Important topics and their relevance in UPSC CSE exam for February 1, 2026. If you missed the January 31, 2026, UPSC CSE exam key from the Indian Express, read it here.
FRONT
India backs people of Palestine, Gaza peace plan, PM tells Arab leaders
Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.
Mains Examination: General Studies-II: Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.
What’s the ongoing story: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday met a delegation of top Arab leaders, who are in India for the second India-Arab Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (FMM), and conveyed the country’s “continued support for the people of Palestine and welcomed ongoing peace efforts, including the Gaza peace plan”.
Key Points to Ponder:
— What is the Arab League? What are the member countries?
— Read about the India-Arab FMM.
— How have India’s relations evolved with the Arab League?
— Know about the historical background of the Israel-Palestine conflict?
— How significant is the peace in the region for the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor?
— What is the Arab Peace Initiative?
— What is the Board of Peace?
— What is Trump’s 20-point Gaza peace plan?
Story continues below this ad
— Map work: Locate the member countries of the Arab League, Israel, and Gaza on a world map.
Key Takeaways:
— Following the meeting with Foreign Ministers, Secretary General of the League of Arab States and heads of Arab delegations, Modi posted on X: “The Arab world is a part of India’s extended neighbourhood, linked by deep civilisational bonds, vibrant people-to-people connections and enduring brotherly ties, as well as a shared commitment to peace, progress and stability.”
— He also expressed confidence “that enhanced cooperation in technology, energy, trade and innovation will unlock new opportunities and take the partnership to new heights”.
— The Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement that Modi “conveyed his appreciation for the important role played by the Arab League in supporting efforts towards regional peace and stability”.
Story continues below this ad
— Modi’s remarks assume significance in the wake of an invitation from US President Donald Trump to join the Gaza Peace Board although India is yet to take a call on its next step in this regard.
— The Arab leaders are in the country for the India-Arab FMM being co-chaired by India and the UAE. Speaking at the ministerial meeting, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said that taking forward the comprehensive peace plan to end the Gaza conflict, based on the UN Security Council Resolution 2803, is a widely shared priority.
— Jaishankar said multiple developments, each of considerable consequence, have taken place in the Middle East over the last few years and many of them have reverberated well beyond the region. In this context, he pointed to shared interests that warrant strengthening the forces of stability, peace and prosperity, he said.
— Jaishankar also raised serious concerns over the challenges posed by terrorism and called for concerted global efforts to combat it. Jaishankar also said India has developed capacities and strengths in keeping with the times.
Story continues below this ad
— According to the Ministry of External Affairs, the India-Arab FMM is the highest institutional mechanism driving this partnership, which was formalised in March 2002. India is an Observer to the League of Arab States, a pan-Arab body with 22 member states.
— The first such meeting to be hosted by India witnessed the participation of all 22 Arab countries. Those who attended included the Foreign ministers of Oman, Palestine, Sudan, Comoros, Somalia and Libya. Egypt, Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Qatar were represented by deputy ministers, while Djibouti, Algeria, Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain, Lebanon, Syria, Mauritania and Iraq were represented by senior diplomats and officials.
From the Nation Page- “India, Arab League seek lasting peace in Middle East, avoid naming Israel”
— In a rare joint statement in which Israel has not been explicitly criticised, India and the Arab League conveyed their commitment to achieving a “just, comprehensive, and lasting peace” in the Middle East, according to international law, relevant UN resolutions and the Arab Peace Initiative.
Story continues below this ad
— “They called for a sovereign, independent and viable State of Palestine based on 1967 borders, living side by side in peace with Israel. Both parties supported the practice of inalienable rights of the Palestinian people,” a joint statement said after the India-Arab League Foreign Ministers’ Meeting on Saturday, which was co-chaired by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.
— Not naming Israel signals a strategic maturity on the part of the Arab countries and Delhi at a crucial juncture when the second phase of the ceasefire deal is a work in progress. The Arab countries have been cautious in their pronouncements about Israel as the war in Gaza rages.
— Without mentioning US President Donald Trump and his Board of Peace, it also said, “The two sides welcomed the outcomes of the 2025 Sharm El-Sheikh Peace Summit, which culminated in the conclusion of a ceasefire agreement in Gaza. They commended the pivotal role played by the Arab States — particularly the Arab Republic of Egypt and the State of Qatar — as well as the United States of America, in addition to the related efforts undertaken by the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria at the United Nations Security Council. They urged all concerned parties to fully comply with the implementation of the agreement and noted the launch of the Arab-Islamic plan for relief, recovery, and reconstruction in the Gaza Strip”.
Do You Know:
— For India, peace in the region is important, for its diaspora, its economic interests and its strategic needs. There are about 18,000 Indians in Israel, about 5,000-10,000 in Iran, and some 90 lakh in the region as a whole.
Story continues below this ad
— The region provides India with 80 per cent of its oil supplies. Also, major Arab countries have been keen to invest in the Indian economy; those plans will get a boost with peace. Then there is the India-Middle East-Europe Economic corridor, which India has high hopes from.
— India hopes to reap the dividends from peace in the region, which is beneficial for its access to Europe and Central Asia, and its economic and trade corridor.
Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:
📍 UN Security Council adopts Trump’s Gaza plan: Key features, major challenges, and a silver lining
Previous year UPSC Prelims Questions Covering similar theme:
(1) Consider the following statements: (UPSC CSE 2023)
Statement-I: Israel has established diplomatic relations with some Arab States.
Story continues below this ad
Statement-II: The ‘Arab Peace Initiative’ mediated by Saudi Arabia was signed by Israel and Arab League.
Which one of the following is correct in respect of the above statements?
(a) Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct and Statement-II is the correct explanation for Statement-I
(b) Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct and Statement-II is not the correct explanation for Statement-I
(c) Statement-I is correct but Statement-II is incorrect
(d) Statement-I is incorrect but Statement-II is correct
Story continues below this ad
(2) The term “two-state solution” is sometimes mentioned in the news in the context of the affairs of (UPSC CSE 2018)
(a) China
(b) Israel
(c) Iraq
(d) Yemen
Previous year UPSC Mains Question Covering similar theme:
The question of India’s Energy Security constitutes the most important part of India’s economic progress. Analyse India’s energy policy cooperation with West Asian countries. (UPSC CSE 2017)
Where elephants & trains cross path, an AI-enabled system prevents accidents
Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: General issues on Environmental ecology, Bio-diversity and Climate Change, Science and Technology.
Mains Examination: General Studies-III: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment, Science and technology.
What’s the ongoing story: It is 6:36 am. Inside the noisy control room surrounded by tea gardens in Binnaguri Railway Station in West Bengal’s Jalpaiguri district, a buzzer suddenly goes out loud. SK Sunil, the station superintendent, rushes to check the Intrusion Detection System panel. The display shows elephant movement at the 101st kilometre between Binnaguri and Dalgaon railway stations. He immediately sends an alert to the loco pilot of the train en route instructing him to reduce speed to 25 kmph.
Key Points to Ponder:
— What is an Intrusion Detection System (IDS)?
— What are the main components of IDS?
— Distribution and Population of Elephants in India — Know in detail.
— What are the issues related to elephant conservation in India?
— Read about the elephants, elephant corridors and Project Elephant.
— How does the IDS help in preventing elephant deaths on railway tracks?
— What are the key highlights of the Synchronous All India Elephant Estimation (SAIEE) 2021-25?
— How do technological interventions contribute to human-wildlife conflict mitigation in India?
Key Takeaways:
— The signal originates from optical fibres laid almost 20 metres away from the railway track and three feet beneath the ground, and coiled in a specific pattern to detect vibrations caused by elephant movement.
— Binnaguri is in the middle of the 52-km Madarihat-Nagrakata section, which is among the most vulnerable elephant corridors along railway tracks in the country. This section was taken up as a pilot project to roll out an AI-enabled Intrusion Detection System for detecting the presence of elephants.
— Following its commissioning in 2023, the Ministry of Railways has undertaken a Rs. 208-crore project to install IDS across 1,158 route kilometres of railway tracks, spanning eight zones – Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR), East Coast Railway (ECoR), Southern Railway (SR), Northern Railway (NR), South Eastern Railway (SER), North Eastern Railway (NER), Western Railway (WR), and East Central Railway (ECR). So far, the system is working along 141 route kilometres under the NFR, including Madarihat-Nagrakata section.
ALSO READ | Union Budget 2026 : Key highlights for UPSC and other competitive exams
— “IDS is a fibre-based system which works on the principle of Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS). The DAS work on the principle of Rayleigh scattering phenomenon. The Laser pulses from remote OFC DAS units are sent continuously and reflected pulses are received from various points along the fibre cable and analysed. So, whenever there is an elephant movement along these optical fibre cables, it captures the signature of the elephant, based on pressure, weight and vibration or external sound waves. After the analysis of the signature, the system creates the alarm at the station and level crossing gate,” said Irfan Azam, a senior section engineer, showing the OFC room with its working server monitor.
— IDS comprises three main units. The Central DAS server, installed at the Railways’ divisional office, serves as the primary processing hub. It is equipped with high-performance computing servers, storage facilities, a centralised database, software algorithms, and networking interfaces.
— The second component is the Remote DAS unit, which interrogates the optical fibre and receives and processes the backscatter signals generated by vibrations along the track.
— The third key interface is the LC gate hooter or alarm unit. It receives train-location information and alert messages from the Central DAS server and generates alarms to warn loco pilots and station staff.
— Irfan Azam says that such incidents sometimes occur when elephants move away from their designated corridors in search of grazing, especially when paddy crops are young, green and lush.
— According to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, a comprehensive report titled “Suggested Measures to Mitigate Elephant & Other Wildlife Train Collisions on Vulnerable Railway Stretches in India” has been prepared after field surveys across 127 identified railway stretches spanning a total of 3,452.4 km.
Do You Know:
— After over a year’s delay, the results of the Synchronous All India Elephant Estimation 2021-25 were released on October 14 last year in Dehradun by officials of the Union Environment Ministry and Wildlife Institute of India (WII).
— The estimation reported 22,446 elephants in the country, primarily concentrated across the Western Ghats in the southern states, and the hills and plains of the Northeast. And while the exercise followed a different methodology compared to previous SAIEEs, its results reveal significant challenges faced by India’s national heritage animal.
— The Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) is an endangered species. It has been on the IUCN Red List, which details the global conservation status of animal, fungi and plant species, since 1986.
— As per official data, India accounts for the largest population, over 60%, of the endangered species. The largest mammal found in India’s forests, elephants have been counted every five years since the launch of Project Elephant in 1992.
— Among states, Karnataka continues to be home to the largest elephant population, 6013, followed by Assam (4,159), Tamil Nadu (3,136), Kerala (2,785), Uttarakhand (1,792), and Odisha (912).
— The Brahmagiri – Nilgiri – Eastern Ghats block is home of the largest sub-population in Western Ghats. It comprises the Mysuru Elephant Reserve, Nilgiri Elephant Reserve, Wayanad Elephant Reserve, Nilambur Elephant Reserve and Coimbatore Elephant Reserve.
Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:
📍Beyond the data: Challenges for elephant conservation in India
📍Elephants as symbol of wealth and power in Indian culture
Previous year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:
(3) With reference to Indian elephants, consider the following statements: (UPSC CSE 2020)
1. The leader of an elephant group is a female.
2. The maximum gestation period can be 22 months.
3. An elephant can normally go on calving till the age of 40 years only.
4. Among the States in India, the highest elephant population is in Kerala.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2 and 4 only
(c) 3 only
(d) 1, 3 and 4 only
New debt-GDP fiscal anchor will likely open space for higher capex
Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.
Mains Examination: General Studies-III: Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilisation, of resources, growth, development and employment; Government Budgeting.
What’s the ongoing story: The Centre’s fiscal arithmetic is set to see a significant transition with the operational target for fiscal consolidation moving to debt-to-GDP ratio instead of fiscal deficit as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present her ninth consecutive Budget on Sunday.
Key Points to Ponder:
— What is the debt-to-GDP ratio?
— How is the fiscal deficit calculated?
— What is the rationale behind adopting the debt-to-GDP ratio as the new fiscal anchor instead of the fiscal deficit?
— What are the advantages of using the debt-to-GDP ratio as a fiscal guidance metric?
— What is the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act?
— High general government debt has been cited by global ratings agencies as a key weakness of India’s public finances. Why? What steps need to be taken to address this?
— Read about the 16th Finance Commission and its recommendations.
Key Takeaways:
— While the government had stated its intent to shift to the new fiscal guidance metric, the Budget would be the first to detail the fine print linked to the new anchor for a full financial year, 2026-27.
— Policy makers in the government are of the view that this change, which is in line with global practice, will lend the government more space to enhance its development spending. Further, they see the pace of fiscal consolidation to be more gradual.
— The Centre has projected the debt-to-GDP ratio to decline to 50±1% by March 2031 from an estimated 56.1% in March 2026. Most economists estimate the Centre to peg it at 55% of the GDP for FY27 in the Budget.
— The debt-to-GDP ratio will be contingent upon nominal GDP growth, which forms the basis of the ratio, along with the government’s borrowing and repayment obligations. The increase in the government’s financial burden in the years to come will also be a factor once the 8th Pay Commission recommendations get implemented.
— After a digression during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Centre’s focus on fiscal consolidation has been steady. The Economic Survey for 2025-26, presented in Parliament on Friday, said India has reduced its general government debt-to-GDP ratio by approximately 7.1 percentage points since 2020, while sustaining high public investment. Going forward, the Survey said, the Central government’s credible medium-term goal to converge towards a debt-to-GDP ratio of 50±1% provides the policy anchor for sustaining this consolidation at the general government level as well.
— General government debt, which refers to the debt of both states and the Centre, is the metric observed by global rating agencies to assess the fiscal health of the country. While the Centre will detail its fiscal numbers linked to the debt-to-GDP ratio, the role of states in managing their public finances is seen facing greater scrutiny.
— The recommendations of the 16th Finance Commission, which would be effective from financial years 2026-27 to 2030-31, and the details regarding tax devolution and other revenue sharing mechanisms, would be known after the presentation of the Budget on Sunday.
ALSO READ | UPSC Issue at a Glance | India and EU seal the deal: Trade, Mobility, Security — and major takeaways
— As states account for a significant share of general government debt, state budgets should explicitly chart medium-term, preferably scenario-based, debt-to-GSDP trajectories, aligned with realistic growth assumptions and development needs, rather than relying solely on annual deficit targets, State Bank of India’s Group Chief Economic Advisor Soumya Kanti Ghosh said in a recent note.
— The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has already called on states to target a reduction in their debt levels just as the Central government has done as “high level of debt comes in the way of investment and growth”.
— The Centre, on the other hand, is set to meet its commitment to keep the fiscal deficit below 4.5% of the GDP by FY26 despite tax cuts. Going ahead, while the government will get some fiscal breather with the debt-to-GDP ratio, the headwinds from the recent reductions in income tax and the Goods and Services Tax may weigh on the deficit projections, economists said.
Do You Know:
— The debt-to-GDP ratio is a crucial economic metric for assessing a country or state’s ability to manage its debt and overall economic health. High ratios could indicate long-term fiscal issues, constrain development investment, and raise concerns about debt sustainability.
— The Central Government will target reaching a debt-to-GDP ratio of 50±1 percent by 2030.
The debt-to-GDP ratio is estimated to be 55.6 percent of GDP in BE 2026-27, compared to 56.1 percent of GDP in RE 2025-26.
Previous year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:
(4) Consider the following statements: (UPSC CSE 2018)
1. The Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Review Committee Report has recommended a debt to GDP ratio of 60% for the general (combined) government by 2023, comprising 40% for the Central Government and 20% for the State Governments.
2. The Central Government has domestic liabilities of 21% of GDP as compared to that of 49% of GDP of the State Governments.
3. As per the Constitution of India, it is mandatory for a State to take the Central Government’s consent for raising any loan if the former owes any outstanding liabilities to the latter.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct ?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Previous year UPSC Mains Question Covering similar theme:
What are the reasons for the introduction of Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act, 2003? Discuss critically its salient features and their effectiveness. (UPSC CSE 2013)
NATION
Ahead of World Wetlands Day, Kutch, Etah sites get Ramsar tag
Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: General issues on Environmental ecology, Bio-diversity and Climate Change.
Main Examination: General Studies-III: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.
What’s the ongoing story: Ahead of World Wetlands Day on February 2, Patna Bird Sanctuary in Etah district of Uttar Pradesh and Chhari-Dhand in Kutch district of Gujarat have been included as wetlands of international importance in Ramsar sites list, under the global Ramsar convention. India became a signatory to the convention in 1982.
Key Points to Ponder:
— What are Ramsar Sites?
— What are wetlands?
— Why are wetlands important?
— What are the other Ramsar sites in India?
— What is the significance of the Ramsar listing?
— What are the threats to the wetlands?
Key Takeaways:
— This takes India’s Ramsar network to 98 sites. “The international recognition reflects India’s strong commitment to protecting the environment and conserving its wetlands,” Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav said on X.
— The areas are also home to wildlife such as chinkara, wolves, caracal, desert cats and desert foxes, besides endangered birds, the minister said.
— Chhari-Dhand is a seasonal saline wetland located between the famous Banni grasslands and salt flats of Kutch, as per a note issued by the Ramsar Convention secretariat. It is an important wintering site for waterfowl, supporting species such as critically endangered sociable lapwing, the vulnerable common pochard, and, notably, approximately 30,000 common cranes (Grus grus) annually, the note added.
— Meanwhile, the Patna bird sanctuary wetland consists of freshwater marshes, woodlands and grasslands, and is surrounded by agricultural landscapes, as per the note. Together, these different landscapes create a wide range of habitats and support a high level of biodiversity, reflected in the 178 bird species and 252 plant species recorded at the site.
— “Patna Bird Sanctuary is particularly important in supporting waterbird populations and has been designated an Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) by BirdLife International,” the secretariat note added.
— Under the international Ramsar Convention treaty of 1971 signed in Iran, wetlands that meet a certain criterion on ecological and biodiversity grounds are chosen for special conservation measures. These could be based on the presence of vulnerable species or due to its importance as a bird habitat. Such wetlands with higher ecological value are identified by national governments, and they submit an information sheet qualifying the criteria the site meets as a Ramsar site.
— Once declared as a Ramsar site, the wetlands have to be managed sustainably and protected to prevent their ecological degradation.
Do You Know:
— In Ramsar convention, wetlands are defined as “areas of marsh, fen, peatland or water, whether natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, with water that is static or flowing, fresh, brackish or salt, including areas of marine water the depth of which at low tide does not exceed six metres”.
— Wetlands help regulate climate conditions through carbon sequestration, that is, carbon storage from the atmosphere. The plant communities and soil in wetlands capture carbon instead of releasing it to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, one of the major drivers of global warming.
— According to Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust, the main threats plaguing wetlands are: Unsustainable development, Pollution, Invasive species, and Climate change.
Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:
📍Explained: What are Ramsar Sites, and what is the significance of the listing?
Previous year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:
(5) With reference to the latest inclusion of Ramsar sites in India, consider the following pairs:
1. Chhari-Dhand – Rajasthan
2. Patna Bird Sanctuary – Bihar
3. Nanjarayan Bird Sanctuary- Tamil Nadu
How many of the pairs given above are correctly matched?
(a) Only one pair
(b) Only two pairs
(c) All three pairs
(d) None of the above pairs
Most states and UTs advised Centre to hike midday meal workers’ wages
Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Current events of national importance, Indian Polity.
Mains Examination: General Studies-II: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.
What’s the ongoing story: A total of 22 states and Union Territories that responded to the Education Ministry’s call for suggestions on the PM-POSHAN scheme last year had one unanimous request for the Centre — to enhance the honorarium to cooks and helpers under the scheme
Key Points to Ponder:
— What is the ‘Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman’ scheme (PM-POSHAN Scheme)?
— What is the history of the scheme?
(Thought Process: Read about the midday meal scheme and its renaming.)
— Why have midday meal cooks in Chhattisgarh been protesting?
— What is the role of state governments in the implementation of the PM-POSHAN scheme?
— What challenges does low honorarium pose for the effective execution of welfare schemes?
— What is the significance of the PM-POSHAN Scheme?
— Know about the Right to Education and the Right to Food.
Key Takeaways:
— Midday meal cooks in Chhattisgarh, where they are being paid Rs 2,000 per month, have been protesting, demanding a hike in their wages.
— Details presented by the Education Ministry’s Department of School Education and Literacy at a meeting with states and UTs in October last year show that 22 states/UTs pressed for a hike in the honorarium. Their request was made in response to a call from the ministry in September last year for suggestions on improvements and modifications in the scheme, before a proposal is prepared for the scheme’s extension beyond 2025-26.
— states/UTs including Bihar, Arunachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Telangana, Gujarat, and Uttar Pradesh called for the amount to be enhanced to Rs 2,500 to Rs 5,000 per month.
— Going by data submitted in response to a question in Parliament in August last year, the monthly honorarium paid to midday meal cooks remains at Rs 1,000, without any additional amount, across eight states/UTs, including Goa, Manipur, Nagaland, Sikkim, and Delhi. The other states have added varying amounts to the initial Rs 1,000. In Tamil Nadu, for instance, the monthly amount is a total of Rs 4,100 to Rs 12,500, while it is Rs 12,000 in Kerala, and Rs 10,000 in Puducherry.
— While in last year’s instance, states were responding to a specific call for suggestions, this is not the first time that they are flagging low payments for midday meal cooks. The matter has been brought up by several states/UTs in annual meetings with the Centre that are held to discuss the budget and plan for PM-POSHAN.
— To the question in Parliament last year on the wages of workers under PM-POSHAN, Minister of State for Education Jayant Chaudhary had responded: “The overall responsibility for smooth functioning of the scheme including providing hot cooked and nutritious meal to the eligible children as well as engagement of cook-cum-helpers (CCHs) lies with the state governments and Union Territory administrations…”
— Among other suggestions that the states/UTs made were a request for an enhancement in the material cost for meals, extension of the scheme to students up to Class 12 , and provision of breakfast under the scheme.
— A senior official in the Education Ministry said that several states have requested for an increase in the honorarium for midday meal cooks, and the matter is being looked into.
Do You Know:
— Under the PM-POSHAN scheme, the Centre provides foodgrains, shares the material cost with the States (and the UTs of Delhi and Puducherry, which have legislatures) in a 60:40 ratio; for the States in the northeastern and Himalayan region, the ratio is 90:10. It pushes for fortification of staples with iron, folic acid, and vitamins.
— As part of the Right to Life under Article 21, the Constitution recognises the Right to Food – access to adequate food and nutrition for every citizen. Article 47 of the Directive Principles of State Policy also places a duty on the state to raise the level of nutrition and public health.
Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:
📍Rs 15 to Rs 66per day in 3 decades’: Chhattisgarh mid-day meal cooks say they want justice
📍Why PM POSHAN is more than just a nutritional intervention
Previous year UPSC Prelims Questions Covering similar theme:
(6) The Mid-Day Meal scheme comes under the purview of which ministry? (AFCAT 2022)
(a) Ministry of Education
(b) Ministry of Women and Child Development
(c) Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment
(d) Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
(7) Which of the following provisions of the Constitution of India have a bearing on Education? (UPSC CSE 2012)
1. Directive Principles of State Policy
2. Rural and Urban Local Bodies
3. Fifth Schedule
4. Sixth Schedule
5. Seventh Schedule
Select the correct answer using the codes given below:
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 3, 4 and 5 only
(c) 1, 2 and 5 only
(d) 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5
ECONOMY
From Netflix, Jio Hotstar rates to air purifier prices: CPI inflation goes modern
Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Current events of national importance, Economic and Social Development.
Mains Examination: General Studies-II, III: Government policies and interventions, Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization, of resources, growth, development and employment.
What’s the ongoing story: India’s new and updated headline retail inflation rate will now take into account the prices of some items that have been household mainstays for years but haven’t made it into the Consumer Price Index (CPI) basket. These include the likes of mayonnaise, air purifiers, air pods, health supplements such as protein powder – and even the services of priests.
Key Points to Ponder:
— What is retail inflation?
— How is inflation measured in India?
— What is the difference between core and headline inflation?
— What is the Consumer Price Index? How is it different from the wholesale price index (WPI)?
— Why is the modernisation of CPI important?
— Know about the Index of Industrial Production.
Key Takeaways:
— Also reflecting the widespread usage of online streaming services, the new CPI inflation series will also take into account changes in subscription prices of popular platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, JioHotstar, SonyLIV, YouTube Premium, and ZEE5, according to the report of the expert group on Comprehensive Updation of Consumer Price Index, released earlier this week.
— With streaming subscription rates largely uniform across the entire country, a single all-India index will be compiled and applied uniformly across all states.
— The modernisation of CPI inflation, India’s most important macroeconomic indicator, is part of a larger overhaul of India’s official statistics by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI).
— Based on the consumption patterns results of the 2023-24 Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES), the new CPI inflation series with 2024 as the base year for prices will see its first print – for January – be released on February 12. After that, on February 27, the new GDP series – with 2022-23 as the base year and sweeping methodological changes – will be released on February 27 starting with data for October-December 2025 and the second advance estimate for 2025-26. Then, in May, the revised Index of Industrial Production will be released, also with a new base year of 2022-23.
— The new CPI basket will contain 358 goods and services, up from 299 currently, which is based on the 2011-12 consumer expenditure survey.
— Some of the other new goods and services whose prices will be used to calculate India’s retail inflation – which fell to a record low of 0.25% in October but has since picked up to 1.33% in December – include piped natural gas, induction tops, decorative lights, paintings, nebulisers, massagers, tablets, pen-drives and external hard disks, pets and pet products, hair colour, and babysitters.
— As reported by The Indian Express on Thursday, the new CPI basket is, on the whole, more services heavy than the 2011-12 one, with the weight of food and beverages dropping from 45.86% to 36.75%. This is in line with Engel’s Law, named after German statistician and economist Ernst Engel, which states that as the income of a household rises, the proportion it spends on food reduces.
— Apart from the addition of new goods and services, some items that have become obsolete have been excluded from the new CPI basket, such as audio and video cassettes, tape recorders, and VCDs.
Do You Know:
— The two most-often used inflation rates in the country are the year-on-year are the wholesale price index (WPI) based inflation rate and the consumer price index (CPI) based inflation rate.
— The former is called the wholesale inflation rate and the latter is called the retail inflation rate. Both WPI and CPI are price indices. In other words, these are two different baskets of goods and services. The government assigns different weights to different goods and services based on what is relevant for those two types of consumers.
— The CPI-based inflation data is compiled by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (or MoSPI) and the WPI-based inflation data is put together by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (or DPIIT).
— A key difference that must not be missed is that the WPI does not take into account the change in prices of services — say a haircut or a banking transaction. But CPI does. If services such as transport, education, recreation and amusement, personal care etc. get significantly costlier, then retail inflation will rise but there will be no impact on wholesale price inflation.
Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:
📍New inflation series: Weight of food items set to drop to 37% in CPI from 46%
📍Everyday Economics: What are WPI and CPI inflation rates?
Previous year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:
(8) Consider the following statements: (UPSC CSE 2020)
1. The weightage of food in Consumer Price Index (CPI) is higher than that in Wholesale Price Index (WPI).
2. The WPI does not capture changes in the prices of services, which CPI does.
3. The Reserve Bank of India has now adopted WPI as its key measure of inflation and to decide on changing the key policy rates.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2 only
(c) 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
ALSO IN NEWS
Rural Ministry spending hits new low in FY26: Data The expenditure by the Rural Development Ministry, which implements vital schemes like the MGNREGS, PM Awaas Yojana (Gramin) and PM Gram Sadak Yojana, witnessed a sharp decline with government data showing that in the first nine months of the current fiscal, only 51% of the budgetary allocation was utilised, the lowest in 9 years, compared to 63% in the last fiscal during the same period. In absolute terms, the ministry’s spending of Rs 97,125 crore in the first nine months, was lowest in the last six years.
According to sources, one of the key reasons for reduction in expenditure is Finance Ministry’s new spending norms in 2023-24, which include implementing SNA SPARSH (Samayochit Pranali Ekikrit Sheeghra Hastaantaran) — a cash management initiative for Centrally Sponsored schemes (CSS) fund flow mechanism. Within SNA SPARSH, funds are released by the Centre under specific programmes only after the state provides its share within the respective scheme. Another reason, sources said, was lower spending on the MGNREGS. The allocation to the ministry, which comprises the departments of rural development and land resources, accounted for 4.2% of the total expenditure of the Centre. It implements several poverty alleviation and social security initiatives including MGNREGS, PMAY-G, PMGSY, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) and National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP).
Will Trump’s Fed Chair pick slash interest rates? US President Donald Trump on Friday nominated Kevin Warsh, a former member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, as the next Federal Reserve Chair after spending months badgering incumbent Jerome Powell for delaying interest rate cuts. The stand-off culminated in an unusual US Department of Justice (DoJ) criminal investigation against Powell, widely seen as intimidation tactics. Warsh’s nomination by Trump is seen as a market-friendly move and has raised hopes for an interest rate cut. Monetary policy decisions taken by the Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) — the American counterpart of the Reserve Bank of India’s Monetary Policy Committee — don’t only influence the American economy but also have global consequences. Typically, an interest rate cut by the Fed – the world’s most powerful central bank – boosts US growth and can help lower domestic unemployment. But it also encourages investment in emerging economies such as India as US fund managers look overseas for better return on their investments.
PRELIMS ANSWER KEY 1. (c) 2. (b) 3. (a) 4.(c) 5. (a) 6. (a) 7. (d) 8. (a)
Subscribe to our UPSC newsletter. Stay updated with the latest UPSC articles by joining our Telegram channel – Indian Express UPSC Hub, and follow us on Instagram and X.
🚨 Click Here to read the UPSC Essentials magazine for January 2026. Share your views and suggestions in the comment box or at [email protected]🚨
Read more on The Indian Express
