Important topics and their relevance in UPSC CSE exam for March 31, 2026. If you missed the March 30, 2026 UPSC CSE exam key from the Indian Express, read it herePreliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.Mains Examination: General Studies III: Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics, nano-technology, biotechnology and issues relating to intellectual property rights.What’s the ongoing story: With just a week to go, Nasa is making final preparations for one of its most important missions in decades. If all goes as planned, the Artemis 2 mission is set to take off on April 1, with astronauts making the first trip around the moon in over 50 years. The four astronauts making NASA’s next lunar leap bear little resemblance to the Apollo era.Key Points to Ponder:• Artemis II mission-know its key highlights• What are the objectives of the Artemis program?• What is the significance of Artemis II mission?• What is so great about going to the Moon when it has already been done more than 50 years ago?• Apollo programme and Artemis II mission-what are the key differences?• What are the future missions in the Artemis programme?• What are the moon missions by ISRO for Moon Exploration?Key Takeaways:Story continues below this ad• The mission holds significance as it will be the first time humans will venture further than low Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in 1972.• The Artemis 2 mission will take four astronauts on a 10-day trip around the moon and back to Earth. The crew includes Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen.• The mission will also serve as the first crewed flight for both Nasa’s powerful Space Launch System rocket and the Orion capsule. Together, they are designed to take humans deeper into space than ever before in the modern era.• The rocket and spacecraft are already in position at Launch Complex 39B at Kennedy Space Center. They arrived at the launch pad on March 20 after a slow journey from the Vehicle Assembly Building aboard Nasa’s massive crawler-transporter.’Story continues below this ad• The road to launch has not been entirely smooth. Artemis 2 was originally expected to take off earlier, but a series of technical issues forced delays.Do You Know:• The Artemis II mission is a 10-day mission aimed at testing systems for a future mission to the Moon. The mission will commence by entering high Earth orbit and having the crew on board test the life support and communication systems for the first 24 hours.• The spacecraft will then travel to the Moon via a free return trajectory. The spacecraft will loop around the far side of the Moon before returning to Earth. The spacecraft will also reach a distance of 248,655 miles from Earth during the mission. The spacecraft will have travelled a distance of 685,000 miles by the end of the mission before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean around April 10. The mission will have beaten the previous record of 248,000 miles set by Apollo 13.• The Artemis II mission will be conducted by a diverse team of four astronauts. Reid Wiseman will serve as commander, with Victor Glover as pilot. The crew also includes mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen. The mission signifies several important milestones: Koch will become the first woman to travel to the Moon’s vicinity, Glover the first person of colour, and Hansen the first non-American to take part in a lunar mission. However, none of the astronauts will set foot on the Moon, as Artemis II is a flyby mission and will not involve a lunar landing.Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:Story continues below this adArtemis 2 launch: How NASA’s Moon missions aim to prepare the ground for deeper space explorationBefore Artemis came Apollo: How NASA took its baby steps to the MoonPrevious year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:1) Consider the following space missions: (UPSC CSE, 2025)I. Axiom-4II. SpaDeXIII. GaganyaanHow many of the space missions given above encourage and support microgravity research?(a) Only one(b) Only two(c) All three(d) NonePrevious year UPSC Main Question Covering similar theme:Q. What is India’s plan to have its own space station and how will it benefit our space programme? (2019)PoliticsCaste enumeration in Ph-2, says Census CommissionerStory continues below this adPreliminary Examination: Indian Polity and Governance-Constitution, Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc.Mains Examination: General Studies I: Population and associated issuesWhat’s the ongoing story: With the first phase of Census 2027 set to launch this Wednesday, April 1, the Centre said that caste enumeration will be conducted during the second phase of the exercise, known as Population Enumeration (PE).Key Points to Ponder:• What is the meaning of ‘Census’?• What is Population Census?• Why the Census matters?• How caste census will ensure social justice?• What do you understand by caste census?• What is the difference between caste census and socio economic caste census?• Know the historical context and significance of conducting a caste census in India after nearly a century.• How the 2027 Census is proposed to be conducted?• How will this Census be different from the 2011 Census?• When was 1st census held in India?• How is census enumeration collected?• Registrar General of India-About, Role and Functions• What do you understand by the term ‘Administrative Boundaries’?• The Census in India is conducted by whom?Story continues below this ad• The Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner comes under which Ministry?• What is the Constitutional Provisions to Conduct census in India?• What is National Population Register (NPR)?• Is National Population Register (NPR) connected to National Register of Citizens (NRC)?Key Takeaways:• Addressing a press conference, Registrar General and Census Commissioner Mritunjay Kumar Narayan detailed the two-pronged structure of the national exercise.—Phase 1 includes House listing and Housing Census (HLO), focusing on housing conditions, available amenities and household assets.—The second phase provides data on demographic, socio-cultural and economic parameters, including migration and fertility.Story continues below this ad• The Census exercise will kick off April 1 with self-enumeration, allowing people to digitally submit information during the 15-day window preceding the first phase, Narayan said. This will be followed by the house-to-house houselisting operation by designated enumerators beginning April 16. The first phase is scheduled to be completed within a 30-day window between April and September 2026.• Census 2027 will cover 28 states and 8 Union Territories, 784 districts, 5,127 statutory towns, 4,580 census towns and 6,39,902 villages.• The Census is a Union subject and is listed at serial number 69 in the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution.• On June 16 last year, the Centre issued a notification declaring its intent to conduct the Census 2027.Do You Know:Story continues below this ad• The Census has been conducted in India since 1872. Census 2027 will be the 16th census overall and the eighth since Independence. The first phase of Census 2027, the Houselisting and Housing Census, is scheduled to begin on April 1 this year. The second phase of the Census, population enumeration, will take place in February 2027.• The Registrar General of India (RGI), which comes under the Ministry of Home Affairs, issued a notification last week regarding the details to be collected during the house-listing process. Details on 33 items, including buildings and assets possessed by households, will be collected. The Centre has approved a budget of Rs 11,718.24 crore for Census 2027.• The RGI has developed a Census Management and Monitoring System, a web-based platform to manage and monitor various Census 2027 activities. This will allow deployment of enumerators and supervisors and real-time monitoring of data collection, a source said.`Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:Knowledge Nugget | Census 2027 and Registrar General of India: A must-know for UPSC Exam Previous year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:2) Consider the following statements: (UPSC CSE, 2009)1. Between Census 1951 and Census 2001, the density of the population of India has increased more than three times.2. Between Census 1951 and Census 2001, the annual growth rate (exponential) of the population of India has doubled.Which of the statements given above is/are correct?(a) 1 only(b) 2 only(c) Both 1 and 2(d) Neither 1 nor 2ParliamentMHA’s AI vision: Predictive policing, dark web monitoring, ending mule accountsPreliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.Mains Examination: General Studies II: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.What’s the ongoing story: From real-time surveillance and predictive policing to behavioural analysis and crime pattern recognition, the Ministry of Home Affairs is leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) as “a critical enabler” in strengthening India’s internal security architecture, according to a Parliamentary Committee report tabled in Lok Sabha.Key Points to Ponder:• What are the key highlights from the report titled ‘Impact of emergence of Artificial Intelligence and related issues’?• How Ministry of Home Affairs is leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) as “a critical enabler” in strengthening India’s internal security architecture?• What are the key takeaways from the Parliamentary Committee report?• How Artificial Intelligence can be leveraged in the modern policing and in the India’s internal security architecture?• What is dark web?• What are the issues and challenges of monitoring the dark web?Key Takeaways:• The MHA, as per the report titled ‘Impact of emergence of Artificial Intelligence and related issues’, by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology, chaired by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, stated that it is using AI to enhance operational capabilities across police forces, paramilitaries, and other agencies by enabling faster, more informed decision-making.• Apart from Dubey, the 31-member committee includes BJP MPs Kangana Ranaut and Anil Baluni, TMC MP Saket Gokhale, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi and Congress MP K T S Tulsi, among others.Do You Know:• Here are the key takeaways from the report tabled.—Modernising cybercrime reporting: The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), the nodal anti-cybercrime agency under the MHA, is planning to implement an AI-assisted complaint registration system for the 1930 helpline to reduce time to lodge complaints and improve user experience through guided interaction.—Proactive Monitoring Tool: An AI-based tool developed by CDAC Mumbai, this is currently being used to screen and verify Child Sexual Exploitative and Abuse Material (CSEAM) content in cyber tipline received via National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children before they are forwarded to agencies.—Dark web: I4C uses AI-based tools to monitor dark web, scam websites, and fraud networks for tracking cybercrime discussions, phishing campaigns, and suspicious financial transactions.—Mule hunter app: A draft MoU is under process between RBIH and I4C to enhance efficiency of the ‘mule hunter application’, an in-house AI/ML-based solution.—Surakshini: Under the proposed initiative, a dedicated Mitigation Centre will be established to strengthen the process for removal of vulgar content.• According to the report, forensic departments functioning under the MHA, are equipped with technologies such as the Video Spectral Comparator, Projectina, advanced digital stereomicroscopes, Traso Scan, ProScope, and other specialised instruments, along with trained personnel.• The report also said that while the Bureau of Immigration (BoI) is currently not using AI for the immigration process, the Immigration, Visa Foreigners Registration and Tracking (IVFRT) (Version 3.0), commences on April 1, 2026. It aims at a “comprehensive transformation of India’s immigration, visa, and traveller management ecosystem by leveraging emerging technologies such as AI and ML for intelligent traveller profiling, and exploring Blockchain to enhance authenticity and security of digital records”.Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:Centralisation of power & excessive policing: The perils of integrating AI in police operationsPrevious year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:3) With the present state of development, Artificial Intelligence can effectively do which of the following? (UPSC CSE, 2020)1. Bring down electricity consumption in industrial units2. Create meaningful short stories and songs3. Disease diagnosis4. Text-to-Speech Conversion5. Wireless transmission of electrical energySelect the correct answer using the code given below:(a) 1, 2, 3 and 5 only(b) 1, 3 and 4 only(c) 2, 4 and 5 only(d) 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5Changes in insolvency law will help save viable businesses: FMPreliminary Examination: Economic and Social DevelopmentMain Examination: General Studies III: Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization, of resources, growth, development and employment.What’s the ongoing story: THE LOK Sabha on Monday passed the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Bill, 2025, which aims to provide a time-bound process to resolve insolvency among companies and individuals, by voice vote.Key Points to Ponder:• What is the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code?• What is insolvency under the Bankruptcy Code?• What is the purpose of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code?• Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Bill, 2025-what are key highlights of the bill?• What amendments are done in the recent Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Bill, 2025?• What is Creditor-Initiated Insolvency Resolution Process (CIIRP)?• Why Creditor-Initiated Insolvency Resolution Process (CIIRP) is in news?• National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT)-Role and Features• Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT)-Role and FeaturesKey Takeaways:• Replying to the debate, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the Code was not meant to function merely as a debt recovery mechanism but as a framework to save viable businesses.• She said the Bill has a total of 12 amendments, 11 recommended by the Select Committee and one introduced by the government.• Sitharaman said the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code had in the last 10 years contributed a lot to companies. “The IBC has been a crucial factor in improving the overall health of the country’s banking sector,” she said.Do You Know:• The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 provides a time-bound process to resolve insolvency among companies and individuals, said PRS Legislative Research in its analysis of the Code. The Amendment Bill aims to address procedural delays that the Code has faced till now.• The Bill removes the liquidator’s powers of admitting or rejecting claims and determining their value. It offers to the committee of creditors (CoC) the power to appoint or remove the liquidator and supervise the liquidation process, setting up a Creditor-Initiated Insolvency Resolution Process (CIIRP) that permits an out-of-court commencement of insolvency proceedings by select financial institutions.• One of the key changes proposed in the amendment bill is that an insolvency application filed by a financial creditor “must” be admitted if the default is proven, procedural compliance is met, and there are no disciplinary proceedings against the resolution professional. This means that there will be no real scope for rejecting such applications on additional grounds, and the default would be the only real ground for consideration of an insolvency application.• The bill also clarifies that records from financial institutions are to be considered as sufficient and conclusive proof of default by the debtor.Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:With IBC Amendment Bill, govt hopes to expedite insolvency process, maximise value: Key takeawaysPrevious year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:4) Which of the following statements best describes the term ‘Scheme for Sustainable Structuring of Stressed Assets (S4A)’, recently seen in the news? (UPSC CSE, 2017)(a) It is a procedure for considering ecological costs of developmental schemes formulated by the Government.(b) It is a scheme of RBI for reworking the financial structure of big corporate entities facing genuine difficulties.(c) It is a disinvestment plan of the Government regarding Central Public Sector Undertakings.(d) It is an important provision in ‘The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code’ recently implemented by the Government.The Ideas PageDenotified, Nomadic Tribes have always been ignored. Census can fix thatPreliminary Examination: Indian Polity and Governance-Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc.Main Examination: • General Studies I: Social empowerment• General Studies II: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementationWhat’s the ongoing story: Yogendra Yadav Writes: Cutting across governments and parties, the Indian state has stubbornly refused to acknowledge these communities. Some of them are listed as Scheduled Castes, some as Scheduled Tribes, some as OBCs, and many find no mention anywhere.Key Points to Ponder:• Who are the denotified tribes?• Who are the nomadic tribes?• What are the challenges faced by denotified and nomadic communities?• What is the history of denotified tribes?• What are the constitutional provisions for the protection of tribes?• What is the process for inclusion of tribes in the list of Scheduled Tribes?• What is the definition of scheduled tribes given in the Article 366 (25) of the Constitution?• What is Article 342 of the constitution?• Who declares a tribe as scheduled tribe?• Why tribes are called Scheduled Tribes?• What will be the benefits of the tribe’s inclusion in the scheduled tribe list?• Schemes launched by Ministry of Tribal Affairs for the welfare of Scheduled Tribes-Know them• Special Central Assistance to Tribal Sub-Scheme (SCA to TSS)-Key Objectives• Grants-in-aid under Article 275(1) of the Constitution-Key Points• Development of Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs)-Know in detail• What are the main objectives of integrated tribal development project (ITDP)?• National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST)-Know in briefKey Takeaways:Yogendra Yadav Writes:• Will independent India’s first full “caste census” fail the one group that needs it most — the Denotified Tribes, Nomadic Tribes and semi-nomadic communities (DNT/NT)? So far, the signs are bad. The Registrar General of India, in charge of Census 2027, has sealed its lips.• Recently, the Supreme Court dismissed a petition by the leading activists from these communities, a last-ditch effort to get the government to include them in the caste census, that too with gratuitous and insensitive remarks.• These communities are invisible to us. An educated Indian has begun to recognise “Dalits” with some unease and has a faint, if misplaced, idea of a forest-dwelling “tribal”, but he has simply no idea of what “Denotified Tribe” means or who nomadic communities are.• “Hated, Humiliated, Butchered” — the title of an article by Mahasweta Devi on DNT/NT communities captured their plight in today’s India. Imagine a community that suffers everything the poor, Dalits, Adivasis and LGBTQ people do — that is DNT/NT.• Ganesh Devy, who has done more to visibilise nomadic communities than the entire policy-academic establishment, notes that their invisibility is institutionalised. Hence, the demands of all the denotified and nomadic community organisations and leaders begin with three Cs: Cognisance, categorisation, counting.• The 2008 report of the Renke Commission, appointed by the central government, which recorded the plight of these communities, expanded on the post-Independence listing and offered the first population estimate (10.74 crore) for DNT/NT communities.• The more recent 2017 report of the Idate Commission (National Commission for Denotified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes) has taken this one step forwards by identifying 1,200 such communities from in the existing lists of SC, ST and OBCs, besides listing 269 unclassified communities.• The information gap on these unclassified communities was filled by the Anthropological Survey of India and Tribal Research Institutes in 2023. The Idate Commission had categorically recommended that DNT/NT must be categorised and counted in the next Census.Do You Know:• Denotified tribes (DNTs) are communities that were ‘notified’ as being ‘born criminal’ during the British regime under a series of laws starting with the Criminal Tribes Act of 1871. Nomadic and semi-nomadic communities are defined as those who move from one place to another rather than living at one place all the time.• A National Commission for De-notified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes (NCDNT) was constituted in 2006 by the then government. It was headed by Balkrishna Sidram Renke and submitted its report in June 2008, in which it said, “It is an irony that these tribes somehow escaped the attention of our Constitution makers and thus got deprived of the Constitutional support unlike Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.”• The Renke commission estimated their population at around 10.74 crore based on Census 2001. A new Commission constituted in February 2014 to prepare a state-wise list, which submitted its report on January 8, 2018, identified 1,262 communities as de-notified, nomadic and semi-nomadic.Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:Explained: State of denotified tribes, and why House panel is critical about a programme for their developmentPrevious year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:5) Consider the following statements: (UPSC CSE 2024)1. It is the Governor of the State who recognizes and declares any community of that State as a Scheduled Tribe.2. A community declared as a Scheduled Tribe in a State need not be so in another State.Which of the statements given above is/are correct?(a) 1 only(b) 2 only(c) Both 1 and 2(d) Neither 1 nor 2Previous year UPSC Main Question Covering similar theme:Q. What are the two major legal initiatives by the State since Independence addressing discrimination against Scheduled Tribes (STs). (2017)ExplainedMaoist operations: What after March 31 milestoneMains Examination: General Studies III: Linkages between development and spread of extremism.What’s the ongoing story: The collapse of the CPI (Maoist) leadership, capped by the recent surrender of Politburo member Thippiri Tirupathi alias Devuji, is being read by many as the inevitable end of India’s longest-running communist insurgency — an assessment now sharpened by the Union government’s March 31 deadline for eliminating Left-Wing Extremist violence.Key Points to Ponder:• What do you understand by Maoism?• What created the space for Maoism in India?• What is red corridor or red zone?• Map Work-Red Corridor• How many states were affected by Maoism in India?• Maoism and Naxalism and left wing insurgency-Compare and Contrast• What are Naxals fighting for in India?• What are the socio-economic conditions the districts that make up the red corridor?• ‘Maoism is a social, economic and developmental issue manifesting as a violent internal security threat’-discuss• What steps being taken by the Government of India to eradicate Naxal and LWE forces from the country?• How the Government of India has taken several specific initiatives in LWE affected States with Special reference to expansion of road network, improving Telecommunication connectivity, skill development and financial inclusion?• What do you know about the ‘Integrated Action Plan in Naxal-affected Districts’?• Can Maoism—or violent far-left politics—rise again?Key Takeaways:• But while the armed movement may be in terminal decline, the political and governance questions it leaves behind are only beginning.• The next phase will test whether the Indian state can turn a hard-won security victory into durable legitimacy, and whether far-left politics can still find space in a more connected, yet deeply unequal, India.• Over the past decade, the Maoist movement has been squeezed simultaneously from the top and bottom. Heavy attrition of the Central Committee and Politburo—through killings, arrests and high-profile surrenders such as Basavaraju, Madvi Hidma, Sonu and now Devuji—has left the CPI (Maoist) with a depleted and fragmented command.• At the same time, tactical innovations such as district-level reserve forces, better intelligence networks and the expanded use of local police auxiliaries have eroded the guerrillas’ traditional advantages in terrain and surprise.• The groundwork was laid much earlier. In 2006, the government led by Manmohan Singh identified Maoist violence as India’s single biggest internal security threat. A comprehensive strategy was later developed by the Ministry of Home Affairs under P Chidambaram. This involved a massive infusion of central armed police forces into Maoist-affected districts, funds for training and modernising state police, and a phased “clear, hold and develop” approach.• Security forces were tasked with entering Maoist bastions and pushing guerrillas out, building camps to hold territory, and enabling civil administration to follow with roads, schools and hospitals.• Alongside this came a broader crackdown on suspected urban sympathisers. The Narendra Modi government has continued with the same policy with minor tweaks, but greater vigor.• Over 15,000 km of roads have been built to take forces deep into forested interiors of central India, more than 9,000 mobile towers installed, and 656 police stations in Maoist areas fortified. Nearly 200 new security force camps have come up in core Maoist zones, particularly across Chhattisgarh and the Andhra–Odisha border region.Do You Know:• Left Wing Extremism (LWE)-related incidents and resultant deaths have fallen by over four-fifths since 2010. The number of LWE-affected districts has shrunk from nearly 200 in the early 2000s to just 38 by the end of 2025. A February 2026 review by the Ministry of Home Affairs shows that only seven districts—five in Chhattisgarh, one in Jharkhand and one in Odisha—are now categorised as “LWE Affected”, with just three of them (Bijapur, Narayanpur and Sukma) marked “Most Affected”.• Surrounding them is a ring of 31 “Legacy Thrust” districts, where violence has ebbed but state support is being maintained toconsolidate gains.• Former CRPF Director General K Durga Prasad, who helped craft Greyhounds’s counter-insurgency model, argues that Maoists were “never a match to the State”. “The movement started failing a long time ago. The Maoists have admitted this in their own documents. In 2024, the CPI (Maoist) leadership told cadres to either move to secure zones or surrender.”• Emerging from the Naxalbari uprising of 1967, early Naxalite groups framed India as a “semi-feudal, semi-colonial” society in which only armed peasant war could deliver land and dignity. Over decades, they spread across what became known as the “Red Corridor”—from forests of Andhra and Telangana to tribal belts of Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Odisha—by embedding themselves among landless peasants, Dalits and Adivasis for whom the formal state was distant, predatory or violently absent.• As Maoist influence recedes, the danger is not a sudden return of a disciplined guerrilla army but the emergence of new forms of alienation or criminality in areas where insurgent structures once mediated power and resources. The MHA’s decision to designate 31 “Legacy Thrust” districts—from Gadchiroli and Balaghat to Koraput and Bhadradri Kothagudem—reflects recognition that declaring victory is not enough. These areas will continue to receive focused security and development support to prevent relapse.Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:A deadline, encounters & surrenders: How Chhattisgarh’s Maoist bastions fellTop Maoist leader, 8 others surrender in Andhra PradeshMaoists ‘more or less wiped out’ from Bastar, says Shah; task not over: OppPrevious year UPSC Main Question Covering similar theme:Q. Naxalism is a social, economic, and developmental issue manifesting as a violent internal security threat. In this context, discuss the emerging issues and suggest a multi-layered strategy to tackle the menace of Naxalism. (2022)Q. What are the determinants of left-wing extremism in the Eastern part of India? What strategy should the Government of India, civil administration and security forces adopt to counter the threat in the affected areas? (2020)Q. Article 244 of the Indian Constitution relates to administration of scheduled areas and tribal areas. Analyze the impact of non-implementation of the provisions of the Fifth schedule on the growth of Left-wing extremism. (2018)Is global warming being measured comprehensively? A new study flags gapPreliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importanceMains Examination: General Studies III: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.What’s the ongoing story: Not all greenhouse gases behave the same way. Some linger for centuries; others hit hard and fade fast. Yet climate policy has long treated them as broadly comparable, using a single yardstick. A new study argues that this may be skewing carbon markets, and undervaluing some of the quickest ways to slow warming today.Key Points to Ponder:• What is carbon footprints?• What is the current way to measure carbon footprints?• How is this equivalent value calculated?• Why is the 100-year rule being questioned?• Why does methane need different treatment?• What is the RFA framework proposed in the paper?• How is RFA different from the current method?• What does the paper mean by the “timing” of emission reductions?• How do the authors say RFA is more scientifically robust?• Why does this matter for carbon markets?Key Takeaways:• The study, published in the UK-based journal Environmental Research Letters, proposes a new framework called Radiative Forcing-based Accounting, or RFA, which aims to measure climate impact to better reflect how different gases warm the planet over time.• The issue matters because the way emissions are counted affects how carbon credits are valued, which projects receive support, and how quickly climate benefits are delivered.Do You Know:• Climate policy uses a common unit to compare different greenhouse gases. That unit is called carbon dioxide equivalent, or CO2e.• Since carbon dioxide is the benchmark gas, other gases such as methane are converted into CO2e using a multiplier called Global Warming Potential, or GWP. For more than 30 years, the world has mostly used GWP100, which measures the warming impact of a gas over a 100-year period. Under this system, one tonne of methane is assigned a fixed CO2-equivalent value.• To convert methane emissions into CO₂ equivalent (CO₂e), the amount of methane emitted (in tonnes) is multiplied by a factor called the Global Warming Potential over 100 years (GWP100). This factor represents how much warming methane causes compared with carbon dioxide over a 100-year period. For methane, this value is approximately 28, meaning methane has about 28 times the warming impact of CO₂ over 100 years.• By multiplying methane emissions by this factor (28), we express the emissions in CO₂-equivalent terms. More generally, converting methane to CO₂e requires applying a numerical multiplier that reflects methane’s warming potential relative to CO₂ over a chosen and comparable time period.• cutting methane emissions is one of the fastest ways to slow warming in the near term.It stays in the atmosphere for about 12 years, but during that time it traps a great deal of heat. That means methane cuts can reduce warming sooner than many other climate actions. The proposal note also argues that present accounting tends to underestimate short-lived climate pollutants such as methane and black carbon.Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:Budget gives Rs 20,000 crore: Why India needs carbon capture solutions, challenges it facesPrevious year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:6) With reference to the Agreement at the UNFCCC Meeting in Paris in 2015, which of the following statements is/are correct? (UPSC CSE 2016)1. The Agreement was signed by all the member countries of the UN and it will go into effect in 2017.2. The Agreement aims to limit the greenhouse gas emissions so that the rise in average global temperature by the end of this century does not exceed 2°C or even 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.3. Developed countries acknowledged their historical responsibility in global warming and committed to donate $ 1000 billion a year from 2020 to help developing countries to cope with climate change.Select the correct answer using the code given below.(a) 1 and 3 only(b) 2 only(c) 2 and 3 only(d) 1, 2 and 3Previous year UPSC Main Question Covering similar theme:Q. Discuss global warming and mention its effects on the global climate. Explain the control measures to bring down the level of greenhouse gases which cause global warming, in light of the Kyoto Protocol, 1997. (UPSC CSE 2022)EconomyIndependent news creators on Centre’s radar as it eyes tighter control over contentPreliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.Mains Examination: General Studies II: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.What’s the ongoing story: Independent news creators on platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, and X may be brought under a key legal framework — a move likely to raise concerns over the government’s increasing control on online speech.Key Points to Ponder:• The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021-know key highlights• ‘The draft amendments to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, recommended a slew of changes to Part III of the rules’-what kind of changes?• What are the recent steps taken by the Government to regulate independent news creators?• What are the issues with the regulation of independent news creators?• Why proposed provisions in the bill can undermine creative independence in India?Key Takeaways:• It will allow the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) to recommend issuing of direct blocking orders, and requiring them to apologise, or make changes to the content, if found guilty of any grievances received by an inter-departmental committee.• The draft amendments to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, recommended a slew of changes to Part III of the rules, which so far governed professional media organisations.• Some changes have also been recommended to Part II of the rules, which apply to social media companies. The Centre has invited comments to the draft until April 14.• Popular news and current affairs creators such as Dhruv Rathee could fall under the ambit of these proposed changes, since they are currently not defined as publishers. In fact, the proposed rules could be even wider in their coverage. For instance, even if a creator does not regularly make content related to news or current affairs, but creates something involving a current topic — say a stand-up comic making a joke about a government policy — could potentially fall under its ambit.Do You Know:• Currently, there are two content blocking mechanisms in India. One is under Section 69 (A) of the IT Act, through which content that violates national security, or threatens India’s foreign policy, is taken down. Various ministries and state governments have nodal officers who gather such content and send it to officials at the IT Ministry, which is the final signing-off agency responsible for issuing the blocking order.• The other mechanism works under Section 79 (3)(b) of the IT Act, under which various ministries have been directly empowered to issue blocking orders to online platforms, most commonly through the Sahyog portal.• Broadly, Section 69 (A) of the IT Act empowers the central government to restrict public access to information in the interest of sovereignty, security, public order or preventing incitement to offences. The process is governed by the Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking for Access of Information by Public) Rules, 2009.Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:Online content regulation: SC for autonomous monitor; Govt plans to rewrite digital obscenity rules with U/A, A ratings, bar on anti-national contentPrevious year UPSC Main Question Covering similar theme:Q. Social media and encrypting messaging services pose a serious security challenge. What measures have been adopted at various levels to address the security implications of social media? Also suggest any other remedies to address the problem (2024)RBI’s new foreign exchange cap to stem rupee slide. But why are banks worried?Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.Mains Examination: General Studies III: Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization, of resources, growth, development and employment.What’s the ongoing story: Concerned about the falling value of the rupee amid the rise in oil prices and fears over inflation in the wake of the West Asia conflict, the Reserve Bank of India last week instructed banks to limit their net open exposure to the currency in the foreign exchange market to $100 million by the end of each day. Authorised dealers must comply with this rule by April 10.Key Points to Ponder:• Why RBI introduced forex cap?• Why banks are worried?• More measures on the anvil?• What is foreign exchange reserves?• What is the foreign exchange reserves of India in 2026?• What are components of the foreign reserves of India?• How effective is RBI’s strategy in defending the Indian rupee?• What is the difference between rupee appreciation and rupee depreciation?• What are the reasons for current depreciation of Indian Rupee?• What will be the impact, and will exporters benefit?• What measures can the RBI and the government take to stabilize the currency?• How does the fall of the Indian Rupee impact the macroeconomic indicators of India, such as inflation, foreign exchange reserves, and the current account deficit (CAD)?Key Takeaways:• The RBI’s goal in taking this step is to stabilise the falling rupee and protect the country’s foreign exchange reserves, which have fallen since the West Asian conflict started a month ago.• The central bank introduced this cap as the Indian rupee has recently hit historic lows of 94.81 against the dollar, showing a fall of four per cent since the war started in late February. The RBI’s measure is aimed at halting the rupee’s decline by limiting how much foreign currency exposure banks can maintain onshore.• Further, as the presure on the currency built up, the RBI has used the dollar in its forex kitty to stabilise the rupee. As a result, forex reserves of the country have fallen by over $30 billion to $698.34 billion since the conflict started. “The (RBI) move signals heightened concern around currency volatility and reflects the central bank’s attempt to stabilise excessive fluctuations.• The heavy foreign investor outflows have pulled the rupee down sharply, which has broken past the 92-, 93-, and now 94-per-dollar levels just this month. The Indian currency had weakened below 90- and 91-per-dollar back in December 2025, and is now precariously close to the 95-per-dollar mark.Do You Know:• Bankers are increasingly uneasy about the proposed regulatory changes, as these could have immediate financial and operational consequences. One of their primary concerns is the speed of implementation. Banks have urged the RBI to allow a transition window of about three months, giving them sufficient time to gradually reduce or restructure their existing foreign exchange positions. An abrupt enforcement would leave little room to manage risk effectively and lead to losses, said an analyst, tracking the development.• The scale of current exposure adds to the anxiety. Individual banks are estimated to hold sizable dollar positions making the system-wide exposure quite substantial. If the new limits are enforced without delay, banks may be compelled to rapidly unwind these positions, potentially leading to total dollar sales in the range of $11–15 billion across the sector, according to market estimates.• Banks may incur mark-to-market losses if they are forced to exit positions at unfavourable exchange rates. These losses would be reflected in their treasury books for the ongoing March quarter, thereby putting pressure on overall profitability and earnings.• If the rupee slide continues, the RBI is likely to announce more measures to stabilise the rupee and forex reserves, market observers say. During the global financial crisis and taper tantrum (reduction in economic stimulus), then RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan responded to pressure on the rupee by attracting foreign currency inflows, notably through the FCNR(B) scheme with subsidized swap rates that brought in over $30 billion and boosted reserves.Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:Are India’s forex reserves really ‘adequate to provide cushion against external shocks’?Previous year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:7) Which of the following has/have occurred in India after its liberalization of economic policies in 1991? (UPSC CSE, 2017)1. Share of agriculture in GDP increased enormously.2. Share of India’s exports in world trade increased.3. FDI inflows increased.4. India’s foreign exchange reserves increased enormously.Select the correct answer using the codes given below:(a) 1 and 4 only(b) 2, 3 and 4 only(c) 2 and 3 only(d) 1, 2, 3 and 48) With reference to the Indian economy, consider the following statements: (UPSC CSE, 2022)1. If the inflation is too high, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is likely to buy government securities.2. If the rupee is rapidly depreciating, RBI is likely to sell dollars in the market.3. If interest rates in the USA or European Union were to fall, that is likely to induce RBI to buy dollars.Which of the statements given above are correct?(a) 1 and 2 only(b) 2 and 3 only(c) 1 and 3 only(d) 1, 2 and 3 PRELIMS ANSWER KEY1.(c) 2.(d) 3.(d) 4.(b) 5.(b) 6.(b) 7.(b) 8.(b) For any queries and feedback, contact priya.shukla@indianexpress.comSubscribe to our UPSC newsletter. 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