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  • A Himalayan tragedy

    Why in the News

    Scientists investigating the flash flood on the Bhotekoshi river in Nepal have attributed it to a sturzstrom, a high speed rock and ice avalanche near Langtang Lirung on the Nepal China border, rather than to a glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF). The reattribution matters because a flood on the same river in July of the previous year, which also occurred without rainfall, was concluded to be a glacial lake outburst flood, and that conclusion shaped what was being watched for. The flood struck at around 8.40 a.m. and has left more than 600 dead and close to 2,500 missing, including foreign nationals, mostly from India. What is now contested is whether a monitoring and warning system built around glacial lakes can see a hazard that begins as a bedrock and ice collapse.

    What is a sturzstrom?

    1. The definition: A massive rock avalanche in which a large volume of rock suddenly collapses and travels at extremely high speed over a long distance.
    2. Its high mountain form: Where the collapsing rock is mixed with ice, snow, firn and frozen soil, the same event is described as a rock and ice avalanche.
    3. Why the runout is so long: Pressure and friction inside the moving mass generate meltwater, which lubricates the mass and its base, reduces resistance and carries the debris much further than a dry rockslide would.
    4. How it ends: As it descends it takes in more ice, snow, rock, soil and water, and can transform into a massive debris flow before depositing its material.

    Why was the glacial lake explanation set aside?

    1. The precedent pointed the other way: A rainless flood on the Bhotekoshi in July of the previous year was concluded by scientists to be associated with a glacial lake outburst flood, so that was the first hypothesis tested.
    2. The velocity did not fit: The speed and ferocity of this flood, which washed away villages across three districts, Rasuwa, Nuwakot and Dhading, prompted experts to examine it from a different angle.
    3. The onset signature differs: A lake breach releases a stored volume over a measurable period, while this flood arrived with no such build up recorded at downstream gauges.
    4. It has no Nepali precedent: No comparable disaster involving a sturzstrom had been recorded in Nepal before this event.

    What does the transboundary geography add to the problem?

    1. The source area straddles the border: Nepalese and Chinese authorities have concluded that the source lay in the Langtang Lirung area, and identifying the exact collapse point and which side of the boundary it sat on may not be possible.
    2. The trigger was a compound event: Satellite imagery shared by the Chinese side pointed to a combination of an ice avalanche, permafrost movement and a rockslide, with the rockslide on the Chinese side and its impact extending into Nepal.
    3. The avalanche began in Nepal: A senior divisional hydrologist at Nepal’s Department of Hydrology and Meteorology states the avalanche originated on Nepalese territory very close to the boundary and induced flooding that crossed into China, damaging both sides.
    4. The channel is itself transboundary: The location identified is the Lhende Khola, a high altitude river rising in Gyirong County in Tibet and flowing south into Nepal as a tributary of the Bhotekoshi and Trishuli systems.
    5. The corridor carries trade and pilgrims: Rasuwagadhi in Rasuwa is the checkpoint through which most of Nepal’s trade with China passes, and from May to September hundreds of pilgrims cross there into Tibet for the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage, with Indians the largest share.

    How far did early warning and climate attribution actually get?

    1. The systems worked and still failed: Experts state that early warning systems were activated as intended but were rendered ineffective by the speed of the flood.
    2. The structural difficulty is the terrain: The head of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) has said the event again showed how fragile mountain ecosystems are and how hard it is to build early warning in mountain environments.
    3. Attribution stops short of a direct link: Scientists have not ruled out a role for climate change and point to rising temperatures warming the Himalayas and accelerating glacier melt, without directly linking this disaster to global warming.
    4. Access is limiting the assessment itself: The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) reports that remoteness combined with damaged infrastructure is obstructing both damage assessment and the delivery of assistance, with around 93,000 people estimated to be affected.

    What does the 2021 Chamoli comparison establish?

    1. The mechanism has an Indian precedent: The 2021 Chamoli disaster in Uttarakhand began with a bedrock failure beneath a glacier, which triggered a rock and ice avalanche that transformed into a debris flow and flood.
    2. It is described the same way in the literature: Chamoli has been scientifically described as a rock and ice avalanche and, in some literature, explicitly as a sturzstrom.
    3. The scale of material involved: Research found that more than 25 million cubic metres of rock and ice broke loose high in the Uttarakhand Himalaya before moving rapidly downstream.
    4. The comparison narrows the watch list: Two events of the same mechanism a few years apart in the same mountain system establish an unstable rock and ice slope, not only a moraine dammed lake, as a recurring source of catastrophic flooding.

    Challenges to early warning in high mountain catchments

    1. The monitored hazard is the wrong hazard: Warning networks in the Himalaya are built around glacial lake inventories and lake level telemetry, which observe nothing at an unstable rock and ice face. Eg. Nepal’s national hazard inventories catalogue glacial lakes by area and moraine condition, with no equivalent register of unstable rock and ice faces. Fix. Add slope stability and permafrost monitoring at identified rock and ice faces to the existing glacial lake inventories.
    2. Lead time collapses to minutes: A sturzstrom accelerates and reaches settlements in the time a lake outburst would take to build, so a warning chain designed for hours has nothing to work with. Eg. Riverside towns such as Betrawati in Nuwakot were buried on the same morning the collapse occurred. Fix. Move from advisory dissemination to automatic siren triggering at gauge stations, removing the human decision step from the chain.
    3. The hazard does not respect the border: The collapse zone straddles the Nepal China boundary, so neither state’s monitoring network alone observes the full source area. Eg. The trigger was established only from satellite imagery shared by the Chinese side. Fix. Put the Lhende Khola and comparable transboundary catchments under a standing data sharing arrangement with agreed real time thresholds.
    4. Exposure is concentrated in the valley floor: Trade routes, hydropower works, bazaars and pilgrimage traffic all occupy the same narrow corridor a debris flow uses. Eg. The Rasuwagadhi corridor carries most of Nepal’s China trade and the seasonal Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage. Fix. Apply a debris flow runout based building line along these corridors rather than a flood return period line drawn from rainfall records.
    5. Assessment capacity fails exactly when it is needed: Remote terrain and destroyed access mean the size of the disaster is unknown for weeks, which delays both relief and reconstruction decisions. Eg. Officials state the full scale of damage may take weeks or months to assess. Fix. Pre position aerial survey and satellite tasking agreements so a post event damage assessment does not depend on ground access.

    Conclusion

    The scientific account of this flood has moved from a glacial lake outburst to a sturzstrom originating on an unstable rock and ice slope near the Nepal China border. That shift changes what has to be monitored, since a lake inventory does not observe a bedrock face, and it places the source area inside a boundary zone neither country monitors alone. Search and rescue continues with more than 15,000 personnel deployed. The next milestone is the joint Nepalese and Chinese determination of the exact collapse point, which will decide whether transboundary monitoring of that catchment is put in place.

    Back2Basics: Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF)

    1. What it is: The sudden release of water held in a glacial lake, which sends a large volume downstream in a short period.
    2. How the lake forms: Meltwater collects behind a moraine ridge or an ice dam left by a retreating glacier, so the impounding structure is loose debris or ice rather than rock.
    3. What breaches it: Overtopping by an avalanche or landslide into the lake, seepage that erodes the moraine from within, or failure of the ice dam itself.
    4. Why it is tracked in the Himalaya: Glacier retreat is adding to both the number and the volume of these lakes, which is why national inventories monitor them and why they were the first explanation tested for this flood.

    Matching Previous Year Question

    “[2021, GS1, 10 marks] Differentiate the causes of landslides in the Himalayan region and Western Ghats. (150 words) हिमालय क्षेत्र तथा पश्चिमी घाटों में भू-स्खलनों के विभिन्न कारणों का अंतर स्पष्ट कीजिए। (150 शब्दों में उत्तर दीजिए)”

  • ‘No material price hit on CBG on revised offtake framework’

    Why in the News

    The Union Petroleum Ministry has said that the revised compressed biogas (CBG) offtake price will not translate into a material price increase for gas consumers. The assurance answers concerns raised after the Union Cabinet cleared a revised Galvanizing Organic Bio Agro Resources Dhan (GOBARdhan) scheme on 6 August, which introduced a CBG offtake price of Rs 2,110 per metric million British thermal unit (MMBtu). The Ministry states that the full offtake price will not be recovered from consumers, since a government funded affordability cushion and a much larger gas pool absorb the difference. The contested point is whether a producer facing price is being set well above the consumer facing price, and who carries the gap between the two.

    What does the revised offtake framework fix?

    1. A single administered offtake price: The revised scheme sets the price at which compressed biogas is picked up from producers at Rs 2,110 per MMBtu, replacing case by case commercial negotiation.
    2. The stated purpose is producer viability: The Ministry describes the framework as giving CBG producers a “stable and viable” price so that plants can operate “sustainably”.
    3. Two prices, not one: The offtake price and the price billed at the burner tip are set by separate mechanisms, so a movement in one does not carry through to the other.

    How is the consumer insulated from the offtake price?

    1. A direct affordability cushion: The government provides a cushion of Rs 10 per kilogram of CBG, funded from the exchequer rather than recovered in tariffs.
    2. Stacking against a wider gas pool: The biogas volume is blended into a substantially larger pool of natural gas, so its higher unit cost is diluted across the whole pool before reaching the burner tip.
    3. The two work together, not separately: The Ministry’s position rests on the cushion and the pooling operating at the same time, not on either one alone.

    Challenges to the compressed biogas offtake framework

    1. The subsidy is an open ended fiscal commitment: An affordability cushion fixed per kilogram grows in direct proportion to volume, so success in scaling the sector raises the annual outgo rather than reducing it. Eg. The blending obligation for compressed biogas in city gas networks is designed to rise year on year. Fix. Publish a declining glide path for the cushion alongside the offtake price, so producers plan against a known taper.
    2. Pooling only dilutes cost while the biogas share stays small: The wider gas pool absorbs the price difference precisely because compressed biogas is a small fraction of it, and that cushion thins as the mandated share rises. Eg. Domestic gas allocation to city gas distribution is already rationed against demand. Fix. Tie each upward revision of the blending obligation to a reassessed pooled price so the dilution assumption is tested rather than assumed.
    3. Feedstock aggregation remains the binding constraint: Plant economics turn on assured daily supply of cattle dung, press mud and agricultural residue, which no offtake price by itself organises. Eg. Several commissioned compressed biogas plants run below rated capacity for want of steady feedstock. Fix. Contract feedstock aggregation through dairy cooperatives and sugar mills at the plant approval stage, so supply is committed before capital is sunk.
    4. Fermented organic manure has no assured market: A biogas plant produces a large byproduct stream that is only viable when the manure sells, and its offtake is not covered by this price framework. Eg. Fermented organic manure competes against heavily subsidised urea on farm gate price. Fix. Extend the market development assistance already notified for organic manure to the full output of registered compressed biogas plants.

    Conclusion

    The framework sets a producer facing price and leaves the consumer facing price to be settled elsewhere, which is what the Ministry’s assurance rests on. That assurance holds only while compressed biogas remains a small share of the gas pool. The next test is the scheme’s operating guidelines, which will show whether the support is open ended or tapered and how feedstock supply is to be secured.

    Back2Basics: GOBARdhan

    1. What it is: An initiative to convert cattle dung, agricultural residue and other organic waste into biogas, compressed biogas and organic manure.
    2. Where it sits: It runs as a unified registration and monitoring framework across ministries, with the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation operating its central registration portal.
    3. What it targets: Village level cleanliness, a rural income stream from waste, and a domestic substitute for imported natural gas.
    4. How it links to fuel policy: Compressed biogas produced under it feeds the Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation (SATAT) offtake route into city gas distribution networks.

    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)”

  • A quiet move that has kept Dehradun’s vultures safe

    Why in the News

    Relocating a livestock carcass dump 2.4 km away from high-tension power infrastructure near Dehradun in Uttarakhand appears to have ended vulture deaths at the site. The finding comes from a decade-old study published in the latest issue of the Journal of Threatened Taxa, which documented electrocution mortality at Sudhauwala before the move. Electrocution from power infrastructure is the most under-reported of the threats to vultures, a group already among the most threatened birds globally after severe population declines across Asia and Africa. The case sets a low cost siting decision against a threat that conservation policy has so far organised itself around drugs and poisoning to address.

    What did the Sudhauwala surveys record?

    1. The survey base: The study rests on 34 surveys conducted between May 2011 and February 2014 in the Sudhauwala region of Dehradun.
    2. The population observed: It recorded 743 individual vultures belonging to five species.
    3. The mortality count: 46 vulture carcasses attributable to electrocution were documented in proximity to high-tension power transmission structures.
    4. Which species paid most: The highest proportion of mortality relative to observations was recorded for the Himalayan griffon (Gyps himalayensis), followed by the Eurasian griffon (Gyps fulvus) and the cinereous vulture (Aegypius monachus).

    Why has electrocution stayed off the vulture conservation agenda?

    1. The recognised threat list excludes it: Poisoning, veterinary non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), food scarcity and habitat loss are the survival challenges vulture policy in India is built around.
    2. The under-reporting is the point: Electrocution from power infrastructure has been the most under-reported threat, so it does not enter the mitigation measures those policies fund.
    3. Siting concentrates the risk: A carcass dump placed near high-tension transmission structures draws large soaring scavengers directly into a hazard they do not otherwise encounter.

    What changed after the dump was moved?

    1. The intervention: Local authorities relocated the carcass dumping site about 2.4 km away from the high-risk electricity infrastructure in April 2015.
    2. The birds still came: Subsequent observations indicated continued use of the new site by vultures, so the food source was not lost in the process.
    3. The deaths stopped: No mortality events were recorded during the limited post-relocation monitoring.
    4. Other raptors followed: The black kite (Milvus migrans) and the crested serpent eagle (Spilornis cheela) were also recorded at the relocated site.

    How far does the evidence carry?

    1. The surveys were not systematic: The authors state the surveys were conducted on a non-systematic basis, which limits how far the counts can be generalised.
    2. The signal survives the caveat: The number of mortality events observed still suggests electrocution may represent a significant localised threat, particularly for long-lived scavengers such as vultures.
    3. The follow-up stopped: No studies have been conducted at the site after 2015, so the post-relocation result rests on limited monitoring rather than sustained observation.
    4. The measure is portable: Relocating carcass dumping sites away from hazardous power infrastructure is offered as a practical conservation measure that could be applied in other affected areas.

    Conclusion

    A single siting decision, moving a carcass dump away from transmission lines, removed a mortality source that no drug ban or breeding programme would have touched. The result stands on limited post-relocation monitoring and on surveys the authors themselves describe as non-systematic. No further study has been done at the site since 2015. The open question is whether carcass dump siting relative to transmission corridors is audited elsewhere in India, since the measure costs almost nothing and the threat it addresses is not currently counted.

    Back2Basics: Himalayan Griffon (Gyps himalayensis)

    1. What it is: One of the largest Old World vultures, a carrion feeding scavenger dependent on livestock and wild ungulate carcasses.
    2. Range and habitat: It breeds on cliffs across the Himalaya and the Tibetan Plateau at high elevations, and descends to lower hills and adjoining plains in winter.
    3. Conservation status: Listed as Near Threatened on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, and in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
    4. Why status differs within the genus: Its high altitude range kept it away from the veterinary drug residues in plains livestock that pushed the resident Gyps vultures of the plains into the Critically Endangered category.

    Matching Previous Year Question

    “[2012] Vultures which used to be very common in Indian countryside some years ago are rarely seen nowadays. This is attributed to: (a) the destruction of their nesting sites by new invasive species disease among them (b) a drug used by cattle owners for treating their diseased cattle persistent and fatal (c) scarcity of food available to them (d) a widespread, persistent and fatal disease among them ANSWER: (b)”

  • Blaming climate change for extreme weather has limits

    Why in the News

    World Weather Attribution (WWA), an international research group that assesses the influence of climate change on extreme weather, has found that this year’s intense South Asian heatwave was made about three times likelier and up to 1 degree C warmer by climate change. The finding rests on extreme event attribution, a method that reruns climate models for a world without human emissions and reads the difference. Specialists have questioned how far that method can be pushed. The confidence it delivers for a multi-day heatwave collapses for a one hour cloudburst, and claims of legal liability for emissions rest on the stronger reading.

    How does extreme event attribution work?

    1. What it sets out to do: It traces the human fingerprint in a specific extreme weather event rather than in the climate record as a whole.
    2. Detection comes first: Detection establishes whether an event falls outside the range of its normal occurrence given natural variation in the climate system.
    3. The counterfactual run: Climate models are simulated first for a pre-industrial world with carbon dioxide at 280 parts per million (ppm), then for present day conditions above 420 ppm.
    4. Attribution reads the gap: The difference in the magnitude or the likelihood of the event between the two runs is assigned to human influence, and many simulations with rigorous statistical tests are required to rule out chance.

    Why is confidence higher for heatwaves than for local downpours?

    1. Long events sit inside model resolution: A day-long heatwave or several days of heavy rain unfolds slowly enough for a global climate model to represent it.
    2. Short bursts do not: Intense bursts of rain lasting an hour or so are harder to model and to link to climate change, because most global climate models cannot capture fast-changing processes.
    3. The resolution gap is documented: The Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) notes that local phenomena such as land-sea breezes and mountain wind systems can only be realistically represented at a simulation resolution of around 10 km or less, which current models do not support.

    What data and computing limits hold the science back?

    1. The observational record is too short: Analysis of localised events is hampered by limited long-term weather records.
    2. Natural variability cannot be bounded without them: Without long-term hourly or sub-hourly rainfall observations for a particular place, the range of natural variability for a heavy rainfall event there cannot be marked out with confidence.
    3. Computing power is the second constraint: Insufficient computing power restricts how finely and how often localised events can be simulated.
    4. The consequence is overreach: Uncertainties arising from observations and from models lead to unscientific claims and sweeping generalisations.

    Why can scientists not agree on what counts as extreme?

    1. The baseline decides the verdict: An event that appears extreme against a 10 to 20 year timeline may not look exceptional when analysed against a dataset spanning 500 years.
    2. Long reconstructions change the picture: A reconstruction of droughts over roughly 1,200 years found that some kinds of drought seen in the past no longer occur at all.
    3. No agreed threshold exists: Scientists are not agreed on what amounts to extreme, so the same event can be classified differently by two competent groups.

    How strong is the scientific objection to single event attribution?

    1. The possibility itself is contested: At a 2025 committee hearing at the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM), a Stanford University climate scientist questioned whether single event attribution is even possible at all from a scientific point of view.
    2. The counterfactual cannot be validated: A former United Nations and United Kingdom government scientist has asked how it can be known that a climate model accurately represents a climate no one has ever observed.
    3. The difficulty is conceded by the panel: NASEM experts have previously noted that it is challenging to ascertain the influence of climate change on extreme weather.
    4. Extremes predate emissions: Extreme weather events can occur even without anthropogenic climate change, so the presence of an extreme is not itself evidence of a human cause.

    What rides on the answer, and what is the alternative?

    1. The liability is pursued at two levels: Claims are brought both against countries and against individual corporations, which are two different evidentiary burdens.
    2. The carbon majors claim: Studies claim that carbon majors, meaning businesses with particularly high emissions, can be defined and that specific climate changes can be attributed to specific organisations.
    3. The court is the real test: The open question is whether such findings hold up in court, and climate models will never be perfect enough for counterfactual worlds to be accepted without challenge.
    4. The competing priority: Developing more effective early warning systems and adaptation infrastructure saves more lives than establishing who is responsible.

    Conclusion

    Extreme event attribution is strongest exactly where it is least contested, on slow, large scale events such as heatwaves, and weakest on the short, localised events that cause most sudden loss of life. That asymmetry matters because liability claims are being built on the method as a whole rather than on the events it handles well. Sparse long-term records, limited computing power and an unsettled definition of extreme all remain unresolved. Until they are, preparedness through early warning and adaptation infrastructure delivers more than attribution can.

    Back2Basics: World Weather Attribution

    1. What it is: An international collaboration of climate scientists that assesses whether and how far climate change influenced a specific extreme weather event.
    2. When it began: It was set up in 2014, and is led from the Grantham Institute at Imperial College London.
    3. What makes it distinctive: It publishes rapid analyses within days or weeks of an event, against conventional studies that take months to years.

    Matching Previous Year Question

    “[2020] Which one of the following statements best describes the term ‘Social Cost of Carbon’? It is a measure, in monetary value, of the (a) long-term damage done by a tonne of CO2, emissions in a given year. (b) requirement of fossil fuels for a country to provide goods and services to its citizens, (c) efforts put in by a climate refugee to adapt to live in a new place. (d) contribution of an individual person to the carbon footprint on the planet Earth. ANSWER: (a)”

  • Let the Western Ghats breathe

    Why in the News

    The Rs 10,000 crore, 2,000 MW Sharavathi Pumped Storage Project in Karnataka is under an interim stay by the Karnataka High Court, with work frozen until further orders. The project sits entirely inside the Sharavathi Valley Lion-Tailed Macaque Wildlife Sanctuary. An expert panel constituted by the Standing Committee of the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) had earlier recommended against approving it. The contest is between a state that needs storage to absorb intermittent renewable power and a protected rainforest where such construction is barred outright.

    How does the Sharavathi Pumped Storage Project work?

    1. What it connects: The project links the Talakalale and Gerusoppa reservoirs on the already heavily dammed Sharavathi river.
    2. What has to be built: The link runs through massive underground tunnels and powerhouses cut into the valley.
    3. The pumping cycle: Water is pumped uphill during off-peak hours, when demand and power prices are low.
    4. The generating cycle: The stored water is released downhill to generate power during peak demand.

    Why do the Western Ghats matter beyond their species counts?

    1. Scale of the chain: The Western Ghats run 1,600 kilometres along the edge of the peninsula.
    2. Global standing: They are one of the world’s eight hottest biodiversity hotspots.
    3. What they hold: They harbour nearly half of India’s flowering plant species, a third of its vertebrate fauna, and over 300 globally threatened species.
    4. Narrow endemics: Species such as the Katlekan Marsh Nut and the Gund Day Gecko are found only in these forests and nowhere else.
    5. What primary forest looks like: In the Katlekan dark forest of North Kanara the canopy cuts out light so completely that a torch is needed at midday, a structure the fragmented woodlots counted as forest elsewhere do not reproduce.

    What do the Ghats do for the peninsula’s water and climate?

    1. First contact with the monsoon: The chain takes the first impact of the southwest monsoon and releases it downstream.
    2. Source of the Deccan’s rivers: The Godavari, Krishna, Kaveri and Tungabhadra all originate here, sustaining hundreds of millions of people across six states.
    3. Regional climate function: The dense forests temper regional climate, draw down carbon, hold soil in place, and soften the runoff and flooding that would otherwise reach the downstream plains.
    4. A moisture recycling system: Like the Amazon basin, these rainforests cycle moisture back into the atmosphere, which sustains the monsoon that feeds them.

    Why did the wildlife expert panel advise against approval?

    1. The siting is barred by law: The project lies wholly within a wildlife sanctuary that carries one of the highest levels of protection under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, where such infrastructure is strictly prohibited.
    2. The panel’s finding: The expert panel constituted by the NBWL Standing Committee recommended against approval, citing irreversible ecological harm.
    3. The technical objection: The panel questioned the project’s technical justification and found it would yield no new net energy to the grid.
    4. A net energy loss: Pumping requirements would produce a net loss of approximately 500 MW.

    What are the physical costs of building inside the sanctuary?

    1. Primary forest cleared: The project requires clearing over 50 hectares of dense primary evergreen forest.
    2. Corridors broken: The clearance fragments wildlife corridors between the Anshi-Dandeli and Bhadra-Kudremukh landscapes, cutting the routes large mammals use to move between the two.
    3. Landslide risk: The zone is geologically fragile, and blasting for underground tunnels and powerhouses with heavy industrial explosives raises the risk of slope failure.

    Does rejecting the project leave Karnataka’s storage need unanswered?

    1. The need is real and conceded: Karnataka has an installed renewable energy capacity of 20.23 GW, and critics of the project accept that this output has to be firmed up.
    2. Why storage is the constraint: Solar and wind generation is intermittent, so the grid needs a way to shift surplus power to hours of peak demand.
    3. The options are plural, not singular: Battery Energy Storage Systems, compressed air energy storage and gravity energy storage sit alongside pumped storage as ways to manage that intermittency.
    4. The siting question is separable from the technology question: Accepting the need for storage does not settle where a storage project may be built.

    Conclusion

    The argument is not that pumped storage is wrong, it is that this catchment is the wrong place to put it. A project that yields no new net energy and consumes more power than it returns cannot justify clearing primary evergreen forest. The Karnataka High Court’s interim stay holds the position for now. What remains unresolved is whether the clearance system will treat the highest protection category as an absolute siting bar or as a threshold that can be crossed on a case by case finding.

    What is Environmental Impact Assessment?

    1. About: Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is a planning tool that predicts and seeks to mitigate the environmental consequences of a project before it is approved.
    2. Statutory history: India introduced EIA in 1978 for river valley projects, made it statutory through the 1994 notification under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, and consolidated it in the EIA Notification, 2006.
    3. Who appraises what: Category A projects are appraised centrally by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, and Category B projects by the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority, with Category B1 alone requiring a full study and a public hearing.

    Challenges in Environmental Impact Assessment

    1. Conflict of interest in who pays: The assessment is funded by the project proponent, which creates an incentive to understate impacts. Eg. Independent data on the Mundra Port and Special Economic Zone exposed deficiencies the proponent’s own assessment had missed. Fix. Have EIA reports audited by an autonomous body not funded by the proponent.
    2. Cumulative impact goes unmeasured: Appraisal runs project by project, so the combined load on one river is never assessed. Eg. National Green Tribunal orders in 2024 and 2025 cancelled clearances on this ground. Fix. Move to landscape level cumulative assessment for a whole catchment.

    Back2Basics: Sharavathi Valley Lion-Tailed Macaque Wildlife Sanctuary

    1. Location: In the Sharavathi river valley, Shivamogga district, Karnataka.
    2. Landmarks within it: Jog Falls and the Linganamakki reservoir lie inside it.
    3. Flagship species: The lion-tailed macaque, an endemic arboreal primate, is a keystone seed disperser and an indicator of forest health.

    Matching Previous Year Question

    “[2024, GS3, 10 marks] What role do environmental NGOs and activists play in influencing Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) outcomes for major projects in India? Cite four examples with all important details.”

  • Sailing on uncertainty

    Why in the News

    Panama has declared a state of emergency over falling water levels in the Panama Canal. The trigger is an El Nino driven drought across the region, which has cut the fresh water the waterway needs to move ships. Canal authorities are rationing passage in response, cutting the number of vessels allowed through each day. A waterway is therefore limiting traffic for reasons of rainfall rather than of shipping demand.

    Why does a rainfall deficit stop ships in the Panama Canal?

    1. Every transit spends fresh water: The canal moves ships between two ocean levels through a series of locks, and each lockage releases stored fresh water that is not recovered.
    2. Rainfall over the watershed is the only refill: The reservoir system that feeds the locks is replenished by rain falling on the canal catchment, so a rainfall shortfall translates directly into fewer lockages the system can support.

    What does rationing transits mean for global shipping?

    1. The canal carries a fixed share of world trade: The shipping route handles 5% of global maritime trade, so a capacity cut is felt across ocean freight rather than in one region alone.
    2. Slots are being withdrawn in two steps: Daily transits fall from 36 to 34 from September 3, and to 32 later in the month.
    3. Vessels wait for the reduced slots: Container ships are queuing outside the canal for passage, adding waiting time to voyages that were scheduled against the old transit count.

    Conclusion

    Drought has turned the Panama Canal from a fixed piece of trade infrastructure into a variable one. Panama’s state of emergency is in force and the second stage of the transit cut takes effect later in September. The next marker is the canal authority’s own restoration notice, which will show whether the catchment has refilled.

    Back2Basics: Panama Canal

    1. What it is: An artificial waterway across the Isthmus of Panama linking the Atlantic Ocean, through the Caribbean Sea, to the Pacific Ocean.
    2. Opened and transferred: It opened in 1914 under United States control, and full control passed to Panama at the end of 1999.
    3. Capacity classes: An expanded set of larger locks opened in 2016, creating the Neopanamax class of vessel alongside the older Panamax limit.

    Matching Previous Year Question

    “[2011] Between India and East Asia, the navigation time and distance can be greatly reduced by which of the following? 1. Deepeing the Malacca straits between Malaysia and Indonesia. 2. Opening a new canal across the Kraisthmus between the Gulf of Siam and Andaman Sea. (a) 1 only (b) 2 only (c) Both 1 and 2 (d) Neither 1 nor 2 ANSWER: (b)”

  • Why is FSSAI tightening the rules on food claims?

    Why in the News

    The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has issued more than 150 notices to food companies in recent months over misleading advertisements, false claims and labelling non compliance. Mondelez India has withdrawn certain health and nutrient comparison claims for Bournvita and removed the related advertisements from e-commerce platforms. The regulator has extended its scrutiny beyond the physical package to online marketplaces and food service establishments. A claim can be withdrawn on notice years after consumers have already acted on it, which is what makes the reach of this enforcement contested.

    What is a health claim, and what is a nutrient comparison claim?

    1. Health claim: A statement suggesting that a product helps deliver a particular health outcome. It can create expectations beyond what the product’s ingredient composition or the available evidence justifies.
    2. Nutrient comparison claim: A claim that positions a product’s nutrient content against another product or against a reference, such as a comparative calcium benefit.
    3. What the regulator governs: Food regulation is not limited to whether a product contains permitted ingredients. It also governs how a product’s nutritional qualities and benefits are communicated.

    Which claims and companies are under scrutiny?

    1. The companies served notices: The list includes Nestlé India, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola India, Abbott India, Red Bull India, Danone India, Mondelez India, Ferrero India and Kenvue.
    2. Bournvita: The product came under public scrutiny in 2023 over its sugar content and its claims about nutritional benefits. The present action does not establish that the product is unsafe, it questions whether particular claims are adequately supported.
    3. Amway India: The company removed “100%” from its “100% Pure Coconut Oil” packaging and promotional material. It also dropped the “Energy Drink” descriptor from its caffeinated XS products.
    4. Juza Foods: The Kerala based company agreed to withdraw claims of immunity, stronger bones and comparative calcium benefits from its baby food products.

    Why has the regulator targeted the word “100%”?

    1. The advisory: In May 2025 FSSAI advised food businesses to stop using “100%” on food labels, packaging and promotional material.
    2. The reasoning: The regulator held that such language conveys a false sense of absolute purity or superiority to consumers.
    3. Why absolute words matter: Words such as “pure”, “natural”, “healthy”, “immunity-boosting” and “100%” influence a purchase before the consumer examines the nutrition panel or the ingredient list.

    Why has enforcement moved to e-commerce?

    1. Notices beyond the shelf: Notices have gone to online marketplaces as well as to restaurants and other food businesses.
    2. Online pages carry different content: An online product page can carry claims, images and promotional language that differ from what appears on the physical package.
    3. How consumers now decide: A purchase is often made off an online banner or product description rather than off the label read in a shop.

    What does the crackdown still leave unaddressed?

    1. Withdrawal comes late: A company can remove a claim after receiving a notice, and consumers may already have encountered that claim for years.
    2. Messaging survives across platforms: An advertisement can disappear from one platform and its messaging remain present elsewhere.
    3. Listings change faster than checks: Online listings change rapidly, which makes sustained monitoring necessary rather than one time correction.
    4. Compliance is episodic: The regulator’s task is to make compliance routine rather than a temporary response to regulatory scrutiny.

    Conclusion

    The shift being sought is from broad marketing language to claims that can be demonstrated. This matters as India confronts rising obesity and unhealthy diets, and FSSAI has linked its food safety messaging to that wider push for healthier eating. For a consumer, a health claim on a food packet remains a claim and not a guarantee.

    Matching Previous Year Question

    “[2015, GS2, 12 marks] For achieving the desired objectives, it is necessary to ensure that the regulatory institutions remain independent and autonomous. Discuss in the light of the experiences in recent past.”

  • Soon, red hexagonal label to warn of high fat, sugar, salt in snacks

    Why in the News

    The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has told the Supreme Court that it proposes a red hexagonal front of pack label to warn consumers when a packaged food is high in salt, added sugar or added fat. The proposal answers the Court, which is hearing a plea by 3S and Our Health Society, a Kerala based non-profit organisation. No notification has been issued. What is contested is whether the phasing and the trigger conditions attached to the label leave most unhealthy products outside it.

    What would the proposed label carry?

    1. Shape and placement: The label is a red hexagon carried on the front of the packet, so the warning is visible before the pack is turned over.
    2. Language and size: The warning will be in English, in a font one point larger than the font used in the nutritional information table at the back of the pack.
    3. The declarations: The label will state “high fat”, “high sugar”, “high salt” or “highly sweetened beverage”, as applicable, to let consumers identify products high in the specified nutrients.
    4. The thresholds: What counts as high is set against the thresholds in the Dietary Guidelines for Indians, 2024, issued by the Indian Council of Medical Research and the National Institute of Nutrition (ICMR-NIN).

    How will the rollout be phased?

    1. The first phase: Only products high in at least two of the ingredients of concern will carry the warning label.
    2. The second phase: The warning will extend to products high in even one ingredient.
    3. The stated reason: FSSAI said the two phase plan is meant to secure consumer acceptability and to give industry adequate time for reformulation.

    Which products are exempt?

    1. Single ingredient foods: Food products with a single ingredient fall outside the labelling requirement.
    2. Foods inherently rich in the nutrients: Ghee, edible oil, salt, sugar, jaggery and honey are exempt, subject to the other requirements under the food safety and labelling regulations.

    Why do nutrition experts call the proposal ineffective?

    1. The two nutrient trigger: The Convener of Nutrition Advocacy in Public Interest (NAPi) India said many unhealthy products will not need the warning label in the first phase, since they are high in just one nutrient.
    2. No date for the second phase: FSSAI has given no timeline for the phase in which every product high in fat, sugar or salt must carry the warning.
    3. The word “added”: The warning is triggered only by added sugar or added fat, and the added quantity is difficult to estimate.
    4. Natural sugars escape the trigger: High levels of naturally occurring sugars also harm health, and the proposed trigger does not capture them.
    5. Presentation: The proposed font size is too small, and the message should also be carried in Hindi.

    Conclusion

    FSSAI has accepted warning labelling in principle, and the conditions attached to it decide how many products will actually carry a warning. The petitioner has circulated a revised draft, invited public comments on it, and will file a rejoinder once those comments are received. The next milestone is the notification itself, which will show whether the second phase carries a date.

    Back2Basics

    1. Statutory basis: FSSAI was established under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.
    2. Parent ministry: It functions under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
    3. Mandate: It lays down science based standards for articles of food and regulates their manufacture, storage, distribution, sale and import.
    4. Labelling powers: Packaging and labelling requirements for packaged food, including what must be declared on the pack, are framed under regulations it issues.

    Matching Previous Year Question

    “[2016] With reference to pre-packaged items in India, it is mandatory to the manufacturer to put which of the following information on the main label, as per the Food Safety and Standards (Packaging and Labelling) Regulations, 2011? 1. List of ingredients including additives 2. Nutrition information 3. Recommendation, if any, made by the medical profession about the possibility of any allergic reactions 4. Vegetarian/non-vegetarian Select the correct answer using the code given below. (a) 1, 2 and 3 (b) 2, 3 and 4 (c) 1, 2 and 4 (d) 1 and 4 only ANSWER: (c)”

  • ‘CAS is a move in the right direction, but the timing may not be right’

    Why in the News

    The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has replaced the method used to fix closing prices on the stock exchanges with a Closing Auction Session (CAS), implemented at the start of this month. The earlier method took the volume weighted average price (VWAP), the average price of the last 30 minutes of trading, which a large order placed in the closing moments could tilt. The change follows the Jane Street episode, after which the regulator concluded that the earlier method could be moved in a participant’s favour. Traders hold that the direction of the change is right and the timing is not, since Indian markets carry far higher retail participation than the institution driven markets the mechanism was borrowed from.

    How does the Closing Auction Session work?

    1. Normal trading closes at 3.15 pm: Trading runs as usual until 3.15 pm, and all pending limit and market orders are carried forward into the CAS. Stop loss orders are removed from the system.
    2. Reference prices are computed through the session: Exchanges calculate reference prices from 3.15 pm to 3.30 pm.
    3. Order types narrow as the session runs: Market or limit orders may be placed between 3.20 pm and 3.25 pm (a market order executes at the prevailing price, a limit order executes only at the price stated by the trader). From 3.25 pm only limit orders are accepted.
    4. The close is randomised: The session ends at a random time between 3.27 pm and 3.30 pm. Derivatives continue to trade until 3.40 pm.

    Why did SEBI move away from the volume weighted average price method?

    1. The weakness in an average: A large quantity traded in the closing moments moves the average, so the preceding 30 minutes count for little in the final price.
    2. The trigger for the review: The regulator concluded after the Jane Street episode that the closing price under the earlier method could be tilted.
    3. Global practice: Auction based closes are already used in developed markets, including the United States and the United Kingdom.
    4. Institutional demand: Financial institutions and global players pitched the auction as the better mechanism for determining closing prices.

    What does the auction change for participants?

    1. Participation replaces dependence on a single print: The closing price is formed from orders placed in the auction rather than from a computed average, which makes price discovery more broad based.
    2. Orders are no longer tied to the closing price: A participant can place an order at a higher or lower price according to their own requirement, instead of matching at whatever the closing price turns out to be.

    Why are volumes in the session thin?

    1. Participants are still adjusting: The session is new, and a change in market structure is first thought over and played out with caution before it is used.
    2. The matching price is not visible: Price matching runs for five to seven minutes behind the scenes, so a participant does not know the price at which an order will match.
    3. Part execution is the likely outcome: An order placed two per cent away from the market carries no certainty that the full quantity will be executed, and under executions are the more likely result.
    4. The largest volume generators are absent: Arbitrage firms and proprietary trading firms are sitting out, since the session gives them neither the time nor the visibility to hedge in the futures and options (F&O) segment. They do not run unhedged positions.

    Why is the timing of the change contested?

    1. Market maturity: The Indian market is not yet mature enough for a mechanism designed for markets where participants have full information on when and how to participate.
    2. Retail share is higher than in comparable markets: India has much higher retail participation than other major markets, which are institution driven, and retail awareness of the new session is still at an early stage.
    3. A longer parallel run was possible: The session could have been run in simulation or in parallel with the earlier system for longer, giving participants time to get used to it before implementation.
    4. Small orders may not find a match: Most retail investors trade in small ticket sizes, so a large institutional order placed in the session is unlikely to be matched.
    5. Leverage pulls retail elsewhere: Retail traders prefer the derivatives segment over the auction because of the higher leverage available there.

    Conclusion

    The Closing Auction Session has been in force since the start of the month and is still evolving, which makes a comparison with the earlier method premature. Volumes remain low and the participants who generate most of them are staying out until they can hedge around the randomised close. The next test is whether participation broadens as the mechanism settles and awareness spreads at the retail level.

    Matching Previous Year Question

    “[2023] Consider the following markets : 1. Government Bond Market 2. Call Money Market 3. Treasury Bill Market 4. Stock Market How many of the above are included in capital markets? (a) Only one (b) Only two (c) Only three (d) All four ANSWER: (b)”

  • Chandra’s settlement comes as IBC turns 10, with bank haircuts at five-year high

    Why in the News

    The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has approved a personal insolvency repayment plan under which Zee Group founder Subhash Chandra will pay Rs 6.5 crore against admitted claims of Rs 22,006.57 crore. That is a 99.97 per cent haircut, one of the highest in the history of the insolvency regime. It comes as the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC) completes ten years in force. Banks are considering an appeal before the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT). The dispute is whether the Code should be judged by what creditors recover or by whether a stressed asset is resolved at all.

    What is a “haircut” under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016?

    1. The term is not defined in the Code: The IBC nowhere defines a haircut. Banking practice uses the word for the percentage reduction in the value of an asset pledged as collateral, applied to protect the lender against loss.
    2. What the Code was enacted to do: The IBC was enacted in 2016 to rescue companies under financial stress or heavy debt through resolution and repayment to creditors.
    3. A creditor majority binds the minority: Once the required majority of creditors approves a repayment plan and the tribunal sanctions it, a dissenting creditor cannot walk away and demand a separate settlement.

    Why has the Chandra order revived the haircut debate?

    1. The size of the write down: The order of 25 August approved payment of Rs 6.5 crore to creditors, plus Rs 25 lakh towards the costs of the process.
    2. The liability arises from personal guarantees: Much of the admitted claim relates to personal guarantees and indemnities given for borrowings by companies associated with the Essel Group.
    3. The route is personal insolvency: The proceedings ran against the individual promoter as a personal guarantor rather than against a corporate debtor.
    4. Lenders are weighing a challenge: Banks are considering an appeal against the approval before the NCLAT.

    What does the recovery record under the Code look like?

    1. Cases resolved and value realised: Between 2021-22 and 2025-26, 1,077 cases were resolved under the IBC, with a realisation of Rs 2.47 lakh crore for creditors.
    2. The five year average: Average recovery against admitted claims across those five years was close to 29 per cent.
    3. The year wise trend: Recovery was 24 per cent in 2021-22, 39 per cent in 2022-23, 28 per cent in 2023-24 and 37 per cent in 2024-25, before falling to 20 per cent in 2025-26, the lowest in five years.
    4. What the figure means for a lender: A bank may hold claims running into thousands of crore rupees and receive only a fraction of what it is owed.

    Why do the banks contest the vote that approved the plan?

    1. The margin of approval: Twenty three creditors participated in the voting, and the plan was approved with 80.814 per cent of the votes cast in its favour.
    2. Every bank voted against: The banks that opposed the plan held a combined vote share of only 19.186 per cent.
    3. The related party allegation: Banks say at least five entities holding 61.78 per cent of the votes cast, all of which backed the plan, are linked to the debtor as associates or related parties.
    4. The exclusion sought: A trustee company argued that the votes of an investment company and its two subsidiaries should not have been counted. A resolution professional is the person appointed to manage the affairs of an entity under insolvency and to facilitate its resolution.
    5. The subsidiary argument: The debtor’s counsel argued that a parent company that is not itself an associate of the debtor cannot pass that classification to its downstream subsidiaries.
    6. The debtor’s response: Chandra’s office rejected the allegation as inaccurate. It said the entities referenced belonged to a relative whose business interests were separated in 2008-09, and that they do not qualify as associate entities under the Code.

    Is the Code meant to maximise recovery, or to resolve?

    1. The government’s position: The Ministry of Corporate Affairs holds that the primary objective of the Code is resolution and not recovery.
    2. Why claims are treated as the wrong benchmark: The Ministry told the standing committee on finance in December 2025 that the assets available on the ground are the better measure, since the market values what a company brings to the table and not what it owes.
    3. What an admitted claim contains: A claim often includes a non performing asset (NPA) that may be fully written off, the interest on that asset, and both a loan and the guarantee given against it.
    4. The value that is not counted: Realisation figures exclude the value that may come from equity holdings after a resolution.
    5. The indirect gain claimed: The Code is credited with creating credit discipline, which has contributed to reducing the gross non performing assets of banks.
    6. The banks’ counter: Banks argue that the problem lies in the valuation of stressed companies, that all assets should be included and properly valued, and that the process is opaque.
    7. The valuation mechanism in dispute: At least two valuers are appointed to give a fair value and a liquidation value, based on records and physical examination of the assets. The Chairman of the State Bank of India told the standing committee that valuation should reflect enterprise value instead of liquidation value.

    Challenges to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016

    1. Delay erodes the value a resolution can fetch: A stressed company loses value for every year it stays unresolved, so the price a resolution applicant will pay falls with time. Eg. Videocon Industries was resolved in 2021 at about five per cent of admitted claims, and the NCLAT stayed the approved plan on that ground. Fix. Tie admission to a fixed outer date from the default so the asset reaches the market before it is stripped of value.
    2. Liquidation remains a more common outcome than rescue: A large share of admitted cases ends in liquidation rather than in an approved resolution plan, which inverts the Code’s stated purpose. Eg. The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India’s quarterly newsletters have consistently reported more closures by liquidation than by resolution. Fix. Extend the pre-packaged insolvency route, available to micro, small and medium enterprises since 2021, to larger firms so a rescue is negotiated before value is lost.
    3. The individual insolvency framework is only partly in force: Part III of the Code was notified in December 2019 for personal guarantors to corporate debtors alone, and the remaining provisions for individuals and partnership firms have not been brought into force. Eg. A defaulting individual who is not a personal guarantor has no route under the Code at all. Fix. Notify the remaining Part III provisions along with a designated adjudicating forum for individual cases.

    Conclusion

    The appeal now being prepared will decide whether the disputed votes were correctly counted, and that is the next milestone in this case. Valuation is the point on which the recovery and resolution positions turn, and shifting stressed asset valuation to enterprise value is still only a suggestion before the committee.

    Matching Previous Year Question

    “[2017] Which of the following statements best describes the- term ‘Scheme for Sustainable Structuring of Stressed Assets (S4A)’, recently seen in the news? (a) It is a procedure for considering ecological costs of developmental schemes formulated by the Government. (b) It is a scheme of RBI for reworking the financial structure of big corporate entities facing genuine difficulties. (c) It is a disinvestment plan of the Government regarding Central Public Sector Undertakings. (d) It is an important provision in ‘The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code’ recently implemented by the Government. ANSWER: (b)”

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