Monday, 26 October 2026 · IST · Madhya Pradesh + National · 11 items · 2 MCQs
Madhya Pradesh dominates the day: a new 'Bagh Didis' women tiger-alert network near Kanha, a ₹27,050 crore Cabinet package launching the soybean Bhavantar Yojana 2026 and a Jabalpur–Indore economic corridor, and the 41st Ladli Behna instalment of ₹1,834 crore. Nationally, the NCB's Operation Trident smashed a Northeast drug-hawala network, the PM opened an RBI cyber institute at Bhubaneswar, and the IMF pegged India's growth at 7.0%.
Today at a glance — things to remember
MP launches 'Bagh Didis' women tiger-alert network near Kanha
The MP Forest Department has launched the 'Bagh Didis' (Tiger Sisters) initiative in villages around Kanha Tiger Reserve to involve local women in tracking tiger movement and cutting human–tiger conflict.
Key facts
First phase trains about 20 women, prioritising tribal women and high-conflict villages.
Roles: report pugmarks and sightings, relay safety advisories, discourage entry into tiger zones.
Kanha lies in the Maikal range of the Satpuras (Mandla & Balaghat); national park since 1955, among the first 9 Project Tiger reserves (1973).
Famous for reviving the hard-ground Barasingha — MP's state animal; mascot 'Bhoorsingh the Barasingha'.
Way forward
Women-led, community monitoring can become a replicable coexistence model across MP's 9 tiger reserves.
Concept
Project Tiger (1973); human-wildlife conflict; community conservation; MP = the 'Tiger State'.
Stat tiles: MP has 60 cheetahs, 3 cheetah habitats, 9 tiger reserves, 5 new cubs at Kuno, rank #1 in forest cover. — StudyForGS
A Cabinet chaired by CM Dr Mohan Yadav approved proposals worth about ₹27,050 crore, headlined by the Bhavantar Yojana 2026 for soybean and a new Jabalpur–Indore Economic Corridor.
Key facts
Bhavantar Yojana 2026: pays the gap between MSP and sale price via DBT; soybean mandi sales 22 Oct 2026 – 15 Jan 2027; registration on e-Uparjan; Mandi Board credit limit up to ₹1,500 crore.
Jabalpur–Indore Economic Corridor Development Co. Ltd — a state SPV with ₹100 crore seed capital for industrial, agri-processing, logistics & IT parks.
Other heads: irrigation ₹3,076 cr, Ayush colleges ₹3,535 cr, school infra ₹2,875 cr, Sandipani student transport ₹241.88 cr.
MP is India's largest soybean producer — the 'Soybean State'.
Way forward
Price-deficit support plus corridor-led industrialisation aim to raise farm incomes and private investment together.
Concept
MSP vs Bhavantar (price-deficit) model; DBT; SPV; economic corridor.
CM Mohan Yadav released cheetahs Vyom and Neera at the Veerangana Durgavati Tiger Reserve in Sagar district (Bundelkhand), making it MP's third cheetah habitat after Kuno and Gandhi Sagar.
Key facts
India's cheetah population reached 60 after 5 cubs were born at Kuno this week.
Project Cheetah began in 2022 with the world's first inter-continental reintroduction at Kuno National Park.
The two cheetahs were translocated from Kuno; two more are planned next month.
MP is both the 'Cheetah State' and the 'Tiger State', with India's largest forest cover.
Way forward
A third habitat spreads reintroduction risk and helps build a metapopulation across central India.
MPPSC Prelims (GI tags of MP); Mains GS-III — agri-marketing, GI as IPR.
Context
Jabalpuri Matar (peas) and Jabalpur Singhada (water chestnut) received the Geographical Indication (GI) tag — Jabalpur is the first region in India to get a GI for these two crops.
Key facts
A GI tag marks goods from a specific origin whose qualities are tied to that place.
Administered under the GI of Goods (Registration & Protection) Act, 1999.
Adds to MP's GI basket — e.g., Chanderi & Maheshwari sarees, Ratlami Sev, Morena Gajak.
Way forward
GI branding can raise farmer incomes and shield regional produce from imitation.
Concept
GI tag; IPR; TRIPS; One District One Product (ODOP) linkage.
6. Operation Trident: NCB-led crackdown on Northeast drug networks
MPPSC Prelims (RBI, cybersecurity); Mains GS-III — digital infra & cyber resilience.
Context
PM Narendra Modi inaugurated the RBI's ₹169-crore data centre and a Cybersecurity Training Institute at Bhubaneswar, stressing protection of banks from cyber threats.
Key facts
The institute will build skilled manpower and resilient financial digital infrastructure.
Comes amid rising cyber-fraud in banking and UPI-era digital payments.
RBI is India's central bank and banking regulator, established in 1935.
Way forward
Dedicated training and data sovereignty strengthen trust in India's digital financial system.
Concept
Cybersecurity; data localisation; RBI; digital public infrastructure (DPI).
8. Free bus schemes lift women's mobility — NSO Time Use data
REPORTMPPSC: Prelims + Mains GS-I/II (Society & Social Justice)
At the UN General Assembly Third Committee, India's diplomat said Pakistan's military are its 'real rulers' and urged a revival of SAARC, dormant since 2016.
Key facts
SAARC has 8 members, HQ Kathmandu, founded 1985.
India withdrew from the 2016 SAARC summit after the Uri attack.
India increasingly backs BIMSTEC-led sub-regional connectivity as an alternative.
Way forward
India balances a stalled SAARC with BIMSTEC-led sub-regionalism.
Concept
SAARC; BIMSTEC; UNGA; Neighbourhood First policy.
10. US tightens H-1B: $100,000 fee to hit Indian tech talent
The Centre deployed two CRPF RAF companies (~250 personnel) to Pasighat after violence during protests against the 11,200-MW Siang Upper Multipurpose Project.
Key facts
Locals cite displacement and ecological risks in the eco-sensitive Eastern Himalaya.
The dam is a strategic counter to China's dam-building on the Yarlung Tsangpo.
The Siang is called Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibet and Brahmaputra downstream.
Way forward
Balancing strategic hydro needs with tribal rights and ecology demands genuine consultation.
Concept
Brahmaputra/Siang/Yarlung Tsangpo; FRA / PESA consent; transboundary rivers; EIA.
Data point of the day
7.0%
IMF — India real GDP growth, 2026-27 The IMF raised India's FY2026-27 growth forecast to 7.0%, citing strong domestic demand and keeping India the fastest-growing major economy.
Prelims rapid-fire
State animal of MP: the hard-ground Barasingha; Kanha's mascot is 'Bhoorsingh'.
Project Cheetah began in 2022 at Kuno National Park, Sheopur.
Bhavantar Yojana pays the gap between MSP and mandi price via DBT.
The NCB works under the Ministry of Home Affairs; the NDPS Act dates to 1985.
SAARC was founded in 1985, HQ Kathmandu; it has been dormant since 2016.
India's share of global H-1B visa approvals is about 70%.
Practice MCQs — MPPSC Prelims pattern
Q1. Veerangana Durgavati Tiger Reserve, recently in news as a cheetah habitat, is located in which district of Madhya Pradesh?
Sheopur
Mandsaur
Sagar
Panna
Show answer
Answer: C Veerangana Durgavati Tiger Reserve is in Sagar district (Bundelkhand) and is MP's third cheetah habitat after Kuno (Sheopur) and Gandhi Sagar (Mandsaur-Neemuch).
Q2. With reference to Madhya Pradesh's Bhavantar Yojana 2026, consider: 1) It pays the difference between MSP and sale price. 2) Payment is made through DBT. 3) It is being implemented for soybean in the Kharif 2026 season. Which are correct?
1 and 2 only
2 and 3 only
1 and 3 only
1, 2 and 3
Show answer
Answer: D All three are correct — the price-deficit amount (MSP minus sale price) is paid via DBT for soybean, Kharif 2026.
Mains practice question
Q. Community-based, women-led conservation models such as Madhya Pradesh's 'Bagh Didis' can reconcile wildlife protection with tribal livelihoods. Discuss. (250 words)
Hint / approach
Link human-wildlife conflict, Project Tiger, PESA/FRA rights and women's agency; use Kanha as a case study and suggest scaling across MP's tiger reserves.
📌 One-line revision: Remember today: MP = Tiger + Cheetah State (3 habitats, 60 cheetahs) · Bhavantar 2026 for soybean · Ladli Behna ₹1,500/month (41st instalment ₹1,834 cr) · Operation Trident (NCB) · IMF pegs India at 7.0%.
