UPSC CURRENT AFFAIRS – 17 JUNE 2026

Context: In a landmark judicial shift, the Supreme Court of India delivered an order recognizing homemakers as nation builders and economic entities rather than merely passive caregivers.

About The Supreme Court’s 2026 Order on Unpaid Domestic Labour:

What it is?

• • The Supreme Court’s June 2026 ruling addresses a structural blind spot in Indian compensation law, which historically struggled to place a concrete monetary value on a homemaker’s daily domestic contributions.
  • The court introduced a new standalone legal compensatory head called Loss of Domestic Care, completely separating the tangible economic management of a household from the emotional loss of companionship.

Key Data and Statistics on Domestic Caregiving:

• • The GDP Contribution Matrix: The Supreme Court cited the National Statistical Office’s (NSO) 2019 Time Use Survey, which highlights that women’s unpaid caregiving contributes an estimated 15% to 17% of India’s gross domestic product (GDP).
  • The Massive Daily Time Imbalance: The data reveals that women between the ages of 15 and 59 spend an average of over 7 hours daily on unpaid domestic tasks, compared to under 3 hours for men.
  • The Institutional Litigation Bottleneck: In surveying over 120 motor accident appeals, the Supreme Court found an average pendency of approximately 8 years at the High Court level, noting that the specific case before it took an astonishing 25 years to resolve.
  • The Multi-Fold Compensation Restructuring: By replacing outdated math with modern metrics, the Court revised the baseline compensation for a 35-year-old deceased homemaker to ₹60.48 lakh for structural loss of dependency, pushing the final payout to ₹62.77 lakh after adding conventional expenses.

The Imperative Need to Value Unpaid Domestic Labour:

• • Correcting Systemic Underestimation in GDP Frameworks: Unpaid household labor is routinely excluded from formal national accounting because it is not categorized as a traditional productive activity, despite acting as the hidden foundation of the broader economy.
  • Acknowledging the Crucial Role of the First Teacher: A mother or homemaker provides a daily transmission of language, formative skills, and foundational values that no commercial or paid arrangement can replicate.
  • Recognizing the Underlying Domestic Infrastructure: A homemaker sets up a domestic system that directly enables the earning spouse to focus on external work and career advancement.
  • Differentiating Economic Management from Emotional Loss: Prior to this ruling, the law only offered loss of consortium, which was capped at ₹40,000 per dependent. The Supreme Court clarified that consortium only addresses emotional absence (solace and companionship), completely failing to account for the concrete economic value of managing a home.

Evolution of the Legal Framework:

• • The Lata Wadhwa Baseline (2001): Arising from a tragic fire at a Tata Steel event, the Supreme Court first recognized that a homemaker’s services could not be ignored, establishing a minor notional income starting point of ₹3,000 per month for individuals aged 34–59.
  • The Motor Vehicles Act Projections (2001): Imputed an arbitrary annual income baseline of just ₹15,000 for all non-earning persons nationwide to calculate accident claims.
  • Arun Kumar Agarwal v. National Insurance Co. (2010): The Supreme Court formally observed that a mother’s contribution extends far beyond cooking or cleaning, warning lower courts against equating an invaluable homemaker with a standard paid domestic worker.
  • National Insurance Co. Ltd v. Pranay Sethi (2017): A Constitution Bench standardized the math by fixing conventional heads for funeral expenses, loss of estate, and future prospect multipliers, though courts still lacked a clear mechanism to evaluate daily household labor.

The Newly Mandated Compensation Mechanism:

The Supreme Court established a strict, uniform framework to calculate the Loss of Domestic Care head:

• • The Three Mandatory Trigger Conditions: The new compensation head applies automatically when an accident claim involves a homemaker who contributed to a household’s functioning, whose children lost maternal guidance, and whose spouse or parents lost vital daily support.
  • The New Baseline Income Floor Rate: Where the three conditions are met, ₹30000 per month stands as the base income from which age-based future prospects and multipliers are calculated, completely replacing the old arbitrary notional income.
  • The Paid-Employment Top-Up Rule: If the deceased homemaker also held an active, paid job outside the home, the ₹30,000 baseline is added directly on top of her actual verified income.
  • The Automatic Inflation Indexing: To prevent the value from stagnating, the baseline rate will be automatically revised upward by 10% every three years, matching the schedule used for the loss of consortium.

Way Forward:

• • Transitioning from Summary to Standardized Claims Tribunals: State governments must direct Motor Accident Claims Tribunals (MACT) to immediately replace generic notional incomes with the Supreme Court’s ₹30,000 baseline framework.
  • Enforcing Summary Procedures to Clear Massive Pendency’s: High Courts must implement the Supreme Court’s directive to prioritize oldest-pending motor accident matters, expand dedicated benches, and adopt rapid summary procedures to clear the typical 8-year delay.
  • Integrating Digital Databases for Claims Processing: Ensure that insurance registries and local tribunals interface smoothly through specialized digital frameworks to calculate age-based multipliers quickly without compounding a family’s suffering.

Conclusion:

The Supreme Court’s 2026 judgment marks a major step forward for economic and social justice by recognizing the true financial value of unpaid domestic labor. By framing homemakers as nation builders and establishing a fixed ₹30,000 monthly baseline for domestic care, the law has moved past treating women’s work as a matter of minor charity or emotional sentiment.

Context: A breakthrough international study published in the journal Nature Sustainability has challenged the traditional fortress conservation model by establishing a direct link between poverty alleviation and forest biodiversity.

About India Can Save Its Forests By Winning The War On Poverty:

What it is?

• Utilizing data from the International Forestry Resources and Institutions network, the team analyzed 322 community-managed tropical forests across 15 countries over a 24-year timeline (1993–2017).
• The size of this dataset allowed researchers to map how changes in human livelihoods directly affect tree species diversity—a primary indicator of ecological stability and forest resilience.

Key Trends and Findings Over the Last Decade:

• The Fallacy of Blaming Poverty: The researchers explicitly emphasized that poverty itself is not the root cause of biodiversity loss. Instead, when local populations face a systemic shortage of alternative livelihood options, their structural reliance on nearby forests for basic survival automatically intensifies.
• The Sinking Richness of Over-Extracted Forests: Forests located near deeply impoverished, densely populated communities that rely heavily on fuelwood show a severe drop in tree species diversity. This lower species richness makes these ecosystems less stable and highly vulnerable to environmental changes.
• The Stabilizing Effect of Alternative Income: Conversely, tropical forests where local communities have stable access to alternative livelihoods—such as agriculture and non-forest trades—exhibit much higher tree species diversity.
• The Isolation of the Fortress Model: For decades, Indian forest governance has relied on the fortress model, which minimizes human activity and restricts resource access. While this has helped protect specific iconic species, it has turned many sanctuaries into isolated ecological islands surrounded by heavy human encroachment.
• The Burden on Wildlife Corridors: Because forests in human-dominated landscapes are smaller, they bear an unsustainable extraction burden from the 275 million Indian citizens who depend on them for daily needs. This degradation directly threatens wildlife corridors used by large mammals to migrate between protected zones.

Positive Indicators: Community-Led Conservation Successes:

• The Hornbill Nest Adoption Program (Arunachal Pradesh): Run by the Nature Conservation Foundation, this initiative transformed former Nyishi tribe hunters into paid nest protectors and forest patrollers, successfully safeguarding critical avian habitats.
• Mangrove Co-Management Committees (Maharashtra): Village-based groups in the Sindhudurg district actively protect fragile mangrove ecosystems while successfully running sustainable aquaculture, ecotourism, and local fisheries.
• The Snow Leopard Conservancy Initiatives (Ladakh): This program has successfully minimized human-wildlife conflict losses by launching community-run homestays and community-backed livestock insurance schemes.
• Targeted Clean Energy Distributions: State Forest Departments across India have systematically distributed subsidized LPG connections, efficient cooking stoves, and clean heaters around tiger reserves to lower local reliance on forest fuelwood.

Key Challenges in Co-Managed Forestry:

• Inconsistent Institutional Funding: Well-intentioned state welfare distributions frequently face erratic funding cycles, which stall long-term alternative livelihood support.
• Variable Levels of Local Community Participation: The willingness of frontline forest communities to adopt alternative livelihoods can vary significantly based on regional socio-economic structures.
• The Asymmetric Distribution of Wildlife Tourism Revenue: Wildlife tourism has grown into a multi-million-dollar industry in India, yet only a tiny fraction of this revenue actually reaches the communities living directly alongside these protected areas.
• The Exclusion of Traditional Ecological Knowledge: Modern conservation frameworks often overlook the valuable insights of indigenous communities who have lived alongside forests for generations, missing opportunities to complement scientific strategies.

Way Forward:

• Expanding Subsidies to Wildlife Corridors: Extend state fuel-substitution programs (like subsidized LPG and solar heaters) past sanctuary boundaries to private landholdings and community forests located along critical wildlife corridors.
• Directing Tourism Revenues Back to Forest Communities: Revamp the financial frameworks of national parks to ensure a significant, legally mandated share of eco-tourism revenue flows directly into village development funds.
• Institutionalizing the Inclusive Vision of Madhav Gadgil: Shift from exclusionary practices to an inclusive framework that gives local communities formal harvesting rights, economic incentives, and a meaningful role in managing natural resources.
• Scaling Up Hyperlocal Community-Run Enterprises: Expand successful regional models—such as Ladakh’s community homestays and Sindhudurg’s aquaculture committees—into a standardized national framework for forest-edge villages.

Conclusion:

The findings of the Nature Sustainability study demonstrate that the war on poverty and the fight for biodiversity conservation are two sides of the same coin. Relying on rigid, exclusionary fortress models is no longer sustainable in a human-dominated landscape where 275 million people depend on forest resources.

Context: A new UNICEF Children’s Climate Risk Report 2026 has revealed that nearly 392 million children in India (92% of all children) are exposed to extreme heat, while 89 million face recurrent heatwaves.

About UNICEF’s Children’s Climate Risk Report 2026:

What is it?

• The UNICEF Children’s Climate Risk Report 2026 is a global assessment that evaluates children’s exposure and vulnerability to climate and environmental hazards.
  It measures how overlapping climate risks such as extreme heat, drought, floods, storms, and air pollution affect children’s health, education, nutrition, and survival.

Key Findings of the Report:

• Massive Exposure of Indian Children to Extreme Heat:

• • Around 392 million children in India (92%) are exposed to extreme heat conditions.
  • An additional 89 million children face recurrent heatwave events.

• India Records Very High Climate Hazard Exposure:

• • India’s overall hazard exposure score stands at 9.21/10, among the highest globally.
  • Only Pakistan (9.44) and Bangladesh (9.38) recorded higher scores in South Asia.

• Extreme Heat Emerges as the Highest Risk:

• • India received the maximum score of 10/10 for extreme heat exposure.
  • Climate change is increasing the frequency, duration, and intensity of heatwaves.

• Air Pollution Remains a Critical Threat:

• • India’s air pollution exposure score reached 9.94/10.
  • Poor air quality continues to threaten child health and development.

• Drought Vulnerability is Extremely High:

• • The report assigns India a drought risk score of 8.84/10.
  • Water scarcity poses growing risks to nutrition, livelihoods, and child welfare.

• Multiple Climate Hazards Affect Children Simultaneously:

• • Globally, 1.1 billion children are exposed to at least three overlapping climate hazards.
  • In India, many children face a combination of extreme heat, drought, and air pollution.

• Existing Heat Action Plans Lack Child-Centric Measures:

While India has expanded Heat Action Plans, most lack provisions for:

• • Schools and Anganwadis
  • Night-time heat management
  • Child vulnerability mapping
  • Age-specific adaptation measures

Implications:

• Rising heat stress, air pollution, and climate disasters can increase disease burden, malnutrition, and developmental challenges among children.
• Extreme heat and climate disruptions can reduce school attendance, learning capacity, and educational attainment.

• Climate adaptation policies must integrate child-specific measures, including resilient schools, healthcare systems, and social protection frameworks.

Relevance in UPSC Exam Syllabus:

• GS Paper III: Environment & Climate Change
  • The report highlights the growing impact of climate change on vulnerable populations, especially children, and underscores the need for adaptation and resilience-building measures.
• GS Paper II: Social Justice
  • It relates to child welfare, public health, nutrition, and the role of government policies in protecting vulnerable groups from environmental risks.
• Essay & Ethics:
  • Useful for themes related to Climate Change, Human Development, Child Rights, Sustainable Development, Environmental Governance, and Climate Justice.

Context: The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has notified a crucial amendment to the Drugs Rules, 1945, explicitly withdrawing the licensing exemption previously granted for selling cough syrups in small villages.

About Schedule K of the Drugs Rules, 1945:

What It Is?

• Schedule K is a highly specialized statutory annexure within India’s drug regulatory framework that lists specific classes of drugs exempted from certain provisions of Chapter IV of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, and the rules made thereunder.
• It serves as a regulatory relief mechanism to facilitate the easy availability of basic over-the-counter or essential medicines in underserved regions by relaxing strict retail sale licensing protocols under specific conditions.

Governing Law: Schedule K operates directly under the statutory authority of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, and is managed via the Drugs Rules, 1945.

Aim:

• The aim of Schedule K is to balance public health accessibility with safety standards.
• It creates an infrastructure that permits the distribution of common household medicines in rural, remote, or economically isolated areas while allowing the government to dynamically strip away exemptions when a specific drug class presents an emerging public safety or quality control risk.

Key Features of Schedule K & Its Recent Amendment:

• Targeted Licensing Exemptions: Provides a definitive, itemized list of drug classes that are exempt from needing a formal retail sale license, provided they meet specific storage, packaging, and sourcing conditions.
• The Historic Village Exemption Baseline: Under Serial No. 13, Entry 7 of the schedule, small villages with a population of less than 1,000 individuals were legally permitted to stock and sell select items without local shopkeepers needing to hold a registered pharmacist license.
• The Syrup Deletion Directive: The latest amendment systematically deletes the word Syrup from the specified entry. This small textual omission removes the entire legal backing that allowed cough syrup formulations to evade retail inspection frameworks.
• Mandatory Pharmacy Onboarding: Following this omission, any rural outlet, distributor, or general store attempting to sell liquid cough formulations must transition into a fully compliant, licensed retail pharmacy run by certified professionals.
• Strict Compliance Mandate for Supply Chains: The framework binds all manufacturers, wholesale distributors, and rural retailers to update their supply networks immediately, halting any unrecorded or unlicensed over-the-counter drop-shipping of syrup bottles.

Context: The governments of India and Japan officially adopted the ‘Rules of Implementation’ for the Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM).

• This operational milestone activates a bilateral carbon market framework under Article 6.2 of the Paris Agreement.

About The Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM):

What It Is?

• The Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM) is a formal bilateral carbon crediting system established by Japan with various partner nations.
• It encourages international cooperation to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by deploying advanced decarbonizing technologies, infrastructure, and mitigation systems in developing or transitioning economies.

Legal Mandate: The JCM is governed internationally by Article 6.2 of the Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which regulates cooperative approaches and the transfer of Internationally Transferred Mitigation Outcomes (ITMOs).

Aim:

• The JCM aims to accelerate the adoption and spread of high-performance, low-carbon technologies across partner countries.
• By leveraging private and public capital, the mechanism seeks to reduce or remove global greenhouse gas emissions while driving sustainable development and helping both cooperating nations achieve their respective Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

How It Works and Key Features:

• Investment and Technology Transfer: Japanese entities invest directly in emission-reduction projects in India. These projects utilize leading Japanese green innovations across renewable energy, energy efficiency, and low-carbon infrastructure.
• Quantified Credit Acquisition: The greenhouse gas emission reductions or removals achieved by a project are calculated in a quantitative manner. The resulting carbon credits are then allocated between Japan and India to count toward their climate targets.
• Dual Committee Governance: Under the newly adopted rules, a Joint Committee featuring representatives from both the Indian and Japanese governments will oversee the system to maintain strict administrative control and transparent approvals.
• Strict Validation and Verification: The project cycle requires independent, third-party validation and verification to ensure that emission reductions are real, permanent, and additional.
• National Registry Integration: The mechanism relies on robust national registries to systematically track, issue, and transfer credits. This structure prevents double-counting and maintains high environmental integrity.
• Multi-Channel Funding Support: Projects are supported by multiple funding channels, including JCM model projects via the Ministry of the Environment of Japan (MOEJ), Asian Development Bank (ADB) trust funds, and demonstration projects managed by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO).

Significance:

• The JCM helps India and Japan achieve their Paris Agreement emission-reduction targets through verified carbon-credit generation.
• The JCM attracts Japanese finance and technology, making clean-energy and decarbonization projects more affordable.

Context: The ongoing crisis in West Asia and a sharp 140-ton decline in Iran’s saffron production have triggered a massive global demand surge for premium Kashmiri saffron.

About Kashmir Saffron:

What It Is?

• Kashmir saffron, historically known as bahukam in ancient Sanskrit literature and affectionately called Red Gold, is a highly aromatic and costly spice derived from the dried stigmas of the Crocus sativus
• It stands out as a symbol of Jammu and Kashmir’s rich agricultural heritage and holds a prestigious Geographical Indication (GI) tag secured in 2020.

Primary Cultivation Hub: It is predominantly grown on approximately 3,700 hectares of land in Pampore (widely celebrated as the Saffron Town of Kashmir) and its adjoining regions in south Kashmir.

District Distribution: Production is concentrated across specific belts within the Pulwama, Budgam, Srinagar, and Kishtwar districts of Jammu and Kashmir.

Key Features of Kashmir Saffron:

• The Karewa Soil Bed Advantage: The crop grows exclusively in Karewas—ancient, elevated alluvial lake-bed deposits naturally rich in minerals and loamy organic material that provide optimal moisture control and soil drainage.
• The World’s Highest Altitude Saffron: It is the only saffron variety globally cultivated at an extreme altitude of 1,600 to 1,800 meters above mean sea level, a microclimate that significantly enhances its internal oil concentration and potency.
• Distinct Physical Appearance: It features noticeably longer and thicker stigmas boasting a natural, deep crimson-maroon-purple hue, which represents the darkest natural saffron coloring in the world.
• Superior Bio-Chemical Properties: Lab profiles reveal a much higher concentration of active chemical components compared to foreign alternatives:

• • Crocin (18%–22%): A potent carotenoid pigment responsible for its intense golden-yellow coloring power and anti-oxidant properties.
  • Safranal (0.8%–1.2%): An organic compound that produces its warm, honey-like, earth-toned aroma.
  • Picrocrocin (8%–12%): Provides its characteristic, authentic bitter flavor marker.

• Three Traditional Forms: The harvest is hand-processed and sorted into three commercial grades:

1. Mongra Saffron: The absolute highest A++ premium grade consisting strictly of hand-detached crimson tips with zero yellow style attachments.
2. Lachha Saffron: Stigmas that are separated from the flower and dried immediately without any further complex processing.
3. Guchhi Saffron: Similar to Lachha, but where the threads are traditionally arranged and tied together into neat, bound bundles.

Context: The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has blocked the messaging platform Telegram in India until June 22, 2026, following a request by the National Testing Agency (NTA).

About Section 69(A) of the IT Act, 2000:

What It Is?

• Section 69(A) of the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000, is a potent statutory provision that empowers the Central Government to issue directions to block public access to any digital information through any computer resource.
• It serves as the primary legal mechanism for national digital censorship, website blocking, and platform bans in India.

Core Provisions of Section 69(A):

• Under this section, the Central Government—or any of its specially authorized officers—can direct any government agency or intermediary to block access to content.
• This power can only be invoked when the government is satisfied that it is necessary or expedient to do so in the interest of specific grounds:
• Sovereignty and integrity of India.
• Defense of India and security of the State.
• Friendly relations with foreign States.
• Public order or for preventing incitement to the commission of any cognizable offense relating to the above.

Aim of the Information Technology Act, 2000: The overarching aim of the parent Information Technology Act, 2000, is to provide legal recognition for transactions carried out through electronic data interchange and other means of electronic communication.

Key Features of the Information Technology Act, 2000:

• Legal Recognition of Electronic Records: Validates digital contracts, electronic books, and data logs, placing them on par with physical, paper-based documents for legal and commercial purposes.
• Authentication via Digital Signatures: Establishes the legal framework for electronic and digital signatures (using asymmetric crypto-systems) to verify the identity of users executing online transactions.
• Intermediary Liability and Safe Harbor (Section 79): Defines the legal liabilities of online intermediaries (like social networks, web hosts, and telcos). It grants them immunity (safe harbor) from third-party data content, provided they exercise strict due diligence and comply promptly with government takedown or data blocking orders.
• Comprehensive Cyber Offenses and Penalties: Creates a dedicated penal system punishing digital offenses, including unauthorized hacking, source code tampering, identity theft, publishing obscene material, digital fraud, and data privacy breaches.
• Establishment of Cyber Appellate Infrastructure: Creates an administrative and regulatory hierarchy, including Adjudicating Officers and the Cyber Appellate Tribunal, to settle tech-related civil disputes, data breaches, and corporate statutory violations.

Context: The Maharashtra Cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, has officially approved the establishment of a ₹300-crore High-Energy Medical Cyclotron Project (HEMCP) in Nagpur.

About The High-Energy Medical Cyclotron Project (HEMCP):

What It Is?

• The High-Energy Medical Cyclotron Project (HEMCP) is a state-of-the-art nuclear medicine facility centered around a high-energy particle accelerator. The project is designed to manufacture specialized, short-lived medical radioisotopes locally, which are indispensable for advanced oncological imaging, targeted cancer therapies, and molecular research.

How It Works?

• Particle Acceleration: The cyclotron uses a combination of strong magnetic and alternating radio-frequency electric fields to accelerate charged subatomic particles (such as protons or deuterons) along a rapidly expanding spiral path inside a vacuum chamber.
• Target Bombardment: Once these particles reach extremely high kinetic energy levels, they are directed out of the spiral track as a focused beam to bombard a stable target material (like specific isotopes of oxygen, nitrogen, or liquid metals).
• Nuclear Transformation: The high-energy collision alters the atomic nuclei of the target material, transforming stable atoms into short-lived, unstable radioactive isotopes (such as Fluorine-18, Carbon-11, or Iodine-123).
• Radiopharmaceutical Synthesis: These newly created raw radioisotopes are immediately transferred to automated lead-shielded hot cells. Inside, they are chemically bonded with biological molecules (like glucose) to synthesize medical-grade radiopharmaceuticals that patients can safely ingest or receive intravenously for diagnostic scanning.

Key Features of the Nagpur HEMCP:

• Strategic Multi-State Catchment Area: Located centrally, the facility will provide advanced cancer-care support to patients across five states within a 500-km service radius.
• Institutional Network Integration: It will supply critical radiopharmaceuticals to AIIMS Nagpur, NCI, and GMC, strengthening regional cancer-treatment capacity.
• 50:50 Financial Architecture: The ₹300-crore project is jointly funded by the Medical Education and Industry Departments, with 30 hectares already allotted.
• Specialized Corporate Governance: A dedicated SPV under Mahacare will manage operations, ensuring professional oversight and coordinated implementation.

Major Medical Applications:

• Advanced PET-CT Diagnostic Imaging: Produces radioisotopes such as Fluorine-18 for PET-CT scans, enabling early and accurate detection of cancerous cells.
• Targeted Nuclear Medicine Therapies: Facilitates creation of radiopharmaceuticals that deliver focused radiation directly to tumors while minimizing collateral damage.
• Oncological Research and Drug Discovery: Acts as a research hub supporting clinical trials and development of new imaging tracers and cancer therapies.
• Precision Personal Dose Calibration: Local production ensures short-lived isotopes reach hospitals quickly, enabling accurate patient-specific diagnostic dosing.

Context: Union Home Minister chaired a crucial meeting in New Delhi where a historic consensus was reached among six stakeholder states to implement the long-pending Kishau Multi-Purpose Dam Project.

• The six states of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan agreed to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU)

About The Kishau Multi-Purpose Dam:

What It Is?

• The Kishau Multi-Purpose Dam Project is a large-scale, under-construction water infrastructure and hydro-power development venture. It has been designated as a project of national importance aimed at resolving inter-state water sharing issues, generating clean energy, and rejuvenating regional river ecosystems.

Location:

• River and Site: The dam is being constructed across the Tons River, a primary tributary of the Yamuna River. It is situated roughly 39 km (24 mi) north of Dakpathar and upstream of the existing Ichari Dam.
• Geographic Border: The mega-structure physically straddles the geographic border between the two northern Indian states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

Aim:

The primary aim of the project is to build an extensive water resource management network that secures downstream drinking water, expands agricultural irrigation across northern India, generates peak-load hydroelectric power, and increases the minimal ecological flow of the Yamuna River to aid its environmental recovery.

Key Features of the Project:

• Engineering Specifications: The design features a massive 236-meter-high concrete gravity dam backed by an estimated financial investment of ₹11,500 crore.
• Reservoir Capacity: The structure will create a massive reservoir holding 1,324 Million Cubic Meters (MCM) of live water storage capacity.
• Power and Energy Generation: The dam houses a hydroelectric power plant rated at 660 Megawatts (MW), which is projected to generate 1,379 Million Units (MU) of clean electricity annually.
• Agricultural Coverage: The storage network provides downstream water release systems capable of supporting the irrigation of 97,076 hectares (239,880 acres) of agricultural crops.
• The 90:10 Funding Framework: Under the newly brokered agreement, the Central Government will fund 90 percent of the project’s water component as a national financial assistance grant, while the six stakeholder states will split the remaining 10 percent.
• Inter-State Power and Water Swaps: To balance out initial project expenses, a unique resource swap was agreed upon: in lieu of sharing the costs of the power component, the water capacity allocated to Himachal Pradesh will be systematically supplied to fulfill the demands of Delhi and Rajasthan.
• Timeline: Initially approved by the Ministry of Environment and Forests in 2018 after years of negotiation delays, the project is currently scheduled for full completion by 2028.