News In Short 12-02-2026

Continental Mantle Earthquakes

Syllabus: GS1/Geography 

In News

• Stanford researchers have produced the first global map of a rare type of earthquake that occurs not in the Earth’s crust but deep within the planet’s mantle

Continental mantle earthquakes 

• Location: They occur worldwide but are regionally clustered, particularly beneath the Himalayas in southern Asia and the Bering Strait between Asia and North America. 
• Depth: Most earthquakes occur in the Earth’s crust at depths of 10–29 km, but mantle earthquakes happen much deeper—over 80 km below the crust-mantle boundary, known as the Mohorovičić discontinuity (Moho), which separates the crust from the semi-solid mantle.

Latest Study 

• The team used differences in Sn waves (mantle) and Lg waves (crust) to reliably identify mantle earthquakes from seismic data.
• From 46,000 earthquakes since 1990, 459 were confirmed as mantle earthquakes; the true number may be higher.

Importance 

• It will offer fresh insights into how earthquakes originate and how the Earth works beneath its surface.
• Studying these quakes helps understand earthquake mechanics and Earth’s internal structure.
• Researchers aim to explore whether these earthquakes are caused by stress from crustal quakes or heat-driven mantle processes, improving knowledge of how the crust and mantle interact.

Source :DTE

Ministry of Home Affairs Guidelines on Vande Mataram

Syllabus: GS2/ Polity and Governance

Context

• The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has issued guidelines directing that the national song Vande Mataram be sung/ played before the national anthem when both are played at official events. 

Key Guidelines

• Occasions for Playing or Singing:
  • Arrival and departure of the President at formal State functions.
  • Before and after Presidential addresses to the nation.
  • Arrival and departure of Governors/Lieutenant Governors at State functions.
  • When the National Flag is brought on parade.
  • Other occasions specified by the Government of India.
• Protocol: The official version of approximately 3 minutes and 10 seconds shall be used.
  • All six stanzas of Vande Mataram, including the four stanzas that were set aside by the Congress Working Committee in 1937, will be played.

Constitutional and Legal Framework

• Status of National Symbols: On 24 January 1950, the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram were adopted as India’s National Song.
  • While the Constitution does not explicitly define “National Song,” its recognition flows from Constituent Assembly discussions and executive practice.
• Article 51A(a) Fundamental Duties: Mandates every citizen to abide by the Constitution and respect its ideals and institutions, the National Flag and the National Anthem.
  • Vande Mataram is not explicitly protected by any constitutional provision.

Source: TH

Sensitive Items out of U.S. Statement on Deal with India

Syllabus: GS2/IR; GS3/Agriculture

Context

• The US has revised a factsheet it had released about the trade deal with India.

About

• Purchasing of American Products:  The earlier version of the factsheet said India had “committed to” buying more American products and purchasing “over $500 billion of U.S. energy, information and communication technology, coal, and other products”.
  • The updated factsheet replaced the wording from “committed” to “intends”.
• Pulses: Another section in the factsheet included “certain pulses” among the agricultural products India had committed to reducing tariffs on.
  • The joint statement had made no mention of pulses and the updated factsheet drops the mention of pulses.
• Digital Services India will remove its digital services taxes and commit to negotiate a robust set of bilateral digital trade rules that address discriminatory or burdensome practices and other barriers to digital trade.
  • This section  has now been removed altogether.

Reasons for Updating the Fact Sheet

• Clarification on India Buying American Products: The $500-billion sum has left farmers worried over a sudden surge in imports of agricultural goods.
  • However, the government has clarified that this figure is not legally binding as private companies are involved in placing orders, not the sovereign governments.
• The dropping of ‘pulses’ from the revised fact sheet comes at a time when the Indian government is attempting to push for self-reliance in the segment.
  • For India, market access to agriculture has long been a sensitive point in trade deal negotiations. 
  • Farmers have historically pushed for agriculture to be kept out of multilateral and bilateral agreements, citing steep international subsidies in the West.

Source: IE

Draft Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP)-2026

Syllabus: GS3/Defence

Context

• The Department of Defence has prepared the draft ‘Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP)-2026.

About

• The proposed draft aims to align India’s defence acquisition with the rapidly evolving geo-strategic landscape.
• It is the cornerstone for the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ initiative in defence and will replace the Defence Acquisition Procedure-2020.
• It focuses on institutionalised preference for ‘Buy (Indian-IDDM)’ (Indigenously Designed, Developed and Manufactured) category for procurement, thereby boosting domestic manufacturing and effective reduction of imports.
• Imports restricted to only domestically non-available and critical equipment.

Significance

• It emphasises pragmatic evaluation of Indigenous Content (IC) and Indigenous Design (ID) and retention of IPR in India.
• Eases financial and experience criteria to promote inclusive participation of MSMEs, start-ups, and private industry.
• Promotes faster acquisition through delegation of powers, revamped trials & quality assurance, and digitisation of procedures.

Source: TH

Liberalised Remittance Scheme 

Syllabus: GS3/Economy 

In News

• During the Union Budget 2026-27, the Finance Minister announced that the Tax Collected at Source (TCS) under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) for education and medical expenses abroad will be reduced from 5% to 2%.

Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS)

• The Scheme was introduced in 2004, with a limit of USD 25,000. The LRS limit has been revised in stages consistent with prevailing macro and micro economic conditions.
• At present, under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme, resident individuals, including minors, can freely remit up to $2,50,000 per financial year for permissible current or capital account transactions or a combination of both
  • These transactions include education, medical treatment abroad, purchase of property, and investments in foreign stocks.

Prohibited items under the Scheme 

• Under the Scheme, remittances are prohibited for certain purposes, including activities banned under Schedule I (such as lottery tickets or proscribed magazines) or restricted under Schedule II of FEMA. 
• They cannot be used for margin calls to overseas exchanges, purchasing FCCBs of Indian companies in the overseas secondary market, or trading in foreign exchange abroad. 
• Remittances to FATF-designated non-cooperative countries, to individuals or entities flagged as terrorism risks by the RBI, and gifting in foreign currency to another resident’s overseas account are also not allowed.

Source :LM

Corruption Perceptions Index

Syllabus: GS2/Governance 

Context 

• Transparency International recently published  2025 Corruption Perception Index (CPI).

Corruption Perceptions Index 

• It measures perceived levels of public sector corruption using assessments from experts and business leaders. 
• Scores range from zero, indicating very high levels of perceived corruption, to 100, which reflects a clean public sector.

Key Highlights of Data 

• Methodology: The index evaluated 182 countries based on perceived public sector corruption, using a scale from zero (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean).
• Trend:   Corruption globally is worsening, even in advanced democracies, as the number of countries scoring above 80 has decreased from 12 a decade ago to just five this year.
  • It revealed a troubling downward trend, with the global average score falling to 42 out of 100—the lowest in over ten years.
  • It further pointed out that 122 countries, which are more than two-thirds of the total, scored under 50 in the 2025 CPI.
• Best performing countries:   Denmark, maintaining its eight-year streak, tops the CPI 2025 with the highest score of 89, followed closely by Finland (88) and Singapore (84).
• Worst Performing Countries: The countries with the lowest scores suffer from severely repressed civil societies and high levels of instability.
  • South Sudan and Somalia, both scoring 9, tied at rank 181.
• India’s Performance: In 2025, India ranked 91st globally on the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), scoring 39 out of 100, which is a slight improvement from the previous year.

Source :IE

India’s First Musical Road

Syllabus: GS2/Government Initiative

Context

• Mumbai’s Coastal Road has introduced India’s first musical road, marking an innovative use of road engineering to combine infrastructure with technology-driven public experience.

About

• A 500-metre stretch between Nariman Point and Worli, named Sangeet Marg, plays the Oscar-winning song “Jai Ho” when vehicles travel at a speed of 60–80 km per hour. The concept uses specially engineered rumble strips carved into the asphalt at precise intervals.
• As vehicles move over these grooves, vibrations are generated due to friction between the tyres and the road surface. These vibrations create sound waves that combine to reproduce the melody, which can be heard by passengers inside the vehicle. 
• The concept is based on Hungarian technology and has previously been implemented in countries such as Hungary, Japan, South Korea, and the United Arab Emirates. 

Source: TH