2nd July 2026

Explanation – FSR is a biannual publication released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). It provides a comprehensive assessment of the health, resilience, and risks facing the Indian financial system.

Key Features:

• Published twice a year — released in June and December.
• Covers the entire financial system — includes banks, non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), cooperative banks, and other financial intermediaries.
• Assesses systemic risks — evaluates both domestic and global risks that may affect India’s financial stability.
• Stress tests — conducts stress testing on banks to gauge their ability to withstand adverse economic conditions such as high NPAs and credit shocks.
• Policy guidance — offers insights for regulators and policymakers on maintaining stability and resilience.

Explanation – The Interoperable Criminal Justice System (ICJS) is a national digital platform designed to connect the key pillars of the criminal justice system on a single network. It seeks to integrate Police, Courts, Prisons, Forensic laboratories, and Prosecution.

• The objective is to create an end-to-end digital workflow so that criminal cases can move more efficiently from FIR registration to investigation, chargesheet filing, trial, and final disposal.
• The data under this system is being stored on MeghRaj, the Government of India’s cloud platform.
• This digital push has gained importance after the implementation of the three new criminal laws on July 1, 2024: Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), and Bharatiya Sakshya Sanhita (BSS).
• These new laws require stronger digital systems, better forensic support, and smoother coordination among institutions.

Explanation – It is an initiative of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO).

• Historical Background: It was raised on 29 June 2011 at Ranaghat, East Siang District, Arunachal Pradesh and became fully functional on 03 December 2011.
• It is responsible for development and maintenance of strategic road infrastructure across the Siang, East Siang, West Siang, Upper Siang and Shi-Yomi districts of Arunachal Pradesh, as well as parts of Dhemaji district in Assam.
• It has been instrumental in providing strategic and operational connectivity to the Armed Forces while bringing remote villages into the national mainstream.

Explanation – The BRO has functioned under the control of the Ministry of Defence since 2015, earlier functioning under the Ministry of Road, Transports and Highways. The BRO is engaged in road construction to provide connectivity to difficult and inaccessible regions in the border areas of the country.

• It is staffed by officers and troops drawn from the Indian Army’s Corps of Engineers, Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, Army Service Corps, Military Police and army personnel on extra regimental employment.
• Engineering Service and personnel from the General Reserve Engineer Force (GREF) form the parent cadre of the Border Roads Organisation.
• Currently, the organisation maintains operations in twenty-one states, one UT (Andaman and Nicobar Islands), and neighbouring countries such as Afghanistan, Bhutan, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka.

Explanation – These are massive blasts of magnetised plasma released from the Sun’s outer atmosphere, which then travel through interplanetary space. When those ICMEs are directed towards Earth and encounter Earth’s magnetic field, they can disturb it and cause geomagnetic storms. They produce colourful, dazzling auroras in Earth’s upper atmosphere.

• The level of activity of the Sun has an 11-year cycle, and more ICMEs are created during the maxima of these cycles.
• ICMEs are responsible for the most severe of geomagnetic storms when they impinge upon Earth’s magnetosphere.
• ICMEs also provide an enormous plasma laboratory to study physical processes in space.