UPSC CURRENT AFFAIRS – 1 January 2026
Kartavya Desk Staff
UPSC CURRENT AFFAIRS – 1 January 2026 covers important current affairs of the day, their backward linkages, their relevance for Prelims exam and MCQs on main articles
InstaLinks : Insta Links help you think beyond the current affairs issue and help you think multidimensionally to develop depth in your understanding of these issues. These linkages provided in this ‘hint’ format help you frame possible questions in your mind that might arise(or an examiner might imagine) from each current event. InstaLinks also connect every issue to their static or theoretical background.
Table of Contents
GS Paper 1:
• A call for ban on 10-minute deliveries
A call for ban on 10-minute deliveries
Content for Mains Enrichment (CME):
• Farmer suicides in India
Farmer suicides in India
Facts for Prelims (FFP):
• Pralay Missile
Pralay Missile
• Market Access Support (MAS) Intervention
Market Access Support (MAS) Intervention
• Nimesulide
Nimesulide
• Amazon’s Stingless Bees
Amazon’s Stingless Bees
• Bomb Cyclone
Bomb Cyclone
Mapping:
• Baltic Sea
Baltic Sea
UPSC CURRENT AFFAIRS – 1 January 2026
GS Paper 1:
A call for ban on 10-minute deliveries
Source: IE
Subject: Urbanization, their problems and their remedies.
Context: Gig workers from platforms like Swiggy, Zomato, Blinkit and Zepto went on nationwide strikes on Christmas and New Year’s Eve, demanding a ban on 10-minute delivery models.
About A call for ban on 10-minute deliveries:
What it is?
• The 10-minute delivery model promises ultra-fast doorstep delivery of food and groceries through algorithm-driven task allocation.
• It relies on dense dark-store networks, real-time tracking, and high-speed last-mile delivery, with penalties and incentives linked to time targets.
Trends of 10-minute delivery:
• Rapid expansion since 2021 with quick-commerce platforms competing on speed as a differentiator.
• Increasing use of algorithmic management to push delivery partners to meet tight timelines.
• Peak-demand dependence during festivals and late-night hours, intensifying work pressure.
• Rising worker mobilisation and strikes globally against hyper-speed delivery promises.
The Case for Banning 10-Minute Deliveries
• Road Safety & Public Risk: Ultra-compressed delivery timelines convert public roads into performance arenas, incentivising riders to violate traffic norms to avoid algorithmic penalties and income loss.
E.g. In Bengaluru delivery clusters, traffic police reports show spikes in wrong-way driving and signal jumping during peak “instant delivery” hours, directly linking speed targets to unsafe behaviour.
• Occupational Health Crisis: Algorithmic gamification pushes riders into prolonged high-stress cycles, where earnings depend on continuous hyper-alertness, leading to physical exhaustion and psychological burnout.
E.g. Medical clinics around Delhi-NCR dark stores report increased cases of back injuries, wrist strain, and anxiety disorders among riders working 10–12 hour speed-based shifts.
• Human Rights & Labor Dignity: Reducing workers to time-optimised “delivery nodes” strips them of rest, autonomy, and humane working conditions, undermining the principle of dignified labour.
E.g. Rider protests near quick-commerce warehouses highlight the absence of toilets, shade, or rest areas, revealing systemic neglect of basic workplace dignity.
• Externalization of Costs: Platforms internalize profits from speed while offloading fuel costs, vehicle depreciation, and accident risks entirely onto workers, distorting fair compensation.
E.g. Despite higher delivery intensity, riders report declining per-order earnings as bonuses replace stable pay, while repair and fuel expenses rise sharply.
• Regulatory Misalignment: The instant delivery model circumvents the employer’s duty of care by treating safety risks as individual choices rather than structural obligations.
E.g. This directly conflicts with the Code on Social Security, which mandates health protection and accident safeguards for platform-based workers.\
Challenges in Regulating Instant Delivery:
• Consumer Dependency: Once hyper-convenience becomes habitual, political resistance grows against any regulation perceived as reducing consumer comfort.
E.g. During recent gig-worker strikes, public backlash against service suspensions revealed how instant delivery has become a perceived necessity rather than a luxury.
• Algorithmic Opacity: Opaque algorithms mask penalties through ranking and visibility controls, making regulatory detection and enforcement extremely difficult.
E.g. Instead of explicit fines, platforms silently deprioritize slower riders via “shadow-banning,” reducing orders without leaving auditable evidence.
• Policy Arbitrage: Inconsistent state-level regulation allows platforms to concentrate operations in regions with weaker labour protections.
E.g. States like Rajasthan with specific gig-worker laws contrast sharply with states lacking any framework, enabling regulatory evasion.
• Revenue vs. Safety Trade-off: Speed restrictions may reduce order volumes, creating fear among workers that safety reforms will cut their already precarious incomes.
E.g. Many riders hesitate to support bans as surge incentives linked to fast deliveries form a significant portion of daily earnings.
• Evasive Business Modeling: Platforms adapt language without changing pressure, maintaining unsafe expectations under new branding.
E.g. Rebranding “10-minute delivery” as “Fastest” or “Priority” preserves the same speed incentives while bypassing explicit bans.
The Way Ahead:
• Mandatory Safety Windows: Regulation should replace arbitrary time promises with distance- and traffic-calibrated delivery windows prioritising legal compliance.
E.g. A 5-km/20-minute cap aligns delivery expectations with urban traffic realities, reducing incentives for rule violations.
• Algorithmic Accountability: Platforms must disclose speed, pay, and penalty logic to ensure fairness and prevent hidden coercion.
E.g. Mandating Explainable AI audits would allow regulators to detect discriminatory or unsafe incentive structures.
• Inflation-Indexed Earnings: Stable livelihoods require pay structures that automatically adjust to rising fuel and maintenance costs.
E.g. Linking per-kilometre rates to CPI or fuel indices protects riders from real-income erosion.
• Judicial Oversight: Dedicated grievance forums are needed to address arbitrary de-platforming and wage disputes swiftly.
E.g. Karnataka’s proposed Grievance Redressal Officer model offers a template for speedy, worker-centric justice.
• Universal Social Security: Safety nets must be automatic and universal rather than optional or privately negotiated.
E.g. Shifting from opt-in insurance to state-mandated welfare boards ensures coverage irrespective of platform policies.
Conclusion:
A 10-minute delivery promise is effectively a time tax on worker safety, pushed by algorithms and market competition. India should pivot to a “safe delivery economy” with transparent pay, enforceable protections, and social security that actually reaches riders. Regulating speed models now will prevent a future where convenience is subsidised by injury, debt, and silent coercion.
Q. What are the challenges faced by gig workers in securing minimum wage protections? Examine the need for extending social security benefits to platform-based workers. (10 M)
#### UPSC CURRENT AFFAIRS – 1 January 2026 Content for Mains Enrichment (CME)
Farmer suicides in India
Context: A 28-year analysis of NCRB data (1995–2023) shows that farmer and agricultural labourer suicides remain structurally entrenched in India, with a sharp resurgence in 2023.
About Farmer suicides in India:
What it is?
• Farmer suicides refer to deaths by suicide among cultivators and agricultural labourers, recorded annually by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
• It is a key indicator of agrarian distress, reflecting failures in income security, credit access, crop stability, and rural livelihoods.
Trends (1995–2023):
• Scale of crisis: Around 3.94 lakh farmers and agricultural labourers died by suicide over 28 years—about 13,600 deaths annually.
• Regional concentration: Southern and western India account for ~72.5% of all cases; Maharashtra and Karnataka are persistent epicentres.
• Peak years: The crisis intensified post-1995 (WTO entry), peaking between 2000–2009; 2002 was the deadliest year.
• Crop-linked distress: Expansion of Bt cotton in rain-fed regions raised input costs and risk, aggravating indebtedness amid weak price support.
• Temporary relief phase: Suicides declined after 2010, coinciding with MGNREGA, expanded insurance, and debt relief—lowest during 2015–2019.
• Recent reversal: 2023 saw a ~75% rise over 2022, partly due to delayed Covid-era reporting but also renewed shocks (droughts, price crashes).
Relevance for UPSC syllabus
• GS Paper I (Indian Society): Agrarian distress, regional inequality, rural livelihoods, social vulnerability.
• GS Paper II (Governance & Social Justice): Welfare schemes (MGNREGA), role of state interventions, institutional credit, social protection.
• GS Paper III (Indian Economy & Agriculture): Agricultural reforms, input costs, crop insurance, MSP, WTO impact, labour markets.
#### UPSC CURRENT AFFAIRS – 1 January 2026 Facts for Prelims (FFP)
Pralay Missile
Source: TOI
Subject: Defence
Context: DRDO has successfully conducted a salvo launch of two Pralay missiles in quick succession from the same launcher off the Odisha coast, marking a key milestone in user evaluation trials.
About Pralay Missile:
What it is?
• Pralay is an indigenously developed solid-propellant, quasi-ballistic surface-to-surface missile designed for high-precision conventional strikes against a wide range of targets.
• Provide the Indian Army and Indian Air Force with a rapid-response, high-accuracy conventional strike capability
• Strengthen tactical deterrence and battlefield dominance through precision strikes
Key features:
• Quasi-ballistic trajectory: Makes interception difficult for enemy air defence systems. Range: ~150 km to 500 km Type: Quasi-ballistic surface-to-surface missile
• Range: ~150 km to 500 km
• Type: Quasi-ballistic surface-to-surface missile
• Solid propellant: Ensures quick launch readiness and high reliability.
• Advanced guidance and navigation: Delivers high precision against diverse targets.
• Multiple warhead capability: Can carry different types of warheads for varied mission requirements.
• Salvo launch capability: Ability to fire multiple missiles in quick succession from the same launcher, enhancing saturation attack potential.
Significance:
• Boosts indigenous missile capability under Atmanirbhar Bharat in defence.
• Enhances India’s conventional deterrence without escalating to strategic nuclear use.
• Improves operational readiness and survivability through rapid, accurate strikes.
Market Access Support (MAS) Intervention
Source: PIB
Subject: Government Schemes
Context: The Government of India has launched the Market Access Support (MAS) Intervention under the Export Promotion Mission to strengthen global market access for Indian exporters, especially MSMEs and first-time exporters.
About Market Access Support (MAS) Intervention:
What it is?
• The Market Access Support (MAS) Intervention is a government-backed programme that provides financial and institutional assistance to Indian exporters for accessing and expanding in international markets through curated trade and buyer-engagement activities.
Initiative under:
• Implemented under the NIRYAT DISHA sub-scheme
• Part of the Export Promotion Mission (EPM)
Jointly implemented by: The Department of Commerce, Ministry of MSME, and Ministry of Finance.
• Strengthen global market access for Indian exporters
• Support MSMEs, first-time exporters and priority sectors
• Promote export diversification into new and emerging markets
• Enable predictable and outcome-driven export promotion
Key features:
• Market access activities: Support for Buyer-Seller Meets (BSMs), Mega Reverse BSMs, international trade fairs, exhibitions and trade delegations.
• Advance planning: A 3–5 year rolling calendar of approved market access events to ensure continuity and predictability.
• MSME focus: Mandatory minimum 35% MSME participation in supported events, with prioritisation of smaller and new exporters.
• Financial rationalisation: Revised cost-sharing norms, event-wise financial ceilings and partial airfare support for exporters with turnover up to ₹75 lakh.
• Digital governance: End-to-end online processes via trade.gov.in, including approvals, fund release, monitoring and feedback.
• Outcome tracking: Mandatory online feedback on buyer quality, leads generated and market relevance, with data-driven refinement of guidelines.
• Technology push: Upcoming component for Proof-of-Concepts and product demonstrations in tech-intensive and sunrise sectors.
Significance:
• Enhances global competitiveness of Indian exports by improving buyer access and market intelligence.
• Reduces entry barriers for MSMEs and first-time exporters into international markets.
• Supports India’s goal of export diversification beyond traditional markets and products.
Nimesulide
Source: News on Air
Subject: Science and Technology
Context: The Union Government has banned the manufacture, sale and distribution of oral formulations of Nimesulide above 100 mg with immediate effect under Section 26A of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940.
About Nimesulide:
What it is?
• Nimesulide is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) used for the treatment of acute pain and fever. It acts by inhibiting chemical mediators responsible for pain and inflammation.
Features of the drug:
• Pharmacological class: NSAID
• Mechanism of action: Inhibits prostaglandin synthesis by blocking inflammatory chemical messengers.
• Therapeutic use: Short-term management of pain and fever.
• Common side effects: Nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, elevated liver enzymes.
• Known risk: Potential hepatotoxicity, especially at higher doses or prolonged use.
Reason for the ban:
• Oral formulations above 100 mg pose a risk to human health, particularly liver-related adverse effects.
• Safer alternative analgesics are available in the market.
• The ban was imposed under Section 26A of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, which empowers the government to prohibit drugs harmful to public health.
Significance:
• Strengthens drug safety regulation and pharmacovigilance in India.
• Reduces risk of drug-induced liver injury among patients.
• Encourages rational drug use and adherence to safe dosage norms.
Amazon’s Stingless Bees
Source: IE
Subject: Species in News
Context: Amazonian stingless bees have become the first insects in the world to be granted legal rights after Peruvian municipalities passed a landmark ordinance recognising their right to exist and flourish.
About Amazon’s Stingless Bees:
What they are?
• Stingless bees are a group of bees that either lack stingers or have non-functional stingers, making them harmless to humans. They are crucial pollinators in tropical ecosystems.
Origin:
• Among the oldest bee species on Earth, existing for nearly 80 million years since the time of dinosaurs.
• Around 500 species globally, with nearly half found in the Amazon.
Habitat:
• Tropical forests across the world.
• Particularly abundant in the Amazon rainforest, especially in Peru, which hosts over 170 species.
Key features:
• Primary rainforest pollinators, responsible for pollinating over 80% of Amazonian flora.
• Support globally important crops such as coffee, cacao, avocados and blueberries.
• Deeply embedded in the cultural, medicinal and spiritual traditions of Indigenous communities like the Asháninka and Kukama-Kukamiria.
About Amazonian stingless bees first insects to get legal rights:
What it means?
• The legal recognition grants stingless bees inherent rights, including the right to exist, maintain healthy populations, regenerate natural cycles, live in pollution-free habitats, and be legally represented when threatened.
Significance:
• Global legal first: First time insects have been granted legal rights anywhere in the world
• Strengthens conservation: Provides legal tools to challenge deforestation, pollution and habitat destruction
• Advances Rights of Nature: Shifts environmental law from human-centred protection to ecosystem-centred justice
Bomb Cyclone
Source: NDTV
Subject: Geography
Context: A powerful winter storm, Winter Storm Ezra, rapidly intensified into a bomb cyclone over the US, disrupting peak holiday travel with mass flight cancellations, blizzards, power outages, and hurricane-force winds across multiple states.
About Bomb Cyclone:
What it is?
• A bomb cyclone is a powerful mid-latitude weather system that undergoes explosive cyclogenesis, marked by an exceptionally rapid fall in central air pressure within 24 hours, resulting in severe and wide-ranging weather impacts.
How it forms?
• Bomb cyclones form when cold, dense polar air collides with warm, moisture-rich air, typically over oceans where sharp temperature contrasts provide abundant latent heat energy.
• The rapid upward movement of warm air lowers surface pressure sharply, drawing surrounding air inward at high speeds and causing the storm to intensify explosively.
Key features:
• Rapid pressure fall: A defining characteristic is a pressure drop of 24 millibars or more in 24 hours, reflecting extreme atmospheric instability rather than gradual storm development.
• Extreme weather: The intense pressure gradient generates blizzards, freezing rain, flooding rainfall and hurricane-force winds, often producing life-threatening whiteout conditions.
• Sharp temperature swings: The advancing cold front can cause abrupt temperature drops of 40–50°F within hours, severely stressing human health, transport systems, and energy demand.
• Large spatial impact: Bomb cyclones span hundreds of kilometres, simultaneously disrupting aviation, road transport, shipping routes and electricity networks across multiple regions.
Significance:
• By combining snowstorms, high winds, flooding rain and ice, bomb cyclones magnify disaster impacts beyond the capacity of single-hazard preparedness systems.
• Airports, power grids, ports and supply chains are highly exposed because rapid storm intensification leaves little time for protective shutdowns or rerouting.
#### UPSC CURRENT AFFAIRS – 1 January 2026 Mapping:
Baltic Sea
Source: DD News
Subject: Mapping
Context: Finland has seized a ship suspected of damaging an undersea telecom cable in the Baltic Sea, amid heightened NATO alert following repeated incidents targeting critical subsea infrastructure since the Ukraine conflict.
About Baltic Sea:
What it is?
• The Baltic Sea is a semi-enclosed, shallow, brackish water body and an arm of the North Atlantic Ocean, making it the largest expanse of brackish water in the world. It has historically served as a major trade and strategic maritime corridor in northern Europe.
Located in: Northern Europe
• Extends from southern Denmark in the southwest to near the Arctic Circle in the north
• Connected to the North Sea through narrow straits such as the Øresund, Great Belt and Little Belt.
Bordering nations: The Baltic Sea is bordered by nine countries:
• Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Germany.
• Eight of these are NATO members, adding to its geopolitical significance.
Key features:
• Low salinity (brackish water): Due to limited connection with the North Sea and large freshwater inflow from rivers like the Vistula and Oder.
• Shallow seabed: Makes undersea cables and pipelines vulnerable to damage and sabotage.
• Sub-regions: Includes the Gulf of Finland, Gulf of Bothnia, Gulf of Riga, and straits like Kattegat and Skagerrak.
• Strategic infrastructure hub: Hosts critical energy pipelines, power cables and telecom links.
• Cold climate and seasonal ice: Parts of the sea freeze in winter, especially in the Gulfs of Bothnia and Finland.
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