India and Brazil agreed to broaden the scope of  the existing Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) between India and Mercosur bloc.

About Mercosur (Estd: 1991, HQ: Montevideo, Uruguay )                                          

• It is a South American trade bloc promoting free trade and economic cooperation.
• Membership: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay &  Uruguay. Venezuela's membership is suspended.
• Governance:  Council of the Common Market (CMC), Common Market Group (GMC), and Mercosur Trade Commission (CCM), 
• Role: It functions as a customs union with a common external tariff, facilitating regional integration.

A report, by GRAIN documented how a growing number of FTAs compel countries to adopt standards set by the 1991 UPOV Convention.

About UPOV Convention (Estd:1961, HQ: Geneva, Switzerland)

• UPOV stands for International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants.
• Mission: It is an intergovernmental organization to provide and promote an effective system of Plant Variety Protection (PVP).
• Function: It grants Breeder's Rights (an IP right) to incentivize the development of new, improved plant varieties for agriculture and food security.
• UPOV Convention 1991: It strengthens breeders' rights and makes the farmer's privilege (to save seeds) optional for member countries.
• India's Status: India is not a member and uses its own sui generis law, the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Authority Act, 2001, which uniquely protects both breeder and farmer's rights.

Ahmedabad recommended as host city for centenary edition of the Commonwealth Games in 2030.

About Commonwealth Games

• Inaugural event held in Hamilton, Canada in 1930.    
  • Recent Edition: 2022, Birmingham.
  • Next Edition: 2026, Glasgow.
• Headquarters: London, United Kingdom.
• Governing Body: Commonwealth Sport (formerly, Commonwealth Games Federation)
• Members: 72 nations and territories.
• Frequency: Held every four years.
• Structure: Multi-sport international event for athletes from the Commonwealth.

Digital technologies release dopamine through notifications, likes, and content feeds and exploit reward schedules, reinforcing compulsive behaviors and fractured attention.

About Dopamine

• It is the brain's “feel-good” neurotransmitter, central to motivation, reward, and pleasure.
• Released during enjoyable experiences: food, achievements, social interactions.
• It basically drives reward-based learning.
• Addictive substances (cocaine, nicotine, alcohol) cause massive dopamine surges, leading to desensitization and the need for higher doses causing addiction.

Ministry of Mines releases State Mining Readiness Index (SMRI) 

About State Mining Readiness Index

• Objective: To capture State’s relative contribution in developing the country’s mining sector, promote mining sector reforms and assess State performance.
• Basis: The index evaluates States based on auction performance, early mine operationalization, exploration thrust, and sustainable mining practices related to non-coal minerals.
• Classification: States are classified into three categories based on their mineral endowment.
  • Top Performers in these categories are: 
    • A: Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Gujarat
    • B: Goa, Uttar Pradesh, and Assam
    • C: Punjab, Uttarakhand, and Tripura

Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) launches Scheme for Innovation and Technology Association with Aadhaar (SITAA).

About SITAA 

• Aim:  To strengthen India's digital identity ecosystem and combat emerging security threats such as deepfakes, spoofing, and presentation attacks.   
• Implementing Agency: UIDAI under Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology.
• Focus Areas: Biometric authentication, AI/ML solutions, data privacy, and advanced biometric security.
• Program will be kick started through a pilot with few initial challenges including face liveness detection, presentation attack detection, and contactless fingerprint authentication.

India elected as Co-Chair of the Regional Committee of United Nations Global Geospatial Information Management for Asia and the Pacific (UN-GGIM-AP).

• UN-GGIM-AP is one of the five regional committees under the United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM). 

About UN-GGIM

• Established:  UN intergovernmental body under Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), established in 2011 to coordinate global geospatial data governance.
• Functions: Apex intergovernmental mechanism for decision-making on geospatial information policy, aiming to address global challenges through enhanced use of geospatial data and technologies.

The UN Environment Programme releases the first State of Finance for Forests 2025 report, providing a global overview of public and private forest finance in 2023. 

Major Findings

• Report finds an annual forest finance gap of US$ 216 billion between current financial flows and the investment required to achieve global forest goals by 2030. 
• Annual investment in forests will need to triple to $300 billion by 2030, and grow sixfold by 2050, from US$84 billion in 2023.
• Governments were the primary source of forest funding, accounting for 91% of total flows in 2023.
• Meeting global climate and biodiversity goals requires expanding nature-based solutions by 1 billion hectares by 2030 and 1.8 billion by 2050.