Gender Budget Statement (GBS) 2025-26

Polity and Constitution

• The Gender Budget Statement (GBS) 2025-26 signifies a move toward gender-responsive budgeting (GRB) that entails greater resource allocation and ministry engagement.
• The Gender Budget for FY 2025-26 is Rs 4.49 lakh crore, comprising 8.86% of the total Union Budget 2025-26 and marking a 37.5% increase from FY 2024-25's Rs 3.27 lakh crore.
• The GBS 2025-26 is India's most substantial gender budget, enhancing the welfare, education, and economic empowerment of women, with 49 ministries reporting gender-specific allocations.
• Gender budgeting is a strategic tool governments allocate resources based on gender needs.
• Policies and resource allocations must be gender-sensitive and meet specific needs.
• India's commitment to gender equality started with Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), 1979 ratified in 1993, leading to the first Gender Budget Statement in 2005-06 and has been included annually since.
• Gender budgeting falls under the Samarthya sub-scheme of Mission Shakti that isn’t just a fiscal tool but morally necessary to end gender inequality.
• India is ranked 129th out of 146 countries in the 2024 Gender Gap Report, indicating need for improvement in gender equality.
• The Mission Shakti initiative in 2021 by the MWCD is a program that empowers women in India, with two sub-schemes named Sambal and Samarthya.
• Sambal focuses on women's safety and security.
• Samarthya empowers women through skill-building and capacity development programs.
• Maharashtra has mandated the use of Marathi language in all official communication across government, semi-government, local self-government bodies, and government-aided offices.
• The Marathi Language Policy was approved in 2024 and recommends Marathi use in affairs.
• Marathi was designated as Maharashtra's official language in 1960 and became a classical language in 2024.
• India has 2 official languages (Hindi and English) and 22 Scheduled Languages under the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.
• India’s 22 official languages include: Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu.
• Part XVII of the Indian constitution deals with the official languages in Articles 343 to 351.
• India has no single dominant language, with Hindi spoken by a majority, but not all.
• Debates occurred between making Hindi the sole official language vs. continuing English with Hindi.
• Non-Hindi-speaking states, especially South India, opposed Hindi.
• The compromise led to Article 343 of the Indian Constitution, with Hindi as the Union's official language along with English for 15 years until 1965.
• Official Languages Act, 1963 allowed continued English use indefinitely with Hindi for official purposes due to protests from non-Hindi-speaking states.
• The Three-Language Formula (1968) promoted multilingualism with Hindi, English, and a regional language in schools, but southern states resisted making Hindi compulsory.
• Hindi and English are the Union Government's official languages with 22 languages recognized in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.
• States have their own official languages while the Supreme Court and High Courts function in English.
• The Indian government has granted Classical Language status to eleven languages based on historical significance.
• Tamil (2004), Sanskrit (2005), Kannada (2008), Telugu (2008), Malayalam (2013), and Odia (2014) are the historical 6 classical languages.
• The additional 5 languages that were added in 2024 were: Marathi, Assamese, Pali, Prakrit, and Bengali.
• Classical languages must have a recorded history of at least 1500-2000 years and a rich literary tradition demonstrating uniqueness and antiquity.
• The Eighth Schedule originally had 14 languages enforced in 1950, with 22 languages existing today.
• The 22 languages have constitutional recognition and can be used in government work.
• All Classical Languages, except Pali and Prakrit, are also in the Eighth Schedule while Eighth Schedule languages have official recognition for governance, allowing Classical languages to receive special grants for research.

Environment and Science & Technology

• The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) held the World Wetlands Day 2025 at Parvati Arga Ramsar Site, Gonda, Uttar Pradesh (UP) on 2nd February 2025.
• This observance raises wetland awareness and commemorates the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands' adoption in 1971 in Ramsar, Iran, with the theme for 2025 focused on protecting wetlands.
• The International Big Cat Alliance (IBCA) became a treaty-based intergovernmental organization and legal entity on January 23, 2025, with headquarters in India.
• The IBCA was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2023 during the 50th anniversary of Project Tiger, and was formally approved by the Union Cabinet in February 2024.
• The IBCA was established through the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) under the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MoEFCC).
• The initiative aims to conserve the Tiger, Lion, Leopard, Snow Leopard, Cheetah, Jaguar, and Puma.
• The NTCA, is a statutory body under the MoEFCC established in 2005 from the Tiger Task Force that gained legal status under Section 38L of the Wildlife (Protection) Amendment Act, 2006. -The NTCA grants statutory authority to Project Tiger, ensuring federal accountability in tiger reserve management and addressing local livelihood concerns around tiger reserves
• The DRDO completed three flight trials of the Very Short-Range Air Defence System (VSHORADS) off the Odisha coast.
• VSHORADS is a man-portable system developed by Research Center Imarat with other DRDO labs.
• It is lightweight, has an 8 km range, and can hit targets up to 4.5 km high.
• The system can neutralize aerial threats, like drones, at low altitudes and high speeds.
• The VSHORADS missile uses miniaturized Reaction Control System (RCS) and integrate avionics that was tested for neutralizing low-altitude aerial threats.
• It is a critical air defence tool, offering close aerial threat protection in battlefields against drones and loitering munitions.
• Astronomers discovered Gaia BH3, the largest stellar-mass black hole in the Milky Way constellation Aquila.
• This marks the 3rd black hole found using the Gaia telescope of the European Space Agency.
• Gaia BH3 has a mass 33 times that of the Sun, making it the most massive stellar-mass black hole in the Milky Way.
• Stellar-mass black holes form when massive stars, weighing 5 to 10 times the Sun, collapse.
• The 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics confirmed black hole formation and the discovery of a supermassive compact object in the Milky Way.
• Roger Penrose was awarded half of the prize, for proving that black holes result from Einstein's General Theory of Relativity.
• Reinhard Genzel & Andrea Ghez shared the other half of the Nobel Prize, found to discover a supermassive black hole at the Milky Way's center, using telescopes to study the motion of stars around Sagittarius A*.
• India has signaled a shift by prioritizing adaptation over mitigation within climate action in it's climate stance.
• This reflects concerns over global inaction and weak financial commitments at United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties 29 (COP29) and likely delay in submitting the 2035 Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
• Mitigation includes reducing greenhouse gas emissions and limiting climate change impacts.
• Adaptation includes adjusting to effects to minimize harm or take advantage of benefits.
• Resilience includes enhancing the ability to anticipate, prepare and respond to impacts.
• The UNFCCC was signed in 1992 ,on 21 March 1994, at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, the Earth Summit, the Rio Summit or the Rio Conference, that has 197 parties.
• Since 1996, the secretariat is located in Bonn, Germany with annual conferences; the first was Berlin Germany while the 28th was in Dubai, UAE, the 29th in Baku, Azerbaijan, and the 30th will be in Belem, Brazil (2025).
• The Kyoto Protocol (1997) is came into force in 2005 to legally bind all developed countries to reduce GHG emissions by implementing carbon credit systems and Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).
• The Paris Agreement (2015) shifting from the Kyoto Protocol's legally binding system to a voluntary model.
• It's goal is to limit global warming to well below 2°C, preferably 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels by introducing Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

Economics and Agriculture

• Experts suggest studying the impact of regulatory bodies such as Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to factor into decision-making ensuring stakeholders are satisfied in reality and perception.
• Regulatory bodies are organizations that monitor and regulate sectors, ensuring fair practices that protect public interests.
• Numerous authorities have been formed since 1991 (after LPG reforms) to prevent monopolies and regulate banking, insurance, and capital markets.
• Most regulatory bodies are quasi-judicial, comprised of Statutory (SEBI) and Self-regulatory bodies (Bar Council of India).
• The SEBI is a Statutory Body, but was first a non-statutory body established under the SEBI Act, 1992 on 12th April 1988, through a resolution by the Government of India.
• SEBI protects investor interests and regulates India's securities market by consisting of a Chairman and members.
• The Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) handles appeals against SEBI's decisions, with powers similar to a civil court and helps issuers raise funds, ensures safety, and accurate investor informations and facilitates competition.
• Tuhin Kanta Pandey is the current chairman of SEBI.
• The State of India's Digital Economy (SIDE) Report 2024 by ICRIER and MeitY provides an analysis of India's digital economy.
• India is the 3rd largest (behind the US and China) digitalized economy worldwide with ICRIER, an autonomous, policy-oriented think tank established in 1981, researches trade and technology policy issues.
• India's digital infrastructure is growing to contribute 11.74% to GDP by 2022-23 and is projected to reach 20% by 2029-30.
• The Union Budget 2025-26 allotted Rs 2,000 crore for the IndiaAl Mission to develop skill-building.
• The UPI was launched in 2016 and powers 49% of global real-time transactions.
• BharatNet, launched in 2011, connects gram panchayats to provide affordable internet access connecting 2.14 lakh gram panchayats via 6.92 lakh km of optical fiber with1.04 lakh Wi-Fi hotspots.
• Aadhaar, launched in 2009, is a digital identity framework that enhanced direct benefit transfers, financial inclusion, and reduced corruption.
• DigiLocker, launched in 2015, provides secured access to digital documents and UMANG app integrates e-Gov services and has 7.34 crore users in 2024 (0.25 lakh in 2017).
• The IndiaAl Mission, a Government flagship initiative that fosters innovation, research, and development in Al while aiming to build a robust AI ecosystem.
• The mission aims to advance computing infrastructure, enhance indigenous Al, startups, attract talent and promote AI in healthcare and agriculture.
• A budgetary allocation of Rs 2,000 crore has been allocated for 2025-26, which is 1/5 of the scheme's total outlay.
• The AI Centers of Excellence integrates AI tech into the curriculum with Rs 500 crore allocated by the Union Budget 2024-25 while Al centers in agriculture, health, and sustainable cities will continue to be supported.
• Key Components of IndiaAl also include the the IndiaAl Innovation Centre, the IndiaAl Datasets Platform, the IndiaAl Application Development Initiative, the IndiaAl Future Skills, the IndiaAl Startup Financing, and Safe & Trusted AI.
• The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of RBI cut the repo rate to 6.25% from 6.5% (25 bps) for the first time in 5 years (since 2020).
• Following the Union Budget 2025-26 reduction in personal income tax to spur consumption, aims to revive economic growth .
• The repo rate (Repurchase Agreement Rate) is the interest rate commercial banks borrow money from the central bank to meet short-term liquidity needs.
• Banks provide securities as collateral and repurchase them later at a higher price (including interest) where costs affect borrowing.
• The higher the repo rate results in costlier loans and the slower the rate, is the reduced the rate to lower interest rates for borrowers.
• MPC are used by central banks to manage money supply and economic growth .
• The MPC was setup after a Memorandum of Understanding between the government and RBI and was ammeneded by the finance to provide a statutory and institutionalized framework for all MPC's.
• The MPC fixes the benchmark policy rate (repo rate) required to contain inflation within the target.
• The composed of six members and chaired by the RBI Governor, along with the RBI Deputy Governor, an RBI Board-nominated official, and 3 officials to represent the Government of India. The external members hold office for four years.
• The RBI Governor has second/casting vote in the event of a tie, the RBI's decision is binding, and is assisted by RBI's Monetary Policy Department (MPD)) in formulating the the monetary policy.

International Relations

• The World Bank Group (WBG) is a family of five international organizations including the the IBRD, IDA, IFC, MIGA, and ICSID.
• India is a member of four of the five constituents except ICSID but a founder member of IBRD, IDA and IFC.
• The IBRD and IDA are collectively known as "World Bank", an institution that provides loans to countries for capital programs, was found at the Bretton Woods Conference along with the IMF, while the IDA was found in 1960.
• The cooperative consists of made up of 189 countries represented by policymakers, aiming to end extreme poverty by reducing global population to 3 percent by 2030, promote shared prosperity- by increasing the incomes to all countries, and give sustainable development.
• Some facts about the World Bank include it's establishment in 1944 at the Bretton Woods Conference is that it has 187 members with Head Quarters in Washington DC, with a Director General named David Malpass.
• The IBRD calls itself a global development cooperative headquartered in Washington, D.C., established in 1944 to finance European reconstruction after World War II.
• It supports the World Bank Group's mission by providing loans, guarantees, risk management products, and advisory services to middle-income and creditworthy low-income countries by placing special emphasis on supporting lower-middle-income countries as they move up the economic chain, graduating from IDA to become clients of IBRD.
• Each member state of IBRD should be a member of the IMF.
• The WB releases major reports, such as the Ease of Doing Business Report, the Human Capital Index, the World Development Report, and the Global Economic Prospects Report.
• The IMF was conceived at a UN conference in Bretton Woods in July 1944 for 190 countries that each have representation on the IMF's executive board in proportion to financial importance.
• The organization aims to create monetary cooperation, encourage trade, and discourage harmful policies, established in 1944, at the Bretton Woods Conference.
• The IMF lends money to replenish reserves, stabilize currencies and strengthen economies, oversees the monetary system, does surveillance, and capacity development to any state whether a member of the UN.
• On joining the IMF, countries contribute a quota subscription determined by economic performance, which counts for voting power, with India's quota is 2.76%.
• The amount is denominated as Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) created in 1969, being basket of currencies including the US dollar, Euro, Japanese yen, pound sterling and the Chinese renminbi.
• The Finance Minister of India is the ex-officio Governor on the Board of Governors of the IMF that annually releases reports include the World Economic Outlook and Global Financial Stability Report.
• Following the King of Bhutan visit to India, both countries committed to strengthening partnership through diplomacy and Assam states can improve trade and cultural affairs.
• Bhutan shared gratitude for India's continued support for its contributions with the 13th Five Year Plan (2024-29) and stimulus programme which is making progress by expediting the 1020 MW Punatsangchhu-II hydro completion.
• Subnational diplomacy (Para diplomacy) refers states engaging in promoting mutual intrests driven by globalization.
• The States Division and Consular Offices helps support interraction and relationships while City Diplomacy help facilitate cultural and economic exhanges.

Society and Culture

• A case of Bickerstaff's Brainstem Encephalitis (BBE) emerged in Pune, India, is a rare type of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) that is a neurological disorder and attacks the PNS (muscle and sensory functions).
• GBS can cause mild weakness to severe paralysis and a cure has yet to be discovered with intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) helping recovery.
• The BBE affects the central nervous system (CNS) by an autoimmune response after an infection, and GBS after infection, vaccination, or surgery.
• Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh has completly banned begging in all public places, in order to provide alternative solutions and prevent traffic disruptions and accidents, after identifying out-of-state beggars and criminal activity.
• The Ministry of Culture established the National Mission on Cultural Mapping (NMCM) to preserve India's cultural heritage.
• Launched in 2017 by Culture Minister so that NMCM, helps to maps India's diversity, while documenting stories, rituals, and the heritage of its cultural assets.
• The Economic Survey 2025 highlighted the impact of workplace culture on worker productivity, and it stressed the need of better health and lifestyles to improve economic growth.
• The MHQ measures mental well-being by assessing self-reported responses in a questionnaire that considers factors.
• The MHQ Score ranges from -100 to 200 and higher scores indicate better mental health.

Miscellaneous News

• The Union Budget 2025-26 includes the 'Gyan Bharatam Mission' that surveys document and conserve India's manuscripts to conserve over one crore manuscripts.
• There is now an increased budget from Rs 3.5 crore to Rs 60 crore dedicated for the National Manuscripts Mission (NMM).
• The NMM was launched in 2003 by the Ministry of Culture to preserve manuscript heritage and its aim of perserving accessible Indian texts.
• Manuscripts consist handwritten materials created on paper, dating back 75 years with India holdsing an estimatted 5 million.
• India won the ICC Under-19 Women's T20 World Cup 2025 after they defeated South Africa to organized national women's under-19 cricket teams in Malaysia.
• The ICC: is the global governing body for cricket overseeing 108 members , with India is responsible for match conditions and integrity through enforcing ethical standards and anti-corruption measures.
• The Sahitya Akademi Awards 2024 awards 22 writers in literary categories of novels, poetry, and essays with Bengali and Urdu awards pending, for the honor.
• It is the 2nd-highest literary honor after Jnanpith Award, who has an Indian citizenship, established in 1954.
• Sahityta categories incluce awards the include the 22 lanugaes of the Eight Schedule along with English and Rajasthani for literary works.
• The Sahitya Akademi Awards include the Ba| Sahitya Puraskar for children's literature, and Yuva Puraskar while the Akademi also runs programs like Gramalok and Dalit Chetna.