Daily Current Affairs Analysis | 22nd September, 2026 | Shankar IAS Academy | UPSC | Mains 2026

[music] Hi hello welcome to Shankar Academyy's daily current affair analysis for the date 22nd of September. Please like, comment, share and subscribe our YouTube channel and also have the bell icon pressed for instant notification and better current affairs serve to you. So what are the topics for discussion today? Let's see. So the first topic is India's real rate movement. So what is this? So you all know that since October 2025, RBI has not changed its repo rate. So repo rate still stands at 5.25%. But the inflation is steeply is actually getting increased past 3 months and now it is almost around 5%. So when you see the difference between the inflation and also the repo rate that difference is what will give you the real rate that is the real profits or the real amount that that will be benefiting the citizens who are depositing their money in bank. So whenever the difference is very much thin what happens the citizens or the people who deposit the money in the bank they look for other investment opportunities they look for gold they look for other equities mutual funds. So automatically your current deficit your inflation everything will be in a mix and it is going to create a lot of macroeconomic problems for India. So in this context we will see what is this real rate moment that is India is facing today. What is the situation on the inflation that is India is facing today and also what is this time dilemma. We see the timely decision is very important whenever it comes to price uh the rate increase or rate decrease. So what is the time the dilemma or the time situation that is RBI is facing today will be also discussed in this topic. So second topic will be India's magnet mission. So magnet if you see is actually very much underrated. It is part and parcel of every new technology. It might be EV, it might be semiconductors, it might be clean energy. Magnet is placing an important role. So we will briefly see what is the definition of permanent magnets. what are the different types of permanent magnets and what is the vulnerability that India faces in having this magnets in our supply chain and what are the steps that India is going to take and what are the steps that India need to take to have this better magnet mission so these are the topics that will be discussed these are things that will be discussed in the second topic and our third topic will be on tulu tulu is an official language that has official language status has been given for tulu in karnataka it is a non-scheduled language what is non-sheduled language which means it is not present in the 8th schedule of India. But still then Tulu is actually given the official language status in Karnataka. We will see what are the constitutional provisions or the constitutional background related to this official language status that been given for a specific language in a state. Whether a state can do that or not, how the state can do it, everything will be discussed in this third topic. And when you come to the fourth topic which is very much interesting topic that is Linslay O'Reill. So Linslay Oraham is a personality. He's an Republican. He's a Republican senate in USA. He has actually proposed a bill which is going to sanction the countries who are buying the energy or who are buying the crude oil or natural gas from the Russia. So it is going to sanction the countries who are going to buy such energy from Russia so that it is going to financially paralyze Russia and it is going to stop the Russian Ukraine war. So whether this sanction bill will going to affect India or not, how it is going to affect India or whether by sanctioning such countries whether they'll be able to end the Russian Ukraine war or not. So these interesting things will be discussed in the fourth topic and finally we will end the discussion with the prelims focus which will be a three brief prelims focused topics. We'll also have a practice question related to it. Let's discuss the first topic for the day which is India's real rate moment. So we all know that RBI has been RBI has been maintaining the weight and watch approach since October 2025 because since October 2025 RBI has been maintaining the report rate at around 5.25%age 25 percentage. Okay. They have not they have not either shifted to accommodative policy or neither they have shifted to the tightening policy. They have just been neutral. They have taken the neutral stance till since October 2025. So we'll see what is what are the reasons for which RBI has to change this report rate and why a delay a delay in changing is going to cost us cost India and its economy. So before moving on just quickly on the inflation we have been discussing inflation now and then but quickly revising it again here. So what is inflation? Inflation is nothing but rise in general price of level and goods and services for a particular amount of time that is more amount of money searching less amount of goods that is more money in search of less goods that is less amount of goods. Okay. So in that time what happens the price of goods and service are going to increase. That is what we termed as inflation as a basic definition. In India the retail price index that is RBI chooses the consumer price index as its standard to measure inflation. So it has its uh targeting that is called flexible in inflation targeting at around 2% to 6% that is its minimum and maximum limit that is it's 2% to 6% is a flexible inflation targeting that RBI is going to maintain which is set by the government of India. So what is core inflation? Food inflation just briefly core inflation is nothing but the CPI that is consumer price index excluding the volatility volatile products for example let's say volatile products of petrol and also your food products. So when you exclude this food and petrol basically they are the volatile products when you exclude those things the remaining thing will come under the core inflation. Okay when you consider everything that comes under the headline inflamation. So India considers headline inflamation for maintaining this 2 to 6 percentage of target but there is also core inflation which is going to be calculated so that we see what are the things that are getting inflated other than the volatile compounds. So that is core inflation food inflation that is included the food products that all being tracked and this food inflation is basically around 36 to 75 36.75 percentage weightage given in the total CPA basket. There are totally 12 baskets for uh under the consumer price index uh after changing the base year to 2024. So there are 12 baskets. Now out of the 12 baskets this food and beverages is that is given a lot given highest weightage of around 36.75%. So this is all just for your understanding of inflation. Now let's move on and discuss the thing here. So before that also we'll have this monetary policy framework discussion. So as I said target is 4%age. Okay, that is the tolerance band is 2% to 6%. So if you are within this tolerance anywhere within this tolerance then you are safe. So that is what RB is going to maintain. RB has to maintain this within this limit. If it is not maintaining within this limit if there is at least three consecutive quarters that is three consecutive quarters means one quarter is around 3 months. Okay. So at least three consecutive quarters if you're not maintaining this then RB has to report it to the government that is indirectly the parliament. So RB has to inform to the government why this problem is happening and what are the steps that can be taken. So this monetary policy that is the monetary policy committee is is the one who is going to fix this report or change the report. So there are six members in this committee and the governor that is RBA governor is also part of this six member committee and he is not only alone to decide this report that should be understood. So they are entitled to meet at least three uh four times. Yeah. Yeah. That is four times a year means at least once a quarter that is actually statuted means under this act RB act 203 1934 this monary committee policy committee has to meet at least four times a year that is at least 3 months once okay but they are meeting two months once they made it a practice to meet it two months once but they are only started to meet four times that is 3 months once report is a key tool for controlling the inflation inflation also as well as the growth. So when you increase the repo rate, what happens? You're going to dampen the growth because your uh credit is going to get affected. So your growth will not be that your growth will not be supported. But when you reduce the repo rate, your credit will be more uh your credit will be more seen in the market. So there will be more of economic activity that is happening. So automatically there will be growth that is there will be automatically GDP growth that is taking place. So there is always a trade-off between inflation and the growth which RBI has to maintain. So that is all about the basic. So here if you see what is happening in India today 5.25 is a reported set by RBI. But if you see the headline inflation is almost reaching 4.82%age. So what is headline inflation? As I said all the goods and services put together under consumer product and that under CPI. Okay. All the goods and services put under it is called this headline inflation. It is differing from core inflation when volatile products are taken out. So India considers this headline inflation. So headline inflation has reached around 4.82% 82 percentage though it is in between the 2 to 6 percentage there is con consecutive rise that is consecutively there's been rise for this headline inflammation that is in past 3 months if you see more than 4% is what we are actually recording so in that in this headline inflammation if you see foot inflammation is around 6% this is also this is also rise very frequently and core inflammation is 4.2% everything is above 4%age 4.2%age 2%. So what it means that whenever there is inflation rate and when you subtract it with the repo rate the difference rate is called the real rate. Okay the real rate in the economy. So let's say you you have 100 rupees in your uh pocket. So if you're going to keep it in the bank or if you're going to deposit the bank then the bank is saying that you'll be given 5.25%age of uh interest for your 100 rupees. But the inflation itself is almost near 5%age. Then the whatever the 5.25 percentage you earn from the 100 rupees that is let's say you're earning your earning should be around 5.25 rupees of 100 rupees. Okay that is 5.25% but when the inflation itself is 5% that 0.25 that is that 25 pi is nothing is it is actually of no use for you. So the inflation rate should be less than this report rate. Ideally, ideally the inflation rate should be less than this repor rate because only then you're going to earn earn something from your deposits or earn something from your savings. When the inflation itself is more than this repor rate what is going to happen whatever the earnings that you get from the bank for your 100 rupees it is not going to get it is not going to give you the same market value when you bring it down and buy the goods and services. So you should understand that the report rate should be ideally more than the inflation rate. But what is happening here is the inflation rate is almost matching the repo rate. So when it's almost matching the repo rate, what what should what should the RBI do? Either it should try to decrease this inflation rate by taking some uh by considering certain tools. It can be qualitative or quantitative tools. It has to take some steps to reduce this headline inclination or it has to increase this [clears throat] report rate to 5.75 or to 6.25% whatever the percentage is. So that balance should be there. So that is what the core part of the discussion in this article. If you see the inflation is spreading beyond food and core is also rising. That is both edine is rising and also core is rising. It is not that only food is rising or only the oil prices are rising. It is also other things like transport like many other things education other services everything is rising. So inflation is spreading beyond food and core is also rising. Actual if you see 4.82 82 already above RB's projected trajectory that is already above 4%age. RBA has project projected that it will be around 4%age for this quarter but it has crossed 4% but though it is within the limit of 2 to 6% real policy rate as I said the cushion that is the report rate minus the inflation rate the real policy rate margin has been thinning. So when it is thinning you're not going to earn whatever the deposits or whatever the savings that you have in the bank. So what what will then people do? So if you see here the nominal rate minus the expected inflation rate is what the real rate is. Now the expected inflation is almost reaching 5%. As I said it is around 4.82%age today that is this quarter. So when it is 4.82% the real rate is almost zero. So whatever the money you earn from the bank for the from the uh report rate it is going to negate it with the inflation. So automatically balance is zero. So then why the people why people will come and deposit in the bank? They'll see they'll think that we should not deposit in the bank. They'll go for another investments and when you go for another investments what is the what are the other opportunities like mutual funds, gold. So these are the other opportunities for the people to invest on so that they get more returns. So automatically people will more move towards other asserts. Here in this concept you should know only two things. So the nominal rate minus expected inflation rate is going to give you the real rate. Okay. And in real rate there are two things exposed and expanded. What is exposed? Means nominal rate minus the realized inflation means past inflation due to during the same period of time. That is nominal rate minus the realized inflation will give you the exposed rate. Okay. Xantra means nominal rate minus expected inflation inflation from now on. So that will give you the policy trajectory. what policy we should take off on mean that is what this is what is going to determine what are the rates that we are going to fix. So x ante means nominal rate minus the expected inflation exposed means nominal rate minus the past inflation during the same period of time. So these are two things which you need to know and as I said the people will be actually moving to another assert. Okay. So that is what that is what been seen in India. So why this this thing is happening? Why actually the inflation is rising but RBI is keeping the report rate in the constant level. There are many reasons for this because if you see India the demand is strong okay demand is strong. Why why I'm saying demand is strong because we have we recently saw 7%age of GDP growth. Okay, the demand is strong and also this article says that credit growth credit growth is around 19%age year on year that is year on year the credit is actually increasing that is people are taking more credit for better economical opportunities or better economical activities. So credit growth is strong and also deposit growth is also strong as per the bank reports. So deposit growth is strong, credit growth is strong, GDP is increasing. That means that demand is strong. That is people are having more demand, people are having more capability for buying the goods and services. But there are external shocks. The external shocks is what the supply constraints. So when supply constraints are there, it will be very tough for RB to maintain because the supply constraints is not uni dimensional. It is taking different dimensions of geopolitics as you say the wars that is happening, oil prices that are increasing. Now if you see the linse or graham bill which has been passed by the American government is going to keep the crude oil prices more high and also currency Indian's currency is weakening these are other reasons that if the supply side risks risk so these reasons are actually making the supply side of inflation high so when the supply side of inflation is high it is very difficult for RB to constrain it by just increasing the report rate. So that is why RBA is actually having the wait and watch approach. So that when these things are getting settled automatically this repo rate or whatever the rate is there that will be easily transmitted to the end consumer at the better better uh better in a better way. So what is the shift that we are seeing? As I said there is supply side risk. supply side risk is because of many other reasons like geopolitics and weakening of rupees and also other uh bottlenecks in supply chain. So when these things are happening it is tough for RBA to actually maintain the maintain the rate and also if you see in India what is happening the inflation is rising. Okay the inflation almost matching up with the report rate. So the report rate and inflation rate are almost same then the real rate that is what the real rate where the citizen used to get benefited is actually zero. So what people are doing they they are going to stop depositing in the banks they're going to stop depositing in the banks and they'll move to the other investments like mutual funds equities goals these things when you're going to move to equities when you're going to move to gold what happens again your current account deficit is going to get affected because India is importing gold from other countries so when you're going to purchase gold not depositing your money in the bank then automatically your current account depo deficit is going to widen. So it is going to affect your balance of payments. Okay. So that is also another risk that is India India is actually going to face if you if the condition actually continues. And historically if you see the same period in 20 in 2010 and 13 that is in the period of 3 years the returns on the bank deposits turns negative. That is when you when you deposit 100 rupees you may receive 105 rupees after one year. But by then the inflation is almost 7% that that 5 rupees is actually the 5 rupees that you gain is actually of no use because already the 100 rupees has become weakened and now 107 rupees is not equal to 105 rupees that you gain. Okay. So the inflation rate when it is more than inflation rate when it is more than repo rate it is going to affect your real rate that is it is going to affect your income from the deposits that you have in the bank or post office or whatever other financial institutions. So that is that is the thing that was faced in 2010 and 13. So what people did that time they directly went to gold they directly started buying gold and RBI stated that there was around83 of correlation that is 83 correlation between gold imports and household inflation expectation during the time of 2010 and 13 that is household that is we people are expecting that inflation is going to raise. So what we are going to do because inflation is going to raise we are actually not going to put our money in the banks because putting our money in the banks is not going to give us better returns. It is going to give returns less than the inflation rate itself. So what we going to do? We are going to buy gold. We are going to invest on gold. So when you're going to invest on gold what happens automatically your current account deficit is going to increase. That is you're going to import more gold than the last quarter. So India India will actually spend more money on the gold. So these are all the things that was that was happening and we are going to fall in the same loop itself. The loop is inflation going is going to rise. The real returns is going to slow down because the repo rate is very less and savings flight that is savings is going to move on to other asserts that is like gold and other things and that is is going to have weaker transmission. Weaker transmission in the sense the rate that is fixed by government or the RBA sorry the rate that is fixed by RB is not going to get transmitted to the end consumer. Let's say the 5.25%age 25 percentage is the repor rate today but the banks like ICCI bank of boda SBI other banks will have some five or 1%age above this repo rate and they give it to the consumer so this this transmission will be weak when the deposits is not on banks when the deposits on golds what happen the transmission from the RBA to the end consumer will be weak and this will follow a loop which will create a very big problem for India. So this is the problem that has been faced by RBI today. Now this is problem of timing because let's since October 2025 as I said since October 2025 RBI has been holding this uh uh report rate means they have kept it in 5.25 percentage only since four quarters it is only 5.25 25%. Now it is time to increase it because only when you increase it, you're going to have the gap between inflation and repor rate only then you're going to only then you encourage people to deposit money in the banks so that they don't deposit in they don't invest in other things like mutual funds or even the gold. So this gap should be there. For this gap what should happen? The inflation is automatically will get curtailed when you increase this repo rate. Okay. So repo rate should be increased. So that is a best timing. This is the best timing for the RBA to increase the repo rate. That is what the economists are also arguing that a timely 25 bps that is 25 basis points means 0.25 percentage. A timely 25.25 percentage I may cost less than the delayed 50 bps correction. when you increase it what the other economist or the other people say that you're going to reduce the growth because India is actually in a momentum of growth but when you increase the interest rate what is happening you're going to amper the credit that is going on to the economy so when you amper the credit that is going on to the economy then automatically other economic activities will get curtailed so why are you increasing the report rate that is other side of argument but when you see whatever the things that we spoke about the inflation rate report rate and the loop that I said so these all things actually is forcing RBI to increase their report rate. So a 25 percentage that is 25 bps 25 basis points that is 0.25 percentage a 0.25 percentage hike may cost less than the 50 bps correction that you're going to do after maybe two or three quarters. So this is a time that RBI should act upon. So that is a uh that is a timing dilemma which is RBI is facing and also if you see uh the growth as I said India is actually facing 7.8%age 8 percentage of GDP growing. So this 0.25 percentage will not cost much of IP will not cost much on the growth. So this is where the RB should take call and uh they going to meet very free very soon and they will be taking a call on this report. So that is all the argument that we saw what is the inflation what are the monetary policy what is the monot monetary parties committee and also the dilemma that is whether to increase the repo rate or not and what are the things that are happening the inflation rate is almost matching up with the repo rate. So in that sense the real rate is getting almost nil. So in that sense people are actually moving on to other investments like gold and mutual funds. So what is the situation that we had historically faced when we had similar situation? So these all things we discussed. So there's a practice question related to our discussion. The first statement, the Reserve Bank of India's inflation target of 4%age is identified in the terms of wholesale price index. No, it is consumer price index that is CPI. Consumer price index and consumer price index considers headline inflation. Headline inflation that is it considers all the products into the baskets all the goods and services. It is not core inflation. Core inflation considers only certain products that is beyond that is subtracting volatility from when you subtract volatility that is volatile in the sense the food oil. So these are very volatile compounds or volatile goods. When you subtract this volatile goods from the headline inflation you get the core inflation. So core inflation is subset of headline inflation but India considers or RBA considers only the headline inflation. So first statement is incorrect. Second statement the Xante real interest rate is calculated by subtracting expected inflation from the nominal policy rate. That is correct. I said expost and Xante. Xante is subtracting the nominal policy rate by the expected inflation rate. So when you subtract the expected inflation from the nominal policy rate you get Xante. So that is correct. So second statement is correct. Under the flexible inflation targeting framework, the total tolerance bandwidth is 2%age to 6%. That is exactly correct because that is four plus or minus 2%age. Correct. The report rate in India is determined by solely by government governor of Reserve Bank of India. No, it is not solely by Governor of Reserve Bank of India. It is of monetary policy of six members of which RBA governor is one of the members. So six members are part of the committee. So statement four should be incorrect. So answer should be two and three incorrect. So the answer should be A. Let's check. Yes, the answer is A. So that's all about this topic. Very very brief topic. When you go through it, it will be very simple. Now let's move on. The second topic for the discussion today is India's magnet mission. So if you see magnet is actually crucial for every technology that we see today. the the technology which is EV or clean energy like wind turbines or if you even in the semiconductors magnet actually are the backbone for all these technologies to get operated. So in this context India has been actually facing many problems related to this magnet supply chain. So we'll see where are the vulnerabilities for India in this magnetic supply chain and what are the steps that India is going to take or been in taking in this context and also what can be done to actually secure our supply chain in this magnet. So before understanding the supply chain risk and also about what are the steps taken by India, we need to understand what are the magnets type of magnets that are there in the market and how important it it is for the India's transition towards clean energy or even India's transition towards the Arman bar. So if you take this permanent magnet so how do you define the permanent magnet is permanent mammoth are materials that create their own persistent continuous magnetic field without requiring external power. So without requiring external power is an important keyword here because see when there are magnets like non-permanent magnets what happens is in this magnet if you take these electrons will be in different postures okay they'll not be aligned properly. So whenever you apply external force it might be an electrical current or it might be an also another magnetic force whenever you apply external force these actually these electrons will get aligned. Okay. When they get aligned, it is going to create it is going to give a unified magnetic force or it's going to create an unified magnetic field around this material. So without an external source, if the electrons are already aligned to give a magnetic force to give a magnetic effect, then those are called the permanent magnets. Okay. So this permanent magnets are of many types and one such is this neodyinium and ferite magnets. So that is all that is the definition of permanent magnets. And what are types of permanent magnets that are there in the market? If you say ferite magnets, ferite magnets are iron plus boron or berium. So it can be of different things boron, berium different things can be added to this iron magnet that is ferite magnet. The next thing is alco magnet that is aluminium, nickel and cobalt magnets. They are together fused to create a magnet. They are used in specialized industrial applications and samarium and cobalt magnets are very are having very good applications. the high temperature applications like even in your uh let's say atomic energy plants or other thing other other places where the high temperature resistance is actually very much needed. So we also have a plant in our department of atomic energy that is DAE actually have a plan for this plant for this inacc. So they are actually producing this kind of summer cobalt magnets for India strategic application. So department of atomic energy that is D AE under bark is actually having a a plant of this samarium cobalt in weak that is in Andhra Pradesh. So the the next important one is this neodyinium iron and boron magnets. They have the wide scale applications because they are particularly important for high performance applications like EV like also this wind turbines. What is so special about this neodyinium, iron and boron magnets? Because they have the strongest commerciality among magnets with the I synth to weight ratio that is even with the less weight that is even with the small magnet they providing I magnetic field strength that is a small amount a small magnet of this much let's say of 5 cm size even it can produce a large effect large magnetic effect to that of ferite magnets other magnets which are of normal level or whose strength is very less. So in such a way they occupy less space and give more efficiency. So that is why they are been they have been favored in wind turbine as well as in EV application. So that is why it is very important and if you see it significance it enables energy transition and advanced manufacturing. So the demand for this neodyinium and iron boron magnets are very much high today. And as usual who controls this supply chain is China. India imports almost 100%age of this kind of magnets and out of this 100%age almost 90%age comes from China. So that is the first two vulnerability that we face in this magnetic supply chain because we are having special schemes for EV we are having special schemes for critical minerals we are having other schemes related to this but if you take as a magnet because magnet doesn't come directly from the earth it is going to have a certain process being followed let's say first you're going to mine it you're going to mine these minerals after mining you're going to have this magnet being produced that is you're going to manufacture this and also then you're going to supply So there are different uh operation that have been happening in this supply chain but India is trying to focus only certain kind only certain level of supply chain but it has to actually expand itself to through this magnetic supply chain so that we are not more dependent on other countries. So where are the vulnerabilities? The first vulnerability is China dependence as I said and also the processing bottlenecks because separation refining and metal production is actually very technically difficult. So you have to this is an alloy because it is not only of one metal it's neodyinum iron and boron. So this alloy should be put in a certain fuse level and this refining metal production as all actually are technically more difficult which needs certain level of expertise and domestic manufacturing very limited in India there there is no such large scale manufacturing as in China. Then we have technology dependence again when even though we have certain the submarine submarine cobalt. So they though we have this kind of uh plant we are still technologically dependent on other countries or even other labs because this metal energy is actually more complicated. So that is why this technology dependence is still there and supply concentration if you take exposes India to export controls geopolitical tensions is actually making us more volatile towards the supply chain because this neodyinum is more manufactured or more refined in China. So even though we have ferite even though you have boron if you don't have neodyinum then you are going to depend on other countries. So there is supply concentration of these minerals and demand visibility if you take magnets enabled in EVs electronics and machinery may escape trade data tracking. So whenever if you take an EV whenever you take an turbine many of us we actually see the important thing is battery the important thing is other critical minerals but we less we give less importance to this magnets okay but these magnets are the important driving force in each and every component of E. If you take even the motor in the EV, even if you take any transmission in the EV, these things actually need small small magnets. They are actually are out of this data tracking. So when they are out of this data tracking, what happens? The policy makers are are actually blindsided. So they are not giving more importance to this magnets. So automatically the planning and also the scheme that they actually introduce for EB lags the mention of magnets. So when you lack the mention of magnets what happen automatically the players the private players who will not be interested to take part in because see let's say you are a private player who want to create a magnetic ecosystem magnet production in India but already the government is not taking more interest on the magnet and they're not giving incentives to to this magnet production because they don't see the data why they don't see the data because these are small small magnets so they don't command the real data tracking and automatically there is no policy policy making and automatically when there's no policy making automatically the private players or the other players who are interested to actually manufacture they are not being incentivized. So that is a problem being present in India today related to this magnets and also there is a recycling gap which is very much strong in China but we don't have this recycling facilities as strong as China and these are the vulnerabilities that we actually face what is India's approach towards this first we have to see what are the approach that India has taken so first thing is national critical mineral mission so this promotes domestic exploration mining overseas acquisition and processing and recycling that is it starts from the mining and it goes through the recycling So it supports this critical mineral mission. So out of this critical mineral mission is neodyinum is included. That is the question here. So that is all that is all the approach that India needs because when you actually not track the when you're not tracking the magnets in the technologies that is you're not tracking the magnets in turbines when you're not tracking the magnets in EVs automatically you don't give importance to neodyenium. So that is a problem. of that but India is trying to address this problem through this critical mineral mission and rare earth permanent magnets manufacturing scheme has been has been put forward for 7,000 crores in India where integrated cinted rare earth permanent magnets capacity financial in financial incentives is being concentrated centered in the sense blob or pieces pieces of rar permanent magnet that is centered in the sense pieces of rare permanent magnets capacity with financial incentives is being provided through this scheme and PLA that is incentive scheme that is production linked incentive schemes for EVs suppose rare earth magnets for EV motors and alternative rare earth free technologies that is India slowly trying to have this data have this mandates being present in the supply chain because as you know around only 750 cr see the policy makers have actually attributed or actually taken into account only the 750 cr of rare earth magnets that is they have said that this magnets market demand today in India is only 750 cr that is very much blindsided because if if you see the 750 cror is very minimum for the magnets that are being used in different technologies so when you automatically less accounted for this much amount automatically your the players who are interested will not be coming forward to get invested in this kind of technologies or in this kind of magnet production. So the estimation should itself be more robust. The estimation should itself be more aligned to whatever the reality that is there in the market. So that is the problem. We are not able to track where we are importing what we are importing. Let's say we are importing the mind minerals of neodyinium. Let's say we are directly importing the neodyinium magnet. So there there are different complexities where that is happening. So it is going blindsided for this policy making aspect. We have also add we are also add in the recently in our budget there there real earth corridors actually were proposed in Odisa Kerala Andhra Pradesh and Tamadu where the minerals that is where the natural natural minerals are been present in these four states for these rare earth metals. So that is also been proposed and these are the things that has India has been taking India has been approaching towards this magnets and also this rare earth metals. So what can be done else from it? Because we have been having this PLA scheme. We are having critical minerals mission we are supporting magnets production that is centered magnet production through 7,000 cr of financial incentive. So we all we all have these everything but what can be done because the real problem is estimation. You have to estimate the market size of the magnets first very clearly in very real real manner. Once you estimate it then you know what is the capacity of these magnets that have been present in our market. Automatically the schemes or automatically the support will be of that scale of whatever the estimation is. So for this we need to have this integrated technoeconomic mapping that is item. So what the article says is that you have to combine this domestic technological capabilities and gaps, global competitiveness, import dependencies, investment and partnership that are needed and also strategic supply chain bottlenecks which are present in this magnet. When you combine everything plus better data tracking, you automatically know what should be done for this magnet. So when you when you do all these things you know what the real scope of magnets that has been present in today's India. So that is all about this discussion of the article where you discuss about what are the magnets and what are the vulnerabilities India is facing and what India is doing for this vulnerability and what can be done for this better functioning of supply chain better supply chain functioning. Okay. So here's a mains practice question related to this. India's rare earth strategy must move beyond mineral security towards value chain security because we are more concentrated on mineral security. See we are actually creating rare earth corridors. We are actually giving more mining rights through critical minerals mission for rare earth metals elements. So we are more we are more actually of primary stage. See primary stage in the sense primary stage is mining then you go for secondary stage that is manufacturing then you go for the tertiary stage. So we are more focused on this primary stage because we are saying that we have more natural resources of these minerals. So we are more focused on this mineral security but we have to move towards value chain security because in value chain security is only where you'll know what are the bottlenecks what can be the issues that can be faced after mining whether we have the technology whether we have the methology scientific methology that we need to produce this kind of alloy that is ND FEB so these things will come only when you consider this value chain security so India should move from beyond this mineral security to value chain security so you discuss this aspect in context of magnets. So that is all the discussion is all about. Now let's move on to the next part of discussion. The third topic for the discussion is Tulu language. Tulu language has been actually been present in Dakshin Canada or in the coastal Karnataka regions especially in UDP and Mangalore regions. So recently the Karnataka cabinet has given approval to add Tulu as its official language in the state. So in this article we will see what are the constitutional provisions that has been present related to this language which has to be made as an official language for a state and what Karnataka has done and why why it has done for this language. Let's move on. So why it is the news? So as I said the Karnataka cabinet actually decided to add Tulu as an administrative language that is to add as the official language of the state. So Karnataka actually has Canada as its official language. Now it is going to add Tulu in that list. So the cabinet has given approval. So once the cabinet has given approval it has goes it has to go to the state legislature and where it has to get passed to become a official language of the state. Okay. So that is where uh the news comes in and the status will initially apply to Dakshin Canada regions that is especially to UDP districts that is the UDP and as well as the Mangalore region and some parts of northern Kasar that is Kasar is in Kerala. So in the north part of Kasarur that is in the boundary of Kerala and Karnataka there are certain regions in Karnataka where this Tulu language will be Tulu language is widely spoken. So Karnataka will actually give more financial incentives or more financial uh breakdowns will be given to translation training and language related administration for this language Tulu. So geographical spread of Tulu if you see it is mainly spoken in Karnataka, southern parts of UI that is Din Karnataka, southern Karnataka, northern parts of Kasargur, Kerala. So these are regions where Tulu has been widely spoken and Tulu is not an scheduled language that is in schedule language if you see India has 22 scheduled languages. Okay, that is an eth schedule. In eth in this eth schedule, Tulu is not still a part of that eth schedule. Turu is actually made as an official language or it is being it's going to be made as an official language for Karnataka. What will official language status mean is that this language can be used in Graham Sabha local body meetings, government circuluses and citizens can submit applications to government in this languages and also officials may need translation support for basic knowledge. So when you when you actually appointed as an collector or when you actually appointed as an IPS officer in the respective districts let's say Udupi or in the northern part of Kaser good you will be actually made to learn this language because you're going to have this circular you're going to receive the petitions from the citizens in this languages. So for in this case this official language status actually means that citizens will can do this or the gram safh will be empowered to actually discuss or actually pass resolutions in this language. So that is the official language mean. So what is the constitutional provision? It is like article 345 empowers the state legislator to adopt one or more languages and uses in state or in the as an official language. Let's say you are in Karnataka. So the official language that you can include for your state it can be either Hindi or any other languages that the state actually wishes for that language should is not necessarily should be in the scheduleul language that is not a condition the 22 language is scheduled language for all of India so for a particular state it doesn't mean that only the out of the 22 languages you have to consider one language as a official language for a state but that is not the reason that is not the case so you can take any language within the state or even Hindi you can take it as a language and consider it as an official language for your state. That is what this constitutional provision that is what this article 345 mentions about. And therefore a language does not necessarily need to be in the ETH schedule to receive official language status at the state level. So at the state level whatever the language is you choose that is not necessarily should be present in the scheduled language that is in the eth schedule. That is the constitutional provision and there are other linkages in the constitution where article 346 says that it deals with communication between one state and another and it and also between a state and the union. So that is article 346 related to the language and article 347 it provides for a recognition of language spoken by substantial section of state's population where president is satisfied that recognition is desirable. So whenever the president is more satisfied that a certain language is actually substantially spoken in the state, the president can actually say that can be included in the schedule language or it can actually propose that to be included in the schedule language. So that is what the article 371 speaks about. So a state official language doesn't mean that that language is present in the age schedule. That is a trap which will be set by UPSC. You need to understand that. So official language of state is not necessarily present in the eth schedule of our Indian constitution. So this cabinet decision alone is sufficient. No, once the cabinet is decision is done then it moves to a state legislature where simple majority is needed. Okay. Simple majority in the state legislature is needed. Parliament's approval is not needed. So only in the state legislature you need simple majority. So you will be confused with special majority. In special m there is no provisions for special majority here. Because special majority in the state legislature is only present in the case of special majority in the state legislature is present only when you're going to establish or abolish a state legislative council. So a state legislative council when you're going to establish or abolish only that time there is need for special majority in the state legislature. Other than that there is no concept of special majority in the state legislature. Everything comes under the simple majority. So similarly this official language inclusion or exclusion should also be passed by the state legislature with simple majority. So tulu is not in the present tulu is not in the eth schedule. As I said it is considered as an important non-cheduled language in India but it is not present in the eth schedule of Indian constitution and tuluk actually has been spoken is actually been included in the parts of ODP and Mangalore in many institutes and many schools and uh government schools and private school Tulu has been spoken even today. So that is the significance of tulu and how this evolution of tulu as an official language came across in a sense once the karnataka has actually appointed a committee in 2023 to study the significance of tulu in the specific regions they actually studied the same model of Andhra Pradesh where udu has been included as an official language for Andhra Pradesh that is then Andhra Pradesh. So similarly they have studied those things how Andhra Pradesh have studied to include an official language other than Telugu. So in that way they have studied Tulu and also they recommended to the government that Tulu can also be included in the one of the official language of Karnataka. So they have they the cabinet actually has proposed such inclusion today. So that is all about the evolution of policy here. You just need to know where is tulu. Tulu whether it is present in the eth schedule or not and any official language of state is not necessarily the scheduleular language in the eth schedule of Indian constitution. These are things where the trap can be easily set. So if you see the question practice question related to this with reference to tulu language consider the following statements. Tulu is included in the eth schedule of Indian constitution. This is the first trap. No tulu is not in the eth schedule. So automatically statement one is incorrect. Okay. Article 345 empowers a state legislature to adopt one or more languages. You need to know one or more languages can be present as an official language for a particular state. So article 345 empowers a state legislature to adopt one or more languages for official purposes of the state. That is correct. That is what the constitutional backing is all about. Granting official language status to a lang to a language by state necessarily requires its per inclusion in eth schedule. No. In eighth schedule you have only 22 languages. So it doesn't mean that whatever the language that you choose for a state it is not it is not necessary that it should be present in the eighth schedule. So automatically this third statement is also incorrect. So whatever statements given above is correct. So the answer should be two because only second statement is correct and first statement and third statement are incorrect. So that is all about the discussion for this topic. Now let's move ahead. The fourth and interesting topic for the discussion today is the Lince Ora bill. So who is this Lince Ho Graham? This Lince Ho Graham is an hardcore Republican that is if you know there are only two parties two main parties in USA that is Republican and Democratic parties. So this Lince Oraham is a Republican that is an Arcore Republican and he actually is has represented Republican party from South Carolina state. This is just for information no need to note it so that you can collect it better from the article. So he is from South Carolina. South Carolina is almost a southeastern state. There is there are 50 states in USA. So this state is in the southeastern part of USA bordering Georgia. Georgia is one is a important state. So if you see uh this Florida sits in almost in the southeastern part above Florida that is north of Florida is Georgia and above Georgia is this South Carolina. So this guy that is Lindseay Oraham actually has represented as a Senate member. Senate what is Senate in USA? Senate is equivalent to Raja Sabha in India. So every state that is 50 states that are present in United States of America. Two members from every state will actually represent them in Senate. That is there will be total of 100 members in the Senate. So from South Carolina state this Lince O Graham actually represented South Carolina in Senate for almost two decades that is since 2003 and he has recently passed out that is he he has recently passed away in 2026 July. So almost two decades he has represented the South Carolina state in in Senate. Now who is this guy who has actually brought this or who actually recommended this bill? He is an art Republican. So he actually fights for the US rights in geopolitical forums. So he has said that this Russian war Russian Ukraine war is actually extending to this level because there are many countries who are buying the oil and crude oil products and also natural gas from Russia which is indirectly supporting Russia financially to fuel their war against this Ukraine and as well as this NATO. So he has said that we we has to sanction these countries who are actually buying the crude oils and also natural gas from Russia so that Russia will be financially paralyzed and they will not be able to support their war against Ukraine. So we'll be briefly see what are the provisions of this bill and Donald Trump the president of USA actually given approval for this bill because it has passed in house of representatives. It has passed in Senate and now the president has himself has given approval for this bill. So we will see what are the provisions of this bill, how it is going to affect India and what are the steps that India is actually will be trying to take to actually take ware from this sanctions. So what is this bill? The p principal objective of this bill is to increase the economic pressure on Russia by reducing the revenues from its energy exports because Russia is one of the important exports in the global market for crude oil and as well as natural gas. So India is almost importing around 50%age of its crude oil from Russia. Almost 50%age last 3 months if we take almost 50%age of crude oil comes from Russia. So India's more vulnerable to this sanctions. So we will see what are the provisions of this bill. So the act also strengthens the sanction relating to Iran as well. Now it was earlier first was targeting Russia. Now it has also included re Iran where it has said that it is going to increase the sanctions on Iran for next five years. For next five years there will be sanctions on Iran. Economic pressures that will be put on Iran. So what are the provisions of this act? It is going to put up to 100%age tariff limit or it is going to be 100%age tariff on the countries who are actually importing Russian crude oils. So US president can impose tariffs on major buyers of Russian energy application as its discretionary will. So up to 100%age that is it can be zero or up to 100 and it is up to president of US to decide what percentage can be led upon the countries who are dependent or who are actually buying the Russian energy and targets major importers. Higher duties can target top five Russian importers continuing new purchases. Basically what this bill does is that this bill will come into force after 30 days of his enactment that is 30 days from yesterday. So since yesterday is the first day and from the 30 days from yesterday will the bill will actually come into force. On that day let's say that that day is actually November 20th. Take November 20th is the 30th day. on November sorry October 20th on October 20th what will happen is your trade people your trade represent trade representatives as well as this tariff representatives what they're going to do is they're going to take past 12 months of data whoever has imported more from Russia they will take the past 12 months data and the top five countries will be actually sanctioned up to 100%age so out of the top five India will be definitely one of the country as well as China so that is where our vulnerability comes in because we are actually we are also we are actually importing around 50%age of our crude oil from Russia. So when you take 12 months data from the next 30 days that is after 30 days you take 12 months past data definitely India will be one of the top five importers of Russia's energy. So we are vulnerable more there and sanction aation if you say targets countries facilitating circumvention of Russian trade oil sanctions. What India does is specifically India buys crude oil from Russia. it actually uh refineses it and it sells to Europe. Europe d doesn't directly import it from Russia. What does it India actually acts as a mediator? It refineses the Russian crude oil and it sells to Europe and other countries. So this circumvention will also be targeted by putting this sanctions and shadow freed also the sanction vessels involved in transporting restricted Russian commodities to a sanction. This also is actually part of this provisions of this bill and Iran actually got is getting extended in this because Iran war is actually getting more complex. So the sanctions for Iran also included in this war where five years from today will be the extended sanctions on Iran. So these are the provisions of this act. What is this retrospective tariff? As I said, this is not going to come immediately into effect. That is 30 days from today will be the day of effect. So 30 days from today, let's say it is October 20. So on October 20, they will take into account of past year data. Okay? They'll take account of past 12 data and they'll consider top five exporter top five importers of Russian energy. And they'll consider and they'll consider putting tariffs on this top five exporters where India and China are one of the members. So this is what the bill says about what are the implications for it to India. So the first implication is that export the 100%age addition to RF could actually reduce the competitiveness of Indian dem of Indian goods and services in the US market. Let's say India is facing India steel, India's aluminium is almost facing 10%age tariff today. Okay. USA has actually put 10%age tariff today. is more or less competitive because other countries actually face more percentage and India is actually facing less percentage. So 10%age is manageable for the Indian exporters today. But when it is 100%age for India then our competitiveness become very weak and our exporters will actually face the major problem because India is actually having trade surplus with US. You need to understand India is having trade surplus with US. That is we export more to US than we import more from US. We export more than we import less. So our export to US is more than we import from the US. So our trade surplus is more. So automatically it will actually affect our exporters. Energy security rapidly replacing Russian crude oil is be very much difficult for India because 1.4 billion people are more dependent or our economy is completely dependent on this crude oil directly or indirectly. So when you're going to drastically diversify this 50% from other sources, it is going to create some impedance for our energy security. Usually if you see in the history of our oil imports, if you see in 2017 or 18, USA has said that you don't India should not buy oil from Venezuela because there there are some problems Venezuela. So US had said that India should not buy oil from Venezuela. We actually actually took it and we also stopped buying the oil from Venezuela. Then later US has said that India should not buy oil from Iran. India also said that okay we will not buy oil from Iran and we actually diversified our source. Now US is saying that India should not buy oil from Russia and again India is forced to take steps so that it is going to postfully taking steps to diversify our oil sources. So the sovereignity sovereignity question our oil or our imports on oil is actually should not be decided by other countries or the bills that are passed in other countries. The sovereignity is a big question mark today because whatever the steps that are we are taking for our energy security for our supply chain it is dampened by these other countries bill or other countries leaders. So that it's a major question that is a political question that India is facing today. So it is not only energy security it is also a political dilemma or a political vacuum that is India is facing today. The next question is the next important impact is inflation. So automatically when the oil prices are going to increase. So when you're going to diversify you have to then again go back to USA or you again go back to Middle East. So the Middle East if you see the barrel price that is oil per barrel is actually more than $100. So it is increasing drastically. So even if you say the balance state is actually getting vulnerable today because of how this attack and already the state of is under severe constraint. So the barrel price is almost rupees 100 per dollar that is increasing more than 100 per dollar. So our inflation will be directly affected that is there will be more inflation on our products or know domestic prices and current account deficit definitely will increase because we are going to more we are going to purchase costly oil from when we are going to diversify. So definitely our current account deficit will be increased. So these are all will be actually facing economic problem, political problem and as well as many other social problems in India including this energy security. So how India is going to tackle this it is up to it is it is up to the policy makers to decide because recently Mr. Jay Shankar our foreign affairs foreign ministry has said that minister has said that just by we are declining oil just by we are declining to buy oil from Russia it will not make it will not end the war of Ukraine what USA thinks that Russia is actually fueled or Russia is actually getting money from the sales of this crude oil in shadow fleet or in other other markets but our ministry or our ministry has clearly said stated that just by we are not buying the oil from Russia doesn't mean that Russia Russia tomorrow will end the war with Ukraine. Russia's other sources of income as well. Russia's other strong points as well which actually sustains the war. It's not that the oil that we purchase the trade should not be included in the war is the concept that has been proposed by our finance minister sorry that proposed by our foreign minister in Q that is in Ukraine. In Ukraine he has clearly mentioned that trade will not actually stop the war. This diplomacy only will actually stop the war. That is what is point of point that he has put in that is very much valid. If you see whatever the trade if you do whatever the trade if you don't do it will not automatically affect your war because those are things which are complexely related. It is not only unidirectionally related. Trade is not directly related to war. When you want to end the war, diplomacy and negotiation are the only thing. So this is clearly highlighted by our foreign affairs minister Mr. J Shankar in Ukraine. So that is the point of view of India. So is there any view wav for India from this 100% tariff? There is one case where the US president it himself can actually declare that in the national interest of US in the national interest of USA he the president can actually declare that he he is not going to levy tariffs on certain countries. So let's say he's considering India as its US national interest. it which is going to support US national interest then he e will actually not impose tariff that is he will not impose 100% tariff on India or the next kind of thing is you USA will stop this tariff when Russia is going to end its war on Ukraine so there are only two cases where the president himself can say that I'm not going to leave it Arab because of national interest of USA or the second condition is that when Russia is going to end the war on Ukraine. So in that cases the tariff will not be applicable. So these are the two cases where uh India has a chances to actually negotiate both with Russia Ukraine as well as with USA so that this 100% tariff is not getting affected to our Indian exporters. So that is all about the discussion today the uh on the four topics. So there's a main practice question related to the topic that we discussed. How could US sanctions on countries importing Russian oil affect India's energy security, exports and strategic autonomy? So as I said it is not only India's economy, India's strategic autonomy that is India's sovereignity, India's political situation is also under question mark because people from other countries or the bills that are passed in other parliaments or other presidential parliaments these things should not affect our decision making because we are 1.4 billion people whose interest is more superior than the interest of other nations. So this strategic autonomy, exports, energy security is all under question mark by this sanctions. So how could this sanction is going to how this sanction is going to affect this should be the answer for this question. Let's stop the discussion here for this topic. Then move on to the plims focus for the day. The three plims focus topics for the day and the first one is Canada becoming the associate member of European Union. So if you see European Union has 27 countries and they didn't have a concept of associate member till Canada has become the first member to it. So you opens the door for Canada to become its first associate member. Why this is happening? Why there are such a geopolitical move? Because if you know if you if you have been following the news, USA has been retracting itself as an global power in many such spheres and one such sphere is that they are actually reducing their military support to EU as a NATO member. They are also reducing the support military support to EU and also they are having the trade wars between Canada because 50%age tariff recently imposed by USA on Canadian products and Canadian government is actually imposing 20%age to 30%age tariffs on US products. So there are certain trade um friction that is going on between USA and Canada and also USA is retracting itself as an global as an actually global military supporter for EU and also other NATO members. So in that sense there is actually naturally alliance natural naturally bringing this Canada and European Union together because Canada and European both face the USA as their USA's policies as their problem today. So USA's policies are becoming a problem for European Union as well as Canada. So naturally bringing them together. So Canada has become the first associate member of European Union and also the European Union chancellor as European Union president actually has proposed an European security council. What is this European security council? It is more or like the UNCC. So they say that this security council will actually have uh different partners which are including Canada, Norway, UK and Ukraine. UK if you you see it is not part of European Union. It has ex exited European Union. Ukraine is still not part of European Union. So sorry still not part of NATO. So in that in that context what they're saying is that they are going to create an European security council where the security for these countries will be taken together as an uh is a kind of NATO kind of security alliance will be formed under the European security council alliance and this is similar to NATO's article 4 as I said so these are the important geopolitical moves that we see today because of USA's foreign policies which are more concentrated or which are more self-conentrated only in the USA's sphere that is North American sphere and it is reducing its influence in other places in that context the Canada and EU are naturally coming together for different collaborations as well as for security for themselves that is the first concept that is the first topic and the second topic is Artimus's accords digi has recently become the 72nd country to sign this Arteimis Accords and what is this Arteimus Accords it is a non-binding treaty PT is a non-binding PT for safe civil safe safe civil space exploration because if you see space exploration is becoming more dynamic. Many countries are exploring different parts of space for their own uh uh needs. So recent many many countries have actually planned for their missions to moon that is for civil missions to moon. So in that con context this accord actually brings a non-binding treaty among the countries so that there is a safe secure planning of their missions that is every missions will be will be actually discussed with these country with these country members and their space plans will be also been put out so that there is no friction in the space explorations because space exploration is common for every country in earth. So in that context this accord which was actually brought in in 2020 by eight founding members that is eight founding members one is US, UK, UAE, Canada, Italy, Japan, Australia and more importantly Luxembourg. Luxembourg is a small European country and uh they are also a part of the founding member of this Artemis Accords. So India's actually signed this Arteimis Accords in 20123 when Prime Minister Modi visited the US. So that is a brief thing about Arteimus Accord why it has been found? It has been formed for safe civil space exploration and there are 72 countries today and the latest one to join is Digibi. There are eight founding members which we saw US, UK, UA, Canada, Italy, Japan, Australia and Luxembourg. India is also part of this treaty and it is not legally binding. It is not legally binding. So there there are many uh things which are can be uh which which are actually not bounded to share to other countries. So it is not legally binding. That should be very much noted. The significance of this treaty is it boost African participation in moon and Mars exploration because it is the eighth African nation to be part of this uh uh treaty or is this part of this accords. So it is going to boost African participation in moon and mars exploration. That is all about this second topic and third topic is Ramjak mountain. Ramjak mountain you don't need to know very much deep you need to know where it is present. It is present in the lahul piti region of Imachal Pradesh. So recently a Kerala team has scaled or actually has tked this Ramjek mountain. It is located in this Lulpati region and it is near this Shingalope pass. So all you need to know is Shingalope Pass, Lulpati district and Imas Pradesh. So these are three things that you need to know and since we touching this mountain you need to know the three highest peak in India. One first one is Kanjanjunga. Kanjanjunga that is the highest peak in Indian region. So Mount Everest it is in Nepal. Kanjanjunga it is in India. Sikkim. So Kjanjunga is highest first highest then Kanda Dvi it is in Uttark. Then Kamat it is also in Uttar. So these are top three and this is almost 8,500 m. You need to know this is 8,500 m. This is 6,300 m. Almost 2 kilometers difference is there. So Ramjak mountain is also present in Immersal Pradesh. These are top three peaks, highest peaks in India. Kanjanjunga, Nanda Dvi and Tamil. So that is all about this topic. Three topics that we are discussed in from the context of films. So we'll have practice question related to our discussion. Recently Digibbody signed the Artimus Accords. In this context consider the following statements. The Artimus Accords were launched in 2020 by US and seven founding members. That is exactly correct. There are eight founding members and US is also one of them. So first statement is correct. The accords are legally binding treaty adopted under the UN outer space treaty. It is adopted under UN outer space treaty but it is not legally binding. So that is incorrect. That is where you'll be tested legally binding non-legally binding. Who are the founding members? Whether India is part of that accord or India is part of the treaty. So whenever you study a treaty you should you should know whether it's legally binding or not whether it is unbacked or whether it is not UN backed and who are the founding members whether India is part of the treaty what are the significance of this treaty for India so these five dimensions of things you should know so that you you can actually eliminate at least one or two statements and you can find an answer become the 72nd country and 8th African nation to sign the accords this is correct because that is why it is in news so third statement is correct. India signed the accords in 2023 during PM mod state visit to US. That is also correct. So India is also part of this accord. So first, third and fourth statements are correct. So the answer should be B. Let's check. Yes, the answer is B. Thank you for your time. Thank you for watching. Please like, comment, share and subscribe our YouTube channel and also have the bell icon pressed. See you again in the next interesting discussion of current affairs. >> [music]