UPSC Key: Pakistan-Afghanistan ‘open war’, New GDP series, and ‘Disaster fatigue’

Key Points to Ponder:

— What are the reasons for mistrust between Pakistan and Afghanistan?

— How did the Taliban government come to hold power in Afghanistan? Track the events leading to it.

— Evaluate India’s relationship with the Taliban government.

— How has it evolved in recent times?

— What is the status of India-Pakistan relationship?

— Why is conflict between neighbouring countries a concern for India?

— Which border line separated Pakistan and Afghanistan?

Key Takeaways:

— The Pakistani attacks on early Friday came after Afghanistan launched an attack on Pakistani border forces, the officials said. Both sides reported heavy losses in the fighting, which Pakistan’s defence minister said amounted to an “open war”. Tensions have been heating up since Pakistan launched air strikes on militant targets in Afghanistan last weekend.

— At the heart of the conflict is the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the Pakistani Taliban — a militant group — Islamabad says operates from Afghan soil.

— Pakistani officials claim they had “irrefutable evidence” linking militants based in Afghanistan to a fresh wave of attacks and suicide bombings targeting security forces. One recent assault in Bajaur that killed 11 personnel and two civilians was allegedly carried out by an Afghan national and claimed by the TTP.

— Islamabad’s position is clear: the Afghan Taliban either cannot or will not control anti-Pakistan militants using its territory. Kabul denies the charge, insisting it does not allow attacks against neighbours from its soil.

— This disagreement has steadily transformed from diplomatic friction into kinetic confrontation.

— Pakistan initially welcomed the Taliban’s return to power in 2021, expecting a friendly government in Kabul that would stabilise the frontier. However, the relationship deteriorated quickly. Militancy inside Pakistan has surged since 2022, with attacks by the TTP and Baloch insurgents rising sharply, according to conflict monitoring data cited by news agency Reuters.

— Islamabad believes the Taliban’s ideological affinity with the TTP makes decisive action unlikely. Kabul, meanwhile, accuses Pakistan of harbouring Islamic State militants, a charge Islamabad rejects.

— The latest strikes also reflect the failure of repeated attempts to manage tensions through negotiation. Border clashes in October killed dozens before mediation by Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia produced a fragile ceasefire. But the truce collapsed as militant attacks continued and trust eroded.

— With diplomacy exhausted and domestic pressure mounting, Pakistan appears to have opted for escalation, targeting not just suspected militant camps but Taliban military infrastructure itself.

— Despite Pakistan’s overwhelming military advantage, including hundreds of combat aircraft and a vastly larger force, the Taliban bring asymmetric strength. The group’s guerrilla warfare experience, hardened over decades of conflict, makes prolonged low-intensity confrontation likely.

From the Explained page: Taliban, terror: Behind Pakistan’s call for ‘open war’ on Afghanistan

— Pakistan’s Operation “Ghazab lil-Haq” (meaning, righteous fury) comes amid its criticism of the Taliban-led Afghan government on security-related issues… It has alleged that the Afghan Taliban is acting on behalf of India as New Delhi– Kabul ties have warmed. New Delhi, on its part, has condemned Pakistan’s strikes and described them as another attempt by Pakistan to “externalise its internal failures”

— The Pakistan information ministry, citing a series of suicide bombing attacks this month — including an attack on February 6 that killed more than 30 people at a mosque in Islamabad, said it had “conclusive evidence” to show that the acts were perpetrated by militants at the “behest of their Afghanistan-based leadership and handlers”.

— The think-tank International Crisis Group noted that Islamabad’s “pressure tactics”, like forced deportation of over 1.7 million Afghan refugees from Pakistan and launching airstrikes on supposed TTP bases and even ensuring “hits” as far as in the capital Kabul, did not sit well with the Afghan Taliban.

— The 2,640-km Durand Line adds another layer of complexity, with attacks along this border in recent days. Established in 1893 by the British, Afghanistan later rejected it for cutting through the Pashtun and Baloch areas.

Do You Know:

— The TTP was formed in 2007 by several militant outfits active in northwest Pakistan. ‌It is commonly known as the Pakistani Taliban. The TTP has attacked markets, mosques, airports, military bases, police stations and also gained territory – mostly along the border with Afghanistan, but also deep inside Pakistan, including the Swat Valley.

— The group was behind the ‌2012 attack on then schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai, ​who received the ​Nobel Peace Prize two ​years later.

— The TTP also fought alongside the Afghan Taliban against US-led forces in Afghanistan and hosted Afghan fighters in Pakistan. Pakistan has launched military operations against the TTP on its own soil with limited success, although an ​offensive that ended in 2016 drastically reduced attacks till a few years ago.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍PRAHAAR: Why India’s new counterterrorism document is more intent than full-fledged strategy

UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:

(1) Durand line separates which of the following countries?

(a) India and Bangladesh

(b) China and Pakistan

(c) India and Pakistan

(d) Afghanistan and Pakistan

Previous year UPSC Mains Question Covering similar theme:

Border management is a complex task due to difficult terrain and hostile relations with some countries. Elucidate the challenges and strategies for effective border management. (UPSC CSE 2016)

No overarching plot or criminal intent in policy framing: Court; CBI moves HC

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance

Mains Examination: General Studies-II, III: Statutory, regulatory and various quasi-judicial bodies; money-laundering and its prevention

What’s the ongoing story: Ruling that there was no “overarching conspiracy” or “criminal intent” in the framing of the Delhi excise policy, a Delhi trial court, while strongly indicting the CBI over its probe into the case, Friday discharged AAP leader and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, his deputy Manish Sisodia and 21 others booked for alleged corruption in the matter.

Key Points to Ponder:

— What is the role and function of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)?

— What was the Delhi excise policy matter?

— What is the role and function of the Enforcement Directorate (ED)?

— What is money laundering?

— What is the PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002)?

— What are the bail conditions under the PMLA?

— ‘The ED case has to necessarily follow a predicate offence case.’ What do you understand from this?

Key Takeaways:

— While the AAP and its leaders hailed the ruling and called it a vindication of their stand, the CBI moved the Delhi High Court, challenging the trial court verdict.

— The Judge, in several instances, slammed the CBI over its conduct, the nature of its investigation, and its presentation of evidence. He described the investigation as a “pre-meditated and choreographed exercise, wherein roles appear to have been retrospectively assigned to suit a preconceived narrative”.

— And in a rare instance, it also recommended “appropriate departmental proceedings against the erring investigating officer” for “framing A-1 as an accused in the absence of any material against him, so that accountability is fixed and the institutional credibility of the investigative machinery is preserved” – A-1 or the first accused in the case was Kuldeep Singh, a former excise department official.

— The court said the case against Singh was “solely on “inadmissible hearsay attributed to an approver.” It also criticised the executive (the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi) for granting prosecution sanction.

— The Judge said there was an attempt to “stitch together disparate fragments so as to create an impression of a vast and complex conspiracy, unsupported by legally admissible material”. He called the investigation “steered by a preconceived outcome rather than by objective evaluation of evidence”.

— The corruption case arose out of a report submitted in July 2022 by Delhi Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar to Lt Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena, pointing to alleged procedural lapses in the formulation of the Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22.

— The report said “arbitrary and unilateral decisions” taken by Sisodia in his capacity as Excise Minister had resulted in “financial losses to the exchequer” estimated at more than Rs 580 crore… The policy came into force in November 2021, but was scrapped in July 2022.

— The two main procedural lapses alleged by the CBI were the insertion of a wholesale margin of 12 per cent to allegedly benefit the “South Group” and the enhancement of the turnover eligibility criteria for grant of L-1 licence to Rs 500 crore every year for five years to eliminate competition and favour the group.

— The trial court criticised the use of the expression “South Group”, which the Judge said could be deemed offensive in certain circumstances.

— He also pointed out various “lapses” such as making some persons who should have been accused in the case as prosecution witnesses and over-reliance on an approver’s statement to implicate the accused.

— “The record reveals that the approver, who has been examined on multiple occasions over an extended period of more than 1 year, has come forth with this new allegation only in the course of his later statements,” he said.

— The trial court also observed that the CBI had strayed into the domain of the Election Commission of India by scrutinising election campaign logistics.

From the Front page: ‘If foundation crumbles, superstructure must fall’: Collapse of CBI case a big blow to ED probe

— The Delhi trial court’s order Friday discharging former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his former deputy Manish Sisodia, is also a blow to the Enforcement Directorate’s money laundering probe in the matter.

— The Supreme Court’s landmark 2022 ruling in Vijay Madanlal Chaudhary v Union of India held that once an accused is discharged or acquitted in the predicate offence, the money laundering cannot be sustained.

— Citing the 2022 ruling, the trial court, in its 598-page order, said “if the foundation crumbles, the superstructure must necessarily fall”.

— “The offence under the PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002) is not autonomous in its origin, but is inextricably linked to the existence of a legally sustainable scheduled offence. The predicate offence constitutes the foundational edifice upon which the allegation of money laundering rests; if the foundation crumbles, the superstructure must necessarily fall,” it said.

— In the alleged excise policy scandal, the ED had summoned Kejriwal when he was not even named as an accused in the CBI case, arguing that money laundering is a standalone case. Given that bail conditions under the PMLA are stringent and carry a reverse burden of proof, arrest in ED cases, even when the trial in predicate offence is yet to move, is onerous on the accused.

— However, ED offences are essentially anchored to the predicate offence. It means that the ED case has to necessarily stem from a predicate offence. When a court discharges or acquits the accused, then the ED case cannot be sustained.

— According to the 2022 Supreme Court ruling, the ED cannot prosecute any person on “notional basis” or on the assumption that a scheduled offence has been committed, unless it is so registered with the jurisdictional police and/or pending enquiry/trial including by way of criminal complaint before the competent forum. This means the ED case has to necessarily follow a predicate offence case. Therefore, as a corollary, once the predicate offence goes, the ED case also must go.

— In the ruling, the Supreme Court stated that “if the person is finally discharged/acquitted of the scheduled offence or the criminal case against him is quashed by the Court of competent jurisdiction, there can be no offence of money-laundering against him or anyone claiming such property, being the property linked to the stated scheduled offence through him”.

From the Explained page: Choreographed exercise’: How CBI’s case fell apart

— An order discharging the accused essentially means that the court has not found enough material to proceed with a full-fledged trial. The court at this stage is essentially limiting itself to assessing whether the prosecution material, taken at face value to be true, actually discloses the essential ingredients of the alleged offence and raises grave suspicion, as distinct from a mere suspicion. It is also an indictment of the investigative agency that brought in the charges.

— In the 598-page ruling, the CBI’s case fell apart on a number of grounds — from the nature of evidence and how it is presented to how policy decisions are examined when under a cloud of criminality.

Express opinion: Clearing Arvind Kejriwal in liquor case, slamming CBI, court sends out message that government must listen to

— It is a reminder of the fundamental salience of due process — much needed in a polarised polity, where all too often, central agencies are weaponised by the ruling party on a witch hunt against political opponents, which then seek to do their master’s bidding by collapsing vital distinctions, connecting dots by taking political leaps, relying on conjecture, not proof.

— The case weighed down the Arvind Kejriwal government, led to the spectacle of a sitting Chief Minister being sent to jail, alongwith his top ministers and senior party leadership, and overhung the 2025 assembly election campaign in Delhi, arguably playing a role in the AAP’s defeat at the hands of the BJP. The court has now called a halt to this saga, and sent an unequivocal message: Not without due process.

— While striking down the CBI’s case of overarching conspiracy and criminal intent, the court has objected to its method of investigation – the CBI’s reliance on approver statements acquired after pardoning an accused.

— “A procedure which permits prolonged or indefinite incarceration on the basis of a provisional and untested allegation… risks degenerating into a punitive process rather than a regulatory or investigative one”, it says.

— For the AAP, this is a moment of vindication. Going ahead, it will need to build on it, politically. For the CBI and the government that controls it, this is a chastening moment, which will hopefully have a restraining effect when they next seek to unleash a vindictive politics. In times when checks and balances on power seem to be weakening, a special court in Delhi has sent out a message that is resonant and reassuring for the polity.

Do You Know:

— The ED was established on May 1, 1956, as the ‘Enforcement Unit’ under the Department of Economic Affairs within the Ministry of Finance for handling violations of exchange control laws under the now-repealed Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1973 (FERA). Later on, it was renamed the Enforcement Directorate and was transferred to the administrative control of the Department of Revenue, and subsequently entrusted with the enforcement of a broader range of financial laws.

— The enactment of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), which replaced FERA in 1999, and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in the early 2000s, increased the power of ED. These moves aligned its functions with international standards to combat financial crimes, notably those recommended by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Explained: Case against Kejriwal and Sisodia, now discharged in alleged Delhi liquor policy scam

Previous year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:

(2) With reference to India, consider the following statements: (UPSC CSE 2021)

1. When a prisoner makes out a sufficient case, parole cannot be denied to such prisoner because it becomes a matter of his/her right.

2. State Governments have their own Prisoners Release on Parole Rules.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 only

(c) Both 1 and 2

(d) Neither I nor 2

Previous year UPSC Mains Question Covering similar theme:

Money laundering poses a serious security threat to a country’s economic sovereignty. What is its significance for India and what steps are required to be taken to control this menace? (UPSC CSE 2013)

EXPLAINED

As urbanisation grows, 16th FC provides a boost

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance

Mains Examination: General Studies-I, II: Urbanisation; Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation

What’s the ongoing story: The 16th Finance Commission (FC) has provided a boost to urban local governments, shows its latest report tabled in Parliament on February 1.

Key Points to Ponder:

— Know about the FC- composition, constitutional provisions, role and function

— What were the key recommendations of the 16th FC?

— What is the functioning mechanism of urban local governance in India?

— What are the major schemes related to urban governance in India?

— What are the challenges facing urban governance in India?

— Know about the Urban Challenge Fund

Key Takeaways:

— The FC is a Constitutional body that provides recommendations about how India’s Centre and state governments should divide tax revenues. It is reconstituted every five years and provides a fresh set of recommendations.

— Since the 10th FC, which was the first one after India adopted a third tier of government — urban local bodies and the rural panchayats — each FC has provided grants to these government structures.

— The latest FC, the 16th, has sharply increased the proportion of grants for urban local governments to 45% from the previous FC’s 36% allotment and the 13th FC’s 26% allotment. In absolute numbers, the 16th FC recommends Rs 3.56 lakh crore in grants to urban local bodies — over two times more than 15th FC’s Rs 1.55-lakh crore grant and a 15-fold rise over the 13th FC’s grant.

The 16th FC has sharply increased the proportion of grants for urban local governments.

— The 13th FC is relevant because it came immediately after the last Census in 2011. These shares are important because they determine how much money is available with the lowest tier of government to solve problems at the grassroots level.

— A significantly higher share for urban bodies versus the rural bodies is in recognition of the projected urbanisation level of 41% as of 2031. Simply put, with each passing decade, more and more of India is living in its cities.

— According to the last Census in 2011, 31% of the population was living in urban areas. This is much lower than global peers such as China (45%), Indonesia (54%) and Brazil (87%).

— A 2015 World Bank report said 54% of Indians were living in cities and another 24% were living in “urban clusters”, taking the total to 78%. None of these numbers still capture the rapid changes in migration that are taking place each year.

— Lack of credible numbers hold back policy initiatives. The worst affected are urban local bodies. The recommendations for an increased share by the 16th FC are likely to address some of the financial gaps in urban governance.

— The increased allocation has not been distributed equally. The grant will be distributed based on the 16th FC’s population-based distribution formula. Accordingly, there is a large variation in the way grant amounts have gone up or down for different states.

Do You Know:

— The 16th Finance Commission was constituted by the President on 31 December 2023 under the chairmanship of Dr. Arvind Panagariya, former Vice- chairman of NITI ayog,  The Commission was mandated to make its recommendations for the five‑year period commencing on 1 April 2026 and ending on 31 March 2031.

— The Commission has kept the vertical devolution intact, retaining the states’ share in the divisible pool at 41 per cent. But, in determining the horizontal devolution, it has deviated from the previous Commission on the criteria and weights to be used.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Finance Commission recommends Rs 66,100-cr grant for urbanisation, revamp of drainage in cities

📍Knowledge Nugget |16th Finance Commission Report: Key highlights for UPSC and other competitive exams

Previous year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:

(3) Consider the following: (UPSC CSE 2023)

1. Demographic performance

2. Forest and ecology

3. Governance reforms

4. Stable government

5. Tax and fiscal efforts

For the horizontal tax devolution, the Fifteenth Finance Commission used how many of the above as criteria other than population area and income distance?

(a) Only two

(b) Only three

(c) Only four

(d) All five

ECONOMY

In new GDP series, economy  estimated to grow 7.6% in FY26

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance

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

What’s the ongoing story: The Indian economy grew by 7.8% in October-December 2025 according to the new GDP series with 2022-23 as the base year, with growth for 2025-26 as a whole seen at 7.6% as per the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation’s (MoSPI) second advance estimate.

Key Points to Ponder:

— How is GDP calculated?

— What is the base year?

— Why has the base year changed?

— What are the challenges in calculating GDP?

— What is the significance of GDP?

— Is this a real measure of development?

— Know about various terms associated with GDP: Real GDP, Nominal GDP, GSDP, GVP, GDP deflators

Key Takeaways:

— This is higher than the first advance estimate of 7.4% released in January under the old GDP series which had a base year of 2011-12.

— The revisions made to other GDP growth figures under the old series are as follows:

* April-June 2025 GDP growth is now 6.7% versus 7.8% under the old series

* July-September 2025 GDP growth is now 8.4% versus 8.2% under the old series

* 2023-24 GDP growth is now 7.2% versus 9.2% under the old series

* 2024-25 GDP growth is now 7.1% versus 6.5% under the old series

— The release of the new GDP series with 2022-23 as the base year comes more than a decade after the exercise was last performed by the statistics ministry.

— Back in January 2015, when the erstwhile GDP series with 2004-05 as the base year was revised, growth was raised for some years and lowered for others after MoSPI incorporated several methodological changes to measure the size of the Indian economy more accurately and comprehensively.

— The 2022-23 GDP series has also undergone major changes, the most crucial of which has been how nominal GDP is adjusted for price changes to arrive at real GDP. The so-called single-deflator method, used until now by MoSPI to calculate the Gross Value Added (GVA) of all sectors other than agriculture and mining and quarrying, could lead to growth being overstated at times when commodity prices were falling or not rising as fast as consumer prices.

— In a major move, the new GDP series does not use the single-deflator method at all and instead uses double-deflation – adjusting input and outputs by their respective inflation rates – with deflators also being used at a more granular level. This allows for more accurate measurement of real GDP growth.

Do You Know:

— The GDP is the central metric to assess the annual economic growth or the overall size of an economy and the so-called “base year” refers to the year that works as a starting point for calculations. The base year for GDP calculation is now 2022-23. In other words, the GDP in 2022-23 is used as a “base” over which the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of any following year is calculated. This is the eighth such revision.

— GDP is the sum of the market value of all the final goods and services produced within the geographical boundaries of a country each year. The value of GDP measured in current prices is called Nominal GDP but it might not be a good measure of production because the increase in value may result from an increase in prices and not output. Nominal GDP, adjusted for price changes, is called Real GDP.

Nominal GDP per capita = Nominal GDP/total population

Real GDP per capita = Real GDP/total population

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Three approaches to measuring GDP and why they matter

📍Knowledge Nugget: New series of GDP estimates with base year 2022-23 released. What you need to know for UPSC exam

UPSC Prelims Practise Question Covering similar theme:

(4) Consider the following statements:

1. The new base year for the GDP series is 2023-24.

2. The GDP series is released by the RBI.

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:

Explain the difference between computing methodology of India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) before the year 2015 and after the year 2015. (UPSC CSE 2021)

THE IDEAS PAGE

Disaster resilience, of, by and for the people

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies-III: Disaster and disaster management

What’s the ongoing story: Rohini Nilekani writes: Can you recall when you last sent a cheque to organisations for disaster relief? If this question were put up 20 years ago, many readers might have responded positively. Unfortunately, since then, we have been witnessing “disaster fatigue” in the country.

Key Points to Ponder:

— What is disaster resilience?

— What is the mechanism of disaster management in India?

— There is an increase in frequency of disasters around the globe. What efforts need to be taken at national and international levels?

— What efforts have been made by India in this direction?

Key Takeaways:

— At my philanthropic foundation, we recently released a report, commissioned with Dalberg, titled ‘Resilience — Moving beyond surviving climate disasters to supporting communities to thrive’. We hope it will help shift the mental model in India towards anticipatory action and funding. Climate change has arrived  in all our lives, affecting vulnerable communities in particular.

— In 2023, 85 per cent of districts experienced floods, droughts, or cyclones. From the Himalayas to the coastline, every region is at risk. Extreme weather events, including severe heat, occurred on 86 per cent of days that year.

— The nationwide annual losses were $12 billion, and for poor households, it can be up to 85 per cent of their annual income from just one disaster. We argue in the report that there is no choice left but to build better community-level resilience.

— To build resilience, we need to reimagine development, such as rethinking dam design, and building trust and capacity at a local level to enable the needed response in the samaaj before and after a disaster strikes… Every $1 invested in risk reduction and adaptation can save up to $15 in post-disaster response and recovery.

— SEWA (Self-Employed Women’s Association) has pioneered a heat insurance scheme that triggers automatic payouts when extreme heat beyond 40°C persists for two consecutive days. It operates in three states with 50,000 women members. The Council on Energy, Environment and Water has created a climate and heat risk atlas for the country and works closely with governments to build implementable action plans.

— SEEDS (Sustainable Environment and Ecological Development Society) has innovated an AI-enabled e-disaster wallet that allows communities to authenticate their potential asset losses before an event, so that government and philanthropy aid can flow more seamlessly post any event.

— So far, we have responded to disasters with a top-down, standardised approach. Governments work for communities, not enough with them. This must change —  people can be agents of their own resilience.

— This is the right time to shift to a nationwide effort to build community resilience and strengthen physical, financial, human, social, and natural capital at the ground level. Most of all, we need to reignite the empathy we all showed ourselves capable of during the pandemic. If we do, there is great hope that India will be ready for the future shock.

Do You Know:

— The Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) is an international organisation set up on India’s initiative in 2019. It is a partnership of national governments, UN agencies and programmes, multilateral development banks and financing mechanisms, the private sector, and knowledge institutions that aims to promote the resilience of new and existing infrastructure systems to climate and disaster risks in support of sustainable development.

— One of the major initiatives under CDRI is Infrastructure for Resilient Island States (IRIS) which was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at COP26 in 2021. Small island states are the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. As sea levels rise, they face a threat of being wiped off the map. According to CDRI, several small island states have lost 9 per cent of their GDPs in single disasters during the last few years.

— The National Disaster Management Authority is the apex body for Disaster Management in India. The Disaster Management Act, 2005, envisaged the creation of the NDMA. It is headed by the Prime Minister, and State Disaster Management Authorities (SDMAs) headed by respective Chief Ministers, to spearhead and implement a holistic and integrated approach to Disaster Management in India.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍‘Approach of India’s disaster management today is to achieve zero casualty,’ says Amit Shah, credits efforts of NDMA, NDRF

📍Knowledge Nugget: Why is Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) important for UPSC exam?

📍Knowledge Nugget: SOP on Disaster Victim Identification released by NDMA. Why it matters for UPSC exam

Previous year UPSC Mains Question Covering similar theme:

What is disaster resilience? How is it determined? Describe various elements of a resilience framework. Also mention the global targets of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015-2030). (UPSC CSE 2024)

SC defends institution’s dignity. It must extend its vigilance to communities

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: S Y Quraishi writes: The Supreme Court’s recent suo motu intervention over an NCERT textbook passage allegedly portraying judicial corruption is a welcome and timely assertion of institutional responsibility.

Key Points to Ponder:

— What do you understand by the suo motu cognizance?

— A textbook that sanitises history produces ignorance dressed as truth. Analyse.

— What is the purpose of revising the curriculum and textbooks?

— What are the recent changes made in the NCERT books?

— What is the rationale behind these changes?

— What is the role of the National Education Policy in this?

Key Takeaways:

— By acting swiftly and decisively, it has reaffirmed a foundational principle: That public institutions, especially those entrusted with constitutional authority, must be protected from casual or deliberate disparagement — more so in educational material that shapes young minds.

— More importantly, the Court has signalled that reputational harm, when normalised, can erode public trust in ways not easily reversible.

— This intervention, however, opens up a larger constitutional question. If the dignity of institutions must be protected against misrepresentation,  does the same principle extend, by necessary implication, to the dignity of communities who form the fabric of the republic?

— India’s textbooks have long been instruments of nation-building. They do more than convey information; they shape civic imagination. What is included, what is emphasised, and what is omitted influence how citizens come to understand their society and each other.

— In 2022-23, references to the Gujarat riots were dropped from Class 12 Political Science textbooks. References to the Babri Masjid demolition were first diluted, then removed, while the treatment of the Mughal period was significantly reduced.

— Each of these changes may be defensible in isolation. But taken together, they suggest a movement away from contested histories that democracies must learn to confront.

— Curricular revision is a constant feature of governance, and no political era is untouched by it. The deeper issue is structural: The relationship between education and honesty. A textbook that sanitises history produces ignorance dressed as truth, as shaped by prevailing public discourse.

— Representation in textbooks is not merely academic; it shapes civic imagination in ways both subtle and enduring. When a community is encountered largely through episodes of conflict, its contributions recede and its identity risks being reduced to a stereotype.

— Equally, when a community with a long and well-documented history of oppression is presented primarily through narratives of suffering, an unintended distortion can arise: Its agency, intellectual traditions, reform movements, and leadership risk being overshadowed, leaving an incomplete picture.

— These are not falsehoods in the conventional sense. They are partial truths, which, repeated often enough, harden into prejudice. The damage is deeper precisely because it is invisible, absorbed before the tools to question it are formed.

— Fraternity, often the least discussed of the Constitution’s founding ideals, is in fact the glue that binds liberty and equality into a functioning democratic order. Without fraternity, equality becomes formal and liberty becomes fragmented.

— The Preamble speaks of fraternity assuring the dignity of the individual. Article 14 guarantees equality before the law. Article 15 prohibits discrimination on specified grounds. Article 21, as expansively interpreted, protects dignity as an intrinsic component of life and liberty. Article 51A(e) imposes a duty to promote harmony and common brotherhood.

— Read together, these provisions create not merely a set of enforceable rights, but a normative framework within which public discourse must operate.

— The statutory framework reinforces this position. Provisions such as Sections 153A, 153B, 295A and 505 of the Indian Penal Code criminalise the promotion of enmity and the vilification of communities.

— This gap between constitutional promise, statutory clarity, and institutional response is where the challenge lies. A democracy cannot afford selective vigilance. If the law acts decisively when institutions are maligned but hesitates when communities are stereotyped or vilified, it risks creating an unintended hierarchy of concern.

— Seen in this light, the Court’s intervention marks more than a defence of institutional reputation. It gestures toward a broader constitutional doctrine: That dignity — whether of institutions or communities — is indivisible. The same constitutional morality that protects courts from defamation must, by extension, protect citizens from vilification.

— What this moment offers, therefore, is an opportunity for greater consistency in the application of constitutional values. If dignity is to be defended, it must be defended across the board, with the same clarity, urgency, and seriousness. For the real test of a democracy lies not only in how it protects its institutions, but in how it protects its people.

From the Explained page: Before ‘judiciary corruption’, the other NCERT revisions that sparked controvers

— New books for all classes are being developed and released in line with the recommendations of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, and the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCFSE) 2023.

— The old books were based on the 2005 curriculum framework and were first published from 2006 to 2008. Based on the new NCF, new NCERT textbooks were released for classes 1 and 2 in 2023, classes 3 and 6 in 2024, and classes 4, 5, 7, and 8 in 2025.

— Before the new books were released, the NCERT had four rounds of textbook revisions since 2014, including a round of “rationalisation” in 2022-23 in the wake of Covid-19 to reduce content load.

— *The class 12 political science textbook published after a review in 2017 described the 2002 Gujarat riots as only the “Gujarat riots”. This was different from the old textbook, which referred to it as the “anti-Muslim riots”, The Indian Express had reported then.

— *In a class 12 sociology textbook in 2022, references to how “untouchability” operates were dropped, including: “A Dalit is likely to be confined to traditional occupations such as agricultural labour, scavenging, or leather work, with little chance of being able to get high-paying white-collar or professional work.”

— *Sections on the Delhi Sultanate and the Mughal empire were removed from the class 7 history textbook in 2022, including pages that described the expansion of the Delhi Sultanate and the achievements of Mughal emperors.

— *The new class 6 social science textbook released in 2024 refers to the Harappan civilisation as the ‘Sindhu-Sarasvati’ civilisation, unlike the old one, and makes several references to the ‘Sarasvati river’.

— *Part one of the class 8 social science textbook released last year described Babur as a “brutal and ruthless conqueror, slaughtering entire populations of cities”, and Akbar’s reign as a “blend of brutality and tolerance.” The history section of the book, including the Delhi Sultanate and the Mughals, is preceded by a ‘note on history’s darker periods’.

— *Referring to “darker” periods of history when war, abuse, fanaticism, and bloodshed dominate the landscape, the note explains that it is important to study darker developments dispassionately without blaming anyone living today for them.

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1. (d)  2. (b)  3. (b)   4. (d)

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