Premium

UPSC Mains Answer Practice — GS 3: role of AI in transforming disaster management and Vulnerability of subsea cables (Week 174)

UPSC Mains Answer Writing GS 3: Can you move beyond knowing concepts to actually applying them in a Mains answer? Test your understanding, analytical ability and answer-writing skills with today's UPSC Mains practice questions.

Are you preparing for the Civil Services Mains Exam 2027? Attempt questions on role of AI in transforming disaster management and Vulnerability of subsea cables in today's answer-writing practice. (AI-generated Image)

Written by: Nitendra Pal Singh

8 min readNew DelhiSep 29, 2026 01:46 PM IST First published on: Sep 29, 2026 at 01:46 PM IST

UPSC Essentials brings to you its initiative for the practice of Mains answer writing. It covers essential topics from both the static and dynamic portions of the UPSC Civil Services syllabus across various GS papers. The questions are carefully selected on the basis of their relevance to the UPSC examination and current developments, helping aspirants focus on themes that matter most for Mains. This answer-writing practice is designed as a value addition to your UPSC CSE Mains preparation. Attempt today’s GS-3 questions and check your progress.

🚨As we mark the 3rd anniversary of the UPSC Essentials magazine, we thank our readers for being part of this journey. Your trust, feedback and continued support have shaped the magazine and encouraged us to keep improving with every edition. Click Here to read the UPSC Essentials magazine for September 2026. Share your views and suggestions in the comment box or write to us at manas.srivastava@indianexpress.com.🚨

QUESTION 1

Discuss the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in transforming disaster management in India. How can it improve preparedness, response, recovery and rehabilitation?

QUESTION 2

What makes subsea cables vulnerable to disruption or sabotage? Examine the implications of such disruptions for national security and economic stability.

Answer Mains Guidelines

QUESTION 1: Discuss the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in transforming disaster management in India. How can it improve preparedness, response, recovery and rehabilitation?

Relevance: The question links AI with the disaster-management cycle, including mitigation, preparedness, response, recovery and rehabilitation. The topic examines the application of AI, predictive analytics, real-time data and emerging technologies to strengthen disaster resilience.

Note: This is not a model UPSC answer. It only provides you with a thought process which you may incorporate into the answers.

Introduction:

— Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming a powerful tool in disaster management because it quickly processes huge amounts of data and makes local forecasts and risk assessments.

— It is changing disaster management from mostly reacting after something happens to predicting, preparing, and responding in a targeted way.

Body:

You may incorporate some of the following points in your answer:

Role of AI across the disaster-management cycle

— AI models can study large amounts of past and live weather data to give faster and more local weather forecasts, especially for heavy rain and floods. AI forecasting can work alongside traditional physics-based weather models, and the IMD is already testing models like Pangu, GraphCast, and FourCastNet.

— In 2026, IMD launched AI rain forecasting tools that can predict rainfall down to a 1-km area in a trial for Uttar Pradesh, using weather stations, satellites, and radars. AI can also combine weather predictions with hazard maps and other data to give a clearer picture of disaster risks and send out early warnings.

— When disasters strike, devices like phones, drones, and satellites collect massive amounts of messy data and information. AI can quickly analyse this data to extract useful information that helps people take immediate action. During the Nepal disaster, an AI system compared public reports of missing people with official government records and used satellite pictures to map out destroyed buildings.

— Drones equipped with thermal cameras also identified human thermal signatures beneath debris, helping rescue teams locate possible survivors.

— After a disaster, AI helps by finding broken roads and buildings, spotting isolated towns, and showing officials where to send food and medicine first.

— AI-generated risk assessments, satellite imaging, and damage mapping can assist authorities in identifying risky locations and improving future catastrophe risk management plans. Recent efforts in Jammu and Kashmir, like as GIS-based multi-hazard risk mapping and early warning systems, demonstrate a broader trend toward technology-enabled disaster risk reduction.

Conclusion:

— AI can help at every level of disaster management, from hyperlocal prediction and early warning to rescue, damage assessment, relief, and rehabilitation.

— However, its final success is determined not by technology sophistication alone, but by its integration with robust institutions, human skills, and resilient disaster-management systems.

(Sources: From Nepal to India, how AI is improving disaster management, Human plus AI will give more accurate weather forecast, IMD’s new AI weather forecasts will tell farmers when it will rain within a 1-km area, How 3 projects in J&K are preparing to avoid a Nepal-like tragedy)

Points to Ponder

What role can AI play in real-time decision-making and resource allocation during disasters?

What are the challenges related to data quality, digital infrastructure, privacy and technological dependence?

Related Previous Year Question

Discuss the recent measures initiated in disaster management by the Government of India departing from the earlier reactive approach. (2020)

QUESTION 2: What makes subsea cables vulnerable to disruption or sabotage? Examine the implications of such disruptions for national security and economic stability.

Relevance: The question links the physical protection of critical infrastructure with national security and emerging security threats. It highlights the dependence of digital services, financial systems and international connectivity on subsea communication networks.

Note: This is not a model UPSC answer. It only provides you with a thought process which you may incorporate into the answers.

Introduction:

— Subsea cables are the physical backbone of worldwide digital connection, transporting more than 99 per cent of all internet traffic while also enabling financial transactions, government activities, and digital communications.

— Their vulnerability is therefore not merely a telecommunications concern but an issue of national security and economic resilience.

Body:

You may incorporate some of the following points in your answer:

Vulnerability of subsea cables

— Cables put on the seabed are susceptible to damage by ship anchors, fishing activity, trawlers, strong ocean currents, and earthquakes. Damage is more likely in relatively shallow waters, where wires are more vulnerable to human activity. Their strategic importance renders them vulnerable to deliberate interference, such as cable cutting and other physical or cyber disruptions. Recent occurrences and the advancement of specialised cable-cutting capabilities have raised security worries.

— Cables converge at designated landing stations and chokepoints. Disruptions at key routes or landing places can have a far-reaching impact on connectivity. Identifying the damaged part, deploying specialised repair vessels, and repairing cables beneath the sea is technically difficult, time-consuming, and costly.

— Much of the subsea network is owned and maintained by private consortia of telecom corporations and large technology businesses, raising concerns about coordination, strategic dependency, and digital sovereignty.

A map of undersea internet cables today. TeleGeography

Implications for India

— Disruption can jeopardise secure government and defence communications, exposing weaknesses in vital digital infrastructure. The possibility of deliberate attacks makes subsea cables relevant to maritime security and critical-infrastructure protection.

— Disruptions can have an impact on financial transactions, cloud services, e-commerce, telephony, and other digital businesses that rely on global connectivity.

— India needs more redundancy in connectivity, different cable routes, improved domestic repair skills, and better monitoring of important maritime infrastructure.

Conclusion:

— Subsea cables have become vital national infrastructure as the Indian economy becomes more digitally integrated. Their protection necessitates a comprehensive approach that includes marine security, technical surveillance, infrastructural redundancy, domestic repair capability, and international cooperation.

(Sources: Subsea cables: The many vulnerabilities of the world’s most critical digital lifelines, Red Sea cable cut interrupts internet in Asia: How data travels to you under the ocean)

Points to Ponder

What role can international cooperation and maritime-security mechanisms play in protecting subsea infrastructure?

Previous Mains Answer Practice

UPSC Essentials: Mains answer practice — GS 3 (Week 172)

UPSC Essentials: Mains answer practice — GS 3 (Week 173)

UPSC Essentials: Mains answer practice — GS 2 (Week 172)

UPSC Essentials: Mains answer practice — GS 2 (Week 173)

UPSC Essentials: Mains answer practice — GS 1 (Week 172)

UPSC Essentials: Mains answer practice — GS 1 (Week 173)

Subscribe to our UPSC newsletter and stay updated with the news cues from the past week.

Stay updated with the latest UPSC articles by joining our Telegram channel – IndianExpress UPSC Hub, and follow us on Instagram and X.