2 June 2023

• Disaster: Three trains collided near Bahanaga Bazar in Odisha's Balasore district, killing 296 people. The signal failure points to a systemic gap in rail safety.
• Energy: India's National Electricity Plan 2022-32 projects renewable energy reaching 55 per cent of total capacity by 2026-27, ahead of the 2030 COP26 commitment.
• Semiconductors: The Semcon India Programme continued to search for partners after Vedanta-Foxconn's delays.
• Agriculture: A world-scale grain storage plan was piloted in 10 districts through the Primary Agricultural Credit Societies network.

GS area: Infrastructure (railways), Governance, Science and Technology

Three trains collided on the Howrah-Chennai main line near Bahanaga Bazar railway station in Balasore district, Odisha, at around 19:00 IST on 2 June 2023.

• Trains involved: The Coromandel Express (Shalimar to Chennai Central, Train 12841); the SMVT Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express (Train 12864); and a stationary goods train carrying iron ore.
• Sequence: The Coromandel Express was wrongly routed onto the loop line at full speed of approximately 128 km/h. It struck the stationary goods train. Twenty-one coaches derailed. Three of the derailed coaches then struck the oncoming Bengaluru-Howrah Express on the adjacent track.
• Casualties: 296 dead and more than 1,200 injured. Most fatalities were in the unreserved general coaches, which tend to carry migrant workers.
• Scale: The deadliest Indian rail accident since the Firozabad collision in 1995.
• Cause: The electronic interlocking system failed due to a signalling error. The wrong signal route was set, directing the Coromandel Express into the occupied loop.
• Kavach absent: The tracks lacked the KAVACH Automatic Train Protection system. KAVACH would have overridden the driver's signal and applied brakes automatically before impact.
• CAG warning: A December 2022 Comptroller and Auditor General report had warned of inadequate safety staffing and misallocated funds in the railway safety account.
• Investigation: The CBI was ordered to investigate. Three railway officials were arrested in July 2023 on charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and destruction of evidence.
• Recovery: Rail services on the line resumed after about 51 hours of round-the-clock restoration work.

What prelims needs from this item:

• Commission of Railway Safety: The statutory body that investigates accidents. It functions under the Ministry of Civil Aviation, not the Ministry of Railways, to ensure independence of oversight.
• Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh: A dedicated non-lapsable fund of 1 lakh crore rupees, created in 2017 for five years, for railway safety works. Its utilisation has been questioned.
• LHB vs ICF coaches: The Linke Hofmann Busch coach design is more crashworthy and anti-telescoping compared to the older Integral Coach Factory design. The railways had been replacing ICF with LHB coaches.

Static linkage: Railway infrastructure; accident compensation; Comptroller and Auditor General.

GS area: Economy (energy)

The Central Electricity Authority released the National Electricity Plan for 2022 to 2032. The headline finding: India is on course to cross its COP26 target early.

• 2026-27 target: Total installed capacity of 609,591 MW. Renewables to account for 55 per cent.
• 2031-32 target: Capacity of 900,422 MW. Renewables to account for 66 per cent.
• Battery storage: 47,244 MW of battery energy storage systems planned by 2031 to back up the intermittent renewable supply.
• Coal: Existing coal plants will continue but no large new coal capacity is planned beyond projects already under construction.
• Past shortfall: The 100 GW solar target for 2022 was missed. India achieved approximately 64 GW. The new plan's credibility depends on closing the gap between target and execution.

The COP26 commitment was to achieve 50 per cent non-fossil-fuel electricity by 2030. The NEP projects this being crossed by 2026-27.

Static linkage: Energy sector; environment (India's climate commitments).

GS area: Economy (agriculture), Government schemes

The Ministry of Cooperation piloted a plan to create grain storage capacity within the Primary Agricultural Credit Societies network. PACS are village-level cooperative credit institutions.

• Scale: The plan aims to be the world's largest grain storage initiative within the cooperative sector.
• Logic: Farmers are forced to sell at harvest when prices are lowest because they have nowhere to store grain. Warehouse capacity at the PACS level can prevent distress sales and improve farmer incomes.
• Convergence: The plan links agriculture schemes, food processing, and food distribution under one framework. PACS already handle credit; storage adds a second function.
• Timeline: Guidelines within 15 days, portal rollout within 45 days of the pilot announcement.

A PACS is the foundational unit of India's three-tier cooperative credit structure. The other two tiers are District Central Cooperative Banks and State Cooperative Banks.

Static linkage: Cooperative sector; agriculture; food security.

• CITIIS 2.0: The Centre approved the City Investments to Innovate, Integrate and Sustain 2.0 programme. It focuses on integrated waste management and circular economy projects in Indian cities. Funding includes European Union support.
• PM SVANidhi: The street vendor credit scheme has 36 lakh beneficiaries. It provides working capital loans up to 50,000 rupees with a 7 per cent interest subsidy.
• Yakshagana: A traditional theatre form of Karnataka and parts of Kerala and Tulu Nadu. It combines dance, music, dialogue, and elaborate costumes. The language is Kannada, Malayalam, or Tulu depending on the region.
• ERSO scheme: Electronics Repair Services Outsourcing is a government initiative targeting a 20 per cent share of the global electronics repair market, valued at about 100 billion dollars, within five years.