Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Ayushman Bharat
Mains level: Success of India's health policies
India has completed four years of Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri-Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY), the world’s largest public health insurance programme.
What is Ayushman Bharat?
- Ayushman Bharat is National Health Protection Scheme, which will cover over 10 crore poor and vulnerable families (approximately 50 crore beneficiaries) providing coverage upto 5 lakh rupees per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization.
- It was launched in September 2018 by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
- It is a centrally sponsored scheme and is jointly funded by both the union government and the states.
- It has subsumed the on-going centrally sponsored schemes – Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) and the Senior Citizen Health Insurance Scheme (SCHIS).
Features of the scheme
- It will have a defined benefit cover of Rs. 5 lakh per family per year.
- Benefits of the scheme are portable across the country and a beneficiary covered under the scheme will be allowed to take cashless benefits from any public/private empanelled hospitals across the country.
- It will be an entitlement based scheme with entitlement decided on the basis of deprivation criteria in the SECC database.
- The beneficiaries can avail benefits in both public and empanelled private facilities.
- To control costs, the payments for treatment will be done on package rate (to be defined by the Government in advance) basis.
India’s health expenditure post Ayushman Bharat
Ans. India’s public healthcare spending is still among the lowest in the world.
- Total health expenditure declined to 3.2% of GDP in 2018-19 from 3.3% in 2017-18, while the government’s health expenditure (centre and state) as a percentage of GDP fell from 1.35% to 1.28% in the same period.
- National health estimates showed the Centre’s share decreasing to 34.3% in 2018-19 from 40.8% in the previous year, while that of states rose from 59.2% to 65.7%.
- Out-of-pocket spending as a percentage of total health expenditure declined to 48.2% in 2018-19, though it is significantly higher than the world average of 18.1% in 2019
What about health insurance penetration?
Ans. Retail health insurance covers a meagre 3.2% of the country’s population.
- With a population of 1.36 billion, India is the world’s second most populous country, and is expected to surpass China soon.
- Launched in 2018 to provide universal health coverage, AB-PMJAY, takes care of the bottom 50% of the population of approximately 700 million individuals.
- The top 20% of the population is covered through social and private health insurance.
- Therefore, about 30% of the population, or about 400 million, is “the missing middle”— they don’t have any financial protection for health emergencies.
Why is sound healthcare important for the economy?
- Covid-19 exposed the economic consequences of poor healthcare. Higher out-of-pocket healthcare spending hits savings and consumption.
- In the work space, poor health impacts physical and mental abilities, increase turnover and lead to lower productivity.
- Data shows that 7% of India’s population is pushed into poverty every year due to healthcare costs.
Way forward
- Healthcare management and disease prevention should be the focus, along with an all-encompassing healthcare system, including OPD.
- The government also needs to pay attention on healthcare cover for “the missing middle” population.
- As a pilot, states may allow the authority already implementing the AB-PMJAY scheme in the state to cover the missing middle.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: Live streaming of courts proceedings
Context
- On September 27, the Supreme Court enabled the live streaming of the hearing of cases.
- A full court of all Supreme Court judges under the leadership of Chief Justice U U Lalit took the unanimous decision to live-stream constitutional bench proceedings. Justice Chandrachud, the Chairperson of the Supreme Court’s E-committee and the driving force behind the live streaming initiative, began the hearing in his courtroom by announcing,”We are virtual”.
Background
- The Court’s original decision by the bench of the then Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A M Khanwilkar and Justice D Y Chandrachud on September 27, 2018, allowing the live telecast of important proceedings paved the way for this outcome. They had held that the live-streaming of court proceedings is in the public interest.
- Their vision had the full support of Chief Justices M V Ramana and U U Lalit.
What is live-streaming technology?
- At its core, streaming content is meant to help people attend events, expos, and experiences they cannot attend in person.
- Live streaming technology is how videos are streamed over the internet, live, in real-time, as they are being recorded.
- Live streaming technology is the internet’s response to live television broadcasts, with the most popular being news shows and sports.
What is Live-streaming of the court?
- Live streaming of court is that its proceedings that the people can watch on their mobiles and computers.All courtrooms function under camera glare.
- Instilling Faith in the Judiciary: Enabling the ordinary people of the country to view, without any barrier, the workings of the highest court of the land will go a long way in instilling faith in the judiciary.
- Empowering the masses: It will enable the legal system to deliver on its promise of empowering the masses.Important step toward developing an informed citizenry.
- Respect to Rule of Law: The decision will enable people to understand the importance of the rule of law.It will help people appreciate that the judiciary is firm in protecting the rights of the impoverished, historically marginalised and disempowered sections of society. Potential to build a culture of respect for the rule of law.
- Living up the expectation of Constitution: Live-Streaming of Court proceedings is manifested in public interest. Public interest has always been preserved through the Constitution article 19 and 21.
- More transparency: It will encourage the principle of open court and reduce dependence on second-hand views. It will effectuate the public’s right to know. This would inspire confidence in the functioning of the judiciary as an institution and help maintain the respect that it deserved as a co-equal organ of the state.
- Raise the quality and standards of the legal profession: Lawyers will be better prepared to appear before the court and they will be mindful of not making irresponsible remarks. An inclusive approach to public scrutiny could nudge and enable lawyers to take the justice delivery mechanisms more seriously than they may have in the past.
- Level playing field: It also creates a level playing ground for the younger members of the legal profession as their preparedness and intellectual prowess will be apparent to all.
- Academic help: Watching courtroom proceedings,actual arguments by lawyers and searching questions by judges could inspire law students to take up this relatively neglected field.Law faculty members and legal researchers will be motivated to work on new areas of scholarship and research relating to the functioning of the judiciary and legal profession.
- Easy accessibility reducing the obstacle of distance: With live-streaming, the litigants will no longer have to come to Delhi to witness proceedings of their case which would be just a click away.
- Strengthening Democracy: Transparency and accessibility of the process of justice delivery will strengthen the country’s democracy
What are the Concerns around live-streaming of court?
- Contempt of court: Video clips of proceedings from Indian courts are already on YouTube and other social media platforms with sensational titles and little context, such as “HIGH COURT super angry on army officer”.
- Disinformation and sensationalism: There are fears that irresponsible or motivated use of content could spread disinformation among the public.
- Unnecessary activism: With the advent of social media, every citizen became a potential journalist. Study shows that justices behave like politicians when given free television time, they act to maximize their individual exposure
- Internet connectivity: Internet connectivity issues and the need for a well-equipped space where lawyers can conduct their cases are some of the major problems requiring attention.
- Awareness and training: Judges, court staff and lawyers are not well-versed with digital technology and its benefits. The need of the hour is for them to be made aware of these and receive adequate training.
Which countries live-stream their court hearing?
- Internationally,constitutional court proceedings are recorded in some form or the other.
- United States: The Supreme Court of the United States streams its hearings in audio format at the end of each week.The US top court publishes hearings on its website and Oyez of all cases. Oyez is a multimedia judicial archive of the Supreme Court of the United States’ proceedings.
- Brazil: The Supreme Federal Court of Brazil live streams hearings of all cases in video format on television.
- UK: The UK Supreme Court live streams hearings of all cases in video format on its website.
- Canada: The Canadian Supreme Court also live streams hearings of all its cases in video format on its website.
- Australia: The Australian Supreme Court streams hearings of its full-court cases on its website with a delay of about a day. Meanwhile, the High Court of Australia (HCA) does not live-stream its proceedings.
- China: In China,court proceedings are live-streamed from trial courts up to the Supreme People’s Court of China.
Conclusion
- The chief justices (past and present) and the judges of the Supreme Court deserve to be congratulated for enabling a path-breaking and democratic decision that allows the people of India to be able to watch the live proceedings of the Constitutional Bench.The distinguished jurist, Oliver Holmes,famously observed,“The great thing in the world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving.” The judges of the Supreme Court of India have ensured that we are indeed moving in the right direction.
Mains Question
Q.Adoption of technology will radically change the field of law and transform the judiciary. What will be the role of courts, judges, politicians,media and citizens of the country regarding live streaming of court proceedings. Discuss
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI)
Mains level: India's manufacturing sector slowdown
India’s manufacturing sector experienced its slowest expansion in September since June, the S&P Global India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) indicated, with the index easing to 55.1 from August’s 56.2.
PMI improves
- A PMI reading above 50 indicates an increase in firms’ activity levels, and September marked the 15th straight month of growth in manufacturing activity.
Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI)
- PMI is an indicator of business activity — both in the manufacturing and services sectors.
- It is a survey-based measure that asks the respondents about changes in their perception of some key business variables from the month before.
- It is calculated separately for the manufacturing and services sectors and then a composite index is constructed.
- The PMI is compiled by IHS Markit based on responses to questionnaires sent to purchasing managers in a panel of around 400 manufacturers.
How is the PMI derived?
- The PMI is derived from a series of qualitative questions.
- Executives from a reasonably big sample, running into hundreds of firms, are asked whether key indicators such as output, new orders, business expectations and employment were stronger than the month before and are asked to rate them.
How does one read the PMI?
- A figure above 50 denotes expansion in business activity. Anything below 50 denotes contraction.
- Higher the difference from this mid-point greater the expansion or contraction. The rate of expansion can also be judged by comparing the PMI with that of the previous month data.
- If the figure is higher than the previous month’s then the economy is expanding at a faster rate.
- If it is lower than the previous month then it is growing at a lower rate.
What are its implications for the economy?
- The PMI is usually released at the start of the month, much before most of the official data on industrial output, manufacturing and GDP growth becomes available.
- It is, therefore, considered a good leading indicator of economic activity.
- Economists consider the manufacturing growth measured by the PMI as a good indicator of industrial output, for which official statistics are released later.
- Central banks of many countries also use the index to help make decisions on interest rates.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Nobel Prize, Neanderthal, Hominins, Denisovians
Mains level: Not Much
Swedish scientist Svante Paabo won the Nobel Prize in medicine for his discoveries on human evolution that provided key insights into our immune system and what makes us unique compared with our extinct ancestors.
Svante Paabo: His work, explained
- Svante Paabo’s seminal discoveries provide the basis for exploring what makes us uniquely human.
- Hominins refer to the now-extinct species of apes that are believed to be related to modern humans, as well as modern humans themselves.
- Paabo found that gene transfer had occurred from these now extinct Hominins to Homo sapiens following the migration out of Africa around 70,000 years ago.
- This ancient flow of genes to present-day humans has physiological relevance today, for example affecting how our immune system reacts to infections.
- Paabo established an entirely new scientific discipline, called paleogenomics that focuses on studying the DNA and genetic information of extinct hominins through reconstruction.
What is the relation between evolution and biology?
- Paabo’s discoveries have established a unique resource, which is utilized extensively by the scientific community to better understand human evolution and migration.
- We now understand that archaic gene sequences from our extinct relatives influence the physiology of present-day humans.
How did Paabo establish the linkage?
- Paabo extracted DNA from bone specimens from extinct hominins, from Neanderthal remains in the Denisova caves of Germany.
- The bone contained exceptionally well-preserved DNA, which his team sequenced.
- It was found that this DNA sequence was unique when compared to all known sequences from Neanderthals and present-day humans.
- Comparisons with sequences from contemporary humans from different parts of the world showed that gene flow, or mixing of genetic information among a species, had also occurred between Denisova and Homo sapiens – the species of modern-day humans.
- This relationship was first seen in populations in Melanesia (near Australia) and other parts of South East Asia, where individuals carry up to 6% Denisova DNA.
- The Denisovan version of the gene EPAS1 confers an advantage for survival at high altitudes and is common among present-day Tibetans.
What are the challenges in carrying out such research?
- There are extreme technical challenges because with time DNA becomes chemically modified and degrades into short fragments.
- The main issue is that only trace amounts of DNA are left after thousands of years, and exposure to the natural environment leads to contamination with DNA.
Back2Basics: Neanderthal Man
- Neanderthals were humans like us, but they were a distinct species called Homo Neanderthalensis.
- Together with an Asian people known as Denisovans, Neanderthals are our closest ancient human relatives. Scientific evidence suggests our two species shared a common ancestor.
- Current evidence from both fossils and DNA suggests that Neanderthal and modern human lineages separated at least 500,000 years ago. Some genetic calibrations place their divergence at about 650,000 years ago.
- The best-known Neanderthals lived between about 130,000 and 40,000 years ago, after which all physical evidence of them vanishes.
- They evolved in Europe and Asia while modern humans – our species, Homo sapiens – were evolving in Africa.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: LCH Prachanda
Mains level: Not Much
The indigenous Light Combat Helicopter LCH-Prachand was formally inducted into the Indian Air Force (IAF).
LCH- Prachand
- The LCH has been designed as a twin-engine, dedicated combat helicopter of 5.8-ton class, thus categorized as light.
- It features a narrow fuselage and tandem — one behind the other — configuration for pilot and co-pilot. The co-pilot is also the Weapon Systems Operator (WSO).
- While LCH inherits many features of the ALH-Dhruv, it mainly differs in tandem cockpit configuration, making it sleeker.
- It also has many more state-of-art systems that make it a dedicated attack helicopter.
Features, the significance of LCH
- LCH has the maximum take-off weight of 5.8 tonnes, a maximum speed of 268 kilometers per hour, range of 550 kilometers.
- It has endurance of over three hours and service ceiling the maximum density altitude to which it can fly — of 6.5 kilometres.
- LCH is powered by two French-origin Shakti engines manufactured by the HAL.
Combat capabilities
- The helicopter uses radar-absorbing material to lower radar signature and has a significantly crash-proof structure and landing gear.
- A pressurised cabin offers protection from nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) contingencies.
- With these features, the LCH has the capabilities of combat roles such as destruction of enemy air defence, counter-insurgency warfare, combat search and rescue, anti-tank, and counter surface force operations.
Why need indigenous LCH?
- It was during the 1999 Kargil war that the need was first felt for a homegrown lightweight assault helicopter that could hold precision strikes in all Indian battlefield scenarios.
- This meant a craft that could operate in very hot deserts and also in very cold high altitudes, in counter-insurgency scenarios to full-scale battle conditions.
- India has been operating sub 3 ton category French-origin legacy helicopters, Chetak and Cheetah, made in India by the HAL.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Jal Jeevan Mission
Mains level: NA
Around 62% of rural households in India had fully functional tap water connections under the Jal Jeevan Mission.
Jal Jeevan Mission
- Jal Jeevan Mission, a central government initiative under the Ministry of Jal Shakti, aims to ensure access to piped water for every household in India.
- The mission’s goal is to provide all households in rural India with safe and adequate water through individual household tap connections by 2024.
- The Har Ghar Nal Se Jal program was announced by FM in the Budget 2019-20 speech.
- This programme forms a crucial part of the Jal Jeevan Mission.
- It is a central sector scheme with the Centre funding 50% of the cost with States and UTs, except for UT without a legislature, and 90% for NE and Himalayan states.
Note: A fully functional tap water connection is defined as a household getting at least 55 litres of per capita per day of potable water all through the year.
Components of the mission
The following key components are supported under JJM-
- Development of in-village piped water supply infrastructure to provide tap water connection to every rural household
- Bulk water transfer, treatment plants and distribution network to cater to every rural household
- Technological interventions for removal of contaminants where water quality is an issue
- Retrofitting of completed and ongoing schemes
- Greywater management
Progress of the scheme
- Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, Goa, and Puducherry reported more than 80% of households with fully functional connections.
- However, less than half the households in Rajasthan, Kerala, Manipur, Tripura, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram and Sikkim had such connection.
- Close to three-fourths of households received water all seven days a week and 8% just once a week.
- On average, households got water for three hours every day, and 80% reported that their daily requirements of water were being met by the tap connections.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Satellite broadband
Mains level: Read the attached story
The race for providing satellite broadband connectivity in India is heating up as companies like Jio, Oneweb, Hughes and Tata-backed Nelco are preparing to provide these services.
Recent developments on satellite broadband
- Earlier last month, Hughes Communications India (HCI), a satellite internet service provider launched India’s first high throughput satellite (HTS) broadband service powered by ISRO satellites.
- It used Ku-band capacity from ISRO GSAT-11 and GSAT-29 satellites with Hughes JUPITER Platform ground technology to deliver high-speed broadband.
What is a Satellite Broadband Service?
- Broadband essentially means a wide bandwidth, high-capacity data transmission technique, using a broad range of frequencies.
- In the case of a satellite broadband service, broadband services are delivered directly via satellites instead of optical fibre or mobile networks.
How is it different from existing broadband services?
(1) Transmission of data over space
- The main difference is that aggregation of all the data generated and transmitted by users accessing the internet happens in the sky or space that is in the satellite.
- In contrast to this, if we take a look at cellular networks, aggregation happens on the ground, in the base stations through optical fibre, cable, etc.
(2) Access to the services
- Another key difference is that to access satellite services, we will need a dish antenna just like we do in the case of TV services, so a normal mobile handset cannot directly access satellite broadband.
- For a user to access satellite broadband a clear line of sight to the satellite is needed.
Advantages offered
- Speed: The main advantage of satellite services is that you can provide high-speed internet services in remote areas, where terrestrial networks cannot be set up.
- Eliminating terrain shortcomings: For instance in the middle of the ocean, in rugged unreachable terrain such as the Himalayas — even as remote as on top of Mt. Everest, satellite broadband will work.
- Curbing the divide: In a country with a wide range of geographies such as India, 20-25 per cent of the Indian population resides in areas where it is extremely hard for terrestrial operators to install internet facilities.
Present scope in India
- Currently, VSAT operators offer satellite broadband services at a very limited capacity in India in a few remote locations.
- The utilisation of satellite services for broadband services is restricted to minimal applications — such as disaster management, defence, scientific locations, etc.
How India (undoubtedly, the ISRO) has geared up for adapting to this?
- ISRO’s high throughput GEO (Geostationary Equatorial Orbit) satellites – GSAT-11 and GSAT-29 a few years ago, can beam high-speed internet up to 300 gigabytes per second.
- Apart, many global players look to provide satellite broadband services in India by deploying low earth orbit (LEO) satellites.
- They are launching a constellation of satellites very close to the earth’s surface in order to reduce the latency of satellite broadband.
- Presently, Elon Musk’s Starlink, Sunil Bharti Mittal-backed OneWeb and the Canadian satellite major Telesat are eyeing the Indian market.
When will these services be available in India?
- If things go as planned and the players get the necessary regulatory clearance, these services could become operational in India as soon as next year.
- OneWeb wants to provide backhaul services to telcos by mid-next year, while Starlink wants to provide direct broadband services by December 2022, aiming at 2 lakh terminals.
- Telesat, on the other hand, is eyeing an India launch by 2024.
How much will it cost?
- The provision of direct broadband services through satellites will be pricey.
- According to a user guide for India, provided by Starlink, the first-year cost of a Starlink terminal will be ₹1,58,000 after which it will cost around ₹1,15,000 every year.
Has it been rolled out in other parts of the world?
- Starlink is operational in 14 countries, with 1 lakh terminals shipped to North America and Europe.
- Starlink and OneWeb are still launching satellites that will be a part of their LEO constellation.
What are the major hurdles?
- Latency: Additionally, satellite Internet latency can be a significant problem. This can be a matter of only a second or two, but a delay on that scale can seriously affect real-time applications like video chats.
- Spatial hurdles: Users might not be able to connect to a satellite at all if they are located under heavy foliage or surrounded by other obstructions.
- Limited bandwidth: Satellite data transfer provides very slow Internet speeds and limited satellite bandwidth because of the distances the signals have to travel and all the potential obstacles in between.
- Connection times: This can also be impacted by your surroundings, the length of your message, and the status and availability of the satellite network.
- High input cost: This along with the complex equipment like satellite dishes being used to avail these services makes the service expensive.
Perspective analysis: Why is India itself lagging in this race?
- Globally, companies are striving to build and deploy “mega-constellations” of hundreds or thousands of satellites for this.
- Despite India’s impressive achievements in the space sector, growth has been at snail’s pace.
- Satellite broadband services in India remains primarily for the B2B sector with a market size of roughly $100 million.
Reason’s for India’s slow pace
- Upgrade issues: The Indian networks are still using conventional satellites despite the proliferation of high throughput satellites world-over.
- Lack of domestic industries: There is a lack of domestic participation for building space infrastructure despite ‘Make in India’ mission.
Way forward
- An urgent re-look at deregulation and privatization is required.
- Advanced space-faring nations have privatized most of these blocks in the value chain.
- There is a need for building systems to help nurture the industry and create an extensive ecosystem to generate a ‘Space 2.0’ in India.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Natural gas
Mains level: Clean energy
Context
- The announcement at the end of August by the ministry of petroleum that they had constituted a committee, headed by energy expert Kirit Parikh, to review the domestic natural gas pricing regime.
Background
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to raise the share of gas in India’s energy mix to 15% by 2030 from 6.2%, helping it progress towards meeting a 2070 net zero carbon-emission goal.
What is Natural Gas?
- Natural gas is a fossil fuel source consisting primarily of methane. It is the cleanest fossil fuels among the available fossil fuels.
- It is used as a feedstock in the manufacture of fertilizers, plastics and other commercially important organic chemicals as well as used as a fuel for electricity generation, heating purpose in industrial and commercial units.
- Natural gas is also used for cooking in domestic households and a transportation fuel for vehicles.
Why Natural gas is Important?
- Energy Efficient:Natural gas produces more energy than any of the fossil fuels in terms of calorific value.
- Cleaner fuel: Natural gas is a superior fuel as compared with coal and other liquid fuels being an environment-friendly, safer and cheaper fuel.
- Economy of use: Natural Gas (as CNG) is much cheaper compared with petrol or Diesel.
- Emission commitments: India made a commitment to COP-21 Paris Convention in December 2015 that by 2030, it would reduce carbon emission by 33%-35% of 2005 levels.
- Diverse applications: Natural gas can be used as domestic kitchen fuel, fuel for the transport sector as well as a fuel for fertilizer industries and commercial units.
- Supply chain convenience: Natural Gas is supplied through pipelines just like we get water from the tap. There is no need to store cylinders in the kitchen and thus save space.
- Pacing up the progress line: On the global front,switching to natural gas is bringing commendable results.The latest report released by IEA shows that the electricity produced by natural gas worldwide was more than that of coal for the first time ever.
Natural gas scenario in India
- Domestic Gas Sources: The domestic gas in the country is being supplied from the oil & gas fields located at western and southeastern areas viz. Hazira basin, Mumbai offshore & KG basin as well as North East Region (Assam & Tripura).
- Import of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG): In order to meet the gas demand, LNG is imported through the Open General License (OGL) in the country. At present, India is having six operational LNG regasification terminals at Dahej, Kochi, Mundra, Ennore etc.
- Gas Pipelines :
- Gas Pipeline infrastructure is an economical and safe mode of transporting natural gas by connecting gas sources to gas-consuming markets.
- An interconnected National Gas Grid has been envisaged to ensure the adequate availability and equitable distribution of natural gas in all parts of the country.
- Pricing:
- To incentivise gas producers and boost local output, since 2014 India has linked local gas prices to a formula tied to global benchmarks, including Henry Hub, Alberta gas, NBP and Russian gas.
- In 2016, the country began fixing the ceiling prices of gas produced from ultra-deep water and challenging fields and allowed marketing freedom to the operators of these fields.
- Current consumption: India’s natural gas consumption is expected to grow by eight per cent year-on-year to around 34,949 million standard cubic meters (MSCM) in the current calendar year aided by expanding infrastructure, strong GDP growth projections, and supportive government policy.
- 2021 Consumption: In the 2021 calendar year (CY), the country’s natural gas demand stood at 32,360 MSCM. The share of domestic gas and imported RLNG was about 48% & 52% respectively. The City Gas Distribution (CGD) accounts for the largest consumption of natural gas followed by fertilizers, power and other industrial sectors
- High prices: The state-set local gas prices and ceiling rates are at a record high and are expected to rise further due to a surge in global gas prices triggered by the Ukraine-Russia conflict.
Kirit Parikh Committee
- Objective: Ensuring fair prices to end consumers, and to suggest a market oriented, transparent and reliable pricing regime for India’s long term vision for ensuring a gas based economy.
- Members: The committee,headed by energy expert Kirit Parikh, will include members from the fertiliser ministry, as well as gas producers and buyers.Four of the six members are from the public sector.
What are the problems facing India’s natural gas reserves?
- Harsh topography: IHS CERA has estimated India has undiscovered gas resources of approximately 64 TCF The bulk of this is, however, in harsh topography and complex geology. These reserves are difficult to locate.
- Distant from the market:Even if located,they are difficult to bring to market on economically viable terms. This is because the cost of creating the development and production infrastructure is massive.
- Heavy Budget: The reality is India is a high-risk exploration play. There are inherent geologic, technical, and economic obstacles to achieving commercial success.
- Administered Pricing: Constraint of administered pricing petroleum companies have reduced their exploration budgets under pressure to shift away from fossil fuels.
What can be done?
- Pricing freedom: It should clear up the existing complexity and, other than for producers of gas from nomination blocks, permit all producers of gas to determine prices through arms length,direct and transparent negotiations with different consumer segments.
- Subsidies: There are no liquefaction facilities for the export of LNG in India. Subsidies may have to be provided but if so,they should be given directly by the government,through the exchequer. The gas producers must not be asked to bear that brunt.
Conclusion
- In the wake of the Ukraine crisis, the international energy market has undergone a profound transformation.India has made impressive progress towards clean energy. It has,however, a long way to go before it can fully wean itself off fossil fuels.
Mains Question
Q. It is evident that clean energy transitions are underway and it’s also a signal that we have the opportunity to meaningfully move the needle on emissions through more ambitious policies and investments in natural gas regime. Comment
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: PDS,Subsidies
Mains level: Climate change and Food security
Context
- In pursuance of the earlier announcement of additional food security under PMGKAY, the Union Cabinet has approved the extension for the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY-Phase VII) for a further period of 3 months from October to December 2022.
What is Climate Change?
- United Nations defines Climate change as long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns. These shifts may be natural, such as through variations in the solar cycle. But since the 1800s, human activities have been the main driver of climate change, primarily due to burning fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas
- The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)defines food security as , when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.
Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana?
- Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PM-GKAY) is a scheme as part of Atmanirbhar Bharat to supply free food grains to migrants and poor.
- Phase-I and Phase-II of this scheme was operational from April to June, 2020 and July to November, 2020 respectively.
- The PMGKAY scheme for Phase VI from April-September, 2022 would entail an estimated additional food subsidy of Rs. Rs. 80,000 Crore.
How food security and climate change are interlinked?
- Extreme events: India is going to have extreme events such as heatwaves, droughts, floods, etc of increasing intensity and frequency.
- Rising GHGs emission: We may keep blaming developed economies and ask for climate justice, yet we will have to act fast and boldly to correct our own policies that increase GHG emissions and aggravate the situation.
- Subsidies: Power provided at next-to-nothing prices, free water and highly subsidised fertilisers especially urea are some of the policies that are damaging the natural environment.
- Food ecosystem: Food security is one of the leading concerns associated with climate change. Climate change affects food security in complex ways. It impacts crops, livestock, forestry, fisheries and aquaculture, and can cause grave social and economic consequences in the form of reduced incomes, eroded livelihoods, trade disruption and adverse health impacts.
Why food security is a matter of concern?
- Fiscal deficit: The fiscal deficit of the Centre may go higher than provisioned in the Budget for FY23. The finance ministry not supporting the extension of this free food beyond September was, economically, a rational recommendation. More so as Covid-19 is behind us and the economy is back to its normal level of activity.
- Depleting stocks: The PMGKAY was announced in April 2020 in the wake of the pandemic’s first wave. At that time, it was perhaps necessary to support all those who lost their jobs. But doubling free rations depleted the bulging stocks of grains. Now with wheat procurement having plummeted, there is a concern about whether stocks are enough to curb inflationary expectations in the country.
- Less harvest: To replenish wheat stocks in FCI godowns, the government will have to raise the minimum support price (MSP) of wheat quite substantially. For rice, the current stocks are ample, but given the monsoon vagaries, the forthcoming rice harvest is estimated to be about 7 million tonnes less.
- Rising MSP: PMGKAY will be difficult to extend beyond December without putting an undue burden on MSPs and the fiscal deficit.
- Other reasons:
- Inflation: Even though the RBI has raised the repo rate by 50 basis points, the probability of inflation, as measured by the consumer price index (CPI), remaining higher than the central bank’s tolerance band is increasing by the day.
- Depreciating Rupee: The RBI has already spent more than $80 billion to support the rupee, and there are limits to which it can go. And, if RBI tries to hold the rupee artificially high, it will adversely hit Indian exports, widening the current account deficit and putting further pressure on the rupee. The best that RBI can and should do is to avoid a sudden and abrupt fall in the rupee, but also let it find its natural level given what is happening globally, especially in the currency markets.
- Long haul: The risks of higher inflation from the falling rupee remain and are likely to continue for at least one year, if not more.
What can we do?
- Increasing foreign exchange reserves: Government have to have innovative policies to promote exports and attract more foreign direct investment (FDI).
- Fixing Issue price: fix the issue prices of PDS supplies at half the MSP and limit the PDS coverage to 30 per cent of the bottom population.
- On rupee fall: The best that RBI can and should do is to avoid a sudden and abrupt fall in the rupee, but also let it find its natural level given what is happening globally, especially in the currency markets.
- Use of technology: If we have to tame food inflation, we will have to invest more in climate-smart agriculture, in precision farming, with high productivity and less damage to natural resources.
- Right ecosystem: Science and technologies can, of course, help us, but they cannot be scaled in a perverse policy ecosystem.
- Adoption of sustainable agricultural practices: India needs to step up public investment in development and dissemination of crop varieties which are more tolerant of temperature and precipitation fluctuations and are more water and nutrient efficient.
- Management of water resources: A four pronged strategy is recommended for the water sector; Increase irrigation efficiency, Promote micro irrigation in water-deficient areas, Better water resource infrastructure planning, Restoration of water bodies in rural areas, Stronger emphasis on public health.
- Long-term relief measures in the event of natural disasters: A recent report by NITI Aayog suggests that the government should transfer a minimum specified sum of cash to affected farmers and landless workers as an instant relief. For richer farmers who may want insurance above this relief, the report recommends a separate commercially viable crop insurance programme.
Conclusion
- So far India has done well to tame the food inflation as compared to other developed and developing economies. Present policy of RBI burning the FOREX and government increasing the deficit is unsustainable in long run. Food security needs to be insured by climate resilient policies for long term sustenance.
Mains Question
Q.Climate change is a growing concern that threatens sustainable development in addition to food security and inflation. Discuss
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Nord Stream,GHG,Methane Emission
Mains level: Environmental degradation, Man made disasters.
Context
- Four leakages were reported at different points in the Nord Stream pipelines, linking Russia and Europe, since September 26. Two of the leaks were in Swedish waters while the other two were reported from Danish waters. The European Union said they suspected “sabotage” behind the leaks.
What is Nord Stream Pipeline?
- Nord Stream 1 is the biggest pipeline transporting natural gas between Russia and Europe via Germany.It is a system of offshore natural gas pipelines running under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany.
- Nord Stream 1 is a 1,224 km underwater gas pipeline that runs from Vyborg in northwest Russia to Lubmin in northeastern Germany via the Baltic Sea.
- Russian threats to choke this gas supply to Europe present an economic threat to Germany.
- To expand options and double the supply from Russia, Germany decided to build Nord Stream 2.
- The construction of the $11 billion-worth Nord Stream 2 was completed in 2021 but never began commercial operations.
Why the Nord Stream pipeline is so important?
- For Germany: Energy prices in Germany, Europe’s largest economy, are among the lowest in the continent because of the cheap gas supplies via Nord Stream 1. This also makes German manufactured goods more competitive in the international market.
- For European Union: In 2021, Russia supplied nearly 40 per cent of the EU’s natural gas needs through this pipeline. The flows through Nord Stream play a vital role in filling up the national storage tanks of EU. It is crucial to provide the required heating in the upcoming winter.
- For Russia: Russia is using the supplies via the crucial pipeline as a bargain to navigate its economy through sanctions from the western countries.
- Nord stream pipeline is the largest single supply route for Russian gas to Europe. The Russian state owned gas company Gazprom has a majority ownership in the pipeline.
- While it was running at just 20% of its capacity since the Russia-Ukraine conflict began, the company, in early September fully cut gas flows from the pipeline on the pretext of maintenance.
- According to Bloomberg, while 40% of Europe’s pipeline gas came from Russia before Russia Ukraine the war, the number now stands at just 9%.
- Even though both pipelines were not running commercially, they had millions of cubic metres of gas stored in them.
The recent leakage in the pipeline
- Commercial Methane: Measuring satellite firm GHGSat says, that a conservative estimate based on available data suggested that the leaks together were releasing ‘more than500 metric tonnes of methane per hour’ when first breached, with the flow decreasing over time.
- Biggest methane leakage ever: According to UNEP The leakage from the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline system under the Baltic Sea have led to perhaps the single biggest release of methane ever recorded.
- Amount of leakage: The rate of leakage at one of the four points of rupture in the pipeline was 22,920 kg per hour. That is equal to burning about 286,000 kg of coal every hour, according to scientists.
What will be the Impact of methane leakage?
- Possibility of more leakage: With the timeframe for repairs being uncertain, the pipelines were unlikely to provide any gas to Europe in the forthcoming winter months, even if the political will to resume supply was found.
- Commercial damage: European gas prices spiked after reports of the leaks emerged; European Benchmark prices rose 12% on Tuesday, while Dutch and British Prices continued to rise.
- Ozone formation: Methane is the primary contributor to the formation of ground-level ozone, a hazardous air pollutant and greenhouse gas, exposure to which causes 1 million premature deaths every year.
- Green House gas: Methane is also a powerful greenhouse gas. Over a 20-year period, it is 80 times more potent at warming than carbon dioxide.
- Global warming: Methane has accounted for roughly 30 per cent of global warming since pre-industrial times and is proliferating faster than at any other time since record keeping began in the 1980s.
- Emission have already increased during the lockdown: According to data from the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, even as carbon dioxide emissions decelerated during the pandemic-related lockdowns of 2020, atmospheric methane shot up.
Why is it important to reduce methane emission?
- Short lifespan: Carbon dioxide remains in the atmosphere for hundreds to thousands of years. But it takes only about a decade for methane to break down. So, reducing methane emissions now would have an impact in the near term and is critical for helping keep the world on a path to 1.5°C.
- Human caused methane emissions: Human-caused methane emissions could be reduced by as much as 45 per cent within the decade. This would avert nearly 0.3°C of global warming by 2045, helping to limit global temperature rise to 1.5˚C and putting the planet on track to achieve the Paris Agreement targets.
- Prevent premature deaths: Every year, the subsequent reduction in ground-level ozone would also prevent 260,000 premature deaths, 775,000 asthma-related hospital visits, 73 billion hours of lost labour from extreme heat and 25 million tonnes of crop losses.
- Reducing the Agriculture emission: Agriculture and allied activities remains the biggest contributor of methane emission. The UN’s Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture initiative is supporting the transformation of agricultural and food systems, focusing on how to maintain productivity amid a changing climate. Representatives are also working to mainstream agriculture into the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Conclusion
- Nord stream pipeline leakages will further exacerbate the ozone formation, Green House Gas emissions global warming and thereby climate change. In the spirit of Paris climate change agreement nations must act together to rein in the menace of GHG emissions.
Mains Questions
Q.Methane emission into atmosphere is done more by human activities than natural causes. In the spirit of Paris climate change agreement nations must act together to rein in the menace of GHG emissions. Explain
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: UAPA
Mains level: Read the attached story
The People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) has released a report titled “UAPA: criminalizing dissent and state terror” on the alleged abuse of the legislation between 2009 and 2022, and demanded that the law be repealed.
What is Unlawful (Activities) Prevention Act (UAPA)?
- The UAPA is aimed at effective prevention of unlawful activities associations in India.
- Its main objective was to make powers available for dealing with activities directed against the integrity and sovereignty of India
- It is an upgrade on the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act TADA, which was allowed to lapse in 1995 and the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) was repealed in 2004.
- It was originally passed in 1967 under the then Congress government led by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
- Till 2004, “unlawful” activities referred to actions related to secession and cession of territory. Following the 2004 amendment, “terrorist act” was added to the list of offences.
What are Unlawful Activities and Associations?
- The UAPA lays down the definitions and rules for designating an organisation as an “unlawful association” if it is engaged in certain types of activities.
- Under Section 3 of the UAPA Act, the government has powers to declare an association “unlawful”.
- The government can then issue a notification designating such an organisation as a terrorist organisation, if it believes that the organisation is part of “terrorist activities.”
(1) Unlawful Activites
- Under section 2(o) of the UAPA, an unlawful activity in relation to an individual or association means – Any action taken by such an individual or association (whether by committing an act or by words, either spoken or written, or by signs or by visible representation or otherwise), –
- Works for the Cession of a part of the territory of India or the secession of a part of the territory of India from the Union
- Disclaims, questions, disrupts or is intended to Disrupt the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India; or
- which causes or is intended to cause Disaffection against India;
- Related and ancillary acts, including financing, support or promotion of any such activities are also “unlawful activity”.
(2) Unlawful Association
The UAPA also defines an “Unlawful Association” under section 2(p) as meaning any association,–
- which has for its object any unlawful activity, or which encourages or aids persons to undertake any unlawful activity, or of which the members undertake such activity or
- which encourages or aids persons to undertake any such activity, or of which the members undertake any such activity
Reported abuse of UAPA
- The PUCL report studied data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) from 2015 to 2020.
- It has found per-case conviction rate under the UAPA was 27.57% compared with 49.67% in Indian Penal Code (IPC) cases.
- The per-arrestee conviction rate was just 2.8% against 22.19% in IPC cases.
- This is far less to figure of the success of having UAPA.
Cases registered under UAPA
- During the check period, 5,924 cases were registered and 8,371 persons arrested.
- The National Investigation Agency, on its website, had listed 456 cases of which 78% involved UAPA charges.
Issues with UAPA
- Burden of proof: With such high barriers of proof, it is now impossible for an accused to obtain bail, and is in fact a convenient tool to put a person behind bars indefinitely.
- No interim bail: As a consequence of UAPA being applied, the accused cannot even get bail.
- Traitor branding: This is being abused by the government, police and prosecution liberally: now, all dissenters are routinely implicated under charges of sedition or criminal conspiracy and under the UAPA.
- Fake and framed cases: In multiple instances, evidence is untenable, sometimes even arguably planted, and generally weak overall.
Key recommendations of the report
- Repeal of the NIA Act and disbanding of the agency
- Release of all political prisoners (also who are on bail) and
- Action to provide reparations for those wrongfully accused and released by Courts
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Tokenization
Mains level: Transaction safety
The RBI’s deadline for tokenization of cards used in online payments passed on 30 September.
What is Tokenization?
- Tokenisation refers to the replacement of credit and debit card details with an alternative code called a ‘token’.
- This token is unique for a combination of card, token requestor (the entity that accepts a request from the customer for tokenization of a card and passes it on to the card network to issue a token) and the device.
How does it work?
- Tokenizing credit and debit cards is a way to reduce the number of places where your card data can be found.
- For instance, payments on Uber showed a warning that your card data will be saved with payment gateways such as Visa and Mastercard.
- What it is saying is that a merchant like Uber will have to work with payment networks like Visa to convert the card details into a digital token, which is then used to validate transactions.
- As a result, the card details you enter on the Uber app, or any online platform, are not stored on the company’s cloud servers, and are hence more secure.
What is the digital token being used?
- The digital token is a randomized string, usually alphanumeric. So, a 16-digit card number gets converted to something like 8f9%yf57ljTa.
- It is generated by computer programmes, and the card network tags the token to your actual card details, and relays the token to the merchant.
- When payments are to be requested, the merchant sends this token to the card network, which matches it against the saved details and validates the transaction.
- A third party accessing the token won’t have use for it, since tokens will be unique across combinations of card, token requestor and merchants.
Who can offer tokenization services?
- Tokenisation can be performed only by the authorised card network and recovery of original Primary Account Number (PAN) should be feasible for the authorised card network only.
- Adequate safeguards have to be put in place to ensure that PAN cannot be found out from the token and vice versa, by anyone except the card network.
- RBI has emphasised that the integrity of the token generation process has to be ensured at all times.
Benefits of Tokenization
- Transaction safety: Tokenization reduces the chances of fraud arising from sharing card details.
- Easy payments: The token is used to perform contactless card transactions at point-of-sale (PoS) terminals and QR code payments.
- Data storage: Only card networks and card-issuing banks will have access to and can store any card data.
How were the transactions processed?
- There are many players involved in processing one card transaction today:
- Merchant
- Payment aggregator
- Issuing bank
- Card network
- When a transaction happens on a merchant platform, the data is sent to the payment aggregator (PA).
- The PA next sends the details to either the issuing bank or the card network.
- Then issuing bank sends an OTP and the transaction flows back.
How will tokenization prevent online fraud?
- Card details saved on an app are stored in cloud servers, which if hacked, can give the hacker access to information like card numbers, expiry dates, name of holder etc.
- Though most merchants put special mechanisms to store card details in an obfuscated manner, it’s much more difficult to hack a bank or a Visa than it is to hack websites and apps.
How does it differ from encryption?
- The primary difference is that the token cannot lead one to the card details.
- In encryption, a computer program obfuscates data using an encryption key, and this key can turn the data back to its original form.
- In tokenization, however, there is no way to know what data a token represents unless one has access to the databases of the actual issuer of that token.
- In many cases, laws don’t consider tokens as “sensitive data”, and hence, companies don’t have to ensure the same compliance to protect them.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Professors of Practice
Mains level: Not Much
University Grants Commission (UGC) has issued new guidelines under which higher education institutes can create a new teaching position called Professor of Practice to hire experts from various sectors, in line with provisions that already exist in the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).
Professors of Practice
- If one is a distinguished professional in any field but do not have a formal academic qualification such as a PhD, he/she can still be eligible for appointment as faculty in any college or university in India.
- To be eligible for appointment, an individual will have to be a “distinguished expert” who has made remarkable contributions in their professions.
- The post is open to the institutions themselves to decide the sector from which they want to rope in professionals.
Streams opened for this post
- A professor of practice can be anyone with a background in a diverse range of areas from technology, science, social sciences, media, literature, armed forces, law, fine arts, etc.
- However, the position is not open for those in the teaching profession — either serving or retired.
Minimum qualifications
- No formal academic qualification is necessary in order to be considered for this position if a person has been an “exemplary” professional in their field of work.
- Currently, under the UGC’s minimum qualifications needs a PhD to be recruited as a professor or associate professor, and also needs to have cleared the National Eligibility Test (NET).
Will the professor of practice be a full-time position?
- It can be either a full-time or a part-time engagement for at least four years.
- Initially, the hiring will be for one year.
- Based on performance, extensions may be given.
How will these appointments be made?
- Universities and colleges will carry out appointments on a nomination basis.
- In other words, vice-chancellors or directors have been authorized to invite nominations for filling up posts, which cannot exceed 10 percent of the sanctioned faculty strength of an institute.
- After nominations are invited, those interested can send their applications with detailed biodata and a brief write-up about the ways they can potentially contribute.
- The applications will be considered by a selection committee comprising two senior professors from the respective institute, and one “eminent external member”.
- Based on the recommendations of the committee, the academic council and the executive council of the institutes will take the final call on appointment.
What about remuneration?
- The remuneration will be decided at the level of the institutes and the experts being hired.
- In some cases, universities can even approach industries for financial support.
Why such move?
- India’s higher education institutes are understaffed, with thousands of vacancies across central and state universities.
- So the UGC is hoping that recruiting industry experts and professionals will help “augment faculty resources” in universities and colleges.
- The move is aimed at addressing concerns about the quality of graduates being produced by Indian colleges and universities.
- Around the world, the idea of a professor of practice aims essentially to facilitate and promote the integration of academic scholarship with practical expertise and experience.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: PUC Certification
Mains level: Delhi Air Pollution issue
Motorists will not be able to buy fuel in Delhi without a valid Pollution Under Control (PUC) certificate from October 25.
What is PUC Certificate?
- The PUC certificate is a document that any person driving a motor vehicle can be asked to produce by a police officer in uniform authorized by the state government.
- These issue certificates if a vehicle is found complying with the prescribed emission norms.
- Since the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019 came into force, PUC certificate has been made mandatory.
- A PUC certificate contains information such as the vehicle’s license plate number, PUC test reading, date on which the PUC test was conducted and the expiry date.
Compliance rules
- According to Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, every motor vehicle is required to carry a valid PUC Certificate after the expiry of period of one year from the date of its first registration.
- This includes those conforming to BS-I/ BS-II/ BS-III/BS-IV /BS-VI as well as vehicles plying on CNG/LPG.
- However, the validity of four-wheeled BS-IV compliant vehicles is one year and for other vehicles it is three months.
How is a pollution control check carried out?
- The computerized model for pollution check was developed by the Society of Indian Automobile manufacturers.
- A gas analyzer is connected to a computer, to which a camera and a printer are attached.
- The gas analyzer records the emission value and sends it to the computer directly, while the camera captures the license plate of the vehicle.
- Subsequently, a certificate may be issued if the emission values are within the limits.
Why obtain PUC Certificate?
- Emissions from automobiles are major contributors to air pollution all over the world.
- The smoke emitted from vehicles contains the following pollutants:
- Hydrocarbons (HC)
- Carbon Monoxide (CO)
- Oxides of Nitrogen (NOx)
- Particulate Matter (PM)
- Sulphur Dioxide (SO2)
- Carbon Dioxide (CO2)
- Nitrous Oxide (N2O)
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: MeFSAT
Mains level: Not Much
An analytical study of medicinal fungi using MeFSAT carried out by researchers from Chennai shows that some chemicals they secrete may find use as novel drugs.
What is MeFSAT?
- MeFSAT (Medicinal Fungi Secondary Metabolites and Therapeutics) is a database that compiles information on 184 medicinal fungi, including mushrooms.
- It is a manually curated database that compiles information on secondary metabolites and reported therapeutic uses of medicinal fungi from published research articles and specialized books on the subject.
Why in news?
- Chennai-based researchers analysed the structure of 1,830 secondary metabolites of medicinal fungi.
- Secondary metabolites are chemical compounds that fungi produce when they are stressed.
- They enhance the fungus’ ability to survive.
What are medicinal fungi?
- Medicinal fungi belongs to two taxonomic divisions namely, basidiomycota and ascomycota.
- Mushrooms belong to the basidiomycota division. An example is Agaricus bisporus, the button mushroom, which can be consumed.
- Fungi belonging to the ascomycota division are generally not mushrooms.
Examples of fungi-based medicines
- Cordycepin, a secondary metabolite produced by Cordyceps species of fungus, is known to have anti-tumor properties.
- Not only cordycepin, in general, but several secondary metabolites are also known to be beneficial for humans in terms of both therapy and health.
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