19 June 2026

UPSC GS 2

52nd G7 Summit

1. News:  Prime Minister Narendra Modi is participating in the 52nd G7 Summit, being held in France, where leaders are discussing major global political, economic, technological, and security challenges.

2.  About the 52nd G7 Summit:

a. Host Country: France

b. Host City: Évian-les-Bains

c. Duration: 15–17 June 2026

d. Presidency: The summit is being held under the French G7 Presidency.

e. Theme: “Working Together to Address Major International Challenges.”

3. G7 Member Countries: The Group of Seven (G7) is an informal grouping of advanced industrialized democracies comprising:

a. Canada

b. France

c. Germany

d. Italy

e. Japan

f. United Kingdom

g. United States

h. The European Union participates permanently in G7 deliberations.

4. Guest Countries Invited for 2026: The invited outreach partners for the 2026 summit are:

a. India

b. China

c. South Korea

d. Kenya

e. Brazil

5. Core Agenda:

a. Global Challenges: Leaders are discussing ways to address major international challenges and strengthen global cooperation and solidarity.

b. Geopolitical Issues: Deliberations include conflicts and security concerns relating to the Middle East, Ukraine, regional instability, and broader global peace and security.

c. Artificial Intelligence and Social Media: Discussions focus on the opportunities and risks associated with AI, including misinformation, digital governance, and the societal impact of emerging technologies.

d. Cyber Security: Member countries are exploring measures to strengthen cyber resilience, safeguard democratic institutions, and enhance online protection for children.

e. Global Imbalances and Organized Crime: The summit is examining issues related to economic imbalances, illicit financial flows, transnational organized crime, and international cooperation against emerging threats.

6. About G7:

a. The Group of Seven (G7) is an informal forum of advanced economies that discusses global economic governance, international security, climate change, technology, energy, development, and geopolitical issues.

b. Origin: The group was established in 1975 as the G6 (France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States). Canada joined in 1976, forming the G7.

c. Nature: It is an informal forum and does not have a permanent secretariat or a legally binding charter.

UPSC GS 3

Paraquat

1. News: Telangana has recently banned Paraquat, one of the world's most widely used and highly toxic weedicides, becoming one of the few Indian states to prohibit its use.

2.  About Paraquat:

a. Paraquat (Paraquat dichloride) is a highly toxic synthetic herbicide used worldwide for controlling weeds and grasses. It is a non-selective contact herbicide that destroys green plant tissue upon contact.

b. Its origins date back to the 1880s when it was first developed as a chemical dye, while its herbicidal properties were discovered in the 1950s.

c. Apart from weed control, paraquat is also used as a desiccant, helping crops dry before harvest. In certain situations, it is used as a plant growth regulator and may either induce or delay flowering. An important characteristic of paraquat is that it has no residual activity in the soil, as it binds strongly to soil particles.

3. Properties:

a. Synthetic (human-made) herbicide.

b. Non-selective contact weedicide.

c. Widely used for weed and grass control.

d. Functions as a desiccant before harvesting.

e. Has no significant residual effect in soil.

4. Major Concerns:

a. Paraquat is considered one of the most toxic herbicides used in agriculture and is associated with numerous cases of poisoning and fatalities worldwide.

b. It is known for its extreme toxicity and the absence of a specific antidote. When ingested, paraquat first damages the lining of the mouth, stomach, and intestines. It is then absorbed into the bloodstream and accumulates in vital organs, particularly the lungs, liver, and kidneys, causing severe and often irreversible damage.

c. More than 70% of paraquat self-poisoning cases result in death, making it one of the deadliest agricultural chemicals.

5. Regulatory Status:

a. Paraquat is banned in more than 70 countries due to health and environmental concerns.

b. It is not banned nationwide in India.

c. Kerala became the first Indian state to ban paraquat in 2011.

d. Other states that have imposed restrictions or bans include Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana.

Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) System

1. News: The Defence Research and Development Organisation recently successfully tested a multi-layered Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) capability, marking a significant advancement in India's missile defence architecture.

2. About Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) System:

a. A Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) system is an integrated network of radars, command centres, launch vehicles, and interceptor missiles designed to detect, track, and destroy incoming ballistic missiles before they reach their targets.

b. Initiated in: The BMD programme was launched in 1999 following Pakistan's 1998 nuclear tests.

c. Components: The system comprises launch vehicles, specialised Long Range Tracking Radars (LRTR), Launch Control Centres (LCC), Mission Control Centres (MCC), and interceptor missiles linked through an integrated command-and-control network.

3. Key Features:

a. Technology: The BMD system relies on the indigenous Long Range Tracking Radar (LRTR), developed using technology derived from the Green Pine Radar of Israel Aerospace Industries.

4. Dual-Altitude Tiered Architecture: The system operates through a two-layer defence shield comprising:

a. Endo-atmospheric interception (within Earth's atmosphere).

b. Exo-atmospheric interception (outside Earth's atmosphere).

5. Phases of the BMD Programme:

a. Phase I: This phase consists of the Prithvi Defence Vehicle (PDV) and Advanced Air Defence (AAD) interceptors. The PDV can intercept targets at an altitude of about 100 km, while the AAD interceptor can engage targets at approximately 25 km altitude.

b. Phase II: This phase expands the defensive envelope to counter ballistic missiles in the 5,000-km class, including Intermediate-Range Ballistic Missiles (IRBMs) and selected Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM)-level threats. It includes two advanced interceptors—AD-1 and AD-2.

i. AD-1 is a long-range interceptor designed for both low exo-atmospheric and endo-atmospheric interception of long-range ballistic missiles as well as aircraft.

ii. AD-2 is capable of intercepting Intermediate-Range Ballistic Missiles with ranges between 3,000 km and 5,500 km.

6. Phase III: This phase envisages the development of two new interceptor missiles, namely AD-AH and AD-AM.

a. AD-AH is intended to counter Hypersonic Glide Vehicle threats, which can manoeuvre unpredictably and alter their trajectory during flight.

b. AD-AM is designed to intercept Hypersonic Cruise Missile threats that travel at extremely high speeds within the atmosphere.

7. Significance:

a. The BMD system is being developed to defend India against a wide spectrum of missile threats, including ballistic missiles, hypersonic weapons, and manoeuvrable hypersonic glide vehicles.

b. It is also designed to counter missiles equipped with Multiple Independently Targetable Re-entry Vehicle technology, under which a single missile carries multiple warheads capable of striking different targets. By addressing MIRV threats, the system can protect large geographical areas and critical infrastructure from simultaneous multi-target attacks.

c. The successful development of this multi-layered defence shield strengthens India's strategic deterrence capability and places it among a select group of nations possessing advanced indigenous ballistic missile defence systems.

Varya AI Model

1. News:  Recently, Avataar.ai, an AI-native transformation company, launched the Varya AI Model, a video-generation model developed with support from the IndiaAI Mission.

2.  About Varya AI Model:

a. Varya is a distilled video-generation AI model designed to make advanced video creation more affordable, accessible, and relevant for India's next generation of users.

b.  It aims to significantly reduce the computational cost of generating high-quality AI videos while maintaining output quality comparable to larger frontier models.

3. Key Features:

a. Distillation-Based Architecture: Varya uses a model distillation technique that reduces the video-generation process from around 50 inference steps to just 4 steps while retaining comparable visual quality.

b. Cost Efficiency: The model can generate video at approximately ₹0.48 per second, making it up to 10 times more cost-effective than several leading global video-generation models.

c. Ease of Use: Users can generate videos either by entering a text prompt or by uploading an image, making content creation accessible to a wider audience.

4. Working Mechanism: The user provides either a text description or an image as input. The model then generates a video clip based on the input. Users can further extend the generated sequence by creating additional clips, enabling longer and more dynamic video content.

5. Potential Use Cases:

a. Education: Teachers can create visual learning content and interactive lessons, especially in resource-constrained classrooms.

b. Industry and MSMEs: Small businesses can quickly generate promotional videos, advertisements, and product demonstrations at low cost.

c. Governance: Government agencies can disseminate public information and citizen services through easily understandable video formats.

6. What is Distilled Video Generation?

a. Distilled Video Generation is a machine-learning model compression technique in which a smaller and faster "student" model learns to replicate the capabilities of a larger "teacher" model.

b. In conventional video-generation systems, the model may require more than 50 iterative denoising steps to create a final video.

c. Through distillation, the student model learns to bypass most of these intermediate computations and generate similar-quality outputs in only a few steps, resulting in significantly lower computational costs, faster generation, and improved scalability.

7. Significance: 

a. The Varya AI Model demonstrates India's growing capabilities in generative AI and aligns with the objective of democratizing advanced AI technologies.

b. By reducing costs and computational requirements, it can support wider adoption of AI-powered video creation across education, business, governance, and digital content ecosystems.

Facts for Prelims

Global Peace Index (GPI) 2026

1. News:  India has been ranked 127th in the Global Peace Index (GPI) 2026.

2. About Global Peace Index (GPI):

a. The Global Peace Index (GPI) is the world's leading measure of global peacefulness.

b. It is published annually by the Institute for Economics and Peace, an independent, non-partisan, and non-profit think tank.

c. The index ranks 163 independent states and territories, covering approximately 99.7% of the world's population.

d. The 2026 edition marks the 20th edition of the Global Peace Index.

3. Methodology: The index uses 23 qualitative and quantitative indicators grouped under three broad domains:

4. 1. Societal Safety and Security:

a. Crime levels.

b. Political stability.

c. Terrorism impact.

d. Violent demonstrations.

e. Internal security conditions.

5. 2. Ongoing Domestic and International Conflict:

a. Number and intensity of internal conflicts.

b. External conflicts and wars.

c. Relations with neighboring countries.

d. Conflict-related deaths.

6. 3. Militarisation:

a. Military expenditure.

b. Armed forces personnel.

c. Availability of heavy weapons.

d. Arms imports and exports.

e. Nuclear and military capabilities.

7. Top Performing Countries (Most Peaceful):

· Rank

· Country

· 1

· Iceland

· 2

· New Zealand

· 3

· Switzerland

· 4

· Slovenia

· 5

· Ireland

1. Iceland has retained the top position for the 19th consecutive year.

· Bottom Ranked Countries (Least Peaceful)

· Rank (from bottom)

· Country

· 163

· Russia

· 162

· Sudan

· 161

· Democratic Republic of the Congo

· 160

· Ukraine

· 159

· Israel

1. India's Position:

2. Rank: 127th.

3. The ranking reflects India's performance across the three dimensions of peace:

a. Societal safety and security.

b. Ongoing domestic and international conflicts.

c. Militarisation.

4. Institute for Economics & Peace (IEP): The Institute for Economics and Peace is an international think tank dedicated to developing metrics that analyze peace and quantify its economic value and societal impact.