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हिन्दी — Read in HindiLatest edition: September 2026. Covered from 1 June to 30 September 2026. Next edition, October 2026, publishes on 5 November 2026.
The monthly magazine
7 lead articles · 72 new articles · 3 updates
LeadPrelims and MainsClimate science: records, attribution and tipping points
The new emissions scenarios for the next assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), published in April 2026, retire the worst case scenario, known as RCP8.5. In June a global report put human caused warming at 1.37°C in 2025, with the carbon budget for 1.5°C nearly spent.
LeadPrelims and MainsUNFCCC negotiations and the Paris framework
The mid year climate talks at Bonn, held from 8 to 18 June 2026, ended in gridlock over finance and trade. India used the session to press three demands before COP31 at Antalya.
LeadPrelims and MainsExtreme weather, monsoon and forecasting
Studies published in June 2026 found that humid heat is spreading in India beyond the summer into the monsoon, and that India has more cities among the world's most heat vulnerable than any other country. India's peak power demand reached a record in May, much of it for cooling.
LeadPrelims and MainsCourts, tribunals and environmental jurisprudence
By an order of 25 May 2026 the Supreme Court set up a High Powered Committee to review the definition of the Aravalli hills that it had accepted in November 2025, and barred fresh mining leases until a management plan is ready.
LeadPrelims and MainsDrugs, diagnostics and medical technology
In June 2026 the Health Ministry announced four changes to how medicines are regulated: cough syrups may be sold only by licensed pharmacies, sixteen fixed dose combinations were banned, QR codes were notified for vaccines, antimicrobials and cancer drugs from 2027 and 2028, and minor offences under the health laws were decriminalised.
LeadPrelimsMissiles and air defence
In three tests on 10 and 11 June 2026 the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) demonstrated multi layered ballistic missile defence against long range ballistic missiles. In the same week the Defence Minister set out Mission Sudarshan Chakra, India's plan for a layered missile shield.
LeadPrelims and MainsSemiconductors, computing hardware and data centres
NITI Aayog's Frontier Tech Hub has released a report, Future of India's Semiconductor Industry, reported on 3 June 2026. It advises India to put public money into mature chips and packaging, and not into the most advanced chips.
1.1.1The cheetahPrelims
29 Jun 2026The project's progress report found that about half of what free ranging cheetahs killed at Kuno was livestock, mainly goats and cattle, with chital the main wild prey. The livestock was taken where wild prey runs thin outside Kuno's core, and one male covered 3,198 sq km in 30 days. Mains: livestock predation makes conflict mitigation and community engagement essential, alongside prey augmentation and habitat improvement. The Indian Express, 29 Jun 2026: Goats and cattle form half of cheetah prey in Kuno, chital 42%: Report (opens in a new tab)
2.1.1Great Nicobar projectNewPrelims and Mains
The Great Nicobar project is a plan for an International Container Transshipment Port at Galathea Bay, a greenfield joint use airport, a township and a power plant on Great Nicobar Island.
2.1.2Sand mining at ThottappallyNewPrelims and Mains
The Kollam to Alappuzha coast is dense black sand rich in ilmenite, monazite, rutile, zircon and sillimanite.
3.1.1Notifying threatened species under Section 38NewPrelims
Section 38 of the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 lets the Centre, consulting the State, notify a species on the verge of extinction as threatened.
3.2.1Turtle trafficking by railNewPrelims and Mains
Turtle trafficking by rail moves Indian softshell and flapshell turtles, Schedule I species under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, from the Ganga and its tributaries in Uttar Pradesh in passenger luggage, with Madhya Pradesh as a transit corridor.
4.1.1Climate science in 2026: new scenarios, tipping points and the next IPCC reportLead
The new emissions scenarios for the next assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), published in April 2026, retire the worst case scenario, known as RCP8.5. In June a global report put human caused warming at 1.37°C in 2025, with the carbon budget for 1.5°C nearly spent.
4.1.2Extreme event attributionNewPrelims and Mains
Extreme event attribution is the science that estimates how much likelier, or how much more intense, climate change made a particular weather event.
4.2.1INCOIS El Niño bulletins for the seasNewPrelims
The Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) links El Niño to warmer Indian Ocean waters, which bring more coral bleaching and marine heatwaves.
4.3.1Mission MausamNewPrelims and Mains
Mission Mausam is the Ministry of Earth Sciences programme, launched in 2024, to widen India's observing network, sharpen its models and take up weather modification research.
4.3.2Monsoon onset over KeralaNewPrelims
Monsoon onset over Kerala is the monsoon's arrival over Kerala, declared by the India Meteorological Department only after 10 May and only when three tests are met.
5.1.1The Bonn climate talks: what India asked forLead
The mid year climate talks at Bonn, held from 8 to 18 June 2026, ended in gridlock over finance and trade. India used the session to press three demands before COP31 at Antalya.
5.1.2India Japan Joint Crediting MechanismNewPrelims
The Joint Crediting Mechanism is a bilateral framework under Article 6.2 of the Paris Agreement for projects that reduce or remove emissions in India with Japanese investment and technology.
5.2.1Carbon Border Adjustment MechanismNewPrelims and Mains
The Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) is the European Union's charge on certain imports, paid by buying certificates that track the Union's carbon price.
5.3.1Biochar from crop residueNewPrelims and Mains
Biochar is made by heating farm waste with little oxygen, leaving a carbon rich, porous material that decays very slowly in soil.
6.1.1Summer air pollution: PM10 and ozoneNewPrelims and Mains
Summer air pollution in India is driven by coarse PM10 and ozone, where winter pollution is dominated by fine PM2.5 trapped by cold, still air.
6.1.2Clean mobility scheme for Delhi NCR trucks and busesNewPrelims and Mains
The clean mobility scheme for Delhi NCR replaces BS IV and older trucks and buses with BS VI or electric vehicles, through the National Capital Region Planning Board.
6.1.3Particulate matter and the placentaNewPrelims and Mains
PM2.5 and PM10 can cross the placental barrier and cause oxidative stress and inflammation.
6.2.1Urban River Management PlansNewPrelims and Mains
Urban River Management Plans shift urban planning from city centric to river centric, a shift set out at the National Ganga Council in Kanpur in December 2019.
6.3.1Jal Jeevan Mission 2.0NewPrelims and Mains
The Jal Jeevan Mission is the central scheme for a functional tap water connection to every rural household.
6.3.2Punjab's paddy and its groundwaterNewPrelims and Mains
Paddy is a water hungry kharif crop: in Punjab it needs about 25 to 30 irrigation cycles a season.
6.4.1Ammonia and industrial transient operationsNewPrelims and Mains
Ammonia is a colourless, pungent gas used in fertilisers, dyes and refrigeration.
7.1.1Fly ash by railNewPrelims
Fly ash, a by product of thermal power, is both a waste needing safe management and a resource for roads, bricks and cement.
8.1.1Fertiliser registration and nutrient use efficiencyNewPrelims and Mains
New fertilisers are registered under the Fertiliser (Control) Order, 1985: a dossier, two season bio efficacy trials by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and State universities, and Central Fertiliser Committee review.
9.1.1The Aravallis: a definition before the Supreme CourtLead
By an order of 25 May 2026 the Supreme Court set up a High Powered Committee to review the definition of the Aravalli hills that it had accepted in November 2025, and barred fresh mining leases until a management plan is ready.
9.1.2Climate litigationNewPrelims and Mains
Climate litigation is the use of courts to hold governments and companies to climate obligations.
9.1.3Occupier, not owner: liability for a tenant's pollutionNewPrelims
A State pollution board can levy interim environmental damage compensation under Section 33A of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 on the occupier of a polluting premises.
9.2.1Yamuna sharing: Haryana to RajasthanNewPrelims
The 1994 Upper Yamuna agreement divides the river's water among the basin States.
9.2.2The Teesta and ChinaNewPrelims and Mains
The Teesta is a river shared by India and Bangladesh, rising from Tso Lhamu lake in Sikkim.
9.2.3Cauvery and MekedatuNewPrelims and Mains
The Cauvery Water Management Authority implements the sharing of the river between Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry as fixed by the tribunal and modified by the Supreme Court in 2018.
9.2.4The Tungabhadra and the Krishna awardNewPrelims and Mains
The Tungabhadra is a tributary of the Krishna, formed where the Tunga and Bhadra, which rise in the Western Ghats, join near Shivamogga.
9.2.5Farakka and the 1996 Ganges Water TreatyNewPrelims and Mains
The Farakka Barrage, commissioned in 1975 on the Ganga in West Bengal, diverts water into the Bhagirathi Hooghly to keep Kolkata port navigable, a purpose inside India rather than at the border.
10.1.1Heat stress in India, and the cooling paradoxLead
Studies published in June 2026 found that humid heat is spreading in India beyond the summer into the monsoon, and that India has more cities among the world's most heat vulnerable than any other country. India's peak power demand reached a record in May, much of it for cooling.
11.1.1GaganyaanNewPrelims and Mains
Gaganyaan is the first human spaceflight programme of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), and it will carry a crew module to low Earth orbit and bring it back.
11.1.2Deorbiting the International Space StationNewPrelims and Mains
The International Space Station, occupied since 2000, is to retire around 2030.
11.2.1Helium 3 and lunar miningNewPrelims
Helium 3 is a helium isotope with one neutron fewer than ordinary helium.
11.3.13I/ATLAS, an interstellar cometNewPrelims
3I/ATLAS is the third interstellar object seen passing through the solar system, after 1I/'Oumuamua (2017) and 2I/Borisov (2019).
11.3.2Dark energy and the Roman Space TelescopeNewPrelims
The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is a NASA telescope, launched on 30 August 2026 to survey dark energy, dark matter and exoplanets from Lagrange Point 2.
11.3.3The Sun: corona, flares and stormsBrief
8 Jun 2026A plasma cloud from an M1.8 flare reached Earth with a G2 storm forecast by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Auroras were expected over Kashmir, upper Uttarakhand and Ladakh; a G5 storm in 2024 produced auroras visible in India. The Indian Express, 8 Jun 2026: Billion-tonne plasma cloud blazing towards Earth: Solar flare expected today (opens in a new tab) · The Hindu, 8 Jun 2026: Northern lights in India? Here's how to see Auroras tonight (opens in a new tab)
12.1.1Mission Sudarshan Chakra: a layered missile shieldLead
In three tests on 10 and 11 June 2026 the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) demonstrated multi layered ballistic missile defence against long range ballistic missiles. In the same week the Defence Minister set out Mission Sudarshan Chakra, India's plan for a layered missile shield.
12.2.1Airborne Early Warning and Control Mk IINewPrelims and Mains
The Mk II is DRDO's airborne early warning aircraft built on a converted A321 airliner, with the radar and mission systems developed in India.
12.2.2The Navy's new hulls: Project 17A and the Mahe classNewPrelims
Project 17A is the Navy's class of seven stealth frigates, designed by its Warship Design Bureau and built at Mazagon Dock and Garden Reach with more than 75 per cent indigenous content.
12.2.3Fibre optic dronesNewPrelims and Mains
A fibre optic drone unspools a hair thin cable that carries all its control and video, so it emits no radio signal.
13.1.1Ebola: the Bundibugyo strainNewPrelims and Mains
The Bundibugyo strain is one of several species of Ebola, with a fatality rate of up to 40 per cent and no approved vaccine or treatment.
13.1.2Kerala's water borne diseasesNewPrelims
Kerala faces recurrent water borne disease: shigellosis, hepatitis A, norovirus, acute diarrhoeal disease and amoebic meningoencephalitis, linked to faecal contamination of domestic wells and ponds.
13.1.3TB Mukt Bharat AbhiyaanNewPrelims and Mains
The intensified 100 day TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan, a campaign against tuberculosis (TB), moves from waiting for patients to active case finding in villages, urban wards and congregate settings.
13.1.4National Leprosy Eradication ProgrammeNewPrelims
India eliminated leprosy as a public health problem nationally in 2005 (prevalence below one per 10,000), but transmission continues in endemic districts.
13.2.1National HPV Vaccination CampaignNewPrelims and Mains
Cervical cancer is one of the few cancers with a single known cause, and human papillomavirus (HPV) is it.
13.3.1Drug resistant malariaNewPrelims and Mains
Artemisinin based combination therapies (ACTs) pair a fast acting artemisinin drug with a partner drug that clears remaining parasites.
13.4.1Anemia Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan: 7x7x7NewPrelims and Mains
Anemia Mukt Bharat ran for eight years on a 6x6x6 strategy of six beneficiary groups, six interventions and six institutional mechanisms, with prophylactic iron supplementation at its centre.
13.4.2SUMAN Roadmap 2030 and SSBSKNewPrelims and Mains
The Surakshit Matritva Aashwasan (SUMAN) Roadmap 2030 takes a life cycle approach from pre pregnancy to the postnatal period and tracks high risk pregnancies across four stages: antenatal, third trimester, intrapartum and postnatal.
13.4.3National Family Health Survey 6NewPrelims and Mains
The National Family Health Survey is India's periodic household survey of health, nutrition and fertility; the sixth round covers 2023 to 24.
13.4.4Foodborne illness in IndiaNewPrelims and Mains
Foodborne illness covers over 200 diseases caused by bacteria, viruses, parasites and chemicals.
13.5.1Regulating medicines: cough syrups, fixed dose combinations and QR codesLead
In June 2026 the Health Ministry announced four changes to how medicines are regulated: cough syrups may be sold only by licensed pharmacies, sixteen fixed dose combinations were banned, QR codes were notified for vaccines, antimicrobials and cancer drugs from 2027 and 2028, and minor offences under the health laws were decriminalised.
13.5.2Virtual autopsyNewPrelims and Mains
A virtual autopsy, or virtopsy, examines a body with computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) instead of extensive dissection.
13.5.3Indian Pharmacopoeia CommissionNewPrelims
A pharmacopoeia is the official book of standards a medicine must meet for identity, purity and strength, and India's is written by the Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission (IPC).
13.5.4The PCPNDT Act and the child sex ratioNewPrelims and Mains
The Pre Conception and Pre Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act, 1994, amended in 2002 and 2013, prohibits sex selection before or after conception and limits prenatal diagnostic techniques to detecting abnormalities or metabolic disorders.
14.1.1Herbicide tolerant mustard hybridsNewPrelims and Mains
Herbicide tolerant mustard hybrids carry a single DNA change, made by mutation breeding and not genetic modification, that lets them survive imidazolinone herbicides.
15.1.1AI in courts: the draft 2026 RegulationsNewPrelims and Mains
The draft Regulations for Use of Artificial Intelligence in Courts, 2026, prepared by the Supreme Court's AI Committee, are a 57 regulation framework for every court and tribunal in India.
15.2.1India's semiconductor strategy: mature nodes and packagingLead
NITI Aayog's Frontier Tech Hub has released a report, Future of India's Semiconductor Industry, reported on 3 June 2026. It advises India to put public money into mature chips and packaging, and not into the most advanced chips.
15.2.2India's data centre capacityNewPrelims and Mains
A data centre is counted in megawatts of IT load, because uninterrupted power is what it must be given and constant cooling is what that power becomes.
15.3.1Digital arrest scamsNewPrelims
In a digital arrest scam, callers posing as police or officials keep a victim on a video call under threat of arrest until money is transferred.
15.3.2Prompt injection and ASCII smugglingNewPrelims
Unicode extends ASCII to the world's scripts, keeping ASCII itself as its own first 128 characters.
15.4.1ABDM's service layer: UHI, the Drug Registry and Aarogya Setu 2.0NewPrelims and Mains
The Unified Health Interface (UHI) of the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) is an open network with common protocols, so that a patient and a provider need not be on the same app to interact.
16.1.1The one time spectrum chargeNewPrelims and Mains
Spectrum is a public asset of the Union, divided into frequency bands and assigned by the Department of Telecommunications through auctions.
17.1.1PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli YojanaNewPrelims and Mains
PM Surya Ghar, launched in February 2024, subsidises rooftop solar for one crore households, with free electricity up to a set monthly use and the surplus sold to the distribution company.
17.1.2Pradhan Mantri Surya Sarovar YojanaBrief
11 Jun 2026The first national assessment by the National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE) put reservoir potential at about 102 GW. The Hindu, 11 Jun 2026: India's reservoirs can host 102 GW of floating solar, says first national assessment (opens in a new tab)
17.2.1Small hydro powerNewPrelims and Mains
Small hydro in India means a project of up to 25 MW, usually run of river, using a stream's natural fall rather than a large reservoir.
17.3.1Hydrogen from nuclear heat: the copper chlorine cycleNewPrelims
The copper chlorine cycle is a thermochemical cycle that splits water using heat rather than electricity.
17.3.2National Green Hydrogen MissionNewPrelims and Mains
The National Green Hydrogen Mission is the money and the architecture India has put behind making hydrogen from water instead of fossil gas.
17.3.3Compressed biogasNewPrelims and Mains
Compressed biogas is the gas of anaerobic digestion, in which bacteria break down wet organic matter without oxygen, stripped of its carbon dioxide and other impurities to leave almost pure methane.
17.4.1Power exchanges and market couplingNewPrelims and Mains
A power exchange is a platform where generators, distribution companies, traders and large consumers buy and sell electricity.
18.1.1Tarapur units 1 and 2NewPrelims
Tarapur Atomic Power Station units 1 and 2 are India's first commercial nuclear power reactors, operating since 1969.
18.2.1Downblending enriched uraniumNewPrelims and Mains
Downblending, the reverse of enrichment, mixes enriched uranium with natural or depleted uranium to below 5 per cent uranium 235, lengthening breakout time.
19.1.1Research integrity: fake patents and retractionsNewPrelims and Mains
Design applications are not examined for novelty, unlike patents, and cover how an object looks, not how it works.
19.2.1TRL CompassNewPrelims
TRL Compass adapts the global nine level Technology Readiness Level (TRL) scale to India as a common national standard for projects seeking public funding.
19.2.2Bharatiya Nirdeshak DravyaNewPrelims
Bharatiya Nirdeshak Dravyas are Indian certified reference materials that give laboratories, industry and regulators measurement standards.
19.2.3Mega Science Vision 2035 for climate researchNewPrelims and Mains
Mega Science Vision 2035 for climate research is a community document, indicative rather than government policy, submitted to the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser.
19.2.4Anusandhan National Research FoundationNewPrelims and Mains
The Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF) pays for research in universities and colleges, and its mandate is to widen the base beyond the institutions that already win grants.
19.3.1Seismic monitoringNewPrelims and Mains
The National Seismological Network of 172 stations records India's earthquakes.
20.1.1The Majorana disputeNewPrelims
A Majorana is a long theorised particle that Microsoft's approach seeks as a stable gap in a highly conductive wire, which would make longer lasting qubits.