Daily Current Affairs Analysis | 25th August, 2026 | Shankar IAS Academy | UPSC | Mains 2026

Hi, hello, welcome to Shankar Academyy's daily current affair analysis for the date 25th of August 2026. Please like, share and comment and subscribe our YouTube channel if you like it and also have the bell icon pressed for instant notification of the current affair analysis that we present daily. So before moving on to the topic for the day, there is a reminder to you the pre-torrming batch one session that is prelims test series. The prelims 2027 test series batch one starts from 7th of September 2026. So it has 48 tests inclusive of GS and CES set which are specifically handpicked by experts with guidance and also detailed solutions given to you. You can evaluate yourself by knowing the all India ranking and also institute level ranking where you stand and where where you need to improve. So it is specifically for offline and for Chennai Ananagar branch. So why wait? Please learn, practice and succeed by enrolling yourself into this pre-warming test series. The topic for discussion today is electrical mobility index. Electric mobility index is released by NITO. So we will see what this index is about. What are the parameters and categories that are present under this index? Why NITYog is going to why is NIT is presenting this index and also a case study related to Uttar Pradesh. How Uttar Pradesh is actually performing under this index. what are the initiatives taken by UP government and also how this PM E drive scheme is supplementing this index as well as UP's EV policy and second point of discussion will be on matram and right to descent so one matram has recently been in controversy so we will briefly see or briefly discuss the history of matram from where it originated to where it stands today and also we will see certain act which is related to honor of national symbols that is prevention of honor to national symbols act. So this act why it is significant today how it is related to one matram and what are the steps controversies and also what can be the way forward for this implementation of matram and sugar price volatility will be our next topic in sugar price volatility we'll discuss what why the price rise of sugar is being recently witnessed in different states what are the reasons what what is India's presence in sugar industries across the world and also few regulatory frameworks related to Sugar and sugar cane industries there are different stakeholders who are claiming this sugar price volatility in different reasons giving different reasons. So we will also see what are those reasons as well. And our fourth discussion our fourth topic will be on female labor force participation and the urban rural event. So recently the uh labor force survey that is periodic labor force survey has given has said that the female participation in labor force increased 10%age since 2019 2020. So we will see what are the reasons for an increase why there is urban rural divide why there's significant increase in rural but not in urban what are the reasons for it and also what can be the way forward to bridge this gap. Finally, we will end our discussion with prelims focus topics on three different brief topics which will be very much useful for your quick revision and also we'll have a practice question related to those topics. So the first topic of discussion today is electric mobility index and also a case study related to Uttar Pradesh. This electric mobility index is released by NITO. It was first released in 2025. So we will see what are what are the parameters or what are the categories in which this electric mobility index is being published and what is the frequency of this published and how this UP's electric electric vehicle policy and its measures been related to this electric mobility index and we will see what can be the way forward for Uttar Pradesh because here the case studies about Uttar Pradesh we are going to integrate it as holistically with this electric mobility index that is published by Nitio let's move So UP's electrical vehicle manufacturing mobility policy 2022. So it has been notified for 5 years that is from 2022 to 2027. It has been notified for 5 years. That is important character and the pillar one, pillar two, pillar three. There are three pillars which this focuses on and it is also similar to what electric mobility index measures about. The first pillar is charging infrastructure. Second pillar is EV adoption and third pillar is promote EV and battery manufacturing. These three are almost the same for the category that have been present in Ethio's electric mobility index. That is how we are going to relate it and taking UP as a case study. So if you see this policy as as different targets the first grid target is that the charger should should be present in every 3 into 3 km radius. So every 3 into 3 kilometer box sorry every 3 into 3 km box of dimensions there should be charges and also for every 25 kilometer on IS there need to be charges that should be present that is EV charging points and 100%age electrical public transport is targeted for Lacno specific luck now in 2020 in 2030 not for old Uttar Pradesh for specifically for Lacno. So we saw briefly what is EV policy of UP we'll see briefly about MI that is Indian electric mobility index released by NIO and just we will relate both of it where it where UP is lacking so NTIO releases this every year that is it is annual release this index is being released annually for every states and union territories and as well as this is actually given in 16 parameters. is 16 parameters integrated into three categories. So the first of it its kind was released in August 2025 for 2024 financial year and there are 16 parameters which has been present for under three categories and three categories if you see the first one is transport electrification second one is research and innovation and third one is charging infrastructure readiness on the ground. So these are broad three categories and under these categories there are 16 parameters overall and the purpose is it benchmarks the states and it ranks the states as three different categories. The first one is front runners who have score 65 plus for 100. And the second one is performers who have scores between 49 to 64 out of 100. And the third one is aspirants. So we have score between 0 to 49 out of 49 out of 100. So these are three categories which which is relates which is actually classifies all the states and unites. First one is spent runners then performance then the aspirants the scores are between 0 to 100 and between these scores these three categories are or these three benchmarks are divided into what is the use of this policy guides the overall EV policy of India and as well as incentives and interstate competations. So it promotes interstate competitions and to develop this electrical vehicle mobility in India. So what is up score? We'll come to the case study of UP now. So what is up score in this imi that is it is rationally 10th ranked and but though it is 10th rank it is still an aspirant state. It is still an aspirant state and the four and the top three performing states are Maharashtra then comes Karnatak then comes Tamil Nad on top if you have Masal Pradesh. So these states these two states if you take these are front runners and other states that follow are performers. So these two states are more than 65 as as their score out of 100. So UP being in 10th it's still an aspirant state with overall score of 47. What are the reasons? The first is charging infrastructure readiness is still not up to the limit and also it is though it's above national it has large gap among the top ranked states. So it is even 10th but still it is having a large gap to cope up with other states like Karnataka, Tamilad, Maharashtra to be to be more specific Gujarat is not in top 10 in this. So many people are confused though this industrialized state like Gujarat is still lagging in this electric mobility index. And next the strong of policy design weak on financial incentives are present in UP. This is the reason for this is the brief reasons of weak links that are being present in UP's case study. So if you see this charging infrastructure gap 2,500 charges charges are operational today but the state say target is 10,000 by 2030 for which it needs around 25%age increase year on year which is very much ambitious target that needs that needs incentive that needs proper planning that needs proper execution at all levels. So, Lucknau needs about 7,000 public charges by 20 2030 to have 100%age e-mobility or e- public buses. That was a target set for which it needs 7,000 public charges. And if you see in other targets also, there is only 2,500 charges built for 4309 charges which were needed by 2025, which is a lag. So, this lag, this gap should be filled by UP so that they meet these targets that are set by them in their missions. And we'll also see how the PM erray scheme is going to help UP because PME scheme which is nothing but promoting of E vehicles promoting E vehicles like scooters is giving incentives to scooters, buses etc. So it is an central sector scheme. We need to understand it is central sector scheme where center tries to pro provide incentive 100%age and it is also comes under ministry of every industries. So these all points quickly you need to know whenever there's a scheme. So it comes under ministry of every industries and it is a central sector scheme. So PME scheme is going to help UP in many things. The first thing it is going to help is that there's approved 200 238 sites in 20 clusters across 10 cities for this location submitted by EP uh UP for charging positions and there are grant of around 61 crores released so far under this set. So you all need to know is PM drive scheme which is a central sector scheme and a ministry of heavy industries it's going to incentivize this public buses e vehicles e scooters for UP and also even for other states. Here we have case study we are taking case study of UP. So we speak about only UP and this PM meter scheme actually puts the puts the money on two categories. The first is category A and category B. The difference in category A and category B should be understood. In category A what happens is there is 100%age free 100% free infrastructure for public. For example, public hospitals, public education institutions, these are 100%age free. And in these places whenever there are charges or whenever there is electrical vehicle mobility that is needed and center actually funds 100%age wherever the people are getting free of charge of free of services like hospitals and education institutes c that comes under category A where the center provides 100%age funding in category B even it is for public places but in those public places when the state government is earning an profit let's say railway stations Let's say uh public bus places transport places or bus stations. So in these places though it is a public place state government and central government is actually earning some from public but in other places if you see hospitals and education there is no there's no income for state. So here there is income for state. So the category B comes and category B is for places where there's income for states as well this is a public place. So places like railway stations and bus stations. So here only 70 to 80%age of the funds is given by the center and remaining should be put by the state. So that is the difference between category A and category B in PM drive scheme. So how it is going to help up? It is going to help in infrastructure like charging. It is going to help in ebuses that is be useful for luckno because for luck now the target is complete e mobility by 2030. So those are the things that will be bolstered by PM drive scheme. Let take a ground reality in luckno. So we have seen what is E drive scheme. We see what is UP's EV policy. We have seen seen what is I EMI British electric mobility index released by Ethiop and we also saw what is UP's position in EMI. There is some ground relative which we can speak related to UP's EV buses as Ebuses are directly incentivized by PM drive scheme. If you see the performance is almost 200 to 200 to 220 km per charge per bus. So when per bus So whenever there's full charge so whenever there's full charge so the buses are actually moving for 200 to 220 km which is actually a significant amount. But if you take the index, if you take sorry if you take this uh per kilometer charge for the conductors per kilometer charge wages given for the conductors and driver which is 3.7 against 4.7 in the contract. So there the salary delays and salaries are not given on time and also there is salary mismatch from the contract to the actual being given because these buses are given in ppb model where the private people are actually operate this buses so that they are actually giving the salaries to these conductors and that is why there is some such mismatch and also there are conditions set by these private players saying that within 7 minute there should be the buses should be filled in a place whenever the Bus goes to a stop within 7 minutes. The buses should be get filled. Only then the prof only then the salaries will be provided on time for the conductors and drivers because when the buses are not filled the profit is getting dented and when the profit is getting dented the salary is getting dented for the respective conductors and drivers and also the power cuts aling the charging facilities though the 200 to 220 km given by every bus for every full charge and also there's far charging availability in stations like Dubaga there is power cuts that are frequently happening that is actually alting the depot charging. So these are the concerns are present in the right side if you see and pain points that you can say and also the performance metrics that is being present in the up as a ground reality. So this is just for your understanding all you need to know is what is imi that is a core part of this article and PME drive that is core understanding that you need to know you should understand those two with respect to up's ground reality. So what can be the way forward? The first is charging rollout. Fast track the thousand 10,000 station target that is set by up for it to ppb models and also incentivize the transition subsidies to electrical mobility by the private place. When private place have to transition to electrical mobility incentivize the transition. So that should be provided and power backup should be there so that the continuous charging is there in in the post and grid planning should be enforced. the 3 into3 model and also the 25 km for 25 km in iways every charging point should be present that should be implemented and fair contracts as I said the contract the conductors as well as the drivers who are facing the salary mismatch and salary delay should be provided and security for fair through these fair contracts and monitoring should be should be stringent because imi is going to monitor every state so periodically manage periodically there should be monitoring at the state level by the state authorities and that dashboard should be integrated with this imi so that they can be inputs there can be seen that dayto-day or even very periodically so these can be the way forward suggested for in case study here we'll see a practice question related to this index so with referring to NIT's India electrical mobility index consider the following statements it ranks states on three broad categories including charging infrastructure readiness the three broad categories is correct includes charging infrastructure and readiness. That is exactly correct. And the third one is related to innovation and research. That is the third category to Uttar Pradesh is ranked among the top five states overall in IMI 2024. No, that is incorrect. It is not Uttar Pradesh. Uttar Pradesh is in 10th rank since it is 2024 because for the index was released in 2025 but the index is was for 2024 financial year. So that is why it is mentioned 2024. So no need to get confused over there. The index was first released in 2025 but it was released for the financial year 2024. So Uttar Pradesh was not ranked in the top five. That is incorrect. The index score states on both government initiatives and financial in incentives. Yes, government initiatives and financial in incentives are covered in this index as it is covering 16 parameters. So first and third should be correct. Let's check the answer. The answer should be A. Yes, the answer is A. In this article, we'll discuss about Vand Matram and right to descent. Why Wand Madam is used today? We'll also see what is the history of P and Matram and also the amendment to prevention of insults to national honor act. So why was this amendment done with respect to Vandy Matram? What was its stance before independence and what is it today? If you see the history of pandem that is bakim chandra chhatapo has actually composed this wand matram and he has included it in his novel or in his work called anandamat means before the work of anandut he has actually composed this wand matram in anandm if you see he has written about various rebellions including syasi rebellion so he has written about var rebellions that has been present in British Indian period so that is the starting or that is the origin of this wand matram and also it was first sung in Indian national congress session in Kolkata that is 1896 by Rabinda Tagur. So Rabindana Tagurus has first sung this song in in a public or in a in a conference or in a session called Indian national Indian national congress session Kolkata in 1896. So that was the period it was first coming out to public and next it was actually taken forward in Sweshi movement that is during partition of Bengal in 1905 when people were actually more nationalistic or actually taking more more venues for nationalistic appreciistic expression. This one matram become famous during that time or it become the colonial slogan or anti-colonial slogan during this period and next it has become a national symbol during bikry because during this which was done in stag Germany so gama was a personal assistant to dada by naroji so she who has actually unfold the flag that is unfold the Indian flag in Stagard Germany where this wand matum that is national it has been included as the nationalistic symbol so it is started it has started in 1875 from bakip chandra chhatar gi then it went to tagur's first recite in Indian national congress session in kolkata 1896 then in swadeshi movement and fi and finally it has come to Germany as a where it has been shown as a nationalistic symbol nationalistic symbol by pikachama in congress Congress session in 1937 Congress adopted the first two stanzas. So there are totally six stanzas in the original wand matram. The first two stanzas speaks about rivers, motherland and also it praises its beauty. So it is more of secular in nature. It doesn't come under any religious aspect. No religious aspect. But next four stanza speaks more about goddesses or Hindu gods. So that is becoming specific to one religion that is Hinduism. So that is why to to make it more applicable to make it more related to all of the nation. Congress has decided 1937 that only two stanzas will be adopted as official song. Official song of India that is wand matram. And in 1950 constitution assembly declared that janagana become the national anthem and wand matam that is the first two stanzas of matam becomes the national song. So it has given equal honor to both this but the statutory backup is given only to this tanagana that is national anthem written by rainda tag. So even if you see in fundamental duties you have to protect your national anthem is what given but the not the national song. So national anthem was prioritized everywhere national anthem given by Rabidan Tagur. So even if you see in your fundamental duties you you have mentioned that you have to give respect to your national anthem but not a specific mention of national song is mentioned. So what are this what is this prevention of insults to national honor act? Why it has come into this amendment today? Because this present government has said that even the national song that is one matram should be given more equal weightage or even given more equal static backup. So they were included this one matram into this of legal protection. So before this we had similar to we had national anthem, national flag and constitution. Those three things were have been present in this act. But the fourth thing that has been included here is this national song. So why what it has mentioned? It has mentioned clearly that intentional preventing that is intentionally you are preventing someone to not to sing the song or intentionally you are blocking someone not to sing the song and disrupting a gathering whenever the song is being sung whenever you are not giving the respect to the song or whenever the disruption is given to the song when it is sung. So that two things has become a crime now. So they have said that when you do these two things that's intentional preventing intentionally you're not singing it or intentionally you are preventing it from singing or disturbing the gathering when the song is being sung. So these two things are actually considered a crime where you will be given three years of imprisonment fine or even both. So that is where the concern is all about that is where the controversy starts. So we will see what is the controversy. Now before before seeing that we'll also see what is the protocol being given even in the tag. So they have said that that is a crime that is intentionally preventing. First one is intentionally preventing and second one is disruption. So these two things if you if you do when the national song that is when the one matram is sung then you are you can be presented for 3 years. So that is what this act has been amended to and the performance protocol if you see one day madam has to be performed before the national anthem was performance protocol being set by the union government for every government for for every government events or every government things that has been going on. You have to first sing the or first perform the national song that is wand then you have to sing the national anthem and what is the rational behind it is it is giving legal protection to both because in constitutional assembly in 1950 if you see they given the equal honor but national anthem has given the legal protection but not the national song by doing this amendment they they raised this to the legal protection of the equivalent to the national anthem. So that is what the rational is about. So we'll we'll see what is the controversy. Now the first thing is the compulsory participation versus the freedom of cons. So whenever the law protects something whenever the law protects to do something there is something called personal cons because see all six stanza is not secular there may be few people we are not there may be few people or few groups which are not okay with singing all the stanza because it doesn't represent India as a whole because when you say nation it should be all of India it is not particular to one community or not particular to one region so that is actually hindering or that is actually been obstacle to your concerns. So consign is not is not getting okay with this national song. So that is getting contracted with the part compulsory participation as given this amendment and raising concern that people may feel compelled to sing it. when they feel compelled to sing it, there comes the problem of exclusion. Let's say a certain community or certain group of people are not compelled to sing it. But when you're forcing to do it, they they show that anger somewhere outside and they feel that they are excluded and they they being forced to do something which they are not which they are not okay with. So that is the participation ambesses the freedom of consents and second one is the religious imaginary as I said every stanzas is not secular. It is it is denoting few things related to Hindu gods or Hindu goddesses. So those things will not be okay with the people because there is religious freedom under article 25. So when whenever you are given religious freedom to article under article 25 you cannot force it you cannot force something to sing even in even in a mass gathering or even in a public place you cannot do that. So that is a controversy that has been created or that has been discussed widely and if you see in fundamental rights especially the article 19 where you given freedom of expression. So whenever you given freedom of expression, you are also given freedom of descent. So descent is actually a cornerstone or actually a main character of democracy because whenever you desend there where the dialogue comes in. Whenever there's a dialogue that there is where you can also bring a inclusive society because when you are pushing it something from top there there there can be certain descent from the bottom. Whenever there's a dialogue for the descent, you actually create a inclusive society. So freedom of expression under article 19 also denotes your freedom of descent to certain things giving some expressions. So here if you see in this Vijay Emanuel Supreme Court judgment Vijay Emanuel case what happened there are there were three students who were not singing the national anthem and was sung in the school. They were remaining silent and when when this case went to Supreme Court saying that they are not respecting this national anthem. Supreme Court are clearly said that even becoming even having the silent is a respect to the national anthem. So it is covered under it is protected under article 19 and article 25. So they clearly said that silence or descent is also a respect to a national song or national anthem or even the national flag. So that is even if that is applicable here then if you see there is compulsory singing or compulsory participation of national song that is on matram it is going against this judgment and there is ambiguity because if you see disturbance what is disturbance so whenever the song is getting sung let's say the song is getting sung in a ground where there is some parade or where there is some government function but you are in the next street or maybe you are in the next area where you have certain things that you are getting You are publicizing or you are you are conducting an event when that event or that noise is getting disturbed to that uh parade or wherever the national song is sung is that is that called a disturbance or can it not be called a disturbance? So what is the disturbance is all about? So there is itself there is an ambiguity in this disturbance word and also this intentional prevention. Who is intentionally preventing? Who can intentionally prevent in what scale that they can prevent? So these things are becoming an ambiguity in the law which can also have this enforcement concern. So they can simply say that you're disturbing. They can simply say that you're intentionally preventing for me to sing that song or me to uh perform the national song. So that is actually a concern or that is actually a controversy. So the controversy starts from compulsory participation. Next the religious stanzas. The it goes against the Supreme Court judgment of fundamental rights in Biji Emanuel case. And there is an ambiguity in this disturbance and intentional prevention. So what is this right to descent means right to descent as as I said you have right to expression under article 19A that is right to expression under article 19 A is a fundamental right. Similarly you have a right to descent. So in this right to descent you have you can choose not to participate peacefully choose you cannot say that you cannot protest against but you can peacefully choose not to participate because when you say national song it is around 10 3.1 minutes that is that is 3 minutes and 10 seconds and national anthem is around 52 seconds. So totally it is around 4 minutes. Okay. And in certain states there are state song as well. For example, Tamil Nadu they are they have actually made it compulsory to have a state song as well. So if you include that state song as well it will be 5.5 to 6 minutes maximum. So it it there can every all people cannot be giving attention or cannot able to stand or given or maybe if you say the the expectation from you is you have to stand and respect it. Not all can do not all can stand for five five to six minutes and give attention to it because you see there are there are certain people who will not be able to stand for certain amount of time or there are certain people who will not be able to focus on these six minutes. So these things are present where you can actually there you can actually peacefully desend or peacefully choose not to participate. So that is that is a major aspect that is a major aspect which should be present in this amendment as well and expressing disagreement means generally protected. See peaceful expression is your objection and also protected under article 19 subject to reasonable restrictions. Expressing disagreement is always your right to expression under article 19 subjected to certain reasonable restrictions. You cannot directly say that I'm restricting I'm disagreeing with whatever the government says. No, there are certain things which you can disagree that which is protected under article 191A. So this general protected expressing disagreement should be present and also the silent disagreement should be even given respect with respect to this supreme court judgment as well. And finally you should not disrupt others. So disrupting others is generally not protected. Okay. See stopping others from singing, creating disturbances or interfering with assembly. These may attract your crime mean these may attract your 3 years prison or fine or whatever it is because these are clearly the disruption means you're going there and you're switching off the switching off the speakers or you disrupting the people who are performing it. These things can attract your fine and attract your impressment but not other two things but expressing disagreement within certain limitations and also silently disagreeing or peacefully not participating. That is a balance you need to create. That is a balance you need to create whenever you impose something at a nationalistic level. You cannot say that one size fit all because this 5.5 minutes of singing and religious stanzas and comp compulsory participation these are all going against the fundamental rights because these are all going primarily against the fundamental rights. So there you need to have a B balance saying that silent disagreement peacefully not a peacefully not participating and also disagreement on certain things certain with respect to certain provisions under article 19A. So how can we conclude here? We can conclude saying that one matam definitely deserves a national honor as equivalent to janagana that is our national anthem. But considering the nation as a inclusive society as a secular society you should have the stanzas which are applicable to all which is okay for all. So in such case the stanzas should be taken with or the stanzas whichever are considered should be secular in nature and it should not have this religious symbols being present and also compulsory participation should not be given because compulsory participation a lot of things that you are discussed. So the balance lies in the respecting both national honor and also individual liberty. Individual liberty you can choose not to participate not to participate. So there needs to be a balance which we discussed. So what is the uh practice question which we see here is with reference to prevention of insults to national honor act 1971 consider the following statements. So the first statement says that the act seeks to prevent insult to certain national symbols including the national flag and constitution of India. Yes it also includes national anthem as initially anthem. National anthem. Now they have included national song to it. So first statement is correct. Lawful criticism or advocacy for amendment of the constitutions does not by itself constitute an offense under the act. Lawful criticism or advocacy for amendment of the constitution does not itself constitution of under act. That should be correct. And a person who deliberately disrupts an assembly engaged in singing the national anthem may attract penal consequences under act. See the deliberate disruption is what is not it should not be done because you can have silent disagreement. You can also have some objections or you can also have some disagreement within the certain conditions but you cannot directly go and disrupt deliberately disrupt. So statement three should be incorrect. So answer should be A. Let's check this answer is A. Let's move on to the next topic. So here we will discuss about sugar price volatility. What is the reason for recent sugar price hike that has been witnessed in different parts of India including Tamil Nadu, Oris and other states. So there are different stakeholders who are claiming different reasons for this rise and we'll also see what is the reason for these these uh rise in prices and also we'll also see the India's position in sugar industry among the world and also within India and certain regulatory frameworks that is that is being present related to this sugar. So in news if you see the retail price has increased from 46 to 62. So it is almost 30 to 33%age increase which is very much unusual. So this retail price increase for in last one year that is in 46 that has been present in August 2025 and 62 that is present today has seen an unusual price hike and also within month you see compared to July 2026 and August 2026 there's almost increase 25 to almost 30%age increase there is almost 14 rupees increase if you see the sugar price so these reasons have been or these conditions have been very much directly be affecting our inflation. So we'll see what are the reasons for this rise or unusual rise and also what are different stakeholders saying about it. Before going to that we will see the position of India in sugar industry. So India is actually the largest consumer of sugar. You should remember India is the largest consumer of sugar and it is also second largest producer of sugar. So first in consumer consuming second largest in producing. So the first largest producer is Brazil. So India produces around 19%age of global output and Brazil produces about 25%age of global output. So there two are very much significant in sugar industry and what the socioeconomic role if you see India India sugar industry is the second largest or maybe the second largest agrobased industry you can claim after cotton because India is very much great in cotton even today since historical times the second largest agrobased industry is sugar industry which is which is producing sugar which is producing sugar for India and as well as contributing for ethanol. So sugar is for food security and ethanol is for energy security because when you produce ethanol and when you blend it with petrol that is E20 E10 which we call it is going to significantly reduce your imports of crude oil. So it is going to give or it is going to promote your energy security. So this energy security and food security role is critically played by this sugar industry and within the states if you see UP is the largest producer as it stands and Maharasa comes second. So basically they change positions frequently but as it stands it is UP which is the largest producer and then the Maharashtra then comes Karnataka and other states. So they produce sugar that is white crystal sugar for food and also ethanol there that is a source for ethanol blend that is a source for ethanol which can be used for blending and that serves as energy security. So that is the position of India and sugar industry and certain key regulatory framework because we are setting the context. Now once you understand the context you'll know why the price rise is happening. The first regulated famous essential commodities act. So this act can be called upon or can be triggered whenever this disruption production supply and distribution. See the essential commodities basically are agriculture commodities mostly. So if you can take potatoes onions recently in last two years if you could have seen in news onion essential commodities act was called upon on onion. They were restricting the export of onion because the domestic price has been increasing. So this essential commodities tax is going to is going to just neutralize the impact or neutralize the impact abnormal impact of this rice r so that that is applicable to sugar as well and industries development and regulation act is going to regulate your sugar mills licensing and also location and key orders if you see include the sugar cane control order and sugar control order in sugar cane control order you are going to include this FRP which is fair and renumerative price. So this fair and renumerative price is equivalent to MSP that is minimum support price for wheat and sugar. So it is equivalent to MSP. So this fair and price is given to sugar cane holders or sugar cane. This price is directly paid by the sugar mills to to the respective farmers. It is not paid by government but the price is fixed by government. That is the difference in MSP. What happens? It is procured by government and price is also fixed by government. But here the procurement is done by the sugar mills who going to treat the sugar cane but the price is fixed by the government. So with understanding of this key regulatory framework and also India's position in sugar industry we will see what are the reasons for this abnormal rise in sugar price. The first one is the lower production. So even though we match our production our production that means even though we match our demand that is almost 28 to 30 million metric tons per year there is this low production reason given because the elino time elo is going to impact your weather impact your climate conditions because this directly impacts your production as well. So this production is related to weather weather damage and also the festival demand. If you see we are we are heading to a festival time where there are lot of festivals that is coming ahead for different religions and such places or such times there is need for sweets and sugar related products which is going to increase your prices normally. So that is also a reason given and the global supply chain is getting disrupted to a large extent. So when that is getting disrupted the price volatality is too much because once the trade is open in almost you're going to decrease your the price level is getting decreased once it is not the price level is getting increased. So there are many such conditions because sugar is not only related to sugar cane and sugar but also other supply chain related constraints. So that is going to impact your price and the major thing is ordering and speculation because the big traders are traders which have significant uh strength in this production or this supply chain what they're doing is they are just holding it or they're just storing it for the right time to sell it because once they store it for this time during the festival time they when they release the stock they're going to get maximum returns from whatever the price they have invested. So owning and speculation is important reason given to this abnormal price rising and you see ethanol versus sugar. See this is where the stakeholders arguments comes in. The first stakeholder opposition criticizes the E20 push because what they say is for E20 you're taking sugar can as an input. So when you take sugar can as an input you're diverting the sugar can to be produced as sugar and you're putting it for E20. So when you put it for E20 what happens? So sugar can when you put it for E20 rather than sugar you are sacrificing a food security you are sacri directly impacting the sugar production. So automatically the price is getting increased. So that is the argument of this opposition that E20 is a major reason for this price. But government's response is that the sugar diversion for ethanol that is where in E20 where we are blending that is ethanol 20%age petrol 80% this 20%age comes from this ethanol so sugar diversion for ethanol has decreased from 12%age to 9% in last three years last three financial years that is argument given by government they're saying that now the 3/4 of ethanol is coming from maze and other grains but not from sugar cane sugar cane is also used of ethanol but 3/4 of ethanol is preferred from maze and other grains but not from sugar cane. So ethanol diversion alone cannot be the reason is said by the government. Who what is other stakeholder? Farmer what is a farmer's argument? Farmers claim that see our domestic consumption is this much in average per year. Per year we should call it is per year but we are capable of producing this much and also we are stock of this much. So we are we have domestic production of around domestic consumption of around 300 lakhs metric tons but ours production is almost 320 to 340 lakhs metric tons plus we have stocks around 40 lakhs metric tons. Still there is such demand constraint or demand mismatch because they claim it as they claim it is for holding. Many people many think many big traders are actually retailers they are stocking this ahead of festive season because once they stock it now they're going to put it in the market whenever the season is whenever there is huge demand and they're going to get huge returns. So that is a major reason they are saying that there is price hike that is faced even today. So what is the government measures that can be done? In the first measure as I said the essential commodities acts can be triggered. They can be they can uh put in constraint for this ordering put in constraint for distribution and supply that can be the first response and also this imports is been increased by government for temporary period around 10 lakhs metric tons has been approved or has been been processed for sugar imports which is not which is very rare for India because we are second largest producer of sugar but still we are trying to import sugar because there is there is such demand which is not catered to and stock limits As I said, India government is actually putting stock limits on the dealers that is for to curb the holding and also on bulk consumers. Government is saying that you should have only 15 days of consuming capacity that is your stock should be holding only 15 days not more than that to avoid excessive accumulation of sugar or sugar related products. So this is what the condition we have seen. We have seen the arguments of different stakeholders why there is r price like in sugar. We saw what is the pres what is the industries sugar industries uh presence of Indian sugar industry among the world. So and we also saw certain key regulatory frameworks related to sugar and sugar cane industries. So here's a practice question with reference to sugar industry in India. Consider the following statement. India is the world's largest producer and the largest consumer of sugar. No. India is world's largest consumer but second largest producer of sugar. So first statement should be incorrect. Second statement, Uttar Pradesh is a major sugar producing state in India. Yeah, it is a leading sugar producing state in India. In fact, next next one only is Maharashtra. Then this statement should be correct. Sugar industry is completely concentrated in tropical region due to favorable climatic conditions. It is not completely not even always it is not never 100%age that it is only present in tropical regions. So statement three should be correct. So ominable statements given above is correct. So answer should be one. Let's check. Yes, the answer is one. Let's move on to the next topic. Now let's move on and discuss the next topic which is rural urban divide in female labor force participation. So in this article what they have mentioned is they have showed what is the labor force participation from the female from in considering a baseline of 2019 2020. So they have said that there is increase in the female labor force participation but there is a catch here. There is a significant difference between the rural and the urban female labor force participation. So here we will discuss what is this labor force participation. What is this periodic labor post survey briefly we'll discuss what the survey is about? How how it is getting calculated and we will also see what is the difference between the rural and the urban female labor force participation. Why is there a difference and also a way forward for it? We will also have some facts related to what are the states performing in what level. So moving to the topic. So what is periodic labor force survey which is P LFS. So this periodic labor force survey is actually provided actually released by this NSSO under ministry of statistics and program implementation every month. So you have to first know that it is every month. Earlier it was quarterly, quarterly plus annual that is for every 3 months there was there was a release that is quarterly release and also annually they used to release this survey but after revamping this PLFS so now they are releasing it every month and for every month they release two things the first one is usual status And second one is current weekly status that is CWS current weekly status. So what these two things about you need to know briefly these two things usual status is the is the thing that they're going to ask you in the survey they're going to ask the participant what was your working conditions for last 365 days. That is the the 365 days is the time period for which they make which they include in the survey. And for current weekly status what it means that for last one week you should have worked at least 1 hour. So what was the nature of work where you worked and for how many hours? So for usual status is 365 days and for current weekly status it was it is last one week. So these two things are included in every month's uh survey from from the revamping after revamping this PLFS. Earlier it was only quarterly and annual now it is every month and for every month there's usual and also current weekly status and usual and current weekly status is done for both rural and urban. So this is what is PLFS briefly. So PLFS is conducted or released by national sample survey office that is NSSO under ministry of statistics and program implementation. It covers all states and UDIS and the focus indicator in our discussion is today is that female labor force participation. So here they have a baseline of 201920 and they have released for this 2025 that is 2024 2025 and they told and they have mentioned that there is almost 10%age of increase that is from 30% to almost 40%age of increase almost 10%age of increase in female labor force. Okay. So though they have said these things but they have also mentioned that there is a divide in rural and urban which we will discuss further moving on. Here the method they have used is they have considered usual status and also within usual status there are two things that is principal status and subsidiary status. Principal status in a sense principal status PS principal status. So in principal status that is your first economic activity that is primary economic activity and in subsidiary status which is SS subsidiary status. In subsidiary status it is your secondary primary activity for which you should have spent at least 30 days prior to the survey. So principal status what it does mean for 365 days that should be the first primary economic activity and subsidiary status means prior to your survey you should have worked at least 30 days or you should have spent at least 30 days in your secondary economic activity. So this PS and SS is what is included in this usual status and that is what being considered for this female labor post participation. So there are certain findings here. The first one as I said there is 10% increase from the baseline that is 2019 2020 and in rural if you see the jump is almost 13%age 12.9%age that is and in urban if you see the jump is around 4.4%age. So this is the difference that they actually highlight there is three times the difference. So this three times difference are due to many many factors which we will discuss moving ahead. Many of you would have think would have thought that why there is why there's very less increase in urban but a significant increase in rural because in labor force there is a catch. In labor force even if you are self-employed you are considered as working force under working force. So in the self-employed means even if you're agriculture labor or even if you're owning an agriculture land and working in it you are called an employed person. So automatically in rural what happens there is significant amount of agriculture activity. So women who actually are more represented in these kind of agriculture activity. So that is why if you see there is was there is a significant jump in this rural area. So why what the numbers say actually the rural India's delivered the bulk of the postcoid labor force participation because postcoid during what the employment activities or employment opportunity got shrunk. So people went back to villages people went back to rural areas to start agricultural whatever the whatever land they had they started to do agriculture practices. So hence there is increase in this rural rural area. The female labor force is actually getting increased and also since the incoming income opportunities got strang got shrunk in both urban and rural female is actually taking a lead. Female is actually forced to participate in economic activities because they have to maintain the family. So that is why if you you see the jump in both the places but in rural area there is significant jump and urban improvement remain modest and uneven across states even in certain states like Goa there was decline in urban employment for female that is that is more critical because for Goa it is around 0.5%age got decline in urban in urban female labor post participation. So overall if you see there was 4.4%age jump in urban but it is uneven among states. So we will see what are those states how they are performing and before that we also need to understand what is this average annual percentage point. This a means every year there is a rise or there is a decline means the labor post may be getting increased by certain percentage or maybe getting decreased in certain percentage but this increase or decrease does not mention the direction because see if without a base here. So let's say without a base here you simply say that female labor for post has increased 20%age for example I'm saying you increased 20% or for example in rural area you say increase 12%age in urban area you increase 4%age but what is the base year so without the base year if you just put out the percentage you don't you just mention it year on year means you're going to say from last year to this year you're going to make you're going to put a change means you're going to show the change but that doesn't significantly clearly say in what direction we are moving because postcoid and precoid there is a baseline over there and the performance today so that will give you the broader idea but this AAP which is just mentioning that the rise compared to last year so the rise can be very steep because whenever the labor force was very low in particular states and suddenly it got jumped to certain extent it means that the rise is significant the percentage rise is significant but already there are certain states who are performing very good in labor post participation or especially the female labor post participation then from there the rise will be very less because for them already they are in a certain level of highly highly highly participating female labor force but after certain places after certain year their rise will be very much modest but if you see the overall number they'll still be in the top so that percentage rise will be will actually distort what we are going to put upon. So that is that is very much seen here. Let's see here the fastest mover that is in a rural female labor force. If you see West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Odisa, Gujarat, Bihar, they are moving very fast. That means they are average percentage rise per year. That is average annual percentage. You can you see here average annual percentage. The average annual percentage is very much high or almost 3.68. They are beating the national average itself. But in overall if you see in overall if you see Bihar, West Bengal, UP these these states are actually underperforming in overall female labor force participation. So overall in the sense when you consider when you consider overall you need to have a baseline. So that is what that is why the baseline is very much important than this AAP. So the baseline is what considered in this female in this PLFS that is labor force survey periodic labor force survey and in overall if you see the states which are actually increasing which which is showing fastest increase are actually performing are actually underperforming in overall rankings. So the overall ranking if you see the fastest are the not the fastest overall rankings sikkimatel these two states are performing very good. These are the top performing states in rural female labor post participation rate. But if you take just the rate that is rate from one year to next year then if you see these states are performing. So that is why we should not just get disorded by having one year data or having just a percentage hike. Similarly in urban if you see these states are actually rising fast but again Rajasthan Chhattisgarh these states are actually performing very low in overall rate. In top performing state if you take here it is Nagalan Megallaya. So there are these northeastern states are performing overall well because though the population very less you can say still argue that they are not very weak states the population is very less but still they are actually in top 10 and these guys are not even in top 10. Kerala except Kerala Uttar these guys are even not even in top 10. So the underperforming states if you see Delhi is underperforming overall Delhi is very much underperforming. Gujarati is not even in top 10. Maharashtra is performing very good. So there is there is the connotation that from you should see it from a baseline. So from baseline if you see what are the states performing very good what are the states that is performing poor. So so that the policy decision can be better. If you see just the rise per year that is just yearon year if you see then the data cannot be supporting your policy decisions and as I said Goa recorded the sharpest urban decline that is almost minus.5 per year. So this is very much significant because it's it is shows that the female labor force is not even it is uneven among the states. So let's come let's come to this rural urban divide. So as I said the increase is almost 12.9%age over 5 years for rural and around 4.4%age for urban. So why such problems I have I have discussed briefly. The first point is that it is not broad-based across states. That is first point because it is even uneven year. It is also uneven year and farm work absorbed new entrance. So postcoid the economic opportunities got strong and farm- based work actually very much increased which increased the labor force itself overall. So it increased the overall labor force and also it increased the female labor force accordingly and that is why the reason and also this mandrega sustained work demand the mandrea now it is repl that is VB G Ram G scheme. So this Mandrea work demand actually has has been in increased due to limited rural opportunities, rural economic livelihood. So these these things actually pushed this urban labor pushed this female labor force in rural India and also in urban India. If you see there are many concerns like safety concerns are there in workflows, workplace harassments are there and also the care burden because the female who who are actually having a could say family which is just the family which just cons comprises of an husband, wife and also the child. So whenever you are not even whenever you're not in not in a joint family. So when you are in a nuclear family or you can briefly call divided family or nuclear family the right term would be whenever you are in a nuclear family the child has to be taken care by the parents. So whenever already a male is working in the family the female cannot or may be forced to take care of the child. So child care burden is there and also the safety related thing the workplace harassment things these things actually pull down the female labor force participation in urban India and also the formal jobs are getting limited because if you see the technology is getting dynamically or drastically are improving in a certain space where the female who female who's getting entrant into the job cannot match up in certain level maybe even it is very difficult for already existing workers like the male it can be female or male the already existing workers are are actually in pain that they cannot they're not able to match up with the technology rise or the technology pace. So whenever the new entrance are coming in into the labor force they also face this challenge that the formal jobs are not as it was earlier. So these things put the urban opportunities very less for the female and hence this 4.4%age. So what can be the way forward for this? How to bridge this rural urban divide or how to have a sustainable growth both in rural and urban. The first thing is you have to expand the rural jobs. The female friendly formal sector employment should be increased or at least you should give more female entrepreneurship opportunities. So female entrepreneurship opportunities should be given. Care economy should be actually taken care. small creatures and elder care and safety transport should be should be enhanced and also skilling as I said the technology matchup the technology matching so align training with the services and digital demand so the demand can be whatever the AI or maybe the data scientist or data related jobs so the skilling should be accordingly done to this female who are there in urban and rural area if you see many rural places or in many places the 12.9% that we saw is completely on farmlands that is agriculture work primary activity but you can also diversify it. You can push for agree processing that is food processing and also MSME related work sectors. If you push that then there can be diversification in rural as well so that they can have the economic sustainability moving forward and state targets state benchmark should be present. See whenever you have this AAP it is not going to help you in any way. Maybe it can help you in short term. The annual percentage point can help you in very short term but you should benchmark it with some baseline. The baseline should be uniform. So only then you will you can be you'll be able to assess what is the labor force participation that is getting increased or decreased or where it is getting increased or decreased. So these things should be uh considered as a way forward along with the data which should be tracked periodically. The PLFS that is periodic labor force survey itself tracks the data but it should be more robust and in institutionalized across the states and union territories. So what we discussed we discussed what is PLFS and we we also discussed what is the rural urban divide that has been shown in PLS especially in female labor post participation and why there was such a divide a divide between rural and urban which are the states that are performing in rural and urban these things we briefly discussed. So here's the mains practice question. So critically examine the rural urban divide in India's female labor force participation and suggest measure for sustained quality and employment for women. So you have to you have to just list out the point why there is such a divide with some facts and also you have to suggest measure for sustained employment and sustained quality employment for women. So that is that is this topic is all about. We'll move on to the next topic. So let's discuss three topics under PL's focus. The first topic will be on glyphosphate. So what is this glyphosphate and why it is in use? So glyphosphate is actually in use because Pradesh has argued that it is going to ban or it is it has taken steps that it is going to ban this glyphosphate. So glyphosphate basically is a pesticide. It is going to kill your weeds that are present in the plants and also certain friendly bacterias. So basically this is a pesticide but who has claimed that it is a cancer creating uh cancer creating pesticide. So it can be cariogenic. So this cariogenic substance glyphosphate it is present in it present in most of our foods that is even in peas even in cereals. It is even present in other food items as well. So when it is entering our body it is going to create an imbalance in our hormone system and it may also affect our reproductive system as well. So that is the claim of who since it is saying that these substances or this pesticide is highly responsible for such cancers. So that is why government has argued that it is going to ban this use of glyphosate because immersion pra is always already present in the ill terrain. So this this banning of this glyphosate can have can actually take away actually bring mitigate them from environmental effects as well because this there can be a runoff which is created due to this use of pesticide that is high level of pesticide and also it can it can can also reduce the impacts on the people who are taking the food from those products from those agriculture products. So that is about glyphosphate and the next topic is one terrier cyber quest. So the territorial army has launched national level hackathon which is called ter cyber quest 2026. There are basically three tracks. The first track is bug hunting a kawas and also create a challenge. So why this hackathon is being created? It is created because it is going to encourage your indigenous solution for relevant national security problems. So the national security problem is evolving. It is cyerspace today. It is can be related to deep fakes. But there are many things that are emerging. So it focuses on artificial intelligence, cyber security and also digital awareness. So on these platforms there are three tracks which is being created. There are three different competitions under this hackathon and also the significance is that it is going to develop the indigenous solutions for the national security problems. So it is being collaborated with cyber peace and also engaging academia industry and armed forces. So all you need to know is what is this cyber quest support and what are the three tracks that are present under this hackathon. So our third topic is which is very much important which is permanent lad I code bench. So all you need to know is there are only two union territories which has I code benches or I codes for itself that is one is Delhi and other one is Jamun Kashmir. So Delhi and Jammu Kashmir has its own IOT but here what the union government or union cabinet has approved that they are going to have the bench of Jamun Kashmir IOT in Ladak. So it is not a new I code but a bench bench. So what is different between the bench and a new Iote? Because new IO is it's a separate entity which is not related to its parent I code. So here this is related to its parent I code as well. So this is given approval by union cabinet. Next it will be passed in the parliament. So two things you should know is whenever the I code bench is been present let's say for example in Tamil Nadu we have a IOT Madras I code at Chennai and also its bench in Maduray. So this bench creation is done by the parliament and also the union that is a union government but the number of IO judges it is decided by the president with the help of CJI that is chief justice of India. So I court judges strength strength of I court judges is decided by president plus CGI chief justice of India but bench fix but HC benches expansion means creating new benches done by parliament it is not a constitutional amendment but a but an order passed through simple majority so that is the difference HQ bench and HC bench and SC judges strength very much can be tested in your films as well. So the significance is that it is going to reduce the time to avail legal services from the from for the people of Ladak. So we'll see a practice question related to glyphosate. So consider the following statement regarding the glyphosphate. The first statement is glyphosate is a broadspectctrum systemic herbicide used for controlling weeds. Yes, it is a herbicide. Correct. It acts by inhibiting the EPSP synthesis enzyme which is involved in the synthesis of certain amino acids in plants. See when you when you have been tested so much technically with such a scientific word it'll mostly be right because you cannot you cannot disapprove on this because you you you will be tested whether it's herbicide or whether something else that is where the test will be on but here it is mostly right. So third statement, glyph phosphate is a selective herbicide that affects only specific wheat species without harming other green plants. No, it is not only selective. It is going to affect the green plants that are present in and around. It is also capable of killing the friendly bacterias that is present around the plants or that is helping the plants for its growth and for its production. So statement one and two should be correct actually. Yeah, statement one and two should be correct. three should be incorrect at is as it is not selective. Let's check. Yes, statement one and two is correct. Thank you for your time. Thank you for watching this current analysis and supporting us. 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