UPSC Daily News Summaries: Essential Current Affairs, Key Issues and Important Updates for Civil Services

Get a concise rundown of the major news stories shaping October 14, 2025 — paired with insightful questions that could feature in your UPSC prep.

Daily News Capsules

1. Another Haryana cop death: ASI probing IPS officer’s suicide

UPSC file image

A Haryana police assistant sub-inspector was found dead with a gunshot wound on Tuesday along with a purported suicide note accusing of corruption the late inspector general Y Puran Kumar, the same senior officer whose alleged suicide exactly a week earlier put the state police’s top brass under lens for casteism and bias. Sandeep Lathar, a 41-year-old who hailed from the Jat community, accused Kumar, a Dalit, and his family of widespread graft in a four-page note and six-minute video, claiming he had “ample evidence” against the senior officer. HT could not independently verify the veracity of either the note or the video. Lathar, who was originally from Julana in Jind, was part of the Rohtak CIA-2 team that intercepted and arrested Kumar’s associate on October 6 following a corruption complaint. IGP Kumar, 52, was found dead at his Chandigarh residence the next day. Tuesday’s death plunges Haryana police into murkier waters marked by conflicting allegations that span corruption, casteism and harassment — IGP Puran Kumar had named eight senior officials in a note he left behind on October 7, including the state’s police chief Shatrujeet Kapur. On Monday, Kapur was “sent on leave” by the State Government.

Possible Question

Discuss the interplay of corruption, caste dynamics, and institutional accountability in India’s police forces. What reforms are necessary tostrengthen integrity and fairness in policing?

2. IMF’s WEO ups India’s 2025-26 growth forecast

India will continue to be the fastest growing major economy in the world and do better than it was expected to in July, the IMF said in its World Economic Outlook (WEO) released on Tuesday. India’s projected GDP growth for 2025-26 is 6.6%, 20 basis points more than what it was in the July projections. One basis point is one hundredth of a percentage point. However, the 2026-27 GDP growth forecast for India has been brought down by 20 basis points compared to the July projection to 6.2%. The IMF’s latest growth projection for India is slightly lower than the 6.8% forecast by the RBI in its MPC resolution released earlier this month. “Carryover from a strong first quarter more than offsetting the increase in the US effective tariff rate on imports from India since July”, the WEO report said, while also noting that inflation has surprised on the downside in India. To be sure, the WEO report also shows that the effective tariff rate facing Indian exports to the US stood at 35.8% in October 2025, the second highest among major countries and country groups after China. Among major economies, the US is expected to grow at 2%, China at 4.8% and the Euro Area at 1.2% in 2025.

Possible Question

With India projected to remain the fastest-growing major economy, critically analyse the risks posed by rising trade barriers and global protectionism. How can India safeguard its growth momentum while expanding export competitiveness?

3. Uranium supplies, defence ties key in India-Mongolia talks

The sourcing of uranium, a $1.7-billion oil refinery, and steps to bolster defence cooperation figured in talks on Tuesday between Mongolian President Khurelsukh Ukhnaa and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Khurelsukh arrived in New Delhi on Monday for the first visit by a Mongolian president in six years, with the focus on strengthening bilateral ties in a range of areas. Ten agreements to bolster cooperation in key sectors such as digital solutions, exploration of mineral resources, and quick impact projects were finalised during the meeting between the leaders. The Indian side expressed interest in sourcing uranium and other minerals, including copper, gold and zinc, from Mongolia, officials said. Mongolia has up to 90,000 tonnes of uranium reserves and finalised an agreement with France in January for extracting 2,500 tonnes a year. Both Modi and Khurelsukh highlighted the importance of Mongol Refinery, the country’s first refinery being built with a $1.7-billion Indian line of credit that is expected to begin operations in 2028. It will have the capacity to process 1.5 million tonnes of crude oil a year, or 30,000 barrels a day.

Possible Question

Evaluate the strategic significance of Mongolia in India’s energy security and defence partnerships. How does resource diplomacy fit into India’s broader regional strategy?

4. 22,466 elephants in India: Latest SAIEE count

There are 22,446 elephants in the country, according to All-India Synchronous Elephant Estimation (SAIEE) 2025 conducted by Wildlife Institute of India. The figure is about 17% lower than the 2017 estimate, though experts said the two were not comparable. The census was conducted by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in coordination with the Wildlife Institute of India and state forest departments and released at the WII’s annual research seminar in Dehradun on Tuesday. The range provided is between 18,255 and 26,645, with Karnataka (6013) having the highest population, as per the report. The Western Ghats is home to the highest number of elephants, 11,934, followed by the north-eastern hills and Brahmaputra floodplains with 6,559. The 2017 estimate had a figure of 27,000, but it was based on the direct count method. This time, a new DNA-based sampling method has been adopted. “There was a lot of concern among the scientific community whether this should be a pilot or broad-based for the entire country. We will have to go through the entire methodology to say whether this indicates a declining trend,” a wildlife biologist who works on elephants said, asking not to be named.

Possible Question

What are the key challenges in wildlife population estimation in India? Examine how new technologies and methodologies can improve conservation outcomes for keystone species like elephants.

5. Google to invest $15bn to build Andhra AI hub

Tech giant Google on Tuesday announced a $15 billion investment to build India’s first artificial intelligence hub in Visakhapatnam, its largest facility outside the US. The hub will feature a gigawatt-scale data centre built in partnership with Adani Group’s AdaniConneX and Airtel, along with a new international subsea cable landing to boost India’s internet speed and global connectivity, the company said. “It is part of a global network of AI centres in 12 different countries, but it is the largest one that we will be building anywhere in the world outside of the US,” Google Cloud chief executive Thomas Kurian said during the signing of the memorandum of understanding. The data centre will scale to multiple gigawatts in future, Kurian added, noting that Google has been operating in India for 21 years with over 14,000 employees. The investment, expected to be realised over five years, represents a significant shift in India’s technology landscape that will enable the country to host critical AI computing infrastructure domestically rather than relying on data centres abroad. This on shoring could prove crucial for data sovereignty, reduce latency for Indian users and businesses, and position the country as a regional hub for AI services across South and Southeast Asia.

Possible Question

What are the opportunities and risks from large-scale foreign investment in AI infrastructure for India’s digital sovereignty, data governance, and technological leadership? Discuss with reference to recent policy initiatives.

Editorial Snapshots

A. Trump’s hour in West Asia

On Monday, Hamas released 20 Israeli hostages and some 2,000 Palestinian prisoners were freed by Israel, marking the beginning of the first phase of US President Donald Trump’s 20-point West Asia peace plan. It was Trump’s moment in the sun, where he revelled in his role as a peace-broker and deal maker. The ceasefire may have been a low-hanging fruit, considering that a durable peace in Gaza, and thereby in West Asia, revolves around the challenge of managing and rebuilding Gaza, and the making of a Palestinian State. The Trump plan talked about the disarmament of Hamas and its removal from governance in Gaza. Hamas ignored this demand, and its cadres have reportedly reappeared in Gaza to police civilians. The Fatah, entrenched in the West Bank, lacks public support or the machinery to pull its weight over Hamas in Gaza. An international stabilisation force has been mooted, but there is neither clarity nor a consensus on who would provide the personnel or the necessary funds. The case of establishing a Palestinian State is even more complicated since the Netanyahu administration has been categorical in its rejection of the idea. The unravelling of the Abraham Accords, a major achievement of Trump’s first term, which promised the normalisation of relations between Israel and several Sunni Arab States, suggests how ephemeral the spectre of peace in West Asia can be.

Possible Question

Analyse India’s balancing act in West Asia amid shifting US policies, the Palestinian question, and the Abraham Accords. How can India protect its energy security and diaspora interests while expanding strategic influence?

B. Politicians must take lessons in sensitivity

The comment on the Durgapur rape by West Bengal chief minister (CM) Mamata Banerjee is only the latest in a long string of disquieting remarks made by top politicians on women’s issues, especially around sexual violence and safety. Though Banerjee has since said that her words were distorted (a standard response), the suggestion that a 23-year-old MBBS student who was raped near a medical college in Durgapur was somehow responsible for the crime because she was out late at night has triggered outrage. Unfortunately, such attitudes are only too common and span political and ideological lines. Whether it be Union ministers blaming rising sexual crimes on boys and girls “roaming around” with each other, a CM saying parents need to “introspect” on allowing children out late at night, or a senior leader excusing violent crime by saying “boys will be boys”, depressing examples of insensitivity appear to be the norm in Indian politics — a strange dichotomy in a landscape where leaders now regularly sing paeans to women power and strive hard to woo the female vote, an increasingly decisive demographic in elections. Can this change? Maybe politicians, whose life’s work is building a standing in the community they claim to represent, should take lessons in sensitivity or public communications — especially in cases of social importance — and remember that they are leaders whose examples are emulated by supporters.

Possible Question

Examine the role of political leadership and public discourse in shaping societal attitudes toward gender justice in India. What institutional and educational measures are needed to build gender-sensitive governance?

Fact of the day

Over 26,000 EV subsidy requests stuck in Delhi: Over 26,800 electric vehicle (EV) owners in Delhi have been waiting for months for their promised subsidies, as the city’s transport department struggles with a massive backlog of pending claims worth over ₹42.5 crore. Officials said the delay stems largely from the prolonged finalisation of the city’s new EV policy, which remains in limbo for nearly two years even after the old one was extended earlier this year. “The disbursal of EV subsidies slowed significantly after the previous policy lapsed in August 2023. Although it was extended till March 2026, the focus shifted to drafting a new policy framework, and administrative approvals were delayed,” a senior transport official said. The department has since completed a review of all pending applications and is awaiting fresh approval from the transport minister to restart payments. “We have cleaned up the database to remove duplicate entries. Once approvals come through, subsidies will be released in batches, and the backlog cleared within this fiscal,” the official said. Launched in August 2020, Delhi’s EV policy offered purchase incentives of up to ₹30,000 for two-wheelers and ₹1.5 lakh for four-wheelers, besides waivers on registration fees and road tax. The initiative spurred a surge in electric adoption, with EVs making up over 8% of new vehicle registrations in 2024.