SNIPPETS: 22-23 DECEMBER 2025

POLITY

• Right to Disconnect Bill introduced as Private Member’s Bill + seeks employee autonomy by allowing refusal of after-hours digital communication + responds to WFH-era boundary erosion + operates alongside four labour codes + highlights employer control via emails/calls + aims at work–life balance and mental well-being + suffers from undefined “work” concept, no overtime clarity, and weak integration with OSH Code, 2020 + draws from EU/France/Germany models + linked implicitly to Article 21 autonomy, yet remains normative, not enforceable

ECONOMY

• India’s startup ecosystem raised $10.79 bn in 2025 (15% decline YoY) per Tracxn, signalling structural correction not collapse + DeepTech, Manufacturing, AI, EnergyTech drove growth + shift from consumer apps to AI infrastructure + FinTech resilient + late-stage funding fell while IPOs rose + unicorn creation slowed, indicating maturity and profitability focus.

ENVIRONMENT

• Southern Ocean carbon anomaly: A October study in Nature Climate Change finds higher CO₂ absorption since early 2000s, defying climate model projections + despite stronger westerlies and upwelling, freshwater stratification from rainfall and Antarctic ice melt formed a “freshwater lid” trapping carbon below + shows models incomplete not wrong + warns this is a temporary reprieve as salinity rises and mixing may resume, reviving carbon sink weakening.
• Supreme Court of India reaffirmed non-negotiable conservation of the Great Indian Bustard + held humans as “guests in the bird’s abode” while hearing a 2019 Article 32 petition + noted <150 individuals left, endemic grassland species, Schedule I WPA, IUCN Critically Endangered + approved expert panel’s balanced approach revising priority habitats in Rajasthan & Gujarat, mandating in-situ/ex-situ conservation, restricting renewables in key areas, recognising Bishnoi ethic, and strengthening long-term recovery programmes, underscoring constitutional duty to protect biodiversity.

DEFENCE

• Indian Navy inducted Anjadip, 3rd of 8 ASW-SWCs, built indigenously by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers with L&T Shipyard under PPP + 77-m waterjet-propelled craft optimised for shallow waters + equipped with torpedoes, indigenous ASW rockets, sonar, 30-mm gun + boosts coastal ASW, IOR security, maritime domain awareness + >80% indigenous content advancing Aatmanirbhar Bharat.

HISTORY

• Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman highlighted at Hampi that Vijayanagara Empire’s model of “Prosperity for All”—combining inclusive agrarian growth + state-backed trade and artisans + robust irrigation and urban infrastructure + religious–cultural pluralism + decentralised yet accountable governance (Nayankara system) + state as economic enabler not controller—offers enduring lessons for India’s Viksit Bharat 2047 vision by aligning growth, equity, institutions and culture into a single development framework.
• Porunai (Thamirabarani River Civilisation) Museum inaugurated in Tirunelveli by Tamil Nadu government + ₹33 crore, 54,296 sq ft, 6-block museum showcasing path-breaking archaeology of southern Tamil Nadu + Sivakalai evidence (~5300 years BP) proves world’s oldest Iron Age, pushing back iron smelting timeline + exhibits from Adichanallur (burial urns) and Korkai (Pandya port) + covers Palaeolithic to Early Historic periods, reinforcing India’s deep civilisational antiquity.