30 June 2025

• The Hong Kong Convention for safe and environmentally sound ship recycling entered into force on 26 June 2025 after a decade of ratification delays.
• The central government proposes redrawing Sariska Tiger Reserve boundaries to open 50 mines: a case study in development-conservation conflict in protected areas.
• Bihar conducts India's first app-based mobile e-voting in local body elections, with 70.2% participation and blockchain-backed security.
• A 5,300-year-old Early Harappan burial site at Lakhapar in Kutch reveals the first Pre-Prabhas pottery in Gujarat, linking Chalcolithic and Harappan cultures.
• India Energy Stack is launched as a Digital Public Infrastructure for the power sector, with Nandan Nilekani as Chief Mentor.

GS area: GS III: Environment, Biodiversity, Protected Areas

The Western Ghats is one of the world's eight biodiversity hotspots and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The region's conservation continues to be contested between environmental protection mandates and developmental pressures.

• Western Ghats: a mountain range running parallel to India's western coast across six states: Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Total length approximately 1,600 km.
• UNESCO World Heritage Site: the Western Ghats was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List for its outstanding biodiversity. The site covers 39 clusters across the six states.
• Biodiversity: hosts more than 7,400 species of flowering plants, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals, many of which are endemic (found nowhere else on Earth). Amphibians show particularly high endemism.
• Geological formation: the Western Ghats formed during the Precambrian Era, making it one of the oldest geological formations in the world. Anai Mudi at 2,695 metres is its highest peak.
• Lateritic plateaus: flat-topped rocky plateaus formed by weathering of ancient rock. They support unique grassland and shrubland habitats and host rare endemic species.
• Gadgil Committee (Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel): submitted its report in 2011. Recommended declaring the entire Western Ghats an Ecologically Sensitive Area and banning mining and quarrying in most of the region.
• Kasturirangan Committee: submitted its report in 2013 as a more pragmatic revision. Recommended a smaller Ecologically Sensitive Area covering about 37% of the Western Ghats. The Kasturirangan report remains the basis for current Ministry of Environment deliberations.
• Community Forest Rights: under the Forest Rights Act 2006, Gram Sabhas (village councils) of forest-dwelling communities can assert rights over forest land and resources. Conservationists argue that genuine implementation of Community Forest Rights is more effective than top-down restriction.
• Forest Rights Act 2006: recognises the rights of forest-dwelling Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers over forest land they have occupied and cultivated. The Ministry of Tribal Affairs administers it.

The governance challenge is not a shortage of reports but the absence of implementation. Both committees agree the Ghats require protection. The political economy of quarrying and construction interests has repeatedly delayed the Ecologically Sensitive Area notification.

Revises: Biodiversity Hotspots, Western Ghats, Forest Rights Act 2006.

GS area: GS III: Energy, Environment, Government Schemes

The central government has revised the guidelines for the Biomass Programme under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. The revisions increase Central Financial Assistance and simplify compliance mechanisms for MSMEs.

• Central Financial Assistance (CFA) rates: Rs 9 lakh per metric tonne per hour (MTPH) capacity for briquette and pellet manufacturing plants, with a ceiling of Rs 45 lakh per plant. For biomass-based cogeneration, Rs 40 lakh per megawatt of installed capacity, capped at Rs 5 crore per project.
• Performance incentive: plants operating at 80% or more of installed capacity receive the full CFA amount. This replaces earlier flat disbursement, linking subsidy to actual productive use.
• IoT-based monitoring: Internet of Things sensors will replace the earlier SCADA-based (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) monitoring system. IoT connectivity allows real-time remote monitoring at lower cost.
• Inspection reduction: inspection hours have been reduced from 16 to 10, easing the compliance burden on small producers.
• Stubble management link: the biomass briquette and pellet programme directly addresses agricultural residue burning by providing an economic alternative. Farmers can sell paddy straw and other crop residue to pellet manufacturers instead of burning it in the field.
• Rural circular economy: the programme converts agricultural waste into energy, keeping value within rural areas. This aligns with the broader policy objective of reducing energy imports while managing farm waste.

Revises: Renewable Energy Policy, Biomass Energy, Stubble Burning.

GS area: GS III: Environment, International Treaties, Maritime

The Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships entered into force on 26 June 2025 under the International Maritime Organisation.

• Hong Kong Convention (HKC): an international treaty adopted in 2009 in Hong Kong under the IMO. It sets standards for ship recycling facilities and requires ship owners to prepare ships for dismantling in a manner that is safe and environmentally sound.
• Inventory of Hazardous Materials (IHM): all ships covered by the convention must maintain an IHM listing hazardous materials on board (asbestos, PCBs, heavy metals, ozone-depleting substances). The IHM must be verified and certified before the ship is scrapped.
• Ship Recycling Plan: the recycling facility must prepare a Ship Recycling Plan before dismantling begins. The plan specifies how each part of the ship will be handled, segregated and disposed of.
• Completion certificate: recycling facilities must issue a completion certificate within 14 days of dismantling, confirming environmental compliance.
• India's relevance: Alang in Gujarat's Bhavnagar district is one of the world's largest ship-breaking yards. India processes approximately 30% of the world's ship recycling by weight. India ratified the HKC in 2019. Alang yards have been modernising to meet convention standards.
• International Maritime Organisation (IMO): the UN specialised agency for international shipping safety and environmental regulation.

Revises: International Maritime Law, Ship Recycling, IMO Conventions.

GS area: GS III: Economy, Energy, Digital Infrastructure

The Ministry of Power has launched the India Energy Stack (IES), a Digital Public Infrastructure framework for the electricity sector. Nandan Nilekani, architect of India's Aadhaar and UPI-linked DPI programmes, serves as Chief Mentor.

• India Energy Stack (IES): a digital infrastructure framework for the power sector designed to enable data sharing, analytics and consumer services across utilities. It follows the DPI model of open protocols and open APIs that India used for Aadhaar, UPI and ONDC.
• Unique identifiers: each electricity connection will get a unique digital identifier, enabling seamless consumer authentication and data portability across service providers.
• Consent-based data sharing: consumers can share their energy consumption data with third-party apps and services through a consent layer, enabling personalised energy management tools.
• Utility Intelligence Platform: an analytics layer that allows discoms (distribution companies) and the ministry to derive real-time insights from consumption, generation and grid data.
• Pilot cities: Delhi, Gujarat and Mumbai have been chosen for the first pilot programmes.
• Nandan Nilekani: founding chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) and key architect of India Stack (Aadhaar, UPI, DigiLocker). His involvement signals that IES will follow the same open-standard, interoperable model.
• DPI (Digital Public Infrastructure): a model where governments build foundational digital layers (identity, payments, data exchange) that private actors can build services on top of, without vendor lock-in.

Revises: Digital Public Infrastructure, Power Sector Reforms, India Stack.

GS area: GS III: Environment, Wildlife, Protected Areas

A central government proposal to redraw the boundaries of Sariska Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan to allow 50 mines has triggered conservation concern. Sariska is one of India's most significant tiger conservation success stories.

• Sariska Tiger Reserve: located in Alwar district, Rajasthan, in the Aravalli Hills. Total area: 1,203.34 square kilometres. Core zone: 881 square kilometres. Buffer zone: 322.23 square kilometres.
• Protected area history: declared a wildlife sanctuary in 1958, a tiger reserve in 1978 and a national park in 1982. The layered designations reflect increasing conservation status over time.
• Tiger count: Sariska had zero tigers in 2004 after all its tigers were poached. It is now home to 48 tigers in 2025, making it one of India's most successful tiger reintroduction programmes. The reintroduction began in 2008 when tigers were translocated from Ranthambore Tiger Reserve.
• Proposed mining: the proposal involves 50 mines for marble, dolomite, limestone and masonic stone within or adjacent to the reserve area. Boundary redrawing to exclude mining zones from protection is the mechanism being considered.
• Critical Tiger Habitat (CTH): under the Wildlife Protection Act 1972, a Tiger Reserve must have a Core CTH that is inviolate and free from human activity. Boundary redrawing to accommodate extractive industry directly conflicts with this mandate.
• National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA): the statutory body under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change that oversees Tiger Reserve management. Any boundary change requires NTCA and state government consultation.
• Aravalli Hills: the Aravalli range is one of the world's oldest fold mountain systems. It forms a critical green corridor in northern India and feeds groundwater recharge for the Delhi-NCR region.

Sariska's recovery from zero to 48 tigers took 17 years of careful management and legal protection. Redrawing boundaries for mining would set a precedent that no Tiger Reserve boundary is secure against resource extraction pressures.

Revises: Tiger Reserves, Wildlife Protection Act 1972, NTCA.

GS area: GS II: Polity, Technology, Electoral Reforms

Bihar has conducted India's first app-based mobile e-voting in local body elections. Voter participation reached 70.2% through the mobile platform.

• Bihar Mobile e-Voting system: developed by C-DAC (Centre for Development of Advanced Computing) under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. Used in local body elections in Bihar.
• Technology stack: blockchain technology to ensure immutable vote records; facial recognition for voter authentication; login restrictions to prevent multiple voting from a single device.
• First voter: Bibha Kumari from East Champaran district cast the first vote through the system.
• C-DAC (Centre for Development of Advanced Computing): a scientific society under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. It developed India's supercomputers (PARAM series) and various national digital infrastructure projects.
• Comparison with EVM: Electronic Voting Machines are hardware-based and require physical booth presence. Mobile e-voting extends remote voting capability but introduces cybersecurity considerations that the Election Commission has traditionally been cautious about for general elections.
• Significance for UPSC context: the pilot raises questions about scalability, cybersecurity, digital divide and constitutional provisions around free and fair elections. Article 326 guarantees universal adult suffrage. Technology changes in voting require careful analysis of accessibility implications.

Revises: Electoral Technology, C-DAC, Article 326.

GS area: GS I: History, Indus Valley Civilisation, Archaeology

Archaeologists from the University of Kerala excavating at Lakhapar in Kutch, Gujarat have uncovered a 5,300-year-old settlement. It contains the first burial with Pre-Prabhas pottery found in Gujarat.

• Lakhapar site: located in Kutch district, Gujarat. Dated to approximately 3300 BCE, placing it in the Early Harappan phase before the mature Indus Valley Civilisation.
• Pre-Prabhas pottery: a ceramic tradition that predates the Harappan phase and represents a transitional cultural stage. Finding it in a burial context in Gujarat is a first for the state.
• Early Harappan phase: refers to the proto-urban phase (approximately 3500-2600 BCE) before the fully developed cities of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro emerged. Settlements from this phase show early signs of Harappan-style architecture and town planning.
• Significance: the site provides evidence that Kutch was a zone where earlier Chalcolithic (Copper Age) cultures blended into the Harappan civilisation. This supports models of gradual cultural evolution rather than sudden civilisational emergence.
• Chalcolithic (Copper-Stone Age): the period characterised by the use of both copper tools and stone tools. It precedes the Bronze Age and represents an early stage of technological development.
• Kutch-Gujarat in Harappan archaeology: Gujarat has some of the most significant Harappan sites including Dholavira (a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2021) and Lothal. Lakhapar adds a new early phase data point to this cluster.

Revises: Indus Valley Civilisation, Harappan Archaeology, Chalcolithic Period.

• India Energy Stack pilots: Delhi, Gujarat and Mumbai are the three pilot cities for IES deployment. Nandan Nilekani's role as Chief Mentor mirrors his DPI advisory roles in Aadhaar and UPI ecosystems.
• Hong Kong Convention at Alang: Alang in Bhavnagar, Gujarat processes roughly 30% of global ship recycling by weight. HKC's entry into force on 26 June 2025 directly affects how Alang yards must handle hazardous materials going forward.
• Biomass performance linkage: the revised CFA disbursal at 80% operational capacity is a departure from earlier flat-rate subsidies and is designed to prevent subsidy capture by non-productive plants.
• Sariska reintroduction success: the rise from zero tigers in 2004 to 48 in 2025 took 17 years. Ranthambore was the source reserve for translocated tigers, a detail examiners have tested before.