1 . Annual Survey of Industries (ASI) 2024–25
Syllabus Mapping: GS-III: Indian Economy | Manufacturing Sector | Industrial Growth | Employment | National Income Accounting
- ASI is conducted by the National Statistical Office (NSO), MoSPI and is the principal source of statistical information on the organised/registered manufacturing sector.
- MoSPI released the ASI 2024–25 results for the reference period April 2024–March 2025; fieldwork was conducted from October 2025 to June 2026.
- The number of registered manufacturing establishments increased from 60 lakh to 2.67 lakh, a growth of 2.64% over ASI 2023–24.
- Gross Value Added (GVA) increased from ₹24.58 lakh crore to ₹26.94 lakh crore, registering 59% growth.
- Fixed capital increased by 54%, while invested capital — fixed capital plus physical working capital — increased by 11.10%.
- Employment in the registered manufacturing sector increased from 96 crore to 2.10 crore persons, registering 7.19% growth; total emoluments increased by 12.08%.
- Industrial output increased by 7.81%, while net income increased by 9.68% and net profit by 7.73%.
- The five leading industries — basic metals, motor vehicles, chemicals & chemical products, pharmaceuticals and food products — together contributed more than 45% of total manufacturing GVA.
- Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh were the top five States in manufacturing GVA, together accounting for more than 54% of all-India manufacturing GVA.
- Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana were the top five States in manufacturing employment, together accounting for about 56% of total manufacturing employment.
- ASI broadly covers factories registered under Sections 2m(i) and 2m(ii) of the Factories Act, 1948, along with specified bidi & cigar establishments, certain electricity undertakings and eligible establishments with 100 or more employees in State Business Registers.
- ASI follows an establishment approach, meaning data are collected from individual establishments rather than treating the enterprise as the primary unit for data collection.
- Data are collected through a dedicated web portal under the Collection of Statistics Act, 2008, as amended in 2017.
2. Green Energy Corridor Phase-III (GEC-III)
Syllabus Mapping: GS-III: Infrastructure | Energy | Renewable Energy | Power Sector Reforms | Energy Security | Climate Change
- The Union Cabinet approved Green Energy Corridor Phase-III (GEC-III) to strengthen the Intra-State Transmission System (InSTS) for evacuation and grid integration of up to 135 GW of renewable energy across States/UTs.
- Of this, ₹1,36,378 crore is allocated for development of Intra-State Transmission Systems, while ₹50,000 crore is allocated for 50 GWh of Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS).
- The scheme provides total Central Financial Support (CFS) of ₹54,082 crore, which will help offset intra-state transmission charges and thereby reduce the transmission-related cost of renewable power for end users.
- The 50 GWh BESS will be deployed at renewable-energy developer/generator ends or other strategically important locations to provide grid flexibility and address renewable-energy intermittency, congestion, peak-hour curtailment and non-solar-hour demand.
- For the InSTS component, greenfield projects will follow Tariff Based Competitive Bidding (TBCB), while brownfield upgradation and network strengthening will be undertaken on a Cost Plus Basis (CPB).
- State Transmission Utilities (STUs) will serve as the overall implementing agencies, while Transmission Service Providers selected through TBCB will operate under the Build-Own-Operate-Maintain (BOOM)
- GEC-III is intended to support India’s target of 900 GW installed non-fossil capacity by 2035, while strengthening long-term energy security and reducing the carbon footprint of the power sector.
- A Green Energy Corridor is essentially a transmission infrastructure framework for integrating large-scale renewable-energy generation with the electricity grid and enabling its evacuation to demand centres.
- Intra-State Transmission System (InSTS) refers to transmission infrastructure within a State/UT; GEC-III therefore focuses on strengthening transmission within States/UTs for renewable-energy integration.
- Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) store electricity when supply is available and release it when required, helping with peak demand, renewable intermittency, congestion management and grid balancing.
- BOOM (Build-Own-Operate-Maintain) means the transmission service provider builds, owns, operates and maintains the transmission asset under the applicable transmission arrangement.
3. CHIME Telescope – Hydrogen Mapping & Dark Energy
Syllabus Mapping: GS-III: Science & Technology | Astronomy & Space Science | Radio Astronomy | Cosmology | Dark Energy
- The Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) telescope has, for the first time using only its own data, detected the faint radio glow of hydrogen from a period when the universe was about 5 billion years old.
- The international collaboration includes researchers from India, including scientists from the Raman Research Institute (RRI), an autonomous institute of the Department of Science & Technology (DST).
- CHIME is an interferometric radio telescope in Canada designed to map the distribution of hydrogen gas in the universe and use this distribution to study cosmic expansion and dark energy.
- The detected signal comes from neutral atomic hydrogen, whose faint radio emission acts as a tracer of the distribution and clustering of matter across the universe.
- Earlier, CHIME observations had to be cross-correlated with galaxy-survey data from other telescopes; the new result demonstrates that CHIME can detect and analyse the hydrogen signal independently using its own observations.
- The technique can potentially provide a faster and less expensive method for studying cosmic expansion and testing competing theories about the nature of dark energy.
- The accompanying analysis found that approximately 2% of the hydrogen was in neutral atomic form at the observed cosmic epoch, broadly consistent with other measurements.
- CHIME has nearly seven years of observational data, and researchers plan to extend the analysis to earlier periods when the universe was about three billion years old.
- Hydrogen intensity mapping measures the combined radio emission from large amounts of hydrogen rather than individually resolving and cataloguing every galaxy, allowing large-scale mapping of the distribution of matter.
- Neutral atomic hydrogen emits the characteristic 21-cm radio signal due to the hyperfine transition of neutral hydrogen; its redshifted signal can be used to trace hydrogen across different cosmic epochs.
- Interferometric radio telescopes combine signals received by multiple antennas to obtain information about astronomical radio sources and improve angular-resolution and measurement capabilities.
4. ASEAN–India Maritime Exercise (AIME-2026)
Syllabus Mapping: GS-II: India–ASEAN Relations | GS-III: Maritime Security | Indian Ocean & Indo-Pacific | Defence Cooperation
- The Second Edition of ASEAN–India Maritime Exercise (AIME-2026) commenced at Subic Bay, Philippines, on 28 September 2026, with participation from the Indian Navy and maritime forces of ASEAN Member States.
- India is participating with INS Sahyadri and INS Kulish under the theme “Anchored in Trust, United at Sea.”
- The Harbour Phase includes Subject Matter Expert Exchanges, sporting and cultural activities, community engagement and Operational Synchronisation, followed by a Pre-Sail Brief.
- The exercise will subsequently enter the Sea Phase, involving coordinated maritime exercises and operational serials to enhance professional understanding, operational coordination and interoperability.
- AIME-2026 is intended to strengthen mutual understanding, practical cooperation and interoperability between the Indian Navy and ASEAN maritime forces.
- The exercise advances India’s Act East Policy and the vision of MAHASAGAR – Mutual and Holistic Advancement for Security and Growth Across Regions
- ASEAN comprises 11 Southeast Asian member states and is an important institutional pillar of India’s engagement with Southeast Asia and the wider Indo-Pacific. Timor-Leste become the latest member.
- India became a Sectoral Dialogue Partner of ASEAN in 1992, a Full Dialogue Partner in 1995; the first ASEAN–India Summit was held in 2002, and the relationship was elevated to a Strategic Partnership in 2012.
5. CAG–BHASHINI Anuvaad
Syllabus Mapping: GS-II: E-Governance | Digital Governance | GS-III: Artificial Intelligence | Digital Public Infrastructure |
- Digital India BHASHINI Division (DIBD) under Digital India Corporation (DIC), MeitY, in collaboration with the CAG, launched “CAG-BHASHINI Anuvaad” on 30 September 2026.
- The solution is an AI-enabled document translation system developed by BHASHINI specifically to support translation of official CAG documents and audit-related reports.
- It brings Language AI into institutional workflows, with emphasis on consistent terminology, contextual translation and quality of output, while retaining human oversight.
- The initiative aims to make audit findings and official information more accessible to citizens in Indian languages, thereby supporting multilingual and inclusive governance.
- BHASHINI currently supports 36 Indian text languages, 23 Indian voice languages and 35 international languages.
- BHASHINI is being used for public-service applications including multilingual agricultural advisories, voice-enabled grievance registration and processing, and conversational voice/telephone-based services.
- BHASHINI is India’s national platform for AI-powered multilingual language technology, aimed at reducing language barriers in access to digital public services.
