Why in news?

Every winter, Delhi sinks into its usual toxic smog, and India reaches for the same short-term fixes — cloud seeding, smog towers, water sprinkling, odd-even rules, and festival crackdowns. These highly visible measures create an impression of action but barely change actual air quality.

Public discourse deteriorates just as fast: scientists are accused of weak solutions, politicians of lacking resolve, and administrators of copying Western models without local adaptation. While each criticism holds some truth, none captures the full systemic failure.

This year, frustration spilled into small but peaceful public protests near India Gate. Around 50–60 people gathered on November 24, only to face heavy police presence, and five protesters were detained — reflecting both civic desperation and administrative defensiveness.

What’s in Today’s Article:?

• Fragmented Governance Fuels India’s Pollution Crisis
• Why India’s Pollution Policies Fail: The Intellectual and Western Traps
• Building India-Specific Clean-Air Solutions

Fragmented Governance Fuels India’s Pollution Crisis

• India’s repeated reliance on short-term pollution fixes stems from a deeper structural flaw: air-quality management is fragmented across numerous agencies.
• Responsibilities are split among the Environment Ministry, CPCB, SPCBs, CAQM, DPCC, municipal bodies, and sectoral departments such as agriculture, transport, industry, and energy.
• With each institution overseeing only a slice of the problem, no agency has full authority or accountability for clean air.
• Governance Constraints and Institutional Weaknesses
  • Environmental powers are constitutionally shared, budgets and manpower vary widely, and judicial pressure prioritises quick actions over long-term planning.
  • With many actors involved but none empowered to lead, sustained progress becomes difficult.
• Short-Term Measures Dominate
  • The dominance of quick fixes is also rooted in political incentives.
  • High-visibility measures — cloud seeding, smog towers, anti-smog guns, odd-even rules — allow governments to show immediate action without challenging powerful polluting sectors like construction, transport, and agriculture.
  • They cost little, fit easily into annual budgets, and avoid political backlash.
  • These interventions respond to headlines rather than the science of pollution control, providing momentary relief while doing little to improve public health.
• Political Optics Over Public Health
  • Short-term measures help officials signal responsiveness during pollution spikes but fail to address structural issues such as waste burning, fuel quality, industrial emissions, and crop residue management.
  • As a result, the air remains hazardous, and winter pollution keeps returning, exposing systemic gaps that require long-term, coordinated reform rather than symbolic actions.

Why India’s Pollution Policies Fail: The Intellectual and Western Traps

• India’s pollution strategies are often shaped by elite institutions, think tanks, and top scientific bodies.
• While analytically strong, these actors are frequently removed from the lived realities of municipal governance — understaffing, limited budgets, informal economies, and political constraints.
• As a result:
  • Policies look good on paper but falter in execution.
  • Strategies underestimate enforcement challenges and administrative gaps.
  • Many remain pilots, unable to scale due to lack of institutional support.
• This trap prioritises what should work in theory over what can work in practice.
• The Western Trap: Copying Global Models Without Local Adaptation
  • India routinely imports “best practices” from Europe, East Asia, and the West, assuming they can function the same way here.
  • However, India’s conditions differ sharply:
    • High-density neighbourhoods
    • Informal construction and transport sectors
    • Weak regulatory credibility
    • Limited institutional trust and administrative coordination
  • When applied without contextual redesign, global models collapse under India’s resource constraints and socio-political complexities.
  • The issue isn’t foreign ideas — it’s the lack of localisation.

Building India-Specific Clean-Air Solutions

• To overcome the intellectual and Western traps, India must adapt global ideas to its own administrative, political, and social realities.
• Even strong solutions need redesign to fit local constraints.
• Need for Clear Leadership and Accountability
  • India’s air-quality governance lacks clarity on:
    • Who leads,
    • Who coordinates, and
    • Who is accountable across national, State, and municipal levels.
  • A modern clean-air law with explicit mandates could streamline roles, reduce jurisdictional overlaps, and ensure steady implementation.
• Strengthening Institutions Through Stable Systems
  • Effective air-quality management requires:
    • Multi-year funding to build staff and maintain equipment
    • Public access to compliance data to build credibility
    • Visible enforcement to ensure rules matter
    • Consistency across election cycles, avoiding policy resets
  • These foundation blocks enable long-term progress rather than episodic, crisis-driven interventions.
• The Missing Link: Science Managers
  • India needs a professional cadre of science managers who can:
    • Understand both science and governance
    • Translate expert knowledge into workable policies
    • Help ministries navigate complex transitions
    • Maintain coherence despite bureaucratic turnover
  • Without them, India’s scientific tools and models remain disconnected from actual policymaking.
• Aligning Ambition with Capacity
  • India’s main gap is not ideas but alignment:
    • Policies often assume levels of staffing, coordination and public compliance that vary widely across cities and States.
    • Solutions must start from Indian constraints—informal economies, uneven urban capacity, budget limits, and diverse regional priorities.
    • Policies should be implementation-first, built around what agencies can realistically enforce and what communities will accept.

Why in News?

• The Supreme Court of India expressed serious concern over the rapid spread of harmful User-Generated Content (UGC) on social media, including obscene, perverse, defamatory and allegedly “anti-national” content.
• The Court examined the need for autonomous regulation, age-verification mechanisms, preventive measures, and amendments to the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules/ IT Rules 2021 while ensuring compliance with Article 19(1)(a) and Article 19(2).

What’s in Today’s Article?

• Key Developments
• Proposed Regulatory Measures
• Key Concerns Raised
• Way Forward
• Conclusion

Key Developments:

• SC’s observations:
  • UGC with adult content, defamatory material or harmful misinformation goes viral before takedowns are possible.
  • Existing warnings before adult content are insufficient.
  • Users can run their own channels without accountability — termed as “very strange” by the Chief Justice of India (CJI).
  • Need for an impartial and autonomous authority, independent of government and private broadcasters.
• Protection vs free speech:
  • The court clarified the intention not to curb free speech, but to protect innocents from irreversible harm.
  • Emphasised that misuse of online speech undermines the rights of vulnerable individuals.

Proposed Regulatory Measures:

• Preventive mechanisms for online content:
  • Age verification: Suggested use of Aadhaar or PAN for age verification before accessing sensitive content.
  • Stricter oversight: Autonomous body to regulate UGC — “self-styled bodies will not be effective.”
  • AI-enabled moderation: Platforms must leverage AI for impact assessment, early detection, and prompt moderation.
• Amendments proposed by the Ministry of I&B:
  • Expansion of the IT Rules, 2021: Incorporation of guidelines on obscenity standards, AI and deepfake regulation, accessibility norms, rating of content by age group, bar on anti-national digital content.
  • Definition of “obscene content”: Based on lascivious character, prurient interest, and potential to "deprave or corrupt" the audience.
  • Digital content must not:
    • Offend decency, attack religions/communities, promote communal attitudes
    • Be obscene, defamatory, false or contain suggestive innuendos
    • Promote violence, anti-national attitudes, criminality
    • Derogate women or PwDs
    • Present indecent or vulgar themes
    • Violate Cinematograph Act, 1952
    • Include live coverage of anti-terror operations outside official briefings
  • Community standards test: Use of Aveek Sarkar judgment (contemporary community standards).
  • Content rating framework: U (can be viewed by a person under the age of 7 years with parental guidance), U/A 7+, U/A 13+, U/A 16+, A (online curated content which is restricted to adults).

Key Concerns Raised:

• Risk of pre-censorship: Senior Advocate Amit Sibal warned that the term “preventive” may imply “pre-censorship.” Suggested replacing it with “effective” regulation.
• Ambiguity in ‘anti-national’ definition: Advocate Prashant Bhushan expressed concerns over broad and vague use of the term.
• Need for public consultations: Prior SC directions mandating consultations with stakeholders not yet followed. Pre-legislative consultation policy (2014) requires open public debate on such rules.
• Other concerns:
  • Rapid virality of content before takedown.
  • Lack of pre-emptive protection for victims.
  • Borderless nature of social media communication.
  • Difficulty balancing free speech with protection against harm.
  • Children’s vulnerability to unfiltered online content.
  • Confusion among platforms due to legal overlaps and pending challenges to IT Rules, 2021.

Way Forward:

• Establish autonomous digital content authority: Independent of both State and private intermediaries.
• Implement secure age verification: Explore Aadhaar/PAN integration with strong privacy protections.
• Strengthen IT Rules, 2021: Clear standards for obscenity, deepfakes, community harm, and discrimination.
• Mandate public consultations: In line with the 2014 Pre-Legislative Consultation Policy.
• AI-driven early detection systems: Mandatory deployment for content risk assessment.
• Clear definition of key terms: Especially “anti-national,” “perverse content,” “obscene digital content”.
• Enhanced platform accountability: Strict penalties for non-compliance, modelled on SC/ST Act safeguarding principles.

Conclusion:

• The Supreme Court’s intervention marks a critical step in India’s evolving digital governance landscape.
• While reaffirming the sanctity of freedom of speech under Article 19(1)(a), the Court emphasises the urgent need for preventive, accountable and technologically updated mechanisms to safeguard citizens from harmful UGC.
• The proposed amendments to the IT Rules, 2021 and establishment of an autonomous regulatory body aim to strike a delicate balance between digital rights and digital safety, ensuring a responsible and secure online environment.

Why in the News?

• The Union Government has approved the Textiles Focused Research, Assessment, Monitoring, Planning and Start-up (Tex-RAMPS) Scheme.

What’s in Today’s Article?

• Textile Section (Introduction, Statistics, Challenges, etc.)
• News Summary (Tex-RAMPS Scheme, Objectives, Components, Significance, etc.)

Textile Sector: A Pillar of Manufacturing and Employment

• India’s textile and apparel sector is one of the country’s oldest and most significant industries, deeply embedded in its cultural and economic landscape.
• It contributes over 2% to India’s GDP, nearly 11% to industrial output, and around 13% to total export earnings.
• With more than 45 million workers, it is the second-largest employer after agriculture.
• The sector’s strength lies in its integrated value chain, from fibre, spinning, weaving, knitting, processing, to apparel and home textiles.
• India is among the world’s largest producers of cotton, jute, silk, polyester, and technical textiles, and is globally competitive in home furnishings and garment manufacturing.

Challenges Faced by the Textile Sector

• Slow adoption of advanced technologies,
• Limited R&D capacity,
• Absence of an integrated data and analytics ecosystem,
• Fragmented supply chains,
• Rising global competition from technologically agile economies like China, Vietnam, and Bangladesh.

News Summary

• The Union Government has approved the Textiles Focused Research, Assessment, Monitoring, Planning and Start-up (Tex-RAMPS) Scheme, with an outlay of Rs. 305 crore, to be implemented between 2025-26 and 2030-31.
• The initiative aims to strengthen innovation capacity, improve data systems, and enhance the global competitiveness of India’s textile and apparel sector.

Aims and Vision of Tex-RAMPS

• Tex-RAMPS is designed as a future-oriented intervention to address critical structural gaps that limit India’s competitiveness in the global textile value chain.
• According to the Textiles Ministry, the scheme will integrate research, data, and innovation to position India as a global leader in sustainability, technology, and competitiveness. The scheme aims to:

• Build a strong national ecosystem for textile research and innovation,
• Strengthen evidence-based policymaking through advanced data systems,
• Promote sustainability and efficiency across the value chain,
• Develop high-value textile start-ups and entrepreneurship,
• Enhance collaboration between States, academia, industry, and government bodies.

Key Components of the Tex-RAMPS Scheme

• Research and Innovation Development
  • The scheme promotes advanced research in Smart textiles, Sustainability and circularity, Process efficiency, Emerging and frontier technologies.
  • This is expected to significantly boost India’s innovation capabilities and enhance global value chain integration.
• Data, Analytics, and Diagnostic Systems
  • Tex-RAMPS places strong emphasis on building a robust, real-time textile data ecosystem, including employment assessments, supply chain mapping, across-India study, standardised analytics for strategic planning.
  • The idea is to enable “evidence-based decision making” across the sector.
• Integrated Textiles Statistical System (ITSS)
  • A major innovation is the establishment of the ITSS, a centralised data and analytics platform enabling Continuous monitoring, Centralised diagnostics, and Strategic policy planning.
  • This system will support State governments as well as industry bodies in aligning strategies with national goals.
• Capacity Development and Knowledge Ecosystem
  • Tex-RAMPS proposes to Strengthen State-level planning units, Share best practices across textile clusters, Organise workshops, training programmes, and sectoral events.
  • These efforts aim to enhance human resource development and cultivate a strong “quality culture” within the textile value chain.
• Start-up and Innovation Support
  • The scheme actively encourages entrepreneurship through Support for textile incubators, Hackathons, academia-industry collaboration, Innovation challenges and early-stage funding support.
  • This is intended to nurture high-value textile start-ups and foster innovations in technical textiles, smart fabrics, and sustainable materials.

Expected Outcomes of Tex-RAMPS

• The scheme is expected to deliver significant long-term gains:

• Enhanced global competitiveness of India’s textile and apparel industries,
• A stronger research and innovation ecosystem,
• Improved quality, productivity, and supply-chain resilience,
• More accurate, data-driven policies and workforce assessments,
• Generation of employment opportunities,
• Deeper collaborations between States, academia, and industry.

• Industry leaders note that the scheme will “strengthen the innovation ecosystem, promote promising start-ups, and deepen the quality culture” in the textile sector.

Context

• On November 21, 2025, India marked a milestone in its long journey toward Viksit Bharat with the implementation of the Four Labour Codes.
• Together, these reforms represent one of the most ambitious attempts to modernise India’s labour governance framework.
• They aim to create a fair, future-ready system that supports both the protection of workers and the competitiveness of enterprises, reflecting India's broader aspirations of Aatmanirbhar Bharat and inclusive growth.

Evolution of India’s Labour Framework

• India’s labour laws have historically developed in a fragmented manner, shaped by varying economic contexts and social needs since Independence.
• The resulting framework, consisting of numerous separate legislations, created complexities for employers and often left gaps or inconsistencies for workers.
• Recognising these challenges, the Second National Commission on Labour recommended consolidating the many existing laws into broader functional codes.
• After extensive consultation with stakeholders, including employers, labour unions, and State governments, the Four Labour Codes were enacted between 2019 and 2020.

A Large and Dynamic Workforce

• India’s transformation is underpinned by its demographic strength: with over 643 million workers, it boasts one of the largest and youngest labour forces globally.
• Between 2017–18 and 2023–24, the country generated 16.83 crore new jobs, saw unemployment fall from 6% to 3.2%, and witnessed a rise in formal employment.
• Yet a large share of India’s workers remain in the informal sector, underscoring the urgent need for simplified laws and stronger protections.
• The new Codes aim to bridge these gaps. The Code on Social Security’s broader coverage, including for unorganised workers, signals a decisive move to extend the benefits of growth and security to those who have traditionally been excluded from formal protections.

The Core Objective of Labour Codes: Strengthening Worker Protections

• Universal minimum wages and a national floor wage establish a more consistent and equitable wage structure.
• Mandatory appointment letters and timely wage payments reinforce transparency and accountability.
• A clearer framework for working hours, including the standard 48-hour work week, helps ensure predictability and work–life balance.
• The OSH Code emphasises workplace safety through mandatory safety committees, free preventive health check-ups, and stronger norms for working conditions.
• The Social Security Code provides universal ESIC coverage, streamlined EPF processes, and creates a National Social Security Fund addressing the needs of various worker categories.
• These measures collectively advance worker welfare while supporting productivity and sustained economic growth.

Some Other Features of New Labour Codes

• Simplifying Compliance and Encouraging Formalisation
  • From the perspective of businesses, especially MSMEs, the Codes represent a significant shift toward simpler and more transparent compliance.
  • The introduction of single registration, single licence, and single return mechanisms, reduces administrative burdens and encourages participation in the formal economy.
  • A uniform definition of wages also reduces ambiguity and disputes, promoting predictability in wage calculations and legal compliance.
• Preparing for the Future of Work
  • The nature of employment in India is rapidly evolving, driven by digital platforms, flexible work arrangements, and the rise of gig and platform-based labour.
  • By including gig and platform workers under the Social Security Code, India has taken a forward-looking step.
  • As this workforce is projected to expand from one crore in 2024–25 to 2.35 crore by 2029–30, establishing social protection frameworks early is vital for ensuring sustainable livelihoods and equitable growth.
• Advancing Women’s Participation in the Workforce
  • Despite recent improvements, women’s labour force participation, at 32.8%, according to the ILO’s India Employment Report 2024, remains below potential.
  • The Labour Codes attempt to address key barriers by:
  • reinforcing equal remuneration,
  • strengthening maternity benefits,
  • extending social protection to women in unorganised and gig sectors, and
  • allowing women to work at night with their consent, supported by safety measures.
• Balancing Worker Protections and Enterprise Competitiveness
  • A modern labour framework must carefully balance the rights of workers with the needs of businesses.
  • The Labour Codes aim to strike this balance by simplifying industrial relations procedures, improving transparency, and ensuring faster resolution of disputes.
  • This stability is crucial for attracting investment, strengthening India’s integration into global value chains, and enabling industries to grow competitively.

Conclusion

• As the Codes come into force, State-level implementation will be critical. Uniformity and consistency across States, particularly in thresholds, rules, and enforcement, will determine the effectiveness of the reforms.
• Just as the Goods and Services Tax (GST) represented a major overhaul of indirect taxation, the Labour Codes constitute one of the most far-reaching reforms in labour regulation.
• Their success will depend on continued reform momentum, coordination with States, investment in digital systems, and sustained dialogue with stakeholders.
• If implemented effectively, these Codes have the potential to significantly boost job creation, expand social security, increase formalisation, and strengthen India’s long-term growth trajectory.

Context

• Lieutenant Samuel Kamalesan’s dismissal from the Indian Army for refusing to enter the sanctum of his regiment’s temple or gurdwara during ritual worship presents a clash between individual conscience and institutional cohesion.
• The Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court upheld the Army’s decision, interpreting his refusal as disobedience of a lawful command rather than an exercise of religious freedom.
• Their reasoning rested on military necessity, discipline, and the constitutional authority under Article 33, which allows the restriction of fundamental rights for the armed forces.

When Restraint Becomes Silence

• While judicial deference to military expertise is common, it is not absolute.
• The courts have previously reshaped military norms in cases involving women officers, recruitment, pensions, and promotion policies when equality demanded intervention.
• The question here was modest: whether a sincere religious objection could be accommodated without weakening discipline.
• The principle from Bijoe Emmanuel, that respectful dissent need not be punished, offered a constitutional framework.
• A proportionality test could have examined whether compelling entry into the sanctum was essential to cohesion.
• The judiciary chose restraint, but restraint left the deeper dilemma unresolved.

The Army’s Ethos and the Fragility of Trust

• Ritual as Unity
  • The Army argued that participation in ceremonial practices enhances morale, trust, and troop bonding, especially in fixed-class regiments where officers must be fully accepted by the soldiers they lead into combat.
  • Rituals, though rooted in faith, function as secular instruments of cohesion. Kamalesan’s refusal, however respectful, was seen as distancing.
  • This interpretation guided the disciplinary action.
• An Institution Proud of Inclusivity
  • The Army’s record of religious diversity and equal opportunity is longstanding. From UN missions to disaster relief, it has integrated soldiers of all faiths.
  • The prominence of Colonel Sofiya Qureshi during Operation Sindoor exemplifies its efforts to highlight women and officers from varied backgrounds.
  • This tradition of inclusivity makes the Kamalesan episode particularly unsettling, for it suggests a moment when an institution known for flexibility chose rigidity instead.
• A Modest Request, A Missed Opportunity
  • Kamalesan attended the parades, followed all customs, removed his shoes, tied the turban, and stood with his troops.
  • His single request was not to enter the sanctum during active worship, a line many Protestant Christians cannot cross.
  • This was a chance for the Army to employ its characteristic pragmatism.
  • The example of Eric Liddell in Chariots of Fire, whose Olympic team reshuffled events to honour his belief, shows how institutions can bend without breaking.
  • A small accommodation would have preserved both discipline and dignity.

The Costs: Personal, Institutional, and Symbolic

• More Than a Lost Officer
  • The dismissal cost the Army more than one career.
  • It risks sending an unintended signal to minority soldiers that sincere conscience-based boundaries may carry no institutional weight, even when expressed respectfully.
  • India’s military unity has never rested on majoritarian comfort but on deep interfaith trust forged in war and counterinsurgency.
  • Any perception that religious lines may be crossed under compulsion threatens that trust.
• Messages Beyond Intention
  • Neither the courts nor the Army may have intended exclusion, but institutional messages do not depend solely on intention.
  • In diverse militaries, perception shapes morale as much as policy. A feeling of vulnerability among minority soldiers, even slight, can erode the confidence that underpins cohesion.

Leadership, Rigidity, and the Drift of Institutions

• Avoiding the Path of Prejudice
  • While not equivalent to the Dreyfus affair, this episode carries a cautionary note.
  • Strong institutions can drift toward rigidity one small step at a time, mistaking uniformity for unity.
  • Victor Hugo’s warning that armies lose strength when they lose their sense of justice remains relevant.
  • The Indian Army’s credibility rests on rising above religious and political divides. Any shift toward coercive uniformity risks diminishing that credibility.
• A Failure of Command, Not of Commitment
  • The troubling aspect is not the legal judgment but that the issue reached a courtroom at all.
  • A matter solvable by empathetic leadership and a single directive hardened into a disciplinary conflict.
  • The Army has long balanced tradition with modernity and authority with fairness; here, that balance slipped.

Conclusion

• When duty meets conscience, the challenge is not choosing between them but enabling them to coexist.
• A small accommodation would have reinforced the principle that every soldier, of every faith, stands equal in uniform.
• As Justice Chinnappa Reddy wrote, our Constitution practises tolerance. Institutions honour that ideal not through enforced uniformity but through discerning when uniformity is not required.

About Mekedatu Dam Project:

• It is a multi-purpose (drinking water and power) project involving the construction of a balancing reservoir near Kanakapura in the Ramanagara district, Karnataka.
• The project is proposed at the confluence of the Cauvery River with its tributary Arkavathi. It would generate 400 MW of hydroelectricity once operational.
• Issue:
  • Tamil Nadu, the lower riparian state, has been opposing the project, raising apprehensions that the state would be affected if the project takes shape.
  • Tamil Nadu says, Mekedatu area represents the last free point in Karnataka from where Cauvery water flows unrestricted into Tamil Nadu, and the Mekedatu dam project is an attempt by Karnataka to block this free flow of water.

About Hawfinch:

• It is a large passerine bird native to Europe, North Africa, and East Asia.
• It is the biggest bird of the Fringillidae family.
• Scientific Name: Coccothraustes coccothraustes
• Distribution:
  • Hawfinches are found across Europe, Eastern Asia (the Palearctic including North Japan), and North Africa (Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria).
  • They are mainly resident in Europe, but many Asian birds migrate further south in the winter.
• Habitat: The hawfinch frequents deciduous and mixed forests.
• Conservation Status:
  • IUCN Red List: Least Concern

Key Facts about Jim Corbett National Park:

• It is located in the Nainital district of Uttarakhand.
• It is part of the larger Corbett Tiger Reserve.
• It is part of the sub-Himalayan ecosystem.
• It is India’s oldest national park.
  • It was established in 1936 as Hailey National Park.
  • It was later renamed in 1957 in memory of Jim Corbett, a famous hunter and conservationist who played a key role in the establishment of the park.
• Rivers:
  • The eastern periphery of Corbett National Park is entirely fed by the Kosi River.
  • The Ramganga River (West), along with its significant tributaries Sonanadi, Palain, and Mandal, forms the prominent hydrological resource for the Corbett.
• Flora: Almost three-quarters of the park is encompassed by deciduous forest, including peepal, rohini, and mango trees.
• Fauna: Bengal tigers, Indian elephants, leopards, sloth bears, deer.

About Bnei Menashe:

• Bnei Menashe is an ethnic community that hails from the northeastern states of Mizoram and Manipur.
• They claim to be the descendants of the biblical tribe of Manasseh, considered one of the "lost tribes" of Israel.
• They are Christians converted into Jews and observe traditional Jewish practices and celebrate holidays such as Sukkot.
• Historians believe this community may have arrived in India within the last 300–500 years.
• Their ancestors were exiled long before the Roman dispersion, but they continued to practice Judaism across the generations, even if not in a contemporary Orthodox way.
• Once they came into contact with Israel and global Jewry in the 1980s, they embraced modern Jewish learning and practice.
• Nearly half of the 'Bnei Menashe' population migrated to Israel over a period of time and became its citizens.
• According to the recent Israeli Government plan, approximately 1,200 community members are expected to immigrate to Israel by the end of 2026.
• A second stage, slated for completion by 2030, will bring an additional people, effectively completing the arrival of the entire community.

About International Astronomical Union (IAU)

• It was founded in 1919 as a senior body governing international professional astronomical activities worldwide.
• Its mission is to promote and safeguard the science of astronomy in all its aspects, including research, communication, education, and development, through international cooperation.
• Activities:
  • Definition of fundamental astronomical and dynamical constants and unambiguous astronomical nomenclature
  • Rapid dissemination of new discoveries
  • Organization of international observing campaigns
  • Promotion of educational activities in astronomy to early informal discussions of possible future international large-scale facilities.
• It is the only organization recognized professionally for the naming of astronomical bodies, which it does solely on the basis of merit, history, or discoverer’s privilege.
• The IAU holds a General Assembly every three years in varying parts of the world. The long-term policy of the IAU is defined by the General Assembly.
• Headquarters: Paris, France.
• Membership:
  • Its individual Members — structured into Divisions, Commissions, and Working Groups — are professional astronomers from all over the world, at the Ph.D. level and beyond, who are active in professional research, education and outreach in astronomy.