As the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) – UDAN completes ten years on 21 October 2026, the Centre has moved it into a ten-year next phase (FY 2026-27 to FY 2035-36) with an outlay of ₹28,840 crore — shifting the emphasis from subsidising routes to building aerodromes, helipads and indigenous aircraft capacity.

• North-East: 90 priority RCS routes operationalised; of 52 aerodromes identified in the region (including heliports and water aerodromes), only 12 are operational so far.
• Employment: the Government reports sector jobs rising from about 3 million (2014) to nearly 7.7 million (2026), and projects a potential of 25 million by 2040 (government projection).

• Market-based selection: airlines bid for routes through reverse bidding; the operator seeking the lowest Viability Gap Funding (VGF) per seat wins.
• Fare cap: a capped fare applies to a share of seats (“RCS seats”) — originally about ₹2,500 for a roughly one-hour fixed-wing journey.
• VGF sharing: Centre : State = 80 : 20 (90 : 10 for North-Eastern States and UTs); the Centre’s share flows from a Regional Connectivity Fund built through a levy on non-RCS domestic flights.
• Concessions: States offer reduced VAT on ATF, land, security and utilities at concessional rates; AAI waives landing and parking charges at RCS airports.
• Route exclusivity: three years for the winning operator.

Figure 1 — Evolution of RCS-UDAN, 2016–2036

Each round widened the scheme’s reach — priority areas, water aerodromes, small aircraft — before the 2026–36 phase pivoted to infrastructure. Image courtesy PIB (source: Ministry of Civil Aviation); reproduced with credit for educational use.

• UDAN 1.0 (2017): first bidding round; strong airline participation.
• UDAN 2.0 (2018): introduced priority areas — the North-East, hill States and island UTs — and helicopter routes.
• UDAN 3.0 (2018–19): added tourism routes, seaplane routes and water aerodromes.
• UDAN 4.0 (2020–22): a small-aircraft sub-scheme for difficult terrain.
• UDAN 5.0 rounds (2023–25): special rounds for different aircraft categories.
• Spin-offs: Lifeline UDAN (2020) moved medical cargo during COVID-19; Krishi UDAN 2.0 (October 2021) targeted air freight of perishable farm produce.
• Next phase (2026–36): first flagged in the Union Budget 2025-26 as a “modified UDAN” to connect 120 new destinations and carry 4 crore passengers over ten years; formally launched on 4 July 2026.

• From routes to infrastructure: the original scheme subsidised flights on largely existing airstrips; the next phase funds building (CAPEX) and running (O&M) aerodromes.
• VGF window: extended from three years to up to five years, but tapered from the third year to push routes toward commercial viability.
• Federalism: from Centre-led bidding to MoU-based Centre–State/UT partnerships and State-nominated sites via a challenge mode.
• Fleet: a first, modest link to indigenous aircraft procurement (HAL platforms).

• Purnea, Bihar (2025): serves 10+ districts of Seemanchal–Kosi, earlier dependent on Bagdogra (200+ km away); Bihar’s longest runway (~2.8 km) handles A320/B737; travel to Kolkata ~2 hours, Patna ~1 hour. The region is a hub for makhana (Mithila Makhana holds a GI tag) and litchi.
• Tezu, Arunachal Pradesh (2021): in Lohit district near the China border; connects 2 lakh+ people, cuts travel to Guwahati to ~1 hour, and enables cargo of ginger, cardamom and rice.
• Deoghar, Jharkhand (July 2022): serves Baba Baidyanath Dham (one of the 12 Jyotirlingas) and AIIMS Deoghar; the Government reports 10 lakh+ pilgrims flying in annually and 30+ new hotels.
• Kishangarh, Rajasthan (2017): links the marble hub and the Ajmer Sharif Dargah–Pushkar pilgrim circuit; air cargo for marble exports; hosts a Category ‘A’ Flying Training Organisation.

• Balanced regional development: tier-2/3 towns gain access to markets, tourism and investment.
• Strategic and border connectivity: airfields such as Tezu in frontier districts aid disaster response, medical evacuation and administration.
• Perishable value chains: air cargo for horticulture and specialty produce (makhana, ginger, cardamom).
• Spiritual and medical tourism: Deoghar and Ajmer–Pushkar show demand-led routes outperforming purely subsidy-led ones.

• Route survival after subsidy: a CAG performance audit (2023) found that fewer than half of awarded routes started operations and only about 7% continued beyond the three-year concession — the scheme’s central weakness.
• Idle assets: the same audit flagged revived airports and heliports with few or no RCS operations — a risk the ₹12,159-crore CAPEX component must avoid.
• Cost per passenger: ₹5,091.23 crore of VGF for 1.72 crore passengers works out to roughly ₹2,960 per passenger (derived) — defensible only if wider economic spillovers are captured.
• Operator fragility: exits of small regional carriers and fleet groundings at larger airlines have repeatedly orphaned routes.
• North-East gap: only 12 of 52 identified aerodromes are operational — about 23%.
• Scale of indigenisation: ₹400 crore for four aircraft is a signal, not an industrial policy; regional fleets remain largely imported.
• Helicopter operations: 200 helipads raise questions of helicopter availability, mountain-weather safety and night-flying capability.

• Viability Gap Funding (VGF): a subsidy covering the gap between an operator’s cost and the capped revenue.
• DGCA, BCAS, AAIB: given statutory status by the Aircraft (Amendment) Act, 2020.
• Pawan Hans Ltd: government helicopter operator; Alliance Air: government-owned regional airline.
• HAL Dhruv: the Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH); HAL Dornier (Do-228): licence-built light transport aircraft.
• Water aerodrome: a defined water area for seaplane take-off and landing; heliport: an aerodrome for helicopters.

With non-fossil capacity past 300 GW and a 500 GW target for 2030, India’s grid now needs to store surplus solar and wind power for the evening peak — and the Government is positioning Pumped Storage Projects (PSPs) as the backbone of long-duration storage.

Figure 3 — The pumped storage cycle

Surplus power lifts water to the upper reservoir; at peak demand it flows back through turbines. Image courtesy PIB Backgrounders (source: Australian Renewable Energy Agency); reproduced with credit for educational use.

• Two reservoirs at different elevations; electricity is stored as gravitational potential energy.
• Pumping mode: during surplus (e.g., midday solar), reversible pump-turbines lift water to the upper reservoir.
• Generating mode: at peak demand, water flows down through the turbines.
• A net consumer of power: round-trip efficiency is typically around 70–80% — its value lies in time-shifting, not in generating new energy.
• Grid services: peaking support, frequency regulation, spinning reserve, inertia and black-start capability.

Figure 4 — On-stream, off-stream open-loop and off-stream closed-loop schemes

The fewer reservoirs on a river, the lower the impact on aquatic ecology — and the lighter the approval burden. Image courtesy PIB Backgrounders (AI-generated illustration); reproduced with credit for educational use.

• On-stream: both reservoirs on a river, stream or nallah.
• Off-stream open-loop: one reservoir on a watercourse; the other away from any perennial river, stream or nallah.
• Off-stream closed-loop: neither reservoir on a perennial watercourse — the least ecologically intrusive design.
• Policy direction: the Government is prioritising off-stream sites for faster execution and lower impact on river ecology.

• Western (129.72 GW): Maharashtra 67.36 GW, Gujarat 33.36 GW — the Western Ghats escarpment provides height differences over short distances.
• Southern (97.76 GW): led by Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu.
• Eastern (53.41 GW): Odisha alone accounts for 41.53 GW.
• Northern (50.32 GW): led by Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh; North-Eastern: 14.18 GW.
• Site appraisal weighs topography, geology, hydrology, seismicity, foundation conditions, environment and transmission connectivity.

• First generation: PSPs such as Kadamparai (Tamil Nadu), Purulia (West Bengal) and Ghatghar (Maharashtra) were built between the 1980s and 2000s, mainly for peaking.
• March 2019: large hydro (above 25 MW) was declared renewable energy, with a Hydropower Purchase Obligation.
• 2022: the Ministry of Power notified an Energy Storage Obligation trajectory for distribution utilities.
• 2023 → 2025: PSP Guidelines, then the TBCB framework and approval reforms — marking the shift of PSPs from peaking assets to renewable-integration infrastructure.

• Duration: PSPs typically discharge for 6–10+ hours; most grid batteries for 2–4 hours.
• Lifespan: PSP civil works last many decades; lithium-ion batteries degrade in about 10–15 years.
• Gestation: PSPs take several years to build; BESS can be commissioned in months.
• Supply chain: PSPs rely on domestic civil and electro-mechanical capacity; BESS depends on imported cells and critical minerals such as lithium.
• Siting: PSPs are site-specific; BESS is modular and can sit at substations or solar parks.

• Ecological footprint: on-stream PSPs alter river flows; even off-stream projects need land, often forest land in ecologically sensitive stretches of the Western Ghats.
• Diluted scrutiny: under the EIA Notification, 2006, Category B2 projects do not require a full EIA report or public hearing — environmental groups argue this weakens community consultation.
• Water: initial filling and evaporation losses matter in water-stressed western and southern basins.
• Economics: high upfront cost and long gestation, while battery prices have fallen sharply; PSPs need long-term contracts and a mature ancillary-services market.
• Track record: some older PSPs have not consistently run in pumping mode, owing to tail-pond, tariff or inter-State issues.
• Execution gap: reaching 105.56 GW by 2035-36 from 7.43 GW today requires an unprecedented build rate.
• Geographic mismatch: potential is concentrated in the West and South, demanding strong inter-regional transmission (e.g., Green Energy Corridors).

• Round-trip efficiency: energy recovered ÷ energy used for pumping.
• Black-start: ability to restart the grid after a total blackout without external power.
• ISTS: Inter-State Transmission System; TBCB: Tariff-Based Competitive Bidding.
• DPR: Detailed Project Report, concurred by the CEA.

KONKAN-26, the bilateral maritime exercise between the Indian Navy and the Royal Navy, concluded off Plymouth, UK, on 15 October 2026 after a week of harbour and sea training (8–15 October).

Figure 7 — INS Trishul (F43) at sea during KONKAN-26

The Indian frigate operates alongside a Royal Navy patrol vessel (P163) and a sea boat during the sea phase. Image courtesy PIB / Indian Navy; reproduced with credit for educational use.

• Series: the KONKAN naval exercise has run since 2004; Konkan Shakti (2021) was the first India–UK tri-service exercise.
• Other India–UK exercises: Ajeya Warrior (Army) and Indradhanush (Air Force).
• Strategic frame: the India–UK Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and Roadmap 2030 (2021); the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement signed in July 2025.
• Why ASW matters: rising submarine activity in the Indian Ocean Region makes ASW interoperability a priority.
• Reach: exercising in UK waters reflects the Indian Navy’s growing out-of-area deployments to the Atlantic and Mediterranean.