NATIONAL UPDATES:
1. Election Commission Holds CEOs’ Conference to Prepare
for IICDEM 2026 in New Delhi: Election Commission of India held a conference
of Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) in New Delhi to prepare for the
India International Conference on Democracy and Election Management (IICDEM
2026), scheduled from January 21–23 at Bharat Mandapam. Theme: Democracy
for an inclusive, peaceful, resilient and sustainable world Discussions focused
on 36 thematic groups covering key aspects of election management, aimed at
building a structured global knowledge base from the experiences of Election
Management Bodies worldwide. IICDEM 2026 is expected to be the largest
international event hosted by India in the field of election management, with
nearly 100 international delegates, multiple plenary sessions, bilateral
meetings and participation from leading academic institutions. About IICDEM (India International Conference on Democracy
and Election Management): The India International Conference on Democracy and
Election Management (IICDEM) is a global platform initiated by the Election
Commission of India (ECI) to promote dialogue, cooperation and
knowledge-sharing on democratic processes and election management. Director
General – Rakesh Kumar Verma
2. Assam Hosts Two-Day National Textiles Ministers’
Conference to Boost India’s Textile Sector: The National Textiles Ministers’ Conference
2026 was held in Guwahati, Assam, organised by the Ministry of
Textiles in collaboration with the Government of Assam under the theme
“India’s Textiles: Weaving Growth, Heritage & Innovation”. The conference
will focus on policy reforms, infrastructure development, sustainability,
exports and technological innovation, aligning with the vision of making India
a global textile manufacturing hub by 2030 and the principle of “Vikas Bhi,
Virasat Bhi”.The inaugural session will be attended by Union Textiles Minister
Giriraj Singh, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and MoS for Textiles
Pabitra Margherita, along with the launch of an exhibition showcasing India’s
textile capabilities and heritage.
3. Department of Posts and Ministry of Rural Development
Sign MoU to Boost Rural Financial Inclusion: The Department of Posts (DoP) and
the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) signed an MoU
to strengthen cooperation for inclusive and sustainable rural development,
with a focus on expanding financial services in rural areas.The collaboration
aligns with the Government’s vision of “Dak Sewa, Jan Sewa”, positioning India
Post as a key driver of the rural economy and leveraging its vast postal
network.Under the MoU, India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) will provide digitally
enabled doorstep banking services, including savings, payments and remittances,
benefiting rural women, Self-Help Groups (SHGs) and community institutions.
4. India’s
Coal Sector at 250: From Colonial Fuel to Next-Generation Energy Backbone: As India steps into
2026, a long view of its coal sector reveals a rare story of reinvention. Few
sectors have travelled such a sweeping arc — from colonial extraction to
nationalisation-induced stagnation, and now to a technologically modern,
policy-driven reset. Over the last 11 years in particular, coal has been
reimagined not as a sunset fuel, but as a strategically upgraded pillar of
India’s energy and industrial system.The recent launch of India’s first-ever
auction of underground coal gasification blocks captures this shift. Alongside
renewable integration by coal PSUs, washed coal, carbon-capture pilots, digital
mine monitoring and advanced logistics, it signals that coal’s future role will
look very different from its past.Coal’s story in India is inseparable from the
country’s economic history. Commercial mining began in 1774 at the Raniganj
coalfields, when Sumner and Heatley extracted coal despite scepticism from
colonial authorities about its quality. The turning point came in 1853 with the
Howrah–Raniganj railway link, which connected scattered mines to markets and
laid the foundation for scale.By the late 19th century, coal powered steam
engines, factories and railways, anchoring India’s early industrial base. The
Bengal Coal Company emerged as the first joint-stock coal enterprise,
signalling coal’s transition from a local resource to a systemic industrial
input.
INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:
1. India–Oman
CEPA Explained: What the Trade Pact Delivers for Exports, Services and Jobs: The Comprehensive
Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between India and Oman marks a decisive upgrade in
bilateral economic ties. Rather than a narrow tariff-cutting deal, the CEPA
creates a single, predictable framework covering goods, services, investment,
professional mobility and regulatory cooperation. With bilateral trade reaching
“$10.61 billion in FY 2024–25”, the agreement seeks to convert steady growth
into sustained, diversified expansion—while protecting sensitive domestic
sectors through calibrated safeguards. A CEPA goes beyond trade in goods. It
brings together market access for services, investment facilitation, mobility
of professionals, dispute settlement and cooperation on regulations. Crucially,
it also allows for mutual recognition arrangements—acknowledging different
regulatory systems where outcomes are equivalent. For businesses, this
translates into lower compliance friction, faster approvals and greater
certainty over long-term market access. Trade and commerce have long anchored
India–Oman relations. In FY 2024–25, bilateral trade rose to “$10.61 billion”, up
from “$8.94 billion” a year earlier. India’s exports stood at “$4.06 billion”,
while imports—largely energy-linked—were “$6.55 billion”. Services trade has
also expanded steadily, led by telecom, IT, business services, transport and
travel, providing a strong foundation for a comprehensive agreement.
2. Why
Trump’s Greenland Remarks Expose the Power Imbalance Inside NATO: Soon after the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás
Maduro, senior officials in the administration of U.S. President “Donald Trump”
made an extraordinary claim: Greenland, an
autonomous territory belonging to Denmark, should
become part of the United States. Denmark has
firmly rejected the idea, making clear it has no intention of ceding Greenland. Analysts
warn that any attempt by Washington to forcibly take over the territory would
strike at the very foundations of the “North Atlantic Treaty Organization” (NATO), potentially
triggering its collapse.The controversy has brought into sharp focus not just
the geopolitics of the Arctic, but also the deep economic and military asymmetries
that underpin NATO — asymmetries that the Trump administration appears
increasingly willing to exploit.Greenland is strategically critical. Located in
the Arctic, it sits astride emerging sea routes, hosts valuable
mineral resources, and already accommodates U.S. military facilities under
long-standing agreements with Denmark. However, sovereignty over Greenland lies
with Denmark, which is itself a NATO member. A
unilateral U.S. move against Danish territory would create an unprecedented
crisis within NATO: an alliance designed to defend members against external
threats would be confronted with aggression by one member against another. Most
experts agree such a scenario would effectively paralyse — if not destroy — the
alliance.
3. U.S.
Exit from UN Climate Bodies: What Trump’s Withdrawal Means for Global Climate Governance: The United States has taken an unprecedented step in
global climate diplomacy. U.S. President “Donald Trump” has signed a
presidential memorandum withdrawing the country from 66 international organisations,
including the “United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change” (UNFCCC) and the “Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change”
(IPCC). The move goes far beyond the earlier decision to exit the “Paris
Agreement”, effectively removing the US from the core architecture that governs
international climate action. On February 4, 2025,
President Trump issued an executive order directing a review of all
international organisations, conventions and treaties to determine whether they
were “contrary” to US interests. The subsequent memorandum announced
withdrawals from a wide set of climate, environment and development-related
bodies, including the UNFCCC, IPCC, International
Solar Alliance, IUCN, IPBES, UN Population Fund and UN
Energy.While leaving the Paris Agreement had already signalled Washington’s
scepticism towards multilateral climate action, exiting the UNFCCC is far more
consequential. The UNFCCC is the parent treaty under which annual Conference of
Parties (COP) negotiations are held and under which the Paris Agreement legally
sits. Almost every UN member state is a party to it; the US will now become the
first country to formally walk away from this foundational treaty.
OTHER UPDATES:
DEFENCE
1. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh Commissions ICGS
Samudra Pratap: Defence Minister Rajnath
Singh commissioned ICGS Samudra Pratap, India’s first
indigenously designed Pollution Control Vessel (PCV), built by Goa Shipyard
Limited (GSL).Samudra Pratap, with over 60% indigenous content, is the largest
ship in the Indian Coast Guard fleet, integrating pollution control, coastal
patrol, maritime safety, fire-fighting, and long-range surveillance capabilities
on a single platform.Equipped with advanced pollution detection systems,
fire-fighting equipment, aviation facilities including a helicopter hangar, and
capable of operating in rough seas, the vessel enhances India’s marine
environmental protection, blue economy safeguarding, and maritime security.
2. Indian
Army Conducts Exercise Sanjha Shakti in Maharashtra: The Indian Army on
Saturday conducted Exercise “Sanjha Shakti”, a joint Military–Civil Fusion
exercise, at the Dighi Hills Range. The exercise was organised under the aegis
of the Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa Area of the Southern Command, with the objective of
strengthening coordination between the armed forces and civilian agencies in
responding to complex security challenges and emergency situations. According
to the Indian Army, the exercise aimed to enhance civil–military synergy,
improve rapid response capabilities, and ensure public safety in rear areas. It
focused on preparedness for emergencies such as disasters, internal security
challenges, and other contingencies in the hinterland, where coordinated action
between multiple agencies is critical. More than 350 personnel participated in
the drill, bringing together the Indian Army and 16 key civilian agencies.
These included the Maharashtra Police, Force One, and various
fire and emergency services. The large-scale participation highlighted the
importance of integrated planning and execution among diverse stakeholders
involved in public safety and disaster response.
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
1. India’s
AI Challenge Is Not Technology — It Is How Fast Workers Can Adapt: As 2025 draws to a close, a quiet but uncomfortable
truth has become clear for India: global competitiveness will not be determined
by how quickly artificial intelligence is adopted, but by how fast Indian workers can
adapt to it. The disruption AI is causing is not primarily about jobs
disappearing — it is about jobs changing faster than India’s education,
certification and hiring systems can respond.
Globally,
the skills required for AI-exposed roles are evolving 66% faster than those in
less-exposed jobs, according to “PwC”. For India, with one of the world’s
youngest and largest workforces, this velocity poses a unique challenge.
Degrees, once a near-permanent signal of employability, are rapidly losing
their shelf life. Today, relevance often lasts no more than two or three years.India
produces over 1.5 million engineering graduates every year. Yet industry
surveys repeatedly show that fewer than half are immediately employable in
emerging digital roles such as AI, cybersecurity or cloud computing.
This is not a failure of ability or effort. It is a failure of alignment —
between what people learn, what employers need, and how skills are formally
recognised.Traditional credentials were designed for an era when skills changed
slowly. In today’s labour market, roles mutate continuously, and workers must
reskill repeatedly across their careers. The result is a paradox: India has
abundant talent on paper, but acute shortages in practice.
BANKING AND FINANCE
1. DICGC Insures 41.5% of Bank Deposits, Fund Balance
Rises to ₹2.29 Lakh Crore as of March 2025: As of March 2025, 41.5% of total bank deposits by
value and 97.6% by number of accounts in commercial and cooperative
banks were insured by the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee
Corporation (DICGC), which provides coverage up to ₹5 lakh per depositor.Out of
₹241.08 lakh crore total bank deposits, ₹100.12 lakh crore were insured,
slightly lower than the previous year’s 43.1% (₹94.12 lakh crore) coverage.In
FY 2025, DICGC settled ₹476 crore of claims and recovered ₹1,309 crore, with
the deposit insurance fund balance reaching ₹2.29 lakh crore, a 15.2% increase
year-on-year; insured deposits grew 6.4%.Since its inception in 1961, DICGC has
funded the scheme through a flat-rate premium of 12 paise per ₹100 of
assessable deposits charged to banks.
2. SBI Launches First Global Capability Centre in
Bengaluru: SBI Chairperson Challa
Sreenivasulu Setty inaugurated the bank’s first-ever Global
Capability Centre (GCC) in Bengaluru, along with 11 new SBI branches,
highlighting SBI’s support for India’s growing GCC ecosystem.SBI has set up a
specialized relationship management team in Bengaluru to cater exclusively to
the banking and financial needs of Global Capability Centres.As part of its CSR
efforts, SBI announced contributions including upgrading 35 government primary
schools in Karnataka, providing ENT medical equipment to IISc Medical School, a
50,000-tree plantation at Tumkur University, and donating an e-ambulance to the
Madras Engineer Group & Centre, Bengaluru.
3. Goldman Sachs Projects India’s GDP Growth at 6.8% in FY 2026–27: Goldman Sachs has projected that India’s GDP growth will moderate to 6.8% in FY 2026–27, compared to an estimated 7.3% in FY 2025–26.Goldman Sachs is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company, known for its global economic and financial forecasts. The firm was founded in 1869 and is headquartered in Lower Manhattan, New York City.
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