A technology and diplomacy-heavy week that showcased India’s accelerating strategic ambitions. India-Malaysia relations were elevated to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. India’s strategic balancing between the US and Russia reached a flashpoint over oil imports. Chandrayaan-4’s south polar landing site was confirmed. The IndiaAI Mission gained a flagship Indian model. IT deepfake rules created Asia’s first mandatory AI labelling regime. The Brahmaputra Tunnel Cabinet approval marked a connectivity milestone. The Indus Waters Treaty dispute sharpened over the Sawalkot project. And CCUS received its first dedicated Budget allocation for India’s hard-to-abate sectors.

Economy & Development

Mission Aatmanirbharta in Pulses — Rs 11,440 Crore Self-Sufficiency Push

India launched the Mission for Aatmanirbharta in Pulses with a Rs 11,440 crore outlay — targeting production of 350 lakh tonnes of Tur (arhar), Urad (black gram), and Masoor (lentil) by 2030-31, along with 1,000 pulse processing mills.

India’s pulse paradox:

  • India is the world’s largest producer AND consumer of pulses — contributing ~25% of global production
  • Yet imports 47.38 lakh tonnes (FY2023-24) due to chronic demand-supply gap
  • Price spikes in Tur and Urad are a leading driver of food inflation — directly affecting household budgets

Mission targets:

  • Increase Tur yield: 1.2 → 1.8 tonnes/hectare
  • Expand under-utilised areas (rainfed zones, inter-cropping with sugarcane/cotton)
  • 1,000 pulse mills for value addition and reducing post-harvest losses (currently 15–20%)
  • Provide minimum support price (MSP) assurance + procurement through NAFED/NCCF

Nutrition context: Pulses contribute 20–25% of total protein intake in Indian diets. WHO/ICMR recommend 85 grams/person/day; India’s average falls significantly short, especially among low-income vegetarian households.

UPSC Angle — GS-3 / Economy + Agriculture: India’s pulse imports (from Myanmar, Canada, Australia); MSP architecture; PM Fasal Bima Yojana coverage of pulses; ICRISAT’s role in pulse crop research; protein security as nutrition security component.

India Semiconductor Mission 2.0 — Strategic Technology Manufacturing

Budget 2026-27 allocated Rs 1,000 crore for India Semiconductor Mission 2.0 (ISM 2.0), building on ISM 1.0’s Rs 76,000 crore outlay. Simultaneously, India’s first Quantum Valley foundation stone was laid in Amaravati, Andhra Pradesh.

ISM 1.0 achievements:

  • 10 projects approved, total investment Rs 1.60 lakh crore
  • Tata Electronics — semiconductor fab in Dholera SIR, Gujarat (N28 node; 50,000 wafers/month)
  • CG Power (Renesas/STARS JV) — ATMP unit in Sanand, Gujarat
  • Micron Technology — ATMP facility in Sanand (first US chip company in India)

ISM 2.0 focus: Domestic chip design ecosystem (fabless companies), compound semiconductors (SiC, GaN for defence/EVs), R&D subsidies for next-generation fabrication nodes.

Quantum Valley, Amaravati:

  • First dedicated quantum technology hub in India
  • Houses startups, national labs, QKD (Quantum Key Distribution) pilots under the National Quantum Mission (NQM) — Rs 6,003 crore (2023–31)
  • Targets 50-qubit computer by 2028 (IISc + TIFR leading)

UPSC Angle — GS-3 / S&T + Economy: Semiconductor supply chain (design → fab → ATMP → packaging); India Design-Linked Incentive (DLI) scheme; DPIIT vs. MeitY jurisdiction; PLI for electronics; Chips Act (US) and its implications for India partnerships; Compound semiconductors in EV/defence applications.

India’s Aviation Sector — Duopoly Risk and Bharatiya Vayuyan Adhiniyam 2024

India’s civil aviation sector — the world’s 3rd-largest domestic market — faces structural risks: an IndiGo + Air India duopoly controlling ~90% of routes, nearly 50% DGCA vacancies, and the challenge of implementing the new Bharatiya Vayuyan Adhiniyam (BVA), 2024.

Market scale:

  • ~15 crore domestic passengers annually (FY25)
  • 150+ operational airports (target 220 by 2030 under UDAN scheme)
  • India needs 2,100+ new aircraft in next 20 years (Boeing/Airbus forecasts)
  • Fleet size: ~800 aircraft (underpowered for $30 billion aviation market target)

Bharatiya Vayuyan Adhiniyam 2024:

  • Replaces Aircraft Act, 1934 (90-year-old British-era law)
  • Modernises safety standards, aligns with ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation) norms
  • Empowers DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) as independent technical regulator
  • Addresses drone operations, electric aircraft, and space tourism in a future-ready framework

Duopoly concern: Competition Commission of India (CCI) examining IndiGo + Air India combined dominance. Go First collapse (2023) and SpiceJet’s survival crisis reduced effective competition.

UPSC Angle — GS-3 / Economy: DGCA’s mandate (under Ministry of Civil Aviation); ICAO membership (India Category 1 rating); UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik) regional connectivity scheme; NABH Nirman (airport capacity expansion); CCI’s market dominance thresholds.

CCUS — Budget Rs 20,000 Crore for Carbon Capture

Union Budget 2026-27 allocated Rs 20,000 crore over five years for a Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS) scheme — India’s first dedicated CCUS funding, targeting five hard-to-abate industrial sectors: power, steel, cement, refineries, and chemicals.

How CCUS works:

  1. Capture: CO₂ separated at source (post-combustion, pre-combustion, or oxy-fuel combustion)
  2. Utilization: CO₂ converted to useful products — synthetic fuels (e-methanol), urea fertilisers, concrete aggregates (mineralisation), or enhanced oil recovery
  3. Storage: Injected into deep geological formations (depleted oil/gas fields, saline aquifers) — permanent sequestration

India’s hard-to-abate challenge:

  • Cement and steel cannot be decarbonised via electrification alone — chemical processes produce CO₂ as a byproduct
  • India’s Net Zero by 2070 pathway (announced at COP26) requires CCUS in these sectors

Cost challenge: Global CCUS cost: USD 30–100 per tonne of CO₂ captured — making it commercially unviable without subsidies. India’s Rs 20,000 crore is a demonstration-scale investment to bring down costs.

UPSC Angle — GS-3 / Environment + Economy: India’s NDC (Nationally Determined Contributions); COP26 Net Zero pledge; hard-to-abate sectors’ share of India’s total emissions (~40%); IEA’s Net Zero by 2050 roadmap; carbon credit markets (IETA, voluntary carbon markets); comparison with EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM).

Science & Technology

Chandrayaan-4 — India’s First Lunar Sample-Return Mission

ISRO identified Mons Mouton-4 (MM-4) — at 84.289°S, 32.808°E — as the primary landing site for Chandrayaan-4, India’s first mission to land on the Moon, collect samples, and return them to Earth.

Why MM-4? Located near the lunar south pole — a region of confirmed water-ice deposits in permanently shadowed craters (PSRs). Water-ice is scientifically invaluable (evidence of early solar system volatile distribution) and practically important (future in-situ resource utilisation for crewed missions).

Mission profile:

  • Collect ~3 kg of surface regolith (soil/rock)
  • Return samples to Earth via a sample return capsule
  • India would become only the 4th country to achieve a lunar sample-return (after USA: Apollo programme 1969–72; USSR: Luna 16/20/24; China: Chang’e 5, 2020)

Technical challenge: Multi-stage mission requiring landing, ascent from Moon, rendezvous in lunar orbit, and reentry — far more complex than Chandrayaan-3’s one-way lander.

Chandrayaan lineage:

  • Chandrayaan-1 (2008): Discovered water molecules in lunar exosphere
  • Chandrayaan-2 (2019): Orbiter (operational) + Vikram lander (crash-landed)
  • Chandrayaan-3 (2023): Vikram soft-landed Aug 23 — India 4th country to achieve Moon landing

UPSC Angle — GS-3 / S&T: ISRO’s planetary missions; NASA Artemis programme (Chandrayaan-4 coordination); lunar south pole significance; ISRO’s Launch Vehicle Mark-3 (LVM3); space cooperation with JAXA (LUPEX rover planned); India’s space economy target.

Sarvam AI — India’s Sovereign AI Push Under IndiaAI Mission

Sarvam AI’s Vision model set benchmark records on Indian-language OCR tasks — outperforming Google Gemini 3 Pro and DeepSeek OCR v2 — underlining India’s progress under the Rs 10,300 crore IndiaAI Mission.

IndiaAI Mission (2024):

  • Rs 10,300 crore total outlay
  • 10,000 GPU compute cluster — India’s first sovereign AI compute infrastructure
  • Focus: foundational model development, startup ecosystem, AI in governance, safe AI framework

Sarvam AI:

  • Builds foundation models tuned for 22 scheduled Indian languages
  • Products: Sarvam-1 (language model), Sarvam-Translate, Sarvam-Speech-to-Text, Sarvam-Vision
  • IndiaAI Mission beneficiary — received compute access via government GPU cluster

Why sovereign AI matters:

  • Most global AI models are English-dominant — poor performance on Indian-language tasks (code-switching, transliteration, domain vocabulary)
  • India’s linguistic diversity requires purpose-built models, not fine-tuning of Western models
  • Governance: reduces dependence on US/China AI infrastructure; protects data sovereignty under India’s DPDP Act 2023

UPSC Angle — GS-3 / S&T: AI policy frameworks; NITI Aayog’s Approach to AI (2018) + National AI Strategy; IndiaAI Mission vs. US AI Safety Institute; EU AI Act risk classification; data localisation under DPDP Act 2023; National Language Translation Mission (NLTM/Bhashini); AI for Governance (PM-wani, DigiLocker, UMANG integration).

IT Amendment Rules 2026 — Deepfake Regulation

MeitY notified the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2026 — effective February 20, 2026 — introducing India’s first mandatory framework for synthetic media (deepfakes).

Key provisions:

  • Mandatory AI content labelling: All AI-generated text, images, audio, video must carry visible watermarks and metadata disclosure
  • 2-hour takedown: Platforms must remove deepfakes and non-consensual intimate imagery (NCII) within 2 hours of verified complaint
  • Safe harbour conditions revised: Platforms retain Section 79 (IT Act) protection only if they implement labelling, reporting mechanisms, and automated detection tools
  • Grievance Appellate Committees (GACs) — strengthened for synthetic media cases

Legal framework: Built on IT Act 2000 Section 79 + IT Rules 2021 (parent rules — Significant Social Media Intermediaries, OTT regulation, Digital News Publishers).

Challenge: “Deepfake” not defined in IT Act — amendment relies on MeitY’s operational definition. Critics argue 2-hour window is technically challenging for large platforms receiving millions of reports.

UPSC Angle — GS-2 / Polity + GS-3 / S&T: IT Act 2000 architecture (Sections 66, 67, 79); intermediary liability; comparison with EU AI Act Article 52 (transparency for AI systems); Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 (data subject rights vs. deepfake creation); IT Rules 2021 vs. 2026 evolution; free speech vs. harm prevention in synthetic media regulation.

Gujarat–Starlink LoI — LEO Satellite Internet

Gujarat signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) with Starlink (SpaceX) to provide broadband in tribal and Aspirational Districts including Narmada and Dahod — making Gujarat one of India’s first states to formally partner with a LEO satellite provider.

Starlink facts:

  • 6,000+ satellites in orbit (target: 12,000+; eventual: 42,000)
  • LEO altitude: 340–1,200 km (vs. geostationary at 35,786 km) — provides lower latency (<20 ms vs. 600+ ms for VSAT)
  • India DoT clearance: Starlink received Letter of Intent for GMPCS (Global Mobile Personal Communication by Satellite) licence — commercial operations imminent

India’s satellite internet landscape:

  • Jio Satellite (Reliance + SES) — VSAT-based, awaiting spectrum
  • OneWeb (Bharti) — LEO constellation; operational in India; government/enterprise focus
  • BSNL VSAT — government broadband in tribal areas
  • Digital Bharat Nidhi (USO Fund under DoT) — Rs 85,000 crore corpus for rural connectivity

UPSC Angle — GS-3 / S&T + Economy: Universal Service Obligation (USO) policy; PM-WANI (Wi-Fi Access Network Interface) scheme; BharatNet for optical fibre; satellite spectrum allocation (ITU/TRAI); space debris risk from LEO mega-constellations; India’s GMPCS licensing framework.

Defence & Security

HAPS for IAF — Stratospheric ISR and Ladakh Telescopes

The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) approved a Rs 3.60 lakh crore defence acquisition package — including High-Altitude Pseudo-Satellite (HAPS) systems for the Indian Air Force (~Rs 15,000 crore) and funds for new astronomical observatories at Hanle, Ladakh.

HAPS — what they are:

  • Unmanned platforms (solar-powered airships or fixed-wing aircraft) operating at 18–22 km altitude (stratosphere)
  • Fill the gap between low-orbit satellites and conventional UAVs/drones
  • Near-persistent surveillance: can loiter over an area for months on solar power — unlike UAVs (hours) or satellites (minutes per pass)
  • Applications: ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance), communication relay, electronic warfare, border monitoring

Why IAF needs HAPS:

  • High-altitude Chinese drone/satellite surveillance over Himalayan borders
  • Persistent LAC (Line of Actual Control) monitoring without violating airspace regulations
  • Communication relay in terrain-blocked northeastern sectors

Hanle Observatories (Ladakh):

  • Hanle Dark Sky Reserve — world’s highest optical observatory site (4,500 m altitude); minimal light/air pollution
  • Budget 2026-27 funded 3 new telescopes including a 13.7-metre optical telescope — among the world’s largest
  • Existing facility: Indian Astronomical Observatory (IAO) — operated by IIA Bengaluru

UPSC Angle — GS-3 / S&T + Security: DAC’s role in defence acquisitions; DPP (Defence Procurement Procedure); positive indigenisation list; stratospheric surveillance in Sino-Indian border context; MAKE-I vs. MAKE-II defence manufacturing categories; IAO Hanle (IIA Bengaluru’s high-altitude facility).

Indus Waters Treaty — Pakistan Invokes IWT Over Sawalkot Project

Pakistan formally invoked the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), 1960 seeking consultations on India’s Sawalkot Hydroelectric Project (1,856 MW) on the Chenab River in Jammu & Kashmir’s Ramban district — even as India continues to suspend the IWT following the Pahalgam terror attack.

IWT architecture:

  • Signed September 19, 1960 — Nehru + Ayub Khan + World Bank brokering
  • Eastern rivers (Ravi, Beas, Sutlej) → India’s exclusive use
  • Western rivers (Indus, Jhelum, Chenab) → Pakistan’s, but India can build run-of-river hydro projects with defined restrictions
  • Chenab is a Western river — India can build hydro projects within IWT constraints (limited reservoir storage, no flood control structures affecting Pakistan)

India’s IWT suspension (post-Pahalgam 2025): India cited Pakistan-sponsored terrorism as grounds to place the Treaty “in abeyance” — legally contested since IWT has no suspension clause.

Sawalkot project: NHPC-developed, 1,856 MW run-of-river project; Rs 5,129 crore tender floated; bids due March 2026. Pakistan argues even run-of-river projects alter Chenab flow during construction phases.

UPSC Angle — GS-2 / IR: IWT’s dispute resolution mechanism (Permanent Indus Commission → Neutral Expert → Court of Arbitration at PCA); India’s position on Kishanganga and Ratle projects (PCA awarded India in Ratle, 2023); water as a strategic lever; Indus Waters Commissioners; World Bank’s treaty-brokering role vs. current neutrality.

International Relations

India-Malaysia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership

India and Malaysia operationalised a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership during PM Modi’s Kuala Lumpur visit — signing 11 agreements including the Malaysia-India Digital Council (MIDC), a local currency (INR-MYR) trade settlement framework, and Malaysia’s accession to India’s International Big Cat Alliance (IBCA).

Bilateral context:

  • Trade: USD 19.86 billion (FY2024-25); Malaysia = India’s 3rd largest ASEAN trading partner
  • 2.7 million Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) — one of the world’s largest Indian diaspora concentrations
  • Malaysia is India’s largest palm oil supplier (~3.5 million tonnes/year)

Key agreements:

  • MIDC: Digital economy cooperation — UPI interoperability with Malaysia’s DuitNow, AI governance, cybersecurity
  • INR-MYR settlement: Reduces USD dependency in bilateral trade; part of India’s broader Rupee internationalisation push
  • IBCA membership: Malaysia joins India’s big cat conservation initiative (tigers, lions, leopards, cheetahs, jaguars, snow leopards, pumas, cougars — 8 species)

Malaysia-India in Act East: Malaysia is a strategic ASEAN partner for India’s Act East Policy — providing access to Southeast Asia, semiconductor supply chains (Malaysia is 7% of global chip ATMP capacity), and maritime lanes through Malacca Strait.

UPSC Angle — GS-2 / IR: Act East Policy (2014) vs. Look East (1991); ASEAN-India trade; IBCA (launched 2023, India’s multilateral conservation initiative); Malacca Strait strategic importance; Malaysia’s Muslim-majority politics and India engagement; PM Modi’s ASEAN/Southeast Asia diplomacy.

Colombo Security Conclave — Seychelles Joins, Now 6 Members

Seychelles became the 6th member of the Colombo Security Conclave (CSC) — evolving the grouping from a trilateral (India-Sri Lanka-Maldives, 2011) to a hexalateral Indian Ocean Region security mechanism.

CSC members (2026): India, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Mauritius, Bangladesh, Seychelles.

Evolution:

  • 2011: Trilateral founding — India, Sri Lanka, Maldives; focused on coast guard operations
  • 2020: Revived as “Colombo Security Conclave” with expanded mandate; Mauritius joined
  • 2022: Bangladesh joins
  • 2026: Seychelles joins; permanent Secretariat in Colombo, Sri Lanka

CSC mandate: Maritime security, counter-terrorism, counter-narcotics, cybersecurity, humanitarian assistance, disaster response.

India’s MAHASAGAR Initiative (2025) — PM Modi’s “MAHASAGAR” (Mutual and Holistic Advancement for Security And Growth Across Regions) framework specifically covers Indian Ocean Region states — CSC is one of its institutional vehicles alongside SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region, 2015).

UPSC Angle — GS-2 / IR: SAGAR doctrine (PM Modi, 2015, Mauritius); MAHASAGAR (2025 upgrade); IOR strategic importance; China’s String of Pearls vs. India’s necklace of pearls; Quad vs. CSC complementarity; Seychelles’ EEZ (1.3 million sq km — maritime significance); India-Seychelles SESEL Joint Vision (bilateral, same week).

India-Seychelles SESEL Vision — Island Diplomacy

India and Seychelles announced the SESEL Joint Vision (Sustainability, Economic Growth and Security through Enhanced Linkages) during Seychelles President Patrick Herminie’s 5-day State Visit — marking 50 years of diplomatic ties and deepening India’s western Indian Ocean strategic footprint.

SESEL five pillars: Maritime Security (joint patrols, surveillance), Digital Infrastructure (submarine cable, e-governance), Blue Economy (sustainable fisheries, marine protected areas), Capacity Building (scholarships, defence training), Health Cooperation (telemedicine, medicines).

Strategic significance of Seychelles:

  • Seychelles’ EEZ: 1.3 million sq km — one of the world’s largest per capita
  • Lies astride vital shipping lanes connecting the Gulf to East Africa and Asia
  • India operates a coast guard surveillance aircraft and maritime patrol vessel at Seychelles’ Assumption Island (COASTIN facility) — India’s western IOR monitoring point

UPSC Angle — GS-2 / IR: India’s island diplomacy framework; SAGAR doctrine; Assumption Island (Seychelles) agreement; India’s Defence Cooperation Agreements with IOR states (Mauritius, Madagascar, Comoros, Mozambique, Tanzania); blue economy and UNCLOS EEZ rights; Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and climate vulnerability.

📌 Facts Corner — Week 7 Knowledgepedia (Feb 9–15, 2026)

India-Malaysia:

  • CSP signed: 11 agreements; bilateral trade USD 19.86B (FY25); Malaysia = 3rd largest ASEAN partner
  • 2.7 million PIO in Malaysia; Malaysia largest palm oil supplier to India (~3.5M tonnes/year)
  • MIDC: UPI ↔ DuitNow interoperability; INR-MYR settlement; IBCA: India’s 8-big-cat conservation initiative (tigers, lions, leopards, cheetahs, jaguars, snow leopards, pumas, cougars)

Mission Aatmanirbharta in Pulses:

  • Outlay: Rs 11,440 crore; target: 350 lakh tonnes (Tur + Urad + Masoor) by 2030-31; 1,000 pulse mills
  • India imported 47.38 lakh tonnes pulses (FY24); India = world’s largest producer + consumer of pulses
  • Pulses: 20-25% of Indian dietary protein; WHO/ICMR recommend 85 g/person/day

India Semiconductor Mission:

  • ISM 1.0: Rs 76,000 crore; 10 projects approved; Rs 1.60 lakh crore investment; up to 50% fiscal support
  • Tata Electronics Dholera: N28 node, 50,000 wafers/month; CG Power Sanand: ATMP (Assembly, Testing, Marking, Packaging)
  • ISM 2.0: Rs 1,000 crore (Budget 2026-27); compound semiconductors, chip design ecosystem
  • Quantum Valley Amaravati: NQM (Rs 6,003 crore 2023-31); 50-qubit (2028), 1,000-qubit (2031)

Colombo Security Conclave:

  • Members: India, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Mauritius, Bangladesh, Seychelles (6th, Feb 2026)
  • Founded: 2011 (trilateral); revived 2020; Permanent Secretariat: Colombo, Sri Lanka
  • Mandate: maritime security, counter-terrorism, counter-narcotics, cyber, HADR
  • SAGAR: 2015; MAHASAGAR: 2025 upgrade (PM Modi’s IOR framework)

Kimberley Process:

  • India chairs 2026; KPCS est. 2000 (Kimberley, South Africa); formal ops Jan 2003
  • 60 participants, 86 countries; targets rough diamonds (“blood diamonds/conflict diamonds”)
  • India: world’s largest diamond polishing/processing centre (Surat); 90%+ global rough diamonds processed in India

Chandrayaan-4:

  • Type: Lunar sample-return; landing site: Mons Mouton-4 (MM-4), 84.289°S, 32.808°E (south polar)
  • Sample: ~3 kg regolith; 4th nation (USA/Apollo, USSR/Luna 16-24, China/Chang’e 5, India)
  • Chandrayaan-3: Aug 23, 2023; 4th nation to Moon-land; south pole landing site (Shiv Shakti Point)

Sarvam AI / IndiaAI Mission:

  • IndiaAI Mission: Rs 10,300 crore; 10,000 GPU compute cluster (India’s sovereign AI infra)
  • Sarvam AI: Indian startup; 22 scheduled languages; Sarvam-Vision outperformed Gemini 3 Pro + DeepSeek OCR v2
  • Bhashini: NLTM (National Language Technology Mission) — govt translation platform; feeds Sarvam’s corpus

IT Amendment Rules 2026 (Deepfakes):

  • Notified: Feb 2026; effective Feb 20, 2026; under IT Act 2000 Section 79 (safe harbour) + IT Rules 2021
  • Mandatory AI content labelling (watermarks + metadata); 2-hour takedown for deepfakes/NCII
  • Applies to SSMIs (Significant Social Media Intermediaries): >50 lakh users threshold (IT Rules 2021)

Kavach (additional context from Week 6 trajectory):

  • CCUS: Rs 20,000 crore over 5 years; hard-to-abate: power, steel, cement, refineries, chemicals
  • Net Zero 2070: India’s COP26 pledge; LT-LEDS (Long-Term Low Emissions Development Strategy)
  • CCUS cost: USD 30-100/tonne CO₂; India’s scheme = demonstration scale to reduce cost curve

Indus Waters Treaty:

  • Signed: Sept 19, 1960; India (Nehru) + Pakistan (Ayub Khan) + World Bank
  • Eastern rivers: Ravi, Beas, Sutlej → India exclusive; Western: Indus, Jhelum, Chenab → Pakistan primary
  • Sawalkot HEP: 1,856 MW; Chenab River; Ramban, J&K; Rs 5,129 crore tender; NHPC
  • India suspended IWT post-Pahalgam terror attack; Pakistan invoked treaty consultations
  • Dispute resolution: PIC (Permanent Indus Commission) → Neutral Expert → Court of Arbitration (PCA)

Brahmaputra Tunnel:

  • Project: Rs 18,662 crore; Cabinet approved Feb 14, 2026
  • Gohpur (north bank) ↔ Numaligarh (south bank); 15.79 km dual-tube (rail + road)
  • India’s first underwater rail-road tunnel; 2nd such combined structure globally upon completion
  • Strategic: reduces NE India vulnerability (Brahmaputra bridges have been bottlenecks)

HAPS:

  • Altitude: 18-22 km (stratosphere); solar-powered; near-persistent surveillance (months)
  • Gap-filler: above UAVs/drones, below LEO satellites
  • IAF HAPS: ~Rs 15,000 crore (part of Rs 3.60 lakh crore DAC package)
  • Hanle: 4,500 m altitude; Hanle Dark Sky Reserve; IAO (operated by IIA Bengaluru); 13.7m telescope (Budget 2026-27)

Starlink Gujarat:

  • Starlink: SpaceX LEO constellation; 6,000+ satellites; 340-1,200 km altitude; <20 ms latency
  • Gujarat LoI: Narmada + Dahod (tribal/Aspirational Districts); GMPCS licence (DoT)
  • Digital Bharat Nidhi (Universal Service Obligation Fund): Rs 85,000 crore corpus for rural connectivity
  • Competitors: OneWeb/Bharti (LEO), Jio Satellite (VSAT), BSNL VSAT

Other Relevant Facts:

  • India-Russia trade FY25: USD 68.72B (from ~$11B in FY22); crude oil ~35-40% of India’s imports from Russia; Russia = India’s largest single crude oil supplier 2023
  • India-Seychelles SESEL: 50 years bilateral ties; Assumption Island COASTIN facility (coast guard aircraft/vessel)
  • Seychelles EEZ: 1.3 million sq km (one of world’s largest per capita)
  • IBCA (International Big Cat Alliance): launched 2023; India host; 50 tiger-range nations invited; protects 8 big cat species

Sources: PIB, The Hindu, Indian Express, DD News