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

Editorial 1 : Playing with fire

Context

Israel’s recent strikes on Iranian nuclear sites to military activity around Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, witnessed the erosion of a longstanding principle: That nuclear facilities must be protected, in war and peace.

A strategic target

• Civilian nuclear infrastructure is now being treated as a strategic target. A red line once widely respected is being crossed with frequency.
• This shift carries numerous risks not just for the countries involved, but for the world.
• One miscalculation, one errant strike, could spark a radiological disaster, endangering thousands and contaminating entire regions.

Law for protection

• International law provides clear protection. Article 56 of the 1977 Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventionsprohibits attacks on “works and installations containing dangerous forces”, including nuclear plants, from which civilian harm could result.
• The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)has, in many resolutions, condemned strikes on safeguarded nuclear facilities as violations of international law and the UN Charter.
• Israel has justified its ongoing actions against Iranian nuclear sites as acts of preventive self-defence,citing Iran’s history of undeclared facilities, its missile programme, and enrichment levels approaching weapons-grade.
• Israeli officials argue that inaction risks letting Iran cross the nuclear military threshold under civilian cover. On the other hand, Iran remains a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
• It has consistently maintained that its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes and its declared nuclear facilities are under IAEA safeguards.

A deeper tension

• These contrasting approaches highlight a deeper tension between the imperative to enforce non-proliferation and the need to uphold the legitimacy of international safeguards.
• This issue is not about taking sides between Israel and Iran. It’s about defending a principle that protects everyone: Nuclear infrastructure is not a battlefield.
• Radiation cannot be deterred. Once released, the fallout spreads without regard for borders, flags or causes.
• Nuclear power today is not just about weapons. It’s a cornerstone of economic development and climate action.
• More than 30 countries operate civilian nuclear energy reactors, and many more are investing in nuclear power to reduce fossil fuel reliance and meet growing industrial needs.

India’s stance

• According to recent news reports, even the World Bank is shifting its long-held reluctance to finance nuclear projects as part of a broader strategy to meet skyrocketing energy demand in developing countries.
• India thus has a major stake in this conversation. The collapse of protections around civilian nuclear infrastructure threatens not only the nuclear order but also our energy security and development goals.
• India has set an ambitious target of 100 GW of nuclear capacity by 2047, up from about 8 GW today.
• With rising industrial demand and a commitment to net-zero goals, nuclear power is central to India’s long-term energy strategy.
• Plans to amend the Atomic Energy Act, 1962, and the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act, 2010, announced in the budget, are underway to encourage private investment and scale up deployment.
• As India expands its nuclear fleet, the risk calculus changes if attacks on reactors are normalised. This is not a theoretical proposition.
• Even amid deep tensions, India and Pakistan have upheld a rare example of nuclear restraint.
• Since 1991, both have observed the Agreement on the Prohibition of Attack against Nuclear Installations and Facilities that was signed in December 1988, exchanging lists of sites annually and pledging not to strike them.
• India’s continued commitment to this Agreement even now underscores its record of responsible stewardship and strengthens its credibilityin calling for global protections.

Way forward

• In a world shaped by climate stress, digital expansion, and geopolitical volatility, nuclear power remains one of the few tools capable of delivering clean, reliable, large-scale energy. From powering AI-driven economies to electrifying rural regions, the demand for nuclear power is only growing.
• It’s time to reaffirm a simple, urgent principle: Nuclear infrastructure is not a target.

 

Editorial 2 : Not either/or

Context

The government’s decision to revise the Green India Mission (GIM) and focus on restoring vulnerable landscapes, such as those in the Aravalli range, the Western Ghats and the Himalaya, is welcome.

Green India Mission

• Framed in 2014, the mission is not only crucial to meeting India’s climate commitments, it is also important for biodiversity conservation and food and water security.
• The initiative has resulted in an appreciable increase in the country’s tree cover.
• However, it has been criticised for taking a plantation-centred approach and not doing justice to the mission’s broader goal of ecological revival.
• The GIM’s revised document attempts to course correct. Especially salient is its emphasis on zeroing in on micro-climatic zonesthrough “regionally conducive best practices”.
• This initiative should be combined with addressing another concern of the original GIM, which has largely remained on paper — creating income-generating opportunities for peoplewho rely on these ecosystems.

The vulnerable landscape

• The Western Ghats, the Aravalli range and the Himalayan region face various challenges including deforestation, human-wildlife conflicts and changing rainfall patterns.
• Infrastructure development and unregulated tourismhave added to their vulnerabilities.
• Last year, the catastrophic landslide in Wayanad underlined that the depletion of green cover and erratic rainfall had made the area susceptible to disasters.
• The new GIM document also notes that the Western Ghats ecosystem has degraded due to the felling of trees and illegal mining.
• Similarly, several studies have shown that the destruction of large chunks of the Aravalli ecosystem — especially its hills — has brought the Thar Desert close to the National Capital Regionand this desertification has aggravated the area’s pollution problem.
• The restoration of most ecological hotspots in the country has been trapped in the environment-development binary.
• In 2011, a panel chaired by ecologist Madhav Gadgil underlined the need to regulate developmental activities in the entire 1,60,000 sq km stretch of the Western Ghats. Its recommendations were met with resistance across the political spectrum.
• The suggestions of the K Kasturirangan panel have also remained on paper.Similarly, illegal quarrying has persisted in the Aravalli range despite several SC orders, including as late as May 29.

Conclusion

• The problem is also that green initiatives have rarely taken people along. The challenge for the revamped GIM will, therefore, be to find ways to sustain and improve people’s livelihoods while enhancing ecological security.