GS-1 

1. Brent Crude & Strait of Hormuz

·      News: Brent crude crossed $100/barrel on 9 September 2026 — its highest since July 2026 — after the US destroyed five Iranian oil tankers and Iran said it struck about 10 ships near the Strait of Hormuz.

·      What is Crude Oil?

o A depletable, non-renewable mixture of hydrocarbons, found mainly in liquid form in porous sedimentary rocks beneath the Earth’s surface. Formed from marine organic matter buried under heat and pressure over millions of years.

o Also contains sulphur (1–3%), nitrogen (<1%), oxygen (<1%) and traces of metals and salts.

o Largest proven reserves: Venezuela > Saudi Arabia > Iran (OPEC data); globally Canada and Iraq follow close behind. Largest producers are a different list — USA, Saudi Arabia, Russia.

o Sweet vs sour — refers to sulphur content. Sweet crude has low sulphur and is cheaper to refine; sulphur is undesirable because it corrodes equipment, causes SO₂ pollution and lowers the yield of high-value products.

o Brent is light and sweet — hence it commands a premium and is the global reference.

·      About Brent Crude

o Named after the Brent oilfield in the North Sea, between the UK and Norway. The “Brent complex” today blends several North Sea streams.

o Prices up to two-thirds of the world’s internationally traded crude; the benchmark for Europe, Africa and much of Asia.

o Seaborne supply means it can be shipped easily to distant markets — a key reason it became a global benchmark, unlike pipeline-locked crudes.

o Price drivers: supply–demand balance, geopolitics, production disruptions, OPEC+ decisions, inventories, the US dollar, and broader economic trends.

·      Major Global Crude Benchmarks

Benchmark

Region

Notes

WTI (West Texas Intermediate)

United States

Lighter and sweeter than Brent; priced at Cushing, Oklahoma (landlocked), so usually trades at a discount to Brent

Dubai/Oman

Asian markets

Medium, sour; the benchmark for Gulf crude sold to Asia — relevant for India

OPEC Reference Basket

OPEC

Weighted average of member countries’ crudes

o OPEC — Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries; founded 1960 at Baghdad by Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela; HQ Vienna. OPEC+ adds non-OPEC producers led by Russia. India is not a member.

·      Strait of Hormuz

o A narrow waterway between Iran (north) and the Arabian Peninsula — the UAE and Oman’s Musandam exclave (south). At its narrowest it is about 33 km wide, with shipping lanes only about 3 km wide each way.

o Connects the Persian Gulf (west) with the Gulf of Oman (east) and onward to the Arabian Sea — the only sea route out of the Persian Gulf.

o Significance: about 20 million barrels/day transit the strait — roughly 20% of global petroleum liquids consumption and about 20% of global LNG trade.

o Carries oil and gas from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Qatar, Bahrain, the UAE and Iran, mostly to Asian markets. China is Iran’s single largest oil customer.

·      The Red Sea (the other regional chokepoint)

o A semi-enclosed arm of the Indian Ocean between Africa and Asia, occupying the Red Sea Rift — a divergent plate boundary where the African (Nubian) and Arabian plates are pulling apart. It is part of the Great Rift Valley system and is a young, widening ocean basin.

o Connected in the south to the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait; in the north the Sinai Peninsula splits it into the Gulf of Aqaba (east) and Gulf of Suez (west). The Gulf of Suez leads to the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean.

o Its name is linked to seasonal blooms of the cyanobacterium Trichodesmium erythraeum, which turns the surface reddish-brown.

o Bordering countries (8): Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti (Africa); Saudi Arabia, Yemen (Asia); and Israel and Jordan on the Gulf of Aqaba.

·      India’s Crude Oil Position

o India imports roughly 85–88% of its crude oil requirement — one of the world’s highest import dependencies.

o Third-largest consumer and importer of crude oil in the world (after the USA and China).

o Projected to be the largest single contributor to global oil demand growth to 2050 (OPEC World Oil Outlook 2025).

o India imports about 60% of its LPG, of which roughly 90% comes through the Strait of Hormuz — so LPG is far more Hormuz-exposed than crude.

o Russia has been India’s largest crude supplier since 2022–23; reportedly about 70% of India’s crude imports now arrive from outside the Strait of Hormuz — a major shift that cushions India against a Hormuz closure.

2. Zimbabwe & Lithium

·      News: India’s Lohum (a Noida-based critical-minerals firm) dispatched its first consignment of lithium ore from Zimbabwe’s Matabeleland South Province on 9 September 2026, becoming the first Indian company to produce lithium from an overseas asset.

·      Why This Matters for India

o Lithium is a critical mineral for EV batteries and energy storage; India has negligible domestic production and depends almost entirely on imports, mainly from China.

·      Lithium Geology — Hard Rock vs Brine

o Pegmatite — a very coarse-grained igneous rock formed from the last, water-rich fraction of a crystallising magma; the large crystals concentrate rare elements such as lithium, beryllium, tantalum and caesium.

o Spodumene and petalite are lithium aluminosilicate minerals — the main hard-rock sources of lithium (Australia, Zimbabwe).

o Top producers: Australia (hard rock), Chile (brine), China, Argentina. Bolivia holds the largest resources (Salar de Uyuni) but produces little.

·      Zimbabwe

o A landlocked republic in Southern Africa. Capital: Harare (formerly Salisbury). Independence in 1980.

o Neighbours (4): South Africa (south), Botswana (west), Zambia (north), Mozambique (east).

o Africa’s leading lithium producer, with the continent’s largest hard-rock lithium reserves — notably the Bikita and Arcadia deposits.

o Rivers: the Zambezi forms the northern border with Zambia; the Limpopo forms the southern border with South Africa.

o Victoria Falls on the Zambezi — a UNESCO World Heritage Site shared with Zambia. Lake Kariba, on the Zambezi, is one of the world’s largest man-made reservoirs.

o Great Zimbabwe — the medieval stone city that gives the country its name; a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

GS-2 

1.      English in India & Official Language

·      News: The Union Government told the Supreme Court that it “has an issue” with treating English as an indigenous language of India.

·      Introduction of English in India

o Macaulay’s Minute on Indian Education (2 February 1835) — Thomas Babington Macaulay, argued that English was superior to Oriental languages and that Indians should be educated in English.

o His stated aim: to form “a class of persons, Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals and in intellect” — an intermediary class between the rulers and the masses (the “downward filtration theory”).

o Lord William Bentinck, then Governor-General, accepted the Minute and issued the English Education Act, 1835, making English the medium of higher education. This began the Anglicist period.

o 1837: English replaced Persian as the language of administration and the courts.

o Wood’s Despatch, 1854 — the “Magna Carta of English education in India”; created a proper education department, universities at Calcutta, Bombay and Madras (1857), and grants-in-aid; English for higher education, vernaculars at the school level.

·      The Eighth Schedule

o Lists the languages officially recognised by the Constitution. Dealt with in Part XVII, particularly Articles 344(1) and 351.

·      Currently 22 languages. Originally 14.

Stage

Languages

How added

Original (14)

Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu

Constitution, 1950

+1 = 15

Sindhi

21st Amendment, 1967

+3 = 18

Konkani, Manipuri, Nepali

71st Amendment, 1992

+4 = 22

Bodo, Dogri, Maithili, Santhali

92nd Amendment, 2003 (in force 2004)

o Position of English: despite being the effective language of higher administration, courts and business, English has never been in the Eighth Schedule. It is, however, an associate official language of the Union under the Official Languages Act, 1963.

o Criteria for inclusion: the Constitution prescribes none. The Pahwa Committee (1996) and the Sitakant Mahapatra Committee (2003) suggested criteria, but no set of criteria has been formally adopted.

·      Constitutional Provisions on Official Language — Part XVII (Articles 343–351)

Article

Provision

343(1)

Hindi in the Devanagari script is the official language of the Union. Numerals: the international form of Indian numerals.

343(2)

English to continue for all official purposes of the Union for 15 years from commencement (i.e. up to 1965). The President may authorise Hindi in addition to English during this period.

343(3)

Parliament may by law provide for continued use of English beyond 15 years — done through the Official Languages Act, 1963.

344

344(1): President to constitute an Official Language Commission. 344(4): a Committee of Parliament on Official Language — 30 members (20 Lok Sabha + 10 Rajya Sabha).

345

A State Legislature may adopt any language in use in the State, or Hindi, as the official language of that State.

346

Official language for communication between States and between a State and the Union.

347

President may direct recognition of a language spoken by a substantial proportion of a State’s population, for a part or the whole of the State.

348(1)

Until Parliament provides otherwise, English shall be used in the Supreme Court and every High Court, and for authoritative texts of Bills, Acts, Ordinances, orders, rules and regulations.

348(2)

A Governor, with the prior consent of the President, may authorise Hindi or the State’s official language in that High Court’s proceedings — but judgments, decrees and orders must still be in English.

349

Special procedure for enacting certain laws relating to language (during the first 15 years).

350

Right to submit a representation for redress of grievance in any language used in the Union or the State.

350A

Mother-tongue instruction at the primary stage for linguistic minority children (added by the 7th Amendment, 1956).

350B

Special Officer for Linguistic Minorities, appointed by the President (added by the 7th Amendment, 1956).

351

Directive to the Union to promote the spread of the Hindi language and develop it as a medium for India’s composite culture, drawing on Sanskrit primarily and other languages secondarily.

·      Official Language Commission (Article 344)

o Constituted by the President — after 5 years from the commencement of the Constitution and thereafter every 10 years.

o The first Commission (7 June 1955) was appointed by President Rajendra Prasad and chaired by B. G. Kher (Bal Gangadhar Kher).

·      Official Languages Act, 1963

o Enacted under Article 343(3) to allow English to continue alongside Hindi for Union purposes beyond 1965.

o The 1967 amendment (after the anti-Hindi agitations in Tamil Nadu) made continuation of English indefinite — English can be discontinued only when every non-Hindi State Legislature and both Houses of Parliament so resolve.

o Also covers use of languages in Parliament, in Central and State legislation, and for certain purposes in High Courts.

·      Three-Language Formula

o Origin : the idea was first mooted by the University Education Commission (1948–49, Radhakrishnan), the Education Commission (1964–66, Kothari Commission) recommended a modified/graduated version, which was formally adopted in the National Policy on Education, 1968.

·      The 1968 formula:

o Hindi-speaking States: Hindi, English, and a modern Indian language (preferably a southern language).

o Non-Hindi-speaking States: the regional language, Hindi, and English.

o NEP 2020: retains the formula but with greater flexibility — no language is imposed on any State; requires that at least two of the three languages be native to India; applies to both government and private schools; stresses mother-tongue/regional-language medium at least up to Grade 5.

2.      Article 371(K) & Ladakh

·      News: On 9 September 2026, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) proposed a new constitutional provision — a Chapter “K” under Article 371, i.e. Article 371(K) — to create a directly elected body for the Union Territory of Ladakh.

·      Why Ladakh Demands Constitutional Safeguards

o After the Jammu & Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 (effective 31 October 2019), Ladakh became a Union Territory without a legislature, administered by a Lieutenant Governor under Article 239.

o UT status was initially welcomed, especially in the Buddhist-majority Leh district, which had long argued the region was neglected under the erstwhile J&K government.

o Enthusiasm faded when it became clear that — unlike the UT of Jammu & Kashmir, to which Article 239A was extended — Ladakh would have no legislature.

o Before 2019, Ladakh sent four MLAs to the J&K Assembly. After reorganisation, governance passed largely to bureaucrats, producing a sense of political alienation.

o The abrogation of Article 370 and lapse of Article 35A, plus changes to J&K domicile rules, raised fears over land, jobs, demographic change and cultural identity.

o Ladakh has two Autonomous Hill Development Councils — LAHDC Leh (1995) and LAHDC Kargil (2003) — created by statute (LAHDC Act, 1995), not by the Constitution. They are not protected by the Sixth Schedule and have limited powers.

o Hence the demands: Statehood, inclusion in the Sixth Schedule, job reservation for locals, and a separate Public Service Commission.

o Partial response so far: in 2025 the President issued regulations under Article 240 giving 85% domicile-based reservation in non-gazetted posts, a 15-year residency rule, 33% reservation for women in the Hill Councils, and added Bhoti and Purgi as official languages of the UT.

·      Article 240 — the key enabling provision

o  Article 240 (Part VIII) empowers the President to make regulations for the “peace, progress and good government” of certain Union Territories.

·      What is the Sixth Schedule?

o Provided under Article 244(2) (and 275(1)), it creates Autonomous District Councils (ADCs) and Regional Councils with legislative, judicial, executive and financial autonomy within a State.

o ADCs may make laws on land, forests, water, shifting cultivation, village administration, inheritance, marriage, social custom, health, sanitation and regulate mining/trading by non-tribals.

o Applies to tribal areas in four North-Eastern States: Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram — currently 10 ADCs (3 each in Assam, Meghalaya and Mizoram; 1 in Tripura).

o In September 2019 the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) recommended including Ladakh in the Sixth Schedule (Ladakh is over 97% Scheduled Tribe). No area outside the North-East has ever been brought under it.

·      Article 371 — Special Provisions (Part XXI)

o Part XXI: “Temporary, Transitional and Special Provisions” — Articles 369–392, including Article 371 and 371-A to 371-J. There is no Article 371-K at present. (Articles 371-D/E and 371-J were inserted by amendment; 371-J by the 98th Amendment, 2012.)

Article

State

Broad focus

371

Maharashtra & Gujarat

Governor’s special responsibility; separate development boards for Vidarbha, Marathwada, Saurashtra, Kutch

371-A

Nagaland

Naga religious/social practices, customary law, land and resources (13th Amendment, 1962)

371-B

Assam

Committee of the Assembly for tribal areas

371-C

Manipur

Hill Areas Committee of the Assembly

371-D / 371-E

Andhra Pradesh & Telangana

371-D: equitable opportunities in education and public employment, Administrative Tribunal. 371-E: establishment of a Central University in AP

371-F

Sikkim

Special arrangements on accession (36th Amendment, 1975)

371-G

Mizoram

Mizo customary law, religion, social practices, land

371-H

Arunachal Pradesh

Governor’s special responsibility for law and order

371-I

Goa

Assembly to have not less than 30 members

371-J

Karnataka

Hyderabad–Karnataka (Kalyana Karnataka) region — development board, reservation in education and jobs

·      What Has the Centre Proposed?

o A sui generis governance framework under Article 371, through a new Chapter K.

o Sui generis (Latin, “of its own kind”) — a unique, custom-built framework created for a situation that does not fit existing categories.

o The proposed body would: (i) be directly elected; (ii) exercise legislative powers over land, culture and language, forests, environment and natural resources; and (iii) possibly legislate on other matters reserved for the UT under Article 240.

o Legal route: requires a constitutional amendment under Article 368 — a special majority of each House (majority of total membership and two-thirds of members present and voting). Amendments to Part XXI provisions of this kind do not normally require ratification by half the States.

o Builds on an “in-principle understanding” reached in discussions in May and July 2026. Ladakh’s representatives call the proposal incomplete, since silence on finance, bureaucracy and police could leave the elected body without real power.

·      Article 371(K) vs the Sixth Schedule 

Sixth Schedule

Proposed Article 371(K)

Level

District level — Autonomous District Councils

Union Territory level — a single elected body

Applies to

Tribal areas within a State

A Union Territory — which would be a first

Powers

Constitutionally defined (land, forest, custom, etc.) — fixed and protected

To be specified in the amendment — more flexible, but the Centre retains more discretion

Precedent

Exists only in 4 NE States

Sui generis — asymmetrical federalism extended to a UT  

3.      IAEA & Uranium

·      News: On 9 September 2026, the IAEA Board of Governors voted to report Iran to the UN Security Council — the first such referral since 2006 — over Iran’s failure to cooperate in a long-running investigation into uranium traces found at undeclared sites.

·      About the IAEA

o The world’s foremost intergovernmental organisation for scientific and technical cooperation in the nuclear field.

o Traces its origin to US President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s “Atoms for Peace” speech to the UNGA on 8 December 1953.

o Statute approved 23 October 1956; entered into force 29 July 1957 (18 ratifications were required).

o An autonomous organisation within the UN system — established by its own treaty, not a UN specialised agency. It reports to both the UNGA and the UNSC.

o Known as the “Atoms for Peace and Development” organisation; Nobel Peace Prize, 2005 (jointly with Director General Mohamed ElBaradei).

o The IAEA is not a party to the NPT — but it is the designated verification authority for NPT safeguards agreements.

o It cannot compel cooperation from member states; its ultimate step is to report non-compliance to the UNSC, which alone can impose sanctions.

·      Membership and Structure

o 181 member states (as of December 2025). India is a founding member, joining on 16 July 1957. HQ: Vienna, Austria.

Organ

Composition

Function

General Conference

All member states

Meets annually; approves the budget, admits members, sets general policy

Board of Governors

35 members

Meets about five times a year; approves safeguards agreements, appoints the Director General, makes recommendations to the General Conference

Secretariat

Headed by the Director General

Day-to-day operations; DG since 2019: Rafael Grossi

·      Uranium — Basics

o A naturally occurring radioactive metal, atomic number 92, symbol U — the heaviest naturally occurring element in appreciable quantity.

o Isotopes — atoms of the same element (same number of protons) with different numbers of neutrons, hence different mass numbers.

·      Forms of Uranium

o  Natural Uranium – contains a 238U concentration of 99.27%, 235U concentration of 0.72 % and very little 234U.

o Low Enriched Uranium - Uranium is considered low-enriched if its isotopic proportion of U-235 remains below 20%.Most commercial reactor fuel uses low enriched uranium (LEU) enriched to between 3% and 5% 235U.

o Highly Enriched Uranium – contains a 235U concentration greater than 20%. Highly enriched uranium (HEU) is used in naval propulsion reactors, nuclear weapons. Uranium-235 is the only primary, naturally occurring fissile material capable of sustaining a nuclear fission chain reaction with slow neutrons.

o Depleted Uranium – contains a 235U concentration of 0.711 percent or less. It is a co-product of the enrichment process.

·      Uranium Enrichment

o Uranium enrichment is the process, through which the isotopic proportion of U-235 is increased from 0.72% to up to 94%.

o 

Enrichment uses uranium in the form of uranium hexafluoride, UF6, a colourless solid that turns into a gas at modest temperatures.

·      Uranium in India and the World

o Kazakhstan is the world’s largest producer — more than a third of global output; followed by Canada, Namibia and Australia. Australia holds the largest reserves.

o India produces only a very small share (around 1–2%) of world output and imports uranium from Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, France and Canada for its safeguarded reactors.

o First uranium deposit found in 1951 at Jaduguda, in the Singhbhum Shear/Thrust Belt.

o Tummalapalle (Kadapa district, Andhra Pradesh) holds India’s largest uranium reserve.

·      Uranium deposits in India — Rajasthan (North Delhi Fold Belt), Meghalaya (Mahadek Basin), Jharkhand (Singhbhum Shear Zone), Karnataka (Bhima Basin), Telangana (North Cuddapah) and Andhra Pradesh (South Cuddapah). 

GS-3 

1. ISRO–ESA: Gaganyaan, Venus & Moon

·      News: The European Space Agency (ESA) will explore cooperation with ISRO in human spaceflight, lunar and Venus missions. The two have already signed a Technical Implementing Plan (TIP) for ground tracking support for the Gaganyaan missions.

·      Technical Implementation Plan (TIP) for ground tracking sets out the station architecture, integration, and telemetry, tracking and command (TT&C) protocols through which one agency’s ground stations support another’s mission — vital for a crewed flight, where continuous contact is a safety requirement.

·      Gaganyaan Mission

o India’s first human spaceflight programme — to send a crew of three astronauts to Low Earth Orbit at about 400 km for a three-day mission and return them safely, with splashdown in Indian waters.

o Launch vehicle: the Human-Rated LVM3 (HLVM3), with a Crew Escape System. The spacecraft (Orbital Module) = Crew Module + Service Module.

o Current schedule: three uncrewed test flights (G1, G2, G3) carrying the half-humanoid robot Vyommitra, with G1 targeted for late 2026; the first crewed flight (H1) is targeted for 2027.

o Success would make India the fourth country with indigenous human spaceflight capability, after the USSR/Russia, the USA and China.

·      Venus — Key Facts

o Second planet from the Sun and Earth’s closest planetary neighbour.

o The third brightest object in the sky after the Sun and the Moon (the “morning/evening star”).

o The hottest planet in the Solar System — surface about 465°C, hotter than Mercury despite being farther from the Sun, because of a runaway greenhouse effect from its dense CO₂ atmosphere (~96%) with sulphuric acid clouds; surface pressure is about 90 times Earth’s.

o Called “Earth’s twin” for its similar size, mass and density.

o Rotates retrograde (east to west, opposite to most planets, like Uranus) and very slowly — one rotation takes about 243 Earth days, which is longer than its year (225 Earth days).

o One of only two planets with no moon (the other being Mercury), but it has a quasi-satellite, 524522 Zoozve, officially named in 2024. It has no rings.

o Quasi-satellite — an object that orbits the Sun, not the planet, but in a 1:1 resonance with it, so it appears to loop around the planet over time. It is not a true moon.

·      Shukrayaan-1 / Venus Orbiter Mission (VOM)

o Cabinet-approved (September 2024); ISRO targets launch in March 2028.

o A ~2,500 kg orbiter to study Venus’s surface and subsurface features, atmospheric chemistry and dynamics, and its interaction with the solar wind.

o Also a technology demonstrator for aerobraking and thermal management in the harsh Venusian environment.

o Aerobraking — using repeated passes through a planet’s upper atmosphere so that atmospheric drag gradually slows and circularises the spacecraft’s orbit, saving a large amount of propellant.

o LVM3 is the candidate launch vehicle, placing the spacecraft first in an Elliptical Parking Orbit (EPO).

o Parking orbit — a temporary orbit around Earth where a spacecraft waits before a major engine burn (trans-planetary injection) sends it on its interplanetary trajectory.

o Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyaan, 2013–14) made India the first country to reach Mars orbit on its first attempt, and the fourth entity to reach Mars after the USSR, the USA and ESA.

·      India’s Lunar Exploration Programme

Mission

Year

Key outcome

Chandrayaan-1

2008

India’s first Moon mission (orbiter + Moon Impact Probe); confirmed water molecules/hydroxyl on the lunar surface (NASA’s M³ instrument)

Chandrayaan-2

2019

Orbiter, Vikram lander, Pragyan rover. The lander crashed, but the orbiter remains operational and continues to return data

Chandrayaan-3

2023

First country to soft-land near the lunar south pole; fourth nation to soft-land on the Moon (after USA, USSR/Russia, China). Vikram touched down at about 69.37° S, 32.35° E — the site is named Shiv Shakti Point

Chandrayaan-4

planned ~2027–28

Sample-return mission — land, collect lunar samples and bring them back to Earth

Chandrayaan-5 / LUPEX

planned

Lunar Polar Exploration with JAXA (Japan) — to search for water ice and volatiles in permanently shadowed regions near the south pole

·      Permanently shadowed regions (PSRs) — crater floors near the lunar poles that, because the Moon’s axis is barely tilted, never receive sunlight. Temperatures below about −200°C allow water ice to survive for billions of years — a potential resource for future missions.