Important topics and their relevance in UPSC CSE exam for July 25, 2025. If you missed the July 24, 2025 UPSC CSE exam key from the Indian Express, read it here FRONT PAGE India-UK: Deal’s Done Syllabus: Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance. Mains Examination: General Studies II: Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests. What’s the ongoing story: The India-UK trade deal is significant in more ways than one: for London, it is perhaps the most significant deal after Brexit, while for New Delhi, this is the first big trade pact with a major Western nation after the broad-based European Free Trade Association (EFTA) deal signed last year. Key Points to Ponder: • India-UK Deal-know its key takeaways • How the India-UK FTA represents a significant shift in India’s historically protectionist trade strategy? • What are the deal’s structural features? • Why agriculture and dairy continued to remain off-limits in the UK deal? • ‘The Double Contributions Convention (DCC) for social security contributions’-what you understand by the same? • How duty reductions on Scotch whisky reflect India’s broader strategic balance between revenue interests and trade liberalisation? Key Takeaways: • The UK deal could set the template for the negotiations that India is currently having with the EU, and, more importantly, the UK deal could offer cues to India’s negotiation stance in the most consequential deal that New Delhi is currently rushing to wrap up: the one with the US. • India and the US have concluded a week-long round of trade negotiations earlier this month to finalise an interim trade deal seen as crucial for New Delhi to skirt reciprocal tariffs and steal a march over its Asian rivals ahead of the fresh deadline of August 1. • Unlike the UK deal, the negotiations with the US are clearly rushed. But then, India could face tariffs of up to 26 per cent if both countries fail to reach an agreement by a repeatedly changing deadline. Do You Know: The UK deal does offer some takeaways: • Agriculture was a clear red line area, if the UK deal is anything to go by. India has excluded several high-sensitivity agricultural products from any tariff concessions, including dairy items, fresh apples, walnuts, whey and modified whey, blue-veined cheese, and specific seed categories such as vegetable seeds and sugar beet seed. • What is clear is that the trade deal with the US is likely to be less focused on sectors and more focused on the headline number, unlike the UK deal. But like with the UK, in its talks with the US, India is likely to push for market access in labour-intensive sectors, while trying to ensure a significant tariff differential compared to its Asian peers. • While India will first halve the duty on Scotch whisky from the UK to 75 per cent and then to 40 per cent over 10 years, from around 100-150 per cent currently, industry players said this might not really push prices of imported spirits downward significantly. • India has shown some degree of realism in opening up segments of imports that are in areas where the country has been weak or those goods are needed as intermediate goods. Other Important Articles Covering the same topic: 📍Relief on social security contributions boost for Indian firms, workers 📍India-UK FTA promises a cheaper peg: the story and history of Scotch whisky 📍Scotch imports into India set to get cheaper with tariffs halved to 75% 📍Import of Britain-made luxury cars to get cheaper Data breach at ICAR hits key recruitment, agri research projects Syllabus: Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance. Mains Examination: General Studies III: Challenges to internal security through communication networks and basics of cyber security What’s the ongoing story: The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), the country’s apex research organisation in the sector, suffered a security breach earlier this year that led to the loss of “crucial data” related to a range of areas, from recruitment to research projects, The Indian Express has learnt. Key Points to Ponder: • Data breach at ICAR-what you know about the same? • What is the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)? • What are the implications of the CGRI data breach at ICAR? • What are the role and responsibilities ICAR in ensuring cyber resilience in the agriculture sector? • Know the potential consequences for ongoing research projects and scientific repositories if critical data remains unrecovered. • How India’s agricultural research institutions can integrate cybersecurity frameworks and capacity-building measures to prevent future incidents? Key Takeaways: • Documents reviewed by this newspaper show that ICAR constituted a six-member committee this month to submit “recommendations” regarding the “non-functionality of the DC (Data Centre) and DRC (Disaster Recovery Centre)”. The panel was also asked to suggest “suitable measures” to ensure data security and “prevent recurrence of such incidents in future”. • The committee, which was directed to submit its report by July 31, is yet to meet, one of its members told this newspaper. • According to sources, the breach occurred in April and affected the ICAR’s website, its server in Delhi and its replication server at the National Academy of Agricultural Research Management (NAARM) in Hyderabad. • The Indian Express spoke to several ICAR scientists, from Lucknow, Karnal, Hyderabad, Pune and Delhi, and all of them said there were “problems on the portal” and that they have raised the issue several times. “It is not only our email communication system that is not working. The problem is that crucial data of recruitment, finances, scientists, research projects and administrative work has vanished from the server and replication server,” said a senior scientist. Do You Know: • The ICAR, which marked its 97th Foundation Day in New Delhi on July 16, describes itself as an organisation that “has been spearheading agricultural research, education and extension activities for productivity enhancement and diversification of Indian agriculture”. • Sources said the affected data was mainly related to Agricultural Scientists Recruitment Board (ASRB), Indian Agricultural Statistics Research Institute (IASRI) and National Academy of Agricultural Research Management (NAARM), all of which function under ICAR. • R C Agrawal, the then DDG of ICAR who was also acting director at NAARM, said, “I am superannuated now. I cannot comment.” IASRI director Rajendra Prasad declined to comment. An official in NAARM said, “We are aware of this data disruption and are facing problems. But I can’t tell you anything else.” • According to sources, the security breach was raised during the Annual General Meeting of the ICAR Society, chaired by Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, in Delhi on July 7. Chouhan subsequently directed the formation of the six-member committee to be headed by Dr D K Yadava, DDG (Crop Sciences), ICAR. • Yadava did not respond to requests from The Indian Express for comment. A member of the committee said, “We are yet to hold a meeting as we are busy with several things. But we are planning to have one soon.” Other Important Articles Covering the same topic: 📍ICAR hit by major data breach, ‘crucial’ research and recruitment data goes missing IN PARLIAMENT Govt: Change in JJM guidelines in 2022 after states’ request Syllabus: Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development Main Examination: • General Studies II: Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of these schemes • General Studies II: Important aspects of governance What’s the ongoing story: Minister of State for Jal Shakti V Somanna said Thursday that Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) operational guidelines were changed after considering requests from various states seeking Central support for meeting additional costs of raw materials increased due to the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia-Ukraine crisis. Key Points to Ponder: • What is the Jal Jeevan Mission? • Jal Jeevan Mission comes under which Ministry? • What is the issue highlighted in the Jal Jeevan Mission? • What is the funding pattern of Jal Jeevan Mission? • Is the Jal Jeevan Mission a centrally sponsored scheme? • How does Jal Jeevan Mission work? • How Jal Jeevan Mission helps in empowering women? • Jal Jeevan Mission (Urban) and Jal Jeevan Mission (Rural)-Compare and Contrast • How important is the Jal Jeevan mission? • What is Expenditure Finance Committee? • Know the rationale for revising JJM’s 2019 guidelines in 2022 in context of global commodity inflation. • How does the JJM experience inform wider debates on central–state relations in implementing collaborative missions? Key Takeaways: • In a written reply to Lok Sabha, Somanna said, “Considering the requests from various states seeking central support for meeting additional cost of raw materials increased due to Covid-19 pandemic and Russia-Ukraine crisis, requisite amendments were made in operational guidelines of the mission with effect from 21.06.2022 for sustaining the pace of implementation during mission period.” • Somanna’s reply came in response to a question asked by Samajwadi Party (SP) member Anand Bhadauriya, who wanted to know “whether the change in the tender rules under the JJM, which were removed a few years ago, has led to huge additional cost amounting to crores of rupees across the states”. • The government’s reply to questions regarding the change in operational guidelines, which resulted in an increase in cost, is significant in view of concerns in some government sections that the cost of JJM works was inflated in certain states. • On May 21, The Indian Express reported that an investigation into the data uploaded by states and Union Territories on the JMM dashboard showed that the crucial changes in the JJM guidelines three years ago had lifted the check on expenditure, leading to cost escalations. • This resulted in additional costs totalling Rs 16,839 crore for 14,586 schemes, an increase of 14.58 per cent from their estimated cost. At the time of the revision of the guidelines in June 2022, Gajendra Sigh Shekhawat was heading the Jal Shakti Ministry. Do You Know: • The Jal Jeevan Mission, launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 15, 2019, aimed to provide tap connections to about 16 crore rural households to achieve saturation coverage by December end 2024. But only 75 per cent of the target could be achieved over five years, and the remaining 4 crore tap connections are now proposed to be installed by extending the mission by four years till December 31, 2028. • In 2019 when the ‘Har Ghar Jal’ programme was launched, the EFC had fixed the Jal Jeevan Mission’s outlay at Rs 3.6 lakh crore against the Jal Shakti Ministry’s demand of Rs 7.89 lakh crore. Information available on the mission dashboard, however, shows states approved schemes worth Rs 8.07 lakh crore during the five years (2019-2024). • This sharp escalation in costs probably led the EFC to curtail the outlay and reduce the Central share to the mission. Sources said the Jal Shakti Ministry justified the proposed cost of Rs 8.07 lakh crore for the approved scheme (which includes Rs 7.68 lakh crore of works awarded and Rs 38,940 crore of works at award stage) during the EFC meeting. Other Important Articles Covering the same topic: 📍Many challenges of Jal Jeevan Mission: Decentralisation is the only way ahead Previous year UPSC mains Question Covering similar theme: 📍What is water stress? How and why does it differ regionally in India? (2019) EXPRESS NETWORK After 23 yrs, Shah’s ministry resets cooperative vision Syllabus: Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance. Mains Examination: General Studies II: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation. What’s the ongoing story: WHEN Union Home Minister Amit Shah unveils a new national cooperative policy Thursday, replacing one in place for the past 23 years, it will mark another milestone for the department whose role has been expanding under the Narendra Modi government. Key Points to Ponder: • New National cooperative policy-Know its key detail • How the six pillars of the new National cooperative policy can strengthen the cooperative sector in India's development journey? • What are the argument that extending cooperatives into new sectors supports rural prosperity and member addition? • How cooperative societies contribute to India’s agrarian economy? Key Takeaways: • As per the statement issued by the Cooperation Ministry, the new policy is part of the Centre’s aim to strengthen cooperatives in the country, and “will prove to be a milestone in the cooperative movement of India for the next two decades from 2025-45″. • The ministry said a new policy was needed because of globalisation and technological advancements in the past two decades. • The Ministry of Cooperation was formed as a separate ministry by the Modi government four years ago, with Shah given the charge of it. From 1979 till then, the cooperatives department fell under the Agriculture Ministry. • The new ministry, Sahkarita Mantralaya, was announced via a two-page notification in the official gazette, a day before Modi effected the biggest reshuffle of his second term, on July 7, 2021. Its vision was stated to be ‘Sahakar se Samriddhi (Prosperity through Cooperation)’. Do You Know: • The notification laid out the wide jurisdiction of the new Cooperation Ministry: framing policy to coordinating cooperation activities across sectors; strengthening the cooperative movement and deepening its reach; promoting a “cooperative-based economic development model”; winding up of cooperative societies with objects not confined to one state; and training of personnel of cooperative departments and institutions. • The government’s emphasis on cooperatives, also reflected in the choice of Shah to lead it, is understandable from the perspective of the sector’s significant contribution to the economy, and as a source of employment for millions of people. • In the last four years, the ministry has seen several big initiatives, including the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act, 2023, that ushered in three new cooperative bodies, including National Cooperative Exports Limited (NCEL), with plans for “the world’s largest grain storage scheme” and two lakh new Multi-Purpose Primary Agricultural Credit Societies. • In a statement on September 8, 2022, the Cooperation Ministry said: “The cooperative sector gives 20% of the total agricultural credit of the country, 35% of the fertilizer distribution is done by the cooperative sector, 25% of fertilizer production, 31% of sugar production, more than 10% of milk production is done through cooperatives, more than 13% procurement of wheat and more than 20% of the procurement of paddy is done by the cooperative sector, and more than 21% of the fishermen’s business is done by cooperative societies.” • The history of the cooperative sector dates back to before Independence, with a Cooperative Credit Societies Act enacted in 1904. Within a few years, there was an exponential expansion in the sector, with the number of societies registered under it increasing to 5,300 and their membership to over 3 lakh by 1911. Other Important Articles Covering the same topic: 📍National Cooperative Policy for 2025-2045 soon, says Amit Shah EXPLAINED Unpacking National Sports Governance Bill, now in LS Syllabus: Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance. Mains Examination: General Studies II: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation. What’s the ongoing story: The National Sports Governance Bill, introduced by Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya in Lok Sabha on Wednesday (July 23), proposes two major changes in the way sport is governed in the country. Key Points to Ponder: • What is National Sports Governance Bill? • National Sports Governance Bill-know its key features • Why there is a need behind instituting a statutory National Sports Board under the National Sports Governance Bill? • How the establishment of a National Sports Tribunal could reduce litigation and enhance dispute resolution efficiency in sports administration? • How the inclusion of athletes’ representation and gender quotas in sports federations aligns with international governance standards? Key Takeaways: • The need for a sports regulator was mentioned by the Draft Comprehensive National Sports Policy 2007. The National Sports Board has proposed a SEBI-type body to establish a unified national structure for sport. (The Securities and Exchange Board of India is the statutory regulatory body for the securities market.) • Many of the provisions and structures in the Bill owe their origin to the National Sports Development Bills that were drafted, but not passed, in the early part of the last decade. You can draw a straight line from these to significant portions of the Bill. • With a National Sports Board, the regulatory capacity of the government in sports will increase. The institution will have a budget and can hire specialised staff with legal and auditing expertise, for instance, to evaluate how the 56 National Sports Federations and their affiliates are being run. • In the absence of legislation, the Sports Code of 2011 has been the administrative instrument to establish standards for the government’s recognition of National Sports Federations. In the absence of statutory backing and regulatory institutions, this was always going to be a stopgap measure, and the history of its implementation has indeed been chequered. Do You Know: • According to the Bill, the first port of call for disputes is the internal dispute resolution chamber, followed by the Tribunal in appeal. This is in line with international sports dispute resolution structures. For instance, in the FIFA system, all participants from players to clubs are barred from approaching the ordinary courts in any country. You have to use the FIFA or member association dispute-resolution chambers, and appeals lie only to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). • Under the National Sports Governance Bill, the National Sports Board will be set up to oversee recognition and suspension of NSFs. The members of the Board, including a chairperson, will be appointed by the central government. The Board will also be responsible for safeguarding of athletes rights and fair and timely elections in the NSFs. In cases where federations are suspended or lose recognition, the Bill authorises the Board to appoint ad-hoc administrative bodies. • The Bill also introduces a provision to increase the upper-age cap to 75 years, from the previous 70, for an official. This means individuals between 70 and 75 may serve a full term if allowed by relevant international statutes. If the BCCI comes under the NSF umbrella, its current president Roger Binny who turned 70 on July 19, may be able to continue in his post. As per BCCI’s constitution, which was approved by the Supreme Court, no person can hold any post after turning 70. NSFs will also come under the Right to Information Act. • The Bill also proposes the formation of a separate entity called National Sports Tribunal (NST). This body will fast track and resolve conflicts between different stakeholders in the sporting ecosystem, including officials, athletes and coaches. The NST can be only challenged in the Supreme Court. Other Important Articles Covering the same topic: 📍BCCI to come under sports governance Bill, says ministry; Board to wait, watch WHY A STRONG ROUBLE IS A DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD FOR RUSSIA 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. What’s the ongoing story: The Russian rouble’s 45% rise against the US dollar since the start of the year has made it one of the world’s best performing currencies — but the sharp appreciation is proving to be a double-edged sword for the heavily sanctioned Russian economy. Key Points to Ponder: • Why has the rouble risen so much against the dollar? • What are the causes behind the rouble's appreciation? • Why is a strong rouble a ‘double-edged’ sword? • Know the implications of a strong currency in a sanctions-constrained, commodity-exporting economy like Russia. • How does it impact fiscal revenues and export competitiveness? • What lies ahead? Key Takeaways: • The rise is driven primarily by the Russian central bank’s tight monetary policy and optimism after US-Russia talks in February raised hopes for a peace settlement in Ukraine. • Interest rates on rouble deposits have also soared above 20%, making the currency attractive to savers and as a speculative trade for its yield. At the same time, high borrowing costs have slowed imports, reducing demand for foreign currency. • The weakness of the US currency, whose index lost 6.6% since President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariff announcement on April 2, has also helped the rouble. • Although the central bank says there is a freely floating exchange rate, it has been selling the Chinese yuan, its only major intervention tool, to support the rouble. When the rouble strengthens against the yuan, its rate against the dollar strengthens as well to avoid arbitrage. Do You Know: • The strength of the rouble means that dollar-denominated energy revenues generate fewer roubles for the Russian budget. A weaker rouble would boost budget revenues. The 2025 budget assumes an average rate of 94.3 roubles per dollar, but the current rate is around 78. If the rouble stays strong, analysts estimate the budget could lose 2.4% of its revenues this year. • Russian businesses also argue a strong rouble is making exports more expensive to buyers in dollars and other currencies. Exporters, from oil to metals to agriculture, are hurting. A stronger rouble makes their revenues shrink. Many officials and business leaders say they would prefer a rate of 100 to the dollar. • Analysts have warned for months that the rouble is overvalued, but the currency has defied their forecasts so far. The central bank is widely expected to cut interest rates at its upcoming meeting. If it does, market rates will fall as well, prompting savers to pull money from rouble deposits. That could weaken the currency. • A bigger test looms in early September, when a 50-day deadline set by US President Donald Trump for Russia to show progress toward peace in Ukraine expires. If new US sanctions targeting buyers of Russian oil follow, the rouble could come under renewed pressure. Other Important Articles Covering the same topic: 📍Russia’s ruble hits its lowest level since early in the war. The central bank plans to step in THE EDITORIAL PAGE Spell out LWE Syllabus: Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance Mains Examination: General Studies II: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation. What’s the ongoing story: Suhas Palshikar writes: While the law mentions LWE, these political acts are the common language of democratic mobilisation and as such practically any social worker can be booked for extending a verbal criticism of authorities. Key Points to Ponder: • Maharashtra Special Public Security Bill-Know its key features • What makes Maharashtra Special Public Security Bill stringent? • What is Urban Maoism? • How the term Urban Naxal came in to the picture? • Know the rationale and implications of Maharashtra’s Special Public Security Bill in addressing ‘urban Maoism.’ • What are the key challenges in tackling urban ideological radicalisation as opposed to rural insurgency? • How legislative efforts like the Maharashtra Special Public Security Bill align with national strategies against Left Wing Extremism? • To what extent does urban Maoism pose a challenge to India’s internal security? Key Takeaways: Suhas Palshikar writes: • The MHA portal says that LWE refers to organisations that are banned and listed as an appendix to the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. But that hardly satisfies the test of what conceptually constitutes LWE. • In operational terms, the provisions refer to the use of violence for the overthrow of the state. But since the Maharashtra government now intends to incriminate Left Wing ideology, the onus is on the government to specify what it means by it. • In the absence of clarity, anyone can be accused of subscribing to Left Wing ideology, and then the police will be running from one library to another for material on what constitutes Left Wing ideas. The current dispensation in Maharashtra and nationally is allergic to the idea of the “Left”. Therefore, it will do well to come forward and define for legal purposes which ideas are construed as Left and are hence liable to be proscribed. • Maoist violence in many parts of the country has invited a reaction of repulsion even among those who may have a leftward leaning. That repulsion is tactically utilised intellectually and cinematically by some who employ the term “urban Naxal”. • The other problem with the Maharashtra law is that it incriminates a number of activities that are already proscribed by various laws and thus there is a vicious duplication of legal instruments giving the executive and the police unseemly discretionary powers on whether to book someone under this law, under UAPA or a more routine law penalising crime and violence. Do You Know: • Under this new law, “unlawful” activities are defined as activities “by act or words… or by sign or by visible representation”. In other words, freedom of expression, besides actual acts, is intended to be criminalised. As a member of the legislature publicly stated after the passage of the bill, holding seminars (purportedly on objectionable matters, in that lawmaker’s view) will be punished by the new law. • The statement of objects and reasons of The Maharashtra Special Public Security (MSPC) Bill, 2024, says the “menace of Naxalism is not only limited to remote areas of the Naxal affected states, but its presence is increasing in the urban areas also through the Naxal front organisations”. • The Bill, which provides for punishment ranging from two to seven years in prison, defines ‘unlawful activity’ as “any action taken by an individual or organization whether by committing an act or by words either spoken or written or by sign or by visible representation or otherwise, (i) which constitute a danger or menace to public order, peace and tranquility; or (ii) which interferes or tends to interfere with maintenance of public order; or (iii) which interferes or tends to interfere with the administration of law or its established institutions and personnel” – the Bill defines four other actions that constitute ‘unlawful activity’. • Maharashtra becomes the fifth state to pass such a Bill. It will now be tabled in the upper house for further deliberations. Other Important Articles Covering the same topic: 📍Maharashtra Public Security Bill: Vague and dangerous for civil liberties For any queries and feedback, contact priya.shukla@indianexpress.com Subscribe to our UPSC newsletter. Stay updated with the latest UPSC articles by joining our Telegram channel – IndianExpress UPSC Hub, and follow us on Instagram and X.
