Current Affairs — 25 June 2026

📖 Explanation

Amazon had earlier committed $35 billion for India by 2030; the fresh $13 billion announced on 25 June 2026 raises the five-year planned commitment to over $48 billion. The $88 billion figure refers to Amazon's cumulative stated investment across the entire 2010-2030 period, which is a longer horizon and a different metric. The new funds are primarily directed at expanding AWS data centre capacity in Mumbai and Hyderabad to support AI and cloud services.

📖 Explanation

The southwest monsoon, which runs roughly from June to September, brings approximately three-fourths (about 75%) of India's yearly rainfall. This makes it the single most important seasonal weather event for the country's agriculture, as it determines the success of kharif crops such as rice, pulses and oilseeds. A weak or below-normal monsoon can reduce farm output, raise food prices and slow overall economic growth.

📖 Explanation

El Nino refers to the periodic warming of sea-surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean near South America. This warming disrupts the normal atmospheric circulation patterns and tends to reduce monsoon rainfall over India, though its full effect typically appears with a lag of more than one month after onset. La Nina (the cooling phase) generally has the opposite effect and tends to favour above-normal monsoon rainfall over India.

📖 Explanation

India's Maritime India Vision 2030 sets the goal of placing India among the world's top ten shipbuilding nations by 2030. The more ambitious target of reaching the top five is set for 2047 under the Maritime Amrit Kaal Vision 2047. Currently, the global industry is dominated by China, South Korea, and Japan, with India holding only a small share. The government has backed this ambition with a support package of approximately 70,000 crore rupees covering shipyard capacity, financing schemes, and legal reforms.

📖 Explanation

The golden langur is listed under Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, which confers the highest level of legal protection available under Indian wildlife law. Species listed under Schedule I cannot be hunted, poached, or traded under any circumstances, and violations attract the most stringent penalties. Schedule VI, by contrast, deals with specified plants whose cultivation is regulated, while Schedule II and Schedule IV cover less critically protected fauna categories.

📖 Explanation

The committee headed by scientist K. Kasturirangan proposed marking about 60,000 square kilometres, roughly 37 percent of the Western Ghats chain, as an Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA). Within this zone, activities such as mining, polluting industries, thermal power plants, and large construction would be prohibited. This was a more moderate proposal compared to the earlier Gadgil Committee report, which had recommended far stricter conservation measures across a larger area. The plan has remained stuck for over 12 years due to resistance from state governments.

📖 Explanation

The Brahmaputra originates in the Tibetan Plateau (near Lake Mansarovar) and enters India through Arunachal Pradesh — it is not a Western Ghats river. The Godavari, Krishna, Cauvery, and Periyar all have their origins in the Western Ghats. The Ghats act as a critical watershed for peninsular India: they intercept moisture-laden monsoon winds from the Arabian Sea and force heavy rainfall, which feeds these major river systems that support agriculture and drinking water needs across south and central India.

📖 Explanation

Chabahar is a deep-sea port on Iran's south-eastern (Makran) coast. India has invested in its development because it provides a direct route to landlocked Afghanistan and the broader Central Asian market without crossing Pakistani territory. This is strategically significant because Pakistan does not permit Indian goods to transit through its land borders to Afghanistan. Chabahar thus gives India connectivity it would otherwise lack in that region.

📖 Explanation

The INSTC is approximately 7,200 kilometres long and works by moving cargo from Indian ports by sea to Iran, then overland through Iran and onward through the Caucasus or Central Asia to Russia and Europe. Iran is the indispensable transit country because it bridges the Arabian Sea with the land routes leading north. Supporters argue this corridor could significantly cut travel time and shipping costs compared with the traditional sea route through the Suez Canal.

📖 Explanation

The Siliguri Corridor is a narrow strip of Indian territory in West Bengal, roughly 20 to 22 kilometres wide at its slimmest point. It is the only overland connection between the eight states of India's north-east and the rest of India; there is no alternative land route. Any foreign military or infrastructure presence close to this corridor is treated as a serious strategic concern because threatening or cutting off this strip would effectively isolate the entire north-east from the Indian mainland.

📖 Explanation

The Teesta is a transboundary river that originates in the Indian Himalayas, flows through Sikkim and West Bengal, and then enters Bangladesh. Bangladesh's core demand is a treaty that fixes its share of the river's water during the dry winter season, when river flows are low and both countries need water for agriculture. A proposed India-Bangladesh agreement has remained stalled for years primarily due to objections from within India over how much water could feasibly be allocated to Bangladesh without harming Indian farmers in West Bengal.

📖 Explanation

The Strait of Hormuz is a narrow sea passage between Iran to the north and Oman to the south, connecting the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea. It is one of the world's most critical maritime chokepoints because approximately one-fifth of global oil supply and a significant portion of liquefied natural gas (LNG) transit through it. At its narrowest point the usable shipping lanes are only a few kilometres wide, meaning even brief disruptions can send energy prices rising across the world.

📖 Explanation

There is a constitutional division of responsibilities in India: the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) issues passports after conducting police verification and document checks, while the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) frames citizenship rules and decides citizenship status. This distinction matters because a passport, though strong evidence of nationality, is a travel document and does not by itself create or conclusively prove citizenship. Citizenship in India is governed by Articles 5 to 11 of the Constitution and the Citizenship Act, 1955.

📖 Explanation

The Citizenship Act, 1955 specifies five modes of acquiring Indian citizenship: by birth, by descent, by registration, by naturalisation, and by incorporation of territory into India. 'By domicile' is not a standalone mode under the Act, though domicile is one of the facts considered in determining citizenship by birth under the original Constitution. Citizenship is a legal status that flows from objective facts and is not established by any single document.

📖 Explanation

The 44th Amendment of 1978, enacted after the Emergency period (1975-77), introduced key safeguards against misuse of emergency powers. Most significantly, it substituted the phrase 'internal disturbance' with 'armed rebellion' in Article 352, thereby raising the threshold for declaring a national emergency and making it harder to invoke emergency powers on vague grounds. In contrast, the 42nd Amendment of 1976, passed during the Emergency, made wide-ranging changes that expanded executive power; the 44th Amendment reversed several of those changes.

📖 Explanation

Article 352 of the Indian Constitution empowers the President to proclaim a national emergency if the security of India or any part of its territory is threatened by war, external aggression, or (as amended by the 44th Amendment) armed rebellion. The Emergency of June 1975 was proclaimed under Article 352. Article 356 relates to President's Rule in a state, Article 360 to a financial emergency, and Article 358 deals with the suspension of Article 19 rights during an emergency, making these common distractors in polity questions.

📖 Explanation

The Consumer Protection Act, 2019 defines 'misleading advertisement' under Section 2(28) as one that falsely describes a product, gives a false guarantee, or conceals important information. Section 2(47) separately defines 'unfair trade practice', which covers false claims about the standard, quality, or composition of goods. The CCPA is a statutory regulator set up under the same Act and can act suo motu against such practices. A small back-of-pack disclaimer does not cure a bold misleading claim on the front of a product.

📖 Explanation

The Intelligence Bureau (IB) is India's domestic/internal intelligence agency, responsible for internal security matters such as terrorism, insurgency, and counter-intelligence; it functions under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). The Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) is India's external intelligence agency, gathering intelligence from abroad; it functions under the Cabinet Secretariat, which falls under the Prime Minister's Office. This IB vs RAW distinction, including which ministry each reports to, is a frequently tested point in UPSC, SSC, and Banking current-affairs and polity sections.