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Important topics and their relevance in UPSC CSE exam for March 23, 2026. If you missed the March 22, 2026 UPSC CSE exam key from the Indian Express, read it here
Explained
Decoding deadline, red line in Trump’s new threat to Iran
Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.
Mains Examination: General Studies II: Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests, Indian diaspora.
What’s the ongoing story: US President Donald Trump on Sunday threatened to “hit and obliterate” Iran’s power plants if Tehran didn’t fully open the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours.
Key Points to Ponder:
• Map Work-Dimona, Natanz, Bushehr, Strait of Hormuz, Persian Gulf , Gulf of Oman, Red Sea , Gulf of Aden
• Iran’s energy infrastructure-know more in detail
• Why USA and Israel attacking Iran’s energy infrastructure?
• How Iran retaliated?
• Why Iran is attacking Gulf energy infrastructure?
• Iran’s energy infrastructure and Gulf’s energy infrastructure-Compare and Contrast
• ‘The recent escalation is going towards an energy war’-what is your opinion
• How energy shocks affect inflation and economic growth? (Indian Context)
• What are the alternative trade routes during ongong crises?
• India’s strategic reserves and its importance
Key Takeaways:
• In a post on Truth Social, Trump said, “If Iran doesn’t fully open, without threat, the Strait of Hormuz, within 48 hours from this exact point in time, the United States of America will hit and obliterate their various power plants, starting with the biggest one first!”
• Iran responded to Trump’s warning, saying it will retaliate by targeting US and Israel-linked energy and IT infrastructure, along with desalination plants in the region, if its power plants are hit.
• In a recent attack, Iran fired missiles towards Israel’s Dimona, which has a nuclear research centre, and hit a building, causing significant damage. Iran said this attack comes in response to Israel’s earlier attack on Natanz, the site of an Iranian nuclear facility. Both sides have also attacked oil facilities.
• With civilian infrastructure coming directly in the line of fire, as clearly spelt out by both sides this time, the US-Israel-Iran war has entered its most crucial and possibly the most precarious phase.
• Trump said the US would start by striking “the biggest” power plant. One of the most significant is Bushehr, a nuclear power plant around 750 km from Tehran that is also home to an Iranian navy base and a dual-use, civilian-military airport. Though it is said to contribute merely 1-2% of Iran’s power requirements, it is a key strategic site.
Do You Know:
• Iran’s electricity capacity (over 90,000 MW) makes it one of the largest power producers in West Asia. Iran mostly relies on natural gas for its energy needs — up to 80% as per estimates.
• The country is heavily dependent on thermal power for its electricity. These plants are primarily fuelled by natural gas, with fuel oil used as a backup during the winter.
• Iran’s big thermal power plants include the Damavand power plant near Tehran (2,868 MW), the Kerman plant in south-eastern Iran (1,910 MW), and the Ramin steam power plant in Khuzestan province (1,890 MW), according to industry and energy databases. These large, very visible plants can be vulnerable targets in a conflict, as opposed to underground or more modular and dispersed facilities.
• Without electricity, Iran cannot process or export oil and natural gas. A disruption to Iran’s energy stability might create panic in global markets. A serious attack on Iranian energy facilities, or a disruption of the Strait of Hormuz, would likely cause global oil and gas prices to soar, causing severe market volatility. However, it is believed that Iran has a particularly good power grid and gas distribution network, not very easy to destroy. In fact, since 2017, Iran has been exporting electricity to Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iraq.
Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:
Previous year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:
(1) What is the importance of developing Chabahar Port by India? (UPSC CSE, 2017)
(a) India’s trade with African countries will enormously increase.
(b) India’s relations with oil-producing Arab countries will be strengthened.
(c) India will not depend on Pakistan for access to Afghanistan and Central Asia.
(d) Pakistan will facilitate and protect the installation of a gas pipeline between Iraq and India.
Science of induction cooktop, in demand amid LPG pinch
Preliminary Examination: General Science
Mains Examination: General Studies III: Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life.
What’s the ongoing story: The war in West Asia has resulted in a severe disruption to cooking gas supplies in India and driven up the price of LPG cylinders. This has led to a surge in the sale of induction cooktops in the country.
Key Points to Ponder:
• How the Iran–Israel and USA conflict has triggered a cooking fuel crisis?
• Induction cooktops-know in detail
• What are the advantages and limitations of induction cooking technology?
• Why only some metal pans work on induction stoves?
• How an induction cooktop heats food?
• Why an induction pan is so energy efficient?
• Know your basics-Current, ampere, electromagnetism, Electromagnetic induction, magnetic field, Faraday’s law of induction, eddy current and Joule’s law of heating
• LPG and induction cooking-Compare and Contrast
• How electrification of cooking contributes to climate goals?
Key Takeaways:
• Traditional gas stoves rely on combustion to create an open flame. But an induction cooktop bypasses this combustive chemical reaction. Its glass surface also remains relatively cool.
• Beneath the smooth ceramic or glass surface of an induction cooktop sits a tightly wound coil of copper wire. Switching the stove on completes the circuit and allows the flow of alternating current (AC) through the wire. The alternating current generates a rapidly fluctuating magnetic field directly above the cooktop.
• This changing magnetic field passes effortlessly through the glass surface and the surrounding air without heating either the surface or the air. This allows the cooktop surface to largely maintain its temperature. Any warmth it acquires is from contact with the hot pan.
• But why is some cookware not compatible with induction cooktops? That’s because induction works best with ferromagnetic cookware — materials like iron or certain steels that respond to magnetic fields. Sometimes, only the base of the cookware may be made of such materials. This is what is marketed as “induction base”.
—So how does the food get hot? Here’s where we get into some science, specifically Faraday’s Law of Induction. This law says that a changing magnetic field shall induce a voltage and, consequently, an electric current in any and all nearby electrical conductors — for example metal.
• When the metal pan sits inside this intensely fluctuating magnetic field, it acts as a conductor. And localised, swirling electrical currents are generated inside the bottom of the pan itself. Known as eddy currents, these are pivotal to the heat-generation process.
• Metals such as iron are not perfect conductors. They have an inherent electrical resistance. So when the eddy currents swirl through the atomic structure of the pan’s base, they encounter this resistance. The ensuing electrical friction between the two converts the kinetic energy of the moving electrons directly into thermal energy (heat). This process is governed by Joule’s Law of Heating.
Do You Know:
• According to Wikipedia, In electromagnetism, Faraday’s law of induction describes how a changing magnetic field can induce an electric current in a circuit. This phenomenon, known as electromagnetic induction, is the fundamental operating principle of transformers, inductors, and many types of electric motors, generators and solenoids.
• According to Wikipedia, In electromagnetism, an eddy current (also called Foucault’s current) is a loop of electric current induced within conductors by a changing magnetic field in the conductor according to Faraday’s law of induction or by the relative motion of a conductor in a magnetic field. Eddy currents flow in closed loops within conductors, in planes perpendicular to the magnetic field.
• According to Wikipedia, Joule heating (also known as resistive heating, resistance heating, or Ohmic heating) is the process by which the passage of an electric current through a conductor produces heat.
Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:
📍Explained: Michael Faraday and electromagnetic induction
Previous year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:
(2) The known forces of nature can be divided into four classes, viz, gravity (UPSC CSE 2013)
electromagnetism, weak nuclear force and strong nuclear force. with reference to
them, which one of the following statements is not correct?
(a) Gravity is the strongest of the four
(b) Electromagnetism act only on particles with an electric charge
(c) Weak nuclear force causes radioactivity
(d) Strong nuclear force holds protons and neutrons inside the nuclear of an atom.
Heatwaves to hailstorms, how March weather has turned erratic
Preliminary Examination: Indian and World Geography-Physical, Social, Economic Geography of India and the World.
Mains Examination: General Studies I: Important Geophysical phenomena such as earthquakes, Tsunami, Volcanic activity, cyclone etc., geographical features and their location-changes in critical geographical features (including water-bodies and ice-caps) and in flora and fauna and the effects of such changes.
What’s the ongoing story: This year, sweltering and high temperatures in Jammu & Kashmir and Punjab, unusual heatwaves in Himachal Pradesh, and dry and hot weather across Gujarat and Maharashtra marked the beginning of March — a month that climatologically sees a slow transition from winter to summer.
Key Points to Ponder:
• Why did such erratic weather unfold in March?
• What is a heat wave?
• Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) criteria for Heat Waves?
• What is the present situation of Heat Waves in India?
• What is a Hailstorm?
• What are western disturbances?
• What is the cause of western disturbances?
• What is the effect of western disturbances?
• What is the impact of western disturbances on the climate of India in general and on the north India in particular?
• India Meteorological Department (IMD)-know in brief
Key Takeaways:
• Since last week, however, the heat has been replaced by thunderstorms, hailstorms and rain that have cooled down temperatures.
• Western Disturbances are rain-bearing wind systems, originating beyond Afghanistan and Iran, that pick up moisture from the Mediterranean Sea, the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea and the Arabian Sea as they move eastward towards India. Since November last year, the Western Disturbance streams affecting India have been subdued in both frequency and intensity, directly affecting rainfall and snowfall. Since November last year, the Western Disturbance streams affecting India have been subdued in both frequency and intensity, directly affecting rainfall and snowfall.
• But this trend was broken last week when two successive, intense Western Disturbances (March 13 and 18) crossed northwest, north and
eastern India.
• The severe weather — thunderstorm, lightning, hailstorms, short but intense rain spells (over 115 mm in 24-hours) and snowfall — occurred across the western Himalayas, east and northeast India and some parts of southern India. Neighbouring Pakistan, too, experienced severe weather a couple of days ago.
• Officials at the India Meteorological Department (IMD) attributed this to not only Western Disturbances but also the prolonged presence of a cyclonic circulation in the lower tropospheric levels. Besides, there were also strong south-westerly or southerly winds that pumped in moisture from the Bay of Bengal over the region. This led to a confluence of wind over the central and northwest India regions. Weather experts at IMD said similar weather was reported in March 2023.
Do You Know:
• A combination of weather factors around mid-March resulted in hailstorms across the country. First, Western Disturbances trigger rain (and snowfall in higher altitudes) in the northwest, north, northeast and some parts of eastern India during the non-monsoon months (June-September). This also holds true for early March, when the effect of winter is still lingering.
March is also the most favourable month for hailstorms and thunderstorms. Temperatures begin to rise after mid-March and, under the right weather conditions, can trigger thunder, lightning and intense rainfall.
• In eastern India, local winds known as Nor’westers (Kalbaisakhi in West Bengal) can lead to the sudden development of intense storms, heavy rain and thunder during this time.
• A heatwave is basically a period of unusually high temperatures over a place. Thus, the threshold to declare a heatwave depends on the temperatures normally seen in that area in that time of the year.
• According to the IMD, a heatwave is declared when the “maximum temperature of a station reaches at least 40 degree C or more for plains and at least 30 degree C or more for hilly regions.”
• Based on departure from the normal temperature, a heatwave is when the departure is 4.5 degree C to 6.4 degree C, and a severe heatwave is declared when the departure is more than 6.4 degree C.
• Based on actual maximum temperature, the IMD says, a heatwave exists when the maximum temperature is greater than 45 degree C, and a severe heatwave when the temperature is over 47 degree C.
• Western disturbances are storms that originate in the Mediterranean region. They bring easterly winds to Delhi, along with a spike in moisture and increased clouding or rainfall. They are regular features in winter. In monsoon and summer, they have more tropical characteristics and bring rain and thunderstorms. In winter, they bring rain and snow over the hills, and more moisture to the plains. The cloud cover results in higher minimum temperatures at night and lower day-time or maximum temperatures.
Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:
📍What is driving the early summer and heat-wave conditions in north India?
📍Explained: The criteria for heatwaves, how climate change is affecting it
📍Explained: What impact will the thundershowers, hailstorm have on rabi crop?
Previous year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:
(3) What are the possible limitations of India in mitigating global warming at present and in the immediate future? (UPSC CSE, 2010)
1. Appropriate alternate technologies are not sufficiently available.
2. India cannot invest huge funds in research and development.
3. Many developed countries have already set up their polluting industries in India.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Previous year UPSC Main Question Covering Similar Theme:
📍Bring out the causes for the formation of heat islands in the urban habitat of the world. (2013)
Andhra Pradesh’s effort to improve fertility rate is promising, but not enough
Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development
Mains Examination: General Studies I: Population and associated issues
What’s the ongoing story: In order to cope with a declining total fertility rate (TFR), the Andhra Pradesh government led by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has incentivised births in the state through a population policy introduced earlier this month.
Key Points to Ponder:
• What is Total Fertility Rate (TFR)?
• What does Total Fertility Rate (TFR) of 2.0 mean?
• What is Replacement Fertility Rate?
• How is the Total Fertility Rate calculated?
• Why fertility went down in Andhra Pradesh?
• What are long-term consequences?
• What is the difference between birth rate and Total Fertility Rate (TFR)?
• Does an increase in births mean that TFR will go up?
• What is demographic dividend?
• Family Planning in India-Issues and Challenges
• Population growth brings what sort of challenges for Indian public policy?
Key Takeaways:
• The state government said that shifting to a “population management” method with incentives for birthing more children will help the state towards reaping better workforce participation.
• According to population experts, Andhra Pradesh has reached the replacement level (2.1) in 2005 and from 2015 onwards, its TFR has been oscillating between 1.5 and 1.7; in the last few years, it has mostly hovered around 1.5.
Do You Know:
• TFR denotes the average number of children born to a woman. A TFR of 2.1, called replacement level fertility, means two parents can be replaced by two children (0.1 being the mortality adjustment since all children born might not survive). At 1.5, Andhra Pradesh’s present TFR is lower than the national average of 2.1.
• Moreover, Andhra Pradesh’s mean age of marriage was 17.6 years in 2005. Since then, this has been increasing and reached 22.9 this year, meaning more people are opting for relatively late marriages.
• Professor KS James, a population expert who was director of the International Institute of Population Sciences, Mumbai, and is currently at the Center for Health and Wellbeing at Princeton University (US), told The Indian Express that governments, including AP, are thinking in the right direction but need to diversify their approach.
Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:
📍1.29 by 2050: impact of India’s falling fertility rate
Previous year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:
(4) The total fertility rate in an economy is defined as (UPSC CSE 2024)
a) the number of children born per 1000 people in the population in a year.
b) the number of children born to a couple in their lifetime in a given population.
c) the birth rate minus death rate.
d) the average number of live births a woman would have by the end of her child-bearing age
Previous year UPSC Main Question Covering similar theme:
📍Discuss the main objectives of Population Education and point out the measures to achieve them in India in detail. (2021)
The Ideas Page
India & China, economic partners, political opponents
Mains Examination: General Studies II: India and its neighborhood- relations
What’s the ongoing story: Manoj Pant and M Rahul Writes: In 2020, India imposed restrictions on FDI from countries sharing a land border, primarily to prevent Chinese firms from acquiring stakes in Indian companies. This month the government eased some of these rules through an amendment to Press Note 3 (2026). This raises a larger question about India’s relationship with China.
Key Points to Ponder:
• India-China bilateral relations-Know the background
• Evolution of India–China relations as a mix of cooperation and competition-know in detail
• How India manages relations with China?
• India’s foreign policy with respect to China-what you know so far?
• Standoff between India and China-what you know about the same?
• Friction between India and China-what are the reasons?
• India-China relations during Nehruvian Era and now-Know in detail
• What are stand of India and China in Iran and USA-Israel ongoing war?
Key Takeaways:
Manoj Pant and M Rahul Writes:
• Consider the global trade environment, particularly the renewed tariff disruptions associated with Donald Trump. India has responded to the need to diversify exports by accelerating free trade agreements with the EU and the UK.
• Alongside deteriorating US–China ties, this strengthens the prospects of a “China plus one” strategy, where production shifts partially away from China to countries like India.
• Global production today is fragmented across borders. India’s manufacturing sector has lagged in integrating with global value chains compared to other developing economies. Meanwhile, China’s industrial structure is evolving.
• Rising labour costs are pushing it towards higher-value production, leaving space in labour-intensive segments. Capturing these opportunities requires technology, skills and supply-chain integration — areas where Chinese investment can play a catalytic role.
• Geopolitics is accelerating this shift. Supply chains are being reorganised as firms diversify production away from China. This presents an opening for India. Chinese FDI can help relocate segments of production while preserving existing supply-chain linkages.
• China also faces a structural overcapacity problem. Manufacturing output exceeds domestic demand, making exports essential. However, resistance to these exports is growing. The US and EU have imposed tariffs and regulatory barriers in sectors where Chinese output is seen as excessive. China’s trade partners in other developing countries are also wary of its exports.
Do You Know:
• India already depends heavily on Chinese imports, particularly in pharmaceuticals, electronics and industrial inputs. All past non-tariff barriers and anti-dumping actions have not prevented these imports. This is mainly because the imports in both pharma and electronics are the basis of India’s growing exports of these items. Similarly, Chinese power sector imports enable Indian firms to generate low cost power for consumers. Allowing Chinese firms to produce these intermediates within India could reduce import dependence while expanding domestic production. Domestic production via FDI offers greater regulatory oversight than imports.
Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:
📍From borders to Cold War politics, factors that shaped 75 years of India-China diplomatic relations
Previous year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:
(5) “Belt and Road Initiative” is sometimes mentioned in the news in the context of the affairs of : (UPSC CSE, 2016)
(a) African Union
(b) Brazil
(c) European Union
(d) China
For public-health reform, fix urban governance
Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development
Mains Examination: General Studies I: Urbanization, their problems and their remedies.
What’s the ongoing story: Rajib Dasgupta and Kamini Walia writes-The Union cabinet recently approved the launch of the Urban Challenge Fund (UCF), worth Rs 4 lakh crore. The Centre will provide an assistance of Rs 1 lakh crore, and at least 50 per cent of the cost will be raised from the market.
Key Points to Ponder:
• What is urban governance?
• What is urban challenge fund?
• How urban challenge fund is different from other schemes of Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs?
• How socio-cultural mindsets affect urban governance?
• What are the issues and challenges posed by rural-urban transition zones in India?
• How effective is the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act in addressing urban governance challenges?
• What is the role of real estate-driven urbanization in shaping socio-economic disparities in emerging urban centres in India?
Key Takeaways:
• India’s urbanisation is not driven so much by mass migration to megacities such as Mumbai or Delhi but to their suburbs —Gurugram, Noida, Navi Mumbai, and several other smaller settlements.
• Land use is transitioning rapidly as villages are converted into real estate and industrial hubs, while services related to transport, drinking water, drainage, and safe disposal of solid and liquid waste remain inadequate or fragmented.
• Spatial expansion without institutional readiness is a defining feature of India’s urbanisation. Urban local bodies (ULBs) control barely 1 per cent of GDP, compared to 5 to 8 per cent in BRICS and OECD countries. Master plans are often symbolic gestures rather than enforceable development frameworks. Slums and low-income settlements become sites of “concentrated disadvantage,” and redevelopment projects often prioritise engineering over dignity and social integration.
• Urban public health crises are often framed narrowly in terms of hospital shortages and workforce gaps. Less visible, but arguably more consequential, are failures in everyday urban systems: Sanitation, solid waste management, drainage, water supply, or air quality. Strengthening urban governance and water-sanitation management is not only an environmental imperative but a frontline defence against the spread of drug-resistant infections.
Do You Know:
• According to the World Health Organisation,
—Over 55% of the world’s population live in urban areas and this is set to rise to 68% by 2050.
—Almost 40% of urban dwellers have no access to safely managed sanitation services and many lack access to adequate drinking water.
—An estimated 91% of people in urban areas breathe polluted air.
—Poorly designed urban transport systems create a range of threats including road traffic injuries, air and noise pollution and barriers to safe physical activity – all leading to higher levels of noncommunicable disease and injuries.
—Continued urbanization is expected to lead to cities becoming epicentres of disease transmission, including vector-borne diseases.
• Urban Challenge Fund (UCF) is a new Centrally Sponsored Scheme of MoHUA with ₹1,00,000 crore Central Assistance (FY 2025-26 to FY 2030-31, extendable by 3 years) to support transformative and bankable urban projects through competitive “challenge-mode”. This will lead to a total investment of ₹4 lakh crore in urban sector in next five years, marking a paradigm shift in India’s urban development approach from grant-based financing to market-linked, reform-driven and outcome-oriented infrastructure creation.
• The whole idea is that urban infrastructure cannot be funded by public finance alone. It has to access market through bankable projects. Under UCF, cities will be supported to do projects under three verticals, ‘creative development of cities’, ‘cities as growth hubs’, and ‘water and sanitation’. Cities will be expected to take reforms in urban governance, urban finance, and urban planning.
Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:
📍We the People of India’s cities: Realising the vision of a free and equal democracy
Previous year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:
(6) The Constitution (Seventy-Third Amendment) Act, 1992, which aims at promoting the Panchayati Raj Institutions in the country provides for which of the following? (UPSC CSE, 2011)
1. Constitution of District Planning Committees.
2. State Election Commissions to conduct all panchayat elections.
3. Establishment of State Finance Commissions.
Select the correct answer using the codes given below:
(a) 1 only
(b) 1 and 2 only
(c) 2 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Economy
Why India is opposing China-led WTO deal, despite isolation risk
Mains Examination: General Studies II: Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.
What’s the ongoing story: The rapid expansion of support for the China-backed Investment Facilitation for Development (IFD) Agreement at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has left India at risk of political isolation ahead of a key global meeting next week.
Key Points to Ponder:
• What is Facilitation for Development (IFD) Agreement?
• What is the Marrakech agreement?
• What is India’s position on the WTO investment facilitation agreement?
• Why India is opposing China-backed Investment Facilitation for Development (IFD) Agreement at the World Trade Organisation (WTO)?
Key Takeaways:
• Set to be held in the Central African nation of Cameroon, the 14th Ministerial Conference begins on March 26. It will include a request to incorporate the IFD Agreement into the Marrakesh Agreement, which led to the WTO’s formation in 1995.
• Since it was first discussed in 2017, support for the agreement has grown from 70 countries to 128 (out of 166 WTO members) as of last year. India and South Africa are among its few opponents, even drawing criticism from smaller countries facing an investment crunch. It also comes at a time when the widespread tariffs imposed under the Trump administration have raised questions about the WTO’s purpose.
• WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has backed the IFD, stating that it could enhance the transparency of investment frameworks, cut red tape, and promote responsible business conduct. “By lowering costs associated with investment flows, the IFD Agreement can help developing and LDC members attract and retain more investment… to access new technologies, diversify their economies, and create better jobs,” she said during a high-level dialogue on September 16.
• Indian officials have said this is the longest-pending issue at the WTO, and a permanent solution would give India and a coalition of developing countries the flexibility to give higher farm support to their people. It could negotiate for a solution on the public stockholding issue in exchange for a softening of its position on the IFD agreement.
Do You Know:
• On the face of it, the agreement aims to improve the investment climate and promote international cooperation to facilitate the flow of foreign direct investment among WTO members. In particular, it focuses on developing and Least-Developed Countries (LDCs) and fostering sustainable development. It focuses on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).
• A WTO factsheet says that in today’s integrated economy, expanding investment flows, like trade flows, depend on “simplifying, speeding up and coordinating processes, not primarily on liberalising policies.” By aligning facilitation policies with global benchmarks, investment facilitation measures can help economies attract and expand investment, helping to diversify and expand their production capacities and exports, it added.
• India has argued that incorporating the IFD through a plurilateral route raises broader questions about the WTO’s future, which is traditionally based on multilateralism and consensus.
• The New Delhi-based think tank Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS) released a report on Saturday (March 21), stating that the IFD has additional strategic considerations for India. The World Trade and Development report said that its significant feature is its overlap with Chinese connectivity and infrastructure initiatives.
• International trade experts have said that India’s position could also be tactical, in relation to its demand for a permanent solution to the issue of its public stockholding of food grains.
• Essentially, some countries (including the US and Thailand) argue that the heavily subsidised foodgrains India provides to around 80 crore Indians under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) distort global trade.
• Under WTO norms, agricultural subsidies should not exceed 10% of the value of agricultural production, but developing nations receive certain protections. India’s rice subsidies still exceeded the threshold on multiple occasions, forcing it to invoke the ‘peace clause’ agreed to in the 2013 Bali ministerial, which allows developing countries to breach the ceiling without invoking legal action.
Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:
📍Explained: The WTO’s dispute settlements mechanism is all but dead. This is why India should worry
Previous year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:
7) In the context of which of the following do you sometimes find the terms ‘amber box, blue box and green box’ in the news? (UPSC CSE, 2016)
a) WTO affairs
b) SAARC affairs
c) UNFCCC affairs
d) India-EU negotiations on FTA
How India has used forex reserves to tide over global uncertainties since 1991
Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development
Mains Examination: General Studies III: Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization, of resources, growth, development and employment.
What’s the ongoing story: In times of crisis, adequate foreign exchange reserves give comfort, acting as a buffer and giving strength to a country’s macroeconomic fundamentals. Even if the current account deficit is small (as is now at about just 1 per cent of the GDP), funding it can become difficult if capital outflows are high.
Key Points to Ponder:
• The 1991 BoP crisis-know in detail
• What foreign exchange reserve?
• Foreign exchange reserves-what are the components?
• What is current account deficit?
• What is Balance of Payment?
• How Iran war is impacting on the Indian rupee?
• Know the role of forex reserves in stabilizing the currency.
• Know the relationship between oil prices and rupee value.
• What lessons India has learnt from the 1991 BoP crisis?
Key Takeaways:
• When there is an increase in FPI (foreign portfolio investment) outflows, as has been the case recently, the Reserve Bank of India can smoothen rupee volatility by selling forex reserves to take care of the demand for foreign currency created by such outflows.
• The ongoing West Asian conflict is not the first instance of India facing pressure on the rupee and foreign exchange reserves. Since the 1991 balance of payments crisis in India, the country has encountered similar stresses on multiple occasions.
• After the escalation of the West Asia conflict on February 27, its aftershocks have begun to ripple through India’s economy. Foreign exchange reserves shrank by $19 billion in just two weeks, the rupee weakened by 2.9 per cent to 93.72 and stock markets fell by nearly 9 per cent after the war hit the financial markets.
Do You Know:
• In 1991, during the balance of payments crisis, India’s foreign exchange reserves had fallen to critically low levels — barely enough to cover about 2–3 weeks of imports. Since then, the Asian financial crisis, global financial crisis, the taper tantrum in the US, the COVID pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war have put pressure on the rupee and forex reserves.
• Forex reserves were at $709.75 billion as of March 13, 2026, according to RBI data This can cover roughly over 12 months of imports, which is considered very comfortable — anything above 8–10 months is typically strong by global standards.
• A sharp jump in oil prices in August 1990 had led to an acute economic crisis, turning the balance of payment situation unmanageable, depleting foreign exchange reserves along with massive capital outflows and pushing India closer to a possibility of default.
• By mid-1991, the balance of payments (BoP) crisis turned into a crisis of confidence in the country’s ability to manage the BoP. The loss of confidence undermined the Government’s capability to deal with the crisis by closing off all recourse to external credit. A default on payments for the first time in Indian history became a serious possibility in June 1991, according to RBI History Volume IV.
Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:
Previous year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:
8) With reference to Balance of Payments, which of the following constitutes/constitute the Current Account? (UPSC CSE, 2014)
1. Balance of trade
2. Foreign assets
3. Balance of invisibles
4. Special Drawing Rights
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 and 3
(c) 1 and 3
(d) 1, 2 and 4
How India is trying to regulate children’s social media use
Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.
Mains Examination: General Studies I: Effects of globalization on Indian society.
What’s the ongoing story: As concerns grow over children’s use of social media and the risks accompanying it — exposure to harmful content, online grooming, cybercrime — India is finding itself relying on a patchwork of laws, regulatory frameworks and platform-led interventions to safeguard them.
Key Points to Ponder:
• What are social media pitfalls for the young?
• Can a ban work on children who have already been exposed?
• What are the legal framework for regulating children’s data in India?
• What are the provisions of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 for children?
• What are the challenges in implementing age verification mechanisms?
• How social media is impacting children’s mental health?
Key Takeaways:
• The Union government, meanwhile, is learnt to be considering a graded approach to regulate children’s access to these platforms.
• For now, India’s response spans multiple layers — legal safeguards such as the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, which mandates parental consent for processing children’s data, criminal provisions under laws such as the Information Technology Act and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, as well as platform-level measures like age-gating, parental controls and child-focused content ecosystems.
• Children who spend increasing hours online run the risk of being exposed to harmful content that can have a bearing on their mental health, and lead to anxiety and alienation. Grooming children on the internet is also a real risk.
• In India, 13 is the minimum age to create and manage any kind of a Google account. On Gmail, for instance, parents can create an account for their child below the age of 13 with ‘Family Link’ – a tool which allows setting up parental controls on Google services like Chrome, Play, YouTube, and Search. Family Link also allows parents to block inappropriate sites, require approval for new apps, and manage permissions. At age 13, users receive an email to “update” their account, allowing them to manage it themselves, though parents are still notified if supervision stops.
Do You Know:
• Data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) shows cybercrime against children spiked by 32% between 2021 and 2022, even as internet use among young users continues to expand.
• According to a report from last year by NITI Aayog, children aged up to five spent 1.5 hours online on average in 2023, accessing educational videos and games. Those between six to 10 years spent 2.5 hours online using services such as social media, gaming and videos. While 11-15 year olds spent four hours a day online, those between 16-18 spent as much as six hours daily on social media, online forums and shopping.
• Under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, companies that collect the data of children – users under the age of 18 – must get their parent/ guardian’s consent. They also cannot track, monitor a child’s behaviour, or serve targeted ads directed to children. But it is widely believed that children would be able to get around this by simply misrepresenting their age.
• According to a report prepared by the think tank Indian Governance and Policy Project in November 2025, the Information Technology Act, 2000, has provisions which criminalises the creation of child sexual abuse material, the POCSO Act, 2012, defines and penalises online sexual exploitation and grooming, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 extends liability to digital/online offences against children including trafficking and harassment, and the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 addresses online facilitation of child exploitation.
• Under the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, platforms like Netflix, Disney+ Hotstar, Apple TV etc. need to classify the content they host into five age based categories – U (Universal), U/A 7+, U/A 13+, U/A 16+, and A (Adult). These platforms are required to implement parental locks for content classified as U/A 13+ or higher, and reliable age verification mechanisms for content classified as “A”.
• The Ministry of Education (MoE) introduced the PRAGYATA Guidelines on July 14, 2020, which aim to ensure the safety and academic welfare of students by recommending age- appropriate screen time limits.
Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:
📍Social media ban may make children less safe online
Previous year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:
9) Which of the following best explains data fiduciary?
a) Data owner
b) Entity deciding purpose of data processing
c) Government authority
d) Court
Previous year UPSC Main Question Covering similar theme:
📍Child cuddling is now being replaced by mobile phones. Discuss its impact on the socialization of children. (2023)
📍Social media and encrypting messaging services pose a serious security challenge. What measures have been adopted at various levels to address the security implications of social media? Also suggest any other remedies to address the problem (2024)
PRELIMS ANSWER KEY
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