State PCS - Uttarakhand (UKPSC)

• 25 Nov 2025

India’s First Digital Twin of the Ganga River Basin

Why in News?

IIT Delhi, in collaboration with the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), has begun work on developing India’s first Digital Twin of the Ganga River Basin, a high-precision virtual replica.

Key Points

• About the Project:
  • IIT Delhi will create a digital twin model—a real-time, data-driven virtual simulation—covering the entire Ganga basin, including major tributaries like Yamuna, Kosi, Ghaghara, Gandak, and Son.
  • The model will integrate hydrology, pollution loads, river morphology, land use, groundwater interactions, and climate impacts to provide a continuous 3D digital representation of the basin.
  • The system will use remote sensing, GIS, IoT sensors, satellite data, machine learning, and river-flow monitoring to forecast environmental changes and disaster scenarios.
  • Benefits:
    • Improve flood forecasting, especially for Uttarakhand and the Indo-Gangetic plains, by modelling discharge, rainfall patterns, and glacial melt.
    • Enable real-time pollution monitoring to trace point-source discharges, industrial effluents, sewage loads, and seasonal variations.
    • Provide scientific support for Namami Gange interventions, including river-cleaning, drain management, wetland conservation, and biodiversity assessment.
    • Help identify illegal riverbed activities, sand mining hotspots, and encroachments..
      
• About Digital Twin:
  • A Digital Twin is a virtual, real-time digital replica of a physical system (e.g., a river, city, machine, or ecosystem).
  • It continuously updates using live data, enabling simulation, prediction, and decision-making.
  • Applications include smart cities, irrigation, transport networks, river management, climate modelling, and infrastructure planning.

Hayli Gubbi Volcano

Why in News?

The Hayli Gubbi volcano in Ethiopia has erupted explosively, sending high-altitude ash plumes thousands of metres up, some of which have drifted into Indian airspace, triggering aviation advisories. 

Key Points

• Hayli Gubbi volcano is located in Afar, northeastern Ethiopia, within the Danakil Depression - one of the hottest and lowest places on Earth.
• The current eruption is significant because the volcano is believed to have erupted after nearly 12,000 years, based on geological evidence from the Afar Rift.
• The Hayli Gubbi eruption highlights the geological volatility of the East African Rift System (EARS) where active volcanism, fissure eruptions, and spreading ridges are common.
  • It is one of the world’s most tectonically active rift systems where the Arabian, Nubian, and Somali plates are diverging.
• The region is characterised by basaltic lava, fissure systems, and frequent seismic activity linked to the continental rifting process.

Volcanic Ash & Aviation Risks

• Volcanic ash is made of tiny, abrasive particles of rock and glass that can melt inside jet engines and cause serious damage.
• Jet engines can stall when ash melts and re-solidifies on turbine blades.