31^st October 2025 

1. Meteor Air-To-Air Missiles: Recently, India began preparations to enhance its air combat capabilities by acquiring a large number of Meteor air-to-air missiles.

• About Meteor Missile: An advanced radar-guided, beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile (BVRAAM).
• It was developed by a consortium of six European nations — the UK, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, and Sweden — under the leadership of MBDA, a European multinational specializing in missile design and manufacturing.
• Key Features: Dimensions:65 metres in length and 0.178 metres in diameter.
• Propulsion: Unlike traditional solid-fuel missiles, the Meteor uses a ramjet engine, allowing for sustained thrust, controlled flight speed, and high agility throughout its trajectory.
• Range: Up to 200 kilometres, enabling engagements well beyond visual range.
• Speed: Capable of speeds exceeding Mach 4, giving it a large “no-escape zone” for enemy aircraft.
• Guidance System: Equipped with an advanced active radar seeker, ensuring all-weather capability against diverse aerial threats such as fighter jets, UAVs, and cruise missiles.
• Datalink: Features a two-way datalink that allows the launch platform to update target information or redirect the missile mid-flight.
• Warhead: Contains a blast-fragmentation warhead designed for high kill probability and precision.

2. Trishul: Recently, India launched a major tri-Service military exercise, ‘Trishul’, along the western border with Pakistan.

• About Trishul: The drill showcases joint operational capability and strategic preparedness of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, spanning Gujarat and Rajasthan.
• Objective: to enhance interoperability, coordination, and mission readiness among the three Services.
• The Navy leads the opening phase, followed by the Army in the second phase, and the Air Force in the final phase.
• Border Security Force (BSF) and Coast Guard are participating as auxiliary forces, reflecting an integrated national security approach.
• Over 20,000 troops are involved, supported by T-90S and Arjun tanks, attack helicopters, missile systems, Rafale and Sukhoi-30MKI fighters, as well as frigates and destroyers.
• The exercise underscores India’s emphasis on joint planning, integrated command structures, and combat readiness amid evolving threats.

3. Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary: Recently, the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister announced plans to designate Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary as the state’s third cheetah habitat, after Kuno National Park and Gandhi Sagar Sanctuary, to further advance cheetah conservation and ecosystem restoration.

• About Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary: Spanning 1,197 sq. km, Nauradehi is among India’s largest wildlife sanctuaries and plays a key role as a wildlife corridor in the upper Vindhyan range of Madhya Pradesh.
• Location: The sanctuary extends across the Sagar, Damoh, and Narsinghpur districts, positioned between the Yamuna and Narmada river basins. Major rivers such as Bamner, Kopra, and Bearma flow through it.
• Ecology and Terrain: Features mixed deciduous forests and Vindhyan sandstone formations.
• Soils vary from red and black to alluvial types.
• Altitude ranges between 400–600 metres above sea level, with an average annual rainfall of 1,200 mm.
• Biodiversity: Home to over 250 animal species, including tiger, leopard, sloth bear, wild dog, chinkara, sambhar, and blackbuck.
• Hosts more than 170 bird species, such as storks, vultures, and pheasants.
• Rich vegetation with grasses, herbs, shrubs, and bamboo, providing an excellent prey base for cheetahs.

4. Wind Capacity of India: Recently, the Union Minister announced that India is expected to add 6 gigawatts (GW) of new wind capacity by the end of FY 2025–26, the highest-ever annual addition, up from 4 GW in the previous year.

• Key Highlights: India aims to achieve 500 GW of renewable energy by 2030, with wind power contributing 100 GW or more.
• The country currently has 54 GW of installed wind energy and 30 GW under implementation, keeping it on track to meet 2030 targets.
• Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh together contribute almost half of India’s total wind capacity.
• India’s wind sector currently has 70% local content, with a goal to raise it to 85% by 2030 under the Atmanirbhar Wind Mission.
• The GST on wind equipment has been reduced from 12% to 5%, lowering turbine costs by ₹25 lakh per MW.
• With the ALMM–Wind framework and related initiatives, India aims to meet 10% of global wind demand by 2030 and 20% by 2040, becoming a global hub for wind turbine manufacturing.
• A National Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE) study shows India’s wind potential at 1,164 GW at 150 metres hub height.
• The government launched a Viability Gap Funding (VGF) Scheme for Offshore Wind, targeting 1 GW in Phase I — 500 MW each off Gujarat and Tamil Nadu.
• India’s total installed power capacity is nearing 500 GW, with non-fossil sources contributing over 257 GW.

5. Bordetella Holmesii: Recently, researchers from the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, reported a significant rise in infections caused by Bordetella holmesii, a lesser-known bacterium that closely resembles whooping cough (pertussis), in north India.

• About Bordetella Holmesii: First identified in 1995, Bordetella holmesii is a gram-negative coccobacillus.
• It produces pertussis-like respiratory symptoms in humans and may also cause invasive infections such as endocarditis, community-acquired pneumonia, cellulitis, suppurative arthritis, and pyelonephritis.
• Recent findings reveal that around 37% of pertussis-like infections in north India are now caused by Bordetella holmesii, surpassing infections due to Bordetella pertussis.
• About Whooping Cough (Pertussis): Whooping cough is a highly contagious respiratory infection caused by Bordetella pertussis.
• The disease gets its name from the characteristic “whooping” sound made during coughing fits.
• It is especially dangerous for infants, as complications can lead to pneumonia or even death.
• Prevention: through DTaP vaccination (Diphtheria, Tetanus, and Pertussis).

6. Chabahar Port: Recently, India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) confirmed that the United States granted a six-month waiver from sanctions for operations at Iran’s Chabahar Port.

• Key Highlights: India has been involved with the Chabahar Port project since 2005, under an agreement with Iran.
• In 2015, India and Iran signed a MoU to jointly develop the Shahid Beheshti terminal at Chabahar.
• The port was envisioned as a trade gateway for India to Afghanistan, Central Asia, and Russia.
• In 2018, the U.S. granted a waiver for Indian operations at Chabahar, recognizing its role in supporting Afghanistan’s development.
• After the Taliban takeover in 2021, regional dynamics around Chabahar shifted, with the Taliban engaging major powers, including India, on port cooperation.
• The S. revoked the 2018 waiver in September 2025, exposing entities linked to Chabahar to sanctions under the Iran Freedom and Counter-Proliferation Act.
• The new waiver reinstatement ensures that supplies to Afghanistan—notably food grains and medicines—can continue via Chabahar.
• The Chabahar port remains a strategic link for India-Iran connectivity and a vital humanitarian route to Afghanistan.

7. Transit-Oriented Development (TOD): Recently, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) announced plans to launch India’s first Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) project at the East Delhi Hub, marking a key step toward sustainable urban planning.

• TOD: An urban planning strategy designed to concentrate housing, offices, commercial spaces, and recreational zones around public transport facilities.
• It places public transportation at the heart of the city’s development framework to promote efficient, accessible, and eco-friendly mobility.
• Objectives of TOD: Reduce dependence on private vehicles and promote the use of public transport.
• Shorten commute times and lower travel costs for urban residents.
• Minimise pollution exposure and contribute to sustainable city growth.
• Advantages of TOD: Provides transport agencies with an additional source of non-ticket revenue.
• Enables governments and land-owning agencies to use value-capture financing, funding public projects through increased land values around transit hubs.

8. Consumer Price Index (CPI): Recently, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) proposed major changes to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) to make the housing index more robust and representative.

• Key Highlights: The new CPI will measure rural housing inflation for the first time, using monthly rent data collection in both rural and urban areas, instead of the current six-month cycle limited to urban regions.
• Employer-provided dwellings (like government accommodations) will be excluded from the housing index to eliminate distortions, as these do not reflect actual rental market rates.
• Currently, housing has a weight of 21.67% in urban CPI and 07% at the all-India level.
• The change aims to better reflect post-pandemic rental surges and real market movements, which were previously underrepresented due to the urban-only focus.
• Economists have long flagged the inclusion of government housing as problematic, since House Rent Allowance (HRA)—used as a rent proxy—depends on employee pay grade, not market rental value.
• The Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES) 2023–24 has, for the first time, collected rural rent and imputed rent data, enabling inclusion of the rural housing index.
• The new CPI series, expected to start in February 2026, will compile housing indices for both rural and urban areas.
• The changes were advised during a Technical Assistance Mission with IMF experts, which highlighted the need to avoid downward bias in rent indices caused by limited sample rotation.
• The new methodology will ensure comparisons of like-with-like prices (panel approach) and convert six-month changes into monthly indices to better track inflation trends.
• The base revision of CPI will incorporate new data sources, updated methodologies, and expert consultations to improve accuracy.
• The Ministry emphasized that housing inflation is a key welfare indicator, as a large share of household income goes toward rent or maintenance costs.
• The aim is to create a transparent, data-rich, and credible inflation measure that accurately captures housing cost pressures across both rural and urban India.