Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.
Mains Examination: General Studies-III: Science and Technology- Achievements of Indians in science & technology; indigenization of technology and developing new technology; Awareness in the fields of IT and space.
What’s the ongoing story: Getting another step closer to the first human spaceflight mission, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) conducted another set of tests to check one of the parachute systems that will bring the astronauts safely back to earth. At present, the space agency is conducting a series of on-ground and in-air tests to ensure the safety and dependability of its 10-parachute system.
— What is the Gaganyaan mission? — What is the significance of these parachute tests?
— What are the key features of India’s Manned Mission to Space?
— What is the significance of the Gaganyaan mission? — What are the other important space missions of the ISRO?
— What are the major achievements of ISRO in recent years? — Know about the ISRO’s launch vehicles.
— What are the challenges India faces in establishing a long-term human spaceflight program?
— During two exercises conducted on December 18 and 19, the space agency tested the ability of the drogue parachutes to work in extreme conditions. The test saw successful “reefed opening” of the parachutes, according to the agency.
— Meanwhile, the space agency is preparing for its next record-breaking launch — the heaviest satellite to lift off Indian soil. ISRO’s biggest vehicle, LVM-03, will carry a US satellite weighing nearly 6,100 kgs to the low earth orbit (LEO) on December 24. — The BlueBird block-2 satellite is a part of a global LEO constellation, being developed by the US company AST & Science, to provide satellite-based broadband directly to cell phones. This constellation will enable 4G and 5G voice and video calls, texts, streaming, and data for “everyone, everywhere, at all times,” the space agency said.
— The parachute tests conducted on Thursday and Friday used drogue parachutes on a sled moving at speeds of 600 km per hour on a rail track.
— The drogue parachutes are the second of the four types of parachutes used in the system. Deployed at greater heights, the two drogue parachutes are responsible for stabilising the crew module and slowing it down enough before the main parachutes are deployed.
— To avoid sudden jerks as the parachutes deploy on the astronauts’ journey back to the earth, the parachutes open slowly in a step by step process known as reefed inflation. Reefing essentially limits how much the parachute can open, following which disreefing using pyro devices at a scheduled time allows the parachute to open up completely.
— The recent experiments were conducted at the Rail Track Rocket Sled (RTRS) facility of the Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory (TBRL) in Chandigarh.
— The Gaganyaan crew module will be equipped with four different types of parachutes. First to be deployed will be two 2.5 metre Apex Cover Separation Parachutes, which are meant to pry open and remove the apex cover — a cover for the compartment that protects the other parachutes from the heat of re-entry — away from the descending vehicle. Then, the two 5.8 metre drogue parachutes are deployed. Once these parachutes complete the first stage of deceleration, three 3.4 metre pilot chutes take over. Each of them separately extract and deploy the three 25 metre main parachutes, which slows the crew module down enough for a soft splashdown. The space agency tested the entire parachute system under normal conditions in August this year.
— Announced in 2018, Gaganyaan is one of India’s most ambitious space programmes. It is India’s maiden human spaceflight mission that was originally scheduled for 2022 but is now expected to happen in early 2027. A successful execution of this mission would put India in the company of the US, Russia and China.
— As stated on the ISRO website, the short-term goal is to demonstrate human spaceflight to Low Earth Orbit, while the long-term goal is to lay the foundation for a “sustained Indian human space exploration programme”. Success in its ultimate objective — proving that India is capable of indigenously developing this complex technology — would be a huge boost for ISRO.
— Group Captain Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair, Group Captain Ajit Krishnan, Group Captain Angad Pratap, and Wing Commander Shubhanshu Shukla are India’s astronauts-designate for Gaganyaan.
(1) With reference to India’s satellite launch vehicles, consider the following statements: (UPSC CSE 2018)
1. PSLVs launch the satellites useful for Earth resources monitoring whereas GSLVs are designed mainly to launch communication satellites.
2. Satellites launched by PSLV appear to remain permanently fixed in the same position in the sky, as viewed from a particular location on Earth.
3. GSLV Mk III is a four-staged launch vehicle with the first and third stages using solid rocket motors; and the second and fourth stages using liquid rocket engines.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Mains Examination: General Studies-II, III: Government policies and interventions, Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.
What’s the ongoing story: The standing committee of the National Board for Wildlife has approved three projects in different tiger habitats of Madhya Pradesh – across the Greater Panna landscape, Sanjay Dubri tiger reserve and Ratapani tiger reserve – besides a ropeway project in the core zone of Uttarakhand’s Rajaji National Park.
— What is the conservation status of Tiger?
— How do tigers function as an umbrella species and why is their conservation critical for biodiversity?
— Read about the National Board for Wildlife. — What are wildlife corridors?
— What is the importance of the Tiger Corridor?
— What are the key initiatives taken by the Government for tiger conservation?
— Why are mines near tiger habitats ecologically harmful?
— What are the challenges associated with the conservation of tiger habitats?
— What are the major tiger reserves in India?
— Map work: Locate Greater Panna landscape, Sanjay Dubri tiger reserve and Ratapani tiger reserve on map.
— According to minutes of its last meeting on December 9, the panel recommended clearance for a limestone mine in Satna territorial forest. As per the project proposal, 266.302 hectares of revenue land lease will be used from within and adjacent to the approved wildlife corridor, under the Tiger Conservation Plan of Panna Tiger Reserve. The corridor connects habitats of Panna, Bandhavgarh and Sanjay Tiger Reserves.
— In two other tiger reserves – Sanjay Dubri and Ratapani – it has cleared an underground water pipeline and construction of the components of Barna dam. Meanwhile, use of 4.54 hectares of land from the core area of Rajaji Tiger Reserve has been approved for building a ropeway at Rishikesh from Triveni Ghat to Neelkanth Mahadev temple.
— The panel also recommended clearance for two bauxite mining projects located in the eco-sensitive zone of Phen wildlife sanctuary in Chhattisgarh’s Kabirdham district.
— While recommending the project, the committee, which visited the site, said that tiger movement through the southern corridor must be ensured and strengthened by restricting mining activities and habitat improvement.
— A tiger reserve in India is a designated area established under the Project Tiger initiative to ensure the conservation of tigers and their habitats. These reserves are part of the government’s efforts to protect the tiger population, maintain biodiversity, and restore ecological balance.
— The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) is a statutory body under the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change constituted under enabling provisions of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, for strengthening tiger conservation, as per powers and functions assigned to it under the said Act.
— The NTCA conducts the All India Tiger Estimation to track the big cat numbers, usually in cycles of four years. As per the 5th cycle summary report of 2022, India has a minimum of 3,167 tigers and is home to more than 70% of the world’s wild tiger population.
📍Wildlife Protection Act (WPA), 1972 status: Schedule I. 📍IUCN Red List status: Endangered.
📍Habitats: Tropical rainforests, evergreen forests, temperate forests, mangrove swamps, grasslands, and savannas.
📍India’s Habitat: Shivalik-Gangetic plains, Central India and Eastern Ghats, Western Ghats, North Eastern Hills & Brahmaputra Flood Plains and Sundarbans.
— Tiger corridors are vital wildlife pathways that connect tiger habitats, enabling animal movement, gene flow, and long term survival
(2) Among the following Tiger Reserves, which one has the largest area under “Critical Tiger Habitat”? (UPSC CSE 2020)
Preliminary Examination: Current events of national importance.
Mains Examination: General Studies-II: Government policies and interventions, Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability, Salient features of the Representation of People’s Act.
What’s the ongoing story: In the first financial year after the Supreme Court scrapped the government’s anonymous political funding scheme through electoral bonds, nine electoral trusts donated a total of Rs 3,811 crore to political parties in 2024-2025. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the party ruling at the Centre, received Rs 3,112 crore, or more than four-fifth (82 per cent) of the total funds donated by trusts.
— Why and when were electoral bonds introduced?
— What was the Supreme Court’s judgement on Electoral Bonds?
— How are electoral trusts different from that of the electoral bond scheme?
— What are the pros and cons of electoral trusts?
— What are the implications of the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down the electoral bond scheme on transparency in political funding?
— Assess the role of the Election Commission of India in ensuring transparency in political party funding.
— The total donations received by political parties are higher than this since funding through electoral trusts is just one of the channels, although a major one.
— As of Saturday, December 20, contribution reports of 13 electoral trusts of the 19 currently registered, were available with the Election Commission. Nine trusts declared a total contribution to parties of Rs 3,811 crore – an increase of over 200% from the Rs 1,218 crore total contributions by trusts in 2023-2024.
— In the previous financial year i.e. 2023-24, the BJP had received Rs 3,967.14 crore in voluntary contributions, of which 43 per cent or Rs 1,685.62 crore were from electoral bonds.
— The Supreme Court had scrapped the electoral bond scheme in 2024, after finding it unconstitutional. As of now, corporates can donate through cheque, DD, UPI bank transfers to parties. Parties have to declare the donations in their contribution reports and annual audit reports to the poll panel.
— The electoral trust route allows companies and individuals to donate to a trust, which further donates to parties.
— Under the scheme notified by the UPA-2 government on January 31, 2013, any company registered under Section 25 of the Companies Act, 1956, can form an electoral trust.
— Under Section 17CA of the Income-tax Act, 1961, any citizen of India, a company registered in India, or a firm or Hindu Undivided Family or association of persons living in India, can donate to an electoral trust.
— The electoral trusts have to apply for renewal every three financial years. They must donate 95% of contributions received in a financial year to political parties registered under the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
— The contributors’ PAN (in case of a resident) or passport number (in case of an NRI) is required at the time of making contributions.
— The electoral trusts route is transparent on contributors and beneficiaries. Where there is only one contributor and one beneficiary of a particular trust, the public can know who is funding whom.
Preliminary Examination: Current events of national importance and social development.
Mains Examination: General Studies-I, II: Salient features of Indian Society, Indian Constitution— significant provisions and basic structure.
What’s the ongoing story: The Surat-based man who has gone to court to stop his seven-year-old daughter taking diksha is taking heart from a similar petition by a fellow Jain father in May this year. In that case, also of Surat, the court had stayed a 12-year-old from taking renunciation, till the father’s petition for custody was heard.
— What is diksha in Jainism? — What is the legal debate around minors taking diksha?
— What are the ethical concerns associated with minors taking religious renunciation?
— Know about the constitutional right to freedom of religion?
— What is the role of the State in regulating religious practices in the interest of child welfare?
— Faith vs. Rights of minors – Know in Detail.
— The same Surat Family Court led by Judge S V Mansuri which gave the May stay is hearing the petition regarding the seven-year-old. It will be next heard on December 22.
— The case has again stirred the debate around minor Jain children taking diksha. Community leader Bipesh Shah, a textile trader from Surat, who has long opposed this, says: “The government has banned child marriage. A similar ban should be imposed on minors taking diksha. I have been writing in various WhatsApp groups of the Jain community on this.”
— However, Shah says he has found few takers, including among Jain religious leaders. “Around 70% oppose the move, and send hateful and abusive messages. I have also requested our religious priests to address this issue.”
— Explaining his opposition, Shah says: “Childhood is a beautiful period, and time to play, study and enjoy. Once initiated into the diksha ceremony, one has to cut off all worldly comforts and relationships.”
— There are other ways to serve the community than following the religious path, Shah says. “As religious leaders, they can benefit the community, but by becoming doctors, engineers, lawyers, bureaucrats, and other leaders in their fields too, they can serve the people. At a tender age, they cannot make decisions for their future.”
— Article 25(1) of the Constitution guarantees the “freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practise and propagate religion”. It is a right that guarantees a negative liberty — which means that the state shall ensure that there is no interference or obstacle to exercise this freedom. However, like all fundamental rights, the state can restrict the right for grounds of public order, decency, morality, health and other state interests.
How is the Indian concept of secularism different from the western model of secularism? Discuss. (UPSC CSE 2016)
Mains Examination: General Studies-II, III: Government Policies and Interventions, Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life.
What’s the ongoing story: Chakshu Roy writes- “Parliament passed a new atomic energy law towards the end of 2025. The legislation, titled the Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India, opens the atomic energy sector, previously the exclusive domain of government entities, to private players. Opposition MPs urged that a parliamentary standing committee scrutinise the Bill. But the government pushed for its passage in the last two days of the Winter Session, with the debate lasting 11 hours and 64 MPs participating.”
— What is the status of the nuclear energy sector in India? — Know the key highlights of SHANTI Bill, 2025.
— Read about India’s nuclear power programme.
— What are the features of the Atomic Energy Act, 1962 (AE Act) and the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act, 2010 (CLNDA)?
— What is India’s nuclear energy target by 2047? — What is the Nuclear Energy Mission?
— What are the potential benefits of allowing private participation in India’s atomic energy sector?
— What are the concerns related to private sector participation in India’s Nuclear power programme?
— “One year after the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the US Congress became the first legislature to establish a framework for regulating nuclear energy in 1946. The provisions of this law were refined over several months, during which scientists and military personnel involved in the atomic sector actively lobbied to influence its content. The law transferred control of nuclear technology from the military to civilian authority.”
— “In India, government intervention in atomic energy began with the control of the export of raw materials for such purposes. After World War-II, the US and Britain tried to stockpile nuclear raw materials. The princely state of Travancore had sizable reserves of Monazite, a reddish-brown mineral containing rare-earth elements such as thorium and uranium. Just before Independence, Travancore was going to export a large quantity of Monazite to Britain. The government stepped in to stop the export.”
— “After Independence, India’s Constituent Assembly made atomic energy and mineral resources for its production the responsibility of the Centre. In 1948, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru introduced a Bill to control and develop atomic energy. The Bill mirrored the British law and put every aspect of nuclear energy under government control.”
— “Six members of the Constituent Assembly participated in the debate on this Bill. All of them supported the Bill and made key points. One of them, K Santhanam, urged that the entire atomic energy sector be a state monopoly, with no private participation. Next, Dr B Pattabhi Sitaramayya, who later that year would become the Congress president, cautioned, “I doubt very much whether after all this monopoly and this element of secrecy, which is sought to be associated with progress in science, is not destined to promote the war spirit and preparation for war, more than of peace”.”
— “The government did not circulate the Bill for public opinion or refer it to a committee for scrutiny. The PM stated that there was a two-fold urgency for passing the Bill. The first, was to preserve the country’s mineral deposits and the second, to enable it to enter into cooperative agreements with other countries. The Constituent Assembly, functioning in its legislative capacity, passed the Bill with less than two hours of debate. After that, the government would set up the Atomic Energy Commission and the Department of Atomic Energy, under the direct supervision of the PM, to direct India’s atomic energy programme.”
— “India has made progress after the first atomic energy law. Currently, the government-owned Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) operates 24 nuclear reactors, with a total capacity of 8,180 megawatts of electricity.”
— India’s current nuclear energy model is based on the state-centric framework under the Atomic Energy Act, 1962. The Act confers the central government the exclusive authority over all nuclear activities in India, and leaves no scope for private investment.
— India enacted The Atomic Energy Act, 1962 after repealing the Atomic Energy Act, 1948. Since then, the Act has been amended four times, with the latest amendment being in 2015. However, the sector was confined to the Central government.
— In 2010, the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act, 2010 was enacted to provide for civil liability for nuclear damage and prompt compensation to the victims of a nuclear incident through a no-fault liability regime.
— In India, nuclear energy accounts for only 3 per cent of the overall power generation today. The country has set a short-term goal to increase its nuclear power capacity to 22.5 GW by 2032, and a long-term target to reach 100 GW by 2047.
With growing energy needs should India keep on expanding its nuclear energy programme? Discuss the facts and fears associated with nuclear energy. (UPSC CSE 2018)
🚨 Click Here to read the UPSC Essentials magazine for December 2025. Share your views and suggestions in the comment box or at manas.srivastava@indianexpress.com🚨