UPSC CURRENT AFFAIRS – 6 January 2026
Kartavya Desk Staff
UPSC CURRENT AFFAIRS – 6 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:
• Neo-colonialism
Neo-colonialism
GS Paper 1/2:
• Inclusion of women in India’s green economy
Inclusion of women in India’s green economy
Content for Mains Enrichment (CME):
• India needs $100 bn to meet gap in Himalaya climate funding
India needs $100 bn to meet gap in Himalaya climate funding
Facts for Prelims (FFP):
• Payments Regulatory Board (PRB)
Payments Regulatory Board (PRB)
• 1000 years survival of Somnath Temple
1000 years survival of Somnath Temple
• India has inaugurated the world’s second National Environmental Standard Laboratory (NESL)
India has inaugurated the world’s second National Environmental Standard Laboratory (NESL)
• Lucknow To Get India’s First Urban Night Safari At Kukrail Forest Area
Lucknow To Get India’s First Urban Night Safari At Kukrail Forest Area
• Global Environment Facility
Global Environment Facility
Mapping:
UPSC CURRENT AFFAIRS – 6 January 2026
GS Paper 1:
Neo-colonialism
Source: NIE
Subject: World History
Context: The reported US military action and “transition” rhetoric in Venezuela has revived the debate on neo-colonialism—control without formal annexation—through force, sanctions, and political engineering.
About Neo-colonialism:
What it is?
• Neo-colonialism is indirect domination of formally sovereign states through economic leverage, debt, trade dependency, corporate control, political engineering, and security influence, ensuring policy outcomes favourable to external powers. Unlike classical colonialism, it works without direct territorial rule, but with real control over choices.
Origin of neo-colonialism:
• Post-independence “control without colonies”: After 19th–20th century decolonisation, major powers sought to retain influence via markets, finance, and security ties rather than governors and flags.
• Cold War logic: Superpowers supported “friendly” regimes, coups, and security establishments to prevent rival ideological blocs—often subordinating democratic choice to strategic interest.
• Global capitalism + institutions: International finance, conditional lending, and commodity-linked trade structures deepened dependence for states reliant on exports, capital inflows, and technology.
Neo-colonialism in South America:
• Commodity-export dependence as a policy trap: Structural reliance: Many economies remain locked into single-commodity exports (copper, oil, gas), limiting diversification. Chile (1970s): The 1974–75 global copper price downturn sharply reduced revenues, facilitating austerity and externally aligned restructuring under the Pinochet regime. Venezuela (post-2014): The oil price crash triggered hyperinflation and fiscal collapse, illustrating how global commodity cycles can overwhelm domestic policy autonomy.
• Structural reliance: Many economies remain locked into single-commodity exports (copper, oil, gas), limiting diversification.
• Chile (1970s): The 1974–75 global copper price downturn sharply reduced revenues, facilitating austerity and externally aligned restructuring under the Pinochet regime.
• Venezuela (post-2014): The oil price crash triggered hyperinflation and fiscal collapse, illustrating how global commodity cycles can overwhelm domestic policy autonomy.
• Foreign corporate extraction and profit outflows External dominance: High-value segments of mining and hydrocarbons historically controlled by foreign firms, with profits repatriated abroad. Bolivia (2003 Gas War): Mass protests against foreign-linked gas export plans led to political upheaval and reassertion of resource sovereignty. Chile (1971): Nationalisation of copper under Salvador Allende targeted US firms (Anaconda, Kennecott) to curb rent extraction and restore state control.
• External dominance: High-value segments of mining and hydrocarbons historically controlled by foreign firms, with profits repatriated abroad.
• Bolivia (2003 Gas War): Mass protests against foreign-linked gas export plans led to political upheaval and reassertion of resource sovereignty.
• Chile (1971): Nationalisation of copper under Salvador Allende targeted US firms (Anaconda, Kennecott) to curb rent extraction and restore state control.
• Regime and policy shaping through covert influence Cold War interventions: External powers influenced internal political outcomes to secure favourable economic regimes. Chile (1973): The coup against Salvador Allende followed covert intervention and economic pressure, reversing redistributive and nationalist policies. Brazil (1964): The military coup against João Goulart, amid US backing signals, inaugurated decades of security-state governance and labour repression.
• Cold War interventions: External powers influenced internal political outcomes to secure favourable economic regimes.
• Chile (1973): The coup against Salvador Allende followed covert intervention and economic pressure, reversing redistributive and nationalist policies.
• Brazil (1964): The military coup against João Goulart, amid US backing signals, inaugurated decades of security-state governance and labour repression.
• Security leverage and intervention as discipline Transnational repression: Security cooperation substituted for formal colonial control. Operation Condor (1970s): Coordinated intelligence and repression across Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia and Brazil, with documented external awareness and support. Outcome: Sovereignty persisted formally, but domestic political choices were constrained by external security alignments.
• Transnational repression: Security cooperation substituted for formal colonial control.
• Operation Condor (1970s): Coordinated intelligence and repression across Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia and Brazil, with documented external awareness and support.
• Outcome: Sovereignty persisted formally, but domestic political choices were constrained by external security alignments.
• Debt–development trap and externally steered macro-policy Crisis trigger: The 1982 Latin American debt crisis exposed dependence on foreign capital. IMF conditionality: Countries like Brazil and Argentina entered repeated stabilisation programmes prioritising creditor confidence over social spending. Long-term impact: The “lost decade” saw suppressed growth, welfare compression, and reduced policy space for industrial transformation.
• Crisis trigger: The 1982 Latin American debt crisis exposed dependence on foreign capital.
• IMF conditionality: Countries like Brazil and Argentina entered repeated stabilisation programmes prioritising creditor confidence over social spending.
• Long-term impact: The “lost decade” saw suppressed growth, welfare compression, and reduced policy space for industrial transformation.
Challenges associated with neo-colonialism:
• Erosion of sovereign policy space: When Argentina defaulted in 2001, IMF-linked austerity and creditor pressure narrowed policy choices to spending cuts and privatisation, triggering mass protests and five presidents in two weeks—showing how market discipline can override democratic mandates.
• Inequality and elite capture: In Chile under Pinochet (post-1973), externally supported market reforms created macro-stability but entrenched wealth concentration; by 2019, inequality-driven protests erupted, exposing how elite–external alignments hollow out social contracts.
• Democratic backsliding through coercive politics: The 1973 Chile coup and the 1964 Brazil coup illustrate how engineered regime change delegitimised electoral politics, normalising authoritarian governance under the pretext of “stability” and anti-communism.
• Resource curse reinforced externally: Venezuela’s oil dependence—deepened through decades of export-led extraction—made the state hostage to global price cycles; the post-2014 crash collapsed welfare capacity, illustrating how mono-commodity models amplify vulnerability.
• Instability as a structural outcome: US intervention in Panama (1989) removed Noriega but left long-term institutional fragility; similarly, sanctions-heavy pressure on Venezuela has produced migration waves and polarisation rather than smooth political transition.
Modern, present-day neo-colonialism:
• Sanctions and financial chokepoints: Control over payment networks, dollar liquidity, and banking access can throttle economies without troops—economic warfare by administrative means.
• Supply-chain and technology dependence: Dependence on foreign platforms, chips, defence systems, and surveillance tech can translate into strategic compliance and data vulnerability.
• Debt conditionality and ratings power: Credit ratings, bond spreads, and conditional loans discipline states—policy is shaped by “investor confidence” more than citizen needs.
• Corporate arbitration and treaty locks: Investment treaties and arbitration can deter regulation (environment, labour) because governments fear costly litigation or capital flight.
• Information and narrative influence: Media ecosystems, platforms, and disinformation can delegitimise governments or movements, shaping “consent” for external pressure.
Implications
• For South America: Higher likelihood of political churn, securitisation, and economic volatility as sovereignty becomes contested through sanctions/interventions and counter-alignment.
• For global order: Normalising force or coercive transition weakens UN Charter norms and encourages other powers to mimic spheres-of-influence behaviour.
• For development: Long-term planning suffers—states oscillate between models under pressure, delaying industrial upgrading, welfare consolidation, and social trust.
Conclusion:
Neo-colonialism is the art of ruling without ruling openly—where flags are absent but leverage is everywhere. In South America, it has historically deepened dependency, inequality, and instability, even when justified as “order” or “democracy promotion.” Durable sovereignty needs diversified economies, regional cooperation, and rules-based restraint on coercion—military or financial.
Q. Latin America gained political independence in the 19th century but remained trapped in economic and cultural dependence. In what ways did neo-colonialism shape the region’s politics? (10 M)
#### UPSC CURRENT AFFAIRS – 6 January 2026 GS GS Paper 1/2:
Inclusion of women in India’s green economy
Source: RW
Subject: Women and other issue/ Vulnerable Section
Context: A recent CEEW report on ‘Building a Green Economy for Viksit Bharat’ has highlighted that India cannot achieve its USD 30 trillion economy target by 2047 without mainstreaming women into green value chains.
About Inclusion of women in India’s green economy:
What it is?
• The inclusion of women in India’s green economy refers to expanding women’s participation, leadership, and income generation across energy transition, circular economy, and bio-economy & nature-based solutions, ensuring that green growth is job-intensive, equitable, and productivity-enhancing rather than extractive or exclusionary.
Key trends:
• High growth potential but low participation: Women’s labour force participation is 41.7% vs 78.8% for men, far below what is needed for India’s green growth trajectory.
• Productivity dividend of gender diversity: A 1% rise in gender diversity in formal manufacturing correlates with ~2.9% higher labour productivity, underscoring economic gains from inclusion.
• Energy transition: Women constitute ~32% of renewable energy workforce globally, but are clustered in administrative and non-STEM roles, with weak representation in engineering and site-based jobs.
• Rooftop solar and RE deployment show sharp gender gaps: Indian rooftop solar firms report ~11% female workforce, with negligible participation in construction, commissioning, and O&M phases.
• Circular economy: About 1.5 million women (≈49% of waste-pickers) work in early-stage waste collection and segregation, earning ~33% less than men in identical roles.
• Caste–gender intersection intensifies vulnerability: A majority of women in waste and recycling value chains belong to Dalit and Adivasi communities, facing hazardous conditions, informality, and stigma.
• Bio-economy & NbS: Women perform labour-intensive, unpaid or underpaid work (agroforestry, seaweed, bio-inputs), while value addition and formal jobs remain male-dominated.
Opportunities for women’s inclusion:
• Solar micro-enterprises: Solar automation in SHG units like Didi ke Papad lowers energy costs and drudgery, enabling women to scale production locally while raising incomes and enterprise sustainability.
• Drone-led green farming: Namo Drone Didi upgrades women from farm labour to precision service providers, improving input efficiency, cutting emissions, and embedding women in climate-smart agriculture.
• Nature-based livelihoods: Women-led millet revival integrates biodiversity restoration with solar-powered processing, strengthening climate resilience while securing women’s control over food value chains.
• Green factories: All-women EV plants like Ola’s Future factory mainstream women into advanced clean manufacturing, challenging gender norms and anchoring inclusion in core industrial activity.
Critical challenges associated:
• Technical exclusion: Despite higher STEM enrolment, women remain underrepresented in field-based solar roles due to safety, mobility limits, and male-dominated work cultures.
• Climate vulnerability: Heatwaves erase daily incomes of informal green workers like salt-pan farmers, exposing the absence of insurance and adaptive safety nets for women.
• Credit constraints: Lack of land titles and collateral blocks women-led green enterprises from accessing green finance, stalling scale despite policy intent.
• Market barriers: Women SHGs producing eco-goods struggle to enter formal supply chains due to weak certification, logistics, and digital market access.
Way ahead:
• Climate insurance: Parametric heat insurance converts climate shocks into predictable payouts, protecting women’s incomes without procedural delays.
• Skill-to-job pathways: Women-focused green certifications with placement linkages address both skills mismatch and hiring bias in renewable manufacturing.
• Asset ownership push: Women-registered rooftop solar under PM Surya Ghar strengthens asset control, credit access, and energy decision-making.
• Circular formalisation: Municipal contracts for women waste-pickers institutionalise informal work into dignified green employment with income security.
Conclusion:
India’s green transition will succeed only if it becomes women-led, not women-adjacent. Unlocking women’s productivity across energy, circularity, and nature-based solutions can convert climate action into inclusive growth and social transformation. A gender-responsive green economy is not welfare—it is core economic strategy.
Q. Examine the role of solar energy in transforming women’s economic empowerment in India, particularly in rural areas. How can policies further strengthen this empowerment by positioning women as change agents rather than mere beneficiaries? (10 M)
#### UPSC CURRENT AFFAIRS – 6 January 2026 Content for Mains Enrichment (CME)
India needs $100 bn to meet gap in Himalaya climate funding
Context: A recent synthesis report by International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) has estimated that India needs about $102 billion annually to bridge climate adaptation and mitigation gaps in the Himalayan region amid accelerating climate risks.
About India needs $100 bn to meet gap in Himalaya climate funding:
What it is?
• The estimate emerges from ICIMOD’s synthesis based on the First Determination Report (2020) submitted to the UNFCCC, assessing adaptation and mitigation costs in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region.
• The HKH spans 8 countries—India, China, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Myanmar—and supports nearly half of the global population through water, biodiversity, and ecosystem services.
Key trends and findings in the report:
• Scale of finance needed: Total HKH requirement: ~$768.7 billion per year. India: ~$102 billion/year; China: ~$605 billion/year (together >92% of total needs).
• Total HKH requirement: ~$768.7 billion per year.
• India: ~$102 billion/year; China: ~$605 billion/year (together >92% of total needs).
• Rising climate risks: Accelerated glacial melt, increased extreme weather, biodiversity loss, and water insecurity, threatening ecosystems and downstream livelihoods.
• Uneven vulnerability: Smaller economies (Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Myanmar) face severe financing gaps relative to GDP, heightening climate vulnerability.
• Priority investment sectors: Agriculture, water resources, energy, and urban development dominate funding needs for resilience and low-carbon transitions.
• Regional interdependence: Himalayan degradation has transboundary impacts on rivers, food security, disaster risks, and regional stability.
Relevance for UPSC examination syllabus:
• GS Paper I (Geography)
• Himalayan geomorphology, glaciers, river systems, climate change impacts on fragile ecosystems.
• Himalayan geomorphology, glaciers, river systems, climate change impacts on fragile ecosystems.
• GS Paper II (International Relations & Governance)
• Transboundary environmental governance, regional cooperation in the HKH, climate finance architecture.
• Transboundary environmental governance, regional cooperation in the HKH, climate finance architecture.
• GS Paper III (Environment, Economy & Disaster Management)
• Climate change adaptation/mitigation, disaster risk reduction, sustainable development, water security.
• Climate change adaptation/mitigation, disaster risk reduction, sustainable development, water security.
#### UPSC CURRENT AFFAIRS – 6 January 2026 Facts for Prelims (FFP)
Payments Regulatory Board (PRB)
Source: News on Air
Subject: Economics
Context: The first meeting of the Payments Regulatory Board (PRB) was held in Mumbai under the chairmanship of Sanjay Malhotra, marking the operationalisation of the new payments governance framework.
About Payments Regulatory Board (PRB):
What it is?
• The Payments Regulatory Board (PRB) is the statutory body through which the Reserve Bank of India exercises regulatory and supervisory powers over payment and settlement systems in India, ensuring safety, efficiency, and stability of digital and non-cash payments.
Established in:
• Created under Section 3 of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007.
• Replaced the earlier Board for Regulation and Supervision of Payment and Settlement Systems (BPSS).
• Brought into effect from 9 May 2025 following amendments notified by the Government of India.
Member structure:
The PRB is a multi-stakeholder body comprising:
• Chairperson: RBI Governor
• Members: RBI Deputy Governor in charge of payments Nominees of the Central Government Experts with experience in payments, fintech, cybersecurity, and financial markets Senior officials linked to digital identity and payment infrastructure (e.g., UIDAI, NPCI)
• RBI Deputy Governor in charge of payments
• Nominees of the Central Government
• Experts with experience in payments, fintech, cybersecurity, and financial markets
• Senior officials linked to digital identity and payment infrastructure (e.g., UIDAI, NPCI)
Key functions:
• Authorisation & oversight: Grants, regulates, and revokes authorisation for payment systems (UPI, cards, wallets, RTGS, etc.).
• Standards setting: Prescribes technical, operational, and security standards for payment systems.
• Risk management: Addresses systemic risk, settlement finality, and consumer protection.
• Policy direction: Reviews payment system performance and guides long-term strategy.
• Supervision & enforcement: Inspects system providers and issues binding directions under the PSS Act.
Significance:
• Strengthens digital payments governance: Provides a dedicated, statutory framework amid rapid fintech growth.
• Enhances consumer trust: Improves safety, reliability, and grievance redress in payment systems.
• Systemic stability: Ensures legal certainty for netting and settlement finality, reducing financial risk.
1000 years survival of Somnath Temple
Source: NIE
Subject: Art and culture
Context: Prime Minister of India highlighted the thousand-year survival of the Somnath Temple, marking 1,000 years since the 1026 attack by Mahmud of Ghazni.
About 1000 years survival of Somnath Temple:
What it is?
The Somnath Temple is one of the 12 sacred Jyotirlingas of Lord Shiva, revered across Hindu tradition. It is often called the “Eternal Shrine” due to its repeated destruction and reconstruction over centuries.
Location:
• Prabhas Patan, near Veraval, in the Saurashtra region of Gujarat
• Situated on the Arabian Sea coast, at the confluence (Triveni Sangam) of the Kapila, Hiran, and Saraswati rivers
History of the temple:
• Ancient origins: References in the Shiva Purana and inscriptions suggest worship since antiquity, with multiple pre-medieval reconstructions.
• 1026 CE: Attacked and plundered by Mahmud of Ghazni, marking the most cited historical rupture.
• Medieval period: Rebuilt several times by rulers such as Kumarapala (12th century) and Chudasama kings, and destroyed again under Sultanate invasions.
• Repeated cycle: Historical records indicate the temple was destroyed six times and rebuilt each time, reinforcing its symbolic resilience.
Key architectural features:
• Built in the Chaulukya (Solanki) style of temple architecture
• Features a lofty shikhara, intricate stone carvings, and a grand garbhagriha housing the Jyotirlinga
• A notable inscription states that from the temple’s southern arrow, there is no landmass till the South Pole, symbolising cosmic alignment
Modern reconstruction:
• Post-Independence revival (1947–51): Initiated by Vallabhbhai Patel, who viewed reconstruction as a civilisational duty.
• Executed by architect Prabhashankar Sompura using traditional methods.
• Inaugurated on 11 May 1951 by Rajendra Prasad, despite political differences of the time.
• Today, the temple is managed by the Somnath Trust, chaired by the Prime Minister of India.
India has inaugurated the world’s second National Environmental Standard Laboratory (NESL)
Source: PIB
Subject: Government Scheme/ Miscellaneous
Context: India has inaugurated the world’s second National Environmental Standard Laboratory (NESL) and the world’s fifth National Primary Standard Facility for Solar Cell Calibration at CSIR–NPL, New Delhi.
About India has inaugurated the world’s second National Environmental Standard Laboratory (NESL):
• What it is? The National Environmental Standard Laboratory is an apex national facility for testing, calibration, and certification of air pollution monitoring equipment under Indian climatic and environmental conditions.
• The National Environmental Standard Laboratory is an apex national facility for testing, calibration, and certification of air pollution monitoring equipment under Indian climatic and environmental conditions.
• Located in: CSIR–National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi
• Organisations involved: Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR)
• CSIR–National Physical Laboratory (NPL)
• CSIR–National Physical Laboratory (NPL)
• To establish India-specific standards for air pollution monitoring instruments. To support effective implementation of pollution control policies such as National Clean Air Programme (NCAP).
• To establish India-specific standards for air pollution monitoring instruments.
• To support effective implementation of pollution control policies such as National Clean Air Programme (NCAP).
• Key features:
• Calibration and testing under Indian climatic conditions (temperature, humidity, dust load). Ensures traceable, accurate, and standardised environmental data. Supports domestic manufacturing, startups, MSMEs, and regulators. Only the UK and India currently have such national-level facilities.
• Calibration and testing under Indian climatic conditions (temperature, humidity, dust load).
• Ensures traceable, accurate, and standardised environmental data.
• Supports domestic manufacturing, startups, MSMEs, and regulators.
• Only the UK and India currently have such national-level facilities.
About National Primary Standard Facility for Solar Cell Calibration:
• What it is? The National Primary Standard Facility for Solar Cell Calibration is an advanced metrology facility for high-precision calibration of solar cells, ensuring global-standard photovoltaic (PV) measurements.
• The National Primary Standard Facility for Solar Cell Calibration is an advanced metrology facility for high-precision calibration of solar cells, ensuring global-standard photovoltaic (PV) measurements.
• Located in: CSIR–National Physical Laboratory (NPL), New Delhi.
• Key features:
• Uses laser-based Differential Spectral Responsivity (L-DSR) system. Achieves world-leading calibration uncertainty of 0.35% (k=2). Developed in collaboration with Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Germany. Part of an elite global group (only the fifth such facility worldwide).
• Uses laser-based Differential Spectral Responsivity (L-DSR) system.
• Achieves world-leading calibration uncertainty of 0.35% (k=2).
• Developed in collaboration with Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Germany.
• Part of an elite global group (only the fifth such facility worldwide).
Lucknow To Get India’s First Urban Night Safari At Kukrail Forest Area
Source: TN
Subject: Environment
Context: Lucknow is set to introduce India’s first urban night safari at the Kukrail Forest Area, marking a unique blend of wildlife conservation and city-based tourism.
About Lucknow To Get India’s First Urban Night Safari At Kukrail Forest Area:
What it is?
• India’s first urban night safari—a controlled nocturnal wildlife viewing experience within city limits, designed for education, conservation awareness, and low-impact tourism rather than entertainment-driven spectacle.
Located in:
• Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh
• Kukrail Forest Area, along the Kukrail River on the northern outskirts of the city
• To promote urban eco-tourism while strengthening wildlife conservation awareness.
• To enable city residents, families, and students to observe nocturnal animal behaviour without travelling to distant forests.
• To integrate conservation, education, and recreation in a sustainable urban model.
Key features of the Kukrail project:
• Nocturnal safari routes with restricted movement and low-impact lighting to minimise animal disturbance.
• Existing conservation hubs for crocodiles, gharials, and turtles upgraded rather than replaced.
• Eco-friendly infrastructure: bamboo huts, nature walk trails, interpretation centres.
• Guided educational programmes: night ecology walks, bird-watching, and school outreach.
Significance:
• Urban innovation in conservation: First attempt in India to mainstream nocturnal wildlife education within a city ecosystem.
• Model for sustainable urban planning: Demonstrates coexistence of biodiversity protection and urban leisure.
Global Environment Facility
Source: UNEP
Subject: International Organisation
Context: The Global Environment Facility has approved US$52.8 million for four new UN Environment Programme–led projects at its 70th Council meeting.
About Global Environment Facility (GEF):
What it is?
• The Global Environment Facility (GEF) is a multilateral environmental financing mechanism that provides grants and blended finance to developing countries and economies in transition to address global environmental challenges.
Established in:1991, ahead of the 1992 Rio Earth Summit
• To support country-driven projects that generate global environmental benefits
• To integrate action on climate change, biodiversity, land degradation, oceans, chemicals, and pollution
• To strengthen environmental governance while promoting sustainable development
Conventions covered (Financial mechanism for):
• Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
• United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
• United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD)
• Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants
• Minamata Convention on Mercury
• Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Agreement
• Also supports implementation of the Montreal Protocol
Key functions:
• Provides grants and concessional finance for environmental projects.
• Mobilises large-scale co-financing from public and private sources.
• Supports capacity building, technology transfer, and policy coherence.
• Funds climate reporting and transparency mechanisms under the Paris Agreement.
• Operates through a structured governance system (Assembly, Council, Secretariat, STAP, IEO).
Significance:
• Largest source of multilateral biodiversity funding globally.
• Over US$26 billion in grants and US$153 billion mobilised in co-financing so far.
• Active in 160+ countries, improving livelihoods of millions.
#### UPSC CURRENT AFFAIRS – 6 January 2026 Mapping:
Source: NDTV
Subject: Mapping
Context: Iran has witnessed nationwide protests for over a week triggered by economic collapse, soaring inflation, and currency depreciation, with demonstrations reported across most provinces.
About Iran:
What it is?
• Iran is a West Asian country with a unique political system combining republican institutions with a Shiʿa Islamic theocracy. Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, real power rests with the Supreme Leader, making Iran a key geopolitical and ideological actor in the Middle East.
Location:
• Iran is located in southwestern Asia, acting as a bridge between the Middle East, Central Asia, and South Asia, and commanding strategic access to the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz.
Capital: Tehran.
Neighbouring nations: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkmenistan, Caspian Sea, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkey, Iraq, Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman.
Key geological and physical features:
• Central Iranian Plateau: A vast, arid and elevated region forming Iran’s core, dominated by the Dasht-e Kavir and Dasht-e Lut deserts, characterised by extreme temperatures, salt flats, and sparse habitation.
• Zagros Mountains: A long northwest–southeast mountain system in western Iran, geologically young and tectonically active, rich in hydrocarbons and forming a natural barrier between the plateau and Mesopotamian plains.
• Alborz Mountains: Running along the southern Caspian Sea coast, this range contains Mount Damavand, Iran’s highest peak, and sharply separates the fertile Caspian lowlands from the interior plateau.
• High seismic activity: Located at the convergence of the Arabian and Eurasian tectonic plates, Iran experiences frequent and often devastating earthquakes, making it one of the world’s most seismically vulnerable regions.
• Drainage and rivers: River systems are limited and largely seasonal due to arid conditions; the Karun River in the southwest is the only fully navigable river and a crucial source of irrigation and hydroelectric power.
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