Every Monday, UPSC Current Affairs pointers bring a weekly roundup of important current affairs to help you in your Prelims and Mains preparation of UPSC, BPSC, UPPSC, and other competitive exams.If you missed the UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past week | November 3 to 9, 2025, read it here.Reports(FYI: The data provided in these reports can be used to substantiate your Mains answer and create a broad understanding of the topic.)Climate Risk Index (CRI) report — On the second day of the ongoing COP30 climate conference, the CRI report was released by Germanwatch, a Bonn-based non-governmental organisation.— According to the report, India has been ranked 9th in the list of countries worst affected by climate-related disasters in the last 30 years. The last time this index was prepared, in 2023, India was ranked eighth.— According to the report, globally 8.32 lakh lives were lost between 1995 and 2024 due to extreme weather events, out of which India has recorded 80,000 fatalities, or nearly 9.6% of the global number.Global Tuberculosis Report 2025— The Global TB Report 2025 was released by the World Health Organisation on November 12. It provides a comprehensive and up-to-date assessment of the TB epidemic, and of progress in prevention, diagnosis and treatment of the disease, at global, regional and country levels.Story continues below this ad— The Global TB Report 2025 shows that India has achieved only a 21% reduction in new cases and a 28% reduction in deaths between 2015 and 2024. This does not even come close to the End TB milestones for 2025 — a 50% reduction in TB incidence and 75% reduction in TB deaths.— According to the report, in 2024, India recorded around 27.1 lakh cases and more than three lakh deaths, making it one of the top contributors to the number of TB cases across the world.— India diagnosed the highest ever 26.18 lakh cases in 2024, further closing the gap between the estimated number of cases and the ones actually diagnosed.— There is a significant improvement in India’s treatment coverage, which stood at 92% in 2024, increasing from 85% in 2023.Story continues below this ad— TB is caused by an organism called mycobacterium tuberculosis, which mainly affects the lungs, but can also impact other parts of the body. TB spreads through the air when an infected individual coughs, sneezes, or speaks.World Tuberculosis DayWorld Tuberculosis Day, observed on March 24 every year, aims to increase public awareness about the global epidemic of tuberculosis (TB) and the numerous efforts being taken to eliminate the disease. The date marks the day in 1882 when Dr. Robert Koch announced that he had discovered the bacterium that causes TB, which opened the way towards diagnosing and curing this disease. The theme of this year is “Yes! We Can End TB: Commit, Invest, Deliver”, highlights the importance of stronger commitments and action, especially against rising drug-resistant TB.Event This year’s celebrations are notable as we conclude today the 150th birth anniversary celebrations of Birsa Munda (Janjatiya Gaurav Varsh), which commenced in 2024.Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas— On the occasion of Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas, President Droupadi Murmu, along with distinguished dignitaries, paid floral tributes at the statue of Bhagwan Birsa Munda at Prerna Sthal in the Parliament premises.— November 15 is the birth anniversary of the tribal icon Birsa Munda, who was born on this date in 1875. Since 2021, his birthday has been celebrated as ‘Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas.’— Known as “Dharti Aba” (“Father of the Earth”), Birsa organised the “Ulgulan” or the Munda Rebellion against British oppression in the late 1890s.Story continues below this adNational Press Day— November 16 is observed as the National Press Day to celebrate the role of a free and responsible press in India. The day commemorates the establishment of the Press Council of India, which began its operations on this day in 1966.— This year’s theme focuses on safeguarding press credibility amidst rising misinformation, highlighting the growing importance of accurate and ethical reporting. AwardBooker Prize 2025— David Szalay has been named the winner of the 2025 Booker Prize for his novel Flesh.— Flesh, Szalay’s sixth work of fiction, is a taut, time-spanning novel that moves from a Hungarian housing estate to London’s gilded enclaves. Written in his trademark spare prose, it dissects detachment and longing with surgical precision. Flesh focusses on an emotionally detached man who is unravelled by a series of events beyond his grasp.Story continues below this ad— Six authors were shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2025: Kiran Desai (The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny), Andrew Miller (The Land in Winter), David Szalay (Flesh), Susan Choi (Flashlight), Katie Kitamura (Audition), and Benjamin Markovits (The Rest of Our Lives).— Indians who have won the Booker Prize: V.S. Naipaul (In a Free State, 1971), Salman Rushdie (Midnight’s Children, 1981), Arundhati Roy (The God of Small Things, 1997), Kiran Desai (The Inheritance of Loss, 2006), and Aravind Adiga (The White Tiger, 2008). PolityAmit Shah launched the Sahakar Digi Pay and Digi Loan apps to modernise urban cooperative banks and promote digital banking. (File Photo)Sahakar Digi Pay and Sahakar Digi Loan— Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah has launched two mobile applications—Sahakar Digi Pay and Sahakar Digi Loan—which will enable even the smallest urban cooperative banks to offer digital payment facilities.— In July 2025, the government unveiled the new National Cooperative Policy 2025, replacing one in place for the past 23 years. It will be effective from 2025 to 2045, i.e., approximately until the centenary of India’s independence.Story continues below this ad— The vision of the new cooperation policy is to build a Viksit Bharat by 2047 through ‘Sahkar Se Samriddhi’.— Notably, the United Nations has declared 2025 the International Year of Cooperatives with the theme “Cooperatives Build a Better World”.Export Promotion Mission— The Union Cabinet has approved a six-year Export Promotion Mission (EPM) with an outlay of Rs 25,060 crore.— Under EPM, priority support will be extended to sectors impacted by recent global tariff escalations, such as textiles, leather, gems & jewellery, engineering goods, and marine products.— The Mission will operate through two integrated sub-schemes:Story continues below this ad* Niryat Protsahan: Focuses on improving access to affordable trade finance for MSMEs.* Niryat Disha: Focuses on non-financial enablers that enhance market readiness and competitiveness, including export quality and compliance support, assistance for international branding, and packaging.New royalty rates for critical minerals— The Union Cabinet has approved rationalisation of royalty rates for four critical minerals — graphite, caesium, rubidium, and zirconium.— The decision aims to facilitate indigenous production and reduce imports of these minerals to avoid supply chain vulnerabilities.Delving DeeperStory continues below this adLast year, a nine-judge constitutional bench in Mineral Area Development Authority v M/s Steel Authority of India ruled that Royalty is not a tax.The majority held that a royalty is not a tax because there is a “conceptual difference” between royalties and taxes. Royalties are based on specific contracts or agreements between the mining leaseholder and the lessor (the person who leases the property) who can even be a private party.Also, taxes are meant for public purposes such as welfare schemes and creating public infrastructure, whereas the payment of royalties is to a lessor in exchange “for parting with their exclusive privileges in the minerals”. DefenceMalabar Naval Exercise 2025— The annual Malabar naval exercise between the navies of India, the US, Australia and Japan kicked off on November 12 in the Northern Pacific.— The Indian Navy has deployed its guided missile frigate INS Sahyadri for the mega exercise being hosted by the US.— Exercise Malabar was established as an annual bilateral training activity between India and the United States in 1992.— Japan and Australia first participated in 2007, and Japan joined the naval exercise in 2015 as a permanent member, and Malabar became a trilateral exercise. In 2020, for the first time in over a decade, the exercise saw the participation of all four Quad members. International Cooperation A Brazil flag flies outside the venue for the COP30 U.N. Climate Summit, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025 (AP)Belem Health Action Plan— The Belem Health Action Plan, a flagship outcome of Brazil’s COP 30 Presidency, was unveiled on the dedicated Health Day of COP30 – 13 November 2025.— It is aimed at strengthening global health systems to cope better with the impacts of climate change. It is structured around two cross-cutting principles and concepts: health equity and ‘climate justice’ and leadership and governance on climate and health with social participation.— Under the ambit of ‘The Climate and Health Funders Coalition’, over 35 leading philanthropies united to address the escalating public health crisis driven by climate change. They committed an initial $300 million to tackle both the causes of climate change and its consequences for health.— This money would also support the implementation of the Belem Health Action Plan and be used for accelerating health solutions where they are needed the most, a statement said.— The 2025 Lancet Countdown Report on Health and Climate Change, which has documented the global health impact of climate change, is the basis for the Belem Action Plan on Health.India-Bhutan relationship— Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on a two-day State Visit to Bhutan from 11-12 November 2025 to attend the 70th birthday celebrations of the fourth king of Bhutan, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, the father of the incumbent king, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck.— PM Modi also took part in the ongoing Global Peace Prayer Festival in Thimphu, the capital of Bhutan. The 16-day festival, which began on 4th November 2025, is a global initiative dedicated to prayers for world peace and healing of humanity amid ongoing global conflicts.— The 1,020 megawatt Punatsangchhu-II hydroelectric project developed jointly by India and Bhutan was inaugurated during this visit.COP32— Ethiopia has been confirmed as the host of the 32nd edition of the annual climate change conference (COP32) in 2027, even as the choice of next year’s host remains uncertain.— Ethiopia will organize COP32 in its capital city, Addis Ababa, the country announced in Belem, Brazil where the COP30 meeting is currently happening.— The host country of COP31 next year is still undecided, with both Australia and Turkiye persisting with their candidature.— The COP meetings are held by rotation in five UN-designated geographical regions – Africa, Asia-Pacific, Eastern Europe, Latin America and Caribbean, and Western Europe and Others. Countries volunteer to host the event. But if there are more than one candidate, the respective geographical region selects one by consensus.— Meanwhile, India has expressed its intention to host the COP33 event in 2028, when the conference returns to the Asia region. If allocated, it would be the second time that India will host a COP. New Delhi had hosted COP8 in 2002.What is COP?COP is the governing body of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which is an international treaty, signed in 1992, that provides a basis for climate negotiations.Each year, the COP brings together representatives of the Parties (countries that have ratified the UNFCCC) to assess progress, negotiate further agreements, and refine commitments.COP is the world’s only multilateral decision-making forum that brings together almost every country on the planet to formulate and implement policy responses to climate change collectively. Currently, there are 198 parties (197 countries plus the European Union) to the UNFCCC. EnvironmentHimachal Pradesh Human Development Report 2025: Climate-Adjusted HDI— According to the Himachal HDI report released on 10th November, remote and sparsely populated districts — Kinnaur, Lahaul and Spiti, and Chamba — have emerged as the most resilient regions to climate-related risks in Himachal Pradesh.— The report has been prepared jointly by the Department of Environment, Science, Technology, and Climate Change, Government of Himachal Pradesh, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), India, under the theme “Building the Future in a Climate-Impacted World”.— These districts recorded low Hazard Index or HI values compared to others. The values indicated a lower vulnerability to climate change and natural disasters.— Districts like Solan, Bilaspur and Shimla, despite having higher Human Development Index (HDI) scores, were at the bottom of the CAHDI, due to their high exposure to climate risks.— The HDR report computes the Climate-Adjusted HDI to illustrate the impact of climate hazards on human development in the state. This is calculated by discounting the human development index of a district by the district’s Hazard Index that quantifies its exposure to climate-related hazards.— According to the report, “Districts with a high risk of hazards are ranked lower in terms of overall climate-adjusted development, regardless of their original HDI score”.— The Climate-adjusted HDI discounts a region’s human development progress with its climate vulnerability, providing a more cautious measure of long-term development.Significance of HP: The forests of Himachal Pradesh form 2.5% of India’s carbon sink, and its rivers sustain 200 million people downstream, giving the state national and global significance. Science and Technology The Gaganyaan crew module is equipped with four different types of parachutes. (PTI)Integrated main parachute airdrop test — ISRO conducted an ‘integrated main parachute airdrop test’ for the Gaganyaan mission at Babina Field Firing Range in Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh on November 3.— The system is critical for ensuring safe recovery of the crew module — the capsule in which astronauts sit during a human flight — during re-entry and landing.— This test was meant to validate the parachute system even in possible extreme scenarios. The scenario chosen for the test was an “asymmetric disreefing” — where one of the two main parachutes unfurls completely slightly later than the other one.— To avoid sudden jerks as the parachutes deploy on the astronauts’ journey back to the earth, the parachutes open slowly in a step by step process known as reefed inflation.— Reefing essentially limits how much the parachute can open, following which disreefing at a scheduled time allows the parachute to open up completely. The disreefing is done using a pyro device.— The test saw the deployment of a drogue parachute, followed by two main parachutes, one of which unfurled a little after the first. The test was successful in demonstrating structural integrity and load distribution even in this extreme scenario, according to the ISRO student.DRISHTI System— Indian Railways is planning to install Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based technology-DRISHTI- to enhance the safety of freight trains. It is expected to bring greater transparency, visibility and technological assurance to freight security system.— This new AI-based Locking Monitoring System ‘DRISHTI’ will reduce the traditionally manual checks which are not only time-consuming but also impractical for long-haul rakes under dynamic conditions.— This new technology is being developed through a collaborative initiative between the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) and the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati Technology Innovation and Development Foundation (IITG TIDF). Diseases(Just FYI: UPSC has consistently included questions on health and diseases in its examinations over the years. For instance, in 2014, a question about the Ebola virus appeared in the Prelims, and in 2017, a question about the Zika virus was featured. Therefore, it is crucial to stay updated on diseases that are currently in the news.)Wild polio virus— Germany has found the wild polio virus in a sewage sample in Hamburg, the first such detection in Europe since 2010.— Polio, short for poliomyelitis, is an infectious disease that terrified parents worldwide for much of the first half of the 20th century. Affecting mainly children under five, it is often asymptomatic but can also cause symptoms like fever and vomiting.— There are two forms of polio: wild polio and vaccine-derived or variant polio. Both can cause paralysis and death, but wild polio is rarer and now only endemic to Afghanistan and Pakistan, causing tens of cases annually. The strain found in German wastewater is linked to the strain circulating in Afghanistan.— India was declared polio-free in January 2014, after three years of zero cases, an achievement that is widely believed to have been spurred by the successful Pulse Polio campaign. Persons in News(Just FYI: Noting historical personalities’ anniversaries aids UPSC prep. UPSC often includes such personalities in questions, so revisiting their lives refreshes your static syllabus.) Saalumarada Thimmakka receives the Padma Shri award from erstwhile President Ram Nath Kovind in 2019 (Wikimedia Commons).Saalumarada Thimmakka— Noted environmentalist and Padma awardee Salumarada Thimmakka passed away at the age of 114on 14th November.— Thimmakka, renowned as the ‘Tree Woman of India’ who planted thousands of trees around her village in south Karnataka, is set to have a funeral with full state honours on Saturday afternoon at her village.— She was the recipient of many awards, including the Padma Shri award in 2019 for her afforestation efforts, the Nadoja Award, the Karnataka Kalpavalli Award, and the Godfrey Phillip Award. Places in News(Just FYI: The location of the place is important, considering that UPSC has asked several questions about places that were in the news, such as Aleppo and Kirkuk, in the 2018 UPSC Prelims. The best way to remember them is to plot them on a world map.) The Strait of Hormuz connects the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)Strait of Hormuz— Iran on Saturday (15th November) confirmed seizure of a Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker as it traveled through the narrow Strait of Hormuz over violations, including carrying an illegal consignment, state media reported.— A strait is a narrow water body connecting two larger bodies of water. The two water bodies that the Strait of Hormuz connects are the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, which further flows out into the Arabian Sea.— The Strait is in the territorial waters of Iran and Oman, and accounts for a big bulk of the world’s oil trade. Sports(Just FYI: With the unpredictability of the UPSC examinations and questions like the ICC World Test Championship question 2021, you can’t be sure of anything. It is wise to know what it is and not go into too much detail.) Anish Bhanwala after winning the silver medal in ISSF World Championships in Cairo. (Image via Special Arrangement)Anish Bhanwala— Anish Bhanwala became the first Indian shooter to ever win a medal in the men’s 25m rapid fire event at the World Championships with a silver in the final at Cairo, Egypt.— India has sent a 40-member squad to Cairo for the ongoing World Championships. The contingent includes Paris 2024 Olympic medallists Manu Bhaker and Swapnil Kusale.Test Your Knowledge(Note: The best way to remember facts for UPSC and other competitive exams is to recall them through MCQs. Try to solve the following questions on your own.)(1) With reference to the history of India, “Ulgulan” or the Great Tumult is the description of which ofthe following events?(a) The Revolt of 1857(b) The Mappila Rebellion of 1921(c) The Indigo Revolt of 1859 – 60(d) Birsa Munda’s Revolt of 1899 – 1900(2) The Global Peace Prayer Festival is celebrated in which of the following countries?(a) Bhutan(b) Nepal(c) India(d) Maldives(3) Strait of Hormuz is located between(a) Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara(b) Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman(c) Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea(d) Red Sea to Gulf of AdenPrelims Answer Key1. (d) 2. (a) 3. (a)For your suggestions and feedback, write to khushboo.kumari@indianexpress.comSubscribe to our UPSC newsletter. Stay updated with the latest UPSC articles by joining our Telegram channel – IndianExpress UPSC Hub, and follow us on Instagram and X. Click Here to read the UPSC Essentials magazine for October 2025. 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