10 August 2024

• Disaster management: the Central Water Commission is reviewing dam design standards following the Teesta-III dam collapse in October 2023. ISRO has mapped over 28,000 glacial lakes in Himalayan basins.
• Media regulation: the Draft Broadcast Services Bill 2024 would extend regulatory reach to OTT platforms and independent digital news creators, raising free speech concerns.
• Renewable energy: SJVN Green Energy commissioned a 90 MW floating solar park in Omkareshwar, Madhya Pradesh. This is among the largest floating solar projects in Central and North India.
• Governance: clinical trial requirements were waived for drugs already approved in US, UK, Japan, Australia, Canada and the EU for certain categories including orphan drugs and gene therapies.

GS area: Disaster Management, Geography, Environment

The Central Water Commission launched a review of dam design standards following the Teesta-III hydroelectric dam collapse in October 2023, which was triggered by a Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF) in Sikkim:

• ISRO mapping: the space agency identified over 28,000 glacial lakes in Himalayan river basins using satellite imagery. These are lakes formed by glacier melt, held by ice dams or moraine deposits.
• Risk profile: Sikkim alone has 733 glacial lakes, of which 10 are classified as vulnerable to outburst. Uttarakhand has 486 glacial lakes, with 13 identified as high-risk.
• GLOF: a Glacial Lake Outburst Flood occurs when a natural dam (ice or moraine) holding a glacial lake fails suddenly, releasing a massive volume of water downstream. The 1994 GLOF in Bhutanese Himalayas is the regional reference event.
• Teesta-III: a 1,200 MW plant on the Teesta River in Sikkim. Its dam was overwhelmed by the October 2023 GLOF. The disaster killed over 100 people and caused the largest single hydroelectric project failure in Indian history.
• CWC: the Central Water Commission is the apex technical adviser for water resources. It sets design standards for dams. The post-Teesta review focused on how dams in glacially influenced catchments are designed for flood events that were not previously in design parameters.
• Glaciers: cover about 10 per cent of Earth's land surface and are retreating globally. India's 9,575 glaciers (by GSI estimate) are critical for Himalayan river flows.

Static linkage: disaster management, Himalayan geography, hydropower policy.

GS area: Governance, Polity, Media

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting released a revised Draft Broadcast Services (Regulation) Bill 2024, intended to replace the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act 1995:

• Scope expansion: the Bill extends regulatory jurisdiction from cable TV and DTH to OTT platforms (like Netflix, Hotstar) and individual digital news creators on YouTube, Instagram and X. This is the most contested provision.
• Content Evaluation Committees: each broadcaster must form a self-regulatory body. OTT platforms must follow the Programme Code and Advertising Code applicable to television.
• Non-compliance penalties: Rs 50 lakh for the first offence, Rs 2.5 crore for subsequent offences.
• IT Rules 2021 linkage: the Bill validates the code of ethics from the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021, which the Bombay High Court and other courts had partly stayed.
• Free speech concern: extending regulation to independent news creators treating them like broadcasters raised objections. A journalist posting investigative reports on YouTube would face the same regulatory framework as a TV channel.
• Self-regulatory model: the Bill leans on a three-tier structure (self-regulation, industry body, government oversight), borrowed from the IT Rules framework.

Static linkage: media freedom, Article 19, digital governance.

GS area: Environment, Government Schemes

Namami Gange Mission 2.0, the extension of the original 2014 programme, continued through March 2026:

• Progress: 457 total projects under Namami Gange, of which 280 were completed as of February 2024. Major sewage treatment plants added include those at Munger (30 MLD), Mirzapur (31 MLD), Ghazipur (21 MLD) and Bareilly.
• District Ganga Committees: 139 established to monitor river health at the district level.
• National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG): the nodal agency under the Jal Shakti Ministry. The original Mission was launched in 2014 with a budget of Rs 20,000 crore. The 2.0 phase continued and expanded the work.
• Arth Ganga: the economic model embedded in Namami Gange, linking livelihood development along river banks to conservation, including organic farming, ecotourism and fisheries.

Static linkage: river conservation, environmental governance, government schemes.

• Omkareshwar floating solar park: 90 MW floating solar installation commissioned by SJVN Green Energy in the Khandwa reservoir, Madhya Pradesh. Expected annual generation of 196.5 million units. Floating solar saves land and reduces water evaporation from the reservoir surface.
• Tantalum in Sutlej River: tantalum (atomic number 73, discovered 1802) is a rare, corrosion-resistant metal essential for capacitors in electronic devices, medical implants and cutting tools. India imports almost all its tantalum requirement. DRC is the world's largest producer. Deposits were found in Sutlej River sands in Himachal Pradesh. The Union Budget 2024-25 eliminated customs duty on tantalum.
• Nandini Sahakar Yojana: supports women's cooperatives through the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC). Interest subvention of 2 per cent for new activities and 1 per cent for others. No ceiling on assistance. Requires 50 per cent women primary members. Disbursed Rs 6,426 crore as of March 2024.
• Antarctica deep-winter heatwave: temperatures were recorded at 28°C above normal. A weakening polar vortex allowed warmer air intrusion. This is a climate anomaly with implications for sea ice extent, ocean circulation and global sea level projections.