Important topics and their relevance in UPSC CSE exam for July 30, 2025. If you missed the July 29, 2025 UPSC CSE exam key from the Indian Express, read it hereIndia’s first outreach to Syria after Assad fall: MEA official meets ministers in DamascusSyllabus:Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.Main Examination: General Studies II: Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.What’s the ongoing story: In its first official outreach to the new dispensation in Syria since the fall of the Assad regime last year, India has sent a senior official to Damascus to meet with ministers in the transitional government led by Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa.Key Points to Ponder:• What were India’s ties with Bashar al-Assad?• Why India’s decision to initiate formal outreach to Syria post-Assad regime is significant?• Map Work-Syria, Syria’s neighbouring Countries• Discuss the geopolitical significance of Syria in the Middle East• What are the role of regional and extra-regional actors in the Syrian conflict?• Governance in post-conflict Syria-what you know about the same?Story continues below this ad• How India can leverage this engagement to support post-conflict reconstruction in Syria?Key Takeaways:• An Indian delegation led by M Suresh Kumar, Joint Secretary in charge of West Asia and North Africa Department at the Ministry of External Affairs, met Syrian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Asaad Al-Shaibani on Monday, according to Syrian news agency SANA. Kumar was earlier India’s charge d’affaires at the Indian High Commission in Islamabad, Pakistan.• “Talks during the meeting dealt with issues of mutual concern and ways of enhancing relations between the two countries in the interests of both peoples,” SANA reported, quoting a Syrian Foreign ministry statement.• The Indian delegation also held discussions with Syrian Health Minister Musab Al-Ali on Monday.Story continues below this ad• Sources said the focus of the dialogue was on enhancing collaboration in health care, particularly in “pharmaceutical manufacturing and medical training”.• Both sides also deliberated on the implementation of a “scholarship program for Syrian students” and the development of a “specialised engineering cooperation initiative tailored for Syrian government employees”.• According to SANA, Al-Ali emphasised Syria’s keenness to build a lasting partnership with India in the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors and noted it would strengthen the country’s national health system and improve the availability of essential medicines.• Kumar reaffirmed New Delhi’s commitment to support Syria through funding specialised training programs for Syrian professionals. He also said India would continue coordinating the training of Syrian doctors at Indian institutions while fostering deeper collaboration in nursing, pharmaceuticals and drug exports.Do You Know:Story continues below this ad• India had strong and robust ties with the Assad regime — led primarily by Hafez al-Assad and then his son Bashar al-Assad — for more than five decades until last December, when al-Sharaa led a rebel coalition to overthrow the Bashar al-Assad regime and took over as the country’s leader.• According to officials, India has been monitoring the situation after the departure of Bashar al-Assad on 8 December 2024. In the immediate aftermath of the political change in Syria, India carried out the evacuation of 77 Indian nationals from Syria on 10-11 December 2024.• On December 9, India had called for a “peaceful and inclusive Syrian-led political process” which respects the interests and aspirations of all sections of Syrian society. It was India’s first statement since Bashar al-Assad’s fall.• Syria adopted a new interim constitution on March 13. The country is expected to hold its first parliamentary election under the al-Sharaa administration in September.Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:An unravelling in SyriaPrevious year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:1. Consider the following pairs: (UPSC CSE 2018)Story continues below this adTowns sometimes mentioned in newsCountry1.AleppoSyria2.KirkukYemen3.MosulPalestine4.Mazar-i-sharifAfghanistanWhich of the pairs given above are correctly matched?(a) 1 and 2(b) 1 and 4 (c) 2 and 3(d) 3 and 4103 days, 293 camera traps, 4,011 images — how Kaziranga reserve counted its tiger populationSyllabus:Preliminary Examination: General issues on Environmental ecology, Bio-diversity and Climate Change – that do not require subject specialization.Main Examination: General Studies III: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.Story continues below this adWhat’s the ongoing story: Kaziranga Tiger Reserve has the third-highest density of tigers in the world, the first large-scale assessment of the big cat’s population there has revealed. Officials say the reserve has an estimated 18.65 tigers per 100 square kilometres.Key Points to Ponder:• Map Work-Kaziranga Tiger Reserve• Map Work-Locate top five and bottom five states (Population) Tiger Reserves in India• What is India’s tiger population?• How scientists count tigers in India?• How are camera traps used to count tigers?• What is spatial capture-recapture used to count tigers?• What is Monitoring System for Tigers: Intensive Protection and Ecological Status (MSTrIPES)?• National Tiger Conservation Authority is a statutory body under which Ministry?• Who is the Chairman of National Tiger Conservation Authority?• What is Conservation Assured Tiger Standards (CATS)?• What is Management Effectiveness Evaluation (MEE)?Key Takeaways:Story continues below this ad• On Tuesday, officials released a summary report for 2024 titled ‘Status of Tigers in the Kaziranga Tiger Reserve’, with the findings of a Phase IV tiger monitoring initiative across Eastern Assam, Nagaon, and Biswanath Wildlife Divisions. This was done at the direction of the National Tiger Conservation Authority.• The survey documented 148 tigers in the reserve, up from 104 recorded in 2022, 99 in 2018 and 96 in 2014. Reserve director Sonali Ghosh said these findings show that Kaziranga has the third-highest density of tigers in the world, after Corbett Tiger Reserve in Uttarakhand and Bandipur Tiger Reserve in Karnataka.• The report attributes the increased count of tigers to the Biswanath Wildlife Division being included in the sampling for the first time. “This growth is particularly notable due to the first-time sampling of the Biswanath Wildlife Division, where 27 newly recorded tigers have contributed to the overall increase.• In the core Eastern Assam Wildlife Division, the population grew from 104 in 2022 to 115 in 2024, while the Nagaon Wildlife Division maintained a stable count of six tigers,” it states.Do You Know:Story continues below this ad• The survey was conducted over 103 days using 293 paired camera traps across 1307.49 square kilometres, which yielded 4,011 tiger images in 242 locations. The report states that the right-flank stripes of the animals in these images were used to identify 148 adult tigers – 83 females, 55 males, and 10 with undetermined gender.• “The park’s diverse ecosystems, including Eastern wet alluvial grasslands, semi-evergreen forests, tropical moist mixed deciduous forests, and wetlands, provide an ideal habitat for tiger and megaherbivores. The conservation status of tigers in Kaziranga has been strengthened through rigorous protection measures, including anti-poaching efforts, habitat restoration, and community-based conservation initiatives,” states the report.• “Despite these successes, Kaziranga’s tiger population faces persistent challenges, including habitat fragmentation, human-wildlife conflict, and the pressures of agricultural expansion and infrastructure development around the tiger reserve. The impacts of climate change further complicate conservation efforts, necessitating adaptive management strategies to ensure long-term population viability,” it states.Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:Fifty years of ‘Project Tiger’: How the programme saved Indian tigersPrevious year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:2. The term ‘M-STrIPES’ is sometimes seen in the news in the context of (2017)a) Captive breeding of Wild Faunab) Maintenance of Tiger Reservesc) Indigenous Satellite Navigation Systemd) Security of National Highways3. Among the following Tiger Reserves, which one has the largest area under “Critical Tiger Habitat”? (2020)a) Corbettb) Ranthamborec) Nagarjunsagar-Srisailamd) SunderbansTHE EDITORIAL PAGETrade in time of disorderSyllabus:Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.Mains Examination: General Studies II: Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.What’s the ongoing story: Jawed Ashraf Writes: The formal signing of the India-UK Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) headlined Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the UK.Key Points to Ponder:• What is India-UK Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA)?• What are the main features of the EU-UK trade and cooperation agreement?• What are the benefits of Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA)?• How the India-UK FTA represents a significant shift in India’s historically protectionist trade strategy?• Why agriculture and dairy continued to remain off-limits in the UK deal?• ‘The Double Contributions Convention (DCC) for social security contributions’-what you understand by the same?• How duty reductions on Scotch whisky reflect India’s broader strategic balance between revenue interests and trade liberalisation?Key Takeaways:Jawed Ashraf Writes:• CETA’s significance also derives from its ambition. FTAs either cover areas that fall within the mandate of the WTO or go deeper in covering commitments and harmonisation on a range of national economic policy issues to facilitate stronger economic partnership among signatories.• CETA embodies the latter. The two governments have hailed CETA as a landmark agreement because of the balance of openings and protections, coverage and scope and also because, from India’s standpoint, it is the first comprehensive one with a major Western partner that defines the template for others, including with the EU.• CETA is historic for another reason. It is an important milestone in India’s — as in the world’s — growing reliance on bilateralism and regionalism at a time when the multilateral trade regime is eroding as its architect, which is still the world’s most powerful economy, turns its back on it.• President Donald Trump has abandoned the foundational principle of the global trade regime. As in other domains, the US no longer finds the system it created useful or attractive. Trump has accelerated a longer-term trend in the US since the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) of 2008 towards trade hesitancy, if not hostility, and protectionism, through the successive tenures of presidents Barack Obama, Trump and Joe Biden. There is a bipartisan consensus that the US will not surrender its sovereignty to the binding rule-making role of the WTO. The current sentiments will continue to shape the US political economy.• For the US and the West broadly, the problem has deeper structural roots in the consequences of the recent wave of globalisation that began in the 1970s and peaked by the time of the GFC. The first wave of globalisation from 1870 to 1914 led to the concentration of prosperity and power in the industrialising West and America’s rise as a major power.Do You Know:• According to the PIB, CETA provides an unprecedented duty-free access to 99 per cent of India’s exports to the UK, covering nearly 100% of the trade value. This includes labour-intensive sectors such as textiles, leather, marine products, gems and jewellery, and toys as well as high-growth sectors like engineering goods, chemicals, and auto components. This will spur large-scale employment generation, empowering artisans, women-led enterprises, and MSMEs.• The agreement includes a wide-ranging package covering Information Technology /IT enabled services, financial and professional services, business consulting, education, telecom, architecture, and engineering that will unlock high-value opportunities and job creation.• The agreement goes beyond goods and addresses services, a core strength of India’s economy. India exported over USD 19.8 billion in services to the UK in 2023, and CETA promises to expand this further In a first by UK, mobility for professionals across IT, healthcare, finance, and education is being eased with CETA providing for streamlined entry for Contractual Service Suppliers, Business Visitors, Intra-Corporate Transferees, Independent Professionals.• India has opened 89.5 % of its tariff lines, covering 91 % of UK’s exports, safeguarding sensitive sectors and strategically important products where domestic capability is being built. Elimination of duties will make a range of imported products more affordable for consumers, offering greater variety and quality at competitive prices.• The India–UK Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) is designed to open new avenues for trade and investment, while protecting India’s core economic interests. It combines tariff reduction, simpler rules for trade, strong provisions for services, and measures that make professional mobility easier.• The agreement simplifies compliance by allowing exporters to self-certify the origin of products, reducing time and paperwork. UK importers can also rely on importers’ knowledge for certification, further easing trade. For small consignments under £1,000, there is no requirement for origin documentation, which supports e-commerce and small businesses. Product Specific Rules of Origin (PSRs) align with India’s current supply chains for key sectors such as textiles, machinery, pharmaceuticals, and processed food.Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:UK trade deal: India gains big in food, footwear, textile; to cut tariffs in auto, liquorPrevious year UPSC Main Question Covering similar theme:How would the recent phenomena of protectionism and currency manipulations in world trade affect macroeconomic stability of India? (2018)A LIMITED BORROWING SPACESyllabus:Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social DevelopmentMains Examination: General Studies II: Issues and challenges pertaining to the federal structureWhat’s the ongoing story: Aditi Nayar Writes: Assistance by Centre has played a key role in boosting capital expenditure of states but borrowing space is limited.Key Points to Ponder:• What is meant by fiscal health?• How fiscal health is evaluated?• Which state in India has the highest fiscal deficit?• Which state topped the NITI Aayog fiscal health index in 2025?• How state fiscal trends reflect broader macroeconomic continuity and challenges?• What is the relationship between state debt and capital expenditure?• How do states with lower debt/GSDP sustain higher capex ratios?• How state finances, especially debt and deficit trends, interact with India’s broader goal of achieving a US$5 trillion economy?Key Takeaways:• The fiscal health of the Centre and the states is a key part of the overall macro picture. This article analyses the fiscal trends for a large sample of 17 state governments (excluding Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim) for FY2025 and what they augur for the current fiscal and the medium term. These states account for about 90 per cent of India’s GDP.• Typically, a wide variation has been observed in the states’ actual fiscal metrics relative to the Budget and Revised Estimates. Therefore, the focus here is on the trends revealed by the provisional actuals (PA) for FY2025 relative to the actual position in the previous year.• The FY2025 PA indicates a widening in the combined fiscal deficit of 17 states to Rs 9.5 trillion (3.2 per cent of the Gross State Domestic Product or GSDP) from Rs 7.8 trillion (2.9 per cent of GSDP) in FY2024. This was driven by the near-doubling of their revenue deficit to Rs 2.1 trillion (0.7 per cent of the GSDP) in FY2025 PA from Rs 1.1 trillion (0.4 per cent of GSDP) in FY2024, and to a relatively smaller extent by a rise in capital spending (by Rs 678 billion or 0.2 per cent of GSDP).Do You Know:• The rise in the states’ revenue deficit in FY2025 is in contrast to the compression at the Centre. A higher share of revenue deficit in the fiscal deficit is not a favourable outcome for state finances. This indicates that the limited borrowing space is partly used towards funding the revenue expenditure, which tends to be less productive compared to capital spending. For instance, the total capital spending of the 17 states in FY2025 PA comprised 78 per cent, lower than the trend during FY2022-24, wherein 80-90 per cent of the fiscal deficit was attributed to capex.• The combined capital spending of the 17 states was Rs. 7.4 trillion in FY2025 PA, Rs 678 billion higher than the amount spent in FY2024. The incremental capex of the states in FY2025 PA was sharply lower than the incremental spending of Rs 910-1,120 billion during FY2022-FY2024.• Another discouraging trend is the undershooting in capex relative to the Revised Estimates (RE) by Rs 1.1 trillion, once again in contrast to the overshoot seen for the Centre.• In March 2025, the states’ capex surged by 42 per cent YoY to Rs 2.2 trillion from Rs 1.5 trillion in March 2024, led by a pick-up in spending by Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. As much as 30 per cent of the annual combined capex of the sample states was incurred in March 2025, much higher than the proportion of spending seen in March 2024. Incidentally, back-ended capex is one of the reasons that the states’ borrowing through state government securities tends to spike in March.Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:Centre’s interest-free loan facility provides space for states to increase capital expenditure. Will they?Previous year UPSC Main Question Covering similar theme:Public expenditure management is a challenge to the Government of India in the context of budget-making during the post-liberalization period. Clarify it.(2019)ECONOMYAmid trade upheaval, India rethinks China blockade to further tech manufacturingSyllabus:Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.Mains Examination: General Studies II: Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.What’s the ongoing story: Nearly half a decade ago, India adopted a ‘China-out’ strategy of sorts, in response to the border clashes in 2020, introduced an anti-Beijing foreign investment policy, and kept Chinese firms out of critical sectors like telecommunications.Key Points to Ponder:• What types of products will the Dixon–Longcheer JV focus on manufacturing?• India’s electronics ambitions are partly guided by which overarching economic concept?• Know about India’s decision to recalibrate its China out electronics policy in light of global supply shifts and its manufacturing objectives.• Know the strategic and economic rationales behind approving the Dixon Longcheer joint venture.• What are the policy instruments India has used to manage Chinese FDI?• How U.S. trade policy has influenced the modal shift in global electronics supply chains and India’s opportunity to capture a share?Key Takeaways:• The most recent sign of the thaw came in the form of a recommendation made by the government think tank NITI Aayog, earlier this month, to ease India’s foreign direct investment (FDI) rules, which involves government scrutiny into investments made by Chinese firms. Earlier, the Economic Survey 2023-24 had sprung a surprise by advocating attracting investments from Chinese companies to boost exports.• India had earlier put restrictions on investments from China through Press Note 3 in April 2020 to curb potential opportunistic takeovers of Indian companies during the Covid-19 pandemic by making a government approval mandatory for all investments from countries sharing a land border with India, including China. It continued to be in force in the wake of national security concerns due to border tensions after the Galwan clash.• Of course, while the government managed to keep China out in some sectors like finished smartphones, imports from the country continued, particularly for a number of electronic components, which are crucial for the final assembly process in India, but for which New Delhi has little to no production base.Do You Know:• In the last five years, electronics imports from China and Hong Kong have far outnumbered imports from other major manufacturing hubs like South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and all ASEAN countries, combined.• China, for its own part, and seeing India’s growing manufacturing footprint, also imposed restrictions on its companies, making it harder for them to do business with Indian firms. For instance, India’s share in US smartphone imports surged to nearly 36 per cent in the first five months of 2025, from about 11 per cent in 2024. China, which continues to dominate the product category, saw its share drop from 82 per cent to 49 per cent over the same period, this paper had reported earlier.• China’s actions include pulling workers out of India, and making it more difficult for India-based manufacturing companies to obtain capital goods, which are needed for the assembly process. China has also imposed a blockade on several rare earth metals and magnets, and while the prime target of that restriction is the United States, India has found itself caught in the crosshairs.Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:As tariff differential with China narrows, policymakers recalibrate India’s relative market access dynamics into the USTHE WORLDUK plans to recognise Palestine in Sept unless Israel meets conditions: StarmerSyllabus:Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.Mains Examination: General Studies II: Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.What’s the ongoing story: UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Tuesday announced that Britain will recognise a Palestinian state in September, unless Israel agrees to a ceasefire in Gaza and takes concrete steps toward a lasting peace.Key Points to Ponder:• What does it mean to be recognised as a state?• What is the status of Palestine at the UN?• Which countries recognise Palestine as a state?• What is India’s stand on Palestine?• What is the significance of the Britain’s plan to recognise a Palestinian state in September?Key Takeaways:• In a cabinet meeting focused on the Gaza conflict, Starmer told ministers that the UK would support Palestinian statehood ahead of the United Nations General Assembly if Israel fails to meet a set of conditions. These include ending the ongoing military operations in Gaza, halting plans for annexation in the West Bank, and committing to a peace process aimed at a two-state solution, news agency AP reported.• While the UK has historically backed the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, official recognition has until now been tied to the outcome of direct negotiations.• However, momentum toward unilateral recognition has grown since French President Emmanuel Macron, last week, announced that France would become the first major Western nation to formally recognise Palestine in September.• In response, Israel’s foreign ministry condemned the UK’s decision, calling it a “reward for Hamas.” A statement issued on the social media platform X on Tuesday claimed that the UK’s plans to recognise Palestine would undermine efforts to secure a ceasefire in Gaza and potentially reward terrorism.• Israel argued that such a move would send the wrong message and encourage further instability in the region. “Recognising Palestine at this time would reward Hamas and harm efforts to end the violence,” Israel’s foreign ministry said in the statement.Do You Know:• The Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States (1933), identified four conditions of a state: “a permanent population, defined territory, government, and capacity to enter into relations with other states”.• Statehood, according to The Cambridge Companion to International Law, “has long been the central organising idea in the international system”. While several regions and peoples have over the years sought to declare themselves as independent states, their formal recognition depends on how the rest of the world views them.• The United Nations has a broad criterion for accepting states as Members. Article 4 of the UN Charter states: “Membership in the United Nations is open to all other peace-loving states which accept the obligations contained in the present Charter and, in the judgment of the Organization, are able and willing to carry out these obligations.”• Procedurally, admission to the UN as a Member State is granted by a two-thirds majority vote in the UN General Assembly. However, the UNGA takes up the candidature only upon the recommendation of the UN Security Council.• The UNSC comprises five permanent members — the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, China, and France — and 10 temporary member countries chosen on a rotational basis. For the UNSC recommendation to pass there must be a vote, with at least nine members in favour and no permanent members using their veto. Essentially, it is the P5 who determine the fate of an issue in the UNSC.• Currently, Palestine is a “Permanent Observer State” — and not a “Member State” — at the UN. There is one other Permanent Observer State in the UN — the Holy See, representing Vatican City. As a Permanent Observer State, Palestine is allowed to “participate in all of the Organization’s proceedings, except for voting on draft resolutions and decisions in its main organs and bodies, from the Security Council to the General Assembly and its six main committees”.Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:French President Macron says France will recognise Palestine as a state‘Worst-case scenario of famine’ in Gaza, say food crisis expertsSyllabus:Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.Mains Examination: General Studies II: Issues relating to hunger and Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interestsWhat’s the ongoing story: Famine is “playing out” in the Gaza Strip, a global hunger monitor said in an alert issued on Tuesday as international criticism of Israel intensifies over rapidly worsening conditions in the Palestinian enclave.Key Points to Ponder:• What is famine?• How famine is declared?• What does it take for a famine to be declared?• What is Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC)?• Why does the declaration of famine matter?• What is the status of Gaza?• How Israeli-imposed blockade and military operations contribute to a ‘man made famine’?• What is India’s response and position regarding the Gaza hunger crisis?Key Takeaways:• “The worst-case scenario of Famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip,” said the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) alert. “Mounting evidence shows that widespread starvation, malnutrition, and disease are driving a rise in hunger-related deaths.”The IPC alert does not formally classify Gaza as being in famine. Such a classification can only be made through an analysis, which the IPC said it would now conduct “without delay.”• The IPC is a global initiative that partners with 21 aid groups, international organizations, and UN agencies, and assesses the extent of hunger suffered by a population.• War has raged in Gaza between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas for the past 22 months. Facing global condemnation over the humanitarian crisis, Israel said on Sunday it would halt military operations for 10 hours a day in parts of the Palestinian enclave and allow new aid corridors.• For an area to be classified as in famine, at least 20% of people must be suffering extreme food shortages, with one in three children acutely malnourished and two people out of every 10,000 dying daily from starvation or malnutrition and disease.• The latest data indicated that famine thresholds have been reached for food consumption in most of the war-torn Palestinian enclave – where some 2.1 million people remain – and for acute malnutrition in Gaza City, the alert said.Do You Know:• The IPC has classified areas as being in famine four times: Somalia in 2011, South Sudan in 2017 and 2020, and Sudan in 2024. The IPC says it does not declare famine, but instead provides an analysis to allow governments and others to do so.• The IPC’s independent Famine Review Committee – which vets and verifies IPC findings that warn of or identify a famine – endorsed the Gaza alert on Tuesday.• The last IPC analysis on Gaza, issued on May 12, forecast that the entire population would likely experience high levels of acute food insecurity by the end of September, with 469,500 people projected to likely hit “catastrophic” levels.• Israel controls all access to Gaza. After an 11-week blockade, limited UN-led aid operations resumed on May 19 and a week later the obscure new US-based Gaza Humanitarian Foundation – backed by Israel and the United States – began distributing food aid.• The rival aid efforts have sparked a war of words – pitting Israel, the US and the GHF against the UN, international aid groups and dozens of governments from around the world. Israel and the US accuse Hamas of stealing aid – which the militants deny – and the U.N. of failing to prevent it. The UN says it has not seen evidence of mass aid diversion in Gaza by Hamas.• The IPC alert said an estimated minimum of 62,000 metric tonnes of staple food is required every month to cover the basic food needs of the Gazan population. But it said that according to COGAT, the Israeli military aid coordination agency, only 19,900 MT of food entered Gaza in May and 37,800 MT in June.• The war in Gaza was triggered on October 7, 2023, when Hamas killed 1,200 people in southern Israel and took some 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Since then, Israel’s military campaign has killed nearly 60,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities.Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:The hunger crisis in Gaza: ‘Efforts not enough to counter current starvation’EXPLAINEDNISAR’s two eyes on EarthSyllabus:Preliminary 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: Earth observation satellites are fairly common these days, with countries routinely deploying them in space for a variety of purposes. But the satellite that the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is going to launch on Wednesday evening is anything but routine.Key Points to Ponder:• NISAR mission-know its features and objectives• What is the significance of the NASA–ISRO collaborative model in the NISAR mission?• What is the potential use of NISAR data?• How NISAR complements India’s existing earth observation systems?Key Takeaways:• It is a satellite that has been in the making for more than one and a half decades. And it is the first time that ISRO and its US counterpart, NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), have jointly built a satellite, which is why it has got the name NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar).• NISAR is special for several other reasons. Once deployed, it will be the most powerful Earth observation satellite in space, producing data and high-resolution images that will facilitate research in a variety of fields. It is the first satellite to be mounted with two Synthetic Aperture Radars (SARs), operating in different frequency bands, a technological feat that has made it immensely powerful and useful. It also happens to be the most expensive satellite ever.• NISAR’s uniqueness is the two SARs that it is fitted with. Radars — the familiar large dish-shaped antennas — are instruments that send out signals in the non-visible spectrum of electromagnetic waves, typically microwaves or radio waves, and collect the signals that bounce back from objects.• The returning signals are then analysed to glean a variety of information about the object, like its distance from the radar, its velocity if it is moving, and composition, texture or other properties of the object. In general, the larger the size of the dish antenna, the greater the amount of information collected from returning signals.• Imaging radars use the returning signals to create an image of the object. SARs are a special kind of imaging radar that are deployed in space where large dish-like radars, similar to those installed on the ground, cannot be sent. SARs make up for this limitation with sophisticated technologies and algorithms to mimic the power and resolution of large ground-based radars.Do You Know:• NISAR’s antenna of 12-metre diameter, for example, is capable of producing images whose resolution would be comparable to those produced by a simple ground-based antenna 20 km in diameter, according to information put out by NASA.• A number of SAR-mounted satellites are currently deployed in space. ISRO’s RISAT (Radar Imaging Satellites) series of satellites, which have now been renamed to the EOS series, carry SAR. Some of ISRO’s other Earth observation satellites, like Cartosat or Oceansat, do not use SAR.• The power of NISAR comes from two SARs, one operating in the L-band frequency and the other in the S-band. Together, they are designed to capture complementary sets of images for the same location at the same time, thereby providing such a detailed view of the Earth that has not been possible before. Both the L-band and S-band radars can see through clouds, smoke, rain or fog, thus getting an unfiltered view of the Earth across all weathers and through day and night.• Their different wavelengths then enable them to capture different kinds of details on the surface. The L-band SAR, which uses higher wavelength microwaves, can better penetrate tree cover or vegetation, and even sand or ice. It is, therefore, able to capture minute details of surface undulations, and can see through dense forest cover, for example, to map the ground below and measure tree trunk biomass, which is very useful for estimating carbon stock.• The S-band SAR, which has a shorter wavelength, is unable to go much deeper, but is good for capturing the larger features, such as crop fields or water bodies. It can observe crops like soybean, corn, sugarcane and provide information on their different growth and maturity stages. This observation will especially focus on India.• The concept for a NISAR-like mission emerged in 2007 when a US committee had recommended a space mission to study how changes in land, ice or vegetation cover were taking place. The mission was supposed to carry out surface deformation monitoring to facilitate studies of earthquakes, landslides and volcanoes, apart from making observations that will help the study of climate change, global carbon cycle, changes in vegetation, biomass and ice-cover.• NASA began working on the project in 2008. ISRO came into the picture four years later, when it identified science studies and applications that were complementary to the primary objective of the mission. NASA and ISRO had collaborated earlier — there was a NASA payload on ISRO’s Chandrayaan-1 — but never jointly developed or executed a space mission. The two agencies signed a deal on NISAR in 2014, and have been engaged in developing this mission since then.Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:NISAR set for launch todayListening to birds, counting them too: Kaziranga census that PM mentionedSyllabus:Preliminary Examination: General issues on Environmental ecology, Bio-diversity and Climate ChangeMain Examination: General Studies III: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.What’s the ongoing story: In his Mann ki Baat radio programme on Sunday (July 27), Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighted a “first-ever grassland bird census” in Assam’s Kaziranga National Park and the technology used for this.Key Points to Ponder:• What is this “bird census”?• What was the bird census in Kaziranga?• What was the methodology and why was it unique?• What is the significance of the findings?• What are the threats to the habitats of grassland birds?• Asian Waterbird Census (AWC)-Mission, Objectives• What is the International Waterbird Census (IWC)• Bombay Natural History Society-Role and Mission• Who contributes to the International Waterbird Census (IWC)• What sites and species are counted under the IWC and AWCKey Takeaways:• Between March 18 and May 25, a survey to record the grassland bird population in Kaziranga National Park was undertaken by a team of forest officials, scientists, and conservationists.• It all began when a doctoral student Chiranjib Bora, who is studying the threatened grassland bird Black-breasted parrotbill, received the INSPIRE fellowship from the central government’s Department of Science & Technology, along with acoustic monitoring tools to conduct his research.• He and the Kaziranga authorities then decided to use the tools to count all grassland bird species in the national park, 70% of which is covered by grasslands.• The survey prioritised 10 species that are either globally threatened or endemic to the Brahmaputra floodplains: Bengal Florican, Swamp Francolin, Finn’s Weaver, Swamp Grass Babbler, Jerdon’s Babbler, Slender-billed Babbler, Black-breasted Parrotbill, Marsh Babbler, Bristled Grassbird, and Indian Grassbird. Including these, it recorded a total of 43 grassland bird species, including 1 Critically Endangered, 2 Endangered, and 6 Vulnerable species, according to the IUCN Red List.Do You Know:• According to Kaziranga National Park Director Dr. Sonali Ghosh, the use of passive acoustic recording monitoring was the highlight of the survey. “Surveying these small, shy, and highly camouflaged birds is very difficult using traditional methods like visual counting. So, the acoustic recorders were placed in tall trees near grasslands during the breeding season of the birds, between March and May. This is the season when they are very vocal, calling out for mates and with males defending territory. The instruments recorded all the birds singing in the landscape,” she said.• Dr. Ghosh called grassland birds “an indicator of good health” of an ecosystem, likening them to indicators such as BMI for human health. “The presence of these birds tells us that the habitat is healthy,” she said. The national park authorities have been particularly excited by the discovery of a breeding colony of the endangered Finn’s Weaver, which is endemic to the Brahmaputra flood plain. “They nest on the tops of trees but till now, we had not known where they had been nesting. During the survey we found a colony of over 85 nests in Kaziranga,” she said.Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:State of birds: Most species show dip, Indian Peafowl among those flourishingPrevious year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:4. With reference to Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), consider the following statements:1. It is an autonomous organization under the Ministry of Environment and Forests.2. It strives to conserve nature through action-based research, education and public awareness.3. It organizes and conducts nature trails and camps for the general public.Which of the statements given above is/are correct?a) 1 and 3 onlyb) 2 onlyc) 2 and 3 onlyd) 1, 2 and 3 PRELIMS ANSWER KEY1.(b) 2.(b) 3.(c) 4.(c) For any queries and feedback, contact priya.shukla@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.