January 2026
In short: India's science, environment and technology this month — distilled for SI/Constable Prelims.
Current Affairs — India › Science, Environment & Technology · 22 min read · Free to read · English & Telugu
Bilingual study notes for the Andhra Pradesh Police SI & Constable exams (SLPRB AP) by AP Police Hub, a product of Anvil Academy.
DRDO unveiled its Long Range Anti-Ship Hypersonic Missile and the Army's new Bhairav Battalions debuted at the Republic Day and Army Day parades, even as two straight PSLV missions failed; the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2026 and two new Ramsar sites led an environment agenda alongside a World Bank air-pollution report and a UN water-bankruptcy warning, while ISRO's Dust Experiment, a Mpemba-effect simulation and an indigenous bio-bitumen breakthrough made science headlines.
A greater one-horned rhinoceros in the grasslands of Kaziranga National Park, Assam — where the PM performed Bhoomi Pujan for a new ₹6,950-crore elevated wildlife corridor this January · G Devadarshan Sharma / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
January 2026 — At a Glance
January 2026 was a strong month for defence technology — a new hypersonic missile, new infantry battalions, a new Coast Guard ship — even as ISRO suffered a second straight launch failure. On environment, a major new waste-management rulebook, two Ramsar wetlands and global reports on air and water crises dominated, while frontier science ranged from cosmic dust to a centuries-old kitchen-physics puzzle.
1. Space, Defence-Tech & Security Technology
DRDO's LR-AShM hypersonic missile debuts at Republic Day
- What — DRDO unveiled the Long Range Anti-Ship Hypersonic Missile (LR-AShM) for the Navy's coastal battery role — engages targets up to 1,500 km, hitting Mach 10 initially and sustaining Mach 5+ via a two-stage solid rocket motor and unpowered hypersonic glide phase; Army, Air Force and ship-launched variants are under consideration.
New Army units: Bhairav Battalions and Rudra Brigades
- What — The Army's new Bhairav Battalions — high-speed offensive units bridging Para Special Forces and regular infantry, shaped by lessons from Operation Sindoor — debuted at the Army Day Parade, Jaipur (15 Jan); complemented by new integrated Rudra Brigades combining infantry, armour, artillery, special forces and drones.
ICGS Samudra Pratap commissioned; MPATGM flight-tested
- ICGS Samudra Pratap — India's first indigenously designed Pollution Control Vessel, built by Goa Shipyard Limited (60%+ indigenous content), commissioned by Rajnath Singh — the largest ship in the Coast Guard fleet, notably with two women officers onboard.
- MPATGM — India flight-tested the 3rd-Generation Man Portable Anti-Tank Guided Missile — a fire-and-forget, top-attack missile with an Imaging Infrared seeker for day/night use, reducing import dependence.
PSLV suffers a second consecutive launch failure
- What — PSLV-C62, carrying 16 satellites incl. DRDO's EOS-N1 (Anvesha), failed during third-stage burn due to trajectory deviation, losing all payloads — the second straight PSLV failure after PSLV-C61; ISRO is prioritising a rigorous failure review over launch frequency.
National IED Data Management System (NIDMS)
- What — Union Home Minister inaugurated NIDMS, a secure national database of every bomb-blast incident in India since 1999, headquartered at the NSG garrison, Manesar, enabling signature-linking and pattern recognition across agencies.
Foreign weapons/security tech snapshots: Oreshnik, Discombobulator, Grok
- Oreshnik missile — Russia fired its hypersonic Oreshnik missile (intermediate-range, Mach 5-10+, range 1,000-1,600 km, manoeuvrable and nuclear-capable) at western Ukraine.
- 'Discombobulator' — Trump claimed a secret weapon combining directed-energy, acoustic and dazzling systems was used to disable and disorient defences in the Venezuela strike.
- Grok controversy — X restricted its AI tool Grok from generating sexualised images of women/children after a December 2025 update enabled non-consensual 'digitally undressed' images; India removed ~3,500 items, blocked ~600 accounts under IT Act due-diligence rules; UK, Malaysia and Indonesia also acted.
2. Environment & Ecology
Solid Waste Management (SWM) Rules, 2026
- What — MoEFCC notified rules superseding the SWM Rules, 2016, effective 1 April 2026 — mandates four-stream segregation (wet, dry, sanitary, special-care waste), redefines Bulk Waste Generators (≥20,000 sqm floor area / ≥40,000 L water/day / ≥100 kg waste/day), and introduces Extended Bulk Waste Generator Responsibility.
Two new Ramsar sites: Patna Bird Sanctuary and Chhari-Dhand
- What — Patna Bird Sanctuary (Etah, UP) — UP's smallest bird sanctuary (1 sq km), a Central Asian Flyway refuge — and Chhari-Dhand (Kutch, Gujarat) — a seasonal salt-affected wetland, Gujarat's only Conservation Reserve — became India's 97th and 98th Ramsar sites, ahead of World Wetlands Day (2 Feb).
Global reports: air pollution, water bankruptcy and rangelands
- 'A Breath of Change' (World Bank) — Covers the Indo-Gangetic Plains-Himalayan Foothills airshed (India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan) — PM2.5 is 8-20× WHO limits, causing ~1 million premature deaths/year and 10% regional GDP loss; proposes the '35 by 35' target and a '4Is' framework (Information, Incentives, Institutions, Infrastructure).
- UN Global Water Bankruptcy Report — UNU-INWEH report finds 75% of the world lives in water-insecure countries, 70% of major aquifers declining, 30%+ of glacier mass lost since 1970, and 410 million hectares of wetlands lost in 50 years — introducing 'water bankruptcy' as a permanent post-crisis state.
- 2026: International Year of Rangelands & Pastoralists — UN/FAO-led year highlighting grasslands (~40% of Earth's land), supporting ~60% of global food production and 500 million pastoralists; India's own grasslands (20-24% of land area) include the Banni (Gujarat), Shola (Western Ghats) and Terai savannas.
Forest Conservation Guidelines amendment; National Environmental Standard Lab
- Forest Conservation Guidelines 2026 — MoEFCC's amendment reclassifies afforestation/restoration by non-government entities as "Forestry Activities" rather than "Non-Forest Use" — exempting them from NPV and Compensatory Afforestation levies, and letting States frame revenue-sharing rules.
- NESL — India became only the 2nd country after the UK to get a dedicated National Environmental Standard Laboratory (nodal: CSIR-NPL Delhi) to calibrate pollution sensors for Indian climatic conditions, serving 131+ non-attainment cities under NCAP.
Environmental Protection Fund Rules; Coconut Root Wilt Disease
- Environmental Protection Fund — Rules (under the Jan Vishwas Act, 2023) channel environmental penalties into restoration work — 75% of penalties go to the concerned State, 25% retained by the Centre; CAG audits the fund and CPCB runs the tracking portal.
- Coconut Root Wilt Disease — A non-fatal, phytoplasma-caused disease (first found in Erattupetta, Kerala, 150+ years ago) is spreading across coconut belts in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, causing root decay, foliar yellowing and yield loss.
Species in the news
- Kashmir Markhor — India's rarest wild goat (200-300 individuals, WPA Schedule I, CITES Appendix I) survives only in J&K's Kazinag and Pir Panjal landscapes; IUCN status improved to Near Threatened but Indian numbers remain critically low.
- Grey Slender Loris — A small nocturnal primate endemic to South India (TN, Karnataka, Kerala), an insectivorous 'biological predator' of pests; Kerala and Tamil Nadu began habitat restoration efforts.
- Orobanche aegyptiaca — A parasitic weed attacking India's mustard (largest oilseed) crop in Rajasthan and Haryana, drawing nutrients from mustard roots and causing wilting and lower yields.
Places in the news — an at-a-glance table
International places in the news, January 2026| Place | Why in the news |
|---|
| Popocatépetl Volcano | Central Mexico; first-ever 3D images from inside this active stratovolcano |
| Rafah Border Crossing | Gaza-Egypt border; reopening after ~2 years, main humanitarian route not touching Israel |
| Mt. Elbrus | Southwest Russia (Caucasus), Europe's/Russia's highest peak (5,642 m); artificial avalanche filmed |
| Socotra Island | Yemen, NW Indian Ocean; 'Galápagos of the Indian Ocean' (UNESCO WHS 2008); tourists stranded by clashes |
| Mayon Volcano | Albay, Philippines; most active Philippine volcano, erupting effusively for 23 straight days |
| Pratas (Dongsha) Islands | N. South China Sea; Taiwan-controlled, China-claimed coral atoll; Chinese drone overflight incident |
| Muna Island | SE Sulawesi, Indonesia; site of the world's oldest known rock art (67,800+ years old) |
| Chatham Islands | South Pacific, NZ's easternmost territory; massive phytoplankton bloom visible via satellite |
National places in the news, January 2026| Place | Why in the news |
|---|
| Chatergala Pass | 10,500-ft pass, Pir Panjal Range, J&K; connectivity restored by BRO's Project Sampark after snowfall |
| Kaziranga National Park | Assam, UNESCO WHS, world's largest one-horned rhino population; PM performed Bhoomi Pujan for a ₹6,950-cr elevated corridor |
| Kumbhalgarh Wildlife Sanctuary | Aravalli range, Rajasthan; declared an Eco-Sensitive Zone by MoEFCC |
| Ratapani Tiger Reserve | Madhya Pradesh (has the Bhimbetka Rock Shelters, a UNESCO WHS); to be renamed after Padma Shri archaeologist Dr V.S. Wakankar |
| Sagar Island | Ganga delta, ~100 km south of Kolkata; WB CM laid a bridge foundation stone over the Muriganga river |
| Vadhavan Port | Palghar, Maharashtra; greenfield deep-draft port project (JNPA 74% + Maharashtra Maritime Board 26%); protested by ~20,000 residents |
| Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve | Chandrapur, Maharashtra; one of India's highest tiger densities; ran a stray-dog sterilisation/vaccination drive |
| Buddhist Diamond Triangle | Ratnagiri, Udayagiri, Lalitgiri (Odisha); added to UNESCO's tentative World Heritage list (India has 70 tentative sites) |
| Shettihalli Wildlife Sanctuary | Western Ghats, Shivamogga, Karnataka; controversy over a proposed boundary reduction |
3. Frontier Science & Digital Technology
ISRO's Dust Experiment confirms cosmic dust hitting Earth's atmosphere
- What — ISRO's first indigenous dust detector, DEX (flown on PSLV-C58/XPoSat's POEM module, ~350 km orbit), confirmed an interplanetary dust particle enters Earth's atmosphere roughly every 1,000 seconds — data useful for satellite safety and future Moon/Mars/Venus missions.
India's first bio-bitumen; hydrokinetic power in Tripura
- Bio-bitumen — CSIR-CRRI and CSIR-IIP developed India's first commercial bio-bitumen — from rice-straw (parali) pyrolysis — a 20-30% replacement for petroleum bitumen in roads, cutting India's ~49-50% bitumen import bill and curbing stubble burning.
- Hydrokinetic turbines — Tripura identified 10 river sites to generate 185 MW using dam-free hydrokinetic turbines that harness flowing-water kinetic energy directly.
Health & biology snapshots
- Cetacean morbillivirus — Scientists used drones to detect this highly contagious virus (attacks respiratory/nervous systems, causes mass strandings) among Arctic whales; no treatment exists.
- Spina Bifida — A neural-tube defect where the fetal spine fails to close properly; most cases are preventable through pre-conception folic acid intake, but India lacks a national awareness/fortification programme.
- Kerala's state microbe: Bacillus subtilis — Kerala declared Bacillus subtilis, a gram-positive, spore-forming soil probiotic used as an agricultural biocontrol agent, its official 'State Microbe'.
- 'Forever chemicals' (PFAS) — Blood-sample testing (2003-2021) found older PFAS levels dropped 86% after manufacturers phased them out; PFOS and PFOA remain listed as Persistent Organic Pollutants under the Stockholm Convention.
AI, computing & materials science snapshots
- Data dumping (data centres) — Poorly-zoned, water/power-intensive data centres risk being disproportionately located in weakly-regulated countries; India's projected capacity (1.8-4.5 GW by 2028-30) makes it vulnerable without binding water-use and grid-cost rules.
- Context window (AI) — The maximum text (in tokens) an LLM like GPT-5/Claude can process at once; doubling it roughly quadruples compute cost, and models can still miss information buried deep in very long inputs.
- PathGennie & Disobind (AI for biology) — PathGennie (Ministry of Science & Technology) accelerates drug-unbinding simulations for drug discovery; Disobind (NCBS-TIFR Bengaluru) is a deep-learning tool predicting how Intrinsically Disordered Proteins bind partners — both open-source.
- ICE Cloud & ASC Arjun — C-DAC's ICE Cloud offers open-access supercomputing/AI-ML for researchers and startups (DBT-funded); Indian Railways deployed 'ASC Arjun', an indigenously built humanoid RPF security robot, at Visakhapatnam station.
Astronomy & physics snapshots
- Mpemba Effect simulated — JNCASR researchers used supercomputers to produce the first simulation of ice formation supporting the Mpemba effect — hot water sometimes freezes faster than cold water — a puzzle first noted by Aristotle and named after Erasto Mpemba (1969).
- Microlensing weighs a rogue planet — A study used gravitational microlensing — a foreground object's gravity briefly magnifying a background star's light — to weigh a rogue planet not orbiting any star, showcasing a method that can detect otherwise-invisible objects.
- W Ursae Majoris & Voyager 1 — ARIES scientists mapped light curves of W Ursae Majoris, a contact-binary star system, using the Devasthal telescope and NASA's TESS; separately, Voyager 1 (launched 1977) is set to become the first human-made object to reach one light-day from Earth.
- Soft matter & Thorium-powered future — Soft materials (toothpaste, gels) behave as solid or liquid depending on applied force/time (studied via rheology); India's three-stage nuclear programme (Bhabha's design) is moving toward thorium-based reactors using its large monazite-sand reserves (Kerala, TN, Odisha) for long-term energy security.