Context

• As the global population surpasses the eight-billion-mark, attention inevitably turns to large-scale demographic trends and macroeconomic impacts.
• However, amidst the scale and statistics, the individual stories, particularly those of marginalised and vulnerable populations, must not be overshadowed.
• The 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) made a vital promise: that every person should have the right to make informed choices regarding their sexual and reproductive health, free from coercion, discrimination, and violence.
• Today, as the world confronts contemporary challenges, especially those impacting the world's largest youth population in India, fulfilling that promise has become more urgent than ever.

UN’s Theme for World Population Day: A Youth-Centric Theme for a Complex Reality

• This year’s United Nations theme for World Population Day, ‘Empowering young people to create the families they want in a fair and hopeful world,’ reflects the centrality of youth in envisioning a sustainable future.
• The theme underscores the importance of accurate information, accessible education, and inclusive health services in enabling young people to make informed decisions about their reproductive lives.
• More than just policy rhetoric, it is a call to action to place young people at the heart of development efforts and decision-making processes.

Assessment of India’s Youth Demographic: A Double-Edged Sword

• Opportunities
  • India, home to 371 million youth aged 15 to 29, possesses the largest youth population in the world.
  • With the right investments in education, healthcare, and skill development, it offers a unique chance to unlock unprecedented economic growth.
  • The World Bank and NITI Aayog project that India could boost its GDP by up to $1 trillion by 2030 if this demographic dividend is properly harnessed.
  • Programmes such as Beti Bachao Beti Padhao and the National Adolescent Health Programme have made commendable progress in reducing adolescent fertility and child marriage rates.
• Challenges
  • Significant hurdles remain, including gender inequality, socio-cultural barriers, and limited reproductive autonomy for many young women.
  • The National Family Health Survey-5 (2019–21) highlights the persistent nature of these issues: despite reductions, child marriage still affects 23.3% of girls, while teenage pregnancies remain at 7% nationally, with certain states reporting much higher rates.
  • Meanwhile, the UNFPA's State of World Population Report 2025 notes that 36% of Indian adults experience unintended pregnancies, and 30% face unmet reproductive goals.
  • These statistics signal a crisis in reproductive autonomy, particularly for women, and a failure to deliver on the core ICPD promise.

Initiatives to Address These Challenges

• Udaan Project in Rajasthan
  • Projects like Udaan, implemented in Rajasthan, illustrate the power of integrated, youth-focused programmes.
  • Between 2017 and 2022, Udaan prevented 30,000 child marriages and 15,000 teenage pregnancies.
  • By leveraging scholarship schemes, enhancing reproductive health awareness, and ensuring contraceptive access, the initiative empowered young girls to remain in school and plan their futures more independently.
• Odisha Government’s Advika Project
  • Similarly, Advika, a collaborative effort between the Odisha government and UNICEF-UNFPA, has adopted a multi-faceted approach, strengthening state mechanisms, raising awareness, and building adolescent leadership.
  • Its success is evident in the 11,000 villages declared child marriage-free and the prevention of nearly 950 child marriages in 2022 alone.
  • These initiatives reinforce the idea that when young people, especially girls, are educated and empowered, their communities thrive.
• Project Manzil: Economic Empowerment
  • Operating in six districts of Rajasthan, the initiative employs a human-centred design to align skill training with the aspirations of young women.
  • It addresses social norms through behaviour change communication, while ensuring dignified, gender-inclusive employment opportunities.
  • The results speak volumes: 28,000 women completed skill training, and 16,000 secured employments, many of them entering skilled professions for the first time in their communities.
  • These women, empowered by financial stability, are better positioned to delay marriage, negotiate their futures, and break cycles of poverty and dependence.

The Road Ahead: Rights-Based, Multi-Sectoral Investment

• The State of World Population 2025 report emphasises the importance of universal access to contraception, safe abortion, maternal health services, and infertility care.
• However, it also acknowledges that systemic change requires removing barriers in education, housing, childcare, and employment.
• The report advocates for strategic investments in girls’ education, life skills development, and community mobilisation, all of which have shown measurable impact in initiatives like Udaan, Advika, and Manzil.

Conclusion

• The sheer scale of India’s youth population can either drive the country forward or become a source of strain, depending on how effectively their needs and aspirations are met.
• Fulfilment of the ICPD promise requires more than policy declarations; it demands deep, sustained investment in education, healthcare, skill development, and the dismantling of social and economic barriers.
• Empowering the youth, particularly young women, is not just a moral imperative, it is a strategic necessity for national progress.

About Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR):

• The ECIR is a formal entry of the complaint lodged by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
• Whenever the ED receives information about the commission of an offence of money laundering, it is converted into a formal report known as the ECIR.
• It serves as a starting point for ED’s proceedings, including the attachment of assets and arrests.
• There is no mention of the ECIR in the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA Act), or Rules.
• Since the PMLA does not necessitate the registration of ECIR, it is considered a non-statutory document.
• However, as per the practice of ED, the ECIR is lodged before taking any action under the PMLA Act.
• The ECIR under the PMLA Act is similar to the First Information Report (FIR) lodged by the Police for cognizable offences.
• However, the Supreme Court held that an ECIR cannot be equated with an FIR, which is mandatorily required to be recorded and supplied to the accused.
• As per the ED, ECIR is a document meant for identification of a particular case and for departmental convenience and is purely an internal document.
• ED is not legally bound to provide a copy of the ECIR to the accused.
• Since ECIR lacks statutory status, there is no requirement to quash them.

Key Facts about Enforcement Directorate (ED):

• The Directorate of Enforcement or Enforcement Directorate (ED) is a domestic law enforcement agency and economic intelligence agency.
• It was established in the year 1956 with its Headquarters at New Delhi.
• It is responsible for enforcing economic laws and fighting economic crimes in India.
• It is responsible for inspecting and taking legal action involving economic crimes, money laundering, corruption, and breaches of foreign exchange laws.
• Nodal Ministry: Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance
• Objectives of the ED: The prime objective of the Enforcement Directorate is the enforcement of three key Acts of the Government of India, namely:
  • Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA),
  • Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA), and
  • Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018 (FEOA).

About Zonal Councils:

• The idea of the creation of Zonal Councils was mooted by the first Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, in 1956.
• The Zonal Councils are the statutory bodies.
• Five zonal councils were set up in 1957 under Sections 15-22 of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956.
• Objective: To provide a common meeting ground to the states and UTs in each zone for resolution of interstate and regional issues, fostering balanced socio-economic regional development and building harmonious Centre- State relations.
• The present composition of each of these five Zonal Councils is as follows:
  • Northern Zonal Council: Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Delhi, and Chandigarh.
  • Central Zonal Council: Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh.
  • Eastern Zonal Council: Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, and West Bengal.
  • Western Zonal Council: Goa, Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli.
  • Southern Zonal Council: Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Puducherry.
• North Eastern Council:
  • The North Eastern States,e. Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Tripura, Mizoram, Meghalaya, and Nagaland, are not included in the Zonal Councils, and their special problems are looked after by the North Eastern Council, set up under the North Eastern Council Act, 1972.
  • The State of Sikkim has also been included in the North Eastern Council vide the North Eastern Council (Amendment) Act, 2002, notified on 23rd December 2002.
• Each Zonal Council is an advisory body and may discuss any matter in which some or all of the States represented in that council, or the Union and one or more of the States represented in that Council, have a common interest and advise the Central Government and the Government of each State concerned as to the action to be taken on any such matter.
• Organisational Structure:
  • Chairman: The Union Home Minister is the Chairman of each of these Councils.
  • Vice Chairman: The Chief Ministers of the States included in each zone act as vice-chairman of the zonal council for that zone by rotation, each holding office for a period of one year at a time.
  • Members: Chief Minister and two other ministers as nominated by the Governor from each of the States and two members from Union Territories included in the zone.
  • Each Zonal Council has set up a Standing Committee consisting of Chief Secretaries of the member States of the respective Zonal Councils.
  • The Standing Committees meet from time to time to resolve the issues or to do necessary groundwork for further meetings of the Zonal Councils.
  • Senior officers from the NITI Aayog (erstwhile Planning Commission), Central Ministries, and State Governments are associated with the meetings depending upon necessity.

About Agricultural Monitoring and Event Detection (AMED) API:

• AMED is an artificial intelligence (AI)-based open-source application programming interface (API) launched by
• It provides field-level crop data, specifically helping in monitoring crops and detecting agricultural events at individual fields across India.
• The AMED API details the type of crop on a given field, crop season, and the field’s size and also provides historical information about the agricultural activity on it for the last three years.
• These insights can help significantly improve agricultural management on farms and also address the specific needs of each crop – including the right soil and water conditions, growth patterns, and climatic needs – as well as predict crops’ harvest volume.
• Google will be sharing the AMED API for agriculture startups to find more innovative solutions to improve the agriculture ecosystem.
• AMED API data is also refreshed nearly every two weeks, enabling the ecosystem partners leveraging AMED API access to continuously updated information that accounts for field-level changes.
• AMED API builds on the Agricultural Landscape Understanding (ALU) Research API that the company launched last year.
  • It uses satellite imagery and AI to map field boundaries and land use across India.

About Laughing Dove:

• It is a small pigeon that is a resident breeder in Africa, the Middle East, and the Indian Subcontinent.
• Scientific Name: Spilopelia senegalensis
• Other names include laughing turtle dove, palm dove, and Senegal dove, while in India the name of little brown dove is often used.
• Distribution:
  • The species is found in much of sub-Saharan Africa, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India.
  • It is also found in Israel, Lebanon, Syria, the UAE, and Turkey (these populations may be derived from human introductions).
  • It was also introduced in Western Australia.
• Habitat: It is found in dry scrub and semi-desert habitats where pairs can often be seen feeding on the ground.
• Features:
  • It is a long-tailed, slim pigeon, typically 25 cm in length.
  • Its back wings and tail are reddish-brown with blue-grey in the wings.
  • In flight, the underwings are rich chestnut.
  • The head and underparts are pinkish, shading to whitish on the lower abdomen.
  • There is black spotting on the throat. The legs are red.
  • Juveniles are more rufous than adults, and have reduced throat spotting.
  • They are fairly terrestrial, foraging on the ground in grasslands and cultivation.
  • They are not particularly gregarious, and are usually alone, or in pairs.
• Conservation Status:
  • IUCN Red List: Least Concern.

About World Population Day (WPD):

• Observed annually on July 11, World Population Day is a United Nations initiative aimed at raising awareness about the challenges and opportunities of global population growth.
• With the world population now surpassing 8.2 billion, the day highlights the importance of sustainable development, equitable access to resources, reproductive rights, and gender equality.
• World Population Day 2025 Theme: ‘Empowering young people to create the families they want in a fair and hopeful world’.
• History:
  • WPD was established by the then-Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in 1989, following the global interest generated by "Five Billion Day" on 11 July 1987, when the world's population reached 5 billion.
  • Dr KC Zachariah, a senior demographer at the World Bank, suggested that this day be commemorated.
  • In December 1990, the UN General Assembly decided to keep celebrating WPD annually to promote understanding of population issues and how they connect to the environment and development.
  • The first WPD was celebrated on July 11, 1990, in over 90 countries.

Key Facts on World's Population:

• The world's population has increased by over three times since the middle of the 20th century.
• According to the UN, there were 2 billion people on the planet as of July 2025.
• The population is predicted to peak at 10.4 billion in the middle of the 2080s, having reached7 billion in 2050.
• India leads globally with 1.46 billion people, followed by China's 1.41 billion.
• India’s total fertility rate has fallen below the replacement level.
• India’s population is expected to grow to approximately7 billion before beginning to decline around 40 years from now, as stated in the UN Population Fund’s (UNFPA) 2025 State of World Population Report.

About Lake Turkana:

• Location: It is located in the remote northern region of Kenya.
• It lies in the Eastern Rift Valley with its far northern end extending to Ethiopia.
• Three rivers, including Omo, Turkwel, and Kerio flow into the lake, but only the Omo River is perennial, contributing 90 percent of the inflow of water each year.
• It stands as Africa’s fourth-largest lake and the largest permanent desert lake in the world.
• It is designated as the UNESCO World Heritage site and is renowned for its unique biodiversity and cultural significance.
• It is lying in a hot, arid, and remote region, and provides resources for communities on the lakeshore and surrounding areas.
• The estimated population of the Turkana region is approximately 1 million people, whose livelihoods are based on pastoralism, fishing, and, to a lesser extent, crop farming.
• Issues: Its semi-saline waters, driven by high evaporation rates and fluctuating lake levels of up to 8 meters per decade, have historically hindered sustainable development initiatives.
• Several past attempts to commercialize the fishery have largely failed, mainly due to a lack of understanding of the volatile conditions of this capricious lake.

About Medium Altitude Long Endurance Drone:

• MALE drones are Unmanned Aerial Vehicles that have the capability to fly over 30 hours at a maximum altitude of at least 35,000 feet.
• These drones are equipped with advanced surveillance and combat capabilities: including real-time intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) in all kinds of terrain.
• These will enhance surveillance along its sea and land borders.
• Purpose of Medium Altitude Long Endurance Drones: Primarily used for surveillance, reconnaissance, and strike missions.
• Strategic Importance: These drones will enhance the surveillance capabilities of all three services, especially the Indian Air Force to monitor the Eastern and Western Border
• The procurement of 87 drones is aimed at bolstering real-time monitoring and operational readiness across critical areas.
• The 87-drone MALE project serves two parallel aims: fill the medium-altitude tier between smaller tactical UAVs and the high-altitude Guardians, and indigenise a capability so far dominated by Israeli imports.

About Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon:

• Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) are flat, ring-shaped molecules of carbon and hydrogen.
• Astronomers think they make up a fifth of all carbon in interstellar space.
• There is a hypothesis that meteors brought PAHs from space to young earth and created the first building blocks of life, attaching important value to their ability to survive in space.
• They have a relatively low solubility in water but are highly lipophilic and are soluble in most organic solvents.
• These hydrocarbons, on earth, are formed through incomplete combustion or pyrolysis of organic materials, such as fossil fuels and biomass
• When PAHs collide with other particles or absorb high-energy radiation, they can have more internal energy than their weakest chemical bond can handle.

Key facts about Taurus Molecular Cloud 1

• It is a molecular cloud located in the constellation Taurus about 430 light years away from Earth.
• It is a collection of gas, dust, and plasma.
• It is known for its cold and dense conditions, which are favorable for the formation of complex molecules.
• The cloud is primarily composed of molecular hydrogen (H2), with other molecules such as carbon monoxide (CO), ammonia (NH3), and various organic compounds also present. 
• In Taurus Molecular Cloud 1 (TMC1), small closed-shell PAHs — molecules whose electrons are in pairs — appear in greater quantities even though they are constantly exposed to starlight that should have destroyed them.
• The team found that the PAHs have a mechanism to cool rapidly, letting them accumulate in TMC1 over time.

About Earth Intelligence:

• It indicates the application of AI to Earth observation data to deliver solutions specific to industries and business functions.
• It is the practice of combining data from satellite imagery and remote sensors with social, economic, and policy information to generate actionable insights about our planet.
• It encompasses gathering and providing Earth observation data, fit-for-purpose transforming it, and then using it to produce actionable insights with domain-specific AI models, tools and applications.
• It is the next step in this process, transforming raw data into actionable insights by integrating Earth and social science, advanced analytics, artificial intelligence, and co-produced knowledge from local and Indigenous communities.
• It can identify fallen trees blocking railroad tracks after a storm, monitor the temperature of every metal refinery to assess global production, count vehicles to analyse traffic patterns and consumer trends, and track sea cargo to evaluate shipping activity.
• It would significantly impact every industry as it rapidly moves from government to the private sector.
• Significance: Earth Intelligence represents a shift from simply providing data to ensuring that data is accessible, understandable and useful to decision-makers across all levels, from governments and businesses, from NGOs to local communities.