Current Affairs: 11th Sept 2025

• Up maintenance paid to parents, suggests HC

Context: The High Court of Karnataka has recommended the Central government to revise the ceiling on the maintenance to be paid to senior citizens by their children or relatives in tune with the present cost of living index.

• The High Court of Karnataka has recommended the Central government to revise the ceiling on the maintenance to be paid to senior citizens by their children or relatives, from the existing ₹10,000 per month fixed 18 years ago under the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007, in tune with the present cost of living index.
• “Maintenance cannot remain a mirage shimmering in the desert of inflation, nor an oasis that vanishes on approach. Relief that is illusory is no relief at all. It is, but a rope of sand, incapable of sustaining those for whom it is meant. Therefore, this Court deems it fit to recommend, with earnestness that the Union government revisit Section 9 of the 2007 Act, and revise the ceiling in tune with the cost of living index, so that the Act may not be reduced to a hollow promise, but remain a living guarantee of dignity in old age, as the nation’s wealth is not measured by its material progress, but by the welfare of the child and the care of the elderly-old…,” said Justice M. Nagaprasanna.
• Though the Act had undergone several amendments between 2007 and 2023, the provision that limits ceiling on payment of maintenance to senior citizens has remained same from past 18 years, the court noted while pointing out that ₹10,000 cannot be enough to achieve the real intent of the enactment.
• Citing the graph of cost inflation index as found in the website of the Ministry of Finance, the court said: “The numbers tell a tale, more eloquent, than words. In the year 2007-08 the cost inflation index stood at 129; today, it is 363. Thus, what one could procure for ₹100/- in 2007, requires nearly a ₹1,000/- in 2025. Prices of food, shelter and medicine have climbed steeply; only the statutory cap of ₹10,000/- has remained petrified, untouched, notwithstanding the march of time.”
• As the objective of the Act was primarily three-fold – (i) need based maintenance to the parents and senior citizens, (ii) to provide better medical facilities and (iii) suitable mechanism for protection, the court said that the enactment, therefore was to be a need based, and securing the need for a senior citizen cannot be seen to remain the same as it was in 2007.
• “Cost of living inflation has increased exponentially. With the inflation index today, what a senior citizen would have got in 2007 is reduced by 10% today even to the medical facilities. Therefore, the amount of ₹10,000/-, that is now subsisting, cannot be enough to achieve the real intent of the enactment,” the court said.
• The court made these observation while setting aside an order passed passed by a tribunal, which asked the children to pay ₹5 lakh as compensation to their parents as there is no provision in the Act to grant compensation.

• City civic groups move NGT against tunnel road project        

Context: On May 22, the State Cabinet approved the construction of a 16.74 km twin-tunnel from Esteem Mall in Hebbal to Silk Board

• Bengaluru Praja Vedike and other civic groups in the city have moved the National Green Tribunal (NGT), seeking the cancellation of the proposed Twin Tunnel Road project, which claims to decongest the city’s chronic traffic problem.
• The petition alleges that the ₹19,000-crore project violates environmental clearances, is riddled with flaws, and contradicts Bengaluru’s mobility plans.
• The citizen activists said that during the first hearing held on Wednesday, NGT directed that notices be issued to the State government, the State Environmental Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA), Bangalore Smart Infrastructure Limited (B-SMILE), the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, and the project consultants.
• On May 22, 2025, the State Cabinet approved the construction of a 16.74 km twin tunnel from Esteem Mall in Hebbal to Silk Board under a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) model. A Special Purpose Vehicle, B-SMILE, was created to execute the project, with Rodic Consultants preparing the Detailed Project Report (DPR) in barely three months.
• The alignment of the tunnel, the petition points out, cuts through ecologically sensitive and legally protected areas such as the Peninsular Gneiss at Lalbagh, Hebbal Valley’s stormwater corridor, and the vicinity of the critically polluted Peenya Industrial Area.
• These zones are particularly vulnerable to groundwater depletion, soil instability, and aggravated flooding.
• Independent studies, including those from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), have warned that the project could encourage a shift from public to private transport, increase exhaust emissions and fossil fuels use, and worsen climate vulnerabilities. Even statutory agencies like the Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT) have noted that the tunnel road contradicts Bengaluru’s approved mobility and climate policies and have recommended alternative measures instead, the petitioners said.
• Despite these concerns, the petition alleges that authorities bypassed the mandatory Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), ignored public consultation, and exploited a loophole in the 2006 EIA notification, arguing that ‘tunnels’ are not explicitly listed to avoid clearance. This, the petitioners said, mirrors past unlawful practices such as the scrapped 2017 steel flyover project.

• The petition further notes that the tunnel alignment overlaps with a proposed metro corridor, which offers a more inclusive, sustainable, and environmentally sound alternative.
• The petitioners have sought the tribunal’s intervention to declare the project unlawful, quash the tender process, and order its cancellation to prevent irreversible ecological damage. They have also urged the NGT to uphold statutory environmental safeguards.

• Govt. declares 371-tree cantonment area as Biodiversity Heritage Site

Context: Forest, Ecology and Environment Minister Eshwar B. Khandre announced that the 8.61-acre Cantonment Railway Colony area, containing 371 trees from 50 different species, has been declared a Biodiversity Heritage Site.

• The announcement came after Mr. Khandre chaired a meeting of the State Biodiversity Board at Vikasa Soudha. “Survey Numbers 1028 and 1047 of the Cantonment Railway Colony, which are both historically significant and ecologically rich, have been declared a Biodiversity Heritage Site under Section 37 of the Biological Diversity Act, 2002,” he said.
• The Minister said the 34,843 sq. ft. stretch, located in the heart of the city, is not only home to diverse species of flora, fauna, and insects, but also serves as an essential lung space for Bengaluru.
• “The area also carries historic significance, as Mahatma Gandhi had interacted with freedom fighters here in 1920. The trees play a vital role in reducing carbon dioxide levels, curbing air and noise pollution, and preserving the city’s green cover,” he said.
• On April 25, the erstwhile Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike issued a notice announcing that the Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA) had applied to remove 368 trees in the area for commercial activity.
• Following the public notice, the proposal received strong opposition from environmentalists, tree lovers and the general public. In response, Mr. Khandre visited the site on June 20 for inspection. Following the inspection, the government proposed declaring the site a Biodiversity Heritage Site and invited citizens to submit suggestions, objections and feedback.
• In total, more than 15,000 citizens called for the preservation of the 371 trees and the declaration of the site as a Biodiversity Heritage Site. A survey confirmed the existence of 371 trees in the area.
• “Bengaluru’s air quality has already deteriorated, and its green cover is shrinking. At a time when the world is confronting climate change and rising global temperatures, conserving these 371 trees is of utmost importance,”.

• ₹87,818 crore will be required for UKP phase-III: Siddaramaiah

Context: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said an estimated ₹87,818 crore would be required for implementation of the Upper Krishna Project Phase-III, which would increase the Almatti dam height from 519 metres to 524 metres.

• The initial project cost for implementation of the project was estimated at ₹51,148 crore and it had now been revised to ₹87,818 crore.
• Out of this, ₹17,627 crore was initially estimated for the land acquisition process. The current revised cost was ₹40,557.09 crore.
• The revised cost for civil works of nine sub-projects related to the project was estimated at ₹25,122.53 crore.
• By raising the dam height, he said, an additional 100 tmc ft of water would be stored, which would provide irrigation facilities to 5.94 lakh hectares.

• Manipur law to regulate issuance of certificates to SC, OBC communities gets Presidential assent

Context: The law to regulate the issuance of caste certificates for the Scheduled Caste (SC) and Other Backward Class (OBC) communities in Manipur, introduced by the erstwhile Manipur government in 2024 amid the ethnic conflict in the State, has received the assent of the President.

• The law was brought by the then Biren Singh government in 2024, and is meant to “prevent fraudulent cases” of people claiming caste status and to bring uniformity in the processes for issuing caste certificates, according to the Bill’s Statement of Objects and Reasons.
• Manipur has seven communities classified as SC and four communities categorised as OBC. Reservation in public education and employment for SCs is prescribed in the State at 2% and for OBCs at 17%. For Scheduled Tribes (STs), the reservation is 31%.

Detailed vetting process

• The provisions of the law set out procedures for applying for caste certificates, competent authorities for issuing the certificates, and scrutiny committees to verify them, offences and penalties, among other things. The Bill had added that most other States had already framed such provisions.
• Notably, the law, which received the Presidential assent in July this year, provides for the setting up of one or more Scrutiny Committees, which are meant to verify suspicious caste certificates.
• It also gives these committees the power to verify a caste certificate suo motu, adding that the decision of the panel would be final and can only be challenged in the High Court.
• However, it adds that the certificate of the person will remain valid during the verification process until a final decision is arrived.
• While States like Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh do have specific laws to regulate caste certificates, several others regulate through executive orders and circulars. Maharashtra also has provisions for setting up Scrutiny Committees, but Andhra Pradesh has given this power of suo motu verification to the District Collector.

• ‘For Hindu Bengalis, CAA is irrelevant’
• Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said hardly any Hindu Bengalis in the State have taken the Citizenship (Amendment) Act route, as they are certain of their Indianness.
• “No reason to suspect Hindu Bengalis, who came before 1971 as foreigners. The CAA has no relevance for them; they have not applied for citizenship under it,” Mr. Sarma said.

• EC holds CEO conference; reviews preparedness for rolling out nationwide SIR

Context: The Election Commission (EC) held a conference of Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) of all States and Union Territories to assess the preparedness for rolling out a nationwide special intensive revision (SIR) of voter lists.

• The commission was planning to roll out the SIR across the country with a single schedule, as of now, sources in the EC said.
• The conference was inaugurated by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar in the presence of Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi. It assessed the preparedness of the offices of the CEOs of all States and Union Territories for the nationwide SIR exercise, an official statement said.
• At the beginning of the conference, Bihar CEO Vinod Singh Gunjiyal made a presentation on the strategies, constraints, and best practices adopted in his State, which was the first to roll out the SIR.
• All other CEOs provided detailed presentations on the number of electors and the qualifying date of the previous SIRs and electoral rolls in their respective States or Union Territories, according to the previous completed SIR. They also presented the status of digitisation and uploading of the electoral roll after the previous SIR on the website of the State and Union Territory CEO.
• The officers also provided suggested documents to ensure no eligible citizen was left out of the electoral roll, and no ineligible person was included in it.
• The issue assumes importance in light of the controversy surrounding the list of 11 indicative documents, which the EC had sought as part of the SIR exercise in Bihar. However, the Supreme Court had on Monday asked the poll body to add Aadhaar as the 12th document in the Bihar SIR.
• EC sources said that though the SIR order of June 24 holds for the entire country, the list of documents could be made more inclusive when the schedule is announced.
• The CEOs also provided the status of mapping of current electors with the electors as per the previous SIR, the statement said.

• SC flags Governors sitting on Bills as Centre terms dispute a ‘false alarm’

Context: Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai, heading a five-judge Presidential Reference Bench, pointed to Governors sitting on Bills for years together even as the Union government referred to disputes raised by non-BJP-ruled States such as Tamil Nadu and Kerala over inexplicable gubernatorial delay as a “false alarm”.

• “How can you say that when Governors are sitting over Bills for four years,” Chief Justice Gavai asked the Centre, represented by Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta.
• The Reference had followed an April 8 judgment of the court in the Tamil Nadu Governor case, which prescribed a three-month timeline for the President and the Governor to decide Bills.
• Tamil Nadu had approached the court after the Governor sat on 10 Bills for four years, since 2020.
• Mr. Mehta reasoned the Centre was not justifying Governors delaying assent to Bills “endlessly”. He had only meant to say that a State and its Governor must act “collaboratively” to ensure the smooth working of the Constitution.
• “We are proud of our Constitution, considering what is happening in the neighbouring countries. Like what happened in Nepal yesterday…” Chief Justice Gavai remarked. Justice Vikram Nath mentioned Bangladesh in the same context.
• Mr. Mehta said “collaboration” was possible only if both parties (State and Governor) had powers. He argued there was no room for collaboration if the Governor was expected to toe the line of the State Cabinet and mechanically sign Bills put before him for assent.
• “The Governor cannot be reduced to an ornamental head of State. We may have had some aberrations, but for the past 55 years, every Governor has acted in a way expected of them, in a collaborative manner,” Mr. Mehta submitted.
• He objected to the argument by non-BJP-ruled States that instances of Governors delaying Bills had increased after the NDA government came to power in 2014 at the Centre.
• Justice Vikram Nath observed that the Reference Bench was not tracing what happened before or after 2014. The court was answering the questions of law raised by the President in the Reference.
• Justice P.S. Narasimha tested the Centre’s submission that the moment a Governor withheld assent to a Bill in the first instance under Article 200, the proposed law would fail. The judge asked how a Bill passed by both Houses of the State legislature, after due consultation, could be failed by the solitary action of the Governor withholding assent.
• “Should there not be a consultative process by which the Bill is returned to the State legislature for reconsideration. This way, both the State Assembly and the Governor get a role to play,” Justice Narasimha said.
• “A Governor cannot act like a constitutional court, adjudicate on the constitutionality of a Bill and unilaterally withhold it… If timelines are not set for gubernatorial assent to Bill, States will be left to wander the corridors of the court,” he submitted.

‘Sitting ducks’

• Advocate Avani Bansal, appearing for Tiruvallur MLA Sasikanth Senthil, said citizens could not be made “sitting ducks” by a Governor who sits on, for example, a health care Bill for years together.
• “If the Governor sits indefinitely on a Bill, Article 200 would be made unworkable and superfluous,” Advocate-General of Meghalaya Amit Kumar submitted.
• The State of Telangana, represented by senior advocate S. Niranjan Reddy, submitted that a Governor’s action must be judicially reviewed for discrimination if a law assented to in one State ruled by the same party as in the Centre was disapproved by a Governor in a State governed by a party in the Opposition.

• Digital platform to preserve tribal art, culture launched
• The Union Tribal Affairs Ministry launched the beta version of “Adi Sanskriti”, a digital platform for “tribal artforms and heritage”. Officials said it had been envisioned to become the “world’s first Digital University to preserve and promote the culture and knowledge of tribal communities”.
• The digital platform will have an online marketplace, opening up a digital market for products made by tribal artisans in India.
• The platform consists of three components: Adi Vishwavidyalaya (Digital Tribal Art Academy), Adi Sampada (Socio-Cultural Repository), and Adi Haat (digital marketplace).

• ISRO inks agreement with HAL for transfer of SSLV technology

Context: The Indian Space Research Organisation signed a formal agreement with Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. on Wednesday for the transfer of technology for production of small satellite launch vehicles (SSLV), marking a significant step in industry participation in the space sector.

• The agreement, the 100th transfer of technology agreement facilitated by the space sector promoter INSPACe, was inked in Bengaluru by the ISRO, NewSpace India Ltd., and INSPACe with HAL, which outbid a consortium led by Adani Group-backed Alpha Design Technologies.
• The aim is to complete the entire technology transfer process within 24 months from the date of signing the agreement, a statement from INSPACe said. During this period, the ISRO will provide training and technical support to the HAL for acquiring the know-how of the SSLV, it added.
• ISRO Chairman V. Narayanan said the agreement would allow the HAL to independently build the SSLV for both domestic and international markets.
• “We are honoured to be in this league to scale India’s next big frontiers with the SSLV technology, by partnering with ISRO and NSIL and IN-SPACe to implement it,” D.K. Sunil, Chairman and Managing Director of HAL, said.
• Mr. Sunil said HAL would build SSLVs so that India could offer regular, cost-competitive small-satellite launches to domestic and global customers.

• India resists full crypto framework, fears systemic risks

Context: India is leaning towards not creating legislation to regulate cryptocurrencies in the country and instead will maintain partial oversight, fearing that bringing the digital assets into its mainstream financial system could raise systemic risks, a government document shows.

• The document, seen by Reuters, cites the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) view that, in practice, containing the risks of cryptocurrencies through regulation would be difficult.
• Global acceptance of cryptocurrencies has improved since U.S. President Donald Trump took office and prices of bitcoin have hit record highs.
• The U.S. has also passed legislation permitting wider use of stablecoins, which are cryptocurrencies backed by fiat currencies making them less vulnerable to wild swings.
• China continues to ban cryptocurrencies but is considering a Yuan-backed stablecoin, Reuters reported last month. Although, Japan and Australia are developing regulatory frameworks for such virtual assets, they maintain a cautious stance without actively promoting the sector. Regulating cryptocurrencies in India would grant them “legitimacy”, and “may cause the sector to become systemic”, the government document, prepared this month, said.
• In contrast, while an outright ban can tackle the “alarming” risks from largely speculative crypto assets, it would not be able to tackle peer-to-peer transfers or trades on decentralised exchanges, it added.
• India’s federal finance ministry and the RBI did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment.

• ‘India set to be among top five shipbuilding nations by 2047’

Context: With less than 1% share in global shipbuilding currently, India is on course to be among the world’s top five countries in this arena by 2047, according to the Centre.

• “The Government of India, through the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways and the Directorate General of Shipping, is committed to positioning India as a new hub for shipbuilding,” Shantanu Thakur, Minister of State, Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Government of India.
• “The nation has a clear goal of ranking among the top 10 maritime nations by 2030 and among the top 5 by 2047,” he said, speaking at INMEX SMM India 2025, organised by Informa Markets in India.
• He said shipbuilding and repair would serve as vital growth engines of India’s ‘blue economy’, generating employment, enhancing global competitiveness, and driving sustainability through green shipping initiatives and modernised infrastructure.
• “While the maritime sector currently contributes 4% to India’s GDP and just 1% of global tonnage, the vision is to raise its share to 12% of national GDP and advance it from the 16th position globally to the fifth by 2047,” said Shyam Jagannathan, Director General of Shipping, Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways.
• “Indian seafarers already represent 12% of the global workforce, with a goal to expand this to around 25%, making shipbuilding and repair central to this transformation,” he said.
• He said the government was strongly supporting the ambition through initiatives such as the Shipbuilding Finance Assistance Scheme, the Maritime Development Fund, shipbuilding and repair clusters, a National Shipbuilding Mission, the Shipbreaking Credit Note scheme, and upfront subsidies of up to 30% for non-conventional builds.
• “Under Maritime India Vision India is firmly on course to emerge as a global maritime superpower,” he emphasised.
• Sabyasachi Hajara, Chairman, INMEX SMM India Advisory Board, said, “The Government of India has taken unprecedented measures to boost the maritime sector, including the establishment of a $3 billion Maritime Development Fund, with nearly 45% earmarked for shipbuilding and ship repair, and 20% for building Indian tonnage, alongside investments in port infrastructure and coastal shipping.”

• PhonePe partners with SIDBI, MSME Ministry on Udyam
• PhonePe will work with the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), and the Small Industries Development Bank of India, to register more small merchants with the Udyam facility, thereby opening up more avenues for credit and availing government schemes, the company said.

• Udyam is a platform to formalise more MSMEs, and SIDBI has already worked on an “assist platform” to make it easier for merchants to register for an Udyam number.

• Rampant development, not climate, pushing Himalayas to the edge

Context: Punjab faced its worst floods since 1988 in August this year. Waters overflowing from the Sutlej, Beas, and Ravi rivers have destroyed several villages in the State. Around the same time, at least 34 people died after intense rainfall lashed India-controlled Kashmir and several parts of Pakistan. Early in August, the village of Dharali in Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand disappeared after a deluge triggered a landslide.

• This isn’t the first time the Indian Himalayan region has suffered such catastrophe; the 2013 Kedarnath floods and the 2021 disaster in Chamoli come to mind. And at least one thread runs through all of these incidents: they were all treated as unprecedented acts of nature.

The invisible hand

• Experts have already said calling every heavy-rain event a “cloudburst” risks oversimplifying the disasters.
• “Most of these natural disasters are not really natural at all. They are often a combination of two factors — climate change and development,” Arun B. Shreshta, a senior advisor, Climate and Environmental Risks, at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), said.

• The Himalayas are the world’s youngest mountains and are high-energy environments characterised by instability and variability. Landslides here are often triggered by heavy rainfall, slope undercutting or seismic activity.
• According to ICIMOD research, the mountains are also particularly susceptible to floods, cloudbursts, glacial lake eruptions, and landslides.

• Chief Justice B.R. Gavai called visuals of tree logs floating in flood waters in Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, and Uttarakhand in the first week of September a “very serious issue.”
• “Logs are seen flowing with the flood waters. If this goes on, we will not have any forests left. In Punjab, entire villages are inundated. Development is needed, but not at the cost of the environment and lives,” Justice Gavai observed on September 4.

No blanket plan

• On July 18, the Supreme Court bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and R. Mahadevan had observed: “If things proceed the way they are as of date, the day is not far when the entire state of Himachal Pradesh may vanish in thin air from the map of India. God forbid this does not happen.”
• The bench also said governments shouldn’t build revenue at the cost of ecological sustainability, and blamed human activity for worsening disasters.
• “I think the Supreme Court is very much right about this,” Navneet Yadav, lead, Humanitarian Action and Disaster Risk Reduction at Caritas India, an NGO, said.
• He added that development in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand can’t happen according to the same plans drafted for metropolitan cities like Delhi and Mumbai.
• “Every aspect of development should go through a lifecycle analysis. We should start looking at it in a completely different way, where we take into consideration the real impact of climate change,” Mr. Shreshta, who also stressed on assessing the carrying capacity of an area before implementing any project, said.
• “Prior to making any major interventions in the mountains, there should be clearly defined steps in terms of an honest and independent social impact assessment in addition to a disaster impact assessment, which should go through a democratic public consultation process,” Himanshu Thakkar, coordinator of the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers, and People, added.

The disaster potential

• The Hindu Kush mountains are currently being encroached on as well as hosting more tourists, infrastructure development projects, and power generation activities. Together with a paucity of proper environmental impact assessments, experts have warned that the mountains are being pushed beyond their ability to cope.
• According to the Directorate of Energy of Himachal Pradesh, there are 1,144 hydropower plants in the state, of which 721 are at various stages of clearance and investigation, 180 have been commissioned, and 53 are under construction. The Centre has also sanctioned funds to build new bridges and widen roads.
• Similarly, in Uttarakhand, there are 40 operational hydroelectric plants while 87 more are at various stages of planning and construction, all to boost the State’s power generation capacity.
• All these construction activities entail the use of heavy equipment to cut through the mountains.
• “Today, we are building highways without any attention to how they can increase disaster potential,” Mr. Thakkar said.
• As the Supreme Court bench observed on July 18, the proliferation of ‘development’ work is joining hands with climate change to worsen the effects of rain and temperature changes.
• On September 4, the apex court also issued a notice to the National Highways Authority of India following a petition that claimed 14 tunnels between Chandigarh and Manali turned into “death traps” during heavy rains.
• The average temperature in the Indian Himalaya is already rising faster than the global average, resulting in reduced snowfall and more snow melt. When a glacier melts, the water pools into a new lake. If a rocky barrier adjacent to the lake shifts or breaks, all the water can be released into a nearby river or drain, leading to sudden and massive floods. These events are called glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs).
• According to ICIMOD, there were more than 25,000 classified glacial lakes in five major river basins across the Himalayas by 2018, placing communities and livelihoods downstream at more and more risk.

‘Worst kind of land’

• “Infrastructure changes have to be done keeping in mind such climatic variations — GLOFs, landslides, and even droughts,” Mr. Shreshta said. “The Himalayas are at a tipping point, and we need an urgent course correction that balances economy and energy. We need nature-based solutions with the involvement of the local communities because they know the local landscape and the hazards that come with it.”
• “Building climate literacy amongst the locals to drive local self-governance is important,” Mr. Yadav said. “Not just that, all the critical structures, such as hospitals and schools, must never be built in unsafe locations because they are the immediate places that house those affected by any disaster. But that is unfortunately not the reality. Most government schools are built on the worst kind of land.”
• The rise in tourism has also stoked a demand for land on which to build hotels, homestays, and other facilities, and that in turn has been driving local deforestation. The deodar trees in particular are native to the region and hold the soil in place.
• “When you remove them, the soil is in boulders which will soon erode out. And that erosion will increase the disaster potential of the area in terms of landslides and floods in the downstream villages,” Mr. Thakkar said. He added that it should be possible to ‘develop’ without tearing trees down.