UPSC Daily News Summaries: Essential Current Affairs, Key Issues and Important Updates for Civil Services

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Daily News Capsules

1. Khaleda Zia, 1st woman PM of Bangladesh, dies

Khaleda Zia, who became Bangladesh’s first female prime minister in 1991 and went on to develop a bitter rivalry with Sheikh Hasina as they spent decades trading power, died on Tuesday after a long illness. She was 80. Her Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) said she died after a prolonged illness. She had advanced cirrhosis of the liver, arthritis, diabetes, and chest and heart problems, her doctors said. She went to London for medical treatment in early 2025, staying for four months before returning home. Though Khaleda had been out of power since 2006 and spent several years in jail or under house arrest, she and the centre-right BNP continued to command much support. The BNP is seen as the frontrunner to win the parliamentary election slated to take place in February. Her son and acting chairman of the party, Tarique Rahman, 60, returned to the country last week from nearly 17 years in self-exile and is widely seen as a strong candidate to become prime minister. Since August 2024, after a student-led uprising led to Hasina’s ouster, Bangladesh has been run by an interim government headed by Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel peace laureate and microfinance pioneer. In November, Hasina, who fled to India, was sentenced to death in absentia for her deadly crackdown on the student protests. However, the country has been roiled by protests and violence this month amid escalating discord against the stand-in administration.

Possible Question

Leadership deaths, exile, and interim governments often coincide in periods of political churn. Analyse how such transitions in neighbouring countries can complicate India’s security, migration management, and diplomatic engagement, using Bangladesh as a case study.

2. UAE exits Yemen after proxy hit by Saudi coalition bombing

The United Arab Emirates said on Tuesday it was pulling its remaining forces out of Yemen after Saudi Arabia backed a call for UAE forces to leave within 24 hours, in a major crisis between the two Gulf powers and oil producers. Hours earlier, Saudi-led coalition forces had attacked the southern Yemeni port of Mukalla. The airstrike on what Riyadh said was a UAE-linked weapons shipment was the most significant escalation to date in a widening rift between the two Gulf monarchies. Once the twin pillars of regional security, the Gulf heavyweights have seen their interests diverge on everything from oil quotas to geopolitical influence. The UAE defence ministry said it had voluntarily ended the mission of its counterterrorism units in Yemen, its only forces still there after it “concluded” its military presence in 2019. The ministry said its remaining mission was limited to “specialised personnel as part of counterterrorism efforts, in coordination with relevant international partners”. In a statement, it said recent developments had prompted a comprehensive assessment, the state news agency WAM reported. Saudi Arabia had accused the UAE of pressuring Yemen’s separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC) to push towards the kingdom’s borders, and declaring its national security a “red line”. It was Riyadh’s strongest language yet in the falling-out between the neighbours, who once cooperated in a coalition against Yemen’s Iran‑aligned Houthis but have seen their interests there steadily diverge.

Q: The rift between Saudi Arabia and the UAE highlights divergences within seemingly aligned regional powers. Analyse how intra-alliance conflicts affect proxy wars and regional security architectures in West Asia. What does this episode reveal about the limits of coalition warfare?

3. Textiles to safety: Rejig in standards for export fillip

India is stepping up efforts to align its products with global quality benchmarks, with the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) notifying a fresh set of new and revised norms for textiles, aerospace materials, smart mobility, mining safety and agro-textiles. The move is aimed at modernising legacy norms, covering emerging technologies, and improving global competitiveness of Indian products, even while giving industry a transition window to adapt. In total, around 30 new standards, which are voluntary for compliance, were released by the government on December 27. A major focus is on textiles, with the BIS revising standards for cotton fibres, handloom cotton shirting, drill fabric, and khadi products, replacing norms that in some cases dated back more than four decades. The latest specifications are expected to improve consistency in quality assessment, support exporters facing tight overseas scrutiny, and boost consumer confidence, besides removing ambiguity for manufacturers. The latest update to standards assumes significance as the government has withdrawn 25 quality control orders (QCOs) between mid-November and early December, even as it launched over 15 new standards in the same period. The number of new standards notified is now close to 50. The standards create a pipeline for future regulation as they can be later converted into mandatory QCOs. Experts say the latest standards are designed to be flexibile. They prepare exporters to be competitive with quality matching global norms. “Global buyers increasingly expect uniform quality and safety benchmarks and countries that fail to meet them risk losing market access,” said Rahul Mehta, chief mentor of the Clothing Manufacturers Association of India. Yet, since these standards are voluntary, manufacturers are not compelled to comply immediately.

Q: India is increasingly using voluntary standards as precursors to mandatory regulation. Examine how standard-setting institutions like BIS can influence export competitiveness without imposing immediate compliance costs. What risks arise if standards are misaligned with industry capacity?

4. Sports ministry promises revamp of administration

An Abhinav Bindra-led Task Force set up by the sports ministry has pointed out “systemic deficits” in India’s sports administration, including “inadequate and ill equipped” athletes for governance roles, and recommended the setting up of an autonomous statutory body to train a specialised cadre including IAS officers. The 170- page report of the Task Force has been submitted to sports minister Mansukh Mandaviya, who on Tuesday said “all its recommendations will be implemented”. To address the current “gaps” that ail the SAI, the National Sports Federations (NSFs), and the state departments, the committee has recommended that a National Council for Sports Education and Capacity Building (NCSECB) be set up under the ministry “to regulate, accredit, and certify sports administration training.” The nine-member Task Force was set up in August this year and featured, among others Adille Sumariwala and former TOPS CEO Cdr. Rajesh Rajagopalan. The panel highlighted lack of a professional cadre of sports administrators, and outdated training opportunities for them with “limited focus on competencies or continuous professional development.” It also said that most athletes are “ill-equipped” when it comes to skills needed to transition from their sporting careers into administrative roles. “This report is both diagnostic and prescriptive. It identifies the structural, functional, and systemic gaps that currently constrain sports governance, but more importantly, it charts a roadmap for transformation,” said Bindra in its preface.

Q: Poor governance has often been cited as a constraint on India’s sporting performance. Critically examine the case for creating a professionalised cadre of sports administrators through statutory institutions.

5. CJI Kant initiates key procedural reset at SC

Through two administrative circulars issued on Monday, the Supreme Court formally operationalised reforms that Chief Justice of India Surya Kant had flagged soon after assuming office on November 24, including reducing delays, rationalising court time, and ensuring that the justice system meaningfully served ordinary litigants and

vulnerable groups. The first circular mandates that all lawyers, including senior

advocates, will now be bound by prefixed and strictly enforced timelines while arguing cases. Under the new regime, senior advocates, arguing counsel, and advocates-on record will be required to submit proposed timelines for their oral arguments at least one day before the hearing. Further, counsel must also file a brief note or written submission, not exceeding five pages, at least three days before the hearing after serving a copy on the opposing side. People aware of the development told HT that the new framework sought to bring predictability to hearings, allowing benches to plan their time more efficiently while ensuring that no single matter disproportionately consumed judicial hours at the cost of others. The second circular restructured the order in which matters are listed on miscellaneous days, introducing four new categories that explicitly prioritise cases involving vulnerable sections of society. As per the revised causelist structure, matters will now be taken up in a specified sequence, beginning with early hearing applications, fresh matters, and bail cases, and moving through post-notice interim matters, settlement cases, and personal appearance cases. Significantly, the court has introduced four new priority heads: cases relating to specially abled persons and acid attack victims; cases involving senior citizens above the age of 80; cases concerning persons below the poverty line; and legal aid matters.

Possible Question

Procedural reforms aimed at time management and prioritisation of vulnerable litigants seek to improve judicial efficiency. Analyse how administrative changes within the judiciary can enhance access to justice without compromising judicial

independence.

Editorial Snapshots

A. The hills will stay alive, for now

In a welcome course correction, the Supreme Court, revisiting its ruling on the definition of the Aravallis suo motu, decided to stay its November 20 order. The court also decided to constitute a high-powered expert committee to assess concerns relating to the height-based definition, ecological continuity, and permissible mining. The Centre must now put on hold all policy pronouncements regarding the Aravallis, pending closure of the matter in court. At the heart of the current debate is the Centre’s decision to open up the Aravallis for exploration and mining of critical minerals and infrastructure projects. This is deemed necessary for economic and strategic reasons, though the minister for environment promised that only 0.19% of the Aravallis will be impacted by mining. This is a vague claim since the area under threat would depend on what is deemed as the Aravallis, and experts have widely different estimates on the area that will lose protection. The central panel had proposed that only landforms located in the 37 Aravalli districts, having an elevation of 100 metres or more above the local relief, should be deemed as a part of the mountain. This would mean that large stretches of the range would not be defined as Aravallis, and hence, could be delineated for mining or other infrastructure. Ironically, the court-appointed Central Empowered Committee in March 2024 backed the Forest Survey of India, which, as per the directions of the Supreme Court in 2010, said all terrain with a slope of three degrees or more should be deemed a part of the Aravalli range. This seems to be a more scientifically rigorous approach to protect an ecologically sensitive region. The two-billion-year-old Aravallis act as a natural boundary to the Thar desert and protect Delhi and its neighbourhood from desertification, serve as a natural water recharge facility, and provide biodiversity-rich green cover in an otherwise arid region. The region is already facing a shortage of clean air and water, and any further harm to the Aravallis will exacerbate an already grievous public health and resources crisis.

Q: Disputes over defining ecologically sensitive areas often reflect tensions between scientific criteria and economic imperatives. Examine how judicial oversight can mediate such conflicts while ensuring environmental protection does not become administratively arbitrary.

B. Poll pressures force a reunion of Pawars

Blood is thicker than ideology is a truism when it comes to Indian politics. So, it is no surprise that Sharad and Ajit Pawars have come together to fight municipal elections in Pune and neighbouring Pimpri-Chinchwad corporations. On Sunday, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) factions announced a seat deal for the January 15 municipal elections. What makes the arrangement interesting is Ajit Pawar continues to be a deputy chief minister in the BJP-led state government even as his party joins hands with NCP (Sharad Pawar) to take on the BJP — and the Congress, the largest group in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) mentored by Sharad Pawar — in Pune district. The reasons behind this political realignment are simple. One, since the bitter split in 2023, the NCP has been losing ground in its strongholds in Western Maharashtra. The NCP (Ajit Pawar) was decimated in the Lok Sabha elections, which saw the NCP (SP) do well. But the scenario changed in the assembly polls when the senior Pawar’s political outfit was swept away in the NDA tsunami. The Pawars realise that, irrespective of the poll outcome, the levers of power in Maharashtra, including in their own backyard in the Pune region, are now with the BJP. It’s been some time since the BJP expanded its footprint into urban pockets in Western Maharashtra — the party had won both Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad corporations in 2017 and the Pune Lok Sabha seat in 2014. Any further erosion of influence at the grassroots would severely curtail the organisational strength as well as the negotiating power of the NCPs in Maharashtra politics. If the pre poll alliance is a first step towards a merger of two factions or triggers a realignment in state politics will depend on many other factors, including the local bodies poll outcome.

Q: Municipal elections are increasingly becoming strategic battlegrounds for state-level political negotiations. Examine how urban local bodies function as instruments of political consolidation and bargaining. To what extent can municipal success reshape power equations at the state level?

Fact of the day

Employment at private banks declines in FY25: Private sector banks reported a decline in the total number of employees in FY25, while their government-owned peers saw a marginal increase, data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) showed on Monday. The overall banking system’s employees increased primarily on the back of additions by small finance banks (SFBs), according to the data. The number of employees engaged by public sector banks increased to 757,641 from 756,015 in the year-ago period, while the same for private sector banks declined to 838,150 from 845,407 employees in FY24, the data showed. The banking system employees increased to 1.808 million from 1.787 million in the year-ago period, it said, adding that a growth of nearly 16,000 employees at small finance banks, which now have 177,000 people on their rolls, helped the staff number. Among major lenders, SBI reported an increase in the overall employees to 236,226 from 232,296 a year ago, while HDFC Bank’s base increased marginally to 2,14,521 in FY25 from 213,527 in FY24, the RBI said. ICICI Bank, the country’s second largest lender among the private sector banks, showed a sharp decline in employees to 130,957 from 141,009 in FY24, the RBI said. Among SFBs, SU Small Finance Bank is the largest employer with a base of 50,946 staffers