Daily Current Affairs Highlights – December 8, 2025

Border Roads Organisation (BRO)

Source:  DD News

Subject: Defence

Context: Defence Minister of India inaugurated 125 BRO infrastructure projects worth ₹5,000 crore, the largest single-day launch in the organisation’s history.

About Border Roads Organisation (BRO):

• What is BRO?
  • BRO is a premier road construction executive force under the Ministry of Defence responsible for developing and maintaining strategic infrastructure in India’s border areas and in friendly foreign countries.
• Established: 7 May 1960
• Parent Body: Border Roads Development Board (BRDB)
• Headquarters: New Delhi
• Aim:

• • To meet the strategic needs of the Armed Forces through efficient, time-bound and high-quality infrastructure development.
  • To support socio-economic development of remote border regions.

• • Peace-time Role:
    • Develop and maintain operational road infrastructure in border areas.
    • Support socio-economic development in remote terrains.
    • Execute projects in friendly countries (Afghanistan, Bhutan, Myanmar, Tajikistan, Sri Lanka).
  • War-time Role:
    • Construct and maintain roads required for troop mobility and logistics.
    • Keep supply routes open by clearing snow, landslides and avalanches.
    • Execute additional tasks assigned by the Government during conflict.
  • Other Functions:
    • Construction of roads, bridges, airfields in extreme climatic and high-altitude environments.
    • Use of indigenous technologies (e.g., Class-70 modular bridges).
    • Employing local labour (over 2 lakh workers), aiding rural livelihoods.
    • Disaster response support (tsunamis, earthquakes, floods, landslides).

• • Strategic: Enhances military mobility along critical borders with China, Pakistan and in high-altitude regions.
  • Economic: Boosts trade, tourism, connectivity and local development in remote areas.
  • Geopolitical: Strengthens India’s neighbourhood outreach via infrastructure diplomacy.
  • Humanitarian: Plays a key role in rescue operations during natural disasters.

Hindu Rate of Growth

Source:  NDTV

Subject: Economy

Context: Prime minister criticised the phrase “Hindu rate of growth” as a colonial and communalising label that unfairly tied India’s past economic stagnation to Hindu culture and identity.

About Hindu Rate of Growth:

• What is meant by ‘Hindu rate of growth’?

• • The “Hindu rate of growth” is an economic term for India’s persistently low GDP growth (about 3.5–4% per year) from the 1950s to the 1980s, before the 1991 reforms.
  • It refers specifically to long-run real GDP growth, not to religion-based economic behaviour in any technical macro model.

• Features:
  • Low and Persistent GDP Growth: India’s GDP stayed stuck around 3.5–4% annually from the 1950s to 1980s, and per capita income rose even slower due to high population growth, reflecting long-term structural stagnation.
  • Stability Across Shocks and Regimes: The growth rate barely changed despite wars, droughts, famines, political shifts, and policy variations, making economists view it as a deeply entrenched, system-wide equilibrium.
  • Licence–Permit–Quota Raj: A heavily controlled economy with industrial licensing, import substitution, high tariffs, and a dominant public sector restricted private enterprise and kept productivity low.
  • Mixed but State-Led Economic System: India pursued a mixed economy with the state controlling core industries, credit, trade, and planning, limiting market competition and foreign participation in growth sectors.
  • Contrast with East Asian “Miracle” Economies: While India grew at ~3.5%, East Asian economies like South Korea and Taiwan achieved 7–10%, underscoring India’s relative underperformance among post-colonial peers.
  • Turnaround Before 1991: Studies show growth accelerated to ~5.6–5.8% in the 1980s, indicating India had already moved beyond the old growth trap due to gradual deregulation and internal reforms pre-1991.

National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID)

Source:  TH

Subject:  Polity

Context: The National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID) is receiving around 45,000 data requests per month, as Central agencies and State police increasingly use the platform for real-time intelligence access.

About National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID):

• What it is?
  • NATGRID is a real-time integrated intelligence platform under the Ministry of Home Affairs that links multiple government and private databases for secure access by authorised security and law-enforcement agencies to counter terrorism and organised crime.
• Conceptualised: 2009 (after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks)
• Operationalised: 2023 (platform became functional and opened to wider agencies)
• Aim:

• • To provide seamless, real-time intelligence by integrating diverse datasets for faster investigations.
  • To eliminate delays caused by agencies separately requesting data from multiple sources.

• • Data Integration Across Databases: Connects datasets such as Aadhaar, driving licences, bank records, telecom data, airline PNRs, immigration logs, and social media activity.
  • Secure Access for Investigative Agencies: Provides authorised officers (now including SP-rank officials) access to sensitive information while maintaining user confidentiality.
  • Supports Intelligence & Investigation: Helps agencies “join the dots” without an FIR, enabling predictive intelligence, tracking suspicious behaviour, and analysing crime patterns.
  • Inter-Agency Coordination: Facilitates cooperation between IB, RAW, NIA, ED, FIU, DRI, NCB and State police by offering a single unified information platform.
  • Data Security & Cyber Protection: Uses advanced cybersecurity protocols to protect sensitive information amid rising cyberattacks on critical infrastructure.

• • Counter-Terror Backbone: Created after 26/11 to prevent intelligence gaps by providing faster, deeper, and integrated data access.
  • Reduces Investigation Time: Eliminates bureaucratic delays; accelerates terrorism, narcotics, financial fraud, and cybercrime probes.
  • Strengthens Federal Policing: Empowers State police forces by giving them the same intelligence access previously limited to central agencies.

200th anniversary of Dadabhai Naoroji

Source:  FPJ

Subject:  History

Context: India celebrated the 200th birth anniversary of Dadabhai Naoroji in 2025, honouring his legacy as a nationalist leader, economic thinker and early architect of the freedom movement.

About 200th anniversary of Dadabhai Naoroji:

Who he was?

• Dadabhai Naoroji (1825–1917) was an Indian nationalist leader, economic theorist, social reformer, scholar, and the first Indian Member of British Parliament.

Early Life & Education:

• Born on 4 September 1825 in Bombay (some sources say Navsari), in a middle-class Parsi family.
• Educated at Elphinstone Institute, where he excelled in mathematics and English.
• Became the first Indian Professor at Elphinstone College, symbolising modern Indian intellectual awakening.

Contributions to the Indian Freedom Movement:

• • Drain of Wealth Theory: Systematically demonstrated how British rule drained India’s resources through salaries, pensions, remittances, and unequal trade.
  • Authored major works:
    • Poverty and Un-British Rule in India
    • Poverty of India
  • His advocacy led to the creation of the Welby Commission (1895) on Indian expenditure, where he served as a member.
  • Popularised economic nationalism and laid foundations for Swadeshi and fiscal self-reliance.

• • Founding member of Indian National Congress (INC) and its President in 1886, 1893, and 1906.
  • Elected first Indian MP in British Parliament (1892) from Central Finsbury on a Liberal Party ticket.
  • Advocated self-government, constitutional methods, and parliamentary democracy.
  • Played a unifying role between Moderates and Extremists, presiding over the 1906 Calcutta Session that adopted the demand for Swaraj.
  • Mentored future leaders including Tilak, Gokhale, and Mahatma Gandhi.

• • Champion of women’s education—helped run special classes at Elphinstone and supported girls’ schooling.
  • Founded Rast Goftar, a Gujarati newspaper promoting social reform.
  • Co-founded Rahnumai Mazdayasan Sabha (1851) to reform Parsi society.
  • Led efforts for compulsory primary education, submitting recommendations (with Jyotiba Phule) to the Hunter Commission (1882).

• • Founded or co-founded key institutions to internationalise India’s cause:
    • London Indian Society (1865)
    • East India Association (1866)
  • These groups later merged with the INC and served as platforms for India’s political diplomacy.

Unique Facts:

• Known worldwide as the “Grand Old Man of India.”
• Called the “Unofficial Ambassador of India” for championing India’s cause in Britain.
• Taught Gujarati at University College London, breaking academic barriers.
•  Among the first to scientifically analyse poverty in India using data-based methods.
• His 1906 INC presidential address was the first to adopt “Swaraj” as the national goal.

Seventh UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-7)

Source:  UNEP

Subject: Environment

Context: A deep divide has emerged among member states over UNEP’s Medium-Term Strategy (2026–2030), triggering tense negotiations as UNEA-7 opens in Nairobi.

About Seventh UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-7):

• What is UNEA-7?
  • UNEA-7 is the world’s highest environmental decision-making forum, convened under the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). It brings together all UN member states to negotiate resolutions and chart global environmental policy.
• Venue: UNEP Headquarters, Nairobi, Kenya
• Historical Background:

• • UNEA was created in 2012 after the Rio+20 Conference to elevate environmental diplomacy to the same status as UN bodies on peace and development.
  • Since 2014, six assemblies have adopted 105 resolutions on issues ranging from plastics to illegal wildlife trade.

• Theme of UNEA-7 (2025): “Advancing sustainable solutions for a resilient planet.”
• Aim:

• • To secure a coherent global environmental agenda for 2026–2030.
  • To approve UNEP’s Medium-Term Strategy (MTS) and align it with global treaties.

• Key Features of UNEA-7:
  • Intense Negotiations on UNEP’s Medium-Term Strategy (2026–2030): Countries are split on whether the MTS should be reopened, renegotiated, or adopted as drafted.
  • Funding Crisis within UNEP:

• • • UNEP’s regular UN budget share dropped by 20% due to the US halting payments.
    • Contributions to the Environment Fund have declined by 11–12%.

• Slimmer Set of Resolutions: Of 19 proposed resolutions, only 15 survive, many “on life support.”
• Importance of UNEA in Global Green Diplomacy: UNEA is the only forum addressing climate, biodiversity, and pollution together.

• Key features of UNEP Medium-Term Strategy 2026–2030:

• • Climate Stability: Scale mitigation and adaptation measures; strengthen science-policy interfaces.
  • Thriving Biodiversity: Support implementation of nature-positive restoration and conservation frameworks.
  • Zero Pollution: Tackle waste, plastics, chemicals, and air pollution with life-cycle solutions.
  • Resilient Land & Ecosystems: Address land degradation and desertification.
  • Sustainable Resources & Consumption: Shift economies toward circularity and efficiency.
  • Strengthened Environmental Governance: Enhance compliance systems, data platforms and transparent monitoring.

Sudden Stratospheric Warming (SSW) Event

Source:  NW

Context: Meteorologists have warned that another Sudden Stratospheric Warming (SSW) event may occur in December 2025, potentially disrupting the polar vortex and sending unusually cold Arctic air into parts of the United States.

About Sudden Stratospheric Warming (SSW) Event:

• What is SSW?
  • Sudden Stratospheric Warming is a rapid temperature rise (up to 50°C) in the stratosphere, about 10–50 km above Earth’s surface.
  • It disrupts the polar vortex, the circulation of strong westerly winds around the Arctic, often causing major weather anomalies at the surface.
• How Does SSW Occur?
  • Polar Vortex Formation: In winter, strong westerly winds tighten around the Arctic forming the stratospheric polar vortex, a cold, circular wind belt that traps frigid air high above the pole.
  • Upward Rossby Waves: Large atmospheric disturbances called Rossby waves rise from the troposphere into the stratosphere, carrying energy that disrupts the vortex’s stable circulation.
  • Wave Breaking: When these waves “break,” much like ocean waves, they weaken or even reverse the vortex’s westerly winds, destabilising the entire polar wind system.
  • Rapid Descending Air: As the weakened system collapses, cold stratospheric air descends rapidly, compresses, and warms sharply—creating the sudden stratospheric temperature spike.
  • Vortex Split or Shift: The disrupted vortex can split or drift south, releasing Arctic air into mid-latitudes and triggering cold outbreaks across North America, Europe, or Asia.
• Key Features of an SSW:
  • Rapid stratospheric warming: Up to a 50°C increase within days.
  • Vortex weakening or reversal: Westerly winds turn easterly.
  • Jet stream disruption: The jet stream becomes wavier or blocked.
  • Surface impacts lag: Weather effects appear 1–3 weeks later.
  • Irregular occurrence: Not every winter sees an SSW, and not all events affect surface weather.
• Implications of SSW Events:
  • Weather Impacts:
    • Can cause sudden cold waves, snowstorms, and extended freezing conditions across North America and Europe.
    • May shift storm tracks and create high-pressure blocks over the North Atlantic.
  • Forecast Challenges:
    • Hard to predict more than 7–10 days in advance.
    • Models struggle to pinpoint where the displaced Arctic air will descend.
    • Surface weather may influence the stratosphere, creating complex feedback loops.

UPSC CURRENT AFFAIRS – 8 December 2025 Mapping: