UPSC CURRENT AFFAIRS — 5 OCTOBER 2026

A Visa Is a Permission, Not a Promise: Delhi HC on Foreigners’ Entry

(POLITY AND GOVERNANCE) (TH) The Delhi High Court has held that a valid Indian visa does not give a foreign national an absolute or legally enforceable right to enter India. The case involved a Turkmenistan citizen holding a business visa who was refused entry at the airport on the basis of adverse intelligence inputs about her travel history.

The ruling restates a settled constitutional position: control over who enters and stays in the country is a core attribute of sovereignty, exercised by the executive on grounds of national security, foreign policy and public order.

What the Court held

Sovereign function: Issuing a visa, refusing entry and granting immigration clearance are sovereign acts involving wide administrative discretion.
Visa vs entry: A visa is only a conditional authorisation issued abroad; the binding decision on admission is taken by the immigration officer at the port of entry.
No writ remedy: Since a foreigner has no enforceable right to enter India, refusal of entry cannot be challenged as a violation of a legal right under Article 226 — the writ jurisdiction of High Courts.
Article 14 claim rejected: Allowing the petitioner’s husband in while denying her was not discriminatory, as the adverse inputs related only to her — the two were not “similarly situated”, the core test of reasonable classification.

Precedents relied upon

Case	Principle
Hans Muller of Nurenburg v. Superintendent, Presidency Jail (1955)	The Union has absolute and unfettered power to expel foreigners and regulate their entry.
Louis De Raedt v. Union of India (1991)	A foreigner’s fundamental rights are confined to Article 21; the right to reside and settle under Article 19(1)(e) is available only to citizens.

Rights of foreigners at a glance

Available to foreigners too	Available only to citizens
Article 14 (equality before law), Article 20, Article 21 (life and personal liberty), Article 22, Articles 25–28 (religion)	Article 15, Article 16, Article 19 (six freedoms, incl. 19(1)(e) residence), Articles 29–30

The statutory framework

Entry and stay of foreigners are now governed by the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025, which replaced four older laws — the Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920, the Registration of Foreigners Act, 1939, the Foreigners Act, 1946 and the Immigration (Carriers’ Liability) Act, 2000.

Section 3: Requires a valid passport or travel document and, for foreigners, a valid visa; entry may be refused on grounds of national security, sovereignty and integrity, foreign relations or public health.
Section 7: Empowers the Central Government to issue orders prohibiting, regulating or restricting the entry, departure and presence of foreigners.
Immigration officers: May examine documents, seek additional information and take the final call at the border.
Immigration and Foreigners Rules, 2025: Foreigners holding visas valid for more than 180 days must register before the 180-day stay limit; extensions are allowed only in emergent circumstances.

Visa issued abroad ➜ Arrival at port of entry ➜ Immigration officer’s examination ➜ Entry granted or refused

Too Many Rules, Too Little Learning: The Over-Regulation Debate in Higher Education

(POLITY AND GOVERNANCE) (TH) The Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan (VBSA) Bill, 2025, now under legislative scrutiny, proposes a single regulator for higher education. Its arrival has revived a long-running concern: that Indian universities are over-regulated, spending more energy on compliance than on teaching and research.

Why “over-regulation” worries academics

Paper over pedagogy: Bodies such as the UGC, AICTE and NCTE have built a system where external compliance often outranks academic integrity; faculty spend long hours uploading evidence for self-assessment reports.
Arithmetic of compliance: Overlapping circulars produce rigid rules — for instance, the UGC Regulations, 2018 prescribe a 40-hour work week but only five hours of daily physical presence.
Risk aversion: Fear of penalties for technical lapses makes “safe mediocrity” the rational survival strategy.
The regulatory paradox: Institutions like the IISc, IITs, IIMs and IISERs excel largely because they operate outside the standard regulatory apparatus with academic and financial autonomy.

What the VBSA Bill proposes

Introduced in the Lok Sabha on 15 December 2025, the Bill draws on the National Education Policy 2020 vision of a “light but tight” regulator.

Feature	Provision
Regulators replaced	University Grants Commission (UGC), All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE)
Apex body	Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan — a Chairperson and up to 12 members
Three councils	Regulatory Council (governance and compliance), Accreditation Council (outcome-based accreditation), Standards Council (learning outcomes and credit frameworks)
Funding	No grant-disbursal power; funding stays with the Ministry of Education — separating regulation from money
Exclusions	Medical and legal education remain under their own statutory councils
Penalties	₹10 lakh to ₹70 lakh for violations; at least ₹2 crore for setting up an unauthorised university

The penalty range above is as summarised by PRS Legislative Research; the ₹2 crore figure is a minimum for unauthorised universities, not a ceiling.

Concerns about the Bill

Islands of excellence: Bringing Institutes of National Importance under one umbrella may dilute the autonomy that made them succeed.
Federal friction: Education is in the Concurrent List (Entry 25, List III of the Seventh Schedule); States fear a centralised mega-regulator will curb State universities.
Digital divide: Data-heavy, technology-driven reporting may disadvantage resource-poor rural and State-funded universities.

The way forward

Honour the Kothari Commission (1964–66): Its call for academic and administrative autonomy for universities remains the benchmark — see education after Independence.
One Nation One Data (ONOD): A single data platform, as recommended by the Radhakrishnan Committee (2024), can end duplicate inspections.
Outcome-based accreditation: Measure learning, employability and research impact rather than buildings and attendance registers.
Cooperative federalism: Fair State representation in the VBSA’s governance and an independent appellate mechanism.

Compliance-driven control ➜ Light but tight regulation ➜ Graded autonomy ➜ Trust-based academic excellence

Parliaments Meet in Arusha: India at the 153rd IPU Assembly

(POLITY AND GOVERNANCE) (PIB) An Indian Parliamentary Delegation led by Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh is attending the 153rd Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in Arusha, Tanzania, from 5 to 9 October 2026. The theme is “Enhancing good governance and empowering communities through inclusivity, trust and opportunities for all.”

The nine-member delegation includes MPs from both Houses. Harivansh will take part in the Governing Council, the General Debate, the emergency-item debate and the hearing of candidates for IPU President.

IPU at a glance

Aspect	Details
Nature	Global organisation of national parliaments; the oldest multilateral political body of its kind
Founded	1889, Paris — by William Randal Cremer (UK) and Frédéric Passy (France), both later Nobel Peace laureates
Headquarters	Geneva, Switzerland
Membership	183 Member Parliaments and 15 Associate Members
Slogan	“For democracy. For everyone.”
India’s link	Participates through the Indian Parliamentary Group, which functions as the IPU’s National Group

What the IPU does

Parliamentary diplomacy: Assemblies and committees where legislators build consensus on terrorism, conflict, climate change and emerging technology.
Protecting MPs: Its Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians examines cases of arbitrary detention or persecution of legislators.
Capacity building: Technical support, standards and digital tools to strengthen law-making and oversight, especially in new and post-conflict democracies.
Inclusion: Dedicated forums and data on women and young parliamentarians.
UN linkage: Connects global commitments such as the SDGs to national legislation.

Global agenda ➜ IPU Assembly debate ➜ Resolutions ➜ National parliaments legislate and oversee

Printing a Home: India’s First 3D-Printed Rural Houses under PMAY-G

(POLITY AND GOVERNANCE) (TH) Andhra Pradesh is set to launch India’s first national-level pilot to build rural houses using 3D Concrete Printing (3DCP) under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana–Gramin (PMAY-G), testing whether robotic construction can speed up the “Housing for All” mission.

What is 3D Concrete Printing?

3DCP is construction-scale additive manufacturing. Instead of laying bricks by hand, a robotic gantry or arm deposits a specially engineered cement mix layer by layer, following a digital design.

BIM design ➜ Sliced into toolpaths ➜ Robotic extrusion of concrete ➜ Rapid setting ➜ Load-bearing walls without formwork

Advantages and limits

Advantages	Limitations
Walls rise in days rather than months	High upfront cost of printers and trained operators
No conventional formwork; less material and site waste	Needs specially designed concrete mixes and quality control
Curved and customised designs at no extra tooling cost	Building codes and standards still evolving
Dense, uniform walls with low maintenance	Fewer jobs for traditional masons; local acceptance uncertain

PMAY-G: the scheme in brief

Launch: Restructured from the Indira Awaas Yojana; launched on 20 November 2016 at Agra (effective 1 April 2016) under the Ministry of Rural Development.
Assistance: ₹1.20 lakh per unit in plain areas and ₹1.30 lakh in hilly States, North-Eastern States, difficult areas and UTs.
Cost sharing: 60:40 between Centre and States; 90:10 for North-Eastern and Himalayan States; 100% central for UTs.
Design: Minimum 25 sq m including a dedicated hygienic cooking space, with disaster-resilient typologies.
Beneficiaries: Identified from SECC 2011 housing-deprivation parameters and Awaas+ surveys, verified by Gram Sabhas.
Convergence: Linked with MGNREGA (unskilled labour days), Swachh Bharat Mission–Gramin, Jal Jeevan Mission and PM Ujjwala Yojana.

Across the Border for a Multilateral Table: India at the SCO Meeting in Pakistan

(INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS) (IE) India’s SCO National Coordinator travelled to Islamabad for the SCO Council of National Coordinators meeting — the first official Indian visit to Pakistan since the military confrontation of Operation Sindoor. The visit was an institutional obligation of SCO membership, not a bilateral thaw.

Why India attended

Membership duty: Pakistan holds the rotating SCO chair for 2026–27 and will host meetings through the year; skipping them would cede the floor.
Situational awareness: Presence lets India shape documents and counter any attempt to raise PoK or Kashmir on the platform.
Signals for the future: It tests the waters for possible higher-level engagement, including the Heads of State Summit Pakistan will host in 2027.
Strategic balance: A stable western front lets India focus on the China border challenge.

SCO at a glance

Aspect	Details
Founded	2001, Shanghai (successor to the “Shanghai Five”, 1996)
Members (10)	India, China, Russia, Pakistan, Iran, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan
India and Pakistan	Full members since 2017
Permanent bodies	Secretariat (Beijing) and Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure, RATS (Tashkent)
Pakistan’s chair theme	“Turning Vision into Action: Connectivity, Innovation and Shared Prosperity”

Bishkek Summit hands over chair ➜ Pakistan’s presidency 2026–27 ➜ Coordinators’ meetings ➜ Heads of State Summit, 2027

Pandas, Elephants and Cheetahs: The Soft Power of Animal Diplomacy

(INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS) (IE) After a recent US–China summit, China sent two giant pandas — Ping Ping and Fu Shuang — to Zoo Atlanta under a ten-year loan, putting animal diplomacy back in the spotlight.

Animal diplomacy is the use of animals as gifts, loans or national symbols to build goodwill, project soft power and signal the warmth of a relationship. When ties sour, loans quietly lapse — so the animals also act as a barometer of diplomacy.

A very old practice

Ancient Egypt and Rome: exotic animals as prestige ➜ Abbasid gift of an elephant to Charlemagne (802 CE) ➜ Modern panda diplomacy ➜ Conservation loans today

The elephant Abul-Abbas, sent by Caliph Harun al-Rashid, reached Charlemagne’s court in 802 CE — one of history’s best-known diplomatic animals.

Key features

From gifts to loans: Endangered species are now usually lent for research and breeding, not gifted outright; cubs born abroad generally belong to the lending country.
Regulated by CITES: International movement of endangered species is governed by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, tying diplomacy to global wildlife conservation.
Wide practice: Elephants (Sri Lanka, Thailand), koalas (Australia), falcons (Gulf States) and cheetahs have all served as envoys. India’s own cheetah reintroduction relied on animals from Namibia and South Africa.

Significance and caution

Builds emotional connect with foreign publics beyond formal negotiations.
Raises the cultural visibility of the sending country.
Ethical concerns: animal welfare, stress of transport and the risk of treating wildlife as political props.

From Preventing Shocks to Absorbing Them: RBI’s Five Priorities for Financial Stability

(ECONOMICS) (TH) The RBI Governor set out five priorities to safeguard financial stability amid global uncertainty, speaking at the 5th Kautilya Economic Conclave in New Delhi on the theme “Resilience in an Age of Flux”.

Kautilya Economic Conclave: A forum on economic policy first held in 2022, organised by the Institute of Economic Growth (IEG) with the Ministry of Finance.

The five priorities

Priority	What it means
Systemic resilience	Institutions must absorb shocks and keep providing critical services under stress, not merely avoid them
New-generation risks	The next crisis may come from geopolitics, cyberattacks or technology failure rather than classic banking channels
Granular data	Better data on non-bank financial intermediaries (NBFIs), interconnected exposures and technology dependencies
System-wide resilience	Extend safeguards to NBFIs, payment systems, technology infrastructure and critical third parties
Trust amid innovation	AI and tokenisation must preserve settlement finality, sound institutions and financial integrity

Emerging risks

Global

Sovereign debt and carry trades: High public debt in advanced economies and hardening bond yields could trigger capital outflows from emerging markets if carry trades unwind.
AI-led market concentration: Equity markets are top-heavy on AI stocks; a capex slowdown could cause sharp repricing.
Shadow leverage: Hidden leverage in hedge funds, ETFs and private credit can spill into banks — as in the UK’s 2022 Liability-Driven Investment (LDI) episode.
Geopolitics and cyber threats: Disruptions to trade corridors and AI-enabled cyberattacks.

Domestic

Unsecured retail credit: Rapid growth in personal loans, app-based lending and buy-now-pay-later, with higher delinquency among young borrowers — a potential source of fresh NPAs.
F&O froth: Heavy retail participation in futures and options and rich mid- and small-cap valuations.
Fintech dependence: Greater reliance on third-party platforms raises cyber, data and API risks.
Deposit mix: A falling share of low-cost CASA deposits raises funding costs and may push banks towards riskier lending.
Gold loans: Now among the fastest-growing retail segments; a sharp fall in gold prices would erode collateral.

What needs to be done

Countercyclical macroprudential tools — higher risk weights on unsecured loans and NBFC exposures.
Tighter SEBI curbs on speculative derivatives trading.
Strict adherence to the Liquidity Coverage Ratio under Basel norms and better CASA mobilisation.
Cyber-resilience tools such as the Reserve Bank Innovation Hub’s MuleHunter.ai against mule accounts.
Adequate foreign exchange reserves and more local-currency trade settlement as external buffers.

Identify risk ➜ Granular data ➜ Macroprudential response ➜ Shock absorption ➜ Stable growth

One Year of Next-Gen GST: Lower Rates, Higher Buoyancy

(ECONOMICS) (TH) Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman reviewed the first year of the Next-Gen GST rate rationalisation, which took effect on 22 September 2025, and signalled that the next phase will focus on simplifying compliance, refunds and input tax credit.

What changed in September 2025

Two core slabs: 5% for necessities and mass-consumption goods; 18% for most goods and services.
40% demerit rate: For specified sin and luxury goods, replacing the earlier 28% plus compensation cess on covered items.
Relief on essentials: Several daily-use items and medicines moved to 5% or Nil; individual life and health insurance premiums exempted.
Durables and cement: Specified consumer durables, automobiles and cement cut from 28% to 18%.
Farm and renewables: Specified farm machinery, bio-pesticides and renewable-energy equipment cut from 12% to 5%.
Inverted duty correction: Rates on inputs and outputs aligned in sectors such as textiles, freeing MSME working capital.

The first-year scorecard

Indicator	Outcome	What it signals
Taxable supplies	+25.8% (Oct 2025–Jul 2026 vs a year earlier)	More activity and formalisation
Gross GST collection	₹12.46 lakh crore in H1 FY27 (+11.6%)	Revenue buoyancy despite lower rates
Net collection	+10.4%	Strong even after refunds
Refunds	~₹1.80 lakh crore	Better liquidity for exporters and manufacturers
B2C sales	+26.7%	Rate cuts passed on to consumers
Active registrations	~1.71 crore by August 2026 (~15% higher)	Wider tax base
Timely GSTR-3B filing	+12.6% (Apr–Jul 2026)	Better voluntary compliance

Lower rates ➜ Lower prices ➜ Higher demand ➜ Wider tax base ➜ Higher collections

This is the classic Laffer-curve logic: a simpler, lower-rate structure can raise revenue by expanding the base and improving compliance.

Next phase: process reforms

Risk-based, automated registration to weed out fake shell entities.
Return forms that minimise manual reconciliation between GSTR-1, GSTR-2B and GSTR-3B.
Predictable timelines for export and inverted-duty refunds.
Full operationalisation of the GST Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT) to cut litigation — see tribunals.

Unfinished agenda

Outside the net: Crude petroleum, high-speed diesel, petrol, natural gas, aviation turbine fuel and much of real estate — causing tax cascading.
MSME cash flow: Tax is payable on invoicing, even when buyers pay late.
Classification disputes: Divergent Advance Rulings across States.
Fake invoicing: Circular trading and fraudulent ITC claims.

Necklace of Industrial Cities: Inside the NICDP

(ECONOMICS) (SANSAD TV) A recent policy discussion spotlighted the National Industrial Corridor Development Programme (NICDP) as India’s flagship effort to build integrated, multimodal and globally competitive manufacturing ecosystems.

Industrial corridors are linear economic zones built along high-capacity transport spines — Dedicated Freight Corridors, expressways and waterways — connecting production centres with ports and markets. They mark a shift from scattered industrial estates to planned, greenfield industrial smart cities.

In August 2024 the Cabinet approved 12 new industrial nodes/cities under NICDP at an estimated ₹28,602 crore, spread over 10 States along 6 corridors — including Khurpia (Uttarakhand), Rajpura-Patiala (Punjab), Dighi (Maharashtra), Palakkad (Kerala), Agra and Prayagraj (UP), Gaya (Bihar), Zaheerabad (Telangana), Orvakal and Kopparthy (AP) and Jodhpur-Pali (Rajasthan).

Design features

Multimodal anchoring: Nodes tied to Western and Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridors, expressways, seaports and cargo airports.
Plug-and-play: Pre-cleared land with ready utilities and single-window clearances, built “ahead of demand”.
Walk-to-work: Housing, schools and health facilities within the planning boundary.
Green by design: Zero liquid discharge, water recycling and rooftop solar — useful as the EU’s CBAM tightens carbon norms on exports.
Area approach on PM GatiShakti: GIS-based planning to synchronise rights-of-way and utilities.

Major corridors

Corridor	Key facts
Delhi–Mumbai (DMIC)	~1,504 km along the Western DFC; nodes include Dholera SIR (Gujarat), Shendra-Bidkin (Maharashtra) and Integrated Industrial Township Greater Noida
Chennai–Bengaluru (CBIC)	Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh; nodes at Krishnapatnam, Tumakuru, Ponneri; extended to Kochi via Coimbatore
Amritsar–Kolkata (AKIC)	Along the Eastern DFC across seven States of the Indo-Gangetic belt
East Coast (ECIC)	India’s first coastal corridor; Visakhapatnam–Chennai (VCIC) is Phase 1
Bengaluru–Mumbai (BMIC)	Dharwad node in Karnataka
Regional feeders	Hyderabad–Nagpur, Hyderabad–Warangal, Hyderabad–Bengaluru, Odisha Economic Corridor, Delhi–Nagpur

Why it matters

Lower logistics costs: Government-commissioned estimates by NCAER put India’s logistics cost at about 7.8–8.9% of GDP (2021-22) — lower than the older 13–14% figure often quoted; corridors aim to push it further down.
Global value chains: Scale and reliable utilities to attract semiconductors, electronics, pharma and EVs, supporting Make in India.
Jobs: NICDP’s 12 new nodes alone are expected to create about 1 million direct and up to 3 million indirect jobs.
Balanced urbanisation: Counter-magnets to congested metros in Tier-2 and Tier-3 regions.

Challenges

Assembling large, contiguous, encumbrance-free land; compensation disputes.
Centre–State coordination among SPVs, railways, highways and State industrial corporations.
Long gestation and heavy upfront capital.
Last-mile gaps — feeder roads, container freight stations and multimodal logistics parks.

Freight corridor spine ➜ Industrial nodes ➜ Plug-and-play land ➜ Anchor investors ➜ Jobs and exports

Parity Still Far Off: India in the Global Gender Gap Index 2026

(SOCIETY) (WEF) India is ranked 131st of 145 countries in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index 2026, with an overall parity score of 64.5% — a marginal improvement, but below the global average of 69.2%. Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka rank higher.

India’s four sub-indices

Dimension	India’s parity score	Reading
Economic Participation and Opportunity	41.2%	The weakest link
Educational Attainment	96.6%	Near parity
Health and Survival	95.6%	Near parity; sex ratio at birth drags
Political Empowerment	24.5%	Low representation in Parliament and ministries

Sub-index figures are as reported for the 2026 edition by Business Standard; Iceland tops the index.

Constitutional and legal foundation

Provision	Guarantee
Article 14	Equality before law and equal protection of laws
Article 15(1) and 15(3)	No discrimination on grounds of sex; special provisions for women and children allowed
Article 16	Equality of opportunity in public employment
Article 39(a) and 39(d)	Adequate means of livelihood; equal pay for equal work
Article 42	Just and humane conditions of work and maternity relief
Article 51A(e)	Fundamental Duty to renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of women
Key laws	Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005; POSH Act, 2013; Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017; Equal Remuneration Act, 1976 (now subsumed in the Code on Wages, 2019)

Where the gaps lie

Economic participation

Low female labour force participation, shaped by the “U-shaped” relationship between household income and women’s work, and weak transitions into white-collar jobs.
Unpaid care burden: The Time Use Survey 2024 found women aged 15–59 spent about 305 minutes a day on unpaid domestic services, besides about 140 minutes on caregiving against 74 minutes for men.
Informality: Most working women are in informal, home-based or farm work without social security.

Education and health

School enrolment is near parity, and India is among the leaders in women STEM graduates — yet the education-to-work pipeline leaks after marriage, relocation or childbirth.
Maternal mortality has declined steadily, but NFHS-5 found 57% of women aged 15–49 anaemic.

Political representation

Grassroots strength: The 73rd and 74th Amendments reserve at least one-third of local-body seats for women, producing over 14 lakh elected women representatives — though “sarpanch-pati” proxy rule persists.
Thin at the top: Women hold 74 of 543 seats (about 13.6%) in the 18th Lok Sabha.
Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam (106th Amendment Act, 2023): One-third reservation in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies, operational after the next census and delimitation.

Reading the index critically

Global indices struggle to capture informal, seasonal and home-based work.
The political sub-index counts only national parliaments, ministers and heads of state — ignoring India’s large cohort of elected women in panchayats.
National surveys such as PLFS often show improvements that international indices absorb with a lag.

Way forward

Care economy: Expand crèches under the Palna scheme of Mission Shakti and consider paternity leave.
Safe mobility: Safer public transport and lighting to cut the hidden “safety tax” on women’s work.
Gender budgeting with outcome audits, and lower stamp duty for women-owned property to widen access to credit.

Education gains ➜ Safe mobility and care support ➜ Formal jobs ➜ Asset ownership ➜ Political voice

From 18% to Full Literacy: India’s Long March to a Literate Nation

(SOCIETY) (PIB) A government backgrounder has traced India’s journey towards universal literacy and the policy push — under NEP 2020, ULLAS and NIPUN Bharat — to close the remaining gaps in foundational learning and adult education.

What counts as literacy?

Ministry of Education: The ability to read, write and compute with comprehension, along with critical life skills such as digital and financial literacy.
Full literacy benchmark: A State/UT with 95% literacy is treated as fully literate.
UNESCO view: Reading, writing, numeracy and the use of digital tools to solve problems — a foundational human right.

The numbers

Indicator	Figure
Literacy rate, 1951 → 2011 (Census)	18.32% → 74.04%
Male / Female literacy, 2011	82.14% / 65.46% (female up from 8.86% in 1951)
Urban / Rural literacy, 2011	84.1% / 67.8%
Overall literacy, PLFS 2025	81.1%
Urban (7+): male / female, PLFS 2025	93.1% / 84.8%
Rural (7+): male / female, PLFS 2025	84.8% / 70.3%
School enrolment, UDISE+ 2025-26	Over 24.72 crore
Retention, Foundational → Secondary	98.5% → 51.9%
Higher education GER	23.7% (2014-15) → 30% (2023-24); NEP target 50% by 2035

The steep fall in retention at the secondary stage, and the persistent rural-female gap, show where the next phase of effort must go.

Key initiatives

Initiative	Focus
ULLAS – Nav Bharat Saaksharta Karyakram	Centrally sponsored; adults 15+ who missed schooling; vision “Jan Jan Saakshar”; ULLAS app in 27 languages; 2022–27 target 5 crore learners, outlay ₹1,037.90 crore; certification through FLNAT
NIPUN Bharat (July 2021)	Universal foundational literacy and numeracy by Grade 2, by 2026-27
Samagra Shiksha	Integrated school scheme subsuming SSA, RMSA and Teacher Education; aligned with SDG 4
PM SHRI	More than 14,500 exemplar schools
PM e-VIDYA	Multi-mode digital, online and on-air learning
PM POSHAN	Hot cooked meals for about 11.20 crore children in Bal Vatika and Classes I–VIII

Under ULLAS, ten States/UTs declared full literacy between 2024 and 2026, including Ladakh, Mizoram, Goa, Tripura, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Sikkim, Uttarakhand and Jammu & Kashmir.

Survey of non-literates ➜ Volunteer teacher ➜ Learning on ULLAS app ➜ FLNAT assessment ➜ Certification

Swaraj from London: Remembering Shyamji Krishna Varma

(HISTORY) (PIB) The Prime Minister paid homage to revolutionary Shyamji Krishna Varma on his birth anniversary on 4 October — the man who built the first organised base of Indian revolutionary nationalism in Europe.

Life at a glance

Year	Milestone
1857	Born on 4 October at Mandvi, Kutch (Gujarat)
1870s	Sanskrit scholar acclaimed as “Pandit”; worked for the Arya Samaj under the influence of Swami Dayanand Saraswati
1880s–90s	Served as Diwan of the princely states of Ratlam, Udaipur and Junagadh
1905	Launched “The Indian Sociologist” (January), founded the Indian Home Rule Society (18 February) and opened India House in London (1 July)
1907 / 1914	Moved to Paris, and later to Geneva
1909	Disbarred by the Inner Temple for his anti-colonial writings; reinstated posthumously in 2015
1930	Died in Geneva on 30 March
2003 / 2010	Ashes brought back to India; Kranti Teerth memorial inaugurated near Mandvi

Contribution to the freedom struggle

Ideology of Swaraj: Among the earliest to demand complete independence, using “The Indian Sociologist” for anti-colonial propaganda.
India House: A hostel for Indian students in Highgate that became a nursery of revolutionaries — V. D. Savarkar, Madam Bhikaji Cama, Virendranath Chattopadhyaya and Madan Lal Dhingra.
Scholarships: Funded fellowships to bring young Indians to Europe, linking them to the wider revolutionary nationalist network.
Internationalising the cause: Took India’s case to European public opinion during the 1905–1918 phase of the national movement.

Arya Samaj and Sanskrit scholarship ➜ The Indian Sociologist ➜ Indian Home Rule Society ➜ India House ➜ Revolutionary network abroad

Coal Beneath a World Heritage Site: The Ramappa Temple Under Threat

(HISTORY) (TH) Heritage activists and the Kakatiya Heritage Trust have opposed a proposed PVNR opencast coal mine in Telangana, warning that it could endanger the UNESCO-listed Ramappa Temple and the historic Ramappa Lake.

The monument

Aspect	Details
Official name	Kakatiya Rudreshwara (Ramappa) Temple, Telangana
Location	Palampet village, Venkatapur mandal, Mulugu district, Telangana
Built	1213 CE, during the reign of Kakatiya ruler Ganapati Deva, by his general Recharla Rudra
Deity	Shiva, as Ramalingeswara (Rudreshwara)
Unique name	Named after its chief sculptor, Ramappa — rare for an Indian temple
UNESCO status	Inscribed in July 2021 as India’s 39th World Heritage Site

Architectural highlights

Sandbox foundation: A sand-filled base mixed with granite, jaggery and karakkaya (myrobalan) acts as a seismic cushion — see earthquake fundamentals.
Floating bricks: Light, porous bricks in the vimana reduce the load on walls and pillars.
Stone sculpture: Dolerite brackets of madanikas (celestial dancers) and mythical yalis, echoing Kakatiya dance traditions.
Temple-tank landscape: Integrated with Ramappa Lake, reflecting Kakatiya water engineering.

Why the mine worries conservationists

Blasting and vibration ➜ Groundwater changes ➜ Weakening of sand foundation ➜ Cracks in masonry and sculpture

Opencast mining can lower and re-route groundwater around the lake, risking “soil piping” beneath the sand foundation.
Vibrations could widen existing cracks in the lightweight superstructure.
Mining within the heritage landscape may breach the protection expected of a World Heritage Site and affect the lake’s ecology and nearby tribal settlements.

The case shows the classic tension between coal-sector expansion and safeguarding India’s heritage.

Five New Homes for Ancient Tongues: Centres of Excellence in Classical Languages

(HISTORY) (PIB) The Ministry of Education has approved five Centres of Excellence (CoEs) for studies in Classical Assamese, Bengali, Marathi, Pali and Prakrit — the five languages granted classical status in October 2024.

Where the centres will be

Classical language	Host institution
Assamese	Tezpur University, Assam
Bengali	Visva-Bharati University, West Bengal
Marathi	Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research Institute (Deemed to be University), Pune
Pali	Central University of Odisha
Prakrit	Central University of Gujarat

Focus areas

Advanced research and scholarship in each language.
Documentation, preservation and digitisation of manuscripts and literary resources.
Wider dissemination of linguistic and knowledge traditions.
Stronger regional academic ecosystems across five States.

Classical languages of India (11)

Year	Languages
2004	Tamil
2005	Sanskrit
2008	Telugu, Kannada
2013	Malayalam
2014	Odia
2024 (3 October)	Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Assamese, Bengali

Revised criteria (2024)

High antiquity: Early texts or recorded history of 1,500–2,000 years.
Valuable heritage: Ancient literature considered a heritage by generations of speakers.
Knowledge texts: Especially prose, alongside poetry and epigraphic and inscriptional evidence.
Distinctness: The classical form may differ from, or be discontinuous with, its current spoken form.

Godawan Takes Wing: Captive-Bred Great Indian Bustards Released in the Thar

(ENVIRONMENT) (DD) Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav released two captive-bred male Great Indian Bustards (GIBs) into the wild at Sam in the Desert National Park (DNP), Jaisalmer, on 4 October 2026 — the first step in the planned rewilding of the species.

The conservation-breeding programme now holds 97 birds (40 from wild-collected eggs, 57 bred in captivity); 86 are kept for breeding and 11 earmarked for release. A “jump-start” approach of placing captive eggs in wild nests produced 8 chicks — 6 in Rajasthan and 2 in Gujarat.

Desert National Park

Aspect	Details
Location	Western Thar Desert, Rajasthan, along the India–Pakistan border
Area	3,162 sq km — Jaisalmer (1,900 sq km) and Barmer (1,262 sq km)
Notified	1980–81, to conserve the Thar’s unique ecosystem
Landscape	Barchan and longitudinal dunes, rocky crags, gravel plains, salt-lake bottoms and interdunal grasslands
Vegetation	Northern tropical thorn forest — khejri, rohida, guggal — and nutritious sewan grass
Fauna	Chinkara, desert fox, Bengal fox, desert cat, spiny-tailed lizard; wintering raptors and MacQueen’s bustard
Breeding centres	Sam and Ramdevra; about 200 sq km of predator-proof fenced grassland enclosures

Know the Great Indian Bustard

Status: Critically Endangered (IUCN); Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972; Appendix I of CITES and CMS.
Stronghold: DNP holds the largest wild breeding population; small numbers survive in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
Threats: Collisions with overhead power lines (the birds have poor frontal vision), grassland loss and predation of eggs.
Judicial push: The Supreme Court has directed undergrounding or bird diverters on power lines in priority GIB habitat.

Wild eggs collected ➜ Captive breeding at Sam and Ramdevra ➜ Fenced soft-release ➜ Release into wild ➜ Telemetry monitoring

The Wildlife Institute of India will track the released birds through long-term telemetry, with the Rajasthan Forest Department and the International Fund for Houbara Conservation as partners. See also Species of Conservation Concern: Birds.

Keys of Light Through Open Air: India’s First Free-Space Quantum Key Distribution Link

(SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY) (TOI) QNu Labs, BISAG-N and IIT Gandhinagar have demonstrated India’s first free-space Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) link, sending quantum keys through open air over 5.56 km between BISAG-N and IIT Gandhinagar.

In free-space QKD, encryption keys are carried by single photons through the atmosphere instead of optical fibre — the same principle that will one day secure satellite-to-ground quantum communication.

Who did what

Partner	Role
QNu Labs (Bengaluru)	Deep-tech start-up; Armos QKD hardware and the Pointing, Acquisition and Tracking (PAT) optical terminal
BISAG-N	Autonomous scientific society under MeitY; provided its “Vedic Kavach” post-quantum cryptography platform
IIT Gandhinagar	Academic partner and test environment

How it works

Keys encoded on single photons ➜ Laser beam aligned by PAT ➜ Eavesdropping detected via errors ➜ Key sifting ➜ Encryption with post-quantum layer

Physics as the guard: By the Heisenberg uncertainty principle and the no-cloning theorem, any attempt to intercept photons disturbs them and shows up as errors.
QBER check: If the Quantum Bit Error Rate stays below about 5%, the raw bits are distilled into shared symmetric keys.
Performance: Keys were generated at about 230–260 bits per second.
Dual-layer security: QKD keys feed into Vedic Kavach’s post-quantum cryptography, keeping encryption running even during brief optical outages.

Applications

Satellite-to-ground and inter-satellite quantum networks — see satellite systems.
Deployable line-of-sight links for defence and mobile field operations.
Protecting critical information infrastructure against “harvest now, decrypt later” attacks — a growing cyber-security concern.
Secure links across rivers, valleys or disaster zones where fibre is impractical.

📖 Read More: Quantum Technology • Cryptography • Cybersecurity