Content

1. What does the SHANTI Bill change?
2. What remote-sensing reveals about plants, forests, and minerals from space
3. Police in States step up social media monitoring
4. Mexico’s Popocatépetl volcano — first 3D interior imaging
5. Places in News(Colombia, Mexico, Cuba, Greenland)

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What does the SHANTI Bill change?

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 Why is it in News? 

• Parliament has passed the Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy in India (SHANTI) Bill.
• It opens India’s nuclear power sector to private and foreign participation — ending the exclusive State-run regime since 1956.
• Opposition demanded Select Committee review, citing concerns about:
  • diluted liability
  • safety and transparency risks
  • weakening RTI and labour safeguards
• The government argues the law is essential for energy security, baseload power, clean energy, and nuclear expansion.

Relevance

GS-2 | Polity & Governance

• Public sector reforms, regulatory institutions, accountability
• Parliamentary oversight, transparency, RTI, labour safeguards
• State vs market role in strategic sectors

GS-3 | Economy / Infrastructure / Energy

• Nuclear energy policy, investment models, PPP in strategic sectors
• Energy security, baseload power, Net-Zero strategy
• Technology partnerships & FDI policy constraints

The Basics — Nuclear Governance Before SHANTI

• Sector governed by:
  • Atomic Energy Act, 1962
  • Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage (CLND) Act, 2010
• Nuclear operations were monopolised by NPCIL.
• Private/foreign role restricted due to:
  • strict supplier liability
  • high legal risk exposure
• Result → capital shortage, slow capacity addition, stalled global partnerships.

What the SHANTI Bill Does ? — Core Provisions

• Opens nuclear projects to private Indian companies (licences to own, build, operate plants)
• Allows foreign supplier participation (indirectly, via JV / supply chains)
• Government to retain 51% control over strategic & sensitive functions:
  • nuclear fuel cycle / reprocessing
  • heavy water & enrichment
  • radioactive waste & spent fuel
  • radiation safety & emergency systems
  • regulatory oversight

Ends NPCIL’s monopoly

• Enables PPP-style model
• Private role in:
  • equipment & fuel fabrication
  • reactor construction & operation
  • R&D and advanced technologies

Supports deployment of:

• Small Modular Reactors (SMRs)
• Advanced Pressurised Water Reactors
• Indigenous reactor designs

Policy link: ₹20,000 crore allocation announced for SMRs & advanced reactors under the Nuclear Energy Mission.

Regulatory Architecture — Role of AERB 

• Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) given statutory status
  → now answerable to Parliament, not only the executive
• Mandate:
  • nuclear & radiation safety
  • licensing & inspection
  • emergency preparedness
  • quality & industrial safety compliance (Factories Act linkage)

Criticism flagged:
Concentration of regulatory power in one body → demand for independent nuclear safety commission.

What Has Changed on Liability? 

Earlier regime (CLND Act, 2010)

• Operators could recover liability from suppliers for:
  • defective parts, design faults, wilful acts
• Supplier liability discouraged foreign entry.

Under SHANTI — Predictable, Capped Liability

Plant Type	Capacity	Operator Liability Cap
Large plants	~3600 MW	₹3,000 crore
Medium plants	1500–3600 MW	₹1,500 crore
SMRs	~150 MW	₹100 crore
Penalty for violations	—	₹1 crore (cap)

•  
• Beyond the cap → Union Government pays, supported by a Nuclear Liability Fund.
• Supplier liability removed completely.

Government reasoning:
Predictable liability → lowers risk → attracts investment & technology inflow.

Opposition argument:
Shifts burden to State & society → weakens polluter-pays principle.

Comparative data point

• Fukushima damages ≈ 700× higher than SHANTI’s proposed liability cap
  → highlights catastrophic-risk underestimation concern.

Safeguards Retained

• No automatic FDI permission — route remains case-specific & regulated
• AERB authorisation required for:
  • possession, production, disposal of nuclear/radiation materials
  • establishing & operating facilities
• Government retains:
  • fuel reprocessing, enrichment, heavy-water production
  • high-level waste management
• Nuclear Liability Fund created for accident compensation.

Transparency, Labour & Safety — Contested Clauses

Concerns Raised

• Section 39 — overrides RTI Act review & appeal mechanisms
  → restricts public access to safety & operational information.
• Section 42 — exempts nuclear workers from general labour safety laws
  → unions term it “draconian”.
• No statutory requirements for:
  • public hearings
  • EIA disclosure
  • community consent
  • periodic safety reporting / parliamentary review

Government’s Position — Rationale & Benefits

• Strengthen energy security & baseload capacity
• Reduce dependence on:
  • coal & fossil imports
  • single-country nuclear partnerships
• Support:
  • Net-Zero 2070
  • clean energy & grid stability
• Reactivate stalled deals with U.S., France, Japan
• Encourage technology diversity + investment inflow

Why Nuclear Energy Matters for India ?

• Renewables intermittency + storage costs
• India still relies heavily on coal for power
• Nuclear provides:
  • 24×7 baseload
  • very low lifecycle emissions
  • long-term cost stability

Current nuclear profile

• 25 reactors across 7 plants
  • 21 PHWRs + 4 LWRs
• Installed nuclear capacity ~7 GW (≈ 3% of total electricity mix)
• Long-term strategy built around thorium cycle & fast breeder reactors

Opposition’s Key Criticisms

• Accountability diluted, private profit + public risk
• Liability caps too low, supplier walks free
• RTI override weakens public oversight
• Labour protections diluted
• Vendor-driven push despite indigenous thorium tech capability
• Lack of safety-democracy mechanisms (consultation, EIA transparency)
• Global comparator:
  • France keeps nuclear under full state control
• Labels the Bill as:
  • pro-corporate / pro-oligarch
  • risking public safety & environment

Strategic & Governance Implications

• Marks a paradigm shift: State-monopoly → regulated PPP model
• May accelerate:
  • capacity addition
  • financing & technology partnerships
• Raises structural questions:
  • Are liability caps socially optimal?
  • Is independent nuclear safety regulation adequate?
  • Can transparency be ensured without weakening security?

Takeaways 

• SHANTI Bill = Liberalisation of nuclear sector + capped operator liability + removal of supplier liability + PPP-driven expansion under State oversight.
• Balances investment predictability vs public safety & accountability risks.
• Core tension = Energy security + clean baseload ↔ liability, transparency, labour & safety concerns.

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What remote-sensing reveals about plants, forests, and minerals from space

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Why is it in News? 

• Remote-sensing technologies — satellites, drones, hyperspectral sensors, SAR radars, and gravity-mapping missions — are increasingly being used for:
  • resource mapping (minerals, groundwater, hydrocarbons)
  • forest health & biomass estimation
  • flood mapping & water monitoring
  • climate change research & environmental protection
• Growing relevance due to:
  • India’s push toward climate resilience, water security, precision agriculture, and mineral exploration
  • expansion of ISRO-led EO missions, NISAR, Bhuwan, NRSC programmes

Remote-sensing has moved from mapping what we can see → to detecting what lies underground and underwater using physics-based signatures.

Relevance

GS-1 | Geography (Physical & Resource Geography)

• Earth observation, landforms, vegetation & hydrology mapping

GS-3 | Environment, Disaster Management & S&T

• Climate monitoring, biodiversity assessment, forest biomass
• Mineral & groundwater exploration
• Flood mapping, drought monitoring, precision agriculture
• Space technology applications (ISRO missions, NISAR, RISAT)

The Basics — What is Remote-Sensing?

• Remote-sensing = observing the Earth without physical contact using:
  • satellites
  • aircraft / drones
  • ground-based sensors
• Works by analysing electromagnetic radiation (EMR) reflected or emitted by Earth-surface features.

Spectral Signatures 

• Every object reflects/absorbs EMR differently.
• These reflection patterns = spectral signatures (like fingerprints).
• Sensors interpret signatures to identify:
  • healthy crops vs stressed crops
  • minerals vs soil
  • water vs land
  • vegetation types / species

Vegetation Monitoring — NDVI & Biomass 

• Healthy plants:
  • absorb red light (for photosynthesis)
  • reflect near-infrared (NIR) (to avoid heat stress)

Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)

• High NDVI → healthy vegetation
• Low NDVI → drought / disease stress

Evidence:
Journal of Plant Ecology (2008) — spectral data enables mapping of plant communities & forest species at landscape scale.

Applications

• crop health monitoring
• drought early warning
• forest biomass & carbon-storage estimation (climate mitigation)

Water Mapping — NDWI & SAR

Optical Water Mapping

• Water reflects visible green
• Strongly absorbs NIR & SWIR

Normalised Difference Water Index (NDWI)
→ High values over water bodies

Modified NDWI (MNDWI)
→ Better in urban areas (distinguishes water vs shadows)

Limitation

• Optical sensors fail during:
  • cloud cover
  • night
  • storms / cyclones

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)

• Active microwave sensor
• Sees through clouds & darkness
• Calm water = smooth mirror → black on radar image
  → Enables flood mapping during cyclones

Key Missions

• NASA–ISRO NISAR
• Sentinel-1 (ESA)
• RISAT series (ISRO)

Subsurface Mapping — Minerals, Oil & Gas

Hyperspectral Sensing

• Splits light into hundreds of narrow bands
• Produces per-pixel spectral fingerprints

Applications

• mineral prospecting (Cu, Au, Li)
• alteration-zone mapping
• soil & rock composition studies

Evidence:
Ore Geology Reviews (2023) — hyperspectral sensors map hydrothermal alteration zones linked to ore deposits.

Oil & Gas Exploration 

Micro-seepage detection

• Hydrocarbons leaking through micro-cracks:
  • alter soil chemistry
  • stress vegetation → yellowing leaves
• Satellites detect these subtle spectral anomalies

Structural Mapping

Anticlines / Dome-fold traps

• Surface folds suggest similar subsurface geometry

Tools

• Landsat, ASTER (NASA) → structural imaging
• Bathymetry via ocean-surface gravity anomalies
• Magnetometry → detects depth of magnetic basement rocks

Satellites don’t say “oil is here”, but “this structure can hold oil”.

Groundwater Mapping — GRACE Mission

• Large aquifers exert stronger gravitational pull
• NASA GRACE (2002–2017) used twin satellites to:
  • measure distance variation caused by gravity changes
  • infer groundwater volume shifts

Landmark finding (Nature, 2009)

• North India groundwater depletion detected from space
  → linked to irrigation withdrawals

Benefits of Remote-Sensing

• Faster, cheaper, low-impact exploration
• Avoids random drilling / geological disturbance
• Enables:
  • precision agriculture
  • climate monitoring
  • disaster management
  • resource conservation

Environmental Value

• helps ensure resources are not over-exploited
• supports sustainable groundwater & forest management

Limitations  

• Requires ground-truth validation
• Interpretation depends on:
  • atmospheric conditions
  • sensor resolution
  • calibration accuracy
• Cannot detect resources directly — only indicators

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Police in States step up social media monitoring

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 Why is it in News? 

• Over the last five years, States have significantly scaled up social-media monitoring infrastructure within police departments.
• Number of dedicated social-media monitoring cells
  • 2020: 262 cells
  • 2024: 365 cells (across 28 States + 8 UTs)
• Growth reflects policing priorities around:
  • misinformation, hate speech, rumour-control
  • cyber-enabled crime & communal mobilisation
  • protest surveillance & law-and-order monitoring

Data Source: Data on Police Organisations (DoPO), Bureau of Police Research & Development (BPR&D).

Relevance

GS-2 | Governance, Policing & Rights

• Surveillance, privacy, proportionality doctrine
• Cyber-policing & law-and-order institutional reforms
• Articles 19 & 21 — speech, dignity, due-process concerns

GS-3 | Internal Security & Cybersecurity

• Tech-centric policing, misinformation & hate-speech monitoring
• Cyber-crime ecosystem, digital intelligence, drones & analytics

The Basics — What Are Social-Media Monitoring Cells?

• Specialised police units that:
  • track Facebook, X, WhatsApp, Instagram, Telegram, Snapchat etc.
  • flag hate speech, fake news, mobilisation calls, financial scams
  • identify law-and-order triggers & cyber-crime signals
• Evolved from cyber-crime police stations → now distinct units since 2021 in DoPO reporting.

State-wise Expansion — Key Facts & Numbers

States with highest number of monitoring cells (2024):

• Bihar — 52
• Maharashtra — 50
• Punjab — 48
• West Bengal — 38
• Assam — 37

Significant growth cases

• Manipur: 3 (2020) → 16 (2024)
  (growth despite ~140-day Internet suspension during 2023 ethnic violence)
• Assam: 1 (2022) → 37 (2024)
• West Bengal: 2 (2022) → 38 (2024)
• Punjab: 24 (2022) → 48 (2024) (doubled)

Parallel Trend — Rise in Cybercrime Policing

• Cyber-crime police stations
  • 2020: 376
  • 2024: 624
• Indicates shift from traditional policing → techno-forensics & platform-driven crime monitoring.

Related Policing Infrastructure — Data Highlights 

• Drones with State/UT police: 1,147 (up from 1,010 in 2023)
• Vacancies:5,92,839 posts vacant
  • Against sanctioned strength 27,55,274
• Social composition of actual strength
  • SC: 3,30,621
  • ST: 2,31,928
  • OBC: 6,37,774

Insight: Expansion of digital surveillance capacity is occurring alongside large manpower shortages.

Why Are Police Expanding Social-Media Monitoring?

• Evolving crime trends
  • cyber-fraud, extortion, phishing networks
  • hate-speech mobilisation & rumour-spread
  • radicalisation & organised protest coordination
• Real-time early-warning systems
  • riot-prevention
  • misinformation control during elections / crises
• Evidence collection
  • digital footprints for prosecution

Governance & Civil-Liberty Concerns

• Risk of over-surveillance
  • chilling effect on dissent & free speech
• Weak legal oversight
  • unclear statutory standards on monitoring protocols
• Privacy risks
  • bulk-monitoring vs targeted intelligence
• Capacity vs accountability gap
  • rapid expansion without transparency norms

Balancing challenge: Security imperatives ↔ constitutional freedoms (Articles 19 & 21).

Strategic Implications

Positive

• improves situational intelligence
• supports cyber-crime detection
• aids disaster / protest / riot monitoring

Concerns

• potential misuse for political surveillance
• uneven capability across States
• human-resource deficit despite tech growth

Takeaways 

• India’s police forces are rapidly institutionalising social-media monitoring, rising from 262→365 cells (2020–2024) alongside cyber-crime station expansion (376→624).
• Trend signals tech-centric policing, but raises issues of privacy, proportionality, and oversight amid large police vacancies.

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Mexico’s Popocatépetl volcano — first 3D interior imaging

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Why is it in News?

• Scientists in Mexico have produced the first high-resolution 3D interior map of Popocatépetl volcano — one of the most active and dangerous volcanoes in the world.
• The project helps identify where magma accumulates, improving eruption prediction, hazard modelling, and evacuation planning.
• Significance is high because:
  • ~25 million people reside within 100 km of the volcano
  • Critical infrastructure nearby includes houses, schools, hospitals, and five airports
• Earlier interior images (≈15 years ago) were low-resolution and contradictory.

Relevance

GS-1 | Geography / Geomorphology

• Volcano types, stratovolcano behaviour
• Magma chambers, tectonic-volcanic linkages

GS-3 | Disaster Management

• Hazard mapping, early-warning systems
• Risk-informed evacuation & urban-hazard planning

The Basics — Understanding Popocatépetl

• Location: Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt
• Elevation: 5,452 m
• Age: current structure emerged >20,000 years ago
• Continuous activity since 1994 — ash, gas, smoke emissions almost daily
• Last major dome-collapse eruption: 2023
• Known for:
  • frequent ash plumes
  • lava domes that build and collapse
  • pyroclastic activity risk

Popocatépetl is considered a high-risk stratovolcano due to population exposure + persistent activity.

What Did the Scientists Achieve?

• Created the first 3-dimensional cross-sectional image of the volcano’s interior
• Imaging depth: ≈18 km below the crater
• The model reveals:
  • multiple magma pools at different depths
  • separated by rock layers / solidified material
  • greater concentration towards the southeast of the crater
• Demonstrates that magma storage is not a single chamber
  → instead a complex multi-reservoir system

Implication: Eruptions may not behave uniformly — risk patterns vary spatially.

How Was the 3D Image Created? 

Seismic Imaging + AI Processing

• Inside an active volcano, magma, gases, rocks & aquifers move constantly
• Motion generates seismic vibrations
• Researchers installed seismographs that:
  • record ground motion ≈100 times per second
• Massive datasets processed using AI-based inference models
  • infer material type, temperature, depth, and density contrasts

Field Challenges

• Work carried out on the volcano slopes for 5 years
• Risks included:
  • eruptions & explosions
  • harsh weather
  • damaged instruments (rats, shocks, battery failures)
• Some data sets were lost / corrupted, increasing mission difficulty

Why This Matters — Disaster Risk & Public Safety

• The new model helps:
  • identify magma pathways & accumulation zones
  • assess likelihood of dome formation / collapse
  • improve eruption forecasting windows
  • inform evacuation strategy & exclusion-zone planning
• Repeating the study periodically will allow:
  • change-detection over time
  • tracking magma movement before eruptions

The volcano becomes a “natural laboratory” for predictive volcanology.

Facts & Data — Key Points to Remember

• Elevation: 5,452 m
• 3D imaging depth: 18 km
• Population at risk (within 100 km): ≈ 25 million
• Active since: 1994
• Recent eruption event: 2023
• Hazards: ash plumes, dome collapse, pyroclastic activity
• Purpose of imaging: magma mapping & eruption-risk assessment

Takeaways 

• Popocatépetl’s first 3D subsurface map (to 18 km) reveals multiple magma reservoirs, improving eruption prediction & disaster preparedness for ~25 million people living nearby — a major advancement in volcano monitoring using AI-enabled seismic imaging.

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Places in News

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Relevance

GS-1 | Geography (Location-based)

• Neighbouring countries, coastlines, strategic geography
• Caribbean, North America, Arctic region mapping

GS-2 | International Relations / Global Politics

• U.S.–Latin America relations
• Drugs, migration, security geopolitics
• Arctic competition & strategic resources

 Colombia — Why in News?

Trump threatened action over failure to curb drug trafficking; Colombia remains a major global cocaine producer. Bilateral strain under President Gustavo Petro.

Neighbouring Countries

• Panama (NW)
• Venezuela (E)
• Brazil (SE)
• Peru (S)
• Ecuador (SW)

Geographic Notes

• Lies in North-western South America
• Only South American country with coastlines on both Pacific Ocean & Caribbean Sea
• Andes Mountains run across the country
• Major river basins: Amazon & Orinoco

Data Angle

• Accounts for ~⅔ of global cocaine output

 Mexico — Why in News?

Trump warned of action over fentanyl-trafficking networks impacting the U.S.; debates around

Neighbouring Countries

• United States (N)
• Guatemala (SE)
• Belize (SE)

Geographic Notes

• Located in North America
• Coastlines on Pacific Ocean & Gulf of Mexico / Caribbean Sea
• Dominated by Mexican Plateau, Sierra Madre ranges, and Yucatán Peninsula
• Part of the Ring of Fire → earthquake & volcano-prone

Policy Context

• Fentanyl crisis driving security-centric U.S.–Mexico relations

 Cuba — Why in News?

Accused by Trump of supporting terrorism & drug-trafficking networks; renewed geopolitical friction amid economic crisis & migration flows.

Neighbouring Countries (Maritime Proximity)

• United States (Florida) — North
• Mexico — West
• Bahamas — NE
• Haiti (Hispaniola) — East
• Jamaica — South

Geographic Notes

• Largest island in the Caribbean
• Located between Gulf of Mexico & Atlantic Ocean
• Part of the Greater Antilles archipelago

Strategic Layer

• Symbolically key in U.S. hemispheric policy & Cold War legacy politics

 Greenland (Denmark) — Why in News?

Trump reiterated interest in annexing Greenland, citing strategic defence priorities.

Neighbouring / Nearby Regions

• Canada — West (across Baffin Bay)
• Iceland — SE (across Denmark Strait)
• Arctic Ocean — North
• North Atlantic Ocean — South & East

Geographic Notes

• World’s largest island; autonomous territory under Kingdom of Denmark
• Mostly covered by the Greenland Ice Sheet
• Hosts Pituffik (Thule) Space / Air Base
• Critical to Arctic sea-lanes, missile-defence, and rare-earth resources

Strategic Context

• Rising U.S.–China–Russia competition in the Arctic