News in Shorts: 16 September 2025

Pink Tax

Context: The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) recently ruled that companies must avoid gender-based price discrimination (Pink tax) and follow fair pricing practices.

What is Pink Tax?

• Definition: Pink Tax is not an official tax but a pricing practice where women pay more for gender-targeted products and services.
• Origin: The term was coined in California, U.S., in 1994.
• Global Evidence:
  • Studies show women’s personal care products are 13% costlier as compared to men’s  in the U.S. personal care products.
• Impact: This practice silently increases household expenditure and disproportionately affects women, who already face lower average wages compared to men.

Safeguards in India

• No Specific Law: India has no legislation banning the Pink Tax.
• NCDRC Ruling: The consumer forum directed firms to ensure fair and non-discriminatory pricing.
• GST Reform: In 2018, sanitary napkins and tampons were exempted from 12% GST, marking recognition of gender-based pricing disparities.

Speed Skating World Championships 2025

Context: Anandkumar Velkumar became India’s first-ever world champion in skating at Speed Skating World Championships 2025. 

About Anandkumar Velkumar

• He is a 22-year-old Indian speed skater from Tamil Nadu who scripted history with his performance in the championship.
• He won the gold medal at the 2025 Speed Skating World Championships medal in the Senior Men’s 1000m Sprint, clocking an impressive 1:24.924, making him India’s first world champion in the sport.

About the Speed Skating World Championships 2025

• The Speed Skating World Championships is regarded as the highest global competition in the sport, attracting top athletes from across the world.
• Venue: Beidaihe, People’s Republic of China.
• The event brought together elite competitors, showcasing international talent and setting new benchmarks in the sport of speed skating.

Flexible Aluminium Battery

Context: Recently Indian scientists announced the development of a flexible, safe, and eco-friendly aluminum-based battery as an alternative to lithium-ion batteries.

• Commonly used Lithium-ion batteries are prone to overheating and explosion.

About the Flexible Aluminium Battery

• It uses aluminum and water-based solution, replacing lithium-ion.
  • Cathode: Copper hexacyanoferrate (CuHCFe), pre-filled with aluminum ions.
  • Anode: Molybdenum trioxide (MoO₃)
• Developed by: Centre for Nano and Soft Matter Sciences (CeNS), Bengaluru, in collaboration with CeNSE, Indian Institute of Science (IISc).
• Key Features
  • The battery is flexible, can bend or fold without losing function.
  • Safer as it prevents overheating and explosions.
  • Eco-friendly and cheaper, leveraging aluminum which is an abundant Earth resource.
  • Maintains 96.77% capacity after 150 cycles, ensuring durability.
• Demonstrated Applications: Powered an LCD display even while bent at extreme angles.
• Potential uses: flexible smartphones, safer EVs, wearable electronics integrated into clothing.

Significance

• It represents a major advance in multivalent ion battery technology and aligns with global sustainability goals and positions India at the forefront of next-gen energy storage.

Involution

Context: The Chinese economy has been  facing what has locally come to be called nêijuân, or an involution.

What Is “Involution”?

• Definition: “Involution” refers to a vicious cycle of self-defeating, zero-sum competition.
• It is derived from the Latin phrase involūtiōn-em, meaning ‘to turn inwards
• It is essentially hyper-competition that damages the whole industry, where firms exhaust themselves trying to outdo each other without generating real growth or innovation.
• Cause: Companies slash prices and massively scale up production in a frantic race to gain market share.
  • But these moves undermine profitability, lead to unsustainable cost structures, and create overcapacity so much so that goods are often sold below production cost.
• Example: Beijing has begun an anti-price-war push as top executives warn of severe consolidation among the 120–130 EV makers in the country to counter “involution.”

India-Iran-Uzbekistan Trilateral Meeting

Context: Recently, Tehran (Iran) hosted the first India-Iran-Uzbekistan foreign ministers’ level trilateral meeting to strengthen cooperation on security, connectivity, and trade.

About the Trilateral Meeting

• Objectives
  • To establish a mechanism for combating extremism and terrorism.
  • To expand cooperation in connectivity, trade, and regional security.
• Key Discussions
  • Emphasis on greater use of Chabahar Port by Uzbekistan for trade with India.
  • Discussions on trade facilitation, regional integration, and mutual interests.
  • Recognition of interest by Kazakhstan and Tajikistan in using Chabahar Port.
  • India’s push for an early harvest Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) to access Eurasian markets and source rare earth minerals.
  • It also focused on the International North-South Transit Corridor (INSTC).
    • The INSTC is a multi-modal transport network designed to enhance connectivity between India, Iran, Russia, and Eurasia.

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