Our immune system is an evolutionary masterpiece. Every day it protects us from the thousands of different viruses, bacteria and other microbes that attempt to invade our bodies. Without a functioning immune system, we would not survive.

One of the immune system’s marvels is its ability to identify pathogens and differentiate them from the body’s own cells. The microbes that threaten our health do not wear a uniform – they all have different appearances. Many have also developed similarities to human cells, as a form of camouflage. So how does the immune system keep track of what to attack and what to protect? Why doesn’t the immune system attack our bodies more frequently?

Researchers long believed they knew the answer to these questions: that immune cells mature through a process called central immune tolerance (see image). However, our immune system turned out to be more complex than they believed. Mary Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi have been awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance.

🔆 100 Years of the Self-Respect Movement (1925-2025)
📍 Founded by E. V. Ramasamy (Periyar) — A Social & Rationalist Revolution

✅ Origin & Ideology
• Established in 1925 in Tamil Nadu by Periyar E. V. Ramasamy.
• Aimed to secularise Tamil society, promote rationalism, and end caste hierarchies.
• The Tamil term ‘Suyamariyathai’ (Self-Respect) symbolised that ‘Maanam’ (honour) is central to human dignity.
• Linked with three ideals —
🔹 Samathuvam (Equality)
🔹 Suthanthiram (Freedom)
🔹 Samadharmam (Social Justice)

✅ Major Reforms & Contributions
• Self-Respect Marriages (1928): Simplified weddings without priests or Sanskrit rituals; given legal recognition in 1967.
• Women’s Liberation: Advocated widow remarriage, divorce rights, property rights, and contraceptive freedom.
• Education Reforms: Promoted Tamil as medium, universal schooling, and scientific temper.
• Inter-Caste Marriages: Opposed endogamy, fostering social integration.
• Political Impact: Laid the foundation for Dravidian parties (DMK, AIADMK) and the broader social justice discourse in India.

✅ Contemporary Relevance
• Gender Equality: Reflected in initiatives like Beti Bachao Beti Padhao.
• Social Justice: Continued through reservations and SC/ST welfare schemes.
• Rationalism & Education: Reinforced by Article 51A(h) promoting scientific temper.
• Inter-Caste Reforms: Supported by the Hindu Marriage Act (1955) legalising inter-caste and widow remarriage.

✅ Criticisms
• Perceived as anti-religious and anti-Brahmin by critics.
• Regional limitation: Mostly confined to Tamil Nadu.
• Social over political focus: Broader national issues often sidelined.

📘 Legacy
The Self-Respect Movement transformed Tamil society by advancing rationalism, gender equality, and social justice — shaping India’s modern constitutional ethos.
🗨️ Periyar: “We are fit to think of self-respect only when the notion of superior and inferior caste is banished from our land.”

#SelfRespectMovement  #history

Join @CSE_EXAM
       @upsc_4_history

Follow arattai
https://aratt.ai/@pib_upsc

https://aratt.ai/@cse_exam_upsc

https://aratt.ai/@mapping_prelims_mains_upsc

https://aratt.ai/@anmol_vachan1

🔆 Modern Slavery in India: A Deep-Rooted Crisis

📍 Overview
Modern slavery in India is a severe violation of human rights, encompassing forced labour, human trafficking, debt bondage, child labour, and sexual exploitation. Despite constitutional safeguards and legal measures, millions of individuals remain trapped in exploitative conditions.

📍 Current Status of Modern Slavery in India
✅ India is home to 11 million victims of modern slavery, the highest global burden, representing 8 per 1,000 people.
✅ Women and girls account for 54% of slavery victims.
✅ India ranks 6th in the Asia-Pacific and 34th globally in modern slavery prevalence (Global Slavery Index).

📍 Causes of Modern Slavery
✅ Poverty & Debt Trap: Chronic poverty and the inability to repay loans push families into bonded labour, especially in rural sectors.
✅ Caste-Based Vulnerability: Over 84% of bonded labourers belong to SC/ST/OBC communities, highlighting caste-based exploitation.
✅ Legal Illiteracy: Most victims are unaware that practices like slavery are illegal.
✅ Weak Enforcement: Despite existing laws, only a small fraction of victims are rescued.
✅ Informal & Unsafe Migration: Over 90% of India’s workforce in the informal sector is vulnerable to forced labour and exploitation.

📍 Key Implications
✅ Economic Drain: Forced labour generates $236 billion globally. India’s informal sector is particularly vulnerable, with bonded labour leading to intergenerational poverty.
✅ Caste-Based Exploitation: Majority of exploited workers are Dalits and Adivasis, reinforcing systemic inequality.
✅ Gendered Impact: Over 50% of trafficking victims are women, with many subjected to commercial sexual exploitation.

📍 Government Initiatives
✅ Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976: Abolishes all forms of bonded labour and mandates rehabilitation.
✅ Central Sector Scheme for Rehabilitation: Provides financial assistance, skill training, and legal aid to rescued victims.
✅ Anti-Human Trafficking Units (AHTUs): Established across states for investigating trafficking and rescuing victims.
✅ Ujjawala Scheme: Aims at prevention, rescue, and rehabilitation of trafficking victims, especially in commercial sexual exploitation.
✅ Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS): Provides services to trafficked and exploited children.
✅ Skill India Mission & PMKVY: Offers vocational training to vulnerable populations, including bonded labourers, for re-integration.

📍 Constitutional Protection
✅ Article 23: Prohibits forced labour and trafficking in any form.
✅ Article 24: Prohibits child labour in hazardous occupations.
✅ Article 39(e) & (f): Directs the State to ensure protection from exploitation and forced labour.
✅ Article 21: Interpreted to include the right to live with dignity, which encompasses protection from exploitative labour conditions.

📍 Measures to Eliminate Modern Slavery
✅ Comprehensive Legal Framework: Enact a dedicated Modern Slavery Law to criminalize all forms of exploitation and consolidate fragmented statutes.
✅ Corporate Accountability: Mandate Human Rights Due Diligence (HRDD) and strengthen BRSR Norms to monitor forced labour in domestic and global supply chains.
✅ Strengthen Anti-Trafficking Enforcement: Enhance resources for AHTUs, ensuring better investigation and prosecution.
✅ Victim-Centred Rehabilitation: Ensure timely compensation, legal protection, and livelihood support to reintegrate survivors with dignity.
✅ Community Awareness & Prevention: Launch targeted public awareness campaigns in vulnerable regions to prevent recruitment and report trafficking.

📍 Conclusion
Modern slavery continues to be a grave violation of human dignity, deeply embedded in India’s socio-economic structures. Addressing it requires multi-pronged efforts, including legal reforms, social awareness, and global cooperation. As Nelson Mandela said, “To deny people their human rights is to challenge their very humanity.”

#ModernSlavery #HumanRights #mains #history

Follow arattai

https://aratt.ai/@pib_upsc

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the 2025 #NobelPrize in Physics to John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret and John M. Martinis “for the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantisation in an electric circuit.”

🔆 Tiruppur Kumaran & Subramania Siva — Icons of Tamil Patriotism

📍 Context:
✅ PM recently paid tribute to Tiruppur Kumaran and Subramania Siva, honouring their sacrifices, courage, and cultural pride that continue to inspire India’s youth.

📍 About Tiruppur Kumaran (1904–1932):
✅ Born: 4 October 1904 in a weaver family near Erode, Tamil Nadu.
✅ Known as: Kodi Kaatha Kumaran (“Kumaran who protected the flag”).
✅ Inspiration: Deeply influenced by Mahatma Gandhi’s ideals.
✅ Contributions:
• Founded the Desa Bandhu Youth Association to promote freedom awareness.
• Died during a protest on 11 January 1932 at Tiruppur after a police assault, holding the banned Indian national flag — a symbol of defiance and patriotism.
✅ Legacy:
• Remembered as a martyr of Tamil Nadu’s freedom struggle.
• India Post released a commemorative stamp in October 2004 marking his 100th birth anniversary.

📍 About Subramania Siva (1884–1925):
✅ Born: 4 October 1884 in Wattalakundi, Dindigul district, Tamil Nadu.
✅ Titles: Known as Sivam or Veeramurasu.
✅ Ideology: Blended politics with spirituality; emphasised moral courage and sacrifice for the nation.
✅ Inspiration: Close associate of V.O. Chidambaranar and Subramania Bharati (Bharathiyar).
✅ Contributions:
• Founded Dharma Paripalana Samajam in Thiruvananthapuram (1906–07).
• Published monthly “Gnanapanu” and weekly “Prabhanja Mithran”, promoting nationalist thought.
• Wrote under the pen name Naradhar.
• Authored works like Ramanuja Vijayam and Madhva Vijayam.
✅ Death: Passed away on 23 July 1925, remembered as a fearless freedom fighter and reformer.

📍 Legacy:
Both Tiruppur Kumaran and Subramania Siva embody Tamil Nadu’s spirit of resistance and self-respect, reminding the nation that freedom was earned through sacrifice, unity, and unyielding courage.

#history

Join @CSE_EXAM
@upsc_4_history

🔆 Yakshi: Key Facts

📍 Historical Context
✅ Associated with Didarganj Yakshi from the Mauryan Period.

📍 Religious & Cultural Significance
✅ In Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism, Yakshis are female counterparts of Yakshas.
✅ They are nature spirits, often benevolent, but sometimes mischievous or capricious.
✅ Linked with water, fertility, trees, forests, treasure, and wilderness.

📍 Depictions & Role
✅ Found in Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist texts.
✅ Commonly seen in ancient & medieval South Asian and Southeast Asian temples as guardian deities.
✅ Typically adorned with ornaments and carrying maces, swords, bows, and other weapons.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the 2025 #NobelPrize in Chemistry to Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar M. Yaghi “for the development of metal–organic frameworks

Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar M. Yaghi have been awarded the 2025 #NobelPrize in Chemistry for the development of a new type of molecular architecture.

In 1989, chemistry laureate Richard Robson tested utilising the inherent properties of atoms in a new way. He combined positively charged copper ions with a four-armed molecule; this had a chemical group that was attracted to copper ions at the end of each arm.

When they were combined, they bonded to form a well-ordered, spacious crystal. It was like a diamond filled with innumerable cavities.

Robson immediately recognised the potential of his molecular construction, but it was unstable and collapsed easily. However, Susumu Kitagawa and Omar Yaghi provided this building method with a firm foundation; between 1992 and 2003 they made, separately, a series of revolutionary discoveries.

Susumu Kitagawa showed that gases can flow in and out of the constructions and predicted that metal–organic frameworks (MOF) could be made flexible.

UGC NET Notification
December 2025
Form filling dates
7th October to 7th November

https://www.tg-me.com/upsc_cse_update

🔆 South–South and Triangular Cooperation (SSTC): A Catalyst for Global Development

📍 Context:
✅ As the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development nears its deadline, South–South and Triangular Cooperation (SSTC) has emerged as a vital mechanism to strengthen partnerships among Global South countries.
✅ It promotes development solidarity, inclusiveness, and innovative solutions amid shrinking traditional aid and rising inequalities.

📍 About SSTC:
✅ South–South Cooperation (SSC): Collaboration among developing countries across political, economic, social, cultural, and technical domains.
✅ Triangular Cooperation: Partnership between two or more developing nations supported by a developed country or multilateral body.
✅ Based on mutual respect, equality, non-interference, and solidarity.

📍 Evolution:
✅ 1974: Creation of UN Office for South–South Cooperation (UNOSSC).
✅ 1978: Buenos Aires Plan of Action (BAPA) established SSC principles of solidarity and mutual respect.
✅ 2009: Nairobi Outcome Document expanded SSC beyond technical to institutional and political cooperation.
✅ 2017: Launch of India–UN Development Partnership Fund for demand-driven projects.
✅ 2025 Theme: “New Opportunities and Innovation through SSTC.”

📍 Contemporary Relevance:
✅ Empowerment & Solidarity: Strengthens self-reliance without external conditionalities.
✅ Global Challenges: Offers collective solutions for poverty, climate change, and inequality.
✅ SDGs Driver: Facilitates progress toward SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) and other goals.
✅ Multi-Sectoral Role: Enhances cooperation in agriculture, digital economy, health, and education.

📍 India’s Role in SSTC:
✅ Guiding Philosophy: Rooted in Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (“The world is one family”).
✅ Institutional Mechanisms:
• Development Partnership Administration (MEA): Coordinates SSTC initiatives.
• ITEC Programme: Capacity building in 160+ countries.
• India–UN Fund: Supports 75+ projects in 56 countries, focusing on LDCs & SIDS.
✅ Technology Sharing: Exporting digital tools like Aadhaar and UPI to partner nations.
✅ Regional Advocacy: Led Voice of Global South Summit and backed African Union’s G20 membership.
✅ WFP Collaboration: Implemented Annapurti (Grain ATMs) and Take-Home Ration models to fight food insecurity globally.

📍 Challenges:
❌ Fragmentation: Diverse political priorities dilute coordination.
❌ Funding Gaps: Heavy reliance on voluntary trust funds like IBSA Fund.
❌ Political Will: Inconsistent follow-through limits progress.
❌ Bureaucratic Hurdles: Triangular projects often face power asymmetries with Northern partners.
❌ Weak Monitoring: Lack of a common results framework affects transparency and scalability.

📍 Way Forward:
✅ Foster Innovation: Scale up locally driven solutions aligned with 2025 UN SSTC theme.
✅ Enhance Financing: Expand and stabilize funding channels for demand-led projects.
✅ Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships: Involve private sector, academia, and civil society.
✅ High-Impact Focus: Prioritise food security, health, climate, and education.
✅ Knowledge Platforms: Create global training and best-practice sharing systems.
✅ SDG Alignment: Map every SSTC project to measurable Sustainable Development Goals outcomes.

📍 Conclusion:
SSTC embodies the collective strength of the Global South, offering a partnership model based on equality and shared growth rather than dependency. With India leading through inclusive development diplomacy, SSTC can redefine global cooperation for a fairer, multipolar world.

💭 Mains Question:
➡️ “Discuss the role of South–South and Triangular Cooperation (SSTC) in achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. How has India contributed to strengthening this global partnership model?”

#GS2 #InternationalRelations #mains

Ras mains result

Cut off