From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not Much
Mains level: implications of fossil fuel ban
Context
The President of Vanuatu, a small Pacific Island, wanted the General Assembly to adopt a universal Non-Proliferation Treaty to ban the use of fossil fuels across the world.
Why such extreme call on fossil fuel ban?
Unlikely discussion on climate change: There is a strong belief in some quarters that the next climate conference, just days away in Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt this year (COP27) may not discuss climate change mitigation largely on account of the ongoing energy stress in Europe.
Ukraine conflict and rising energy demand: It is felt that the Russia Ukraine crisis and resulting global energy supply shortages have dented everyone’s ability to reduce emissions. This may be a legitimate view but the discussion on coal in the United Nations General Assembly, in September, points to an opposite possibility.
Why this demand is significant?
Vanuatu represents the strong voice of island nations: Usually, such a call by a nation whose contribution to the global energy supplies and emissions is negligible would have gone unnoticed. But Vanuatu represents a strong and vocal group of small islands developing states whose voice is heard with attention and empathy in the UN.
Endorsement from various stakeholders: More so, when it is a matter that will affect the global discourse on climate change. The small island group has gone around seeking endorsements from various quarters governments, the corporate world and civil society.
Support from Indian quarters: Interestingly, the Mayor of Kolkata, capital of one of the largest coal producing States in India, has lent his voice of support.
Similar demand of ban on coal use
Demand of coal ban on Glasgow conference: Vanuatu’s plea comes in the wake of a similar call for phaseout of coal which was made last year at the Glasgow climate conference.
From phaseout to phasedown: After strong protest by the Indian interlocutors, the language of the decision at Glasgow was toned down from phaseout to phase down of unabated coal power and inefficient fuel subsidies.
Unfair for developing countries: When India argued that a phaseout was unfair to countries that were heavily dependent on coal power in the medium term, there was consternation among climate enthusiasts. Given this background, the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) may be preparing the ground to make the fossil fuel elimination a part of national climate plans at COP 27.
What will be the implications of fossil fuel ban?
No responsibility of polluting countries under UN charter: a call to end fossil fuels through a mandate in the UN has very different implications than when it is presented under the UN Climate Change Convention. A UN mandate of this nature is divorced from the legal responsibility of the polluting countries to reduce their emissions on the basis of responsibility, capability and national circumstances, as required by the Climate Change Convention.
No commitment technological and financial innovations: It also makes no provisions for technological and financial innovations that are necessary to ensure the transition.
Attempt of securitization of climate: A few months ago, a similar attempt had been made in the UN to treat the matter of climate change as that of global security and request the UN Security Council to resolve it. This was dropped because of the opposition of most of the global south, which saw in this an attempt to address climate change not through international cooperation and consensus but by imposing the wish of a select few on others.
Without sacrificing the developing economy: A plan to drastically reduce coal fired power would in fact do very little to arrest the problem of climate change globally but may create insurmountable difficulties in securing the progress of developing economies towards key sustainable development goals.
Just and equitable transition: If the transition to a world of lower emissions has to be sustainable, it must also be just and equitable.
Equal access to alternative energy: It must ensure equal access to energy and secure energy supplies to all, not just to a few. While the developed economies have full access to alternative sources of energy, because of their strength in terms of technology and resources, the developing nations are handicapped. Therefore, a just transition needs to be built on the promise that green energy and a green future will be available to all.
Promoting the philosophy LiFE: It is in this context that the call for Lifestyle for Environment (LiFE) issued by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the UN Secretary General, jointly in India recently, assumes importance. Consumers in countries that consume at an unsustainable pace and contribute to rising emissions have a much greater responsibility to clean up the planet and support the growth of green energy.
Most vulnerable should be attended first: The world today is suffering from the adverse effects of climate change which have devastated homes and the livelihoods of large populations in various parts of the vulnerable world. Addressing these impacts and preparing the world for an uncertain future should be the priority.
Conclusion
It is high time that building climate resilient infrastructure in the developing and growing countries is given as much importance as phasing down coal and investment in energy innovations and alternative technologies.
Mains Question
Q.What will be the implication for developing countries if call on ban on fossil fuel is adopted? Explain the LiFE in the light of climate transition debate.
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Assertive china and its implications on India and the world
Context
China’s 20th Party Congress concluded with hardly any surprises, and a predetermined script was implemented without any hitch. Xi Jinping was anointed President for an unprecedented third term, and all six of his acolytes made it to the powerful Politburo Standing Committee.
Why China’s 20th Party Congress is important?
Extension of tenure of Xi Jinping: Xi’s ‘core’ status has been further reinforced, and he is now set to eclipse Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Zemin, placing him next only to Mao. Mr. Xi’s Thought on ‘Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era’ will be the Chinese Communist Party/Communist Party of China (CCP)’s guiding philosophy for the future.
Xi’s control over party: It was also evident that Mr. Xi enjoys wide, if not overwhelming, support within the Party elite, enabling him to infuse a renewed sense of purpose alongside tightening of controls over it.
High focus on national security: National security would be the key factor dictating all aspects of governance. A common theme that permeated the proceedings was affirmation of the CCP’s historical mission.
Emphasized ideological coherence: There was only a single narrative, crafted in a manner that extolled Mr. Xi’s role in revitalization of the CCP, further enhancing his cult status. Unequivocally rejected was an earlier Xi thesis of a ‘Community of Common Destiny’ which has been replaced by the belief that international public opinion was currently anti-China and also included an incitement to overthrow the existing Communist regime. To counter such disruptive philosophies, it had become necessary for the CCP to emphasize ideological coherence and internal discipline.
Avoiding the soviet style collapse: This would help to avoid the danger of a ‘Soviet style collapse’ caused by ideological laxity, corruption, divisions within the party and attempts by outsiders to foment unrest.
What are the problematic declarations at 20th party congress?
Undermining the USA: In the realm of geopolitics, the Congress declared that the objective is to effectively reduce the authority and the power of the United States.
Rejecting the Indo-pacific: This was especially true of China’s neighborhood, essentially the Indo-Pacific.
Achieving the lost glory: Also, to be eschewed by China were the vague and contradictory goals of the past, made at a time when China sought to make rapid progress in several directions.
Theory of victimhood of international conspiracy: Implicit in the proceedings was the belief that China was being deliberately denied access, and the ability, to import certain vital technological items, and in this regard, of being a victim of major international conspiracies. Earlier pragmatism was replaced by concerns about western pressures to derail China’s progress.
Possible lifelong tenure to Xi: The Party Congress is indicative of the fact that Mr. Xi is much more than a mere party ‘restorer’, and that he adheres to the belief that the CCP’s role is central to Chinese society and critical to determining China’s role in world affairs.
Raising the national strength and international influence: In terms of China’s world view, the Party Congress reiterated that the goal is to make China a modern socialist power by 2035, boost per capita income to middle income levels, and modernise the armed forces. By 2049, the 100th anniversary of the Peoples’ Republic of China, China is determined to lead the world in terms of composite national strength and international influence.
What are the implications for the world?
Premature takeover of Taiwan: one can expect that notwithstanding the level of rhetoric and assertions that this is a dangerous phase, China is unlikely to take any premature step to take over Taiwan, and thereby risk a wider conflict with the U.S. and the rest of the world at this point. Mr. Xi is far more likely to devote attention to internal matters within China, since unity within the Communist Party remains ephemeral; while dissent has been stamped out for the present, more consolidation would be necessary.
Short term conciliation with world: Consequently, one might well see China stepping back from its present confrontational posture with the U.S. and several other countries, and adopting a more conciliatory approach in the near future.
Conflicts are likely to happen: There are, of course, certain red lines any attempt at provocation within the ‘First Island Chain’, or encouraging Taiwan to seek independence or break away from China are certain to lead to a conflict, irrespective of how it would adversely affect China’s 2049 plans and objectives.
Border incursion will rise: In India’s case, further skirmishes between the two countries along the several thousand kilometres of the undefined land border is to be expected.
Conflicts in Indian ocean: China is unlikely to embark on an open conflict with it anywhere else in the Indian Ocean region. This could alter, if India were to pursue a more aggressive policy in support of the West’s ‘open seas policy’ in waters in China’s vicinity.
Prime target in west vs China battle: India is, however, likely to be a principal target of Chinese wrath in the next few years. As India’s economic fortunes steadily improve even as China’s declines, the perception conflict will become more intense.
China’s progress at the cost of India: Moreover, if India is seen as a major recipient of western technology, the kind being denied to China, China would make it a point to use its economic, rather than military muscle, to deter India’s progress. For China to achieve greatness by 2049, subduing India economically, and reducing its image in the eyes of the world would be critically important.
Conclusion
China’s middle kingdom complex, unjustified assertion, paranoic claims on borders and seas and wolf warrior diplomacy is against the international rules and order. China has challenged the USA’s hegemony and entire international system without any tangible punishment. India has to choose its options carefully without compromising national security and ambitions.
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NFHS report findings
Mains level: NFHS, Estimating poverty in India
Context
The recent release of the National family health survey (NFHS) data for 2019-21 allows for a detailed analysis of the progress in the reduction of absolute poverty and related determinants like nutrition.
Poverty estimation in India
Planning Commission Expert Group (1962): It formulated the separate poverty lines for rural and urban areas at ₹20 and ₹25 per capita per year respectively.
VM Dandekar and N Rath (1971): They made the first systematic assessment, based on National Sample Survey (NSS) data. They suggested providing 2250 calories per day in both rural and urban areas.
YK Alagh Committee (1979): It constructed a poverty line for rural and urban areas on the basis of nutritional requirements and related consumption expenditure.
Lakdawala Committee (1993): It suggested that consumption expenditure should be calculated based on calorie consumption as earlier. State specific poverty lines should be constructed. It asked for discontinuation of scaling of poverty estimates based on National Accounts Statistics.
Tendulkar Committee (2009): The current official measures of poverty are based on the Tendulkar poverty line, fixed at daily expenditure of ₹27.2 in rural areas and ₹33.3 in urban areas is criticized by many for being too low.
How poverty is estimated under NFHS?
Multidimensional poverty index: The NFHS surveys are part of a multinational attempt to provide estimates of a multidimensional poverty index. Its computation rests on estimates of poverty according to 10 different indicators:
Nutrition
Child mortality
Years of schooling
School attendance
Cooking fuel
Sanitation
Drinking water
Electricity
Housing
Assets
The deprivation index: the deprivation index for each indicator is the per cent poor (deprived) according to that indicator. The aggregation of the 10 indicators into one index involves legitimate issues of weighting, but individual components do not suffer from this drawback.
Multidimensional poverty declined: at a compounded annual average rate of 4.8 per cent per year in 2005-2011 and more than double that pace at 10.3 per cent a year during 2011-2021.
Declining child mortality: There are some issues with the 2011 child-mortality data, but for each of the 10 components of the MPI index, the rate of decline in 2011-2021 is considerably faster than in 2005-2011.
Average decline in overall indicators: The average equally weighted decline for nine indicators was 1.9 per cent per annum in 2005-2011 and a rate of 16.6 per cent per annum, more than eight times higher in 2011-2021.
Consumption inequality decline: Every single household survey or analysis has shown that consumption inequality declined during 2011-2021. This is consistent with the above finding of highly inclusive growth during 2011-2021.
What are the efforts behind inclusive growth and reduced poverty?
A major factor behind the inclusive nature of growth during 2011-2021 is the focus of government policies on each of the individual indicator’s indicative of a dignified standard of living. A direct impact of this dedicated fiscal push is that slow-moving variables such as housing, access to cooking fuel, sanitation, etc, have witnessed a remarkable increase.
Swachh Bharat Mission: The government’s Swachh Bharat mission in 2014-2021 constructed over 110 million toilets even if some were without easy access to water, many were.
Saubhagya Yojana: Similarly, close to one-third of Indians were deprived of electricity till as recently as 2014. It was only after a dedicated push (Saubhagya Yojana) that India managed to electrify every village, and eventually households. Electricity deprivation declined by a 28.2 per cent rate post-2014; between 2005 and 2011, the rate of decline was close to zero.
Jan Dhan Yojana: Another example is the Jan Dhan Yojana which made financial inclusion a reality in India, especially for women.
Ujjwala Yojana: On access to modern cooking fuel (through the Ujjwala Yojana), deprivation was nearly halved from 26 per cent to 14 per cent in just five years. The previous halving (2005/6 to 2015/16) took 10 years.
Awas Yojana: The affordable housing scheme (Awas Yojana) has meant that less than 14 per cent are now deprived, compared to thrice that number in 2011/12.
Jal Jeevan Mission: More recently, government has embarked on an ambitious project of ensuring universal access to piped water under the Jal Jeevan Mission. Rural piped water coverage was a little less than 17 per cent in 2019, but is now well above 54 per cent and expected to at least be near, if not meet, the 100 per cent target by 2024.
Conclusion
Extreme poverty in India is surely on decline but pandemic have pushed people again back to the poverty. Pandemic have put the break on inclusive growth of people. Government must realize these and plan accordingly.
Mains Question
Q. Analyze the data of NFHS for poverty estimation in India? How government policies have helped to reduce the extreme poverty in India?
| Governance | Mains Paper 2: Laws, Institutions & Bodies Constituted For The Vulnerable Sections
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: CWPO
Mains level: Need for CWPO
The Ministry of Home Affairs has asked the States/Union Territories to appoint a Child Welfare Police Officer (CWPO) in every police station to exclusively deal with children, either as victims or perpetrators.
Who is a Child Welfare Police Officer (CWPO)?
Police play a pivotal role in the prevention and investigation of child abuse and neglect while helping to make communities safer for children and families.
CWPO is stipulated in advisory issued by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights.
To handle cases of both juveniles in conflict with law and children in need have care of protection
To function as a watch-dog for providing legal protection against all kinds of cruelty, abuse and exploitation of children and report instances of non-compliance for further legal action
To take serious cognizance of adult perpetrators of crimes against children
To ensure that the accused are apprehended immediately and booked under the appropriate provisions of the law
To ensure that the juvenile or child is provided with immediate medical attention, basic needs and create a child-friendly atmosphere at the time of first contact.
Need for CWPO
CWPO ensure that juvenile or child is treated with decency and dignity during investigation, enquiry, search etc.
They help upheld right to confidentially and privacy of the juvenile/child.
Back2Basics: National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR)
The NCPCR is a statutory body established by the Commission for Protection of Child Rights (CPCR) Act, 2005.
The Commission works under the aegis of Ministry of Women and Child Development.
The Commission is mandated under section 13 of CPCR Act, 2005 to ensure that all laws and policies are in consonance with the Child Rights perspective as enshrined by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
As defined by the commission, a child includes persons up to the age of 18 years.
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Parole
Mains level: Prison reforms in India
Recently a self-proclaimed god-man convicted for rape and murder in Haryana has been released on Parole.
What is Parole?
Furlough and parole envisage a short-term release from custody, both aimed as reformative steps towards prisoners.
Parole is granted to meet a “specific exigency” and cannot be claimed as a matter of right.
Both provisions are subject to the circumstances of the prisoner, such as jail behaviour, the gravity of offences, sentence period and public interest.
Furlough may be granted without any specific reason after a convict spends a stipulated number of years.
It is a matter of right although cannot be claimed as an ‘absolute legal right’.
Is ‘parole an extraordinary move?
The state governments often take a compassionate view on applications for parole during festivals of Diwali, Rakshabandhan etc.
The legislature/politicians do not have direct powers to grant parole on suo-motu cognizance.
Who can opt for parole and how?
The provision of parole is available to convicts found guilty by a court and such a prisoner.
The prisoner’s relative/legal aid may submit an application to the prison superintendent.
He/she in turn forwards the application to the ‘competent authority’, often under the jurisdiction of district magistrate concerned and comprising prison and police authorities, to sanction release.
After due verification of reasons and prisoner’s conduct by the competent authority, an order for grant of release on parole will be issued.
In case of rejection of the said application, a convict may approach the High Court.
Duration of Parole
The Prison rules state that parole period may be granted for not more than 30 days.
The competent authority may exercise its discretion in case of serious illnesses or death of “nearest relative such as mother, father, sister, brother, children, spouse of the prisoner, or in case of natural calamity.”
Parole or extension of parole cannot be granted without a report of the police
Apart from the remedy to approach a high court for parole in case of a rejected application, a prison can also approach the high court directly in case of an extraordinary emergency.
Try this PYQ from CSP 2021:
Q. With reference to India, consider the following statements:
When a prisoner makes a sufficient case, parole cannot be out denied to such prisoner because it becomes a matter of his/her right.
State Governments have their own Prisoners Release on Parole Rules.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Gold Nanoparticle
Mains level: Not Much
Cordy gold nanoparticles (Cor-AuNPs), the outcome of a collaborative experiment by scientists from four Indian institutions, has earned an international patent from Germany.
What is Cordy gold nanoparticles ?
Cordy gold nanoparticles (Cor-AuNPs) are derived from the synthesis of the extracts of Cordyceps militaris and gold salts.
They could make drug delivery in the human body faster and surer.
Cordyceps militaris is a high-value parasitic fungus, lab-grown at the Department of Biotechnology’s Technology Incubation Centre (TIC) in Bodoland University.
Gold salts are ionic chemical compounds of gold generally used in medicine.
Benefits offered by this nanoparticle
Penetration in the cells is more when the drug particles are smaller.
Cordyceps militaris adds bioactive components to the synthesis of gold nanoparticles for better penetration.
It can be delivered as ointments, tablets, capsules, and in other forms.
Back2Basics: Gold Nanoparticles for Medicines
Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) are small gold particles with a diameter of 1 to 100 nm which, once dispersed in water, are also known as colloidal gold.
Functionalized gold nanoparticles with controlled geometrical and optical properties are the subject of intensive studies and biomedical applications.
They find applications in genomics, biosensorics, immunoassays, clinical chemistry, laser phototherapy of cancer cells and tumors, the targeted delivery of drugs etc.
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: 2022 AP7 Asteroid
Mains level: NA
A team of astronomers have spotted a massive near-Earth asteroid called 2022 AP7 believed to be the largest planet killer-sized asteroid to be spotted in nearly a decade.
2022 AP7 Asteroid
An asteroid is a relatively small chunk of rocky minerals that orbits the Sun, often described as a minor planet.
2022 AP7 is among the three asteroids hiding in the glare of the Sun.
It is 1.5-kilometre-wide and has an orbit that may someday put it on a collision course with our planet.
At present, researchers have little information about the asteroid, including further details on its possible trajectory and its composition.
It was found using the Dark Energy Camera at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile.
What about the other two?
The two — 2021 LJ4 and 2021 PH27 — have orbits that are safely constrained inside the limits of Earth’s orbit.
At less than a kilometer in diameter, 2021 LJ4 is the smallest in size.
The asteroid, 2021 PH27, is the closest known asteroid to the Sun.
Due to this, its surface gets hot enough to melt lead.
Is there an immediate threat to Earth?
At present, the asteroid only crosses the Earth’s orbit while it is on the opposite side of the Sun i.e., when the Sun comes between the Earth and the asteroid.
This will continue for several centuries as it takes the asteroid about five years to orbit the sun.
If impacted, Earth’s atmosphere would be inundated with dust and pollutants for years, preventing sunlight from entering.
