Rudrastra - Asia’s Longest Freight Train

Context:

Recently, the Indian Railways has successfully carried out a trial run of ‘Rudrastra’, Asia’s longest freight train, measuring 4.5 km in length.

More on the News

• The trial run covered a distance of 209 km from Ganjkhwaja railway station in Chandauli, Uttar Pradesh, to Garhwa in Jharkhand, completing the journey in 5 hours 10 minutes at an average speed of 40.50 km/h.
• Freight trains will now be operated from the Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya Division (DDU) of East Central Railway to the Dhanbad Division to ensure faster loading and transportation of goods.

Train Composition

Rudrastra was formed by adding three long-haul racks (each comprising two goods trains).

Capacity per empty wagon: 72 tonnes of goods.

Engines arrangement:

• 2 engines in front.
• 1 engine after every 59 bogies in each rack.
• Total engines used: 7.

Rack structure:

• Each rack had 59 bogies.
• Effectively equivalent to five goods trains lined up.
• The first goods train had two engines.

Significance

• Cuts Down Cost: Rudrastra can cut down on time, manpower and operational expenses of Railways.
• Speeds up Freight Movement: This approach also speeds up freight movement and makes it more cost-effective, giving a significant boost to India’s logistics sector.

Talaq-e-Hasan

Context: 

The Supreme Court will begin hearing, from November 19, a series of petitions challenging the constitutional and judicial validity of the talaq-e-Hasan practice.

More on the News

• Talaq-e-Biddat, the instantaneous triple talaq was outlawed by the Supreme Court in 2017.
• The Court is now examining the constitutional validity of Talaq-e-Hasan, the prescribed Islamic way of divorce under Section 2 of the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937, which permits Muslims to practice unilateral divorce.

Talaq-e-Hasan

• It is a form of divorce among Muslims through which a man can dissolve the marriage by pronouncing the word talaq once a month for three months.
• Under talaq-e-Hasan, a divorce is formalised after the third utterance of the word talaq in the third month if cohabitation has not resumed during this period. 
• If cohabitation resumes after the first or second utterance of talaq, the parties are assumed to have reconciled.

Petitioner’s Argument

• A public interest litigation filed in 2022 by Ghaziabad-based journalist Benazeer Heena.
• Claims the practice is discriminatory, as only men can invoke it.
• Argues it violates Articles 14 (equality), 15 (non-discrimination), 21 (right to life with dignity), and 25 (freedom of religion) of the Constitution.
• States it causes “gross affront to the dignity of women” and undermines gender equality.

Current Proceedings

Supreme Court has sought views from:

• National Human Rights Commission (NHRC)
• National Commission for Women (NCW)
• National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR)

FIDE World Schools Team Championship 2025

Context:

India’s Velammal MHS School claimed the gold medal at the 2025 World Schools Team Chess Championship in Alexandria, Virginia, after winning all eight of their matches.

More on the News

• Velammal MHS School scored a perfect 16/16 to become World Schools Team champions.
• They won the event with a round to spare when they defeated Seed Educational Complex (KAZ) by 0.5-3.5 in Round 7. 
• National School of Physics and Mathematics (Kazakhstan), The Harker School (USA) and Astana 2 RSPM (Kazakhstan) scored 12/16 points each.

World Schools Team Championship 2025

• It is a Swiss Chess team tournament held in Washington, D.C., USA.
• This eight-round event took place from August 3–6 at the Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia, near Washington, D.C.
• The first World Schools Team Chess Championship was held in Kazakhstan in the summer of 2023

World Elephant Day 2025

Context:

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), along with the Tamil Nadu Forest Department, hosted the World Elephant Day 2025 celebrations on August 12 at Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.

World Elephant Day 2025

• The theme for the day is “Bringing the world together to help elephants”.
• The day aims to reaffirm the global commitment to elephant conservation and strengthen measures for their long-term survival.
• World Elephant Day was first celebrated in 2012.
• A document titled Healthy Feet, Healthy Elephants: A Guide to Foot Care in Captive Asian Elephants was released, offering practical recommendations to improve elephant foot health through better hygiene, preventive care and early diagnosis.
• A workshop on human-elephant conflict gathered range-state representatives to share best practices on habitat management, corridor protection, and community engagement.

About Elephants

Elephants are the world’s largest land animals.

They are a keystone species, playing a vital role in maintaining biodiversity in their ecosystems.

Distribution & Population

• India is home to nearly 60% of the world’s wild elephant population, with 33 elephant reserves and 150 identified elephant corridors.
• Karnataka has the highest elephant population in India.
• Two main species: Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) and African elephant (Loxodonta Africana).
• Asian elephants are currently distributed across 13 countries.

Conservation Status

Asian elephants:

• Listed in CITES Appendix I.
• Protected under Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
• IUCN Red List status: Endangered.
• Sumatran elephant (E. m. sumatranus): Critically Endangered.
• African elephants:
• African forest elephant: Critically Endangered (IUCN).
• African savanna (or bush) elephant: Endangered (IUCN).