2 Minute Series_14 January 2026

14^th January 2026

1. Orobanche Aegyptiaca: Recently, reports indicate that the mustard crop is increasingly facing infestation from Orobanche aegyptiaca, a destructive parasitic weed.

• About Orobanche aegyptiaca: It is a root-parasitic weed that attaches itself to mustard roots and draws water and nutrients.

• Infestation leads to yellowing, wilting, stunted growth, and significant reduction in seed yield.
• The parasite remains underground in early stages, making detection difficult until serious damage has already occurred.

• About Mustard Crop: It is mainly a self-pollinated rabi oilseed crop widely grown across India.

• It is known by different regional names such as Sarason (Hindi), Rai (Punjabi), Katuku (Tamil), Kaduk (Malayalam), and Avalu (Telugu).
• The crop is cultivated during the rabi season under cool and dry climatic conditions.
• Major Producing States: Rajasthan is the leading producer of mustard in India.
  - Other important states include Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Haryana, Punjab, and Madhya Pradesh.

2. Bannerghatta National Park: Recently, the Central Empowered Committee recommended restoring the Ecologically Sensitive Zone (ESZ) around Bannerghatta National Park to its originally notified 2016 limits.

• About Bannerghatta National Park: Located in the Anekal hill range, close to Bengaluru in Karnataka.

• It was officially declared a national park in 1974 to conserve the region’s rich biodiversity.
• India’s first dedicated butterfly enclosure was established here in 2006.
• The Suvarnamukhi stream flows through the heart of the park and serves as a vital water source for wildlife.
• The park supports diverse vegetation types, including dry deciduous scrub forests, southern tropical dry deciduous forests, and moist mixed forests.
• Plant species found here include sandalwood, neem, tamarind, bamboo, eucalyptus, Schleichera oleosa, and Narcissus latifolia.
• The park is an important habitat for wildlife such as the Asian elephant, tiger, leopard, Indian gaur, sambar deer, spotted deer, wild dog, wild pig, and sloth bear.
• Ecologically Sensitive Zone (ESZ): Act as protective buffers or “shock absorbers” around protected areas. Their purpose is to reduce the adverse impact of human activities on fragile ecosystems.
  - Notified by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.

3. Pax Silica: Recently, the newly appointed U.S. Ambassador to India, Sergio Gor, announced that India will be invited to join Pax Silica, a U.S.-led strategic coalition.

• About Pax Silica: Designed to build a secure, resilient, and innovation-focused silicon and artificial intelligence supply chain through cooperation among trusted partners.

• The initiative focuses on reducing overdependence on any single country for critical minerals and advanced technologies.
• The first Pax Silica Summit was held in Washington, D.C. in December 2025.
• A key driver is China’s dominance in refining over 60% of lithium, cobalt, and rare earth elements vital for AI and semiconductor industries.
• Pax Silica seeks to protect AI-critical materials and enable aligned countries to scale up advanced technologies collectively.
• Current participants include Japan, South Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Israel, the UAE, and Australia.
• Core commitments include joint projects across critical minerals, chip design and fabrication, advanced packaging, compute infrastructure, and energy systems.
• The coalition also aims to safeguard sensitive technologies from countries considered strategic risks.

4. Inter-Departmental Committee (IDC): Recently, the Supreme Court of India stated that it has constituted a high-level inter-departmental committee (IDC) to combat the growing menace of ‘digital arrest’ scams in real time.

• Key Highlights: These scams involve fraudsters impersonating police officers, judges, or agencies and threatening victims with online arrest to extort money.

• Government data submitted to the court reveals that nearly ₹3,000 crore has already been siphoned off through reported digital arrest complaints alone.
• The IDC was formed on December 26, 2025, and is chaired by the Special Secretary (Internal Security), Ministry of Home Affairs.
• The committee includes senior officials from MeitY, DoT, RBI, CBI, NIA, I4C, Delhi Police, Ministry of External Affairs, Law & Justice, Consumer Affairs, and Financial Services.
• The IDC has already held multiple meetings, including one with major online intermediaries such as Google, WhatsApp, Telegram, and Microsoft.
• Inputs to curb these scams have been received from the Department of Telecommunications and the Reserve Bank of India.
• The committee’s mandate includes identifying legal gaps, suggesting corrective measures, addressing enforcement challenges, and assisting the Supreme Court with policy directions.
• The Supreme Court has described the scale of digital arrest frauds as “staggering” and affecting elderly and vulnerable citizens disproportionately.

5. Aerosols: Recently, a study led by Indian Institute of Technology Madras and published in Science Advances found that air-pollution aerosols are making winter fog over north India denser and more persistent.

• About Aerosols: These are microscopic solid or liquid particles suspended in the atmosphere that play a major role in air quality, weather processes, and climate regulation.

• They originate from natural sources such as dust, sea spray, volcanoes, and wildfires, as well as human activities including vehicles, industries, coal burning, and biomass combustion.
• Aerosols may be emitted directly (primary) or formed in the atmosphere through chemical reactions of gases like sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides (secondary).
• Due to their very small size, aerosols remain airborne for long periods, travel long distances, and can penetrate deep into human lungs.
• They act as condensation nuclei, enabling water vapour to form fog and cloud droplets more easily.
• Some aerosols scatter sunlight and cool the surface, while others like black carbon absorb heat and warm the atmosphere.
• High aerosol concentrations worsen respiratory and heart diseases and make winter fog denser, longer-lasting, and harder to dissipate.
• By altering cloud properties, aerosols also influence rainfall patterns and regional climate behaviour.

6. Yemen: Recently, the Southern Transitional Council (STC) in Yemen announced a new constitution for the proposed “State of South Arabia,” highlighting ongoing political fragmentation.

• About Yemen: Located at the south-western tip of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia.

• It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia to the north and Oman to the east.
• The country has an extensive coastline along the Red Sea to the west and the Gulf of Aden and Arabian Sea to the south.
• Yemen occupies a highly strategic position near the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, a crucial maritime chokepoint linking the Indian Ocean with the Red Sea.
• Control over this strait gives Yemen geopolitical significance in global energy and trade routes.
• Sanaa is the capital city of Yemen.
• Lies at the transition zone between Mediterranean wind systems and the southwest monsoon.
• The country’s highest peak is Jabal an Nabi Shu’ayb, rising to about 3,760 metres.
• Parts of the Rub’ al Khali (Empty Quarter), one of the world’s largest deserts, extend into Yemen.
• Yemen lacks perennial rivers and lakes, making water scarcity a persistent challenge.

7. Equality in Society: Recently, in a landmark reaffirmation of social justice through education, the Supreme Court of India underscored that true equality in society must begin inside the classroom.

• Key Highlights: The judgment highlighted the transformative potential of the Right to Education Act in reshaping India’s social structure.

• Under the RTE Act, the government has a binding obligation to ensure neighbourhood schools admit children from weaker and disadvantaged sections.
• The court noted that the law enables children of affluent families and those of daily wage earners to sit in the same classroom. Such shared educational spaces promote equality across class, caste, gender, and economic divisions.
• The court observed that denial of admission defeats the constitutional promise of equal status.
• It stressed that Article 21A of the Constitution mandates free and compulsory elementary education for all children.
• Effective implementation of the RTE Act was described as essential to educating “young India.”
• The court declared that ensuring admission of disadvantaged children must become a national mission.

8. Shaksgam Valley: Recently, amid renewed diplomatic assertions by India, the status of Shaksgam Valley returned to the spotlight following strong remarks by India’s Ministry of External Affairs and a counter-response from China.

• About Shaksgam Valley: Also known as the Trans-Karakoram Tract, lies north of the Siachen Glacier in the Hunza-Gilgit region and is claimed by India.

• Pakistan ceded the Shaksgam Valley to China under the 1963 China-Pakistan Boundary Agreement, despite India’s claim over the territory.
• India has never recognised this agreement, consistently terming it illegal and invalid.
• Recently, India reiterated its position after Chinese infrastructure activity in the region under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
• Historically, China had already strengthened its presence in nearby Aksai Chin during the 1950s by building a strategic highway linking Tibet and Xinjiang.
• The 1963 agreement included a clause stating that the boundary could be renegotiated after resolution of the Kashmir dispute.
• In Parliament, India has repeatedly stated that China occupies about 38,000 sq km of Indian territory in Ladakh, including Shaksgam Valley.
• Shaksgam’s strategic importance has grown due to its proximity to the CPEC, which connects Gwadar port with Kashgar in Xinjiang.

9. Ageing and Tissue Degeneration: Recently, Agharkar Research Institute (ARI), an autonomous institute under the Department of Science & Technology, published a path-breaking study redefining scientific understanding of ageing and tissue degeneration.

• Key Highlights: Tissue ageing may start from the deterioration of stem cell support cells rather than damage within stem cells themselves.

• Germline stem cells can function even with very low levels of autophagy, the cell’s internal recycling mechanism. In contrast, cap cells critically depend on autophagy for their long-term survival and structural integrity.
• Disabling autophagy-related genes such as Atg1, Atg5, and Atg9 in cap cells leads to their gradual degeneration.
• Damaged cap cells fail to provide essential biochemical maintenance signals to stem cells.
• Loss of these signals causes stem cells to disappear, despite their intrinsic robustness.
• Bone Morphogenetic Protein (BMP) signalling from cap cells is essential for maintaining stem cell identity and egg production.
• The study was conducted using the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, a powerful genetically tractable model.
• Core pathways studied, including autophagy and niche signalling, are conserved across species.
• The results are expected to inform ageing research in mammalian tissues like skin, intestine, muscle, and reproductive organs.