Daily Current Affairs - 5 September 2026
Today’s Top Current Affairs for UPSC: Key national and international developments explained for Prelims and Mains, with quick revision points and practice questions.
India-Belgium Relations: Defence, Semiconductors and Trade Get a Major Boost
India and Belgium have agreed to expand cooperation across defence and security, trade and investment, semiconductors, clean energy, critical minerals and financial technology during Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever's official visit to India from September 2–4, 2026.
This was De Wever's first India visit since becoming Prime Minister in February 2025.
Following talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and De Wever, the two countries exchanged a Letter of Intent on Defence Cooperation and agreed to strengthen military exchanges, training, intelligence and security cooperation.
The partnership will increasingly focus on research, innovation, co-development and co-production, alongside broader economic and technological ties.
Why Is the Partnership Expanding?
Belgium is an important Indian economic partner in Europe. Antwerp, one of the world's major diamond-trading centres, has longstanding commercial links with India's diamond industry.
The two countries now want to diversify beyond traditional diamond trade.
They agreed to work towards doubling bilateral trade and establish an investment fast-track mechanism to facilitate investment and address business concerns.
Cooperation is also expanding in fintech and digital payments.
Technology is another priority. India and Belgium agreed to deepen cooperation in semiconductors and advanced technologies, combining Belgium's semiconductor expertise with India's efforts to develop a domestic semiconductor ecosystem.
A renewable-energy MoU was also concluded, while the two sides agreed to expand cooperation in the processing and recycling of critical minerals—important for clean-energy technologies and resilient supply chains.
Defence and Maritime Security: A New Pillar
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Belgian Defence and Foreign Trade Minister Theo Francken agreed to expand cooperation through defence dialogue, high-level visits, training and capacity building. They also recognised the importance of maritime-security cooperation in the Indo-Pacific.
An India-Belgium Defence CEOs Roundtable explored industrial partnerships combining Belgian technological expertise with India's manufacturing scale, particularly through co-development and co-production.
For India, such partnerships can support technology access, diversification of defence suppliers and indigenous manufacturing, while Belgium increasingly views European and Indo-Pacific security as interconnected.
Belgium: Geography and Strategic Importance
Belgium is a Western European country bordering France, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, with access to the North Sea.
Its capital, Brussels, has major institutional significance. Belgium is one of the 27 members of the European Union and a founding member of NATO. Brussels hosts key EU institutions as well as NATO headquarters.
For India, stronger relations with Belgium therefore complement its wider engagement with Europe on trade, technology, resilient supply chains, clean energy and security.
Prelims Quick Revision
Capital: Brussels.
Belgium borders France, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands and has a North Sea coastline.
Belgium is a member of both the EU and NATO.
Antwerp is a major global diamond-trading centre.
PM Bart De Wever visited India from September 2–4, 2026.
India and Belgium exchanged a Letter of Intent on Defence Cooperation.
Defence cooperation covers military exchanges, training, research, innovation, co-development and co-production.
Both countries are strengthening intelligence and security cooperation.
Maritime security in the Indo-Pacific is an emerging area of cooperation.
Other priority areas include semiconductors, renewable energy, critical minerals, fintech and resilient supply chains.
A renewable-energy MoU was among the outcomes of the visit.
Possible Mains Question
India's growing engagement with European countries is expanding beyond traditional trade relations towards defence, emerging technologies and resilient supply chains. Discuss with reference to the evolving India-Belgium partnership.
India’s Export Growth: Why Strong GDP Support Is Masking Weakness in Labour-Intensive Sectors
India's exports provided important support to economic growth in Q1 FY27 (April–June 2026), even as the West Asia crisis disrupted trade routes and raised uncertainty around global commerce.
India's real GDP grew 7.8% during the quarter under the new national-accounts series.
The broader export performance was strong, but it was also uneven.
According to the figures reported in the source, merchandise exports during April–June rose about 15% year-on-year to $129.32 billion, while non-petroleum, non-gems and jewellery exports increased about 12% to $99.04 billion.
Official Commerce Ministry trade databases similarly place cumulative merchandise exports for April–June at roughly $129.5 billion, with small differences possible because of subsequent data revisions.
The important UPSC issue, therefore, is not simply that exports increased. It is which sectors drove that growth and whether export expansion is generating sufficiently broad-based employment and income gains.
How Did Net Exports Support GDP Growth?
Under the expenditure method, GDP can be represented as:
GDP = C + I + G + (X − M)
where C is private consumption, I is investment, G is government expenditure, X represents exports and M represents imports.
The term (X − M) represents net exports.
According to economists cited in the report, net exports contributed around 3 percentage points to Q1 FY27 GDP growth. Importantly, this was not driven by exports alone: real imports declined as the West Asia conflict affected import volumes, thereby increasing the contribution of net exports.
This distinction matters. A rise in net exports caused partly by weaker imports can boost measured GDP even though it does not necessarily indicate a broad-based export boom.
High-Value Exports Rise, Labour-Intensive Sectors Struggle
The composition of export growth presents a mixed picture.
During April–June, the source reports strong growth in engineering goods (18.1%), electronics (22.6%) and pharmaceuticals (6.8%).
However, several labour-intensive and relatively low-margin sectors contracted:
Textiles: −12.4%
Leather products: −4.7%
Fruits and vegetables: −10.3%
Ceramics and glassware: −25%
Jute products: −13.4%
Tea: −17.5%
Overall, 11 of the 31 export sectors recorded year-on-year declines.
This divergence matters for inclusive growth. Sectors such as textiles, garments, leather and food processing can absorb large numbers of workers, including relatively less-skilled labour.
Strong exports in electronics and engineering can improve India's technological and manufacturing profile, but weakness in employment-intensive sectors can limit the transmission of export growth into mass employment.
Diversification and FTAs Helped Absorb the External Shock
India's ability to redirect exports also appears to have provided resilience during the West Asia disruption.
The report states that exports to the UAE fell 11% to $7.9 billion, while exports to Singapore jumped 101% to $6.5 billion during April–June. Singapore, like the UAE, functions as an important trade and transshipment hub.
Exports also increased to several important partners: shipments to the UK rose 11%, those to Australia increased 25%, and exports to China rose 25% to $5.6 billion, although the China-bound increase was dominated by inputs rather than finished products.
This illustrates the value of market diversification. Heavy dependence on a small number of destinations or trade routes increases vulnerability to wars, shipping disruptions, protectionism and demand shocks.
Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) can help by lowering tariff and non-tariff barriers and improving market access, but their benefits depend on whether Indian producers are competitive enough to use the preferences available to them.
What Does India Need for Sustained Export-Led Growth?
India's objective should be to combine growth in sophisticated exports such as electronics, pharmaceuticals and engineering goods with recovery and upgrading in employment-intensive manufacturing.
That requires better logistics, reliable infrastructure, competitive energy costs, easier access to finance for MSMEs, technology adoption, workforce skills and integration into global value chains.
Export diversification is equally important—both product diversification and market diversification. FTAs can expand market access, but domestic productivity ultimately determines whether Indian businesses can convert that access into sustained exports.
The Q1 experience therefore contains two different messages: India's export basket is showing greater resilience and strength in higher-value sectors, but broad-based export-led development also requires labour-intensive sectors to remain internationally competitive.
Prelims Quick Revision
Under the expenditure approach: GDP = C + I + G + (X − M).
Net exports = Exports − Imports.
India's real GDP grew 7.8% in Q1 FY27.
Official trade data put merchandise exports during April–June 2026 at roughly $129.5 billion.
Strong-performing sectors reported for the quarter included engineering goods, electronics and pharmaceuticals.
Labour-intensive sectors such as textiles and leather faced weaker export performance.
Labour-intensive exports are important because they can generate relatively large-scale employment, including for semi-skilled and less-skilled workers.
Export diversification can involve both diversification of products and export destinations.
FTAs can improve market access by reducing trade barriers, but do not by themselves guarantee higher exports.
The UAE is India's second-largest merchandise export destination after the United States, according to the source.
A positive contribution from net exports can result from higher exports, lower imports, or both—an important distinction when interpreting GDP data.
Possible Mains Question
India's recent export performance demonstrates growing strength in high-value sectors but continuing weakness in several labour-intensive industries. Examine why broad-based export competitiveness is important for combining economic growth with employment generation and inclusive development.
Supreme Court on Bar Councils: Why BCI Cannot Discipline Law Students Before Enrolment
The Supreme Court has clarified an important boundary on the powers of the Bar Council of India (BCI) and State Bar Councils: they cannot take disciplinary action against law students who have not yet been enrolled as advocates.
On September 3, 2026, a three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, with Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana, held that the Advocates Act, 1961 gives Bar Councils disciplinary jurisdiction over advocates, not students merely because they are studying law.
Until enrolment, disciplinary matters concerning students fall within the jurisdiction of their university or other authority designated by the institution's rules.
Why Did the Supreme Court Draw This Distinction?
The case arose from controversy at NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad, where some students had opposed inviting CJI Surya Kant to the university's annual convocation.
On August 13, the BCI issued communications concerning the 2026 graduating batch, including directions affecting their enrolment; these were subsequently withdrawn and the proceedings closed.
The Supreme Court has now declared the relevant BCI communications to have been issued without authority of law.
The Court's reasoning rests on a basic principle governing statutory bodies: a statutory authority can exercise only those powers that the law confers upon it, expressly or by necessary implication.
The Advocates Act does not give the BCI or State Bar Councils general disciplinary control over law students. Such disciplinary jurisdiction under the Act arises in relation to a person after entry into the regulated legal profession as an advocate.
This creates an important distinction:
Law student → Law graduate → Enrolment with State Bar Council → Advocate
A law degree by itself does not automatically make someone an advocate for the purposes of the Advocates Act.
What Are the BCI and State Bar Councils?
The Bar Council of India is a statutory body constituted under the Advocates Act, 1961 to regulate important aspects of the legal profession.
The Act establishes a two-tier structure:
Section 3: State Bar Councils
Section 4: Bar Council of India
The BCI performs functions relating to professional conduct and etiquette, disciplinary standards, legal education and recognition of universities whose law degrees qualify graduates for enrolment, among other statutory responsibilities.
State Bar Councils perform functions including admission of persons as advocates on their rolls and dealing with professional misconduct within the framework of the Advocates Act.
This explains the apparent distinction in the judgment: the BCI can have an important regulatory role in legal education without acquiring a general power to punish individual students for their conduct.
What About Freedom of Speech and Institutional Discipline?
The controversy also raises a broader constitutional question concerning student expression and institutional discipline.
Article 19(1)(a) guarantees citizens freedom of speech and expression. However, the right is not absolute.
Article 19(2) permits reasonable restrictions on specified grounds including the sovereignty and integrity of India, security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States, public order, decency or morality, contempt of court, defamation and incitement to an offence.
Universities can maintain legitimate disciplinary rules consistent with applicable law.
But the Supreme Court's ruling makes a separate institutional point: the authority taking disciplinary action must itself possess legal jurisdiction to do so.
The issue is therefore not simply whether particular student conduct may be regulated, but which institution has lawful authority to regulate it.
Prelims Quick Revision
BCI = Bar Council of India.
BCI is a statutory body constituted under the Advocates Act, 1961.
Section 3 provides for State Bar Councils.
Section 4 provides for the Bar Council of India.
A law student or law graduate is not automatically an enrolled advocate.
Enrolment as an advocate takes place through a State Bar Council, subject to the Advocates Act and applicable rules.
The Supreme Court held that BCI and State Bar Councils have no disciplinary jurisdiction over law students before enrolment as advocates.
Discipline of such students lies with their educational institution or the authority prescribed by its regulations/bye-laws.
The BCI nevertheless has statutory functions concerning standards of professional conduct and legal education.
Article 19(1)(a) guarantees freedom of speech and expression.
Article 19(2) provides specified grounds on which reasonable restrictions may be imposed.
Key governance principle: a statutory body cannot exercise powers beyond those conferred on it by its parent statute.
Possible Mains Question
The powers of statutory regulatory bodies must remain within the limits prescribed by their parent legislation. Discuss with reference to the Supreme Court's ruling on the disciplinary jurisdiction of the Bar Council of India over law students.
Very Strong El Niño 2026: Why WMO’s Warning Matters for India
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has warned that the El Niño currently established in the tropical Pacific is expected to strengthen into a very strong event, with a near-100% likelihood of persisting through February 2027.
WMO expects it to reach peak intensity around the end of 2026, increasing the risk of major shifts in rainfall and temperature patterns, including droughts, floods and extreme heat in different parts of the world.
For India, the development is important because El Niño can influence the southwest monsoon, agriculture, reservoirs, food production and inflation.
However, El Niño does not automatically cause a deficient Indian monsoon; its impact interacts with several other ocean-atmosphere systems.
What Is ENSO and How Does El Niño Develop?
El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a coupled ocean-atmosphere phenomenon involving changes in sea-surface temperatures and atmospheric circulation across the tropical Pacific. It has three phases:
El Niño — warm phase | La Niña — cool phase | ENSO-neutral — neither phase dominates
Under normal conditions, easterly trade winds push warm surface water towards the western Pacific. Cooler, nutrient-rich water rises near the western coast of South America through upwelling.
During El Niño, the trade winds weaken and sometimes undergo substantial disruption. Warm surface water spreads eastward across the central and eastern equatorial Pacific, suppressing normal upwelling and shifting tropical convection and atmospheric circulation.
Because the tropical Pacific influences large-scale atmospheric circulation, these changes can alter weather patterns far beyond the Pacific.
WMO says the current event is being supported by exceptionally warm tropical Pacific conditions and is expected to intensify further.
Niño 3.4 and the Meaning of a ‘Very Strong’ El Niño
A key region used for monitoring ENSO is Niño 3.4, located in the central equatorial Pacific, approximately between 5°N–5°S and 170°W–120°W.
Scientists monitor the sea-surface temperature (SST) anomaly here—that is, how much the ocean temperature differs from its long-term average.
The current event has intensified rapidly. According to the WMO update, the Niño 3.4 SST anomaly exceeded +1.5°C during May–July 2026 and reached about +2°C in July. WMO now expects the event to become very strong.
The term “Super El Niño” is widely used for exceptionally intense events, often associated with Niño 3.4 anomalies around or above +2°C, but aspirants should note that it is not a universally standardised formal ENSO category. WMO's current terminology is “very strong El Niño.”
How Does El Niño Affect the Indian Monsoon?
El Niño has historically been associated with an increased probability of weaker southwest monsoon rainfall over India, because changes in Pacific convection and large-scale atmospheric circulation can affect the monsoon circulation.
But the relationship is probabilistic, not deterministic.
Not every El Niño produces drought in India, and not every Indian drought occurs during El Niño. The final monsoon outcome depends on several interacting factors, including conditions in the Indian Ocean and shorter-term atmospheric systems.
This is relevant in 2026. El Niño developed during the monsoon season rather than being fully established at its beginning.
IMD's earlier forecasts had already indicated a transition from ENSO-neutral conditions towards El Niño during the southwest monsoon.
Can the Indian Ocean Dipole Modify El Niño’s Impact?
The Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) describes differences in sea-surface temperatures between the western and eastern equatorial Indian Ocean.
It also has three phases:
Positive IOD: western Indian Ocean relatively warmer than the eastern part.
Negative IOD: eastern Indian Ocean relatively warmer.
Neutral IOD: no strong east-west temperature contrast.
A positive IOD can, under some circumstances, support rainfall over India and partly offset adverse El Niño influences. A negative IOD can work differently. But these relationships also vary between individual years.
Western Disturbances, monsoon depressions, intra-seasonal oscillations and regional sea-surface temperatures can further influence actual rainfall distribution. This is why ENSO alone cannot be used to predict India's monsoon outcome.
Why Does a Strong El Niño Matter Beyond Rainfall?
For India, a strong El Niño can have consequences extending from climate to the economy.
Poor or uneven rainfall can affect kharif crops, reservoir storage and groundwater recharge. Agricultural losses can contribute to higher prices of cereals, pulses, vegetables and other food products, potentially increasing food inflation.
Lower reservoir levels can affect irrigation and hydropower generation, while unusually high temperatures can increase electricity demand.
Globally, El Niño can produce very different effects in different regions—drought in some areas, excessive rainfall and flooding in others, and elevated temperatures across large parts of the world. WMO has therefore emphasised preparedness and early-warning measures rather than assuming a uniform impact everywhere.
Prelims Quick Revision
ENSO = El Niño-Southern Oscillation.
Three ENSO phases: El Niño, La Niña and neutral.
El Niño involves anomalous warming of the central/eastern equatorial Pacific coupled with atmospheric circulation changes.
La Niña represents the opposite, cooler phase.
Niño 3.4 region: approximately 5°N–5°S, 170°W–120°W.
WMO says the 2026 El Niño is expected to become very strong and has a near-100% likelihood of continuing through February 2027.
WMO expects the event to reach its greatest intensity around the end of 2026.
El Niño can increase the probability of a weaker Indian southwest monsoon, but the relationship is not one-to-one.
IOD = Indian Ocean Dipole.
IOD has positive, negative and neutral phases.
A positive IOD can sometimes moderate adverse El Niño influences on the Indian monsoon.
ENSO is a coupled ocean-atmosphere phenomenon, not merely an increase in ocean temperature.
“Super El Niño” is an informal term; WMO currently describes the developing event as a “very strong” El Niño.
WMO is a specialized agency of the United Nations dealing with weather, climate and water.
Possible Mains Question
El Niño is an important driver of Indian monsoon variability, but its influence cannot be understood in isolation from other ocean-atmosphere phenomena. Explain the ENSO mechanism and examine how the Indian Ocean Dipole and other climatic factors can modify its impact on the Indian monsoon.
India’s GDP Base-Year Revision: Why Growth Rates From Different Series Cannot Be Compared Directly
India's 7.8% real GDP growth in Q1 FY27 (April–June 2026) has also brought attention to an important statistical issue: how should economic growth be interpreted after a country changes the base year and methodology of its national accounts?
In February 2026, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) introduced a new GDP series with 2022–23 as the base year, replacing the earlier 2011–12 series.
The revision was intended to capture structural changes in the economy, incorporate newer data sources, improve coverage and update estimation methods.
The key lesson is straightforward: GDP values calculated under two different base-year series should not be directly combined to calculate a growth rate.
Both the current period and the comparison period must be estimated using a consistent methodology.
What Does a GDP Base Year Actually Do?
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) measures the monetary value of final goods and services produced within a country's domestic territory during a specified period.
GDP can broadly be estimated through three approaches:
Production approach: value added by different producing sectors.
Income approach: incomes generated through production, such as compensation of employees and operating surplus.
Expenditure approach:
GDP = C + I + G + (X − M)
where C is private consumption, I investment, G government expenditure and X−M net exports.
For understanding economic growth, economists distinguish between nominal GDP, measured at current prices, and real GDP, which removes the effect of price changes.
A base year provides the reference framework for constructing constant-price estimates. It must be periodically revised because an economy changes: new industries emerge, consumption patterns shift, technology changes and better administrative and survey data become available.
MoSPI selected 2022–23 as the new base year, describing it as a recent post-Covid normal year for which robust data were available. This is India's eighth national-accounts base revision.
Why Is Comparing Two Different GDP Series Misleading?
Suppose GDP for 2025 is taken from the old 2011–12 series, while GDP for 2026 is taken from the new 2022–23 series.
Calculating:
Growth = [(2026 GDP under new series − 2025 GDP under old series) ÷ 2025 GDP under old series] × 100
would not provide a valid growth rate.
The problem is that a base-year revision is not simply a change in the reference year. It can alter data sources, sectoral coverage, classifications, weights and estimation methodologies.
MoSPI explicitly distinguishes such base-year revisions from routine GDP revisions.
Therefore, the valid Q1 FY27 growth rate compares Q1 FY27 and Q1 FY26 measured consistently under the 2022–23 series.
This is particularly relevant to current debate because figures from the older series can produce apparently different growth rates if incorrectly compared with the new-series numbers.
What Changed in the 2022–23 GDP Series?
The new series introduced several methodological and data improvements, including greater use of GST and other administrative databases, improved coverage of unincorporated enterprises, updated surveys and ratios, better quarterly benchmarking and closer integration of production- and expenditure-side estimates through the Supply and Use Table (SUT) framework.
One particularly important change concerns calculation of real Gross Value Added (GVA).
GVA = Value of output − Intermediate consumption
Under double deflation, the value of output and the value of intermediate inputs are deflated separately using appropriate price indices before real value added is calculated.
MoSPI's official methodology says double deflation has been adopted for agriculture and manufacturing, while volume/single-extrapolation approaches are used in remaining sectors where appropriate.
Therefore, it would be inaccurate to say that the new series applies double deflation uniformly to the entire economy.
GDP, GVA and GDP Deflator
For UPSC, three related concepts should be kept separate.
GVA measures the value added by producers.
At the aggregate level:
GDP at market prices = GVA at basic prices + product taxes − product subsidies
The GDP deflator is an implicit measure of price changes across goods and services represented in GDP:
GDP Deflator = (Nominal GDP ÷ Real GDP) × 100
Unlike the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which tracks prices of a specified basket of consumer goods and services, the GDP deflator covers domestically produced final output represented in GDP and its composition can change over time.
MoSPI also cautions that the GDP implicit price deflator should not be expected to move one-to-one with CPI or producer-price measures because their coverage, composition and construction differ.
Prelims Quick Revision
India's new national-accounts series uses 2022–23 as the base year, replacing 2011–12.
It is India's eighth base-year revision.
MoSPI, through the national statistical system, compiles and releases India's official national-account estimates.
Nominal GDP: GDP measured at current prices.
Real GDP: GDP adjusted for price changes/estimated at constant prices.
GDP expenditure identity: C + I + G + (X−M).
GVA = Output − Intermediate Consumption.
GDP = GVA + product taxes − product subsidies at the aggregate level.
GDP deflator = (Nominal GDP / Real GDP) × 100.
A GDP base-year revision can involve changes in data sources, coverage and methodology, not merely the reference year.
GDP numbers belonging to different base-year series should not be directly combined to calculate growth.
Under double deflation, output and intermediate consumption are deflated separately.
MoSPI's new series uses double deflation in agriculture and manufacturing, rather than uniformly across every sector.
Per capita GDP = GDP ÷ population; it is an average measure and does not reveal income distribution.
Potential GDP refers broadly to the level of output an economy can sustainably produce when its productive resources are efficiently utilised without generating persistent inflationary pressure.
Possible Mains Question
Why are periodic base-year revisions necessary for measuring an evolving economy? Explain how changes in data sources, deflators and estimation methodology can affect national income estimates, and why GDP figures from different base-year series should not be directly compared.
Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope: How NASA’s New Observatory Will Probe the Dark Universe
NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope was successfully launched on August 30, 2026, aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy from Kennedy Space Center, Florida.
It is now travelling towards the Sun-Earth L2 region, where it will carry out wide-field observations of the universe.
NASA expects the journey and commissioning phase to take about three months, with the first images expected in early 2027.
Named after Nancy Grace Roman, NASA's first chief astronomer and a major figure behind the development of the Hubble Space Telescope, Roman has three major scientific priorities: understanding dark energy, mapping the influence of dark matter, and discovering and studying exoplanets.
What Makes the Roman Telescope Different?
Roman has a 2.4-metre primary mirror, the same diameter as Hubble's primary mirror, but its major advantage is its extraordinarily wide field of view.
Its principal instrument, the Wide Field Instrument (WFI), is a roughly 300-megapixel infrared camera.
NASA says its field of view is at least 100 times larger than Hubble's infrared field of view, allowing Roman to survey enormous areas while retaining Hubble-like sensitivity and infrared resolution. It can survey the sky up to 1,000 times faster than Hubble.
Roman also carries a Coronagraph Instrument, primarily a technology demonstration.
By suppressing the overwhelming glare of a star, a coronagraph can make much fainter planets orbiting that star easier to observe directly.
Roman will test technologies that could contribute to future missions seeking Earth-like worlds.
Roman therefore complements rather than replaces Hubble or the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Hubble and JWST can make highly detailed observations of selected regions and objects, while Roman's particular strength is conducting large, statistically powerful surveys of the sky.
How Can Roman Help Study Dark Matter and Dark Energy?
Ordinary matter—stars, planets, gas and everything directly familiar to us—accounts for only a small fraction of the universe's total mass-energy content.
Current cosmological models attribute roughly 5% to ordinary matter, about 27% to dark matter and about 68% to dark energy.
Dark matter does not emit, absorb or reflect light in the ordinary way, making it invisible to conventional telescopes.
Its existence is inferred primarily from its gravitational effects, including galaxy rotation, the motion of galaxies within clusters and gravitational lensing.
Roman can help map dark matter through gravitational lensing. According to Einstein's general theory of relativity, mass curves spacetime, causing light travelling past massive objects to be deflected.
By measuring subtle distortions in the apparent shapes of huge numbers of distant galaxies—known as weak gravitational lensing—scientists can infer the distribution of matter, including otherwise invisible dark matter.
Dark energy, meanwhile, is the name given to the still poorly understood phenomenon associated with the accelerating expansion of the universe.
By surveying enormous numbers of galaxies and studying their distribution across cosmic time, Roman can help scientists test competing explanations for this acceleration.
NASA describes dark energy and dark matter as central targets of the mission.
Why Is Roman Going to Lagrange Point L2?
Roman is travelling towards the second Sun-Earth Lagrange point (L2), roughly one million miles (about 1.6 million km) from Earth.
This corrects an important figure in the supplied newspaper material, which states approximately 1.2 million km. NASA's current mission information gives the distance as approximately one million miles.
Lagrange points are locations associated with a two-body gravitational system where a spacecraft can maintain a relatively stable configuration with respect to the two larger bodies with comparatively modest station-keeping.
Sun-Earth L2 lies beyond Earth on the side opposite the Sun. It provides a favourable environment for astronomical observatories because the Sun, Earth and Moon remain in broadly the same direction from the spacecraft, assisting thermal control and allowing large portions of the sky to be observed efficiently.
JWST also operates around the Sun-Earth L2 region.
From the Big Bang to an Expanding Universe
The Big Bang theory describes the universe as having evolved from an extremely hot and dense early state approximately 13.8 billion years ago. It should not be understood simply as an explosion of matter from one point into pre-existing empty space; rather, modern cosmology describes the expansion of space itself.
Evidence supporting the broad Big Bang framework includes the expansion of the universe, the cosmic microwave background radiation, and observed abundances of light elements.
Roman's observations will examine galaxies across vast distances and therefore different periods of cosmic history. Because light takes time to travel, observing very distant galaxies effectively allows astronomers to examine the universe as it existed billions of years ago.
This large survey capability is what makes Roman particularly useful: instead of studying only a small number of individual objects, it can construct enormous datasets that allow scientists to test how the universe's structure and expansion have evolved.
Prelims Quick Revision
Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope: NASA space observatory launched on August 30, 2026.
Launch vehicle: SpaceX Falcon Heavy.
Named after Nancy Grace Roman, NASA's first chief astronomer.
Major objectives: study dark energy, dark matter, exoplanets and infrared astrophysics.
Primary mirror diameter: 2.4 metres, the same diameter as Hubble's primary mirror.
Main science instrument: Wide Field Instrument (WFI).
WFI is a roughly 300-megapixel infrared camera with a field of view at least 100 times larger than Hubble's infrared field.
Second instrument: Coronagraph Instrument, a technology demonstration for direct exoplanet imaging.
Roman is travelling to the Sun-Earth L2 region, approximately 1 million miles/1.6 million km from Earth.
Dark matter is inferred through gravitational effects despite not being directly visible through emitted/reflected light.
Dark energy is associated with the observed accelerated expansion of the universe.
Gravitational lensing: bending/deflection of light caused by the gravitational influence of mass through curved spacetime.
The universe is approximately 13.8 billion years old under the standard cosmological model.
Roman, Hubble and JWST are complementary observatories, rather than simple replacements for one another.
Chandrasekhar limit: approximately 1.4 solar masses, representing the approximate maximum mass supportable by electron degeneracy pressure in a non-rotating white dwarf; beyond the relevant limit, further gravitational collapse can occur.
Possible Mains Question
The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope combines wide-field astronomical surveys with infrared observations to investigate some of the fundamental questions of modern cosmology. Explain how observations of gravitational lensing, galaxies and exoplanets can improve our understanding of dark matter, dark energy and the evolution of the universe.
Sone River Water Dispute: How Bihar and Jharkhand Ended a 25-Year Conflict
Bihar and Jharkhand have formally resolved their 25-year dispute over sharing the waters of the Sone River, providing a useful example of how negotiation and cooperative federalism can resolve inter-State water disputes without requiring adjudication by a tribunal.
Under the Memorandum of Understanding signed in New Delhi on August 31, 2026, Bihar will receive 5.75 million acre-feet (MAF) of Sone water, while Jharkhand will receive 2 MAF.
The agreement was signed in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Union Jal Shakti Minister C.R. Patil and the Chief Ministers of the two States.
The Union government says it will facilitate irrigation and drinking-water availability across substantial areas of both States.
Why Did the Sone Water Dispute Begin?
The roots of the dispute lie in the 1973 Bansagar Agreement among the then states of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and undivided Bihar.
The original agreement allocated 7.75 MAF of Sone water to undivided Bihar, while Madhya Pradesh was allocated 5.25 MAF and Uttar Pradesh 1.25 MAF.
The Central Water Commission's official compilation of the agreement confirms the 7.75-MAF allocation and explicitly notes that the Bihar of the agreement included the territory of present-day Bihar and Jharkhand.
When Jharkhand was created from Bihar in November 2000, the two successor States needed to divide this inherited 7.75-MAF share.
However, no binding division was immediately established, resulting in a dispute that persisted for roughly 25 years.
The new formula resolves that issue:
Undivided Bihar's 7.75 MAF → Bihar: 5.75 MAF + Jharkhand: 2 MAF
The settlement can unlock or facilitate irrigation and water-management projects that had been affected by uncertainty over water allocation. The government expects benefits for districts including Bhojpur, Buxar, Rohtas, Kaimur, Aurangabad, Arwal, Gaya and Patna in Bihar, as well as Palamu, Garhwa and other areas of Jharkhand.
How Does the Constitution Deal With Inter-State River Waters?
Water governance illustrates the overlap between State and Union powers under India's federal structure.
Under Article 246 and the Seventh Schedule:
State List, Entry 17 covers water supplies, irrigation and canals, drainage and embankments, water storage and water power. However, it is expressly subject to Union List, Entry 56.
Union List, Entry 56 allows Parliament to regulate and develop inter-State rivers and river valleys to the extent that Parliament declares such regulation or development by the Union to be expedient in the public interest.
In addition, Article 262 empowers Parliament to provide for adjudication of disputes concerning the use, distribution or control of waters of an inter-State river or river valley. Parliament may also provide that neither the Supreme Court nor any other court shall exercise jurisdiction over such disputes.
Parliament enacted the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956 (ISRWD Act) under this constitutional framework.
It provides a mechanism for adjudicating inter-State river-water disputes, including through water-disputes tribunals when the statutory conditions are met.
The River Boards Act, 1956, meanwhile, provides for the establishment of river boards for regulation and development of inter-State rivers and river valleys. It is oriented towards coordinated river-basin development rather than adjudicating disputes between States.
Why Is the Sone Agreement Important for Cooperative Federalism?
The Bihar-Jharkhand settlement is significant because the States ultimately chose negotiated agreement rather than tribunal adjudication.
Inter-State river disputes can become difficult because rivers do not respect political boundaries. An upstream State's dams, diversions and irrigation projects can influence water availability downstream, while rainfall variability and competing demands for irrigation, drinking water, industry and ecosystems further complicate allocation.
Tribunals and courts can resolve legal questions, but negotiated arrangements can provide greater flexibility for joint management, changing hydrological conditions and future infrastructure development.
River management also increasingly requires consideration of environmental flows—the quantity, timing and quality of water flows necessary to sustain river ecosystems and the human communities dependent upon them. Water allocation therefore cannot be treated only as division of a fixed quantity between competing States.
The Sone settlement consequently provides a useful UPSC case study of cooperative federalism, Centre-State coordination and negotiated management of a shared natural resource.
Prelims Quick Revision
Sone (Son) River is an important southern tributary of the Ganga.
The Bihar-Jharkhand Sone water-sharing MoU was signed on August 31, 2026.
New allocation: Bihar – 5.75 MAF; Jharkhand – 2 MAF.
1 acre-foot is approximately 1,233 cubic metres of water.
The dispute emerged after Jharkhand was carved out of Bihar in 2000.
The 1973 Bansagar Agreement had allocated 7.75 MAF to undivided Bihar.
Article 246: distribution of legislative subjects between Parliament and State Legislatures through the Seventh Schedule.
State List Entry 17: water, subject to Union List Entry 56.
Union List Entry 56: regulation and development of inter-State rivers and river valleys where Parliament declares Union control expedient in the public interest.
Article 262: adjudication of disputes relating to waters of inter-State rivers or river valleys.
Parliament enacted the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956 under the Article 262 framework.
River Boards Act, 1956: provides for river boards for regulation and development of inter-State rivers and river valleys.
Article 131 separately gives the Supreme Court original jurisdiction over specified disputes between the Union and States or between States where a legal right is involved; however, river-water adjudication is subject to the special constitutional framework of Article 262.
The Sone settlement was achieved through inter-State negotiation and an MoU, rather than a water-disputes tribunal.
Possible Mains Question
Inter-State river-water disputes are not merely questions of water allocation but tests of India's federal architecture and mechanisms of inter-governmental cooperation. Discuss with reference to the constitutional framework for inter-State rivers and the recent Bihar-Jharkhand agreement on sharing the waters of the Sone River.
Thorium Fuel in PHWRs: Why India May Accelerate Its Thorium Nuclear Strategy
Former Atomic Energy Commission chairman Anil Kakodkar has argued that India should begin introducing thorium-based fuel into its indigenous Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR) fleet, rather than waiting for the conventional three-stage nuclear programme to reach large-scale thorium utilisation.
His argument comes as India targets 100 GWe of nuclear-power capacity by 2047, up from about 8.78 GW currently. The government is simultaneously expanding indigenous PHWRs, fast breeder reactors and advanced nuclear technologies.
The proposal does not mean replacing India's three-stage programme. Instead, Kakodkar is suggesting a parallel pathway that could begin building experience with thorium earlier while reducing India's long-term dependence on uranium.
Why Is Thorium So Important for India?
India's nuclear strategy reflects an unusual resource situation: the country has relatively limited and low-grade uranium resources but abundant thorium resources.
However, thorium-232 (Th-232) is fertile, not fissile. This means it cannot by itself sustain the type of nuclear-fission chain reaction required for power generation.
After absorbing a neutron, Th-232 ultimately produces uranium-233 (U-233), which is fissile and can be used as nuclear fuel.
This is why India developed its famous three-stage nuclear power programme:
Stage I – PHWRs: Natural uranium is used as fuel. Spent fuel is reprocessed to recover plutonium.
Stage II – Fast Breeder Reactors (FBRs): Plutonium is used as fuel while additional fissile material is bred. Thorium can be irradiated to produce U-233.
Stage III – Thorium-based reactors: U-233 bred from thorium enables progressively larger utilisation of India's thorium resources.
India reached an important Stage-II milestone in April 2026, when the indigenous 500 MWe Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) at Kalpakkam attained first criticality.
Why Introduce Thorium Into PHWRs Earlier?
The conventional pathway requires sufficient fast-breeder capacity and a substantial inventory of fissile material before thorium can be deployed on a large scale.
Kakodkar argues that India's rapidly expanding PHWR programme creates another opportunity.
According to him, around half of India's planned 100-GWe nuclear capacity could potentially come from PHWR technology. Introducing thorium-containing fuel into this large reactor fleet could allow India to gain experience with the thorium fuel cycle, irradiation and recycling while the fast-breeder programme continues to develop.
This is not entirely new territory for India. The government says thorium-oxide (thoria) pellets have already been used in the initial cores of operating PHWRs. Thoria fuels have also been irradiated in BARC research reactors, reprocessed to recover U-233, and that U-233 has subsequently been fabricated into fuel for the KAMINI reactor at Kalpakkam.
The proposal is therefore about moving from experimental and limited utilisation towards a more substantial role for thorium within an expanding commercial reactor programme.
What Are the Challenges?
Thorium is abundant in India, but abundance alone does not make it an immediately deployable nuclear fuel.
Large-scale utilisation requires technologies for fuel fabrication, irradiation, reprocessing and recycling, along with appropriate reactor physics, remote handling and radiation-protection systems.
Kakodkar has specifically highlighted the need for capabilities such as high-burn-up fuels, access to higher-enrichment uranium and thorium recycling technologies.
India is also developing the Advanced Heavy Water Reactor (AHWR) as a technology demonstrator for large-scale thorium utilisation.
BARC describes the AHWR as a 300 MWe, heavy-water-moderated reactor incorporating several passive safety features and designed specifically to demonstrate thorium-based nuclear-power technologies.
Thus, thorium is better understood as a long-term energy-security strategy, rather than a fuel that can immediately replace uranium throughout India's nuclear fleet.
Prelims Quick Revision
Thorium-232 is fertile, not fissile.
Th-232 can absorb a neutron and eventually be converted into fissile Uranium-233.
India's thorium resources are found significantly in monazite-bearing mineral sands, including along parts of India's coastline.
Stage I: PHWRs using natural uranium → plutonium recovered from spent fuel.
Stage II: Fast Breeder Reactors use plutonium and expand the fissile-material inventory.
Stage III: large-scale utilisation of thorium/U-233 fuel cycle.
India's 500 MWe PFBR at Kalpakkam attained first criticality in April 2026.
India currently has about 8.78 GW of installed nuclear capacity and targets 100 GWe by 2047.
PHWR = Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor; India's indigenous PHWR programme primarily uses natural uranium and heavy water.
India has already experimentally used thoria in PHWRs and produced U-233 from irradiated thorium.
KAMINI, located at Kalpakkam, has used U-233 fuel derived from irradiated thorium.
AHWR: BARC's 300-MWe reactor design intended to demonstrate technologies for commercial-scale thorium utilisation.
India follows a closed nuclear fuel cycle, involving reprocessing and reuse of valuable materials from spent nuclear fuel.
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