News Summary · 8 minutes read
Stay ahead in your UPSC CSE preparation with our daily News Summary. Designed to save time, it highlights key national and international events from leading newspapers and government websites.
World’s first OptoSAR satellite
- An earth observation satellite (EOS) developed and launched under Mission Drishti by GalaxEye, a Bengaluru-based space startup.
- Launched in a sun-synchronous orbit using the Falcon 9 rocket of SpaceX from Vandenberg, California.
- India’s largest (190 kg) privately developed earth observation satellite.
- First satellite globally that integrates Electro-Optical (EO)/Multi-Spectral Imaging (MSI) and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) sensors into a single operational platform → enables all-weather, day-and-night imaging capabilities.
- Note that EO/MSI is like a camera (daylight/colour photos only), while SAR is like radar (sees through clouds/night via shape/texture) → OptoSAR fuses both in one “super camera” for always-available pics.
- Applications: defence surveillance, agriculture monitoring, disaster response, maritime tracking, etc.
India’s first green methanol plant
Thermax Energy is building India’s first green methanol plant at the Deendayal Port Authority (DPA) in Kandla, Gujarat. It will use Prosopis juliflora as a main feedstock.
- Process: Gasification of Prosopis juliflora → syngas → methanol
- Other biomass, such as bagasse and cotton stalk, may also be used in the plant.
Methanol
- Simplest alcohol (CH₃OH), also called methyl/wood alcohol → a colourless, volatile, and flammable liquid.
- Production
- Conventional: from fossil fuels (gas/coal), mainly by gasification.
- Green: from renewable biomass, mainly by gasification.
- Uses
- Chemical precursor (formaldehyde, acetic acid)
- Solvent
- Vehicle/ship fuel: can be blended with petrol/diesel (e.g., M10)
Benefits of green methanol (fuel)
- Cuts emissions: up to 95% CO₂, 80% NOx, 99% SOx, and virtually eliminates particulate emissions.
- Reduces oil/gas imports.
- Restores biodiversity via invasive weed harvesting.
Prosopis juliflora
- A Mexican-origin shrub, known as Gando Baval in Gujarat, Vilayati Keekar in North India and Velikathan in Tamil Nadu.
- Introduced in India by the British in the 1920s.
- One of the top 100 invasive species in the world → threatening biodiversity in Kutch’s Banni grasslands (crowding out native grasses).
Note: Lignocellulosic biomass (e.g., Prosopis juliflora) is better suited to gasification‑based methanol production, whereas sugar‑ or starch‑rich biomass (e.g., sugarcane, corn) suits fermentation‑based ethanol production. This is why the Prosopis juliflora‑based project is targeting methanol rather than ethanol.
India launches indigenous Cell Broadcast System (CBS)
- Aims to send near‑real‑time emergency alerts (e.g., flash floods, gas leaks, earthquakes) to mobile phones.
- Developed indigenously by Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT), Pune, under the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).
- Follows the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
Key features of CBS
- Sends alerts simultaneously to all CBS‑enabled mobile phones in a defined area (cell‑tower footprint).
- Not an SMS‑based service that needs to be sent individually to each phone number.
- Does not require internet (data) on the phone → needs only a switched‑on device connected to the mobile network.
- Supports precise geo‑targeting, multilingual messages, and priority pop‑up alerts with siren‑like tones. Some handsets can read the message aloud.
Relation with SACHET
- In 2021, the DoT launched SACHET, an SMS‑based disaster‑alert system developed by C‑DOT.
- CBS adds a faster, more scalable, and geo‑targeted broadcast layer to SACHET.
SC suggests Centre to amend abortion law
The Supreme Court (SC) has asked the Centre to remove the time limit on medical termination of unwanted pregnancies in the case of minor rape victims.
Background
- The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, 1971, provided that an abortion can be done only up to 20 weeks of pregnancy.
- MTP Amendment Act, 2021, increased the time limit for abortion to 24 weeks for specified categories, including survivors of rape, minors, and women with disabilities.
- Recently, SC allowed a 15-year-old rape survivor to terminate a 30-week pregnancy, against which the Centre had filed a curative petition.
SC declined to set aside its earlier permission and instead used the hearing to urge legislative reforms:
- The MTP Act should be amended to remove any time limit on medical termination of unwanted pregnancy caused by the rape of a minor.
- Penal law should be amended to make it mandatory to complete the trial in such cases within a week, and the entire property of the culprit should be given to the victim.
Guidance Document on Diabetes Mellitus in Children
- Recently released by the Union Health Ministry.
- Aims to ensure universal diabetes screening of all children in India from birth to 18 years.
- Provides for universal screening, district-level diagnosis and free lifelong care, including insulin, regular monitoring, and emergency response under the public health system
- This is the first time India has introduced a structured and standardised national framework for the screening, diagnosis, treatment and long-term management of diabetes in children.
- Links community-level screening with district hospital-based management and advanced care at medical colleges.
- Promotes “4Ts framework” — Toilet, Thirsty, Tired, and Thinner — enabling parents, teachers and caregivers to recognise early warning signs of Type 1 diabetes.
Diabetes
- A chronic disease that occurs either when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces.
- Insulin is a hormone that regulates blood sugar.
- Hyperglycaemia (raised blood sugar) is a common effect of uncontrolled diabetes that leads to serious damage to the body’s systems, especially the nerves and blood vessels.
Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Act, 2026
- Amends the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019.
- Key changes
- Narrows the definition of transgender to specific categories → explicitly excludes persons with different sexual orientations or self-perceived sexual identities, and drops trans-man, trans-woman, and genderqueer.
- Removes self-identification right of a transgender → a medical board will recommend to the District Magistrate to certify an individual as a transgender.
- Adds stricter penalties for offences like forced identity changes or exploitation, including up to life imprisonment.
- Challenged in the Supreme Court → Petitioners argue that the Act disregards transgender identity as an authentic human identity chosen freely.
- The Act has not yet been implemented.
Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act, 2016
- Recognised only victims of acid-throwing, and not forcible acid ingestion.
- The Supreme Court has recently included persons who were forcibly administered acid within the definition of “acid attack victims” under the 2016 Act → to be operative retrospectively from 2016.
- Now, both the act of acid-throwing and forcible acid ingestion are offences punishable with imprisonment from 10 years to a life sentence, and victims of both these crimes can claim disability benefits under the 2016 Act.
Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2026
- Notified by the Union Home Ministry on 30 April 2026 (effective 1 May 2026).
- Amends the Citizenship Rules, 2009, for Overseas Citizens of India (OCI).
- Key changes
- Electronic Filing Mandate: all OCI registrations, renewals, renunciations, and cancellations must use the online portal (ociservices.gov.in).
- e-OCI Introduction: digital OCI credentials replace or supplement physical cards.
- Minors’ Passport Rule: an OCI’s minor child holding an Indian passport cannot hold any foreign passport.
Quick Picks
- India’s first digital grievance portal for gig workers: launched by Karnataka.
- India’s first international shipyard acquisition: Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) has acquired a 51% stake in Sri Lanka’s Colombo Dockyard PLC.
- First international exposition of Lord Buddha’s holy relics in India: being held in Ladakh from 1-15 May 2026 → Inaugurated by HM Amit Shah → features sacred Piprahwa relics from the National Museum, New Delhi.
- NSE has launched Electronic Gold Receipts (EGRs) as a new segment, in a bid to create a more transparent and efficient price discovery of Gold. Notably, BSE pioneered EGRs in India, launching them first in 2022.
- KBR National Park: located in Jubilee Hills and Banjara Hills of Hyderabad (Telangana) → lies within a notified Eco‑Sensitive Zone (ESZ).
- The Lalhmingthanga Sanate faction of the Hmar People’s Convention (Democratic) recently laid down arms, and Mizoram was declared insurgency-free as it was the last remaining ethnic insurgent group in the state.
- RBI’s Deputy Governors: RBI can have up to four Deputy Governors as per the RBI Act, 1934.
- Mahendragiri: 6th Nilgiri-class (Project 17A) frigate, recently joined the Indian Navy → designed by the Warship Design Bureau and constructed by Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited in Mumbai.
- Prasoon Joshi: new Chairperson of Prasar Bharati.
- CINBAX-II: India-Cambodia Joint Military Exercise, being held from 4-17 May 2026 in Kampong Speu Province, Cambodia → aligned with counter-terrorism operations by the UN peacekeeping forces.
- UAE formally exited OPEC/OPEC+ effective 1 May 2026 → UAE wants the freedom to produce and export oil on its own terms, rather than remain bound by OPEC+ cartel quotas and price controls.
- Das Island: located in the Persian Gulf → UAE’s oil/gas terminal.
- Tuareg rebels: insurgent groups in northern Mali who demand autonomy for the so-called Azawad region.
- Fulani herders/pastoralists: nomadic Fula people, mainly located in the Sahel and semi-arid parts of West Africa → migrating south due to climate change.
- Apnoea test: a medical procedure to determine if the brainstem can drive breathing, essential for declaring brain death.
- Role of dust storms in rainfall: an April 2026 study shows that dust storms tend to increase rainfall, as dust particles act as ice nuclei to form clouds. However, excessive dust can suppress rainfall.