Janez Janša Returns as Prime Minister of Slovenia

The Slovenian Parliament has approved the center-right government of Janez Janša, marking his return as the Prime Minister of the Alpine European Union nation for a historic fourth term.

• Political Context: The appointment followed the recent general elections, which yielded a fractured mandate. Former liberal Prime Minister Robert Golob’s Freedom Movement won the most votes but failed to secure a working parliamentary majority. Janša's populist Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) successfully forged a coalition with other right-leaning political blocks.
• Foreign Policy Shift: Janša’s administration is expected to alter Slovenia’s immediate foreign policy trajectory, particularly by reversing the previous center-left government's 2024 formal recognition of a Palestinian state and systematically repairing frosty bilateral ties with Israel.
• India-Slovenia Relations: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended formal diplomatic congratulations to Janša, underlining shared commitments to strengthen economic and strategic bilateral ties between India and the Central European nation.

📌 High-Yield Static GK Notes

• Slovenia Profile: Capital is Ljubljana; official currency is the Euro (€). It is bounded by Italy, Austria, Hungary, and Croatia.
• Government Structure: Slovenia functions as a Parliamentary Republic. The current President (Head of State) is Nataša Pirc Musar.

Mission SANA: India’s First Private Stratospheric Super-Pressure Balloon Launched

Vijayawada-based space-tech startup Red Balloon Aerospace has executed a major milestone by successfully launching India's first indigenous private stratospheric super-pressure balloon (SPB) under Mission SANA.

• The Launch Platform: Named the VISTA platform, the hydrogen-powered balloon ascended to an altitude of approximately 25 kilometers (near-space stratosphere) from the Indira Gandhi Stadium in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh.
• Global Benchmark: This launch positions India among an exclusive club of only five nations possessing indigenous stratospheric super-pressure balloon capabilities, alongside the United States, France, Japan, and China.
• The Technology (SPB vs. Conventional Balloons): Conventional weather balloons rapidly expand and burst within hours due to pressure differentials. Super-pressure balloons maintain a constant volume and stable pressure across extreme day-night temperature cycles, allowing them to remain airborne for weeks or months.
• Strategic Utilities: Operating in the "gap" between commercial aviation (below 10 km) and low-Earth orbit satellites (above 160 km), the VISTA platform provides ultra-high-resolution imaging, persistent telecommunications via Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN), disaster surveillance, and cost-efficient payload ridesharing.

NFHS-6: Institutional Deliveries in India Rise to 90.6%

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) has officially released the fact sheets for the National Family Health Survey-6 (NFHS-6), showcasing a significant jump in safe childbirth practices and healthcare coverage across India.

• Key Health Indicators:
• Institutional Deliveries: Increased to 90.6% (capturing data across 2023–24), up from 88.6% recorded during NFHS-5 (2019–21), bringing India closer to universal coverage.
• Antenatal Care (ANC): Overall ANC coverage reached 95.9%. Crucially, women receiving at least four structured ANC visits climbed from 58.5% to 65.2%.
• Skilled Birth Attendance: Improved to 91.3% (up from 89.4%).
• Emerging Structural Shifts & Challenges:
• Private Sector Rise: The share of institutional births in public facilities marginally declined from 61.9% to 58.6%, indicating a distinct shift toward private care, likely incentivized by empanelment under the Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY scheme.
• C-Section Surges: Caesarean section deliveries spiked from 21.5% to 27.2%, notably higher in private medical institutions (54.1%).
• Double Burden of Malnutrition: While child stunting dropped significantly, adult obesity indicators worsened; the share of overweight or obese women rose sharply to 30.7% (from 24%).

                   📊 NFHS-6 MATERNAL HEALTH COMPARISON 📊
  
     📈 Institutional Deliveries ──► 90.6% (Up from 88.6% in NFHS-5)
     📈 Skilled Birth Attendance ──► 91.3% (Up from 89.4% in NFHS-5)
     📈 First-Trimester ANC      ──► 76.2% (Up from 70.0% in NFHS-5)
     ⚠️ C-Section Deliveries     ──► 27.2% (Up from 21.5% in NFHS-5)

📌 High-Yield Static GK Notes

• Nodal Agency: The International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Mumbai serves as the nodal agency tasked with executing the survey under the aegis of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
• Key Drivers: The systematic upward trajectory in institutional births is primarily credited to targeted welfare schemes like the Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) and SUMAN (Surakshit Matritva Aashwasan).