GS 2
The WHO Global TB Report & India's Incidence
Context: The World Health Organization’s (WHO) 2026 Global Tuberculosis Report omitted India’s estimated TB incidence figures, placing them under review pending the finalization of data from a 50-district sentinel surveillance survey conducted in 2025.
About The WHO Global TB Report & India’s Incidence:
What is the WHO Global TB Report?
An annual flagship publication by the World Health Organization providing a comprehensive, up-to-date assessment of the global TB epidemic and progress in prevention, diagnosis, and treatment across countries, evaluated against the WHO End TB Strategy
Why Estimated Incidence Matters: The gap between a country’s estimated incidence (total modeled cases) and actual notified cases (diagnosed cases) reveals the pool of undiagnosed, untreated patients who continue transmitting the infection in communities.
Shift in Surveillance Methodology: Because nationwide prevalence surveys (conducted in 1955–58 and 2020–21) are resource-intensive, India conducted a repeatable population-level sentinel survey across 50 representative districts in 2025, which WHO statisticians are currently calibrating against the 2020–21 baseline.
Key Data & Findings from the 2026 Report:
Global Burden: Globally in 2025, an estimated 10.6 million people contracted TB and 1.13 million people died from the disease.
India’s Share & Notified Cases: India continues to account for nearly one-fourth of the global TB burden, reporting 25.3 lakh diagnosed cases in 2025 (down from 26.18 lakh in 2024).
Declining TB Mortality: India recorded 2.63 lakh TB deaths in 2025 (compared to over 3 lakh in 2024), achieving a 38% reduction in mortality since 2015—outpacing the global average decline of 35%.
End TB Milestone: By cutting mortality by 38%, India met the WHO’s interim 2020 End TB target (35% reduction), though five years behind schedule and short of the 2025 target (75% reduction).
Domestic Funding Commitment: Roughly 96% of India’s national TB programme funding is financed through domestic budgetary resources, reflecting sustained sovereign commitment.
Key Initiatives Taken So Far:
National TB Elimination Programme (NTEP): Reoriented national strategy from mere disease control to elimination, backed by mandatory private-sector case notification and real-time digital tracking via the Ni-kshay portal.
Ni-kshay Poshan Yojana (NPY) & Ni-kshay Mitra: Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme providing monthly financial support for patient nutrition, complemented by community-adopted nutritional kits under Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan.
Rapid Molecular Diagnostics & AI-Assisted Screening: Nationwide expansion of Cartridge-Based Nucleic Acid Amplification Tests (CBNAAT/Truenat) for early drug-resistance detection alongside handheld, AI-enabled portable X-ray units.
Shorter All-Oral Treatment Regimens: Rollout of shorter, safer, injection-free regimens (such as BPaL/BPaLM) for Multidrug-Resistant TB (MDR-TB) to improve adherence and treatment completion.
Challenges Associated with TB Elimination:
Data Transparency & Reporting Delays: The absence of India’s annual domestic TB report (traditionally released in March) and delayed calibration of district-level prevalence data obscure granular state-level performance.
E.g., Leaving policymakers and public health researchers without updated state-wise notification and drug-resistance trends for over a year.
Undiagnosed “Missing” Cases & Diagnostic Delays: Asymptomatic or sub-clinical cases in rural and urban slum pockets often face delays between symptom onset and molecular diagnosis, sustaining transmission.
E.g., Patients initially seeking over-the-counter remedies from informal practitioners before accessing government diagnostic centers.
Fragmented Private Sector Care: A large share of Indian TB patients first seek treatment in the unregulated private sector, risking incomplete regimens, inconsistent drug-susceptibility testing, and high out-of-pocket spending.
E.g., Patients dropping out mid-treatment due to catastrophic household expenditure on private diagnostics and nutritional needs.
Persistence of Multidrug-Resistant TB (MDR-TB) & Stigma: Emergence of drug-resistant strains alongside deep-rooted social stigma discourages early testing and household contact tracing.
E.g., Female patients and daily-wage workers hiding symptoms due to fear of social ostracization or job loss.
Way Ahead:
Publish Granular State & District Surveillance Data: Expedite the calibration of the 50-district survey with the WHO and restore the timely annual publication of the India TB Report to ensure transparent policy evaluation.
Decentralize Molecular & AI Screening: Scale portable AI-enabled chest X-rays and rapid molecular testing to primary health centers (Ayushman Arogya Mandirs) with reliable sample-transport networks.
Institutionalize Private-Sector Partnerships: Permanently integrate private clinics and pharmacies into the NTEP via Patient Provider Support Agencies (PPSAs) to guarantee free diagnostics, quality-assured drugs, and adherence tracking.
Conduct Death Audits & Contact Tracing: Mandate systematic medical audits of every TB fatality to fix preventable care gaps, while expanding household contact screening and TB Preventive Therapy (TPT).
Conclusion:
While India’s 38% drop in TB mortality since 2015 demonstrates the impact of expanded diagnostics, nutritional support, and domestic financing, the omission of estimated incidence data highlights the need for timely, transparent surveillance. Bridging the remaining gap to elimination requires moving beyond headline notifications to detect hidden cases early, integrate private healthcare providers, and prevent treatment dropouts across every district.
Tags: WHO Global Tuberculosis Report 2026, Tuberculosis Burden in India 2025, India TB Incidence and Mortality Trends, WHO End TB Strategy and Targets, National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme NTEP, Ni-kshay Poshan Yojana and Ni-kshay Mitra, TB Surveillance.
GS 3
India’s Green Jobs Revolution
Context: With India’s extreme poverty falling from 27.1% to 2.6% (2011–2023), iFOREST’s India’s Green Jobs Moment highlights green employment as a driver of inclusive growth and Viksit Bharat 2047.
About India’s Green Jobs Revolution:
What Are Green Jobs?
Decent employment across economic sectors that directly contributes to preserving or restoring environmental quality, reducing carbon emissions, minimizing waste and pollution, and building climate resilience.
Key Growth Verticals: Renewable energy (solar, wind, storage), green hydrogen, electric vehicles (EVs), circular economy/waste recycling, and rural nature-based solutions (agroforestry, mangrove restoration).
Decentralized Geographic Footprint: Unlike heavy industrial clusters, green roles such as rooftop solar installation, EV servicing, waste recovery, and agroforestry are inherently decentralized, generating local livelihoods across small towns and rural households.
Key Data & Stats on India’s Poverty Decline & Green Workforce
Historic Poverty Reduction: According to World Bank assessments, approximately 496 million Indians moved out of poverty between 2011 and 2023, pushing extreme poverty down from 27.1% to 2.6%.
Green Job Creation Potential: iFOREST’s India’s Green Jobs Moment projects that green sectors can support over 1.3 crore jobs by 2035 (including 98.5 lakh by 2030), with direct employment in core green industries expanding by roughly 4.5 lakh jobs annually.
High Skill Transferability: Existing industrial workers require minimal reskilling to transition—71% of thermal power roles show high or medium transferability to renewables and green hydrogen, while 90% of conventional automobile roles can transition into EVs with targeted bridge courses.
Demographic & Educational Base: Over 27% of Indians belong to the 15–29 youth cohort; in 2025, 17.3% held graduate degrees (with young women at 17.9% outpacing young men at 16.7%).
Vocational & Technical Skilling Deficit: Despite a large youth base, only 5.3% of young people possess technical education and 5% have formal vocational training, while dedicated green skilling programmes have trained only around 81,000 individuals so far.
Initiatives Taken So Far to Build Green Skills:
PM-SETU (Pradhan Mantri Skilling and Employability Transformation through Upgraded ITIs): A ₹60,000-crore flagship scheme upgrading 1,000 government ITIs (200 Hubs and 800 Spokes) through industry-led Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) to introduce modern labs and courses in green technologies, AI, and EVs.
Skill Council for Green Jobs (SCGJ): Established under the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) to develop National Occupational Standards (NOS), design curricula, and certify trainers across solar, wind, waste management, and e-mobility.
Revision of National Skill Policy: MSDE is revising the National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (2015) to formally integrate green jobs, climate-resilient skilling, and industry-aligned curricula.
Surya Ghar & Rooftop Solar Technician Drives: Large-scale decentralized solar initiatives paired with targeted technician training programmes to build a rural and semi-urban installation workforce.
Challenges in Scaling India’s Green Workforce:
Acute Shortage of Formal Technical & Vocational Training: Over 90% of youth lack formal vocational or technical credentials, creating a mismatch between expanding green capital investments and available shop-floor talent.
E.g., Renewable energy developers and EV service networks facing acute shortages of certified high-voltage technicians and battery maintenance specialists.
Over-Reliance on Short-Duration Courses: Nearly 43% of formally trained workers complete courses lasting under six months, which are insufficient for complex green engineering roles.
E.g., Brief certificate courses failing to equip trainees for specialized roles in green hydrogen electrolyzer operations or grid-scale battery storage diagnostics.
Outdated ITI Infrastructure & Faculty Gaps: Many of India’s 15,000+ ITIs suffer from obsolete machinery, lack of green laboratories, and limited industry exposure among instructors.
E.g., Automotive trades in traditional ITIs still training students exclusively on internal combustion engines (ICE) rather than EV powertrains and power electronics.
Weak School-to-Work Transition & Placement Tracking: Fragmented links between formal schooling, vocational institutes, and local employers result in high dropout rates and poor post-training career tracking.
E.g., Trained rural youth struggling to access formal apprenticeships or local credit to launch independent solar repair or waste-recycling micro-enterprises.
Way Ahead:
Launch a National Green Jobs and Skilling Mission: Establish a coordinated national-state mission (as recommended by iFOREST) linking occupational mapping, qualification frameworks, apprenticeships, and Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL).
Deliver Deeper, Industry-Co-Designed Curricula: Complement short bridge courses for existing thermal and auto workers with longer-term, high-value diploma programmes co-designed with green industry leaders.
Operationalize Green Labs & Train-the-Trainer Hubs: Utilize PM-SETU hub-and-spoke clusters and National Skill Training Institutes (NSTIs) to establish dedicated green laboratories and upskill vocational instructors.
Build an Integrated Education-to-Employment Continuum: Embed vocational exposure in secondary schools under NEP 2020, expand paid industry apprenticeships, and institute digital tracking of graduate placements and wage progression.
Conclusion:
India’s historic reduction in extreme poverty has created a critical inflection point where sustaining upward mobility requires generating secure, high-value livelihoods. With high skill transferability across existing industrial roles and decentralized opportunities in clean energy and circular sectors, green jobs offer a viable pathway to absorb India’s demographic dividend. Translating this potential into reality will depend on modernizing vocational institutions, deepening industry-aligned technical training, and building a seamless continuum from education to green employment.
Tags: Green Jobs in India, India Green Jobs Moment iFOREST Report, Green Employment and Sustainable Economic Growth, Green Jobs Creation Potential by 2035, Renewable Energy and Electric Vehicle Employment, Green Skills Development.
CME
KVS Launches Three Digital Initiatives to Strengthen School Education
Context: The Union Ministry of Education launched three flagship Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) digital initiatives, including the AI-integrated Vidya Samiksha Kendra, KVS-Samvaad Parent Connect and KVS Alumni Connect Portal, to strengthen digital governance and educational accessibility.
About KVS Launches Three Digital Initiatives to Strengthen School Education:
What it is?
A set of three technology-driven educational platforms developed in-house by the IT Services Cell of KVS Headquarters to modernise school administration, parent engagement and alumni participation.
Aim: To promote data-driven educational governance, transparent administration, improved parent-school communication and institutional collaboration, aligning with NEP 2020 and Digital India.
Key Initiatives and Features:
AI-Integrated Vidya Samiksha Kendra (VSK)
Real-Time Educational Monitoring: Provides integrated dashboards tracking student and staff attendance, academic performance, admissions and school infrastructure, enabling transparent institutional monitoring.
Samiksha AI Bot: Uses AI-powered data analysis to identify learning and administrative gaps, recommend targeted interventions and support evidence-based decision-making.
KVS-Samvaad Parent Connect App and Web Portal
Digital Parent-School Interface: Offers real-time access to attendance, syllabus progress, examination results, learning resources, digital student IDs and student-teacher diaries.
Online Administrative Services: Enables digital applications for bonafide certificates, Children Education Allowance (CEA) certificates and student leave, reducing paperwork and school visits.
KVS Alumni Connect Portal
Alumni Networking Platform: Connects former students with schools and batchmates, facilitating professional networking, knowledge-sharing and institutional engagement.
Mentorship and Institutional Support: Encourages alumni contributions through career guidance, student mentorship, experience-sharing and school development initiatives.
Relevance in UPSC Examination Syllabus
GS Paper II: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Education; Government policies and interventions.
GS Paper III: Science and Technology, applications of Artificial Intelligence and technological innovation.
GS Paper IV: Transparency, accountability, responsiveness and ethical use of technology in public administration.
Prelims
Karakoram-2026
Context: China and Pakistan recently concluded Karakoram-2026, their first-ever joint army-level military exercise involving regular army formations, held in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region bordering Ladakh and Jammu & Kashmir.
About Karakoram-2026:
What it is?
The inaugural full-scale, regular army-level bilateral joint military exercise conducted between the ground forces of China and Pakistan, expanding upon their earlier specialized counterterrorism (Warrior series), naval (Sea Guardian), and air force (Shaheen) drills.
Host: Hosted by China in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
Nations Involved: The People’s Republic of China and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
Aim: To strengthen tactical coordination, joint command-and-control, operational standardisation and battlefield interoperability between China and Pakistan in challenging high-altitude terrain.
Key Features of Karakoram-2026:
Participation of Regular Army Formations: Unlike earlier special forces-focused drills, Karakoram-2026 involved regular infantry and mechanised formations from both countries, expanding conventional military cooperation.
Two-Phase Operational Structure: Phase One focused on high-altitude tactics, close-quarter combat and UAV operations, while Phase Two tested joint manoeuvres and coordinated live-fire exercises.
Standardisation Around Chinese Hardware: Used Chinese-origin weapons, armoured vehicles, artillery, drones and counter-drone systems, reflecting Pakistan’s heavy dependence on Chinese defence equipment.
Joint Command and Mixed Combat Teams: Integrated Chinese and Pakistani troops into mixed combat formations, testing unified battlefield decisions, tactical coordination and operational interoperability.
High-Altitude and Electronic Warfare Focus: Emphasised Mountain warfare logistics, drone swarms, electronic warfare and counter-UAV capabilities, strengthening combat preparedness in Himalayan and Karakoram terrain.
Implications for India:
Growing China–Pakistan military coordination increases potential pressure along the LAC and LoC, complicating India’s defence preparedness.
Joint military activities near Ladakh, Gilgit-Baltistan and Siachen heighten India’s strategic security concerns.
Expanding Chinese defence partnerships necessitate stronger joint theatre commands, indigenous defence capabilities and multi-domain deterrence.
Prelims
India–Sri Lanka Innovation Forum
Context: The India–Sri Lanka Innovation Forum was officially launched in Colombo as a dedicated, business-led platform bringing together startup founders, investors, incubators, and industry leaders from both nations.
About India–Sri Lanka Innovation Forum:
What it is?
An informal, continuous, business-led collaborative platform connecting startup founders, venture investors, business incubators, and established corporate leaders across India and Sri Lanka.
Aim: To transform India–Sri Lanka technological cooperation into commercial partnerships, cross-border investments, market access and scalable joint innovation projects.
Key Functions of the Forum:
Startup and Investor Matchmaking: Connects Indian and Sri Lankan startups with venture capitalists, angel investors and corporate investors, facilitating early-stage funding and business expansion.
Mentorship and Incubation Support: Links emerging entrepreneurs with experienced founders and incubators, providing technical guidance, product localisation expertise and business scaling support.
Commercialisation of Joint R&D: Converts joint research and pilot projects into market-ready solutions across FinTech, AgriTech, HealthTech, Artificial Intelligence and sustainable mobility.
Bilateral Market Access: Enables Sri Lankan startups to enter Indian markets while helping Indian technology firms expand their products and services across Sri Lanka.
Policy and Regulatory Coordination: Identifies regulatory barriers, improves digital trade interoperability and aligns startup policies, facilitating smoother cross-border business operations.
Significance:
Expands India–Sri Lanka cooperation beyond traditional trade and infrastructure into deep technology, knowledge-based industries and youth-led entrepreneurship.
Promotes a cross-border innovation ecosystem in the Indian Ocean region, supporting technological cooperation, employment generation and startup resilience.
Prelims
Rattlepod (Crotalaria retusa)
Context: The grasslands of Yellapatty near Munnar in Kerala’s Idukki district have transformed into a golden carpet following the rare mass flowering of Crotalaria retusa (commonly known as the rattlepod or kilukilukki in Malayalam).
About Rattlepod (Crotalaria retusa):
What it is?
An erect, herbaceous or semi-woody annual flowering plant belonging to the legume/pea family (Fabaceae), widely recognized for its bright golden-yellow, pea-like blossoms and distinctive rattling seed pods.
Taxonomy & Diversity:
Belongs to the genus Crotalaria (derived from the Greek krotalos, meaning “rattle”), which comprises over 700 species globally—with Africa serving as its primary centre of diversity.
The Western Ghats harbour 87 species of Crotalaria, of which 31 are endemic to peninsular India.
Habitat: Thrives in tropical and subtropical open grasslands, forest margins, riverbanks, coastal areas, and disturbed soils up to elevations of around 1,200 metres, tolerating nutrient-poor conditions as a pioneer species.
Key Characteristics:
Rattling Seed Pods: Produces 3–4 cm inflated pods containing 15–20 seeds that rattle when dried, earning the names rattlepod and kilukilukki.
Distinctive Morphology: Grows 30–150 cm tall, with angular green stems, wedge-shaped leaves with notched tips, and yellow flowers with reddish veins.
Nitrogen-Fixing Legume: Forms symbiotic root nodules that fix atmospheric nitrogen, improving soil fertility and supporting its use as green manure and cover crop.
Pyrrolizidine Alkaloids: Contains toxic pyrrolizidine alkaloids, particularly in seeds, providing natural defence against herbivores but posing poisoning risks to livestock and poultry.
Significance:
Supports Blue Tigers, Striped Tigers and Common Crows, which obtain alkaloids for predator defence and pheromone production.
Creates seasonal floral spectacles in Munnar’s Yellapatty grasslands, promoting eco-tourism beyond the 12-year Neelakurinji bloom and grassland biodiversity awareness.
Prelims
Kurumba Community
Context: With the ongoing Census enumeration exercise underway, concerns have mounted over the survival and institutional visibility of the Kurumba language, spoken by Kerala’s small Adivasi Kurumba community.
About Kurumba Community:
Who they are?
An indigenous Adivasi community and one of the five Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) in Kerala recognized by the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs. Locally known as Palu Kurumbas (distinguishing them from the Alu Kurumbas of the Nilgiris), they represent the most aboriginal and smallest of the three major tribal groups in Attappady (alongside the Irulas and Mudugas).
Habitat: Inhabit 19 traditional forest settlements (Oors) in Kerala’s Attappady Valley, Palakkad, within the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve and Bhavani–Siruvani river catchments.
Origin & Historical Roots:
Early Indigenous Inhabitants: Regarded as among the earliest inhabitants of Attappady and the Nilgiri foothills, historically living in isolated forests before subsequent migrations.
Traditional Forest Livelihoods: Practised shifting cultivation (punam), forest foraging and hunting-gathering, maintaining strong spiritual, cultural and ecological connections with Western Ghats forests.
Key Characteristics of the Kurumba Community:
Scriptless Oral Language: Speak Kurumba, a Southern Dravidian language without its own script, whose oral traditions face erosion due to migration and generational shifts.
Traditional Hamlet Governance: Follow the Ooru system, headed by the Mooppan, assisted by the Kuruthala (deputy), Vandari (treasurer) and Mannukkaaran (ritual agriculturist).
Nature and Ancestor Worship: Revere forests, hills, rivers and ancestral spirits, alongside deities like Malleeshwaran, Karadaivam and Eriyudayavan, reflecting their animistic traditions.
Agrarian and Burial Traditions: Celebrate Bethe, Vithuda and Kambalam festivals, cultivate traditional millets and practise Saavu burial rituals, interring personal belongings with the deceased.
Forest-Based Livelihoods: Depend on non-timber forest produce (NTFP) such as wild honey, medicinal herbs, resins and bamboo, supported by traditional ethnobotanical knowledge.
Significance:
Preserve Western Ghats biodiversity, traditional millet varieties and medicinal plant knowledge, contributing to sustainable forest management and ecological conservation.
Highlight the need for community-led language documentation and SPPEL initiatives to protect vulnerable oral traditions and intangible tribal heritage.
Prelims
Retail Inflation
Context: India’s headline retail inflation surged to 6.09% (6.1%) in October 2026, breaching the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) upper tolerance threshold of 6% for the first time in two years.
About Retail Inflation:
What it is:
Retail inflation measures the rate at which the general prices of goods and services purchased directly by end-households for day-to-day consumption increase over a specific period (typically measured year-on-year), directly reflecting the erosion in the purchasing power of ordinary consumers.
Components Involved (CPI Base Year 2024=100 Series):
Under the revised Consumer Price Index (CPI) 2024 series (structured across 12 divisions under the UN COICOP-2018 classification and covering 358 weighted items—308 goods and 50 services), the primary weighted components in the All-India Combined basket include:
Food and Beverages: ~36.75% weightage (cereals, vegetables, pulses, milk, spices, oils)
Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas & Other Fuels: ~17.66% weightage (now incorporating rural housing rent for the first time)
Transport: ~8.80% weightage (petrol, diesel, public transit fares, airfares)
Clothing and Footwear: ~6.38% weightage
Health: ~6.10% weightage
Personal Care, Social Protection & Miscellaneous: ~5.04% weightage
Furnishings & Household Maintenance (~4.47%), Information & Communication (~3.61%), Restaurants & Accommodation (~3.35%), Education Services (~3.33%), Paan/Tobacco/Intoxicants (~2.99%), and Recreation/Culture (~1.52%).
How it is Measured:
Compiled and released monthly by the National Statistical Office (NSO) under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI).
Computed using the Consumer Price Index (CPI) with 2024 = 100 as the base year (updated from the 2012 series using the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey 2023–24).
Field investigators collect weekly retail price quotations across 1,465 villages and 1,407 urban markets (including e-commerce and online service platforms) using Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI) tablets to compute separate Rural, Urban, and Combined CPI indices.
Key Features of India’s Inflation Targeting Framework
Flexible Inflation Targeting (FIT): Under Section 45ZA of the RBI Act, 1934, the government sets a 4% inflation target with a 2–6% tolerance band, in consultation with the RBI.
Headline CPI as Nominal Anchor: The six-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) uses CPI-Combined inflation to guide repo rate decisions and maintain price stability.
Statutory Accountability: If inflation breaches the 2–6% band for three consecutive quarters, the RBI must explain the failure, propose corrective measures and specify a recovery timeline.
Implications:
Higher Borrowing Costs: Inflation exceeding 6% may prompt repo rate hikes or prolonged monetary tightening, increasing borrowing costs and discouraging private investment.
Erosion of Household Purchasing Power: Rising food and service prices disproportionately affect low-income households, reducing real incomes and discretionary consumption.
Fiscal and Supply-Side Pressures: Food supply shocks may trigger buffer stock releases, export restrictions, import duty cuts and tax adjustments, potentially increasing fiscal pressures.
Prelims
India–Myanmar Naval Exercise (IMNEX-26)
Context: The 8th edition of the bilateral India–Myanmar Naval Exercise (IMNEX-26) commenced in Visakhapatnam (November 10–14, 2026), with Myanmar Navy Ship UMS King Sin Phyu Shin joining Indian Navy vessels INS Rana and INS Sumedha.
About India–Myanmar Naval Exercise (IMNEX-26):
What it is?
An institutionalized bilateral naval exercise conducted annually/biennially between the Indian Navy and the Myanmar Navy to strengthen maritime interoperability and naval cooperation.
Host: Hosted by the Indian Navy (Eastern Naval Command) at Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.
Member Nations: India and Myanmar.
Aim: To exchange professional naval expertise, deepen mutual understanding, develop operational synergy, and uphold a secure, stable, and rules-based maritime environment across the Bay of Bengal and the wider Indian Ocean Region.
Key Features of IMNEX-26:
Two-Phase Operational Format: Includes a Harbour Phase for expert exchanges, cross-deck visits and planning, followed by a Sea Phase in the Bay of Bengal.
Tactical Sea Manoeuvres: Conducts joint maritime operations, gunnery drills, tactical manoeuvres and communication exercises to strengthen naval interoperability.
Alignment with MAHASAGAR: Advances India’s MAHASAGAR vision, promoting collective maritime security, regional cooperation and sustainable growth.
Non-Traditional Maritime Threats: Strengthens cooperation in HADR, search and rescue, anti-piracy, anti-smuggling and illegal fishing prevention.
Significance:
Strengthens maritime security, critical sea lanes and regional stability, while counterbalancing extra-regional naval influence.
Reinforces India’s Neighbourhood First and Act East policies, enhancing bilateral defence cooperation and India’s role as a regional security partner.
Mapping
Buxa Tiger Reserve (BTR)
Context: West Bengal deployed six trained kunki elephants and 60 personnel to track a radio-collared tigress relocated from Valmiki Tiger Reserve after she escaped her enclosure at Buxa Tiger Reserve.
About Buxa Tiger Reserve (BTR):
What it is?
A major protected tiger reserve, wildlife sanctuary, and national park situated in the Eastern Himalayan foothills (Terai-Dooars landscape), spanning an area of approximately 760 sq. km.
Located in: Situated in the Alipurduar district of northern West Bengal, bounded on the north by the Sinchula hill range along the international border with Bhutan, and on the east by the inter-state border with Assam.
Background:
Created in 1983 as the 15th Tiger Reserve in India under Project Tiger.
Notified as the Buxa Wildlife Sanctuary in 1986, and a core portion of 117.10 sq. km was subsequently accorded National Park status in 1992 (final notification in 1995).
Formerly associated with dolomite mining and timber extraction, the reserve houses Buxa Fort, used by the British to imprison Indian freedom fighters after the 1865 Bhutan War.
Key Features of Buxa Tiger Reserve:
Diverse Forest Ecosystems: Spans elevations of 60–1,750 metres, supporting Terai Sal forests, semi-evergreen vegetation, moist grasslands and Himalayan foothill ecosystems.
Rich Riverine Network: Drained by rivers originating in the Bhutan hills, including the Sankosh, Raidak, Jayanti, Churnia, Turturi, Phashkhawa, Dima and Nonani.
Rich Wildlife Diversity: Supports 284+ bird species, including hornbills and Bengal florican, alongside Asian elephants, gaur, clouded leopards, golden cats and pangolins.
Geological and Karst Features: Contains stromatolite-bearing dolomite formations and limestone caves, notably the Mahakal Caves near Jayanti, featuring stalactites and stalagmites.
Tiger Population Restoration: Undertakes habitat restoration, village relocation and tiger translocation from Valmiki Tiger Reserve to revive its depleted breeding tiger population.
Significance:
Connects Bhutan’s Phibsoo and Royal Manas protected areas with Assam’s Manas and Raimona landscapes, facilitating wildlife migration and genetic exchange.
Represents a crucial terrestrial tiger habitat outside the Sundarbans, supporting tiger population recovery across the Eastern Dooars–Terai landscape.
