Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Climate reparation
Mains level: Read the attached story
Facing the worst flooding disaster in its history, Pakistan has begun demanding reparations, or compensation, from the rich countries that are mainly responsible for causing climate change.
Why in news?
- On the face of it, Pakistan’s demand for reparations appears to be a long shot, but the principles being invoked are fairly well-established in environmental jurisprudence.
- In fact, Pakistan is not alone in making this demand.
- Almost the entire developing world has for years been insisting on setting up an international mechanism for financial reparation for loss and damage caused by climate disasters.
- The issue has come up repeatedly at international negotiations for climate change, and on other platforms.
What is Climate Reparation?
- At its heart, the demand for compensation for loss and damage from climate disasters is an extension of the universally acknowledged “Polluter Pays” principle.
- This makes the polluter liable for paying not just for the cost of remedial action, but also for compensating the victims of environmental damage caused by their actions.
- Climate justice is based on the notion of not being punished for someone else’s bad behaviour, but it does not sanction additional bad behaviour.
Who are responsible for climate change?
- In the climate change framework, the burden of responsibility falls on those rich countries that have contributed most of the greenhouse gas emissions since 1850, generally considered to be the beginning of the industrial age.
- The United States and the European Union, including the UK, account for over 50% of all emissions during this time.
- If Russia, Canada, Japan, and Australia too are included, the combined contribution goes past 65%, or almost two-thirds of all emissions.
- Historical responsibility is important because carbon dioxide remains in the atmosphere for hundreds of years, and it is the cumulative accumulation of carbon dioxide that causes global warming.
What about developing countries?
- A country like India, currently the third largest emitter, accounts for only 3% of historical emissions.
- China, which is the world’s biggest emitter for over 15 years now, has contributed about 11% to total emissions since 1850.
Why need climate reparations?
- While the impact of climate change is global, it is much more severe on the poorer nations because of their geographical locations and weaker capacity to cope.
- Countries that have had negligible contributions to historical emissions and have severe limitations of resources are the ones that face the most devastating impacts of climate change.
Institutional mechanism for Climate Reparations
(1) United Nations
- The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the 1994 international agreement that lays down the broad principles of the global effort to fight climate change.
- It explicitly acknowledges this differentiated responsibility of nations.
- It makes it very clear that rich countries must provide both the finance and the technology to the developing nations to help them tackle climate change.
- It is this mandate that later evolved into the $100 billion amount that the rich countries agreed to provide every year to the developing world.
- While this promise is yet to be met, this $100 billion per year amount is not meant for loss and damage.
- Climate disasters were not a regular occurrence in 1994, and as such the UNFCCC does not make a mention of loss and damage.
- This particular demand emerged much later, and faced stiff resistance from the developed nations.
(2) Warsaw International Mechanism (WIM)
- The WIM for Loss and Damages, set up in 2013, was the first formal acknowledgment of the need to compensate developing countries struck by climate disasters.
- However, the progress on this front has been painfully slow.
- No funding mechanism, or even a promise to provide funds, has come about.
Pushback from Developed Countries
- It is not hard to understand why the developed countries are dead against compensation claims.
- They are struggling to put together even the $100 billion per year flow that they had reluctantly agreed to provide.
- Further, loss and damage claims can easily spiral into billions of dollars, or even more.
- The report said that the United States alone is estimated to have “inflicted more than $1.9 trillion in damages to other countries” due to its emissions.
Issues with loss assessment
- There are practical difficulties in estimating how much a country has actually suffered due to the actions of others.
- To begin with, it has to be established that the disaster was caused by climate change.
- Then there are non-economic losses as well, including loss of lives, displacement and migration, health impacts, and damage to cultural heritage.
- Then there is this other step about assessing how much of the losses are due to the event itself, and what could be attributed to misgovernance.
Conclusion
- A lot of background work is going on to create the framework in which it would be possible to quantify the compensation due to an affected country.
- What Pakistan has done, through its demands for reparations, is to call attention to this often neglected aspect.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: EWS Quota , 103rd Amendment
Mains level: Read the attached story
A five-judge Constitution Bench led by CJI U.U. Lalit are hearing petitions challenging the 10% quota for the economically weaker sections (EWS) and an Andhra Pradesh law that grants reservation to Muslims.
What is the news?
- The five-judge Bench, led by CJI, is considering the validity of the 103rd Constitutional Amendment.
- The said amendment provides the 10% reservation to economically weaker sections (EWS) of society in government jobs and educational institutions.
- Economic reservation was introduced by amending Articles 15 and 16 and adding clauses empowering the State governments to provide reservation on the basis of economic backwardness.
EWS Quota: A backgrounder
- The 10% reservation was introduced through the 103rd Constitution Amendment and enforced in January 2019.
- It added Clause (6) to Article 15 to empower the Government to introduce special provisions for the EWS among citizens except those in the classes that already enjoy reservation.
- It allows reservation in educational institutions, both public and private, whether aided or unaided, excluding those run by minority institutions, up to a maximum of 10%.
- It also added Clause (6) to Article 16 to facilitate reservation in employment.
- The new clauses make it clear that the EWS reservation will be in addition to the existing reservation.
Significance of the quota
- The Constitution initially allowed special provisions only for the socially and educationally backward classes.
- The Government introduced the concept of EWS for a new class of affirmative action program for those not covered by or eligible for the community-based quotas.
What are the court’s questions about the criteria?
- Reduction within general category: The EWS quota remains a controversy as its critics say it reduces the size of the open category, besides breaching the 50% limit on the total reservation.
- Arbitrariness over income limit: The court has been intrigued by the income limit being fixed at ₹8 lakh per year. It is the same figure for excluding the ‘creamy layer’ from OBC reservation benefits.
- Socio-economic backwardness: A crucial difference is that those in the general category, to whom the EWS quota is applicable, do not suffer from social or educational backwardness, unlike those classified as the OBC.
- Metropolitan criteria: There are other questions as to whether any exercise was undertaken to derive the exceptions such as why the flat criterion does not differentiate between metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas.
- OBC like criteria: The question the court has raised is that when the OBC category is socially and educationally backward and, therefore, has additional impediments to overcome.
- Not based on relevant data: In line with the Supreme Court’s known position that any reservation or norms for exclusion should be based on relevant data.
- Breaches reservation cap: There is a cap of 50% on reservation as ruled in the Indira Sawhney Case. The principle of balancing equality ordains reservation.
What is the current status of the EWS quota?
- The reservation for the EWS is being implemented by the Union Government for the second year now.
- Recruitment test results show that the category has a lower cut-off mark than the OBC, a point that has upset the traditional beneficiaries of reservation based on caste.
- The explanation is that only a small number of people are currently applying under the EWS category — one has to get an income certificate from the revenue authorities — and therefore the cut-off is low.
- However, when the number picks up over time, the cut-off marks are expected to rise.
Practical issues with EWS Quota
The EWS quota will come in for judicial scrutiny soon. But it’s not only a matter for the judiciary, India’s Parliament should revisit the law too.
- Hasty legislation: This law was passed in haste. It was passed in both the houses within 48 hours, and got presidential approval the next day.
- Minority appeasement: It is widely argued that the law was passed to appease a certain section of upper-caste society and to suppress the demands for minority reservations.
- Morality put to question: Imagine! A constitutional amendment has been made with few hours of deliberation and without consultation of the targeted group. This is certainly against constitutional morality and propriety.
- Substantial backing is missing: This amendment is based on a wrong or unverified premise. This is at best a wild guess or a supposition because the government has not produced any data to back this point.
- Under-reservation of Backward Classes: The assertion is based on the fact that we have different data to prove the under-representation of SC, ST, OBCs. That implies that ‘upper’ castes are over-represented (with 100 minus reservation).
- Rationale of 10%: There is one more problem in this regard. The SC and ST quota is based on their total population. But the rationale for the 10 per cent quota was never discussed.
- Principle of Equality: Economic backwardness is quite a fluid identity. It has nothing to do with historic wrongdoings and liabilities caused to the Backward Classes.
Way forward
- Preserving the merit: We cannot rule out the sorry state of economic backwardness hampering merit in our country.
- Rational critera: There has to be collective wisdom to define and measure the economic weakness of certain sections of the society in order to shape the concept of economic justice.
- Judicial guidance: Judicial interpretation will pave the wave forward for deciding the criterion for EWS Quota.
- Targetted beneficiaries. The centre needs to resort to more rational criteria for deciding the targeted beneficiary of this reservation system. Caste Census data can be useful in this regard.
- Income study: The per capita income or GDP or the difference in purchasing power in the rural and urban areas, should be taken into account while a single income limit was formulated for the whole country.
Conclusion
- Reservation is a constitutional scheme to ensure the participation of backward classes shoulder to shoulder with all citizens in the nation-building process.
- The EWS quota with above discussed ambiguities is the subversion of the constitutional scheme for reservation.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: SYL Canal
Mains level: Interstate water disputes
The Supreme Court drew an assurance from the State of Punjab that it will meet the Haryana counterpart within this month to discuss the construction of the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) Canal which has been languishing for two decades.
Why in news?
- The observations came after the Centre complained that Punjab had “refrained” from coming to the negotiating table to engage in talks with Haryana over the issue.
- The construction of Punjab’s portion of the canal had led to militant attacks in the 1980s.
- The issue had also been a political thorn for successive governments in Punjab, so much so that it led to the State’s unilateral enactment of the controversial Punjab Termination of Water Agreements Act of 2004.
- This law was, however, struck down by a Constitution Bench in 2016, dashing the hopes of Punjab’s farmers to reclaim lands acquired for the SYL canal project.
About Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) Canal
- Satluj Yamuna Link Canal or SYL as it is popularly known, is an under-construction 214-kilometer long canal in India to connect the Sutlej and Yamuna rivers.
What is the SYL canal issue?
- At the time of reorganization of Punjab in 1966, the issue of sharing of river waters between both the states emerged.
- Punjab refused to share waters of Ravi and Beas with Haryana stating it was against the riparian principle.
- Before the reorganization, in 1955, out of 15.85 MAF of Ravi and Beas, the Centre had allocated 8 MAF to Rajasthan, 7.20 MAF to undivided Punjab, 0.65MAF to Jammu and Kashmir.
- Out of 7.20 MAF allocated, Punjab did not want to share any water with Haryana.
- In March 1976, when the Punjab Reorganization Act was implemented, the Centre notified fresh allocations, providing 3.5 MAF To Haryana.
Inception of the canal project
- Later, in 1981, the water flowing down Beas and Ravi was revised and pegged at 17.17 MAF, out of which 4.22 MAF was allocated to Punjab, 3.5 MAF to Haryana, and 8.6 MAF to Rajasthan.
- Finally, to provide this allocated share of water to southern parts of Haryana, a canal linking the Sutlej with the Yamuna, cutting across the state, was planned.
- Finally, the construction of 214-km SYL was started in April 1982, 122 km of which was to run through Punjab and the rest through Haryana.
- Haryana has completed its side of the canal, but work in Punjab has been hanging fire for over three decades.
Why has the SYL canal come up again now?
- The issue is back on centre stage after the Supreme Court directed the CMs of Punjab and Haryana to negotiate and settle the SYL canal issue.
- The apex court asked for a meeting at the highest political level to be mediated by the Centre so that the states reach a consensus over the completion of the SYL canal.
- The meeting remained inconclusive with the Centre expressing the view that the construction of the SYL canal should be completed. But Punjab CM refused categorically.
Punjab’s resentment with the project
- The dispute is based on the bloody history around the SYL canal. The trouble-torn days of terrorism in Punjab started in the early 1980s when work on the SYL started.
- Punjab feels it utilized its precious groundwater resources to grow the crop for the entire country and should not be forced to share its waters as it faces desertification.
- It is feared that once the construction of the canal restarts, the youth may start feeling that the state has been discriminated against.
- The Punjab CM fears Pakistan and secessionist organisations could exploit this and foment trouble in the state.
Water crisis in Punjab
- Punjab is facing severe water crisis due to over-exploitation of its underground aquifers for the wheat/paddy monocycle.
- According to the Central Underground Water Authority’s report, its underground water is over-exploited to meet the agriculture requirements in about 79 per cent area of the state.
- Out of 138 blocks, 109 are “over-exploited”, two are “critical” five are “semi-critical” and only 22 blocks are in “safe” category.
Punjab expects a new tribunal
- The state wants a tribunal seeking a fresh time-bound assessment of the water availability.
- The state has been saying that till date there has been no adjudication or scientific assessment of Punjab river waters.
Try this PYQ:
Which one of the following pairs is not correctly matched? (CSP 2017)
Dam/Lake River
(a) Govind Sagar: Satluj
(b) Kolleru Lake: Krishna
(c) Ukai Reservoir: Tapi
(d) Wular Lake: Jhelum
Post your answers here.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: PM Shri Schools
Mains level: Read the attached story
Prime Minister has announced that under the PM SHRI Scheme, as many as 14,500 schools will be “upgraded” across India to showcase the components of the National Education Policy, 2020.
What is the PM SHRI scheme?
- According to the Ministry of Education, the centrally sponsored scheme will be called PM SHRI Schools (PM Schools for Rising India).
- Under it, as many as 14,500 schools across states and Union Territories will be redeveloped to reflect the key features of the NEP, 2020.
- The plan was first discussed with the education ministers of states and UTs during a conference organised by the Ministry of Education in June at Gandhinagar in Gujarat.
- While there are exemplary schools like Navodaya Vidyalayas, Kendriya Vidyalayas, the PM SHRI will act as “NEP labs”.
What are the key features of NEP in school education?
- The NEP envisages a curricular structure and teaching style divided into various stages – foundational, preparatory, middle and secondary.
- The foundational years (pre-school and grades I, II) will involve play-based learning.
- At the preparatory level (III-V), light textbooks are to be introduced along with some formal classroom teaching. Subject teachers are to be introduced at the middle level (VI-VIII).
- The secondary stage (IX-XII) will be multidisciplinary in nature with no hard separation between arts and sciences or other disciplines.
What is a centrally sponsored scheme?
- A centrally sponsored scheme is one where the cost of implementation is likely to split in the 60:40 ratio among the Union government and the states/Union Territories.
- For instance, the mid-day meal scheme (PM Poshan) or the PM Awas Yojana are examples of centrally sponsored schemes.
- In the case of the Northeastern states, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir and UTs without legislatures, the Centre’s contribution can go up to 90 per cent.
How will PM SHRI schools be different from Kendriya Vidyalayas or Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas?
- Kendriya Vidyalayas or Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas come entirely under the Centre’s Ministry of Education. They are fully funded by the Union government under Central Sector Schemes.
- While KVs largely cater to children of Union government employees posted in states and UTs, JNVs were set up to nurture talented students in rural parts of the country.
- In contrast, PM SHRI schools will be an upgrade of existing schools run by the Centre, states, UTs and local bodies.
- This essentially means that PM SHRI schools can either be KVs, JNVs, state government schools or even those run by municipal corporations.
Where will the PM SHRI schools come up?
- The Centre has not yet released the list of schools that have been chosen for this purpose.
- It has however announced that the PM SHRI schools will also “offer mentorship” to other schools in their vicinity.
- These schools will be equipped with modern infrastructure including labs, smart classrooms, libraries, sports equipment, art room etc.
- It shall also be developed as green schools with water conservation, waste recycling, energy-efficient infrastructure and integration of organic lifestyle in curriculum.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: UNHRC
Mains level: Economic crisis in Sri Lanka
Linking Sri Lanka’s past on human rights record to its current economic crisis, the UN Human Rights Chief on said “impunity” for human rights abuses, economic crimes, and corruption was the underlying reason for the country’s collapse.
UNHRC report on Sri Lanka
- The UNHRC report warned that Sri Lanka’s failure to address human rights violations and war crimes committed in the past had put the country on a “dangerous path”.
- It rose that this could lead to a “recurrence” of policies and practices that gave rise to the earlier situation.
- It flagged the accelerating militarization of civilian governmental functions, a reversal of important constitutional safeguards, political obstruction of accountability, intimidation of civil society, and the use of anti-terrorism laws.
- The shrinking space for independent media and civil society and human rights organizations are also themes in the report.
The Resolution 30/1
- The resolution 30/1 launched in 2015 deals with promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka.
- It extended an opportunity to make good on its promises for justice and offered extensive support to accomplish that objective.
Sri Lanka’s intention
- It is more than Sri Lanka has failed to – and doesn’t intend to — take the necessary, decisive, and sustainable steps necessary to achieve domestic justice and reconciliation.
- Sri Lanka has officially sought India’s help to muster support against the resolution, which it has described as “unwanted interference by powerful countries”.
Where India comes in
- The UNHRC is scheduled to hold an “interactive” session on Sri Lanka where the report was to be discussed, and member countries were to make statements.
- Country-specific resolutions against Sri Lanka have regularly come up at the UNHRC in the last decade.
- New Delhi voted against Sri Lanka in 2012 and abstained in 2014. It was spared the dilemma in 2015 when Sri Lanka joined resolution 30/1.
- With elections coming up in Tamil Nadu, and PM declaring on a recent visit that he was the first Indian leader to visit Jaffna, Sri Lanka has begun reading the tea leaves.
- Whichever way it goes, the resolution is likely to resonate in India-Sri Lanka Relations and for India internally, in the run-up to the Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: manodarpan initiative
Mains level: mental health
Context
- How to deal with mental wellness challenges in the uniformed forces
What is stress?
- Stress is a feeling of emotional or physical tension. It can come from any event or thought that makes you feel frustrated, angry, or nervous. Stress is your body’s reaction to a challenge or demand.
What is mental wellness?
- Mental wellness encompasses emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It influences cognition, perception, and behaviour. It also determines how an individual handles stress, interpersonal relationships, and decision-making.
Why is Mental Health Important?
- Mental health is more important now than ever before; it impacts every area of our lives. The importance of good mental health ripples into everything we do, think, or say.
- Stigma to seek help: The staggering figures are void of millions of others directly, or indirectly impacted by the challenge and those who face deep-rooted stigma, many times rendering them unable to seek help.
- Lack of awareness: This growing challenge in dealing with mental health issues is further compounded by a lack of information and awareness, self-diagnosis, and stigma.
- Psycho-social factors: Institutions like gender, race and ethnicity, are also responsible for mental health conditions.
- Post-Treatment gap: There is a need for proper rehabilitation of the mentally ill persons post/her treatment which is currently not present.
- Rise in Severity: Mental health problems tend to increase during economic downturns, therefore special attention is needed during times of economic distress.
Ongoing challenges in mental wellness regime
- There is a need to expand understanding of the full scope of what uniformed Services and other mental health experts can achieve.
- Stigma regarding mental health both domestically and around the world remains strong.
- There is a lack of trained personnel and healthcare and public health systems in many areas of the world.
- Training needs are broad and reach beyond direct patient care, especially regarding cultural competence, crisis communication, and consultation.
- There is a need for expanded support for the value of multi-professional and multi-organizational integration and collaboration.
Government Policy initiatives
- National Mental Health Program (NMHP): To address the huge burden of mental disorders and shortage of qualified professionals in the field of mental health, the government has been implementing the NMHP since 1982.
- Mental HealthCare Act 2017: It guarantees every affected person access to mental healthcare and treatment from services run or funded by the government.
- Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2017: The Act acknowledges mental illness as a disability and seeks to enhance the Rights and Entitlements of the Disabled and provide an effective mechanism for ensuring their empowerment and inclusion in the society
- Manodarpan Initiative: An initiative under Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan aims to provide psycho-social support to students for their mental health and well-being.
What needs to be done?
- Open dialogue: The practice of open dialogue, a therapeutic practice that originated in Finland, runs through many programmes in the Guidance. This approach trains the therapist in de-escalation of distress and breaks power differentials that allow for free expression.
- Increase investment: With emphasis on social care components such as work force participation, pensions and housing, increased investments in health and social care seem imperative.
- Network of services: For those homeless and who opt not to enter mental health establishments, we can provide a network of services ranging from soup kitchens at vantage points to mobile mental health and social care clinics.
Conclusion
- Persons with mental health conditions need a responsive care system that inspires hope and participation without which their lives are empty. We should endeavour to provide them with such a responsive care system.
Mains question
Q. Mental disorders are now among the top leading causes of health burden worldwide, with no evidence of global reduction since 1990. Examine.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: environment impact of sand mining
Context
- From flora and fauna to human residents, no one has been left untouched due to the wanton extraction of sand mining from Yamuna River.
What is sand?
- Sand is a granular material made up of finely divided rock and mineral fragments. According to The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulations) Act of 1957, sand is classified as a “minor mineral”.
What is Sand mining?
- Sand mining is the extraction of sand, mainly through an open pit but sometimes mined from beaches and inland dunes or dredged from ocean and river beds. Sand is often used in manufacturing, for example as an abrasive or in concrete.
Sand Mining overview
- Least regulated: Sand and gravel are the second largest natural resources extracted and traded by volume after water, but among the least regulated.
- Uneven distribution: Sand is created by slow geological processes, and its distribution is not even.
- Desert sand: Available in plenty, is not suited for construction use because it is wind-smoothed, and therefore non-adherent.
- Environmental impact: While 85% to 90% of global sand demand is met from quarries, and sand and gravel pits, the 10% to 15% extracted from rivers and sea shores is a severe concern due the environmental and social impacts.
Concerns of excessive mining
- Deteriorating river banks: Their extraction often results in river and coastal erosion and threats to freshwater and marine fisheries and aquatic ecosystems, instability of river banks leading to increased flooding, and lowering of ground water levels.
- Critical hotspot: The report notes that China and India head the list of critical hotspots for sand extraction impacts in rivers, lakes and on coastlines.
- Broken replenishment: system exacerbates pressures on beaches already threatened by sea level rise and intensity of storm-waves induced by climate change, as well as coastal developments.
- Aesthetic sense is reduced: There are also indirect consequences, like loss of local livelihoods an ironic example is that construction in tourist destinations can lead to depletion of natural sand in the area, thereby making those very places unattractive and safety risks for workers where the industry is not regulated.
- No comprehensive assessment: Despite this, there is no comprehensive assessment available to evaluate the scale of sand mining in India.
- Damage to the environment: Regional studies such as those by the Centre for Science and Environment of the Yamuna riverbed in Uttar Pradesh have observed that increasing demand for soil has severely affected soil formation and the soil holding ability of the land, leading to a loss in marine life, an increase in flood frequency, droughts, and also degradation of water quality.
- Loss to exchequer: It is not just damage to the environment. Illegal mining causes copious losses to the state exchequer.
Innovative use of technology
State governments such as Gujarat have employed satellite imagery to monitor the volume of sand extraction and transportation from the riverbeds.
- Where to mine and where to prohibit mining: District Survey Report for each district in the country, focusing on the river as a single ecological system. ISRO, remote sensing data, and ground truthing are all used.
- Sustainable mining: It involves extracting only the amount of material that is deposited each year.
- District authorities’ participation in the process: The District Collector chairs the District Environment Impact Assessment Authority (DEIAA). The District Collector will be assisted by the District Level Expert Appraisal Committee (DEAC), which is led by the Executive Engineer (Irrigation Department) and is tasked with granting environmental clearance for up to 5 hectares of mine lease area for minor minerals, primarily sand.
Conclusion
- Protecting sand mineral requires investment in production and consumption measurement and also monitoring and planning tools. To this end, technology has to be used to provide a sustainable solution.
Mains question
Q. A growing global population increasingly living in cities has led to a spiralling rise in the extraction of sand and aggregates, with serious environmental, political and social consequences. Examine.
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Reasons for Persistence of 