Why in News?

• The Indian PM chaired a meeting of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) to -
  • Review India’s economic outlook,
  • Discuss reform priorities,
  • Assess external risks such as the West Asia conflict, and
  • Examine measures to sustain high economic growth.
• The discussions also focused on attracting foreign capital, improving ease of doing business, and reducing vulnerabilities arising from climatic uncertainties. 

What’s in Today’s Article?

• Key Outcomes of the Meeting
• Measures to Boost Foreign Capital Inflows
• Potential Foreign Fund Inflows
• Assessment of Global and Domestic Risks
• Strong Economic Performance
• About the EAC-PM
• Conclusion

Key Outcomes of the Meeting:

• Focus on sustaining economic growth: The EAC-PM deliberated on policy measures to maintain and accelerate India's growth trajectory despite a challenging global environment marked by geopolitical tensions and economic uncertainty.
• Major themes included:
  • Strengthening long-term economic transformation.
  • Deepening structural reforms.
  • Enhancing Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) and Ease of Living.
  • Preserving macroeconomic stability while promoting investment-led growth.

Measures to Boost Foreign Capital Inflows:

• Tax reforms for foreign investors: The government announced significant tax relief measures for Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs):
  • Removal of Short-Term Capital Gains Tax (STCG) on investments in government bonds.
  • Removal of Long-Term Capital Gains Tax (LTCG) on such investments.
  • Elimination of withholding tax on interest income earned by FIIs from government securities.
• RBI measures: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) complemented these reforms by:
  • Easing norms for banks to mobilise foreign currency deposits.
  • Reviving the Foreign Currency Non-Resident (Bank) [FCNR(B)] Deposit Scheme, under which the RBI bears exchange-rate hedging costs.
  • Providing a temporary concessional forex swap facility for Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) raising External Commercial Borrowings (ECBs).
• Significance: These measures are expected to improve liquidity and make India more attractive to global investors.

Potential Foreign Fund Inflows:

• Estimated inflows of around $70 billion:
  • According to discussions at the meeting, the combined impact of fiscal and monetary measures could attract nearly $70 billion in foreign capital.
  • A major share depends on India's inclusion in the Bloomberg Global Aggregate Bond Index, which would:
    • Increase passive investments from global funds tracking benchmark indices.
    • Expand demand for Indian government securities.
    • Reduce government borrowing costs by lowering bond yields.
• Importance of global bond indices:
  • India has already been included in:
    • JPMorgan Emerging Market Bond Index (from June 2024).
    • Bloomberg Emerging Market Local Currency Index (from January 2025).
    • FTSE Russell Emerging Market Bond Index (from September 2025).
  • Inclusion in Bloomberg’s flagship Global Aggregate Bond Index could potentially bring $20–25 billion in additional inflows over about ten months.

Assessment of Global and Domestic Risks:

• West Asia conflict:
  • No major immediate concerns were expressed regarding its impact on India.
  • However, geopolitical developments continue to be monitored due to their implications for energy prices, trade flows, and global financial markets.
• El Niño and monsoon vulnerability:
  • A major concern discussed was the possibility of sub-par rainfall due to El Niño conditions.
  • The need to reduce India's dependence on monsoon outcomes.
  • The discussion highlighted the importance of climate-resilient agriculture, irrigation expansion, water management reforms, and diversification of growth drivers beyond agriculture.

Strong Economic Performance:

• Better-than-expected GDP growth:
  • The Council took note of encouraging growth data for FY 2025–26.
• For example,
• GDP growth of 7.8% in the January–March 2026 quarter.
• Full-year provisional GDP growth estimate revised to 7.7%, higher than the earlier estimate of 7.6%.
• Significance:
  • Growth remained robust despite global uncertainties and the overlap of the West Asia conflict with the final month of the quarter.
  • Strong economic performance reinforced investor confidence and supported positive market sentiment.

About the EAC-PM:

• Nature and composition:
  • It is a non-constitutional, non-permanent and independent advisory body constituted directly by an executive order.
  • It has been constituted several times since the independence of India. In the latest occurrence, the council was reconstituted in 2017, and is currently chaired by S. Mahendra Dev.
  • It includes full-time and part-time members from economics, finance, academia, banking, and public policy.
• Functions:
  • Provides inputs to the PM on economic and related policy matters.
  • Advises on macroeconomic policy.
  • Evaluates economic trends and risks.
  • Suggests reforms for sustainable and inclusive growth.
  • Provides analytical inputs on development priorities.

Conclusion:

• The EAC-PM meeting underscored India's strategy of combining structural reforms, investor-friendly taxation, monetary support measures, and macroeconomic stability to sustain high growth.
• While geopolitical tensions and climate-related risks remain concerns, strong GDP performance, prospects of higher foreign capital inflows, and continued reform momentum position India favourably for long-term economic development.

Why in the News?

• The India-Oman Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), signed in December 2025, has come into force amid disruptions in West Asia caused by the continuing Strait of Hormuz crisis.

What’s in Today’s Article?

• India-Oman Bilateral Relations (Political & Strategic Relations, Economic Relations, Diaspora, CEPA, etc.)
• News Summary (Significance of CEPA)

India-Oman Bilateral Relations

• India and Oman share one of the oldest maritime and commercial relationships in the Indian Ocean region.
• Their partnership has evolved into a comprehensive strategic relationship encompassing trade, energy, defence, connectivity, and people-to-people ties.

Political and Strategic Relations

• India and Oman maintain close diplomatic engagement through regular high-level visits and institutional dialogue mechanisms. Key features include:

• Oman is India's oldest strategic partner in the Gulf region.
• The two countries cooperate closely in maritime security and counter-piracy operations.
• Oman provides logistical access to the strategically important Duqm Port, enhancing India's presence in the western Indian Ocean.
• Both countries support regional stability and freedom of navigation in maritime routes.

Economic and Trade Relations

• Oman is among India's important trading partners in the Gulf region. Bilateral trade between India and Oman reached USD 11.18 billion in FY 2025-26.
• India imports crude oil, liquefied natural gas (LNG), fertilisers, methanol, and ammonia from Oman, while exporting machinery, petroleum products, iron and steel goods, rice, ceramics, and engineering products.

Indian Community in Oman

• With nearly 700,000 Indians living and working in Oman, the Indian diaspora is the Sultanate's largest expatriate community.
• The community serves as an important bridge between the two nations.

India-Oman Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA)

• The CEPA is a comprehensive free trade agreement aimed at deepening economic integration and expanding bilateral trade. Major provisions include:

• Oman has granted zero-duty access on 98% of tariff lines, covering approximately 99% of India's exports.
• The agreement provides improved market access for Indian goods, including engineering products, petroleum products, textiles, machinery, and chemicals.
• It aims to enhance investment flows and strengthen supply chain integration.
• The agreement seeks to diversify trade beyond traditional energy cooperation.

• The CEPA is expected to significantly improve the competitiveness of Indian exports in the Omani market.

News Summary

• The implementation of the India-Oman CEPA comes at a time when disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz have raised concerns regarding global trade and energy supplies.
• The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world's most important maritime chokepoints through which a substantial portion of global oil and gas trade passes.
• The continuing regional conflict has increased freight costs and disrupted trade flows across West Asia.
• In this context, Oman has emerged as a strategically important partner for India.
• Unlike many Gulf countries whose ports depend heavily on access through the Strait of Hormuz, a significant portion of Oman's coastline lies outside the strait along the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea.
• As a result, major ports such as Salalah and Duqm remain accessible even during disruptions in the strait.

Declining Trade with the UAE

• The crisis has adversely affected India's trade with several Gulf countries, particularly the UAE.
• India-UAE trade, which had crossed $100 billion during the previous financial year, reportedly declined by approximately 35% in April 2026 due to operational disruptions at regional ports.

Energy Security Benefits

• One of the most significant advantages of the CEPA is its contribution to India's energy security.
• According to trade experts, the agreement strengthens India's access to:

• Crude oil, Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), Fertilisers, Methanol, Ammonia

• These imports were valued at more than $7.2 billion in FY 2025-26.
• At a time when India remains heavily dependent on imported fuel and industrial inputs, stable access to Omani supplies can help reduce vulnerabilities arising from geopolitical tensions.

Export Opportunities for India

• The agreement also creates new opportunities for Indian exporters.
• Prior to the CEPA, although many Indian products faced relatively low tariffs in Oman, some goods attracted duties of up to 100%. The elimination of these tariffs is expected to improve the competitiveness of Indian products.
• Sectors likely to benefit include:

• Machinery and engineering goods
• Petroleum products
• Steel and iron products
• Rice and agricultural products
• Consumer goods and personal care products
• Electronics and electrical equipment

• The agreement is particularly significant because Oman's electronics imports are estimated at around $3 billion annually, while India's exports in this segment remain relatively modest, indicating considerable scope for expansion.

Why in news?

US AI company Anthropic is extending access to its restricted cybersecurity programme, Project Glasswing, to select organisations in India — including key government agencies responsible for protecting the country's critical infrastructure.

This follows Anthropic's announcement that it would expand the programme from its initial US and UK participants to over 15 countries, with India being a significant addition.

What’s in Today’s Article?

• What Is Project Glasswing and What Is Mythos?
• Which Indian Agencies Are Getting Access?
• Why India Is Particularly Concerned?
• The Geopolitical Dimension: Anthropic vs. the US Pentagon
• Conclusion

What Is Project Glasswing and What Is Mythos?

• Anthropic is one of the world's leading AI companies, known for its AI model Claude.
• But it has also developed a far more powerful and restricted model called Claude Mythos — described as a frontier AI model capable of identifying critical software vulnerabilities at a level that could "fundamentally alter the balance between cyber attackers and defenders."
• This is a significant claim. Most cybersecurity today depends on human experts finding software weaknesses before attackers do.
• A model that can do this at scale and speed could be a game-changer — but in the wrong hands, it could also be catastrophically dangerous. That is why Anthropic has kept Mythos strictly restricted and not publicly released.
• Project Glasswing is the controlled programme through which Anthropic shares access to Mythos Preview (the testing version) with a carefully vetted set of trusted organisations.
• Each organisation must meet Anthropic's security requirements before gaining access.

Which Indian Agencies Are Getting Access?

• The following Indian government bodies are understood to have received — or are in line to receive — access to Mythos:
  • I4C — Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre
  • CERT-In — Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (the nodal agency for cybersecurity incidents in India)
  • NCIIPC — National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (falls under the National Security Advisor in the Prime Minister's Office)
  • DIP — Department of Telecommunications' Digital Intelligence Platform
• Additionally, some cybersecurity-focused research institutions have received access, and discussions are underway to extend it to cybersecurity and AI teams within India's largest IT services companies.
• The purpose is specific: NCIIPC and CERT-In requested access to use Mythos to identify vulnerabilities within India's banking and power infrastructure — before attackers can find and exploit them.

Why India Is Particularly Concerned?

• India's concern about Mythos is two-sided — both as an opportunity and as a threat.
• The Defensive Opportunity
  • India's critical infrastructure — banking systems, power grids, telecom networks — is a high-value target for cyberattacks.
  • A tool that can proactively find and fix software vulnerabilities in these systems before adversaries exploit them would be enormously valuable.
• The Offensive Threat
  • At the same time, India's government was also worried about what Mythos could do to India's systems in the wrong hands.
  • Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in April 2026, held a high-level meeting with IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw to assess risks posed by Mythos to India's banking sector.
  • The meeting resulted in concrete directions: the Indian Banks' Association (IBA) was asked to develop a coordinated institutional response mechanism, and banks were directed to engage top cybersecurity professionals to continuously strengthen their defensive and monitoring capabilities.

The Geopolitical Dimension: Anthropic vs. the US Pentagon

• As per various reports, Anthropic is helping the US National Security Agency (NSA) deploy Mythos for offensive cyber operations — specifically to infiltrate networks of countries like China and Iran.
• This creates an awkward contradiction. Anthropic is simultaneously:
  • Providing Mythos to trusted allies (including India) for defensive cybersecurity.
  • Reportedly assisting the NSA with offensive cyber operations.
  • Fighting a legal battle with the US Department of Defense (which includes the NSA) over the boundaries of AI use.
    • The legal dispute arose because Anthropic drew a firm line — it refused to allow its Claude AI models to be used for mass surveillance of US citizens or lethal autonomous drones.
    • The Pentagon responded by labelling Anthropic a "supply-chain risk" — an unprecedented designation for a US company.
    • Anthropic has sued over this label.

Conclusion

• AI is becoming a national security asset. Governments are no longer just regulating AI — they are actively seeking to deploy frontier AI models for defence and cybersecurity. The race to access the most powerful AI tools is becoming part of geopolitical competition.
• Critical infrastructure protection is increasingly about software. Banking systems, power grids, and communications networks all run on software. Identifying and fixing vulnerabilities in that software is now as important as physical security.
• AI companies are navigating unprecedented ethical and geopolitical pressure. Anthropic's tension with the Pentagon illustrates that even safety-focused AI companies face difficult choices about how their models are used — and by whom.

Why in news?

• Recently, the Supreme Court delivered two landmark rulings with major consequences for India's online real-money gaming industry. A bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and R. Mahadevan:
  • Upheld the constitutional validity of the Centre's retrospective 28% GST levy on online gaming companies.
  • Affirmed the validity of State laws banning real-money gaming platforms.
• These rulings come on top of an already difficult period for the industry, which has been reeling since the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025 effectively prohibited real-money gaming in India.

What’s in Today’s Article?

• Background: The Two Sets of Cases
• Why the Court Upheld the 28% GST?
• Why the Court Upheld State Bans?
• The Wider Implications: A New Constitutional Question

Background: The Two Sets of Cases

• The two judgments arose from separate but related disputes.
• Case 1: State Bans on Online Betting
  • In 2021, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka enacted laws criminalising online betting, including penalties and imprisonment. Both the Madras and Karnataka High Courts struck down these laws.
  • The state governments then appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing that:
    • betting and gambling are State subjects under Entry 34 of List II (State List) of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution, and
    • that the restrictions were necessary to address addiction and social harm.
• Case 2: The GST Dispute
  • In August 2023, the GST Council clarified that all online games involving bets or wagers — whether skill-based or chance-based — would attract 28% GST on the full value of money staked by players.
  • The Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) then issued tax demand notices — not just for the period after October 1, 2023 (when the amended rules came into force), but also retrospectively for earlier periods.
  • The total tax demands ran into several lakh crore rupees.
  • Gaming companies challenged this before the Bombay and Karnataka High Courts, which initially ruled in their favour. The Union government then appealed to the Supreme Court.

Why the Court Upheld the 28% GST?

• The industry made two main arguments.
• First, GST should be levied only on the platform's commission — the fee it retains — not on the entire pool of money staked by players.
• Second, online games of skill deserve to be treated differently from gambling, and taxing them at 28% on the full stake was commercially unviable.
• What the Court Said?
  • The Court rejected both arguments. It drew a clear distinction between a skill-based competition and an online gaming platform involving money stakes.
  • In a genuine skill contest, a player pays an entry fee to compete.
  • But online gaming platforms are structured around wagering — they encourage repeated participation through discounts and bonuses, making the activity fundamentally different.
  • More importantly, the Court held that once money is staked on an uncertain outcome, the distinction between skill and chance becomes irrelevant for GST purposes.
  • The Central GST Act already expressly includes actionable claims relating to lottery, betting, and gambling in the tax net.
  • Parliament was therefore competent to levy GST on online gaming involving money stakes.
  • On the retrospective nature of the demand, the Court held that the 2023 amendments did not create a fresh tax — they merely clarified and standardised what the law already said. That is why they could operate retrospectively.

Why the Court Upheld State Bans?

• The Court's reasoning on State bans rested on a foundational legal principle.
• It held that betting and gambling are res extra commercium — a Latin phrase meaning activities that fall outside legitimate commerce.
• Because they sit outside normal trade and business, they do not enjoy the constitutional protections available to commercial activities.
• The Court further held that even if a game is skill-based, the introduction of money stakes imparts the character of wagering to it. Once it becomes a wagering activity, States have full legislative competence to regulate or ban it.
• On fantasy sports — a major segment of the online gaming industry that had long claimed protection as a "game of skill" — the Court was unpersuaded. It noted that even the most sophisticated predictive models cannot forecast sporting outcomes with certainty.
• The Court also made a broader sociological observation: the widespread availability of smartphones and digital payment systems has effectively turned every mobile phone into a virtual gambling house.
• States, it said, can draw legislative support not only from Entry 34 (betting and gambling) but also from Entry 1 (public order) to justify restrictions.

The Wider Implications: A New Constitutional Question

• The ruling has also created an unexpected complication for the Centre. The Supreme Court clearly held that betting and gambling are State subjects under Entry 34, and upheld State laws regulating them.
• But the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025 — a Central law — claims legislative competence under Entry 52 of the Union List, which allows Parliament to regulate industries in the public interest.
• There is now a direct tension: if online gaming is a State subject, can Parliament legislate on it under Entry 52?
• The validity of the 2025 Central law is likely to be challenged in court on exactly this ground.
• The outcome will determine whether India's online gaming regulation ultimately rests with the states or the Centre.

About Anusandhan National Research Foundation:

• It was established through the Anusandhan National Research Foundation Act, 2023.
• It is functioning under the Department of Science & Technology (DST).
• The Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) has been merged into ANRF.
• Objective: To seed, grow, and promote R&D, and foster a research and innovation culture across universities, colleges, research institutions, and R&D labs in India.
• It acts as an apex body to provide high-level strategic direction of scientific research in the country as per recommendations of the National Education Policy.
• It has been established to promote research and development and foster a culture of research and innovation throughout India’s Universities, Colleges, Research Institutions, and R&D laboratories. 
• Funding Target: It aims to mobilise funds amounting to ₹50,000 crore during 2023–28 through multiple streams including the ANRF Fund, Innovation Fund, Science and Engineering Research Fund, and Special Purpose Funds.
• ANRF forges collaborations among the industry, academia, research institutions and government departments.

About Solar Cycle:

• It describes an approximately 11-year cycle of solar activity driven by the sun’s magnetic field.
• It is indicated by the frequency and intensity of sunspots visible on the surface. 
• Every 11 years or so, the Sun’s magnetic field completely flips.
• This means that the Sun’s north and south poles switch places. Then it takes about another 11 years for the Sun’s north and south poles to flip back again.
• The solar cycle affects activity on the surface of the Sun, such as sunspots, which are caused by the Sun’s magnetic fields.
• As the magnetic fields change, so does the amount of activity on the Sun’s surface.
• It can be tracked by counting the number of sunspots.
• Cycle Stages:
  • Solar minimum: It is the beginning of a solar cycle or when the Sun has the least sunspots.
  • Solar maximum: It is the middle of the solar cycle or when the Sun has the most sunspots.
  • As the cycle ends, it fades back to the solar minimum, and then a new cycle begins.
• Impact: The solar cycle has the potential to impact Earth’s climatic conditions through changes in solar radiation, cosmic rays, and ozone distribution.

What is Sun's supergranulation?

• The Sun's supergranulation refers to a physical pattern covering the surface of the quiet Sun with a typical horizontal scale of approximately 30,000 km and a lifetime of around 1.8 d.
• Supergranulation was discovered by Hart (1954) using Doppler images of the Sun.

About Nilgiri Tahr:

• It is a mountain ungulate endemic to the southern part of the Western Ghats.
• It is also known by the name Nilgiri Ibex or simply Ibex. Locally the animal is called ‘Varayaadu’.
• It is the only mountain ungulate in southern India.
• Habitat: It inhabits the open montane grassland habitat of the southwestern ghats montane rain forests Eco region.
• Distribution: It is found in a roughly 400 km stretch in the Western Ghats, which falls in the states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
• The Eravikulam National Park (Kerala) has the highest density and largest surviving population of Nilgiri tahr. 
• Features of Nilgiri Tahr:
  • These are stocky goats with short, coarse fur and a bristly mane. 
  • The males are found to be larger than the females, and have a darker color when mature. 
  • Both sexes have curved horns, which are larger in the males.
• Conservation Status:
  • IUCN: Endangered 
  • Wildlife (Protection) Act of India, 1972: Schedule I.

Threats: Habitat loss due to rampant deforestation, competition with domestic livestock, hydroelectric projects in Nilgiri tahr habitat, and monoculture plantations.

About Eklavya Model Residential Schools:

• It is a flagship intervention of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs launched in 1998.
• It aims to provide quality residential education to Scheduled Tribes students from Class 6th to 12th in remote areas to enable them to access the best opportunities in education and to bring them at par with the general population.
• The programme was revamped during the year 2018-19 to expand the geographical outreach and enhance the quality of facilities.
• EMRSs to be set up in every block with more than 50% ST population and at least 20,000 tribal persons. 
• Governance: The National Education Society for Tribal Students (NESTS), an autonomous organization, has been set up under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs to establish and manage EMRS across the country.
• Features of Eklavya Model Residential Schools:
  • EMRSs are co-educational residential schools from Class VI to XII.
  • Eklavya schools will be on par with Navodaya Vidyalayas and will have special facilities for preserving local art and culture besides providing training in sports and skill development.
  • Infrastructure: The school infrastructure will include classroom, administrative block, hostels, playground.
  • CBSE curriculum is followed in these schools, and education is completely free.
  • Each school has a capacity of 480 students with an equal number of seats for boys and girls.
  • Non-ST students can be admitted in these schools on seats up to 10% of the total seats. And also reservation of 20% of seats under sports quota for deserving ST students who have excelled in the field of sports.