Daily Current Affairs - 30 September 2025

Explore the Daily Current Affairs 30 October 2025, relevant for UPSC exam. Also download quick REVISION NOTES.

China’s stand against Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme

GS Paper II – International Relations & International Organisations
Theme/Topics: WTO and Multilateral Trade Agreements, India–China Relations and Trade Disputes

Context: China has challenged India at the WTO, alleging that India’s Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes violate WTO rules.

About Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme:

Launched in 2020 to boost Indian manufacturing.
Provides financial incentives based on incremental sales.
Integrates MSMEs into production through backward linkages.
By focusing on sectors such as electronics, textiles, pharmaceuticals, and automobiles, the initiative links financial incentives to measurable results like increased production and incremental sales.

WTO law on subsidies:

The grant of industrial subsidies is regulated by the Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (SCM) agreement of the WTO. Article 1 of the SCM agreement defines a ‘subsidy’ as a financial contribution by a government or a public body that confers a benefit.

The SCM agreement divides subsidies into three categories — prohibited subsidies, actionable subsidies, and non-actionable subsidies.

Prohibited subsidies are forbidden by definition and are generally of two types: export subsidies and Import Substitution (IS) subsidies.
- Export subsidies are contingent on export performance.
- IS subsidies refers to subsidies contingent upon the use of domestic goods over imported goods.

Thus, if a country promises a financial contribution to a specific industry on the condition that it use domestic goods or goods produced locally, rather than imported goods, it would constitute a prohibited subsidy.

2. Actionable subsidies are not prohibited. However, they are subject to challenge, either through multilateral dispute settlement or through countervailing action, in the event that they cause adverse effects to the interests of another Member.

3. Non-actionable subsidies expired in 1999 and was not extended.

Mains practice Question

Q1. Critically analyse how the inoperative WTO Appellate Body affects the enforcement of global trade rules, particularly for developing countries like India.

Source: The Hindi Newspaper (Page 10)

Indian Maritime Sector

GS Paper III – Economic Development, Infrastructure, and Investment Models (Theme: Infrastructure – Ports, Shipping, and the Blue Economy)

Context: Recently Maritime Leader’s Conclave was held to mark ‘India Maritime Week’.

Value addition for Mains answer:

Nearly 95% of India’s trade by volume and about 70% by value moves through maritime routes, underlining the sector’s centrality to India’s economy and competitiveness.
Cargo movement in inland waterways has risen by 700%, and major port capacity has doubled over a decade.
The Maritime India Vision 2030 charts 150+ initiatives with projected investments of ₹3–3.5 lakh crore, supported by a recent ₹69,725 crore package for shipbuilding.

Sagarmala Programme, a flagship initiative to transform India into a global maritime hub is a core pillar of the Maritime India Vision 2030 and Maritime Amrit Kaal Vision 2047. The programme focuses on cutting logistics costs, enhancing trade efficiency, and creating employment through smarter, greener transport networks.

Mains practice Question

Q2. Examine how India’s initiatives in shipbuilding and maritime infrastructure can strengthen the Blue Economy.

Source: The Hindu newspaper (Page 16.2)

Nanotech Waves

GS Paper III — Science & Technology (themes: quantum physics, nanotechnology)

Context: Researchers developed a microscopic “wave flume” on a chip using superfluid helium to study nonlinear wave dynamics — phenomena like solitons and shock waves that maintain their shape and energy over long distances.

Traditionally, such studies were conducted in large water tanks (wave flumes), but these couldn’t replicate extreme natural conditions like tsunamis. By going microscopic instead of macroscopic, scientists achieved unprecedented control and observed previously unrecorded behaviors — such as backward-steepening waves, shock-front formation, and soliton fission, thus describing large-scale hydrodynamic waves.