In News:

• The Booker Prize Foundation has announced the establishment of the Children’s Booker Prize, a landmark global award dedicated to fiction written for children aged 8 to 12 years.
• Scheduled to debut in 2027, this prize represents the first major expansion of the Booker brand into children’s literature and carries a purse of £50,000, matching the award value of its established sister prizes.

What the Prize Represents

• The Children’s Booker Prize aims to celebrate and elevate fiction for middle-grade readers, acknowledging the importance of early reading habits in shaping future generations of informed, imaginative, and engaged adults. Books originally written in English or translated into English will be eligible, making the award internationally inclusive.
• The Booker Prize Foundation, in partnership with the AKO Foundation, which supports arts, education, and environmental initiatives, seeks to nurture a global culture of reading and inspire literary excellence in children’s storytelling.

Eligibility and Key Features

• Age Category: Fiction aimed at 8–12-year-old readers.
• Geographic Scope: Open to books published in the UK or Ireland, regardless of the author’s nationality.
• Languages: Both original English works and translated works can be submitted.
• Prize Value: £50,000 (same as the adult Booker and International Booker), funded by the AKO Foundation.
• Selection Process: The first award in 2027 will be decided by a jury of children and adults, chaired by acclaimed British children’s author Frank Cottrell-Boyce, the current children’s laureate.

The submission process begins in early 2026, and the prize hopes to build enthusiasm and visibility around high-quality children’s literature.

Purpose and Vision

• According to Booker Prize Foundation Chief Executive Gaby Wood, the award aims to cultivate an enduring love for reading among younger audiences and to serve as a catalyst for literary engagement across generations. The initiative builds on the Booker’s legacy of recognising works that shape global literary culture.

Position Within the Booker Ecosystem

The Children’s Booker Prize joins two established awards under the Booker umbrella:

1. Booker Prize

• Founded: 1969
• Eligibility: Original novels written in English and published in the UK or Ireland.
• Prize Distribution: Award solely to the author.
• Objective: Celebrates outstanding English-language fiction.
• Indian Winners:
  • Salman Rushdie – Midnight’s Children (1981)
  • Arundhati Roy – The God of Small Things (1997)
  • Kiran Desai – The Inheritance of Loss (2006)
  • Aravind Adiga – The White Tiger (2008)

2. International Booker Prize

• Established: 2005; restructured in 2016.
• Eligibility: Translated fiction published in the UK or Ireland.
• Prize Distribution: Shared equally between author and translator.
• Objective: Promotes cross-cultural literary exchange and honours translation.
• Indian-Linked Winners:
  • Geetanjali Shree – Tomb of Sand (2022) (Hindi, translated by Daisy Rockwell)
  • Banu Mushtaq – Heart Lamp (2025) (Kannada, translated by Deepa Bhasthi)

In News:

India’s foreign exchange reserves recorded a strong rise, increasing by $4.496 billion and reaching an all-time high of $702.28 billion, according to RBI data. This marks the second consecutive week of expansion, following a $2.176 billion rise in the previous reporting week. The jump was primarily driven by a steep increase in the value of gold reserves, even as foreign currency assets registered a decline.

Component-wise Movement of Reserves

1. Foreign Currency Assets (FCA)

• FCAs, which form the largest component of India’s forex reserves, fell by $1.692 billion to $570.411 billion.
• The changes reflect valuation effects due to fluctuations in currencies such as the euro, pound, and yen against the US dollar.

2. Gold Reserves

• Gold holdings rose sharply by $6.181 billion, taking their total value to $108.546 billion.
• The increase is attributed to RBI’s gold purchases and the global surge in gold prices.

3. Special Drawing Rights (SDRs)

• SDR holdings increased slightly by $38 million, reaching $18.722 billion.

4. Reserve Position in the IMF

• India’s reserve position with the IMF declined by $30 million to $4.602 billion.

Overall, the rise in gold assets offset the fall in foreign currency assets, helping the total reserves cross the historic $702-billion mark.

Understanding India’s Forex Reserves

Foreign exchange reserves represent external assets held by the RBI in the form of:

• Foreign currency assets
• Gold reserves
• Special Drawing Rights (SDRs)
• Reserve position in the IMF

These reserves act as a protective financial buffer for the economy.

Objectives and Functions

• Monetary Stability: Helps maintain stability of the Indian Rupee during volatility.
• Crisis Management: Provides liquidity support during balance of payments pressure or external shocks.
• Investor Confidence: Strengthens India’s credibility and ensures macroeconomic stability.
• Trade and Debt Support: Enables smooth settlement of import bills and external debt servicing obligations.

Key Features

• India’s forex reserves are valued on a weekly basis, factoring in global gold prices and New York closing exchange rates.
• The RBI manages these reserves following IMF data dissemination standards, maintaining international transparency.
• Foreign currency assets remain the largest component, followed by gold, SDRs, and India’s IMF reserve position.

Economic Significance

• Economic Security: Acts as an insurance mechanism against currency crises, capital outflows, or external market shocks.
• Policy Flexibility: Allows RBI to intervene in the forex market to curb excessive rupee volatility.
• Global Standing: Reinforces India’s global financial strength, supporting favourable sovereign credit ratings and greater investor trust.

In News:

• A recent multidisciplinary research study by Deccan College, Symbiosis School for Liberal Arts, and the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has reinterpreted the Harappan settlement of KotadaBhadli in Kutch, Gujarat, as the earliest known caravanserai, dating to the Mature Harappan phase (2300–1900 BCE).
• The study, published in L’Anthropologie (2025), pushes back the origins of organised trade infrastructure in South Asia by nearly 2,000 years, long before the rise of the Silk Route.

Location and Strategic Significance

• KotadaBhadli lies in the Kutch district of Gujarat, positioned along inland trade corridors linking prominent Harappan centres such as Dholavira, Lothal, and Shikarpur.
• Its placement reveals a purposeful design—serving as a rural logistical stopover facilitating long-distance trade between urban and coastal settlements.

Nature and Function of the Settlement

• Researchers have identified KotadaBhadli as a fortified rural halt, intended not for permanent habitation but for short-term stops by traders and their caravans.
• Its function aligns closely with caravanserai-style establishments known from later historical periods—providing shelter, security, food, and space for pack animals during overland journeys.
• The study clarifies a previously missing link in Harappan commerce: while trade with Mesopotamia and inland India was well documented, the operational mechanism—how traders and goods moved safely across long distances—was not fully understood. KotadaBhadli provides the first archaeological evidence to support this model.

Archaeological and Scientific Evidence

Excavations conducted between 2010 and 2013 and re-analysed through advanced techniques have revealed:

• A multi-roomed central complex, likely functioning as administrative or resting quarters.
• Fortified walls with bastions, confirming its role as a protected stopover.
• Large open courtyards, interpreted as holding areas for animals and storage of goods.
• Remains of food waste and imported material, suggesting active trade activity.

Cutting-edge scientific methods—including ground-penetrating radar, satellite mapping, magnetic surveys, isotopic and lipid analysis, and multiple dating techniques—have improved understanding of the site’s functional layout and confirm its zoning for logistical purposes.

Implications for Harappan Trade Networks

The findings demonstrate that the Harappan economy had a structured overland trade system, supported by a network of small fortified checkpoints rather than solely urban market centres. This reveals an advanced level of planning and coordination within Harappan economic systems.

Key implications include:

• Chronological significance: Organised trade infrastructure existed in South Asia more than two millennia before the Silk Route.
• Economic insight: Harappans displayed sophisticated logistics and administrative planning.
• Civilizational understanding: The Harappan world was not merely dependent on ports like Lothal or trade with Mesopotamia—it also relied on inland support systems that sustained commerce.

In News:

Kerala has reported yet another fatal case of amoebic meningoencephalitis in 2025, deepening public health concerns in the state. With this incident, Kerala’s cases linked to amoebic meningoencephalitis in 2025 have risen to 27, highlighting an emerging disease surveillance challenge. Health authorities are still investigating the exact source of infection in the latest case, as environmental exposure remains the primary risk factor.

Understanding Amoebic Meningoencephalitis

• Nature of the Disease: Amoebic meningoencephalitis, or Primary Amebic Meningoencephalitis (PAM), is a rare but rapidly progressing and typically fatal brain infection. It occurs when a free-living amoeba invades the central nervous system, causing severe inflammation and extensive brain tissue damage.
• Causative Organism: The infection is caused by Naegleria fowleri, often referred to as the “brain-eating amoeba.” This thermophilic organism is naturally present in warm freshwater bodies and moist soil.

Transmission and Environmental Factors

• The disease is not transmitted person-to-person.
• Infection occurs when contaminated water enters the nasal cavity, allowing the amoeba to migrate through the olfactory nerve into the brain.
• Naegleria fowleri proliferates in warm freshwater, particularly during summer months, in environments such as:
  • Lakes
  • Ponds
  • Hot springs
  • Poorly chlorinated swimming pools
  • Warm freshwater streams and rivers

Kerala’s warm and humid climate, combined with widespread freshwater sources, may create favourable conditions for the organism, necessitating stronger environmental monitoring and public awareness.

Clinical Presentation

Early Symptoms (1–9 days after exposure):

• Fever
• Headache
• Nausea
• Vomiting

Advanced Symptoms:

• Stiff neck
• Seizures
• Confusion
• Loss of balance
• Hallucinations
• Progressive neurological deterioration

The disease often leads to coma and death within days, making it one of the deadliest infections of the central nervous system.

Treatment and Mortality

Treatment remains highly challenging, with over 95% mortality. Some survival cases have been associated with:

• Early diagnosis
• Rapid initiation of drugs like amphotericin B and miltefosine
• Aggressive supportive care in intensive settings

However, the overall prognosis remains extremely poor due to the fast progression of the infection.

Preventive Measures

Given the absence of person-to-person transmission, prevention focuses on reducing environmental exposure:

• Avoid swimming or diving in untreated freshwater bodies, especially during warmer months.
• Use nose clips while entering freshwater.
• Ensure proper chlorination and maintenance of swimming pools.
• Avoid stirring mud or sediment in shallow freshwater areas where amoebae thrive.

In News:

The Pradhan Mantri–Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission (PM-ABHIM), launched in October 2021, represents one of India’s most ambitious national health-system strengthening initiatives. Conceived in the aftermath of COVID-19, the Mission aims to build a resilient, modern, and self-reliant public health infrastructure capable of responding effectively to future pandemics and health emergencies.

Mission Structure and Financial Outlay

• PM-ABHIM is implemented as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) with select Central Sector components, with a total allocation of ?64,180 crore for the period 2021-22 to 2025-26.
• This multi-layered programme focuses on fortifying health infrastructure from the village level to the district level, while simultaneously creating a national network for disease surveillance and laboratory capacity.

Key Components of PM-ABHIM

1. Primary and Secondary Healthcare Strengthening

The Mission envisions comprehensive infrastructure development through:

• Ayushman Arogya Mandirs (AAMs) replacing and upgrading Sub-Centres and Primary Health Centres.
• Urban Health and Wellness Centres established in slum and underserved urban areas.
• Block Public Health Units (BPHUs) to enhance diagnostic, surveillance, and public health management capacity at the block level.

These interventions aim to fill service delivery gaps and ensure equitable access to quality healthcare, especially in rural and vulnerable regions.

2. District-Level Critical Health Infrastructure

• Establishment of Critical Care Hospital Blocks (CCHBs) in every district to provide advanced and emergency care.
• Creation and upgradation of Integrated District Public Health Labs (IDPHLs) for comprehensive testing and epidemiological support.

These facilities are intended to strengthen district-level readiness for public health emergencies and mass-casualty situations.

3. Strengthened Disease Surveillance and Pandemic Preparedness

A significant feature of PM-ABHIM is the creation of an IT-enabled, real-time disease surveillance system. This network links:

• Block-level labs
• District surveillance units
• Regional surveillance centres
• National institutions

The government has highlighted that PM-ABHIM has substantially enhanced India’s health surveillance capabilities, enabling faster detection, notification, and response during outbreaks. The integration of digital tools allows seamless data sharing and analytics—essential for early warning and rapid containment strategies.

4. Research, Innovation, and One Health Approach

The Mission supports:

• Advanced research on COVID-19, emerging infectious diseases, and health emergencies.
• Laboratories and platforms promoting scientific innovation.
• Adoption of the One Health approach, recognising the linkages between human, animal, and environmental health to prevent zoonotic diseases.

Policy Significance

PM-ABHIM marks a paradigm shift from reactive health crisis management to proactive preparedness. Its multi-tiered infrastructure plan, focus on training, surveillance networks, and integration of modern technologies positions India to handle:

• Emerging infectious diseases
• Climate-linked health threats
• Biosecurity risks
• Mass public health emergencies

The Mission also contributes to the broader goals of Ayushman Bharat, Universal Health Coverage (UHC), and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), by bridging regional disparities and strengthening healthcare accessibility.