Army overhaul: Drones to be in action at battalion level
Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance
Mains Examination: General Studies III: Challenges to internal security through communication networks
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What’s the ongoing story: The Indian Army is set to undergo a significant organisational overhaul that will include integrating Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and counter-UAV as standard weapon systems at the battalion level across most of its arms, The Indian Express has learnt.
Key Points to Ponder:
• What key capability is being integrated into Indian Army battalions after Operation Sindoor?
• What are “Rudra brigades”?
• What are the strategic lessons from Operation Sindoor that motivated the Indian Army’s decision to induct drone platoons at battalion level?
• How Rudra brigades will enhance integrated operational readiness along India’s borders?
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• What role indigenous air defence systems like Akashteer plays in modern military transformation?
• How drones and counter-drone systems influence tactics, logistics, and command-and-control dynamics?
Key Takeaways:
• The transformation will also involve establishing light commando battalions, creating integrated brigades, and developing specialised artillery regiments and batteries tailored for future warfare, sources told this newspaper.
• These plans, under discussion for several months, have gained pace after Operation Sindoor in May, following the Pahalgam terror attack. Some of the changes will be drawn from lessons obtained during this operation, the sources said.
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• One of the initiatives is to incorporate UAVs and counter-UAV systems into infantry battalions, as well as armoured and artillery regiments. While current battalions possess drones, they are often utilised as secondary systems in addition to established weapons and tasks. As a result, personnel are diverted from primary responsibilities to operate the UAVs.
• The new objective is to create a dedicated outfit within each unit that will be tasked primarily with operating drones. Each arm has been directed to draw up a structure that allows a select number of personnel to focus and train on this front, the sources said.
• In the infantry, for instance, plans are underway to introduce several surveillance drones at the platoon and company levels.
Do You Know:
• Op Sindoor in May revealed the increased use of military drones in new-age operations. Inducting a variety of drones as standard weapons at battalion levels will enable better training, procurement and maintenance.
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• The Army will also establish Rudra brigades, which will consist of an all-arms brigade along with UAVs and other logistical elements. This will involve restructuring existing infantry, armoured and artillery brigades, which will allow Rudra brigades to function independently across various sectors as integrated units for future warfare.
• For the Regiment of Artillery, establishing two batteries with an increased number of guns each, as well as adding a third drone battery equipped with surveillance and combat drones, are being considered. Currently, each artillery regiment consists of three batteries, each with six guns.
• Divyastra artillery batteries are being created with next-generation long-range guns and loitering munitions capable of conducting surveillance and identifying and engaging targets in depth areas. They will be equipped with anti-drone systems for self-defence and area protection.
• Currently, there is a reconnaissance platoon responsible for navigating and leading units to their targets alongside three squadrons/ companies in Armoured/ Mechanized Infantry battalions. The recce platoons will be enhanced with surveillance and strike drones. Discussions are also underway to have two expanded squadrons/ companies instead of three, converting the third into a drone-based squadron/ company or integrating attack drones as part of tank squadrons.
Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:
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📍Drone swarming to smarter war rooms: Army’s AI roadmap for ops by 2026-27
Previous year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:
1. In the context of the Indian defence, what is ‘Dhruv’? (2008)
(a) Aircraft-carrying warship
(b) Missile-carrying submarine
(c) Advanced light helicopter
(d) Intercontinental ballistic missile
Previous year UPSC Mains Question Covering similar theme:
📍Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the defence sector is now set to be liberalized: What influence this is expected to have on Indian defence and economy in the short and long run? (2014)
Intervention by Indian team helped fix key issue before Axiom-4 launch: ISRO chief
Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance
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Main Examination: General Studies III: Achievements of Indians in science & technology and Awareness in the fields of IT, Space.
What’s the ongoing story: Weeks before it finally took off, the Axiom-4 mission, which carried Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla and three other astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS), was nearly cleared for launch despite a perceived minor oxygen leak — until an ISRO team insisted on further checks that revealed a potentially dangerous crack in the rocket, ISRO Chairperson Dr V Narayanan told The Indian Express.
Key Points to Ponder:
• What is the Axion Mission 4?
• What is India’s human spaceflight program?
• What is International Space Station (ISS)?
• Know the significance of ISRO’s decision-making authority in calling off a U.S.-led crewed space launch.
• How rigorous safety protocols and scientific diligence took precedence over schedule in the Axiom-4 mission case?
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• What is the role of indigenous technical expertise in diagnosing critical system cracks on a foreign launch platform?
• What are the risks associated with reusing launch boosters?
Key Takeaways:
• The Axiom-4 mission took off for space from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on June 25 after a series of delays since the initial launch date of May 29.
• The first launch was deferred to June 8 due to an electrical issue in the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft — the module where the crew was seated. But on June 8, when the engines were test-fired on ground, an oxygen leak was observed in addition to an anomaly in one of the actuators, used in controlling the direction of the rocket’s thrust.
• Dr Narayanan told The Indian Express that the oxygen leak was deemed minor and unlikely to affect the launch, but the Indian team — 18 scientists including the ISRO chairman and the director of the Human Space Flight Centre — embedded with the Axiom-4 and NASA teams felt something was amiss and pushed for further checks.
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• “Initially the team thought that there was a minor leak and the mission could proceed as planned. But, the Indian team insisted that proper checks be carried out even if it meant delaying the mission. And it was good that the tests were carried out because a crack was detected, allowing for repair. It was resolved before the mission took off,” Dr Narayanan said.
• The crack was in the oxidiser line, which carries liquid oxygen to power the rocket — a serious safety risk, especially for a crewed mission.
• The crack and other issues were fixed, but on June 12 NASA announced it was working with Russian space agency Roscosmos to evaluate a leak in the Zvezda module, the Russian-built service module of the ISS that houses key life-support and docking systems. This further delayed the mission until the final launch two weeks.
• During the mission, the Indian team was present at both Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral where launch operations took place and at mission control in Houston, Texas, where real-time flight operations are managed — from crew health monitoring and communications to emergency response.
Do You Know:
• Axiom-4 commander Peggy Whitson, a veteran astronaut, holds the record for the most number of days spent in space by an American or a woman — 695 days across multiple missions.
• India plans to build a sustained human spaceflight programme, with a space station targeted by 2035 and a human Moon mission by 2040. This will require setting up a permanent astronaut corps and regularly training new astronauts, like NASA and Roscosmos do.
• Shukla, who returned to Earth with a splashdown on July 15, is currently undergoing reconditioning in the United States. He is expected to remain in quarantine until the first week of August, after which he will participate in a debriefing with NASA and return home by mid-August.
Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:
📍ISRO-NASA satellite placed in orbit, to map Earth in detail
Previous year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:
2. Consider the following space missions: (2025)
Axiom-4
SpaDeX
Gaganyaan
How many of the space missions given above encourage and support microgravity research?
(a) Only one
(b) Only two
(c) All three
(d) None
EXPRESS NETWORK
Plastics treaty talks resume, Lancet report says need policy to curb harm
Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.
Main Examination: General Studies III: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.
What’s the ongoing story: As nations resume negotiations Tuesday for a global treaty on plastics, a new report published in The Lancet journal warned of its grave threat to human and planetary health but said the harm can be mitigated through effectively implemented policies.
Key Points to Ponder:
• What are Microplastics and Nano plastics?
• What is the present scenario regarding microplastics and nano plastics ?
• How plastics contribute to public health crises?
• What is the annual economic burden of health-related damages caused by plastics, according to The Lancet report?
• Compare the plastics crisis with past public health success stories.
• Why is a global plastic treaty required?
• What is on the negotiating table?
• What is India’s position?
• What are the challenges faced by global leaders in drafting a legally binding treaty to address plastic pollution?
• Why the Global Plastic Treaty is significant in the context of international environmental agreements?
Key Takeaways:
• “Plastics cause disease and death from infancy to old age and are responsible for health-related economic losses exceeding $1.5 trillion annually. These impacts fall disproportionately upon low income and at-risk populations,” the report said.
• The medical journal also launched a health-focused global monitoring system on the manufacture and use of plastics, called the Lancet Countdown on health and plastics. This is similar to the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change it had launched to monitor the health impacts of climate change.
• From Tuesday, ministers and negotiators from across the world are meeting in Geneva for the second round of the fifth session of what is known as the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee, which has been negotiating a Global Plastics Treaty for the last three years. This treaty is meant to be an internationally legally binding agreement to tackle plastics pollution across its entire life cycle, though serious differences persist over the scope and nature of this agreement.
• The Lancet report said interventions such as an international agreement were necessary to reduce the dangers from plastics pollution.
Do You Know:
• Philip Landrigan, a paediatrician and epidemiologist, and Director of the Global Observatory on Planetary Health at Boston College, who is the lead author of the Lancet report, said that the new Countdown will identify and regularly report on a suite of scientifically meaningful and geographically and temporally representative indicators across all stages of the plastic life cycle.
• Landrigan said there were two factors that make plastic a huge threat for all countries at every level of income. First is the sheer magnitude of the problem.
• Second, plastics contain more than 16,000 chemicals. These chemicals leak out of plastic products during use and get into people, especially children. Landrigan said these include chemicals that are known to be human carcinogens, neurotoxicants, and endocrine disruptors as well as many more that have never been tested for toxicity and whose dangers are still unknown.
• Early studies have shown possible links between microplastic and nanoplastic particles (MNPs) and lung diseases, inflammatory bowel disease, liver cirrhosis, myocardial infarction and stroke. In the past 2–3 years, MNPs have been increasingly reported in human tissues and body fluids in the general population, including blood, breastmilk, liver, kidney, colon, placenta, lung, spleen, brain, heart, great vessels, meconium, and feces.
• Plastic production has surged from 2 million tonnes in 1950 to 348 million tonnes in 2017, with projections indicating a potential doubling by 2040. The proliferation of plastic waste has led to significant environmental challenges, including marine pollution and adverse effects on wildlife.
• In March 2022, the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) adopted a resolution to develop a legally binding treaty addressing plastic pollution across its entire lifecycle. The proposed treaty aims to encompass measures from plastic production and design to waste management, emphasizing a comprehensive approach to tackling pollution.
Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:
📍The planet’s plastic problem: why we need a global plastics treaty
Previous year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:
3. Why is there a great concern about the ‘microbeads’ that are released into environment? (2019)
(a) They are considered harmful to marine ecosystems.
(b) They are considered to cause skin cancer in children.
(c) They are small enough to be absorbed by crop plants in irrigated fields.
(d) They are often found to be used as food adulterants.
Previous year UPSC Mains Question Covering similar theme:
📍What are the impediments in disposing the huge quantities of discarded solid waste which are continuously being generated? How do we remove safely the toxic wastes that have been accumulating in our habitable environment? (2018)
3,400 km, 14 states: Survey proposes steps to curb elephant deaths on tracks
Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: General issues on Environmental ecology, Bio-diversity and Climate Change
Main Examination: General Studies III: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.
What’s the ongoing story: ACROSS INDIA’S 69,000-km railway network, elephants face a recurring threat as hundreds of rail stretches pass through dense forests.
Key Points to Ponder:
• What exactly the report of the Environment Ministry which was based on the joint survey says?
• What present data on Elephants in India says?
• Have you heard of Project Elephant?
• Map Work-Elephant reserves in India
• Why mapping 77 railway stretches is significant for elephant safety in India?
• How the rail-wildlife conflict survey represents a shift in institutional engagement between the Railways and Environment Ministry?
Key Takeaways:
• At least 186 elephants were killed after colliding with trains between 2009-10 and 2024, according to official data. Now, a first-of-its-kind survey of the government — over 127 railway stretches in 14 states — has proposed solutions to prevent deaths of elephants as well as other wildlife on the rail tracks.
• From the 127 stretches spanning 3,452 km that the Union Environment Ministry, Ministry of Railways and state forest departments jointly surveyed, 77 stretches in 14 states were identified for targeted mitigation measures, based on wildlife movements and past mortalities.
• After deliberations between Centre and state forest departments, a total of 705 structures have been proposed on the 77 stretches.
• The joint survey involved inspection of railway tracks, particularly sites vulnerable to wildlife deaths, and where wildlife is known to cross rail lines frequently. “The team suggested mitigation measures based on multiple factors including width of crossing zone, track height of the railway line, presence of drainage structure and human infrastructure (and consequent potential for conflict) in that segment,” said the survey report.
Do You Know:
• Among the 14 states, it has been proposed that 131 level crossings with ramps, the highest, will be built in Assam, which is home to 5,719 elephants, the second highest in the country as per the 2017 elephant population estimation. The government has proposed 125 level crossings with ramps in Maharashtra, and 92 in Uttar Pradesh. Karnataka had the highest wild elephant count in India at 6,049 followed by Assam (5,719), Kerala (5,706), and Tamil Nadu (2,761), according to the 2017 elephant population estimation.
• The recommendations to build structures to prevent wildlife deaths were borne out of discussions between the Environment Ministry and Railway Ministry dating back to August 2022. An initial 110 railway stretches in sensitive elephant and tiger landscapes were provided to the railway ministry to prevent wildlife collision with trains.
• While mitigation measures per se are not new, and have been built on a case-to-case basis, the recent attempt is aimed at preparing a consolidated and comprehensive framework, said a senior official of the environment ministry.
• In addition to the mitigation structures, the railways have already commissioned Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) over 141 kms in Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR). This is an artificial intelligence enabled system to detect elephant movements that alert loco pilots and railway control rooms.
• Of the 926 km, work is underway on a substantial chunk of 349.9 km falling in the East Coast Railway zone. A 207.8 km stretch in Odisha, spanning 20 railway stations in the Sambalpur division, will be one of the longest to install the IDS.
Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:
📍Understanding Kerala’s man-elephant conflict
Previous year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:
4. With reference to Indian elephants, consider the following statements: (2020)
1. The leader of an elephant group is female.
2. The maximum gestation period can be 22 months.
3. An elephant can normally go on calving till the age of 40 years only.
4. Among the States in India, the highest elephant population is in Kerala.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
a) 1 and 2 only
b) 2 and 4 only
c) 3 only
d) 1, 3 and 4 only
EXPLAINED
What ICJ’s landmark climate ruling means for Kyoto Protocol
Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: General issues on Environmental ecology, Bio-diversity and Climate Change – that do not require subject specialization.
Mains Examination: General Studies III: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.
What’s the ongoing story: While defining the obligations of countries in the global fight against climate change, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) made a crucial clarification regarding the 1997 Kyoto Protocol and its validity in a landmark ruling last week.
Key Points to Ponder:
• What is Kyoto Protocol?
• What is the difference between Kyoto Protocol and Paris Agreement?
• Why was the validity of the Kyoto Protocol questioned?
• What does the ICJ ruling mean for the Kyoto Protocol?
• ‘Responsibilities of Developed vs. Developing Nations’-what you know about the same?
• What is the principle of ‘common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities (CBDR-RC)’?
Key Takeaways:
• The ICJ has said the Kyoto Protocol not only continues to remain in force, but is also legally relevant, and that countries remain under a legal obligation to comply with its provisions.
• The ICJ ruling is the first time that an authoritative assertion has been made on the legal status of the Kyoto Protocol in the post-Paris Agreement period. The common understanding so far has been that the Kyoto Protocol was replaced and superseded by the 2015 Paris Agreement.
• In other words, the Kyoto Protocol had ceased to exist, or at least became non-operational or defunct, once the Paris Agreement came into effect in 2016, or at the most when the Kyoto Protocol’s second commitment period ended in 2020.
Do You Know:
• The Kyoto Protocol, which was finalised in 1997 and came into effect in 2005, was the first legal instrument under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The agreement sought to operationalise the provisions of the UNFCCC through specific climate actions from countries. It assigned specific targets to rich and developed countries to reduce their emissions in particular time frames, called commitment periods.
• Developing countries did not have any such targets, and were encouraged to take “nationally appropriate” actions to help the fight against climate change. This was in keeping with the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities (CBDR-RC), one of the foundational tenets of international climate law.
• This principle, in effect, says while the whole world has a responsibility to take actions against climate change, the bulk of the responsibility lies with rich and developed countries. That is because these countries accounted for the overwhelming majority of the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the last 150 years, which have caused climate change.
• The Kyoto Protocol’s first commitment period ran from 2008 to 2012, and the second from 2012 to 2020. Developed countries, a group of about 40 mentioned by name in Annex-I of the UNFCCC, had to reduce their GHG emissions by assigned amounts during these periods from baseline values in 1990. These countries also had to provide finance and technology to developing countries to help them tackle climate change, in accordance with the provisions of the UNFCCC.
• The United States did not ratify the Kyoto Protocol. As a result, the world’s largest emitter, both in current terms at that time and historically, did not have any obligation to reduce its emissions. Several other countries, such as Canada and Japan, either walked out of the Kyoto Protocol at a later stage, or refused to accept binding targets for the second commitment period.
Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:
📍Why ICJ ruling on climate change is significant
Previous year UPSC Mains Question Covering similar theme:
📍Describe the major outcomes of the 26th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). What are the commitments made by India in this conference? (2021)
CAN PALESTINE BECOME A FULL MEMBER OF THE UNITED NATIONS?
Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.
Mains Examination: General Studies II: Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.
What’s the ongoing story: Momentum seems to be building for more countries to recognize a Palestinian state in Israeli-occupied territory after France said last week it would do so in September. Britain said Tuesday it would follow suit at the U.N. General Assembly unless Israel had taken steps to ease the Gaza crisis and bring about peace.
Key Points to Ponder:
• How UN Member States are born?
• What ts the current status of the Palestinians at the U.N.?
• What happened last year?
• how does the United Nations admit new member states?
• What happened to the Palestinian application in 2011?
• What is the U.S. position?
• What is India’s position?
Key Takeaways:
• The Palestinians are a non-member, observer state at the United Nations – the same status as the Holy See (Vatican).
The General Assembly approved the de facto recognition of the sovereign state of Palestine in November 2012 by upgrading its observer status at the world body to “non-member state” from “entity.” There were 138 votes in favor, nine against and 41 abstentions.
• In May 2024, the U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly backed a Palestinian bid to become a full member by recognizing it as qualified to join and recommending the U.N. Security Council “reconsider the matter favorably.”
• That resolution also granted the Palestinians some additional rights and privileges from September 2024 – like a seat among the U.N. members in the assembly hall.
The May vote by the General Assembly amounted to a global survey of support for the Palestinian cause to become a full member – a move that would effectively recognize a Palestinian state – after the United States vetoed the step in the Security Council in April 2024.
• Countries seeking to join the United Nations usually present an application to the U.N. secretary-general, who sends it to the Security Council for an assessment and vote.
Do You Know:
• A U.N. Security Council committee assessed the Palestinian application for several weeks to see if it satisfied requirements for U.N. membership. But the committee was unable to reach a unanimous position and the Security Council never formally voted on a resolution on Palestinian membership.
Diplomats said the Palestinians lacked the minimum nine votes needed to adopt a resolution. Even if they had won enough support, the United States had said it would veto the move.
• The United States, Israel’s most powerful and influential ally, has said a Palestinian state can only be established through direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.
• Currently, Palestine is a “Permanent Observer State” — and not a “Member State” — at the UN. There is one other Permanent Observer State in the UN — the Holy See, representing Vatican City. As a Permanent Observer State, Palestine is allowed to “participate in all of the Organization’s proceedings, except for voting on draft resolutions and decisions in its main organs and bodies, from the Security Council to the General Assembly and its six main committees”.
Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:
📍UK plans to recognise Palestine in Sept unless Israel meets conditions: Starmer
Previous year UPSC Mains Question Covering similar theme:
📍“India’s relations with Israel have, of late, acquired a depth and diversity, which cannot be rolled back.” Discuss. (2018)
THE IDEAS PAGE
Needed: More bargaining chips
Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.
Main Examination: General Studies II: Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.
What’s the ongoing story: Ashok Gulati Writes: This is an overdue agenda, irrespective of Trump’s tariff pressures today. Hope India can do it.
Key Points to Ponder:
• How export diversification can serve as a strategic buffer against unilateral trade measures like U.S. tariffs?
• What are the reasons behind the stagnation of India’s agricultural exports since 2013–14, despite earlier rapid growth?
• What are the role of specific agricultural commodities in growing exports during 2003–14?
• Know the significance of services exports versus goods exports in strengthening India’s trade resilience.
• Know the implications of unilateral U.S. tariff actions on India’s broader export markets.
Key Takeaways:
Ashok Gulati Writes:
• US President Donald Trump has delivered a strong blow to India by imposing a 25 per cent tariff, plus some unspecified penalty, on exports of most Indian goods. Several experts suggest that this may hit overall GDP growth by 20 to 30 basis points.
• In other words, the overall GDP growth in the financial year 2025-26 (FY26) may not reach 6.5 per cent as expected by the RBI, but may end up somewhere around 6.2 to 6.3 per cent. This is a significant loss, but not something that India cannot endure.
• India’s economy is growing at more than 6 per cent, against the US’s economy growing at less than 2 per cent, India is still the fastest-growing large economy in the G20 group. Yes, the size of the Indian economy (about $4.19 trillion) is way below that of the US, which touches $30 trillion. But in Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) terms, we are at more than $16 trillion and already the third largest economy.
Do You Know:
Ashok Gulati Writes:
• A few things are clear from what has happened on the tariff front. First, the Trump-Modi bonhomie seems to be over. Investing in personal relations does not mean much to President Trump. He is transactional and focused on extracting as much from other countries as possible in the pursuit of his dream of Making America Great Again (MAGA). Second, he is very upset with Russian President Vladimir Putin for not heeding Trump’s sermons on ending the Ukraine-Russia war – in his campaign, the US President had announced that he would end the war in 24 hours after taking office.
• India’s total exports of goods in calendar year 2024 were $442 billion, of which $80.7 billion, roughly 18 per cent went to the US. The high tariffs will surely impact such goods. The magnitude of the hit they will take actually depends upon tariff rates imposed on competing countries for each commodity.
• The US’s interest in agriculture is more in soya and corn, both GM crops. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had allowed GM cotton, traces of which are already in our food system. PM Modi has to take a stand, based on science, whether to allow GM food crops like rapeseed-mustard or BT brinjal, which are homegrown or to let in GM soya and corn through imports under tariff rate quotas.
Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:
📍India needs its cards right to navigate a world governed by Trump’s tariffs
For energy security, a redesign
Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.
Mains Examination: General Studies III: Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc.
What’s the ongoing story: Vikram Singh Mehta writes: To achieve this goal, India must focus on not just conservation of the usage of fossils, but also the simplification and coherence of the energy regulatory system.
Key Points to Ponder:
• How the author of this article reframes India’s energy security beyond the traditional metric of fossil fuel access and affordability?
• What are the regulatory challenges faced by renewable energy investors in India?
• How does the increasing share of renewables contrast with the supporting infrastructure in India?
• What were the risk illustrated by Spain’s blackout as invoked by the author of this article.
• What lessons should India draw for its cross value chain renewable grid planning?
• What is the role of political will in dismantling legacy vested interests to enable regulatory redesign in the energy sector?
• In what ways can digitisation, standardisation, and convergence of regulatory processes contribute to achieving India’s energy transition goals?
• Do you agree with the author’s assertion that there is no structural block to renewable expansion (unlike hydrocarbons)?
Key Takeaways:
Vikram Singh Mehta writes:
• Energy security has typically been discussed within the frame of access, reliability and affordability of fossil fuels. Today, however, against the backdrop of global warming and India’s commitment to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2070, this results in too narrow a perspective.
• India is on a two track energy trajectory. One track relates to the demand for fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas) and the other to renewables (solar, wind, bio etc). The national objective is to decrease the share of the former and increase that of the latter in the energy consumption basket. To achieve this goal, India must focus on not just conservation of the usage of fossils, but also the simplification and coherence of the energy regulatory system.
• India has done well to safeguard its energy security in the traditional sense. It has opened up multiple sources of crude oil and has resisted western government pressure to sanction Russia.
Do You Know:
Vikram Singh Mehta writes:
• The supply of hydrocarbons depends crucially on geology. Governments have no control over a country’s natural resource endowments. On the other hand, the supply of renewables faces no structural block. Sunlight and wind are “freely” available; the technology for generating wind and solar energy is well established; the economics are competitive; and there is investor interest.
• The rub is the multiplicity of regulatory agencies and regulators that bear on this sector. Plus the fact there is no one executive authority with nodal responsibility or accountability for its operations.
• The positive is the government faces no structural block like geology to overcome this rub. It can, if it so wishes, undertake a root and branch reconfiguration and redesign of the current regulatory system. It can simplify the regulatory process by removing or converging the current multiple layers of oversight.
• It can standardise operating rules; ease the process of land acquisition; digitise the approval process; align technical standards and safety conditions; render transparent the setting of network charges and supply contracts; and expedite dispute resolution.
Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:
📍The clean energy transition has become messy
PRELIMS ANSWER KEY
1.(c) 2.(c) 3.(a) 4.(a)
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