Why in News?

Cyclone Murasu, a severe cyclonic storm, is expected to cross the Andhra Pradesh coast between Ongole and Nellore in the early hours of 3 November, with the State on alert, days after Cyclone Arnab.

Key Points

• The name: Murasu is a Tamil word for a traditional drum, proposed by India. It was named on 1 November, when the deep depression became a cyclonic storm.
• Arnab versus Murasu: Arnab (named by Bangladesh) crossed the coast on 28 October as a very severe cyclonic storm. Murasu is expected to cross as a severe cyclonic storm.

Background

• IMD categories (by wind speed): Cyclonic storm (62 to 88 km/h), severe (89 to 117), very severe (118 to 166), extremely severe (167 to 221) and super cyclonic storm (222 and above).
• Naming: Cyclones in the North Indian Ocean are named from a list of names given by member countries. The IMD gives the names.
• Cyclone season: October to December is the active season in the Bay of Bengal, and the east coast is hit more often than the west coast.
• Storm surge: A sudden rise in sea level caused by a cyclone’s winds. It is usually strongest on the right of the storm’s path, so the surge is expected north of the landfall point.
• Landfall: The point where the centre of a cyclone crosses the coast.
• NDRF: The National Disaster Response Force, set up under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, and under the Ministry of Home Affairs. The NDMA leads disaster planning.

Why in News

Milky Way: Work using the Gaia mission is tracing how the Milky Way grew by absorbing smaller galaxies. The 2026 Kavli Prize in Astrophysics went to three astronomers for this “galactic archaeology”.

X-ray source: Indian astronomers tracked 24 years of X-ray data on NGC 4490 ULX-8 and found it is most likely a black hole.

Part 1: The Milky Way’s Mergers

• How galaxies grow: By violent collisions. A larger galaxy tears apart smaller ones with tidal forces, leaving streams and clusters of stars that move differently from the rest. Age, chemistry and motion show which stars were born together in another galaxy.
• Sagittarius dwarf: The first clear case of a galaxy being absorbed. Stars in the Milky Way’s bulge were seen moving together in a peculiar way, and turned out to belong to a smaller galaxy that merged about six billion years ago.
• Gaia-Enceladus: Found using the European Space Agency’s Gaia data. Stars moving counterclockwise, against the rest of the galaxy, were traced to a galaxy that collided with the Milky Way about 10 billion years ago. The collision was large enough to change the Milky Way’s shape.
• Older merger: An August 2026 paper confirmed that about 12 billion years ago, a galaxy called Low-energy Kraken-Heracles (LKH) collided with the Milky Way. It sits in the central bulge, which holds the oldest stars.
• Globular clusters: A study of 39 globular clusters (groups of about a million stars born together) found that 12 came from outside the Milky Way, and were absorbed about 1.8 billion years before Gaia-Enceladus. This may be the first major merger.
• Magellanic Clouds: The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds are nearby galaxies now being swallowed by the Milky Way.
• Open question: Omega Centauri, once thought a dwarf galaxy, may be the core of Gaia-Enceladus, but the evidence is not conclusive.
• What next: New instruments, 4MOST (Chile) and MOONS, will survey the Southern Sky and the central bulge in more detail.

Part 2: The X-ray Source NGC 4490 ULX-8

• ULX: Ultraluminous X-ray sources are among the brightest X-ray emitters in nearby galaxies, apart from supermassive black holes. They are thought to hold a neutron star or black hole pulling matter from a companion star, which heats up and gives off intense X-rays.
• Eddington limit: The maximum brightness an object can reach when the pull of gravity balances the push of radiation. ULXs seem to shine above this limit.
• The study: The Indian Institute of Astrophysics and the Raman Research Institute (both autonomous institutes of the Department of Science and Technology), with others, studied ULX-8 in the interacting galaxy pair NGC 4490/4485 using Chandra, XMM-Newton and Swift data from 2000 to 2024.
• Finding: ULX-8 stayed very bright, with large changes in brightness but no dramatic switches between accretion states. It is most likely powered by a stellar-mass black hole accreting at or near the Eddington limit.
• Why it matters: It shows how compact objects can take in matter at extreme rates and how they grow.
• What next: ESA’s NewAthena mission and India’s proposed XSat will study such sources better.

Background

• Gaia: An ESA mission that mapped about two billion stars. It operated from 2014 to January 2025.
• Kavli Prize: Awarded every two years by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, with $1 million per field.
• Space X-ray telescopes: Chandra (NASA), XMM-Newton (ESA) and Swift (NASA). India’s AstroSat (2015) and XPoSat (2024) study X-ray sources.

Why in News?

The Finance Minister said the government will sustain capital expenditure (capex) to support growth, while fiscal prudence remains non-negotiable.

Key Points

• Why capex: It is a key part of the growth strategy until the private sector expands capacity and invests more.
• Evidence: The government says the multiplier effects of public investment over the past four to five years have been strong, which gives it confidence to continue.
• Growth momentum: The government will extend capex support so that growth is not disrupted.
• Fiscal prudence: Higher spending has to be balanced against fiscal constraints. Some people argue for spending without worrying about sovereign credit ratings, but responsible spending is essential.
• India should speak with optimism and show less cynicism, even if experts are cautious about the economy as a whole.

Background

• Capital expenditure: Spending on creating assets, such as roads, railways and ports, as against revenue expenditure on salaries, interest and subsidies. Capex raises future output, which is why it has a higher multiplier than revenue spending.
• Budget 2026-27: Capex is ₹12.2 lakh crore, up from about ₹11.2 lakh crore in 2025-26.
• Fiscal deficit: Targeted at 4.3% of GDP in 2026-27, down from 4.4% in 2025-26.
• Debt anchor: The Centre has shifted its focus to the debt-to-GDP ratio, projected at 55.6% in 2026-27, with a target of 50% (plus or minus 1) by 2030-31.
• FRBM Act, 2003: The law that sets fiscal discipline for the Centre. The focus on the debt ratio is part of this framework.
• Sovereign rating: A credit agency’s view of a government’s ability to repay debt. S&P upgraded India to BBB in August 2025. A better rating lowers borrowing costs.
• Crowding in: Public investment can attract private investment by improving infrastructure and demand.