14^th November 2025

1. Global Carbon Project (GCP): Recently, India’s carbon emissions have been rising at a slower pace, growing 1.4% in 2025 compared to a 4% increase in 2024, according to new estimates from the Global Carbon Project (GCP).

• Key Findings: Global carbon emissions are expected to rise by 1%, reaching 38 billion tonnes in 2025.

• China’s emissions are projected to rise 4% in 2025, also slower than recent years, due to moderate energy demand and rapid renewable expansion.
• Emissions are expected to grow in the S. (+1.9%) and the EU (+0.4%) in 2025.
• India remains the third-largest carbon emitter at 2 billion tonnes annually (2024), after the U.S. (4.9 billion tonnes) and China (12 billion tonnes).
• India’s per capita emissions are 2.2 tonnes, the second-lowest among the world’s 20 largest economies. Coal remains the dominant contributor to India’s emissions.
• Globally, emissions from all fuel types are increasing in 2025: coal (+0.8%), oil (+1%), natural gas (+1.3%).
• Emissions from permanent deforestation remain high at 4 billion tonnes CO2/year, with reforestation offsetting only about half.
• Scientists warn that land and ocean carbon sinks are weakening due to climate change.

2. National Database for Emergency Management (NDEM): Recently, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) mandated that all highway Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) must include analysis based on ISRO’s National Database for Emergency Management (NDEM).

• About NDEM: A geospatial platform that delivers real-time, space-based information to support disaster preparedness, mitigation, and response across India.

• Developed by: The National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), ISRO, under the guidance of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

• Aim: To act as a nationwide GIS-based data repository that helps policymakers, planners, and disaster managers make informed, risk-aware decisions.

• Key Features: Multi-hazard coverage: Provides data related to floods, earthquakes, landslides, droughts, and cyclones.
• Digital Elevation Models (DEM): Supports terrain analysis for understanding slopes and drainage.
• Land-use and hazard zonation layers: Identify vulnerable regions and guide better land-use planning.
• Multi-agency access: Used by NDRF, SDRF, and State Disaster Management Authorities for rescue planning and disaster management.

3. Ricin: Recently, the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad arrested three men, including a doctor, for allegedly attempting to produce ricin, a deadly toxic protein.

• About Ricin: A protein extracted from castor beans, which are widely grown for castor oil in India, Brazil, and China.

• Castor seeds contain 30–60% oil, and ricin makes up 1–5% of the solid residue after oil extraction.
• Ricin binds to ribosomes, blocking protein synthesis and leading to cell death and multi-organ failure.
• Accidental exposure may occur when children swallow castor seeds, though whole seeds usually pass harmlessly unless bitten or cracked.
• Symptoms of ingestion include severe vomiting, bloody diarrhoea, low blood pressure, hallucinations, seizures, and potential organ failure or death.
• If inhaled, ricin causes breathing difficulty, cough, and chest tightness; if injected, it rapidly shuts down organ systems.
• There is no antidote; treatment is limited to symptomatic care, including induced vomiting or stomach wash if detected early.
• Ricin is categorised as a Schedule 1 toxin under the Chemical Weapons Convention.

4. Saranda Forests: Recently, the Supreme Court directed the Jharkhand government to declare the Saranda forests a wildlife sanctuary and conservation reserve.

• Key Highlights: The Court prohibited any mining activity within a 1-km radius of the sanctuary boundary.

• Jharkhand was allowed to exclude six compartments from the sanctuary notification under the Management Plan for Sustainable Mining (MPSM).
• The Court cited Articles 48A and 51A(g) of the Constitution and Section 26A of the Wildlife Protection Act to justify mandatory protection.
• The Wildlife Institute of India’s report supported declaring the full extent as a sanctuary.
• The Court instructed the state to publicise that tribal and forest-dweller individual and community rights will not be affected.
• It also directed assurance under the Forest Rights Act that all rights of tribals/forest dwellers remain fully protected.
• The judgment aligns with the National Wildlife Action Plan 2017–31, which emphasises expanding protected areas and ensuring in situ conservation of threatened species.

5. Metformin: Recently, a new study indicated that metformin might reduce some of the positive effects of exercise.

• About Metformin (1,1-dimethylbiguanide hydrochloride): an anti-diabetic medicine from the biguanide group. It is one of the most commonly prescribed drugs to manage type 2 diabetes.

• Metformin helps prevent high blood sugar through multiple mechanisms:

• It lowers the amount of glucose absorbed from food and beverages.

• It reduces glucose production by the liver.

• It improves the effectiveness of the body’s insulin, enabling better use of glucose for energy.

• Globally, metformin is the most widely used glucose-lowering drug.

• It has been part of the WHO’s list of essential medicines since 2011.

6. Museum on Tribal Freedom Fighters: Recently, a new museum in New Raipur, Chhattisgarh, was opened to honour tribal freedom fighters whose stories remain lesser known in mainstream history.

• Key Highlights: Named the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh Memorial & Tribal Freedom Fighter Museum and implemented by the Tribal Welfare Department.

• Features include life-sized sculptures, hanging orders, weapons used by tribal revolutionaries, documents, and digital installations.
• The museum presents events and tribal resistance movements from 1774 to 1939, across 16 galleries containing hundreds of sculptures.
• The entrance displays wooden carvings from Sarguja and names of 200 tribal freedom fighters.
• A life-size statue of Birsa Munda stands in the courtyard; his birth anniversary (Nov 15) is observed as Janjatiya Gaurav Divas.
• Digital screens, animated stories, and a mini-theatre showcase leaders like Veer Narayan Singh, Gaind Singh, Gundadhur, and Ramadhin Gond.
• Galleries display the cultures of Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) such as Kamar, Baiga, Abujhmadia, Pahathi Korwa, and Birhor.
• Notable story: tribes of Bastar (Gond, Koya, Dorla, Madias) repelled Captain Blunt of the East India Company in 1795.
• The museum includes an app ‘Adi Vani’ offering translations in Gondi and Halbi, and digital films in local languages for immersive experiences.

7. Diabetes Stress: Recently, India was reported to have 10.1 crore people living with diabetes (ICMR–INDIAB 2023), with cases rising among younger, working-age adults. Emerging Indian research also links chronic workplace stress to worsening metabolic health and poor glycaemic control.

• Key Findings: A Tamil Nadu study found that higher perceived stress in adults with Type 2 diabetes was associated with worse sugar control and longer disease duration.

• Chronic stress elevates cortisol and adrenaline, disrupts glucose metabolism, promotes abdominal fat, and leads to insulin resistance.
• Doctors report increasing cases among people in their 30s and 40s with rising sugars, poor sleep, and central weight gain despite no major dietary issues.
• Research indicates gender differences: prolonged occupational stress increases risk of diabetes and pre-diabetes in women.
• Early metabolic signs—abdominal obesity, fatigue, sleep disturbances, cravings—are often misattributed to “busy lifestyle” instead of endocrine dysfunction.
• Highest risk groups include workers in IT, finance, customer service, healthcare, and night-shift workers.
• Night shifts disrupt circadian rhythms, reducing insulin sensitivity and causing unstable blood sugar even with good diet or medication.
• Experts recommend structural workplace changes: predictable lunch breaks, movement gaps, limits on late-night work, healthier food options, and shift rotation.

8. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR): Recently, a report described how experts are using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) in post-blast forensic investigations to analyse residues and identify chemical signatures.

• About FTIR: Also called FTIR Analysis or FTIR Spectroscopy, this technique is a powerful analytical method used to identify chemical components and understand the structure of compounds in real-world samples.

• It works by examining the vibrational modes of molecular functional groups.

• How FTIR Works: Infrared light is directed onto a test sample.

• The instrument detects how different molecular bonds absorb IR radiation.

• This reveals details about molecular vibrations, functional groups, and the chemical makeup of the material.

• FTIR can analyse very small particles (10–50 microns) as well as larger surface areas. It is widely used to obtain the infrared absorption or emission spectrum of solids, liquids, and gases.

• Applications of FTIR: Industry: Commonly used for quality control in assessing manufactured materials.

• Environment: Helps monitor air and water quality, and analyse soil contamination, especially with rising pollution concerns.

• Chemical Field: Useful for identifying organic, polymeric, and sometimes inorganic

9. Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM): Recently, the Centre’s air pollution mitigation body, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), will soon receive more accurate, verified data on stubble-burnt farm areas this paddy season.

• Key Highlights: Verification (“ground truthing”) of satellite-mapped burnt areas is underway with support from Punjab and Haryana authorities.

• Stubble burning contributes heavily to Delhi-NCR pollution—up to 35% of emissions on some days in November 2024.
• Authorities aim to finalise a standardised burnt-area mapping protocol by next winter.
• Mapping burnt areas provides better enforcement insights, especially when fire counts are low but burnt area is high.
• Sentinel-2 satellite imagery (10-metre resolution) is heavily used to detect burn scars through optical, near-infrared, and short-wave infrared bands.
• Sentinel-2 passes every five days; data is shared with states for validation.
• Authorities on the ground feed verified data into an NRSC-developed application for accuracy testing.
• Stubble burning contributed 45% of PM2.5 levels in Delhi on that day, according to IITM’s Decision Support System.