News Summary · 5 minutes read
UNEP released the “Adaptation Gap Report 2025 — Running on Empty” on 29 October 2025. Image: UNEP
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Indians are getting trapped in global cybercrime hubs
- Hundreds of Indians have been lured abroad with fake job offers and forced to work in cyber scam operations in Southeast Asian countries such as Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand.
- KK Park scam hub: Myanmar’s Myawaddy region → 500 Indians are being repatriated from Thailand after escaping these scam compounds.
- These cybercrime hubs are often linked to organised criminal groups originating from China, which utilise crypto-payments, fake digital profiles, and AI-based deception.
- Emerging global cybercrime hubs: West Africa, West Asia, and Central America → due to weak law enforcement and high unemployment.
- Why Indians Are Vulnerable?
- High youth unemployment
- Unverified recruiters
- Poor awareness of visa laws
- Once trapped, victims face debt bondage, threats, and seizure of passports.
- Way Forward
- India must strengthen recruitment oversight, public awareness, and bilateral cooperation with ASEAN nations and INTERPOL.
- A dedicated Anti-Cyber Trafficking Task Force is necessary, backed by rehabilitation programs for rescued citizens.
Adaptation Gap Report 2025 — Running on Empty
- Published by United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on 29 October 2025.
- Highlights that global efforts to adapt to the accelerating impacts of climate change are gravely underfunded and calls for a global collective effort to address this problem.
- Developing countries will require USD 310-365 bn per year by 2035 to meet their adaptation needs.
- Challenges in adaptation financing
- Only USD 26 bn was provided by developed countries to developing countries in 2023 (a decline from USD 28 bn in 2022).
- 58% of international adaptation finance in 2022–2023 was in the form of loans and other debt instruments, NOT grants.
- Non-concessional loans exceed concessional loans, indicating that debt accumulation occurs faster than investment in climate action.
- Private Sector currently provides only USD 5 bn per year for adaptation projects → could scale up to around USD 50 bn annually by 2035 with policy reforms.
- Status of adaptation planning and implementation
- 172 countries now possess a National Adaptation Plan (NAP), policy or strategy → some of them are outdated.
- Under the Biennial Transparency Reports (BTRs) mandated by the Paris Agreement, countries reported hundreds of adaptation actions, but:
- Health and livelihood actions remain poorly reported.
- Proper monitoring and evaluation systems are not in place.
- Baku-to-Belem Roadmap, adopted at UNFCCC COP-29, calls for mobilising USD 1.3 trillion annually by 2035 for developing countries to pursue low-emission, climate-resilient growth.
- Investing in adaptation yields high returns. Every dollar spent on coastal protection saves 14 dollars in damages.
- UNEP urges a shift towards grant-based, concessional and non-debt-creating finance.
China files complaint with WTO against India’s PLI schemes
- China has alleged that India’s three Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes violate WTO subsidy rules:
- PLI Scheme for Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) batteries
- PLI Scheme for Automobiles
- PLI Scheme for Electric Vehicles (EVs)
- China’s allegations
- These PLI schemes provide financial benefits or subsidies to companies operating in India contingent on Domestic Value Addition (DVA).
- These PLI schemes discriminate against imported (Chinese) goods, amounting to Import Substitution (IS) subsidies.
- WTO rules on subsidies
- Prohibited subsidies: export-linked or import-substitution based → subsidies contingent on the use of domestic over imported goods are banned.
- Actionable subsidies: may cause trade injury.
- Non-actionable subsidies: allowed for certain public objectives.
- Related WTO Provisions
- General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), 1948: embodies the principle of National Treatment, which states that imported and locally-produced goods should be treated equally.
- National Treatment principle is also embodied by the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), 1995, and the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), 1995.
- Trade-Related Investment Measures Agreement (TRIMs), 1995: prohibits investment measures such as local content requirements that breach national treatment obligations.
- Subsidies and Countervailing Measures Agreement (SCM), 1995: classifies subsidies into prohibited, actionable (can be challenged), and non-actionable (allowed for public objectives, e.g., R&D).
- General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), 1948: embodies the principle of National Treatment, which states that imported and locally-produced goods should be treated equally.
- PLI Scheme: launched in 2020 to boost manufacturing competitiveness and integrate India into global value chains → provides financial incentives based on incremental sales to targeted industries.
What are tropical cyclones, and how do they form?
- A tropical cyclone is like a giant heat engine, which takes energy (heat) from warm ocean water and turns it into strong winds, heavy rain, and big sea waves (storm surges).
- It is called a hurricane in the Atlantic, a typhoon in the western Pacific, and a cyclone in the Indian Ocean.
- Formation: starts when warm, moist air rises from the sea, cools, and forms clouds → heat released from this process makes the surrounding air rise faster, pulling in more air, creating a spinning system → centre (eye) becomes calm, surrounded by the eyewall, where the strongest winds and rain occur. Favourable conditions are:
- Sea Surface Temperature (SST) > 26.5°C (up to 50 m deep).
- Unstable atmosphere → Air must keep rising.
- Coriolis force → Earth’s rotation makes the air spin.
- Low wind shear (the difference in wind speed at different heights) is necessary; otherwise, the storm will break apart.
- Classification of tropical cyclones: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) classifies them by wind speed:
- Low Pressure Area: < 31 km/h
- Depression: 31–49 km/h
- Deep Depression: 50–61 km/h
- Cyclonic Storm: 62–88 km/h
- Severe Cyclonic Storm: 89–117 km/h
- Very Severe Cyclonic Storm: 118–165 km/h
- Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm: 166–221 km/h
- Super Cyclonic Cyclonic Storm: ≥ 222 km/h
Quick Picks
- M.M. Hills Wildlife Sanctuary (Karnataka): proposed to be declared as a tiger reserve → opposed by the local communities.
- Poseidon: a nuclear-powered stealth underwater drone, recently tested by Russia → also known as the Status-6 (NATO codename: Kanyon).
- Hurricane Melissa (October 2025): a tropical cyclone that originated near the west coast of Africa and travelled across the Atlantic Ocean to intensify in the Caribbean Region → the strongest storm ever to hit Jamaica.
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