4 June 2023

• Railway aftermath: National debate on the Kavach anti-collision system intensified following the Balasore crash. Parliament questions raised about the pace of Kavach deployment.
• Environment: World Environment Day (5 June) preparations underway. India announced actions under the Beat Plastic Pollution campaign.
• Defence: India completed the final trials of Varunastra, its indigenous heavyweight anti-submarine torpedo.
• Agriculture: Kharif sowing season opened in most states; government reaffirmed support price procurement.

GS area: Science and Technology, Infrastructure

The Balasore crash of 2 June reignited the debate on the pace of KAVACH deployment. The crash happened on a section without KAVACH.

• What KAVACH is: An indigenous Automatic Train Protection system developed by the Research Designs and Standards Organisation. It prevents signal passing at danger, controls speed automatically, and triggers emergency braking when two trains are on a collision course.
• How it works: Radio-frequency identification tags on tracks communicate with onboard units. If a driver fails to observe a signal, the system takes over and applies brakes. At close range, the system forces both approaching trains to brake simultaneously.
• Coverage as of June 2023: About 1,500 route-kilometres covered on South Central Railway. The entire Indian railway network spans roughly 68,000 route-kilometres. The gap between deployed and needed is enormous.
• Target: The Railway Budget had announced covering the entire network. The pace of roll-out was running behind the announced target.
• Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh: The 1 lakh crore rupee fund for railway safety created in 2017. CAG reports had noted that funds from this corpus were being diverted to non-safety items.

The Research Designs and Standards Organisation is a technical arm of the Ministry of Railways headquartered in Lucknow.

Static linkage: Infrastructure (railways); science and technology.

GS area: Environment and Ecology

World Environment Day falls on 5 June every year. The 2023 theme was #BeatPlasticPollution, hosted by Côte d'Ivoire.

• India's action: Kerala's tourism department launched a community drive training local communities to produce paper and cloth bags as alternatives to single-use plastic.
• E-Waste Rules 2022: India's updated e-waste framework added solar panel waste to its ambit. Solar panel waste is projected to reach 2 lakh tonnes by 2030 as panels installed a generation ago reach end of life.
• Green Credit Programme: Launched to allow individuals and communities to earn tradeable green credits for environment-positive actions including tree planting, water conservation, and waste reduction.
• CORSIA: The Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation, under the International Civil Aviation Organisation, offsets emission increases in international aviation post-2020 through carbon-saving projects elsewhere.

World Environment Day has been observed since 1974. It is the principal vehicle through which the United Nations Environment Programme engages with the public on environmental issues.

Static linkage: Environment and ecology; government schemes.

GS area: Science and Technology, Defence

India completed final trials of Varunastra, its domestically developed heavyweight anti-submarine torpedo.

• Developer: Defence Research and Development Organisation's Naval Science and Technological Laboratory in Visakhapatnam.
• Manufacturer: Bharat Dynamics Limited.
• Specifications: 533 mm calibre, speed exceeding 40 knots, operating depth up to 600 metres.
• Role: Targets enemy submarines from surface ships. Heavyweight means it carries a larger warhead and has greater range than the lightweight torpedoes used by helicopters.
• Significance: India becomes one of a small number of countries that can design and produce heavyweight torpedoes domestically. This reduces dependence on imports for a capability that is central to anti-submarine warfare in the Indian Ocean.

Static linkage: Science and technology (defence); Indian Ocean.

GS area: Economy (agriculture)

The kharif sowing season opened across most of India in early June. The commission on Agricultural Costs and Prices had submitted its recommendation for kharif crop prices earlier.

• Kharif crops: Rice, maize, pulses (tur, urad, moong), oilseeds (groundnut, soybean), cotton, sugarcane. These are sown at the onset of the southwest monsoon and harvested in September-November.
• Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP): The statutory body that recommends Minimum Support Prices to the central government. The government is not bound to accept the recommendation but has followed it consistently.
• Coverage gap: Only about 6 per cent of Indian farmers benefit directly from MSP procurement, as per NSSO data. Procurement is concentrated in five states (Punjab, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Maharashtra).

Static linkage: Agriculture; Indian economy.

• Sudan crisis: Armed conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces continued. The Darfur region saw ethnic violence. Sudan is a northeast African nation bordering Egypt, Libya, Chad, Central African Republic, South Sudan, Ethiopia, and Eritrea. India had evacuated its nationals through Operation Kaveri in April-May 2023.
• Cyclone Biparjoy: A low-pressure system in the Arabian Sea was strengthening toward cyclone intensity. Biparjoy means "disaster" in Bengali. The India Meteorological Department was tracking it. Cyclone naming in the North Indian Ocean follows a rotational list contributed to by the eight member countries of the WMO's Regional Specialised Meteorological Centre at New Delhi.
• BRICS local currency trade: The BRICS grouping emphasised reducing dependence on the US dollar by expanding trade settlement in member currencies (rupee, yuan, ruble, real, rand).