28 July 2025

• Disaster management: Nepal's Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF) of 8 July 2025 destroyed a China-built bridge. NDMA has identified 195 high-risk glacial lakes in India and deployed a five-point mitigation strategy.
• History: PM Modi highlighted the Kudavolai system, the Chola Empire's democracy-by-ballot-on-palm-leaf method for electing local council representatives.
• Defence: Exercise Bold Kurukshetra 2025, a joint mechanised warfare exercise with Singapore, was conducted at Jodhpur focusing on UN peacekeeping scenarios.
• Science: Android phones in 98 countries detect earthquake P-waves and issue warnings up to 60 seconds before destructive S-waves arrive. The system has issued 79 crore alerts.
• Culture: Sohrai art, Jharkhand's mud-wall painting tradition by Santhal, Munda and Oraon women, was featured at Kala Utsav 2025 at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

GS area: Disaster Management, Environment (climate change, Himalayas)

GLOFs pose a catastrophic risk to India's northern Himalayan states. NDMA has responded with a structured mitigation framework.

• India's exposure: 7,500-plus glacial lakes exist above 4,500 metres altitude in India. Of these, 195 have been assessed as high-risk.
• Vulnerable states: Sikkim, Ladakh, Uttarakhand, Arunachal Pradesh and J&K are the five primary risk zones.
• Recent incidents: The South Lhonak lake outburst in Sikkim (October 2023) destroyed the Teesta-III hydropower project. The Kedarnath flood of 2013 was also triggered by a glacial lake breach.
• Nepal trigger: A GLOF on 8 July 2025 destroyed a China-built bridge and damaged hydropower projects in Nepal, raising downstream concerns for Indian river systems.
• NDMA five-point strategy:
  1. Hazard assessment of 195 high-risk lakes across four risk categories
  2. Automated Weather and Warning System (AWWS) installation with 10-minute real-time data relay
  3. Early Warning Systems with multilingual digital alerts reaching remote communities
  4. Engineering interventions including artificial drainage channels, electrical resistivity tomography and bathymetric surveys
  5. Community involvement with cultural sensitivity protocols
• Technologies deployed: SAR interferometry for centimetre-precision slope monitoring and ERT (Electrical Resistivity Tomography) for detecting ice cores within glacial dams.
• Climate link: Accelerating glacial retreat due to rising temperatures increases both lake volume and outburst probability.

Static linkage: Disaster management (NDMA, GLOF, Himalayas), environment (climate change, GS-3).

GS area: History (medieval India, Chola administration)

The Chola Empire operated the Kudavolai system of local democracy from the 9th to 13th centuries CE.

• What Kudavolai means: Palm-leaf ballot. Eligible candidates' names were inscribed on palm-leaf strips and placed in a pot. A child drew a name. The selected person served as the local council representative.
• Eligibility: Candidates had to own land assessed for revenue, have a house with a tiled roof and be literate. Those who had served before, those who had not submitted accounts and those of dubious character were excluded.
• Council structure: The local sabha (council) managed irrigation tanks, land allocation and local disputes. It was a form of accountable, time-limited representative governance.
• Panchayati raj parallel: The Chola model is often cited as a historical precedent for modern Panchayati Raj institutions established under the 73rd Constitutional Amendment.
• Maritime legacy: Rajendra Chola I extended the empire's influence to Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia and the Maldives through naval power. Merchant guilds Manigramam and Ayyavole facilitated trade with China and Arab regions.

Static linkage: History (medieval India, Chola Empire, local governance, GS-1).

GS area: Governance (gender justice, workplace law)

Every workplace with 10 or more employees must constitute an Internal Complaints Committee under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013.

• POSH Act 2013: Enacted following the Supreme Court's Vishaka guidelines (1997), which directed Parliament to pass legislation protecting women from sexual harassment at work.
• ICC composition: Must have a senior female employee as presiding officer. At least 50% of members must be women. One member must come from an NGO or have legal or social-work expertise.
• Timeline for resolution: Complaints must be filed within 3 months of the incident. Inquiry must be completed within 90 days. Recommendations must be submitted within 10 days of completing the inquiry.
• Powers: The ICC functions with quasi-judicial authority. It can summon witnesses, gather evidence and recommend disciplinary action or compensation.
• Confidentiality: Section 16 of the Act mandates strict confidentiality of proceedings and the identities of all parties.
• Smaller workplaces: Local Complaints Committees (LCCs) cover sectors and enterprises too small to form an ICC.

Static linkage: Governance (POSH Act 2013, gender justice, workplace regulation, Vishaka guidelines).

GS area: Disaster Management, Science and Technology

Google and UC Berkeley Seismology Lab have deployed an Android-based earthquake early warning system that crowdsources detection data from smartphones.

• Scale: Active in 98 countries. 79 crore alerts have been issued. 79% of users report satisfaction with alert timing.
• Coverage: Approximately 250 crore Android phones participate as distributed sensors.
• Mechanism: Smartphone accelerometers detect primary waves (P-waves), which travel faster but cause little damage. The system alerts users before the destructive secondary waves (S-waves) arrive.
• Warning window: Provides 10 to 60 seconds of advance warning depending on distance from epicentre.
• Alert types: Two-tier: "BeAware" for mild shaking expected; "TakeAction" for strong shaking imminent.
• Accuracy improvement: Median error in magnitude estimates reduced from 0.5 to 0.25 over successive updates.
• Cost: Zero additional infrastructure. Uses existing devices. Complements dedicated seismological networks rather than replacing them.

Static linkage: Disaster management (earthquake preparedness, early warning systems), science and technology.

GS area: History (art and culture), Society

Sohrai is a traditional mud-wall painting tradition of Santhal, Munda and Oraon tribal communities in Jharkhand.

• Practice: Women from these communities paint the outer and inner walls of their homes during the Diwali harvest festival season.
• Materials: Natural pigments including red ochre, kaolin (white clay), manganese and locally collected clay. Bamboo twigs serve as brushes.
• Motifs: Animals, birds, trees, flowers and agrarian scenes. The imagery honours livestock and celebrates the harvest. It carries spiritual and fertility symbolism.
• Transmission: Passed down orally across generations. No formal training institution.
• Cultural significance: An expression of feminine creativity and a marker of community identity. Each community and household has distinctive stylistic features.
• Recognition in 2025: Featured at Kala Utsav 2025 held at Rashtrapati Bhavan, bringing national attention to a tradition that was confined to Jharkhand's villages.

Static linkage: History (art and culture, tribal art, Jharkhand), society (tribal communities, GS-1).

GS area: Science and Technology (nuclear energy), Economy

TEMA India Ltd, a private company in Mumbai, has set up India's first private heavy water upgradation and testing facility in partnership with BARC and NPCIL.

• Function: Tests distillation columns and phosphor-bronze exchange modules used in heavy water production for Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs).
• Application projects: Rajasthan Atomic Power Project Unit 8 (RAPP-8), Gorakhpur Haryana Anu Vidyut Pariyojana (GHAVP) Units 1-4, and Kaiga Units 5 and 6.
• Strategic importance: Reduces India's dependence on foreign heavy water technology. Heavy water (D2O) is the moderator and coolant in India's domestic PHWR design.
• Model: Public-private partnership between a private company and DAE entities, consistent with the government's move to open nuclear supply chains to the private sector.
• Nuclear capacity target: India targets 100 GW of nuclear capacity by 2047. Supporting infrastructure like domestic heavy water facilities is critical to achieving this without import dependence.

Static linkage: Science and technology (nuclear energy, PHWR, BARC, NPCIL, GS-3).

GS area: Defence (international military cooperation)

Exercise Bold Kurukshetra 2025 was a joint mechanised warfare exercise between the Indian Army and the Singapore Armed Forces.

• Indian unit: Mechanised Infantry Regiment.
• Singapore unit: 42nd Armoured Regiment and 4th Singapore Armoured Brigade.
• Location: Jodhpur, Rajasthan.
• Format: Tabletop exercise and computer-based wargame (not field combat drill).
• Focus areas: Mechanised warfare tactics and United Nations peacekeeping mandate scenarios.
• Features: Joint operational coordination planning, regimental flag transfer ceremony and equipment display.
• Strategic context: India and Singapore have conducted Bold Kurukshetra regularly as part of their defence partnership within the Indo-Pacific framework. Singapore is a key node in ASEAN security and India's Act East Policy.

Static linkage: Defence (international military exercises, Act East Policy, Singapore, GS-2 and GS-3).

• Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD): FMD affects cloven-hoofed animals including cattle, buffaloes, goats, sheep, pigs and deer. It is not zoonotic and does not pose a food safety risk to humans. The National Animal Disease Control Programme (NADCP, 2019) targets FMD and Brucellosis eradication by 2030. ICAR-NIFMD in Bhubaneswar and IVRI in Bareilly are the key diagnostic centres.
• Haridwar stampede lessons: Eight deaths and 30 injuries at the Mansa Devi temple in July 2025 reignited debate on crowd management at religious gatherings. The key governance gap is absence of mandatory capacity limits and real-time crowd density monitoring at heritage and pilgrimage sites. Magisterial inquiry must complete within 15 days under standard disaster inquiry protocols.