VidBodh
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
3 lead articles · 22 new articles · 4 updates
LeadPrelims and MainsIndia's climate policy: NDCs, net zero and adaptation
The government restated in July 2026 India's enhanced climate targets for 2035, filed earlier in the year: a 47 per cent cut in the emissions intensity of GDP, 60 per cent of installed electricity capacity from non fossil sources, and a larger carbon sink.
LeadPrelims and MainsExtreme weather, monsoon and forecasting
Assam's eastern districts saw what the State called its worst floods in 60 years in July 2026, after a cloudburst in Nagaland. In the same month floods struck Jammu and Kashmir, Gujarat and Odisha, each from a different cause.
LeadPrelims and MainsEIA, clearances and pollution control law
The Supreme Court on 29 July 2026 struck down the Environment Ministry's office memorandum of July 2021, which had set a standard procedure for clearing projects that began work without environmental clearance.
1.1.1The Great Indian BustardNewPrelims
The Great Indian Bustard, Ardeotis nigriceps, is a large ground dwelling grassland bird and the State bird of Rajasthan.
1.1.2White-bellied heronNewPrelims and Mains
The white-bellied heron (Ardea insignis) is Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List and is in Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
1.1.3Indian skimmerNewPrelims and Mains
The Indian skimmer, Rynchops albicollis, is an Endangered fish eating waterbird whose lower mandible is longer than the upper, which lets it skim the water surface in flight.
1.2.1Himalayan salamanderNewPrelims and Mains
The Himalayan salamander (Tylototriton himalayanus) is one of only three salamander species found in India.
1.3.1Animal Discoveries and Plant Discoveries 2025NewPrelims
The Zoological Survey of India and the Botanical Survey of India publish an annual account of species newly described from India and species recorded in the country for the first time; this subject holds the 2025 account.
2.1.1India's mangroves: what they are worth and what they loseNewPrelims and Mains
Blue carbon is the carbon stored by coastal ecosystems such as mangroves, salt marshes and seagrass, in the standing wood and in the waterlogged sediment below.
2.1.2MISHTINewPrelims and Mains
MISHTI, the Mangrove Initiative for Shoreline Habitats and Tangible Incomes, was launched on World Environment Day 2023 to restore about 540 sq km of mangroves along the coast.
2.2.1Forest firesNewPrelims and Mains
Forest fires in India are tracked through alerts that the Forest Survey of India (FSI) reads off satellite passes.
3.1.1National Board for WildlifeNewPrelims and Mains
The National Board for Wildlife is the apex statutory wildlife body under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, chaired by the Prime Minister with the Environment Minister as vice chairperson.
3.2.1WTO Agreement on Fisheries SubsidiesNewMains
The WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies, adopted at the 12th World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference in Geneva in 2022, is the first WTO agreement with an environmental objective.
3.3.1Centre of Excellence on Human Wildlife ConflictNewPrelims and Mains
The Centre of Excellence is the national hub set up by the Environment Ministry for research and policy on human wildlife conflict, paired with a National Human Wildlife Conflict Portal that pools conflict data from the States.
4.1.1The 4.2 ka eventNewPrelims
The 4.2 ka event was an abrupt drought and cooling about 4,200 years ago recorded across continents, and it marks the start of the Meghalayan Age, the youngest stage of the Holocene.
4.2.1Mission MausamPrelims and Mains
22 Jul 2026The Bharat Forecast System now runs operationally at a horizontal resolution of 6 km, against about 12 km for the older global model. It issues forecasts for a cluster of panchayats rather than a district. Warnings travel as Common Alerting Protocol alerts through the SACHET app. PIB, 22 Jul 2026: PARLIAMENT QUESTION: BHARAT FORECAST SYSTEM (opens in a new tab) · PIB, 22 Jul 2026: PARLIAMENT QUESTION: IMPLEMENTATION OF MISSION MAUSAM (opens in a new tab) · PIB, 23 Jul 2026: PARLIAMENT QUESTION: IMPLEMENTATION OF MISSION MAUSAM (opens in a new tab)
5.1.1India's climate targets for 2035Lead
The government restated in July 2026 India's enhanced climate targets for 2035, filed earlier in the year: a 47 per cent cut in the emissions intensity of GDP, 60 per cent of installed electricity capacity from non fossil sources, and a larger carbon sink.
5.2.1Methane from paddyNewPrelims and Mains
Flooded paddy fields release methane because microbes in waterlogged soil break down organic matter without oxygen.
6.1.1Flue gas desulphurisation normsNewPrelims and Mains
Flue gas desulphurisation removes sulphur dioxide from a coal plant's exhaust, usually with a limestone slurry.
6.2.1Atal Bhujal YojanaNewPrelims and Mains
Atal Bhujal Yojana was a central scheme for community led groundwater management in water stressed blocks of seven States, in which every gram panchayat prepared a water budget and a water security plan.
6.2.2Jal Jeevan Mission 2.0Prelims and Mains
27 Jul 2026The Cabinet has extended the mission to December 2028 and raised the total outlay from ₹3.60 lakh crore to ₹8.69 lakh crore. As on 18 July 2026 about 82 per cent of rural households had tap water, against about 17 per cent in August 2019. PIB, 27 Jul 2026: 15.89 Crore Rural Households Connected to Functional Household Tap Connections Under JJM (opens in a new tab) · PIB, 30 Jul 2026: WATER QUALITY MANAGEMENT UNDER JAL JEEVAN MISSION (opens in a new tab)
6.3.1Lead and toxic sites near schoolsNewPrelims and Mains
Lead is a neurotoxin that lowers IQ and attention in children, and in Indian cities much of the exposure comes from informal recycling of lead batteries near where children live and study.
7.1.1Marine litter and microplasticsNewPrelims and Mains
Most marine plastic starts on land and reaches the sea through drains and rivers, and the National Centre for Coastal Research measures it on India's coast through a Clean Coast Index and surveys of microplastics.
8.1.1National CAMPANewPrelims and Mains
The Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority holds and releases the money paid by users of diverted forest land, under the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act, 2016.
8.2.1Heat stress and milk yieldNewPrelims and Mains
Heat stress in dairy animals is the fall in milk yield that comes when heat and humidity act together.
9.1.1Clearance after the fact: the Supreme Court on ex post facto environmental clearanceLead
The Supreme Court on 29 July 2026 struck down the Environment Ministry's office memorandum of July 2021, which had set a standard procedure for clearing projects that began work without environmental clearance.
9.2.1Fortress conservationNewMains
Fortress conservation is the protection of wildlife by removing the communities that live in an area.
9.2.2Hasdeo Arand coal blocksNewPrelims and Mains
Hasdeo Arand in northern Chhattisgarh is one of central India's largest intact forests and overlies coal.
9.2.3Gram sabha consent for forest clearancePrelims and Mains
29 Jul 2026Recognition of community forest resource rights stands at under 10 per cent of the roughly 1,70,000 eligible villages, because shrines, burial grounds and several titles over one patch are counted. The requirement that rights be settled and the gram sabha consent before forest land is diverted has been reversed, so approval now comes first. Of 395 diversion proposals for large mining projects between 2009 and 2024 only 20 were rejected, none over unsettled rights. Frontline, 29 Jul 2026
9.3.1Mahanadi water disputeNewPrelims and Mains
The Mahanadi dispute between Chhattisgarh and Odisha went to a tribunal set up in 2018 under the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956, and the States may instead settle it by negotiation.
9.3.2Cauvery and MekedatuPrelims and Mains
30 Jul 2026The Cauvery Water Management Authority upheld a direction that Karnataka release 3,500 cusecs a day to Tamil Nadu. On Mekedatu the Centre told Parliament that the 2018 Supreme Court judgment does not require Karnataka to obtain other States' permission. But any revised project report needs appraisal by the Central Water Commission and the Authority's views. Mains: Karnataka often meets the annual quantity but not the monthly schedule, so compliance figures and distress can both be true. Frontline, 2 Aug 2026: The Cauvery Water Management Authority upheld a direction to release 3,500 cusecs daily to Tamil Nadu, and the Mekedatu project has reopened the question of whether a riparian State needs its neighbours' consent. (opens in a new tab)
10.1.1The floods of July 2026: cloudbursts, embankments and warningLead
Assam's eastern districts saw what the State called its worst floods in 60 years in July 2026, after a cloudburst in Nagaland. In the same month floods struck Jammu and Kashmir, Gujarat and Odisha, each from a different cause.