G20 Johannesburg Summit 2025

Source:PIB

Why in News?

The 20^th G20 Summit 2025, held in Johannesburg, South Africa, became the first-ever G20 summit hosted on the African continent. Under the theme “Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability,” the summit centred Global South priorities and secured the adoption of the G20 Johannesburg Leaders’ Declaration. 

What are the Key Highlights of the G20 Summit 2025?

• G20 Johannesburg Leaders’ Declaration: Member nations reached consensus on a 122-paragraph declaration including references to climate action, multilateral reform, and equitable global governance. 
  • Spirit of Ubuntu and Multilateralism: The declaration emphasises the African philosophy of Ubuntu (recognising shared global responsibility and interconnectedness).  
    • Leaders called for stronger multilateral cooperation to address conflicts, inequality, and humanitarian suffering. 
  • UN Security Council Reform: The declaration supports transforming the United Nations Security Council(UNSC) to reflect contemporary geopolitical realities, calling for expanded representation for underrepresented regions such as Africa, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America. 
  • Condemnation of Terrorism: The declaration unequivocally condemns terrorism in all forms and manifestations, reflecting India’s longstanding position. 
  • Expanded Climate Action Commitments: Members agreed to scale global climate finance toward a “billions-to-trillions” shift and operationalise a more equitable transition under the Paris Agreement. 
  • Empowerment of Women: The declaration stressed women’s empowerment, calling for removing barriers, ensuring equal participation in decision-making, and recognising women as agents of peace. 
• Debt Crisis and Global Financial Reform: A Cost of Capital Commission was launched to reform global credit rating practices and reduce the unfair “African risk premium.”  
  • The summit highlighted Africa’s growing debt burden (now at USD 1.8 trillion) with over half its population living in countries spending more on debt interest than on public services.  
• Mission 300: Summit highlighted Mission 300, an initiative led by the World Bank and African Development Bank to provide electricity to 300 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa by 2030.  
• Critical Minerals Framework: Welcomed G20 Critical Minerals Framework to secure sustainable value chains. Focus on investment in mineral exploration and local beneficiation in developing countries. 
• Youth & Gender Targets: Adopted Nelson Mandela Bay Target to reduce the rate of youth Not in Employment, Education, or Training (NEET)  by 5% by 2030. Committed to 25% gender parity in labour force participation by 2030. 
• Troika: The current G20 "troika" is Brazil (previous presidency), South Africa (current presidency), and the United States (next presidency).

What is G20, and Why It is Significant for Global Development?

• About: G20 was created after the Asian Financial Crisis (1997–98) as a forum for Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors to strengthen global financial stability. 
  • Gradually moved beyond macroeconomics to include trade, climate change, health, food security, energy transitions, and digital governance. 
• Upgraded to Leaders’ Level (2008–09): Elevated during the Global Financial Crisis of 2007-08, recognising the need for coordination at the highest political level. 
  • Since 2009, annual G20 Leaders’ Summits have become the norm. 
• Composition: The G20 is an informal grouping of 19 major economies, along with the European Union (EU) and the African Union (AU). India is one of its founding members. Other countries can be invited as "special guests" on an ad hoc basis. 
  • Together, G20 members account for 85% of global GDP, over 75% of world trade, and nearly two-thirds of the global population. 
• Mandate: It serves as the premier forum for international economic cooperation, shaping global governance on issues such as growth, trade, financial stability, sustainable development, climate action, health, energy, agriculture, and anti-corruption. 
• Structure and Presidency: Unlike the UN, the G20 has no headquarters or permanent staff. The presidency rotates annually among members. 
  • Troika System ensures continuity through a three-country mechanism: Previous President – Current President – Incoming President 
  • For South Africa’s 2025 presidency, the troika includes Brazil, South Africa, and the United States. 

Significance of the G20

• Shapes Global Economic Governance: Sets norms on financial regulations, debt sustainability, global tax reforms, digital public infrastructure, and climate finance through initiatives like the G20 Common Framework, and Declaration on Digital Public Infrastructure, AI and Data for Governance ( a joint communiqué by the G20 Troika (India, Brazil and South Africa) ) 
• Drives Sustainable Development Agendas: Acts as a major platform to push the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by coordinating climate action, energy transitions, food security commitments, and progress on the Pact for the Future. 
• Enhances Voice of Global South: Provides emerging economies including India, Brazil, South Africa, Indonesia greater influence in shaping global rules, especially on issues like supply chain resilience, critical minerals, development finance, and technology access. 
• Catalyst for Development Financing: Pushes for reform of multilateral financial institutions (IMF–World Bank), expansion of lending, and better representation through steps such as creating a 25th IMF Executive Board seat for Africa.

How is India Shaping the Global Development Agenda at the G20? 

• Countering the Drug-Terror Nexus: India highlighted drug trafficking (especially fentanyl) as a major global security threat and a key source of terrorism financing. 
  • India proposed a G20 Initiative on Countering the Drug-Terror Nexus focusing on financial tracking, border coordination and global enforcement. 
• Africa-Centric Development Vision: India emphasised that Africa must be at the centre of global development frameworks. 
  • India proposed the G20–Africa Skills Multiplier Initiative to train 1 million certified trainers across Africa in 10 years. 
• Leadership in Health, Knowledge & Space Cooperation: 
  • India proposed: 
    • G20 Global Healthcare Response Team for coordinated global health emergencies. 
    • Global Traditional Knowledge Repository to preserve and share indigenous medicinal knowledge. 
    • Open Satellite Data Partnership to share space-based data for agriculture, fisheries and disaster management. 
• Critical Minerals & Sustainable Transitions: India proposed a Critical Minerals Circularity Initiative to strengthen supply chains through recycling, urban mining, and innovation. 
  • India  called for democratic, transparent and diversified minerals supply chains, reducing dependency on a few countries. 
• Responsible, Inclusive & Secure AI Governance: India advocated a Global Compact on AI centred on Human oversight, Safety-by-design, Transparency, and Prohibition of AI misuse in deepfakes, cybercrime and terrorism 
  • India invited all countries to the AI Impact Summit 2026 in India. 
• Support for a Just, Equitable Global Order: India strongly backed UNSC reform to ensure representation for Africa, Latin America and Asia-Pacific. Reaffirmed India’s commitment to multilateralism and a global rules-based order.

Conclusion

The G20 Summit 2025 marked a pivotal moment for global governance, placing Africa and the wider Global South at the heart of multilateral priorities. The Johannesburg Declaration set the tone for a more equitable, secure, and sustainable world order.

Drishti Mains Question: The G20 Johannesburg Leaders’ Declaration marks a shift towards a Global South agenda. Discuss.

The Threat of Digital Tradecraft in Terrorism

Source: TH 

Why in News?  

The car explosion near Delhi’s Red Fort has exposed the growing threat of digital tradecraft in terrorism. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) investigation shows terror modules are now using encrypted apps, anonymous servers, and spy-style digital methods to plan attacks. 

• This highlights the need for stronger cyber-forensics, and specialised capabilities to track encrypted and decentralised communication networks.

What is Digital Tradecraft in Terrorism? 

• About: Digital tradecraft in terrorism is the modern set of online techniques that terror groups use to hide their identities, communicate securely, radicalise recruits, move money, and plan attacks.  
  • It mirrors intelligence tradecraft but operates through encrypted, anonymous, and decentralised digital systems. 
• Key Elements of Digital Tradecraft: 
  • Encrypted Communication: Terror groups use end-to-end encrypted apps (e.g., Threema ( requires no phone number or email), Telegram, Signal) to plan attacks without interception. 
  • Anonymity Tools: Techniques such as Virtual Private Networks, Tor browser, burner devices, and proxy servers help mask locations and identities. 
  • Decentralised Platforms: Use of dark web forums, anonymous hosting services, temporary email IDs, and self-destructing messages. 
  • Digital Surveillance Evasion: Tactical methods like avoiding metadata trails, using offline communication (Bluetooth mesh, Wi-Fi dead drops), and anti-tracking tools. 
    • Terror operatives used a shared email account to communicate through unsent draft messages, avoiding any sent-mail trail. This classic dead-drop method leaves minimal digital footprints. 
  • Online Radicalisation & Recruitment: Use of social media, gaming platforms, encrypted channels, and AI-generated content to target and indoctrinate individuals. 
  • Financial Concealment: Cryptocurrencies, prepaid wallets, crowdfunding using fake charities, and hawala networks integrated with digital payments. 
  • Operational Planning; Use of open-source intelligence (OSINT), satellite maps, AI tools, and cyber reconnaissance to identify targets.

What are the Challenges of Rising Digital Tradecraft for India’s Counter-terrorism Efforts? 

• Outdated Legal Frameworks: Existing counter-terror laws are not aligned with decentralised, encrypted, and self-hosted platforms now used by terror modules. 
  • India lacks specific legal provisions to detect, investigate, and prosecute digital tradecraft methods like draft-only emails and ephemeral messaging. 
  • Despite being banned under Section 69A of the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000, Threema was accessed via VPNs, showing bans alone are insufficient. 
• Limited Advanced Cyber-Forensic Capabilities: Many agencies lack specialised tools for memory dumps, server forensics, and encrypted-network mapping, while private self-hosted encrypted servers further block lawful access even with warrants.  
  • VPNs, proxies, and anonymising tools mask user locations, causing digital footprints to fragment and slowing down attribution and forensic verification.  
  • A persistent shortage of trained cyber-intelligence personnel widens the capability gap against increasingly sophisticated terror cells. 
• Radicalisation in Professional & Academic Spaces: Involvement of doctors and educated recruits shows radicalisation is shifting to high-skill, low-suspect environments. Security institutions lack mechanisms to detect ideological shifts in professional circles. 
• Weak International Coordination: Key evidence often lies on foreign servers or encrypted platforms outside India’s jurisdiction, making direct access difficult.  
  • Limited cross-border data-sharing agreements further slow real-time intelligence flow, creating critical delays in tracking and disrupting transnational terror networks. 

What Measures Should India Take to Counter the Rising Threat of Digital Tradecraft in Terrorism? 

• Strengthen Advanced Cyber-Forensics Capabilities: Create specialised units within NIA, National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO), Intelligence Bureau (IB), and State Anti-Terrorism Squads (ATS) focusing on memory forensics, encrypted-network mapping, and server analysis. 
  • Expand Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) mandate to include counter-terror cyber-forensics and rapid threat attribution. 
• Modernise Legal and Regulatory Frameworks: Update the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967 to explicitly cover digital tradecraft methods such as draft-only emails, self-hosted encrypted servers, and anonymised IDs. 
  • Create a policy framework requiring private servers used for communication apps to maintain minimum compliance standards. Strengthen the role of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) in monitoring anonymising services and VPN gateways used for terror activity. 
• Build Institutional Capacity and Talent Pipelines: Partner with IITs, IIITs, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO),  and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to create specialised courses in cryptography, digital forensics, malware analysis, and open source intelligence (OSINT).  
  • Expand staffing and adapt it for counter-terror intelligence. 
• Strengthen Tech Diplomacy: Sign Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties (MLATs) and data-sharing agreements with countries hosting encrypted platforms (e.g., Switzerland for Threema). 
  • Collaborate with INTERPOL, Europol, and UN Security Council for tracking cross-border digital footprints. 
• Counter Radicalisation in High-Skill Environments: Empower University Grants Commission, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) to issue advisory frameworks for early detection of extremist behaviour. 
  • Strengthen community-based monitoring under the National Integration Council and district-level security committees. 

Conclusion 

India must move beyond traditional surveillance and build a multi-layered digital counter-terrorism system. Stronger laws, upgraded institutions, advanced cyber-forensics, and deeper international cooperation are essential to counter encrypted, decentralised, and rapidly evolving terror networks. 

Drishti Mains Question:  Analyse how the rise of encrypted and decentralised communication platforms has changed the terrorism threat landscape in India. Suggest reforms to respond effectively.

 

Elimination of Violence against Women

Source: PIB 

Why in News?  

The International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, observed on 25^th November, is a United Nations (UN)-designated day that raises global awareness on gender-based violence and urges stronger action to protect women and girls. The 2025 theme is “UNiTE to End Digital Violence against All Women and Girls.” 

What Factors Increase the Risk of Violence Against Women? 

• Individual-Level Factors: Low education, childhood exposure to abuse, harmful alcohol use, and antisocial behaviour increase the likelihood of both perpetrating and experiencing violence.  
• Relationship-Level Factors: Conflict-ridden relationships, poor communication, past exposure to violence, and male controlling behaviour heighten the risk of intimate partner violence.  
  • Power imbalances within households often normalise coercion and abuse. 
  • Over a fifth of women in India aged 15-49 were subjected to intimate partner violence in 2023, while nearly 30% have been affected during their lifetime, according to World Health Organisation (WHO). 
• Community-Level Factors: Communities with entrenched gender inequality, weak law enforcement, limited employment for women, and poor access to support services see higher levels of violence. 
• Societal-Level Factors: Patriarchal systems, discriminatory laws, and cultural beliefs around honour, purity, and male entitlement encourage violence.  
  • Weak punishment and inadequate implementation of laws reduce deterrence. 
• Digital Media & Technology-Driven Factors: According to the UN, Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven anonymity and weak accountability have intensified online abuse. 
  • Globally, 1.8 billion women and girls still lack legal protection against digital harassment.  
  • The rise of digital platforms has created new forms of abuse such as cyberstalking, deepfakes, doxxing, and online harassment.  
  • Deepfake misuse has surged, with up to 95% of online deepfakes being non-consensual pornographic content, and 99% of those targeted are women. 
  • Algorithm-driven amplification of misogyny, anonymity of perpetrators, and gaps in cyberlaw enforcement have made technology-facilitated gender-based violence a growing threat. 

What are India’s Measures to Address Violence Against Women? 

• National Commission for Women (NCW): Established in 1992, NCW is India’s apex statutory body for safeguarding women's rights.  
  • It reviews legal protections, recommends reforms, and handles complaints both offline and through its online portal.  Most states have also constituted State Commissions for Women (SCWs) with parallel responsibilities. 
  • The NCW also operates a 24×7 domestic violence helpline, which connects women to police, hospitals, legal aid, and counsellors through an Interactive Voice Response (IVR)-based system under Digital India. 
• Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023: It replaced the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and introduces stringent penalties for sexual offenses, including the life imprisonment for rape of minors under 18 years.  
  • BNS, 2023 expands definitions of sexual offenses, mandates audio-video recording of victim statements, and prioritises crimes against women and children in trial proceedings. 
• Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 (PWDVA):  Defines an “aggrieved person” as any woman in a domestic relationship who faces harm to her physical or mental health.  
  • Under PWDVA, domestic violence includes physical, sexual, emotional, and economic abuse, along with dowry-related harassment, covering any behaviour that threatens a woman’s safety or well-being within a shared household. 
• Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, 2013 (POSH): It protects all women at every workplace and requires employers to form Internal Committees, with Local Committees set up by the government for smaller establishments.  
  • The MWCD oversees implementation and operates the SHe-Box portal for online complaints, which must be resolved within 90 days. 

Major Institutional Support Systems for Women’s Safety 

Scheme / Institution	Function
Mission Shakti	Umbrella scheme for women's safety, security, and empowerment across their life cycle with vision of “women-led development”.
Swadhar Greh Scheme	Provides shelter, food, counselling, legal aid, and rehabilitation for women in difficult circumstances.
One Stop Centres (OSC)	Offers integrated support—police facilitation, medical aid, legal help, counselling, and temporary shelter—for women facing violence.
Stree Manoraksha	Trains OSC staff on mental-health and psycho-social support for survivors.
Fast Track Special Courts (FTSCs)	Ensures speedy trial of rape and POCSO cases; dedicated courts funded under Nirbhaya Fund.
Women Help Desks (WHDs)	Special desks in police stations for sensitive reporting, FIR assistance, and counselling for women.

How Can Violence Against Women Be Prevented?

• WHO and UN Women’s “RESPECT” framework lays out seven key strategies to help countries fast-track progress toward SDG 5.2, the goal of eliminating violence against women and girls. 
• R - Relationship Skills Strengthened: Programs targeting individuals, couples, or communities to enhance skills in conflict management, communication, and decision-making. These help in fostering healthier, non-violent relationships. 
• E - Empowerment of Women: Focus on enhancing women's social and economic status, including asset ownership, microfinance programs, gender training, and mentoring.  
  • Empowered women are less vulnerable to violence and more likely to report abuse. 
• S - Services Ensured: Ensuring that survivors of violence have access to essential services, such as police, legal, health, one-stop crisis centers, and social support services. These services help survivors recover and seek justice. 
• P - Poverty Reduced: Addressing the socio-economic factors that contribute to violence, especially poverty, which increases stress and dependency in relationships.  
  • These interventions aim to provide financial stability and reduce violence triggered by economic stress. 
• E - Environments Made Safe: Creating safe spaces for women in schools, workplaces, public spaces, and homes.  
  • These interventions aim to reduce exposure to violence and ensure women's physical security in their daily environments. 
• C - Child and Adolescent Abuse Prevented: Programs that focus on preventing child abuse, promoting positive parenting, and nurturing family relationships. Interventions should target both boys and girls to reduce the risk of violence. 
• T - Transformed Attitudes, Beliefs, and Norms: Changing harmful gender norms, attitudes, and beliefs that condone violence and reinforce male dominance.  
  • This includes campaigns and education that challenge stereotypes, promote gender equality, and reduce the stigma around violence survivors. 

Conclusion 

No society can be fair or healthy when half its population lives in fear. Ending violence against women is not just a policy goal but a matter of dignity, equality, and a basic human right. 

Drishti Mains Question:  Technology has amplified both the reach and the harm of gender-based abuse. Discuss and suggest regulatory and policy measures India should adopt.

Climate Change Threatens India’s Tea Industry

Source: TH 

Why in News? 

Assam’s tea-growing regions are facing prolonged heat, delayed rainfall, and persistent humidity even after October, threatening the livelihoods of over 12 lakh workers in Assam, and jeopardising the future of India’s tea economy. 

How Climate Change is Threatening India's Tea Industry? 

• Rising Temperatures & Extreme Heat: This directly stresses tea plants, leading to blackened leaves, wilting, and erratic flush cycles. Crucially, extreme heat hampers tea plants’ ability to absorb nutrients, weakening the bushes. 
• Erratic Rainfall:  Dry spells and declining winter rains are directly reducing soil moisture undermining the core of tea cultivation. Conversely, intense downpours lead to soil erosion and waterlogging rather than effective absorption.  
• Altered Suitability of Growing Regions: The cumulative effect of rising heat and erratic rain is a fundamental geographical shift.  
  • Assam’s prime regions like South Bank and Upper Assam may lose suitability, pushing tea cultivation toward higher altitudes such as Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao. 
• Compounding Economic Paradox: Tea prices have grown only 4.8% annually over 30 years—well below inflation and staples like wheat and rice (10%)—while production costs keep rising.  
  • This cruel paradox leaves growers unable to earn market gains or invest in climate-resilient practices and replant ageing bushes. 
• Absence of Adequate Climate Protection Policies: Unlike other staple crop farmers, tea growers receive minimal government support for drought or heatwaves, leaving the industry exposed to increasingly severe climate shocks.

What are the Key Facts Regarding India's Tea Industry? 

• About: Tea is a widely consumed beverage made from the Camellia sinensis plant and is the world’s second most consumed drink after water. 
• Growth Requirements:  
  • Temperature: A narrow annual range of 13°C to 28°C, with optimal growth occurring at a mean temperature of 23–25°C. 
  • Rainfall: Consistent and well-distributed rainfall averaging 1,500 to 2,500 mm per year to keep the soil moist but not waterlogged. 
    • Distinct and predictable seasons are crucial for regulating the plant's growth cycles, including the vital "flush" periods when new leaves are harvested.  
      • This precision is also key to developing the signature flavour and aroma of premium teas. 
  • Soil: Deep, friable (easily crumbled), and rich in organic matter. 
• Tea Board of India: The Tea Board of India, established under the Tea Act of 1953, is a statutory body under the Ministry of Commerce that provides financial and technical support for tea cultivation, production, and marketing.  
  • It is headquartered in Kolkata with overseas offices in London, Dubai, and Moscow. 
• India’s Tea Market:  
  • Major Producers: India is the 2nd largest producer and consumer of tea and the 3rd largest exporter. Kenya leads in exports, while China is the 2nd largest exporter. 
  • Tea Producing Regions: Key tea-growing states—Assam (Assam Valley, Cachar), West Bengal (Dooars, Terai, Darjeeling), Tamil Nadu, and Kerala—account for about 96% of India’s total production. 
  • Consumption: India consumes 80% of its tea domestically, with a per capita consumption of 840 gm/year. 
  • Exports: India exports tea to 25+ countries, including Russia, Iran, UAE, USA, UK, Germany, and China. About 96% of exports is black tea, alongside regular, green, herbal, masala, and lemon tea. 

How can India’s Tea Industry Become More Resilient to Climate Change? 

• Agricultural and On-Farm Adaptations: Promote resilient tea varieties with deep taproots and high yields, while improving soil and water management through mulching, cover crops, micro-irrigation, and rainwater harvesting.  
  • Adopt agroforestry with shade trees and companion crops to reduce heat stress, moderate soil temperature, and control pests. 
• Economic and Market Solutions: Expand sustainable certification programs like the ‘trustea’ Sustainable Tea Code to verify practices, enhance market access, and strengthen climate resilience.  
  • Promote direct-to-consumer trade (e.g., e-commerce integration) models to increase growers’ profit margins by bypassing traditional auctions. 
• Policy and Structural Support: Advocate for policy support that gives tea parity with other crops, including disaster relief and subsidies, while ensuring sustained research funding for climate-resilient cultivation.  
  • Strengthen capacity building by training small growers in sustainable practices and modern technologies. 
• Learning from Other Countries: Equipping farmers with skills for sustainable, high-quality tea is crucial. Kenya’s Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) uses Farmer Field Schools (FFSs) to provide hands-on training in planting, fine-plucking, and preparing for certification. 

Conclusion 

Assam’s tea industry faces unprecedented threats from climate change, pest attacks, and stagnant prices, jeopardising livelihoods of over 12 lakh workers. Strengthening resilient cultivation, sustainable practices, and policy support is essential to safeguard tea production, global competitiveness, and the economic backbone of Assam, ensuring a sustainable future for India’s $10 billion tea economy.

Drishti Mains Question:  Climate change is posing an existential threat to India's tea economy. Analyse the key environmental challenges and discuss the framework of a sustainable adaptation strategy for the sector.

Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Programme

Source: TH 

Why in News?  

The Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) programme has completed 50 years since its launch as a pilot in Karnataka, one of its earliest adopters, the programme now is the world’s largest community-based early childhood development programme. 

What is the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Programme? 

• About: The ICDS is a centrally sponsored flagship programme launched on 2nd October 1975, anchored by the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MoWCD) to improve the nutrition, health, and early learning outcomes of children aged 0–6 years, along with pregnant and lactating mothers.   
  • ICDS has now been revised and subsumed under 'Mission Saksham Anganwadi & Poshan 2.0'. 
• Objectives: Improve health and nutritional status of children (0–6 years). 
  • Lay the foundation for psychological, physical, and social development. 
  • Reduce child mortality, morbidity, malnutrition, and school dropouts. 
  • Strengthen interdepartmental coordination for child development. 
• Services offered under ICDS:

• Significance:  ICDS is vital for early childhood development as it tackles malnutrition, improves health outcomes.  
  • It provides a safety net for pregnant and lactating mothers, reducing mortality and supporting maternal health.  
  • By integrating nutrition, health, and education services at the community level, it strengthens human capital, reduces inter-generational poverty, and supports women’s participation in the workforce. 

Hayli Gubbi Volcano

Source: FE 

Ethiopia's Hayli Gubbi volcano , dormant for over 12,000 years, erupted, sending a massive ash cloud across the Red Sea and South Asia. The thick ash cloud reached India, resulting in the diversion of several flights. 

• Volcanic Eruption: It is the expulsion of gases, rock fragments, and molten lava from within the Earth through a vent, releasing them onto the surface or into the atmosphere. 
  • The Earth’s mantle, a dense layer beneath the solid crust, contains a weaker zone called the asthenosphere, where molten rock, known as magma, escapes. 
  • As gases dissolved in the magma expand, they build up pressure, which pushes the magma upward, forcing it through cracks and fissures in the volcano, resulting in an eruption. 
• Products of Volcanic Eruptions: Volcanic eruption releases volcanic ash, pyroclastic debris (tiny glass/rock particles) and  Nitrogen and Sulphur compounds. 

Hayli Gubbi Volcano 

• Type and Location: Hayli Gubbi is a shield volcano in Afar, Ethiopia, part of the Erta Ale Range.  
  • Situated at the edge of the East African Rift, where the African and Arabian plates are slowly diverging. 
  • Shield volcanoes are broad, gently sloping, formed by thin, fluid lava flows. Eruptions are usually less explosive, with lava spreading wide like a warrior’s shield. Composed mainly of dark basaltic lavas, but also contains silica-rich rocks. 
• Cause of Eruption: Tectonic divergence at the East African Rift causes hot mantle rock to rise and partially melt, feeding magma chambers. Over millennia, pressure accumulation in these chambers can trigger eruptions.  

Read More: Africa's Afar Triangle: Birthplace of a Potential New Ocean

Constitution Day of India 2025

Source: PIB 

Constitution Day 2025 was observed on 26th November with the launch of the Constitution of India in 9 languages, reaffirming India’s commitment to constitutional values and democratic traditions. 

• About Constitution Day: It commemorates the adoption of the Indian Constitution on 26th November 1949, marking India’s transition to a sovereign, democratic republic. 
  • The Constituent Assembly held its final session on 26th November 1949, after which the Constitution was signed by 284 members. 
• Constitution in Force: The Constitution came into force on 26th January 1950, aligning with the Poorna Swaraj resolution of 1930, which is why the day is celebrated as Republic Day. 
• Official Declaration of Constitution Day: It was declared officially in 2015 by the Government of India under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, aligning with Dr. BR Ambedkar’s 125th birth anniversary; earlier observed as Law Day. 
• Significance: The day is a national festival of constitutional values, reflecting on India's democratic journey and reaffirming commitment to its ideals.

Read More: Salient Features of Indian Constitution

Operation Pawan

Source: TH 

Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) paid homage to soldiers who laid down their lives during Operation Pawan at the National War Memorial. 

• Operation Pawan: It was the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) mission in Sri Lanka under the 1987 Indo-Sri Lanka Accord, undertaken during the Sri Lankan Civil War (1983–2009), marking India’s first major post-Independence international peacekeeping deployment. 
  • The Accord signed by PM Rajiv Gandhi and President J. R. Jayewardene, sought to curb the intensifying conflict between the Sinhalese-majority government and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). 
  • The IPKF was tasked with removing LTTE control over the Jaffna Peninsula of Sri Lanka and enforcing disarmament. 
  • The IPKF conducted a counter-insurgency campaign from December 1987 to March 1990, preventing the LTTE from retaking Jaffna. This mission came to be known as Operation Pawan. 

Read more:  India-Sri Lanka Relations