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.)
— Iraq’s historic al-Nuri Grand mosque and its leaning minaret was reopened after militants from the Islamic state group destroyed the mosque.
— The mosque, famous for its 12th-century leaning minaret, was destroyed by IS in 2017 and has been a focal point of UNESCO’s restoration efforts since 2020.
— The Nuri mosque was named after Nuruddin al-Zanki, a noble who fought the early crusaders from a fiefdom that covered territory in modern-day Turkey, Syria and Iraq. It was built in 1172-73, shortly before his death, and housed an Islamic school.
— A deadly landslide devastated a village in the Marra Mountains area of western Sudan with reports stating that over 1,000 people have been killed.
— The Sudanese movement that controls the affected area located in the Darfur region appealed to the United Nations and international aid agencies to help in recovering the bodies of the victims, which includes men, women and children.
Sports
(Just FYI: With the unpredictability of the UPSC examinations and questions like the ICC World Test Championship question 2021, you can’t be sure of anything. It is wise to know what it is and not go into too much detail.)
— India won the 4th Asia Cup hockey title after defeating South Korea 4-1 at the Rajgir Sports Complex, Bihar. With this win, India have ended the eight-year wait to regain the title.
— With this win, India have qualified for the FIH Men’s Hockey World Cup 2026 in the Netherlands and Belgium. They have now won the Asia Cup title four times overall, behind only South Korea’s total of five.
— The 12th Men’s Asia Cup Hockey Championship was organised at the Rajgir International Stadium in Rajgir, Bihar, from 29th August to 7th September.
— The mascot of the Asia Cup Hockey, named “Chand,” is inspired by the national animal, the tiger. The name “Chand” is inspired by hockey legend Major Dhyan Chand, who created history in the game by practising under moonlit nights.
— Eight nations and 150 players participated in the championship.
— The 2026 BWF World Championships will be held in New Delhi, India. India last hosted the BWF World Championships in Hyderabad in 2009.
— P.V. Sindhu is the first and only Indian to win a gold medal at the BWF World Championships in 2019. So far, eleven Indian badminton players have won 15 medals at the BWF World Championships over the years.
Carlos Alcaraz, of Spain, holds up the championship trophy after defeating Jannik Sinner, of Italy, in the men’s singles final of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Sunday, Sept. 7, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
— Wimbledon, French Open, US Open, and Australian Open are the most prestigious events on the annual tennis calendar, bestowed with the moniker of “Grand Slam”, a term that has been in use for almost a century.
Winners of the US Open 2025
| Category | Winners | Runner up |
| Women’s Singles | Aryna Sabalenka(Belarusian) | Amanda Anisimova (American) |
| Men’s Singles | Carlos Alcaraz (Spanish) | Jannik Sinner (Italian) |
| Women’s Double | Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe | Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend |
| Men’s Double | Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos | Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski |
| Mixed Double | Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori | Casper Ruud and Iga Swiatek |
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) Which of the following statements with regard to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is/are correct? (CDS 2024)
1. The official languages of the SCO are Russian and Chinese.
2. The SCO enjoys observer status in the UN General Assembly.
3. The SCO consists of 13 member states.
Select the answer using the code given below:
(a) 1 only
(b) 1 and 3 only
(c) 1 and 2 only
(d) 2 and 3 only
(2) Consider the following:
1. Belongs to Filoviridae family
2. No indigenous case found in India
3. First discovered in 1976 in Africa
4. Highly contagious and can be contracted through bodily fluids
The above description is for which of the following?
(a) Ebola Virus
(b) Nipah virus
(c) Newcastle disease
(d) Trachoma
(3) The total fertility rate in an economy is defined as: (UPSC CSE 2024)
(a) the number of children born per 1000 people in the population in a year.
(b) the number of children born to couple in their lifetime in a given population.
(c) the birth rate minus death rate.
(d) the average number of live births a woman would have by the end of her child-bearing age.
| Prelims Answer Key |
| 1. (c) 2. (a) 3. (d) |
For your suggestions and feedback, write to khushboo.kumari@indianexpress.com
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Khushboo Kumari is a Deputy Copy Editor with The Indian Express. She has done her graduation and pos... Read More
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