THE HINDU

Aero India is the Kumbh of research, says Rajnath Singh

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh described Aero India as "the Kumbh of research", as the biennial air show got under way at the Air Force Station in Yelahanka, Bengaluru. Speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the show's 15th edition, Mr. Singh said, "While Maha Kumbh is the Kumbh of introspection, Aero India is the Kumbh of research. While the Maha Kumbh focuses on internal strength, Aero India centres on external strength. While the Maha Kumbh showcases the culture of India, Aero India will display the power of India." The Defence Minister said that between the last edition of the Aero India and now, India had come up with many high-tech products such as the Astra Missile, New Generation Akash Missile, Autonomous Underwater Vehicle, Unmanned Surface Vessel, and the Pinaka Guided Rocket, which were being manufactured within the country.

Maharashtra move to stop funding eggs in MDM sparks concerns

The Maharashtra government's recent decision to withdraw ₹50 crore in funding for eggs and millet-based sweet dishes in State-run schools under the Mid-Day Meal Scheme (MDM) has sparked criticism. "Egg pulao and sweet khichdi/naachni satya... are being given in alternative form. The management committee should try to provide the benefits of the two recipes and the sugar required for other recipes through public participation. No additional funds will be provided by the government," a Government Resolution dated January 28 had stated. An analysis of data from the State budget for 2024- 25 shows that Maharashtra is estimated to spend only 0.04% of its total expenditure of ₹6.12 lakh crore on the Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman Scheme (PM-POSHAN), which provides nutritious food to schoolchildren. The Maharashtra government's spending on PM-POSHAN, including Central grants, has been less than 1% of the total expenditure over the last four years. This share has been steadily on the decline.

Troubled waters

Sri Lankan courts have been imposing hefty fines, complicating their release. Government data over the past decade, based on responses in Parliament, show that in 2024, the number of Indian fishermen arrested in Sri Lanka crossed the 500-mark for the first time in 10 years (528). There were 787 arrests in 2014. Northern Sri Lankan fishermen are seeking a sustainable solution that protects their waters from over-exploitative fishing. Indian fishermen have repeatedly sought a fresh round of talks with their Sri Lankan counter-parts, with the last such meeting having taken place in November 2016. The issue was also raised in the most recent Joint Working Group meeting in Colombo last October. However, the Anura Kumara Dissanayake-led Sri Lankan government appears reluctant to negotiate. New Delhi and Colombo must recognise that a fresh approach is required to break the deadlock rather than continuing with a business-as-usual mindset. Unlike the cases of Indian fishermen detained in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, the arrests in Sri Lanka are significantly higher. New Delhi must introduce incentives to

India as a bridge between the Global North and South

In his address in January 2025, in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, while addressing the 18th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas convention, the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, said, 'Today's India not only firmly asserts its own point but also strongly amplifies the voice of the Global South'. Similarly, when India held the 3rd Voice of Global South Summit 2024, last August, Mr. Modi said that India aspires to lead the required reforms to take developing countries into a new, more inclusive structure of global governance. Trends of foreign direct investments in Africa indicate that India appears to be in a race with China, mainly focusing on countries which already have a significant Chinese presence. Further, industrialised countries are thought to be strategically partnering with India to contain China's rising international footprint. The Quad partnership, an on-going dialogue between Japan, India, Australia and the U.S., for a free and fair Indo-Pacific, is seen as one such attempt. However, the India-China competition does not give the full picture.

The problem of regulating live-in relationships

Uttarakhand recently implemented a Uniform Civil Code (UCC), governing various aspects of civil life. One of the novel aspects of the UCC is that it mandates compulsory registration of opposite-sex live-in relationships, and criminalises those engaged in unregistered non-marital cohabitation. The biggest concerns around non-marital cohabitation tend to be the protection of the interests of the party that is rendered needy (due to childcare or other household responsibilities or a lack of independent income, for example), and of the rights of any children born to the parties. The UCC goes some way towards addressing these concerns. It declares that children born in live-in relationships will be considered legitimate, which is an improvement on the existing position of law whereby only children born through void or voidable marriages (where a marriage takes place but is legally invalid) are deemed legitimate. Two potential problems that might arise around these provisions need consideration. First, the maintenance provision might provide a legal recourse to a woman who has been deserted. However, there is no provision for maintenance upon termination (as opposed to desertion), and termination of a live-in relationship requires nothing more than a statement of termination to be submitted to the registrar by either party.

Centre's allocations for justice-related schemes fluctuate

The Central government has consistently reduced budget allocations to certain justice-related schemes and projects since 2019, shows the recently released India Justice Report 2025-26. Data also show that not only have allocations reduced, but also, only a fraction of the envisaged allocations was actually spent on these schemes. The Modernisation Fund for the State Police Forces was formed to assist special projects and schemes that would upgrade the infrastructure of States' police as well as Crime and Criminal Tracking Net-work and Systems. The Centre estimated a budget of almost ₹900 crore for FY19. This declined to around ₹780 crore in BE for FY21. In FY26, it has come down to 587.97 crore (BE).

What has the Budget offered scientists?

The Budget provides an overall and possibly unprecedented thrust on research and innovation by setting aside ₹20,000 crore for the Department of Science & Technology (DST), and towards research in the private sector, including corporates and startups. There is a focused attempt to bring together academia, the private sector, and startups to work on national missions. The dedicated fund of ₹20,000 crore is part of the ₹1 lakh crore corpus fund announced in the Budget of July 2024 to boost private sector R&D, especially in the deeptech and sunrise sectors. The DST will be the nodal ministry driving this fund. The importance of curiosity-driven science doesn't seem to be a major priority. Much of the funding appears directed towards mission-mode programmes such as nuclear energy, Al, private sector initiatives, etc. Basic science research has taken a backseat as the funding for IISc and the IISERs has been reduced.

HAL renames upgraded trainer aircraft 'Yashas'

The Hindustan Aeronautics Limited's Hindustan Jet Trainer (HJT)-36 was re-named Yashas on the inaugural day of Aero India. The aircraft was earlier called Sitara. The defence PSU said the trainer had undergone extensive modifications to resolve departure characteristics and spin resistance throughout the aircraft envelope. "The large-scale changes to the baseline intermediate training platform has led to significant upheaval in its capabilities and hence provided an opportunity for a new name to be given in accordance with the aircraft's continued relevance as a training system for modern military aviation", said D.K. Sunil, Chairman and Managing Director, HAL. The HAL said that it was capable of Stage II pilot training, counter insurgency and counter surface force operations, armament training, and aerobatics. It added that the capabilities of HJT-36 are stall and spin, aerobatics, armament carriage up to mage 1000 kg, single point ground refuelling and defuelling.

India, U.K. sign several agreements to strengthen defence cooperation

The United Kingdom announced the formal launch of the "Defence Partnership-India", or DP-I, a dedicated cell within the U.K. Ministry of Defence for deepening cooperation with India. The Aero India also saw several defence cooperation agreements between India and the U.K., which covered production of Man Portable Air Defence Systems (MANPADS) and Lightweight Multirole Missiles (LMM), as well as establishment of an Advanced Short-Range Air to Air Missile (ASRAAM) assembly and test facility in India. A Statement of Intent (Sol) was also signed to design and develop an Integrated Full Electric Propulsion (IFEP) system for Indian Navy ships. Thales U.K. and Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) signed a contract that will deliver Laser Beam-Riding MANPADS (LBRMs), with an initial supply of STAR-Streak high-velocity missiles and launchers set for delivery this year. In another development, following the signing of this initial LBRM con-tract, both Thales and BDL will further collaborate to produce LMMs, the statement said.

10.

Stealth aircraft from Russia and U.S. showcase their aerial capabilities

The Su-57, developed by Sukhoi Design Bureau, is Russia's first operational stealth fighter with supersonic cruising speeds, advanced sensor integration, and a wide range of weapons. It can be recalled that India was part of the joint Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft programme with Russia before withdrawing in 2018. After the Russian fifth-generation fighter landed, the U.S.'s F-35 Lightning II took to the skies to demonstrate its capabilities. This is the second time that the U.S stealth aircraft is taking part in Aero India. The F-35A Lightning II is the newest fifth-generation fighter of the USAF with stealth, supersonic, and multi-role capabilities.

11.

How can convicted persons return to make laws, asks SC

The Supreme Court asked how convicted persons could return to Parliament and State legislatures, saying there was an apparent conflict of interest if people found guilty of breaking the law returned as lawmakers. "Once convicted, how can people come back to Parliament and Legislatures? There is an apparent conflict of interest," Justice Dipankar Datta, heading a Bench comprising Justice Manmohan, observed. The court is hearing petitions, including one filed by advocate Ashwini Ku-mar Upadhyay, seeking a lifetime ban on convicted persons from contesting elections. The government, in an affidavit filed by the Ministry of Law and Justice in the top court in 2020, had rejected the idea of a lifetime ban on convicted per-sons contesting elections, or forming or becoming an office-bearer of a political party. The government had maintained that disqualification under Section 8 of the Representation of the People Act of 1951 for the period of the prison sentence and six years thereafter was enough for legislators

12.

Cross-blood transplant performed on a patient with Bombay blood

In a recent paper published in the peer-reviewed journal Kidney International Reports, the team that worked on the transplant - Rajan Ravichandran, Yashwanth Raj T., and Kanakaraj Arumugam - chronicled for posterity how a team of doctors in Chennai pulled off what not long ago might have been put down as a sheer miracle. "It was impossible for Bombay blood group patients to receive blood or organs from another blood group, until it was not," senior nephrologist Dr. Ravichandran explained. The Bombay, a.k.a. HH, blood group is a rare blood group first discovered in Mumbai in 1952 by Y.M. Bhende. The key differences between the Bombay blood group and the common ABO blood groups lie in the presence (or absence) of the H antigen, which is the fundamental building block for the ABO blood group system. In normal individuals, the H antigen serves as the base structure for building A and B antigens. In Bombay blood group individuals, the gene responsible for producing the H antigen is mutated or absent, so neither A nor B antigens can be formed.

13.

Is global warming accelerating?

The world warmed to yet another monthly heat record in January, despite an abnormally chilly US, a cooling La Nina, and predictions of a slightly less hot 2025, according to the European climate service Copernicus. The surprising January heat record coincides with a new study by a climate science heavyweight, former top NASA scientist James Hansen, and others arguing that global warming is accelerating. It's a claim that's dividing the research community. January 2025 globally was 0.09 degrees C warmer than January 2024, the previous hottest January, and was 1.75 C warmer than it was before industrial times, Copernicus calculated. It was the 18th month of the last 19 that the world hit or passed 1.5 C above pre-industrial times. Scientists won't regard the limit as breached until global temperatures stay above it for 20 years. The big natural factor in global temperatures is usually the natural cycle of changes in the equatorial Pacific Ocean waters. When the central Pacific is especially warm, it's an El Nino and global temperatures tend to spike. Last year was a substantial El Nino, though it ended last June, and the year was the hottest on record.

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