18 August 2025

• Society: Honour killings debate : Supreme Court Shakti Vahini directive remains weakly enforced in Tamil Nadu and other states.
• Environment: Gulf of Mannar coral reef restoration : 51,183 coral fragments transplanted since 2002.
• Health: Sustainable Aviation Fuel plant at IOC Panipat targets 35,000 tonnes annually : first such facility in India.
• Culture: Sakura Science Programme : 34 Indian students travel to Japan for science exchange.
• Conservation: Dibru-Saikhowa National Park : India's only feral horse population faces habitat pressure.

GS area: Society, Polity (Judiciary)

Caste-based killings : framed as honour killings : continue to occur in Tamil Nadu and other states despite a Supreme Court directive.

• Shakti Vahini v. Union of India (2018): The Supreme Court directed states to establish safe houses for inter-caste couples and monitor illegal caste assembly (Khap panchayats).
• Who is targeted: Primarily inter-caste couples, particularly Dalit men in relationships with dominant-caste women. The violence enforces caste endogamy.
• Social mechanism: Family and community pressure is the first layer. Violence is the enforcement arm when social pressure fails. The perpetrators often frame the killing as preserving family honour.
• Dr. Ambedkar Scheme for Social Integration: Provides financial assistance for inter-caste marriages. The incentive structure aims to normalise what community enforcement punishes.
• Constitutional frame: Article 17 abolishes untouchability. Articles 14 and 21 protect equality and life. Caste-based violence targeting couples violates all three.

Static linkage: Social justice, caste, judiciary, Article 17.

GS area: Environment and Ecology

The Suganthi Devadason Marine Research Institute (SDMRI) and Tamil Nadu Forest Department have restored approximately 40,000 sq metres of degraded coral reef in the Gulf of Mannar since 2002.

• Method: Coral fragment transplantation onto artificial substrates. 51,183 coral fragments placed on 5,550 substrates.
• Survival rate: 55 to 79 per cent for most species. Acropora (branching coral) achieved 89 per cent survival.
• Ecological recovery: Fish density increased from 14.5 individuals per 250 sq metres in 2006 to 310 per 250 sq metres in 2020 : a more than 20-fold recovery.
• Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park: Covers 21 islands and their surrounding reefs in Tamil Nadu. It was India's first marine national park (1980) and is also a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.
• Coral bleaching context: The restoration work demonstrates that active intervention can reverse reef degradation even as climate change causes bleaching globally.

Static linkage: Ecology, marine conservation, environmental restoration.

GS area: Economy (Energy), Environment

Indian Oil Corporation's Panipat refinery is building India's first Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) plant.

• Capacity: 35,000 tonnes per year. Operational by December 2025.
• Feedstock: Used cooking oil collected from hotels, restaurants and food processing facilities.
• Carbon reduction: Lifecycle carbon emissions up to 80 per cent lower than conventional fossil jet fuel.
• Certification: ISCC CORSIA : the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification aligned with ICAO's Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation.
• Policy context: ICAO's CORSIA scheme obligates airlines to offset carbon from international flights growing beyond 2020 levels. SAF is one of the eligible measures.
• Why it matters for India: Indian aviation is growing rapidly. SAF enables growth without a proportional increase in aviation's carbon footprint.

Static linkage: Energy, environment, aviation policy.

GS area: International Relations, Science and Technology

Thirty-four Indian students were selected for the Sakura Science Programme : Japan's government-funded youth science exchange.

• Official name: Japan-Asia Youth Exchange Program in Science.
• Launched: 2014 by the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST).
• India joined: 2016.
• Other participating countries: Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia and several Asian nations.
• Duration: Short-term (one to two week) visits to Japanese universities, research institutions and high-technology companies.
• Strategic significance: Builds scientific relationships and goodwill between Japanese institutions and Asian talent. For India, it is part of the broader India-Japan Special Strategic and Global Partnership.

Static linkage: India-Japan relations, science exchange, international relations.

GS area: Health, Science and Technology

The Assam Snake Symposium 2025 highlighted a critical gap in India's antivenom coverage.

• Indian Polyvalent Antivenom: Covers the "Big Four" snakes : Indian Cobra (Naja naja), Common Krait (Bungarus caeruleus), Russell's Viper (Daboia russelii) and Saw-Scaled Viper (Echis carinatus).
• The gap: These four species dominate snakebite mortality across peninsular India. In Northeast India, however, other highly venomous species dominate : the Banded Krait, King Cobra and Pit Vipers. The standard polyvalent antivenom has limited efficacy against Northeast species.
• Snakebite burden: India accounts for approximately 50,000 to 60,000 snakebite deaths annually : more than half the global total.
• Neglected Tropical Disease: The WHO designated snakebite envenomation as a NTD (Neglected Tropical Disease) in 2017 : a classification that triggers additional funding mechanisms.
• Solution being pursued: Region-specific antivenom development using local snake venom banks.

Static linkage: Health, biodiversity, neglected tropical diseases.

GS area: Environment and Ecology

Dibru-Saikhowa National Park in Assam holds India's only population of feral horses : approximately 200 individuals.

• Location: 425 sq km riverine ecosystem in Assam between the Brahmaputra and Dibru rivers. Designated a Biosphere Reserve in 1997 and a National Park in 1999.
• Feral horses: Descendants of domesticated horses that were released or escaped during past floods and have lived wild for generations. They are genetically distinct from managed horse populations.
• Other significant wildlife: Critically Endangered Bengal Florican (Houbaropsis bengalensis), the largest population of Golden Langur in a protected area, Gangetic dolphins, tigers and wild buffaloes.
• Habitat pressure: Erosion by the Brahmaputra river is permanently shrinking the park's land area.

Static linkage: Wildlife conservation, biodiversity, Assam geography.

• E. coli mercury sensor: A genetically modified E. coli strain developed by Imperial College London and Zhejiang University converts mercury presence in water into electrical signals. Enables cheap, real-time heavy metal detection in drinking water.
• Arctic reindeer decline: Populations could fall by up to 80 per cent by 2100 due to climate-driven habitat loss in Arctic tundra. North American populations most at risk. Scientific name: Rangifer tarandus.
• Mount Elbrus facts: 5,642 metres : highest peak in Europe. Located in the Caucasus Mountains in southwestern Russia. Part of the Seven Summits Challenge. Has 22 glaciers covering approximately 138 sq km.