Stay
in your UPSC preparation with the top editorials and issue-based analysis from The Hindu, Indian Express, and relevant reports. All topics below are linked to GS1 , GS2 & GS3, with a focus on exam-relevant insights, keywords, and actionable conclusions.
-
🕊️ “Blame Not the Messenger”: A Reflection on India’s Diplomatic Messaging
A recent editorial in The Hindu titled “” critiques the public backlash against Indian diplomats following the limited global support for India’s retaliatory strikes on Pakistan after Operation Sindoor (May 7–10, 2025).
🔍 Key Issues Raised
- Muted Global Support Compared to Past Crises
- Unlike post-Uri (2016) and Pulwama (2019), India didn’t receive unequivocal regional or global backing for its counterterrorism strikes.
- Pakistan, by contrast, garnered support from China, Turkiye, Malaysia, Azerbaijan, and the OIC.
- Perceived Diplomatic Setbacks
- Pakistan succeeded in amending a UNSC resolution to remove reference to The Resistance Front (TRF), which claimed the Pahalgam attack.
- It was also appointed Chair of the Taliban Sanctions Committee and Vice-Chair of the UNSC Counter-Terrorism Committee.
- Despite Indian objections, Pakistan secured IMF and ADB loans and a White House lunch for Field Marshal Asim Munir.
- Trump’s Mediation Narrative
- U.S. President Trump repeatedly claimed credit for brokering the May 10 ceasefire, hyphenating India and Pakistan in over a dozen statements.
- This undermined India’s narrative of bilateralism and strategic autonomy.
🧭 Editorial’s Core Argument
The piece urges critics to “not shoot the messenger”—India’s diplomats—who are being blamed for failing to shape global opinion. Instead, it calls for introspection on whether India’s messaging, timing, and strategic communication are aligned with its geopolitical goals.
It suggests that India’s moral authority as a secular, stable, and rule-abiding democracy should be leveraged more effectively to win global support on terrorism and sovereignty issues.
2.
🛂 Exiting Refugee Status, Reclaiming Dignity: The Sri Lankan Tamil Experience
A recent The Hindu editorial titled “” sheds light on the complex realities faced by Sri Lankan Tamil refugees in India, particularly in Tamil Nadu, where nearly 90,000 have lived for over three decades.
🔍 Key Developments
- Judicial Setback in India
- The Supreme Court refused to intervene in a case where a Sri Lankan refugee, convicted under the UAPA, sought to remain in India after completing his sentence.
- The Court remarked that “India is not a dharamshala,” sparking concern among refugee advocates about the shift in judicial tone.
- Detention in Sri Lanka
- A 70-year-old refugee who voluntarily returned to Jaffna was detained for leaving the country “without valid documents,” despite UNHCR facilitation.
- He was released after public outcry, and Sri Lanka’s Transport Minister promised to amend the law that triggered his arrest.
⚖️ Policy Contrast: Sri Lankan vs. Tibetan Refugees
- Sri Lankan Tamils:
- Repatriation is the stated goal.
- Most remain in Tamil Nadu, often in camps.
- No formal integration policy exists.
- Tibetan Refugees:
- Settled across multiple Indian states.
- Covered under the Tibetan Rehabilitation Policy.
- Integration is more structured and long-term.
🌍 Broader Implications
- The editorial calls for a more humane and consistent refugee policy, especially as India aspires to global leadership.
- It highlights the emotional and legal limbo faced by long-term refugees who seek either citizenship, integration, or dignified repatriation.
3.
WILL DELAYING THE CENSUS AFFECT ITS IMPLEMENTATION?
4.
✈️ Why India Must Address Its Propulsion Gap
India’s ambition to become a self-reliant aerospace and defense power is being held back by a persistent propulsion gap—its inability to develop indigenous, high-performance jet engines. This issue has strategic, technological, and economic implications.
🔧 What Is the Propulsion Gap?
It refers to India’s dependence on foreign engines for its fighter jets, drones, and other military platforms. Despite decades of effort, India has not yet produced a fully operational indigenous jet engine that meets modern combat standards.
🛑 Historical Lessons
- HF-24 Marut (1960s): India’s first indigenous fighter, designed by Kurt Tank, was underpowered due to imported British Orpheus engines. Its performance suffered, and only 147 were built before retirement in 1990.
- Kaveri Engine Project: Launched in 1989 by DRDO’s GTRE lab to power the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA). Despite ₹2,000+ crore spent, it failed to meet thrust and reliability benchmarks.
- 9 prototypes and 3,000+ hours of testing couldn’t deliver a viable engine.
- A revival attempt with France’s Safran (Snecma) also collapsed.
🚨 Why It Matters Today
- AMCA Program: India’s upcoming 5th-gen stealth fighter needs a powerful, indigenous engine. Without it, the project risks foreign dependency again.
- UAV Programs: India’s MALE and HALE drones (like TAPAS-BH-201) have failed to meet endurance and altitude targets due to lack of suitable turboprop engines.
- Strategic Autonomy: Engine imports are vulnerable to sanctions, delays, and cost overruns, limiting India’s defense readiness.
🧭 The Way Forward
- Revive Kaveri with Global Collaboration: Possibly with Safran or Rolls-Royce under tech transfer.
- Invest in Core R&D: Focus on metallurgy, thermal management, and thrust-to-weight optimization.
- Public–Private Partnerships: Involve startups and private firms in propulsion tech under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat initiative.
- Diversify Applications: Use spin-offs in tanks, ships, and civilian aviation to justify investment.
5.
🛬 AAIB Yet to Decide Where Air India Black Box Will Be Decoded
Following the tragic crash of Air India flight AI-171 in Ahmedabad on June 12, 2025, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) has recovered both black box units—each containing the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) and Digital Flight Data Recorder (DFDR)—but has not yet decided where the data will be decoded.
🔍 Key Details
- Two black boxes were recovered:
- First on June 13, the day after the crash
- Second on June 16
- These are Extended Airborne Flight Recorders (EAFRs), placed in the nose and tail for redundancy.
- Decoding Options Under Review:
- The AAIB is assessing whether to decode the data at its newly inaugurated lab in Delhi (built with HAL support)
- Or send it to the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) lab, which assisted in the 2020 Calicut crash probe.
- MoCA Statement: The Ministry of Civil Aviation emphasized that the decision will be made after evaluating technical, safety, and security considerations, and urged stakeholders to avoid speculation.
🧭 Why It Matters
- The black box data is crucial to understanding the sequence of events leading to the crash, which killed over 270 people.
- The AAIB’s decision will also reflect India’s growing forensic capabilities in aviation safety.
6.
📝 Hindi, English Most Preferred Mediums for Class 10 & 12 Board Exams
According to a recent analysis by the Ministry of Education, Hindi and English emerged as the top two mediums of instruction for students appearing in Class 10 and 12 board exams in 2024.
📊 Key Findings
- Out of over 1.85 crore Class 10 and 1.49 crore Class 12 students:
- 39.3% opted for Hindi as the medium of instruction.
- 31.4% chose English in Class 10, rising to 38.6% in Class 12.
- Only 0.9% to 6.1% of students chose regional languages like Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, etc.
📉 Pass Percentage Insights
- National average pass rate:
- Class 10: 88%
- Class 12: 86.5%
- Below-average performers:
- Class 10: Kannada (75.4%), Telugu & Assamese (79.8%), Gujarati (82.7%)
- Class 12: Telugu (61.7%)
- Above-average performers:
- Malayalam (99.9%), Odia (98%), Manipuri & Punjabi (96.2%)
- Tamil, Nepali, Punjabi, Manipuri (90.5%–92.3%) in Class 12
- Gujarati medium surprisingly scored 92.6% in Class 12
🧭 Policy Implications
- Language transition issues: Students switching from regional languages in Class 10 to English in Class 12 face comprehension challenges, affecting performance.
- Need for standardization: Officials stress the importance of curriculum and assessment equivalence across boards and languages to reduce disparities.
7.
🏗️ RBI Issues Final Project Finance Directions, 2025: Key Highlights
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has released the final Project Finance Directions, 2025, creating a harmonized framework for banks, NBFCs, and other regulated entities to finance infrastructure and non-infrastructure projects. These norms will come into effect from October 1, 2025.
🔑 Key Features of the New Directions
- Principle-Based Stress Resolution
- Moves away from a one-size-fits-all model to a flexible, principle-based regime for resolving stress in project finance exposures.
- Rationalized DCCO Extensions
- Maximum extension for Date of Commencement of Commercial Operations (DCCO):
- 3 years for infrastructure projects
- 2 years for non-infrastructure projects
- Maximum extension for Date of Commencement of Commercial Operations (DCCO):
- Revised Provisioning Norms
- Under-construction projects:
- 1% for general projects
- 1.25% for Commercial Real Estate (CRE)
- Operational phase:
- 1% for CRE
- 0.75% for CRE–Residential Housing
- 0.40% for other projects
- Under-construction projects:
- Exposure Limits for Lenders
- For projects ≤ ₹1,500 crore: no lender can have <10% exposure
- For projects > ₹1,500 crore: minimum exposure is 5% or ₹150 crore, whichever is higher
- Mandatory Approvals Before Financial Closure
- Lenders must ensure all environmental, legal, and regulatory clearances are in place before disbursing funds
- Credit Event–Based Resolution
- A “credit event” (not just default) during construction will trigger collective resolution under the prudential framework
🧭 Why It Matters
- Relief for Lenders: Final norms are softer than the 2024 draft, which had proposed 5% provisioning during construction
- Boosts Infrastructure Lending: Encourages long-term project finance by balancing risk management with commercial flexibility
- Supports Aatmanirbhar Bharat: Enables smoother financing for large-scale national infrastructure projects
8.
💼 SEBI Eases Merchant Banker Norms to Boost Profitability
In a significant regulatory shift, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has allowed merchant bankers (MBs) to undertake non-SEBI-regulated activities—such as advisory and consultancy—within the same legal entity, reversing its earlier directive from December 2024.
🔑 What Changed?
- Earlier Rule: MBs were required to “hive off” unregulated activities into a separate legal entity to avoid conflicts of interest.
- New Rule (June 2025): MBs can now carry out unregulated activities (not governed by any other financial sector regulator) within the same firm, subject to safeguards.
📈 Why It Matters
- Boosts Profitability: Enables MBs to generate fee-based income from advisory, consultancy, and other non-fund-based services.
- Operational Efficiency: Reduces compliance burden and streamlines business structures, especially for smaller MBs.
- Market Relevance: Comes at a time when MBs’ roles in corporate actions like buybacks, delistings, and rights issues have diminished, making diversification essential.
🧭 Additional Safeguards
- MBs must ensure transparency and governance standards while engaging in these activities.
- Similar relaxations have also been extended to debenture trustees and custodians.
This move is expected to revitalize the merchant banking ecosystem, offering them new revenue streams while maintaining regulatory oversight.
9.
📉 India’s FDI Slips 1.8% in 2024: Capital Formation Role Shrinking
According to the UNCTAD World Investment Report 2025, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows to India declined by 1.8% in 2024, totaling $27.6 billion—less than half the amount received in 2020.
🔑 Key Findings
- FDI’s Share in Capital Formation: Dropped to 2.3% in 2024, down sharply from 8.8% in 2020, indicating a shrinking role of foreign investment in India’s development financing.
- FDI Stock as % of GDP: Fell to 14% of GDP in 2024, compared to 17.9% in 2020, reflecting a relative decline in cumulative foreign investment presence.
- Sectoral Bright Spots: Despite the overall dip, India saw record growth in manufacturing projects, especially in semiconductors and basic metals, contributing to a rise in capital expenditure.
- Regional Context: India still accounted for nearly 80% of South Asia’s FDI inflows, and its projected capital expenditure rose by over 25% to $110 billion, nearly a third of Asia’s total.
- Cross-Border M&A Decline: India also saw a fall in mergers and acquisitions, partly due to divestments by foreign firms like Disney and global pharma players selling stakes to Indian partners.
10.
🍷 The Unregulated Drink: Rethinking Alcohol Control in India
A powerful editorial in The Hindu titled “” calls for a National Alcohol Control Policy, arguing that India’s current approach prioritizes revenue over public health and fails to address the biopsychosocial and commercial drivers of alcohol use.
🔍 Key Concerns Raised
- Rising Consumption, Hidden Harm
- Per capita alcohol use has surged by ~240% in two decades, with nearly half of it unrecorded.
- Alcohol contributed to 2.6 million DALYs (Disability-Adjusted Life Years) in 2021 and costs India an estimated ₹6.24 trillion annually in health and social damage.
- Biopsychosocial Drivers
- Biological: Genetic predisposition and brain reward systems make alcohol addictive.
- Psychological: Used to cope with stress, anxiety, or for euphoria.
- Social: Peer pressure, urban lifestyles, and glamorized media portrayals normalize drinking.
- Commercial Tactics
- Despite ad bans, alcohol brands use surrogate advertising, OTT product placements, and social media algorithms to target youth.
- Packaging, pricing, and placement (e.g., liquor stores in residential areas) make alcohol aspirational and accessible.
- Policy Paralysis
- The alcohol industry wields significant lobbying power, resisting stricter laws by highlighting its contribution to state excise revenues.
- Regulatory gaps allow surrogate marketing, happy hours, and unregulated promotions to flourish.
🧭 What the Editorial Recommends
- National Alcohol Control Policy: A unified framework that prioritizes prevention over profit and health over excise gains.
- Stronger Regulation: Curb surrogate ads, enforce zoning laws, and regulate pricing and packaging.
- Public Awareness: Campaigns to de-glamorize alcohol and promote responsible behavior.
- Health Integration: Treat alcohol use as a public health crisis, not just a moral or criminal issue.
11.
🌍 WHA’s Landmark Resolution on Skin Diseases: A Turning Point for Global Health Equity
For the first time in history, the World Health Assembly (WHA) has adopted a resolution declaring skin diseases a global public health priority. Passed unanimously at the 78th WHA on May 24, 2025, this resolution marks a major shift in how the world views skin health—not as cosmetic, but as central to dignity, equity, and universal health coverage.
🧬 Why It Matters
- Global Burden: Skin diseases affect over 1.9 billion people, yet remain underfunded and neglected, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
- Stigma and Inequity: Conditions like vitiligo, leprosy, and fungal infections carry social stigma, particularly in communities with darker skin tones, where diagnosis and treatment are often delayed.
- Access Gaps: Many LMICs lack trained dermatologists, affordable medications, and culturally competent care.
🗝️ What the Resolution Calls For
- Integration into Primary Health Care
- Skin health to be embedded in national health agendas, alongside mental health and disability services.
- Global Action Plan
- WHO will develop a comprehensive strategy focusing on prevention, early detection, treatment, and rehabilitation.
- Equitable Access
- Expand access to affordable diagnostics and medicines, especially for neglected tropical diseases with skin manifestations.
- Research & Innovation
- Promote inclusive research that reflects diverse skin types, and invest in tele-dermatology and digital tools.
- Workforce Training
- Build capacity among frontline health workers to recognize and manage skin conditions.
🌐 Equity Lens
This resolution is a win for global health equity. It recognizes that skin diseases are not superficial, but deeply tied to mental health, social inclusion, and economic opportunity. It also challenges the Eurocentric bias in dermatology by pushing for representation of skin of colour in research and training.
DEEPIKA PARASHAR
- Muted Global Support Compared to Past Crises
