7 January 2026

• Environment: UN declared 2026 the International Year for Rangelands and Pastoralists; grasslands cover 40% of Earth's land and store 90% of carbon underground.
• Railways: 99.2% of India's broad-gauge network is now electrified, covering approximately 70,000 route km.
• Science: Indian scientists developed the first supercomputer simulation capturing the Mpemba Effect (hot water freezing faster than cold under specific conditions).
• Governance: Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) launched three new initiatives including SHINE, a women-centric scheme.
• Biodiversity: Six new species discovered in India in 2025, including the first Indian fishing spider in Wayanad.

GS area: Environment, Biodiversity

Grasslands are the world's most under-protected biome. The UN declaration of 2026 as the International Year for Rangelands and Pastoralists coincides with India's push to reclassify grasslands as Open Natural Ecosystems (ONEs).

• Cover: Grasslands cover approximately 40% of Earth's land surface.
• Carbon storage: 90% of grassland carbon is stored underground in deep root systems, unlike forests where most carbon is in above-ground biomass.
• Climate resilience advantage: Forest fires release stored carbon instantly because the carbon is aboveground. Grassland fires leave soil carbon largely intact, making grasslands more resilient as carbon stores.
• India's NDC gap: India's Nationally Determined Contribution targets 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO2 through forests but entirely omits grasslands from the calculation.
• ONE reclassification: India is moving to classify grasslands as Open Natural Ecosystems in land-use planning rather than "wastelands," which removes them from protection.
• IPBES finding: Grasslands provide significant cooling through the albedo effect (higher surface reflectivity than dark forest canopy).
• India's proposal: National Rangeland Utilisation Policy (2025-26) aims to restore 120 million hectares.
• Senegal example: Restored 2 million hectares of grasslands in the Ferlo Reserve, demonstrating buffering of drought-flood cycles.

Static linkage: Carbon sequestration, IPBES, land degradation.

GS area: Economy, Infrastructure

India's broad-gauge electrification reached 99.2% as of November 2025.

• Route kilometres electrified: Approximately 70,000 route km out of the total broad-gauge network.
• States fully electrified: 25 states and UTs. Only 0.8% of the network remains.
• Pace of electrification: 1.42 km per day between 2004 and 2014, accelerating to over 15 km per day between 2019 and 2025.
• Solar capacity: Grew from 3.68 MW in 2014 to 898 MW in 2025 on railway premises.
• Cost advantage: Electric traction is approximately 70% cheaper than diesel traction per unit of freight moved.
• Import reduction: Electrification reduces dependence on diesel imported from fossil-fuel suppliers.

Static linkage: Railway infrastructure, Green Railways mission.

GS area: Science and Technology, Governance

AI-based cancer detection software was reclassified as Class C medical devices by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO).

• Class C: The highest risk category for medical devices in India. Regulatory approval is mandatory before clinical use.
• Requirements: Safety validation, quality management standards and post-market surveillance. Adverse events must be reported to CDSCO.
• Implication: AI tools that read pathology slides or imaging for cancer cannot be deployed in hospitals without formal CDSCO clearance.
• CDSCO: Functions under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. It regulates drugs, cosmetics and medical devices under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act 1940 and the Medical Devices Rules 2017.

Static linkage: Medical device regulation, AI governance.

GS area: Governance, Economy

The Bureau of Indian Standards celebrated key milestones and launched three new initiatives.

• Established: 1987 under the BIS Act 1986. The current BIS Act 2016 replaced it, extending coverage to services and system certification.
• Standards portfolio: 23,300-plus Indian Standards across sectors.
• New initiatives:
  • BIS Standardisation Portal: Digital lifecycle management for standard drafting, review and publication.
  • SHINE: A women-centric scheme for standardisation training and participation.
  • SAKSHAM: Recognition scheme for excellence in standardisation work.
• Compulsory certification: Products under mandatory BIS certification carry the ISI mark. The list has expanded significantly to include electronics and household appliances.

Static linkage: Quality regulation, standardisation.

GS area: Science and Technology

Indian scientists at IIT developed the first supercomputer simulation that captures the Mpemba Effect.

• The effect: Hot water under specific conditions freezes faster than cold water.
• Named after: Erasto Mpemba, a Tanzanian student who observed the phenomenon in 1963 while making ice cream and reported it in 1969.
• Proposed mechanisms: Evaporation (hot water loses mass), dissolved gas removal (hot water expels dissolved oxygen and CO2), convection currents (create more uniform temperature throughout the sample) and supercooling (hot water may supercool more readily).
• Significance of simulation: Prior experimental results were inconsistent. A supercomputer simulation showing the effect holds under defined conditions moves the science forward without the ambiguity of physical experiments.
• Applications: Climate modelling, cryosphere research and industrial freezing processes.

Static linkage: Physics, Science and Technology section.

GS area: Economy, Governance

ONDC celebrated its fourth year of operation since its April 2022 launch.

• Ministry: Commerce and Industry (DPIIT - Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade).
• Purpose: An open, interoperable digital commerce network that breaks the monopoly of large platform aggregators.
• How it works: Sellers list on ONDC through any ONDC-compatible app. Buyers can purchase through any participating buyer-side app. The two sides communicate through open protocols without being locked into a single platform.
• Domains covered: Food, beauty, mobility, grocery, health, finance, fashion, agriculture and education.
• Contrast with Amazon/Flipkart model: Those are closed platforms where both buyer and seller must use the same platform.

Static linkage: Digital commerce, DPIIT.

GS area: Environment and Biodiversity

Six new species discovered in India in 2025 were formally described in scientific journals in early 2026.

• Bridgeoporus kanadii: A colossal fungus found in West Kameng district, Arunachal Pradesh. It grows on Abies (Silver fir) trees. The largest fungal fruiting body yet found in India.
• Rhinophis siruvaniensis: A shieldtail snake from Palakkad district, Kerala. Non-venomous and fossorial (lives underground).
• Neelus sikkimensis: A high-altitude springtail from Sikkim. Springtails are tiny hexapods (six-legged arthropods). The eighth known global species in the Neelus genus.
• Parasynnemellisia khasiana: A new fungal genus from the Khasi Hills, Meghalaya. Associated with bamboo forests.
• Dolomedes indicus: India's first known fishing spider, found in Wayanad and Lakkidi, Kerala. Semi-aquatic; hunts small fish and aquatic invertebrates.
• Ophiorrhiza mizoramensis: A flowering plant from Murlen National Park, Mizoram. Family Rubiaceae. Critically Endangered with fewer than 200 mature individuals.

Static linkage: Biodiversity hotspots (Western Ghats, Northeast India), endemic species.

GS area: Polity

The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls by the Election Commission prompted a review of ECI's constitutional basis.

• Article 324: Vests superintendence, direction and control over preparation of electoral rolls and conduct of elections in the Election Commission.
• Article 325: No person is ineligible for inclusion in electoral rolls on grounds of religion, race, caste or sex.
• Article 326: Universal adult suffrage for all Indian citizens aged 18 and above (lowered from 21 by the 61st Amendment, 1988).
• Article 327: Parliament may make provisions with respect to elections to the legislature, subject to Article 324.
• IIIDEM: India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management. Training arm of the ECI established in 2011 with a campus in Dwarka, Delhi.

Static linkage: Election Commission, constitutional provisions.

GS area: Environment

A misconception worth addressing directly: forests are not always superior carbon stores to grasslands.

Temperate grassland soils hold more carbon per hectare than tropical forests when below-ground carbon is accounted for. The grassland carbon stock is also more stable: while tree biomass burns in fires and is harvested by logging, soil organic carbon in grasslands persists even when the above-ground biomass burns. Misclassifying grasslands as "wastelands" has historically led to afforestation of native grassland, which actually destroys a superior long-term carbon store. India's National Rangeland Policy attempts to correct this error.

Static linkage: Carbon sequestration, land use policy.

• Biomaterials in India: Drop-in biomaterials (Bio-PET) are chemically identical to petroleum plastics. Drop-out biomaterials (PLA from maize or sugarcane) are chemically distinct. Both reduce fossil-fuel dependency. Novel biomaterials include self-healing composites and 3D-printed bioactive scaffolds for healthcare.
• Fishing spider: Dolomedes indicus is India's first known fishing spider. Wayanad and Lakkidi, Kerala. Hunts aquatic prey from the water surface.