Booker Prize 2025

Syllabus: Awards/ Miscellaneous

Context

David Szalay won this year’s Booker Prize for fiction for his novel ‘Flesh,’ is the first Hungarian-British author to win the Booker Prize.

Booker Prize 2025

It is a prestigious literary award conferred every year for the best fiction written in the English language & published in the United Kingdom and/or Ireland.
Launch: It was first awarded in 1969 to promote reading and literature.

Indian Winners –

VS Naipaul in 1971 for In A Free State,
Salman Rushdie for Midnight’s Children in 1981,
Arundhati Roy for The God of Small Things (1997),
Kiran Desai for The Inheritance of Loss (2006),
Aravind Adiga for The White Tiger (2008).
Geetanjali Shree for her Hindi novel, Tomb of Sand(2022)

Note – In 2025, Banu Mushtaq and Deepa Bhasthi won it for the translated anthology of Mushtaq’s short stories from Kannada into English, Heart Lamp.

Nine Years After Demonetisation

Syllabus: GS3/Economy

Context

Currency with the public has more than doubled since the demonetisation in 2016 was announced by the government.

Demonetisation

The Prime Minister announced demonetisation on November 8, 2016.
It declared that all existing Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes which together accounted for about 86% of the currency in circulation would cease to be legal tender.
Demonetisation in 2016 was apparently intended to eliminate black money, curb counterfeit currency, promote digital payments and formalise the economy.

Aditya-L1 Mission Tracks Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs)

Syllabus: GS3/Space

In News

Scientists from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics and NASA have made the first-ever spectroscopic observations of a coronal mass ejection (CME) in the visible wavelength range, close to the Sun’s surface using the VELC payload on Aditya-L1.

Aditya-L1 mission

Uniqueness – Aditya-L1 is the first space-based Indian observatory to study the Sun. It will be launched by the PSLV-C57.
Note – The solar mission will not see the spacecraft actually go to the sun, it will instead create a space observatory at a point from which the sun can be observed even during an eclipse.
The spacecraft is planned to be placed in a halo orbit around the Lagrange point 1 (L1), around 1.5 million km from the Earth, of the Sun-Earth system.

Major objectives of the mission

The mission will focus on study of the Solar upper atmospheric (chromosphere and corona) dynamics.
It will also identify what drives space weather, along with the origin, composition and dynamics of the solar wind.

Other missions to Sun

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe, launched in 2018, has already gone far closer — but it will be looking away from the Sun.
Helios 2 solar probe, a joint venture between NASA and the space agency of erstwhile West Germany,was launched to investigate solar processes of the Sun’s surface in 1976.

GI Tag Fee Cut

Syllabus: GS3/Economy

In News

Recently, the Government announced a reduction in the GI tag application fee from ₹5,000 to ₹1,000, encouraging tribal artisans to protect traditional crafts.

GI Tag Fee Cut

GI tag certificates distributed for crafts and products like

Kannadippaya (Kerala)

2. Apatani textile (Arunachal)

3. Marthandam honey (Tamil Nadu)

4. Lepcha Tungbuk (Sikkim)

5. Bodo Aronai (Assam)

6. Ambaji Marble (Gujarat)

7. Badri cow ghee (Uttarakhand).

Connect with the basics – Geographical Indication or GI Tag

It is a name or a sign given to certain products related to a specific geographical location or origins like a region, town, or country.
A certification for unique products – GI Tag may be regarded as a certification for a particular product with certain specific qualities or has a specific reputation because of its geographical origin.
GI Tags can be issued for wine and spirit drinks, foodstuffs, agricultural products, handicrafts, and industrial products.
Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) – At the International level, GI is governed by the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO’s) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).
Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act – In India, Geographical Indications registration is administered by the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999, which came into force in September 2003.
Darjeeling tea – The first product in India to be accorded with the GI tag was Darjeeling tea in 2004-05.

Climate Risk Index (CRI) 2026

Syllabus: GS3/Disaster Management

Context

The new Climate Risk Index (CRI) 2026 report has been released by Germanwatch.
The analysis was presented at the ongoing COP30 in Belem, Brazil.

Key Findings

India was ninth on the list of countries most affected by extreme weather events between 1995 and 2024.
In the last three decades, India faced around 430 extreme weather events which resulted in inflation-adjusted losses of around $170 billion.
Most People Affected: India ranked third behind Bangladesh and the Philippines.

India, Botswana Cheetah Translocation Pact

Syllabus: GS3/ Environment

In News

India and Botswana formally announced the translocation of eight Cheetahs to India as a part of ‘Project Cheetah’.

About

India declared the cheetah extinct in 1952, after decades of over-hunting, habitat fragmentation, and depletion of prey species.
The launch of Project Cheetah in 2022 and the arrival of cheetahs from Namibia and South Africa created the world’s first intercontinental relocation programme for a large carnivore.
Botswana – It’s a landlocked country with nearly 70% of its landmass covered by the Kalahari Desert, and holds one of the world’s largest wild cheetah populations.

Project Cheetah

Overview: Project Cheetah is India’s ambitious attempt to reintroduce the cheetah in suitable open forest and grassland ecosystems.
Launched By: National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), a statutory body under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 (amended 2006).
Uniqueness – It is the world’s first intercontinental translocation of a large wild carnivore.

Translocations So Far:

8 cheetahs from Namibia in 2022
12 cheetahs from South Africa in 2023
8 cheetahs from Botswana (2025 announcement)

Cheetah(Acinonyx jubatus)

It is the world’s fastest mammal and the only large carnivore to have gone extinct in India (1952).
Unlike other big cats, cheetahs do not roar.
There are two main species: the African cheetah (Vulnerable) and the Asiatic cheetah (Critically Endangered), found only in eastern Iran and parts of Africa.

PM Visit to Bhutan

Syllabus: GS2/IR

Context

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to Bhutan strengthened the special ties of friendship and cooperation between the two countries.

Key Outcomes

Inauguration of 1020 MW Punatsangchhu-II Hydroelectric Project constructed under a bilateral agreement between both Nations.

India-Bhutan Relations

Geographical Connection: Bhutan shares its border with four Indian states, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, West Bengal and Sikkim with a length of 699 km and serves as a buffer between India and China.
Diplomatic relations – Established in 1968.
Treaty of Friendship – The basic framework of India Bhutan relations is the Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation signed in 1949 and was renewed in February 2007.
Four major bilateral projects are launched in Bhutan from India,

Hydroelectric projects – Punatsangchhu and Mangdechhu Hydro Project,
Ground Earth Station of ISRO
RuPay Card
National Knowledge Network of India

Economy – India is Bhutan’s top trade partner both as an import source and as an export destination.
Bhutan became the second country to launch the BHIM app.
Cultural and Buddhist Links: A number of Bhutanese pilgrims travel to Bodh Gaya, Rajgir, Nalanda, Sikkim, Udayagiri, and other Buddhist sites in India

Booker Prize 2025 | Nine Years After Demonetisation | Aditya-L1 Mission Tracks Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) | GI Tag Fee Cut | Climate Risk Index (CRI) 2026 | India, Botswana Cheetah Translocation Pact | PM Visit to Bhutan