Current Affairs — 24 June 2026

📖 Explanation

India TFR as measured by the Sample Registration System (SRS) stands at 1.9 children per woman, which is below the replacement level of 2.1. The replacement level is the fertility rate at which a population remains stable over time, neither growing nor shrinking. India national TFR of 1.9 is also below the global average of 2.2. Urban India has an even lower TFR of 1.5, while rural India remains close to the replacement level.

📖 Explanation

The National Building Code of India is issued by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). It contains detailed fire-safety guidelines including requirements for exits, staircases, emergency doors and ventilation. The Lucknow building had only a single narrow staircase and no emergency exits, violating these norms. The deeper failure was enforcement, not missing rules. Uttar Pradesh has its own Fire and Emergency Services Act mandating swift action, but irregular inspections by local bodies meant existing rules remained only on paper. The state government has ordered a probe into the illegalities.

📖 Explanation

Section 301 of the US Trade Act of 1974 empowers the US Trade Representative to investigate and respond to foreign trade practices deemed unfair or discriminatory. After US courts struck down earlier sweeping reciprocal tariffs, the US fell back on a 10 per cent tariff for 150 days, which lapses on July 24. After that deadline, the US plans a steeper tariff structure based on Section 301 findings, with tariffs of around 12.5 per cent floated for Indian goods. Both sides are working to finalise an interim deal before this date.

📖 Explanation

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is the United Nations nuclear watchdog responsible for verifying Iran nuclear activities through inspections. As part of the US-Iran interim understanding, the IAEA head confirmed inspections would proceed, though access to the most sensitive sites remains subject to a final deal. The Strait of Hormuz, a critical global oil chokepoint, was reopened under the understanding. The International Maritime Organisation (IMO), a separate UN body, announced plans to evacuate thousands of seafarers stranded in the Persian Gulf as shipping lanes reopened.

📖 Explanation

India's Neighbourhood First policy, pursued since 2014, places immediate neighbours at the top of India's foreign-policy agenda. It focuses on deepening trade, connectivity, cultural ties, and people-to-people links with countries such as Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Maldives, and Afghanistan. The appointment of a new High Commissioner to Bangladesh is viewed as part of this policy because Bangladesh is a key partner for eastern connectivity, trade corridors, river-water cooperation, and border management.

📖 Explanation

The Union Home Ministry revised FCRA rules require every NGO to register for specific purposes drawn from a government-prescribed schedule of 105 permissible activities. Organisations must also specify the states or union territories where they intend to operate. Existing registered bodies have been given one year to declare the purposes and areas they wish to retain; any future expansion will need fresh government approval. Foreign funds have been explicitly barred from being used for religious conversion activities.

📖 Explanation

Section 79 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 grants intermediaries such as online hosting platforms protection from liability for third-party content, provided they act merely as conduits and do not create, initiate or select the content. The Calcutta High Court examined whether this safe-harbour provision can extend to generative AI systems, which produce original synthesised answers rather than simply hosting content made by others. If an AI is the creator rather than a conduit, the legal basis for the safe harbour becomes uncertain.

📖 Explanation

The 74th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992 gave constitutional status to Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) such as municipal corporations, councils and nagar panchayats. It mandated the creation of ward committees, the devolution of functions to municipalities through the Twelfth Schedule, and the establishment of State Finance Commissions to determine the fiscal transfers to ULBs. It is the foundational law for urban governance, and debates about empowering city governments to plan and deliver public goods are rooted in the powers and gaps it created.

📖 Explanation

The Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES) measures Monthly Per Capita Consumption Expenditure (MPCE), capturing how much an average individual spends per month on goods and services. The 2023-24 survey was the first official consumption survey after the 2011-12 round, ending a 12-year data gap that forced analysts to use outdated estimates for poverty debates. The survey found that the real spending level defining the poorest 10 per cent of Indians in 2011-12 now applies to less than 0.5 per cent of the population.

📖 Explanation

GST was rolled out on 1 July 2017, replacing a complex web of central and state indirect taxes including excise duty, service tax, and value-added tax. It is a destination-based, multi-stage tax with input tax credit, meaning the burden ultimately falls on the end consumer. The GST Council, a joint body of the Centre and states, governs the system. Nine years since its launch, gross GST collections in May 2026 reached approximately 1.94 lakh crore rupees, reflecting how far the reform has matured.

📖 Explanation

The RBI revised the method for identifying Non-Banking Financial Companies in the Upper Layer (NBFC-UL) by introducing an absolute threshold of one lakh crore rupees in asset size. The Upper Layer comprises the largest and most systemically important NBFCs, which face the strictest supervisory requirements. The updated rules also bring eligible government-owned NBFCs into this classification and allow NBFC-UL entities to use State Government guarantees as a credit-risk transfer tool under specified conditions, aligning regulation with principles of prudential supervision.

📖 Explanation

Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu recorded the highest number of dangerous humid-heat days in India, rising from 119 days per year in the 1970s to 273 days during 2016 to 2025. Wet-bulb temperature combines heat and humidity to measure the body ability to cool itself through sweating; high humidity prevents effective evaporation, making heat deadly even at lower air temperatures. Across India, dangerous humid-heat days rose from about 101 per year in the 1970s to 141 per year in the last decade, attributed mainly to human-caused climate change.

📖 Explanation

The 2026 study surveyed 2,224 older persons across ten states and found that approximately 78 per cent had experienced at least one climate-related hazard in the prior three years. Heatwaves were the most common, affecting 45 per cent of respondents, followed by floods and droughts. The finding highlights that climate risk for the elderly is not purely medical but also social and economic, since many lacked savings or care-access needed to recover. India's elderly population, currently about 10 per cent of the total, is projected to reach roughly 20 per cent by 2050.

📖 Explanation

The ePlane Company is based in Chennai and assembled India's first full-scale electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, the e200X, with the prototype named PT-01. An eVTOL can take off and land vertically without requiring a runway, making it suitable for urban air mobility. The aircraft is designed for three markets: passenger air taxi, urban cargo, and air ambulance. The project is significant for demonstrating indigenous capability in advanced aerospace manufacturing under Atmanirbhar Bharat.

📖 Explanation

Three large-scale climate factors worked together to widen India's monsoon deficit to about 43%: a moderate-to-strong El Nino, which warms the central Pacific and suppresses cloud formation; the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) in an unfavourable phase, reducing moisture-carrying cloud bands; and the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) being neutral, offering no compensating boost. El Nino weakens trade winds that carry moisture to the subcontinent, while a positive IOD would normally counter this effect — its absence removes a potential buffer.