News Summary · 4 minutes read
Union Minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya at the 2nd World Summit for Social Development in Doha. Photo: X/@LabourMinistry
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.
Surrogacy law in India
- Surrogacy in India is governed by the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021.
- Key provisions
- Eligibility conditions for surrogate mother :
- Married, aged 25-35 years, and already has a child.
- Cannot provide her own eggs for the surrogacy.
- Can act as a surrogate only once in her lifetime.
- Eligibility conditions for the intending couple:
- Married to each other, woman’s age is 23-50 years, and man’s age is 26-55 years.
- Does not have any surviving biological, adopted, or surrogate children → exception: if the child has a serious physical or mental condition with no cure.
- Eligibility conditions for surrogate mother :
- Commercial surrogacy is prohibited → the Act permits only altruistic surrogacy, where the surrogate mother is not paid any monetary compensation other than coverage of medical expenses and insurance related to the pregnancy.
- Accessing surrogacy is NOT a fundamental right, but rather exists as a statutory right, subject to the conditions prescribed in the 2021 Act.
BRICS’ push for financial autonomy
- 2014 Fortaleza Summit: created the New Development Bank (NDB) and Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA) → first major financial institutions founded by developing countries.
- After Western sanctions on Russia (2014-15), BRICS began promoting trade settlements in national currencies.
- The grouping later established a Payments Task Force to design BRICS Pay, a mechanism for cross-border transactions in local currencies.
- 2024 Kazan Summit: endorsement of local-currency settlements and unveiled a symbolic BRICS banknote, signalling intent to challenge dollar dominance.
- BRICS Pay and its rationale
- Aims to reduce reliance on the SWIFT network, controlled by G-10 central banks.
- The goal is greater financial autonomy and immunity from U.S. sanctions.
- BRICS already possess compatible domestic systems:
- Russia – SPFS, China – CIPS, India – UPI, Brazil – Pix
- Integrating these platforms could enable a common BRICS-led payment network.
- A prototype of BRICS Pay was demonstrated in Moscow (2024) → If realised, it has potential to:
- Create a multipolar financial order
- Lower transaction costs
- Diversify payment options
- Counter western financial dominance
- Strengthen BRICS as an alternative economic bloc.
SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication)
- A financial messaging system that facilitates secure and standardized communication between banks and financial institutions for international payments and transactions.
- Established in 1973 in Belgium → headquartered in La Hulpe near Brussels.
- It only provides messaging services and does not hold or transfer funds itself.
- Governed by central banks from Group of Ten (G10) countries.
- Being a backbone for international finance, SWIFT is sometimes leveraged in economic sanctions (e.g., restrictions on Russia or Iran).
Group of Ten (G10)
- A coalition of
1011 countries that cooperate on international economic and financial matters. - Members: Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Sweden, UK, USA, and Switzerland (11th member).
- Formed in 1962 with IMF members that agreed to participate in the “General Arrangements to Borrow” (GAB), a funding mechanism to provide the IMF with additional resources for lending.
India’s steel capacity
- Nearly doubled from around 100 million tonnes a decade ago to close to 200 million tonnes now.
- Aim: to achieve 300 million tonnes of steel capacity by 2030 and 500 million tonnes by 2047.
2nd World Summit for Social Development (WSSD-2)
- Organised by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) in Doha, Qatar → 4-6 November 2025.
- Builds on the legacy of the first Summit in Copenhagen in 1995.
- Indian delegation will be led by Mansukh Mandaviya, the Minister of Labour and Employment.
- Dr. Mandaviya will represent India’s Vision of Inclusive and Equitable Growth at the International Labour Organization (ILO) Ministerial Dialogue on Global Coalition for Social Justice.
Quick Picks
- India has the highest employee-level Artificial Intelligence adoption rate → 92% of employees in India use AI at work.
- Kokang region: located in Myanmar along the border with China → hotspot of illicit activities, including scam centres.
- Sudan has alleged that UAE is supplying arms to RSF militia.
- Paul Biya: has become Cameroon’s president for 8th term, following a disputed election that triggered deadly protests → world’s oldest president.
- India has sent humanitarian assistance to Jamaica and Cuba affected by Hurricane Melissa.
- India has sent rabies vaccine doses and rabies immunoglobulin vials to Timor-Leste to help it tackle a rabies outbreak.
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