UPSC Current Affairs Pointers delivers the most important weekly current affairs every Monday to support your UPSC Prelims, Mains, State PCS, and other competitive exam preparation.If you missed the UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past week | September 29 to October 5, 2025, read it here.Report(FYI: The data provided in these reports can be used to substantiate your Mains answer and create a broad understanding of the topic.)UK-based energy think tank Ember Report— For the first time ever, renewable energy eclipsed coal as the world’s leading source of electricity, according to new data from the UK-based energy think tank Ember.— The Ember report, which analysed changes in global electricity generation from January to June 2025 compared with the same period last year, said that while coal fell in both China and India, the dip in India was deemed as “temporary” while it was cited as “more structural” in China.— The Indian government data up to June 30 has also shown that non-fossil fuel sources in the country accounted for 50.1 per cent of its installed electricity capacity, displacing thermal. PolityNational Camel Mission— The Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying is planning to launch the National Camel Sustainability Initiative (NCSI) — a national mission aimed at reversing the steady decline in India’s camel population.Story continues below this ad— The NCSI would bring together the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, the Ministries of Environment, Rural Development and Tourism, and State governments, to ensure coordinated action.— According to the 20th Livestock Census, India’s camel population stood at 2.52 lakh in 2019, down from about 11 lakh in 1977 and 4 lakh in 2013. Nearly 90% of these camels are concentrated in Rajasthan and Gujarat.— Notably, World Camel Day is celebrated on June 22 to promote camel culture, conservation, and innovation.About Kharai camelsIn 2016, a prelims question in the UPSC was asked on Kharai camels. According to ICAR, the Kharai camel, indigenous to Gujarat, derives its name from the local term “Khara,” meaning saline, reflecting its adaptability to both desert and coastal ecosystems.Story continues below this adIt is known as the “Swimming Camel,” as it can traverse long distances across water. It has been preserved by the Rabari and Fakirani Jat tribes for over 400 years.Greenhouse Gas Emission Intensity (GEI) Target Rules, 2025— The Centre has notified the first legally binding Greenhouse Gas Emission Intensity (GEI) Target Rules, 2025, for four high-emission sectors—aluminium, cement, chlor-alkali, and pulp and paper.— Industries will earn carbon credits in lieu of meeting emissions targets, while those that fail to do so will have to buy credits or pay environmental compensation.— The Rules will help operationalise the country’s domestic carbon market under the Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (CCTS), 2023.— India’s commitment: India has committed to reducing the emissions intensity of its gross domestic product (the amount of energy used per unit of GDP) by 45 per cent by 2030 compared to 2005 levels, as part of its domestic commitments under the global agreement.Story continues below this ad Prime Minister Narendra Modi during an interaction with farmers at Indian Agricultural Research Institute. (PTI Photo)New Agriculture Schemes— Two new agriculture schemes, the PM Dhan Dhaanya Krishi Yojana (PMDDKY) and the Mission for Aatmanirbharta in Pulses, with a total outlay of `35,440 crore, was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 11th October, 2025.— PMDDKY is designed on the lines of the Aspirational Districts Programme (ADP) that was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in January 2018 in the country’s 112 most underdeveloped districts, with the aim of transforming them quickly and effectively.— The PMDDKY is aimed at developing 100 agricultural districts selected based on 3 factors — low productivity, moderate crop intensity, below-average access to credit. While the PMDDKY does not have a separate budget, its outlay of `24,000 crore will come from convergence of various schemes.— The pulses mission has an outlay of `11,440 crore. It will be implemented from 2025-26 to 2030-31 and aims at expanding the area under pulses to 310 lakh hectares, increase production to 350 lakh tonnes, and raise yield to 1130 kg/ha by 2030-31.Story continues below this adDRAVYA portal— Last month, the Ministry of Ayush unveiled the portal during the 10th Ayurveda Day event.— The DRAVYA portal serves as a comprehensive, open-access database that dynamically consolidates data from classical Ayurvedic texts and standard online research platforms.— It enables users to search for medicinal substances used across Ayush systems and access detailed profiles spanning Ayurvedic pharmacotherapeutics, botany, chemistry, pharmacy, pharmacology, and safety information International Cooperation“Welcome to Country” smoke ceremony— Defence Minister was welcomed to the Australian Parliament with a traditional Aboriginal “Welcome to Country” smoke ceremony.Story continues below this ad— It is a symbolic Aboriginal Australian ritual that acknowledges the traditional custodians of the land and signifies friendship and reconciliation.— A Welcome to Country is a formal ceremony delivered by an Elder, Traditional Owner or Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander person who has been given permission from Traditional Owners to welcome visitors to their Country. Traditionally it is a ceremony to not only welcome an outsider to Country but to also grant permission for the visitor to enter their land.— A Welcome to Country occurs at the beginning of any gathering or event. It can take many forms, including singing, dancing, smoking ceremonies or a speech delivered in traditional language, English or a mixture of both.Konkan-25— The first-ever India-UK Carrier Strike Group maritime exercise named Konkan-25 began on October 5. Carriers are warships that can serve as airbases, too.Story continues below this ad— The Indian Navy’s carrier strike group, led by the indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant, and the United Kingdom Royal Navy’s Carrier Strike Group (CSG), led by HMS Prince of Wales is participating in the exercise.— The exercise is named after India’s strategically crucial Konkan coastal region. It is undertaken every two years to enhance joint maritime and air capabilities between the Indian and UK navies on the high seas.— While the exercise has been biennial since 2004, this edition marks the first time that a British and Indian Carrier Strike Group are participating together. The exercise is being conducted in two phases: Sea phase and Harbour phase.— Notably, UK CSG is currently on an eight-month multinational deployment known as Operation Highmast.Story continues below this adDiwali as holiday in the US— California has become the third US state to designate Diwali as an official state holiday.— The bill titled, ‘AB268’ to designate Diwali as an official state holiday, had successfully passed both houses of the legislature in California and it was signed by Governor Gavin Newsom.— The first US state to declare Diwali as a state holiday was Pennsylvania in 2024 and it was followed by Connecticut earlier this year.— California has now joined the list of states to declare Diwali as a state holiday. In New York City, Diwali has been declared a holiday for public schools. In this image posted on Oct. 10, 2025, Union External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar during a meeting with his Afghani counterpart Amir Khan Muttaqi, in New Delhi. (@HafizZiaAhmad/X)India’s engagement with the Taliban ruled Kabul— As a first step towards normalising diplomatic ties with the Taliban since the group seized power in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of the US-led forces in 2021, India has decided to upgrade its “technical mission” in Kabul to the status of an embassy.— India closed its embassy in Kabul after the Taliban seized power in August 2021. In June 2022, India re-established its diplomatic presence in the Afghan capital by deploying a “technical team.” EnvironmentIUCN World Conservation Congress— The IUCN World Conservation Congress is taking place in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, from 9 to 15 October 2025.— It is organised every four years, which enables IUCN’s more than 1,400 Member organisations to democratically determine the most pressing issues in nature conservation and actions to address them to help guide humanity’s relationship with our planet.— The IUCN is a global organization comprising 160 member countries and hundreds of civil society groups which work together towards environment and biodiversity protection.National Red List— Union Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Kirti Vardhan Singh unveiled the roadmap for the national-level five-year (2025-2030) assessment on the first day of the World Congress of the IUCN at Abu Dhabi.— According to the assessment plan, the aim is to establish a nationally coordinated, participatory and upgradable ‘Red Listing’ system that accurately reflects the conservation status of India’s biodiversity.— It will assess the extinction risk of approximately 11,000 species, including 7,000 kinds of flora and 4,000 types of fauna — across the country to prepare a ‘national red list’.. Dugongs are listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. (Wikimedia Commons)India’s first dugong conservation reserve— The IUCN World Conservation Congress 2025 has adopted a motion to recognise India’s first dugong conservation reserve in Tamil Nadu’s Palk Bay as a global model for marine biodiversity conservation.— The reserve, the first of its kind in the country, lies in the northern Palk Bay, which harbours more than 12,250 hectares of seagrass meadows. These meadows are critical feeding grounds for dugongs.— The dugong (Dugong dugon), also called the sea cow, is a herbivorous mammal. They can grow upto three meters long, weigh about 300 kilograms, and live for about 65 to 70 years, grazing on seagrass and coming to the surface to breathe.— They are found in over 30 countries, and in India, are seen in the Gulf of Mannar, Gulf of Kutch, Palk Bay, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.— Dugongs are listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.— It is listed in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which prohibits the trade of the species and its parts.Dams in Damodar Valley — The ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal is targeting the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC), the Central agency that oversees dams along the Damodar river, for releasing water into the state and creating a “man-made flood”.— DVC is a statutory body set up in 1948 which manages the larger Damodar Valley Project that was the first multipurpose river valley development project in India.—,The corporation oversees several dams and hydroelectric and thermal power plants in the Damodar river region that is spread across West Bengal and Jharkhand.— The DVC is led by a seven-member board that includes the chairman, four DVC members, and one representative each from the governments of the Centre, West Bengal and Jharkhand. Science and TechnologyNobel Prize in Medicine— The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Japanese scientist Shimon Sakaguchi, and American scientists Mary E Brunkow and Frederick Ramsdell.— They were awarded for their discoveries on peripheral immune tolerance which have been essential for understanding how the immune system functions, and key to developing therapies for cancers and autoimmune diseases.— The immune system protects the body against diseases by neutralising disease-causing pathogens like bacteria and viruses. A special type of white blood cell, called T-cells are key to this process, which distinguish between the cells of the pathogen and the host body.— When this does not happen properly, it leads to auto-immune diseases, in which the T-cells start damaging the body’s own cells. When it is overactive, it prevents other T cells from killing the cancerous cells.— Sakaguchi identified a special group of T-cells, called regulatory T-cells, or Tregs, that suppresses the activity of other T-cells if they had a propensity to attack the body’s own tissues. — Brunkow and Ramsdell later discovered the gene that enables some T-cells to function as Tregs. Together, they complete the picture of the immune system. Nobel Prize in Physics 2025: The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics to John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret and John M. Martinis. (Image: @NobelPrize/X)Nobel Prize in Physics— John Clarke, Michel Devoret and John Martinis have been awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics “for the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantisation in an electric circuit”.— Their studies revolutionised the understanding of quantum tunnelling — the ability of particles, such as electrons, to move or tunnel through barriers. This is somewhat akin to throwing a ball onto a wall and finding it across the other side of the structure, which remains unscathed.Nobel Prize in Chemistry— Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar Yaghi are awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2025. They have developed a new form of molecular architecture.— They are credited for creating novel materials in which atoms and molecules are linked in a way that leaves large, neatly arranged open spaces inside the molecular structure.— In their constructions, metal ions function as cornerstones that are linked by long organic (carbon-based) molecules. Together, the metal ions and molecules are organised to form crystals that contain large cavities. These porous materials are called metal–organic frameworks (MOF).— This design allows gases and liquids to flow through, making MOFs highly adaptable for various applications (water harvesting, pollutant removal, carbon capture, and hydrogen storage).RAT system on Air India Boeing 787— In Air India flight AI-117, flying from Amritsar to Birmingham in the UK, the ram air turbine (RAT)—a last-resort emergency power system—of the Boeing 787-8 aircraft deployed on its own, even as all electrical and hydraulic parameters were found to be normal and the pilots did not spot any abnormality with the plane.— In modern aircraft, the RAT deploys automatically during grave emergencies involving total electrical failure, a debilitating hydraulic failure, or a dual engine failure, considered to be the rarest of rare scenarios. Pilots may also deploy it manually.— The RAT, a critical system, is essentially a wind turbine stowed in a compartment on the underside of the Boeing 787’s fuselage, just behind the aircraft’s wing. It deploys into the airstream to generate power only when primary and secondary power sources fail.— The RAT generates power from the airstream by injecting ram pressure, which is created by the forward motion of the aircraft, and depends on the plane’s speed at the time.— In the event of total power failure, the RAT helps power vital systems, including flight controls, flight-critical instrumentation, navigation, and communication equipment. The RAT, however, is not a substitute for engine power.Phosphine on brown dwarf— On a brown dwarf, called Wolf 1130C, dozens of light years from Earth, astronomers have detected trace amounts of phosphine, a molecule that is produced by living things on Earth.— Phosphine, a molecule made of three hydrogen atoms and one phosphorus atom, is tricky to create and easy to destroy. On Earth, it is largely made by microbial life in swamp plants and animal intestines.— Brown dwarfs are often called “failed stars” because they share some similarities with stars and others with planets. These objects form like stars from collapsing clouds of gas and dust. However, they do not have enough mass to consistently fuse hydrogen, a process that heats a star and makes it shine. 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.)Nobel Prize in Literature— The 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature was given to Hungarian writer László Krasznahorkai, 71, for his “singular prose that, in the midst of apocalyptic terror, reaffirms the power of art”.— Krasznahorkai will receive the medal and diploma in a ceremony in December in Stockholm. He is the second Hungarian, after Imre Kertesz in 2002, to bag the award. Maria Corina Machado waves from atop a truck during the closing election campaign rally for presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, July 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix, File)Nobel Peace Prize 2025— Maria Corina Machado, a Venezuelan politician, has been announced as this year’s Nobel Peace Prize winner for her work in promoting democratic rights.— Machado received the honour for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.— Founder of Súmate, an organisation devoted to democratic development, Machado stood up for free and fair elections more than 20 years ago. In political office and in her service to organisations since then, Machado has spoken out for judicial independence, human rights and popular representation.— She will receive a cash prize worth around 11 million Swedish kronor (around USD 1.17 million), a diploma and a medal.MacArthur Grant winners— Optometrist Teresa Puthussery and Epidemiologist Nabarun Dasgupta are among the 22 ‘genius’ winners of the MacArthur Grant. The winners of the fellowship will receive a cash award worth $800,000 as stipend.— The grant is constituted in the name of Catharine and John Donald MacArthur and recognises seminal and original contributions made by scientists, intellectuals and artists. 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.) Port on the Arabian Sea in Balochistan— Recently, Pakistan has offered a port on the Arabian Sea in Balochistan, close to the Chinese-developed Gwadar port, to the US.— The port in the small, coastal fishing town of Pasni — about 70 miles from Gwadar and 100 miles from the Pakistan-Iran border — is being pitched as a terminal to ship Pakistan’s critical minerals.Sawalkote Dam— The Sawalkote hydroelectric project has received a push, with the Union Environment Ministry’s expert panel on hydropower projects recommending it for environmental clearance.— The 1,865 MW project, to be built by NHPC Ltd in Jammu and Kashmir’s Ramban district, will be one of the largest on the west-flowing Chenab.— The Chenab River, the largest tributary of the Indus, has a length of 1,180 km in India. The confluence of the Chandra and Bhaga rivers at Tandi in Keylong, Himachal Pradesh, forms it.— The Chenab basin already hosts three operational projects — the 390 MW Dulhasti in Kishtwar, the 890 MW Baglihar in Ramban, and the 690 MW Salal in Reasi. 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.)Badminton World Junior Mixed Team Championships — India won the first-ever medal in the BWF World Junior Mixed Team Championships organised in Guwahati, Assam, India from 6 to 19 October 2025.— The Indian Badminton team settled for a bronze medal after losing to defending champions Indonesia in the semi-finals.Irani Cup 2025— Vidarbha won the third Irani Cup title after beating Rest of India by 93 runs.— Linthoi Chanambam became the first Indian to secure a medal at the Junior Judo World Championships, clinching bronze in the women’s -63 kg category at the 2025 edition in Lima, Peru.— She beat the Netherlands’ Joni Geilen in the women’s 63 kg category.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) What is/are unique about ‘Kharai camel’, a breed found in India? (UPSC CSE 2016)1. It is capable of swimming up to three kilometres in seawater.2. It survives by grazing on mangroves.3. It lives in the wild and cannot be domesticated.Select the correct answer using the code given below.(a) 1 and 2 only(b) 3 only(c) 1 and 3 only(d) 1, 2 and 3(2) With reference to ram air turbine (RAT), consider the following statements:1. All the aviation aircrafts have RAT.2. It deploys into the airstream only when primary and secondary power sources fail.3. It is not a substitute for engine powerWhich of the statements given above is/are correct?(a) 1 and 3 only(b) 2 and 3 only(c) 2 only(d) 1 and 3 only(3) With reference to ‘dugong’, a mammal found in India, which of the following statements is/are correct? (UPSC CSE 2015)1. It is a herbivorous marine animal.2. It is found along the entire coast of India.3. It is given legal protection under Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.Select the correct answer using the code given below.(a) 1 and 2 only(b) 2 only(c) 1 and 3 only(d) 3 onlyPrelims Answer Key1. (d) 2. (b) 3. (c)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. Anniversary Special: Read the UPSC Essentials September 2025 special edition, celebrating two years of the magazine! Share your views and suggestions at Manas Srivastava