Prelims Mantra – (11/11/2025)

Geography, Mapping, Ecology & Environment

Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF):

• • It is a newly launched fund aiming to raise US $125 billion to protect tropical forests worldwide, with returns paid out to forest-conserving countries.
  • The fund was launched on 6 November 2025 during COP30 in Belém, Brazil; Amazon-country Brazil described it as “unprecedented” and emphasised Global South leadership in the forest agenda.

• • It is structured as a self-financing investment vehicle: around US $25 billion from donors + US $100 billion from private investment, with returns from the portfolio used to reward countries for maintaining canopy cover.
  • It addresses the economic imbalance where standing forests offer less direct financial return than land cleared for crops or other uses, by valuing ecosystem services and redirecting finance toward forest conservation.
  • Key concerns include:
    • Vulnerability to financial-market volatility, since returns depend on investment performance in potentially unstable emerging-market bonds.
    • Potential weakening of obligations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) by shifting responsibility for forest-finance from developed countries to a market-based fund.

(IE)

Ayni airbase:

• • Context: India withdrew from its only full-fledged overseas military air-base in Tajikistan, located near Dushanbe, after its bilateral agreement expired in 2022.
  • Location: Near Dushanbe, Tajikistan; about 20 km from Afghanistan’s Wakhan Corridor, close to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and China’s Xinjiang region, giving it high strategic importance for India.
  • Background: Developed by India in early 2000s under a bilateral agreement (2002) with Tajikistan; renovated by India at a cost of around US $80 million.
  • Operational Role: Served as India’s only overseas air base, enabling strategic reach in Central Asia and potential support for operations in Afghanistan.
  • Facilities: India upgraded runway, hangars, air traffic control tower, and fuel storage to support fighter operations.
  • Recent Development: India withdrew from the base in 2022 after the agreement expired, marking a strategic setback and reducing India’s military presence in Central Asia.
  • Geopolitical Context: The withdrawal may allow China and Russia to strengthen influence in the region, impacting India’s connectivity and defence outreach in Central Asia.

(IE)

Science & Technology

Altermagnetism:

• • It is a newly‑identified class of magnetic order, distinct from the conventional classes of ferromagnetism and antiferromagnetism.
  • In altermagnets the magnetic moments are collinear and compensated (so the net magnetisation is zero) like in antiferromagnets, but their electronic band‑structure features a spin‑splitting that depends on wavevector and crystal symmetry, unlike standard antiferromagnets.
  • They break time‑reversal symmetry (as in ferromagnets) despite having no macroscopic magnetisation.
  • Ferromagnetism, which is the familiar force that pins a souvenir magnet to a refrigerator door, arises because many small, atom-scale magnetic moments are aligned in parallel, creating a strong, external magnetic field.
  • Hard disk drives store data in a thin ferromagnetic layer on the platters, where small domains are magnetised one way or the other to encode bits.
  • Antiferromagnetism, its more elusive counterpart, features alternating magnetic moments that cancel each other out, resulting in no net external magnetic field.

(TH)

Defence & Security

EXERCISE MITRA SHAKTI XI-2025:

• • The 11th edition of the joint military exercise Exercise MITRA SHAKTI‑2025 between India and Sri Lanka began on 10 Nov 2025 at the Foreign Training Node, Belagavi,
  • Duration: 10–23 November 2025.
  • Indian side: 170 personnel (mainly from the Rajput Regiment); Sri Lankan side: 135 personnel (mainly from the Gajaba Regiment).
  • Additionally: Indian Air Force and Sri Lankan Air Force.
  • Objective: Practice sub‐conventional operations under UN Chapter VII mandate; focus on counter‐terrorism operations, raids, search & destroy missions, heliborne operations, etc.
  • Additional activities: Army Martial Arts Routine (AMAR), combat reflex shooting, yoga; also, use of drones and counter‐UAS systems, helipad security and casualty evacuation drills.
  • Broader goals: Enhance interoperability of Indian & Sri Lankan troops, share best practices, deepen defence cooperation and bilateral relations.

(PIB)

Captions and Quotations

Ethics:

• • Anything that restricts the free flow of information directly hampers innovation and growth.
  • What matters is not just the extent of knowledge accumulated by a society, but whether enough individuals have access to it in order to use it to tinker, experiment, and devise new techniques to introduce economic innovations.

(TH)

Polity:

• • Women are ‘largest minority’, says SC, on receding women presence in Parliament.
  • “Why not give women representation even without reservation,” Justice B.V. Nagarathna, the Supreme Court’s sole woman judge.

(TH)

Important data/facts

Geography & Environment

• • Categories of AQI: An AQI between 51 and 100 is “satisfactory”, 101 and 200 is termed as “moderate”, 201 and 300 “poor”, 301 and 400 “very poor”, and 401 and 500 “severe”, as per the CPCB.

Polity

• • Data of representation of women in Indian parliament: As of mid-2025, women hold 75 out of 542 seats in the 18th Lok Sabha (approximately 14%), and 24 out of 224 seats in the Rajya Sabha (around 10.7%), according to PIB and Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs.

Economy

• • Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) conducted by the Labour Bureau for the July-September 2025 quarter show unemployment rate among persons aged 15 years and above in rural areas declined to 4.4% during the period from 4.8% in the previous quarter.
  • PLFS also showed urban unemployment rate had “edged up slightly”, with rates increasing from 6.1% to 6.2% for males, and from 8.9% to 9.0% for females, during the same period.
  • Overall, the unemployment rate among persons aged 15 years and above dropped to 5.2% in July-September, 2025 from 5.4% in the previous quarter.

(TH)

PRACTICE MCQ’S

Q1. With reference to exercise MITRA SHAKTI-2025, consider the following statements:

1. It is a bilateral military exercise between the armies of India and Sri Lanka.

2. The 2025 edition of the exercise was conducted at the Foreign Training Node, Belagavi, Karnataka.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

a) 1 only

b) 2 only

c) Both 1 and 2

d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer: C

Explanation:

• • Exercise MITRA SHAKTI-2025 is a bilateral joint military exercise between the Indian Army and the Sri Lankan Army, aimed at enhancing interoperability in sub-conventional operations under the UN Chapter VII mandate, particularly counter-terrorism and peacekeeping missions.
  • The 11th edition (2025) is being conducted at the Foreign Training Node, Belagavi, Karnataka, from 10th to 23rd November 2025.

Q2. With reference to tropical forests, consider the following statements:

1. They are primarily located between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn and receive high annual rainfall with high seasonal variation.

2. They act as major carbon sinks and play a crucial role in regulating global temperature and rainfall patterns.

3. The recent Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF) launched at COP30 aims to provide financial incentives to countries for maintaining tropical forest cover.

Which of the statements given above are correct?

a) 1 and 2 only

b) 2 and 3 only

c) 1 and 3 only

d) 1, 2 and 3

Answer: B

Explanation:

• • Tropical forests lie near the equator and are characterized by warm temperatures and high rainfall and low seasonal variation throughout the year. Hence, option 1 is incorrect.
  • They are crucial for global carbon storage and biodiversity.
  • The TFFF, launched during COP30 in Brazil, aims to financially reward countries for conserving tropical forests.

Q3. Ayni air base, recently seen in the news, is located in which of the following countries?

a) Uzbekistan

b) Afghanistan

c) Tajikistan

d) Turkmenistan

Answer: C

Explanation:

• • Ayni Air Base: Located near Dushanbe, Tajikistan (India’s only overseas base).

Q4. Which of the following statements about ferromagnetism is correct?

a) Ferromagnetic materials have magnetic moments that cancel each other completely, resulting in zero net magnetisation.

b) Ferromagnetic materials have magnetic moments that align in the same direction, producing a strong net magnetisation.

c) Ferromagnetic materials lose all magnetic properties at absolute zero (0 K).

d) Ferromagnetism is only observed in non-metallic gases.

Answer: B

Explanation:

• • In ferromagnetic materials (like iron, cobalt, nickel), the atomic magnetic moments align parallel due to exchange interactions, resulting in a strong net magnetic field.
  • These materials can retain magnetisation even after the external magnetic field is removed.

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