Prelims Pinpointer 09-03-2026

VB-G RAM G Act, 2025

Context: The Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act, 2025 proposed as a replacement for MGNREGA, 2005. The act aligns rural employment with PM Gati Shakti and Viksit Gram Panchayat Plans (VGPPs)

Key Provisions of VB-G RAM G Act

• Employment & Wages
  • Statutory guarantee of 125 days as the right to demand employment is legally enforceable
  • Unemployment allowance is payable after 15 days if employment is not provided
  • Earlier dis-entitlement provisions removed.
• Asset Creation: (Four Priority Domains)
  • Water security and conservation
  • Core rural infrastructure
  • Livelihood-supporting infrastructure
  • Climate risk mitigation works
  • All assets integrated into Viksit Bharat National Rural Infrastructure Stack
• Decentralised Planning
  • Plans originate from Viksit Gram Panchayat Plans (VGPPs) approved by Gram Sabhas
  • Panchayats control identification, prioritisation, and social audits
  • Digital integration with PM Gati Shakti

• Centre: State Financial Contribution
  • General States: 60 : 40
  • North-East & Himalayan States: 90 : 10
  • UTs without legislatures: 100% Central
• Administration & Technology
  • Administrative expenditure ceiling raised from 6% to 9%
  • Biometric authentication, geo-tagging, AI-enabled analytics, real-time dashboards
  • Technology as enabler, not gatekeeper
  • Social audits by Gram Sabhas strengthened

MGNREGA vs VB-G RAM G

Feature	MGNREGA	VB-G RAM G Act
Guaranteed Workdays	100 days/household/year	125 days/household/year
Wage Funding	100% Central funding for unskilled wages	60:40 Centre-State cost sharing
Nature of Right	Justiciable Right as citizens can sue if work is denied; open-ended funding	Schematic Entitlement as a guarantee limited by a fixed budget cap
Budgeting Approach	Based on the labour budget reflecting actual demand from states	Centre determines fixed state-wise annual allocation
Operational Period	Continuous with no seasonal pauses	Work suspension is allowed up to 60 days during peak agricultural seasons
Payment Frequency	Wages paid within 15 days of work completion	Wages paid weekly

Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB)

Basic Facts

• Nodal drug law enforcement and intelligence agency under the Ministry of Home Affairs
• Constituted on 14th November 1985 under the NDPS Act, 1985
• Headquarters: New Delhi

Key Functions

• Coordinates actions by State Governments, various offices, and other authorities under:
  • NDPS Act, 1985
  • Customs Act
  • Drugs and Cosmetics Act
• Implements India’s obligations under international conventions and protocols against illicit drug trafficking
• Assists foreign authorities and international organisations in the prevention and suppression of illicit drug traffic
• Coordinates with concerned ministries, departments, and organisations on drug abuse matters

Enforcement Role

• Functions as an enforcement agency through its zonal offices
• Zonal offices:
  • Collect and analyse seizure data of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances
  • Study trends and modus operandi
  • Collect and disseminate intelligence
  • Cooperate with Customs, State Police, and other law enforcement agencies

National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA)

About NTCA

• Statutory body under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC)
• Established in 2006 under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972
• Provides statutory authority to Project Tiger
• Project Tiger is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme of MoEFCC for in-situ conservation of tigers in designated tiger reserves

Composition

• Chairperson: Minister in charge of MoEFCC
• Vice-Chairperson: Minister of State in MoEFCC
• Three Members of Parliament + Secretary (MoEFCC) + other members

Key Functions

• Approves the Tiger Conservation Plans prepared by State Governments
• Lays down normative standards for tourism in the core and buffer areas of tiger reserves
• Ensures tiger reserves and wildlife corridors are not diverted for ecologically unsustainable uses
• Any diversion requires approval of the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) and advice of NTCA
• Approves and coordinates research and monitoring on tigers, prey, and habitats
• Addresses human-wildlife conflict and promotes coexistence
• Supports the capacity building of tiger reserve staff and officers

Objectives

• Fosters Centre-State accountability in Tiger Reserve management through MoUs
• Provides Parliamentary oversight of tiger conservation
• Addresses the livelihood interests of local communities around tiger reserves

Raisina Dialogue 2026

What is Raisina Dialogue?

• India’s premier multilateral conference on geopolitics and geo-economics
• Platform for world leaders, policymakers, military commanders, academics, and industry experts
• Name derived from Raisina Hill, the seat of the Government of India, New Delhi
• Comparable to the Munich Security Conference and the Shangri-La Dialogue

Basic Facts

• Launched: 2016
• Hosted by: Observer Research Foundation (ORF) in partnership with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA)
• First edition: 1–3 March 2016
• 2026 Edition: 11th edition, held 5–7 March 2026, New Delhi
• Participants: ~2,700 from 110 countries

Raisina Dialogue 2026

• Theme: Saṁskāra- Assertion, Accommodation, Advancement
• Six Thematic Pillars:
  1. Contested Frontiers: Power, Polarity and Periphery
  2. Repairing the Commons: New Groups, New Guardians, New Avenues
  3. White Whale: The Pursuit of Agenda 2030
  4. The Eleventh Hour: Climate, Conflict and the Cost of Delay
  5. Tomorrowland: Towards a Tech-topia
  6. Trade in the Time of Tariffs: Recovery, Resilience, Reinvention

Significance

• Strengthens India’s role as a convening power in global diplomacy
• Shapes global conversations on geopolitics, geo-economics, and international cooperation

Commission on the Status of Women (CSW)

Overview

• A functional commission of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)
• Established by ECOSOC resolution on 21 June 1946
• Principal global intergovernmental body dedicated to gender equality and empowerment of women
• 45 Member States serve at any one time, elected by ECOSOC on an equitable geographical distribution basis
• Members are elected for a period of four years
• CSW-70 (70th Session), recently held at UN Headquarters

Mandate

• Promotes women’s political, economic, civil, social, and educational rights
• Documents the reality of women’s lives globally
• Shapes global standards on gender equality

1996 Expansion of Mandate

• ECOSOC expanded mandate in 1996
• CSW took a leading role in monitoring the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action
• Also tasked with mainstreaming gender perspective in UN activities

Beijing Declaration

• Adopted by 189 countries
• Most comprehensive and transformative global agenda for gender equality
• CSW is the principal monitoring body for its implementation

Deinococcus Radiodurans

What is it?

• A bacterium best known for its extreme resistance to ionising radiation
• Known as the most radiation-resistant organism on Earth
• Nicknamed “Conan the Bacterium”
• First discovered in 1956 in canned meat treated with radiation
• Gram-positive, nonmotile, reddish-coloured bacterium

Key Features

• Withstands radiation thousands of times higher than lethal doses for humans
• Can survive extreme cold, dehydration, vacuum, and acid
• Recent finding: Can survive pressures of 14,000–24,000 Earth atmospheres — simulating being blasted off a planet’s surface

Mechanism of Resistance

• Contains simple metabolites that combine with manganese to form a powerful antioxidant
• Enzyme thioredoxin reductase helps repair broken DNA strands
• Can eliminate damaged DNA parts
• Carries extra copies of important genes
• Helps recover from desiccation (extreme dryness) and starvation

THAAD Missile System

What is THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defence)?

• One of the most advanced missile defence platforms developed by the United States
• A major element of the broader Ballistic Missile Defence System (BMDS)
• Recent Context: Iran destroyed a key THAAD radar system used by the US in the Middle East
• Key Features
  • Designed to intercept missiles during the final stage of flight (terminal phase)
  • Can destroy threats both inside and outside Earth’s atmosphere
  • Defends against short, medium, and limited intermediate-range ballistic missiles
  • Uses “hit-to-kill” technology, thus interceptors destroy targets through direct kinetic collision (no explosive blast)
  • Engagement range: ~150–200 kilometres
• Key Components
  • Interceptor missiles: kinetic impact destruction
  • Truck-mounted launchers for deployment
  • AN/TPY-2 radar: detects and tracks long-range missile threats
  • Tactical fire control and communications unit for targeting coordination
• THAAD Battery Composition
  • ~90 personnel
  • 6 launchers
  • 48 interceptors (each launcher carries 8 missiles)