Prelims Nuggets

India’s First Household Income Survey in 2026: MoSPI

Context: The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has announced that it will conduct India’s first-ever dedicated Household Income Survey in 2026.

Relevance of the Topic: Prelims : About India’s first-ever dedicated Household Income Survey in 2026.

India has never conducted a national-level household income survey. Past attempts like the Consumer Expenditure Surveys (1950s) and the Integrated Household Survey (1960s) failed to produce reliable income data, as income estimates were found to be lower than combined consumption and savings.

Objectives of Household Income Survey

To measure household incomes to understand the income distribution.
To understand the structural economic changes that occurred in the Indian economy over the past 75 years.
To assess the impact of adoption of technology on wages.

Members:

To guide the survey’s methodology, MoSPI has set up a Technical Expert Group (TEG) led by Dr. Surjit Bhalla, former IMF Executive Director and part time member of PM Economic Advisory Council.
The Expert Group will guide key aspects such as definitions, survey methodology, sampling design, estimation techniques, and also ensure global best practices are followed.

Household Income Survey is an important initiative to generate vital information for deriving income distribution and welfare thereof. However, the challenges exist such as underreportion of incomes by the households, difficulty in accurately estimating incomes of households with seasonal employment etc.

Other Key Surveys & Indexes by MoSPI:

Index of Industrial Production (IIP)
Consumer Price Index (CPI)
Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS)
Household Consumer Expenditure Surveys (HCES)
Social Consumption Surveys (NSS Rounds)
Survey on Unincorporated Enterprises
Private Sector Capex Survey
Domestic Tourism & Travel Survey

India enters Top 100 in Global SDG Rankings 2025

Context: India improves its position in the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals Index ranking 99th in the 2025 edition of the Sustainable Development Report.

India has been ranked among the top 100 countries in the Index for the first time since this data began to be published from 2016.

Relevance of the Topic : Prelims: Key Highlights of Sustainable Development Report (SDR).

About Sustainable Development Report (SDR)

Released by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN). SDSN is an independent body under the aegis of the UN, whose publications are tracked by policymakers and governments.
The index measures overall progress toward achieving the 17 SDGs adopted by United Nations member states in 2015.
Countries are ranked by their overall score. A score of 100 indicates that all SDGs have been achieved.

17 Sustainable Development Goals are:

Key Highlights of the Report:

India's Performance:

India is ranked 99th with a score of 67 on the SDG Index, a significant improvement from its 109th rank in 2024.
The report noted that since the adoption of the SDGs, India has steadily improved its standing: it ranked 112th in 2023, 121st in 2022, and 120th in 2021.

Global Performance:

European countries continue to lead the SDG Index- 19 of the top 20 countries are from Europe.
Finland, Sweden, and Denmark are the top three countries on the SDG Index.
East and South Asia have outperformed all other global regions in terms of SDG progress - demonstrating the fastest progress since 2015 largely due to socio-economic development.
Among India’s neighbours, Bhutan ranks 74th (70.5), Nepal 85th (68.6), Bangladesh 114th (63.9), and Pakistan 140th (57). Maritime neighbours Maldives and Sri Lanka stand at 53rd and 93rd places respectively.

China is ranked 49th with a score of 74.4.
The United States stands at 44th with 75.2 points.

The report flagged that global progress on the SDGs has largely stalled.

Only 17% of the SDG targets are on track to be achieved by 2030. Main reasons for slow progress are conflicts, structural weaknesses, and limited government finances.
Even the top performing European countries are facing challenges like climate change and biodiversity loss, mostly due to unsustainable consumption patterns.

India state of Sustainable Development: Hits & Misses:

SDSN ranks India as having fared better in poverty reduction (SDG 1). However, some issues persist like- lack of publicly available consumption expenditure data since 2018, non-updation of the poverty line (Rangarajan line ~₹33/day rural, ₹47/day urban).
Zero hunger (SDG 2) reveals the wide disparity between income groups and rural and urban areas on access to a nutritious diet.
- National Family Health Survey (NFHS) estimates that over a third of Indians (35.5%) were stunted (NFHS-5, 2019-21). Wasting (low weight for height) exists at 19.3%.
- Obesity in the working age population (15-49 years) has almost doubled between 2006 and 2021, and concentrated in wealthier urban areas.
Electricity access (SDG 7)- India has achieved near universal household electrification in the past two decades, but the quality of power and duration vary vastly based on regions and urban/rural fault lines. India ranks as the fourth largest renewables capacity deployer, mainly solar and wind.
Infrastructure provision (SDG 9)- India has bettered its score in infrastructure with noteworthy additions being rapid mobile penetration and financial inclusion through UPI-linked digital payments gateways. However, stark differences exist between rural and urban Internet penetration, which must be addressed to achieve even higher educational outcomes (SDG 4).
India’s performance in governance, the rule of law, press freedom and strong and independent institutions (SDG 16) has been lagging.

Cabinet approves Global Potato Research Center in Agra

Context: The Union Cabinet approved a proposal to set up a regional wing of the Peru-based International Potato Center (CIP) in Agra district, Uttar Pradesh.

Relevance of the Topic: Prelims: About International Potato Center, CIP-South Asia Regional Centre (CSARC), India’s position in global potato production.

About International Potato Center (CIP)

CIP-South Asia Regional Centre:

The proposed CIP-South Asia Regional Centre (CSARC) will be set up at Singna in Agra district, Uttar Pradesh.
Purpose: To strengthen India’s research and productivity in potatoes and sweet potatoes.
The project costs Rs 171 crore, with India contributing Rs 111.5 crore and the remaining Rs 60 crore funded by the CIP. The UP government has provided 10 hectares of land for it.
It will cater not only to farmers in India’s potato belt states, like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal, but also to South Asian countries.

Objective of CSARC:

To increase food and nutrition security, farmers income, and job creation by improving potato and sweet potato productivity, post-harvest management and value-addition.

Functions of CSARC:

To develop climate-resilient, disease-free, and processing-suitable potato & sweet potato varieties.
It will bring global science expertise, an extensive global innovation network and global genetic resources.

Significance of CSARC:

Boost Productivity:
- Though India is the second largest potato producer in the world, followed by China, its average yield is 25 tonnes per hectare, about half of its potential of over 50 tonnes per hectare.
- India’s sweet potato yield is just 11.5 tonnes per hectare, which is much less than the potential of 30 tonnes per hectare.
- A major reason for these low numbers is a lack of availability of high-quality seeds. With the establishment of the CSARC, India will have access to the largest global collection of germplasm (the cells or tissues from which a new organism can be generated) available with the CIP.

Boost Domestic Seed Production: Establishment of this center will boost domestic potato seed production, thereby reducing India’s dependence on seed imports from neighbouring countries.
Increase in Export Potential: It will also help increase the potential for exporting the potato and sweet potato products from India to international markets.
Aid Food Processing: It will aid local food processing industries in increasing investments in processing and value addition.

The proposed CSARC will be the second major international agricultural research institution to set up operations in India. In 2017, the Agriculture Ministry supported the establishment of a regional centre of the Philippines-based International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). The IRRI-SARC is established in Varanasi.

QR Codes on roads built under PM Gram Sadak Yojana

Context: The Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) has directed all states and UTs to install QR codes on maintenance display boards of roads built under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY).

Relevance of the Topic : Prelims: Key facts about PMGSY, QR Code Initiative.Mains: E-governance initiatives

QR Code Initiative

All states and UTs are required to install QR codes on maintenance display boards of roads built under the PMGSY.
Aim: To get public feedback about the quality and maintenance of roads using QR codes.
Each road will have a QR code on a maintenance information board. Anyone can scan the code using a smartphone to view road details, submit feedback and photographs about poor maintenance or road damage.
Integrated with the existing e-MARG system (used for routine maintenance monitoring).
Photos submitted by citizens will be reviewed by engineers and will be analysed using AI/ML tools to assign Performance Evaluation (PE) marks.
Trials were carried out in various states, including a pilot project in Himachal Pradesh. After this, the new facility was made fully functional.
Substandard work under the scheme has been previously flagged through existing mechanisms. The QR Code Initiative provides a mechanism for citizens’ feedback.

Prime Minister Gram Sadak Yojana

Launched: December 25, 2000 (PHASE - I)
Aim: To improve rural infrastructure through road construction.
Phases:
- The second phase was launched in 2013.
- Another component, called the Road Connectivity Project for Left Wing Extremism Affected Areas (RCPLWEA), was launched in 2016 for the construction of rural roads in LWE-affected areas.
- The third phase was launched in 2019.
- The fourth phase was approved in 2024 to provide all-weather road connectivity to 25,000 unconnected habitations of population size 500+ in plains, 250+ in northeastern and hill states/UTs, special category areas (Tribal Schedule V, Aspirational Districts/Blocks, Desert areas) and 100+ in LWE-affected areas.
Funding Mechanism: Starting as a totally Centrally Sponsored Scheme, the funding pattern was modified to 60:40 between the Centre and states (except for northeastern and Himalayan states).
Implementing Agency: National Rural Infrastructure Development Agency (NRIDA), under MoRD.
Since the scheme was launched, a total road length of 8,36,850 km has been sanctioned, of which 7,81,209 km has been completed.
Under the PMGSY, all roads after the completion of construction are maintained by the contractor for five years. This is done using a mobile-cum-web-based e-MARG (electronic Maintenance of Rural Roads) system. It is an e-governance solution for managing and monitoring rural road maintenance.
As a whole, maintenance comes under the ambit of state governments, with rural roads being a state subject.

India set to integrate Rare Blood Donor Registry with e-Rakt Kosh

Context: National Institute of Immunohaematology (NIIH), Mumbai under the India Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has launched India’s first national rare blood donor registry to support patients with rare blood types who require frequent transfusions, particularly those with thalassemia or sickle cell disease.

Relevance of the Topic: Prelims: Key facts about ICMR-Rare Donor Registry of India; E-RaktKosh

ICMR-Rare Donor Registry of India

NIIH has for the first time created a national 'rare blood donor registry' for patients with rare and uncommon blood types who need frequent transfusion especially in conditions such as thalassemia and sickle cell disease.
The portal called the ICMR-Rare Donor Registry of India (RDRI) already includes over 600 donors with rare antigen combinations and 250 very rare blood donors, including 170 Bombay blood group donors.
ICMR-NIIH is now in talks with the Director General of Health Services (DGHS) so that the rare donor registry portal can be integrated with e-Raktakosh, the Centralised Blood Bank Management System platform which provides information about blood availability.

Estimated Daily Blood Requirement in India is ~40,000 to 50,000 units per day or 15-18 million units of blood per year, but we have a shortage of 3-5 million units/year (approx. 10,000-14,000 units/day).

Need for integrating Rare Blood Donor Registry with e-Rakt Kosh

Rare blood groups occur in less than 1 in 1000 individuals, often characterised by absence of high-frequency antigens (HFA), or have a null phenotype (absence of all antigens in a group). E.g., Bombay Blood group, Rh-null (Golden blood) etc.
In the majority of blood banks in India, only ABO and RhD antigens are matched before issuing red blood cell components. However, the International Society of Blood Transfusion (ISBT) has recognised over 360 antigens across 47 blood group systems.
Blood banks do not routinely test for minor blood group antigens. As a result, a mismatch of minor antigens between donor and recipient blood group profiles can lead to red cell alloimmunisation (immune response against foreign RBC antigens after blood transfusion). This reduces the effectiveness of blood transfusions. As a result, about 25% of all immunised patients have reported unsatisfactory transfusion support.

To overcome this challenge, an inventory of extensively typed blood donors and rare blood type donors is required.

Significance:

The integration will help people with rare blood groups easily trace blood banks and procure blood.
It will also assist the blood banks manage their stock and donors through a centralised system.

Annual Rath Yatra in Puri

Context: The annual Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath and his siblings Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra will begin in the temple town of Puri, Odisha on June 27, 2025.

Relevance of the Topic:Prelims: Key facts about Ratha Yatra; Lord Jagannath Temple.

Rath Yatra

The Ratha Yatra, also known as the Ratha Jatra or chariot festival, is a magnificent Hindu celebration held annually in the city of Puri, Odisha, India.
It is considered the oldest and largest chariot festival in the Hindu tradition, taking place during the bright half of the lunar month of Ashadh (June or July).
The festival revolves around the worship of Lord Jagannath, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu or Krishna, and his siblings Balabhadra and Subhadra.
During the Ratha Yatra, the three deities are ceremoniously pulled in massive wooden chariots from the Jagannath Temple to the Gundicha Temple.
The deities reside in the Gundicha Temple for a week and then return to their abode in the Jagannath temple (Bahuda Yatra).

About Jagannath Temple

Ancient Hindu temple dedicated to Jagannath, a form of Vishnu.
The present temple was rebuilt by the king of the Eastern Ganga dynasty, Anantavarman Chodaganga, in the 10th century CE.
Location: Puri, Odisha (eastern coast of India).
Deities worshipped: Jagannath, Subhadra and Balabhadra
The idol of Lord Jagannath is made of wood (neem wood, known as Daru) and is ceremoniously replaced every 12 or 19 years by an exact replica.
The temple is built in the Kalinga Architecture. The temple has distinct sectional structures: Deula, Vimana or Garbhagriha (sanctum sanctorum).

New jumping spider species discovered in southern India

Context: Researchers have identified a new species of jumping spiders of the Spartaeinae subfamily in southern India, known for their intelligent hunting skills and web-invasion tactics.

Relevance of the Topic: Prelims: Key facts about Spiders.

New jumping spider species

For the first time, the genera Spartaeus and Sonoita (specific groups within subfamily), previously known only from Southeast Asia and Africa, have been found in India.
These spiders are known for their keen eyesight and intelligent hunting methods, often deceiving other spiders by mimicking prey.

Key Facts about Spiders:

Spiders are not insects, but belong to a group called the arachnids. Spiders differ from insects as they have eight legs not six and six or eight eyes (two in insects).
Spiders are known for making silk webs to catch insects. They spin silk from a liquid made by special glands. They are found everywhere in the world, except for Antarctica.
Most spider species are carnivorous that capture and eat other insects. However, one species in Central America has been found to be mostly herbivorous.
Spiders digest their food outside their bodies. After capturing its prey, a spider covers it with digestive juices. The juices break down prey’s body into liquid form that the spider sucks up.
Spiders are important pest controllers for a habitat, and they are food for other species too.
Spider webs are the extensions of the spider’s sensory system. Vibratory information from the web is crucial for spiders because they do not have ears.
Spider silk is an amazing natural material with unique properties. It has inspired researchers to develop materials derived from spider silk with applications in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.
Spiders shed their outer covering, multiple times before becoming adults.

Cooking oils can help recover Silver from e-waste

Context: Scientists have developed a groundbreaking technique to recover silver from electronic waste using organic fatty acids found in cooking oils. This offers a safer, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly alternative to traditional chemical recycling processes.

Relevance of the Topic: Prelims: Key facts about Silver; Applications of Silver in the clean energy transition.

Cooking oils can help recover Silver from e-waste

Traditional silver recovery methods involve toxic chemicals like cyanide and strong acids, which are highly toxic, corrosive and harmful to the environment.
The newly discovered method uses natural fatty acids (like those in sunflower or olive oil) to recover silver from electronic waste without releasing harmful toxins.
To dissolve silver, the most commonly used unsaturated fatty acids- oleic, linoleic and linolenic- were combined with an aqueous hydrogen peroxide (30%) solution as a green oxidant under mild conditions. This combination effectively dissolved silver into the fatty acids. This dissolved silver can be later recovered.
Utility: The method can be applicable to urban mining, to retrieve silver from waste electrical and electronic wastes (WEEE) from discarded computer motherboard pieces.

Need for better recycling methods:

Silver is used to capture sunlight through rooftop solar panels across India, generating about 108 GW of clean and green electricity yearly across the nation (about 10% of what is generated from coal). Silver is also used in Mobile phones and laptops.
It is estimated that about 7,275 metric tonnes of silver are used across the world for these purposes, but barely 15% is recovered (When a phone or a computer is damaged or discarded, the silver content is lost).
With the global shift toward renewable energy and electric vehicles, the demand for silver is expected to rise by 170% by 2020. This calls for better recycling methods.

The research team concludes that fatty acids may become the next generation of solvents for treating precious multi-metal waste substrates.

QS World University Rankings 2026

Context: India has marked its strongest performance in the QS World University Rankings 2026 with 54 institutions featured in the list.

Relevance of the Topic: Prelims: Key Highlights- QS World University Rankings 2026.

QS World University Rankings 2026

Global Highlights:

QS World University Rankings 2026 were topped by: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), followed by Imperial College London, Stanford University, University of Oxford, and Harvard University.

India-specific Highlights:

The number of Indian universities in the rankings has grown from 11 in 2015 to 54 in 2026. Six Indian institutions feature in the global top 250.
Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi has emerged as India’s highest-ranked university, with 123rd position, followed by IIT Bombay and IIT Madras.
India has become the fourth most represented country in the global rankings, behind the US, UK, and China. It positions India as the fastest-growing higher education system among G20 nations.

Challenges:

India continues to face challenges in aspects critical to global competitiveness, such as international student diversity and faculty resources.

International Students Ratio: 78% of Indian universities have witnessed a decline in this metric, and no Indian institution ranks within the top 500 globally for attracting international students. This impacts campus diversity and global exposure for students.
Faculty-Student Ratio presents structural challenges, highlighting a broader need for faculty expansion and better resource allocation across institutions.

QS World University Rankings:

The QS World University Rankings are among the most trusted and wide-reaching assessments of higher education worldwide.
The 2026 edition is based on data from over 16 million academic papers and insights from more than 151,000 academics and 100,000 employers.
The rankings consider a broad mix of factors such as: Academic Reputation, Citations per Faculty, Faculty Student Ratio, Research strength, Employment Outcomes, Faculty Student Ratio, International Student Diversity, International Student Ratio etc.

This upward trajectory in QS University rankings reflect growing focus on improving the quality and international visibility of Indian higher education institutions, however, there is room for improvement.

What is Synthetic Aperture Radar?

Context: NASA and ISRO are set to launch the NISAR (NASA-ISRO SAR) satellite, a $1.5 billion Earth-observing mission in July 2025. NISAR has arrived at ISRO’s spaceport in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.

Relevance of the Topic: Prelims: Key facts about Synthetic Aperture Radar; Advantages & Applications of SAR

Synthetic Aperture Radar:

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is a form of active remote sensing that uses microwave radar signals to create high-resolution images of Earth.

How does SAR work?

SAR systems send out microwave pulses towards Earth. These signals bounce off from surfaces like ground, ocean, ice, vegetation, buildings etc.
These echoes (reflected signal) are collected by the antenna carried on a moving platform like a satellite. Since the satellite is moving, each echo is recorded at a slightly different position.
Via complex signal processing those echoes are stitched together into detailed images. Usually, the longer a physical antenna, the better is the resolution. However, a large antenna is hard to build and maintain. Hence, SAR mimics the effect of having a single giant antenna (hundreds of metres long).

Advantages of SAR:

Since microwaves penetrate clouds, smoke, dense vegetation, and even light rainfall, SAR can collect data 24/7.
If a SAR unit is mounted on an orbiting satellite, it can map swaths of land hundreds of kilometres wide in a single overpass.
Different materials like soil, vegetation, water, and metals reflect microwaves differently, allowing SAR to detect changes invisible to optical sensors.

Applications of SAR:

SAR can observe natural processes and changes in earth’s complex ecosystems.

Study Earth’s dynamic land and ice surfaces in greater detail and observe subtle changes in Earth’s surfaces. E.g., Track flow rates of glaciers and ice sheets, landslide-prone areas and changes in the coastline etc.
Spot warning signs of natural disasters, such as earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes and landslides.
Measure groundwater levels, agricultural mapping, vegetation biomass, natural resource mapping and monitor Earth’s forest and agricultural regions to improve understanding of carbon exchange.

NISAR will scan nearly all of Earth’s land and ice surfaces twice every 12 days, providing an unprecedented amount of information about our planet’s environment.

Also Read: NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar

Flash Flood in Subarnarekha River

Context: The Subarnarekha River has flooded large parts of Balasore district in Odisha, affecting over 50,000 people and inundating dozens of villages.

Relevance of the Topic: Prelims: Key facts about Subarnarekha River; Flash Flood.

Subarnarekha River

Subarnarekha (literally means Streak of Gold) is a rain-fed river that originates near Ranchi, the capital of Jharkhand on the Chhotanagpur plateau.
The river flows through Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha and drains into the Bay of Bengal. The total length of the river is 395 kilometres.
Kanchi and Karkari rivers are its chief tributaries.
Subarnarekha passes through areas with extensive mining of copper and uranium ores. As a result of unplanned mining activities, the river is polluted. It has been the lifeline of tribal communities inhabiting the Chhotanagpur region, and water pollution affects their livelihood.

Flood and Flash Flood:

Flood: An overflow of water onto normally dry land. The inundation of a normally dry area caused by rising water in an existing waterway, such as a river, stream, or drainage ditch. Ponding of water at or near the point where the rain fell. Flooding is a longer term event, it may last days or weeks.
Flash flood: A flood caused by heavy or excessive rainfall in a short period of time, generally less than 6 hours. It can also occur even if no rain has fallen, for instance after a levee or dam has failed, or after a sudden release of water by a debris or ice jam. The intensity of the rainfall, the location and distribution of the rainfall, the land use and topography, vegetation types and growth/density, soil type, and soil water-content all determine the intensity and impact caused by flash flood.

Also Read: Small peninsular rivers flowing towards East

India ranks 71st on Energy Transition Index 2025: WEF

Context: India has ranked 71 out of 118 countries in the recently launched Energy Transition Index (ETI) by the World Economic Forum.

Relevance of the Topic: Prelims: Key facts about the Energy Transition Index.

Energy Transition Index

Launched by: World Economic Forum
ETI ranks countries based on their progress towards energy transition from fossil fuels to clean energy.
The report benchmarked the performance of energy systems of 118 countries across:
- Threesystem performance dimensions- energy security, sustainability and equity.
  - Energy security: presence of a stable and resilient energy supply through developing a diversity of energy sources as well as grid and power supply reliability)
  - Equity: access to energy for all, including consumers and industries.
  - Sustainability: promoting energy sources that have lower impacts on the environment such as lower carbon footprints.
- Five transition readiness factors- political commitment, finance and investment, innovation, infrastructure, and education and human capital.
The Index used 43 indicators under these broad categories using data from multiple sources and organisations, and scored countries on a scale of 0 to 100.

Energy Transition Index 2025

Global Highlights:

Sweden (score 77.5) topped the list of 118 countries, followed by Finland and Denmark. China was ranked 12th, and the US was 17th.
While the majority of countries improved their scores in 2025, the share of countries advancing across all three energy dimensions was only 28%, which reflects uneven progress.
Despite $2 trillion in clean energy investment in 2024, emissions hit a record 37.8 billion tonnes in the hottest year on record (2024), as energy demand rose 2.2% driven by artificial intelligence, data centres, cooling and electrification.

India-specific Highlights:

India’s rank has fallen from 63rd in 2024 to 71 out of 118 countries in 2025. India scored 53.3 on the Index.
India has made progress in lowering energy intensity and CH4 emissions, favourable energy regulations and increasing clean energy investments.
India needs improvement in grid reliability, energy access for rural areas and further reducing dependence on imported energy. This requires further investment in infrastructure, renewables, labour force development and financing to boost the country’s energy transition.

As per WEF, the top five largest economies- China, the US, EU, Japan and India- will determine the pace and direction of the global energy transition due to their sheer size.

Together, they account for around half of the global GDP, population and total energy supply (TES), and also nearly two-thirds of global emissions, giving them an outsized influence through their consumption patterns, investment flows and policy choices.