Current Affairs 25 January 2026
Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (CCTS)
- About: CCTS represents a pivotal policy shift, moving India from a mechanism focused on energy efficiency to a comprehensive market-based system aimed at directly pricing and reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) to meet its ambitious climate targets.
- Core Objective: The CCTS is a market-based mechanism designed to decarbonize the Indian economy by pricing GHG emissions and facilitating a national carbon trading system.
- Evolution from PAT: It transitions from the Perform, Achieve, and Trade (PAT) scheme (focused on energy efficiency via Energy Savings Certificates (ESCerts)) to a focus on reducing GHG emission intensity per tonne of output.
- Key Instrument: It issues Carbon Credit Certificates (CCC), each representing a reduction of one-tonne CO2 equivalent (tCO2e).
- Dual Mechanism: Operates through:
- Compliance Mechanism: Mandates energy-intensive industries (e.g., Aluminium, Cement, Fertilizers, Iron & Steel) to meet sector-specific GHG reduction targets.
- Offset Mechanism: Allows voluntary participation from entities outside the compliance framework to earn credits.
ISRO’s Reusability Initiatives
- Reusable Launch Vehicle – Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD) (Pushpak): A winged technology demonstrator that simulates an aircraft-like landing.
- Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully conducted the LEX (Landing Experiment) series (LEX-01, 02, 03) using the ‘Pushpak’ vehicle to test autonomous horizontal landing.
- ADMIRE: ISRO’s test bed for Vertical Landing technology (VTVL), aiming to develop retro-propulsion capabilities similar to Falcon 9.
- NGLV (Project Soorya): The Next Generation Launch Vehicle is being designed to replace Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). It will feature a reusable first stage using vertical landing technology.
Dugong
- About: The dugong is a large marine mammal featuring a dolphin-like tail, and can grow up to 10 feet in length and weigh around 420 kg. They are also called sea cows and farmers of the sea.
- Habitat & Diet: They are strictly herbivorous, feeding primarily on seagrass meadows, living in shallow, warm coastal waters (<10m depth) like bays and lagoons.
- Indian Distribution: Found in the Gulf of Kutch, Gulf of Mannar–Palk Bay, and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
- Behaviour & Reproduction: They are long-lived (up to 70 years), typically solitary or in small pairs. They have a slow reproductive cycle, reaching maturity at 9–10 years and giving birth only every 3–5 years.
- Conservation Status: Listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, protected under Appendix I of CITES (banning international trade), and under Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
INSV Kaundinya
- About: INSV Kaundinya is India’s first ‘stitched ship’ built using the ancient stitched shipbuilding (Tankai) method. It aims to revive the 2000-year-old Tankai method, a forgotten indigenous technique.
- Tankai Method: An ancient technique using stitched planks (with coir ropes) and no metal fasteners (like iron nails), making ships flexible and rust-proof.
- Employs indigenous materials like coir, dammar resin, and animal fat for waterproofing.
- Involves a unique hull-first construction, unlike Western frame-first methods.
- Design & Inspiration: Modeled after vessels depicted in the 5th-century Ajanta cave paintings. The design draws inspiration from the ancient Sanskrit text Yuktikalpataru (by King Bhoja, 9th century CE) and accounts of foreign travellers.
- Features symbolic motifs like the Gandabherunda (two-headed eagle of the Kadamba dynasty emblem), Sun motifs, Simha Yali (mythical lion), and a Harappan-style stone anchor.
- Historical Significance: Named after Kaundinya, a legendary 1st-century Indian mariner to make overseas voyages with global historical impact. Kaundinya is credited with sailing to the Mekong Delta and co-founding the Kingdom of Funan (modern Cambodia), one of the earliest Indianised states in Southeast Asia.
Kodagu (Coorg)
- About: Kodagu, popularly known as Coorg, is a scenic, high-altitude district in Karnataka’s Western Ghats, globally famed as the ‘Scotland of India’ for its misty hills, and lush coffee plantations. It is the source of the River Kaveri (Talakaveri), a vital peninsular river.
- Economy: An agrarian economy centered on coffee production (a leading Indian region for Robusta/Arabica). Other major crops are pepper, cardamom, and rubber.
- Culture: Home to the Kodava people, known for their martial heritage, unique festivals (Kailpodh, Puthari), and distinctive attire and traditions
Jamma Bane Lands
- About: Jamma Bane is a unique, hereditary land tenure system prevalent in Kodagu district (Coorg). The lands were originally granted by the erstwhile kings of Coorg and the British (between 1600 and 1800) to local communities, primarily the Kodavas, in return for military service.
- Nature of the Land: These holdings comprise both wetlands (used for paddy cultivation) and forested highlands, which have largely been converted into the region’s famous coffee estates.
- Traditional Record-Keeping: Ownership is registered in the name of the original grantee (pattedar), and despite being passed down over generations, new owners’ names were only added alongside the pattedar’s name, not as replacements.
- This system created serious legal and economic problems, including difficulties in sale, purchase, inheritance, mutation, and access to bank loans due to lack of clear title.