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Highlights of May 2nd Week Current Affairs
- India and Vietnam upgraded their ties to an Enhanced Comprehensive Strategic Partnership during To Lam’s state visit.
- Both countries set a target to achieve USD 25 billion bilateral trade by 2030.
- Vietnam joined the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI), strengthening Indo-Pacific cooperation.
- India and Vietnam stressed freedom of navigation and a rules-based Indo-Pacific order.
- A UPI linkage agreement was signed to promote cross-border digital payments and financial connectivity.
- Vietnam became India’s 4th-largest trading partner in ASEAN, with bilateral trade reaching USD 16.46 billion in 2025.
- India extended a USD 500 million defence Line of Credit to Vietnam for maritime security enhancement.
- Joint military exercises like VINBAX and Sahyog reflect growing defence cooperation between the two nations.
- ASI is restoring Vietnam’s My Son Sanctuary, highlighting deep Hindu-Buddhist cultural links.
- The partnership supports India’s Act East Policy and helps Vietnam diversify strategic ties amid regional tensions.
- NCRB’s Crime in India 2024 report is the first to include offences registered under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) alongside IPC data.
- India recorded 58.86 lakh cognisable crimes in 2024, with total crime declining by 6% compared to 2023.
- Crime rate dropped to 418.9 per lakh population, the lowest level since 2019.
- Cybercrime cases increased by 17.9%, crossing 1 lakh cases for the first time, with financial fraud forming over 72% of cases.
- Economic offences rose by 4.6%, and nearly 90% involved cheating, forgery, or fraud.
- Juvenile crime increased by 11.2%, with 77% of offenders belonging to the 16–18 years age group; Delhi recorded the highest juvenile crime rate.
- Crimes against women declined slightly by 1.5%, while cruelty by husband or relatives remained the largest category.
- Crimes against children rose by around 6%, mainly involving kidnapping and abduction cases.
- Crimes against senior citizens surged by 16.9%, with theft and fraud emerging as the major offences.
- Suicide cases remained around 1.7 lakh, and daily wage workers accounted for nearly 31% of total suicides in India.
- The Supreme Court examined the Essential Religious Practices (ERP) Doctrine in the Sabarimala case to balance religious freedom and denominational rights under Articles 25 and 26.
- The ERP Doctrine protects only those religious practices considered fundamental to a religion, while secular and administrative activities can be regulated by the State.
- The doctrine originated from the Shirur Mutt Case, where the Supreme Court ruled that courts can determine whether a practice is essential to religion.
- Critics argue that the ERP Doctrine leads to judicial overreach, as courts become interpreters of religious beliefs and practices.
- UNCTAD reported that Non-Tariff Measures (NTMs) now create higher export costs than tariffs in most countries, especially affecting developing economies.
- Indian agricultural and MSME exports face major SPS and Technical Barriers to Trade, making compliance and standard harmonisation increasingly important.
- The Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) achieved full budget utilisation and helped establish over 4 lakh new micro-enterprises, mostly in rural areas.
- The Ministry of Health launched the JANANI platform to digitally monitor maternal and child healthcare through integrated health records and real-time alerts.
- DRDO and the Indian Air Force successfully tested TARA, India’s first indigenous glide weapon system capable of converting unguided bombs into precision-guided weapons.
- The US FDA allowed early access to Daraxonrasib for pancreatic cancer treatment, while DRDO established a CBRN Field Training Centre to improve preparedness against chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear emergencies.
- India constitutionally follows a joint electorate system, but rising electoral polarization is creating concerns about a de facto “separate electorate” situation.
- Separate electorate refers to a system where members of a specific religious or community group vote only for candidates from their own community.
- Separate electorates were introduced in colonial India through the Morley-Minto Reforms and later expanded under the Communal Award before being abolished after Independence.
- Electoral polarization includes elite polarization, where political parties shift towards ideological extremes, and affective polarization, where voters increasingly distrust rival political groups.
- Legislative asymmetry caused by consolidation of majority votes can reduce meaningful minority representation in governance.
- Welfare exclusionism is growing as welfare schemes and public goods are increasingly viewed through communal or identity-based lenses.
- Candidate homogenisation is increasing as political parties prefer candidates from dominant local identities, reducing inclusive representation.
- Information segregation through social media echo chambers is weakening shared civic discourse and promoting separate political narratives among communities.
- A de facto separate electorate may lead to trust deficit, legislative gaps, weakening social cohesion, and loss of minority “swing vote” influence.
- The framers of the Indian Constitution rejected separate electorates because they were considered divisive and harmful to national integration and inclusive democracy.
- Counterfeit Indian Currency Notes (CICN) remain a major economic and security threat even after demonetisation, according to the NCRB Crime in India 2024 report.
- Under the UAPA, production and smuggling of high-quality fake currency are treated as terrorist acts due to links with terror financing networks.
- Modern counterfeit syndicates use industrial printers, scanners, and AI-based image enhancement tools to replicate security features like watermarks, micro-lettering, and security threads.
- India’s large cash economy, with currency circulation crossing ₹42 lakh crore, makes it easier for fake notes to circulate unnoticed.
- “Super Notes” or HQ-FICN are extremely sophisticated counterfeit notes that closely resemble genuine Indian currency in paper quality and printing precision.
- The Ministry of Home Affairs created the FCORD mechanism for real-time intelligence sharing and coordination against fake currency operations.
- PM urged citizens to reduce import-linked consumption to ease pressure on forex reserves, the rupee, and the current account deficit amid rising global commodity prices.
- PLFS Quarterly Bulletin (Jan–March 2026) showed overall unemployment at 5%, while rural employment continued shifting gradually from agriculture toward manufacturing and services.
- Supreme Court launched “One Case One Data” for a unified judicial database and “Su Sahayak,” an AI chatbot providing case status and filing assistance.
- India successfully tested an Agni-5 missile variant equipped with MIRV technology under Mission Divyastra, strengthening India’s strategic nuclear deterrence capability.
- The UN Global Forest Goals Report 2026 revealed that over 40 million hectares of forests were lost globally between 2015 and 2025 despite conservation efforts.
- Major reasons for forest degradation include agricultural expansion, climate change, wildfires, illegal logging, pest attacks, and unsustainable resource extraction.
- The report stated that progress on reversing deforestation and reducing poverty among forest-dependent communities remains very slow, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa.
- Global investment in sustainable forest management reached about $84 billion in 2023, while nearly $300 billion annually is needed to achieve 2030 forest targets.
- The United Nations Strategic Plan for Forests (2017–2030) aims to prevent deforestation, restore degraded forests, and support sustainable forest management worldwide.
- The National Jute Board has been implementing the Jute Crop Information System (JCIS) since 2023 to monitor and forecast jute cultivation using satellite technology and GIS mapping.
- JCIS includes tools like BHUVAN JUMP for geo-tagged field monitoring and PATSAN for real-time crop surveillance and production assessment.
- The appointment of the CBI Director is made under the DSPE Act, 1946, through a committee consisting of the Prime Minister, Leader of Opposition, and Chief Justice of India or nominee judge.
- The Thousand Pillar Temple in Telangana, built in 1163 CE by the Kakatiya dynasty, is famous for its Trikutalaya design and advanced “Sandbox Technology” foundation.
- Assam’s Baska Honey was exported to the United States for the first time with APEDA support, and the product is recognized under the One District One Product (ODOP) initiative.
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8 to 14 May 2026 (Weekly Current Affairs Quiz)