World Intangible Investment Report 2026 reaffirms India’s status as a global innovation powerhouse, recording the fastest growth in intangible investments among the world's 15 largest economies.

About the Report

• Published annually by World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and Italy's Luiss Business School (LBS).
• Tangible Investment: Spending on physical assets E.g. factories, machinery, buildings etc.
• Intangible Investment: Spending on non-physical assets such as R&D, software, databases, organizational know-how, brands, design, and intellectual property (IP).
  • Significance: Drives innovation, productivity, product quality, brand value, and long-term economic competitiveness.

Key Findings

• Intangible investment has grown over 3 times faster than tangible investment since 2008 and is more resilient to economic shocks.
• Global Leaders:US leads in total intangible investment; Sweden ranks highest in intensity.
• Asset Trends: 
  • In India, Software & databases are the fastest-growing category;
  • Globally, organizational capital and R&D

Bloomberg has launched an electronic trading platform that enables foreign portfolio investors to directly trade Indian Government securities by connecting to the RBI's Negotiated Dealing System-Order Matching (NDS-OM).

About NDS-OM

• Launched: In 2005 by the RBI.
• NDS-OM is a screen based electronic anonymous order matching system for secondary market trading inGovernment securities, including Central Government bonds, State Development Loans (SDLs), and Treasury Bills (T-Bills).
  • Order Matching: The best price gets matched first; if prices are equal, the earlier order takes precedence.
•  Settlement: Trades settled at T+1 and guaranteed by Clearing Corporation of India Limited (CCIL).
• Restriction: Gilt Account Holders (GAHs) cannot undertake short selling of Government securities.

An IIT-Gandhinagar study found a 20% decline in precipitation (1951–2024) in the eastern Indus basin (Ravi, Beas, Sutlej), reducing reservoir inflows to Pong, Bhakra, and Thein, while the western rivers (Indus, Jhelum, Chenab) recorded only a 6% decline with largely stable flows and better groundwater conditions.

About the Indus River

• Origin: Glacier near Bokhar Chu (near Lake Mansarovar) in the Kailash Range, Tibet; known as Singi Khamban.
• Course: Flows through Ladakh, enters Pakistan near Chilas, and drains into the Arabian Sea east of Karachi.
• Left-bank Tributaries: Zanskar, Astor, Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas, Sutlej
• Right-bank Tributaries: Shyok, Shigar, Gilgit, Kabul, Khurram, Tochi, Gomal, Viboa, Sangar.

Recently, Global Liveability Index 2026 was released.

Global Liveability Index 2026

• About: The Index evaluates living conditions across cities worldwide, serving as a global benchmark for urban liveability, resilience, and quality of life.

• Published by: Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).
• Coverage: Assessed 173 cities using over 30 qualitative and quantitative indicators.
• Scoring:1–100 scale across 5 parameters - Stability (25%), Healthcare (20%), Culture & Environment (25%), Education (10%), and Infrastructure (20%).
• Key Findings
  • Global Top cities:Copenhagen, Vienna, Melbourne.
  • India:New Delhi (120), Mumbai (121), Chennai (123), Bengaluru (127).

U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved drug vepdegestrant, the world’s first PROTAC-based therapy, for ESR1-mutated, ER-positive, HER2-negative advanced breast cancer, where it degrades the oestrogen receptor.

About Proteolysis-targeting chimaera (PROTAC)

• Definition: It is a molecule that selectively degrades disease-causing proteins.
• Mechanism (Targeted Protein Degradation): Bridges the target protein with an E3 ligase (enzyme involved in cell’s protein degradation), triggering the cell to destroy the target protein.
• Catalytic Action: Reusable molecule that degrades multiple protein copies, enabling lower-dose therapy.
• Advantage: Can target proteins that are difficult for conventional drugs to inhibit.
• Challenges: Poor absorption due to large size, reduced efficacy at high concentrations, potential resistance etc.

IUCN stated that Molluscs and Desert Rain Frog are at risk of extinction due to deep-sea mining and diamond mining respectively.

About Molluscs

• Molluscs are invertebrates, which mean they’re animals that don’t have a backbone.
• All molluscs have a mantle, a cavity for breathing and excretion, and a nervous system.
• Classes of Molluscs:
  • Cephalopods: Includes octopuses, squids, cuttlefishes, nautiluses and an extinct group known as ammonites.
  • Gastropods: Includes slugs and snails. 
  • Bivalves: Includes Clams, oysters, scallops, and mussels. 

About Desert Rain Frog (Breviceps macrops)

• Fossorial: Adapted for burrowing and underground life, spending most of its time beneath sandy soils.
• Habitat: Sand dunes with sparse vegetation along the Namaqualand coast of South Africa and coastal south-western Namibia.
• IUCN Status: Vulnerable.

A banned pesticide Aldrin led to deaths of mugger crocodiles (Crocodylus palustris) in the Chandraloi river of Rajasthan’s Kota district.

• Aldrin is a banned organochlorine pesticide in India due to its persistent nature, soil and water contamination, bioaccumulation in the food chain, and toxic effects on the nervous system of humans and wildlife.

About Mugger Crocodiles 

• Medium-sized crocodile (up to 4–5 m) with the broadest snout among living Crocodylus species.
• Distribution: Mainly Indian subcontinent (India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Iran).
• Habitat: Rivers, lakes, marshes, reservoirs, irrigation canals, and man-made ponds.
• Status: 
  • Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972
  • CITES: Appendix I
  • IUCN Red List: Vulnerable
• Characteristics: Hole-nesting species; known to dig burrows etc.
• Threats: Habitat destruction, fragmentation, and transformation, mortality due to increased fishing activities.

Samriddh Gram

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) won the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Prizes 2026 for its flagship project, Samriddh Gram, reaffirming India’s leadership in Digital Public Infrastructure.

About Samriddh Gram

• Flagship rural digital transformation initiative of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), built on the BharatNet network.
  • BharatNet is India's flagship rural broadband programme to provide high-speed broadband connectivity to all Gram Panchayats, bridging the digital divide. 
• Objective: Deliver integrated phygital (physical + digital) services through village-level Samriddhi Kendras.
• Provides healthcare, education, agriculture, financial inclusion, skilling, e-Governance and e-commerce services.
• Bridges the digital divide by converting broadband connectivity into inclusive socio-economic development.

IIT Guwahati team finds blue-green algae can remove lead from contaminated water.

• Bioremediation uses micro-organisms to reduce pollution through the biological degradation of pollutants into non-toxic substances. 

About Cyanobacteria (Blue-Green Algae)

• Photosynthetic, prokaryotic microorganisms belonging to the Kingdom Monera (Bacteria).
• Commonly found in freshwater, marine and moist terrestrial habitats.
• Many varieties fix atmospheric nitrogen (e.g., Anabaena, Nostoc).
• Act as biofertilisers in paddy cultivation due to their nitrogen-fixing ability. 

Other Bioremediation Techniques

• Phytoremediation: Plants remove or degrade pollutants.
• Mycoremediation: Fungi degrade toxic contaminants.
• Microbial bioremediation: Microorganisms break down pollutants.
• Bioaugmentation: Introduces selected microbes to enhance pollutant removal.