1st July 2026

Explanation – The heart of the matter lies in UNCLOS Articles 37 to 44, which govern "Straits used for International Navigation." These provide that all ships and aircraft enjoy a "right of transit passage" — the freedom of continuous and swift navigation and overflight through international straits. Two phrases are key: transit passage "shall not be impeded" and "there shall be no suspension" of transit passage. The logic is that when a large portion of global trade depends on a narrow corridor, bordering states should not be able to weaponise it.

This principle predates UNCLOS. In the Corfu Channel case (UK v. Albania, 1949), the International Court of Justice held that ships enjoy unrestricted passage through a strait used for international navigation during peacetime, so long as transit does not threaten the coastal state's security. By this standard, Iran's navigation and environmental charges look like an attempt to turn a natural strait into a managed, revenue-generating entry point — administered by Iran with Oman's support.

Explanation – It is a comprehensive scheme which targets critical areas of the medical device industry. It covers manufacturing of key components and accessories, skill development, support for clinical studies, development of common infrastructure and industry promotion.

It consists of five sub-schemes:

• Common Facilities for Medical Devices Clusters: The Central Government will provide financial assistance to medical device clusters for creating common infrastructure facilities such as R&D labs, Design and Testing Centre, Animal Labs etc.
• Marginal Investment Scheme for Reducing Import Dependence: It is designed to deepen the MedTech supply chain in the country, by focusing on manufacturing of key components, raw materials, and accessories within the country. It offers a one-time capital subsidy of 10–20%, with a maximum cap of ₹10 crore per project.
• Capacity Building and Skill Development for Medical Devices: It focuses on capacity building and skill development for the medical device sector.
• Medical Device Clinical Studies Support Scheme: It is designed to assist both established companies and start-ups in conducting clinical studies.
• Medical Device Promotion Scheme: It aims to support industry associations and export councils to organise conferences, conducting surveys and studies.

Explanation – It is a unified national programme that provides a seamless continuum of home and community-based care for every child from birth to 36 months of age. The programme embodies the vision of comprehensive care during the first three years. It integrates the existing Home Based Newborn Care (HBNC) and Home-Based Care for Young Child (HBYC) programmes into a single comprehensive framework.

Features of Samagra Shishu Bal Swasthya Karyakram:

• Risk Stratified Approach: It introduces a risk-stratified approach, providing intensified follow-up for newborns and children identified as “at-risk,” due to conditions such as low birth weight, prematurity, delayed initiation of breastfeeding etc. Under the programme, 'at-risk' newborns will receive up to nine home visits during the first 42 days of life, while 'at-risk' children will receive up to eight home visits up to the age of 36 months.
• Community Platforms: It introduces Well-Baby Sessions at every Village Health, Sanitation and Nutrition Day (VHSND) and a monthly Shishu Shivir at Ayushman Arogya Mandirs.
• Maternal Mental Health: It incorporates post-partum maternal mental health screening as an integral component of community-based care. ASHAs will undertake early screening and facilitate timely referral for further assessment and support whenever necessary.
• Early Childhood Development: It also mainstreams Nurturing Care for Early Childhood Development (ECD) by promoting responsive caregiving and early learning opportunities.
• Technology & Digital Integration: It envisages use of digital technologies to enhance service delivery, monitoring and continuity of care. Decision-support systems, child-wise digital tracking, referral mechanisms and alert systems will strengthen follow-up and case management of 'at-risk' newborns and children.
• These digital systems will be integrated with the JANANI Portal, U-WIN Portal, MPCDSR Portal, RBSK 2.0 Portal and POSHAN Tracker, enabling seamless data exchange through ABHA and Baal-ABHA IDs.
• Tailored Strategy: It includes tailored strategies to strengthen home-based care in urban areas, particularly for children residing in slums, migrant settlements and other underserved communities.

Explanation – It is a digital platform aimed at strengthening maternal and child health, nutrition, and family welfare. The digital platform would ensure that pregnant women, mothers, and children receive all eligible government benefits through continuous monitoring and timely intervention.

• It has been designed to digitally monitor every stage of a child's development, from pregnancy through 18 years of age, while helping eligible families receive welfare benefits on time.
• The PM FCT provides end-to-end monitoring of key health milestones, including antenatal and postnatal care, immunisation, nutrition, growth monitoring, school enrolment and attendance, and adolescent health services.
• The platform also features digital Health Passports for individuals and families, dashboards to facilitate delivery of government welfare schemes, and automated alerts for missed vaccinations and other essential health services.
• For example, alerts will be generated automatically if a child misses vaccination or drops out of school. Notifications will reach local officials, legislators and Members of Parliament, enabling volunteers and government authorities to intervene promptly.
• PM-FCT is designed as a family-centric digital platform, rather than maintaining separate records for different schemes, allowing authorities to track the health and welfare status of every family member through a single interface.
• The initiative aims to improve convergence across multiple government departments by integrating data from birth and death registration systems, and health, nutrition and education databases.
• The pilot project will initially be implemented in Gandhinagar and, if successful, is proposed to be expanded across Gujarat and later replicated in other states.

Explanation – The Union Cabinet has approved a Bill to set up a Development Finance Institution — National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development (NaBFID). It aims to create an enabling ecosystem to draw patient capital to fund long-term infrastructure projects.

• NaBFID will be set up with a corpus of ₹20,000 crore and an initial grant of ₹5,000 crore from the government.
• Initially, it will be wholly owned by the Government but the Government stake will be lowered to a quarter.
• It will start with a “clean slate” and be governed by a “professional board.”
• Its chairman is likely to be an eminent professional and at least half of the board will comprise non-official directors.
• Its board (and not the government) will have powers to even remove whole-time directors.