BharatNotes Mitigation
nounUsage in a UPSC answer
A credible climate strategy must balance mitigation — cutting greenhouse-gas emissions at source through renewables and afforestation — with adaptation measures that shield vulnerable coastal communities from impacts already locked in.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Word Family
mitigation (n), mitigate (v), mitigating (adj), mitigatory (adj), unmitigated (adj), mitigated (adj)
Root
Latin mitigatio = softening, alleviation; mitis = gentle, soft + agere = to drive, do
Etymology
From Latin mitigatio, from mitigare ("to make mild, soften, alleviate"), combining mitis ("gentle, soft") + agere ("to drive, do"); first recorded in English in the 14th century.
Memory Hook
Root mitis = "mild/soft" (as in a mild temper). To mitigate is to make a harsh situation milder — mitigation softens the blow.
How This Word Works in UPSC Writing
Measures taken to reduce the severity of a disaster's impact, as distinct from preventing the hazard or responding after it. In disaster management the pairing to state is structural against non-structural: embankments, cyclone shelters and seismic retrofitting on one side, and land-use zoning, building-code enforcement, insurance and awareness on the other. Non-structural measures are consistently cheaper and consistently under-invested, which is the point worth arguing.
Don’t Confuse It With
Mitigation reduces the severity of impacts. Prevention seeks to avoid the impact altogether. Preparedness builds the capacity to respond. Adaptation is the climate-policy term for adjusting to changing conditions over time, and should not be used interchangeably with mitigation, which in that context means emissions reduction instead.
Hindi Meaning
शमन (shaman) or न्यूनीकरण (nyūnīkaran).
Common Questions
- What is mitigation in disaster management?
- Measures that reduce the severity of a disaster's impact, whether structural such as embankments and retrofitting, or non-structural such as zoning and code enforcement.
- Does mitigation mean the same thing in climate policy?
- No. In climate policy mitigation specifically means reducing greenhouse gas emissions, so the two senses must be kept apart.
Seen in UPSC Question Papers
- Prelims 2025 — Climate Change
- Prelims 2024 — Disaster Management
- Prelims 2022 — Disaster Management
- Prelims 2018 — Ecology
- Prelims 2017 — Disaster Management
- Mains 2024 · GS3 · 10 marks — Environment and Ecology
- Mains 2022 · GS3 · 10 marks — Environment and Ecology
- Mains 2019 · GS3 · 15 marks — Disaster Management
- Mains 2016 · GS1 · 12.5 marks — Geography
Real UPSC previous-year questions whose text uses “Mitigation” — proof this word earns its place on your list.
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