Why in News?

The Union Cabinet has approved the Pradhan Mantri Viksit Gram Swaraj Yojana (PM-VGSY), a Centrally Sponsored Scheme to strengthen the planning and governance capacity of Gram Panchayats. It runs from 2026-27 to 2030-31.

Key Points

• Outlay: ₹7,395.55 crore (Centre ₹4,869.48 crore, States ₹2,526.07 crore), for 2026-27 to 2030-31.
• Coverage: All States and UTs, including rural local bodies in non-Part IX areas.
• Beneficiaries: About 32 lakh representatives and functionaries across over 2.55 lakh Panchayats, with training and digital handholding.
• Annual targets: 2.55 lakh Gram Panchayat Development Plans on eGramSwaraj and 2.55 lakh online audit plans on AuditOnline. Each awareness drive reaches at least 1 crore citizens.
• Digital tools: A common digital platform for planning, and PANCHAM, an AI chatbot in 17 languages.
• Finance: The Sixteenth Finance Commission recommends about ₹4.35 lakh crore of grants for rural local bodies, and the scheme also targets own source revenue.
• Staff: No permanent posts, but contractual staff can be engaged.
• Implementation: States submit Annual Action Plans, approved by a Central Empowered Committee.

Background

• Panchayati Raj: The 73rd Amendment (1992) inserted Part IX and the Eleventh Schedule of 29 subjects. It came into force on 24 April 1993, which is National Panchayati Raj Day. Part IX does not apply to some areas such as Nagaland, Meghalaya and Mizoram and Scheduled and tribal areas.
• Earlier scheme: Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (RGSA) was launched on 24 April 2018. Its revamped version for 2022-23 to 2025-26 had an outlay of ₹5,911 crore. PM-VGSY is its upgraded version.
• eGramSwaraj: A work-based application for Panchayats, launched in 2020. AuditOnline (2020) is for online audit of Panchayat accounts, and PANCHAM was launched in January 2026.
• Gram Panchayat Development Plan: The yearly plan a Panchayat prepares for its village.

Why in News?

Green hydrogen is emerging as a pillar of India’s clean energy transition, to cut emissions in fertiliser, refining, steel, heavy transport and shipping, under the National Green Hydrogen Mission.

Key Points

• Mission: The National Green Hydrogen Mission (NGHM) was approved in January 2023 with ₹19,744 crore. It targets 5 million tonnes a year by 2030.
• Expected gains: Over ₹8 lakh crore of investment, over 6 lakh jobs and about 50 million tonnes of CO₂ avoided a year.
• SIGHT programme: ₹17,490 crore for electrolyser manufacturing (3,000 MW a year awarded) and green hydrogen production.
• Hubs: Kandla, V.O. Chidambaranar and Paradip ports. Hydrogen Valley Innovation Clusters in Jodhpur, Odisha, Pune and Kerala.
• Incentive: A 25-year waiver of inter-State transmission charges for plants commissioned by 31 December 2030.
• Standard: Hydrogen is green if emissions are at most 2 kg of CO₂ equivalent per kg of hydrogen (notified August 2023).
• First hydrogen train: Inaugurated on 17 July 2026 on the Jind-Sonipat section.

Background

• How it is made: Electrolysis splits water into hydrogen and oxygen using renewable electricity (2H₂O → 2H₂ + O₂). About 9 litres of demineralised water are needed per kg of hydrogen.
• Uses: Fertiliser (green ammonia), refineries, steel (direct reduced iron), city gas blending, fuel-cell transport, shipping (green ammonia and methanol) and exports.
• Net zero: India aims for net zero by 2070.
• Nodal ministry: MNRE, with BEE accrediting certification agencies.

Types of hydrogen

Why in News?

The Raksha Mantri held talks with South Korea’s Minister of National Defense at the 13th ADMM-Plus in Cebu, Philippines, on 28 October 2026, on defence cooperation and Indo-Pacific security.

Key Points

• The meeting: The 13th ADMM-Plus runs from 28 to 29 October 2026 under the Philippines’ chairmanship, with India leading a delegation.
• Bilateral talks: They covered defence cooperation, an open, free and inclusive region and maritime security.
• Technology: They explored co-developing military technologies and joint industry collaboration.
• The forum: The ADMM-Plus brings together ASEAN and eight dialogue partners, including India and South Korea.

Background

• ADMM-Plus: It brings together the 10 ASEAN members and 8 Plus countries: Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, Russia and the United States.
• History: The first meeting was in Hanoi in October 2010. It has met annually since 2017.
• Seven areas: Maritime security, counter-terrorism, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, peacekeeping, military medicine, humanitarian mine action and cyber security, each with an Experts’ Working Group co-chaired by an ASEAN member and a Plus country.
• ADMM: The ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting, the highest defence consultative body of ASEAN, began on 9 May 2006 in Kuala Lumpur. The ADMM-Plus chair follows the ASEAN chair.
• India and ASEAN: India became an ASEAN dialogue partner in 1992.
• India-South Korea: Ties were raised to a Special Strategic Partnership in 2015.

Why in News?

The Union Cabinet has approved an additional instalment of Dearness Allowance (DA) and Dearness Relief (DR), a 3% increase from 1 July 2026, taking the rate from 60% to 63% of basic pay or pension.

Key Points

• Beneficiaries: About 48.54 lakh Central government employees and 68.71 lakh pensioners.
• Cost: About ₹10,016.10 crore a year for DA and DR together.
• Basis: The increase follows the accepted formula based on the 7th Central Pay Commission, to compensate for price rise.
• Previous rate: The 60% rate applied from 1 January 2026, after a 2% increase.

Background

• DA and DR: Dearness Allowance is a cost-of-living adjustment for serving employees, and Dearness Relief is the same for pensioners.
• Revision: Twice a year, effective 1 January and 1 July. The Cabinet usually clears the July revision around October or November.
• Index: The rate depends on the 12-month average of the All-India Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (AICPI-IW), published by the Labour Bureau.
• Reset: DA was reset to zero when the 7th Pay Commission took effect in January 2016, and it is absorbed into basic pay when a new Pay Commission is implemented.
• Tax: DA is taxable as salary income.

Why in News?

The Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation held the 12th multilingual Sujal Gram Samvad with Gram Panchayats on operation and maintenance (O&M) of rural water supply under Jal Jeevan Mission 2.0, stressing local ownership and source sustainability.

Key Facts: Jal Jeevan Mission

• Launch: 15 August 2019, restructuring the National Rural Drinking Water Programme.
• Objective: A functional household tap connection (FHTC) to every rural household, with 55 litres per person per day of prescribed quality.
• Ministry: Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Ministry of Jal Shakti. A Centrally Sponsored Scheme.
• Funding: The Centre-State share is 90:10 for Himalayan and North-Eastern States, 50:50 for other States and 100% for Union Territories.
• Community role: Village Water and Sanitation Committees (Pani Samitis) plan and run the system, with at least 50% women members, and Implementation Support Agencies help villages.
• Water quality: Five women in each village are trained to test water with Field Test Kits, which check pH, alkalinity, chloride, nitrate, hardness, fluoride, iron, residual chlorine and H₂S.
• Geo-tagging: Every water supply asset is geo-tagged.
• Progress: Tap connections rose from 3.23 crore households (17%) in 2019 to about 15.8 crore (81.61%) of 19.36 crore in March 2026.
• JJM 2.0: Approved by the Cabinet in March 2026. The mission runs to December 2028, with a total outlay of about ₹8.7 lakh crore (Central assistance ₹3.59 lakh crore, against ₹2.08 lakh crore in 2019).
• Shift: From building infrastructure to service delivery, backed by separate MoUs with States.
• New features: Jal Arpan (transfer of assets to Panchayats), Jal Utsav (annual community review), a Sujal Gaon ID for each village and Har Ghar Jal certification only after O&M is in place.
• Sujal Gram Samvad: A multilingual dialogue with Gram Panchayats and communities. Jal Seva Aankalan and Swachh Seva Aankalan are assessments to find service gaps.
• User charges: ₹62 a month in Itore (Jharkhand) and ₹150 per household a month in Sialhawk (Mizoram), used for O&M.
• Panchayats: Drinking water is item 11 of the Eleventh Schedule (73rd Amendment).

Why in News?

The Union Jal Shakti Minister launched the Punah Bharan mobile application, developed by BISAG-N with the National Water Mission, to support scientific planning of groundwater recharge.

Key Points

• What it does: The app identifies potential artificial recharge zones within a radius of up to 3 km and suggests suitable recharge structures for local conditions.
• Web portal: It provides village-level Artificial Recharge Structure (ARS) zonation maps, GIS tools and thematic layers.
• Data used: Rainfall, groundwater levels, groundwater yield, slope and drainage.

Background

• Artificial recharge: The process of spreading or impounding water so that it seeps into aquifers.
• BISAG-N: Bhaskaracharya National Institute for Space Applications and Geo-informatics.
• National Water Mission: Conceived in 2008 as one of the eight missions under the National Action Plan on Climate Change, and set up on 6 April 2011. It aims for a 20% improvement in water-use efficiency.
• Related campaigns: Jal Shakti Abhiyan (2019) for water conservation in 256 water-stressed districts.