Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Bringing in the private capital in Indian railways
Context
On July 1, 2020, the Indian Railways launched the formal process of inviting private parties to run trains on the Indian railway system. Hopes of a large participation were belied as there were no bids for nine clusters and only two bids for three clusters.
Why current model of inviting private players to run trains has failed?
- Lack of equal relationship: IR wants the capital and technology without giving up control, while the concessioner wants a far more equal relationship to be moderated by a regulator.
- Constraints on efficient decision-making: IR has imposed constraints that prevent efficient decisions and adopted an organisational design that does not take into account the characteristics and associated risks that will determine outcomes and investment decisions.
- Lumpiness of investment: The biggest dampener is the lumpiness of investment before a single passenger can be carried.
- High risk involved: Train sets have to be purchased without really knowing how much traffic the service will be able to attract in the face of rising competition from airlines.
- IR does not guarantee the investor that, in case the concession fails, it will acquire the train sets.
- Absence of regulator: The other big dampener is the absence of a regulator for resolving disputes.
Suggestions
1) Remove the lumpiness of investment by establishing rolling stock company
- The central issue is how to align the three interests.
- 1) India’s need to be capable of designing and manufacturing state-of-the-art rolling stock.
- 2) IR’s need for private capital participation.
- 3) Private capital’s necessity of earning a profit.
- Establish a company to lease rolling stock: The above 3 interests can be aligned provided the lumpiness of investment in train sets can be eliminated by establishing a company that leases rolling stock not only to concessioners but also to IR.
- The rolling stock company, apart from leasing train sets, can also be the window for bringing in new technology.
- This will also enable reducing the concession period from 35 years to a more reasonable 10-15 years, bringing in competition.
- For starters, IRFC, which is already into leasing rolling stock, can be that company.
2) Bring in new technology by opening IR’s rolling stock market to international manufacturers
- There is need to move the rolling stock industry up the industrial value chain and bring about a structural change of the Indian economy.
- Long term arrangement with suppliers: This can only be brought about by a vision that encourages long-term arrangements with rolling stock suppliers.
- Open the market for global players: An arrangement that gives access to IR’s rolling stock market is the only way to compel global players to share technology and form joint ventures with Indian companies.
3) Investment in research
- Technology transfer requires understanding the critical elements of the technology and absorbing them into the design-production process.
- This calls for the investment of large sums of money and the involvement of universities, research institutes and national laboratories.
4) Make changes to attract private investors
- For attracting private players, the risks for the concessioners needs to be reduced.
- The period of the concession needs to be reduced to around 15 years.
- Establish regulator: There is a need to establish a regulator and moderate charges like the amount for the maintenance of tracks and stations.
Conclusion
With these changes, the plan may still take off. However, the initiative will remain limited to just running trains if there is no long-term vision.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Quad
Mains level: Paper 2- India-China relations
Context
Chinese President Xi Jinping made a surprise visit to Tibet on July 21, signalling the seriousness with which China continues to take its Himalayan border dispute with India.
Understanding China’s strategic challenges and intensions
- Demonstration of political confidence through aggression: More than a year after the clash at Galwan Valley, efforts to resolve the border crisis continue to move slowly.
- The Chinese side has previously failed to complete troop withdrawals and revert to the status quo that the Indian side believed China agreed to.
- China’s behaviour has been calculated to demonstrate political confidence.
- Worsening strategic environment for China: Seen from Beijing, the strategic environment for China is beginning to worsen in South and Central Asia.
- As the US withdraws and the Taliban advances in Afghanistan, China fears the prospect of instability and an emerging haven for terrorism directed against its policies in Xinjiang.
- Even as China seeks to scale back the debt-laden BRI, such instability may also result in Beijing increasing its already overstretched external commitments — particularly in the security domain.
- Re-emergence of Quad: China is deeply worried by the re-emergence and strengthening of multilateral opposition to China, and the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (or “Quad”) between the US, Japan, Australia and India.
- For China, this represents a persistent threat not only economically and in foreign policy, but also militarily along its maritime periphery in the South and East China Seas, as well as the Taiwan Strait.
- As US multilateral cooperation with its partners has increased, Beijing has come to increasingly see itself as beset by threats on all sides.
China’s 2 possible responses to strategic challenges and its implications for India
- 1) Wolf warrier diplomacy: So far, the response from China’s new class of “wolf warrior” diplomats to this emerging strategic challenge has been to only grow more assertive in rhetoric and behaviour.
- China’s domestic politics: Response of wolf warrior diplomats may seem perplexing, given that it has served only to alienate other countries and isolate China further.
- China’s domestic politics in the lead up to the 20th Congress will mean that its leaders, diplomats and generals will be displaying maximum nationalistic fervour.
- Implications for India: This may well mean China taking political and policy decisions, which in a normal season they would not because doing so could compromise Beijing’s longstanding diplomatic and strategic goals, including in dealings with India.
- 2) Moderate approach to improve strategic position: But if instead of aggressive posture, China decided that it was better domestic politics to improve China’s strategic position in Asia amid its competition with Washington, Beijing’s diplomats may yet adopt a more moderate approach, including with India.
- Implications for India: If stability can be restored to the China-India strategic relationship, this could provide a window for Asia’s two mega-economies to reopen their markets to each other.
Conclusion
Indeed, the choice China makes between these two alternatives will have implications for India and the rest of the world in their dealing with China.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: UDAY
Mains level: Paper 3- Schemes for discoms and issues with them
Context
A recent report of Niti Aayog has assessed the losses of discoms to be about Rs 90,000 crore in 2020-21.
Central government schemes for discoms
- In 2001, the Accelerated Power Development Scheme was initiated.
- This was followed by various other schemes with some differences between them.
- The government had launched the UDAY scheme in 2015.
- UDAY did not involve any monetary assistance to the states, but only promised to help the states in reducing the cost of power through coal linkage rationalization, etc.
- Recently, the government launched a new scheme with a total outlay of around Rs 3.03 lakh crore.
- It seeks to improve the distribution infrastructure of the distribution companies (discoms) with the primary intention of improving their financial health.
- The objective of the scheme is to bring down commercial losses in the range of 12-15 percent and also reduce the difference between the average cost of supply (ACS) and average revenue realized (ARR) to zero by 2024-25.
- The problem with all these schemes (including UDAY) is that they have not been delivered and the financial position of the discoms has only worsened.
Why did schemes fail to improve the financial health of discoms?
- Reduction of loss is a managerial issue: Reduction of commercial losses is not really about improving infrastructure, it is more of a managerial issue.
- The average loss (inclusive of technical and commercial) is about 22 percent today.
- But several discoms have losses in excess of 40 percent.
- It is possible to bring down losses from 40 percent to about 15 percent without any significant investments in infrastructure.
- Investments, however, would be required to bring down losses further to a single-digit level.
- The governance issues of the scheme is a complex issue.
- The two most popular parameters which are monitored are the loss levels and the difference between the ACS and ARR.
- There are inherent problems with these parameters since they keep fluctuating and it is very difficult to fathom their trend on a quarter-wise basis, rendering the release of funds to be tricky and cumbersome.
- In the scheme now announced by the government, about 26 parameters will be taken into consideration and assigned a score.
- For some of the parameters, it may be difficult to assign a score across discoms which may lead to some amount of subjectivity.
Way forward: Alternate approach
- Provide transitional financial support: An alternate approach that could be considered by the Centre (in lieu of such assistance schemes) is providing only transitional financial support to all discoms, which are privatized under the private-public partnership mode.
- A transitional support of Rs 3,450 crore spread over five years proved to be exceedingly beneficial in the case of discoms in Delhi.
- Promote privatization: Since in an earlier policy statement the government had mentioned that privatization of discoms is to be promoted, it would make sense to consider this transitional support as a catalyst.
Conclusion
Adopting this approach will ensure that the central government moves away from the micro-management of discoms, which inevitably happens if the release of funds is linked to reform-linked parameters on a quarter-wise basis.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Article 21A
Mains level: Minority welfare
The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has recommended that Minority Schools be brought under Right to Education and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.
What is the report?
- The report is titled “Impact of Exemption under Article 15 (5) with regards to Article 21A of the Constitution of India on Education of Children in Minority Communities”.
- It has assessed minority schools (schools run by minority organizations) in the country.
Key recommendations of the report
- Minority schools are exempt from implementing The Right to Education policy and do not fall under the government’s Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.
- Through this report, the NCPCR has recommended that these schools be brought under both RTE and SSA, amongst a host of other recommendations.
Developments in RTE
(1) 86th Constitutional Amendment (2002):
- In 2002, the 86th Amendment to the Constitution provided the Right to Education as a fundamental right.
- The same amendment inserted Article 21A, which made the RTE a fundamental right for children aged between six and 14 years.
- The passage of the amendment was followed by the launch of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) that aimed to provide “useful and relevant, elementary education’’ to all children between six and 14 years.
(2) 93rd Constitutional Amendment (2006):
- In 2006, the 93rd CAA inserted Clause (5) in Article 15.
- This enabled the State to create special provisions, such as reservations for the advancement of any backward classes of citizens like SCs and STs, in all aided or unaided educational institutes, except minority educational institutes.
(3) RTE Act (2009):
- The government subsequently brought the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009, which centers around inclusive education for all, making it mandatory to include underprivileged children in schools.
- Specifically, Section 12(1)(c) of the Act provided for a 25 percent reservation of seats in unaided schools for admission of children from economically weaker sections and disadvantaged groups.
How are minority schools exempt from RTE and SSA?
- Article 30 of the Constitution states the right of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions.
- This article aims to provide opportunities to children from different religious and linguistic minority communities to have and conserve a distinct culture, script, and language.
- Subsequently, in 2012, through an amendment, the institutions imparting religious education were exempted from following the RTE Act.
- Later on, in 2014 (Pramati judgment), while discussing the validity of exemption under Article 15 (5), the Supreme Court declared the RTE Act inapplicable to schools with minority status.
- This was in the view that the Act should not interfere with the right of minorities to establish and administer institutions of their choice.
Why has the NCPCR carried out the study?
- The Commission’s objective was to assess the impact of this exemption of minority educational institutions from various guidelines that are mandatory for non-minority institutions.
- It opined that the different sets of rules under Article 21A, Article 30, and Article 15 (5) act as creating a conflicting picture between the fundamental rights of children and the rights of minority communities.
What are the findings of the report?
The Commission has observed in the report that many children who are enrolled in these institutions or schools were not able to enjoy the entitlements that other children are enjoying.
(1) Missionaries schools are elite cocoons
- It has been said that there have been certain detrimental effects of the exemption – on the one hand, there are schools, mostly Christian Missionary schools.
- Such schools are admitting only a certain class of students and leaving underprivileged children out of the system, thus becoming what the Commission has called “cocoons populated by elites’’.
(2) Minorities schools become overcrowded without facilities
- As opposed to this, other types of minority schools, in particular madrasas, have become “ghettos of underprivileged students languishing in backwardness’’ says the Commission.
- The Commission has said that students in madrasas that do not offer a secular course along with religious studies – such as the sciences – have fallen behind and feel a sense of alienation and “inferiority’’ when they leave school.
What are the findings with regards to madrasas?
There are four kinds of madrasas in India:
- Madrasas recognized by the government, which usually impart both religious as well as secular Courses, including the sciences has four percent Mulsim students (15.3 lakh) said the Sachar Committee report.
- There are 10,064 such madrasas in India and the Commission points out that these were the ones taken into consideration by the Sachar Committee when it said four percent of Mulsim students (15.3 lakh) studied in madrasas.
- There are unrecognized madrasas, which the government hasn’t recognized because they do not impart secular education or lack physical infrastructure, including the number and quality of teachers.
- Then, there are unmapped madrasas that have never applied for recognition and function in a more informal setup – there is no data on how many such madrasas exist and how many students study there.
Why bring them under RTE?
- The Commission believes this took place as schools wanted to operate outside the legal mandate to reserve seats for backward classes.
- RTE provides for norms pertaining to basic minimum infrastructure, a number of teachers, books, uniforms, Mid-day Meal, etc., that benefits students in minority schools have not been receiving.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Quality of Life for Elderly Index
Mains level: Old age security
Quality of Life for Elderly Index was released by the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM).
Quality of Life for Elderly Index
The Index has been created by the Institute for Competitiveness at the request of EAC-PM and it sheds light on an issue often not mentioned- problems faced by the elderly.
- The report identifies the regional patterns of ageing across the Indian States and assesses the overall ageing situation in India.
- The report presents a deeper insight into how well India is doing to support the well-being of its ageing population.
- The Index framework includes four pillars:
- Financial Well-being
- Social Well-being
- Health System and
- Income Security
- It has eight sub-pillars: Economic Empowerment, Educational Attainment & Employment, Social Status, Physical Security, Basic Health, Psychological Wellbeing, Social Security and Enabling Environment.
Features of the index
- This index broadens the way we understand the needs and opportunities of the elderly population in India.
- It goes far beyond the adequacy of pensions and other forms of income support, which, though critical, often narrows policy thinking and debate about the needs of this age group.
- The index highlights that the best way to improve the lives of the current and future generations of older people is by investing in health, education and employment for young people today.
Why need such an index?
- India is often portrayed as a young society, with a consequent demographic dividend.
- But, as with every country that goes through a fast process of demographic transition, India also has greying cum aging problem.
- Without a proper diagnostic tool to understand the implications of its ageing population, planning for the elderly can become a challenge for policymakers.
Key Highlights from the Report:
- The Health System pillar observes the highest national average, 66.97 at an all-India level, followed by 62.34 in Social Well-being.
- Financial Well-being observes a score of 44.7, which is lowered by the low performance of 21 States across the Education Attainment & Employment pillar, which showcases scope for improvement
- States have performed particularly worse in the Income Security pillar because over half of the States have a score below the national average, i.e., 33.03 in Income Security, which is the lowest across all pillars.
Performance of the states
- Among all the states, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh are top-scoring regions in the aged states and relatively aged states categories.
- Rajasthan has a score of 54.61 in the aged states category while Himachal Pradesh has a score of 61.04 in relatively aged states.
- Mizoram has a score of 59.79 among northeastern states while Chandigarh scored 63.78 among the Union Territories.
- Jammu and Kashmir scored the lowest 46.16 among Union Territories.
- Arunachal Pradesh, among the northeastern states, scored the lowest score with 46.16.
- In the aged states and relatively aged states categories, Telangana and Gujarat scored the lowest with 38.19 and 49.00, respectively.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Creamy Layer
Mains level: Reservations for OBCs
A proposal for revision of the income criteria for determining the Creamy Layer amongst the OBCs is under consideration of the Government.
What is the Creamy Layer?
- Creamy Layer is a concept that sets a threshold within which OBC reservation benefits are applicable.
- While there is a 27% quota for OBCs in government jobs and higher educational institutions, those falling within the “creamy layer” cannot get the benefits of this quota.
Basis of Creamy Layer
- It is based on the recommendation of the Second Backward Classes Commission (Mandal Commission).
- The government in 1990 had notified 27% reservation for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBCs) in vacancies in civil posts and services that are to be filled on direct recruitment.
- After this was challenged, the Supreme Court in the Indira Sawhney case (1992) upheld 27% reservation for OBCs, subject to exclusion of the creamy layer.
How is it determined?
- Following the order in Indra Sawhney, an expert committee headed by Justice (retired) R N Prasad was constituted for fixing the criteria for determining the creamy layer.
- In 1993, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) listed out various categories of people of certain rank/status/income whose children cannot avail the benefit of OBC reservation.
- For those not in government, the current threshold is an income of Rs 8 lakh per year.
- For children of government employees, the threshold is based on their parents’ rank and not income.
- For instance, an individual is considered to fall within the creamy layer if either of his or her parents is in a constitutional post; if either parent has been directly recruited in Group-A; or if both parents are in Group-B services.
- If the parents enter Group-A through promotion before the age of 40, their children will be in the creamy layer.
- Children of a Colonel or higher-ranked officer in the Army, and children of officers of similar ranks in the Navy and Air Force, too, come under the creamy layer.
- Income from salaries or agricultural land is not clubbed while determining the creamy layer (2004).
What is happening now?
- MPs have raised questions about the pending proposal for revising the criteria.
- They have asked whether the provision of a creamy layer for government services only for OBC candidates is rational and justified.
Has it ever been revised?
- Other than the income limit, the current definition of the creamy layer remains the same as the DoPT had spelled out in 1993 and 2004.
- The income limit has been revised over the years.
- No other orders for the definition of the creamy layer have been issued.
- While the DoPT had stipulated that it would be revised every three years, the first revision since 1993 (Rs 1 lakh per year) happened only in 2004 (Rs 2.50 lakh), 2008 (Rs 4.50 lakh), 2013 (Rs 6 lakh), and 2017 (Rs 8 lakh).
- It is now more than three years since the last revision.
What does the government propose to do about the revision?
- A draft Cabinet note has stated that the creamy layer will be determined on all income, including salary calculated for income tax, but not agriculture income.
- The government is considering a consensus on Rs 12 lakh but salary and agriculture income are also being added to the gross annual income.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: FEMBoSA
Mains level: Not Much
The Election Commission of India has handed over the Chair of FEMBoSA to the Election Commission of Bhutan for 2021-22.
What is FEMBoSA?
- Forum of the Election Management Bodies of South Asia (FEMBoSA) was established at the 3rd Conference of Heads of Election Management Bodies (EMBs) of SAARC Countries in 2012.
- The forum aims to increase mutual cooperation with respect to the common interests of the SAARC’s EMBs.
- The Forum has eight Member Election Management Bodies from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
- The Election Commission of India was the latest Chair of the Forum (now Bhutan).
Its establishment
- The first meeting of the representatives of Election Management Bodies of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal and Pakistan was held in Dhaka, Bangladesh in the year 2010.
- It was then decided at the conclusion that an organization representing those countries should be established.
- Consequently, annual meets were held in the member countries and the charter for the organization also was adopted with the aim of fulfilling the objectives of the organization.
- Since the creation of FEMBoSA, Annual Meetings were held in Pakistan (2011), in India (2012), in Bhutan (2013), in Nepal (2014), in Sri Lanka (2015), in Maldives (2016), in Afghanistan (2017) and in Bangladesh(2018).
Objectives of FEMBOSA
- Promote contact among the Election Management Bodies of SAARC countries
- Facilitate the appropriate exchange of experience and expertise among members
- Share experiences with a view to learning from each other
- Foster efficiency and effectiveness in conducting the free, fair, transparent, and participative election
Significant activities under FEMBoSA
- Member organizations celebrate National Voter’s Day in a calendar year in their respective countries
- An initiative of establishing South Asia Institute for Democracy and Electoral Studies (SAIDES) in Nepal
- In order to increase knowledge related to elections, take initiatives to include voter education in the school-level textbooks of their respective countries
- Implementation of recommendations of South Asian Disabilities Organizations for the inclusion of disabled people in the electoral system and the creation of a suitable election environment
Back2Basics: SAARC
- In 1985, at the height of the Cold War, leaders of South Asian nations — namely Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka — created a regional forum.
- The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was established with the goal of contributing “to mutual trust, understanding, and appreciation of one another’s problems.”
- Afghanistan was admitted as a member in 2007.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Climate change and climate politics
Context
Earlier this week the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported on climate science, warning against the folly of a business-as-usual development model.
What does science say about future pathways
- Globally, average surface temperatures have already risen by 1.09°C between 1850-1900 and 2010-2019.
- What happens next depends on our development and technological choices.
- High fossil fuel use path: As per the the IPCC document, if we followed high fossil fuel development (doubling emissions by 2050), temperatures would rise by 4.4°C (range of 3.3-5.7°C) by 2100.
- Sustainable pathways: If a more sustainable pathway were pursued average global temperature rise would be 1.4°C (range of 1.0-1.8°C).
- Regardless, it is likely that the average rise in temperatures will breach the 1.5°C barrier within the next two decades.
- If emissions are not mitigated rapidly, we are staring at rising climate risks and catastrophic impacts.
- Human influence is very likely the main reason behind glacial retreat since the 1990s.
- Since observations began, glaciers have lost the maximum mass during 2010-19.
- Sea level rise: Even with warming restricted to 1.5°C, we are still on course for more than 2 metres of sea-level rise beyond this century.
India’s vulnerability to climate change
- If warming exceeds 4°C, India could see about 40% increase in precipitation annually, leading to extreme rainfall events.
- Three-quarters of India’s districts are now hotspots of extreme weather events.
- Since 1990, more than 300 such events have resulted in damages exceeding INR 5.6 lakh crore.
Changes needed to stabilise temperature rise
- The IPCC says that in order to stabilise rise in temperatures, two things have to happen:
- 1) Anthropogenic emissions must become net-zero.
- 2) In the interim cumulative emissions cannot exceed a global carbon budget.
- Carbon Budget: To stay within the 1.5°C limit, starting in 2020 the remaining global carbon budget is 300-500 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide (GtCO2) (with a likelihood of 50%-83%).
Unjust climate politics and net-zero emission targets
- Of late, several large emitters have promised net-zero emission targets.
- CEEW analysts calculate that despite their self-laudatory targets, China would consume 87% of the global carbon space (if it reached net-zero in 2060) and the US would eat up 26% (if it reached net-zero in 2050).
- Mere announcements of net-zero targets do little to retard the “carbon grab” of the largest emitters.
- Rich countries, as a whole, emitted ~25 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (GtCO2eq) more than their estimated emission allowance during 2008-20, thanks to non-participation in pre-2020 climate agreements and misuse of accounting loopholes.
- Climate justice demands that developed countries now take steps to free up carbon space for others.
Way forward for India
- India must adopt a more climate-friendly development pathway for its own sake.
- Its per capita incomes, energy consumption and carbon footprint are well below the global average but it must deliver high rates of economic growth within a shrinking carbon budget.
- Shift discourse to economy: The discourse must shift from energy to the economy.
- There are very few sunrise sectors that are not low-carbon.
- India must tap new technology frontiers (green hydrogen), new business models (distributed and digitalised services, for distributed energy, EV charging, cold chains), new construction materials (low-carbon cement, recycled plastic), new opportunities in the circular economy of minerals, municipal waste and agricultural residue, and new practices for sustainable agriculture and food systems.
- Policy and regulatory support: Many of above technologies and business models are proven but need policy and regulatory support.
Conclusion
The climate crisis is a strategic threat to our development prospects. It deserves sober, continuing analysis, deliberation and action. The headlines look bad; reality will get worse.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Article 124(2) and Article 217
Mains level: Issues with collegium system
Context
Recommendations of some judges for appointment by the collegium raises the issue of changes in the collegium system.
Background of the collegium system
- During the 1970s, the political leaning of a candidate had become a major consideration in the matter of appointment of judges.
- Therefore, it was felt that the role of the state in the appointment of judges in terms of Article 124 (2) and 217 needed to be reconsidered.
- But then, in 1982 in S P Gupta’s case, the Supreme Court bench of five judges gave its approval to the primacy of the state in the matter of appointment of judges.
- However, that judgment was overturned subsequently by a bench of nine judges.
- Primacy of CJI: It held that the provisions for consultation with the Chief Justice of India, and the Chief Justices of the high courts in Articles 124 (2) and 217 of the Constitution were introduced because of the realisation that the Chief Justice is best equipped to know and assess the worth of a candidate, and his/her suitability for appointment as a superior judge.
- Initiation of proposal by CJI: It also held that the initiation of the proposal for appointment of a judge to the SC must be made by the CJI after wider consultation with senior judges, and likewise in the case of high courts.
- Confirmation of CJI: It was also held that no appointment of any judge to the SC or any high court can be made unless it conforms with the opinion of the CJI.
- Thus, what is known as the “collegium system” was born.
- Striking down of NJAC: In 2014, the government tried to make changes to the collegium system by introducing Article 124 (A) by a constitutional amendment, and by enacting National Judicial Appointments Commission Act, 2014.
- The SC has struck down both the amendment and the Act.
Has the collegium system succeeded?
- Nepotism: There have been cases where the nearest relative of Supreme Court judges has been appointed as a high court judge, ignoring merit.
- Ignoring the merit: Judges far lower in the combined All India Seniority of High Court judges were appointed to SC, and the reason assigned was that those selected were found more meritorious.
Conclusion
The collegium system is still the best, but it needs to weed out what is wrong in its actual working. It is hoped that the system will make course corrections in deserving cases.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Global trade in the post-COVID-19 world
Context
Past experiences suggest there is hope for global trade recovery in the post-COVID-19 world.
Impact of pandemic on the global and Indian economy
- In the last year, the devastating impact of COVID-19 pandemic has shrunk the world economy by 4.4% and global trade by 5.3%.
- Job losses in the world have been estimated to be to the tune of 75 million.
- India’s GDP contracted by 7.3% according to the National Statistical Office.
- About 10 million jobs were lost in India according to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy Pvt. Ltd.
- Around the world, countries have responded to pandemic-induced shortages with protectionist reactions and nationalist aspirations.
- Such a response has the potential to disrupt complex cross-border supply chains.
How economic shocks in the past laid foundation for institutional changes
- The Second World War was responsible for the creation of the Bretton Woods Institutions such as World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) and International Trade Organisation (ITO) were created to help rebuild the shattered post-war economy.
- The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was negotiated in 1947 as a means to reducing barriers to international trade.
- The oil shocks of the 1970s led to the establishment of the International Energy Agency (IEA) in 1974 and went on to create awareness on the need for global energy security.
- The financial crisis of 2008 led to the G20 Leaders Summit, an elevation from the G20 Finance Ministers forum in 1999.
- Increase in global trade: As a result of these developments global trade increased from a mere $60.80 billion in 1950 to $2,049 billion in 1980; $6,452 billion in 2000; $19,014 billion in 2019.
Changes in the global trade in post-Covid world
- Financial buffers due to stimulus package: Stimulus packages and forced savings in several countries in the last year have created financial buffers.
- Resilient supply chain: Global supply chains are expected to be resilient to help revive manufacturing with lower production costs, induce investments and promote technology transfers.
- Anti-dumping measures at WTO: In a post COVID-19 world, members of the World Trade Organization are expected to make rules to discipline errant nations that are known to dumping goods and erecting trade barriers through multilateral rules.
- Deeper economic integration through trade arrangements: Mutually beneficial trade arrangements that seek deeper economic integration will be entered into at the bilateral and regional levels.
- Dominance of technology: Countries that harness technology are expected to dominate international trade in future with a transformational impact on the global economy.
- Businesses will aim to harness data for innovation to remain ahead of the curve in a post-COVID-19 world.
Way forward for India
- The projections of the International Monetary Fund for India’s economic growth ahead are positive and in line with the general trends world-wide.
- Focus on value-added manufacturing: Building an ecosystem that incentivises value-added manufacturing and technology-induced finished products should form a part of our long-term strategy.
- Production Linked Incentive Scheme (PLI) schemes, if carefully nurtured, could lead the industry on that path.
- Support MSMEs: Supporting MSMEs with cheaper input costs, including raw material and intermediate goods would help sustain them with job creation at the local level.
- Developing a synergistic relationship between the big industry and MSMEs is at the core of a successful Atmanirbhar Bharat.
- Skill upgradation: Skills upgradation to global standards should form a part of India’s strategy in a post-COVID-19 world.
Conclusion
The patterns in the past leave much hope for optimism for global trade in the post-COVID-19 crisis in the collective belief that international trade is vital for development and prosperity.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Plastics Pact
Mains level: Elimination of single use plastics
The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has long been at the forefront of having an India Plastic Pact.
What are Plastics Pacts?
- The Plastics Pacts are business-led initiatives and transform the plastics packaging value chain for all formats and products.
- The Pacts bring together everyone from across the plastics value chain to implement practical solutions.
- All Pacts unite behind four targets:
- to eliminate unnecessary and problematic plastic packaging through redesign and innovation;
- to ensure all plastic packaging is reusable or recyclable;
- to increase the reuse, collection, and
- recycling of plastic packaging; and to increase recycled content in plastic packaging
India Plastics Pact
- The India Plastics Pact, the first in Asia, will be launched in September at the CII Annual Sustainability Summit.
- It can be expected to boost demand for recycled content, investments in recycling infrastructure, jobs in the waste sector, and beyond.
- The first Plastics Pact was launched in the U.K. in 2018.
- The India Plastics Pact is supported by WRAP (UK based NGO), which supports many Pacts globally.
- This association will ensure access to expertise and knowledge from different Pacts worldwide.
Key provisions of the pact
- Pact will support the Extended Producer Responsibility framework of the government and improve solid waste management as envisioned in the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.
- Integral to the Pact’s framework is the involvement of the informal waste sector crucial to post-consumer segregation, collection and processing of plastic waste.
- While the India Plastics Pact will be active in India, it will link globally with other Plastics Pacts.
How would this work?
- The Plastics Pact is a network of initiatives that bring together all key stakeholders at the national or regional level to implement solutions towards a circular economy for plastics.
- Each initiative is led by a local organization and unites governments, businesses, and citizens behind the common vision with a concrete set of ambitious local targets, for example in the following areas:
- Eliminate unnecessary and problematic plastic packaging through redesign and innovation
- Move from single-use to reuse where relevant
- Ensure all plastic packaging is reusable, recyclable, or compostable
- Increase the reuse, collection, and recycling or composting of plastic packaging
- Increase recycled content in plastic packaging
Benefits offered
- Many Indian businesses and organizations have expressed an interest in signing up to the Pact.
- Deeper and long-lasting benefits will be felt across the supply chains of these businesses, most of which comprise MSMEs.
- The Pact will encourage the development and maturing of the entire plastics production and management ecosystem.
- Apart from benefits to society and the economy, delivering the targets will drive the circularity of plastics and help tackle pollution. They will lead to a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
Why need such pact?
- Of the many sustainability challenges that impact societies, climate change and plastic waste have a special significance.
- A 2019 report by the Center for International Environmental Law suggests that by 2050, greenhouse gas emissions from plastic could reach over 56 gigatonnes, 10-13% of the remaining carbon budget.
- However, viewed from the angle of livelihoods, post-consumer segregation, collection and disposal of plastics make up about half of the income of 1.5- 4 million waste-pickers in India.
Way forward
- For India, the solution must be multi-pronged, systemic, and large scale, to create a visible impact.
- The India Plastics Pact focuses on solutions and innovation.
- Members’ accountability is ensured through ambitious targets and annual data reporting.
- The Pact will develop a road map for guidance, form action groups composed of members, and initiate innovation projects.
Try answering this PYQ:
Q. In India, ‘extended producer responsibility’ was introduced as an important feature in which of the following? (CSP 2019)
(a) The Bio-medical Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 1998
(b) The Recycled plastic (Manufacturing and Usage) Rules, 1999
(c) The e-Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2011
(d) The Food Safety and Standard Regulations, 2011
Post your answers here:
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: De-criminalization of Politics
The Supreme Court has directed the political parties to publish the criminal history if any, of their election candidates on the homepage of their party websites under the caption ‘candidates with criminal antecedents’ within 48 hours of their selection.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Consider the following statements:
- According to the Constitution of India, a person who is eligible to vote can be made a minister in a State for six months even if he/she is not a member of the Legislature of that State.
- According to the Representation of People Act, 1951, a person convicted of a criminal offence and sentenced to imprisonment for five years is permanently disqualified from contesting an election even after his release from prison.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct? (CSP 2020)
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
Post your answers here:
Criminalization of politics: Indian Case
- The criminalization of politics has become a headache for the Indian democracy and it is a harsh reality now.
- Criminalization of politics in India includes political control of the police, state money, corruption, weak laws, lack of ethics, values, vote bank politics and loopholes in the function of the election commission.
- Deep down, it’s a large nexus of police, money, corrupt bureaucracy, casteism, religion and the drawbacks of functioning in the election commission.
On a serious note
- The Supreme Court has warned Parliament that the nation is losing patience with the advent of criminals in politics even as it imposed fines on major political parties for covering up from voters the criminal past of the candidates.
- Cleansing the polluted stream of politics is obviously not one of the immediate pressing concerns of the legislative branch of government.
- The court said it did not take political parties much time to flout its February 2020 judgment, which had directed them to prominently publish the criminal antecedents.
What was the Feb 2020 Judgment?
The Supreme Court earlier in Feb 2020 had ordered political parties to publish the entire criminal history of their candidates for Assembly and Lok Sabha elections.
- Reasons for nomination: It has also asked for the reasons that goaded them to field suspected criminals over decent people.
- Publication of records: The information should be published in a local as well as a national newspaper as well as the parties’ social media handles.
- 48hr time frame: It should mandatorily be published either within 48 hours of the selection of candidates or less than two weeks before the first date for filing of nominations, whichever is earlier.
- Contempt for non-compliance: It also ordered political parties to submit compliance reports with the Election Commission of India within 72 hours or risk contempt of court action.
- No escape: The judgment is applicable to parties both at Central and State levels.
Immediate Reason
- The immediate provocation is the finding that 46% of MPs have criminal records.
- The number might be inflated as many politicians tend to be charged with relatively minor offences —“unlawful assembly” and “defamation”.
- The real worry is that the current cohort of Lok Sabha MPs has the highest (29%) proportion of those with serious declared criminal cases compared to its recent predecessors.
Why are such tainted candidates inducted by political parties?
- Popularity: Such candidates with serious records seem to do well despite their public image, largely due to their ability to finance their own elections and bring substantive resources to their respective parties.
- Vested interests: Some voters tend to view such candidates through a narrow prism: of being able to represent their interests by hook or by crook.
- Destabilizing other electors: Others do not seek to punish these candidates in instances where they are in contest with other candidates with similar records.
A harsh reality
- The NN Vohra committee’s report on the criminalization of politics discussed how criminal gangs flourish under the care and protection of politicians.
- Many times the candidates themselves are the gang leaders.
- This protection is paid back to them during elections through capital investment in election spending and voter support.
Need for clean politics
- Upholding morality: It is extremely important that the people who enter the field of politics have a clear image and high moral character.
- Ensuring rule of law: A leader with criminal character undoubtedly tends to undermine the rule of law.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Ujjwala Scheme
Mains level: Not Much
Prime Minister has launched the second phase of the Ujjwala gas connection scheme for the poor and said it would provide the biggest relief to lakhs of migrant worker families in the country.
Ujjwala 2.0
- Under Ujjwala 2.0 migrant workers would no longer have to struggle to get address proof documents to get the gas connections, Mr. Modi said.
- Now migrant workers would only be required to submit a self-declaration of their residential address to get the gas connection.
- Along with a deposit-free LPG connection, Ujjwala 2.0 will provide the first refill and a hotplate free of cost to the beneficiaries.
About the PM Ujjwala Yojana
- Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) was launched in 2016, with the aim to provide Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) connections to five crore women members of below poverty line (BPL) households in the first phase.
- he scheme was expanded in April 2018 to include women beneficiaries from seven more categories (SC/ST, PMAY, AAY, Most backward classes, tea garden, forest dwellers, Islands).
- In the second phase the target was expanded to eight crore LPG connections.
Significance of Ujjwala 2.0
- LPG infrastructure has expanded manifold in the country due to the Ujjwala scheme.
- In the last six years, more than 11,000 new LPG distribution centres have opened across the country.
- The LPG coverage in India is now very close to becoming 100 per cent.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NMEO-OP
Mains level: Oilseeds and India
The Centre has increased the financial outlay for the National Mission on Edible Oil-Oil Palm (NMEO-OP).
About NMEO-OP
- National Mission on Oilseeds and Oil Palm (NMOOP) was implemented during the 12th Five Year Plan, to expand the oil palm areas and increase the production of edible oils.
- It was later merged with the National Food Security Mission.
- NMEO-OP aims to resolve to allow India to be independent or self-reliant in edible oil production.
- Through this mission, more than ₹11,000 crores will be invested in the edible oil ecosystem.
- The government will ensure that farmers get all the needed facilities, from quality seeds to technology.
- Along with promoting the cultivation of oil palm, this mission will also expand the cultivation of our other traditional oilseed crops.
Why such a mission?
- India is one of the major oilseeds growers and importers of edible oils.
- India’s vegetable oil economy is the world’s fourth-largest after the USA, China & Brazil.
- The oilseed accounts for 13% of the Gross Cropped Area, 3% of the Gross National Product, and 10% value of all agricultural commodities.
- During the last few years, the domestic consumption of edible oils has increased substantially and has touched the level of 18.90 million tonnes in 2011-12 and is likely to increase further.
- A substantial portion of our requirement of edible oil is met through the import of palm oil from Indonesia and Malaysia.
- It is, therefore, necessary to exploit domestic resources to maximize production to ensure edible oil security for the country.
Alternative sources
- Oil Palm is comparatively a new crop in India and is the highest vegetable oil yielding perennial crop.
- With quality planting materials, irrigation, and proper management, there is a potential of achieving 20-30 MT Fresh Fruit Bunches (FFBs) per ha after attaining the age of 5 years.
- Therefore, there is an urgent need to intensify efforts for area expansion under oil palm to enhance palm oil production in the country.
- Tree Borne Oilseeds (TBOs), like Sal, Mahua, Simarouba, kokum, Olive, Karanja, Jatropha, Neem, Jojoba, Wild Apricot, Walnut, tung etc. are cultivated/grown in the country under different agro-climatic conditions.
- These TBOs are also good sources of vegetable oil and therefore need to be supported for cultivation.
Try answering this PYQ:
Q.An objective of the National Food Security Mission is to increase the production of certain crops through area expansion and productivity enhancement in a sustainable manner in the identified districts of the country. What are those crops?
(a) Rice and wheat only
(b) Rice, wheat, and pulses only
(c) Rice, wheat, pulses, and oilseeds only
(d) Rice, wheat, pulses, oilseeds, and vegetables
Post your answers here:
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Operation Greens Scheme
Mains level: Not Much
The Union Minister of Food Processing Industries has provided useful information regarding the Op Greens Scheme.
Operation Greens Scheme
- Ministry of Food Processing Industries launched the Operation Greens scheme in November, 2018.
- The scheme aims for integrated development of the Tomato, Onion, and Potato (TOP) value chain.
- It aims to promote Farmer Producers Organizations (FPOs), agri-logistics, processing facilities and value addition etc. in identified production clusters.
- Under the scheme, state-wise funds are not allocated as the scheme is demand-driven and projects are approved as per scheme guidelines on the basis of applications received for setting up of projects in eligible production clusters.
Objectives:
- To enhance value realization of TOP farmers
- Reduction in post-harvest losses
- Price stabilization for producers and consumers and
- Increase in food processing capacities and value addition etc.
Key provisions
- Short term intervention by way of providing transportation and storage subsidy @ 50% and
- long term intervention through value addition projects in identified production clusters with Grant-in-aid @ 35% to 70% of eligible project cost subject to maximum of Rs. 50 crore per project
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: One Nation One Ration Card
Mains level: Paper 2- Labour law reforms in issues in implementation
Context
The central government has deferred the possible date of implementation of labour codes to October 1, 2021, prolonging the wait before employers and workers could enjoy the benefits extended by the labour codes.
Labour law reforms: Key provisions
- The government enacted the Code on Wages in August 2019 and the other three Codes, viz., the Industrial Relations Code, the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code and Code on Social Security (CSS) in September 2020.
- Universal minimum wage: The codes would extend universal minimum wages and social security, enable enhanced industrial safety and the provision of social security to gig workers, among other things.
- Recognition of trade unions: The Industrial Relations Code provides for recognition of trade union(s) by employers, a labour right that eluded workers for seven decades.
- Flexibility to employers: Employers celebrated the extension of tremendous flexibility to them, even those unasked, such as relief from framing standing orders for most firms.
- The central government has deferred the possible date of implementation to October 1, 2021.
Issues in implementation
- State’s have not issued draft rules: Major States such as Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Haryana and Delhi have not issued the draft rules under any codes.
- Even though the Code on Wages was enacted in August 2019, it was only in March 2021 that the central government notified the constitution of an advisory committee.
- Safety concerns persist: Industrial safety continues to be a grave concern even after the enactment of the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code.
- Lack of clarity on the determination of minimum wage: On June 3, 2021, the government announced an expert committee with a tenure of three years to advise on minimum wages.
- Then, on July 12, 2021, the government announced that the wage index’s base year would be shifted from 1965 to 2019 to use the revised wage index to determine minimum wages.
- The Government seems to be facing difficulty regarding the implementation of minimum wages.
Conclusion
Despite the gazetting of four Codes, age-old laws are in force. That reflects poorly on the governance abilities of the governments.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Oil recovery rate
Mains level: Paper 3- Balancing the energy needs dependent on fossil fuel and environmental concerns
Context
The spread and speed of the destruction caused by climate change in recent weeks present our new Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas with a policy dilemma. The article offers five policy suggestions to deal with the dilemma.
Energy dilemma facing India
- The events of the past month all over the world have caught even the most alarmist of climate scientists by surprise.
- These events brought into sharp relief the reality that there was no option of denying the consequential implications of the use of fossil fuels.
- However, the dilemma India faces lies in the fact that the Indian economy is heavily dependent on fossil fuels and there is no end in sight to this dependence.
- Further, India imports approximately 85 percent of its crude oil requirements and is exposed to the volatility of the international oil market.
Five policy changes needed
1) Reduce emphasis on domestic exploration
- Not easy to locate and difficult to develop: A review of the public sector’s exploration and production (EP) track record suggests that whilst India may well be sitting on substantial hydrocarbon reserves, these reserves are not easy to locate and, even when located, difficult to develop and produce on a commercial basis.
- The government has often compounded this economic challenge by placing administrative limits on marketing by companies and their pricing freedom.
- High risk and structural softness in the market: The fundamental point is that EP in India is a high-risk activity, and this risk is even greater today because of the longer-term structural softness of the petroleum market.
- The resources earmarked for exploration can be deployed more productively elsewhere.
2) Increase productivity of producing fields
- The ONGC needs to allocate increasing resources to improving the productivity of its producing fields.
- Low oil recovery rate: The average oil recovery rate in India was around 28 percent that is, for every 100 molecules discovered, only 28 were monetized.
- This number did not compare well with the global average of around 45 percent for fields of comparable geology.
- Use technology: The application of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) technology offers a relatively low-risk avenue for increasing domestic production.
3) Increase strategic reserves
- We hold currently strategic reserves equivalent to 12 days of imports.
- The government has approved plans to increase this buffer to 25 days.
- By comparison, China, the EU, South Korea, and Japan hold between 70-100 days of reserves.
- A significant portion of our oil imports came from the Middle East, predominantly Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Iran.
- This region faces deep political and social fault lines and there is no knowing when our supply lines might get ruptured.
- We would, therefore, be well-advised to build contingency safeguards.
4) Restructure and reorganize public sector petroleum companies
- Consolidate upstream assets: In the first instance, the upstream assets should be consolidated under ONGC (the upstream assets of BPCL, IOC, HPCL, and GAIL should pass onto ONGC) and GAIL should be unbundled into a public utility gas pipeline company
- Diversify: Thereafter, these companies should be encouraged to look beyond hydrocarbons to build an “energy” enterprise.
- The restructuring will help cut back the “avoidable” costs of intra public sector competition.
- It will also reduce the inefficiencies of “sub-scale” operations.
- It will provide a focused platform for balancing the shorter-term need to provide secure and affordable hydrocarbons with the medium and longer-term imperative of developing clean energy.
5) Avoid siloed thinking
- The petroleum minister should not see his responsibility through the siloed prism of oil and natural gas.
- He should broaden the aperture and become the progenitor of the energy transition.
Conclusion
The dilemma referred to in the opening sentence will be easier to resolve our priorities are set within the framework of clean energy.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: CRPD
Mains level: Paper 2- Ensuring the dignity of persons with disability
Context
Twenty years ago on August 6 in Erwadi in Tamil Nadu’s Ramanathapuram, a fire broke out in a thatched shelter, engulfing 43 chained people who had psychosocial disabilities.
Legal provision for the persons with disabilities
- India ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in 2007.
- The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act was enacted in 2016.
- The Mental Healthcare Act (MHCA) was enacted in 2017.
Failure of the states
- Sates have failed to uphold the human rights of people with disabilities in general and those with psychosocial and intellectual disabilities in particular.
- Only eight states/UTs — Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Maharashtra, Odisha, Kerala, and West Bengal — have framed rules for implementation of MHCA.
- Unless we implement the law in letter and spirit, the Global Mental Health Movement will remain a mere buzzword and the CRPD-reliant MHCA will remain a law only on paper.
Violations of rights in private asylums
- Private asylums survive because of their close proximity to faith-based healing centres.
- Because mental health conditions carry a high stigma, caregivers flock to these faith-based facilities in the hopes of finding a cure.
- Private players take advantage of their vulnerabilities, forcing such persons with psychosocial issues to be grouped together and chained in these shelters.
- Chaining in any way or form is outlawed under Section 95 of the MHCA.
Way forward
- Human right approach: We must work to ensure that the human rights approach to disability is integrated into mental health systems, education, law, and bureaucracy.
- We move away from pathologisation, segregation, and a charity-based approach.
Conclusion
Implementation of rights of the persons with disability needs implementation in letter and spirit and human rights based approach.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Plastics Pact
Mains level: Paper 3- Plastic waste challenge
Context
The India Plastics Pact, the first in Asia, will be launched in September at the CII Annual Sustainability Summit.
Issue of plastic waste
- A 2019 report by the Center for International Environmental Law suggests that by 2050, greenhouse gas emissions from plastic could reach over 56 gigatonnes, 10-13% of the remaining carbon budget.
- Connection with livelihood: Viewed from the angle of livelihoods, post-consumer segregation, collection and disposal of plastics make up about half of the income of 1.5- 4 million waste-pickers in India.
- For India, the solution must be multi-pronged, systemic, and large scale, to create a visible impact. The Plastics Pacts model offers such a solution.
About Plastics Pacts model
- Business-led initiative: The Plastics Pacts are business-led initiatives and transform the plastics packaging value chain for all formats and products.
- The Pacts bring together everyone from across the plastics value chain to implement practical solutions.
- Integral to the Pact’s framework is the involvement of the informal waste sector crucial to post-consumer segregation, collection and processing of plastic waste.
- All Pacts unite behind four targets:
- 1) To eliminate unnecessary and problematic plastic packaging through redesign and innovation.
- 2) To ensure all plastic packaging is reusable or recyclable.
- 3) To increase the reuse, collection, and recycling of plastic packaging.
- 4) To increase recycled content in plastic packaging.
- It is active in a number of countries including the U.K., South Africa, and Australia.
- The first Plastics Pact was launched in the U.K. in 2018, by WRAP, a global NGO based in the U.K.
- It is now being brought to India by CII and WWF India.
Advantages
- Economic advantage: It can be expected to boost demand for recycled content, investments in recycling infrastructure, jobs in the waste sector, and beyond.
- Support EPR framework: The Pact will support the Extended Producer Responsibility framework of the government and improve solid waste management as envisioned in the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.
- The India Plastics Pact focuses on solutions and innovation.
- Plastic production and management development: The Pact will encourage the development and maturing of the entire plastics production and management ecosystem.
- Drive circulatory of plastic: Apart from benefits to society and economy, delivering the targets will drive the circularity of plastics and help tackle pollution.
Conclusion
The India Plastics Pact will benefit society, the economy and the environment.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Need for maritime cooperation
A week into India’s United Nations Security Council (UNSC) presidency, PM Modi has outlined a five-point framework for maritime security debate at UNSC.
Maritime Security
- Maritime security is one of the latest buzzwords of international relations.
- Major actors in maritime policy, ocean governance and international security have in the past decade started to include maritime security in their mandate or reframed their work in such terms.
- Core dimensions of maritime security involves the concept of blue economy, food security and the resilience of coastal populations.
- A secure maritime environment provides the precondition for managing marine resources.
Threats to maritime security
Need for an agenda
- In today’s economy, the oceans have an increased importance, allowing all countries to participate in the global marketplace.
- More than 80 percent of the world’s trade travels by water and forges a global maritime link.
- About half the world’s trade by value, and 90 percent of the general cargo, are transported in containers.
- Many countries have invested significant resources in maritime infrastructure, trade, energy supply chains, cargo movements and processes.
- China, undeniably a continental country, claims sovereignty over all of the South China Sea islands and their adjacent waters.
5-point agenda for enhancing maritime cooperation
[1] Removal of barriers to legitimate maritime trade:
- Global prosperity depends on the active flow of maritime trade. Any hindrance in maritime trade can threaten the global economy, PM said.
- Maritime trade has always been part of the civilizational ethos of India.
- PM termed this principle as ‘SAGAR’ Security and Growth for All in the Region.
[2] Resolution of maritime disputes peacefully in accordance with international law:
[3] Fight threats from natural disasters, non-state actors:
- PM said the Indian Navy has been patrolling to counter piracy in the Indian Ocean since 2008.
- It is enhancing the common maritime domain awareness of the region through our White Shipping Information Fusion Centre.
- India has provided support for hydrographic surveying and training of maritime security personnel to several countries.
[4] Conservation of marine resources:
- Our oceans directly impact our climate. Hence, it is very important that we keep our maritime environment free of pollutants like plastic waste and oil spills.
- We also need to take joint steps against over-fishing and marine poaching, PM said.
- He also emphasized the need for increased mutual cooperation in Ocean Science research.
[5] Promoting responsible maritime connectivity:
- PM said it is well understood that the creation of infrastructure is necessary to boost maritime trade.
- He advocated for appropriate global norms and standards to ensure that such infrastructure projects are carried out as per the fiscal sustainability and absorption capacity of the host countries.
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