Ministry of New And Renewable Energy eased solar panel efficiency norms for off-grid rural projects.

• Solar modules with comparatively lower efficiency can now be included in the government’s Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM).
•  ALMM: It is a list of models and manufacturers of solar photovoltaic (PV) modules approved by the MNRE.

Key Changes in Solar Efficiency Norms (May 2025 Amendment)

• Efficiency Standards Reduced:
  • Previous (Off-grid <200W) Efficiency: Crystalline silicon at 19% and Cadmium Telluride (CdTe) at 18%
  • New Standard: Both technologies at 18% efficiency.
• Scope of Change: Applies only to off-grid solar applications below 200W, such as: Solar lanterns, Micro solar grids, Streetlights, Small fans and appliances
  • Does not affect larger systems (e.g., rooftop solar, pumps)
  • An off-grid solar system: It generates electricity from sunlight and stores it in batteries, allowing it to operate independently of the power grid.
• Creation of a New Category: Introduction of Distributed Renewable Energy (DRE) category to support smaller manufacturers & Wider rural electrification. 
  • Distributed Renewable Energy (DRE): It refers to electricity generated from renewable sources, like the sun or wind, near the point of use.

Concerns

• Risk of lower energy output per unit area
• Faster degradation of panels may impact long-term reliability
• Need for strict quality enforcement to avoid market saturation with substandard modules.

Declaration on Disaster Preparedness has been adopted at the 4th Ministerial Conference of Regional Integrated Multi-Hazard Early Warning System (RIMES), held in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

About Regional Integrated Multi-Hazard Early Warning System (RIMES), 2009

• It is an intergovernmental body that provides early warning services, disaster risk reduction strategies, and capacity building to its Member States.
  • It evolved from the efforts of countries in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, in the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, to establish a regional early warning system.
• Membership: It has 22 member states and 26 collaborating states.
• It operates from its regional early warning center located at Asian Institute of Technology in Thailand.

An infructescence of about 4.2 metres has been recorded in a species of wild banana Musa indandamanensis, making it the longest infructescence recorded in bananas.

• Infructescence is a group or cluster of fruits arranged on an axis/stem that is composed of a main stalk, and often having a complex arrangement of branches. 

About Musa indandamanensis

• Discovery: First recorded from a remote tropical forest near Krishna Nala reserve forest in the Andaman and Nicobar islands in 2012.
• Characteristics: 
  • It bears unique green flowers and fruit bunch lux (axis) thrice the size of a regular banana species. 
  • It is about 11 metres high, whereas the usual banana species is about three to four metres high.
• Benefits: It can provide natural genetic resource for plant breeders to develop high yielding and disease resistant varieties.

In Vanashakti v. Union of India (2025), the SC restrained the Centre from granting ex-post facto environmental clearance (EC) to mining projects or regularising actions that contravene the 2006 EIA notification.

• The EIA Notification, 2006, clearly requires ‘prior environmental clearance’ before a project can start.
• The court also held that such notification issued by the Centre (MoEFCC) were illegal, arbitrary, and violative of Articles 14 (equality before law) and 21 (protection of life and personal liberty) of the Constitution.
• Previously, in Common Cause v. UoI & Ors. (2017), Supreme Court held that the concept of ex post facto or retrospective environmental clearance is completely alien to environmental jurisprudence.

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)

• EIA notification 2006 was designed to ensure that developmental projects are assessed for their potential environmental impacts before approval.
• It categorised the projects in 2 categories: 
  • Category A: National Level Appraisal
    • Require prior EC from the Central Government in the MoEFCC.
    • Decision based on recommendations of an Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC).
  • Category B: State Level Appraisal
    • Require prior EC from the State/UT Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA).
    • Decision based on recommendations of a State or UT level Expert Appraisal Committee (SEAC).

Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) gave directives to Punjab, Haryana, and UP to prevent incidents of stubble burning as per Supreme Court order in M. C. Mehta vs. Union of India case.

• CAQM has been set up for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas for better co-ordination and resolution of problems surrounding the air quality index.

Key directions

• Constitution of a dedicated Parali Protection Force: Comprising police officers, officers of the Agriculture Department, etc.  
• Mandating use of paddy straw pellets/briquettes for co-firing in brick kilns: This can be done on the lines of thermal power plants.
• Mapping of each farm in all villages: For the proposed mode of paddy stubble management (crop diversification/ in-situ management, etc.).
• Determined rate for procurement of paddy straw: Mandated Punjab and Uttar Pradesh to determine common rate of paddy straw on the line of Haryana.
• Promoting ex-situ management: Optimal utilization of balers, rakers and other machines 
• Other:
  • Establish an online platform for real-time and consistent data reporting.
  • Comprehensive review of the inventories of Crop Residue Management (CRM) machines.

About NCPOR (HQ: Goa)

• Genesis: 1998, an autonomous Institution of the Ministry of Earth Sciences.
• Governing Body: Comprises of 13 members representing a cross section of the country's leadership in Polar and Ocean Sciences. 
  • Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences is the ex-officio chairman.

Key Roles of NCOPR

• Research in the Polar and Southern Ocean realms: Plays a role in the maintenance of India’s research stations in Antarctica (Maitri and Bharati), the Arctic (Himadri), and the Himalayas (Himansh).
• Leads Deep Ocean Mission: Flagship initiative focused on exploring deep-sea mineral resources and hydrothermal systems in the Indian Ocean.
• Aids in the Implementation of India’s Arctic Policy (2022) and Indian Antarctica Act (2022)
  • Indian Antarctic Act: Legal foundation for India’s activities in the continent, provides for the Committee on Antarctic Governance and Environmental Protection (CAG-EP) to monitor international laws. 
  • Arctic Policy: Rests on six pillars of Science and Research; Climate and Environmental Protection; Economic and Human Development; Transportation and Connectivity; Governance and International Cooperation; National Capacity Building. 

Global Methane Tracker 2025 has been released by the International Energy Agency (IEA)

Key findings

• Methane (greenhouse gas) is responsible for around 30 % of the rise in global temperatures since the Industrial Revolution.
• The three main sources of methane include agriculture, energy and waste sectors. 
• The energy sector including oil, natural gas, coal bioenergy accounts for more than 35 per cent of methane emissions from human activity.
• Methane emissions could be cut by 50 per cent by effectively utilising methane in mines, or by deploying flaring or oxidation technologies.
  • Gas flaring is the burning of the natural gas associated with oil extraction.

Asiatic Lion population increases from 674 to 891 in 5 years according to the Lion Census (2025)

• There has been an increase in the number and distribution area of Asiatic Lions (also outside Gir National Park), exemplifying the success of ‘Project Lion.’
• The census conducted (every 5 years) by the Gujarat Forest Department. 
• Project Lion (2020), has the goal of long term conservation for them to perform their ecological role and retain their evolutionary potential.
  • Monitoring through advanced technologies like radio-collaring; Disease management.

About Asiatic Lion (Panthera leo persica)

• Habitat: Grasslands, savannas, dense scrub, and open woodlands.
  • Concentrated in the Gir National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary (Gujarat). 
  • Barda Wildlife Sanctuary has emerged as a "second home" for lions.
• IUCN Status: Vulnerable. 
• Listed in Schedule I and IV of Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972, in Appendix I of CITES.
• Characteristics of Asiatic Lion:
  • Asiatic lions are slightly smaller than African lions.
  • A distinctive characteristic seen in Asiatic Lions (rarely in African Lions) is a longitudinal fold of skin running along its belly.
• Males have only moderate mane growth at the top of the head, so that their ears are always visible.
• Lions do not have a particular breeding season.

Study by Ladakh’s Department of Wildlife Protection has estimated 477 snow leopards in Ladakh.

• Ladakh has one of the world's highest densities of Snow Leopard, representing 68% of India's species population.

Key Highlight of Study 

• Area: Globally highest extensive densities in Hemis National Park, Kargil, and Leh, making one of the world's largest contiguous populations.
• Factors for high density: 
  • Resource-rich grasslands with a moderate climate and greater availability of prey.
  • Less human disturbance as 61% of snow leopards in Ladakh were found to co-exist alongside human populations.
  • Cultural reverence for wildlife among Ladakh’s communities, economic benefits from Snow Leopard tourism and conflict management strategies.

About Snow Leopards (Panthera uncia) 

• Geographical Spread: Flagship species in the mountainous regions of South and Central Asia, spanning 12 countries.
  • In India, found in Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Sikkim in Western Himalayas and Arunachal Pradesh in Eastern Himalayas.
• Conservation status: 
  • IUCN Red List:Vulnerable.
  • CITES Appendix I and CMS Appendix I
  • Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
• Habitat: Steep, rugged terrains with rocky outcrops and ravines at an elevation of 3,000-5,000 metres.
• Characteristics: Having smokey-grey fur patterned with dark-grey to black rosettes, they are solitary animals, most active at dawn and dusk.

Operation Olivia has shielded over 8-lakh olive Ridley turtles on Odisha’s Gahirmatha coast.

About Operation Olivia

• Initiated: In 1980s, by the Indian Coast Guard & It is conducted every year from November to May.
• The operation focuses on: Gahirmatha Beach, Rushikulya River Mouth, and Devi River Mouth. 
• These coastal zones witness the arrival of over 800,000 Olive Ridley turtles annually for mass nesting called arribada.

About Olive Ridley Turtles

• It has a circumtropical distribution, with nesting occurring through-out tropical waters (except the Gulf of Mexico).
• IUCN Status: Vulnerable; CITES: Appendix I.

State Government of Himachal Pradesh notified Tsarap Chu Conservation Reserve (India’s largest) in Spiti Valley.

About Tsarap Chu

• It is the location for the confluence of the Unam River and Charap Nala.
• It is bounded by the UT of Ladakh to the north, the Kibber Wildlife Sanctuary extending up to Malang Nala and Lungar Lungpa to the east, Kabjima Nala to the south and Chandratal Wildlife Sanctuary to the west.
• It is particularly known for the snow leopard, often called the ‘ghost of the mountains’.
• Other species: Tibetan wolf, bharal (blue sheep), Himalayan ibex, kiang (wild ass), and the Tibetan argali, rare bird species such as Rose Finch, Tibetan Raven, etc.

Glaciologists and local communities mourned the loss of Nepal’s Yala glacier after it has shrunk by 66% since the 1970s, making it among Nepal’s first likely to be declared dead. 

Glacier Funeral

• It is a symbolic ceremony held to mark rapid disappearance of glaciers due to climate change. 
• Other major glaciers declared dead: Pizol Glacier, Switzerland (2019); Clark Glacier, US (2020); Ayoloco glacier, Mexico (2021); etc. 
  • The world's first funeral was held for Okjokull glacier in Iceland in 2019.

Consequences of Glacial Loss

• Accelerates global warming: Reduced Glaciers will have less albedo effect and therefore will increase heat absorption. 
• Accelerates sea level rise: According to a Nature study, melting glaciers have caused nearly 2 cm to global sea level rise since 2001. 
• Disrupted water cycles: Nearly three-quarters of Earth's freshwater is stored in glaciers. Their rapid melting threatens water security and endangers biodiversity. 
• Natural disasters: It increases risks of Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs) and avalanches.