January 2026 (3rd week) Current affairs Practice Questions:

India-EU FTA talks began 2007, stalled 2013, relaunched June 2022. EU is India’s largest goods trading partner (~17% exports). Opportunities: zero-duty for textiles, pharma, engineering; services mobility.

Challenges: EU’s CBAM (Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism), stringent labour/environment standards seen as non-tariff barriers; data localization vs free flows; IPR data exclusivity threatening generics; auto/wine tariff cuts; public procurement access conflicting with Aatmanirbhar Bharat.

• Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) is a European Union (EU) environmental policy that places a carbon price on certain energy-intensive goods imported into the EU

Bioeconomy grew 16-fold from 2014 to 2026 (around $10B to $165B+).

• Bio-Industrial 47% (led by E20 ethanol blending achieved 2025, five years early);
• Bio-Pharma 35% (India supplies 65% WHO vaccines);
• Bio-Research & IT 9% (AI drug discovery);
• Bio-Agri 8% (climate-resilient crops).
• Biotech startups rose from 50 to over 11,000.
• New BSL-4 labs (Gujarat, Pune) strengthen pandemic preparedness.

EPI 2024 is 4th edition, assesses states on 4 pillars, 13 sub-pillars, 70 indicators.

Weights:

• Business Ecosystem 40%,
• Export Infrastructure 20%,
• Policy & Governance 20%,
• Export Performance 20%.
• Top large states: Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, UP, Andhra Pradesh.

Nipah is a zoonotic paramyxovirus with fruit bats (Pteropus) as natural reservoir.

• Transmission: bat to human via contaminated date palm sap/fruit, human-to-human via close contact.
• High fatality 40-75%. No specific drug/vaccine; treatment supportive.
• First identified Malaysia 1998-99, India outbreaks in Kerala (2018, 2021, 2023) and West Bengal (2001, 2007).
• Requires BSL-4 containment for research.

Global leaders (SpaceX Falcon 9) use VTVL (vertical takeoff vertical landing) with 30+ reuses, Starship aiming full reusability.

ISRO uses winged body approach: Pushpak RLV-TD for horizontal runway landing (LEX tests 2024-25 successful), and NGLV (Soorya) with reusable first stage using retro-propulsion planned.

• ISRO’s Pushpak (RLV-TD) is a winged, SUV-sized reusable launch vehicle, designed as a flying test bed for autonomous, precise, and hypersonic flight aimed at lowering space access costs. It has successfully completed multiple landing experiments (LEX-01, 02) to validate autonomous runway landings after being dropped from helicopter.
• Next Generation Launch Vehicle (NGLV), internally codenamed Soorya, is India’s upcoming heavy-lift rocket developed by ISRO to support its ambitious Space Vision 2047. It is designed to carry a maximum payload of 30 tonnes to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and up to 10–15 tonnes to Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO).

The World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Risks Report 2026 identified geoeconomic confrontation as the No. 1, most severe risk over the 2-year short-term horizon.

MSMEs:

• ~29-30% GDP,
• employ 28.7 crore (second to agriculture),
• 45-46% exports though only ~1% direct exporters.

MoEFCC January 2026 amendment reclassifies plantation/afforestation on forest land as ‘forestry activity’ not non-forest use, even when done by non-government entities, provided under approved working plans and state forest department supervision. Aims to involve private sector in restoration of degraded forests while maintaining ecological safeguards.

• Tirukkural is classical Tamil text by Thiruvalluvar (circa 5th century CE or earlier). 1330 couplets (kurals) in 133 chapters, divided into three books: Aram (virtue),
• Porul (wealth/polity),
• Inbam (love).
• Secular ethics text, translated into 40+ languages. Part of Sangam literature tradition, revered across India.

Digital attendance aims to improve transparency and quorum monitoring.

• Article 100: quorum is one-tenth of total members.
• Article 118: each House makes rules for procedure.

NASA’s Artemis II is first crewed mission of Artemis program, planned to carry 4 astronauts around Moon (lunar flyby), testing Orion spacecraft and SLS. Follows Artemis I (uncrewed 2022). Crucial for Artemis III lunar landing.