UniFocus IAS ( UNIFOCUS UNIVERSAL )

Bilateral talks focus on trade facilitation, investment promotion, and new areas of cooperation India–Singapore partnership marks 60 years of diplomatic relations and 20 years of CECA The 4th Meeting of the India–Singapore Joint Working Group on Trade & Investment (JWGTI) was hosted by India at Vanijya Bhawan, New Delhi, on 14th August 2025. The meeting was co-chaired by Special Secretary, Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Shri Rajesh Agrawal and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Trade and Industry, Singapore, Dr. Beh Swan Gin. The meeting followed the 3rd India–Singapore Ministerial Roundtable (ISMR) held a day earlier. Discussions during the JWGTI focused on deepening bilateral trade and investment ties, identifying priority sectors for greater alignment, improving logistics and supply chains, streamlining regulatory frameworks, and exploring ways to facilitate cross-border trade. Shri Rajesh Agrawal noted that the India–Singapore relationship has evolved ...

India hosted the 10th Meeting of the ASEAN–India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA) Joint Committee and related meetings at Vanijya Bhawan, New Delhi, from August 10 to 14, 2025. The meetings, held in a hybrid format, were co-chaired by Additional Secretary, Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, Shri Nitin Kumar Yadav, and Deputy Secretary General (Trade), Ministry of Investment, Trade & Industry, Malaysia, Ms. Mastura Ahmad Mustafa. Delegates from all ten ASEAN Member States — Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam — participated. The Joint Committee focused on advancing the ongoing review of AITIGA to enhance its effectiveness, accessibility, and trade facilitation capabilities. The discussions built on the progress achieved through eight active rounds of negotiations. Seven of the eight Sub-Committees under the AITIGA Joint Committee also met on the margins, namely: The Sub-C...

Scheme with financial outlay of nearly ₹1 lakh crore, to benefit 3.5 crore youth A Landmark Step Towards strengthening the bridge from Swatantra Bharat to Samriddha Bharat through supporting Massive Employment Generation Marking his 12th Independence Day address from the historic Red Fort, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi today announced the  Pradhan Mantri Viksit Bharat Rozgar Yojana . With an outlay of  ₹1 lakh crore . This transformative scheme  aims to  support creation over 3.5 crore jobs in two years . The scheme will provide  incentive of up to ₹15,000   in two instalments to newly employed youth and upto 3000 per month per new employee to employers for creation new job opportunities. Key Features of the Scheme: Part A – Support to First-Time Employees: Targeting first-time employees registered with EPFO, this Part will offer one-month EPF wage up to Rs 15,000 in two instalments. Employees with salaries up to Rs 1 lakh will be eligible for the ...

India has achieved a landmark milestone of 100 GW of solar PV module manufacturing capacity enlisted under the Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM) for Solar PV Modules. This achievement reflects the country’s rapid progress in building a robust and self-reliant solar manufacturing ecosystem, aligned with the national vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat and the global imperative for clean energy transition. The Government of India’s commitment is to make India self-reliant in solar PV manufacturing and establish the country as a major player in the global value chain. This commitment is supported through a comprehensive set of initiatives, including the PLI Scheme for High Efficiency Solar PV Modules and measures to provide a level playing field for the Indian manufacturers. The catalytic effect of these interventions has resulted in an expansion in solar module manufacturing capacity, from just 2.3 GW in 2014 to over 100 GW today. This reinforces India’s commitment to achieving 5...

By recent gazette notification,  Ministry of Home Affairs announced new norms for the cancellation of   Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) registration. Gazette notification reads as " In exercise of the powers conferred by the clause (da) of section 7D of the Citizenship Act, 1955 (57 of 1955), the Central Government hereby states that an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) registration shall be liable to get cancelled when a person has been sentenced to imprisonment for term of not less than two years or has been charge-sheeted for an offence entailing punishment of imprisonment for seven years or more." Before this notification, section 7D of the Citizenship Act, 1955 (57 of 1955) and relevant section reads as "(d) the Overseas Citizen of India Cardholder has, within five years after registration under sub-section (1) of section 7A, been sentenced to imprisonment for a term of not less than two years; or [(da) the Overseas Citizen of India Cardholder has violated an...

On the directions of the Hon'ble Prime Minister of India, Department of Pension &Pensioners' Welfare had launched an online platform entitled ‘Anubhav’ in March 2015for sharing the experiences of retiring/retired government employees while working withthe Government. It is a scheme for retiring/retired employees to showcase theirsignificant achievements made during service period. It is envisaged that over a periodof time, this will create a wealth of institutional memory with replicable ideas andsuggestions. This will prove an invaluable tool for helping in future governance relatedissues, since a treasure trove of experiences shall be left behind by the retiringgenerations of government employees and officers.  Thereafter, an Annual Awards Scheme to incentivize and encourageretiring/retired employees to submit their experiences through write ups was introducedin 2015. Till date, 59 Anubhav Awards and 19 Jury Certificates have been conferred.Further, to encourage and inspi...

Key Features: This rules are applicable to: (1) These Rules shall not apply to a contaminated site affected by – (a) radioactive waste as defined under clause (xxii) of rule 2 of the Atomic Energy (Safe Disposal of Radioactive Wastes) Rules, 1987;  (b) mining operations as defined under clause (d) of section 3 of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 (67 of 1957);  (c) pollution of the sea by oil or oily substance as governed by the Merchant Shipping Act of 1958 and the Merchant Shipping (Prevention of Pollution of the Sea by Oil) Rules, 1974;  (d) solid waste from dump site as defined under clause 20 of sub-rule (1) of rule 3 of Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016.  (2) Notwithstanding anything in sub-rule (1), if the contamination of a site is due to a contaminant mixed with radioactive waste or mining operations or oil spill or solid waste from dump site, and if the contamination of the site due to the contaminant exceeds the limit of respon...

  The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi approved four more semiconductor projects under India Semiconductor Mission (ISM). Momentum is building up in semiconductor ecosystem in India with the six approved projects already in various stages of execution. These four proposals approved today are from SiCSem, Continental Device India Private Limited (CDIL), 3D Glass Solutions Inc., and Advanced System in Package (ASIP) Technologies. These four approved proposals will setup semiconductor manufacturing facilities with cumulative investment of around Rs.4,600 crore and are expected to generate a cumulative employment for 2034 skilled professionals which would catalyse the electronic manufacturing ecosystem resulting in creation of many indirect jobs. With these four more approvals today, total approved projects under ISM reaches to 10 with cumulative investments of around Rs.1.60 lakh crore in 6 states. Given the growing demand of semiconductors in telecom, automo...

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, has approved the proposal for implementation of the ‘Multidisciplinary Education and Research Improvement in Technical Education’ (MERITE) Scheme in 275 technical institutions comprising 175 engineering institutions and 100 polytechnics. The objective of the scheme is to improve the quality, equity and governance in technical education covering all States/UTs by implementing interventions aligned with the National Educational Policy-2020 (NEP-2020). It is a ‘Central Sector Scheme’ with total financial implication of Rs.4200 crore for a period from 2025-26 to 2029-30. Out of Rs.4200 crore, there will be an external assistance of Rs.2100 crore from World Bank as loan. Benefits: An estimated 275 Government/ Government-aided technical institutions are expected to be selected and supported under the scheme. This will include selected National Institutes of Technology (NITs), State Engineering Institutions, Polytechnics and...

The cutting-edge facility of Animal BioBank , spread over 9,300 sq ft and constructed at a cost of ₹1.85 crore, will focus on regenerative medicine and cellular therapies for livestock. Equipped with a stem cell culture unit, 3D bioprinter, bacterial culture lab, cryostorage, autoclave rooms, advanced air handling systems, and uninterrupted power backup, the laboratory will advance research in disease modelling, tissue engineering, and reproductive biotechnology. With support from the National Biopharma Mission (NBM) of DBT–BIRAC, the facility will be expanded to enable biobanking of animal stem cells and their derivatives. PIB

Cooperative Election Authority has been established under Section 45 of the  Multi State Co-operative Societies (Amendment) Act, 2023 (11 of 2023) . Structure: It consist of a Chairperson, a Vice-Chairperson and Members not exceeding three to be appointed by the Central Government ( on the recommendation of the Selection Committee consisting of such persons as may be prescribed ). Qualification of members:  A person shall not be qualified for appointment as a,––  (i) Chairperson of the Authority unless he held the post of Additional Secretary to the Government of India or equivalent rank;  (ii) Vice-Chairperson of the Authority unless he held the post of Joint Secretary to the Government of India or equivalent rank; and  (iii) Member unless he fulfils such qualification and experience as may be prescribed. Term of Members: The Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson or Member of the Authority shall hold office for a period of three years from the date on which they enter ...

 The Department of Posts has undertaken an initiative to establish a Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) for a standardized, geo-coded addressing system in India. 2. DESIGN APPROACH  2.1 Core Concept:  The DIGIPIN layer is the cornerstone of the entire digital address ecosystem. DIGIPIN is visualised as an alpha numeric offline grid system that divides the geographical territory of India into uniform 4-meter by 4-meter(approx.) units. Each of these 4m X 4m units (approx.) is assigned a unique 10-digit alphanumeric code, derived from the latitude and longitude coordinates of the unit. This alphanumeric code serves as the offline addressing reference for any specific location within the DIGIPIN system. DIGIPIN is thus strictly a function of the latitude and longitude of the location represented as a grid value. The system is designed to be scalable, adaptable, and integrated with existing GIS applications.  2.2 DIGIPIN layer: DIGIPIN layer will act as the addressing re...

In a landmark step towards Atmanirbharta in defence technology, the Indian Army has joined hands with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras to establish   ‘Agnishodh’ , the Indian Army Research Cell (IARC) on the IIT Madras campus. The research facility was formally inaugurated today by   General Upendra Dwivedi, Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) , during his two-day visit to Chennai. The initiative is part of the Indian Army’s broader transformation framework, guided by the  Five Pillars of Transformation  articulated by the COAS. Agnishodh specifically advances one of the pillars,  Modernisation and Technology Infusion  and represents the Indian Army’s drive to seamlessly integrate academic research with real-time operational applications. The Agnishodh collaboration will further extend into the  IIT Madras Research Park , working alongside entities such as the  Advanced Manufacturing Technology Development Centre (AMTDC)  and...

 It was constituted as per the provisions of THE WILD LIFE (PROTECTION) ACT, 1972. Extracts from THE WILD LIFE (PROTECTION) ACT, 1972: Constitution of the National Board for Wild Life.— (1) The Central Government shall, within three months from the date of commencement of the Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Act, 2002 (16 of 2003), constitute the National Board for Wild Lifeconsisting of the following members, namely:—  (a) the Prime Minister as Chairperson;  (b) the Minister in-charge of Forests and Wild Life as Vice-Chairperson;  (c) three members of Parliament of whom two shall be from the House of the People and one from the Council of States;  3 [(d) Member, NITI Aayog in-charge of Environment, Forest and Climate Change;]  (e) five persons to represent non-governmental organizations to be nominated by the Central Government;  (f) ten persons to be nominated by the Central Government from amongst eminent conservationists, ecologists and enviro...