उपयुक्त उदाहरणों सहित चर्चा कीजिए कि भारत के पारिस्थितिक रूप से संवेदनशील क्षेत्रों में ‘द्रुत अवसंरचना विकास’ और ‘आपदा-जोखिम में कमी’ के बीच के विरोधाभास का प्रबंधन किस प्रकार किया जा सकता है।
Read this question in English
Discuss how the contradiction between ‘rapid infrastructure development’ and ‘disaster-risk reduction’ in ecologically-sensitive areas of India can be managed, with suitable examples.
🧭 How to think about this question · directive: “discuss”
Decode the demand
- Directive 'discuss': the question hands you a contradiction and asks how it is managed; so show both horns first, then the reconciliation, not a lecture on either alone.
- The issue in one line: fast roads, tunnels, dams and tourism in the Himalaya, Western Ghats and coasts can create the very hazards they are meant to withstand.
- Three things to answer: why the infrastructure is still needed, why speed in fragile terrain raises risk, and the tools (planning, design, law, warning) that reconcile them, each tied to a real example.
- The trap: writing an anti-development or anti-environment essay. The marks lie in named incidents (Kedarnath, Chamoli, Joshimath, Wayanad) and named fixes (Char Dham case, Kasturirangan, CDRI).
Think in a structure
- Open with two 2023 events that make the contradiction visible, then one line turning to how it is managed.
- First heading: a three-row table of driver → hazard → example, then two points: the need is legitimate, the method is the problem.
- Second heading: a flowchart of the risk-informed sequence, then one point per tool with its example as a sub-point; the Char Dham verdict is the model of balance by law.
- End positively from the district officer's seat with four concrete measures, and anchor the conclusion on SDG 9's own words, 'build resilient infrastructure'.
Facts checked at source (4)· open
- The Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure was established in 2019 under India's leadership with UNDRR support, as a global partnership to make infrastructure resilient to climate and disaster risk.UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs — SDG partnership entry: Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) ↗“The Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) – established in 2019 under the leadership of the Government of India and with the support UNDRR is a multi-stakeholder global partnership of national governments, UN agencies and programmes, multilateral development banks, the private sector, and academic institutions.”
- In the Char Dham case (14 December 2021) the Supreme Court set up an Oversight Committee chaired by Justice A.K. Sikri, reporting directly to the Court.Supreme Court — Citizens for Green Doon v. Union of India, judgment of 14 December 2021 ↗“we also set up an ‘Oversight Committee’, which shall report directly to this Court. This Committee shall be chaired by Shri Justice Arjan Kumar Sikri, former Judge”
- The MoRTH circular of 2020, which the Court considered, sets a 7 m carriageway with 1.5 m paved shoulders for strategic border roads in hilly terrain.Supreme Court — Citizens for Green Doon v. Union of India, judgment of 14 December 2021 ↗“For roads in hilly and mountainous terrain which act as feeder roads to the Indo-China border or are of strategic importance for national security, the carriageway width should be 7m with 1.5m paved shoulder on either side.”
- Sustainable Development Goal 9 is titled 'Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation'.United Nations — Sustainable Development Goals, Goal 9 ↗“Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation”
Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2026, GS Paper III — paper ↗. Guidance: Minimalist IAS, checked 8 Nov 2026 (how we verify). ·
Model answer· 374words · Minimalist IAS
Joshimath's land subsidence and the Silkyara tunnel collapse, both in 2023, showed how projects in fragile terrain can magnify the very hazards they must survive. The contradiction is real, but it is managed by building so that risk falls rather than rises.
Why rapid infrastructure and disaster-risk reduction collide
| Driver of infrastructure | Hazard it creates | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Highways and tunnels | Slope cutting, blasting, muck dumping | Kedarnath 2013, Silkyara 2023 |
| Hydropower on young rivers | Dams in flash-flood and glacial-burst paths | Chamoli 2021 |
| Tourism and settlement growth | Load on unstable slopes and floodplains | Joshimath 2023, Wayanad 2024 |
- The need is legitimate: connectivity, border defence, power and livelihoods for remote regions cannot wait for geology to settle.
- The method is the problem: piecemeal clearances and speed-driven designs ignore cumulative impact across a valley; the Himalaya is still rising and seismically active.
How the contradiction can be managed
- Hazard mapping
- carrying capacity
- risk-informed design
- independent oversight
- early warning
- Plan on risk: hazard maps and carrying-capacity studies first; cumulative impact assessment for the whole basin, not project by project.
- Build right: slope stabilisation, drainage, escape tunnels, bio-engineering; avoid fault zones and river channels.
- Balance by law: security needs can be met with safeguards attached.
- Char Dham case (2021): Supreme Court allowed a 7 m carriageway on strategic border roads, under an Oversight Committee chaired by Justice A.K. Sikri.
- Govern zones: respect eco-sensitive zones; the Gadgil and Kasturirangan reports on the Western Ghats offer graded restrictions, not a blanket ban.
- Warn and prepare: landslide and glacial-lake early warning, as South Lhonak (2023) demanded; Sendai's 'build back better'.
- CDRI (2019), founded under India's leadership, puts resilient infrastructure on the global agenda.
What I would do as the district officer
- Risk-screen every project: no clearance without a slope-stability and drainage report attached to the file.
- Regulate muck and water: designated dumping sites and drainage audits, the cheapest prevention.
- Enforce carrying capacity: cap tourist and vehicle numbers in pilgrim towns during peak season.
- Community watch: train panchayats as first observers of cracks and seepage, feeding the district early-warning cell.
SDG 9 asks the world to 'build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation'; in India's fragile hills and coasts, resilience is not the brake on development but its only durable form.
Prepared by Minimalist IAS to the answer standard of Shivam Singh (mentor, 7 years) · facts checked against official sources (how we verify) · updated 8 Nov 2026. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.
