Current Affairs 01 Feb 2026
National Health Policy (NHP) 2017
- About: NHP 2017 is a comprehensive roadmap to achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in India. It is designed to address the evolving disease burden, contain rising healthcare costs, and enhance public investment to ensure equitable, affordable, and quality healthcare for all citizens.
- Main Objective: Assuring comprehensive, free primary healthcare for all, linked to a health card.
- Improving access to affordable secondary and tertiary care via public hospitals and strategic purchasing from the private sector.
- Significantly reducing out-of-pocket expenditure and catastrophic health expenditures.
- Core Principles: The policy is guided by 10 key principles, including Equity, Affordability, Universality, Patient-Centered & Quality Care, and Accountability.
- Specific Quantitative Targets: The policy sets numerous time-bound goals, such as:
- Increase government health expenditure from 1.15% to 2.5% of GDP by 2025.
- Increase State health spending to >8% of their budgets.
- Reduce Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) to 100 by 2020 and Under-Five Mortality to 23 by 2025.
- Reduce premature mortality from Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) by 25% by 2025.
- Achieve TB elimination by 2025 and maintain elimination of Kala-Azar and Leprosy.
International Solar Alliance (ISA)
- About: It is an action-oriented collaborative platform and the first international intergovernmental organisation headquartered in India (Gurugram, Haryana).
- It was launched jointly by India and France on the sidelines of COP21 (UNFCCC) in Paris in 2015, coinciding with the landmark Paris Agreement.
- The Assembly is the apex decision-making body, where each member country is represented.
- Membership: Initially focused on countries lying between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. Following a 2020 amendment to its Framework Agreement, membership was opened to all UN member states. It currently has over 100 signatory countries, with over 90 having ratified to become full members.
- Objective: It aims to make solar power affordable and accessible in developing countries by facilitating finance, reducing investor risk, and accelerating adoption. It does not build solar plants itself.
- Core Strategy: ISA is guided by its ‘Towards 1000’ strategy, which targets by 2030:
- Mobilizing USD 1,000 billion in investments.
- Delivering energy access to 1,000 million people using clean energy.
- Installing 1,000 GW of solar energy capacity.
- Mitigating 1,000 million tonnes of CO₂ annually.
Energy Security in India
- As per IRENA Renewable Energy Statistics 2025, India ranks 3rd globally in solar power capacity, 4th in wind power, and 4th in total renewable energy capacity, reflecting rapid clean energy expansion.
- Despite being the 3rd largest net energy importer, India has achieved 50% of its cumulative installed electricity capacity from non-fossil fuel sources, five years ahead of its 2030 target.
- However, the country slipped to 71st out of 118 countries in the World Economic Forum’s Energy Transition Index 2025, down from 63rd in 2024.
- Energy Security Initiatives: India’s renewable energy transition is driven by initiatives such as PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana and PM-KUSUM for decentralised solar adoption, the National Policy on Biofuels, 2018 (achieved 20% ethanol blending in petrol in 2025 under the Ethanol Blending Programme (EBP)), and the National Green Hydrogen Mission.
- These efforts are reinforced by solar diplomacy via the International Solar Alliance, the One Sun One World One Grid (OSOWOG), expansion under the Solar Parks Scheme, a major nuclear capacity push through the Nuclear Energy Mission, and global partnerships such as the Global Biofuel Alliance.
Outer Space Treaty, 1967
- About: The Outer Space Treaty, 1967, is the fundamental legal framework governing all celestial activity, establishing principles of peaceful use, non-appropriation, and international cooperation to prevent conflict and ensure space benefits all humanity.
- Origin & Status: Adopted by the United Nations (UN) in 1966, entered into force in 1967, and has more than 115 states parties, making it a near-universal arms-control and space-governance instrument. India signed the treaty in 1967 and ratified it in 1982.
- Foundational Principles:
- Article I: Mandates space exploration for the benefit of all mankind, with space free for all states.
- Article II: Establishes the non-appropriation principle, prohibiting sovereignty claims in space.
- Article IV: Enforces peaceful use, banning weapons of mass destruction and military bases on celestial bodies.
- Article VII: Establishes state liability for damage caused by its space objects.
- Article VI: Confirms state responsibility for all national space activities, including private ones.
The Supreme Court (SC) has issued an interim stay on the University Grants Commission (Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions) Regulations, 2026, citing concerns of potential division of society and undermining campus unity.
- Judicial Intervention: Since the 2012 Regulations had been repealed, the Court, exercising its powers under Article 142, directed that the UGC (Promotion of Equity in Higher Educational Institutions) Regulations, 2012 would continue to apply until further orders.
- Background & Context: The 2026 Regulations were formulated in response to the ongoing case Abeda Salim Tadvi v. Union of India (2019), which seeks to establish a mechanism to end caste-based discrimination on campuses.
- Key Legal & Definitional Challenges to 2026 Regulations: The petitions specifically challenged Section 3(1)(c), which exclusively defines discrimination against SC, ST, and OBC members, thereby excluding the general category.
- The bench questioned the necessity of this narrow provision, as Section 3(1)(e) already provides a broader, inclusive definition of discrimination based on religion, race, caste, gender, place of birth, or disability.
- The SC raised questions on whether the UGC 2026 Regulations adequately cover harassment on regional lines, intra-caste harassment by economically privileged individuals, and incidents of ragging. Moreover, the Regulations contain no mechanism to penalize false complaints.
- Core Judicial Concerns: The SC invoked the “principle of no-regression” from environmental and social justice law, questioning why the 2026 rules were less inclusive than the 2012 version.
- The bench examined the regulation through the lens of Article 15(4) that enables the State to make special provisions for the advancement of socially and educationally backward classes, including SCs and STs.
India-Spain Ties
- Strategic Partnership Elevation: In 2026, India and Spain agreed to work towards elevating their relationship to a Strategic Partnership. Spain also joined the India-backed Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI).
- Economic & Trade Cooperation: Spain is India’s 6th largest trade partner in the European Union (EU). Bilateral trade reached USD 9.32 billion in 2024, while Spain is the 16th largest investor in India with cumulative FDI of USD 4.29 billion.
- India’s top exports to Spain are mineral fuels, chemical products, iron and steel, textiles, machinery, seafood, and leather. Its major imports from Spain are mechanical appliances, chemicals, and plastics.
- Cultural & Diplomatic Milestones: The nations are celebrating 2026 as the ‘Dual Year’ of Culture, Tourism, and Artificial Intelligence, coinciding with 70 years of diplomatic relations.
Classical Languages
- About: In 2004, the Government of India began recognising certain languages as Classical Languages (Shastriya Bhasha) to preserve their ancient literary, cultural and civilisational legacy.
- India currently recognises 11 Classical Languages- Tamil (2004), Sanskrit (2005), Kannada (2008), Telugu (2008), Malayalam (2013), Odia (2014), Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Assamese and Bengali (all 2024).
- The Ministry of Home Affairs initially granted the status to Tamil and Sanskrit, and the Ministry of Culture took over the responsibility for further implementations and future recognition.
- Criteria for Classical Status: The criteria for Classical Language status were revised in 2005 and again in 2024 based on recommendations of Linguistic Experts Committees (LEC) under the Sahitya Akademi.
- The revised criteria introduced in 2024 are as follows:
- High antiquity of its early texts/recorded history over a period of 1500- 2000 years.
- A body of ancient literature/texts, which is considered a heritage by generations of speakers.
- Knowledge texts, especially prose texts in addition to poetry, epigraphical and inscriptional evidence.
- The Classical Languages and literature could be distinct from its current form or could be discontinuous with later forms of its offshoots.