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One Liners 05-08-2026
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Polity & Governance
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SC on live-in relationships
Supreme Court recently said the criminal offence of domestic cruelty would extend to live-in relationships between consenting adults that qualify as “relationships in the nature of marriage”
- Court observation –
- Domestic cruelty offence under Section 498A of the IPC (now Sections 85 and 86 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita) applies to live-in relationships.
- Excluding women in marriage-like live-in setups from protection against domestic violence violates Article 14 of the Constitution (Right to Equality).
- The initial burden of proof to establish this shared domestic arrangement and the intent to marry lies with the female partner.
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International Relations and Issues
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BRICS Anti-Corruption Working Group (ACWG) Meeting
2nd BRICS Anti-Corruption Working Group (ACWG) Meeting is held in Hyderabad recently.
- Organized by – Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) under India’s 2026 BRICS Presidency.
- It runs alongside the 2nd Meeting of the BRICS Expert Network on Asset Recovery.
- Theme – “Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability”.
- Agenda –
- To establish BRICS Repository on Informal Cooperation to trace fugitive offenders and streamline extradition procedures.
- Utilizing standardized information-exchange templates through the BRICS Expert Network on Asset Recovery to rapidly reclaim stolen cross-border assets.
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Economy
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Advantages of Lab-grown diamonds
- Lab-grown diamonds are real diamonds produced in controlled facilities using technology that mimics earth-formation processes.
- Natural Diamond mining requires large amounts of water and energy and causes considerable damage to the surrounding ecosystems.
- Environmental Benefits
- No land destruction – Avoids open-pit excavation, topsoil erosion, and massive deforestation.
- Lower water usage – Uses a tiny fraction of the water volume required by large-scale commercial mines.
- Reduced emissions potential – Facilities can transition entirely to renewable energy inputs like solar or wind power
- Social and ethical advantages
- Conflict-free guarantee – Completely eliminates the risk of supporting unethical or violent practices associated with conflict zones.
- Safe working conditions – Replaces hazardous mining environments—which carry risks of chronic lung diseases—with regulated indoor laboratories.
- Complete traceability – Offers clear verification of origin from seed creation to the finished polished stone.
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India’s Distributed Solar Capacity
- India’s distributed solar capacity reached a milestone of 31.5 GW in the financial year 2026, marking a massive 17-fold increase from just 1.8 GW in FY2018.
- A report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) reveals that distributed solar's share in India's total renewable portfolio remains stagnant at 21% to 22%.
- This stagnation occurs because utility-scale solar installations are expanding at an even faster pace across the country.
- Key growth drivers
- PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana
- PM-KUSUM
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PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana updates
- PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana, Central Sector Scheme, to promote renewable energy adoption and providing financial relief to households across India.
- Implemented by Ministry of New and Renewable Energy
- Eligibility Criteria – To avail of the benefits, applicants must,
- Be Indian citizens.
- Own a residential property with a suitable rooftop for solar panel installation.
- Have a valid electricity connection.
- Updates –
- Over 50 lakh households have benefited from rooftop solar installations across the country.
- Over 19 lakh households are reporting zero electricity bills.
- Over 25000 Central Government buildings and more than 81000 State Government buildings are now powered by rooftop solar.
- The pace of installation has increased 3.2 times over the last 9 months, recording over 16000 installations a day this year.
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Science
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MA-104 – ASF vaccine for pigs
India has officially launched its first indigenous MA-104 cell-line-based live attenuated African Swine Fever (ASF) vaccine for pigs recently.
- Developed by – ICAR (Indian Council of Agricultural Research)–National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases (ICAR-NIHSAD) in Bhopal.
- India's vaccine uses the globally accessible MA-104 cell line, heavily dropping production costs.
- The formulation is engineered from an Indian field strain of the ASFV Genotype II virus featuring specific, targeted gene deletions
- It aims to eliminate virulence while preserving strong immunity.
- Administration protocol
- Target age – Healthy pigs above 8 weeks of age.
- Primary dose – 1 mL given via intramuscular injection.
- Booster shot – Administered precisely 14 days after the initial dose.
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Faster rotation in the Sun's upper atmosphere
- Scientists have discovered that the Sun's upper atmosphere spins much faster than its visible surface that challenges the traditional laws of classical physics.
- Observations –
- The higher you go into the Sun's atmosphere, the faster the gases rotate.
- The atmospheric rotation rate actually slows down slightly when solar activity increases (marked by a higher number of sunspots).
- In classical physics, an object expanding outward should slow down—much like a figure skater slowing their spin by extending their arms.
- The research was conducted by –
- Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES),
- Udaipur Solar Observatory (USO),
- Physical Research Laboratory (PRL),
- Ahmednagar College, utilizing data from Japan's Nobeyama Radioheliograph.
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Miscellaneous
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COSPAR Vikram Sarabhai Medal 2026
Astrophysicist Annapurni Subramaniam has been awarded the COSPAR Vikram Sarabhai Medal 2026 recently.
- Annapurni Subramaniam is currently the director of the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bengaluru.
- Milestone – She is the first Indian woman scientist and the fourth Indian overall to receive this international distinction.
- Contributions –
- She served as scientist for the Ultra-violet Imaging Telescope (UVIT) aboard India's maiden multi-wavelength space telescope, AstroSat.
- Stellar Research – Extensive research focus on stellar populations, star clusters etc.
About the Medal
- Constituted in – 1990.
- Jointly awarded by – the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
- Purpose – Honors scientists from developing countries for exceptional and driving contributions to space science and research.
Committee on Space Research (COSPAR)
- COSPAR is an international, interdisciplinary scientific body.
- Established by – International Council of Scientific Unions (now the International Science Council) on October 3, 1958.
- It was created shortly after the launch of Sputnik 1 (the world's first artificial Earth satellite).
- Objective – To promote global scientific space research by emphasizing the free, cross-border exchange of results, opinions, and information.
- It operates as a neutral forum open to all scientists to debate issues affecting scientific space exploration.
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National Handloom Day
- Observed annually on – August 7 (Inaugural Year– 2015)
- Coordinated by –Ministry of Textiles
- August 7 commemorates the launch of the Swadeshi Movement in 1905 that took place at the Calcutta Town Hall to oppose the partition of Bengal.
- The original movement focused on reviving domestic products, especially indigenous handlooms.
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