12 November 2025 Daily Current Affairs

INA was not founded by Subhas Bose; he took up the reins only later, claims new book

The news is about a new history book that challenges the popular belief that Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose founded the Indian National Army (INA). The book claims he only took over the leadership much later.

Detailed Claims

1. The Core Challenge

• New Claim: The book, ‘The Forgotten Indian Prisoners of World War II’ by Gautam Hazarika, asserts that Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose did NOT establish the INA.

  
  

• Netaji's Role: Netaji's critical role was later (starting July 1943) in taking over the army, reorganising it, and bringing it wider recognition as a significant anti-British force.

  
  

2. The INA’s Actual Origin (1941)

• Formation Date: The INA was initially set up nearly 18 months before Netaji arrived in Singapore.

• Joint Plan: It was a pre-war alliance and joint plan between

  1. Japanese Army Intelligence (represented by Major Fujiwara Iwaichi).

     
     

  2. Indian Nationalists outside India (represented by Giani Pritam Singh).

     
     

• Agreement: The agreement was reached in Bangkok days before Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor/Southeast Asia in December 1941.

  
  

• Goal: To fight the common enemy—the British—using captured Indian soldiers.

  
  

3. Key Founding Figures

• First Commander: Captain Mohan Singh of the 14th Punjab Regiment in the British Indian Army became the INA’s first commander after being captured by the Japanese.

  
  

• Interregnum Leader: After a period of internal conflict and Captain Mohan Singh's arrest by the Japanese (Dec 1942), the INA was kept alive by Rash Behari Bose until Netaji's arrival.

ISRO Gaganyaan Parachute Safety Test

The Gaganyaan Parachute System

The entire system is a complex sequence comprising 10 parachutes of four types:

• Redundancy: The system is designed so that only two of the three main parachutes are sufficient to safely land the crew module, ensuring a critical backup.

3. Key Feature: Reefed Inflation

The main parachutes use a special two-step opening process:

• Reefing (Partial Opening): The parachute first opens partially (temporarily restricted by a line/pyro device). This prevents a sudden, forceful opening shock.
  

• Disreefing (Full Opening): After a pre-determined time, a pyro device releases the restriction, allowing the parachute to fully open and slow the module completely.

SC Judge on Conservation: Imported Laws May Fail Endangered Species

The news summarizes an observation made by Supreme Court Justice P.S. Narasimha during a hearing on the conservation of the Great Indian Bustard and the Lesser Florican. The core point is his critique of Western-imported environmental law principles for being too human-centered and inadequate for true biodiversity protection.

1. The Context: Endangered Species and Legal Debate

• Case Focus: The hearing concerned a petition for the conservation of two critically endangered Indian birds: the Great Indian Bustard (GIB) and the Lesser Florican.

• Current Status: The petitioner noted the dire numbers: only 150 GIBs in the wild (70 in captivity) and 70 Lesser Floricans remain. Captive breeding is not proving successful for the lesser florican.

2. Critique of "Imported" Principles

Justice Narasimha criticized several environmental law concepts, stating they are often ineffective for species protection:

• Principle Criticized: Inter-generational Equity (a concept that natural resource exploitation must be distributed fairly between present and future human generations).

  
  

• The Flaw: He called such ideas "anthropocentric" (human-centered) and having "Biblical roots" which place humans at the top of the hierarchy.

  
  

• The Result: These principles "presupposes the higher needs of human beings" and are primarily concerned with how humans use natural resources, offering little help in saving a species from extinction.

3. The Need for an "Ecocentric" Approach

The Judge advocated for a shift in legal philosophy, emphasizing the intrinsic worth of all life:

• The Alternative: The court should prioritize the "intrinsic worth" of an endangered species rather than its "instrumental value to human beings" (its use or benefit to people).
  

• The Accepted View (Red Sanders Case): He referenced a previous Supreme Court judgment (in the Red Sanders conservation case) that accepted the need for an "ecocentric approach" in biodiversity law.
  

• Ecocentric Obligation: This approach "obliges every citizen to have compassion for all living creatures," shifting the focus from human benefit to the inherent value of nature.

EDITORIAL OF THE DAY

The infirmities in the SIR of electoral rolls

What’s Happening

• The Election Commission of India (ECI) ordered a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists in 12 States and Union Territories, including Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, etc.

• This means the ECI wants to recheck and update all voter names thoroughly, not just small updates.

2️⃣ Why It’s Controversial

• Several State governments are protesting and have even gone to the Supreme Court.

• The main complaint: doing such a big exercise just before elections seems unnecessary and suspicious.

• A similar SIR was done in Bihar before its elections, and the Opposition there also objected to it.

3️⃣ What the Opposition Says

• The SIR was done in a hurry and too close to the elections.

• They say it’s unconstitutional to do such a detailed revision after a summary revision was already done in 2024.

4️⃣ What the Election Commission Says

• The ECI argues that the last SIR was done in 2002–03, and since then, population changes (migration, deaths, urbanisation) make an update necessary.

• It claims it’s just trying to make the voter list more accurate.

5️⃣ The Main Question: Why Now?

• Legally, ECI can revise electoral rolls.

• But people are asking: Why only now — just months before Assembly elections?

• The SIR is a massive, time-consuming exercise, involving door-to-door data collection and verification.

• Between 2003 and 2024, there were many elections — yet ECI never did SIR during that time.

• So, the timing looks odd and raises doubts.

6️⃣ The Legal Background

• Under Section 21 of the Representation of the People (RP) Act, 1950):

  • Rolls must be revised before every general election.

  • The ECI can also revise rolls in any year, if it records proper reasons.

• There are two types of revision:

  • Summary Revision: Small updates (normally done before elections).

  • Intensive Revision (SIR): A full re-check, almost like making a new voter list.

• So, doing an SIR right before elections isn’t really supported by law — only summary revision is meant for that time.

7️⃣ The Citizenship Proof Issue

• To vote, a person must be an Indian citizen (Article 326).

• ECI asks for documents to prove citizenship — but did not accept Aadhaar, saying it’s not proof of citizenship.

• The Supreme Court intervened and said ECI should accept Aadhaar too, as identity proof.

8️⃣ The Bigger Legal Problem

• The power to decide which documents prove citizenship lies with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), not the ECI.

• But since the MHA has not issued any official list of valid documents,

  
  

  → ECI started making its own list, which is not legally correct.

• Basically, ECI is stepping into MHA’s role, which it has no authority to do.

9️⃣ Risk for Voters

• It’s unclear how many names were removed from voter lists in Bihar because of lack of proper documents.

• The Supreme Court earlier said (in Lal Babu Hussein vs. ERO, 1995):

  • If someone’s name is already in the list, it’s presumed they were properly verified earlier.

• So, removing names without solid reason could violate Article 14 (no arbitrary action) and Article 21 (right to fair procedure).

🔟 The Core Constitutional Concern

• The voter’s right is linked to the fundamental rights of equality and liberty.

Any sudden, unclear, or biased revision of voter lists may violate these constitutional safeguards.

Why do astronauts wear pressurised suits?

What is Space?

• Space begins beyond Earth’s atmosphere — it’s a vacuum with no air, no oxygen, and no pressure.

• It contains stars, planets, and galaxies, but no atmosphere like Earth’s.

2️⃣ Why Is Atmospheric Pressure Important?

• Earth’s atmosphere is a layer of gases held by gravity.

• It:

  • Protects us from harmful solar radiation.

  • Keeps temperatures stable.

  • Provides oxygen and other gases to breathe.

• The air around us presses down with about 20 tonnes of force, but our body balances it out naturally, so we don’t feel it.

3️⃣ What Happens When There’s No Pressure?

• As we go higher, air gets thinner and pressure drops.

• In space (a vacuum), there’s no pressure at all — and the human body can’t survive.

• If exposed suddenly:

  • Ebullism: body fluids begin to boil due to low pressure.

  • Decompression: sudden loss of air causes expansion of gases in lungs and tissues.

  • Hypoxia: no oxygen — unconsciousness within seconds, death within minutes.

4️⃣ How Are Astronauts Protected?

• Astronauts wear special suits to survive in space.

• Two main types:

A. EVA (Extra-Vehicular Activity) Suit — for spacewalks

• Used outside the spacecraft.

• Works like a personal mini-spacecraft.

• Protects against vacuum, radiation, temperature extremes, and space debris.

• Has 12–14 layers and weighs 100–130 kg.

B. IVA (Intra-Vehicular Activity) Suit — for inside spacecraft

• Includes flight suits and pressure suits.

• Flight suit: fire-resistant clothing for temperature and pressure changes.

• Pressure suit: airtight, provides oxygen, body pressure, and cooling.

• Weighs about 8–10 kg, with 2–3 layers.

5️⃣ Historical Example

• Yuri Gagarin (1961), the first human in space, wore an IVA suit called SK-1.

• Since then, Russia and the U.S. have made 8–10 different IVA suit designs.

That's all for 12 November 2025 Daily Current Affairs!!