UPSC Key: India-Russia ties, Sahyog Portal, and New Insurance Bill

Key Points to Ponder:

— Know the key highlights of 23rd India-Russia summit.

— Know about the deals that were signed during Putin visit and how significant are they

— What is the history of India-Russia bilateral relations?

— What are the areas of cooperation between India and Russia?

— What is the significance of Russia for India?

— What is the stand of India on Russia-Ukraine war?

— How is the pressure from the US impacting the bilateral relationship between India and Russia?

Key Takeaways:

— “Is the current dynamic a continuation of the decline in the relationship that has lasted since the early years of the previous decade, or is it a renaissance of the strategic partnership that would probably require further efforts to get back on track? Although the relationship cannot be in decline and on the rise simultaneously, the recent summit provided sufficient evidence for both scenarios.”

— “There is a clear upward trajectory with regular political contact and rekindled interest in expanding economic cooperation, particularly on the Russian side. The latter was on full display during the summit, with a sizeable Russian delegation predominantly comprising top officials from the Russian government’s economic bloc and banking officials. While previously India was more of an attraction for national security officials in terms of defence and security cooperation and was rarely heeded by the upper echelons of the Russian financial circles, it is now being rediscovered as a country of economic opportunities and a “safe harbour” for Russian businesses left with no choice but to explore new markets.”

— “One such sign is the growing integration in the banking sector. Currently, five Russian banks are operating in India with some of them eyeing expansion by opening new offices. The Russian Central Bank is also set to open a branch in Mumbai in 2026. The rupee-rouble settlement mechanism has ballooned in recent years.”

— “There are several possible reasons for the absence of new defence deals, ranging from the ongoing negotiations requiring coordination of technical and financial details, to a sensitive geopolitical moment necessitating a low profile. Military cooperation is currently placed in a closed box not accessible to the public, and its true nature, like Schrödinger’s cat, is hard to determine. The verdict on its potential could be easier to make following the end of the war in Ukraine when the environment might become more conducive to announcements.”

— “The India-Russia relationship is paradoxical. While it is sustainable thanks to long-standing connections in traditional spheres, it is also stagnant since new areas have not been clearly defined. It has withstood the fallout from the war in Ukraine, but has also lost momentum and has encountered additional barriers. Although it has seen a record rise in trade, this has been imbalanced and transactional, and has been entirely a by-product of oil shipments. As the relationship is contingent on many external variables, it will remain in a state of uncertainty.”

From the Economy Page- “Govt identifies 300 items to bridge Russia trade gap”

— As India and Russia pursue a $100 billion bilateral trade target by 2030 and seek to make exchanges more balanced, the government has identified about 300 products across sectors such as engineering, pharmaceuticals, chemicals and agriculture to help bridge the gap between current trade levels and the five-year target.

— Total trade between India and Russia stood at $68.6 billion in 2024–25, of which India’s oil imports accounted for $56.8 billion. India’s exports were $4.8 billion, while imports reached $63.8 billion. The surge in oil imports following the Russia-Ukraine conflict has been largely driven by geopolitical factors.

Do You Know:

— India-Russia bilateral relations date back seven decades. The bilateral diplomatic relations have gone through several periods since their formal establishment in 1947 but have remained strong and even grown. The recent visit of Prime Minister Modi to Russia demonstrates India’s commitment to its partnership with Russia as it has been a longstanding and reliable partner for India.  The India-Russia relations have been a key pillar of India’s foreign policy. 

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍 Putin’s visit: The long arc of India’s ties with Russia, the road ahead

📍UPSC Issue at a Glance | India-Russia Relations: 4 Key Questions You Must Know for Prelims and Mains

Previous year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:

(1) Recently, India signed a deal known as ‘Action Plan for Prioritization and Implementation of Cooperation Areas in the Nuclear Field’ with which of the following countries? (UPSC CSE 2019)

(a) Japan

(b) Russia

(c) The United Kingdom

(d) The United States of America

Previous year UPSC Mains Question Covering similar theme:

What is the significance of Indo-US defence deals over Indo-Russian defence deals? Discuss with reference to stability in the Indo-Pacific region. (UPSC CSE 2020)

Why is India pursuing FTAs? It’s not just economics

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies-II, III: Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests, Effects of liberalization on the economy.

What’s the ongoing story: Manoj Pant and M Rahul writes- “India now appears poised to seal an FTA (Free Trade Agreement) with New Zealand, even as talks continue with Oman, Chile, Israel, Canada and others. As one observer joked, we seem to have an FTA with every country except the Vatican! The quip may be exaggerated, but the question stands: Why is India pursuing so many agreements, each demanding political capital and administrative effort? India is signing not only broad regional deals, such as with the EFTA (European Free Trade Association), but also bilaterals with countries already embedded in other regional blocs. What explains this sudden acceleration?”

Key Points to Ponder:

— What do you understand by Free Trade Agreements (FTAs)?

— Know the types of Trade Agreements.

— How many countries has India signed FTAs with?

— Why does the FTAs matter to India?

— What are the advantages and disadvantages of FTAs?

— How have FTAs evolved from economic instruments to tools of foreign policy?

Key Takeaways:

— “Trade theory provides one clue. Empirical evidence suggests FTAs rarely create new trade; they tend instead to formalise existing, substantial bilateral flows. Any FTA creates winners (exporters) and losers (firms competing with cheaper imports). Unless these political forces balance each other, agreements stall or underperform, as happened with the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) FTA. Only when pre-existing trade volumes are large enough to generate both significant support and opposition do these pressures cancel out. FTAs, therefore, often codify what already exists rather than transform the trading landscape.”

— “If they do not expand trade, why negotiate them? Increasingly, FTAs serve as platforms for cooperation in areas the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has struggled with, including services, investment, and other WTO-plus commitments. These demand deeper engagement but enable forms of integration that multilateral processes cannot presently deliver.”

— “FTAs have also become tools of foreign policy. In an unstable world shaped by the end of the old US-USSR order and, more recently, by US President Donald Trump’s retreat from the WTO (please refer to ‘The new Cold War’, IE, October 20), regional and bilateral agreements offer strategic insurance. States increasingly view them as mechanisms to reinforce political alignments rather than merely expand trade.”

— “What, then, explains India’s recent burst of agreements? If preferential trade deals are to achieve even their limited economic purpose, intra-RTA trade (Regional Trade Agreement) should rise relative to global trade. Yet data from agreements concluded more than a decade ago show the opposite.”

— “India’s export and import shares with RTA partners have remained flat or declined after implementation. The reasons are familiar. Most of these deals revolved around commodity trade, where partner tariffs were already low, limiting India’s gains. Partner countries often benefited more, sometimes via Chinese goods routed through RTA members, fueling resistance among Indian industry. Meanwhile, India’s comparative advantage in services remained underutilised because ASEAN members resisted meaningful services liberalisation; even today, Singapore is the lone partial exception.”

— “India has now about 18 RTAs/PTAs (Preferential Trade Agreements) in force across Asia, the Asia-Pacific, Latin America and Africa. Yet only eight include services agreements, and only two, South Korea and ASEAN, have known end dates for implementation. Even there, movement has been limited. Only South Korea and Singapore show hints of progress in services trade.”

— “Why, then, sign so many? The answer lies largely outside economics. Some RTAs, like ASEAN, were crafted to advance broader strategic objectives of the QUAD (India, the United States, Australia and Japan), especially in the Indo-Pacific. India’s later agreement with Australia seems similarly driven by political logic rather than prospects of significant economic gain. More recently, RTAs with economically significant partners such as the United Arab Emirates reflect a clearer services-and-investment rationale. Negotiations with the European Union and the United Kingdom, long in the pipeline, remain works in progress, and it is too soon to assess gains beyond commodity trade.”

Previous year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:

(2) Consider the following countries: (UPSC CSE 2018)

1. Australia

2. Canada

3. China

4. India

5. Japan

6. USA

Which of the above are among the ‘free-trade partners’ of ASEAN? 

(a) 1, 2, 4 and 5 

(b) 3, 4, 5 and 6 

(c) 1, 3, 4 and 5

(d) 2, 3, 4 and 6 

Previous year UPSC Main Question Covering similar theme:

How would the recent phenomena of protectionism and currency manipulations in world trade affect macroeconomic stability of India? (UPSC CSE 2018)

 

FRONT

In first year of Sahyog, average of 6 content block orders a day, most in WhatsApp

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies-II, III: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation, Awareness in the fields of IT, Computers.

What’s the ongoing story: More than 2,300 blocking orders were sent to 19 online platforms, including WhatsApp, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, between October 2024 and October 2025 through the Union Home Ministry’s Sahyog portal, according to data obtained by The Indian Express under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

Key Points to Ponder:

— What is the “Sahyog” portal? What is the objective of this portal?

— What are the key provisions of the Information Technology Act, 2000? 

(Thought Process: Know in detail about the Section 69A, Section 79 and section 79(3)(b) of IT Act, 2000)

— What is Safe Harbour Protection?

— What was the Supreme Court ruling in the Shreya Singhal v Union of India?

— What are the rights protected under Article 19? What are the  “reasonable restrictions” provided by Article 19?

— What measures have been taken by the government to regulate social media in India?

— What are the advantages and disadvantages of social media?

— How does the concept of safe harbour protection balance the competing interests of free speech and the necessity to regulate harmful content?

Key Takeaways:

— The period captures the first full year since Sahyog has been in operation — and the number of orders, for the first time, reveals how the contentious portal has rapidly become a central tool in India’s expanding online censorship framework. These orders cover a wide range of online links, including allegedly offensive or unlawful posts online, or entire accounts.

— According to RTI data shared by the Home Ministry’s Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C), which is responsible for the Sahyog portal, the Meta family of online services — WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram — accounted for over 78 per cent of the total 2,312 blocking orders that were sent over the one-year period (see chart).

— WhatsApp received the highest number of blocking orders by a huge margin, with 1,392, followed by Facebook, which received 255, and Instagram with 169. In total, these platforms received 1,816 blocking orders.

— The I4C also revealed that more than 118 intermediaries have been onboarded to Sahyog, which suggests an expanding universe of platforms required to comply with state-issued takedown demands. The blocking orders were sent by Central, state and Union Territory (UT) agencies.

— The blocking orders, issued in the form of notices, are sent under Section 79(3)(b) of the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000. Under this section, online intermediaries can lose their safe harbour protections if they fail to block access to flagged content. These protections afford social media platforms legal immunity from hosting user-generated content.

— These orders fall outside Section 69(A) of the IT Act, which has been commonly used to issue online censorship directives but is limited to national security and public order-related offences.

Do You Know:

— The Sahyog portal was operationalised in October 2024 as a single window platform for government agencies to issue blocking orders under Section 79 (3)(b). Before the platform existed, such orders had to be sent directly to individual online platforms by agencies via email.

— Earlier this year, X had sued the Government over blocking orders sent under Section 79(3)(b) of the IT Act, arguing that the Centre was trying to establish a “parallel” content blocking regime, and had also called Sahyog a “censorship portal”. In September, the Karnataka High Court ruled in favour of the Central Government in the case, which X plans to appeal further.

— In October, the IT Ministry amended the IT Rules to specify that blocking orders under Section 79(3)(b) could only be issued by senior officials at the Centre and states, and introduced additional safeguards, such as monthly reviews.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Knowledge Nugget: Sahyog Portal — What you must know for the UPSC exam

📍What is Sahyog, which Elon Musk-owned X called a ‘censorship portal’?

UPSC Prelims Practice Question Covering similar theme:

(3) With reference to the Sahyog portal, consider the following statements:

1. The portal was launched in 2024 to expedite orders to block objectionable content.

2. It is maintained by the NITI Aayog.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 only

(c) Both 1 and 2

(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Previous year UPSC Mains Question Covering similar theme:

Discuss Section 66A of IT Act, with reference to its alleged violation of Article 19 of the Constitution. (UPSC CSE 2013)

 

EXPLAINED

New Insurance Bill: Major reforms it seeks to bring

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national importance and social development.

Mains Examination: General Studies-II, III: Government policies and interventions, social development, Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization of resources, growth, development and employment.

What’s the ongoing story: The Union Cabinet on Friday (December 12) approved the Sabka Bima Sabki Raksha (Amendment of Insurance Laws) Bill, 2025, clearing the way for its introduction in Parliament.

Key Points to Ponder:

— What is the status of the insurance sector in India?

— What are the key highlights of the new insurance bill?

— What are the key objectives of the Sabka Bima Sabki Raksha (Amendment of Insurance Laws) Bill, 2025?

— What is “Insurance for all by 2047”?

— How can 100% FDI in insurance contribute to India’s goal of ‘Insurance for All by 2047’?

— What are the potential benefits and challenges of globalising India’s insurance sector through higher FDI?

— What are the major initiatives taken by the government to increase insurance penetration in India?

— Know about the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI).

Key Takeaways:

— The Bill seeks to revamp India’s insurance framework, proposing sweeping changes to the Insurance Act, 1938, the Life Insurance Corporation Act, 1956, and the IRDAI Act, 1999, with the stated aim of modernisation, wider coverage and stronger regulatory oversight.

— However, the final draft reflects a mix of hits and misses. While several long-awaited changes like 100% FDI have been incorporated, other crucial industry demands like composite licence have been left out or diluted, leaving stakeholders divided on the overall impact. The Bill, which is expected to be taken up in the ongoing Winter Session of Parliament, is likely to trigger debate as it attempts to balance industry expectations, consumer protection and the government’s broader financial sector reform agenda.

— 100% FDI: The amendment will raise the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) limit in Indian insurance companies from 74% to 100%. This will help in attracting stable and sustainable investment, facilitate technology transfer, enhance insurance penetration & social protection and aid achieve the goal of ‘Insurance for All by 2047’. India has about 70 insurers, while the world has close to 10,000. Even if a small share of these chooses to enter India, the capital coming in is expected to be very large.

— There is little doubt that raising the FDI limit to 100% marks a decisive step toward globalising India’s insurance sector. The reform is expected to draw larger pools of foreign capital, spur product innovation, and intensify competition in underwriting, risk management, and customer experience. Crucially, it will also bring access to global best practices — from sophisticated underwriting models and digital claims platforms to advanced risk-assessment tools — enhancing the industry’s resilience and service quality. Together, these shifts lay the groundwork for a more customer-centric and technologically robust insurance ecosystem.

— Sops for foreign reinsurers: The requirement of Net Owned Funds (includes equity capital, free reserves, balance in share premium account and capital reserves representing surplus) for foreign reinsurers is proposed to be reduced from Rs 5,000 crore to Rs 1,000 crore to facilitate entry of more re-insurers, building greater reinsurance capacities in the country. This has been a long-standing demand of global reinsurance companies. This easing of norms is intended to draw smaller and new-age reinsurers to India, broadening competition in a segment currently dominated by public sector GIC Re.

— More powers for IRDAI: In a significant step toward strengthening policyholder protection, IRDAI is set to receive enhanced enforcement powers, including the authority to disgorge wrongful gains made by insurers or intermediaries. This brings IRDAI’s punitive capabilities closer to that of SEBI, which already has the power to recover illegally earned profits from violators.

— To further streamline industry operations and ensure uninterrupted service for policyholders, the Bill proposes a one-time registration system for insurance intermediaries, removing the need for repeated approvals and simplifying compliance. In another move aimed at easing business processes, the threshold for requiring IRDAI’s approval for the transfer of paid-up equity capital in insurance companies will be raised from 1% to 5%, allowing for smoother share transfers and reducing regulatory bottlenecks.

— More powers for LIC: Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) is being given greater operational freedom under the new amendments, allowing it to function with more agility and independence. The Bill proposes to empower LIC to set up new zonal offices without requiring prior government approvals, enabling faster expansion, improved administrative efficiency, and better regional oversight.

Do You Know:

— Of the world’s top 25 insurance companies, nearly 20 do not yet operate in India. The new framework could encourage global firms to enter the market, while foreign partners in existing joint ventures may choose either to exit or to acquire their Indian partners and establish fully owned subsidiaries. 

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Big reset for insurance sector as govt readies sweeping reform Bill

UPSC Mains Practice Question Covering similar theme:

What are the primary challenges confronting the insurance sector in India, and what strategies can be implemented to address them?

Beyond big sales: Divergences in the US-Saudi defence ties

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies-II: Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests, Indian diaspora.

What’s the ongoing story: Earlier this month, the United States cleared $1.4 billion in military sales to Saudi Arabia, including $500 million to train the Royal Saudi Land Forces (RSLF). This was the first American foreign military sales (FMS) package to the Kingdom since it was designated a Major Non-NATO Ally during Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s landmark visit to the White House in late November.

Key Points to Ponder:

— What is the status of India’s bilateral relations with the US and Saudi Arabia?

— What is Saudi Vision 2030?

— What is the Abraham Accord?

— Has Saudi Arabia joined the Abraham Accords?

— What are the areas of cooperation and conflict between Saudi Arabia and the USA?

— What is the significance of a stable Middle East for India?

Key Takeaways:

— That visit had also yielded Trump’s authorisation to sell F-35 fighter jets to Saudi, a Strategic Defense Agreement to facilitate more military sales, technology transfers, and joint training programs, among other agreements. It has been widely noted that this re-entrenches Washington as the primary guarantor of Saudi security.

— But although the US remains Saudi Arabia’s biggest defence partner, the Crown Prince’s visit only entrenches the new transactional nature of their relationship, and does not signal a fresh alignment in strategic needs and visions. In fact, the US-Saudi defence relationship has, in recent times, quietly diverged on multiple accounts.

— Since MbS took over the reins of the Kingdom in 2017, one of his key priorities has been a sweeping overhaul of Saudi Arabia’s fledgling military-industrial complex.

— For one of the world’s largest defense spenders, the lion’s share of the Saudi defence budget has always been devoted to importing foreign equipment — 75% in 2024, for instance. A key pillar of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 is to achieve 50% localisation for military spending; last month, the Kingdom announced that it had reached the 25% mark.

— Second, despite its exorbitant expenditure, the Saudi military has arguably never been seen (even domestically) as self-sufficient in its ability to prosecute a military engagement, and thus been reliant on external security support. Riyadh has consistently sought a mutual defense arrangement with Washington, replete with all legal obligations on the US to protect Saudi, and the injection of substantially more personnel and material. 

— Saudi Arabia has especially invested in developing its nascent defense relationship with China; the Saudi Defense Minister even committed to taking military ties to a “higher level” in Beijing in June, building on new joint exercises (such as Blue Sword since 2019), and personnel training.

— The Donald Trump administration’s guiding star for most bilateral defense agreements in both his first and second terms, has been the need to promote military sales and create more jobs for the US defense industry. With its sizable sovereign wealth fund and its large investment portfolio in the US, Saudi Arabia has readily matched American needs. MbS has even committed to increasing Saudi investment in the US to $1 trillion from the current $600 billion. In return, Washington has committed to selling more arms to the Kingdom, especially as part of their May 2025 agreement worth $142 billion (which the Trump administration terms the largest defense sales agreement in history).

— However, apart from the complete lack of specifics in terms of platforms or equipment (the December FMS represents 0.99% of the May $142 billion commitment), the corollary is that Washington will not take on greater responsibility that demands an increased American military footprint in the region. Even in the December sales package, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency clarified that it does not entail the injection of any new American contractors and personnel into Saudi Arabia.

— Meanwhile, the Saudi refusal to commit to normalisation of ties with Israel is especially (and perhaps disproportionately) important to Trump who in May had said that he “fervently hopes” for it. Indeed, it is a crucial missing piece in the Abraham Accords (Arab-Israel normalisation agreements) jigsaw, which the US President views as a personal project.

— Naturally, this was reportedly also the primary bone of contention during MbS’s Washington visit. For Riyadh, both Israel’s refusal to commit to a time bound framework for recognising a Palestinian state as well as Washington’s reluctance to commit to mutual defence, significantly reduce its incentives to risk adverse public opinion by normalising ties with Israel. The White House readout following MBS’ visit made no mention of even a potential, conditional, or in-principle normalization of Saudi-Israel ties.

— The bottom-line then is that while Riyadh continues to lobby for greater commitment from Washington, it can also reciprocate the United States’ transactionalism, refuse to budge on Israel, and attempt to compensate for crucial gaps left in its partnership with Washington by cultivating new partners and strengthening old ones.

Do You Know:

— India is the second largest trade partner of Saudi Arabia, whereas the kingdom is the fifth largest trading partner of India. In FY 2023-24, bilateral trade stood at USD 42.98 billion, with Indian exports at USD 11.56 billion and imports at USD 31.42 billion.

— Indian investments in Saudi Arabia have also increased in recent years, reaching a cumulative figure of approximately USD 3 billion in August 2023. The Saudi investment in India including that of PIF, other Saudi companies and Saudi backed Vision Fund, has been about USD 10 billion.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍The importance of Saudi Arabia to India

📍C Raja Mohan writes: US-Saudi Arabia need each other, but hitting reset won’t be easy

Previous year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:

(4) Consider the following statements: (UPSC CSE 2023)

Statement-I: Israel has established diplomatic relations with some Arab States.

Statement-II: The ‘Arab Peace Initiative’ mediated by Saudi Arabia was signed by Israel and Arab League.

Which one of the following is correct in respect of the above statements?

(a) Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct and Statement-II is the correct explanation for Statement-I

(b) Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct and Statement-II is not the correct explanation for Statement-I

(c) Statement-I is correct but Statement-II is incorrect

(d) Statement-I is incorrect but Statement-II is correct

Previous year UPSC Mains Question Covering similar theme:

“India’s relations with Israel have, of late, acquired a depth and diversity, which cannot be rolled back.” Discuss (UPSC CSE 2018)

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PRELIMS ANSWER KEY

1. (b)     2. (c)       3. (a)      4. (c)

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