The Hindu — Important News Articles & Editorial Analysis

India's Rainfall Deficit at 35% as the Monsoon Stalls

A sluggish start to the June monsoon has left India with an overall 35% rainfall deficit by mid-June. With the monsoon stalling over Central India and the West Coast, concerns are mounting over the sowing of Kharif crops and water security. Amid global warnings of a possible "Super El Niño," the response of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) and the government has become a real test of the country's disaster management and agricultural resilience in an age of climate change.

Current Status & Regional Disparities

Why the Monsoon Weakened — Technical Reasons

• Weak first pulse: the monsoon advances in waves; this year the first pulse weakened after reaching the outskirts of Mumbai.
• Anticyclonic circulation: an anticyclonic zone north of Mumbai, combined with westerly winds from mid-latitude systems, halted the advance of monsoon winds.
• Unfavourable MJO phase: the Madden–Julian Oscillation — an eastward-moving belt of clouds and wind near the equator — is in an unsuitable phase, slowing the momentum reaching the Indian monsoon.

The El Niño Threat & Historical Perspective

Meteorologists note that El Niño's impact is mainly felt in the middle and latter half of the monsoon (July–September); June rainfall is driven largely by local and regional factors. The historical record shows June is a poor predictor of the full season:

Government Response & Contingency Measures

• Priority monitoring: about 150–200 districts placed under special monitoring where the rainfall shortfall is deepest.
• Crop-wise contingency plans: states directed to immediately supply seeds, advice and assistance for low-water or alternative crops (a shift toward cotton and pulses).
• Weekly El Niño review: ordered given the seriousness of the situation.
• Better reservoir conditions: May storage in major reservoirs stood at 30.4%, above the 25.1% average of previous El Niño years — an initial backup for irrigation.

"World Suffers from a Shortage of Trust" — PM Modi at the G7

At the G7 Summit held in the French city of Evian, the outreach sessions and bilateral meetings proved significant for India's diplomacy. Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised the idea of a global "Shortage of Trust," positioning India as a vocal voice of the Global South. Strategic discussions with the leaders of the US, Canada, the UK and the UAE worked to strengthen India's national and economic interests.

Shortage of Trust & Leadership of the Global South

• Trust as a strategic asset: the world today struggles not with a shortage of resources, but with a shortage of trust — the most important asset for strengthening global partnerships.
• Partnership of equals: India argued that international relations must move beyond the traditional "donor–recipient" model toward equality.
• Expectations of the Global South: developing and poorer nations seek dignified partnerships, not charity.
• Selective alignment: India joined the roadmap against cancer and Ebola-response efforts, but did not sign the G7 communiqué on restructuring the Development Finance Ecosystem — reflecting an independent foreign policy.

Bilateral Outcomes

Not Binary: India Can Save Its Forests by Winning the War on Poverty

A global study published in Nature Sustainability challenges the long-held view that biodiversity conservation and human needs are opposites. Conducted by several international universities, including the Indian School of Business (ISB), the study finds that forests can be protected only by reducing poverty and offering alternative livelihoods to local communities — a finding especially relevant for India, where roughly 27.5 crore people depend on forests for their livelihood.

Key Findings of the Study

Forest Management in India & the "Fortress Model"

• Limitations of the Fortress Model: for decades the Forest Department barred human activity altogether. While this saved iconic species like the tiger, it turned forests into "isolated islands" within human landscapes.
• Pressure on wildlife corridors: forests outside protected areas, which act as corridors, are shrinking under heavy resource-extraction pressure.
• Implementation gaps: schemes such as LPG connections and improved stoves underdeliver due to inadequate funding, fluctuating local participation and a lack of long-term support.

Way Forward: Indian Models of Inclusive Conservation

GRAPES-3: A Cosmic-Ray Tracker Decoding the Atmosphere

Researchers from Mumbai, Kochi and Japan have analysed 22 years of data from the GRAPES-3 (Gamma Ray Astronomy PeV EnergieS-3) telescope in Ooty, Tamil Nadu. They have developed a new method to track changes in the Earth's upper-atmospheric temperature and the Sun's magnetic field in real time and with high accuracy. The work is scheduled for publication in August 2026 in the journal Astroparticle Physics — a marker of India's growing capability in space science and atmospheric studies.

How GRAPES-3 Works

• A muon detector: unlike a conventional telescope, it detects subatomic particles called muons rather than light.
• Origin of muons: when high-energy cosmic rays from deep space collide with the upper atmosphere, the collision produces muons.
• Signal recording: long steel tubes filled with an argon–methane mixture hold a thin tungsten wire; a passing muon strips electrons from the gas, which drift to the wire and generate an electrical pulse recorded as a "hit."
• Concrete filters: thick reinforced-concrete layers between the tubes block low-energy particles, so only high-energy muons are counted.

Detector at a Glance

Key Findings & Significance

• Real-time atmospheric monitoring: upper-atmospheric temperature changes can now be tracked through muon activity.
• Solar magnetic field & space weather: the technique aids understanding of solar effects that disturb satellite communication and GPS systems.
• High-resolution mapping: 22 years of data make it possible to map the invisible cosmic forces influencing Earth.

What Does the Tenth Schedule Provide on Party Mergers?

The Tenth Schedule — the Anti-Defection Law — was added to the Constitution in 1985 by the 52nd Amendment to prevent the instability caused by frequent floor-crossing (the "Aaya Ram, Gaya Ram" culture). Recent cases — the declared merger of 20 Trinamool Congress (TMC) Lok Sabha MPs into the Nationalist Citizen's Party of India (NCPI), and the merger of AAP Rajya Sabha MPs into the BJP — have again put the schedule's "merger" provisions, and their growing misuse, under the spotlight.

The Merger Provision (Paragraph 4)

• Exemption from disqualification: an individual switching parties commits defection, but if an entire party "merges" with another, its members are not disqualified.
• The two-thirds rule: a merger is valid only when at least two-thirds of the legislators of that party in the House (the Legislature Party) consent.
• Political Party vs Legislature Party: the "Political Party" is the whole organisation; the "Legislature Party" is its elected members in the House. A genuine merger must occur at both levels.

Why Misuse Rose After Paragraph 3 (Split) Was Deleted

The original schedule had two exceptions — Paragraph 3 (Split, one-third of members) and Paragraph 4 (Merger, two-thirds). Paragraph 3 was deleted by the 91st Amendment in 2003 to strengthen stability. Since then:

• The only route for wholesale defection: with "split" gone, rebels now aim directly at the two-thirds figure.
• Misreading the law: factions treat the Legislature Party as the original party and declare a merger even when the organisation is not with them (as alleged with Shiv Sena in June 2022 and NCP in July 2023).
• Disregard for the mandate: in several states (BSP in Rajasthan, Congress in Goa), more than two-thirds of legislators merged elsewhere — making a mockery of the voter's choice of party and ideology.
• Partisan Speaker: the Presiding Officer decides defection cases but often keeps them pending for months or years, shielding even questionable mergers.

Way Forward

• Clear judicial verdict: the Supreme Court should firmly distinguish the "original political party" from the "legislature party," so that two-thirds of legislators alone cannot constitute a valid merger.
• Independent tribunal: in the 2020 K.M. Singh case the Court suggested transferring defection decisions from the Speaker to an independent tribunal of retired judges.
• Law Commission (1999): recommended deleting Paragraph 4 (Merger) as well — any representative going against the party should be disqualified and sent back to the electorate.

Moving from War to Deal in a Deeply Divided Region

By T.S. Tirumurti, former Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations

The editorial analyses the post-conflict agreement between the US and Iran in West Asia and the shifting geopolitics around it. Its central argument is that military force alone can never be a lasting solution — until an inclusive political settlement is reached, peace in the region will remain fragile. The piece highlights the failure of global superpowers, the internal fractures among Gulf states, and the implications for India's strategic autonomy.

Military Force vs Political Settlement

• Permanent stalemate: like Ukraine, Gaza, Lebanon and Sudan, the Iran conflict shows wars are not won through bombing and civilian casualties alone.
• Failure of superpowers: four years of prioritising arms supplies and aggression over diplomacy led only to deadlock.

The US–Iran Deal & Strategic Shifts

• A strategic win for Iran: with both sides weary of war, the unconditional opening of the Strait of Hormuz, removal of oil sanctions and unfreezing of Iranian assets are seen as a major diplomatic victory for Tehran.
• Nuclear uncertainty: talks to make Iran suspend enrichment — without a new JCPOA — will run for 60 days, making this the beginning of a settlement rather than its conclusion.
• Residual risk: Iran's hardline government, missile arsenal and reliance on non-state actors (Hezbollah, the Houthis, Iraqi militias) remain intact, so the region is not yet secure.

Fault Lines: Israel, the Gulf and the Great Powers

The author notes that just as Europe expanded NATO without including Russia and paid the price, West Asia cannot be secure until a regional security architecture is built that includes Iran.