22nd edition of India-US joint military exercise Yudh Abhyas began at the Auli Foreign Training Node in Uttarakhand between India and US Army contingents.

AboutExercise Yudh Abhyas

• Genesis: Since 2004, this joint Military Exercise has been held annually between India and USA militaries.
• Aim: Focus on interoperability, joint planning and execution, while allowing both armies to exchange operational practices, tactics, techniques and procedures.

A Panama flagged oil tanker MT El Gaia, recently struck in the Strait of Hormuz, was reportedly operating as part of a "dark fleet" to conceal its location.

What is Dark Fleet ( aka shadow fleet)

• Vessels that use deceptive shipping practices like AIS disabling, GPS manipulation (spoofing) to move sanctioned commodities while concealing their true origin, ownership, or destination
  • AIS Disabling: Deliberately switch off their Automatic Identification System transponders to evade public tracking systems
• Grey fleet: It categorises vessels that display suspicious or anomalous behaviour such as irregular routing, but are not formally sanctioned and may not deliberately disable tracking systems.

DRDO has successfully demonstrated and implemented indigenous GaN MMIC Technology.

About GaN MMIC Technology

• Origin: developed by DRDO in 2024, allowing India to enter elite club of 7 countries, US, Russia, France, Germany, South Korea, China, having this technology 
• About: It is a tiny, super-powerful computer chip built on a special chemical material that handles extremely high-frequency wireless signals without melting.
• It’s an all-in-one chip to manage invisible wireless waves (microwaves).
• GaN is a semiconductor with wider Bandgap compared to silicon making it faster and more thermally and electrically efficient
  • GaN chips can deliver up to 30 watts of power and operate at speeds 300 times faster than silicon.

The Institute for Plasma Research in Gandhinagar, Gujarat successfully commissioned and integrated an advanced 82.6 GHz, 400-kilowatt (kW) Gyrotron system into India's flagship SST-1 (Steady State Superconducting Tokamak).

• SST-1 is a doughnut-shaped experimental device designed to study magnetically confined plasma.

About Gyrotron

• Gyrotrons are plasma-heating devices that generate high-intensity beams of electromagnetic radiation that correspond to the resonant frequency of electrons.
• Applications:
  • Nuclear Fusion: Used in Electron Cyclotron Resonance Heating (ECRH) systems to heat reactor plasma to millions of degrees.
  • Advanced Research: Powers high-frequency spectroscopy and modern material processing tasks.
  • Geothermal Drilling: Explored as a high-energy millimeter-wave source to vaporize deep rock layers for crust penetration

Six States including Uttar Pradesh,Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi signed the Kishau Multipurpose Dam Project agreement.

About Kishau Multipurpose Project

• It is a proposed dam and hydropower project on the Tons River, a major tributary of the Yamuna. 
• Key features:
  • Location: along the Himachal Pradesh–Uttarakhand border, 
  • Details: envisages a 232.6-metre-high concrete gravity dam that will generate 1,476 million units of clean hydropower.

President of India greets people on Nuakhai, calling it a symbol of social and family bonding.

About Nuakhai

• The word “Nuakhai” comes from two Odia words: “Nua” which means new and “khai” means food or eating.
• It is traditionally observed as a thanksgiving for a good harvest, adequate rainfall and favourable weather conditions for agricultural activities. 
• Social Significance: Nuakhai emphasizes gratitude toward nature, preservation of agrarian culture, and the strengthening of community solidarity across social boundaries.

"SpeedSeed Phenotyping and Resource Optimization for Unified Trait Analysis" (SPROUT) facility was inaugurated at BRIC-National Institute of Plant Genome Research (BRIC-NIPGR), New Delhi,

About SPROUT Facility:

• It is a season-independent, controlled-environment facility designed for high-throughput phenotyping, precision stress screening and evaluation of germplasm, breeding populations,etc.
• It aims to accelerate the development and deployment of climate-resilient crop varieties suited to changing environmental stress conditions, supporting India's food security goals.

India joined the IAEA's ATLAS initiative to examine civilian nuclear use at sea which will help its low-carbon energy plans and maritime expansion strategy.

About ATLAS Project

• Nodal Agency: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
• Launched in: Washington DC, USA in September 2026.
• Objectives: to support the safe, secure and peaceful use of nuclear power, specifically Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), in civilian shipping and floating nuclear power plants.
• Significance 
  • Decarbonizing Shipping: International maritime organisation has targeted to reach net zero by 2050.
  • Safety: it will develop safety standards, security guidelines, liability rules etc.for deploying nuclear reactors in maritime environments.

Recently, 25th Anniversary of ICWA as an Institution of National Importance was celebrated.

About ICWA (HQ: New Delhi)

• Origin: established in 1943 by a group of Indian intellectuals as a think tank.
  • It is registered as a  non-profit organisation under the Registration of Societies Act 1860
  • Act of Parliament in 2001, ICWA has been declared an institution of national importance.
• Leadership: Vice President of India is the ex-officio President of ICWA.
• Funding: funded by the Ministry of External Affairs.
• Functions: devoted exclusively for the study of international relations and foreign affairs.