India has reached a milestone of generating 250 GW of electricity capacity using non-fossil fuel, which is significant in her process of converting to low-carbon and sustainable energy sources. On 11 September 2025, during the State Review Meeting on Renewable Energy in New Delhi, union minister Pralhad Joshi announced this. This puts India among the leading clean energy countries in the world and speeds up towards the 500 GW renewable energy target by 2030, which is consistent with the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) of India under the Paris Agreement.

Destruction of Non-Fossil Fuel Capacity.

The 250 GW capacity includes:

• Solar Energy

• Wind Power

• Hydropower

• Biomass Energy

• Nuclear Energy

This is a paradigm shift of fossil-based energy to clean and sustainable energy.

2030 vision: 500 GW Renewable Energy.

• The government aims to achieve 500 GW of renewable energy by 2030 with its energy security, climate and sustainable development objectives.

• They are using policy momentum, investments and participation at the state level to realize this ambitious target.

Key Initiatives

Swachh Bharat & Swachh Energy:

• Associating clean environments with clean energy, fighting pollution, enhancing the health of the population, and providing energy access to the underprivileged.

Free Power to 20 lakh families:

• Homes that do not own the roof top or do not have the infrastructure to do it are utility-led solar models.

• Andhra Pradesh has been the first one to implement it.

• Target to achieve 1 crore households in the country, increase equity in energy and rural electrification.

NEXT GEN GST and Economic Impact:

• GST reforms which will boost GDP.

• Establishes a better investment system of renewable energy and clean technologies companies.

Key Facts & Takeaways

Conclusion

Showcases a desire of India to achieve climate objectives and sustainable development. Publicizes the energy equity projects on the marginalized population. Governments demonstrate the combination of policy, technology and economic planning towards developing large scale renewable energy targets.

The Great Nicobar Island Project has been in the limelight of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and he has proposed to change the island into a major maritime and air connectivity hub in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) through the project. It is said to be of strategic, defence, and national significance, and is a balance of both economic development and environmental conservation, and fits the idea of a Viksit Bharat in 2047.

Project Overview

The Great Nicobar Island Project is a multi-development project aimed at improving the infrastructure, connectivity and the presence of Indian maritime security.

Key Features:

• International Container Transshipment Terminal (ICTT): Capacity of 14.2 million TEU, making it one of Asia’s largest.

• Greenfield International Airport: Dual-use for civilian and military purposes.

• Power Plant: 450 MVA gas and solar-based project for energy security.

• Township Development: Spread across 16,610 hectares to support population and economic activity.

• Project Cost: ₹72,000 crore

• Timeline: Phased execution over 30 years

Geopolitical and Strategic Importance.

• Weakening Expansionism: Strengthens India to counter regional security threats, such as the increase in Chinese naval power.

• Reducing Illicit activities: Assists in thwarting illegal poaching/transnational maritime crimes.

• Maritime Advantage: Sited south of Indira point which is less than 150 km into Indonesia to gain strategic control of the Malacca Strait-Indian Ocean route.

• Global Positioning: Enhanced maritime and air connectivity makes India a security and trade partner of choice in the Indo-Pacific.

Ecological and Tribal Issues.

• Forest Diversion: Approximately 13,075 hectares (15% of the island) will be diverted; approximately 964,000 trees would be subjected to a threat.

• Wildlife Impact: Leatherback sea turtle is an endangered species found here.

• Indigenous Tribes:

  • Shompen: ~237 members

  • Nicobarese: ~1,094 members

  • Tribal reserve: The area is 751 sq km, 84 sq km will be denotified.

• Seismic Risk: The island is located in a seismically active area that has been destroyed before by tsunami of 2004 (magnitude 9.2). 

• Professionals forecast that there would be a low possibility of a repeat of a significant occurrence in the short run.

• Union Minister Bhupender Yadav stressed that ecological, social and strategic evaluation has been carried out as a measure of tribal welfare and that of biodiversity.

Economy Meets Ecology

The project is to find equilibrium between development and environmental conservation:

• Working according to the National Building Code of earthquake resistance infrastructure.

• Assimilation of renewable energy (power by the sun)

• Development of conservation areas of tribal communities and biodiversity.

• Environmental conscious planning to reduce environmental impact.

Key Facts & Takeaways

Conclusion

 The Great Nicobar Island Project is a perfect example of the Indian strategic thinking and foresight with integration of maritime and air connectivity, defence readiness, and economic development with environmental and tribal protection. In the case of UPSC, it shows combined planning in infrastructure, geopolitics and sustainable development, the increasing influence of India in the Indo-Pacific region.

Dr. Manmohan Singh, former Prime Minister and architect of India’s 1991 economic liberalisation, was posthumously awarded the PV Narasimha Rao Memorial Award for Economics. The award, presented by Montek Singh Ahluwalia, recognises Dr. Singh’s pivotal role in steering India’s economy through a financial crisis and initiating sweeping reforms such as de-licensing industries, reduction in import tariffs, and the liberalisation of trade. The award ceremony in New Delhi was attended by policymakers and economists, with Dr. Singh’s wife, Gursharan Kaur, accepting the award on his behalf.

Key Points in Detail

Significance of the Award

• The PV Narasimha Rao Memorial Award in Economics is an award that recognizes those who have made revolutionary contributions to the economic development of India.

• Dr. Manmohan Singh is credited with the historic contribution in the formulation of the post independence economic policies of India particularly the 1991 economic reforms.

• This award was given after his death as a commemoration of the legacy that Singh left behind in transforming the Indian economy.

The role of Dr. Singh in Reforming the Economy of India (1991)

• De-licensing of industries in order to encourage entrepreneurship and development of the private sector.

• Improved competition and low prices: through reduced tariffs on imports.

• Liberalization of the exchange rates in order to open the Indian economy to the rest of the world.

• Promotion of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to increase inflow of capital and boost growth.

• Reorganizing the state sector to enhance efficiency and competitiveness.

• These reforms played a critical role in ensuring that India was no longer heading towards a financial crisis and embarked on the process of liberalisation and integration into the worldwide arena.

Old Relationship with P V Narasimha Rao.

• Dr. Singh being the Finance Minister had collaborated with the Prime Minister Narasimha Rao to carry out the 1991 reforms.

• The liberalisation policies have the credit of both leaders and have transformed the economic picture of India.

• The award is a recognition of the long-term relationship between the two whose combined forces gave the foundation to the Indian sustained economic growth in later decades.

PV Narasimha Rao Memorial Foundation (PVNMF) 

• PV Narasimha Rao Memorial Foundation (PVNMF) is a non-profit organization that celebrates the life of a great Indian national leader by awarding donation scholarships and facilitating education.

• The award, named after PV Narasimha Rao Memorial Foundation (PVNMF), is given to honor those who have assisted the economic growth of India in a significant way.

• The ceremony was attended by K. Ramachandra Murthy (President of PVNMF) and Madhamchetty Anil Kumar (General Secretary) who paid tribute to the legacy of Dr. Singh.

Conclusion

The posthumous PV Narasimha Rao Memorial Award conferred on Dr. Manmohan Singh in Economics shows his legendary contribution to the economic reforms in India that transformed the growth of the nation. This recognition supports the old relationship between Dr. Singh and PV Narasimha Rao whose coupled vision resulted in a new phase of economic liberalisation and internationalisation. In the case of UPSC, this is the significance of transformational leadership in the economic policy and the legacy of 1991 reforms on the modern Indian economy.