Content

1. World Soil Day (Dec 5)
2. New Delhi’s relative isolation, India’s tryst with terror

World Soil Day (Dec 5)

Why is this in News?

• World Soil Day observed annually on 5 December, established by FAO.
• Theme 2025: “Healthy Soils for Healthy Cities” — shifts focus to soils within urban landscapes, not just farms.
• Rising global urbanisation (56% population in cities) has intensified issues: heat islands, flooding, pollution, food insecurity, biodiversity loss.
• Article highlights urban soil degradation and calls for soil-centric urban planning.

Relevance

• GS1 (Geography): Soil formation, soil degradation, urbanisation impacts, human geography.
• GS2 (Governance): Urban governance, sustainable city planning, policy frameworks for climate-resilient cities, SDG-11.
• GS3 (Environment): Land degradation, ecosystem services, climate change adaptation, urban floods, biodiversity conservation, waste-to-compost management.

Practice Question

• “Urban soils are the most ignored yet most critical component of urban resilience.” Discuss how healthy soils contribute to sustainable cities and evaluate the policy interventions needed in India to protect and restore urban soil ecosystems.(250 Words)

Basics: What is Soil & Why It Matters?

• Soil = living ecosystem containing microorganisms, organic matter, minerals, water and air.
• Provides food security, water filtration, carbon sequestration, habitat, infrastructure support.
• Non-renewable at human time scale: 1 cm topsoil can take hundreds of years to form.

Urban Soils: Why They Matter

• Urban soils exist under parks, street trees, medians, vacant lands, community gardens.
• A teaspoon of healthy soil contains more microorganisms than human population, driving decomposition, fertility, nutrient cycling.

Functions of Healthy Urban Soils

• Climate Regulation
  • Reduce urban heat island effect.
  • Increase carbon sequestration.
  • Cooler microclimates through vegetation-rooted soils.
• Flood Prevention & Water Management
  • Act as sponges, absorbing rainfall and reducing runoff.
  • Facilitate groundwater recharge.
  • Impermeable surfaces → flash floods; healthy soils → moderated hydrology.
• Urban Food Systems
  • Support urban agriculture (rooftop farms, backyard agriculture, community gardens).
  • Shortens food chains and improves resilience.
• Biodiversity Support
  • Provide habitat for earthworms, microbes, beneficial insects, pollinators.
  • Promote soil fertility and ecological balance.
• Human Well-being
  • “Vitamin N” (nature contact) reduces stress, anxiety, depression.
  • Soil-based spaces strengthen physical activity and community bonding.

Status of Urban Soils: Alarming Trends

• FAO: One-third of global soils degraded; degradation more acute in cities.
• Key urban pressures:
  • Contamination from industrial residues, heavy metals.
  • Compaction from construction.
  • Loss of organic matter.
  • Soil sealing (concrete/asphalt) → zero infiltration, zero soil life.
• Impacts:
  • Poor vegetation growth.
  • Higher flood risk.
  • Decline in air quality buffering.
  • Reduced food safety in urban farming.

Blueprint for Action (FAO 2025 Theme Agenda)

1. Urban Soil Restoration

• Soil testing, compost addition, biochar, organic amendments.
• Rehabilitate degraded urban patches.
• Restrict new soil sealing; adopt permeable pavements.

2. Promote Green Infrastructure

• Parks, rain gardens, bioswales, roadside tree belts.
• Soil-based solutions replace concrete to mitigate floods & heat.

3. Champion Urban Agriculture

• Community gardens, backyard plots, rooftop farms.
• Enhances food resilience, reduces stress, builds social capital.

4. Responsible Soil Management

• Reduce chemical fertilizers & pesticides.
• Native species planting.
• Mulching and topsoil protection.

5. Boost Soil Literacy & Composting

• School campaigns, hands-on soil tests.
• Household composting → closes nutrient loop → reduces city waste.

Larger Significance: Why Soil = Foundation of Healthy Cities

• Resilient cities are not built on steel and concrete alone.
• They depend on functioning ecological infrastructure, with soil as the core.
• Soil conservation = climate resilience + public health + biodiversity + food security.
• Community-driven stewardship critical for long-term sustainability.

New Delhi’s relative isolation, India’s tryst with terror

Why Is This in News?

• India is facing an unusually complex national security environment: rising hostility on both flanks (Pakistan–Bangladesh), turbulence across South Asia, and strategic marginalisation in global crises (West Asia, Europe, Indo-Pacific).
• A new domestic terror module led by young medical professionals was uncovered across J&K, Faridabad, and Delhi — signalling a qualitative shift in urban terrorism.
• Pakistan’s 27th Constitutional Amendment institutionalises military supremacy through a new Chief of Defence Forces with full nuclear control — heightening the risk of miscalculation.
• Bangladesh’s interim government is showing anti-India posture while reviving defence links with Pakistan (first Pak Navy ship visit in 50 years).
• Former NSA M.K. Narayanan warns this is a moment of reckoning requiring heightened vigilance.

Relevance

• GS2 (IR): Neighbourhood challenges, India–Pakistan, India–Bangladesh dynamics, South Asian geopolitics, strategic isolation, India’s role in global governance.
• GS3 (Internal Security): Urban terrorism, radicalisation pathways, intelligence coordination, terror financing networks, cyber-encrypted communication, multi-front security threats.

Practice Question

• India today faces simultaneous external hostility and rising internal radicalisation. Critically analyse how the evolving security landscape on both flanks, combined with new forms of urban terrorism, challenges India’s national security strategy.(250 Words)

India’s National Security Environment

• India’s security has historically depended on:
  • Stable neighbourhood (SAARC region).
  • Deterrence stability with Pakistan and China.
  • Internal cohesion against terrorism and radicalisation.
  • Diplomatic activism in global theatres.
• Today, all four pillars are under strain.

India as an Emerging ‘Outlier’ in World Affairs

• Despite diplomatic credentials, India appears:
  • Absent in global crisis management — West Asia war, Russia–Ukraine, Red Sea disruptions.
  • Less involved in emerging Indo-Pacific dynamics shaped by US–China rivalry.
• India is not shaping outcomes in key theatres where it previously had influence.

Implication: Reduced global agency may affect India’s strategic leverage, energy security, maritime interests.

Neighbourhood in Turmoil

• South Asia is experiencing systemic instability:
  • Afghanistan: extremist resurgence, humanitarian collapse.
  • Nepal: political flux.
  • Maldives: strategic drift toward China.
  • Myanmar: civil war.
  • Sri Lanka: economic distress.
• India lacks dependable partners across its periphery.

Strategic consequence: Weak regional environment magnifies India’s security burdens.

Hostility on Both Flanks

Western Front: Pakistan

• Threat level rising due to:
  • Surge in anti-India rhetoric.
  • Approval of the 27th Constitutional Amendment.
  • Creation of Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) with:
    • Complete command over three services.
    • Exclusive control of nuclear assets.
    • Freedom to act against “enemies” without parliamentary restraint.

Risks

• Military dictatorships historically take adventurist, short-sighted decisions.
• Concentrated power → increased probability of miscalculation, proxy escalation, and conflict generation.
• Chances of another India–Pakistan conflict, though speculative, cannot be ruled out.

Eastern Front: Bangladesh

• Interim government showing unprecedented hostility.
• Warmer ties with Pakistan — including a Pakistan Navy ship docking in Bangladesh for the first time in ~50 years.
• Opens space for Pakistan to regain presence in Bay of Bengal.

Security implications:

• Encirclement risk intensifies.
• Maritime vulnerabilities increase.
• India’s Act East maritime posture faces friction.

Rise of Urban Terror: A New Chapter

• First major indigenous urban terror module in years.
• Characteristics:
  • Operated from Srinagar → Faridabad → Delhi.
  • Perpetrators mostly medical practitioners linked to Al-Falah University.
  • Ideological driver: Babri Masjid demolition (1992).
  • Accumulated ~3,000 kg explosives; breached security; executed blast near Red Fort.

Why this is qualitatively different

• Not sponsored by Pakistan (unlike 2008).
• Not executed by lumpen elements (unlike 1992–93).
• Composed of educated elite — showing:
  • Deep ideological radicalisation.
  • Growing internal fault lines.
  • Risks of networked recruitment, encrypted coordination.

Grave concerns

• Contradicts state claim that no locals have joined terror groups in J&K recently.
• Funding & logistics mobilised through:
  • Academic/professional networks.
  • Social/charitable fronts.
  • Encrypted channels.
• Possible linkages to Pakistan, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Türkiye.

The Civilisational Fault Line

• Educated urban youth engaging in ideologically motivated terror reflects:
  • Weakening of social cohesion.
  • Persistence of grievance-based narratives decades after triggering events.
  • Vulnerability of multicultural fabric to polarisation.

This is the most alarming dimension — a sign of deeper internal societal fractures.

Strategic Takeaways for India

• India faces a multi-front security challenge:
  • Hostile Pakistan + hostile Bangladesh.
  • Turbulent neighbourhood.
  • Internal radicalisation.
  • Strategic marginalisation globally.
• Requires:
  • Sharpened counter-terror intelligence.
  • Neighbourhood diplomacy reset.
  • Hardening of internal security grid.
  • Prevention of ideological radicalisation through community engagement.
  • Avoiding coercive measures that fuel alienation.