Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Root bridges of Meghalaya
Mains level: Not Much
This newscard is an excerpt from the original article published in TH.
Living Root Bridges
- A living root bridge is a type of simple suspension bridge formed of living plant roots by tree shaping.
- They are common in the southern part of the Northeast Indian state of Meghalaya. Such a bridge is locally called jingkieng jri.
- They are handmade from the aerial roots of rubber fig trees (Ficus elastic) by the Khasi and Jaintia peoples of the mountainous terrain along the southern part of the Shillong Plateau.
- Most of the bridges grow on steep slopes of subtropical moist broadleaf forest between 50m and 1150m above sea level.
Why is it so unique?
- As long as the tree from which it is formed remains healthy, the roots in the bridge can naturally grow thick and strengthen.
- New roots can grow throughout the tree’s life and must be pruned or manipulated to strengthen the bridge.
- Once mature some bridges can have as many as 50 or more people crossing, and have a lifespan of up to 150 years.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Superconductivity in Mercury
Mains level: Not Much
This newscard is an excerpt from the original article published in TH.
What is a superconductor?
- A superconductor is defined as a substance that offers no resistance to the electric current when it becomes colder than a critical temperature.
- Some of the popular examples of superconductors are aluminium, magnesium diboride, niobium, copper oxide, yttrium barium and iron pnictides.
How mercury becomes superconductor?
- In 1911, Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes discovered superconductivity in mercury.
- He found that at a very low temperature, called the threshold temperature, solid mercury offers no resistance to the flow of electric current.
How is mercury capable of achieving superconductivity?
Ans. Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) theory
- Scientists classified mercury as a conventional superconductor because its superconductivity could be explained by the concepts of Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) theory.
- While scientists have used the BCS theory to explain superconductivity in various materials, they have never fully understood how it operates in mercury — the oldest superconductor.
- The researchers used state-of-the-art theoretical and computational approaches and found that all physical properties relevant for conventional superconductivity are anomalous in some respect in mercury.
How BCS explains it?
- In BCS superconductors, vibrational energy released by the grid of atoms encourages electrons to pair up, forming so-called Cooper pairs.
- These Copper pairs can move like water in a stream, facing no resistance to their flow, below a threshold temperature.
- By including certain factors that physicists had previously side-lined, the group’s calculations led to a clearer picture of how superconductivity emerges in mercury.
- For example, when the researchers accounted for the relationship between an electron’s spin and momentum, they could explain why mercury has such a low threshold temperature (around –270°C).
Coulomb repulsion and Mercury
- Similarly, the group found that one electron in each pair in mercury occupied a higher energy level than the other.
- This detail reportedly lowered the Coulomb repulsion (like charges repel) between them and nurtured superconductivity.
- Thus, the group has explained how mercury becomes a superconductor below its threshold temperature.
- Their methods and findings suggest that we could have missed similar anomalous effects in other materials, leading to previously undiscovered ones that can be exploited for new and better real-world applications.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Ottanthullal
Mains level: NA
A renowned folk artist has expressed his angst over the fading participation of students in Ottanthullal Artform.
What is Ottanthullal?
- Ottanthullal (or Thullal, in short) is recite-and-dance art-form of Kerala.
- It was introduced in the 18th century by the famous Malayalam poet Kunchan Nambiar (1705 – 1770).
- It is famous for its humour and social satire, and marked by its simplicity as opposed to more complex dance-forms like Kathakali and Koodiyattam.
Unique features
- Ottanthullal follows the classical principles of Natyasasthra (a treatise on art compiled in the 2nd century B.C.E).
- It is enacted into three separate versions
- Ottanthullal
- Seethankan thullal
- Parayan thullal
- The Ottanthullal is the most popular among the three varieties of Thullal.
How is it performed?
- The performance uses elaborate expressions and stories recited in verses to bring important mythological tales and stories to life.
- The costume and makeup of the performer are similar to that of a Kathakali artist.
- It is performed at temple festivals and cultural programmes.
- The performer is supported by a singer who repeats the verses and is accompanied by an orchestra of mridangam or thoppimaddalam (percussions) and cymbals.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: Problem of pendency of cases and the role of the Government
Context
- Much has been said about why we have a staggeringly high number of cases that constitute pendency or cases that are undecided in the court system. Pendency or cases pending in courts have been a source of agony for litigants, lawyers and judges alike. In 2018, the Law Commission of India, in its 230th report, noted that the government is the biggest litigant in the system.
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Ratio: Number of Judges serving the population
- India has 21 judges for every million people: India has a terribly low number of judges serving a very large population to be more precise, India has about 21 judges for every million people, as the government recently informed the Rajya Sabha.
- Comparatively in China: China has about 159 judges for every million people.
What is cause of concern for the government?
- Pendency impacts governance and weakens law and order: It is a cause of concern for the government since an arduous dispute resolution system adversely impacts governance and weakens law and order in any country.
- Government is the largest litigant: Our government has been seized by the burdens of the justice system for long, and is acutely aware of its own role in contributing to the number of cases that enter the courts and remain to be decided.
- Government is well aware: The government has been cognisant of its role in contributing to litigation simply by being the biggest litigator in the courts.
- Action plan in response to large number of Government litigation: On June 13, 2017, the department of justice of the Government of India, released an Action Plan to reduce Government Litigation. The action plan was in response to the fact that 46 per cent of the total pending cases in the court system pertains to the government.
- Legal Information Management Briefing System (LIMBS): In 2015, they started the rather aptly named LIMBS project that intends to connect 55 ministries and their departments for litigation management. Aptly named, for it seeks to connect the various limbs of governance of our state. As on January 3, LIMBS shows that there are 6,20,000 cases involving the government pending before the court system.
- National Litigation Policy (NLP), 2010: The status report to the NLP, 2010, was prepared because it is based on the recognition that the government and its various agencies are the predominant litigants in the courts and tribunals in the country. And, hence, it aimed to transform the government into an efficient and responsible litigant.
Is all its litigation is initiated by the government?
- To be fair to the government, not all its litigation is initiated by it.
- For instance, the government is the catalyst in inter-departmental litigation (between wings of the government) and routine appeals in service matters.
- However, citizens trigger writ jurisdiction of the courts and file appeals in criminal cases. These also constitute a segment of cases involving the government being heard at various high courts and the Supreme Court.
- So, while the government can control some of the litigation it is involved in, it is not the catalyst in certain classes of cases that involve it.
Way ahead
- Insights provided by the Vidhi Centre: The Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy in its report on Government Litigation published in 2018, provides great insights into where the government can and cannot control the litigation it is party to.
- Where Government control its litigation: For instance, the government’s 2010 National Litigation Policy (NLP) recognises that service matters should not be normally appealed and only cases which involve questions of constitutional interpretation should be pursued all the way till the Supreme Court. The government should implement this reform suggested by its own policymakers.
- Reasons to reduce the litigation: There are many good reasons to reduce litigation that involves the government. Reducing the burden on the courts is a prime reason. As Vidhi 2018 notes, the costs involved in pursuing litigation eat into public funds. And a court battle between the individual and the state is also a battle of unequals.
Conclusion
- What we need to address the overburdened court system is for the largest litigant to use the court system more efficiently and cautiously. This would be a tremendous start to addressing the problem of pendency. Appointing more judges would be a massive step to helping more dispute resolution as well.
Mains question
Q. Pendency of cases haunts Indian judiciary for a very long time. While there are multiple reasons for pendency, it is said that Government is the largest Litigant discuss. Enlist what efforts are taken by the government to reduce its litigation?
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Green Bond
Mains level: Read the attached story
The RBI would issue Sovereign Green Bonds (SGrBs) in two tranches of ₹8,000 crore each on January 25 and February 9.
What are Sovereign Green Bonds?
- A bond is an instrument to raise debt.
- Since 2007, a market for bonds specifically self-labelled or designated as ‘green’ has emerged.
- This label differentiates a green bond from a regular bond, which signifies a commitment to exclusively use funds raised to finance or re-finance “green” projects, assets, or business activities.
- When these bonds carry guarantees related to the repayment of principal and payment of interest by the sovereign or the government, they are called sovereign green bonds (SGrB).
How are the projects for green bonds selected?
- A project is classified “green” on the basis of four key principles. These include-
- Encouraging energy efficiency in resource utilisation
- Reducing carbon emissions and greenhouse gases
- Promoting climate resilience and
- Improving natural ecosystems and biodiversity, especially in accordance with SDG (Sustainable Development Goals).
When is the first sovereign green bond likely to be issued?
- In her Budget speech early this year, Finance Minister announced that sovereign green bonds will be issued for mobilising resources for green infrastructure.
- The proceeds will be deployed in public sector projects that help in reducing the carbon intensity of the economy.
- These green bonds would be available in 5-year and 10-year tenure.
How are they different from conventional government bonds?
- Government bonds or government securities (G-Secs) are normally categorised into two — Treasury Bills and dated or long-term securities.
- These bonds carry coupon rates and are tradable in the securities market.
- SGrB is one form of dated security. It will have a tenor and interest rate.
- Money raised through SGrB is part of overall government borrowing.
Who are likely to be the buyers of these bonds?
- Both domestic and international investors are expected to be interested in SGrB.
- However, one thinking is foreign investors may be slightly hesitant due to currency risk.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Kuki-Chin refugees
Mains level: Refugee influx in NE
As another round of refugee crisis brews on the Mizoram-Bangladesh border, several members of the Kuki-Chin community were “pushed back” by the Border Security Force (BSF).
Who are the Kuki Chins?
- The Chins of Myanmar, the Mizos of Mizoram and the Kukis of Bangladesh are of the same ancestry and belong to the Kuki ethnic group native to the Mizo hills.
- They are collectively called the Zo people.
- The Kuki Chin people are settled in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, the only extensive hill area in Bangladesh that lies in the southeastern part of the country.
- It borders Myanmar on the southeast, Tripura on the north, Mizoram on the east and the Chittagong district in the west.
- Mizoram shares a 318-km stretch of international border with Bangladesh.
Why are they fleeing to Mizoram?
- Already, since 2021, around 30,000 Kuki Chin refugees from Myanmar have sought shelter in Mizoram.
- They have been escaping the crackdown by the military junta in Myanmar and identity-loss in Bangladesh.
Roots of their insurgency
- The roots of Kuki militancy lie in conflicts of ethnic identity.
- First was the demand for self-determination solely for groups belonging to their ethnic fabric, meaning the dream to form a Kukiland.
- The second reason for insurgency lies in the inter-community conflicts between the Kukis and the Nagas in Manipur.
- The Kuki-Naga conflict was started over securing identity and land as some Kuki-inhabited areas coincided with Naga-inhabited areas.
- Wanting to dominate trade and cultural activities in those areas the two communities often engaged in violent standoffs, with villages being torched, civilians killed and so on.
What is India’s Stand?
- The authorities are prepared to handle the inflow.
- India would be extending help and shelter to the refugees coming in from Bangladesh on humanitarian ground.
- A meeting of the Mizoram Cabinet decided to provide temporary shelter, food and medicine to the refugees who have already crossed over.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Sagol Kangjei
Mains level: Not Much
It is believed that Sagol Kangjei, the modern-day Polo game originated in Manipur.
Sagol Kangjei
- Modern polo is said to have originated from Sagol Kangjei, a sport indigenous to Manipur.
- In this players ride horses, specifically the Manipur Ponies, which are referenced in records dating back to the 14th century.
Conserving the breed: Manipur Pony
- The Manipur Pony is one of five recognised equine breeds of India, and has a powerful cultural significance for Manipuri society.
- The pony has been indispensable with Manipuri society for its socio-cultural association for centuries.
- Its antecedents, however, are not clear, as one source stated Tibetan ponies as its ancestors while another source stated its origin to be a cross between Mongolian wild horse & Arabian.
- The 17th Quinquennial Livestock Census 2003 had recorded 1,898 Manipur Ponies; the number fell to 1,101 in the 19th Quinquennial Livestock Census in 2012.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: Deployment of AI powered underwater drones and associated challenges
Context
- India is on a drive to induct unmanned combat systems into the military. Months after the Indian Army announced the induction of swarm drones into its mechanized forces, the Navy chief, Admiral R Hari Kumar, reiterated the importance of autonomous systems in creating a future-proof Indian Navy (IN).
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Indian Navy’s expanding surveillance and reasons for doing so
- The IN, indeed, has been on a mission to expand surveillance in India’s near-seas: Two years after it leased MQ-9B Sea Guardian drones from the US, the navy, in July 2022, released an unclassified version of its unmanned roadmap for the induction of remote autonomous platforms including undersea vehicles.
- Maritime deterrence in the Eastern Indian Ocean: A key driver for the enterprise is underwater domain awareness, deemed an increasingly vital component of maritime deterrence in the Eastern Indian Ocean.
- Chinas undersea presence in the Indian ocean: In the aftermath of the conflict in Ladakh in June 2020, there is a growing sense among Indian experts and military planners that China’s undersea presence in the Indian Ocean is on the cusp of crossing a critical threshold.
- Recent reports of sighting of Chinese drones in the waters of Indonesia: Recent reports of the sighting of Chinese drones in the waters off Indonesian islands suggest the Peoples Liberation Army Navy has been studying the operating environment of the Indian Ocean.
- China already deployed vessels around Andaman in the name of research: Already, there has been a rise in the deployment of Chinese research and survey vessels in the waters around India’s Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
- Recognizing the threat, Indian Navy sought acquire to own AUV: Ever more alive to the dangers posed by foreign undersea presence in Indian waters, the IN sought to acquire its own autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) with twin surveillance and strike capabilities.
- Underwater vehicles never viewed as warfighting assets: Despite being widely used in underwater search and exploration, underwater vehicles have never quite been viewed as warfighting assets by India’s military establishment.
- Never sought deploying underwater drones in combat roles: Notwithstanding the AUVs’ utility in tasks such as mine detection and ship survey, India’s naval planners have traditionally desisted from deploying undersea drones in a combat role.
- Acknowledging war fighting capabilities and need of the hour: Indian analysts and decision-makers seem to be belatedly acknowledging the warfighting abilities of underwater autonomous platforms powered by artificial intelligence (AI).
- Getting ready for the new era warfare: With the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) shaping a new era in warfare, Indian observers are beginning to recognise the likely impact of disruptive technologies on the maritime domain. AI powered by deep learning, data analytics, and cloud computing, many say, is poised to alter the maritime battlefront, potentially triggering a revolution in naval affairs in India.
Challenges to harness the disruptive technologies in maritime combat
- Ethical paradox: There is an ethical paradox that typifies artificially intelligent combat systems.
- Imported AI tech algorithms cannot be under user control: Despite rendering warfare more deadly, AI compromises the control, safety, and accountability of weapon systems it also enhances the risk of shared liability between networked systems, particularly when weapon algorithms are sourced from abroad, and when the satellite and link systems that enable combat solutions are not under the control of the user.
- Predisposition of data in AI can undermine the decision making: AI is characterised by a predisposition to certain kinds of data. Biases in the collection of data, in the set of instructions for data analysis, and in the selection of probabilistic outcomes muddle rational decision-making, undermining confidence in automated combat solutions.
- The doctrinal paradox is equally troubling: There is no easy way of incorporating AI-fuelled warfighting approaches into doctrine, particularly when many technologies are in a nascent stage of development, and there is little clarity about how effective AI could be in combat.
- Capacity limitation that restricts the development of AI: While technology absorption in the navy has matured in certain areas over a period of time, a large gap still exists in the development of critical technologies, which are system engineering, airborne and underwater sensors, weapon systems, and hi-tech components.
The critics of AI in warfare
- Technology without comprehensive testing is risky: That fielding nascent technologies without comprehensive testing puts both military personnel and civilians at risk.
- Probabilistic assessment by computers not always provide optimal solution: A system of targeting human beings based on probabilistic assessments by computers that act merely on machine-learned experiences, is problematic because the computer neither has access to all relevant data to make an informed decision nor recognizes that it needs more information to come up with an optimal solution.
- Shaping policy to account for AI is challenging: That is because military doctrine is premised on a traditional understanding of conflict. If war is a normative construct, then there are rules and codes to be followed, and ethical standards to be met.
- AI could be inconsistent with the laws of war: What is more, AI seemingly automates weapon systems in ways that are inconsistent with the laws of war.
Legality issues of underwater combat drones
- Status by UNCLOS is not yet clear: It is not yet clear if unmanned maritime systems enjoy the status of ships under the UN convention of the laws of the sea; even if they do, it is unlikely that they can be classified as warships.
Way ahead
- Notwithstanding the announcement of multiple AI projects, the navy remains focused on using AI in noncombat activities such as training, logistics, inventory management, maritime domain awareness, and predictive maintenance.
- India’s maritime managers recognize that the IN is still at a place on its evolutionary curve where incorporating AI in combat systems could prove risky. An incremental approach, many believe, is the best way forward.
Conclusion
- It is worth acknowledging that AI in warfare is not just a matter of combat effectiveness but also of warfighting ethics. AI-infused unmanned systems on the maritime battlefront pose a degree of danger, making it incumbent upon the military to deploy its assets in ways that are consistent with national and international law. India’s naval leadership would do well if it takes careful and calculated steps in developing AI-powered underwater systems.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Green hydrogen and its applications
Mains level: National Green Hydrogen mission
Context
- As countries work on reducing their dependence on fossil fuels due to climate change considerations, a race is currently on to secure the energy sources of the future. Green hydrogen, produced through a clean process, is rightly seen as the most dependable source of energy of the future.
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Highlights: India’s efforts towards clean energy transition and the challenges
- Seasonality challenge for solar and Wind energy: Solar and wind energy have almost been tamed, but their intermittency and seasonality continue to be a challenge.
- High cost of nuclear energy: The Nuclear energy has been in use for several decades now, but its cost remains a constraint.
- Electric vehicles are still not convenient: Even though electric vehicles are fast gaining in popularity, the convenience of petrol or diesel is still missing.
- The government approval to the National Green Hydrogen Mission: recently government approved National green hydrogen Mission a keenly-awaited decision. The nearly Rs 20,000 crore mission is aimed at building domestic capabilities in developing technologies to produce hydrogen, an element that is readily available in nature but never alone, because of which it requires segregation.
What is Green Hydrogen?
- Clean and no harmful gas emission: The Green hydrogen is the one produced with no harmful greenhouse gas emissions.
- Produced by electrolysis of water: It is made by using clean electricity from surplus renewable energy sources, such as solar or wind power, to electrolyse water. Electrolysers use an electrochemical reaction to split water into its components of hydrogen and oxygen, emitting zero-carbon dioxide in the process.
- Energy intensive process: It is an energy-intensive process for splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen using renewable power to achieve this.
Analysis: Green Hydrogen most dependable source of energy of the future
- Energy of the future: The Green hydrogen, produced through a clean process, is rightly seen as the most dependable source of energy of the future.
- Fuel for vehicles or to generate electricity: It can be used to generate electricity or as fuel in industries or vehicles.
- Not yet cost effective: Even though the technology to produce hydrogen in an emission-free manner is not yet mature or cost-effective, it features prominently in several countries’ strategies to achieve net-zero emission status by the middle of this century.
- Production is expensive: The green hydrogen currently makes up a small percentage of the overall hydrogen, because production is expensive. The current cost of green hydrogen in India is ₹300 to ₹400 per kg.
Late entry in Solar energy: a lesson to be remembered
- Green hydrogen is still in a nascent stage: Efforts to harness the energy of hydrogen in a clean and affordable manner have been stepped up significantly in the last few years. In many ways, green hydrogen is where solar energy was 10-12 years ago.
- Technology was available but not economical: The technology to harness the energy was available, but wasn’t economical. Then, dramatically, in a period of less than five years, a combination of technology improvement and massive demand in countries like China saw the prices of solar photovoltaic cells come down by 80-90 per cent, suddenly making solar energy an extremely attractive proposition.
- India’s entry in solar revolution was a little late: India joined the solar revolution a little late, after the prices had come down. And while India is now one of the biggest players in solar energy, most of the raw materials and components are imported.
- The big concern: There are already concerns that inability to develop domestic capabilities in solar manufacturing will only result in India moving from one kind of dependency oil imports to another.
- Early entry in Hydrogen energy: With the hydrogen mission, India is making a relatively early entry into a still nascent technology domain.
- Emphasis on developing domestic manufacturing capabilities: It is reassuring to see that the bulk of the financial allocation for the mission is geared towards developing domestic manufacturing of electrolysers, the equipment in which hydrogen is separated from water molecules, and the production of hydrogen.
- Allocation of funds for R&D, a move in right direction: A substantial part of the money has been earmarked for R&D activities with the aim of developing globally competitive technologies.
Conclusion
- With the much-needed hydrogen mission, India is making a relatively early entry into a still nascent technology domain. It is important not to miss the bus like the solar revolution this time. For now, the government seems to be moving in the right direction.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Top foreign universities
Mains level: Read the attached story
The University Grants Commission (UGC) has unveiled draft regulations for ‘Setting up and Operation of Campuses of Foreign Higher Educational Institutions in India’.
Quest for Foreign Universities in India: A quick recap
- The government had in 1995 drafted the Foreign Education Bill which had to be shelved.
- Another attempt was made in 2006, but the draft law could not cross the Cabinet stage.
- Then in 2010, the UPA-2 government brought the Foreign Educational Institutions Bill, which failed to get enough support in the Parliament.
- The bill lapsed in 2014 as UPA lost power.
- The New Education Policy, 2020 allows for establishment of foreign university campuses in India.
Procedure for Universities coming to India
- The process for getting approval for setting up a campus in India will be strictly online in the beginning. Interested institutions have to apply at the UGC portal with a non-refundable fee, and then submit some documents.
- After the applications are received, a committee formed by the Commission will examine these applications on these factors:
- Credibility of the institution
- Programmes to be offered by the institution
- Their potential to strengthen academic opportunities in India
- Proposed infrastructure
UGC (Setting up and Operation of Campuses of Foreign Higher Educational Institutions in India) Regulations 2023: Key questions answered
- UGC approval compulsory: All foreign universities that wish to set up their campus in India will be allowed to do so only after getting approval from the UGC.
- Reputed institutions: To set up a campus in Indian foreign universities will either have to be in the top 500 to apply or will have to be “highly reputed” in their respective countries (if the varsity does not participate in global rankings). If their ranking is between 500 and 100, but the subject-wise ranking is higher than overall, then in such cases, the institutions will be permitted to set up their campuses only for those ranked subjects.
- Quality assurance: Additionally, the UGC will reserve the right to inspect these Indian campuses of foreign HEIs at any time, and they will not be outside the purview of anti-ragging and other criminal laws.
- Offline classes only: All the foreign universities that open their branches in India will be allowed to conduct offline classes only, i.e. foreign universities can offer only full-time programmes in physical mode.
- Freedom to choose admission process, fee, and faculty: All foreign varsities will have the freedom to come up with their own admission process. However, the universities will have to ensure “quality of education imparted at their Indian campuses is on par with their main campus.”
- Admissions to all: Foreign higher educational institutes will have the freedom to enroll Indian as well as international students on their Indian campuses.
- International funds transfer: To ensure that there is no chaos in funds transfer, all matters related to funding will be as per the Foreign Exchange Management Act 1999.
- Safeguarding of students’ interest: FHEI shall not discontinue any course or programme or close the campus without the commission’s prior approval. In the case of a course or programme disruption or discontinuation, the parent entity shall be responsible for providing an alternative to the affected students.
- Equivalence with degrees awarded by Indian HEIs: The qualifications awarded to the students in the Indian campus shall be recognised and treated as equivalent to the corresponding qualifications awarded by the FEHI in the main campus located in the country of origin.
- Securing India’s national interest: FEHIs shall not offer any such programme or course which jeopardises the national interest of India or the standards of higher education in India. The operation of FEHIs shall not be contrary to the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the state, friendly relations with foreign states, public order, decency, or morality.
Why such move?
- Increase in domestic enrolment: India has more than 1000 universities and 42,000 colleges. Despite having one of the largest higher education systems in the world, India’s Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education is just 27.1%, among the worlds’ lowest.
- Education quality improvement: The lack of quality in Indian education is reflected in the QS World University Rankings 2022. IIT Bombay was the top-ranking Indian institute in the list with a ranking of 177. Only eight Indian universities made it to the top 400.
- Paving the way: London Business School, King’s College in London, the University of Cambridge, and New York University have started preliminary discussion with the GIFT City authorities and the regulator to establish facilities at the GIFT International Financial Services Centre.
Benefits of the move
- Human capital generation: This move would complement efforts to provide high quality human capital to India’s financial services industry.
- Decreased overseas spending: Indian students’ overseas spending is set to grow from current annual $28 billion to $80 billion annually by 2024.
- Reduce FOREX spending: Apart from fostering a competition in quality, International branch campuses can also help in reducing the foreign exchange outflow.
- Prevents brain-drain: Education attracts opportunities. Atmanirbhar Bharat push will retain the domestic talent. More than eight lakh Indians gave up their citizenship in the last seven years.
- Increase India’s soft power: Opening the door for foreign universities can improve India’s soft power as it will provide further impetus to the government’s Study in India programme that seeks to attract foreign students.
Challenges
- Regulatory challenges: The following factors may deter foreign higher educational institutions from investing in India-
- Multi-layer regulatory framework governing different aspects of higher education
- Lack of a single regulatory body overlooking the collaborations/ investments and
- Multiple approvals required to operate in India
- Implementation issues: While NEP has taken the right steps to boost the education sector and pave the way for a globally-compatible education system, its implementation has been slow and requires clarity.
- Higher possibility of Brain Drain: A policy challenge that stands before the GoI is to facilitate such tie-ups in a way that the Indian talent chooses to and is incentivised to remain in India and the Indian educational infrastructure is developed to match global standards.
Conclusion
- The intent of the GoI, with respect to international universities setting up campuses in India, is clear from the provisions in the NEP.
- However, much clarity is awaited for the proper implementation.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Census of India
Mains level: Significance of Census
The decennial census exercise has been postponed till September, at least, as the government informed States that the date of freezing of administrative boundaries has been extended till June 30.
What is the Census of India?
- The decennial Census of India has been conducted 16 times, as of 2021.
- While it has been undertaken every 10 years, beginning in 1872 under British Viceroy Lord Mayo, the first complete census was taken in 1881.
- Post 1949, it has been conducted by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
- All the censuses since 1951 were conducted under the 1948 Census of India Act.
- The last census was held in 2011, whilst the next was to be held in 2021. But it has been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
What is the purpose of the census?
- To collect the information for planning and formulation policies for Central and the State Governments.
- The census tells us who we are and where we are going as a nation.
- It helps the government decide how to distribute funds and assistance to states and localities.
- The census data is widely used by National and International Agencies, scholars, business people, industrialists, and many more.
Why is the census important?
- Vital statistics for governance: The census is the foundational database for official statistics and policymaking in a modern economy. Outdated census data makes block and district-level planning particularly difficult, since survey data do not offer that kind of high resolution.
- Provides most credible statistics: Information on Demography, Economic Activity, Literacy and Education, Housing & Household Amenities, Urbanisation, Fertility and Mortality, SCs and STs, Language, Religion, Migration, Disability and many other socio-cultural and demographic data.
- Delimitation/reservation of Constituencies: Parliamentary/Assembly/Panchayats and other Local Bodies are also done on the basis of the demographic data thrown up by the Census.
- Administration: Census is the basis for reviewing the country’s progress in the past decade, monitoring the ongoing Schemes of the Government.
- Planning the future: It provides pathways for planning and resolving problems, and fixing deficiencies. Government goes through analysis over the census data and formulates policies for the future accordingly.
- Detailed accounts: The best of sample surveys find it impossible to beat a census as It carries the promise of counting each and every Indian. A census is when the state connects to every individual and it will find it hard to hide or duck from the data.
- Welfare schemes: Identifying the actual beneficiaries, Census is the key to creating identity and affirming it over time. Census data enable neat, inter-temporal comparability.
Impact of delay in census 2021
(1) Discrepancies in PDS beneficiary identification
- The National Food Security Act, 2013, says that 75% of the rural population and 50% of the rural population are entitled to receive subsidised food grains from the government under the targeted public distribution system (PDS).
- Under the 2011 Census, India’s population was about 121 crore, hence PDS covered approximately 80 crore people.
- If we apply projected population of 137crore ,current delay in Census data would continue to deprive more than 10 crore people of subsidised food entitlements, with the biggest gaps in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, with 2.8 crore and 1.8 crore projected exclusions respectively.
(2) Poor targeting of beneficiaries for welfare schemes
- Although the Government’s intent to use SECC data but failed at budgetary allocation for the projected expansion.
- Census data may not be used to calculate the beneficiaries of most schemes, but it is critical to policy planning, budgeting and administration.
- A number of schemes need to use the disaggregated age and fertility indicators to assess effectiveness as demographics change over time.
(3) Identifying migration data
- From the COVID19 lockdowns it is realized that the Numbers, causes and patterns of migration, which could not be answered using outdated 2011 Census data.
- The D-tables on migration from the 2011 Census were only released in 2019, so it’s outdated by the time it came out.
- Apart from the One Nation, One Ration card scheme which now allows for portability of food subsidy entitlements, the migration data is actually not used too much in broader economic policy and planning.
Why there is delay in Census?
- Administrative boundaries demarcation: As per norms, census can be conducted only three months after freezing of boundary limits of administrative units such as districts, sub-districts, tehsils, talukas etc.
- COVID-19 Pandemic: The pandemic is being cited as the official reason for the delay, but it is an unconvincing excuse. Pandemic-related restrictions were removed long back.
- CAA, NRC Issue: The Union government had declared that the 2021 census would be used to draw up an all-India NRC. The Centre is yet to frame the rules for Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
- Lack of Political will: The Union government has shown no urgency in getting census operations back on track. When questioned about the delay, it refuses to clarify when the census might take place.
Way forward
- Complete Pre-census work: Conduct house-listing and other allied activites ASAP.
- Digital census: The data collected through a mobile app will reduce the overall time taken to process the census data and to publish the results in time.
- Self-enumeration: Allowing households to self-enumerate is a new initiative but it is unclear how successful it would be in terms of data quality and completeness of coverage.
Conclusion
- The Census of India has to be saved from needless disruptions and inexplicable delays.
- Unless the census is insulated from day-to-day politics, the integrity of its data will be compromised.
- The world’s largest democracy deserves clean and honest data.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: AHRC
Mains level: Housing for All
A Parliamentary panel has asked the government to clarify how many of the 66 proposals received under the Affordable Rental Housing Scheme launched for the urban poor, especially migrant workers, during the COVID-19 pandemic have been approved by their respective local urban bodies.
Affordable Rental Housing Scheme
- AHRC is a sub-scheme under PM Awas Yojana – Urban.
- Under the scheme, existing vacant government-funded housing complexes will be converted in ARHCs through Concession Agreements for 25 years.
- The concessionaire will make the complexes livable by repair/retrofit and maintenance of rooms and filling up infrastructure gaps like water, sewer/ septage, sanitation, road etc.
- States/UTs will select concessionaire through transparent bidding.
- Complexes will revert to ULB after 25 years to restart next cycle like earlier or run on their own.
Beneficiaries of the scheme
- A large part of the workforce in manufacturing industries, service providers in hospitality, health, domestic/commercial establishments, and construction or other sectors, labourers, students etc. who come from rural areas or small towns seeking better opportunities will be the target beneficiary under ARHCs.
Benefits of AHRCs
- Usually, these migrants live in slums, informal/ unauthorized colonies or peri-urban areas to save rental charges.
- They spend a lot of time on roads by walking/ cycling to workplaces, risking their lives to cut on the expenses.
- ARHCs will create a new ecosystem in urban areas making housing available at affordable rent close to the place of work.
- Investment under ARHCs is expected to create new job opportunities.
- ARHCs will cut down unnecessary travel, congestion and pollution.
Back2Basics: Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY)
PMAY-Urban
The PMAY- Urban Programme launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (MoHUPA), in Mission mode envisions provision of Housing for All by 2022. The Mission seeks to address the housing requirement of urban poor including slum dwellers through following programme verticals:
- Slum rehabilitation of Slum Dwellers with participation of private developers using land as a resource
- Promotion of Affordable Housing for weaker section through credit linked subsidy
- Affordable Housing in Partnership with Public & Private sectors
- Subsidy for beneficiary-led individual house construction /enhancement.
PMAY-Rural
- In pursuance to the goal – Housing for all by 2022, the rural housing scheme Indira Awas Yojana has been revamped to Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana – Gramin and approved during March 2016.
- Under the scheme, financial assistance is provided for construction of a pucca house to all houseless and households living in dilapidated houses.
- It is proposed that one crore households would be provided assistance for construction of pucca house under the project during the period from 2016-17 to 2018-19.
- The scheme would be implemented in rural areas throughout India except for Delhi and Chandigarh. The cost of houses would be shared between the Centre and States.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Ayushman Bharat, UHC, ABHA etc
Mains level: Digital public goods, Success of Ayushman Bharat and India's G20 presidency.
Context
- India leveraged information and communications technologies (ICTs) during the pandemic. Digital health solutions played a crucial role in bridging the gap in healthcare delivery as systems moved online to accommodate contactless care.
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India’s spectacular demonstration of digital public good (DPG) so far
- Aadhar and UPI are like the building blocks of DPG: India has demonstrated its digital prowess by building digital public goods the digital identity system Aadhaar, the DPGs built on top of Aadhaar and the Unified Payments Interface.
- Aadhar for PDS and UPI for payments: While Aadhaar has become central to India’s public service delivery architecture, UPI has transformed how payments are made.
- One of the largest internet users: Our digital public infrastructure has reached the last mile, enabled by 1.2 billion wireless connections and 800 million internet users.
- Some examples of DPGs developed during the pandemic: For instance, the Covid Vaccine Intelligence Network (CoWIN) and the Aarogya Setu application. CoWIN propelled India to adopt a completely digital approach to its vaccination strategy. Aarogya Setu provided real-time data on active cases and containment zones to help citizens assess risk in their areas.
- Increasing use of Telemedicine platforms: Telemedicine platforms saw a steep increase in user acquisitions, as 85 per cent of physicians used teleconsultations during the pandemic, underscoring the need to better incorporate cutting-edge digital technologies into healthcare services.
Acknowledging the current need?
- Although the impact of the pandemic on health services put the spotlight on the benefits of digital innovation and technology-enabled solutions, private entities, health technology players, and the public sector have been driving digitisation in the sector for some time now.
- It has become clear that a comprehensive digital healthcare ecosystem is necessary to bring together existing siloed efforts and move toward proactive, holistic, and citizen-centric healthcare.
Government efforts in this direction?
- Shared public goods for healthcare: Recognising this need, the government has created shared public goods for healthcare and developed a framework for a nationwide digital health system. This brought healthcare to a turning point in India.
- Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM): The PM launched the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission on September 27, 2021, under the aegis of the National Health Authority. Within a year of its launch, ABDM has established a robust framework to provide accessible, affordable, and equitable healthcare through digital highways. The ABDM has implemented vital building blocks to unite all stakeholders in the digital healthcare ecosystem.
- The Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA): ABHA creates a standard identifier for patients across healthcare providers. With the ABHA and its associated Personal Health Record (PHR) app, citizens can link, store, and share their health records to access healthcare services with autonomy and consent. With more than 300 million ABHAs and 50 million health records linked, the mission is growing at a massive rate.
- The Health Facility Registry (HFR) and the Health Professional Registries (HPR) for central digital health information: HFR and HPR accounts provide verified digital identities to large and small public and private health facilities and professionals. This enables them to connect to a central digital ecosystem while serving as a single source for verified healthcare provider-related information. HFR and HPR improve the discovery of healthcare facilities and help health professionals build an online presence and offer services more effectively. The
- Drug registry for centralised repository of approved drugs: It is a crucial building block designed to create a single, up-to-date, centralised repository of all approved drugs across all systems of medicine.
- Unified Health Interface (UHI) enables a connect between healthcare providers with end users: It aims to strengthen the health sector by enabling all healthcare service providers and end-user applications to interact with each other on its network. This will provide a seamless experience for service discovery, appointment booking, teleconsultations, ambulance access, and more. The UHI is based on open network protocols and can address the current challenge of different digital solutions being unable to communicate with each other.
- To give UHI the necessary push, the government is repurposing Aarogya Setu and CoWIN: Aarogya Setu is being transformed into a general health and wellness application. At the same time, CoWIN will be plugged with a lite Hospital Management Information System (HMIS) for small clinics, to bring digitisation to the masses.
- Addressing well the patient registration process at the hospital counters: Another use-case of ABDM is scan and share, which uses a QR code-based token system to manage queues at hospital counters. It uses the foundational elements of ABHA and PHR to streamline the outpatient registration process in large hospitals
- Expanding healthcare digital initiative worldwide: The government is also planning to expand its digital initiatives in the healthcare sector with Heal by India, making India’s healthcare professionals’ services available worldwide.
- Platform for organ donation: Additionally, a platform is being developed to automate the allocation of deceased organ and tissue donations, making the process faster and more transparent.
Way ahead
- Digitise insurance claim settlement process: With the implementation of digital solutions, the next step is to digitise and automate the insurance claim settlement process through the Health Claim Exchange platform.
- Making claim settlement process inexpensive and transparent: There is need to make claim-related information verifiable, auditable, traceable and interoperable among various entities, enabling claim processing to become inexpensive, transparent and carried out in real time.
- Bringing together global efforts for digital health: India assumes the G20 presidency this year. The G20 Global Initiative on Digital Health calls for the creation of an institutional framework for a connected health ecosystem to bring together global efforts for digital health.
- Accelerating UHC by scaling up the technologies: It also calls for the scaling-up of technologies such as global DPGs to accelerate Universal Health Coverage.
Conclusion
- The ABDM has proven to be a valuable asset and its adoption across states has been accelerated by the National Health Authority. It aims to build the foundation for a sustainable digital public infrastructure for health, enabling India to achieve universal health coverage. The mission embodies G20’s theme of “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” or “One Earth. One Family. One Future”
Mains question
Q. India has demonstrated spectacular success in digital public goods, specifically in Digital health. Discuss how the government efforts are taking shape in this direction and suggest a way ahead in short.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Freedom of speech and restrivtions
Mains level: Freedom of speech, political free speech, And Hate speech
Context
- A Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court on Tuesday unanimously and rightly ruled out any additional curbs on free speech by ministers. It said, like other citizens, they are guaranteed the right to freedom of expression under Article 19(1) (a), governed by the reasonable restrictions laid out in Article 19(2) and those are enough.
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What is the issue of freedom of speech to Ministers?
- Scope: Ministers and lawmakers enjoy the freedom of speech and expression under Article 19(1) of the Constitution as other citizens and additional restrictions cannot be imposed to curb their right to free speech.
- Restrictions: A five-judge Constitution bench held that curbs on free speech cannot extend beyond what is prescribed under Article 19(2) of the Constitution imposes reasonable restrictions and applies equally on all citizens.
- Rights are not residual privileges: Court said that the role of the court is to protect fundamental rights limited by lawful restrictions and not to protect restrictions and make the rights residual privileges.
- Distinction on government’s responsibility and remarks by individual minister: The ruling also made a valid distinction on the government’s vicarious responsibility for ill-judged or hateful remarks made by its individual ministers, the flow of stream in collective responsibility is from the Council of Ministers to the individual ministers. The flow is not on the reverse, namely from the individual ministers to the Council of Ministers.
- Clarification on the concept of collective responsibility: It is not possible to extend the concept of collective responsibility, it said, to “any and every statement orally made by a Minister outside the House of the People/Legislative Assembly”.
- Public functionaries should be more responsible while they speak: Even while agreeing with the majority ruling, however, it is possible to underline the concern articulated in the minority judgment over a hateful public discourse “hate speech, whatever its content may be, denies human beings the right to dignity”. And to agree with it when it speaks of the special duty of public functionaries and other persons of influence to be more responsible and restrained in their speech, to “understand and measure their words”.
What is ‘Hate Speech’?
- There is no specific legal definition of ‘hate speech’.
- The Law Commission of India, in its 267th Report, says: “Hate speech generally is an incitement to hatred primarily against a group of persons defined in terms of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief and the like.
- Thus, hate speech is any word written or spoken, signs, visible representations within the hearing or sight of a person with the intention to cause fear or alarm, or incitement to violence.
- In general, hate speech is considered a limitation on free speech that seeks to prevent or bar speech that exposes a person or a group or section of society to hate, violence, ridicule or indignity
Brief Analysis: Hate speech by Ministers
- Problem is real but primarily political: The problem of hate speech by ministers and others belonging to the party in power is real, but it is primarily political.
- Solution is not in new law as, there are enough provisions to deal with it: The solution is not for the court to draw a new line, or even, as the minority judgment proposed, for Parliament to make another law. There are enough provisions in the statute book to deal with speech that promotes enmity and violence or results in cramping the freedoms of others.
- Legal provisions can be weaponised so what is needed is a political resolve: What is missing is the political resolve and will of governments to act on instances of hate speech, especially when they involve one of their own, and there are no legal shortcuts to make up for that absence. In fact, the same legal provisions that are designed to curb hate speech can be twisted and turned and weaponised by governments against citizens who dissent and disagree.
Conclusion
- The problem of hate speech by ministers and others associated with the party in power is real, but it is primarily political. The solution lies not in making new laws, but in individual responsibility and collective political resolve.
Mains question
Q. How do you understand hate speech? Do ministers and MLAs have freedom of speech? Discuss the recent court ruling on free speech restrictions on ministers.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Latest developments in AI
Mains level: ChatGPT, AI generative models, limitations and challenges
Context
- 2022 had an unusual blue-ribbon winner for emerging digital artists; Jason Allen’s winning work Théâtre D’opéra Spatial was created with an AI Generative model called Midjourney.
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What is Midjourney?
- Midjourney is an AI based art generator that has been created to explore new mediums of thought.
- It is an interactive bot, which uses machine learning (ML) to create images based on texts. This AI system utilises the concepts and tries to convert them into visual reality.
- It is quite similar to other technologies such as DALL-E 2.
The journey of AI generative models so far
- Midjourney generator: Midjourney is one of the rash of AI-generated Transformer or Generative or Large Language Models (LLMs) which have exploded onto our world in the last few years.
- Earlier models: Models like BERT and Megatron (2019) were relatively small models, with up to 174 GB of dataset size, and passed under the collective public radar.
- Composition skills of GPT3: GPT3, released by OpenAI with a 570 GB dataset and 175bn parameters was the first one to capture the public consciousness with some amazing writing and composition skills.
- Models that creat images or videos based on texts: The real magic, however, started with Transformers which could create beautiful and realistic pieces of art with just a text prompt OpenAI’s DALL-E2, Google’s Imagen, the open-source Stable Diffusion and, obviously, Midjourney. Not to be left behind, Meta unleashed a transformer which could create videos from text prompts.
- ChatGPT, a latest and more evolved, like real communication: Recently in late 2022 came the transformer to rule them all ChatGPT built on GPT3, but with capabilities to have real conversations with human beings.
Are these models ethical?
- Ethics is too complex a subject to address in one short article. There are three big ethical questions on these models that humanity will have to address in short order.
- Environmental: Most of the bad rap goes to crypto and blockchain, but the cloud and these AI models running on it take enormous amounts of energy. Training a large transformer model just once would have CO2 emissions equivalent to 125 roundtrips from New York to Beijing. This cloud is the hundreds of data centres that dot our planet, and they guzzle water and power at alarming rates.
- Bias; as it do not understand meaning and its implications: The other thorny ethical issue is that sheer size does not guarantee diversity. Timnit Gebru was with Google when she co-wrote a seminal research paper calling these LLMs ‘stochastic parrots’, because, like parrots, they just repeated a senseless litany of words without understanding their meaning and implications.
- Plagiarism, question of who owns the original content: The third prickly ethical issue, which also prompted the artist backlash to Allen’s award-winning work is that of plagiarism. If Stable Diffusion or DALL-E 2 did all the work of scouring the web and combining multiple images (a Pablo Picasso Mona Lisa, for example), who owns it. Currently, OpenAI has ownership of all images created with DALL-E, and their business model is to allow paid users to have rights to reproduce, paint, sell and merchandise images they create. This is a legal minefield the US Copyrights office recently refused to grant a copyright to a piece created by a generative AI called Creativity Machine, but South Africa and Australia have recently announced that AI can be considered an inventor.
- ChatGPT is a chatbot built on a large-scale transformer-based language model that is trained on a diverse dataset of text and is capable of generating human-like responses to prompts.
- A conversation with ChatGPT is like talking to a computer, a smart one, which appears to have some semblance of human-like intelligence.
What are the other concerns?
- Besides the legal quagmire, there is a bigger fear: This kind of cheap, mass-produced art could put artists, photographers, and graphic designers out of their jobs.
- Machine does not have human like sense: A machine is not necessarily creating art, it is crunching and manipulating data and it has no idea or sense of what and why it is doing so.
- As it is cheap, corporate might consider using it at a large scale: But it can do so cheaply, and at scale. Corporate customers might seriously consider it for their creative, advertising, and other needs.
Conclusion
- Legal and political leaders across the world are sounding the alarm about the ethics of large generative models, and for good reason. As these models become increasingly powerful in the hands of Big Tech, with their unlimited budgets, brains and computing power, these issues of bias, environmental damage and plagiarism will become even more fraught. Such AI models should not be used to create chaos rather a harmonious existence.
Mains question
Q. Name some of the models of AI based art generators. Discuss the ethical concerns of such models.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: National Green Hydrogen Mission
Mains level: Read the attached story
The Union Cabinet approved the National Green Hydrogen Mission, which is aimed at making India the global hub for the production of green hydrogen.
What is Green Hydrogen?
- Green hydrogen is hydrogen gas produced through the electrolysis of water.
- It is an energy-intensive process for splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen— using renewable power to achieve this.
- The current cost of green hydrogen in India is ₹300 to ₹400 per kg.
Green Hydrogen Mission
- The National Hydrogen Mission was launched on August 15, 2021, with a view to cutting down carbon emissions and increasing the use of renewable sources of energy.
- The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) will formulate the scheme guidelines for implementation.
Key features
- Power capacity: The mission seeks to promote the development of green hydrogen production capacity of at least 5 MMT per annum with an associated renewable energy capacity addition of about 125 GW in the country by 2030.
- Job creation: It envisages an investment of over ₹8 lakh crore and creation of over 6 lakh jobs by 2030.
- Reducing energy import bill: It will also result in a cumulative reduction in fossil fuel imports of over ₹1 lakh crore and abatement of nearly 50 MMT of annual greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.
- Export promotion: The mission will facilitate demand creation, production, utilisation and export of green hydrogen.
- Incentivization: Under the Strategic Interventions for Green Hydrogen Transition Programme (SIGHT), two distinct financial incentive mechanisms targeting domestic manufacturing of electrolysers and production of green hydrogen will be provided under the mission.
- Green Hydrogen Hubs: Regions capable of supporting large-scale production and/or utilisation of hydrogen will be identified and developed as Green Hydrogen Hubs.
Hydrogen Energy: A Backgrounder
- Hydrogen is an important source of energy since it has zero carbon content and is a non-polluting source of energy in contrast to hydrocarbons that have net carbon content in the range of 75–85 per cent.
- Hydrogen energy is expected to reduce carbon emissions that are set to jump by 1.5 billion tons in 2021.
- It has the highest energy content by weight and lowest energy content by volume.
- As per International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), Hydrogen shall make up 6 per cent of total energy consumption by 2050.
- Hydrogen energy is currently at a nascent stage of development, but has considerable potential for aiding the process of energy transition from hydrocarbons to renewable.
Why hydrogen?
- Better properties: At standard temperature and pressure, hydrogen is a nontoxic, nonmetallic, odourless, tasteless, colourless, and highly combustible diatomic gas.
- Clean fuel: Hydrogen fuel is a zero-emission fuel when burned with oxygen. It can be used in fuel cells or internal combustion engines. It is also used as a fuel for spacecraft propulsion.
- Ample sources: Hydrogen can be sourced from natural gas, nuclear power, biomass, and renewable power like solar and wind.
- Phasing out carbon: India remains committed to environmental and climate causes with a massive thrust on deploying renewable energy and energy efficiency measures.
- Diversification of our energy basket: This would be the key lever enabling this transition. That’s why the emergence of hydrogen at the centre stage is a welcome development.
How Hydrogen can be produced?
Commercially viable Hydrogen can be produced from –
- Hydrocarbons including natural gas, oil and coal through processes like steam methane reforming, partial oxidation and coal gasification
- Renewables like water, sunlight and wind through electrolysis and photolysis and other thermo-chemical processes.
How is Green Hydrogen produced?
- For source material, green hydrogen today is typically generated from water through a process known as electrolysis, which uses an electric current to split water into its component molecules of hydrogen and oxygen.
- This is done using a device called an electrolyzer, which utilizes a cathode and an anode (positively and negatively charged electrodes).
- This process produces only oxygen – or steam – as a by-product.
- As for energy supply, to qualify as “green hydrogen,” the source of electricity used for electrolysis must derive from renewable power, such as wind or solar energy.
- Currently the production of green hydrogen is two or three times more expensive than blue hydrogen.
How can green hydrogen be used?
Hydrogen can be used in broadly two ways. It can be burnt to produce heat or fed into a fuel cell to make electricity.
- Fuel-cell Mobility: Hydrogen electric cars and trucks
- Container ships powered by liquid ammonia made from hydrogen
- “Green steel” refineries burning hydrogen as a heat source rather than coal
- Hydrogen-powered electricity turbines that can generate electricity at times of peak demand to help firm the electricity grid
Challenges in producing Green Hydrogen
India’s transition towards a green hydrogen economy (GHE) can only happen once certain key issues are addressed.
- Supply-Chain Issues: GHE hinges upon the creation of a supply chain, starting from the manufacture of electrolysers to the production of green hydrogen, using electricity from a renewable energy source.
- Technology: Green hydrogen needs electrolysers to be built on a scale larger than we’ve yet seen.
- Storage: Either very high pressures or very high temperatures are required, both with their own technical difficulties.
- Explosion Hazard: It is hazardous because of its low ignition energy and high combustion energy.
- Risk to use: Automotive fuels are highly inflammable, but a vehicle laden with hydrogen is likely to be more vulnerable in case of a major accident.
- High Cost of Production: To become competitive, the price per kilogram of green hydrogen has to reduce to a benchmark of $2/kg. At these prices, green hydrogen can compete with natural gas.
- Energy intensivity: Creating green hydrogen needs a huge amount of electricity, which means an enormous increase in the amount of wind and solar power to meet global targets.
- Lack of proper infrastructure, only 500 Hydrogen stations exist globally. Only countable manufacturers are involved as market players in this technology.
- Others: Low user acceptance and social awareness. Developing after-sales service for hydrogen technology.
Policy and Economic Challenges
- Economic sustainability: One of the biggest challenges faced by the industry for using hydrogen commercially is the economic sustainability of extracting green or blue hydrogen.
- Technological challenges: The technology used in production and use of hydrogen like Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) and hydrogen fuel cell technology are at nascent stage.
- Cost Factor: These technologies are expensive which in turn increases the cost of production of hydrogen and will require a lot of investment which in turn add fiscal pressure on government.
- Higher Maintenance costs: Maintenance costs for fuel cells post-completion of a plant can be costly.
- Need for legal and administrative adherence: Certification mechanisms, recommendations, and regulations for different components of the system.
Way forward
- Hydrogen energy is at a nascent stage of development but has significant potential for realizing the energy transition in India.
- The new policy is a futuristic vision that can help the country not only cut down its carbon emissions but also diversify its energy basket and reduce external reliance.
- India’s transition can be a testament to the world on the achievement of energy security, without compromising the goal of sustainable development.
- The GoI must strongly pursue the objective of creating a GHE to make India a global manufacturing hub and place itself at the top of the green hydrogen export market.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: BIND Scheme
Mains level: Read the attached story
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the “Broadcasting Infrastructure and Network Development (BIND)” scheme to upgrade Prasar Bharati to expand the public service broadcasting infrastructure across the country.
Prasar Bharati
- Prasar Bharati is India’s state-owned public broadcaster, headquartered in New Delhi.
- It is a statutory autonomous body set up by Prasar Bharati Act, 1990.
- It comprises the Doordarshan Television Network and Akashvani All India Radio, which were earlier media units of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
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BIND Scheme
- BIND scheme is the vehicle for providing financial support to Prasar Bharati for expenses related to expansion and upgradation of its broadcasting infrastructure, content development and civil work.
- Its features include-
- Outreach expansion: It will enable the public broadcaster to undertake a major upgradation of its facilities with better infrastructure which will widen its reach, in the LWE, border and strategic areas and provide high quality content to the viewers.
- Quality content: Another major priority area of the scheme is the development of high-quality content for both domestic and international audience and ensuring availability of diverse content to the viewers.
- More TV channels: It seeks to upgrade the capacity of DTH platform to accommodate more channels.
- Expansion of radio coverage: The scheme will increase coverage of AIR FM transmitters in the country to 66 percent by geographical area and 80 percent by population up from 59 percent and 68 percent respectively.
- Free DISH services: The scheme also envisages free distribution of over 8 lakh DD Free Dish STBs to people living in remote, tribal, left wing extremism inflicted and border areas.
Benefits provided
Ans. Employment generation
- The project has the potential to generate indirect employment by way of manufacturing and services related to supply and installation of broadcast equipment.
- Content generation and content innovation for AIR and DD has the potential of indirect employment of persons with varied experience of different media fields in the content production sector including TV/radio production, transmission and associated media-related services.
- Further, the project for expansion of the reach of DD Free Dish is expected to generate employment opportunities in the manufacturing of the DD Free Dish DTH boxes.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: PMI
Mains level: Not Much
India’s Services sector reported a sharp growth with Services Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) surging to 58.5 last month from 56.4 in November 2022.
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: Banking Ombudsman Scheme
Mains level: Not Much
Issues related to ATM/debit cards and mobile/electronic banking were the top grounds of complaints received at the Office of Banking Ombudsman (OBO).
Why in news?
- Of these, 3,04,496 complaints were handled by the 22 Offices of RBI Ombudsman (ORBIOs), including the complaints received under the three erstwhile Ombudsman Schemes till November 11, 2021.
- Complaints related to ATM/ debit cards were the highest at 14.6% of the total, followed by mobile/ electronic banking at 13.6%.
- About 90% of the total complaints were received through digital modes, including on the online Complaint Management System (CMS) portal.
- Majority 66.1% of the maintainable complaints were resolved through mutual settlement/ conciliation/ mediation.
Banking Ombudsman Scheme
- The Banking Ombudsman Scheme is an expeditious and inexpensive forum for bank customers for resolution of complaints relating to certain services rendered by banks.
- It is introduced under Section 35 A of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 by RBI with effect from 1995.
- Presently the Banking Ombudsman Scheme 2006 (As amended upto July 1, 2017) is in operation.
- All Scheduled Commercial Banks, Regional Rural Banks and Scheduled Primary Co-operative Banks are covered under the Scheme.
- As per the present regulations, the ombudsman redressal is allowed for complaints where the compensation amount for any loss suffered by the complainant is limited to Rs 20 lakh.
- Under the RBI-OS, 2021, following the ‘One Nation, One Ombudsman’ principle, the territorial jurisdictions have been abrogated, and complaints are assigned to all the ombudsmen by the CMS.
What about other sectors?
- The Reserve Bank Integrated Ombudsman Scheme (RBIOS) amalgamates three ombudsman scheme of RBI – banking ombudsman scheme of 2006, ombudsman scheme for NBFCs of 2018 and ombudsman scheme of digital transactions of 2019.
- The unified ombudsman scheme will provide redress of customer complaints involving deficiency in services if the grievance is not resolved to the satisfaction of the customers or not replied within a period of 30 days.
- The new scheme also includes non-scheduled primary co-operative banks with a deposit size of Rs 50 crore and above.
- The integrated scheme makes it a “One Nation One Ombudsman’ approach and jurisdiction neutral.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Black Carbon Aerosols
Mains level: Not Much
Black carbon aerosols have indirectly affected the mass gain of the Tibetan Plateau glaciers by changing long-range water vapour transport from the South Asian monsoon region, a study has found.
What are Black Carbon Aerosols?
- Black Carbon (BC) aerosol, often called soot, is the dominant form of light absorbing particulate matter in the atmosphere.
- They are emitted by incomplete combustion processes, both human (e.g., diesel engines) and natural (e.g., wildfire).
- Its ability to absorb visible and infrared radiation means BC can heat the atmosphere and darken surfaces, specifically snow and ice.
- These effects have important consequences on earth’s climate and climate change.
- BC may also have adverse impacts on human health. Unlike long-lived greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, BC is removed from the atmosphere in 1-2 weeks, so its impacts tend to be more regional rather than global.
Deposition over Himalayas
- The South Asia region adjacent to the Tibetan Plateau has among the highest levels of black carbon emission in the world.
- Many studies have emphasised black carbon aerosols from South Asia can be transported across the Himalayas to the inland region of the Tibetan Plateau.
Impact on glaciers melting
- Black carbon deposition in snow reduces the albedo of surfaces — a measure of how much of Sun’s radiations are reflected.
- This accelerates the melting of glaciers and snow cover, thus changing the hydrological process and water resources in the region.
- They heat up the middle and upper atmosphere, thus increasing the North-South temperature gradient.
- As a result, precipitation in the central and the southern Tibetan Plateau decreases during the monsoon, especially in the southern Tibetan Plateau.
- The decrease in precipitation further leads to a decrease of mass gain of glaciers.
- From 2007 to 2016, the reduced mass gain by precipitation decrease accounted for 11% of the average glacier mass loss on the Tibetan Plateau and 22.1% in the Himalayas.
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