UMANG Portal | Standing Deposit Facility (SDF) | Sulphur dioxide (SO2) | Global Liveability Index 2026 | Version 2026-1 of the IUCN Red List

UMANG Portal

Government Schemes

Context

• Researchers have identified security vulnerabilities in India’s UMANG Portal, raising concerns about personal data.

UMANG (Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance) 

• • It was launched in November 2017.
  • It is a flagship initiative under the Digital India Programme. 
  • It offers a single window access to a wide range of services delivered by the Central Government, State Governments and local bodies through a unified mobile application. 
  • Significance – It enables citizens to access services such as EPFO, healthcare, pensions, LPG bookings, certificates, and several other citizen-centric services through a single platform. 
  • As of February 2026, UMANG offers 2,446 services from 240 government departments, including 80 Central Government Departments and 160 departments across 30 States and Union Territories. 
• UMANG supports 23 Indian languages, including Hindi, English, Nepali, and Sanskrit.

Standing Deposit Facility (SDF)

Economy

News

• The Reserve Bank of India(RBI) absorbed 1.67 lakh crore rupees through the Standing Deposit Facility (SDF).

Standing Deposit Facility (SDF)

• It is a collateral-free RBI tool used to absorb excess liquidity from banks.

Core Features

• No collateral: Banks park funds without RBI giving government securities.
• Corridor floor: It forms the lower bound of the LAF corridor.
• Urjit Patel Committee: First recommended the tool in 2014.
• April 2022: Officially implemented to manage pandemic-induced liquidity.

Other Monetary Policy Tools in India

• Repo Rate: Rate at which RBI lends short-term funds to banks against collateral.
• Reverse Repo Rate: Rate at which RBI absorbs liquidity from banks.
• Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR): Portion of deposits banks must keep with RBI in cash.
• Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR): Portion of deposits kept in liquid assets (gold, cash, securities).
• Open Market Operations (OMO): Buying/selling of government securities to control liquidity.
• Marginal Standing Facility (MSF): Emergency borrowing by banks at a penal rate.
• Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF): Framework for repo/reverse repo operations.
• Market Stabilisation Scheme (MSS): Bonds issued to absorb excess liquidity.

Sulphur dioxide (SO2)

Environment

Context

• As per the study, nearly 81 per cent of sulphur dioxide (SO2) emissions from coal plants within a 300-km radius of Delhi-NCR originate from facilities exempted from installing pollution control systems.

Sulfur dioxide (SO₂)

• It is a colorless, pungent, and toxic gas.
• Primary Source: Coal-fired thermal power plants.
• Natural Source: Volcanic eruptions and geothermal activity.
• India Status: Top global anthropogenic SO₂ emitter.
• Health Impact: Causes severe respiratory diseases (asthma).
• Environment: Precursor to acid rain.
• Note – Sulfur dioxide is not a greenhouse gas. While it is a major air pollutant with significant environmental impacts, it actually has a cooling effect on the Earth’s climate rather than a warming one

Global Liveability Index 2026

Miscellaneous

Context

• The Economist Intelligence Unit has released the Global Liveability Index 2026.

Major Highlights

• • Published by – The index is compiled annually by the Economist Intelligence Unit, the research and analysis arm of The Economist Group, 
  • It evaluated 173 cities across 30 indicators
  • Five categories: Stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure.
  • Copenhagen (Denmark) remains the world’s most liveable city, edging out Vienna (Austria) and Melbourne (Australia), which are in second and third place.

• New Delhi is ranked 120, followed by Mumbai (121), Chennai (123), and Bengaluru (127).

• Karachi stayed pinned at 170th place two years consecutively, Dhaka held at 171st, Damascus (Syria) remains the world’s least liveable city for a second consecutive year.

Version 2026-1 of the IUCN Red List

Environment

News –  

• The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) released the updated version 2026-1 of its Red List of Threatened Species.

About- 

• IUCN Red List now covers 175,909 species, of which 49,505 (approximately 28%) are classified as threatened with extinction.

IUCN Red List

• IUCN Red List is the most comprehensive inventory of the global extinction risk of animal, plant, and fungal species, maintained by the Species Survival Commission.
• Species are placed in nine categories: Not Evaluated, Data Deficient, Least Concern, Near Threatened, Vulnerable, Endangered, Critically Endangered, Extinct in the Wild, and Extinct.

International Union of Conservation of Nature

• Establishment – 1948.
• Set up in – Gland, Switzerland. 
• Objective – To promote international cooperation and to provide scientific knowledge and tools to aid conservation action.
• IUCN Red List – It established the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in 1964.

IUCN Red List

• • It is a list compiled by the IUCN, which contains the world’s most comprehensive information on the conservation status of plants, animals, and fungus species. 

  • Species in the IUCN Red List – There are 143000 species on the Red List.

• India’s membership in IUCN – India became a member in 1969

• The IUCN classification – The IUCN classification of species is based on their extinction/conservation status. 

They are as follows  

• Extinct (EX)

• Extinct in the Wild (EW)

• Critically Endangered (CR)

• Endangered (EN), Vulnerable (VU)

• Near Threatened (NT)

• Least Concern (LC)

• Data Deficient (DD) 

• Not Evaluated (NE)