Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: World Geospatial Information Congress (UNWGIC)
Mains level: Geospatial technology
PM has inaugurated the second United Nations World Geospatial Information Congress (UNWGIC) in Hyderabad.
What is UNWGIC?
- The first United Nations World Geospatial Information Congress was held in Deqing, Zhejiang Province, China in 2018.
- The United Nation Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM) organizes the UNWGIC every four years.
- It is hosted by the Ministry of Science and Technology of the Government of India.
- The objectives are enhancing international collaboration among the Member States and relevant stakeholders in Geospatial information management and capacities.
- The theme of UNWGIC 2022 is ‘Geo-Enabling the Global Village: No one should be left behind’.
Objectives of UNWGIC
- The move aims to provide high-quality and trustworthy geospatial data to support global and national policy agendas.
- It also stresses international cooperation and coordination in the development of human data linked to geography.
- It promotes societal development and well-being, addresses environmental and climate challenges, and embraces digital transformation and technological advancement.
Why collaborate on geospatial technology?
- Geospatial technology can be used to create intelligent maps and models which help to collect geographically referenced data.
- Decisions based on the value and importance of resources, most of which are limited, can become easy through geospatial technology.
- Intelligent maps and models can be created using geospatial technology.
- It can be used to reveal spatial patterns hidden in large amounts of data that are complex to access collectively through mapping.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: Human Migration: Reasons and Impact
Context
- India has used Aadhaar (digital identity) and UPI (digital payments) extensively to address the challenges of identification and financial inclusion in social protection delivery, particularly in the case of migrants.
Who is a migrant worker?
- A “migrant worker” is a person who either migrates within their home country or outside it to pursue work.
- Usually, migrant workers do not have the intention to stay permanently in the country or region in which they work.
- As per the census 2011, the total number of internal migrants in India is 36 crore or 37% of the country’s population.
- The Economic Survey pegged the size of the migrant workforce at roughly 20 percent or over 10 crores in 2016.
What are the problems faced by migrants?
- Issues with finding local Employment: Most migrant workers have a seasonal nature of employment. During off-seasons, they struggle to feed their families. Repeated lockdowns made situations more difficult for migrants to find jobs in their localities. They faced travel restrictions which hindered their job search as well.
- Lack of Insurance Benefits in a Pandemic Environment: Migrant workers work in precarious conditions with little wages and no access to government schemes and services. Poor and unsafe working and living conditions make them prone to diseases. Greater threats of occupational illnesses, nutritional diseases, alcoholism, HIV, and communicable diseases are rampant in the migrant workforce.
- Issue of timely and Fair Payment of Wages: The informal workforce in India consists of more than 150.6 million regular and daily wage earners. Most of these workers are unaware of their rights as ‘migrant workers. Many unscrupulous agents coerce them and don’t pay minimum wages as per law.
- Lack of portability of benefits: Migrants registered to claim access to benefits at one location lose access upon migration to a different location. This is especially true of access to entitlements under the PDS. The ration card required to access benefits under the PDS is issued by state governments and is not portable across states. This system excludes inter-state migrants from the PDS unless they surrender their card from the home state and get a new one from the host state.
- Lack of affordable housing: The proportion of migrants in urban population is 47%. In 2015, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs identified migrants in urban areas as the largest population needing housing in cities. There is inadequate supply of low-income ownership and rental housing options.
Government steps for migrant workers
- Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana: After the lockdown, Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana with a financial package of Rs. 1.7 lakh crore was launched to help poor, needy, and unorganized sector workers of the country.
- PM SVANidhi Scheme: PM SVANidhi Scheme was launched to facilitate collateral-free working capital loans up to Rs.10,000/- of one-year tenure, to approximately, 50 lakh street vendors, to resume their businesses.
- Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyan: In order to facilitate the employment of migrant workers who have gone back to their home state, Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyan was initiated in 116 districts in Mission Mode.
- State migrant cell: Migrant workers’ Cell is being created to prepare a database of migrant workers in states with mapping.
- eShram portal: It is a national database created to register the unorganised workers in the country, including the migrant workers.
- National policy on migrant workers: NITI Aayog has been mandated to prepare a draft national policy on migrant workers to reimagine labour-capital relations while integrating the migrant workers within the formal workforce.
How technology could provide Solutions?
- Providing digital public infrastructure (DPI): Digital public infrastructure systems that enable the effective provision of essential society-wide functions and services can enable a paradigm shift, allowing governments to co-create solutions with the private sector and civil society.
- Adopting Public private partnership models: There are three key areas where DPI can enable public-private partnerships (PPP) in the delivery of social protection of migrants,
- Awareness of entitlements: One barrier faced at the initial stage is lack of awareness of entitlements or of the need to reapply, when migrants move from one state to another. Jan Saathi is an application that provides migrants withinformation on eligible social security schemes. Organisations such as Haqdarshak not only inform potential beneficiaries about their eligibility for various schemes, Central or State, but also help them avail entitlements.
- Information about livelihoods and housing: The informal nature of the labour market makes access to affordable and safe living conditions a challenge, especially if the family migrates as a unit. Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairshas introduced the Affordable Rental Housing Complexes under PMAY-Urban but the availability of such facilities is inadequate compared to the number of migrants. Bandhu’s ecosystem of applications connect migrant workers directly with employers and housing providers, to give them more informed choices. Jobsgaar and MyRojgaar also play a similar role by connecting workers to employers.
- Healthy Grievance redressal Mechanism: Gram Vaani bridges the gap in grievance redressal by providing a platform where citizens can use Interactive Voice Response (IVR) to record their grievance in accessing entitlements. Aajeevika Bureau and The Working People’s Charter built the India Labourline to provide legal aid and mediation services to migrant workers.
- Adopting a well-designed data: While a growing ecosystem of private players (NGOs, civil society organisations, not-for-profit and for-profit entities) are addressing these needs, well designed data exchanges can help unlock a strong public-private collaboration in the delivery of social protection.
What more government can do to address the issue of migrants?
- Creating centralized data: The state’s digital efforts are often in siloes and the need to maximize the use of data across schemes and departments is a high priority.
- E-Shram: Initiatives such as direct benefit transfers and linking schemes for the portability of entitlements have shown promise. e-Shram, which is a national database of unorganized workers, aims to reduce access barriers to social protection for migrants.
- Making portable entitlement: Recent announcements of API-based integration of e-Shram with the various state government labor departments and with the One Nation One Ration Card scheme are a step in that direction.
- Working with the private sector: Enabling linkages of migrant data with the private sector can lead to benefits on the demand side, in the form of reduced transaction costs in identifying jobs, affordable housing, and redressal of grievances.
- Engaging the private sector: Private players who have established relationships with these mobile populations can help the state in planning and forecasting the demand for benefits. An example of this is the digital payment ecosystem since the introduction of UPI.
Conclusion
- Digital technologies have potential solutions to problems and transform the livelihood of migrants. The need for adequate data protection and safeguards is essential for the implementation of any such initiative.
Mains Question
Q.Enlist the problem faced by migrant workers? Elaborate on how use of technology can solve the many problems of migrants.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: Urab floods,Urban challenges and solutions
Context
- After flooding of major metropolitan cities of Bengaluru, Gurgaon and Delhi following heavy rainfall, the Centre has pointed to two cities – Davanagere and Agartala – as successful examples of cities that have curbed urban flooding.
Why cities are so important in India?
- Drivers of Growth: Urbanisation has played and will continue to play a critical role in India’s growth story in the 21st century.
- Cities are seen as GDP multipliers: By some estimates, Indian cities already contribute up to 70% of the country’s GDP. Yet, depending on which official estimates you use, India is just 26% or 31% urban. But there is growing evidence that India is more urban than is officially recognized.
- Cities have more productivity: Well-functioning and diverse cities allow for the sharing and cross-pollination of ideas, which in turn drive greater productivity.
- Lack of Planning: current urban planning policies and practice have led to suboptimal use of land in Indian cities. This has multiple consequences. There is not enough floor space for accommodating migrants in search of economic opportunities; they make space for themselves in informal settlements. There is also not enough land in the public domain for developing adequate open spaces or augmenting infrastructure capacities.
- Lack of Housing:The pandemic revealed that the cities’ economies rely on migrant populations in the formal and informal sectors. Workers in both markets move from rural to urban and urban to urban areas as they find better opportunities; they are mobile and need adequate rental options. Today, in most Indian cities, this demand is not met and leads to unaffordable options, pushing the poorer sections out to slums and other informal settlements.
- Lack of Transport: Indian cities are infamous for their road congestion; three of them rank in the 10 most congested in the world according to the 2020 TomTom Travel Index with Mumbai ranking second. The existing public transportation systems are already overcrowded and of poor quality.
- Lack of Public health: Like other health crises, the COVID-19 pandemic revealed the need to ensure adequate healthcare services and sanitation infrastructure for a healthy population in cities. In the initial months of the outbreak, the focus of health services shifted entirely towards addressing the novel coronavirus, leaving other health issues unaddressed and shutting down routine care services.
- Impact on Environment: The causes for low air quality are multiple; vehicular movement and on-road congestion are major contributors. A safe and clean environment is key to good public health.
- Problems faced by vulnerable sections: The economic shock and work from home guidelines changed migration patterns; workers in cities returned to their home towns and villages. Slum dwellers, with limited access to adequate infrastructure, and migrant workers, disenfranchised from social protection systems or daily wagers, were more vulnerable to this shock. In the medium and long term, it is difficult to predict what the job market will be in cities.
What can be done to address the urban challenges?
- Future planning is necessary: Manage the spatial growth of cities and allow them to build more planned road networks for future horizontal expansion and revoke faulty policies that constrain the use of floor space to build vertically.
- Housing for all scheme is important: Focus on providing public housing for the poor; India can learn from successful models in Singapore or Hong Kong and understand the strategic challenges of other international examples such as Mexico. India can also work toenable efficient rental markets
- Holistic transport should be focused: Integrate formal and informal modes of transportation into holistic transportation strategies to ensure seamless mobility, as well as first and last mile connectivity.
- Increasing funds to Cities: Decentralise fiscal powers to the local level and train city authorities so that they can make more strategic decisions in health expenditures or public health infrastructure, as well as gain the capacity to raise their own resources.
- Need of a healthy Environment: Increase the number of open spaces in the public domain, maintain them and monitor their use. Prepare for disasters with robust framework of physical infrastructures, road networks and large open spaces. Build adequate infrastructure to support the sustainable development of emerging Tier-2 and Tier 3 towns.
- More attention to vulnerable: Develop more systematic identification mechanisms of the urban poor to ameliorate the delivery of public services and social protection. Collect accurate data on migrant population and capture their socio-economic diversity to better address their needs. Monitor access to services, housing and jobs of the vulnerable communities in real time.
Conclusion
- Urban infrastructure is crumbling day by day. In the next 25 years, cities will have more population than rural areas. Indian cities need urgent reform in order to unlock their economic potential and transform quality of life.
Mains Question
Q.Discuss the urban infrastructure challenges? What are the governments scheme and actions to address the urbanization challenges?
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Critical Minerals,rare earth minerals
Mains level: critical minerals and applications ,Aatmanirbharta in Energy security.
Context
- In his Independence Day address, Prime Minister Narendra Modi exhorted the country to pursue aatmanirbhar bharta in energy by focusing on clean energy technologies. Securing access to key critical minerals such as lithium, cobalt, nickel and rare earth metals is critical for building resilient and indigenous supply chains for clean energy technologies.
Background
- Concerns over the pricing and availability of oil and gas in the wake of the Ukraine crisis continue to fuel global policy debates on energy security. However, the fragility of clean energy supply chains obscures pathways for countries to reduce dependence on fossil fuel.
- Imported inflationary pressures through exposure to volatile oil and gas markets also pose risks to macroeconomic growth and stability, particularly for India, import dependent for around 85% of its oil and half of its gas needs.
What are Critical Minerals?
- Critical minerals are elements that are the building blocks of essential modern-day technologies, and are at risk of supply chain disruptions.
- These minerals are now used everywhere from making mobile phones, computers to batteries, electric vehicles and green technologies like solar panels and wind turbines.
- Based on their individual needs and strategic considerations, different countries create their own lists.
- However, such lists mostly include graphite, lithium, cobalt, rare earths and silicon which is a key mineral for making computer chips, solar panels and batteries.
- Aerospace, communications and defence industries also rely on several such minerals as they are used in manufacturing fighter jets, drones, radio sets and other critical equipment.
Why is this resource critical?
- As countries around the world scale up their transition towards clean energy and digital economy, these critical resources are key to the ecosystem that fuels this change.
- Any supply shock can severely imperil the economy and strategic autonomy of a country over-dependent on others to procure critical minerals.
- But these supply risks exist due to rare availability, growing demand and complex processing value chain.
- Many times the complex supply chain can be disrupted by hostile regimes, or due to politically unstable regions.
- They are critical as the world is fast shifting from a fossil fuel-intensive to a mineral-intensive energy system.
What are Rare Earth Metals?
- The rare earth elements (REE) are a set of seventeen metallic elements. These include the fifteen lanthanides on the periodic table plus scandium and yttrium.
- Rare earth elements are an essential part of many high-tech devices.
- They have a wide range of applications, especially high-tech consumer products, such as cellular telephones, computer hard drives, electric and hybrid vehicles, and flat-screen monitors and televisions.
- Significant defense applications include electronic displays, guidance systems, lasers, and radar and sonar systems.
- Rare earth minerals, with names like neodymium, praseodymium, and dysprosium, are crucial to the manufacture of magnets used in industries of the future, such as wind turbines and electric cars.
Applications of REMs in various fields:
- Electronics: Television screens, computers, cell phones, silicon chips, monitor displays, long-life rechargeable batteries, camera lenses, light-emitting diodes (LEDs), compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), baggage scanners, marine propulsion systems.
- Defense Sector: Rare earth elements play an essential role in our national defense. The military uses night-vision goggles, precision-guided weapons, communications equipment, GPS equipment, batteries, and other defense electronics. These give the United States military an enormous advantage. Rare earth metals are key ingredients for making the very hard alloys used in armored vehicles and projectiles that shatter upon impact.
- Renewable Energy: Solar panels, Hybrid automobiles, wind turbines, next-generation rechargeable batteries, bio-fuel catalysts.
- Manufacturing: High strength magnets, metal alloys, stress gauges, ceramic pigments, colorants in glassware, chemical oxidizing agent, polishing powders, plastics creation, as additives for strengthening other metals, automotive catalytic converters
- Medical Science: Portable x-ray machines, x-ray tubes, magnetic resonance imagery (MRI) contrast agents, nuclear medicine imaging, cancer treatment applications, and for genetic screening tests, medical and dental lasers.
- Technology: Lasers, optical glass, fiber optics, masers, radar detection devices, nuclear fuel rods, mercury-vapor lamps, highly reflective glass, computer memory, nuclear batteries, high-temperature superconductors.
DO YOU KNOW?
Metals such as cadmium, lead are often used in manufacturing plastic and over time can enter coastal waters. These are acutely harmful for coastal wildlife and humans.Different kinds of plastic releases different kinds of metals that may release when exposed to water and UV lights.
- Deposits in geopolitically sensitive regions: Reserves are often concentrated in regions that are geopolitically sensitive or fare poorly from an ease of doing business perspective.
- Controlled production: A portion of existing production is controlled by geostrategic competitors. For example, China wields considerable influence in cobalt mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo through direct equity investments and its Belt and Road Initiative.
- Agreements in advance from outside: Future mine production is often tied up in off take agreements, in advance, by buyers from other countries to cater to upcoming demand.
A step taken by Indian government for sourcing strategic minerals
- For sourcing of strategic minerals, the Indian government established Khanij Bidesh India Limited (KABIL) in 2019 with the mandate to secure mineral supply for the domestic market.
What is Khanij Bidesh India Limited (KABIL)?
- Joint venture: A joint venture company namely Khanij Bidesh India Ltd. (KABIL) set up with the participation of three Central Public Sector Enterprises namely, National Aluminium Company Ltd.(NALCO), Hindustan Copper Ltd.(HCL) and Mineral Exploration Company Ltd. (MECL).
- Objective: The objective of constituting KABIL is to ensure a consistent supply of critical and strategic minerals to Indian domestic market. While KABIL would ensure mineral security of the Nation, it would also help in realizing the overall objective of import substitution.
Suggestions based on Council on energy environment and water (CEEW) to achieve the objective of KABIL
- Mapping out the domestic requirement: Figure out the mineral requirements of the domestic industry. This could best be accomplished by a task force which includes the ministries of power, new and renewable energy, heavy industry, and science and technology.
- Clear road map for indigenous manufacturing: Five year road maps with clear targets for deployment and indigenous manufacturing across clean energy applications would provide visibility to domestic investors. Assess the technology mix that would support this deployment. On this basis, determine the quantities of minerals necessary to support indigenous manufacturing.
- Better coordination between different stakeholders: Coordinate with the domestic industry to determine where strategic interventions by the government would be necessary for the purpose.KABIL could collaborate with industry to bolster its market intelligence capabilities for tracking global supply side developments.
- Preemptive agreements through KABIL for reliable supply: If conducive investment opportunities don’t exist KABIL should preemptively sign off take agreements with global mineral suppliers to secure future production. It could aggregate reliable supply of minerals for domestic requirements and sign back to back sales agreements with the domestic industry .Such large scale centralised national procurement could be done at preferential terms.
- Joint Investment In mining assets to mitigate investment risks: The government should jointly invest in mining assets with geostrategic partners. KABIL should make equity investments in mining jurisdictions that private sector investors may deem too risky. It should leverage government to government partnerships to mitigate investment risks. This could be done through joint investments with sovereign entities from geostrategic partners or private sector entities with expertise in specific geographies.
- Finding the alternatives: Technologies such as sodium ion batteries could reduce requirements for sourcing minerals from beyond India’s borders. It could also propose co development of such technologies with geostrategic partners.
- Developing policies on sustainable urban mining and recycling: Develop policies on urban mining aimed at recycling mineral inputs from deployments that have completed their useful life. These could help further reduce dependence on international sourcing.
Conclusion
- Besides Ukraine, other potential geopolitical flash points also exist against a backdrop of dwindling multilateral cooperation. India must act immediately and decisively to mitigate these risks to its energy security.
Mains Question
Q.What are critical minerals? Why the critical minerals are so important? What steps India can take to achieve the objective of Atmanirbhar Bharat in domestic mineral supply and thereby mitigating energy security risks?
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Nobel Prize
Mains level: Not Much
The Nobel Prize for Economics in 2022 was awarded to Ben S Bernanke, Douglas W Diamond and Philip H Dybvig for research on banks and financial crises.
Do you know?
- The economics prize is not one of the original five awards created in the 1895 will of industrialist and dynamite inventor Alfred Nobel.
- It was established by Sweden’s central bank and first awarded in 1969, its full and formal name being the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel.
Why was the Nobel given to these three scholars?
- The research of the three laureates has helped us understand the role of banks in the economy, particularly during financial crises.
- Their research shows why avoiding a bank collapse is very important for the economy.
Which bank did these scholars study?
- In 1656, the then-king of Sweden approved the foundation of Sweden’s first bank, the Stockholms Banco, which also became the first bank to issue banknotes in Europe.
- However, Banco over-issued notes leading to its liquidation in 1667.
- In 1668, the Swedish Nobles decided to found the Riksens Standers Bank, which was later renamed as Sveriges Riksbank in 1867.
- In 1968, on its tercentenary, the Sveriges Riksbank decided to award the economics prize in memory of Alfred Nobel.
- The award itself was the result of an ongoing crisis and conflict between the central bank and the government.
- The purpose of mentioning this history is to highlight how failures are central to banks.
- Banks have failed ever since they were created.
What does Ben Bernanke say about banking crises?
- In the 1930s, the world economy faced a serious economic contraction called the Great Depression.
- For many years, it was thought the Great Depression was due to a lack of policy stimulus.
- The economist John Maynard Keynes had argued that monetary policy was ineffective in such crises as interest rates could not go lower than zero percent, and one needed a large fiscal stimulus.
- Milton Friedman argued that central banks could create money even when interest rates were zero by buying assets, thereby increasing the money supply.
Reasons behind the crisis
- Bernanke said that while a lack of policy stimulus explains the contraction, it does not explain why the Great Depression continued for such a long time.
- The economic contraction had led to a large number of bank failures.
- His argument was that it was this large-scale failure of banks which prolonged the crisis.
- Banks were not in a position to channel loans towards productive activities, leading to the crisis becoming more severe in the US.
How is bank failure attributed to the financial crisis?
- Banks have special insights into companies, and when a bank fails, all this information is lost.
- A failed banking system takes many years to repair and the economy performs very poorly in this period.
- This explains why the Great Depression became such a prolonged crisis.
- Bernanke drew his analysis from a deep understanding of economic and monetary history.
- This prize also shows the importance of history, which is becoming rarer in economic research.
What are Diamond’s and Dybvig’s insights into banking crises?
- Bernanke explained what happens when banks fail. But Diamond and Dybvig explained why banks fail.
- In joint research, hence called the Diamond-Dybvig model, they explain that banks fail when depositors rush for their money.
- In their model, banks are seen as financial intermediaries that intermediate funds from depositors to loan seekers.
- The deposits are for shorter durations whereas loans are typically given for longer durations (technically called the maturity transformation function of banks).
- The banks are seen as entities that help savers meet investors, and by channeling loans towards good projects, banks help an economy grow.
How bank failure is related to depositors?
- Banks are prone to runs by depositors.
- In their research, they show that once there is a rumor about a bank’s weakness, it spreads like wildfire, causing a bank run, when depositors literally run for their funds to the bank.
- As banks lend most of the funds towards long-term projects, the loans cannot be recalled easily to repay the depositors.
- If the rumor is not addressed, it leads to eventual bank failure.
Is it Nobel-worthy?
- While many know this is basically how banks fail, the prize-winning duo formalized the model.
- They also presented a solution for bank failures via deposit insurance, which was also introduced before their research.
- In 1933, the US was the first country to adopt deposit insurance, followed by India in 1962.
- Both adopted deposit insurance after a significant number of banks failed in these countries.
What does the prize mean for Indian banking?
- India has been facing sporadic banking crises from 2013 where few banks failed.
- Bernanke’s research shows how once a crisis starts, it can prolong not just banking problems but also lower economic growth over time.
- Diamond-Dybvig’s research shows how the weak performance of individual banks like the Punjab and Maharashtra Urban Cooperative Bank and Yes Bank lead to runs.
- Such banks need to be bailed out by the government.
- There was also the case of ICICI bank which faced a run in 2008 based on rumours, but the run was stalled by the central bank by issuing a notification assuring the sound health of the bank.
You must know this!
- Economist and former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) chief Raghuram Rajan seemed to have missed out on the award.
- He is a leading scholar on banking and has written many research papers with this year’s awardee, Douglass Diamond.
- The Nobel committee has cited 12 of his research papers, which are a significant contribution to the field of banking.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: INSPACE, NSIL
Mains level: India's space economy
India’s space economy is likely to be worth nearly $13 billion by 2025, with the satellite launch services segment set to witness the fastest growth due to increasing private participation.
About the report
- The report is released by the Indian Space Association (ISpA) and Ernst & Young.
- It says that the growing demand for smaller satellites is set to boost satellite manufacturing in the country.
- It will attract global start-ups in the sector to help incubate space tech companies to India.
Key highlights
- India’s space economy was pegged at $9.6 billion in 2020 and is expected to touch $12.8 billion by 2025.
- In dollar terms, the satellite services and applications segment would be the largest with a turnover of $4.6 billion by 2025, followed by the ground segment at $4 billion.
- Satellite manufacturing stands at $3.2 billion and launch services at $1 billion.
- The launch services segment was pegged at $600 million in 2020 and is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 13 percent to reach $1 billion by 2025.
Key drivers of this demand
- India has of over 100 space tech start-ups with investments in the segment touching $68 million in 2021.
- The availability of low-cost satellite launch vehicles coupled with mass production will lead to demand from customers around the world.
- Several companies are utilising cutting-edge technologies to develop innovative launch solutions in India.
Where does India stand in the global space market?
- As per SpaceTech Analytics, India is the sixth-largest player in the industry internationally having 3.6% of the world’s space-tech companies (as of 2021).
- US holds the leader’s spot housing 56.4% of all companies in the space-tech ecosystem.
- Other major players include UK (6.5%), Canada (5.3%), China (4.7%) and Germany (4.1%).
- The Indian Space Industry was valued at $7 billion in 2019 and aspires to grow to $50 billion by 2024.
Why does India matter in the global space-tech market?
- The country’s standout feature is its cost-effectiveness.
- India holds the distinction of being the first country to have reached the Mars’ orbit in its first attempt and at $75 million — way cheaper than Western standards.
Future prospects of India’s private ‘Space’
Ans. India may lead in space junk management
- Almost 60-odd start-ups had registered with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) this year.
- A majority of them were dealing in projects related to space debris management.
- As space becomes more congested with satellites, the technology would thus help in managing ‘space junk’ (debris of old spacecraft and satellites).
How is the private sector’s involvement regulated in India?
- In June 2020, the Union government announced reforms in the space sector enabling more private players to provide end-to-end services.
- The central idea was to bring forth a predictable policy and regulatory environment for them and additionally provide access to ISRO facilities and assets to improve their capacities.
(1) Establishment of IN-SPACe
- An announcement for the establishment of the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) was made.
- It was mandated the task of promoting, authorising and licensing private players to carry out space activities.
- As an oversight and regulatory body, it is responsible for devising mechanisms to offer sharing of technology, expertise, and facilities free of cost to promote non-government private entities (NGPEs).
- IN-SPACe’s Monitoring and Promotion Directorate oversees NGPE’s activities as per prescribed regulations and reports back in case any corrective actions or resolutions are required.
- ISRO shares its expertise in matters pertaining to quality and reliability protocols, documentation, and testing procedure through IN-SPACe’s ‘interface mechanism’.
(2) Establishment of NSIL
- Additionally, constituted in March 2019, New Space India Ltd (NSIL), is mandated to transfer the matured technologies developed by the ISRO to Indian industries.
- All of them are under the purview of the Ministry of Defence.
- Private sector’s involvement in the long term, as with other commercial sectors, is believed to help spur investment and expertise in the realm which is capital-intensive and demands high technology.
Where does India lack?
Ans. Undisputedly, it is the finances
- The US and Canada were the highest receivers of space-related investment in 2021.
- The US’s space budget was $41 billion in 2021, $23.3 billion of which was focused on NASA.
- India’s total budgetary allocation for FY2022-23 towards the Department of Space was ₹13,700 crore ($172 million).
- Further, as per Tracxn data, funding into the sector’s start-ups (in India) nearly tripled to $67.2 million on a year-over-year basis in 2021.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Collegium system, NJAC
Mains level: Read the attached story
The Supreme Court Collegium has issued an unprecedented statement acknowledging differences between Chief Justice of India and two senior judges over the procedure to select candidates for appointment as apex court judges.
What is the news?
- Two senior judges of the apex court objected to the CJI’s never-before act of circulating his written recommendations among the collegium members for their approval.
- The standard procedure instead is to have adopt across-the-table discussions.
What is the issue over this?
- CJI Lalit is slated to retire on 8
- As per the Supreme Court convention, the outgoing CJI does not hold collegium meetings when the appointment of his successor has already started.
What exactly is the Collegium System?
- The collegium system was born out of years of friction between the judiciary and the executive.
- The hostility was further accentuated by instances of court-packing (the practice of changing the composition of judges in a court), mass transfer of HC judges and two supersessions to the office of the CJI in the 1970s.
- The Three Judges cases saw the evolution of the collegium system.
Evolution: The Judges Cases
- First Judges Case (1981) ruled that the “consultation” with the CJI in the matter of appointments must be full and effective.
- However, it rejected the idea that the CJI’s opinion, albeit carrying great weight, should have primacy.
- Second Judges Case (1993) introduced the Collegium system, holding that “consultation” really meant “concurrence”.
- It added that it was not the CJI’s individual opinion, but an institutional opinion formed in consultation with the two senior-most judges in the Supreme Court.
- Third Judges Case (1998): On a Presidential Reference for its opinion, the Supreme Court, in the Third Judges Case (1998) expanded the Collegium to a five-member body, comprising the CJI and four of his senior-most colleagues.
How does the collegium system work?
- The collegium of the CJI and four senior-most judges of the Supreme Court make recommendations for appointments to the apex court and High Courts.
- The collegium can veto the government if the names are sent back by the latter for reconsideration.
- The basic tenet behind the collegium system is that the judiciary should have primacy over the government in matters of appointments and transfers in order to remain independent.
The procedure followed by the Collegium
Appointment of CJI
- The President of India appoints the CJI and the other SC judges.
- As far as the CJI is concerned, the outgoing CJI recommends his successor.
- In practice, it has been strictly by seniority ever since the supersession controversy of the 1970s.
- The Union Law Minister forwards the recommendation to the PM who, in turn, advises the President.
Other SC Judges
- For other judges of the top court, the proposal is initiated by the CJI.
- The CJI consults the rest of the Collegium members, as well as the senior-most judge of the court hailing from the High Court to which the recommended person belongs.
- The consultees must record their opinions in writing and it should form part of the file.
- The Collegium sends the recommendation to the Law Minister, who forwards it to the Prime Minister to advise the President.
For High Courts
- The CJs of High Courts are appointed as per the policy of having Chief Justices from outside the respective States. The Collegium takes the call on the elevation.
- High Court judges are recommended by a Collegium comprising the CJI and two senior-most judges.
- The proposal, however, is initiated by the Chief Justice of the High Court concerned in consultation with two senior-most colleagues.
- The recommendation is sent to the Chief Minister, who advises the Governor to send the proposal to the Union Law Minister.
Does the Collegium recommend transfers too?
- Yes, the Collegium also recommends the transfer of Chief Justices and other judges.
- Article 222 of the Constitution provides for the transfer of a judge from one High Court to another.
- When a CJ is transferred, a replacement must also be simultaneously found for the High Court concerned. There can be an acting CJ in a High Court for not more than a month.
- In matters of transfers, the opinion of the CJI “is determinative”, and the consent of the judge concerned is not required.
- However, the CJI should take into account the views of the CJ of the High Court concerned and the views of one or more SC judges who are in a position to do so.
- All transfers must be made in the public interest, that is, “for the betterment of the administration of justice”.
Loopholes in the Collegium system
- Lack of Transparency: Opaqueness and a lack of transparency, and the scope for nepotism are cited often.
- Judges appointing Judge: The attempt made to replace it with a ‘National Judicial Appointments Commission’ was struck down by the court in 2015 on the ground that it posed a threat to the independence of the judiciary.
- Criteria: Some do not believe in full disclosure of reasons for transfers, as it may make lawyers in the destination court chary of the transferred judge. It has even been accused of nepotism.
Way ahead
- In respect of appointments, there has been an acknowledgment that the “zone of consideration” must be expanded to avoid criticism that many appointees hail from families of retired judges.
- The status of a proposed new memorandum of procedure, to infuse greater accountability, is also unclear.
- Even the majority of opinions admitted the need for transparency, now Collegiums’ resolutions are now posted online, but reasons are not given.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: Mental healthcare in India
10th October, yesterday was observed as World Mental Health Day.
What is the news?
- The Lancet released a new report calling for radical action to end stigma and discrimination in mental health.
- It stated that 90% of people living with mental health conditions feel negatively impacted by stigma and discrimination.
Mental Illness in India
- Mental disorders are now among the top leading causes of health burden worldwide, with no evidence of global reduction since 1990.
- In 2017, an estimation of the burden of mental health conditions for the states across India revealed that as many as 197.3 million people required care for mental health conditions.
- This included around 45.7 million people with depressive disorders and 44.9 million people with anxiety disorders.
- The situation has been exacerbated due to the Covid-19 pandemic, making it a serious concern the world over.
Reasons for Persistence of Mental Illness
- 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 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.
Need for immediate intervention
- Neglected Area: Mental health which forms the core of our personhood is often neglected which impeded the development of an individual to full potential.
- Disproportionate impact: It is the poor, dispossessed and marginalised who bear the greatest burden of mental health problems, but historically their sufferings are dismissed as a natural extension of their social and economic conditions.
- Vulnerability of the ills: Mentally ill patients are vulnerable to and usually suffer from drug abuse, wrongful confinement, even at homes and mental healthcare facilities which is a cause of concern and a gross human right violation.
- Suicidal tendencies: Suicidal behavior was found to have relation with female gender, working condition, independent decision making, premarital sex, physical abuse and sexual abuse.
- Gendered nature: Females are more predisposed to mental disorders due to rapid social change, gender discrimination, social exclusion, gender disadvantage like marrying at young age, concern about the husband’s substance misuse habits, and domestic violence.
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.
Way Forward
- Policy boost: Mental health situation in India demands active policy interventions and resource allocation by the government.
- Public sensitization: To reduce the stigma around mental health, we need measures to train and sensitize the community/society.
- Awareness: People should be made aware of the significance of mental health, as much as that of physical health.
- Destigmatising: Sharing one’s story about mental health (through media campaigns) is the most effective strategy to reduce stigma attached with mental illness
- Community Approach: There is need to deploy community health workers who, with appropriate training and supervision, effectively deliver psychosocial interventions for the needy
- Broadening the scope: Mental health care must embrace the diversity of experiences and strategies which work, well beyond the narrow confines of traditional biomedicine with its emphasis on “doctors, diagnoses, and drugs”.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: SCO
Mains level: Not Much
Pakistan has been invited to the closing ceremony of the ongoing Joint Anti-Terror Exercise (JATE) within the ambit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) being hosted by India.
What is the news?
- The National Security Guard (NSG) is hosting the multinational JATE “Manesar Anti-Terror 2022”, under the framework of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS).
- Pakistan team would be participating in the event as a member of the SCO.
What is SCO RATS?
- Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) is a permanent organ of the SCO which serves to promote cooperation of member states against the three evils of terrorism, separatism and extremism.
- It is headquartered in Tashkent.
- Its head is elected to three-year term.
- Each member state of SCO sends permanent representative to RATS
About Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s (SCO)
- The SCO, in which China plays an influential role, is also comprised of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India and Pakistan.
- India and Pakistan were admitted into the bloc in 2017.
- It is Eurasian economic, political and security organisation headquartered in Beijing, China.
- Its main objective is military cooperation between member states.
- It is primarily centred on security-related concerns of Central Asian members with main threats being terrorism, separatism and extremism.
- It was established in June 2001 as a successor of Shanghai Five mechanism which was established in 1996 with China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan as members.
- Iran, Afghanistan, Belarus and Mongolia enjoy observer status of SCO.
- Turkey, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Nepal are dialogue partners of SCO.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Cotton crop,Voluntary Sustainable Standards (VSS)
Mains level: Paper 3- Textile industry,Voluntary Sustainable Standards (VSS)
Context
- Cotton, one of the most important crops, has a strategic role in India’s international agriculture play. India is the world’s third-largest exporter of cotton and the second-largest exporter of textiles, therefore, also contributing significantly to the country’s economy.
All you need to know about the Cotton crop
- Rainfall and Temperature: Sensitive to timing of rainfall and rainfall during harvest might lead to crop failure. Temperature required is around 20-30 degree c., while rainfall is about 75-100cm.
- Soil: Black soil ideally suited for cotton cultivation as it is rich in lime.cotton is vulnerable to pest attack.
- Humidity: Cotton cultivation requires more than 200 frost free days. Humidity during harvest is harmful.
- Oilcake: The cotton seeds are crushed for oil and the oilcake is an important animal fodder and also used as farm manure.
- India holds a 4% share of the U.S.$840 billion global textile and apparel market
- India has been successful in developing backward links, with the aid of the Technical Upgradation Fund Scheme (TUFS), in the cotton and technical textiles industry.
- However, India is yet to move into man-made fibres as factories still operate in a seasonal fashion.
- Areas of cotton cultivation are Gujrat, Maharashtra, Telangana, Punjab, etc.
Do you know?
The latest archaeological discovery in Mehrgarh puts the dating of early cotton cultivation and the use of cotton to 5000 BCE. The Indus Valley civilization started cultivating cotton by 3000 BCE. Cotton was mentioned in Hindu hymns in 1500 BCE.
What are the voluntary sustainable standards (VSS) in cotton?
- Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS): Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS), which encapsulate certification schemes, labelling programmes, and private standards. The major VSS that are dominant in the sustainable cotton value chain today include Better Cotton Initiative (BCI), Organic Cotton, Fair trade Cotton, and Cotton Made in Africa.
- To achieve sustainable Goal: The global textile supply chain is undergoing a paradigm shift; it is pursuing environmental and social upgradation to meet the sustainability requirements imposed by global textile and home furnishing retailers, so as to mitigate the adverse impacts of climate change on cotton farmers and cotton cultivation.
What are the benefits of VSS for India?
- Enhance position in global cotton supply: Adapting to VSS is clearly beneficial for India. On the one hand, it will help it remain globally competitive in the cotton supply chain and strengthen its position in the export market, while on the other, it will help meet India’s SDG commitments.
- Takes India a step closer towards sustainable farming: India has made considerable progress in its transition towards a more sustainable cotton farming ecosystem. The total cotton area under VSS has reached 1.5 million hectares, contributing to 24 percent of the global VSS cotton area.
- Increases organic production of cotton: With approximately 0.2 million hectares of area for production, it is the largest producer of organic cotton, accounting for 50 percent of global organic cotton production, and the second-largest producer of ‘Better Cotton’, accounting for 16.5 percent of total Better Cotton production covering an area of 1.5 million hectares.
- Higher yeild: According to the BCI’s 2020 Impact Report for India, Better Cotton farmers have 9 percent higher yields and 18 percent higher profit than conventional farmers.
- Eco friendly production:The Thinkstep report 2018 on the Life Cycle Assessment of VSS Cotton conducted in Madhya Pradesh revealed a reduction of 50 percent in climate change impact, 59 percent in blue water consumption, 84 percent in ecotoxicity, and 100 percent eutrophication in organic over conventional cotton.
- To achieve SDG Targets: The VSS cotton growth story in India has already demonstrated its contribution towards the achievement of SDG targets for Zero Hunger (Goal 2), Clean Water and Sanitation (Goal 6), Responsible Consumption and Production (Goal 12), Life on Land (Goal 15), and Climate Action (Goal 16).
- NITI Aayog’s Assessment: VSS cotton delivers real, measurable outcomes according to priority indicators as outlined by NITI Aayog which maps India’s SDG goals. These indicators include changes in the extent of water bodies, improving groundwater withdrawal against availability, and rationalising nitrogen fertiliser.
Conclusion
- India must scale up the VSS while aligning it with its SDG commitments since VSS in cotton ensures a better production system, sourcing methods, and consumption patterns while also influencing the lives of hundreds of millions.
Mains Question
Q. What are the Voluntary Sustainable Standards (VSS)? Cotton production can be boosted in India using VSS method. Elaborate.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Dark Sky Reserve
Mains level: Science tourism
Context
- The union territory of Ladakh will host India’s first Dark Sky Reserve which will be set up in Hanle area in the next three months. The Dark Sky Reserve is being built as part of Ladakh’s high-altitude Changthang Wildlife Sanctuary.
What is Dark Sky Reserve (DSR)?
- Definition of Dark Sky Reserve: The International Dark Sky Association (IDSA) defines an international dark sky reserve (IDSR) as “a public or private land of substantial size (at least 700 km², or about 173,000 acres) possessing an exceptional or distinguished quality of starry nights and nocturnal environment, and that is specifically protected for its scientific, natural, educational, cultural heritage, and/or public enjoyment.
What is Core Area of Dark Sky Reserve?
- A dark sky reserve requires a “core” area that has clear sky without any light pollution, which can enable telescopes to see the sky in its natural darkness.
Why Ladakh is chosen as ideal location for DSR?
- Ladakh is ideal for long-term observatories and dark-sky sites because of its large arid area, high elevation, and sparse population, extreme cold and minimum temperature drops to minus 40 degree celcius.
- The Changthang wildlife Sanctuary, the DSR site is situated around 4,500 metres above sea level, which makes it a perfect host for telescopes.
Who is managing India’s DSR?
- The Department of Science and Technology and Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) in Bengaluru are providing support for the facility. The IIA already manages the Indian Astronomical Observatory (IAO) complex in Hanle, Ladakh.
What are the International standards for DSR?
- International Dark Sky Association’s Recognition: The IDSA recognizes and accredits dark-sky areas worldwide, in three categories. The Mont Mégantic Observatory in Quebec is the first such site to be recognized (in 2007) as an International Dark Sky Reserve.
- Categorical Certification: Individuals or groups can nominate a site for certification to the International Dark Sky Association (IDSA). There are five designated categories, namely International Dark Sky parks, communities, reserves, sanctuaries and Urban Night Sky Places.
- Global Recognition: The certification process is similar to that of a site being awarded the UNESCO World Heritage Site tag or getting recognised as a Biosphere Reserve. Between 2001 and January 2022, there have been 195 sites recognised as International Dark Sky Places globally, the IDSA said.
- Dark Sky Park: IDSA recognized Natural Bridges National Monument in Utah as the world’s first International Dark Sky Park.
- Dark Sky Sanctuary: In 2015, the IDSA introduced the term “Dark Sky Sanctuary” and designated the Elqui Valley of northern Chile as the world’s first International Dark Sky Sanctuary. The Gabriela Mistral Dark Sky Sanctuary is named after a Chilean poet.
- To promote AstroTourism: The primary objective of the proposed Dark Sky Reserve is to promote astronomy tourism in a sustainable and environment-friendly manner. Scientific methods will be used here to preserve the night sky from ever-increasing light pollution.
- To offer clear skies for observations: With metros, cities and peripheral areas experiencing light pollution and remaining constantly lit up, there are diminishing areas that offer a view of clear skies on cloudless nights.
- For training purpose: In the pilot phase, the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA),has procured ten small and easy-to-handle telescopes and light-reflecting shields. IIA’s scientists and outreach experts will identify locals and train them to use these telescopes.
- Sky gazing and a boost for village economy: This will include basic sky gazing, identification of constellations, and locating the pole star, among others. These telescopes will be installed at the homestays, which is a popular option for tourist accommodation in Ladakh.
Conclusion
- The Dark Sky Reserve is likely to boost Astro tourism in India where there has been no such reserve. Once set up, the reserve will be the highest-located site in the country for infrared, gamma-ray, and optical telescopes.
Mains Question
Q. What are the Dark Sky Reserves? How DRS will help in astronomical research and observations in India?
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: Paper 2- Freebies issue
Context
- The debate that began with an RBI 2022 report on state finances followed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s comment on revdi culture aka freebies, has garnered substantial attention so much so that the Supreme Court is hearing on this issue. Freebies have now assumed more importance than ever.
What are freebies?
- Freebies could be defined as non-merit subsidies. The term Freebies is not new; rather it is a prevalent culture in Indian politics (in the name of socialism).
- The political parties are always trying to outdo each other in luring the Indian voters with freebies.
What are Subsidies?
- Subsidies are money transfers (implicit or explicit) by the government in an attempt to drive prices artificially below market prices.
- As a National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP) study by Sudipto Mundle and Satadru Sirkar puts it, budget subsidies, in particular, are defined as the unrecovered cost of economic and social services.
- However, all subsidies cannot be easily classified into merit or non-merit.
- Welfare state: It could be said that providing freebies empowers the state to, first, deliver welfare as a welfare state should, by providing subsidised merit goods like health and education;
- Combating poverty: To help households combat poverty (especially in economically stressed times characterised by fewer job opportunities, lower incomes, high inflation, etc.) by providing subsidised public goods like food, electricity, etc.
- Populist spending: To appeal to the electorate through outright populist spending.
Question of classification between a merit and a non-merit freebies?
- Blur Boundary: The boundaries between the aforementioned objectives begin to blur when it comes to classifying one form of freebie as a merit or a non-merit subsidy.
- Few examples: Are corporate tax cuts non-merit subsidies or a measure to boost investment? 2. Is making bus rides free for women in the national capital a non-merit subsidy or a way to boost women’s mobility and labour-force participation? 3. Are free laptops to students in Tamil Nadu not a way to bridge the digital divide in education?
- Varying definition: The existing arguments develop an understanding that freebies cannot be defined in a finite context, and that the definition varies across space and economic conditions.
How freebies impact revenue of the state?
- Adverse impact on revenues: Regardless of which one gets classified as good or bad, freebies are simply expenditures or foregone revenues. Any freebie-induced debt burden could have an adverse effect on the state finances if, one, it hasn’t been properly accounted for through transparent budgeting procedures (including off-budget borrowings in debt calculations)
- Increase in Fiscal deficit: Either way, they lead to an increase in fiscal deficit whose financing could necessitate taking on debt. It threatens fiscal sustainability, i e, it limits the state’s ability to service its debt-related commitments without making an unrealistic fiscal adjustment.
- Lack of data leading to leakages: The targeting of beneficiaries to ease the burden on the exchequer is one way to check these expenditures but lack of data has forced a situation wherein leakages and duplication of beneficiaries is commonplace.
- Jeopardises long-term growth and development: In the absence of adequate avenues of revenue mobilisation, any fiscal adjustment achieved by contracting critical expenditures on the social sector and capital formation further jeopardises long-term growth and development. The emanating risk of fiscal sustainability means a “revdi” today would take a toll on tomorrow’s generation.
What could be the solution?
- Setting up an independent fiscal council: Setting up an independent fiscal council that has been recommended by the FRBM Review Committee (2017), and recently constituted Finance Commissions too, including the 15th Finance Commission.
- Providing information and advisory: FRBM report says, the council will serve both an ex-ante role providing independent forecasts on key macro variables like real and nominal GDP growth, tax buoyancy, commodity prices as well as an ex-post monitoring role, and also serve as the institution to advise on triggering the escape clause and also specify a path of return.
- Monitoring finance: Such a council should work for the union as well as the states. Monitoring of finances and fiscal rules could also help ensure that states comply with a medium-term fiscal policy framework, which has been long argued for by economists.
Conclusion
- Freebies cannot be defined easily, and constitutionally, any state government should be empowered to spend the way it wants, provided the fiscal policy is sustainable. The message from the freebies debate is to make informed economic decisions whilst attending to key development objectives.
Mains Question
Q. There is nothing wrong in having social security programme that aims to lift the poor get out of poverty and empower the vulnerable sections of the society. In this context, where do you see the goal of sustainable economic development? Comment.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: GHGs relased by Stubble Burning
Mains level: Stubble Burning
Though early days, the number of crop fires reported out of Punjab are at a three-year low, suggest data from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) that tracks such fires via satellite.
What is Stubble Burning?
- Stubble (parali) burning is a method of removing paddy crop residues from the field to sow wheat from the last week of September to November.
- It is usually required in areas that use the combined harvesting method which leaves crop residue behind.
- This practice mostly carried out in Punjab, Haryana and UP contributes solely to the grave winter pollution in the national capital.
Emissions from stubble burning
- The process of burning farm residue is one of the major causes of air pollution in parts of north India, deteriorating the air quality.
- Stubble burning is a significant source of carbon dioxide (CO2), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and hydrocarbons (HC).
Despite emissions, why do farmers burn stubble?
- Crop residue burning is practised by the farmers to prepare the land for the next cultivation.
- The major reason behind the stubble burning is the short time available between rice harvesting and sowing of wheat as delay in sowing wheat affects the wheat crop.
- Between the harvesting of the paddy crop and the sowing of the next crop, there is only a two to three weeks’ time window is left.
- Even though farmers are aware that the burning of straw is harmful to health, they do not have alternatives for utilizing them effectively.
- The farmers are ill-equipped to deal with waste because they cannot afford the new technology that is available to handle the waste material.
- Therefore, stubble burning is considered one of the cheapest methods to clean the field after the harvesting season.
Impact of stubble burning
- Air Pollution: Stubble burning emits toxic pollutants in the atmosphere containing harmful gases like Carbon Monoxide (CO), methane (CH4), carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, volatile organic compounds (VOC). These pollutants disperse in the surroundings and eventually affect air quality and people’s health by forming a thick blanket of smog. Along with vehicular emissions, it affects the Air Quality Index (AQI) in the national capital and NCR.
- Soil degradation: Soil becomes less fertile and its nutrients are destroyed when the husk is burned on the ground. Organic content of soil is completely destroyed. Stubble burning generates heat that penetrates into the soil, causing an increase in erosion, loss of useful microbes and moisture.
Alternative solutions
- Power generation: The available paddy straw can be effectively used for power generation, which will go a long way towards overcoming the problem of disposal of crop residues and power deficit in the region.
- In-situ decomposition: Suitable machinery for collection, chopping and in situ incorporation of straw is required. We can use Pusa Biodecomposer, Biomethanation etc.
- Organic manuring: Convert the removed residues into enriched organic manure through composting.
Conclusion
- Unless financial assistance is to be provided by the Centre for boosting farm mechanization, it is difficult to completely stop stubble burning.
- States need to make alternative arrangements for the consumption of paddy straw into the soil as per the directions of the NGT.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: Boosting indigenous defence production
India ranks fourth among 12 Indo-Pacific nations in self-reliant arms production capabilities, according to a study released this month by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
Study on Defence production
- China tops the list, Japan is second, South Korea is in third place, and Pakistan is at number 8.
- The study, which measures self-reliance until 2020, is based on three indicators of self-reliance in each country:
- Arms procurement — imports, licensed and domestic production as a proportion of the government’s total procurement of major conventional arms;
- Arms industry — the study presents the five largest arms companies in each country, where data are available, ranked by sales of arms and military services in 2020 to both domestic and export customers;
- Uncrewed maritime vehicles, the sea equivalent of drones — covering both uncrewed surface vehicles (USVs) and uncrewed underwater vehicles (UUVs), meant to provide a qualitative understanding of how countries are engaging domestic research institutes and firms to produce such cutting edge systems.
How has China progressed?
- China was the world’s fifth largest arms importer in 2016-20.
- Its self-reliance policies, and its high economic growth in that period meant that the Chinese arms industry now increasingly fulfils the requirements of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
- Its high volume of imports in absolute terms accounts for only 8 per cent of total procurement for the period, the lowest share for any of the 12 governments studied in this report.
Why is India still lagging behind?
- India is ranked as the second-largest importer of arms for its armed forces in 2016-20.
- India is highly dependent on imports of complete foreign major arms, including many produced under licence or as components for its domestic production.
- Of India’s total volume of procurement in 2016–20, 84 per cent was of foreign origin.
- Domestic arms companies provide only 16 per cent of its total procurement.
Steps taken by the Centre to boost defence production
- Licensing relaxation: Measures announced to boost exports since 2014 include simplified defence industrial licensing, relaxation of export controls and grant of no-objection certificates.
- Lines of Credit: Specific incentives were introduced under the foreign trade policy and the Ministry of External Affairs has facilitated Lines of Credit for countries to import defence product.
- Policy boost: The Defence Ministry has also issued a draft Defence Production & Export Promotion Policy 2020.
- Budgetary allocation: In addition, a percentage of the capital outlay of the defence budget has been reserved for procurement from domestic industry.
- Defence Industrial Corridors: The government has also announced 2 dedicated Corridors in the States of TN and UP to act as clusters of defence manufacturing that leverage existing infrastructure, and human capital.
- Long-term vision: The vision of the government is to achieve a turnover of $25 bn including export of $5 bn in Aerospace and Defence goods and services by 2025.
- Push for self-reliance: The govt has identified the Defence and Aerospace sector as a focus area for the ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ or Self-Reliant India initiative.
Issues retarding defence indigenization
- Excess reliance on Public Sector: India has four companies (Indian ordnance factories, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL)) among the top 100 biggest arms producers of the world.
- Policy delays: In the past few years, the government has approved over 200 defence acquisition worth Rs 4 trillion, but most are still in relatively early stages of processing.
- Lack of Critical Technologies: Poor design capability in critical technologies, inadequate investment in R&D and the inability to manufacture major subsystems and components hamper the indigenous manufacturing.
- Long gestation: The creation of a manufacturing base is capital and technology-intensive and has a long gestation period. By that time newer technologies make products outdated.
- ‘Unease’ in doing business: An issue related to stringent labour laws, compliance burden and lack of skills, affects the development of indigenous manufacturing in defence.
- Multiple jurisdictions: Overlapping jurisdiction of the Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Industrial Promotion impair India’s capability of defence manufacturing.
- Lack of quality: The higher indigenization in few cases is largely attributed to the low-end technology.
- FDI Policy: The earlier FDI limit of 49% was not enough to enthuse global manufacturing houses to set up bases in India.
- R&D Lacunae: A lip service to technology funding by making token allocations is an adequate commentary on our lack of seriousness in the area of Research and Development.
- Lack of skills: There is a lack of engineering and research capability in our institutions. It again leads us back to the need for a stronger industry-academia interface.
Way forward
- Reducing import dependence: India was the world’s second-largest arms importer from 2014-18, ceding the long-held tag as the largest importer to Saudi Arabia, says 2019 SIPRI report.
- Security Imperative: Indigenization in defence is critical to national security also. It keeps intact the technological expertise and encourages spin-off technologies and innovation that often stem from it.
- Economic boost: Indigenization in defence can help create a large industry which also includes small manufacturers.
- Employment generation: Defence manufacturing will lead to the generation of satellite industries that in turn will pave the way for a generation of employment opportunities.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Solomon Islands
Mains level: Chinese expansion in Pacific
Solomon Islands PM has assured Australia that his nation will not allow a Chinese military presence in its territory.
Where is the Solomon Islands located?
- The Solomon Islands is a sovereign country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and northwest of Vanuatu.
- Its capital, Honiara, is located on the largest island, Guadalcanal.
- It is part of the ethnically Melanesian group of islands in the Pacific and lies between Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu.
- The country takes its name from the Solomon Islands archipelago, which is a collection of Melanesian islands that also includes the North Solomon Islands (a part of Papua New Guinea).
- It excludes outlying islands, such as the Santa Cruz Islands and Rennell and Bellona.
Quick recap of its past
- The islands, which were initially controlled by the British Empire during the colonial era, went through the hands of Germany and Japan.
- It then went back to the UK after the Americans took over the islands from the Japanese during World War II.
- The islands became independent in 1978 to become a constitutional monarchy under the British Crown, with a parliamentary system of government.
- Nevertheless, its inability to manage domestic ethnic conflicts led to close security relations with Australia, which is the traditional first responder to any crisis in the South Pacific.
How did China enter the picture?
- Earlier this year, the Solomon Islands established a security agreement with China, saying it needed Beijing’s assistance with its domestic security situation.
- But the announcement had rattled the west, esp. the US, Australia and others in the Indo-Pacific region.
- The concerns were that the agreement could potentially lead to a Chinese military base on the island nation and a gain in power-projection capabilities.
- At that time, following intense scrutiny, the Solomon Islands had denied that the agreement would allow China to establish a naval base.
- The Island insisted that the agreement was only to assist the Solomon Islands with what he called “hard internal threats”.
What is the Solomon Islands’ stance?
- The government has asked all partner countries with plans to conduct naval visits or patrols to put them on hold until a revised national mechanism is in place.
- The revised national mechanism applied to all foreign vessels seeking access to the country’s ports.
- The nation wanted to build up its own naval capacity.
- It has some unfortunate experiences of foreign naval vessels entering its waters without any diplomatic clearance.
What is behind China’s growing influence in the region?
- There is no dispute that China has been rapidly increasing its presence and influence in the region for over three decades, particularly in the South Pacific.
- Certainly Beijing views the Pacific Island region as an important component of its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
- Specifically, it sees the region as a critical air freight hub in its so-called Air Silk Road, which connects Asia with Central and South America.
Concerns of the West
- The United States and its regional allies, such as Australia and New Zealand, are concerned that the China-Solomon Islands security pact allows Chinese naval vessels to replenish there.
- That could open the door to a Chinese naval base, which would significantly extend China’s military reach in the South Pacific.”
- It is likely that this security agreement between China and the Solomon Islands has been driven by, what the CFR calls, Beijing’s “sense of vulnerability” in the region.
What is the rationale for the Solomon Islands’ increasing proximity to China?
- The Solomon Islands had cultivated strong ties with Taiwan, which ended with the emergence of the current government in Honiara.
- In 2019, the regime change switched Taiwan for China.
- This was supposedly after Beijing offered half a billion US dollars in financial aid, roughly five times what Taiwan spent on the islands in the past two decades.
- It has been alleged by the pro-Taiwan Opposition that the incumbent government has been bribed by China.
Why is China interested in the Solomon Islands?
- Isolating Taiwan: The Solomon Islands was one among the six Pacific island states which had official bilateral relations with Taiwan.
- Supporter in UN: The small Pacific island states act as potential vote banks for mobilising support for the great powers in international fora like the United Nations.
- Larger EEZ: These states have disproportionately large maritime Exclusive Economic Zones when compared to their small sizes.
- Natural resources: Solomon Islands, in particular, have significant reserves of timber and mineral resources, along with fisheries.
- Countering US: But more importantly, they are strategically located for China to insert itself between America’s military bases in the Pacific islands and Australia.
What does this mean for the established geopolitical configuration in the region?
- Diminishing western influence: The Pacific islands, in the post-World War II scenario, were exclusively under the spheres of influence of the Western powers, in particular, the US, UK, France and Australia and New Zealand.
- Inserting into western hegemony: All of them have territorial possessions in the region, with the three nuclear powers among them having used the region as a nuclear weapons testing ground.
- Shifting of dependencies: The smaller island nations of the region are heavily dependent on them, especially Australia as it is a resident power.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: BH Series
Mains level: Not Much
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highway has issued a draft notification proposing new rules to further increase the scope of implementation of the BH series vehicle registrations.
Bharat series (BH-series)
- There was a procedure of re-registration of a vehicle while moving to another state.
- A vehicle bearing BH registration mark shall not require assignment of a new registration mark when the owner of the vehicle shifts from one State to another.
- Format of Bharat series (BH-series) Registration Mark –
Registration Mark Format:
- YY BH #### XX
- YY – Year of first registration
- BH- Code for Bharat Series
- ####- 0000 to 9999 (randomized)
- XX- Alphabets (AA to ZZ)
Why such move?
- Station relocation occurs with both Government and private sector employees.
- Such movements create a sense of unease in the minds of such employees with regard to transfer of registration from the parent state to another state.
- Under section 47 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, a person is allowed to keep the vehicle for not more than 12 months in any state other than the state where the vehicle is registered.
Who can get this BH series?
- BH-series will be available on voluntary basis to Defense personnel, employees of Central Government/ State Government/ Central/ State PSUs and private sector companies/organizations.
- The motor vehicle tax will be levied for two years or in multiple of two.
- This scheme will facilitate free movement of personal vehicles across States/UTs of India upon relocation to a new State/UT.
- After the completion of the fourteenth year, the motor vehicle tax shall be levied annually which shall be half of the amount which was charged earlier for that vehicle.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: what is moonlighting.
Mains level: Impact of moonlighting on comapnies and employment.
Context
- In July, Kotak Securities said in a study that at least 60% of 400 employees surveyed said they themselves had, or knew someone who had engaged in moonlighting.
What is mean by moonlighting?
- Moonlighting is a state where employees work for remuneration with entities other than their employers. It is not defined in any of the statutes in India. However, there are enactments that deal with double employment.
How does it affect companies and what are latest examples?
- Wipro: According to Wipro CEO, there is a lot of chatter about people moonlighting in the tech industry. This is cheating plain and simple. The company sacked 300 employees following the discovery that they were working for rival firms on the side, leading to conflict of interest.
- Infosys: Infosys has warned staff against moonlighting, saying it could lead to termination.
- Effect of WFH: Another software firm DXC Technologies said that moonlighting by employees was a challenge for employers but that wouldn’t affect its WFH (work from home) policy that has worked well for both the firm and its staff.
- Moonlighting policy: Swiggy announced a moonlighting policy’ that allows employees to pursue their passion for economic interests alongside their fulltime employment.”
- Factory act: Section 60 of the Factories Act deals with restriction on double employment stating that “No adult worker shall be required or allowed to work in any factory on any day on which he has already been working in any other factory, save in such circumstances as may be prescribed. However, this enactment is applicable only to employees working in factories.
- The Tamil Nadu Shops & Establishments Act, 1947: There are State enactments which deal with employment of persons working in offices, banks, shops, etc. In Tamil Nadu, it is termed as The Tamil Nadu Shops & Establishments Act, 1947. However, there is no provision wherein dealing with dual employment.
- Glaxo Laboratories (I) Limited vs Labour Court, Meerut and others: The apex court held that “The employer has hardly any extra territorial jurisdiction. He is not the custodian of general law and order situation or the Guru or mentor of his workmen for their well-regulated cultural advancement. If the power to regulate the behaviour of the workmen outside the duty hours and at any place wherever they may be was conferred upon the employer, contract of service may be reduced to contract of slavery.” This case was not specifically about moonlighting but the court’s observation gives us an idea as to how the law may view such cases.
Way forward
- More earning: The Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, and Electronics and IT, said that employers should not to suppress employees who want to monetise, develop and demonstrate but also urged employees not to violate their agreements with employers.
- Working hours: Moonlighting is subject to law of the land. The sphere of employment cannot be extended by the employer beyond working hours and outside his place of employment.
- Socialistic view: The Courts of law in India dealing with employment are Writ Courts and Labour Courts, which exercise jurisdiction based on equity or fairness. Therefore, the Courts may lean in favour of the employee unless the contravention of the employee has led to serious prejudice and loss to the employer
Conclusion
- Employees are not the slaves of employers. What they do beyond the working hours is none of the business of employer unless it affects company financially or causes substantial damage to business. Government should bring the legal statute to regulate moonlighting and prevent the unjustified punishment of employees.
Mains Question
Q. What is moonlighting? Why employees do moonlighting? Discuss the legal framework about moonlighting in India.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: CSR
Mains level: corporate governance
Context
- Since the establishment of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) regime in India under Section 135 of the Companies Act 2013, CSR spending in India has risen from RS.10,065 crore in 2014-15to Rs.24,865crore in 2020-21.But there is no data to verify whether this increase is commensurate with the increase in profits of Indian and foreign (having a registered arm in India) companies.
What is Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)?
- Voluntary spending: Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a form of international private business self-regulation which aims to contribute to societal goals of a philanthropic, activist, or charitable nature by engaging in or supporting volunteering or ethically oriented practices.
- Ministry Corporate Affairs: The National Corporate Social Responsibility Data Portal is an initiative by Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India to establish a platform to disseminate Corporate Social Responsibility related data and information filed by the companies registered with it.
- Companies Act, 2013: The Corporate Social Responsibility concept in India is governed by Section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013 (‘Act’), Schedule VII of the Act and Companies (CSR Policy) Rules, 2014 wherein the criteria has been provided for assessing the CSR eligibility of a company, Implementation and Reporting of their CSR Policies.
- Sustainable Goals: India having the most elaborated CSR mechanism and implementation strategy has started its journey to set a benchmark in attaining sustainability goals and stakeholder activism in nation building.
- Corporate philanthropy: company donations to charity, including cash, goods, and services, sometimes via a corporate foundation.
- Community volunteering: company-organized volunteer activities, sometimes while an employee receives pay for pro-bono work on behalf of a non-profit organization
- Socially-responsible business practices: ethically produced products that appeal to a customer segment.
- Corporate social marketing: Company-funded behaviour-change campaigns, Company-funded advocacy campaigns, donations to charity based on product sales.
Why there is need to review the CSR?
- Declining number: There was also a decline in the number of companies participating in CSR 25,103 in FY2019 to 17,007 in FY2021.
- Flaw in the law: If a company spends an amount in excess of the minimum 2%, as stipulated, the excess amount is liable to be set off against spending in the succeeding three financial years. Ideally, companies should have been shown courage to spend more than this.
- Own trusts: many private companies have registered their own foundations/trusts to which they transfer the statutory CSR budgets for utilisation. It is unclear if this is allowed under the Companies Act/CSR rules.
- Geographical bias: The first proviso to Section 135(5) of the Act is that the company should give preference to local areas/areas around it where it operates. This is logical. However, a report by Ashoka University’s Centre for Social Impact and Philanthropy says that 54% of CSR companies are concentrated in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Gujarat(receiving the largest CSR spends) while populous Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh receive little.
- Spending on environment: Item (iv) of Schedule VII of the Act deals with broader environmental issues to create a countervailing effect. However, an analysis of CSR spending (2014-18)reveals that while most CSR spending is in education (37%) and health and sanitation (29%), only 9% was spent on the environment even as extractive industries such as mining function in an environmentally detrimental manner in several States
- Incomplete information: The Standing Committee on Finance had observed that the information regarding CSR spending by companies is insufficient and difficult to access. As per the ‘Technical Guide on Accounting’ issued by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, a company is only required to mention its CSR spends, non-spend, under-spend, and overspend in the ‘Notes to Accounts’.
What are the suggestions to improve the mechanism of CSR?
- Centralized platform: There is a need to curate a national level platform centralised by the MCA where all States could list their potential CSR admissible projects so that companies can assess where their CSR funds would be most impactful across India with, of course, preferential treatment to areas where they operate.
- India Investment Grid: Invest India’s ‘Corporate Social Responsibility Projects Repository’ on the India Investment Grid (IIG) can serve as a guide for such efforts. This model would be very useful for supporting deserving projects in the 112aspirational districts and projects identified by MPs under the Government’s Sansad AdarshGram Yojana.
- Increase environment spending: Companies need to prioritise environment restoration in the area where they operate, earmarking at least 25% for environment regeneration.
- Public participation: All CSR projects should be selected and implemented with the active involvement of communities, district administration and public representatives.
- Transparency: Recommendations by the high-level committee in 2018 should be incorporated in the current CSR framework to improve the existing monitoring and evaluation regime. These include strengthening the reporting mechanisms with enhanced disclosures concerning selection of projects, locations, implementing agencies, etc.; bringing CSR within the purview of statutory financial audit with details of CSR expenditure included in the financial statement of a company, and mandatory independent third party impact assessment audits.
- Monitoring by government: The MCA and the line departments need to exercise greater direct monitoring and supervision over CSR spend by companies through the line ministries (for public sector undertakings) and other industry associations(for non-public units) instead of merely hosting all information on the Ministry’s website.
Conclusion
- Corporate social responsibility is an effective tool to address the social and income inequality. Present legal arrangements are toothless and based on voluntary actions. For an effective change CSR spending should be made more transparent and accountable.
Mains Question.
Q.Present arrangement of CSR is not yielding the desired result. Enlist the current weakness in CSR spending Suggest the changes needed for efficient implantation of CSR.
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Context
- On August 8, India banned the exports of broken rice and imposed a 20 per cent duty on the exports of various grades of rice amid high cereal inflation and uncertainties with respect to domestic supply.
Background
- This is surely not the first time an attempt is being made to ban wheat and rice exports.
- It was also done in 2007-08, in the wake of the global financial crisis.
- Perhaps government will also impose stocking limits on traders for a host of commodities, suspend futures trading in food items, and even conduct income tax raids on traders of food.
What is the current status of rice in India?
- World’s largest rice exporter: India has exported more than 20 MT of rice worth a record $9. 6 billion to more than 150 countries in 2021-22.It has been the world’s largest rice exporter of the grain in the last decade and has a share of around 44% global trade.
- Likely to fall in production: India’s rice production is likely to decline by 6 per cent t to 104.99 million tonnes in the kharif season due to a fall in paddy acreage amidst rainfall deficit in key producing states, including Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal.
- Kharif season: Sowing in the kharif season begins with the onset of the southwest monsoon from June and harvesting from October onwards .About 85 per cent of India’s total production comes from this season.
- Deficient rainfall: West Bengal, the biggest rice producer amongst states, has received deficient rainfall in 15 of its 23 districts, raising the likelihood of crop loss. Uttar Pradesh, the second biggest producer of rice has received 42% less rainfall than benchmark. The rainfall deficiency in the other eastern states Bihar (-34%) and Jharkhand (-48%).
- Depleting stocks: There are concerns about rice stocks with the Food Corporation of India (FCI) depleting to a 10-year low level by April, 2023 year, if the free ration scheme is extended to the second half of the financial year. The government may have to impose some curbs on rice exports though minimum export price or an export tax if the scheme is extended.
Why India’s rice export ban is cause for worry?
- Thin world rice market and the impact on prices: Given that 90 per cent of production is consumed domestically, As a result, any small change in exports and imports has an enormous impact on prices, especially if it leads to panic buying of food grains by rich countries.
- Limited Import option: The stakes are higher as it is India’s largest agricultural crop. Unlike with wheat, the options for import in rice due to any production shortfall are limited, when India’s own share in the global trade of the cereal is more than 40%.
- Affect the credibility: The export uncertainties will affect the credibility of Indian exporters, create a disincentive for future exports, and will enable buyers to shift towards other major rice-exporting countries.
- Affect a section of farmers: Though Indian farmers in general lack market access, and hence do not take advantage of high market prices, the fall in prices may adversely affect a section of farmers who hope to get a better price for their produce through exports. The exporters who face the burden of the unfeasibility of exports may pass it on to farmers in the form of lower prices during procurement.
- Affect low-income and low middle-income Countries: India’s export restrictions will adversely affect several low-income and low-middle-income countries like Bangladesh, Senegal, Nepal and Benin, which are among the largest importers of Indian rice.
- Domestic prices and to safeguard food security: Frequent changes in export policies undoubtedly have long-term ramifications on domestic prices
What are the Issues in India’s rice export strategy?
- Highest ever volume: India exported the highest-ever volume of 21 million metric tonnes (MMT) of rice in 2021-22 (FY22) in a global market of about 51.3 MMT, which amounts to about 41 per cent of global exports.
- Reduced price: Such large volumes of rice exports brought down global prices of rice by about 23 per cent in March (YoY), when all other cereal prices, be it wheat or maize, were going up substantially in global markets. In fact, in FY22, the unit value of exports of common rice was just $354/tonne, which was lower than the minimum support price (MSP) of rice.
- Below MSP buying or leakage from PMGKAY: This meant that rice exporters were either buying rice (paddy) from farmers and millersat below the MSP or that quite a substantial part of rice was given free under the PM Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana (PMGKAY) was being siphoned away for exports at prices below MSP.
- Artificial competitive advantage: Free electricity for irrigation in several states, most notably Punjab, and highly subsidised fertilisers, especially urea, create an artificial competitive advantage for Indian rice in global markets.
Problems with India’s rice cultivation
- Lower yield: India’s rice yield is lower than the world average. However, India’s yield is better than Thailand and Pakistan but worse than Vietnam, China and the US.
- Higher cost of cultivation and price support: The cost of cultivation in India is also increasing, and hence there will be a need for a higher MSP to make production remunerative. This will exacerbate the pressure to re-think its price-support-backed food security mechanism.
- Water-intensive nature: India’s rice production likely to fall amidst the shortfall of rainfall in major rice producing states and increasing salinity of soil because of over usage of water. The water-intensive nature of rice cultivation, along with frequent export restrictions will adversely affect the long-run sustainability of rice production. In India, around 49 per cent of rice cultivation depends on groundwater which is depleting rapidly.
What is the link between Rice cultivation and groundwater depletion?
- Ground water depletion: In India, around 49 per cent of rice cultivation depends on groundwater which is depleting rapidly.
- Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) data: As per the latest data available from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), agricultural water withdrawal as a percentage of total available renewable water resources has increased from 26.7 per cent in 1993 to 36 per cent in 2022.
- Virtual water trade (VWT): Rice exports are leading to an indirect export of water to other countries a phenomenon known as virtual water trade (VWT). The relative per capita water availability in India is lower than a majority of its major importing countries. The other major exporters of rice, such as Thailand and Vietnam, also have better per capita water availability in comparison to India.
- Renewable water resources: Out of 133 countries in which India has positive net rice exports, only 39 countries have relatively lower per capita renewable water resources. Out of these 39 countries, 12 countries are high-income countries with the ability to buy food at a higher price.
Conclusion
- Depletion of groundwater resources and rising cost of cultivation may threaten rice production in the future. Adequate water saving measures in the form of widespread adoption of water saving practices like System of Rice Intensification (SRI) need to be taken to keep input requirements, costs and production sustainable.
Mains question
Q.As many developing countries depend on Indian rice, rice export restrictions have raised food security concerns in the global market. In this context discuss the causes and effects of India’s restrictions on rice export.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Uighurs, Xinjiang
Mains level: HR abuses in China
The UN Human Rights Council has voted against holding a debate on alleged abuses in China’s Xinjiang region after intense lobbying by Beijing, in a major setback for Western nations.
What is the news?
- India and 10 other nations abstained.
Who are the Uighurs?
- There are about 12 million Uighurs, mostly Muslim, living in north-western China in the region of Xinjiang, officially known as the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR).
- The Uighurs speak their own language, similar to Turkish, and see themselves as culturally and ethnically close to Central Asian nations.
- They make up less than half of the Xinjiang population.
- In recent decades, there’s been a mass migration of Han Chinese (China’s ethnic majority) to Xinjiang, and the Uighurs feel their culture and livelihoods are under threat.
- In the early 20th Century, the Uighurs briefly declared independence, but the region was brought under complete control of mainland China’s new Communist government in 1949.
Where is Xinjiang?
- Xinjiang lies in the north-west of China and is the country’s biggest region.
- Like Tibet, it is autonomous, meaning – in theory – it has some powers of self-governance. But in practice, both face major restrictions by the central government.
- It is a mostly desert region, producing about a fifth of the world’s cotton.
- It is also rich in oil and natural gas and because of its proximity to Central Asia and Europe is seen by Beijing as an important trade link.
What was the build-up to the Uighur crackdown?
- Anti-Han and separatist sentiment rose in Xinjiang from the 1990s, flaring into violence on occasion.
- In 2009 some 200 people died in clashes in Xinjiang, which the Chinese blamed on Uighurs who want their own state.
- Xinjiang is now covered by a pervasive network of surveillance, including police, checkpoints, and cameras that scan everything from number plates to individual faces.
- According to Human Rights Watch, police are also using a mobile app to monitor peoples’ behaviour, such as how much electricity they are using and how often they use their front door.
- Since 2017 when President Xi Jinping issued an order saying all religions in China should be Chinese in orientation, there have been further crackdowns.
Chinese narrative
- China says the crackdown is necessary to prevent terrorism and root out Islamist extremism and the camps are an effective tool for re-educating inmates in its fight against terrorism.
- It insists that Uighur militants are waging a violent campaign for an independent state by plotting bombings, sabotage and civic unrest.
- China has dismissed claims it is trying to reduce the Uighur population through mass sterilizations as “baseless”, and says allegations of forced labor are “completely fabricated”.
Why did India abstain from voting against China?
- India has traditionally voted against or abstained from such country-specific resolutions at the UNHRC.
- It is understood that China’s presence within the UNHRC was a factor in the decision since any backing for the Xinjiang issue could have led to similar moves by China on other issues in India.
- This is particularly in the context of the Kashmir issue.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Very recently, in which of the following countries have lakhs of people either suffered from severe famine/acute malnutrition or died due to starvation caused by war/ethnic conflicts?
(a) Angola and Zambia
(b) Morocco and Tunisia
(c) Venezuela and Colombia
(d) Yemen and South Sudan
Post your answers here.
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