CURRENT AFFAIRS

A deadly explosion in an illegally operating rat-hole coal mine in East Jaintia Hills district, Meghalaya, has resulted in the death of 25 miners. The incident has once again highlighted the persistence of illegal mining in the state despite a ban by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) and the Supreme Court. It raises serious concerns about regulatory enforcement, governance failure, labour safety, and disaster management preparedness.

A series of major disasters struck India in 2025, exposing serious gaps in the identification and management of disaster victims.In response, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has released India’s first comprehensive Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for handling Mass Fatality Incidents (MFIs). The guidelines, titled “National Disaster Management Guidelines on Comprehensive Disaster Victim Identification and Management”, were released on Republic Day by the Ministry of Home Affairs, marking 25 years since the 2001 Gujarat earthquake.

A powerful bomb cyclone recently swept across the northern United States, triggering severe winter weather across the Midwest and the East Coast. The storm led to intense snowfall, blizzards, strong winds, and widespread disruption, once again drawing attention to extreme mid-latitude weather systems.

India is set to have over 100 tsunami-ready villages across its coastline and island territories under the Tsunami Ready Recognition Programme, placing it among the leading countries in the Indian Ocean region in terms of community-based tsunami preparedness.

Following the Silkyara Bend–Barkot Tunnel collapse on NH-134 (Char Dham Mahamarg Pariyojana) in Uttarakhand on 12 November 2023, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has issued comprehensive tunnel safety guidelines.

Cyclone Ditwah, currently moving over the southwest Bay of Bengal near the Sri Lanka coast, has caused at least 56 deaths in Sri Lanka. The system is now advancing towards Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, prompting heavy rainfall alerts across southern India.

The Government of India has proposed a ₹ 30,000-crore outlay for a revamped version of the UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik) regional connectivity scheme, with the aim to extend the initiative beyond April 2027 and significantly expand air access to underserved and remote regions.

India is a geographically and climatically diverse country, making it highly vulnerable to natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, cyclones, droughts, landslides, heatwaves, cold waves, and forest fires. According to various reports, disasters cause nearly 2% loss to India’s GDP every year. This underscores the need for a robust, scientific, and community-centered disaster management system.

A cloudburst and heavy rains caused a flash flood in the Kheer Ganga river in Dharali, Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand on August 5, 2025, which caused massive destruction.

Extreme weather events such as floods, landslides and droughts are becoming more frequent and unpredictable due to climate change in India. Traditional insurance models are inadequate to deal with these unpredictable and frequent disasters.