What to Read in Indian Express Editorial( Topic and Syllabus wise)

Editorial 1: When a nuclear site is attacked

Context

The United States launched strikes on Iran’s key nuclear facilities at Fordow, Isfahan, and Natanz, all critical sites involved in enriching uranium to potentially weapons-grade levels for nuclear bomb development.

The process

• Enrichment is the process of increasing the concentration of Uranium-235 (U235) in a sample of natural uranium which is primarily — more than 99 per cent — Uranium-238 (U238).
• It is only U-235 that is fissile, meaning its nucleus is susceptible to being broken (fissionable) through a process that produces energy, and is capable of sustaining a chain reaction.
• An enrichment of 3-5 per cent is adequate for producing electricity in nuclear power stations, but for making nuclear weapons, HEU, which has concentrations of 90 per centor more of U235, is required.
• The attacks have led to fears of a major nuclear disaster, in the form of nuclear explosion, or at least largescale nuclear radiation leaks.
• The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported no rise in off-site radiation after the attacks, and Iran confirmed no public health risk.

How nuclear weapons are different from other bombs

• Traditional bombs use chemical explosives designed to detonate on impact but can also explode due to heat, friction, or mishandling. Stored explosives pose a risk of unintended blasts if struck by other weapons.
• Nuclear weapons, or nuclear material, do not behave like that. A nuclear bomb causes damage not by exploding the way traditional bombs do, but by releasing very high amounts of energyin a very short span of time. This large amount of energy sets off a series of processes that cause widespread damage.
• Nuclear weapons are designed to detonate mid-air, not on impact like traditional explosives.
• They release a massive amount of energy in a few milliseconds, which heats up the surrounding air to millions of degrees Celsius, leading to the formation of what are known as blast waves, an expanding bubble of extremely hot air. Most of the damage is caused by these blast waves.
• A nuclear explosion also releases electromagnetic radiations of different kinds,and these also cause a lot of destruction.
• The initiation of the chain reaction requires a very precise set of processes to be followed and very precise conditions. These precise conditions cannot be met accidentally, or when the fissile material is under some kind of stress, like when it is struck by a missile or a bomb.

But what about radiation leak

• This is a more realistic threat. There are risks of both chemical and radiological leaks.
• Nuclear facilities, by their very nature, store a lot of radioactive substances, particularly uranium in different forms, including in gaseous state like uranium hexafluoride (UF6), and dust.
• Radioactive substances are unstable and release radiation over time. Some of these radiations, like gamma rays, are extremely harmful. They can penetrate the skin, damage cells and DNA, and can cause cancer.
• Radioactive materials in nuclear facilities are stored in secure containers, with systems designed to prevent leaks into the environment.
• Attacks, like those by the U.S. or Israel, can damage these safety mechanisms, risking leaks similar to past disasters at Chernobyl (1986) and Fukushima (2011).
• More recently, Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia plant—Europe’s largest—has faced repeated attacks during the Russia-Ukraine conflict but remains operational.

Conclusion

The IAEA confirmed no rise in radiation levels near Iran’s targeted sites and will continue to assess the situation as more information emerges.

 

Editorial 2: The next steps for change

Context

As Prime Minister Narendra Modi completes 11 years in office, it’s time for a stocktaking of his government’s achievements at the macro level, and a framing of the challenges that lie ahead.

India’s Economic Rise

• In 2014, when PM Modi assumed office, India’s nominal GDP stood at $2.04 trillion, up from $709 billion in 2004 when the UPA came to power. This was a jump of 2.8 times in 10 years.
• This year, India’s economy is likely to be $4.19 trillion – it has almost doubled in 11 years.
• India is poised to become the fourth-largest economyglobally, just behind the US ($30.5 trillion), China ($19.2 trillion) and Germany ($4.74 trillion).
• Yet, the nominal GDP in US dollars tells only a part of the story. A more appropriate criterion to measure the economic welfare of people will be to look at GDP and per capita income in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms.
• In PPP terms, India’s progress has been remarkable: From $2.75 trillion in 2004 to $6.45 trillion in 2014, and soaring to $17.65 trillion in 2025.
• This positions India as the world’s third-largest economy in PPP terms, behind China and the US.
• However, national aggregates can obscure individual well-being. Evaluating people’s welfare and quality of life requires measuring per capita income in PPP terms.
• India’s per capita income (in PPP terms) rose from $2,424.2 in 2004 to $4,935.5 in 2014 and now stands at $12,131.8 in 2025.
• This improvement corresponds with India’s improved global ranking on this criteria —from 181st in 2004, to 166th in 2014, and 149th in 2025.
• However, despite this progress, India still ranks lowest among G20 countries in both per capita GDP ($2,878) and PPP terms ($12,131.8).
• Closer home, India trails even Sri Lanka ($14,970) and Bhutan ($17,735), though it remains ahead of Pakistan ($6,950.5) and Bangladesh ($10,261.1) in 2025 (IMF).

How far is this growth inclusive?

• The Gini coefficient, a measure of income inequality, has shown modest shifts over the past two decades indicating moderate inequality in India, according to the World Bank.
• For inclusive growth, the performance of agriculture— employing the largest share of the workforce (46.1 per cent in 2023–24, according to PLFS) — is crucial.
• On the welfare front, the current government has spent a lot of resources to uplift the poor and farming community.
• All this has led to a sharp reduction in extreme poverty(head count ratio) at $3 per day (2021 PPP) — from 27.1 per cent in 2011 to just 5.3 per cent in 2022.
• The 80 per cent drop marks one of the fastest and most significant fall in poverty that India has achieved in any period since 1977.
• With poverty levels now at historic lows, there may be a need to revisit some of the major policies to plug loopholes and promote efficiency and sustainability.

Food and fertiliser subsidies

• The food subsidy budget for FY26 is slated to be Rs 2.03 lakh crore. India is giving free food to more than 800 million people.
• With extreme poverty falling to just 5.3 per cent, there is a need to rationalise this food subsidyby giving beneficiaries food coupons (digital wallet) to buy nutritious food — pulses, milk, eggs — from designated stores.
• This will help plug leakages, diversify diets, promote nutrition, and diversify the production basket.
• Similar rationalisation is needed for fertiliser subsidy, which is slated to claim another Rs 1.56 lakh crore in FY26.
• This can be done by giving fertiliser couponsto farmers and deregulating the prices of fertiliser products. Farmers can use these coupons to buy chemical fertilisers or bio-fertilisers or do natural farming.
• The imbalanced use of N, P, and K can be corrected, leakages plugged and innovations in products and practices promoted, only if the government deregulates this sector.

Way forward

The government would need to identify tenant farmers. The task also requires triangulation of several sets of data, and communicating with farmers in advance and earning their trust. This is a political exercise, which must precede policy change.