UPSC Key: India’s ties with Russia, Rupee breaches 90-mark, and Sanchar Saathi

Key Points to Ponder:

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

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

— What is the significance of Russia for India?

— Read about the Bucha massacre.

— Know about the India Russia Defence ties.

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

— How can India and Russia further strengthen their relationship?

Key Takeaways:

— The Indian Express has learnt that this was conveyed “politely” and “subtly” by the envoys and officials of many European countries, including some in eastern Europe, who view this war as a threat to their existence and European security.

— Sources said the gist of the message to Delhi from these European envoys and capitals is: “Putin is a friend of yours, he listens to you, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that solutions can’t be found on the battlefield, so please ask him to stop the war.”

— This messaging is qualitatively different from the one by the Europeans in the immediate aftermath of the start of the war in February 2022 when they had asked India to condemn the Russian action in Ukraine. At that time, several European leaders and Foreign Ministers had travelled to Delhi to convey their strong sentiments and had asked India to choose a side.

— Although it refused to explicitly condemn the Russian invasion, Delhi spoke out against the Bucha massacre and sought an international probe into the incident – this call for a global intervention was a rare move by Delhi. Walking a diplomatic tightrope, India consistently abstained on the resolutions at the UN on the Ukraine war.

— The new messaging from Europe is significant given that some of these countries are extremely close strategic partners of India, and many others have emerged as important destinations for Indian workers, students and professionals. They are also hubs of growth, and source of technology and capital. In fact, European Union leaders have been invited as chief guests for the Republic Day parade in January 2026.

— With both the US and Europe mounting pressure on India to cut off oil purchases from Moscow which they say is funding Putin’s war machine, the conversations between Putin and Modi will be watched very closely.

From The Explained Page- Putin’s visit: The long arc of India’s ties with Russia, the road ahead

— Russian President Vladimir Putin first came to India for a summit with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in October 2000. Putin was then new to the President’s job — having been elected earlier in 2000 — and Vajpayee was also in the early years of his Prime Ministership.

— New Delhi was under sanctions from the West for the Pokhran-II nuclear tests, while Russia was a pale shadow of the erstwhile Soviet Union. After the Soviet Union’s collapse, the US dominated the scene in a unipolar world. India and Pakistan were in a bitter relationship, after the Kargil war and the IC-814 hijack in 1999. In fact, Putin’s visit took place months before the Red Fort attack in December 2000.

— In short, Russia was weak and India was facing the brunt of Western sanctions. Now, 25 years later, Putin will come to India on December 4-5 for the 23rd annual summit between India and Russia.

— This is his first visit to India after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Putin’s Russia is facing sanctions from the Western world, while India is also at the receiving end of secondary sanctions and high tariffs from the US. India and Pakistan have once again seen conflict in May, and Delhi just witnessed a blast near the Red Fort.

— There are too many similarities in the global and regional context in the quarter century, but India and Russia have evolved not just in their bilateral relationship but also in terms of their place in the world.

— India has built a strong and robust relationship with the West, including the US, forging security, defence, economic and people-centric partnerships. With Russia, it has maintained a strong defence partnership — a legacy from the Soviet Union era — but has also diversified to other sources for technology.

— Over time, India has reduced its defence import dependence on Russia. But there is legacy equipment that needs spares and servicing from Russia, and thus, about 60 % of the defence equipment is still from the country. India has bought the S-400 air defence system from Russia. Moscow has been able to deliver 3 out of 5 batteries, and now there is a demand for another 5 of them. But mired in the Ukraine war, Russia has not been able to deliver the entire equipment on time.

— India wants strong ties with the US and Europe, as they are the source of technology and capital and remain the aspirational destination for ambitious Indians. It is in the process of negotiating trade deals with both these powerhouses.

— But Russia remains a strategic partner because of long-term defence needs. Delhi is also concerned about Moscow’s no-limits partnership with China. With 50,000 Indian troops still stationed at the India-China border, Beijing remains Delhi’s biggest strategic challenge.

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. 

— Bilateral trade between India and Russia reached a record high of $68.7 billion in FY 2024-25. But this has been lopsided, as India’s exports are worth $4.9 billion and imports from Russia (mainly oil) amount to $63.8 billion. Last year, the two countries set an ambitious target of trade worth $100 billion by 2030.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Pressure on India, need to secure our trade, says Kremlin ahead of Putin visit

📍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)

Day after defending it, Govt scraps Sanchar Saathi order 

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies-II, III: Government policies and interventions, Challenges to internal security through communication networks, role of media and social networking sites in internal security challenges, basics of cyber security; money-laundering and its prevention.

What’s the ongoing story: In what appears to be an overnight change of mind, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) on Wednesday revoked its order directing phone makers to mandatorily pre-install the state-owned Sanchar Saathi application.

Key Points to Ponder:

— Read about the Telecommunications Cybersecurity Amendment Rules, 2025.

— Know about the ‘Sanchar Saathi’ application.

— What are the concerns related to the Sanchar Saathi app?

— Read about the right to privacy.

— What is International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI)?

— What are the major cyber security threats in India?

— What is the cybersecurity framework in India?

— What are the cybersecurity measures taken by the government?

Key Takeaways:

— The November 28 confidential order had sparked worries not just around potential surveillance by digital rights groups, but also around its impact on the businesses of big mobile phone makers such as Apple and Google, which own the iOS and Android operating systems, respectively.

— In fact, Apple and Google were planning to push back against the order with concerns around privacy and system security weighing heavy on their minds. An industry executive had even said that a “legal challenge” was not out of the question.

— Revoking the order on Wednesday, the Ministry of Communications said, “Given Sanchar Saathi’s increasing acceptance, Government has decided not to make the pre- installation mandatory for mobile manufacturers.” It said so far 1.4 crore users had downloaded the app and were contributing to information on 2,000 fraud incidents per day.

— But till Tuesday night, the government defended the app citing cybersecurity as its top priority. It, however, said users were free to not register on it, and could delete the app.

— The initial DoT order had directed smartphone manufacturers and importers to pre-install the Sanchar Saathi applications on new phones, and also on old phones by means of a software update. The functions of the app cannot be disabled or restricted, it had said. Sanchar Saathi is a state-developed cybersecurity application and allows users to report fraudulent calls, messages, and stolen mobile phones.

— Industry sources aware of the companies’ point of view said the phone-makers have no history or precedent of pre-installing state-owned applications to their devices anywhere in the world. The change poses operational challenges since it could require them to customise iOS and Android specifically for India.

— Civil society activists had raised alarm bells over the potential implications on people’s privacy by mandating the app, since preloading it defeats the principles of choice and consent, while leaving the potential for ‘functional creeping’ in the future. ‘Functional creeping’ refers to a gradual expansion of a system beyond its original purpose.

From the Nation Page- “Judges behind privacy verdict hail recall of app order, flag issues”

— Former Supreme Court judges who have adjudicated extensively on privacy rights issues have expressed serious concerns about the government’s now-withdrawn order mandating the pre-installation of the Sanchar Saathi app.

— These judges include those who authored the historic 2017 Justice K S Puttaswamy (retd) v Union of India judgement, which established privacy as a fundamental right.

— Justice B N Srikrishna, who chaired the committee that drafted India’s first data protection Bill, strongly criticised the initial mandate. He argued that forcing an app onto user devices violates the privacy principles established by the Supreme Court.

— “It goes completely against the constitutional guardrails laid down in the Puttaswamy case,” Justice Srikrishna said. He compared the mandate to “compulsorily posting a policeman inside the house” or “putting a CCTV in every room of a citizen’s house” in the name of providing security.

— Justice A K Sikri, who in 2018 struck down certain provisions of the Aadhaar Act for violating the right to privacy and referred to the right in judgments years prior to the Puttaswamy verdict, analysed the directive through the “proportionality test” laid down in that very verdict. The test requires that any state intervention in privacy must be sanctioned by law, serve a legitimate aim and be the least intrusive means to achieve that aim.

— While acknowledging that checking cybercrime is a “bona fide objective”, Justice Sikri said a compulsory mandate causes “direct infringement” of privacy. “It cannot be said that there are no other options to check cybercrimes,” he said. “If there are other methods to check these crimes, then a method should not be adopted which infringes the privacy or the fundamental right.”

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Knowledge nugget of the day: Right to Privacy

📍Understanding concerns around Sanchar Saathi

📍Where Sanchar Saathi stands on consent, constitutional test on privacy

Previous year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:

(2) In India, it is legally mandatory for which of the following to report on cyber security incidents? (UPSC CSE 2017)

1. Service providers

2. Data centres

3. Body corporate

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

(a) 1 only

(b) 1 and 2 only

(c) 3 only

(d) 1, 2 and 3

Previous year UPSC Mains Question Covering similar theme:

What are the different elements of cyber security ? Keeping in view the challenges in cyber security, examine the extent to which India has successfully developed a comprehensive National Cyber Security Strategy. (UPSC CSE 2022)

 

THE EDITORIAL PAGE

To scale up our climate ambition, a seven-point plan

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies-II, III: Important International institutions, agencies and fora- their structure, mandate. Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment. 

What’s the ongoing story: Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Utkarsh Patel write- “We are required, under the Paris Agreement, to submit new NDCs covering the period up to 2035. We have confirmed that we will be doing so soon. Ideally, the new NDCs should be part of an economy-wide transition plan, but all parts of the plan need not be included in the NDCs. In this article, we identify seven elements for our energy transition strategy, which would be important in the next 10 years and should be reflected in our new NDCs.

Key Points to Ponder:

— Read about the Paris Agreement. 

— What is the Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (CCTS)?

— What are Nationally-Determined Contributions?

— What do you understand about Net-zero emissions?

— What are the challenges faced by India’s current energy policy?

— What are the initiatives taken by the Indian government to promote renewable energy at the domestic and global levels?

— What steps should be taken to balance India’s energy needs and environmental concerns?

Key Takeaways:

— “First, we should set a higher target for reducing the emissions intensity of GDP. We will achieve the earlier target of reducing the emissions intensity of GDP in 2030 by 45 per cent compared to the 2005 level. The target for 2035 should aim to reduce it by 65 per cent.”

– “Second, having met the earlier target of non-fossil-fuel-based power generation capacity being 50 per cent of the total by 2030, we should now aim to raise the share to 80 per cent by 2035. Since the economy is expected to grow fast and electrification is expected to increase, we have to cater to the rapid growth of total electricity demand, taking the total generation capacity to around 1,600 GW by 2035.”

— “Third, our new NDCs should include an explicit target for phasing down unabated coal-based generation. This has been a contentious issue in international negotiations, but we must recognise that net zero by 2070 means that coal-based thermal plants must be phased out. The model results suggest that to ensure peaking of total emissions around 2035, no new unabated coal plants should be commissioned post-2030.”

— “Fourth, electrification of major sectors is an important part of decarbonisation, and the transport sector will be critical….The Railways should target achieving near-100 per cent electric traction by 2035, implying phasing out diesel locomotives. We should aim to achieve 50 per cent electric buses in city bus fleets across the country.”

— “Fifth, the Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (CCTS), which becomes operational in April 2026, is an important initiative. We can include this in our NDCs, indicating that the scheme will be reviewed at the end of two years based on experience. The scheme could be expanded over time to cover sectors currently excluded, e.g. power, and its coverage deepened to include medium-scale units.”

— “Sixth, the higher share of renewables will imply much greater intraday and seasonal variability in electricity generation.”

— “Seventh, the proposed expansion in renewable generation and storage capacity and the corresponding augmentation of the grid will require additional investment.”

— “The seven-point agenda outlined above could be elaborated into an economy-wide transition plan. Implementing such a strategy would involve a combination of action by the Centre, the states, and the private sector.”

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍For green transition, India can fall back on itself

📍Knowledge nugget of the day: Paris Agreement

Previous year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:

(3) With reference to the Agreement at the UNFCCC Meeting in Paris in 2015, which of the following statements is/are correct? (UPSC CSE 2016)

1. The Agreement was signed by all the member countries of the UN and it will go into effect in 2017.

2. The Agreement aims to limit the greenhouse gas emissions so that the rise in average global temperature by the end of this century does not exceed 2°C or even 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

3. Developed countries acknowledged their historical responsibility in global warming and committed to donate $ 1000 billion a year from 2020 to help developing countries to cope with climate change.

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

(a) 1 and 3 only

(b) 2 only

(c) 2 and 3 only

(d) 1, 2 and 3

Previous year UPSC Mains Question Covering similar theme:

Describe the major outcomes of the 26th session of the Conference of the Parses (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)? What are the commitments made by India in this conference? (UPSC CSE 2021)

 

THE IDEAS PAGE

Parliament is trapped in a cycle of disruption. Democracy is paying the price

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national importance and Polity.

Mains Examination: General Studies-II: Parliament and State legislatures—structure, functioning, conduct of business, powers & privileges and issues arising out of these.

What’s the ongoing story: Shashi Tharoor writes- “Another session of Parliament has begun, and with it, the now-familiar spectacle of disruption. The Opposition’s refusal to allow proceedings to continue without a debate on the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, and the government’s adamant refusal to permit such a discussion, cost the Lok Sabha its first two days before a compromise was reached. But this was not the first stalemate to paralyse the institution meant to be the nation’s highest forum for deliberation; nor will it be the last.”

Key Points to Ponder:

— What is the ‘session’ of the Parliament?

— Who summons each House of Parliament to meet?

— What is the Special Intensive Revision? What are the concerns related to SIR?

— Know about the devices of parliamentary proceedings like question hour, zero hour etc.

— Why is the declining productivity of Parliament a concern?

— How do frequent disruptions weaken Parliament’s role as a deliberative body?

Key Takeaways:

— “This is not a new affliction. The tactics of disruption have become institutionalised, with each side citing precedent to justify its conduct. During the decade of UPA rule, the BJP disrupted Parliament with impunity, losing 68 per cent of the 15th Lok Sabha’s time to protest. Now, in Opposition, the INDIA bloc has adopted the same playbook, arguing that the government’s refusal to consult or debate justifies obstruction. The Golden Rule taught in missionary schools — “do unto others as you would have them do unto you” — has been replaced in Indian politics by a new maxim: “Do unto them what they did unto you.”

— “This tit-for-tat logic has become entrenched. Where one sits determines where one stands. Yesterday’s disruptors now pose as guardians of parliamentary propriety; today’s obstructionists will likely rediscover the virtues of decorum if they return to power. The result is a Parliament that lurches from one impasse to another, its deliberative function steadily eroded.”

— “This mutual contempt for parliamentary norms has had a corrosive effect. Parliament, as the nation’s principal forum for debate and deliberation, has been reduced to a farce. The duration of sittings has declined steadily, and disruptions have become more frequent. Parliamentary standards have been in free fall for a generation”

— “Each side sees itself as the embodiment of virtue and the other as irredeemably evil. The ruling party brands the Opposition “anti-national”; the Opposition in turn imagine themselves as doughty outnumbered Pandavas facing the might (and the unfair means) of the Kauravas in power. In this political climate, government and Opposition see each other as enemies, not mere adversaries; civilised debate becomes impossible.”

— “What is needed is a collective reset — a new consensus on acceptable parliamentary conduct….The best solution would be an all-party meeting to agree on a fair and binding code of conduct. Other democracies offer useful models: In the UK, for instance, the Opposition is allotted a day each week to raise issues of its choosing. India could adopt a similar rule, ensuring that the Opposition has space to voice its concerns. In return, disruption should be outlawed by mutual agreement. Parliament could then focus on the nation’s business, rather than partisan theatrics.”

— “The diminishing role of Parliament in our political life is deeply damaging to our democracy. This is not just a procedural concern; it is a constitutional crisis in slow motion. Parliament is meant to be the crucible of democratic debate, the arena where laws are scrutinised, policies contested, and the executive held to account. When it is reduced to a theatre of disruption or a rubber stamp for executive fiat, the very idea of representative democracy is imperilled.”

— “The custodians of Parliament — its presiding officers, its members, and its political leadership in government and in Opposition — must act before it is too late. The institution must be preserved, not merely as an unavoidable hand-me-down of constitutional design, but as a living forum for democratic engagement. The lifeblood of our democracy flows through its debates, its questions, its deliberations. If Parliament goes down the drain, so too does the vitality of our democratic experiment.”

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Routine gridlocks maybe eroding Parliament’s institutional health”

📍Knowledge Nugget : As PM says to ‘raise strong points in debates’, what Parliamentary devices can Opposition use?

Previous year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:

(4) The Parliament of India exercises control over the functions of the Council of Ministers through ( UPSC CSE 2017)

1. Adjournment motion

2. Question hour

3. Supplementary questions

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 and 3 only

(c) 1 and 3 only

(d) 1, 2 and 3

 

EXPLAINED

Rupee breaches 90-mark: What’s driving the slide

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national importance and economy.

Mains Examination: General Studies-III: Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilisation of resources, growth, development and employment.

What’s the ongoing story: India’s currency slipped below the psychologically critical 90-per-dollar level on Wednesday, jolting the financial markets and amplifying concerns about the broader macroeconomic landscape. With the rupee losing over 5 per cent this calendar year, the breach of the 90-threshold on Tuesday sparked unease not because of one single shock, but on account of convergence of pressures that have steadily eroded sentiment.

Key Points to Ponder:

— What is depreciation of a currency?

— What is the Exchange Rate?

— How do the demand and supply of the currency affect the Exchange rate?

— What is the real effective exchange rate (REER)? 

— What is the difference between REER and Nominal Effective Exchange Rate (NEER)?

— How does the REER index reflect the value of the Indian rupee over time? 

— What is the strengthening and weakening of a currency?

— What are the factors behind the fall of the Indian Rupee?

— What is a trade deficit?

Key Takeaways:

— On the surface, the macro backdrop appears supportive: crude oil prices have softened, offering relief on the import bill; inflation has cooled to below one per cent, easing household and corporate cost pressures; and GDP growth surprised on the upside with an impressive 8.2 per cent expansion in the September quarter. However, while these factors should ideally bolster a country’s currency, what the Indian rupee is witnessing is a sustained pressure.

— And that has been driven by forces such as persistent dollar outflows, particularly from foreign portfolio investors booking profits and reallocating to more attractive markets abroad. While the outflow has steadily drained liquidity and heightened demand for the greenback, at the same time, the prolonged delay in finalising a trade deal with the United States has injected uncertainty into India’s external position.

— Each passing week without clarity has only dampened market confidence and raised questions about future trade flows, tariff competitiveness, and the overall balance-of-payments outlook. As exports have come under pressure and experts say that RBI too has not actively intervened to provide strength to the rupee, a sharp jump in value of gold imports this festive season has put pressure on the rupee, say market participants.

— Together, these pressures have created a disconnect between the strength of domestic fundamentals and the trajectory of the currency. What is pulling down the rupee is not weakness at home, but a combination of global risk appetite, shifting capital flows and policy ambiguity — factors that can overwhelm even strong economic indicators when they converge at the wrong moment.

— The Reserve Bank, on the other hand, appears to be favouring a gradual depreciation to keep exports competitive in the wake of the 50% tariff imposed by US President Donald Trump.

— While a depreciation in currency may provide some support to exporters, many say that the RBI’s decision to stay away from intervention is a wise one, as it is not something they can artificially control. If they do, they will also end up dwindling their reserves, without achieving much.

— A trade deficit is a situation when a country buys more (imports) than it sells (exports). Rise in trade deficit leads to depreciation of rupee against dollar, as India would end up buying more dollars to pay for the imports as against what it earns from exports. The increase in demand for dollars puts pressure on rupee and leads it to lose value.

— India’s trade position appears to be under renewed strain, with early signs suggesting that the deficit may be widening. A sharp drop in exports to the US, one of India’s largest markets, has been a major contributor to this shift. Merchandise exports contracted by 11.8 per cent year-on-year in October 2025, slipping to an eleven-month low of $34.4 billion. This decline came against the backdrop of higher tariffs and an unfavourable base, as exports had grown a strong 16.6 per cent in October 2024.

— The lacklustre performance of India’s equity markets over the last 14 months has also prompted foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) to scale back their exposure. 

— The persistent outflows have also made their presence felt in the country’s external buffers. India’s foreign exchange reserves have declined by $12.1 billion between end-September and November 21, 2025, landing at $688.1 billion. Much of this decline stems from a fall in foreign currency assets, which have shrunk by $21.2 billion during the period. The drop has been partly offset by an increase of $9.2 billion in the value of gold reserves, but not enough to prevent an overall erosion.

— A major driver of the import surge in October was the extraordinary jump in gold purchases. Gold imports tripled to an unprecedented $14.7 billion, compared with $4.9 billion a year earlier. This spike was fuelled by two powerful forces: robust festive-season buying and speculative demand triggered by the relentless climb in gold prices. Domestic gold prices have shot past Rs 128,000 per 10 grams.

Do You Know:

— The rate at which one can swap between currencies is the exchange rate. In other words, how many rupees would buy you a dollar or a euro.

— In such a market — also referred to as the currency market — each currency is like a commodity itself. The value of each currency relative to another currency is called the exchange rate. These values can stay the same over time but more often than not they keep changing.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Beyond headline number: Rupee’s fall is ‘real’ this time

📍Re crosses 90-mark against dollar on uncertainty in deal with US, FPI outflow

Previous year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:

(5) With reference to the Indian economy, consider the following statements: (UPSC CSE 2022)

1. An increase in Nominal Effective Exchange Rate (NEER) indicates the appreciation of rupee.

2. An increase in the Real Effective Exchange Rate (REER) indicates an improvement in trade competitiveness.

3. An increasing trend in domestic inflation relative to inflation in other countries is likely to cause an increasing divergence between NEER and REER.

Which of the statements given above are correct?

(a) 1 and 2 only

(b) 2 and 3 only

(c) 1 and 3 only

(d) 1, 2 and 3

ALSO IN NEWS
IBC resolution: House panel raises concerns over ‘haircuts’, asset valuation	While noting that the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) has strengthened the confidence of creditors and encouraged foreign investments in the last eight years of its implementation, a parliamentary panel has identified multiple challenges that are hampering the law’s potential. It has flagged delays stemming from inadequate judicial infrastructure, the uncertainty regarding the finality of resolution plans — primarily because of judicial reversals, and a lack of accountability among resolution professionals (RPs) as key hurdles to the efficacy of the law. The committee recommended adopting an enterprise-level price discovery mechanism, besides suggesting cross-border insolvency to strengthen IBC.
FM: Tobacco excise duty will be shared with states	The Lok Sabha passed the Central Excise (Amendment) Bill on Wednesday to levy excise duty on tobacco and related products, with Finance Minister Niramala Sitharaman saying that the revenue collected will be part of the divisible pool, and 41% of that will be shared with the states. The new Bill will ensure that tax incidence on demerit items does not fall. “Now, certainly, we don’t want cigarettes to become affordable,” she said.
HC lets Dr Reddy’s make, export weight-loss drug	Refusing to grant an interim injunction sought by the Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday allowed Dr Reddy’s Laboratories to continue manufacturing and exporting its version of the GLP-1 drug that contains the compound semaglutide. The blockbuster drug, marketed globally by Novo Nordisk as Ozempic for Type 2 diabetes and for obesity, has been at the center of a patent dispute in India. In its order, the court said Dr Reddy’s has set up a credible challenge to Novo Nordisk’s claim of patent protection over semaglutide. The court concluded that the company had obtained two patents for minor variants of the same compound, a practice known as double patenting, which the court said resulted in “evergreening.” Double patenting occurs when a company secures more than one patent on the same drug. Evergreening refers to the broader strategy in which drugmakers make only minor or routine changes to an existing medicine and then seek new patents, not to reflect significant innovation, but to prolong a drug’s monopoly and keep lower-cost generics out of the market.

 

PRELIMS ANSWER KEY

1. (b)   2. (d)   3. (b)    4. (d)   5. (c)

Subscribe to our UPSC newsletter. Stay updated with the latest UPSC articles by joining our Telegram channel – Indian Express UPSC Hub, and follow us on Instagram and X.

🚨 Click Here to read the UPSC Essentials magazine for November 2025. Share your views and suggestions in the comment box or at manas.srivastava@indianexpress.com🚨