Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its annual report 2025-26 mentioned that it is exploring the possibility of introducing a ‘Kill switch’ mechanism. 

About Kill Switch

• Meaning: Allows a system, device, account, or service to be disabled or blocked immediately in an emergency or under suspect of attack by fraudsters. 
  • Currently, customers have the option to switch domestic and international card transactions on or off and RBI is intending to extend it all digital payment modes including UPI, internet banking, etc. 
• Significance: Customer Fraud protection; preventing digital arrest scams; greater customer control over control of transactions, etc. 

Supreme Court (SC) recently recognised trauma care of citizens as an integral part of right to life under Article 21 of Constitution, passing interim directions in Savelife Foundation (2024) Writ Petition case.

Key Interim Directions To States/UTs

• Complete full technical and operational integration of all emergency / ambulance helplines into 112 within three months. 
• Establish functional (physical and digital) Good Samaritan Grievance Redressal Systems. 
• Establish State Trauma Registries in conformity with Centre’s data format guidelines. 
• Fully operationalise Cashless Treatment of Road Accident Victims Scheme, 2025-PM Rahat. 

Union Agriculture Minister announced the establishment of National Seed Reserve of 1 lakh 74 thousand quintals. 

About National Seed Reserve (NSR)

• An intervention under National Food Security and Nutritional Mission (NFSNM) under Krishionnati Yojana (KY). 
• Aim: Ensuring availability of high quality certified and foundation seeds for farmers, especially during times of crisis or natural calamities.
• Implementing Agencies: National Seeds Corporation, State Seeds Corporations and Department of Agriculture of State Governments/UTs (where State Seeds Corporations are not there).
• Seed kept in NSR shall be produced through SATHI (Seed Traceability, Authentication and Holistic Inventory) Portal. 

SIDE, an annual report since 2023, has been released by ICRIER-Prosus Centre for Internet and Digital Economy (IPCIDE).

Key Highlights

• Proposes Connect–Harness–Innovate–Protect– Sustain (CHIPS) framework: Broader concept of digitalisation capturing both benefits and risks associated with digital technologies.
• Global Digitalisation: India’s rank improved from eighth (2025) to fifth (2026) with CHIPS score of 36.90 (USA followed by China occupy top ranks). 
• Global digital leadership: Shifted to Indo-Pacific region housing three of top five economies, i.e., China, Singapore, India. 
• Global digital landscape: 72% of AI users are in developing countries, with India and China together accounting for nearly two-fifths of worldwide AI adoption. 

Rapidly melting of Ghepan Glacier are posing threat to Sissu village in Himachal Pradesh. 

About Ghepan Lake

• Also known as Ghepang Ghat glacial lake, it is situated at an altitude of 4,068m above Sissu. 
• Ghepan Lake is a moraine-dammed glacial lake, which means it formed behind a natural dam of rocks, sand and debris deposited by the retreating glacier. 
• Threat: Between 1989-2022, the lake nearly tripled in size (National Remote Sensing Centre report). 
  • National Disaster Management Authority classified the lake as “highly vulnerable” making Sissu susceptible to an event of Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs). 

India became 19^th country in the world to install "SkyCast System" at Indira Gandhi International Airport under the recently approved Mission Mausam initiative.

About SkyCast System

• SkyCast is an advanced atmospheric monitoring and forecasting system designed to enhance aviation safety through real-time weather intelligence.
• It integrates technologies such as Radar Wind Profiler, SODAR, Microwave Radiometer, Ground-based Fog Aerosol Spectrometer (GFAS), and CL61 Lidar-based Ceilometer.
  • Radar Wind Profiler measures wind speed, direction, turbulence, vertical velocity, and boundary-layer dynamics up to 3 km altitude.
  • GFAS analyzes fog droplets, aerosols, and aerosol-fog interactions.
  • CL61 Ceilometer tracks the vertical structure of fog.
• SkyCast is based on insights from the Winter Fog Experiment (WiFEX) launched by IITM and IMD under the Ministry of Earth Sciences at Delhi’s IGI Airport in 2015.

“The Ministry of Corporate Affairs has enabled companies to fulfill their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) obligations through the ZCZP Instrument by expanding the scope of Schedule VII of the Companies Act, 2013.”

About ZCZP Instrument

• It is a SEBI-regulated fundraising instrument issued by not-for-profit organizations listed on the Social Stock Exchange for eligible social projects.
• Unlike stocks or bonds, it offers neither interest nor repayment of principal. 
  • Investors contribute funds to generate measurable social impact rather than financial returns. 
• 10% Limit: A company’s expenditure on subscribing to ZCZP instruments cannot exceed 10% of its total Corporate Social Responsibility expenditure for that specific financial year.

About CSR

• Legal Provision: CSR is a mandatory requirement for certain companies under Section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013, compelling them to undertake activities that contribute to the social, environmental, and economic development of the country.
• Fund Allocation: Companies are obligated to allocate at least 2% of their average net profit of the preceding three years to CSR activities.
• Schedule VII of the Act enumerates the activities that can be undertaken as CSR.

Sagarmala Finance Corporation, India’s first maritime-focused state-owned non-banking financial company (NBFC), is set to launch India's first blue bonds this fiscal year.

About Blue Bonds:

• They are innovative financing instruments that earmark funds exclusively for ocean-friendly projects and critical clean water resources protection.
• The Republic of Seychelles launched the world’s first sovereign blue bond in 2018.