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  • CBG blending at 1.7% in H1; pipeline connectivity key to achieving 3% target

    CBG blending at 1.7% in H1; pipeline connectivity key to achieving 3% target

    Why in the News

    Compressed biogas (CBG) made up only 1.7% of piped and vehicle gas sales in the first half of this fiscal year, short of the 3% blending share mandated for the year. The Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) says sales must accelerate in the second half, and that linking plants to gas pipelines is the key to getting there.

    What is the CBG blending mandate?

    1. What CBG is: CBG is biogas from organic waste, cleaned and compressed to natural gas quality. It can be mixed into the same supply, like ethanol blended into petrol.
    2. What is blended: The mandate covers domestic piped natural gas (D-PNG) supplied to homes and compressed natural gas (CNG) used as vehicle fuel.
    3. Rising targets: The mandated blending share rises to 4% next year and 5% the year after.
    4. The takeaway: The mandate demands a larger CBG share every year, so a shortfall now makes each later target harder to meet.

    How far behind is India this year?

    1. First-half sales: CBG sales were 115.9 million standard cubic metres (MMSCM) from April to September, against combined CNG and D-PNG sales of 6,800 MMSCM.
    2. Full-year requirement: Combined consumption of the two fuels is projected at 13,600 MMSCM for the year, so CBG sales must reach 408 MMSCM to meet the target.
    3. Second-half push: That requires an additional 292.1 MMSCM in October to March, about two and a half times the first-half volume.

    Why are CBG plants running below capacity?

    1. Low utilisation: India’s 210 functional CBG plants run at an average of just 44% of their capacity.
    2. Pipeline advantage: Plants with a pipeline connection, or one being built, use 65-69% of their designed capacity. A reliable pipeline gives a plant a buyer every day of the year.
    3. Plants without links: 247 of the 308 plants under construction have no plans for pipeline connectivity.
    4. Regulator’s view: The PNGRB has stressed connecting CBG plants to gas pipelines to assure offtake, meaning a steady buyer for the gas produced, and better use of installed capacity.

    Challenges

    1. Missing pipeline links: Most plants now being built will start without a pipeline, so they risk the same low utilisation as existing plants.
    2. Uncertain offtake: Plants without an assured daily buyer cannot run steadily, which leaves installed capacity idle.
    3. Steep catch-up: The second half must deliver far more CBG than the first, with the target rising every year after.
    4. Investment at risk: Idle capacity cuts plant revenues, which can deter fresh investment in CBG.

    Way Forward

    1. Pipeline-linked approvals: Require new CBG plants to plan pipeline connectivity before construction begins.
    2. Connect existing plants: City gas distribution companies should give priority to linking functional plants to nearby pipelines.
    3. Regulatory oversight: Bring CBG blending into city gas networks under PNGRB oversight, as the PNGRB (Amendment) Bill, 2025 proposes.
    4. Half-yearly tracking: Track blending against the target every half year so that shortfalls are caught early.

    Conclusion

    The blending mandate is falling short less for want of plants than for want of buyers those plants can reach. Second-half sales, and whether plants under construction get pipeline links, will show if this year’s target and the higher ones after it are within reach.

    Back2Basics: Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB)

    1. Legal basis: Set up under the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board Act, 2006. Appeals against its decisions go to the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (APTEL).
    2. Downstream scope: It regulates refining, storage, transport, distribution, marketing and sale of petroleum products and natural gas. Upstream exploration and production sit with the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH).
    3. City gas role: It authorises entities to run city gas distribution (CGD) networks and determines pipeline network tariffs.
    4. Common carrier access: It ensures equal, non-discriminatory access to pipelines and liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals.

    Matching Previous Year Question

    “[2020] According to India’s National Policy on Biofuels, which of the following can be used as raw materials for the production of biofuels? 1. Cassava 2. Damaged wheat grains 3. Groundnut seeds 4. Horse gram 5. Rotten potatoes 6. Sugar beet Select the correct answer using the code given below: (a) 1, 2, 5 and 6 only (b) 1, 3, 4 and 6 only (c) 2, 3, 4 and 5 only (d) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 ANSWER: (a)”

  • When the forest guard’s wisdom meets the algorithm

    When the forest guard’s wisdom meets the algorithm

    Why in the News

    The forest guard’s field knowledge remains the most valuable database in tiger conservation, more than five decades after Project Tiger began. Artificial intelligence (AI) can preserve, organise and amplify that knowledge rather than replace it, as the threats to tigers grow more complex.

    What is the forest guard’s knowledge, and why is it being lost?

    1. What it is: Forest guards know where a tigress crossed the stream, where poachers might enter and which village is restless. It is like a living map of the reserve.
    2. Why it matters: The forest guard was Project Tiger’s greatest asset when it began in 1973.
    3. What goes wrong: Forest departments often lose this knowledge when experienced officers retire or are transferred, so new officers relearn it by trial and error.
    4. The takeaway: Tiger conservation depends on knowledge that leaves with people, so retaining it is the first job AI can do.

    Why does conservation now need anticipatory governance?

    1. Rising complexity: Expanding infrastructure, more people, sophisticated crime networks, cyber-enabled illegal trade, emerging diseases and rapid climate change have made conservation harder than decades ago.
    2. Beyond gadgets: Global debate on AI in conservation centres on image recognition, drones and species identification. The real question is how AI helps a field director decide better tomorrow.
    3. Anticipatory governance: Anticipatory governance means preparing for threats before they arrive, by combining a field director’s experience with AI analysis that anticipates change.
    4. Assistant, not substitute: No algorithm can replace a forest guard’s instinct or a field director’s judgement. AI should analyse large volumes of information and give timely insights for field decisions.

    What AI tools are already in use, and what comes next?

    1. Tools in use: Decision-support tools already include automated stripe-matching in the All India Tiger Estimation, e-surveillance systems, satellite-based fire alerts, GPS-based patrolling and digital monitoring platforms.
    2. Single dashboard: The next step is to integrate these tools in one dashboard that turns scattered information into usable intelligence for field officers.
    3. Inherited field intelligence: A range officer joining a reserve in 10 years could inherit decades of patterns: tiger dispersal, seasonal conflict hotspots, effective patrols, restoration successes and recurring crime tactics.

    How can AI help communities around tiger reserves?

    1. Landscape focus: AI’s greater contribution may lie in the landscapes around protected areas, where the future of tigers is tied to community wellbeing.
    2. Livelihoods and schemes: AI can match livelihoods to local skills, resources and markets, and improve access to government schemes. It can also pick villages for conservation-linked jobs or community stewardship.
    3. Decentralised renewable energy: Farmland around tiger landscapes could become part of decentralised renewable energy (RE) systems. Analysing energy availability, irrigation demand, cropping and household needs helps such projects support livelihoods.
    4. Conflict-prone crops: The same analysis can flag cropping patterns that unintentionally draw wildlife into fields, a cause of human-wildlife conflict.

    Challenges

    1. Capturing tacit knowledge: A forest guard’s instinct is rarely written down, so turning it into usable data needs time and willing field staff.
    2. Scattered systems: Existing tools work separately, so their information does not yet reach field officers as one picture.
    3. Over-reliance on algorithms: Treating AI output as a decision rather than advice would sideline the field judgement the system is meant to preserve.

    Way Forward

    1. Knowledge capture before exit: Forest departments should record the field knowledge of officers due to retire or be transferred in an AI-assisted system.
    2. Reserve-level pilots: Test the integrated dashboard in a few tiger reserves before extending it across the network.
    3. Field-first design: Build AI tools with forest guards so that outputs answer the questions guards actually face.

    Conclusion

    Field staff remain a reserve’s main source of ground information, and AI adds value only by learning from them. Whether forest departments build integrated systems tested in the field will decide if tiger conservation can anticipate threats instead of reacting to them.

    Back2Basics: Project Tiger

    1. Launch site: Project Tiger was launched at Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand, India’s first national park, established in 1936 as Hailey National Park.
    2. Growing network: Madhav Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh became India’s 58th tiger reserve in 2025.
    3. Tiger’s status: The Royal Bengal tiger is Endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List and is in Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
    4. Trade protection: It is listed in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

    Matching Previous Year Question

    “[2017] The term ‘M-STrIPES’ is sometimes seen in the news in the context of (a) Captive breeding of Wild Fauna (b) Maintenance of Tiger Reserves (c) Indigenous Satellite Navigation System (d) Security of National Highways ANSWER: (b)”

  • The ecological fallout of Israel’s war in Gaza

    The ecological fallout of Israel’s war in Gaza

    Why in the News

    6 November is the United Nations’ International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict, designated by the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in 2001. The damage to Gaza’s environment has deepened since Israel attacked Gaza after the Hamas-led attacks of 7 October 2023. The war tests whether international law can make a state repair the environment it wrecks.

    What are the PERAC principles?

    1. What they are: The 27 draft principles on the Protection of the Environment in Relation to Armed Conflicts (PERAC) work like a rulebook for how war must treat nature.
    2. Why they were needed: War damages ecosystems and depletes resources long after fighting ends, often across borders and into future generations.
    3. Adoption and UN recognition: The International Law Commission (ILC), the UN’s law-drafting body, adopted the principles. The UNGA formally noted them on 7 December 2022, the same year.
    4. Scope: Principle 1 applies them before, during and after a conflict, including during occupation.
    5. The takeaway: The principles make a state answerable for environmental harm even after the fighting stops, which brings an occupying power within their reach.

    What has the war done to Gaza’s environment?

    1. UNEP assessment: The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report ‘Environmental Impact of the Conflict in the Gaza Strip’ found unprecedented damage to Gaza’s soils, freshwater and coastline.
    2. Lost vegetation: Since 2023 Gaza has lost 97% of its tree crops and most shrubland and annual crops, leaving its people on the brink of famine.
    3. Polluted water: Freshwater is critically scarce and largely contaminated. Destroyed sewage plants and pipes, and reliance on cesspits, have probably polluted Gaza’s main aquifer and its coastal waters.
    4. Damaged soil: Vegetation loss and soil compaction by military activity have cut the soil’s ability to absorb water, raising flood risk and reducing groundwater recharge.

    What does international law expect of an occupying power?

    1. Dual responsibility: The writer holds Israel responsible both for the war, which he calls a genocide, and for its conduct as an occupying power.
    2. Duty of trusteeship: Under PERAC, an occupying power must use the territory’s natural resources for the benefit of the protected population and protect its environment.
    3. ICJ finding: An International Court of Justice (ICJ) advisory opinion of 19 July 2024 acknowledged that Israel systematically took natural resources from the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) for itself.
    4. Permanent sovereignty: International law gives all peoples, including those under occupation, permanent sovereignty over natural resources. The writer argues settlements and resource appropriation have undermined it.

    Who must pay for the damage?

    1. Principle 9: A state whose internationally wrongful act in an armed conflict damages the environment bears international responsibility. It must make full reparation, including for damage to the environment itself.
    2. Application to Gaza: On this basis Israel owes full reparation for the destruction in Gaza, an obligation the writer says the ICJ opinion reaffirmed.
    3. Climate justice argument: Citing climate activist Andreas Malm, the writer argues climate justice is impossible without ending Israel’s occupation.

    Challenges

    1. Non-binding principles: The UNGA only noted the PERAC draft principles, so they do not bind states the way a treaty does.
    2. Outdated figures: Damage statistics date quickly as conditions worsen, so the UNEP report understates the full harm.
    3. Enforcing reparation: No mechanism compels a state to pay for environmental damage.

    Way Forward

    1. Regular assessment: UNEP should update its Gaza assessment at fixed intervals so the damage record keeps pace with events.
    2. Reparation mechanism: The UNGA should set up a body to assess war damage to the environment and order compensation.
    3. Binding rules: States should negotiate a treaty that turns the PERAC principles into binding obligations.

    Conclusion

    International law now names a state’s duty to repair war damage to nature but has no means to enforce it. Whether the UN builds a working process to make states pay for wrecking nature is the test Gaza now sets.

    Key numbers

    1. Shrubland lost: 95% since 2023 (UNEP, 23 September 2025).
    2. Annual crops lost: 82% since 2023 (UNEP).
    3. Buildings damaged or destroyed: About 78% of an estimated 2,50,000 (UNEP).
    4. Debris: Around 61 million tonnes (UNEP).

    Back2Basics: International Court of Justice (ICJ)

    1. Formation: Set up in 1945, with its seat at The Hague, Netherlands.
    2. Role: The UN’s principal judicial organ, settling disputes between consenting states and giving advisory opinions to UN bodies.
    3. Composition: 15 judges, elected by the UNGA and the UN Security Council for nine-year terms.

    Matching Previous Year Question

    “No direct PYQ traced in the provided files. Thematic PYQ: [2023] Invasive Species Specialist Group’ (that develops Global Invasive Species Database) belongs to which one of the following organizations? (a) The International Union for Conservation of Nature (b) The United Nations Environment Programme (c) The United Nations World Commission for Environment and Development (d) The World Wide Fund for Nature ANSWER: (a)”

  • A new conversation is needed on farm fires

    A new conversation is needed on farm fires

    Why in the News

    The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) has cracked down on stubble burning in Punjab, a day after Delhi’s Environment Minister blamed the State’s farm fires for a spike in the Capital’s air pollution. The crackdown leaves a more basic question open: why farmers keep setting paddy straw on fire even after court orders, years of enforcement and policies meant to offer cleaner alternatives.

    What is stubble burning, and why does it persist?

    1. What it is: After the paddy harvest, farmers burn the leftover straw to clear their fields. It is the fastest way to ready a field for the next crop.
    2. Legal status: Burning crop residue is illegal, with fines ranging from Rs 5,000 to Rs 30,000.
    3. Why it matters: Smoke from these fires adds to air pollution in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) during the peak burning season.
    4. The takeaway: As long as burning stays the easiest way to clear a field, fines alone cannot end it.

    What has the CAQM done, and has it worked?

    1. Show-cause notices: The Commission has issued show-cause notices to deputy commissioners and senior police officers in nine Punjab districts.
    2. Personal accountability: It has warned officials in 12 districts that they will be held personally accountable for enforcement lapses.
    3. Timing: The action is timely because it coincides with the peak stubble-burning season.
    4. Limited air benefit: Farm-fire incidents have fallen over the past three years, particularly in Punjab, but not enough to bring a visible improvement in air quality.

    Why can satellites miss farm fires?

    1. Shift in burning time: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) and iFOREST studies show peak burning has moved to late afternoon and evening.
    2. Fixed satellite passes: Satellites pass over farms at fixed times, so fires lit later in the day may go undetected.
    3. New CAQM portal: The Commission’s new portal links satellite evidence with field-level action and could close this gap. Its success depends on agriculture officers verifying alerts and reporting violations.

    Why do farmers keep burning straw?

    1. Weak straw market: Farm fires will fall for good only if collecting and using straw pays. Industries have not bought enough biomass to give farmers reliable buyers.
    2. Costly in-field management: In-situ management, meaning handling the straw within the field instead of burning it, remains costly for small cultivators.
    3. Low returns: A CEEW study last month found that farmers increasingly remove straw from their fields, but most of them earn inadequate returns from it.
    4. Weather squeeze: Unusual weather this year, including October rain, delayed the harvest and shortened the window for sowing wheat.
    5. Free power for paddy: Free electricity for irrigation keeps paddy cheap to grow. Paying for water would push Punjab farmers to cut paddy acreage, tackling farm emissions at source.

    Challenges

    1. Punishment without alternatives: Notices and fines raise the cost of burning but give farmers no cheaper way to clear straw, so behaviour changes little.
    2. Detection gaps: Evening fires that escape satellite passes leave enforcement dependent on field checks by agriculture officers.
    3. Farmer uncertainty: Ecological and economic uncertainty, worsened by erratic weather, makes farmers unwilling to bear new costs of straw management.
    4. Free power reform: Ending free farm electricity withdraws a benefit Punjab’s farmers rely on, which makes it the hardest measure to adopt.

    Way Forward

    1. Machinery access: State governments should improve small farmers’ access to straw management machinery.
    2. Local collection networks: Build local networks to collect paddy straw so it can reach industrial users.
    3. Assured buyers: Secure dependable buyers for straw so that removing it earns farmers a fair return.

    Conclusion

    Enforcement can punish a farm fire but cannot make the alternative pay. Whether Punjab builds a working market for straw and stops subsidising paddy through free power will decide if farm fires fall for good.

    Back2Basics: Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM)

    1. Status: A statutory body for the NCR and Adjoining Areas, in charge since 2021. It replaced the non-statutory Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA).
    2. GRAP enforcement: It enforces the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), which tightens curbs in four stages linked to the Air Quality Index (AQI).
    3. GRAP origin: The Environment Ministry first notified GRAP in January 2017 on Supreme Court directions.

    Matching Previous Year Question

    “[2015, GS1, 12 marks] Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata are the three mega cities of the country but the air pollution is much more serious problem in Delhi as compared to the other two. Why is this so?”

  • India’s time will come. For now, it is a middle power in a bi-multipolar world

    India’s time will come. For now, it is a middle power in a bi-multipolar world

    Why in the News

    China’s rapid rise and India’s slower growth over the past decade have raised questions about India’s global place. The External Affairs Minister calls India a “power in the middle”, not a “middle power”. India’s economic record suggests it should accept middle-power status in a “bi-multipolar” world for now.

    Why does economic performance shape India’s global status?

    1. Status and economy: Economic status alone does not define power, but it matters. The world’s view of India changed around 2000, as its economy and information technology skills drew attention.
    2. Earlier moral stature: A poorer India was once seen as a “great power” as the developing world’s first post-colonial democracy.
    3. Growth record: India’s long-term growth rate rose steadily, nearly doubling between 1950 and 2010.
    4. Strategic recognition: A 2000 paper for the National Security Advisory Board, “Strategic Consequences of India’s Economic Performance”, tied global status to economic performance.
    5. The takeaway: In the long run, economic capability decides how much weight the world gives India.

    How did the world’s view of India change after 2000?

    1. BRIC report: Goldman Sachs’ 2001 BRIC report on emerging economies clubbed India with China, Brazil and Russia.
    2. “Two engines”: By 2007, Singapore’s founder-mentor Lee Kuan Yew described China and India as “two engines” that would power Asia’s rise.
    3. Sanctions survived: The economy withstood sanctions by the United States (U.S.) and its allies after India’s 1998 nuclear tests.

    Why has scepticism about India’s rise grown?

    1. Unmet claims: Claims of India as a “vishwaguru” and premature economic targets went unfulfilled. Officials claimed India was the third largest economy when it is still the sixth largest.
    2. Western expectations: Western states worried about China hoped India would join them against it, and India’s joining the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) fed that hope.
    3. China’s take-off: Between 2010 and 2025, China’s economy took off and it became a knowledge power with advanced science and technology.
    4. Domestic politics: Majoritarian politics at home has also damaged the narrative of India’s rise.
    5. Stalled growth: Growth has not risen much above its long-term average. Viksit Bharat by 2047, a developed India, needs growth well above 8% a year for a decade.

    What role should India play in a bi-multipolar world?

    1. Bi-multipolarity: The U.S. and China dominate with global reach, and several middle powers form the many other poles. India gains nothing by posing as a third big power.
    2. Voice of the weak: An India that speaks for the weak, not one courting the powerful, will win the votes for a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) seat.
    3. Middle-power alliances: India should build alliances with Russia, the European Union (EU), the United Kingdom (UK), Japan, Brazil, South Africa and other like-minded states.
    4. Stability with both: Both the U.S. and China challenge India, and neither can be used against the other, so stable ties with both stay a priority.

    Challenges

    1. Credibility deficit: Unmet official claims reduce the weight partners give to India’s stated targets.
    2. Competing expectations: Western partners hope India will side against China, yet India cannot use either the U.S. or China against the other.
    3. Contested seat: Election to the UNSC needs broad support from developing countries.

    Way Forward

    1. Global South agenda: Lead on developing-country demands in global forums to build votes for the UNSC bid.
    2. Issue partnerships: Deepen trade and technology partnerships with the EU, Japan, Brazil and South Africa.
    3. Dual channels: Keep regular high-level contact with both Washington and Beijing so neither relationship slides.

    Conclusion

    India’s standing will rise with its economy, not with claims made ahead of it, so middle-power status is a starting point, not a demotion. Whether growth breaks clear of its long-term average will decide when its time comes.

    Key numbers

    1. Long-term growth: 3.5% a year (1950-80) to about 6% (1980-2010).
    2. Peak growth: Over 8% a year during 2003-2010.
    3. Missed income target: National income of $5 trillion by 2020, an official claim that went unmet.

    What is a G2?

    1. Meaning: A G2 is a description of a world order run in effect by the U.S. and China. Only these two can shape economic order, technology standards and supply chains.
    2. No machinery: A G2 is not an institution and has no charter or secretariat. It does not mean the two agree, only that their disagreements set everyone else’s terms.
    3. Managed rivalry: Neither can escape the other’s market, technology or capital, so the rivalry is managed through high-level contact, not settled.

    Matching Previous Year Question

    “[2026, GS2, 10 marks] “BRICS acts as a powerful counterweight in global governance, actively amplifying the voice and influence of the Global South.” Explain the role of BRICS in projecting itself as an alternative to other groupings.”

  • A middle power moment in a fragmenting world

    A middle power moment in a fragmenting world

    Why in the News

    The world is no longer defined only by the pull of superpowers or by Cold War blocs, but by a wider set of middle powers. Canada’s Prime Minister called at Davos in January for middle powers to tackle the international system’s challenges together. Yet global institutions have changed far less than the world itself.

    What is a middle power?

    1. What it is: Not a great power, a middle power has enough weight to matter globally and enough autonomy to act alone. Like a swing voter, it tilts outcomes.
    2. Typical attributes: A middle power has regional influence, a growing economy, credible diplomatic networks and the will to act beyond its neighbourhood.
    3. Source of influence: Middle powers draw influence from strategic position, economic weight and diplomatic agility. They use it by building coalitions and setting agendas, not by coercion.
    4. Who counts: India, Brazil, Canada, Egypt, South Africa, Japan, Indonesia, Türkiye, Mexico and Germany. South Korea, the Netherlands, the United Arab Emirates, Nigeria and Qatar qualify in specific areas.
    5. The takeaway: The definition stays loose, but these states share a sense that the existing order neither reflects their aspirations nor accommodates their agency.

    Why has the old order opened space for them?

    1. Unchanged UNSC: The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) keeps its 1945 structure. Since then empires have ended, new nations have formed and economic power has shifted.
    2. Weakened legitimacy: Inadequate representation and inconsistent adherence to international law erode the order’s legitimacy. States asked to defend a rules-based order ask which rules bind the powerful.
    3. Reform, not demolition: Dismantling institutions would destroy protections middle powers need, so their task is to make the order more representative and credible and keep its capacity to restrain power.
    4. Rule-takers to rule-makers: Middle powers no longer accept being “rule-takers” and are not yet “rule-makers”. They champion development, climate justice, equitable trade and technology access for the Global South.
    5. Leadership gap: A superpower’s commitment to the system it built is now in question, so demand for cooperation has grown as uncontested leadership shrinks.

    How are middle powers using this space?

    1. Room to act: Paralysed multilateral bodies and fragmented supply chains limit collective action. Doubts about post-war assumptions also open space for new initiatives.
    2. Tools: Middle powers build issue-based coalitions and mediate where great powers are distrusted. They set norms in digital governance, climate finance, health security and development cooperation.
    3. Bridging leverage: Middle powers speak to the West and the Global South at once, a leverage neither superpowers nor smaller states hold.
    4. Country instances: India led the G-20 in 2023, Brazil pursued climate diplomacy and South Africa pressed for vaccine equity. Germany stabilised Europe and engaged the Indo-Pacific.
    5. Mixed groupings: The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad), BRICS, the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), the Belt and Road Initiative and the International North-South Transport Corridor join middle and great powers.

    Where does India fit?

    1. Multi-alignment: India pursues advantageous relationships with multiple partners, a preference shaped by the turbulence of the past year or two.
    2. China as threat: Brazil or Indonesia see China as an economic engine. India faces it across an undefined border, so ties with the United States (U.S.) and Russia are necessary.
    3. U.S. uncertainty: The U.S. midterm results have added new uncertainty about Washington’s posture in world affairs.

    Challenges

    1. No unified bloc: Middle powers shape norms for their own camps, so their coalitions stay issue-bound and short-lived.
    2. Exposure to shocks: Middle powers are more vulnerable than superpowers to economic shocks, which can cut their influence.
    3. Slow institutional change: The institutions that govern the world have changed far less than the world itself, which limits what middle powers can win inside them.

    Way Forward

    1. Issue coalitions: India should build standing coalitions with other middle powers on digital governance, climate finance and health security.
    2. Reform from within: Press for UNSC expansion reflecting post-1945 shifts rather than backing parallel bodies.
    3. Global South convening: Use G-20 style convening to carry developing-country positions into Western forums.

    Conclusion

    Middle powers gain room when institutions stall and great powers falter, yet those same conditions expose them to shocks they cannot absorb alone. Whether India turns its convening role into durable coalitions, and keeps hedging between rival great powers, will decide if this moment becomes lasting influence.

    Matching Previous Year Question

    “[2026, GS2, 10 marks] “BRICS acts as a powerful counterweight in global governance, actively amplifying the voice and influence of the Global South.” Explain the role of BRICS in projecting itself as an alternative to other groupings.”

  • Nearly 3-fold jump in serious adverse events caused by medical devices: New data

    Why in the News

    For the first time, India’s count of Serious Adverse Events (SAEs) caused by medical devices is public, showing a nearly threefold rise from 808 in 2020 to 2,176 in 2025. The Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission (IPC) released it after an order of the Central Information Commission (CIC), the final appeal body for information requests. It still refused to name device categories or manufacturers.

    What is a serious adverse event, and who tracks it?

    1. What it is: An SAE is device harm that can threaten life or prolong a hospital stay. Global norms count death, longer hospitalisation, a life-threatening situation or disability as serious.
    2. Who tracks it: The IPC, an autonomous Central body setting drug standards, runs the Materiovigilance Programme of India (MvPI). Launched in 2015, it works like a safety watch on devices.
    3. How events are reported: Events are logged at 775 monitoring centres or on the Adverse Drug Monitoring System (ADRMS) portal. Every SAE must reach the IPC within 15 days.
    4. Earlier disclosure: The IPC’s annual reports gave broad totals of Medical Device Adverse Events (MDAEs), every reported device harm. They kept SAE figures restricted.
    5. The takeaway: Until now the public could not see how often devices cause grave harm.

    What does the data show, and is anyone acting on it?

    1. Six-year total: The IPC “received and reviewed” 9,373 SAEs over the six years.
    2. Minor items flagged: Annual report lists of “suspected devices” include surgical gloves, syringes and urine bags. The 2022-23 report even listed a male condom as a “counterfeit device”.
    3. Few cases escalated: In 2024-25 only 22 events went to the national regulator, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), for “necessary action”. Most were gloves, syringes and urine bags.
    4. Stents in the Implant Files: The Implant Files investigation found Abbott’s coronary stents made up over half of all MDAEs logged in 2018.

    Why were device and maker details withheld?

    1. Commercial confidence: The IPC argued naming manufacturers is exempt under Section 8(1)(d) of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005. It protects information that would harm a firm’s competitive position.
    2. Cause not established: The CIC withheld brand details. It was not conclusively established whether each event came from a procedural lapse or the device itself.
    3. Too voluminous: The IPC also said details for every MDAE were too voluminous and collating them would divert its resources.
    4. Long road to release: Requests to update the 2018 dataset were denied. The six-year data came only after a final CIC appeal in 2025.

    How does a public device database work elsewhere?

    1. MAUDE: The United States runs the Manufacturer and User Facility Device Experience (MAUDE) database, a public record of adverse events across all device categories.
    2. Granular detail: It records device-related deaths and injuries. Users can see the brand, manufacturer, model and type of event.

    Challenges

    1. Hidden makers: Patients and doctors cannot avoid a faulty device whose brand and manufacturer stay confidential.
    2. Open-ended confidentiality: Without a finished causality review, the “not established” ground can be invoked for every event.
    3. Low-risk noise: Suspect lists dominated by gloves and syringes crowd out high-risk implants such as stents.

    Way Forward

    1. Maker-level disclosure: The IPC should publish brand, manufacturer and model for serious events once causality is assessed.
    2. Time-bound causality review: Assess each SAE within a fixed period, so confidentiality cannot be claimed indefinitely.
    3. Clear referral rule: CDSCO should define which events require referral for action, with high-risk implants first.

    Conclusion

    India now counts serious harm from medical devices but still hides which devices cause it, so patients cannot act on the data. Whether the IPC and the regulator move from counting events to naming devices and acting on them is the change to watch.

    Key numbers

    1. MDAEs logged, 2024-25: 14,584.
    2. Stent share, 2018: Abbott coronary stents were 290 of 566 MDAEs (Implant Files).
    3. Escalation, 2023-24: 16 of 10,269 MDAEs forwarded to CDSCO, including one drug-eluting stent.
    4. Escalation, 2022-23: 12 of 3,868 MDAEs forwarded, including a “suspect” inhaler, an incubator and a coronary stent.

    Back2Basics: Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO)

    1. Head: It functions under the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI).
    2. Mandate: Licensing, approval and market authorisation of drugs, medical devices and cosmetics under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940.
    3. Centre-State split: The DCGI licenses new drugs, vaccines and certain categories. State Drug Controllers license the manufacture and sale of most other drugs.

    Matching Previous Year Question

    “[2020, GS2, 10 marks] “Recent amendments to the Right to Information Act will have profound impact on the autonomy and independence of the Information Commission”. Discuss.”

  • Danger in the sewer

    Why in the News

    Four sanitation workers have died in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, cleaning a hotel’s food-waste chamber. The deaths show that laws, Supreme Court orders, government programmes and mechanised cleaning technology have not stopped India losing workers to foreseeable and largely preventable hazards.

    What is hazardous sewer cleaning, and how does the law treat it?

    1. What it is: Hazardous cleaning means a worker physically entering a sewer or septic tank to clear it. Workers inside are exposed to noxious gases, poisonous fumes trapped there.
    2. Legal distinction: Since 2013 the law has treated hazardous cleaning of sewers and septic tanks as separate from manual scavenging, the manual cleaning of excreta from insanitary latrines.
    3. Governing law: The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 and its Rules restrict manual cleaning.
    4. Who is affected: Members of historically marginalised castes are overrepresented in these jobs, so the risk falls along caste lines.
    5. The takeaway: A legal ban on manual scavenging has not removed the danger, because workers still go down into sewers and septic tanks.

    What have the courts ordered?

    1. Safai Karamchari Andolan (2014): The Supreme Court laid down requirements to protect workers who clean sewers and septic tanks.
    2. Dr. Balram Singh (2023): The Court strengthened those requirements. Outsourced sewer-cleaning contracts must not involve workers entering sewers.
    3. Higher compensation: The same ruling raised compensation for a death to Rs 30 lakh per worker.
    4. City-level ban: A 2025 order sought to end manual sewer cleaning in the four metropolitan cities and in Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

    Why do the deaths continue?

    1. Official claim of elimination: Since at least 2021 the government has said manual cleaning of insanitary latrines has ended. Administrative bodies feel no urgency to inspect municipalities and private establishments.
    2. Contractor evasion: Private contractors and municipal bodies violate the Act’s restrictions. They evade liability by hiring undocumented daily-wage workers, so no employer answers for a death.
    3. Persistent toll: Death counts from Parliament and the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis (NCSK), the national body monitoring sanitation workers’ welfare, have never fallen close to zero.

    What does the NAMASTE scheme get wrong?

    1. Aims versus outcomes: The National Action for Mechanised Sanitation Ecosystem (NAMASTE) scheme is meant to move sewer cleaning from hands to machines. Its outcomes fall well short.
    2. Assistance over prevention: The state maximises help, such as distributing safety kits, instead of cutting the situations that kill workers. This is its fundamental error.

    Challenges

    1. Unreliable death count: The Safai Karamchari Andolan, a sanitation workers’ movement, has repeatedly alleged severe under-reporting, so the true toll is unknown.
    2. Defiance of court orders: Notices went to 15 Chief Secretaries for disobeying the 2023 order, including on compensation.
    3. Urban-centred scheme: NAMASTE is centred on urban local bodies, so hazardous cleaning outside cities sits beyond its main reach.
    4. Unused technology: Mechanised cleaning equipment exists, yet employers still send workers into sewers by hand.

    Way Forward

    1. Formal employment: Municipal bodies and contractors should employ sanitation workers on record with social security across caste lines, so liability for a death cannot be evaded.
    2. No-entry contracts: Every sewer-cleaning contract should bar worker entry and pay only for machine cleaning.
    3. Inspection drive: District administrations should resume inspections of municipalities and private establishments such as hotels.
    4. Prevention metric: Judge NAMASTE by the fall in hazardous entries, not by the number of kits distributed.
    5. Single verified count: The NCSK should publish one verified annual count of sewer and septic tank deaths.

    Conclusion

    Sewer deaths persist because the state measures its response by aid delivered and by a declared end to manual scavenging, not by how many workers still go below ground. Whether hazardous entries actually fall, rather than assistance rising, is the test the courts and the government now face.

    Key numbers

    1. Deaths, 2014 to 2025: 859 sanitation workers died in sewer and septic tank work (Parliament and NCSK data).
    2. Deaths, 2019 to mid-2026: 498.
    3. Deaths, 2021-26: 332 across 18 States and Union Territories.
    4. Deaths, 1993 to 2025: 1,350.

    Back2Basics: NAMASTE scheme

    1. Ministry: Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
    2. Aims: Mechanised cleaning of sewers and septic tanks, and the profiling and rehabilitation of sanitation workers.
    3. Proposed extension: The Ministry has proposed extending it to rural India and to drain, sewage treatment plant and faecal sludge workers, at about Rs 498.73 crore to 2030-31.

    Matching Previous Year Question

    “[2016] Rashtriya Garima Abhiyaan’ is a national campaign to (a) rehabilitate the homeless and destitute persons and provide them with suitable sources of livelihood (b) release the sex workers from their practice and provide them with alternative sources of livelihood (c) eradicate the practice of manual scavenging and rehabilitate the manual scavengers (d) release the bonded labourers from their bondage and rehabilitate them ANSWER: (c)”

  • The adult is liable for underage driving

    Why in the News

    In Kochi, a 17-year-old allegedly driving his father’s car killed an eatery owner. The crash has tested Section 199A of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. The section holds adults liable for a juvenile’s driving offence but lets them escape by proving ignorance, even where reasonable precautions could have prevented it.

    What is Section 199A, and where does it fall short?

    1. What it is: Parliament introduced Section 199A to hold guardians and vehicle owners accountable when juveniles commit offences under the Act. The adult holding the keys acts like a gatekeeper against underage driving.
    2. Deemed guilt: The law treats the adult as guilty of the child’s offence. It also assumes the adult consented to the vehicle’s use.
    3. Punishment: It provides up to three years’ imprisonment and a fine, alongside liability for the underlying offence.
    4. What went wrong: The law does not specify what precautions adults must take. It lets ignorance of the offence serve as a defence without any proof of such precautions.
    5. The takeaway: An adult who leaves keys within a child’s reach can escape liability by pleading ignorance. Eg. The Kochi father says he was asleep when his son took the car.

    How can procedure defeat an adult’s prosecution?

    1. Sui generis offence: In 2024 the Kerala High Court described Section 199A as a sui generis (stand-alone) offence, creating adult liability separate from the proceedings against the child.
    2. No need to wait: The adult’s offence still requires that the child broke the law. Yet the adult’s prosecution can begin before the Juvenile Justice Board decides whether the child did.
    3. Deadline ends the case: The court also held adult prosecution ends if the Board’s inquiry into a petty offence lapses at its deadline under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.
    4. Inquiry deadline: Such inquiries must ordinarily finish within four months, with a further two months allowed.
    5. Delay is not innocence: These deadlines protect children from prolonged proceedings and must remain. A case that ends through delay does not mean the offence never occurred.

    Does the law deter underage driving?

    1. Crash data: The government told the Rajya Sabha that 11,890 crashes involving minor drivers were reported across two years.
    2. Missing enforcement data: The data did not show how many adults were prosecuted or convicted under Section 199A, so the law’s deterrent effect cannot be assessed.

    Challenges

    1. Ignorance defence: Adults can escape liability by claiming ignorance without showing any precautions.
    2. Undefined duty: The law sets no standard of reasonable precautions against a child’s access to a vehicle.
    3. Procedural lapse: An adult’s prosecution can collapse when the Juvenile Justice Board misses its deadline.
    4. Punishment not tied to fault: Liability follows the child’s offence rather than the adult’s own failure, so punishment is not proportionate to fault.

    Way Forward

    1. Express duty of care: Parliament should make reasonable precautions an enforceable duty and remove ignorance as an independent defence.
    2. Shared burden of proof: Prosecutors should prove the juvenile’s offence, the adult’s responsibility and a failure of precautions. Adults could then explain the precautions they took.
    3. Evidence of fault: Courts could weigh earlier incidents, access to keys, ignored warnings and what an adult could realistically have done.
    4. Independent finding: Parliament should let the court hearing the adult’s case decide for itself whether the offence occurred.
    5. Prosecution records: Report prosecutions and convictions under Section 199A alongside crash data on minor drivers.

    Conclusion

    Section 199A promises adult accountability for underage driving, but its text and its interpretation let ignorance and delay defeat it. Whether Parliament revisits the section to define reasonable precautions will decide if cases like Kochi end in accountability.

    Matching Previous Year Question

    “No direct PYQ traced in the provided files. Thematic PYQ: [2026] Which of the following statements about a Zero First Information Report (Zero FIR) under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023 is/are correct? 1. A Zero FIR can be lodged at a police station, even though the place of commission of a cognizable/non-cognizable offence is outside the territorial jurisdiction of that police station. 2. The Officer-in-Charge of the police station where a Zero FIR has been lodged may, with the permission of the competent authority, initiate a preliminary enquiry. 3. Under Zero FIR, it is obligatory for the informant to furnish information electronically. Select the answer using the code given below: (a) 1, 2 and 3 (b) 2 and 3 only (c) 1 only (d) 2 only ANSWER: D”

  • Zero FIR is progressive, but it is not enough

    Why in the News

    The Zero First Information Report (Zero FIR), hailed as one of the new criminal laws’ most progressive provisions, lets a woman report an offence at any police station. Its protection ends once the case moves to the station with jurisdiction, as a 15-year-old survivor’s repeated journeys for every later procedure show.

    What is a Zero FIR, and why was it introduced?

    1. What it is: Section 173 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023 lets a woman file an FIR, the record opening a criminal case, at any station, like posting a letter anywhere.
    2. How it moves: The receiving station numbers it zero and transfers it to the station with jurisdiction. That station re-registers it and investigates.
    3. Why it was introduced: The Justice Verma Committee (2013), set up after the December 2012 gang rape, first recommended Zero FIRs in cases of sexual violence.
    4. Enforcement on paper: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has issued advisories that refusing to register an FIR will bring prosecution and disciplinary action against the police officer.
    5. The takeaway: The provision removes jurisdiction as a barrier to reporting, but only at the moment of reporting.

    What did one survivor face after filing a Zero FIR?

    1. The survivor: Mitra (name changed), a 15-year-old orphan from one of Mumbai’s poorest slums, was taken by a friend to Raigad district. There she was raped and beaten.
    2. Forced travel: The case moved to Raigad the next day. Police made her travel there, four hours each way, ignoring her pregnancy, her motion sickness and her elder brother’s lost wages.
    3. Repeated procedures: She travelled repeatedly at her own cost for spot identification, the panchnama (police record of the scene), a medical examination, her statement before a magistrate and the Child Welfare Committee.
    4. Denied local care: Police refused a medical termination of pregnancy at a government hospital near her home. She spent almost 20 days in a Raigad hospital, never told who her support person was.
    5. Compensation not paid: Her interim victim compensation under Maharashtra’s scheme, due within seven days, has not been granted.

    Why does the protection end at registration?

    1. Police resistance: Police still resist filing Zero FIRs, and registering one takes painful persuasion and repeated reminders of the law.
    2. Procedure follows jurisdiction: After transfer, every procedure happens in the district with jurisdiction, so the survivor, not the system, bears the distance.
    3. Coercion of complainants: Police threatened Mitra’s supporters with severe action if they did not cooperate.
    4. Burden on the family: For the past one and a half months, police have repeatedly summoned her elder brother, the family’s breadwinner, to the Raigad police station and court.

    Challenges

    1. Travel cost on survivors: No rule requires the state to pay for a survivor’s repeated journeys to a distant district.
    2. Missed compensation deadlines: The seven-day window for interim compensation goes unenforced.
    3. Child safeguards skipped: A child survivor can go through procedures without knowing her support person.
    4. Deterrence to reporting: When reporting rape costs a family its income, safety and stability, families choose silence.

    Way Forward

    1. Procedures near home: In a Zero FIR case, arrange the medical examination, magistrate statement, Child Welfare Committee production and shelter placement near the survivor’s residence.
    2. State-paid transport: Where a survivor must go to another district, the state should provide transport for her and a family member or support person.
    3. Enforceable directions: The state should issue clear, enforceable directions so that survivors receive support at their doorstep.
    4. Time-bound compensation: Release interim victim compensation within the seven-day window.

    Conclusion

    Zero FIR has made reporting easier but leaves the survivor to carry the cost of every step that follows. Whether States issue enforceable directions for doorstep procedures will decide if survivors keep reporting or choose silence.

    About FIR Registration under the BNSS

    1. Cognizable offences only: An FIR, a Zero FIR included, lies only for a cognizable offence, one police may investigate without a magistrate’s order. A non-cognizable complaint gets only a General Diary entry.
    2. Preliminary enquiry: For offences punishable with three years or more but less than seven, the officer in charge may first hold a preliminary enquiry, with a Deputy Superintendent of Police’s permission.
    3. e-FIR: Information may be given electronically, but this is optional, not mandatory.
    4. Women victims: For offences against women, especially rape, the BNSS requires a woman officer to record the statement at the victim’s residence or a convenient place.

    Matching Previous Year Question

    “[2026] Which of the following statements about a Zero First Information Report (Zero FIR) under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023 is/are correct? 1. A Zero FIR can be lodged at a police station, even though the place of commission of a cognizable/non-cognizable offence is outside the territorial jurisdiction of that police station. 2. The Officer-in-Charge of the police station where a Zero FIR has been lodged may, with the permission of the competent authority, initiate a preliminary enquiry. 3. Under Zero FIR, it is obligatory for the informant to furnish information electronically. Select the answer using the code given below: (a) 1, 2 and 3 (b) 2 and 3 only (c) 1 only (d) 2 only ANSWER: D”

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