THE CRUX Current Affairs Vocabulary Flashcards - May Issue 2026

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms, demographic indicators, legal concepts, economic mechanisms, and technological definitions from the May 2026 issue of THE CRUX.

Crude Birth Rate (CBR)

The annual number of live births per 1,000 population.

Crude Death Rate (CDR)

The annual number of deaths per 1,000 population.

Total Fertility Rate (TFR)

The average number of children that would be born to a woman during her lifetime if she were to pass through her childbearing years conforming to the age-specific fertility rates of a given year.

Replacement-Level Fertility

The exact Total Fertility Rate (TFR) at which a population exactly replaces itself from one generation to the next without migration, anchored globally at 2.1.

Infant Mortality Rate (IMR)

The number of deaths of children under one year of age per 1,000 live births in a given year.

Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR)

The number of maternal deaths during pregnancy, childbirth, or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, per 100,000 live births.

Sex Ratio (India)

In India, defined as the number of females per 1,000 males in the population.

Child Sex Ratio (CSR)

The number of females per 1,000 males in the 0–6 years age group.

Dependency Ratio

The ratio of the economically dependent population (typically individuals under 15 and over 64 years of age) to the working-age population (15–64 years).

Population Pyramid (Age-Sex Pyramid)

A graphical illustration that shows the distribution of various age groups in a population, which forms the shape of a pyramid when a population is growing.

Demographic Dividend

The economic growth potential that can result from shifts in a population’s age structure, mainly when the share of the working-age population (15 to 64) is larger than the non-working-age share.

Demographic Window of Opportunity

A specific period in a nation's demographic evolution when the proportion of children decreases and the proportion of the elderly is not yet significant, causing the dependency ratio to hit its historical minimum.

Epidemiological Transition

A long-term shift in the health and disease pattern of a population, whereby infectious and nutritional diseases are progressively replaced by non-communicable, chronic, and degenerative lifestyle diseases.

Population Momentum

The tendency of a population to continue growing even after replacement-level fertility (TFR of 2.1) has been achieved, caused by a large cohort of youth moving into childbearing years.

Replacement Migration

The international migration that a country would need to offset population decline and population aging resulting from low fertility and mortality rates.

Silver Economy

The dedicated economic system of production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services aimed at utilizing the purchasing power of older segments of the population.

Hung Assembly

A legislative situation that arises when no single political party or pre-poll alliance secures an absolute majority in the Legislative Assembly.

Floor Test

A constitutional mechanism or trust vote held in a legislative assembly to determine whether the government in power retains the confidence of the House.

Contraceptive Prevalence Rate (CPR)

The percentage of women of reproductive age (15–49 years) who are using, or whose partner is using, any method of contraception at a given point in time.

Obesity (WHO Definition)

Abnormal or excessive accumulation of body fat that poses health risks, commonly measured using Body Mass Index (BMI).

Diabetes

A chronic metabolic disorder characterised by elevated blood glucose levels due to inadequate insulin production or ineffective insulin utilisation.

Directed Energy Weapons (DEWs)

Military systems that use concentrated electromagnetic energy, such as lasers and microwaves, instead of conventional ammunition to engage targets with high speed and precision.

Hypersonic Weapon Systems

Weapon platforms, including Hypersonic Glide Vehicles (HGVs) and Hypersonic Cruise Missiles (HCMs), that travel at speeds above Mach 5 and can alter trajectories mid-course.

E-Waste

Discarded electrical and electronic products, such as computers, mobile phones, circuit boards, telecom equipment, and household appliances.

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)

An environmental policy approach and regulatory framework under which producers are made responsible for the collection and channelised recycling of their end-of-life products.

Indian Ocean Dialogue (IOD)

The key Track 1.5 platform of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), established to facilitate strategic discussions among regional policymakers, scholars, and experts.

Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA)

An intergovernmental organisation established on 7 March 1997, comprising 23 Member States and 12 Dialogue Partners, aimed at fostering regional cooperation and sustainable development.

IORA Priority Areas

The six core focus areas of IORA: Maritime Safety and Security, Trade and Investment, Fisheries Management, Disaster Risk Management, Tourism and Cultural Exchange, and Academic, Science and Technology Cooperation.

Uniform Civil Code (UCC)

A common set of civil laws applicable to all citizens irrespective of religion in matters such as marriage, divorce, inheritance, succession, adoption, maintenance, and child custody.

SHE-MARTs

Decentralised, women-led marketing and enterprise ecosystems that provide market access, branding support, aggregation facilities, and retail opportunities for products manufactured by SHGs.

Self-Help Groups (SHGs)

Voluntary associations generally comprising 10–20 members from similar socio-economic backgrounds who come together for savings, credit, livelihood activities, and collective empowerment.

Fugitive Economic Offender (FEO)

An individual declared by an Indian court under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018 against whom an arrest warrant has been issued for a specified financial crime involving $\text{Rs. } 100\text{ crore}$ or more and who has fled the country.

Public Interest Litigation (PIL)

A legal petition filed before the Supreme Court (under Article 32) or High Courts (under Article 226) to enforce and protect the welfare, fundamental rights, and legal interests of the general public.

Model Code of Conduct (MCC)

A set of guidelines issued by the Election Commission of India (ECI) to regulate political parties and candidates during elections to ensure free, fair, and ethical voting.

Inhalant Abuse

The intentional breathing in or inhaling of fumes, vapors, or gases from common household, industrial, or medical products to achieve a rapid, mind-altering high.

Unclaimed Financial Assets

Policy proceeds, dividends, shares, bank deposits, or retirement benefits remaining unclaimed by investors, account holders, or beneficiaries in the normal course for a prolonged period.

Care Economy

The economic sector comprising all paid and unpaid activities dedicated to the care of children, the elderly, and persons with disabilities (PwDs).

Global Capability Centres (GCCs)

Offshore operations units established by multinational corporations to perform strategic business functions such as software engineering, R&D, AI development, finance, and product management.

Cyborg Botany

An interdisciplinary field that integrates living plants with electronic materials and conductive polymers to create biohybrid systems capable of sensing, processing, and transmitting environmental data.

Ru-Soam Bridges

Traditional bio-engineered suspension bridges crafted from local bamboo, cane, and wood by the native Lepcha community in Sikkim.

Ecocide

Unlawful or wanton human acts committed with the knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of causing severe, widespread, or long-term destruction and degradation to ecosystems.

Ganges Soft-shell Turtle (Nilssonia gangetica)

An endangered freshwater scavenger turtle species with a flat leathery shell and snorkel-like snout, native to northern river systems of the Indian subcontinent.

Ambergris

A valuable waxy substance originating from the digestive system of sperm whales, often referred to as 'floating gold' and used in high-end perfumery.

Urban Heat Island (UHI)

A microclimatic phenomenon where urban areas experience significantly higher ambient temperatures than surrounding rural areas due to human activities, concrete infrastructure, and reduced vegetation cover.

Water Hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes)

A fast-growing, free-floating invasive aquatic perennial plant native to the Amazon Basin, often referred to as the 'Terror of Bengal'.

Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC)

A major system of ocean currents driven by temperature and salinity differences that transports warm, salty water northward near the surface and cold, dense water southward at depth.

Thucydides Trap

A geopolitical concept describing the structural stress and high likelihood of war when a rising power threatens to displace an established ruling power.

Scramjet Engine

An advanced air-breathing engine designed for hypersonic speeds in which airflow through the engine remains supersonic throughout the combustion process.

Multiple Independently Targeted Re-Entry Vehicle (MIRV)

A missile payload technology that allows a single ballistic missile to carry several warheads, each capable of being aimed at a distinct, separate target.

Zwan-Wolf Effect

A space weather phenomenon where charged plasma particles are compressed along magnetic field lines near a planetary magnetic boundary, forming a plasma depletion layer.

Myopia

A refractive vision defect caused by excessive axial elongation of the eyeball, leading incoming light rays to focus in front of the retina rather than directly on it.

Fractional Quantum Hall Effect (FQHE)

A quantum mechanical phenomenon in two-dimensional electron systems where Hall resistance exhibits discrete fractional steps ($\frac{1}{3}, \frac{2}{5}, \frac{3}{7}$, etc.) due to strong electron-electron interactions forming anyon quasiparticles.

Ferrocene

An organometallic compound consisting of a central iron atom sandwiched between two parallel cyclopentadienyl (carbon) ring ligands.

Girmityas

Indian indentured laborers who were transported to British sugar and agricultural colonies during the 19th and early 20th centuries under formal labor agreements ('girmits').

Algoza

A traditional double-flute wind instrument played using continuous circular breathing, characteristic of folk music in Rajasthan, Punjab, and Sindh.

Coal Gasification

A thermochemical process that converts coal into synthesis gas (syngas) comprising hydrogen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and methane through controlled oxidation at high temperature and pressure.

Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP)

The statutory minimum price that sugar mills are legally mandated to pay sugarcane growers, determined annually based on sugar recovery rates.

Withholding Tax (WHT)

A tax deducted at source by the payer from payments (such as interest, dividends, or royalties) made to non-resident entities or individuals before transferring the net amount.

Electronic Gold Receipts (EGRs)

Dematerialised financial securities traded on stock exchanges that represent ownership of physical gold held in accredited, SEBI-regulated vaults.

M777 Howitzer

A lightweight, highly mobile 155 mm artillery gun system manufactured by BAE Systems and deployed for high-altitude mountainous operations.