News Summary · 7 minutes read
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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.
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Kuki-Zo Peace Talks and Recent Developments
- Background: a tripartite Suspension of Operations (SoO) agreement was signed in 2008 between:
- Govt of India (GoI), Manipur Govt, and two umbrella Kuki groups — Kuki National Organisation (KNO) and United People’s Front (UPF).
- Aimed to suspend armed conflict and facilitate political settlement within the limits of Indian Constitution.
- Periodically renewed until February, 2024 → after ethnic violence erupted in Manipur in 2023, Manipur govt declined to renew it.
- Renegotiated SoO Pact (September 4, 2025)
- Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) facilitated the renewal of the SoO pact on 4 September 2025, with revised ground rules.
- Key stipulations: physical verification of armed cadres, identification and deportation of foreign nationals, relocation of designated camps under government supervision, and stricter monitoring mechanisms.
- Reduced the number of camps for KNO and UPF, mandated Aadhaar-linked stipend payments, and reaffirmed Manipur’s territorial integrity, and reiterated that any political settlement must occur within the limits of Indian Constitution.
- Latest Dialogue with MHA (November 6–7, 2025)
- Held in New Delhi between MHA and leaders of KNO and UPF.
- Kuki-Zo groups pressed their demand for a separate Union Territory with a Legislative Assembly → MHA reiterated that current central policy does not favor creating new UTs.
- Kuki-Zo groups also raised issues including tribal land and forest rights, recognition of traditional village chiefs’ authority, and simplification of land record and succession procedures.
- Shift in Political Demand: before 2023’s ethnic violence, Kuki-Zo groups largely sought autonomous territorial councils within Manipur’s state structure. But now they demand a Union Territory with a legislature, citing the failure of coexistence under the current administration.
Over 70% of India’s prisoners are undertrials
- Highlighted by a recent National Academy of Legal Studies and Research (NALSAR) report.
- In most cases, prisoners don’t even know that they have a right to free legal aid.
- Only 7.91% of the undertrials have utilised the free legal aid.
- Article 39A forms the constitutional foundation for free legal aid.
- The Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987, operationalises the free legal aid through the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA).
- NALSA was established in 1995, with the enforcement of the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 → primarily aims to provide free and competent legal services to weaker sections.
Road accidents and organ donation
- India faces a critical shortage of organs for transplantation → rate of organ donation continues to be less than one deceased donor per million population.
- Ministry of Road Transport & Highways released a report titled Road accidents in India 2023 → highlighted that 1.7 lakh persons were killed in road accidents in 2023.
- They could have been potential organ donors → many of these potential donors are lost due to lack of timely identification and referral.
- Recently, the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO) has written to the States and Union Territories that imparting training to first responders in road accident emergencies (such as police personnel, ambulance drivers) could play a vital role in the identification of potential donors and the timely referral and harvesting of organs from those who give consent for donation.
National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO)
- Formally established in 2014, following the mandate provided by the 2011 Amendment to the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act (THOTA), 1994.
- Operates under the Directorate General of Health Services, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
- Serves as the apex national body for coordination and regulation of organ and tissue donation and transplantation in India.
Pharmacology lab of AIIA gets ISO tag
- Pharmacology Laboratory of the All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA), Delhi, has been accredited with the following certifications by the Bureau of Indian Standards:
- IS/ISO 9001:2015 – Quality Management System
- IS/ISO 14001:2015 – Environmental Management System
- IS/ISO 45001:2018 – Occupational Health and Safety Management System
- AIIA is an autonomous organisation under the Ministry of Ayush.
- Pharmacology: study of drugs and medications, including their origin, composition, interactions with living organisms, mechanisms of action, therapeutic uses, and toxicology → explores how chemical substances affect biochemical functions in living organisms.
Centre notifies rules for sustainable fishing in EEZ
- India notified the Sustainable Harnessing of Fisheries in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) Rules, 2025, on 4 November 2025.
- Notified by the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying under the National Fisheries Policy framework.
- Gives priority to Fishermen Cooperative Societies and Fish Farmer Producer Organisations (FFPOs) for deep-sea fishing and the management of modern vessels.
- Key highlights
- Training and capacity-building of fishers to enhance skills for deep-sea fishing and value-chain efficiencies.
- Introduction of the mother-and-child vessel concept under RBI regulations.
- Refers to using large vessels to assist smaller ones in fish transhipment at sea.
- In the A & N and Lakshadweep, which together make 49% of India’s EEZ, the use of mother and child vessels will boost the export of high-quality fish.
- Bans LED-light fishing, pair trawling, and bull trawling to conserve biodiversity and secure equitable access for small-scale fishers.
- Applications for catch certificate and health certificate shall be submitted through designated online portals, which shall be duly integrated with the ‘ReALCRaft’ portal for verification.
- To conserve biodiversity, a minimum legal size for fish species will be prescribed, and Fisheries Management Plans will be developed to restore declining fish stocks.
- Sea-cage farming and seaweed cultivation will be promoted as alternative livelihoods in order to reduce fishing pressure in nearshore areas.
Reconciling Conservation and Community Rights: A Policy Framework for Relocation and Coexistence in India’s Tiger Reserves
This topic has already been covered HERE.
India AI Governance Guidelines
This topic has already been covered HERE.
Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF)
- An initiative that incentivizes the conservation and expansion of tropical forests by making annual payments to Tropical Forest Countries that maintain their standing forest.
- Spearheaded by the Brazil and led by Global South Tropical Forest Countries.
- Launched on 6 November 2025, at the COP30 Leaders’ Summit held in Belém, Brazil.
- COP30 of UNFCCC: 30th UN Climate Change Conference → to be held in Belém, Brazil, from 10 to 21 November 2025.
- Key features:
- Target size of the fund is $125 bn → $100 bn (Private Investors) + $25 bn (Sovereign and Philanthropic Investors)
- Provides performance-based payments to Tropical Forest Countries for forest conservation and restoration → rewards countries protecting forests yearly with $4 per hectare protected.
- Advanced technologies, such as satellite imagery, will be utilised to monitor forest cover, ensuring accurate and reliable results.
- At least 20% of payments are to be directed to Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities.
- India has joined the TFFF as an Observer.
Belém 4x
- Launched on 14 October 2025, at pre-COP30 in Brasília → endorsed on 7 November 2025 during COP30 Leaders’ Summit held in Belém, Brazil.
- Also known as the Belém Commitment for Sustainable Fuels → aimed at quadrupling the global production and use of sustainable fuels by 2035 compared to 2024 levels.
- Grounded in a scientific report by the International Energy Agency (IEA) titled Delivering Sustainable Fuels – Pathways to 2035.
- Cosponsored by Brazil, India, Japan and Italy.
Quick Picks
- Piprahwa relics of Buddha: excavated in the late 19th century by British archaeologist William Claxton Peppe in Piprahwa (Siddharthnagar, UP) → Placed in the National Museum in New Delhi → recently sent by India to Bhutan for the Global Peace Prayer Festival 2025.
- Turkiye has issued an arrest warrant for genocide against Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu → last year, Turkiye joined South Africa’s case accusing Israel of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
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