News Context

• A glacial collapse and flash flood on the Nepal-China border on August 26 raised fresh safety concerns, but China is going ahead with its mega dam on the Yarlung Zangbo (Brahmaputra) in Tibet, close to India’s border — included in China’s 15th Five-Year Plan for renewable energy.

Key Facts for Prelims

• The river is called Yarlung Zangbo in Tibet/China, becomes the Brahmaputra in India (entering via Arunachal Pradesh, called the Siang, then the Dihang).
• Built on the lower reaches near the “Great Bend,” in a seismically active zone — called the “project of the century” / Yarlung Zangbo Lower Reaches Hydropower Project, with five power stations.
• Expected capacity: ~60 GW, 300 billion kWh/year output — over 3x larger than the Three Gorges Dam.
• Described as “run-of-the-river” but will still include a reservoir near Mainling, upstream of Nyingchi; water diverted via a ~40-km tunnel through five 12-GW powerhouses.
• China’s earlier dam at Zangmu (operational 2010) supplies ~26% of Tibet’s electricity demand.

Why This Matters for India

• Downstream impact on water flow into Arunachal Pradesh and Assam; seismic risk in an earthquake-prone zone; irregular hydrological data-sharing under the Expert-Level Mechanism; and a strategic angle since China holds the upper riparian position.

News Context

• On September 3, the Bihar Home Department issued a notification restructuring CBI’s powers in the state — the CBI can freely investigate Central employees/PSUs/private persons, but needs prior consent for Bihar government employees.

What Is the CBI?

• India’s premier investigating agency — has no separate parliamentary Act of its own; functions under the Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act, 1946.

General Consent Under Section 6, DSPE Act — Key Facts

• The notification, issued under Section 6 of the DSPE Act, 1946, supersedes all previous Bihar notifications and creates a two-tier consent system: automatic consent for Central employees/PSUs/private persons, and case-by-case consent for Bihar government employees/state institutions.
• General consent: blanket, standing permission for specified case categories. Specific consent: approval needed separately for each case. Several states (West Bengal, Kerala, Punjab) have withdrawn general consent entirely — Bihar’s move restructures rather than withdraws it.
• Important clarification: consent requirements apply only to CBI’s own executive action — a High Court or Supreme Court can order a CBI probe in any state regardless of consent, since courts derive power directly from the Constitution.

News Context

• The Indian striped hyena, despite the highest legal protection under Indian wildlife law, remains under-conserved — cultural superstitions, lack of population data, and no unified national conservation plan put this scavenger at risk.

Key Facts for Prelims

• A scavenger species, feeding on carrion rather than hunting live prey; global population estimated at 5,000–14,000, Indian population at 1,000–3,000 — India may hold one of the largest single-country populations.
• India has no official dedicated census — figures are estimates. Listed under Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 — the highest legal protection.
• No dedicated National Action Plan; conservation is largely state-specific (e.g. West Bengal awareness campaigns, Tamil Nadu’s ₹14 lakh allocation for lesser-known endangered species).

News Context

• Researchers developed a low-cost method to detect Zika virus and Hepatitis C virus directly in whole blood, using a blood-drying protocol plus a heater and low-cost sensor — results in about 2 hours, accuracy comparable to top-tier labs.

Key Facts for Prelims

• Both are RNA viruses — blood naturally contains enzymes that rapidly destroy RNA, making direct whole-blood testing difficult; traditional methods needed expensive RNA-purification equipment.
• The new blood-drying technique protects viral RNA from destruction, needing only a heater and simple sensor — a major cost and speed advantage in resource-limited settings.

Important Concepts

• RNA viruses include Zika, Hepatitis C, Influenza, HIV and coronaviruses (SARS-CoV-2); RNA is less stable than DNA, making detection harder.
• Zika is spread by the Aedes mosquito (same as dengue/chikungunya) and can cause microcephaly in babies of infected mothers.
• Hepatitis C spreads via infected blood and can cause chronic liver disease, cirrhosis and liver cancer — India has committed to WHO’s Hepatitis C elimination target, supported by the National Viral Hepatitis Control Programme.

News Context

• Dragonflies and damselflies (order Odonata) act as bellwethers of ecosystem health, even as surveys report declining populations across India, raising concerns about pesticide overuse and climate-linked habitat change.

Key Facts for Prelims

• India is home to around 600 species of Odonata; new species are frequently discovered in the North-East and the Nilgiri–Western Ghats region. Called “sitara” in Hindi. Ancestors dating back ~300 million years had a wingspan of up to 72 cm.
• Two-world life cycle: aquatic nymph stage, terrestrial/aerial adult stage — this dual dependence makes them reliable bioindicators.
• Natural pest controllers: a growing nymph can consume ~100 mosquito larvae a day; adults hunt leafhoppers, aiding pest management in paddy fields.
• Threats: pesticides like fipronil, and climate change (rainfall/drought shifts), especially for endemic Western Ghats species like the Blue hawklet (Hylaeothemis apicalis).
• Near-360° vision via large compound eyes, with 16+ visual opsin genes (vs 4 in humans) — allows UV-light detection.