VidBodh AcademyThe art and science of civil services preparation
Student login

Science and Technology › IPR and science policy

Ocean, polar and earth science missions

Start here sets out the zones of the sea under UNCLOS, from the territorial sea to the Area beyond any country. The theme then follows deep sea exploration, seabed minerals and who may mine them, ocean observation, India's Arctic and Antarctic research, and seismology. Prelims has asked about India's Deep Ocean Mission and who licenses exploration of the international seabed.

Showing 3 of 11 subjects, those that changed from 16 to 31 July 2026.Show all

Start here

What this theme is examined on, whatever the news.

UNCLOS: the zones from the coast to the Area

Copy link to UNCLOS: the zones from the coast to the Area

Prelims and MainsAdded 20 September

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, signed in 1982 and in force from 1994, divides the sea into bands measured from a country's baseline, each carrying different rights. The territorial sea, to 12 nautical miles, is sovereign territory subject only to innocent passage. The contiguous zone, to 24 nautical miles, lets the State enforce customs, tax, immigration and health law. The exclusive economic zone (EEZ), to 200 nautical miles, gives sovereign rights over the resources of water, seabed and subsoil, but not sovereignty: all ships and aircraft pass freely. The continental shelf can run beyond 200 nautical miles, to 350 at most, where the geology is proved to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf. Beyond lie the high seas, open to all, and beneath them the Area, the seabed beyond national jurisdiction, the common heritage of mankind, run by the International Seabed Authority.

The zones of the sea, from the baseline outwards

The zones of the sea from the baseline outwards A cross section from the coast on the left to open ocean on the right. Measured from the baseline: the territorial sea to 12 nautical miles, where the State is sovereign subject to innocent passage; the contiguous zone to 24, for customs, tax, immigration and health; the exclusive economic zone to 200, giving sovereign rights over resources while all ships and aircraft pass freely; the continental shelf, which may run to 350 where the geology is proved to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf; and beyond, the high seas above and the Area below, the common heritage of mankind run by the International Seabed Authority, where India holds nodule and sulphide contracts. Coast baseline 12 nm 24 nm 200 nm 350 nm Territorial Contiguous Exclusive economic zone High seas Continental shelf The Area India's nodule and sulphide contracts Territorial sea, to 12 nm: sovereignty, subject to innocent passage Contiguous zone, to 24 nm: customs, tax, immigration, health Exclusive economic zone, to 200 nm: resource rights; free passage for all Continental shelf, to 350 nm: seabed rights only, proved to the CLCS High seas and the Area, beyond: open to all; the seabed run by the ISA
Rights shrink from sovereignty to resource rights to nothing as the bands go out; the seabed beyond them belongs to everyone and is run by the ISA.Source: UNCLOS Parts II, V, VI, VII and XI
  • One nautical mile is 1,852 metres, so the EEZ reaches about 370 km from the baseline. India's zones are set at home by the Maritime Zones Act, 1976, and India ratified UNCLOS in 1995.
  • The Area is governed by the International Seabed Authority at Kingston, Jamaica, which grants exploration contracts and is still writing the mining code that would allow exploitation; disputes go to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea at Hamburg.
  • India holds ISA exploration contracts for polymetallic nodules in the Central Indian Ocean Basin (since 2002) and two for polymetallic sulphides, on the Central and Southwest Indian Ridge (since 2016) and the Carlsberg Ridge in the Arabian Sea, the first country to hold two, and has applied for a further area. Its Deep Ocean Mission and Samudrayaan are built for this seabed.
  • The high seas above the Area got their own treaty in 2023: the Agreement on biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ), which creates marine protected areas on the high seas, benefit sharing for marine genetic resources and environmental assessment; it entered into force in January 2026 after the sixtieth ratification.
  • The zones are why the same seabed can be a resource dispute: fishing rights end at 200 nautical miles, shelf rights can run further, and nodule mining in the Area needs an ISA contract that only a sponsoring State can back.

Mains: UNCLOS gives India rights over resources to 200 nautical miles and a claim to the seabed beyond, but the deep sea minerals it wants lie in the Area, where India is one contractor among many under rules the ISA has not finished writing.

UPSC has asked

  • Prelims 2022: the zones of the sea under the Law of the Sea, and what a coastal State may do in each

See also: International Seabed Authority · India's deep sea mining programme · Deep sea minerals · Deep Ocean Mission · Samudrayaan and Matsya6000 · Environmental cost of seabed mining

Ocean observation and tsunami warning

Copy link to Ocean observation and tsunami warning

Prelims and Mains

The Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services runs India's ocean observing network of buoys, current profilers, tide gauges and Argo floats, and its tsunami warning system issues an advisory within ten minutes of an undersea earthquake.

What changed

  1. 30 Jul 2026New subject

    • The Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services runs wave rider buoys, current profilers and tide gauges along the coast, and 302 Argo floats were deployed in the deep sea between 2014 and 2025.
    • The tsunami warning system rests on 17 seismic stations, 7 deep ocean buoys and 36 tide gauges, and issues an advisory within 10 minutes of an undersea earthquake capable of causing a tsunami.
    • An Argo float sinks, drifts and rises while measuring temperature and salinity.

    PIB, 30 Jul 2026: PARLIAMENT QUESTION: OCEAN OBSERVATION NETWORK AND FORECASTING (opens in a new tab) · PIB, 29 Jul 2026: PARLIAMENT QUESTION: EXPANSION OF OCEAN OBSERVATION NETWORK (opens in a new tab)

Seismic monitoring

Copy link to Seismic monitoring

Prelims and Mains

The National Seismological Network records India's earthquakes, and the Kangra and Chamba belt of Himachal Pradesh lies in the highest seismic hazard zone on the Bureau of Indian Standards map.

What changed

  1. 22 Jul 2026New subject

    • Sixteen earthquakes were recorded in the Kangra and Chamba belt of Himachal Pradesh in June 2026. The belt lies in the highest seismic hazard zone on the Bureau of Indian Standards map.
    • The National Seismological Network runs 172 stations. Building codes are central, but enforcing them rests with States and urban local bodies.

    PIB, 22 Jul 2026: PARLIAMENT QUESTION: Earthquake Risk in Kangra-Chamba-Dharamsala Belt (opens in a new tab)

India's Arctic policy

Copy link to India's Arctic policy

Mains

India has been an observer at the Arctic Council since 2013, a status that gives no part in decisions, and runs the Himadri research station at Svalbard under its Arctic Policy of 2022.

What changed

  1. 31 Jul 2026New subject

    • The parliamentary Committee on External Affairs recommended a dedicated ambassador for polar and Arctic affairs and that India seek to move from observer to member of the Arctic Council, since observers take no part in decisions.

    The Hindu, 31 Jul 2026: House panel calls for dedicated polar and Arctic affairs official (opens in a new tab)

Also filed elsewhere