31 July 2023

• Wildlife: PM Modi released the All India Tiger Estimation 2022 results on International Tiger Day (July 29): India counted 3,682 tigers, 75 per cent of the world's total, across 54 reserves.
• Aviation: The UDAN scheme's performance audit found that 225 of 479 awarded routes had ceased operations; 128 stopped before completing the mandatory three-year period.
• Agriculture: Urea Gold (sulphur-coated urea) was launched, with one bag providing benefits equivalent to approximately 1.33 bags of conventional urea.
• Geology: The Dhala crater in Madhya Pradesh is Asia's only confirmed ancient meteorite impact crater and the seventh largest in the world, but its origin is still debated in some quarters.
• Religion: Muharram 2023, the Islamic New Year, began on July 19, 2023; Ashura (10th of Muharram) falls on July 28, marked by Shia Muslims as the day of Hazrat Imam Hussain's martyrdom at Karbala.

GS area: Environment, Biodiversity

PM Modi released the results of the All India Tiger Estimation (AITE) 2022 on International Tiger Day (July 29, 2023).

• Count: 3,682 tigers in India, the highest ever and accounting for approximately 75 per cent of the world's wild tiger population.
• Growth rate: A compound annual growth rate of approximately 6.1 per cent since the 2006 census.
• Distribution: 54 tiger reserves across 18 tiger states. Madhya Pradesh reported the highest tiger count, followed by Karnataka, Uttarakhand, and Maharashtra.
• Tiger census methodology: Camera trapping across the entire tiger range, supplemented by pugmark and scat analysis. Each tiger is identified by its unique stripe pattern. The 2022 survey covered over 800 camera trap stations.
• Project Tiger 2023 is 50: Project Tiger was launched on 1 April 1973 from Jim Corbett National Park, with 9 tiger reserves and 268 tigers. The 50th anniversary coincided with the 2022 count release.
• Tiger Reserves governance: India's tiger reserves are managed under the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 (amended 2006). Each reserve has a Core (Critical Tiger Habitat) and a Buffer Zone. Relocation of communities from cores to buffer edges is mandated to minimise human-tiger conflict.
• NTCA: The National Tiger Conservation Authority, a statutory body under the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change. Established under the Wildlife Protection Act 2006 amendment.

Static linkage: Project Tiger, NTCA, wildlife conservation, biodiversity.

GS area: Economy, Infrastructure, Governance

A review of the UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik) regional connectivity scheme found significant route viability problems.

• Scale of the problem: Of 479 routes awarded under UDAN 1 through 4, 225 had ceased operations by July 2023. 128 routes stopped before completing the mandatory three-year operational period that triggers full viability gap funding.
• Why routes failed: Airlines found many routes chronically loss-making even with viability gap funding (VGF). Thin demand on small-city routes, high aviation turbine fuel prices (ATF), and airport infrastructure limitations (small terminals, limited ground handling) were cited.
• VGF structure: The Centre funds approximately 80 per cent of VGF on routes outside the northeast and hilly areas, with states contributing 20 per cent. Airlines on capped UDAN routes must reserve 50 per cent of seats at capped fares.
• UDAN's achievements: Despite failures, 74 unserved and underserved airports became operational under UDAN. Passenger traffic at these airports grew significantly in the first year of service.
• Policy lesson: The scheme demonstrated that connectivity incentives alone cannot sustain routes where demand is fundamentally insufficient or where airport infrastructure is inadequate.

Static linkage: Aviation, government schemes, infrastructure.

GS area: Geography, Science and Technology

The Dhala structure in Shivpuri district, Madhya Pradesh, is India's only confirmed ancient meteorite impact crater, and Asia's largest.

• Size: Approximately 11 kilometres in diameter.
• Age: Estimated at between 1.5 billion and 2.5 billion years old (Precambrian period). One of the oldest known impact craters on Earth.
• Global ranking: Dhala is described as Asia's only confirmed large impact crater and the seventh-largest in the world, though some international databases list it at different positions.
• Identification: Identified as an impact crater through the presence of shock metamorphism features (shatter cones, quartz with planar deformation features), characteristic of the extreme pressure from a hypervelocity meteorite impact.
• Tourism relevance: Dhala is relatively unknown domestically; the crater is now being developed as an ecotourism site.

Static linkage: Indian geography, geology, science.

GS area: Geography, International Relations

Cocos (Keeling) Islands were in the news as an Australian external territory significant for Indian Ocean geopolitics.

• Location: An atoll group in the Indian Ocean, approximately 2,750 kilometres northwest of Perth (Australia) and about 900 kilometres south of Java.
• Status: An external territory of Australia. Population of approximately 600.
• Strategic importance: Cocos hosts an Australian defence communications and surveillance facility. Discussions in 2023 covered potential upgradation of the facility to support Australian and allied reconnaissance over the Indian Ocean and South China Sea approaches.
• AUKUS connection: Australia's AUKUS (Australia-United Kingdom-United States) security partnership, announced in 2021, has revived interest in Australian island territories as forward operating locations.

Static linkage: Indian Ocean, AUKUS, maritime geography.

GS area: Society, History

Muharram, the first month of the Islamic Hijri calendar, began on July 19, 2023.

• Significance: Muharram is one of the four sacred months in Islam. The 10th of Muharram (Ashura) is observed by Shia Muslims as the day of martyrdom of Hazrat Imam Hussain ibn Ali at the Battle of Karbala in 680 CE.
• Battle of Karbala: A confrontation on the plain of Karbala (in present-day Iraq) between Hussain ibn Ali (grandson of Prophet Muhammad) and the forces of the Umayyad Caliph Yazid I. Hussain and most of his companions were killed.
• Shia-Sunni distinction: The Battle of Karbala is the defining moment in the Sunni-Shia split. Shia Muslims observe Ashura as a day of mourning; Sunni Muslims observe Ashura (also Yom Kippur connection in Abrahamic tradition) as a fast.
• Indian context: India has significant Shia communities (particularly in Lucknow, Hyderabad, and Jammu and Kashmir). Muharram processions in India are UPSC cultural awareness items.

Static linkage: Social issues, religion, India's cultural diversity.

• NTCA and Critical Tiger Habitats: Critical Tiger Habitats (Core areas) are inviolate zones where no human activity is permitted. Buffer zones allow restricted human use. Relocation from cores is done under the Compensatory Afforestation Act's provisions and Wildlife Protection Act Schedule I.
• Project Tiger's 9 original reserves (1973): Jim Corbett (Uttarakhand), Kanha (MP), Manas (Assam), Melghat (Maharashtra), Bandipur (Karnataka), Ranthambore (Rajasthan), Simlipal (Odisha), Sundarbans (West Bengal), and Palamau (Jharkhand).
• India's contribution to global tiger conservation: The St. Petersburg Declaration (2010) set a target of doubling wild tiger numbers by 2022 (Tx2). India is the only country to have met and far exceeded this target.
• Aviation turbine fuel (ATF) pricing: ATF is not covered by GST; it falls under state VAT, making prices vary by state and airlines unable to claim input tax credits. This is one of the structural cost disadvantages for Indian aviation.