30 April 2025

• Environment: IMD predicted "above normal" monsoon for 2025 at 105 per cent of Long Period Average, using its latest Multi-Model Ensemble forecasting system.
• Environment: A Nature 2025 study named India the world's largest plastic polluter at 9.3 million tonnes annually. Official estimates severely undercount actual waste generation.
• Wildlife: 20 Red-Crowned Roofed Turtles were reintroduced into the Ganga River after a 30-year absence, under the Namami Gange Mission.
• History: Maharashtra recovered an 18th-century ceremonial sword of Raghuji Bhosale I from a London auction for Rs 47.15 lakh.

GS area: Geography, Science and Technology

The India Meteorological Department predicted an "above normal" monsoon for 2025, at 105 per cent of the Long Period Average (LPA).

• LPA: The Long Period Average is the average monsoon rainfall over 50 years (1971-2020). The current LPA is 87 cm for the June to September season.
• Forecast model: IMD uses the Multi-Model Ensemble (MME, launched 2021) and the earlier MMCFS (2012). The MME integrates multiple global climate models for better accuracy.
• Historical milestones in monsoon forecasting:
  • 1875: IMD established after the 1876 famine.
  • 1882-85: Henry Blanford linked Himalayan snow cover to monsoon strength.
  • 1904: Sir Gilbert Walker introduced 28 global predictors.
  • 1988: Gowariker Model with 16 climatic variables.
  • 2007: Statistical Ensemble Forecasting System (SEFS) launched.
• Limitations: Model biases, weak teleconnections in some years, and the challenge of regional disaggregation remain.

Static linkage: Indian geography, monsoon, climate (GS-1 Geography).

GS area: Environment, Governance

A Nature journal study published in 2025 provided the most comprehensive estimate yet of India's plastic waste problem.

• Scale: India generates 9.3 million tonnes of plastic waste annually, the highest globally.
• Data gap: Official government estimates are 0.12 kg per capita per day. The Nature study estimates the actual figure at 0.54 kg per capita per day, four times higher.
• Collection rate claim: The government claims 95 per cent national waste collection. The study argues this excludes rural and informal sector waste.
• Key initiatives: Plastic Waste Management Rules (2016, amended to 2024), Mandatory Jute Packaging Act (2010), Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) framework, decentralised governance through Gram Panchayats.
• Judicial precedent: The Supreme Court's Vellore tanneries verdict (2024) established a "continuing mandamus" template for environmental enforcement, where courts retain jurisdiction until compliance is achieved.
• Critical gaps: Sanitary landfills are outnumbered 10 to 1 by open dumpsites. EPR implementation is weak. Urban-rural divide in waste collection is severe.

Static linkage: Environmental governance, plastic pollution (GS-3 Environment).

GS area: Environment and Ecology

Twenty Red-Crowned Roofed Turtles (Batagur kachuga) were reintroduced into the Ganga River in April 2025 under the Namami Gange Mission. The species had not been seen in the Ganga for 30 years.

• IUCN status: Critically Endangered.
• Protection: Schedule I (Wildlife Protection Act, India). CITES Appendix I (international trade banned).
• Biology: Females grow up to 56 cm and 25 kg. Males are significantly smaller. Strict herbivores eating aquatic plants and algae.
• Breeding: March-April season. 11 to 30 eggs per clutch. Incubation 60 to 70 days.
• Historic range: Ganga and Brahmaputra rivers. Now restricted primarily to the Chambal.
• Threats: Habitat loss from dam construction, sand mining, and poaching.
• 30-year absence: The Ganga had lost these turtles due to pollution, hunting, and habitat destruction.

Static linkage: Biodiversity, conservation, Ganga (GS-3 Environment).

GS area: Polity

Justice B.R. Gavai's appointment as the 52nd CJI took formal shape by end of April 2025.

• 52nd CJI: Justice Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai.
• Assumption: 14 May 2025.
• Successor to: Justice Sanjiv Khanna.
• Constitutional basis: Article 124(2).
• He is: First judge from a Dalit background to become Chief Justice of India, a historic appointment.
• His significant judgments: Electoral bonds scheme striking down, Kancha Gachibowli forest stay, and other significant constitutional matters.

Static linkage: Judiciary, appointments (GS-2 Polity).

GS area: Art and Culture, Governance

Maharashtra recovered the 18th-century ceremonial sword of Raghuji Bhosale I from a London auction in April 2025.

• Raghuji Bhosale I: Founder of the Nagpur-based Bhosale dynasty. Maratha general under Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj. Received the title Senasaheb Subha.
• Military campaigns: Successful Bengal expeditions in 1745 and 1755. Defeated Nawabs of Kurnool and Cuddapah.
• The sword: Straight, single-edged European blade likely of Solingen, Germany manufacture. Local Mulheri hilt with gold inlay. Devanagari inscription: "Shrimant Raghoji Bhosale Senasaheb Subha Firang."
• Recovery: Purchased at a London auction for Rs 47.15 lakh. Believed to have been looted at the Battle of Sitabuldi (1817).
• Cultural repatriation context: India has recovered many artefacts from foreign auction houses and museums through diplomatic and legal channels.

Static linkage: Maratha history, cultural heritage repatriation (GS-1 Art and Culture).

• Bhimavva Shillekyathara: 96-year-old custodian of Togalu Gombeyaata (Karnataka leather shadow puppetry). Padma Shri 2025. Seven decades of preservation work. Her life is a case study in intangible cultural heritage transmission.
• Special 301 Report (US USTR): India on Priority Watch List 2025 along with China, Indonesia, Russia, Argentina. Based on Section 182 of the US Trade Act of 1974. First published in 1989. India's listing relates to Patents Act Section 3(d) and piracy enforcement.