Highlights of December 2025

Technology: Politics, Trump’s Security

A recent Congressional briefing – received by the Democratic Senator, Mark Werner, of the Senate Intelligence Committee – once again brought to the fore the massive Chinese cyber-attack campaign that has been underway in the United States in recent years. The Chinese cyber campaign is based on a massive hack of the American telecom systems which enables China to easily access unencrypted communications of anyone in the US, with the hackers being linked to the Chinese Ministry of State Security Intelligence. The extensive campaign is known as ‘Salt Typhoon’, and it has massively exposed the vulnerabilities underlying America’s civilian security infrastructure.

While the attack was exposed in recent times, what is more astonishing are the findings of the Senate Intelligence Committee that despite being aware of the massive cyber-attack for some time now, the US has not been able to curtail it. The Committee highlighted the fact that it received conflicting accounts from different government agencies on the administration’s response to the cyber-attack, with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) maintaining that US networks were ‘pretty clean’, thereby directly contradicting evidence from other government agencies on the scale and infestation of the attack.

One reason for the government’s inability to purge the effects of the attack from the American systems is linked to the massive scale of access that Chinese hackers were able to acquire. The attack was first discovered towards the end of the Biden Presidency, and despite a lapse of nearly two years, the country has still not been able to do anything about it. Another reason, as flagged by the Committee, lies in the way the FBI has been dealt a blow by the Trump administration, with nearly 45 percent of the FBI personnel working on counterespionage and national security issues being reassigned to work on immigration raids. This reveals how the Trump administration has marginalized cybersecurity issues, which have a direct bearing on national security, in favour of gaining domestic political capital. The administration has been on this course despite evidence that Russia has been trying to take advantage of the vulnerabilities exposed by Salt Typhoon.

The implications of Salt Typhoon extend much beyond espionage. Through the deeply embedded nature of this operation, the Chinese have been able to establish persistent presence in sectors like critical infrastructure, including crucial military networks. This positioning could be used to disrupt communications or slow military mobilization during a future geopolitical crisis. This became evident last year when Salt Typhoon expanded its scope to space-based networks, including those which are important for military communications. While the US has sanctioned several Chinese entities with suspected links to the operation, it has not been able to root out the embedded presence established through this cyber-attack.

Ecological Destruction of Aravalli Range

The controversy surrounding the Aravalli range once again brings to the fore the secondary value placed on the environment. Despite being one of the oldest mountain systems in the world and referred to as the ‘green lungs’ of the country, spanning the major northern states, the Aravallis have been subjected to systematic destruction and degradation undertaken to advance commercial expansion. This degradation has taken place as the range abounds with mineral-rich resources and has also been destroyed to give way to urban settlements and expansion. According to the surveys conducted by the Supreme Court appointed committee, nearly 25% of the Aravalli’s original landforms have already vanished. Persistent mining, quarrying and various such forms of commercial exploitation have resulted in a loss of forest cover, the death of rivers originating from the range, the damage caused to the aquifers and the dropping water table in the region.

The degradation of Aravallis is a matter that has come before the Supreme Court several times in the past. Yet, in its judgement of November 2025, the Court displayed an astonishing degree of collusion with the executive in advancing a legal framework that would effectively spell the death knell for the ecologically fragile Aravallis. The root of the present dispute can be traced to the arbitrary definition of what constitutes the Aravallis, arrived at based on the recommendations of a government-appointed committee. The definition proposed that all landforms above the height of 100 meters would be regarded as constituting the ‘Aravalli hills’, while two or more such hills that lie within 500 m of each other, including the landforms in between, would constitute the ‘Aravalli range.’ This is problematic for several reasons:

First, going by the Forest Survey of India’s data, if such a definition is accepted, then more than 90 percent of the landforms within the Aravallis would be excluded from protection and would be subjected to ecological destruction, as of 12,081 documented Aravalli hills measuring 20 metres or more in height, only 1,048 – approximately 8.7 percent – exceed 100 metres.

Second, the ‘100 m’ definition seeks to impose arbitrary uniformity on a fundamentally heterogeneous landform, whose elevations range from 20 m to 600 m, with various diverse landforms found together. This makes the imposition of averages contradictory. If the new definition were accepted, more than 70 percent of Rajasthan’s current Aravalli portion would be delisted from protection, while in Gujarat and Haryana, more than 80 percent of the current Aravalli extent is at risk of denotification, and Delhi would lose its entire Aravalli.

Third, this would spell massive trouble for the country’s overall environmental health. For, the Aravallis not only act as a barrier against desertification and protect the fertile Gangetic plains but also act as a climate regulator by influencing monsoon patterns and directing rainfall toward the lower Himalayas, which supports agriculture across northern India. Furthermore, the Aravallis also perform the crucial role of a biodiversity hotspot, home to a variety of flora and fauna and providing significant ecosystem services, including recharging aquifers, providing a corridor for wildlife movement, providing access to various medicinal plants etc.

Finally, the attempts to revise the definition of the Aravallis reveals the inevitable trade-offs that the country is making between geopolitical compulsions and environmental protection. For, the Aravallis are known to be home to a range of critical minerals and base metals such as tungsten as well as rare earth minerals such as lithium, which are crucial to the green energy transition, apart from atomic minerals like uranium and thorium. This explains why the government is keen to carve out a strategic exemption for Aravallis, given the country’s high import dependency and the volatile geopolitical environment. In January 2025, the government had launched the National Critical Mineral Mission to build mineral supply chains, and few months later, the government exempted critical and atomic mineral mining projects from standard Environmental Impact Assessments. The government also recently passed the Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India (SHANTI) Bill to open India’s nuclear sector to private companies.

However, for now, the Supreme Court has reversed its previous November 20^th judgement and has sent the issue for reconsideration. This represents a much-needed break in the process that would have otherwise resulted in complete destruction of the Aravallis.

Key Bills Passed by the Parliament

The government was able to pass several significant bills in the winter session of 2025. Key bills included opening up India’s nuclear sector to private companies, the overhaul and substitution of the extant employment guarantee scheme with a new architecture, and the imposition of a health cess on tobacco products.

Key Acts	Features
The Sabka Bima Sabki Raksha (Amendment of Insurance Laws) Bill, 2025	It amends the Insurance Act, 1938, the Life Insurance Corporation Act, 1956, and the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority Act, 1999. Increases the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) limit in Indian Insurance companies from 74% to 100% of the paid-up equity capital.
The Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India (SHANTI) Bill, 2025	Replaces the Atomic Energy Act, 1962 and the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act, 2010. Allows private Indian companies and joint ventures to build, own, and operate nuclear power plants under government license. The legislation is designed to help India reach its goal of 100 GW of nuclear capacity by 2047, supporting its net-zero emissions target for 2070. Establishes a single statutory framework for licensing, safety, liability, and oversight, giving the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) full statutory recognition. While opening the sector, the government maintains a 51% majority control over strategic activities like nuclear fuel production, heavy water manufacturing, and radioactive waste management. Caps operator liability for nuclear incidents at ₹3,000 crore and aligns India’s liability regime more closely with global standards to attract foreign technology and investment. Facilitates the deployment of advanced nuclear technologies like Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), which are easier to scale and safer for industrial use.
The Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Bill, 2025 (VB-G RAM G)	Replaces the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 (MGNREGA). Increases the statutory wage employment guarantee from 100 days to 125 days per financial year for rural households. Allows states to notify a 60-day “no-work” period during peak sowing and harvesting seasons to ensure the availability of agricultural labour for farmers. Aims for weekly wage payments, improving liquidity for workers compared to the previous 15-day cycle. Transitions from a “rights-based, demand-driven” model to a “centrally sponsored, saturation-oriented” framework focused on productivity and asset creation. Shifts toward normative funding, which increases the financial contribution of state governments (with a 60:40 split for certain costs).
The Health Security se National Security Cess Bill, 2025	Aims to create a reliable revenue stream for India’s public health and defence sectors by taxing “sin” goods like pan masala. Initially applies primarily to pan masala and tobacco-related products. The cess is calculated based on the production capacity of manufacturing units, intended to curb tax evasion in sectors where under-reporting is common.