Daily Current Affairs Analysis | 23rd August, 2026 | Shankar IAS Academy | UPSC | Mains 2026

[music] Hello everyone, welcome to the daily current of affair analysis brought to by Shankar Academy 23rd August 2026. Before getting into the discussion, please make sure that you subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you haven't, please do subscribe and also hit the bell icon to receive on time updates from the academy. And before getting into the discussion, we have an important announcement. It is regarding the pre-torrming UPSC train series. Batch one at the Shangreas Academy Ananagar will be starting on 7th September 2026. So the offline batch for the first batch pre-torming is exclusive for the Ananagar center. Those who are planning to take online, they can write the exam after 2 days of offline uh test. And uh if you join this batch, you will be receiving last 10 years of PY2 compilation in subject wise. So those who are aspiring or those who are preparing for 2027 prelims, please do register and crack the prelims in 2027. And coming to the topics for today's discussion, the first topic is about mobile phone manufacturing scheme. So now the ministry of electronics and information technology notified this initiative to boost the mobile phone manufacturing uh design and research and development in India. And the next topic is wash in healthcare facilities 2025 2036. So this is a report released by the WHO and UNISAP which studied the development of wash infrastructure in the healthcare facilities. And the third article is about the polio outbreak end in five African countries. So a recent report from the WHO uh found that the five African countries they have successfully stopped the polio outbreak and it's not about eradication they stopped the polio outbreak in their territory. So we'll be discussing what are the initiatives or the strategies adopted by them and also we'll be discussing the basic facts about the polio infection and uh fourth article is about the memorandum of agreement on maritime cooperation signed by India and Japan. So we'll be discussing what are the area of cooperation under this uh memorandum of agreement and what are the major developments in the India Japan relations in the recent time and also the significance of this initiative and finally we'll be discussing the prelims focus for the day. So if all said let's begin the discussion with the first article. Coming to the first article sender notify key scheme to manufacture mobile phone. Article is taken from the Hindu. So on Friday the ministry of electronics and information technology notified mobile phone manufacturing scheme to boost the mobile phone manufacturing in India. We can see that the tenure of the scheme is from the financial year 2026 27 to 203031. And this scheme, this mobile phone manufacturing scheme is replacing or it is succeeding the previous production linked incentive scheme for large scale electronics manufacturing which was started in 2020 and recently only this scheme came to an end that is on 31st March 2026. This scheme came to an end and now it is continued by the mobile phone manufacturing scheme. So this is succeeding this scheme. And what is objective? Boosting mobile phone manufacturing in the country. Increasing domestic value addition. One of the key objectives strengthening supply chain and promoting Indian mobile brand. So these are the major schemes of this mobile phone manufacturing scheme. And what is the nal ministry? The ministry of electronics and information technology. So before discussing further what is the purpose of the scheme? What is the purpose of the mobile phone manufacturing scheme? So we know that currently India is the second largest manufacturer of mobile phones in the world. But we have certain problem. For example, we can see that most of the time we are depending on imported components for manufacturing the mobile phone and the major role of India in the mobile manufacturing is in the assembly. So instead of designing instead of component manufacturing our major role is in the assembly. So imagine that the price of a mobile phone is around 1,000 rupees. The price of the mobile phone is around 1,000 rupees. So in that case the assembly value of this mobile phone is around let's say it is 200 rupees. In that case the value addition the domestic value addition done by India is just 200 rupees. So our objective one of our objectives through the scheme is increasing this domestic uh value addition that means we are expanding our role in the mobile phone manufacturing. For example sometimes instead of importing the components we will give more importance to manufacturing the components or we will strengthen the design and research and development in the mobile phone. So our mobile phone domestic manu uh domestic value addition will increase. So instead of just focusing on the assembly, we are trying to expand our role in the mobile phone manufacturing through the mobile phone manufacturing scheme which has a budget of approximately 62,500 cr. And talking about the target so we already discussed so the target can be broadly divided into two. So the first is mobile phone manufacturing and second is promoting the Indian mobile brand. So we will discuss in the upcoming slide we will discuss what type of mobile phone can be considered as Indian mobile phone brand. So uh the first is mobile phone manufacturing. So large manufacturers and companies are you know uh supported by the government through the scheme not just the domestic companies even the foreign companies are also welcomed to manufacture their components in India. And the second is they will they are eligible to receive the com the large manufacturers are eligible to receive an incentive from 2.2 25 percentage to 5%age based on the performance and incremental production. For example, this year the for this the base year of the scheme is to the financial year 2026 27. So in the next year that is in 2728 if they are able to boost their production and sale and based on that increase uh they will receive increased incentive and the next is Indian mobile phone brand. So we are focusing the scheme is focusing on promoting Indian mobile phone brand that means Indianowned mobile phone at least 51%age of the uh uh stock has to be owned by the Indian citizens only that will be considered as Indian brand under this new scheme and we can see that they are eligible to get 5%age of manufacturing incentive 3%age more than three or more than 3%age of incentive for Indian design and research and development and up to 1.5%age of incentive for domestic component sourcing. For example, if they are components like chips and other things from the domestic market, then for that also the Indian brand mobile phones will be able to get more uh incentive and we can see that additional uh non-fiscal support also will be provided by the government for example you know uh senders facilities to manufacture the components all this support will be provided by the government for the Indian brand through the scheme and uh so what qualifies as an Indian brand according to the mobile phone manufacturing scheme. So here we will support only genuine Indian on brand. Some of the criteria are there. For example, the company has to be registered or incorporated in India and more than 50 51%age of the shareholding will be from the Indian citizen and management uh and control by the Indian citizen and Indian ownership of intellectual property and trademark in-house design and research and development capabilities in India. So if the company has all these criteria only that company will be classified or qualified as Indian brand in the uh as per the uh mobile phone manufacturing scheme and uh talking about the significance so we can see that this is continuing the previous PLI scheme on large scale you know electronic manufacturing. So what is the significance of this mobile phone manufacturing scheme? So the first is economic significance. So as per the prediction we you know we uh we can see that at least six lakh plus jobs are expected through the scheme and this will definitely give a boost to the electronic manufacturing uh export value. So we are planning to attain an export value of approximately 15 lakh cr through this uh scheme and the strategic yes we we can see that these days the supply chain is getting more vulnerable right uh you know recently many companies uh increased their uh product price by more than 50%age we saw that many larger companies so in such case we can bring you know if we can boost our re uh design research and development domestic component sourcing Then to an extent we can uh reduce the shock uh created by the uh you know uh in the global level. For example uh some sometimes the supply chains will be affected. In that case the the price of the components will increase. So such shock can be absorbed or such shocks can be addressed if we can give a domestic base for our manufacturing. And next is technological support. So the scheme promotes Indian design, research and development, IP and technology transfer and next is ultimately the objective of atmandraharbara. So it is a major step towards self-sufficiency and also the self-sufficiency is very important for the vigasid bar vision of 2047. Right? So these are the major significance of this uh mobile phone manufacturing scheme brought by the government. And now we are going to see a prelims practice question. The question is with reference to the mobile phone manufacturing scheme consider the following statements. Statement one, it provides incentives to large mobile phone manufacturers and electronics manufacturing services companies. Yes. Statement two, Indian mobile brand can receive an additional incentive of 10%age for domestic design and research and development. No. 3%age right for the for the domestic component sourcing it is approximately 1.5%age. So the statement two is incorrect not uh 10%age immediately. So the statement two is incorrect. And statement three uh it is implemented by the uh ministry of electronics and information technology. Yes, they are the nal ministry and they are the uh ministry of information ministry of electronics and information only notified the scheme. So the correct answer is going to be yes option C one and three only. So with this we will move to the next article. Coming to the second article only 40%age of the world's health facilities meet basic sanitation standards. Article is taken from the Hindu. So recently the WHO and the UNICEF they jointly conducted a study to assess the development of wash infrastructure in the healthcare facility in the last one decade and they found that only 40%age of the healthcare facilities across the world meets the basic standard and 11%age of the healthcare facilities do not have any sanitation standard or sanitation mechanism and this can affect approximately 936 million people. So in this background let us understand more about this article. So talking about the report so based on the study they published a report and the report name is wash in healthcare facilities 2015 2025. So uh this is assessing the development of the wash infrastructure in the healthcare facility in the last one decade and and we found that only 40%age of the healthcare facilities globally meet the standard and 11%age of the facilities lack sanitation services altogether and this can affect approximately 936 million people. Okay. And talking about the basic water service 85%age of the facilities have a basic water service. So the question is what about the quality of the water and the next is basic hygiene service only 72%age of the uh facilities have a basic hygiene service and talking about healthcare waste management 71%age of the facilities only 71%age of the facilities follow the healthcare waste management uh system and uh the next is the practice of environmental cleaning so we can see that only 60%age that is 59% So only 60%age of the healthcare facilities have this practice of regular environmental cleaning. And talking about different regions we can see that least developed countries in the case of least developed countries only 24%age of them meet environmental cleaning standard. That means only 24%age of the healthcare facilities in the least developed countries meet the basic environmental standard. And next is regional variation. So the healthcare facilities in the staharan region only 23%age of them meet basic sanitation standard and in the case of central and southern Asia only 55%age of the healthcare facilities meet basic uh health sorry sanitation standard. So from this we can understand that the practice of basic sanitation standard and the practice of environmental cleaning is not properly followed in many healthcare facilities and also there is a high health inequality because we can see that in the case of subsaharan region only 23%age of the healthcare facilities have a basic sanitation standard and we know that the subsaharan region especially the the Sahil region is considered as one of the most highly instable regions in this world because of various conflict Right. And if you take the case of this uh global terrorism index of 2025, we can see that as per this report now the epicenter of terrorism is Sahil region. So the the Sahil region as well as the other regions of Africa is getting more affected because of the conflict and other issues. And now we can see that only 23%age of the healthcare facilities have a basic sanitation. So this is raising concern about health inequality globally. And uh talking about the wash infrastructure, what is mean by wash infrastructure? Actually wash is not just infrastructure, it is also a behavior. It is a behavior pattern to maintain basic hygiene and also to prevent infection and also to ensure safety. So uh wash infrastructure refers to the physical health sorry physical system and facilities that provide safe water supply, sanitation facility, hygiene practices to communities, schools and healthcare centers. So these are the set of practices and systems or facilities that provide safe water. So the safe water uh water supply. So the water supply. So the wash is coming from the WA for the wash is coming from water and sanitation. H is S is coming from sanitation and H is coming from hygiene. So this safe water supply, sanitation facility and hygiene practices. These are the basics of the wash infrastructure. So it is not just the physical facility but it is also a behavior a set of behavior that we practice to prevent the uh uh infection and also for the environmental safety. And uh the next is basic sanitation. What is mean by basic sanitation according to who? One of the aspects is a a healthcare facility should have at least one usable toilet for the staff. And the next is at least one sex uh separated toilet with a menstrual hygiene facility. And the next is at least one toilet accessible to people with the limited mobility. So imagine that the people who are using that that means for example if a patient with some infectious disease he's using a toilet and another person and an an uninfected person is also using the same toilet right it will increase the risk of spread of infection so that is why according to the basic sanitation norms of who there should be a separate toilet for the healthare staff pe uh infected people and also people with mo limited mobility or facing other physical uh difficulties. So we can see that only 40%age of the uh world health facilities have the basic standard. And the next is the concern about the environmental cleaning. What is mean by environmental cleaning? Environmental cleaning is also a part of the wash behavior. It is also a part of the wash behavior. So environmental cleaning includes a systematic practice a daily systematic practice of removal of debris waste uh from the surrounding to keep the surrounding clean pathogen free and also for the environmental safety and we can see that only one in 10 healthcare facilities or or or just 60%age of the healthcare facilities across the world follow this practice regularly. So this is another area of concern. So we can see that uh 72%age of the facilities have hygiene facility basic hygiene only 85%age of them have water supply and we can see that only 40%age of them have basic sanitation standard and only 60%age of them have the reg the regular practice of environmental cleaning. So what are the major concerns associated with this? The first is the increased risk of infection. So we can see that the poor wash increases healthcare associated infections that is one of the major concerns. For example the uh the healthy person and infected person both are using the same toilet both are using the same facility that will increase the risk of infection. And next is the the possibility the threat of antimicrobial resistance. So we know that one of the major reasons behind the AMR or the antimicrobial resistance is nothing but unscientific use for the practice of medicines and also limited sanitation. So the limited sanitation will give opportunity for the pathogens to enhance its immunity. So it will be more stronger and now fighting this infection or fighting this pathogen will be more costly. So this will increase the risk of poverty and also health vulnerabilities. Next is the unsafe based management will lead to environmental hazard. Right? And next is data gap and also healthcare inequality can be seen. So we can see that we are uh this as a part of this uh assessment or as a part of understanding the health sorry the wash infrastructure we have assessed only certain aspects of the basic standards of sanitation and hygiene. There are many aspects are still remaining to be studied. So that is addressing that is uh reminding us about the gap in the assessment of the healthcare facilities and next is the the report is also highlighting that from this report we can understand about the health inequality like I mentioned the Sahel region the subsaharan region uh if you take the subsaharan region only 23%age of the healthcare facilities have basic standards so that is rising the population in this region is already vulnerable because of various conflict economic vulnerability social issues ethnical tension but now the healthcare facility is also very limited. So that is increasing the risk of health risk for those people and government initiatives. So what are the government initiative? That is what are the government Indian government initiatives that we have taken so far to address or to develop the wash infrastructure and wash behavior. So we have the umbrella program that is futar mission since 2015. So we know that the Kuchbar mission is working on uh you know uh the waste management uh and also eliminating for eliminating the practice of the open defecation and we know that we have the Swatchbar mission Grammy so with which is exclusively focusing on the uh the rural healthcare and the sanitation and currently we are in the face of Kushbar 2.0 Right. And next we have the Jal Jan mission which is launched by the ministry of Jal Shaki which is focusing on providing portable water to the household every household in India. And this mission is also focusing on water safety. That means it will uh you know make sure that the water is pathogen free and also it does not have any chemical chemical pollutants. And next is the project of Namabi Ganga. So Nami Ganga is focusing on the holistic uh you know waste management regeneration of the the Ganga basin and also its biodiversity and next is Adal Bjal Yojana which is focusing on the groundwater management with the community participation and this is focusing on the safety and basic stand you know basic conservation standards for the groundwater and in the case of India we can see that 60%age of the agriculture water is taken from the groundwater so that is one of the major issues faced by the groundwater resource of this country and uh yes we cannot uh you know we cannot uh uh remain silent about this kayakalp initiative. So we know that kayakalp initiative was an umbrella initiative taken by the government of India in 2015 uh to improve the uh cleaning hygiene and quality of public healthcare facilities in India. So this initiative was launched by the ministry of healthare sorry the ministry of health and family welfare. So what are the key areas of this initiative? The first is hospital keep up and sanitation. Next is hygiene and cleanless and the next is biomed biomedical waste management. So we know that in 2015 we brought the biio biomedical waste management for managing the hazardous waste from the hospital or from the healthcare. And next is infection prevention and control. So these are the key focus area. These are the four focus area under the kay initiative. One of the major initiatives taken by the government of India in 2015 and we have improved this initiative. We have made a lot of changes in this initiative in the later years. And uh we can see that this the approach of this initiative. So it's a it is based on rewarding approach that means the hospitals or the healthcare facilities which have a better waste management better uh infection control they will be rewarded after assessment and uh considering the wash infrastructure strain or the the the issues associated with the wash infrastructure. Now the world health organization have launched wash strategy 202635 so this initiative is focusing on reducing 1.4 4 million annual death cause preventable annual death caused from unsafe water, sanitation, hygiene and waste and uh talking about the key focus. So norms and regulations. So it is focusing on strengthening the global standard for the wash behavior and infrastructure and it is another area is monitoring the healthcare facility through improved data collection identifying the inequalities and guide investment. And next is health integration. That means integrating the practice of wash into healthare and universal health uh universal healthcare. And next is making the wash infra infrastructure climate resilience. So we know that climate change is one of the major reasons that changes the epicenter of disease disease pattern as well as it will it can also support the antimicrobial resistance. So, so addressing this issues and enhancing the WASH system to uh face this challenge is one of the objectives of the WASH strategy of WHO. And next is equity that means uh when whenever healthcare policy is trained uh focus will be given to uh women vulnerable community and underserved communities. And next is infection control that means reducing the uh antimicrobial resistance enhancing the hygiene practices in the hospital. So these are the major strategies under the WASH strategy of 202635 by the WH and UNICEF also cooperating with the WHO for the implementation of this strategy. And now we have the prelims practice question. The question is with reference to the WHO wash strategy 2026 20U 35. Which of the following are the are among its key priorities? Statement one climate resilient wash infrastructure. Yes. Statement two, aims to reduce 1.4 million annual death caused by unsafe water and hygiene. Yes. Statement three, strengthening antimicrobial resistance prevention through improved hygiene. Yes. All the uh three comes under the priority areas of the wash strategy of WH. So the correct answer is going to be option D 1 2 and three. Yes, with this we will move to the next article. Coming to the third article, five African countries mark end of coro outbreak according to WHO. So recently the regional office of WHO in Africa conducted independent outbreak response assessment from January to June 2026. So they conducted the assessment for the last 6 months and the report from the assessment confirmed that the outbreak of polio type 2 virus in five African country has ended and they are Gurandi Ga Ghana Gaia Bisau uh Republic of Congo and also the nation of Uganda. So we are not talking about the elimination of polio. So these five countries have stopped the polio outbreak in their territory. So this is indicating a slow progress in polio eradication efforts of Africa and it is also reflecting the improvements in routine immunization, disease surveillance, laboratory capacity, vaccination campaign and the community outreach in the African region. So we know that polio was the biggest concern for many nations uh in the past. So in the case of India the last polio case was reported in 2011 and after 3 years that is in 2014 India was declared polio breath. That means now the polio is not a public health concern in India. But that is not the case of Africa. In many regions of Africa, the polio is still a public health concern and frequent outbreaks are also reported in many countries. And now we can see that five African countries that is Burandi, Ghana, Gunabisaw, Uganda and the Republic of Congo, they have stopped the polio outbreak in their region through various measures. So they haven't eliminated it as a public health concern. Instead they have stopped the outbreak of the polio virus. Maybe in the very future that is in the near future they may eliminate it as a public health concern. So this development is seen as a major progression uh towards the elimination of or eradication of polio efforts in the Africa and the strategies. So what are the different strategies adopted by the countries? So in the case of Burundi they mainly focused on routine immunization and environmental surveillance. So we know that one of the major reasons behind the spread of this polio is nothing but limited sanitation. So through environmental surveillance through environmental cleaning and also through routine immunization in targeted population the burundi has stopped the polio outbreak in their territory. And in the case of Ghana they improved the laboratory cap capacity for better testing and also they focused on surveillance. And in the case of Uganda, they intensified their surveillance and also intensified their outbreak response. That means immediate they focused on you know immediate response. That means that includes uh you know immediate identification of infected people in a population and giving them adequate care. And next is in the case of Gina Bizo that they focused on targeted vaccination of underserved communities. and the case of in the case of uh Republic of Congo, they focused on multiple vaccination campaigns and also strong surveillance to deal with the polio outbreak. So these are the different strategies adopted by the the five countries in Africa to stop the polio outbreak. And talking about polio, so we know that polio and it is also known as polomiitis. So it's a highly infectious viral disease that mainly affecting the children especially children under the age of five and this can lead to irreversible paralysis or death in the people and we know that uh the polio virus will be attacking the central nerve system. So it will attack the nerve system of the people. So what happens the signal from the nerve system will not reach the muscle. So over period of time the muscle will lose its strength and eventually it the the person will end up in paralysis state. So this is how the polio will be affecting a person. So it will be once it enters into the human body then through the blood it will reach the nerve system and once the nerve system is affected because of this virus then the signals from the brain will not reach the the muscles. So the muscles will will remain inactive and over period of time it will lose its strength and the person will become in a they will end up in a paralyzed stage. So this is how the polio virus is affecting a person. And the next is spread. So it is mainly spread through fecal oral root via contaminated food and water and respiratory transmission of this infection can also happen and silent transmission. So we can say that most of the infections are asytomatic allowing unnoticed spread. So the immediate uh you know uh evident or immediate apparent symptoms is not uh you know easy in the case of the uh in the case of the polio virus. So once a person is infected he can he can remain as a carrier a healthy carrier for many uh many days and this can increase the risk of transmission and uh mainly it is transmitted through pickle or oral root but respiratory transmission is also possible. So these are the facts you have to remember regarding the the transmission of polio and talking about the polio so we can see that we have abortive type of polio. So this will not lead to major challenges or major complication. It can lead to mild flu-l like symptoms. And uh next is nonparalytic polio. So here uh you know uh brain inflammation or many menus. So it is possible but eventually the person may recover and also the person may experience headache and muscle stiffness. And next we have paralytic polio. So this can lead to acute plastic paralysis and may cause permanent disability or even death. So what are the uh methods that we have to deal with the polio? So the effective method there is no cure for polio. We can treat it, we can prevent it. So the effective or the best method to deal with the polio is vaccination. So the prevention is the best method against the polio infection. So vaccination along with the sanitation, hygiene and proper disease control or disease surveillance is the effective strategy to fight against the polio. And we can see that now many countries in this world have declared polio free. That means the polio is not a public health concern in their territory. And talking about polio, we have a silent crisis related to polio that is the post polio syndrome. So postpolio syndrome is nothing but sometimes the people will identify the polio in the very early stage and before getting complicated uh before getting into complex uh stage of infection they will also make recovery but after many years that means once the person gets into their 50s or 60s the symptoms will reappear the symptoms will reappear and that is known as postio syndrome. The symptoms is not always necessary to end up in paralytic stage. Sometimes it can lead to permanent inflammation in the muscles you know mobility issues and all. So posttop polio syndrome is one of the major challenges that we are facing as in dealing with the polio. So even though if we can save this person uh through early diagnosis still the concern or the challenge of the postpolio syndrome is there. So postpolio syndrome is nothing but the reappearance of the polio symptoms after years of recovery. So this will mostly happen in their 50s or in their 60s and uh global polio eradication initiative. So we can see that we have made a lot of progress in the polio eradication and the the umbrella program for the eradication is the global polio eradication initiative which was launched uh in 1988 by the world health assembly and it is implemented by world health organization other health specialized health agencies national governments along with the support from NGO and also uh you know uh other research foundations and we can see that achievement we have reduced the polio cases by more more than 99%age and core strategies in the eradication program includes mass immunization both vaccination and also treatment and next is the surveillance that means you know that includes environmental surveillance tracking the population you know identifying the risk area and all and next is the novel oral vaccine to control type two variant polio virus so this is the vaccine that we are giving to children to prevent the polio and next is targeted measure that includes high-risk area vaccination, crossber coordination and innovative delivery methods. So these are the major strategies under this global polio eradication uh initiative to control the polio. And now we can see the map of the the polio risk map of the world. We can see that almost 80 more than 99%age polio cases have reduced and also we can see that most of this world regions are free from polio but it is still remaining as a problem in certain areas for example in Papiaania in uh in the uh in certain parts of Southeast Asia in Afghanistan and uh Pakistan and in certain areas of the northern uh part of Europe and uh but the majority are the high-risk population or high-risk region is still in the uh Africa but now we can see that the African nations are also making progress in the polio eradication efforts. So maybe in the coming future maybe in the near future we can expect all these regions to be polopree and now we have the prelims practice question. The question is with reference to polomiotis consider the following statements. Statement one polio virus is primarily transmitted through pickled oral root. Yes. And statement two, acute flaccid paralysis is an important indicator used in polio surveillance. Yes, you know muscle loss eventually the person will lose the muscle. So this muscle loss is one of the indicators of the polio surveillance. And statement three polio infection always produce visible symptoms in the infected person. No many weeks the person can remain without any symptom and that is one of the major challenges in fighting the polio. So remaining uh two statements are correct. The first and the second statements are correct. Third statement is incorrect. So the correct answer is option A 192 only. Yes. With this we will move to the next article. Coming to the fourth article India Japan Maritime security pact what new memorandum of arrangement means? Article is taken from the Hindu. So on 20th August India and Japan signed a memorandum of arrangement on maritime security cooperation and in this event India was represented by the Indian defense minister Rajna Singh and Japan was represented by their defense minister Shinjiro Koi. So the objective of this meeting or objective of signing the memorandum of arrangement is making the India Japan maritime cooperation more regular structured and more operational. So let us see what are the areas of cooperation under the memorandum of arrangement. So the first is maritime domain awareness. So this is focusing on establishing uh a a robust framework for intelligence and information sharing for better maritime surveillance and security. And the next area of focus is search and rescue. That means joint coordination and support during the time of maritime accident and emergencies. For example, during the time if there is any uh you know shipwreck or uh any uh oil spill or any other disaster that time both nations will cooperate for saving the life. And next is the humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. So both countries will be cooperating during the time of cyclone, tsunami and flood and also other disasters. So we know that the the frequency of cyclone in the Indian Ocean is increasing especially in the Bay of Pengra and we know that Japan is located in the uh in the region where more earthquakes are knowing. So the Japan is more vulnerable to earthquake and India is experiencing higher frequency of cyclones in the recent times. Therefore area uh this cooperating in this area is very important for both the nations. And next is establishing key lines of communication to protect key roots of trade, energy and supply chain. So we know that uh in the India Pacific region it is very important because we are going for you know oil exploration in the Anaban basin and also uh Indepacific you know uh this Indian Ocean region carries 70%age of the total trade volume of the world. So ensuring uh the or protecting the supply chain is very important for both Japan and India. And next is naval cooperation. So uh this includes regular ship visit, joint exercises, personal and expert exchange for you know better uh you know capacity building. So we we already know that both nations are carrying out uh exercises like Japan, India maritime exercise, Dharma Guardian. Dharma Guardian is an army exercise between Japan and India and next is beer guardian. So it is an air exercise between India and Japan. So both countries are already focusing in this area. NXT is logistics and ship relief sorry ship repair. So it is uh focusing on cooperating for uh port accesses, maintenance and ship repair. And we know that India is known for ship recycling. No. Uh and at the same time we know that uh India in the recent time we are focusing more on uh you know exporting that means uh import and export that means establishing infrastructure for boosting the export and import and the next is other developments. So what are the other areas of developments that we can see uh in the relation between India and Japan in the recent time. So the first is defense manufacturing. So both countries are focusing on defense manufacturing using their own capacity. For example, India is known for production and ship building capac capability while on other side Japan has advanced maritime technology and expertise. So both has their own strength. So both countries are using their strength to shift their relation towards defense uh manufacturing rather than just you know selling the defense equipments. And the next is technology and research and development. So both countries are especially the DRDO the defense research and development organization and also the acquisition uh of technology and logistics agency of Japan. It is a it is a it is it is an agency working under the ministry of defense in Japan and they are responsible for defense equipment acquisition and all. So uh DRDO and the ATLA they are cooperating for you know exchange of the research and development design and also you know uh other technology transfer and uh next is unmanned system. So more complex and technologydriven exercises are in the list of Japan and India and the both countries are also focusing on uh third country cooperation. That means India and Japan they are cooperating to expand their relation with the third country. For example the uh the PAS so PAS it is a trilateral naval exercise that includes India, Japan and Indonesia. So both countries are focusing on expanding their uh you know relation with the other countries. So the re this exercise was recently conducted in the month of February 2026. So both countries are cooperating to expand their uh relation with the other countries. NXT is Indopacific logistic network for logistic support for disaster relief and humanitarian assistance. So these are the other major developments that we can see in the recent time in the India Japan relation. So what is the significance of this uh new development? So the first is operation inter operational interoperability or you know uh so like I mentioned the the the naval exercises cooperation in the field of disaster relief cooperation in the field of search and rescue technology transform. So this is enhancing the mutual capacity. So strengthens the naval coordination through exercises and exchanges. Next is shifted towards defense manufacturing. So very long for a very long time India was a consumer but now India is moving towards co-manufacturing the defense equipments with other countries. So recently we have established this framework with France and now we are moving with the Japan one of the highly technologically advanced countries in this world. And next is technology transfer. So we know that Japan has high technology and expertise uh in various field from camera to highly advanced know disaster response. So this will be useful for India. And next is India Pacific stability. So we know that these days we are exploring more opportunities in the way of Bengal and other areas of Indopacific region and Indian Ocean carries nearly 30 sorry 70%age of the world trade volume and we can also see that India has a maritime border of approximately 7,500 kilometers. So India is more responsible. India has more responsible and also more potential in the in in the Indian Ocean region and therefore in in in this situation you know a a support from a highly advanced country especially a country like Japan is very important. And next is disaster response. Both countries are going to get benefit from this. Japan is more vulnerable to tsunami and earthquake while India is more vulnerable or India is facing the problem of increased heat wave, cold wave and also cyclone. And next is strategic balance. So Japan it is located in far east and India we have done enough to expand our uh you know uh influence or our strong relation with the west but now we are moving towards east. So it is a you know uh it is a it is a the cooperation with Japan is going to expand our act east policy act first act east policy. we can maintain uh know uh a strong relation with both the west east and also with the far east world and we know that recently we are know we have made a lot of progression in uh concluding the free trade agreement with the New Zealand right so in this way we are expanding our influence towards the far east so this the cooperation with the Japan is very important in our in our stability in our stability in the Indopacific region and also in the far east region so these are the major significance of India Japan Maritime Corporation. And now we have a mains practice question. The question is the India Japan maritime security marks a shift from symbolic defense corporation to operational maritime partnership. Discuss its significance for India and the Indopacific region. So it's a 15 marks question and you have to write around 250 words. Write the answer. Post it in the comment section. We will review and we will reply for your answer. Now it's time to move to the prelims focus for the day. Coming to the prelims focus for the day. The first topic is save America act. So the save America act was proposed by the US President Donald Trump recently to bring certain reforms in the American election system. So what are the major proposals done under the save America act? First is proof of citizenship to register in the uh in the electoral role and second is linking the voter ID to the biometric database and the next is nationwide voter ID card and also limiting the vote by mail. So we can see that this proposals or this reforms proposed by the US president under the slave America act is highly inspired from the election of the India. So American president also praised the Indian election uh and and also the democratic participation that he said over 4 sorry 646 million people participated in this general election of India and just 1%age or less than 1 percentage of them voted through ballot. So uh he's uh know from this inspiration he proposed certain reforms in the American election system through the save America act but we know that there are many ground level issues in the in the special intensive ind intensive revision in India and we are witnessing it every day right so uh the the reaction from the US was also similar because uh the the bill led to a division in the congress and the the senate was adjuned without any action and uh the next is tilapia product export. So, Chhattisgarh became the first inland state in India to export value added tilapia product. So, what is tilapia? It is the fish. Tilapia is actually a fish and it is known as aquatic chicken. So it is known known as aquatic chicken because we know that fishes they are one of the most sensitive organisms in this world because the saltwater fish may face difficulty in surviving in fresh water and also the freshwater fish may face difficulty in surviving in the salt water. So we know that the fish is one of the most sensitive beings in this world but this tilapia fish is like a chicken because it can survive in backyard bond to large scale aquaculture facilities. So the flexibility of this fish to survive in any situation makes this fish the aquatic chicken. And uh we can see that the Chhattisgarh government is it is developing many infrastructure under the Pradan Madri Mati Sam Yojana to promote the cultivation of tilapia. And next is next topic is international day of remembrance and tribute to the victims of terrorism 2026. So international day of remembrance and tribute to the victims of terrorism. It is annually observed on the 21st August to honor victims and survivors of terrorism. So this was established by the United Nation uh by the United Nation General Assembly resolution 72 bar 165 in 2017 and this year the theme of the day is healing through memory promotes victim-entered trauma-informed remembrance. And uh so healing through me memory means it is focusing on you know uh prevention of uh the trauma you know the psychological well-being of the people I know. So we can see that it is the the major focus of the day is protecting the victim from secondary harm. So we know that the once a region is affected because of terrorism the people will lose everything right and they are more vulnerable and they will face the cascading effect of such catastrophic events like exploitation you know uh and other issues. So protecting the people the survivors from the secondary arm is one of the major objectives of this year's theme and next is re retraumatization and online abuse. So uh you know this is addressing the emerging challenges faced by the the survivors and victims of the the the terrorism. So uh prevention of retro uh traumatization prevention of online abuse and also protection from the secondary harm. So these are the major focus of this uh international day of remembrance and tribute to victims of terrorism day. And u now we have the prelims practice question. The question is consider the following statements regarding tilapia. Statement one, tilapia is a freshwater fish widely cultured for food production. Statement two, it belongs to the family of uh cichlide fishes. And statement three, it is naturally endowed with the tilapia. Uh sorry, India is naturally endowed with the tilapia as an indigenous fish species. So which of the statements given above is are correct? Option A one and two only. Option B two and three only. Option C one and three only. And option D 1 2 and three. So you can mention the correct answer in the comment section or you can check out our link for the answer. So try to answer the question post it in the comment section. We will reply for that. With this we are coming to the conclusion for today's prelimin forecast. With this we are coming to the conclusion for today's current affair analysis. If you like the video hit the like button give your feedbacks as comments and share this content with your friends. And before leaving this channel don't forget to subscribe and also hit the bell icon to receive on time updates from the academy. Thank you for listening to us. Thank you for listening to me. Have a nice day. >> [music]