Daily Current Affairs- 4th September 2025

Daily Current Affairs- 4th September 2025

India’s Services Sector PMI Hits 15-Year High

In the News: India’s services sector saw its fastest expansion in 15 years, with the HSBC India Services Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) soaring to 62.9 in August 2025. This jump, reported by S&P Global, was propelled by strong domestic demand, a surge in export orders, and improved business outlook. The rise underscores sustained momentum in India's key economic sector.

Key Points:

• PMI Surge: The HSBC India Services PMI reached 62.9 in A: India’s services sector saw its fastest expansion in 15 years, with the HSBC India Services Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) soaring to 62.9 in August 2025, up from 60.5 in July, marking the steepest growth since mid-2010.
• New Orders Boom: The spike was driven by the sharpest increase in new business since June 2010, with domestic and international demand both contributing significantly.
• Exports Rising: Export orders registered their strongest growth in 14 months, adding momentum to sector recovery.
• Inflationary Pressures: Alongside expansion, output price inflation hit its highest level since 2012, while input costs rose at their fastest in nine months, indicating mounting cost pressures.
• Business Confidence: Companies remained optimistic, buoyed by planned advertising spends and favorable demand projections, although employment growth stayed modest.
• Composite PMI Strengthens: The Composite PMI (combining services and manufacturing) climbed to 63.2 in August, a 17-year high, reflecting broad-based economic strength.

⁠Maharashtra Approves Longer Working Hours in Private Sector

In the News: The Maharashtra Cabinet approved amendments to the state's labor laws, extending daily working hours in the private sector shops and establishments from 9 to 10 hours, and in factories from 9 to 12 hours, subject to conditions like written employee consent and enhanced overtime pay.

Key Points:

• Policy Shift: The Cabinet has approved extending the maximum daily working hours for private sector employees—10 hours for shops and establishments, and 12 hours for industrial units and factories—with mandatory breaks after 6 hours.
• Overtime Regulations: Overtime must be compensated at double the standard wage, and employees must provide written consent to work extra hours. The cap on overtime has been raised—from 115 to 144 hours per quarter.
• Applicability Threshold: The amended laws will apply only to establishments with 20 or more workers, reducing the number of regulated units from around 8.5 million to about 56,000.
• Protection of Worker Rights: Despite reducing regulatory coverage for small businesses, basic protections under laws like the Minimum Wages Act and Maternity Benefit Act will continue to apply to all workers.
• Government’s Rationale: Authorities say these reforms aim to improve ease of doing business, attract investment, boost productivity, and support job creation, while maintaining worker protections.
• Public Reaction & Concerns: The move has sparked backlash from trade unions and social media users who argue it could worsen worker exploitation, raise fatigue, and place undue pressure on employees—especially in light of high unemployment. Observers also noted it may conflict with ILO norms.

⁠Exercise MAITREE-XIV

In the News: The 14th edition of India–Thailand joint military exercise MAITREE-XIV began on September 1, 2025, at the Joint Training Node in Umroi, Meghalaya, and is scheduled to run until September 14.

Key Points:

• Background & Purpose: Initiated in 2006, Exercise MAITREE fosters military cooperation, interoperability, and mutual trust between the Indian Army and the Royal Thai Army.
• Participating Forces: India is represented by 120 personnel from the Madras Regiment, while Thailand has deployed 53 troops from the 1st Infantry Battalion of the 14th Infantry Brigade.
• Training Focus: The exercise emphasizes counter-terrorism in semi-urban terrain, under Chapter VII of the UN Charter. Activities include tactical drills, joint planning, weapons handling, fitness training, and raiding operations. The final phase is a simulated 48-hour validation drill to test operational readiness.
• Strategic Significance: MAITREE-XIV enhances bilateral defense collaboration in the Indo-Pacific amid regional geopolitical challenges, reinforcing peace, security, and military diplomacy.

IIT-Madras Tops NIRF Rankings 2025 for Seventh Consecutive Year

In the News: The Ministry of Education released the 10th edition of the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF). For the seventh consecutive year, IIT-Madras has secured the top position in the “Overall” category, reinforcing its leadership in higher education. The Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, claimed second place, followed by IIT Bombay in third.

Key Points:

• Overall Category: IIT-Madras retained the #1 spot for the seventh straight year in 2025.  
• Engineering Excellence: The institute also topped the Engineering category for the tenth consecutive year since the rankings began in 2016.
• Innovation Leadership: IIT-Madras achieved #1 rank in the Innovations category, moving up from #2 the previous year.  
• Sustainable Development Focus: A new category—Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)—was introduced in NIRF 2025. IIT-Madras topped this category as well, highlighting its commitment to environmental and societal goals.  
• Research Institutions Ranking: In the Research Institutions category, IIT-Madras stood at #2, behind IISc Bengaluru.
• Perception and Teaching: The institute achieved a perfect 100 in the Perception parameter, a score it has maintained since 2023. It also performed strongly in Teaching, Learning & Resources. However, its score was comparatively lower in Outreach & Inclusivity.  

Top 10 Overall Institutions (2025):

1st: IIT Madras

2nd: IISc Bengaluru

3rd: IIT Bombay

4th: IIT Delhi

5th: IIT Kanpur

6th: IIT Kharagpur

7th: IIT Roorkee

8th: AIIMS Delhi

9th: Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU)

10th: Banaras Hindu University (BHU)

India-EFTA Trade Pact to Begin October 1

⁠In the News: India and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA)—comprising Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein—will officially implement their Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA) starting October 1, 2025. The agreement, signed on March 10, 2024, marks a significant milestone in bilateral economic relations.

Key Points:

• Effective Date & Agreement Name: The TEPA will come into effect on October 1, 2025, after nearly 16 years of negotiations.
•  Legally Binding Sustainability Clause: For the first time in India’s FTAs, this pact includes legally binding provisions on trade and sustainable development, enhancing accountability and environmental standards.
•  Investment Commitment: EFTA countries have pledged USD 100 billion in investments over the next 15 years—USD 50 billion within the first decade and another USD 50 billion over the following five years—expected to generate around 1 million direct jobs in India.
• Tariff Reductions & Market Access: India will lower or eliminate duties on select EFTA imports such as Swiss watches, chocolates, and cut & polished diamonds. Additionally, Switzerland gains enhanced access for approximately 94–94.7% of its exports to India.
• Ratification Complete: All EFTA member countries, along with India, have completed ratification and deposited the treaty instruments, enabling seamless implementation from October 1.

India-Japan Joint Credit Mechanism for Climate Action

In the News:  During his visit to Japan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighted the signing of a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) between India’s Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) and the Government of Japan on a Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM) under Article 6.2 of the Paris Agreement. The MoC—signed earlier that month—is part of a broader Indo-Japan cooperation vision, “Green Energy Focus for a Better Future.

Key Points:

• Mechanism Overview: The JCM is a bilateral initiative under Article 6.2 of the Paris Agreement that enables the implementation of low-carbon technology projects in developing countries in exchange for carbon credits. Both India and Japan act as co-implementers, sharing emissions reduction credits and fostering transparency and verifiability.
• Investment, Technology & Capacity Building: The mechanism is designed to encourage investment flows, technology transfer, and capacity building for implementing low-carbon technologies at scale. It aims to localize advanced clean technology and build domestic ecosystems for equipment, machinery, systems, and infrastructure.
• Carbon Trading & NDC Impacts: Emissions reductions generated through JCM projects will result in tradable carbon credits under Article 6.2. These Internationally Transferred Mitigation Outcomes (ITMOs) can be counted toward both countries’ Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), without compromising India’s climate commitments.
• Strategic Timing & Global Context: The timing is strategic, given climate finance and technology transfer stagnation, US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, and upcoming COP30 in Belém, Brazil. The JCM serves as a bilateral model for climate cooperation and may provide momentum for operationalizing Article 6 rules globally.
• Broader India–Japan Partnership: The JCM complements larger agreements worth ¥10 trillion (approximately ₹6 trillion) between the two nations, covering AI, defense, semiconductors, and critical minerals. It also provides India with strategic resilience amid US tariffs and China’s rare earth restrictions.
• Institutional Set-Up & Governance: The mechanism will be governed by a Joint Committee comprising representatives from both nations, responsible for registration, methodology, monitoring, reporting, and verification. India has also authorized its National Designated Authority (NDA) to oversee JCM projects and draft implementation rules, ensuring scalable adoption.

One in 100 Deaths by Suicide: WHO Report on Global Mental Health

In the News: According to recent data released by the World Health Organization (WHO), suicide accounted for approximately 1.1% of all deaths globally in 2021, meaning that one in every 100 deaths was by suicide. In that year, an estimated 727,000 people lost their lives to suicide.

Key Points:

• Scale of the Crisis: In 2021, around 727,000 people died by suicide globally. Suicide accounted for 1.1% of all deaths worldwide, underscoring its significance as a public health issue. For every suicide death, there were over 20 suicide attempts.
• Impact Among Youth: Suicide is especially prevalent among young people: it was the second leading cause of death for young women aged 15–29, and the third leading cause for young men in the same age group.
• Global Burden of Mental Health Disorders: More than 1 billion people worldwide are living with a mental health condition, with anxiety and depressive disorders being the most common. The World Mental Health Today and Mental Health Atlas 2024 reports underscore the urgent need to scale up mental health services globally.
• Geographic and Demographic Disparities: Approximately 73% of suicides occurred in low- and middle-income countries, highlighting significant regional disparities.
• Slow Progress in Suicide Prevention: While global suicide rates have seen modest declines, the rate of improvement remains far too slow, prompting WHO to call for urgent action