1 . CAZRI Moth Bean Varieties: Climate-Resilient Agriculture
Syllabus Mapping: GS-III: Agriculture | Climate-resilient agriculture | Food security | Genetic improvement | Sustainable farming
- Moth bean is an important kharif pulse crop of the hot arid regions of western Rajasthan and is well adapted to the Thar Desert, where rainfall is low, erratic and unevenly distributed.
- Its low productivity is linked to rainfed cultivation, prolonged dry spells, high evapotranspiration and poor soil-moisture availability, making drought tolerance and moisture-use efficiency important breeding objectives.
- The ICAR–Central Arid Zone Research Institute (CAZRI), Jodhpur has developed four varieties—CAZRI Moth-4, CAZRI Moth-5, CAZRI Moth-6 and CAZRI Moth-7—with emphasis on moisture-stress tolerance, higher yield potential and adaptation to arid conditions.
- During a prolonged dry spell in Kharif 2026, these varieties remained green, healthy and productive despite around 30 days without rainfall, demonstrating their moisture-stress adaptation.
- A key adaptive trait is developmental plasticity—the ability of plants to modify their growth, flowering and maturity according to the availability of soil moisture. Early flowering and rapid completion of the reproductive cycle can help crops escape terminal drought.
2 . Dryland Congress 2026 and Delhi Declaration on Drylands
Syllabus Mapping: GS-III: Climate-resilient agriculture | Dryland farming | Land degradation | Food security GS-II: International cooperation | South–South cooperation
- The Dryland Congress 2026, jointly organised by ICAR and ICRISAT in New Delhi, concluded with the Delhi Declaration on Drylands (3D), focusing on scientific cooperation, innovation and scaling solutions for resilient dryland agriculture. The Congress also marked 50 years of ICAR–ICRISAT collaboration.
- Drylands cover approximately 45% of the world’s land surface and support more than two billion people; their major challenges include water scarcity, rainfall variability, land degradation, climate change and unstable agricultural markets. Thus, dryland development is directly linked to global food security and rural livelihoods.
- The central focus on South–South cooperation is important because developing countries often face comparable problems of drought, soil degradation and smallholder vulnerability; cooperation enables the sharing and adaptation of locally relevant agricultural technologies among countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America.
- Triangular cooperation differs from South–South cooperation: it involves collaboration between developing countries with technical, financial or institutional support from a developed country or a multilateral organisation such as the United Nations or CGIAR.
- The Congress emphasised climate-resilient dryland agri-food systems, which require more than drought-resistant seeds and include soil-moisture conservation, rainwater harvesting, watershed management, crop diversification, improved seed systems, weather information and better market access.
- The focus on drylands can be linked to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), 1994, the principal international legally binding framework dealing with desertification, land degradation and drought, particularly in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid regions.
- The Declaration is also relevant to the UNCCD objective of Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN), under which the rate of land degradation should be balanced by avoiding degradation, reducing ongoing degradation and restoring degraded land. LDN is reflected in SDG Target 15.3.
3 . OPU–IVF Calf in Badri Cattle
Syllabus Mapping: GS-III: Indigenous livestock breeds | Animal husbandry | Biotechnology | Genetic improvement |
- A healthy Badri female calf was born through Ovum Pick-Up and In Vitro Fertilisation (OPU–IVF), highlighting the use of advanced reproductive biotechnology for the conservation and rapid multiplication of indigenous cattle germplasm. Badri cattle are an indigenous breed of Uttarakhand and the state animal of the state.
- Badri cattle, also known as Badri/Pahari cattle, are traditionally reared in the hilly regions of Uttarakhand and are adapted to the Himalayan environment. Their conservation is important because indigenous breeds possess locally evolved traits such as adaptation to difficult terrain, climatic variability and low-input production systems.
- In OPU–IVF, oocytes are collected from genetically superior donor cows, fertilised with selected semen in a laboratory and developed into embryos; these embryos are then transferred into hormonally synchronised recipient cows. In this case, a Badri embryo was transferred into a Sahiwal recipient cow, which carried and delivered the Badri calf.
- The technology can accelerate the multiplication of elite female germplasm because several embryos may be produced from a genetically valuable donor, unlike conventional reproduction, which generally produces one calf per pregnancy. It can therefore support breed improvement, conservation of valuable genetic traits and structured germplasm banks.
- The initiative also proposes exploring cloning of elite Badri cows; however, cloning and OPU–IVF serve different purposes: IVF combines selected maternal and paternal genetic material, whereas cloning aims to produce a genetically near-identical copy of a donor animal.
- Conservation of Badri cattle is significant under the broader objective of protecting indigenous animal genetic resources, since local breeds may possess valuable traits such as disease tolerance, climatic adaptation and suitability for low-resource farming systems, even when their commercial productivity is lower than that of specialised exotic or crossbred cattle.
4 . Pradhan Mantri Kisan Maandhan Yojana (PM-KMY)
Syllabus Mapping: GS-II: Social security | Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections GS-III: Agriculture | Farmers’ welfare | Inclusive growth
- Pradhan Mantri Kisan Maandhan Yojana (PM-KMY) is a Central Sector, voluntary and contributory old-age pension scheme launched on 12 September 2019 by the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare for eligible Small and Marginal Farmers (SMFs).
- Eligible farmers aged 18–40 years with cultivable landholdings of up to 2 hectares, whose names appeared in the relevant land records as on 1 August 2019, can enrol; the scheme provides a minimum assured pension of ₹3,000 per month after attaining 60 years of age.
- The scheme follows an equal-contribution model: the farmer contributes ₹55–₹200 per month, depending on the age of entry, and the Central Government contributes an equal matching amount. Thus, it is different from a fully government-funded social pension.
- In the event of the subscriber’s death after commencement of pension, the spouse is entitled to a family pension equal to 50% of the subscriber’s pension, i.e. ₹1,500 per month, subject to the scheme’s conditions. The scheme is therefore linked to old-age income security and family-level social protection.
- PM-KMY is implemented in partnership with the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), while enrolment is facilitated through Common Service Centres (CSCs) using Aadhaar, bank details, mobile-based verification and an auto-debit mandate.
- PM-KMY should be distinguished from PM-KISAN: PM-KISAN provides income support to eligible farmer families, whereas PM-KMY creates a contributory pension safety net for old age. Eligible farmers may also use their PM-KISAN-linked bank account for contributions to PM-KMY.
- The scheme excludes beneficiaries of other specified pension or social-security schemes, income-tax payers, institutional landholders, certain constitutional office-holders, elected representatives, most serving or retired government and public-sector employees, and registered professionals; MTS, Class IV and Group D employees are exempted from the employee-related exclusion.
5. Steel Slag Road Technology
Syllabus Mapping: GS-III: Infrastructure | Science & Technology | Waste Management | Circular Economy | Sustainable Development
- Steel slag road technology uses processed steel slag, a by-product of steel production, as an alternative to naturally mined aggregates. It converts industrial waste into an infrastructure resource.
- Steel slag is mainly generated during steel refining through Basic Oxygen Furnace (BOF) and Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) processes. Its composition varies with the production method, making processing and quality control essential.
- The technology reduces dependence on mining and quarrying of natural aggregates, thereby supporting resource efficiency, reduced land degradation and the circular economy.
- Fresh steel slag may contain free lime and free magnesia, which can expand on absorbing moisture. Hence, ageing, crushing, screening and quality testing are required before its use in roads.
- Unlike fly ash, a by-product of coal combustion, steel slag is generated during steel refining and is valued for its hardness and durability, making it suitable for heavy-load roads.
- The technology is reported to reduce construction costs by around 40%, provide nearly four times the strength of conventional roads and increase the maintenance cycle to around 15 years in suitable applications.
- The 1.85-km road at Raigarh, Chhattisgarh, developed by CSIR-CRRI and Jindal Steel, received the Guinness World Record for the longest road built with processed steel slag aggregates. A 40-km project in Angul, Odisha, is planned for wider application.
- The technology has been used in Hazira, NH-66, Hazira Port and Arunachal Pradesh, particularly in areas requiring durable pavements for heavy freight traffic.
- It supports SDG 9—resilient infrastructure and innovation—and SDG 12—responsible consumption and production. It also reflects industrial symbiosis, where the by-product of one industry becomes an input for another.
- Large-scale adoption requires assessment of slag quality, expansion potential, leachability, drainage, pavement design and subgrade conditions. Thus, steel slag cannot be used universally without site-specific testing and environmental safeguards.
