Legal Foundation

• Bail is the conditional release of an accused from custody, on the promise to appear before the court when required.
• Bail is a statutory right in bailable offences and a judicial discretion in non-bailable offences. It is not a fundamental right by itself, although the denial of bail is examined under Article 21.
• The BNSS, 2023 replaced the CrPC, 1973 on 1 July 2024.

Types of Bail at a Glance

Prelims Essentials

• Section 479 BNSS gives bail after one-third of the maximum sentence for first-time offenders. It does not apply to offences punishable with death or life imprisonment.
• Default bail is a right that arises from the failure of the police, not from the merits of the case.
• Anticipatory bail is granted only by the High Court or Court of Session.
• Article 22(1) gives the right to be informed of the grounds of arrest and to consult a lawyer.
• Article 22(2) requires production before a magistrate within 24 hours, excluding travel time.

Key Distinctions

• Bail vs parole vs furlough: bail is for undertrials, while parole and furlough are for convicted prisoners.
• Anticipatory vs interim bail: anticipatory bail is pre-arrest, while interim bail is a temporary release after arrest.
• Article 22 safeguards: the protections in Article 22(1) and (2) do not apply to preventive detention or to enemy aliens.
• Special laws: PMLA (Section 45), UAPA (Section 43D) and NDPS (Section 37) have stricter bail conditions than the general law.
• Numbering: questions may use CrPC or BNSS section numbers, so learn both.

Prelims Pointer

Why in the News?

• Niyamgiri Hills are in the news after Vedanta Group called for the reopening of bauxite mining in the region.
• The mining project was stopped about 13 years ago due to opposition from the Dongria Kondh tribal community.

Location and Geography

• The Niyamgiri Hills form a hill range located in the Kalahandi and Rayagada districts of south-western Odisha.
• The hill range lies within the Eastern Ghats, one of India’s ecologically significant mountain systems, and spans an area of roughly 250 to 300 square kilometres.
• The highest point of the Niyamgiri range is known as Central Hill, with an elevation of about 1,500 metres, and the terrain generally rises between 700 and 1,400 metres above sea level.
• The hills are bordered by the Karlapat Wildlife Sanctuary on the north-west side and the Kotgarh Wildlife Sanctuary on the north-east side, forming part of a larger biodiverse landscape.
• Two important rivers, the Vamsadhara and a major tributary of the Nagavali, originate from the Niyamgiri Hills, making them a crucial water source for the surrounding plains.

Ecological and Biodiversity Significance

• Niyamgiri is a rich ecological landscape of the Eastern Ghats.
• It supports species such as tiger, leopard, sloth bear, pangolin, giant squirrel and Golden Gecko.
• The region was declared an Elephant Reserve in 2004.
• Around 20 species of orchids are found in the forests.

Tribal and Cultural Significance

• The Niyamgiri Hills are considered the sacred abode of Niyam Raja, the supreme deity worshipped by the Dongria Kondh and Kutia Kondh communities.
• Dongria Kondh: The name comes from “Dongar”, meaning hill, reflecting their close relationship with the mountainous landscape.
• The Dongria Kondh are recognised as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG).

Bauxite

• Nature: Bauxite is the principal ore of aluminium.
• It is composed mainly of hydrated aluminium oxides, with impurities such as iron oxides and silica.
• Commonly formed through intense chemical weathering in tropical and subtropical regions.
• Major Indian States having bauxite reserve: Odisha, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.

Why in News

• Global sulphur prices surged nearly 4×, from $280/tonne (July 2025) to $1,050/tonne (July 2026), due to Russia’s export restrictions and the West Asia conflict, pushing India’s sulphur import bill from $248 million to $638 million.

About Sulphur

• Sulphur (S) is a yellow non-metal with atomic number 16, and it belongs to Group 16.
• About 92% of world sulphur is a by-product of petroleum refining and natural gas processing, and only about 8% is mined from natural deposits or minerals such as pyrites.
• Refineries and gas plants remove sulphur through desulphurisation to make clean fuels. BS-VI norms need very low-sulphur petrol and diesel, so refineries recover more sulphur.
• The fertiliser sector uses about 60% of the roughly 70 million tonnes of sulphur consumed each year.
• Sulphur is a secondary plant nutrient, along with calcium and magnesium. It helps plants build proteins and matters especially for oilseeds and pulses.
• Sulphur is flammable and cannot be stored for long periods.
• Sulphuric acid is also a by-product of copper and zinc smelting, and Indian firms such as Hindustan Zinc and Birla Copper supply some of it.

Sulphur → Fertiliser Chain

• Sulphur is converted into sulphuric acid, which is made industrially by the Contact process using a vanadium pentoxide (V₂O₅) catalyst.
• Sulphuric acid reacts with rock phosphate, which plants cannot use directly, and converts it into a water-soluble form.
• This produces phosphoric acid, which is used to make DAP and other high-phosphorus complex fertilisers.
• Sulphuric acid can also be used directly to make Single Super Phosphate (SSP).
• Grades such as 20:20:0:13, 10:26:26 and 12:32:16 cannot be made without sulphur or sulphuric acid.
• Urea depends on natural gas, because ammonia is made from gas and then converted to urea, so its inputs differ from phosphatic fertilisers.
• DAP is the second most used fertiliser in India after urea, and a large share of the demand is met through imports.

Key Numbers

• Top producers (2025): China (19 MMT), USA (8.1 MMT), Russia (7.5 MMT), Saudi Arabia (7.2 MMT) and UAE (6.3 MMT).
• India’s production: 3.7 MMT, which places it among the top 10 producers.
• India’s yearly use: about 3.8 to 3.9 million tonnes, of which the fertiliser industry uses about 2 to 2.1 million tonnes.
• India’s imports (2025): 2.25 MMT, of which 2.02 MMT came from West Asia (about 90%) and 0.15 MMT (6.5%) from Russia.
• West Asia’s share: more than 45% of global seaborne sulphur trade.
• Fertiliser dependence: about 52% of the sulphur needed by the fertiliser industry was imported in 2024-25.
• Phosphoric acid: domestic capacity of about 2.2 million tonnes meets only about half of the 4.3 to 4.5 million tonnes needed for 13 to 16 million tonnes of phosphatic fertilisers.
• Rock phosphate: firms such as IFFCO, Coromandel International and Paradeep Phosphates have secured it through joint ventures in Jordan, Senegal and Morocco, but it cannot be used without sulphur.

Why in News?

• An Indian delegation attended the SCO National Coordinators meeting in Islamabad, marking India’s first official visit to Pakistan since Operation Sindoor.
• Pakistan will host the 2027 SCO Summit, while Türkiye indicated interest in deeper SCO engagement; India stressed that the meeting was multilateral and separate from bilateral issues.

SCO at a Glance

• The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is a permanent intergovernmental Eurasian organisation for political, security, economic and cultural cooperation.
• It evolved from the Shanghai Five of 1996 (China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan) and was formally founded on 15 June 2001 in Shanghai after Uzbekistan joined.
• The SCO Charter was signed in 2002 at St Petersburg and came into force in 2003.
• Its headquarters (Secretariat) is in Beijing, and the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) is in Tashkent.
• The official languages are Russian and Chinese.
• The chairmanship rotates annually among members, and the chair hosts the Heads of State Summit.
• The Council of Heads of State is the highest decision-making body, and other bodies include the Council of Heads of Government, the Council of Foreign Ministers and the Council of National Coordinators.

Membership Map

• The SCO has 10 members: China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India, Pakistan, Iran and Belarus.
• India and Pakistan became full members in 2017 at the Astana Summit.
• Iran joined in 2023 and Belarus in 2024.
• Observer states include Afghanistan and Mongolia, and there are also several Dialogue Partners.

India and the SCO

• 2023: India chaired the SCO and hosted the virtual Heads of State Summit and Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Goa.
• 2024: EAM S. Jaishankar attended the SCO Heads of Government meeting in Islamabad.
• 2026: India sent officials to SCO meetings amid recent tensions; PM Modi has been invited to the 2027 SCO Summit in Pakistan.

Why in News?

• The Wayanad court’s Muthanga case verdict relates to the 2003 tribal land occupation demanding land promised to landless Adivasis.

Ecological Profile

• Muthanga Wildlife Sanctuary is in Wayanad district, Kerala.
• It is the Muthanga range of the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary, which was declared in 1973 and covers about 344 sq km.
• It lies in the Western Ghats and is part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, which was the first biosphere reserve in India (1986).
• It borders Bandipur Tiger Reserve (Karnataka) and Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (Tamil Nadu), and this forest block is one of India’s most important elephant habitats.
• The Western Ghats were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2012.

Legal Framework

• Wildlife Sanctuary vs National Park: both are protected under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. Sanctuaries can allow certain human activities and rights, while National Parks allow no such rights.
• A sanctuary is declared by the State Government under Section 26A, and a national park under Section 35.
• The Forest Rights Act, 2006 recognises the rights of Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers over forest land and resources, including in protected areas.
• Fifth Schedule areas have special tribal protections, but Kerala has no Scheduled Area under it, so questions on this point can be tricky.
• Biosphere Reserves have a core, buffer and transition zone and fall under UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme.

Why in News?

• Heavy rainfall in Nepal’s Gandak basin triggered a flash flood, raising the river above the danger level and putting Bihar and Uttar Pradesh on high alert.

About Gandak River

• The Gandak is a Himalayan, snow-fed, perennial river and a left-bank tributary of the Ganga.
• In Nepal it is called the Narayani, and it is also known as Saptagandaki because of its seven major headstreams.
• It rises near the Nhubine Himal glacier in the Mustang region of Nepal, at the border with Tibet.
• The upper stream is called the Kali Gandaki, which flows through the Kali Gandaki Gorge between the Dhaulagiri and Annapurna massifs, one of the world’s deepest gorges.
• Its major Nepalese tributaries include the Kali Gandaki and the Trishuli.
• It enters India at Triveni (Valmikinagar) in West Champaran, Bihar, where it also forms part of the India-Nepal border.
• It flows through Uttar Pradesh (Maharajganj and Kushinagar) and Bihar, and joins the Ganga near Sonepur, opposite Patna, in Vaishali district.
• Its length is about 630 km, though figures vary slightly across sources.
• Salagrama (Shaligram) stones, which are fossilised ammonites, are found in the Kali Gandaki bed.

India–Nepal Link

• Gandak Project: an Indo-Nepal river valley project based on a 1959 agreement, with the barrage at Valmikinagar providing irrigation to Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Nepal and generating hydropower.
• Valmiki Tiger Reserve (Bihar) lies on the Gandak’s bank at Valmikinagar, and Chitwan National Park (Nepal) lies along the Narayani.
• Left-bank tributaries of the Ganga: Ghaghara, Gandak, Kosi, Mahananda and Burhi Gandak. Yamuna and Son are right-bank tributaries.
• Kosi is called the “Sorrow of Bihar” for its floods, and the Gandak is also highly flood-prone.
• Sonepur, at the confluence, is known for the Sonepur cattle fair and the Harihar Kshetra temple.