Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- How Ukraine war is reducing India's options
Context
What was initially assumed in New Delhi to be a quick confrontation between Russia and Ukraine, the war in Europe is now raging on with no end in sight, and with its long-term implications yet unknown.
Why Ukraine war may reduce India’s options
- For several weeks during late March and April, it seemed as though the Ukraine war presented a number of geopolitical options for New Delhi to choose from.
- War may limit India’s options: Instead of enhancing New Delhi’s ability to make strategic choices in its broader region, the Ukraine war may actually limit the number of options available to New Delhi for at least three reasons.
- 1]Absence of Russia for balancing purposes: Russia as a key strategic partner is no longer available to India for balancing purposes.
- 2] Increased Chinese influence in the region: Russia’s sudden absence from the Asian balance of power equations has further enhanced Chinese influence in the region.
- By the time the war ends, whatever may be the shape of the global balance of power, the regional balance of power would have irretrievably shifted in Beijing’s favour.
- 3] Indo-Pacific region moving out of focus: Given that the United States and its western partners are more interested on the Ukraine theatre today, their focus on China is already taking a hit, if not yet on the Indo-Pacific.
India’s dilemmas in medium to long term
1] Managing China
- Weakened US influence in South Asia: While the Ukraine war has strengthened and revitalised the U.S.-led military and political coalition globally, it is bound to weaken the American influence in the Southern Asian region.
- China is the biggest beneficiary of the U.S./western retrenchment from the region which gives it a free hand in it.
- Russia not available: For New Delhi, Moscow is no longer available for its pursuit of its regional interests, and the U.S.’s ability to produce favourable geopolitical outcomes for India in the region is shrinking as well.
- While there is little doubt that in the longer run, a war-fatigued and weakened Russia will become a junior partner to China, India today does have an opportunity to get Moscow to nudge Beijing to stop its irredentism on the LAC.
- If the Chinese side, taking advantage of the Ukraine distraction, heats up the LAC, India would have to turn to the West and the U.S. for support (political, diplomatic, intelligence, etc.).
- This would invariably hurt Russian interests.
- Russia, it is important that two of its Asian friends — China and India — do not clash at least while the war is still on.
- While this may be a useful way to manage the Chinese aggression on the LAC in the short term, this will depend on how China views its dynamics with Russia and that of Russia with India.
- Herein lies the challenge for India.
- India’s engagement with Indo-Pacific region: If China were to stabilise the LAC at the nudging of Russia, it would also expect India to go slow on the Indo-Pacific, something India can ill-afford to do.
- Inability to exploit contradictions: While, under normal circumstances, India could have utilised the many inherent contradictions between Moscow and Beijing, the Ukraine war has suspended those contradictions.
2] How Ukraine war affected India’s north-western continental strategy
- India’s north-western continental strategy, in particular towards Afghanistan and Central Asia, too will get complicated due to the Ukraine war.
- For over a year now, the Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan is calm and the violence in Kashmir has come down.
- More pertinently, New Delhi’s presence from Afghanistan has entirely disappeared.
- So, it appears that the calm in Kashmir and along the LoC is a quid pro quo for the Indian withdrawal from Afghanistan.
- If this is a bargain New Delhi accepts, it will not only mean giving up its strategic interests in Afghanistan but also reducing its engagement in the Central Asian region as well at a time China is making feverish inroads into the region, right in the backyard of the Russian sphere of influence.
- Had Moscow not been caught in the Ukraine war, it would have fended off Beijing’s attempts to take over its backyard (in one sense, China is doing to Russia using economic means what the North Atlantic Treaty Organization has been doing to Russia using military means).
- During the December summit, India and Russia had decided on a number of initiatives focusing on Central Asia and Afghanistan.
- They are unlikely to be revived anytime soon, ceding further ground to China and Pakistan.
Conclusion
The combined geopolitical impact of the ill-timed U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, Russia’s Ukraine war, and the rapid expansion of Chinese influence goes to show how New Delhi’s geopolitical choices have suddenly shrunk due to the Ukraine war.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Gavi
Mains level: Paper 2- Future pandemic preparedness
Context
COVID-19, which disrupted supply chains across countries and in India too, marks an inflection point in the trajectory of immunisation programmes.
UIP: Showcasing India’s strength in managing large scale vaccination
- India’s Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP), launched in 1985 to deliver routine immunisation, showcased its strengths in managing large-scale vaccine delivery.
- This programme targets close to 2.67 crore newborns and 2.9 crore pregnant women annually.
- Full immunisation: To strengthen the programme’s outcomes, in 2014, Mission Indradhanush was introduced to achieve full immunisation coverage of all children and pregnant women at a rapid pace — a commendable initiative.
- India’s UIP comprises upwards of 27,000 functional cold chain points of which 750 (3%) are located at the district level and above; the remaining 95% are located below the district level.
- The COVID-19 vaccination efforts relied on the cold chain infrastructure established under the UIP to cover 87 crore people with two doses of the vaccine and over 100 crore with at least a single dose.
Why strong service delivery network is essential?
- While we have, over the years, set up a strong service delivery network, the pandemic showed us that there were weak links in the chain, especially in the cold chain.
- Nearly half the vaccines distributed around the world go to waste, in large part due to a failure to properly control storage temperatures.
- In India, close to 20% of temperature-sensitive healthcare products arrive damaged or degraded because of broken or insufficient cold chains, including a quarter of vaccines.
- Wastage has cost implications and can delay the achievement of immunisation targets.
Measures and initiatives in strengthening vaccine supply chains
- The Health Ministry has been digitising the vaccine supply chain network in recent years through the use of cloud technology, such as with the Electronic Vaccine Intelligence Network (eVIN).
- Developed with support from Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and implemented by the UN Development Programme through a smartphone-based app, the platform digitises information on vaccine stocks and temperatures across the country.
- This supports healthcare workers in the last mile in supervising and maintaining the efficiency of the vaccine cold chain.
Way forward
- Electrification: There is a need to improve electrification, especially in the last mile, for which the potential of solar-driven technology must be explored to integrate sustainable development.
- For instance, in Chhattisgarh, 72% of the functioning health centres have been solarised to tackle the issue of regular power outages.
- This has significantly reduced disruption in service provision and increased the uptake of services.
Conclusion
India has pioneered many approaches to ensure access to public health services at a scale never seen before. Robust cold chain systems are an investment in India’s future pandemic preparedness; by taking steps towards actionable policies that improve the cold chain, we have an opportunity to lead the way in building back better and stronger.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- The SC aligning with collective conscience of India
Context
The Supreme Court’s seminal intervention in a batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of section 124A of the Indian Penal Code is a watershed moment in the progressive expansion of human rights jurisprudence.
Abuse of sedition law
- The slapping of sedition charges against political opponents and others in Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh have confirmed that the abuse of the sedition law is no longer an aberration.
- It has become a norm that has hollowed out the constitutional guarantee of fundamental rights and exposed individuals to the rigour of draconian laws unjustly invoked, outraging national sensitivities as never before.
Significance of the move
- In what is seen as a first in judicial history, the Supreme Court has virtually rendered redundant the provision of a criminal law without expressly declaring it as unconstitutional.
- In an example of judicial statecraft, the court has shielded individuals against a harsh law without trenching on Parliament’s legislative remit or the executive’s command over policy decisions.
- Plenary jurisdiction: Exercising plenary jurisdiction, the Supreme Court is expected to see through its suggestions/orders to the government, particularly when these concern the non-negotiable fundamental rights of citizens.
- Suggestive jurisdiction: As an organ of the state, the Supreme Court’s suggestive jurisdiction is clearly in accord with its declared law (Nagaraj, 2006) that the state (of which the court is an integral constituent), is under a duty not only to protect individual rights but is also obliged to facilitate the same.
- Validating the nations role: The court-inspired initiatives would also validate the nation’s preeminent role in the shaping of a new world order.
Implications of the law
- Nudging the government towards anti-lynching law: As with the sedition law, it can nudge the government to enact an anti-lynching humanitarian law as suggested by it and a comprehensive law against custodial torture.
- Law against custodial torture: The absence of an anti-custodial torture law, a glaring gap in the architecture of the criminal justice system, is inexplicable considering the command of Article 21, recommendations of the Select Committee of Rajya Sabha (2010), the Law Commission of India (2017) and the Human Rights Commission and the judgments of the Supreme Court (Puttaswamy, 2017; Jeeja Ghosh, 2016; and Shabnam, 2015).
- Implications for the UAPA: It is expected likewise from the court to intervene suitably and read down the UAPA and other criminal laws that have been repeatedly misused to trample upon the civil liberties and rights of the people.
Conclusion
This is indeed the moment to seize, as the government reviews the nation’s legal structures. The initiatives suggested above are in aid of democracy anchored in the inviolability of human rights and would enhance India’s soft power in our engagement with the international community.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Biological Diversity Act, 2002
Mains level: Proposed amendments and issues
What is issue:
A senior parliamentarian has expressed concern over the Biological Diversity (Amendment) Bill, 2021, which is in the final stages of consultations in the Joint Parliamentary Committee.
Biological Diversity Act (BDA), 2002:
- The BDA, 2002 was enacted for the conservation of biological diversity and fair, equitable sharing of the monetary benefits from the commercial use of biological resources and traditional knowledge.
- The main intent of this legislation is to protect India’s rich biodiversity and associated knowledge against their use by foreign individuals.
- It seeks to check biopiracy, protect biological diversity and local growers through a three-tier structure of central and state boards and local committees.
- The Act provides for setting up of a National Biodiversity Authority (NBA), State Biodiversity Boards (SBBs) and Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs) in local bodies.
- The NBA will enjoy the power of a civil court.
What are the proposed Amendments?
The amendment bill seeks to reduce the pressure on wild medicinal plants by encouraging the cultivation of medicinal plants and Decriminalizes certain offences.
- Biological resources sharing: Exempts Ayush practitioners from intimating biodiversity boards for accessing biological resources or knowledge (Vaids and Hakims)
- Research promotion: Facilitates fast-tracking of research, simplify the patent application process
- Bring in foreign investment: Seeks to bring more foreign investments in biological resources, research, patent and commercial utilisation, without compromising the national interest
Need for the Amendment
- Simplifying process: Concerns were raised by Ayush medicine, seed, industry and research sectors urging the government to simplify, streamline the profession.
- Easing compliance: They urged govt to reduce the compliance burden to provide for a conducive environment for collaborative research and investments.
- Access and Benefit-sharing: It also sought to simplify the patent application process, widen the scope of access and benefit-sharing with local communities.
- Exemptions: Ayush practitioners have been exempted from the ambit of the Act, a huge move because the Ayush industry benefits greatly from biological resources in India.
- Certain offences: Violations of the law related to benefit-sharing with communities, which are currently treated as criminal offences and are non-bailable, have been proposed to be made civil offences.
- Imbibing Nagoya Protocol: This bill provides to reconcile the domestic law with free prior informed consent requirements of the 2010 Nayogya Protocol on ABS.
Criticisms of the bill
- No consultation: The bill has been introduced without seeking public comments as required under the pre-legislative consultative policy.
- No profit-sharing: There are ambiguous provisions in the proposed amendment to protect, conserve or increase the stake of local communities in the sustainable use and conservation of biodiversity.
- Commercialization: Activists say that the amendments were done to “solely benefit” the AYUSH Ministry.
- Loopholes to Biopiracy: The Bill would mean AYUSH manufacturing companies would no longer need to take approvals.
- Ignoring Bio-utilization: The bill has excluded the term Bio-utilization which is an important element in the Act. Leaving out bio utilization would leave out an array of activities like characterization, incentivisation and bioassay which are undertaken with commercial motive.
- Exotic plants cultivation: The bill also exempts cultivated medicinal plants from the purview of the Act but it is practically impossible to detect which plants are cultivated and which are from the wild.
- De-licensing: This provision could allow large companies to evade the requirement for prior approval or share the benefit with local communities.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Total factor productivity
Mains level: Not Much
India’s total factor productivity (TFP) growth has seen a moderate decline compared to the global experience, though it remains above that of emerging markets and developing economies, according to a recent report.
What is Total factor productivity (TFP)?
- Productivity levels measure the relationship between total products or output, and inputs or factors of production employed.
- Labour productivity is a measure of total output divided by the units of labour employed in the process of production.
- However, TFP is a measure of total output divided by a weighted average of inputs; i.e., labour and capital.
- Improvements in TFP bring down production costs, raise output levels, and lead to a higher gross domestic product.
- While total productivity measures all-inclusive productivity, TFP is a measure of production efficiency.
How has India fared thus far?
- A recent Reserve Bank of India (RBI) report points to a moderate decline in TFP growth compared to the global experience.
- TFP growth rate for India during the 2010-2019 period was approximately 2.2%, as against -0.3% for emerging markets and developing economies.
- During the pandemic, the TFP for India declined by 2.9% in 2020 and marginally improved by 0.1% in 2021.
- In 2022, TFP growth rate is projected to increase to 2%.
- As per estimates, TFP growth contributed to 30% of India’s GDP growth during 2010-2018.
- It was largely driven by public administration, quality education and social works.
What has been the TFP trend across the world?
- Global productivity growth has witnessed a prolonged slowdown since 2010, with the deceleration sharper in emerging and developing economies.
- This is ascribed to a weakening investment climate, and lower employment growth levels in developed economies, among others.
- TFP growth for the world economy was 0.7% in 2021 and may shrink by 0.5% in 2022.
What are the ways to improve TFP?
- India’s initiatives around skill development and the new education policy are steps in the right direction, since they focus on boosting manpower employability.
- Quality education, better healthcare, nurturing of innovation, introduction of efficient technology and processes in domestic companies and reduction in misallocation of resources can help improve TFP levels.
- Though the country’s ranking in the Global Innovation Index, 2021 has improved to 46, it still has some distance to go.
How can the industry improve productivity?
- Improved TFP minimizes per-unit cost facilitating the horizontal expansion of consumption demand, thereby improving the standard of living.
- Employers have fortunately started acknowledging the fact that manpower is an essential component in profit earnings.
- Today, the focus has shifted to retaining talent, which is limited in supply.
- This positive transformation seen after the pandemic needs to be further extended.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: World Forestry Congress, Seoul Declaration
Mains level: Not Much
The participants from 141 countries gathered in person and online at the 15th World Forestry Congress in Seoul, Republic of Korea adopted the Seoul Forest Declaration.
Seoul Forest Declaration
- Shared responsibility: The Declaration urges that responsibility for forests should be shared and integrated across institutions, sectors and stakeholders.
- Increased investment: Investment in forest and landscape restoration globally needs to triple by 2030 to meet internationally agreed commitments and targets on restoring degraded land.
- Moving towards circular economy: One of the key takeaways was the importance of moving towards a circular bioeconomy and climate neutrality.
- Innovative green financing mechanisms: To upscale investment in forest conservation, restoration and sustainable use, and highlighted the potential of sustainably produced wood as a renewable, recyclable and versatile material.
- Decision-making: It urged the continued development and use of emerging innovative technologies and mechanisms to enable evidence-based forest and landscape decision-making.
Other takeaways
- Close cooperation among nations is needed to address challenges that transcend political boundaries.
- This was strengthened at the Congress by the launch of new partnerships such as the:
- Assuring the Future of Forests with Integrated Risk Management (AFFIRM) Mechanism and
- Sustaining an Abundance of Forest Ecosystems (SAFE) Initiative
Back2Basics: World Forestry Congress
- The first World Forestry Congress first held in Rome in 1926. After that, it is held about every six years by the UN-FAO.
- In 1954, FAO was entrusted with supporting Congress preparations in close cooperation with the host country and proudly continues to do so today. .
- It has been providing a forum for inclusive discussion on the key challenges and way forward for the forestry sector.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Urban Heat Islands
Mains level: Read the attached story
Several parts of the country are reeling under heat wave conditions. Cities, especially, are a lot hotter than rural areas. This is due to a phenomenon called an “urban heat island”.
Urban Heat Island
- An urban heat island is a local and temporary phenomenon experienced when certain pockets within a city experience higher heat load than surrounding or neighbouring areas on the same day.
- The variations are mainly due to heat remaining trapped within locations that often resemble concrete jungles.
- The temperature variation can range between 3 to 5 degrees Celsius.
Why are cities hotter than rural areas?
- Green cover: Rural areas have relatively larger green cover in the form of plantations, farmlands, forests and trees as compared to urban spaces.
- Transpiration: Transpiration is a natural way of heat regulation. This is the scientific process of roots absorbing water from the soil, storing it in the leaves and stems of plants, before processing it and releasing it in the form of water vapour.
- Heat-regulation: Urban areas are often developed with high-rise buildings, roads, parking spaces, pavements and transit routes for public transport. As a result, heat regulation is either completely absent or man-made.
- Construction: Cities usually have buildings constructed with glass, bricks, cement and concrete all of which are dark-coloured materials, meaning they attract and absorb higher heat content.
This forms temporary islands within cities where the heat remains trapped.
How can urban heat islands be reduced?
- The main way to cut heat load within urban areas is increasing the green cover; filling open spaces with trees and plants.
- Other ways of heat mitigation include appropriate choice of construction materials, promoting terrace and kitchen gardens, and painting white or light colours on terraces wherever possible to reflect heat.
What has NASA said on urban heat islands in India?
- NASA recently pointed out heat islands in urban parts of Delhi, where temperatures were far higher than nearby agricultural lands.
- It used its Ecosystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment (Ecostress) on the International Space Station.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Places associated with Buddha
Mains level: Buddhist architecture
Prime Minister in Lumbini, on the occasion of Buddha Purnima, said that his birthplace Vadnagar in Gujarat’s Mehsana district had been a great centre for Buddhist learning centuries ago.
Vadnagar’s ties with Buddhism
- In 2014, the excavation work has brought up Buddhist relics and around 20,000 artefacts, some dating back to the 2nd century.
- Among these are an elliptical structure and a circular stupa along with a square memorial stupa of 2×2 metres and 130 centimetres in height with a wall enclosure.
- It is like a platform which has a chamber in the centre that resembles a pradakshina path.
- Further, bowls said to be used by monks have been found during the excavations, which have a terracotta sealing with inscriptions of namassarvagyaya and a face-shaped pendant with tritatva symbol.
- Sacred relics of the Buddha were even found in Devni Mori in Aravalli district of Gujarat.
In travellers record
- Vadnagar is mentioned often in the Puranas and even in the travelogue of the great Chinese traveler, Hiuen Tsang (7th century), as a rich and flourishing town.
- He is believed to have visited the state in 641 AD.
- It adds how some of the names attributed to Vadnagar in history are Chamatkarpur, Anandpur, Snehpur and Vimalpur.
- It also had snippets about other Buddhist heritage sites in Gujarat, such as Junagadh, Kutch and Bharuch.
Back2Basics: Places associated with Buddha
These are three of the few holiest sites in Buddhism:
- Bodh Gaya in Bihar, the site of the enlightenment of Gautama Buddha under a tree and top site in the list of world heritage sites in India.
- Kesaria stupa is a Buddhist stupa in Kesariya, located at a distance of 110 kilometres (68 mi) from Patna, in the Champaran (east) district of Bihar, India. The first construction of the Stupa is dated to the 3rd century BCE. Kesariya Stupa has a circumference of almost 400 feet (120 m) and raises to a height of about 104 feet (32 m).
- Nalanda was a renowned Buddhist University in the ancient kingdom of Magadha (modern-day Bihar) in India.Buddhist texts describe it as a Mahavihara, a revered Buddhist monastery.
- Sarnath near Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, the site of the first sermon (Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta), where Buddha taught about the Middle Way, the Four Noble Truths and Noble Eightfold Path.
- Kushinagar in Uttar Pradesh, the site of the Buddha’s parinirvana and home of many famous meditation & prayer offering sites in India.
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