The Weekly Ten · 25 July 2026 — studyoptional current affairs

Most CA coverage is built to make you feel like you’ve covered something. This issue is built to make you remember something. We pick less, then make sure what’s left actually survives to exam day.

Some facts take a joke; most take an honest diagram. Every card below says which kind you’re getting — and each carries its full, sourced prelims anatomy beneath the hook, because brevity means cutting the fluff, never the facts UPSC tests.

things this issue keeps

genuine devices — no forced puns

things you need to cram

1 / 10·Sci-Tech

Mnemonic

The one thing to remember

Beginnings bounce, Arrivals stay: 'Prarambh' (=Beginning; Vikram-S, one stage, Nov 2022) pogo-hopped to 88.8 km and came straight home — 'Aagaman' (=Arrival; Vikram-1, four stages, 18 July 2026) checked into Room 450 of the LEO Hotel, third name in the private-orbit guestbook after the US and China.

The facts

Full name: Vikram-1 (mission name: 'Mission Aagaman') — India's first privately developed orbital-class launch vehicle, named after Dr. Vikram Sarabhai
Body / ministry: Built and launched by Skyroot Aerospace (private company); ISRO/Department of Space provided testing facilities, launchpad and mission support at Satish Dhawan Space Centre; IN-SPACe is the sector regulator enabling private launch under the Indian Space Policy 2023
Theme / designation: Mission name is 'Mission Aagaman' (Vikram-1's maiden flight) — DO NOT confuse with Skyroot's earlier private-rocket mission 'Mission Prarambh' (Vikram-S, 2022), a different rocket and a different mission name
Host: Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC SHAR), Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh — India's principal spaceport, owned/operated by ISRO but used here for a private-company launch
Numbers: Launch: 18 July 2026, 06:35:30 UTC (2:35 a.m. Eastern); orbit achieved: 450 km LEO, ~15 minutes after liftoff; rocket: 24 m tall, 1.7 m diameter, 4 stages (3 solid + 1 liquid kick stage), payload capacity 350 kg to LEO (550 kg with 'Vikram-1U' variant)
Date: 18 July 2026 (launch of Vikram-1 / Mission Aagaman)

2 / 10·IR

Moved figure

The one thing to remember

Two arrows, two clocks: UK→India opens 98.8% of tariff lines / 99.5% of trade value — 97.7% of value duty-free on day one. India→UK opens 89.5% of lines / 89.4% of value — but day one is only 64% of lines (30.3% of value), staging to 85% of lines over ten years. Lines and value are different axes; the two arrows are not mirror images.

The facts

Full name: Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between India and the United Kingdom — entered into force alongside the companion 'Agreement on Social Security Contributions' (Double Contribution Convention, DCC), both effective the same date
Body / ministry: Negotiated/signed by India's Ministry of Commerce and Industry (Union Minister Piyush Goyal) and the UK Department for Business and Trade (Secretary of State Jonathan Reynolds); announced via India's Press Information Bureau (PIB)
Theme / designation: 'Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA)' — NOT a 'Free Trade Agreement (FTA)' in India's own official naming, though UK/media sources use 'FTA' interchangeably; PIB calls it India's push to 'Unleash a Next Generation Economic Corridor'
Host: N/A (bilateral trade agreement, not a hosted event) — signed in London, UK on 24 July 2025; entry into force is India + UK jointly, no third-party host
Numbers: Entered into force 15 July 2026. UK's offer to India: tariff liberalisation on 98.8% of tariff lines, covering 99.5% of trade value (of which 97.7% of trade value is immediately duty-free, 0.5% excluded); PIB's rounded figure: '~99% of tariff lines, nearly 100% of trade value'. India's offer to UK: reduces/removes tariffs on ~90% of tariff lines covering ~92% of import value (Commerce Ministry: 89.5% tariff lines/89.4% trade value), with only 64% of tariff lines (≈£1.9bn) immediately duty-free, rising to 85% of tariff lines after a 10-year phase-out. Companion DCC signed 10 Feb 2026, benefits 75,000+ professionals and 900+ companies.
Date: 15 July 2026 — entry into force (agreement concluded/announced 6 May 2025; signed 24 July 2025 in London; DCC signed 10 February 2026)

3 / 10·Economy

Contrast

The one thing to remember

One index, three columns, three toppers — NITI Aayog's first-ever Investment Friendliness Index (IFI) 2026 (17 Jul; 28 States + 8 UTs; 8 pillars / 84 indicators, Infrastructure heaviest at 25%): Large States (17) → Gujarat 56.6 > Maharashtra 53.7 > Tamil Nadu 53.3; Hilly & North-Eastern → Uttarakhand; UTs/City States → Goa; and a shared band above 50 — Top Performers = 5 (Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Goa, Odisha). Not the Export Preparedness Index — that is NITI's separate, older ranking.

The facts

Full name: Investment Friendliness Index (IFI) 2026 — NITI Aayog's first-ever edition of this index
Body / ministry: NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India) — publishing and assessing body; the index is NITI Aayog's own product, not a UN/external agency ranking
Theme / designation: "Investment Friendliness Index (IFI)" — VERBATIM; trap: do not confuse with NITI Aayog's separate, pre-existing "Export Preparedness Index" (where Gujarat is also a repeat topper) — these are two distinct NITI Aayog indices
Host: Not applicable (a NITI Aayog report/ranking, not a hosted event); assessment covers all 28 States and 8 Union Territories of India, grouped into 3 peer groups — Large States, Hilly & North-Eastern States, and UTs/City States
Numbers: Gujarat 56.6, Maharashtra 53.7, Tamil Nadu 53.3 (of 100) — top 3 among the 17-State 'Large States' peer group; 84 indicators across 8 pillars (Infrastructure 25%, Business Climate 20%, Resources 15%, Regulatory Ease 12%, Government Policy 10%, Financial Health 7%, Institutional Environment 6%, Environmental Resilience 5%); 4 performance categories — Top Performers (>50, 5 States: Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Goa, Odisha), Frontrunners (45–50, 15 States), Emerging Performers (40–45, 8), Aspiring States (<40, 8); total coverage 28 States + 8 UTs = 36
Date: 17 July 2026 (release date of the report)

4 / 10·Environment

Infographic

The one thing to remember

Ken gives, Betwa gets: MP's Ken → Daudhan Dam (in Panna Tiger Reserve) → UP's Betwa. Total ₹44,605 cr; inside it sits the Centre's ₹39,317 cr (₹36,290 cr grant + ₹3,027 cr loan). First river link under the National Perspective Plan to win Cabinet approval — December 2021.

The facts

Full name: Ken-Betwa Link Project (KBLP) — the first river-interlinking project under India's National Perspective Plan for Interlinking of Rivers to receive Union Cabinet and financial approval
Body / ministry: Approved by the Union Cabinet on the recommendation of the Ministry of Jal Shakti (Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation); technically anchored by the National Water Development Agency (NWDA); implementation vehicle is the Ken-Betwa Link Project Authority (KBLPA), a special purpose vehicle
Theme / designation: Verbatim per PIB: total cost "assessed at Rs. 44,605 crore at 2020-21 price level"; central assistance "Rs. 39,317 crore" comprising "Rs. 36,290 crore" grant and "Rs. 3,027 crore" loan — do not conflate the total project cost with the (smaller) central-assistance figure
Host: Madhya Pradesh (Ken river stretch; Chhatarpur and Panna districts; site of Panna Tiger Reserve and the Daudhan Dam) and Uttar Pradesh (Betwa river stretch; Bundelkhand districts of Banda, Mahoba, Jhansi, Lalitpur) — joint beneficiary/implementing states, with NWDA/KBLPA as the central implementing body
Numbers: Total cost ₹44,605 crore (2020-21 price level); central assistance ₹39,317 crore (₹36,290 cr grant + ₹3,027 cr loan); annual irrigation 10.62 lakh ha; drinking water for ~62 lakh people; 103 MW hydropower + 27 MW solar power; 8-year implementation period; ~22 villages/7,000+ families affected, 10 villages fully submerged; hunger strike lasted 18 days, ending night of 23 July 2026
Date: Cabinet approval: 8 December 2021 (per PIB PRID 1779306); current event — hunger strike (started early July 2026) called off on 23 July 2026, its 18th day

5 / 10·Polity

Contrast

The one thing to remember

Two-thirds is only half the test, and 'final' is not the last word — Para 4 demands the parent party merge before 6/9 counts, and Para 6's finality still answers to Kihoto (1992) review, which is exactly where the Speaker's 18 July circular now sits.

The facts

Full name: Tenth Schedule to the Constitution of India (the 'Anti-Defection Law', inserted by the 52nd Amendment Act, 1985) — Paragraph 4 is the 'merger' exception to disqualification; Paragraph 6 vests decision-making in the Speaker/Chairman.
Body / ministry: Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Om Birla — the sole 'Presiding Officer' authority under Paragraph 6 of the Tenth Schedule to decide questions of disqualification/merger recognition for Lok Sabha members; his approval was issued via a Lok Sabha Secretariat revision of the House's 'party position' dated 18 July 2026.
Theme / designation: Para 4 (verbatim): merger 'deemed to have taken place if, and only if, not less than two-thirds of the members of the legislature party concerned have agreed to such merger.' Para 6 (verbatim): the Speaker/Chairman's decision on such questions 'shall be final.' TRAP: 'final' does NOT mean unreviewable — Kihoto Hollohan v. Zachillhu (1992) struck down Para 7's judicial-review bar and held Para 6 finality does not exclude review under Arts. 136/226/227 for mala fides, perversity, or constitutional violation.
Host: Parliament of India — the Eighteenth Lok Sabha (New Delhi). Original party: Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), from whose 2024 ticket the six MPs were elected. Recognised merging party: Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde (Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister).
Numbers: 6 MPs merged out of Shiv Sena (UBT)'s 9-member 2024 Lok Sabha contingent — exactly two-thirds (6/9), meeting Para 4's threshold. Shiv Sena (Shinde) Lok Sabha strength: 7 → 13. Shiv Sena (UBT) Lok Sabha strength: 9 → 3. Approval/circular date: 18 July 2026 (two days before the Monsoon Session). SC notice issued on UBT's challenge; hearing listed for 10 August 2026.
Date: 18 July 2026 — date of the Lok Sabha Speaker's approval / Lok Sabha Secretariat circular recognising the merger.

6 / 10·Polity

Contrast

The one thing to remember

Two dials, one clock: HOW MANY seats each State gets — dial stuck at 1971 (42nd Amdt froze, 84th Amdt extended); WHERE the lines run inside a State — dial turned to 2001 (87th Amdt, 2002–08 Delimitation Commission). The stuck dial unfreezes only after the first Census taken AFTER 2026 — not in 2026 itself.

The facts

Full name: The Constitution (Forty-second Amendment) Act, 1976 [original freeze] — extended by the Constitution (Eighty-fourth Amendment) Act, 2001 — with constituency-boundary basis updated by the Constitution (Eighty-seventh Amendment) Act, 2003
Body / ministry: Enacted by Parliament of India / Ministry of Law & Justice (Legislative Department); the boundary-redrawing (not seat-count) part is implemented by the Delimitation Commission of India, which last acted under the Delimitation Act, 2002 using 2001 Census data
Theme / designation: Article 82 proviso (verbatim, as it stood post-1976): 'until the relevant figures for the first census taken after the year 2000 have been published, it shall not be necessary to readjust the allocation of seats in the House of the People to the States... under this article' — the figure '2000' was later substituted with '2026' by the 84th Amendment. TRAP: this freezes the STATE-WISE ALLOCATION of seat numbers, not all delimitation activity.
Host: Not a hosted event — a constitutional freeze administered by Parliament; counterpart implementing body is the Delimitation Commission of India (2002 exercise used 2001 Census data for constituency boundaries within States, per the 87th Amendment)
Numbers: Base year for frozen inter-State seat allocation = 1971 Census; original freeze till first census after 2000 (42nd Amdt, 1976); extended till first census after 2026 (84th Amdt, 2001, in force 21 Feb 2002); constituency-boundary census basis updated 1991→2001 (87th Amdt, 2003); current Lok Sabha strength = 543 seats
Date: 42nd Amendment Act, 1976 (most provisions effective 3 January 1977); 84th Amendment Act, 2001 (in force 21 February 2002); 87th Amendment Act, 2003

7 / 10·Sci-Tech

Contrast

The one thing to remember

Two dengue vaccines, two different 'firsts': Dengvaxia — world's first (Sanofi, approved Mexico 2015, requires prior lab-confirmed dengue, not cleared in India); Qdenga — India's first (Takeda GmbH, CDSCO marketing authorisation 21 Jul 2026, no prior-infection requirement, ages 4–60, two 0.5 ml doses three months apart).

The facts

Full name: Dengue Tetravalent Vaccine (Live, Attenuated) – Qdenga® (also referred to as TAK-003 pre-approval)
Body / ministry: Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), India's national drug regulatory authority, functioning under the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare — CDSCO is the approving/regulatory body, NOT the vaccine developer
Theme / designation: "the first dengue vaccine approved in the country for the prevention of dengue" — VERBATIM from the PIB release; note this is a MARKETING AUTHORISATION for commercial distribution, not a restricted/emergency-use or clinical-trial approval
Host: Developer/Manufacturer: Takeda GmbH, Germany; Indian importer: M/s Takeda Biopharmaceuticals India Pvt. Ltd. — India is the regulatory jurisdiction (CDSCO), the vaccine itself originates from Takeda (Japan-headquartered, manufactured in Germany)
Numbers: Age eligibility 4–60 years; two-dose regimen of 0.5 ml each administered subcutaneously three months apart (month 0 and month 3); already approved in 42 countries with WHO prequalification and over 24 million doses distributed globally before India's approval
Date: 21 July 2026 (CDSCO marketing authorisation reported/dated 21 July 2026)

8 / 10·Social Development

Infographic

The one thing to remember

NAMASTE runs on 2 × 2 × 3: two ministries (MoSJE nodal via NSKFDC + MoHUA), two worker groups (Sewer/Septic Tank Workers + Waste Pickers, added 2024), three protections (PPE kits, AB-PMJAY cover, capital subsidy) — under a three-word promise: dignity, safety, social security.

The facts

Full name: National Action for Mechanised Sanitation Ecosystem (NAMASTE)
Body / ministry: Jointly implemented by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (nodal ministry, delivered via the National Safai Karamcharis Finance & Development Corporation/NSKFDC) and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (anchors urban/ULB delivery) — a Central Sector Scheme, not a single-ministry scheme.
Theme / designation: Minister's stated commitment, VERBATIM: "dignity, safety and social security" for every sanitation worker — trap: many headlines truncate this to just "dignity and safety", dropping "social security"; UPSC could test the complete three-part phrase.
Host: Not a summit — delivery vehicle is India's Urban Local Bodies (ULBs); scheme targets coverage of all 4,800+ ULBs by 2025-26.
Numbers: Outlay Rs. 349.70 crore; 3-year period FY2023-24 to FY2025-26; ~89,915 SSWs and 2,81,117 Waste Pickers validated; 87,037 PPE kits to SSWs and 1,84,118 to Waste Pickers; 76,845 Health Cards (AB-PMJAY) to SSWs and 1,04,729 to Waste Pickers; 753 ERSUs equipped with safety devices (all figures rolling/as of mid-to-late July 2026 — re-verify closer to publish date).
Date: Scheme launched July 2023; implementation window FY2023-24–FY2025-26; Waste Pickers added as a covered category in 2024; Minister Virendra Kumar's 'dignity, safety, social security' statement dated 19 July 2026.

9 / 10·Geography

Mnemonic

The one thing to remember

Bab-el-Mandeb — Arabic for 'Gate of Tears' — is the ~29–32 km strait where the Red Sea narrows into the Gulf of Aden: Yemen holds the Asian gatepost, Djibouti and Eritrea the African one. It is NOT the Strait of Hormuz (which links the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman). Its July 2026 lesson is a mechanism, not a map: a gate needn't close to cost the world — the closure threat alone pushed southern Red Sea war-risk premiums from 0.3% to over 1% of a ship's value, with reroutes around the Cape of Good Hope adding 4,000–6,000 nm.

The facts

Full name: Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb (Arabic: باب المندب) — literally 'Gate of Tears'/'Gate of Grief' ('bab' = gate, 'mandab' = lamentation), per S-BAB-05
Body / ministry: No single administering authority — an international strait under customary transit-passage navigation; oil-flow data tracked officially by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (S-BAB-01, Tier 0); the current crisis is driven by the Yemen-based Houthi movement's declared naval blockade of Saudi Arabia (S-BAB-02)
Theme / designation: "Bab el-Mandeb Strait (translating to Gate of Tears in Arabic)" — VERBATIM per S-BAB-05; do not confuse this Arabic epithet with any nickname of the Strait of Hormuz
Host: Located between the Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of Africa: Yemen borders it on the Asian (northeast) side; Djibouti and Eritrea border it on the African (southwest) side. It connects the Red Sea (leading to the Suez Canal/Mediterranean) with the Gulf of Aden, which in turn opens into the Arabian Sea/Indian Ocean — per S-BAB-01 and S-BAB-05
Numbers: Width ~29 km/18 mi (S-BAB-02) to ~32 km/20 mi (S-BAB-05) at the narrowest point; oil transit = 4.2 million bpd in 1H2025 (S-BAB-01), 4.1 billion barrels in 2024 (~5% of global oil total, S-BAB-02), spiking to 7.4 million bpd (~7% of global oil output) in June 2026 (S-BAB-02); combined closure with Strait of Hormuz could block up to 25% of world oil and gas supply (S-BAB-02); Suez-Red Sea corridor carries ~12-15% of global maritime trade (S-BAB-04) / ~10-12% in normal conditions (S-BAB-05); Cape of Good Hope reroute adds 4,000-6,000 nautical miles and 10-20 days (S-BAB-04); southern Red Sea war-risk insurance premiums rose from 0.3% (mid-July 2026) to over 1% of ship value (July 23, 2026), up to 3% for Saudi-port-linked voyages (S-BAB-03)
Date: Operative trigger event: Houthi naval blockade of Saudi Arabia declared July 20, 2026, with insurance-market escalation through July 23, 2026 (S-BAB-02, S-BAB-03); background context traces to Houthi Red Sea attacks beginning November 2023

10 / 10·Environment

Contrast

The one thing to remember

One nickname, two walls — read the row, not the name: CHINA = Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Program · State Council · 1978→2050 · 13 provinces · straw checkerboards (Shapotou, 1955) || AFRICA = Great Green Wall (Sahara & Sahel) Initiative · African Union / Pan-African Agency, UNCCD partner · 2007→2030 · Dakar→Djibouti, ~8,000 km · 100 M ha restored, 250 M t carbon, 10 M green jobs. Only the African one carries 'Great Green Wall' as its formal name.

The facts

Full name: China: 'Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Program' (popularly the 'Green Great Wall'/'Great Green Wall'); Africa: 'Great Green Wall for the Sahara and the Sahel Initiative' (GGWI)
Body / ministry: China's programme is a state afforestation programme of the Government of China (State Council); Africa's Great Green Wall Initiative is led by the African Union Commission and the Pan-African Agency of the Great Green Wall, with UNCCD as a key international partner/secretariat body
Theme / designation: Verbatim: China — 'Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Program' (S-CN-02); Africa — 'Great Green Wall' / 'Great Green Wall Initiative' (S-AF-01). TRAP: both are colloquially called 'Great/Green Great Wall' — the name alone does not distinguish them; only continent/launch-year/target figures do.
Host: China: spans 13 provinces of northwestern, northern and northeastern China (no single host city; Kubuqi Desert/Inner Mongolia is the emblematic site). Africa: spans the Sahel-Sahara belt across the African continent, from Dakar (Senegal) in the west to Djibouti in the east, implemented across African Union member states.
Numbers: China — launched 1978, planned completion 2050, 13 provinces, straw-checkerboard technique conceived 1955 (Shapotou), desertified land down ~10% since 2000, severe desertification down >40%, forest cover 5% (1978) → 14% (2022), cumulative 500,000 sq km planted, ~300 million rural laborers involved. Africa — launched 2007 by African Union, target year 2030, ~8,000 km span, target 100 million hectares restored, 250 million tons carbon sequestered, 10 million green jobs created.
Date: China's Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Program launched 1978 (straw-checkerboard technique in use for 'half a century'/since 1955 origin); Africa's Great Green Wall Initiative launched 2007 by the African Union.

You finished the week.

That’s the whole magazine — Ten things, not sixty. Before you scroll away, see if they’re actually in your head:

Vikram-1 (Mission Aagaman, 18 July 2026) is India's first private ORBITAL-class rocket — the standing UPSC will most likely swap in is Vikram-S (Mission Prarambh, 18 Nov 2022), which was India's first private rocket launch OVERALL but was only SUBORBITAL (peak altitude 88.8 km, single-stage). Also retain: the 'third country' claim is specifically for PRIVATE orbital launch capability (after US and China) — not a claim about India's overall national space-power ranking.
Do not swap or conflate the two countries' offers or the two metrics. UK→India offer = 98.8% of TARIFF LINES / 99.5% of TRADE VALUE (the more liberal side, near-total access). India→UK offer = only ~90% of tariff lines / ~92% of trade value, and even within that, immediate duty-free covers just 64% of tariff lines — full liberalisation only after a 10-year phase-out (85% of lines). 'Tariff lines %' and 'trade value %' are two distinct axes with different numbers (98.8% ≠ 99.5%) — UPSC will test whether the exact figure and the exact axis (lines vs value, UK-side vs India-side, immediate vs phased) are kept straight.
Gujarat's 56.6 topper status is specific to the 'Large States' peer group (17 major States) — it is NOT the single national topper across all categories: 5 States/UTs share overall 'Top Performer' status (Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Goa, Odisha), and separately Uttarakhand tops the Hilly/North-Eastern group while Goa tops the UTs/City-States group. Retain the three-peer-group structure — do not collapse it into one single all-India ranking.
KBLP is the FIRST river-interlinking project under the National Perspective Plan to secure Cabinet/financial approval — don't confuse it with other proposed links (e.g., Damanganga-Pinjal, Godavari-Cauvery) which remain unapproved. The 'surplus' donor river is the Ken (rises and flows mainly in MP); the 'deficit' recipient is the Betwa (flows on into UP before joining the Yamuna) — do not swap donor/recipient. The dam/submergence is inside Panna Tiger Reserve (MP), not Bandhavgarh, Kanha, or Pench, MP's other well-known tiger reserves. Keep the total project cost (₹44,605 crore) distinct from the central government's assistance share (₹39,317 crore) — the latter is often mistaken for the whole project cost.
Two distinctions UPSC will test: (1) Para 4's protection needs a 'twin test' — an original PARTY-level merger plus two-thirds of the LEGISLATURE party agreeing; a bare two-thirds legislator split without the parent organisation itself merging is exactly what Shiv Sena (UBT) is contesting as invalid before the Supreme Court. (2) The Speaker's Para 6 decision being 'final' is routinely mistaken for 'unchallengeable' — it is only immune from pre-decision/interim interference, and remains subject to limited judicial review (mala fides/perversity/constitutional violation per Kihoto Hollohan, 1992), as this very circular is now being tested in the SC.
UPSC trap: 'freeze on delimitation' does NOT mean constituency boundaries were never redrawn — they WERE redrawn in 2002–08 using 2001 Census figures (via the 87th Amendment). What stayed frozen at 1971 Census levels is only the NUMBER of Lok Sabha/Assembly seats allotted to EACH STATE (inter-State allocation), and that freeze — extended by the 84th Amendment — runs till the first Census taken AFTER 2026, not till '2026' itself or till the 2021/2027 Census figures are published.
Qdenga is India's FIRST approved dengue vaccine, NOT the world's first — Sanofi's Dengvaxia (approved in Mexico in 2015) holds that distinction but is not approved in India and requires prior laboratory-confirmed dengue infection before administration; Qdenga carries no such prior-infection prerequisite and is approved for ages 4-60 regardless of prior exposure. Also retain: CDSCO grants regulatory/marketing approval — it does NOT itself manufacture, develop, or roll out the vaccine (that is Takeda / future NVBDCP-linked immunisation planning), and the approval is a marketing authorisation, not inclusion in India's Universal Immunisation Programme.
NAMASTE is NOT a rebrand of, but replaces, the Self-Employment Scheme for Rehabilitation of Manual Scavengers (SRMS): SRMS covered only legally-classified 'manual scavengers'; NAMASTE covers ALL Sewer and Septic Tank Workers (SSWs) regardless of prior legal classification, plus Waste Pickers (added 2024) — a broader target group under a joint MoSJE+MoHUA structure, not MoSJE alone.
UPSC will most likely test: (1) Bab-el-Mandeb connects the RED SEA to the GULF OF ADEN (not the Persian Gulf) and borders YEMEN (Asia) opposite DJIBOUTI + ERITREA (Africa) — commonly confused with the Strait of Hormuz, which links the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman between Iran and Oman; (2) the financial-shock mechanism is NOT primarily 'lost trade volume' but rerouting distance/time (Cape of Good Hope, +4,000-6,000 nm) and spiking war-risk insurance premiums (0.3%→1%+ of vessel value) — a closure need not be total or permanent to impose major costs, since even the credible threat of closure (as in the July 2026 Houthi blockade declaration) moves insurance and freight costs immediately
UPSC will conflate the two 'Great Green Wall' projects. Retain: China's is the 'Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Program' (1978, state-run, 13 provinces, straw-checkerboard sand-fixation technique) versus Africa's 'Great Green Wall Initiative' (2007, African Union-led, Sahara-Sahel belt, Dakar-to-Djibouti, ~8,000 km, 2030 land-restoration targets) — different continent, different launch year, different lead body, and only the African one is formally named 'Great Green Wall Initiative' in UN/AU documents.

Where this goes next: these become questions on your dashboard next month, so you find out what actually stuck instead of assuming it did.

You finished the week.

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