26 March 2025

• Agriculture: FAO's Third State of the World's Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture showed 60 per cent of global food comes from just 9 crops.
• Disaster Management: The Disaster Management Amendment Bill 2024 passed, creating Urban Disaster Management Authorities.
• Health: The Dare2eraD project sequenced 32,200 TB strains revealing 7 per cent single-drug resistance patterns.
• History: The Third Battle of Panipat (January 14, 1761) and its consequences were highlighted in heritage discussions.
• Technology: SAMEER's 1.5 Tesla MRI scanner was approved for AIIMS deployment.

GS area: Environment (Biodiversity), Economy (Agriculture)

The FAO's Third State of the World's Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture highlighted the alarming narrowing of the global food base.

• Key finding: 60 per cent of global food production (by calorie) comes from just 9 crops: wheat, rice, maize, potato, sugarcane, soybean, oil palm, sugar beet and barley.
• FAO report: Third edition of the State of the World's Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture. Monitors global agricultural biodiversity.
• Genetic erosion: 75 per cent of plant genetic diversity was lost in the 20th century as farmers moved to uniform commercial varieties.
• Livestock: Over 600 livestock breeds were lost in the last century.
• ITPGRFA: International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture protects 64 crops under a multilateral system of access and benefit sharing.
• India's National Gene Bank: Holds 4.71 lakh accessions. NBPGR (National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources), Pusa, New Delhi.

Static linkage: Environment (biodiversity), economy (agriculture, food security).

GS area: Polity (Governance, Disaster Management), Environment

The Disaster Management Amendment Bill 2024 was passed by Parliament, amending the Disaster Management Act, 2005.

• Key amendments: Creation of Urban Disaster Management Authorities (UDMAs) for large cities. Expanded mandate of State Disaster Management Authorities (SDMAs).
• Existing structure: National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), chaired by PM. SDMAs (chaired by CM). District Disaster Management Authorities (DDMAs, chaired by DM/Collector).
• Urban gap: The 2005 Act lacked specific provisions for urban disaster planning. The amendment fills this.
• NDRF: National Disaster Response Force. 16 battalions. Deployed for search and rescue.
• Sendai Framework (2015-2030): Global framework for DRR (Disaster Risk Reduction). India is a signatory.
• DM Act 2005: Passed after 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. Established NDMA and the national disaster governance architecture.

Static linkage: Polity (governance, disaster management).

GS area: Health, Science and Technology

The Dare2eraD project (Drug-resistant tuberculosis Research to End the epidemic and Develop Innovations) completed sequencing of 32,200 TB strains from 16 countries.

• Finding: 7 per cent of TB strains showed single-drug resistance patterns not yet classified as MDR-TB.
• MDR-TB: Resistant to at least isoniazid and rifampicin (the two most powerful first-line drugs).
• XDR-TB: Extensively drug-resistant TB (additionally resistant to fluoroquinolones and second-line injectables).
• Whole genome sequencing (WGS): Technology used to identify resistance mutations in TB bacteria.
• India's TB burden: 26 per cent of global cases. India has the highest absolute MDR-TB burden.
• BPaL regime: Bedaquiline-Pretomanid-Linezolid. New treatment for XDR-TB with 90 per cent cure rates in trials.

Static linkage: Health (infectious disease), science and technology (genomics).

GS area: History (Medieval India, Post-Mughal Period)

Heritage events and civic debates in Delhi referenced the Third Battle of Panipat.

• Date: January 14, 1761 (Makar Sankranti).
• Combatants: Maratha Confederacy (under Vishwasrao Peshwa and Sadashivrao Bhau) vs. Durrani Empire (Ahmad Shah Durrani/Abdali) with Rohillas and Nawab of Awadh.
• Outcome: Decisive Maratha defeat. Over 40,000 Maratha soldiers and commanders died.
• Significance: Ended Maratha hegemony over North India. Created a power vacuum that the British later filled.
• Ahmad Shah Durrani: Founder of the Durrani Empire (modern Afghanistan). Led multiple invasions of India.
• Panipat battles: First (1526): Babur defeats Ibrahim Lodi; Second (1556): Akbar's forces defeat Hemu; Third (1761): Durrani defeats Marathas.
• Panipat location: Haryana. About 90 km north of Delhi.

Static linkage: History (medieval, Mughal period, Marathas).

GS area: Science and Technology (Medical Technology)

SAMEER (Society for Applied Microwave Electronics Engineering and Research), a DSIR laboratory, developed India's first indigenously built 1.5 Tesla MRI scanner approved for deployment at AIIMS.

• SAMEER: Under the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR). Based in Mumbai and Chennai.
• 1.5 Tesla MRI: Standard clinical grade. Most hospital MRI scanners are 1.5 T.
• Indigenous significance: India imports 100 per cent of its clinical MRI machines. SAMEER's scanner will reduce import dependence and lower costs.
• Deployment: AIIMS, New Delhi, planned for October 2025.
• Health technology: Aligns with the National Medical Devices Policy 2023 target of 70 per cent domestic production of medical devices by 2047.

Static linkage: Science and technology (medical technology), governance.

GS area: Environment (Wildlife Conservation), Science and Technology

Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park in Darjeeling preserved about 60 DNA samples at -196 degrees Celsius.

• Padmaja Naidu HZP: Darjeeling, West Bengal. India's highest-altitude zoo (altitude 2,000 metres). Home to snow leopards, red pandas and Himalayan wolves.
• Cryopreservation: Storing biological material at -196 degrees Celsius (liquid nitrogen). Maintains cellular viability for decades.
• Applications: Future cloning (in theory), breeding programmes, genetic studies.
• Red Panda: Listed as Endangered by IUCN. Schedule I, Wildlife Protection Act.
• National Studbook: India maintains studbooks for captive breeding of endangered species (snow leopard, great Indian bustard).
• Species Recovery Programme: Under the Central Zoo Authority.

Static linkage: Environment (wildlife conservation), science and technology.

GS area: Environment (Coastal Management), Governance

Rushikonda Beach in Visakhapatnam received Blue Flag certification for 2025.

• Blue Flag: An international eco-label for beaches, marinas and sustainable boating tourism. Awarded by the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE), Denmark.
• Criteria: 33 criteria across four categories: water quality, environmental education and information, environmental management, safety and services.
• India's Blue Flag beaches: India had 12 Blue Flag beaches as of 2024. First awarded: 2020.
• Rushikonda: In Andhra Pradesh, on the Bay of Bengal. The first Blue Flag beach in AP.
• Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM): India's framework for managing coastal areas sustainably.
• CRZ Notification 2019: Coastal Regulation Zone notification governs construction near coastlines.

Static linkage: Environment (coastal, blue flag), governance.

• Senkaku Islands: Chinese coast guard vessel completed the longest recorded continuous intrusion.
• DNA Polymorphism and STRs: A forensic science brief highlighted Short Tandem Repeats (STRs) as the primary DNA fingerprinting tool used in criminal investigations in India.