Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: IRWD Act
Mains level: Interstate river water disputes
Karnataka CM has said irrigation projects are bogged down by river water sharing disputes and asked the Centre to ‘revisit the Inter-State River Water Disputes (IWRD) Act since the law is creating more disputes than resolving them’.
About IWRD Act
- The IWRD Act, 1956 aims to resolve the water disputes that would arise in the use, control and distribution of an interstate river or river valley.
- Article 262 of the Indian Constitution provides a role for the Central government in adjudicating conflicts surrounding inter-state rivers that arise among the state/regional governments.
- This act is confined to states of India and not applicable to union territories.
- Only concerned state governments are entitled to participate in the tribunal adjudication and non-government entities are not permitted.
Jurisdictions over Rivers
- River waters use / harnessing is included in states jurisdiction.
- However, Union government can make laws on regulation and development of inter-State rivers and river valleys to the extent such water resources are directly under its control when expedient in the public interest.
- When union government wants to take over a interstate river project under its control by law, it has to take approval of the riparian states’ legislature assemblies before passing such bill in the Parliament per Article 252 of the constitution.
- When public interest is served, President may also establish an interstate council as per Article 263 to inquire and recommend on the dispute that has arisen between the states of India.
Resolution of disputes
- Dispute resolution is a layered process, as mandated by the ISWD Act.
- After receiving a complaint from a state, the Union government first tries to mediate. It is only when negotiations fail that the Centre is required to form a tribunal to adjudicate the dispute.
- If a State Government makes a request regarding any water dispute and the Central Government is of opinion that the water dispute cannot be settled by negotiations, then a Tribunal is constituted.
Constitution of Tribunal
- Whenever the riparian states are not able to reach amicable agreements on their own in sharing of an interstate river waters, section 4 of IRWD Act provides for a Tribunal.
- The tribunal shall not only adjudicate but also investigate the matters referred to it by the central government and forward a report setting out the facts with its decisions.
- The tribunal responsibility is not limited to adjudication of issues raised by the concerned states and but investigation of other aspects such as water pollution, water quality deterioration, flood control etc.
Time-frame for dispute resolution
- The tribunals have been allotted three years to arrive at a final decision, extendable by two years.
- The 2002 Amendment to the ISWD Act specified a one-year limit on the timeline allowed to carry out the process of dispute resolution.
Active tribunals in India
- Ravi & Beas Water Tribunal (1986) – Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan
- Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal II (2004) – Karnataka, Telangana, Andra Pradesh, Maharashtra
- Mahadayi Water Disputes Tribunal (2010) – Goa,Karnataka, Maharashtra
- Vansadhara Water Disputes Tribunal (2010) – Andra Pradesh & Odisha
- Mahanadi Water Disputes Tribunal (2018) – Odisha & Chattisgarh
Need for the IWRD Act
- Major inter-state river basins: India has 25 major river basins, with most rivers flowing across states.
- Equitable distribution of water: As river basins are shared resources, a coordinated approach between the states is necessary for the preservation, equitable distribution and sustainable utilization of river water.
- Hydro-politics: Much recently, interstate rivers in India have become sites of contestations, fuelled by conflicting perceptions of property rights, flawed economic instruments for food security.
- Sustainability: This has led to a lack of an integrated ecosystems approach, and the prevalence of reductionist hydrology for water resource development.
Issues with IRWD Act
- Centre’s dilemma: Since river water falls within the ambit of State Subjects, its governance remains confined to the limits of the state political discourse.
- Interference of Judiciary: The apex court has limited the role of the tribunals to quantification and allocation of water between riparian states, and its own role is to be an interpreter of the awards and agreements.
- Colonial award: The history of colonial rule has led to the creation of asymmetries between states, and the present water disputes stem from the reproduction of this imperial and colonial power relation.
- Structural issues: Various operational characteristics of the tribunals as problematic, since they do not adhere to any established system.
- Operational issues: For instance, the sittings are not routine, the functioning is outside the regular court system, and day-to-day or week-to-week hearings are few and far in between.
Why this has become a sensitive topic?
- Associated ethnicity: At the state level, river water is politically perceived as part of the larger issue of “regional sharing of resources,” which is linked with the ethnic and cultural identity of the state and its people.
- Matter of autonomy: The political narrative around river disputes is subsumed within the question of regional rights, and any possibility of water sharing is seen as a compromise or infringement on the regional autonomy of a state.
- Identity politics: Hence, the political narrative around the river disputes jumps to a larger scale of identity politics.
Way forward
- For such dispute resolution, all other recourses such as mediation and conciliation must remain viable options.
- These should operate simultaneously along with adjudication and political consensus among the riparian states.
- Directly approaching the Supreme Court may result in adversarial outcomes, with the conflict reaching a point of no return.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Forex reserves, BoP
Mains level: Balance of Payment/Trade
A recent report by the RBI shows that India received support of $17.86 billion in August 2021 by way of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) has helped cushion the worsening current account deficit.
What are Special Drawing Rights (SDRs)?
- SDRs, created by the IMF in 1969, are an international reserve asset and are meant to supplement countries’ reserves.
- Adding SDRs to the country’s international reserves makes it more financially resilient.
- Providing liquidity support to developing and low-income countries allows them to tide over the balance of payments (BOP) situations like the one India has been experiencing due to the pandemic and the one it faced earlier in 1991.
- SDRs being one of the components of foreign exchange reserves (FER) of a country, an increase in its holdings is reflected in the BOP.
What are the key components of BOP?
The BOP divides transactions of a country with the rest of the world into two accounts:
- Current Account: It consists of net trade of exports and imports of products and services, net earnings on cross-border investments and net transfer payments.
- Capital Account: It constitutes a country’s transactions in financial instruments i.e. assets and liabilities constituting of direct investment, portfolio investment, loans, banking capital, and other capital.
What does the SDR support signify?
- Pandemic impact: Countries worldwide are going through one of the worst health and economic crises, and India has been no exception.
- Domestic business underperformance: It is also indicative of the fact that the domestic business environment is failing to attract foreign direct investment.
Is dependence on SDR a matter of concern?
A BOP dependent on an SDR-dependent capital account surplus to cushion the country’s widening current account deficit is not a comfortable position to be in.
- Compulsion for reforms: Importantly, IMF support comes with a baggage of conditions as was the case in 1991—the support came with the condition that India initiates big-ticket economic reforms.
- Sovereign decisions: Any democratic country would be more comfortable with sovereign rights to design its policy strategy.
Back2Basics: Foreign Exchange Reserve
- Foreign exchange reserves are important assets held by the central bank in foreign currencies as reserves.
- They are commonly used to support the exchange rate and set monetary policy.
- In India’s case, foreign reserves include Gold, Dollars, and the IMF’s quota for Special Drawing Rights.
- Most of the reserves are usually held in US dollars, given the currency’s importance in the international financial and trading system.
- Some central banks keep reserves in Euros, British pounds, Japanese yen, or Chinese yuan, in addition to their US dollar reserves.
India’s forex reserves cover:
- Foreign Currency Assets (FCAs)
- Special Drawing Rights (SDRs)
- Gold Reserves
- Reserve position with the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
Significance of these reserves
- Import support: Holding liquid foreign currency provides a cushion against such effects and provides confidence that there will still be enough foreign exchange to help the country with crucial imports in case of external shocks.
- USD reserves: All international transactions are settled in US dollars and, therefore, required to support India’s imports.
- Exchange rate regulation: More importantly, they need to maintain support and confidence for central bank action, whether monetary policy action or any exchange rate intervention to support the domestic currency.
- Cushion against inflation: It also helps to limit any vulnerability due to sudden disturbances in foreign capital flows, which may arise during a crisis.
Initiatives taken by the government to increase forex
- Self reliance: To increase the foreign exchange reserves, the GoI has taken many initiatives like Atmanirbhar Bharat, in which India has to be made a self-reliant nation so that India does not have to import things that India can produce.
- Duty remission: The government has started schemes like Duty Exemption Scheme, Remission of Duty or Taxes on Export Product (RoDTEP), Nirvik (Niryat Rin Vikas Yojana) scheme, etc.
- FDI and EoDB: Apart from these schemes, India is one of the top countries that attracted the highest amount of Foreign Direct Investment, thereby improving India’s foreign exchange reserves.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Republic Day celebration
Mains level: Not Much
Recently, West Bengal’s tableau for the Republic Day parade was rejected without assigning any reasons or justifications.
Who manages the R-Day Parade?
- The Defence Ministry is the responsible authority for the Republic Day parade and the celebrations.
- Around September, it invites all the states, the UTs, Central Government departments, and a few constitutional authorities to participate in the parade through tableaux.
Managing Tableaux
- The Defence Ministry shares the basic guidelines about what all the tableaux can or should include.
- The tableaux of two different states/ UTs cannot be too similar, as the tableaux, together, should showcase the diversity of the country.
- The tableaux cannot have any writing or use of logos, except for the name of the state/ UT/ department, which should be written in Hindi on the front, English on the back, and a regional language on the sides.
- The Ministry also asks the participants to use eco-friendly material for the tableaux, and avoid the use of plastic or plastic-based products.
How are the tableaux selected?
- The selection process is elaborate and time-consuming.
- The Defence Ministry constitutes an expert committee of distinguished persons from fields like art, culture, painting, sculpture, music, architecture, choreography, etc.
Process of selection
(1) Submission of sketches
- First, the submitted sketches or designs of the proposals are scrutinised by this committee, which can make suggestions for any modifications in the sketch or design.
- The sketch should be simple, colourful, easy to comprehend and should avoid unnecessary detail.
- It should be self-explanatory, and should not need any written elaboration.
(2) Music and Visuals
- If there is a traditional dance involved with the tableau, it should be a folk dance, and the costumes and musical instruments should be traditional and authentic.
- The proposal should include a video clipping of the dance.
(3) 3D Models
- Once approved, the next stage is for the participants to come up with three-dimensional models for their proposals.
- These are again examined by the expert committee for final selection, taking in view several criteria.
- In making the final selection the committee looks at a combination of factors, looking at the visual appeal, impact on the masses, idea/ theme of the tableaux, degree of detail involved.
Do they have to be of a particular size?
The Defence Ministry provides each participant with one tractor and one trailer, and the tableau should fit on that.
- The ministry prohibits use of any additional tractor or trailer, or even any other vehicle to be part of it.
- However, the participant can replace their ministry-provided tractor or trailer with other vehicles, but the total number should not be more than two vehicles.
- The tractor has to be camouflaged in harmony with the tableau’s theme, and the ministry stipulates a distance of around six feet between the tractor and the trailer for turning and manoeuvering.
- The dimensions of the trailer on which the tableau will be placed is 24 feet, 8 inches long; eight feet wide; four feet two inches high; with a load-bearing capacity of 10 tonnes.
- The tableaux should not be more than 45 feet long, 14 feet wide and 16 feet high from the ground.
(Republic Day celebrations from this year will start on January 23 instead of January 24 to include the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.)
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Kathak
Mains level: NA
Kathak legend Pandit Birju Maharaj has recently passed away.
About Kathak
- Kathak is one of the eight major forms of Indian classical dance.
- The origin of Kathak is traditionally attributed to the traveling bards in of ancient northern India known as Kathakars or storytellers.
- The term Kathak is derived from the Vedic Sanskrit word Katha which means “story”, and Kathakar which means “the one who tells a story”, or “to do with stories”.
- Wandering Kathakars communicated stories from the great epics and ancient mythology through dance, songs and music.
Its origin
- Kathak dancers tell various stories through their hand movements and extensive footwork, their body movements and flexibility but most importantly through their facial expressions.
- It evolved during the Bhakti movement, particularly by incorporating the childhood and stories of the Hindu god Krishna, as well as independently in the courts of north Indian kingdoms.
- Kathak is unique in having both Hindu and Muslim gharanas and cultural elements of these gharanas.
- Kathak performances include Urdu Ghazals and commonly used instruments brought during the Mughal period.
Major gharanas
- Kathak is found in three distinct forms, called “gharanas”, named after the cities where the Kathak dance tradition evolved – Jaipur, Banaras and Lucknow.
- While the Jaipur gharana focuses more on the foot movements, the Banaras and Lucknow gharanas focus more on facial expressions and graceful hand movements.
Performance details
- It involves both Nritta (pure dance) and Nritya (expressive dance).
- Stylistically, the Kathak dance form emphasizes rhythmic foot movements, adorned with small bells (Ghungroo) and the movement harmonized to the music.
- The legs and torso are generally straight, and the story is told through a developed vocabulary based on the gestures of arms and upper body movement, facial expressions, neck movements, eyes and eyebrow movement, stage movements, bends and turns.
- The main focus of the dance becomes the eyes and the foot movements.
- The eyes work as a medium of communication of the story the dancer is trying to communicate. With the eyebrows the dancer gives various facial expressions.
- A Kathak performance can be solo, duo or team. In a technical performance, the speed and energy the dancers exchange with the audience increases in multiples, that is the tempo doubles or quadruples.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: CAATSA
Mains level: Paper 2- Challenges facing India in 2022
Context
Risks in 2022 could be both domestic and geopolitical, with many precepts that the world has been accustomed to being at risk. Democracy itself could face serious headwinds this year.
Challenges to democracy
- The world has recently seen the rise of authoritarian rulers in many countries.
- What is worrisome is that democratic tenets which have been under attack in recent years appear set to face more onslaughts this year.
- The United States, which was widely viewed as a major bulwark for democracy, appears to have developed certain pathological infirmities.
Geopolitical challenges and risks
[1] Disruption by China
- The role of China is possibly the most disrupting one, given the challenge it poses to the existing international order.
- Militarily, China is openly challenging U.S. supremacy in many areas, including ‘state-of-the-art weaponry’ such as hyper-sonic technology.
- China is now threatening Taiwan, which could well become one of the flashpoints of conflict in 2022.
- The dip in China’s economic profile in the past year and more could also lead to new tensions in the Asia-Pacific region in 2022.
[2] Russia-Ukraine conflict
- The other major risk of a war in 2022, stems from the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine — the latter being backed by the U.S. and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forces.
- During the past three decades, NATO has expanded its reach almost a 1,000 miles to the east in violation of an earlier tacit understanding.
- Russia appears determined that Ukraine should be the ‘last frontier’ and, if need be, ensure this through military force.
- The situation has grave possibilities and could result in a series of cyclical outcomes with considerable damage potential.
[3] Instability in the vast region
- Unrest in Kazakhstan: The current unrest in Kazakhstan, which till recently was one of the more stable Central Asian nations, is perhaps symptomatic of what is in store.
- Recent events in Kazakhstan demonstrates a sharper cleavage between the U.S.-led West and its principal opponents, Russia and China.
- This is not a good sign for the world already wracked by a series of coups or internecine strife as in Ethiopia, Libya and certain regions of West Asia and North Africa.
[4] Return of Taliban and security implications for India
- Shift in balance of power: Of particular significance to India is that the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan has led to a material shift in the balance of power in India’s periphery.
- Developments in Afghanistan have fuelled the ambitions of quite a few ‘anti-state militant groups’ across the region.
- Even in Pakistan, the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has become energised and is enlarging its sphere of action to other parts of Asia, notably Kazakhstan.
- This will have an unsettling effect across large parts of Asia.
- New evidence suggests that on India’s eastern flank, viz. Indonesia, a resurgence of radical Islamist activities is taking place.
- The Jemaah Islamiyah has reportedly become more active in Indonesia.
[5] India’s border issue with China
- The most serious issue that India confronts today is how to deal with a China that has become more confrontational.
- India’s membership of the Quad still rankles as far as China’s psyche is concerned, and during 2022, may well result in China embarking on new adventurist actions at many more points on the Sino-Indian border compelling India to react.
- Additionally, India will need to determine how best to respond to China’s provocations.
- Strengthen military posture: India would need to strengthen its military posture, both as a means to deter China and also to convince India’s neighbours that it can stand up to China.
Challenges ahead for India
- Challenge in Central Asia: Diplomatically, in 2022, India may find itself vulnerable in dealing with the turmoils which have occurred in two areas of strategic interest to it, viz. Central Asia and West Asia.
- Challenge in West Asia: In West Asia, the challenge for India is how to manage its membership of the Second Quad (India, Israel, the United Arab Emirates and the U.S.) with the conflicting interests of different players in the region.
- Limits to balancing: There is a limit to the kind of balancing act that India can perform, whether it be with regard to buying S-400 missile systems from Russia, risking potential sanctions from Washington under Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) or manoeuvering between the Arab States, Israel, Iran and the U.S. in West Asia.
Conclusion
Facing a host of unprecedented challenges, India’s leaders and diplomats must not only take stock of the dangers that exist but also be ready on how to manage the risks that are well evident.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- India-Japan relations
Context
The year 2022 marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and India.
Historical background of India-Japan relationship
- We have a long history of people-to-people exchanges that can be traced back to the sixth century.
- Buddhism was brought to Japan and, in 752.
- During Meiji Restoration in the late 19th Century — Japan needed natural resources to modernise its industry.
- Many Japanese travelled to India to purchase cotton, iron ore, etc.
- Formal relations between Japan and India began in 1952.
- After the Second World War, instead of signing the multilateral San Francisco Peace Treaty, India opted for concluding a bilateral peace treaty with Japan, considering that honour and equality should be ensured for Japan to rejoin the international community.
- But even before the establishment of diplomatic relations, the goodwill between the people of the two countries was deeply rooted through business, academic and cultural exchanges.
- After 70 years of multi-layered exchanges, the relationship between our two countries grew into a “Special Strategic and Global Partnership”.
Future possibilities
[1] As democratic countries, contribute to global peace and prosperity
- As democratic countries in Asia, India and Japan can cooperate to contribute to global peace and prosperity.
- We share political, economic and strategic interests based on the firm foundations of common values and traditions.
- We are continuing our efforts to build a rules-based free and open international order.
[2] Cooperation in security
- There are a plethora of fields that we can cooperate in security issues including cyber security, outer space and economic security.
[3] Augmenting economic relations
- For long, Japan has been the largest ODA (Official Development Assistance) donor to India.
- One of the most recent and ongoing examples of our collaboration is the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail project.
- Japan is also one of the largest investors in India.
- Both countries have also promoted economic cooperation in other countries to enhance social infrastructure and connectivity.
- Our economic partnership can further strengthen the economy of the Indo-Pacific, as well as the world economy.
[4] Cultural exchange
- Cultural exchanges including literature, movies, music, sports and academics are essential for our relations, enabling a better understanding.
Consider the question “The year 2022 marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and India. The future offers enormous possibilities for the partnership. In context of this, examine the future possibilities the two countries can explore.”
Conclusion
India-Japan ties will continue to flourish. Our long history substantiates that.
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Meiji Restoration in Japan
- In Japanese history, the political revolution in 1868 that brought about the final demise of the Tokugawa shogunate (military government)—thus ending the Edo (Tokugawa) period (1603–1867)—and, at least nominally, returned control of the country to direct imperial rule under Mutsuhito (the emperor Meiji).
- In a wider context, however, the Meiji Restoration of 1868 came to be identified with the subsequent era of major political, economic, and social change—the Meiji period (1868–1912)—that brought about the modernization and Westernization of the country.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Predatory pricing issue
Context
Consumer goods distributors in Maharashtra has been protesting against Colgate’s alleged unfair treatment of traditional distributors vis-à-vis B2B (Business-to-Business) technology companies such as Reliance’s JioMart, Udaan and others.
The disruption caused by B2B companies
- Nearly half-a-million of India’s distributors pick up goods from consumer companies such as Colgate and deliver them to 13 million small local stores located in 7,00,000 villages and towns across the country through a web of millions of traders and other intermediaries.
- Enter the new age technology B2B companies.
- They have developed technologies to connect directly to the kirana store through a mobile phone app, bypassing the intermediaries.
- They supply goods to the local store for lower prices than the charged by the distributor.
- Unable to match such prices and facing the peril of losing business, India’s distributors claim these are unfair practices and want manufacturers such as to stop supplying goods to the technology companies.
Issue of disruption caused by the pricing power and predatory pricing
- Creative destruction: New innovations disrupting an existing process and rendering incumbents futile is generally a healthy process of ‘creative destruction’, as the Austrian economist, Joseph Schumpeter, postulated.
- But this disruption in India is driven not entirely by technology innovation but also through pricing power.
- These technology companies bear the loss on the products they sell to the local store.
- Further, they offer extensive credit terms and working capital to the local stores.
- In other words, these technology companies rely not just on their mobile phone app innovation but also steep price discounting and cheaper financing to win customers.
- Evidently, these companies use the money to not only build new technologies but also to undercut competitors and steal market share.
- This practice, called predatory pricing, is illegal in most countries including India.
- These companies are supplied with funds from foreign venture capital firms, which in turn are largely funded by American pension funds and university endowments.
- The flip side is that India’s millions of distributors and intermediaries have no access to such finance.
- These small companies are cut off from the endless stream of free foreign money that gushes into new age ‘startups’ and established large corporates.
Problems created by predatory pricing
- While consumers may benefit from lower prices, the livelihoods of millions of distributors, traders and their families suffer.
- To be sure, this is not just an India problem but a global one.
- Social media companies such as Facebook give away their products for free and e-commerce companies such as Amazon sell at lower prices, benefiting consumers enormously, but also causing immense social strife and disharmony.
- But in India’s case, there is an added complexity of foreign capital flows.
- Access to this capital is only available to a tiny proportion of Indian businesses but threatens the livelihoods of millions of Indian families, as in the case of distributors, causing massive income and social disparities.
- This unequal access to capital creates leads to anti-competitive behaviour.
Consider the question “What is predatory pricing? What are the issues created by predatory pricing?”
Conclusion
To be clear, this is not a Luddite argument against e-commerce or technological innovations. The issue is about illegal predatory pricing and abuse of pricing power by startups and big corporates through preferential access to easy foreign money.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Geo-tagging
Mains level: Paper 3- Agri-reforms in Punjab
Context
It is no secret that Punjab, once the frontrunner of Indian agriculture, is struggling to retain its dynamism.
Need to diversify
- While Punjab ranked at the top of major Indian states in terms of per capita income during 1967-68 to 2002-03, it has slipped below the 13th position.
- Punjab’s agricultural growth rate, at 5.7 per cent, was more than double the country’s average of 2.3 per cent during 1971-72 to 1985-86.
- This has reversed between 2005 and 2019 with Punjab at 1.9 per cent and India at 3.7 per cent.
- Agriculture least diversified state: With almost 85 per cent of the gross cropped area under wheat and rice, agriculture is least diversified in the state.
- Mandi transactions cost about 8.5 per cent of the MSP, the highest in the country, making Punjab wheat and rice less competitive.
What explains low diversification in agriculture?
- Policies: Guaranteed MSP for wheat and paddy, backed by assured procurement, free power and highly subsidised fertilisers, has disincentivised diversification.
- Political economy: The political economy around wheat and rice is so intense that any effort to address its distortionary impact is met with fierce opposition by vested interest groups.
How to recalibrate Punjab agriculture towards higher, sustainable growth?
- Augment livestock and milk processing: While fruits and vegetables account for 7.4 per cent of the value of the output of agriculture and allied sectors, livestock accounts for 31.5 per cent and fisheries less than 1 per cent.
- The state has the highest per capita availability of milk but it can process less than 20 per cent of it.
- Promoting mega parks for value addition in fruits and vegetables, milk, and other livestock products through medium and small enterprises will strengthen its competitiveness.
- Strengthen market for seed potato: It is also a significant player in seed potato and with the right package of practices, traceability systems, and infrastructure, the market for Punjab seed potato can be strengthened.
- Scaling up alternative marketing channel: Alternative marketing channels for fruits and vegetables such as direct marketing, contract farming, and exports have been in place but these models need to be scaled up with the right ecosystem.
- Shift to demand-driven agriculture: Punjab needs to switch from supply-driven agriculture to demand-driven agriculture.
- The demand for fisheries, poultry, dairy, and fruits and vegetables is increasing way faster than the demand for wheat and rice.
- Rationalise mandi charges: Rationalising mandi charges to not more than 3 per cent will attract private sector investments in building efficient value chains.
- Rationalise subsidies: Time-bound incentives in the form of freight subsidies for exporters of high-value agri-produce, tax exemptions for the processing of perishable commodities for value chain players would be more rational than the overloaded subsidies of urea and free power.
- Use technology and start-up revolution: Punjab should leverage the start-up revolution that is unfolding in India, and use technology to ensure optimal utilisation of resources, expand markets, and augment farmers’ income.
- Geo-tagging of farms can address concerns related to long-term leasing of land that is critical for large-scale investments and enable vibrant agricultural land markets.
- Innovations in supply chain management, be it automated grain silos or state-of-art herd management will not only optimise the use of resources but also bring in traceability of farms and animals, early monitoring and prevention of disease outbreaks, and contain value chain losses.
How to manage financial resources?
- Rationalise urea subsidy: It should rationalise its fertiliser subsidy regime by moving towards cash transfers on a per hectare basis and free up fertiliser prices.
- Include urea in nutrient-based subsidy scheme: If that’s not possible, then urea should be included in the nutrient-based subsidy scheme.
- Bring soluble fertiliser under subsidy: Bring soluble fertilisers under subsidy, which will enhance fertiliser use efficiency through fertigation.
- This will also help reap environmental gains.
- Rationalise food subsidy: Food subsidy can also be rationalised through direct cash transfers replacing PDS, as Punjab is a grain surplus state.
Conclusion
Both environmental and financial sustainability concerns related to business-as-usual farming in Punjab call for a rebooting strategy.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Various types of trade agreements
Mains level: Free Trade Agreements
India and the United Kingdom have launched formal Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations with the aim of concluding an early harvest trade agreement over the next few months.
What is a Free Trade Agreement (FTA)?
- A FTA is a pact between two or more nations to reduce barriers to imports and exports among them.
- Under a free trade policy, goods and services can be bought and sold across international borders with little or no government tariffs, quotas, subsidies, or prohibitions to inhibit their exchange.
- The concept of free trade is the opposite of trade protectionism or economic isolationism.
Key benefits offered by FTA
- Reduction or elimination of tariffs on qualified: For example, a country that normally charges a tariff of 12% of the value of the incoming product will rationalize or eliminate that tariff.
- Intellectual Property Protection: Protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights in the FTA partner country is upheld.
- Product Standards: FTA enhances the ability for domestic exporters to participate in the development of product standards in the FTA partner country.
- Fair treatment for investors: FTA provides treatment as favourably as the FTA partner country gives equal treatment for investments from the partner country.
- Elimination of monopolies: With FTAs, global monopolies are eliminated due to increased competition.
How many FTAs does India have?
- India has signed it’s first Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Sri Lanka in 1998.
- Likewise, India had FTAs with: Nepal, Bhutan, Thailand, Singapore, ASEAN, Japan and Malaysia.
- The discussion is going for an FTA with Australia.
- India has signed Preferential Trade Agreements such as:
- Asia Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA) with Bangladesh, China, India, Lao PDR, Republic of Korea, and Sri Lanka
- Global System of Trade Preferences (GSTP)
- India – MERCOSUR PTA etc. with South American countries
Back2Basics: Types of Trade Agreements
(1) Free Trade Agreement – discussed above
(2) Preferential Trade Agreement
- In this type of agreement, two or more partners give preferential right of entry to certain products.
- This is done by reducing duties on an agreed number of tariff lines.
- Here a positive list is maintained i.e. the list of the products on which the two partners have agreed to provide preferential access.
- Tariff may even be reduced to zero for some products even in a PTA.
- India signed a PTA with Afghanistan.
(3) Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement
- Partnership agreement or cooperation agreement are more comprehensive than an FTA.
- CECA/CEPA also looks into the regulatory aspect of trade and encompasses and agreement covering the regulatory issues.
- CECA has the widest coverage. CEPA covers negotiation on the trade in services and investment, and other areas of economic partnership.
- It may even consider negotiation on areas such as trade facilitation and customs cooperation, competition, and IPR.
- India has signed CEPAs with South Korea and Japan.
(4) Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement
- CECA generally cover negotiation on trade tariff and Tariff rate quotas (TRQs) rates only.
- It is not as comprehensive as CEPA.
- India has signed CECA with Malaysia.
(5) Framework Agreement
- Framework agreement primarily defines the scope and provisions of orientation of the potential agreement between the trading partners.
- It provides for some new area of discussions and set the period for future liberalisation.
- India has previously signed framework agreements with the ASEAN, Japan etc.
(6) Early Harvest Scheme
- An Early Harvest Scheme (EHS) is a precursor to an FTA/CECA/CEPA between two trading partners. For example, early harvest scheme of RCEP has been rolled out.
- At this stage, the negotiating countries identify certain products for tariff liberalization pending the conclusion of actual FTA negotiations.
- An Early Harvest Scheme is thus a step towards enhanced engagement and confidence building.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Web3
Mains level: Web and Blockchain technology
The concept of Web3, also called Web 3.0, used to describe a potential next phase of the internet, created quite a buzz in 2021.
What is Web3?
- The model, a decentralized internet to be run on blockchain technology, would be different from the versions in use, Web 1.0 and Web 2.0.
- In web3, users will have ownership stakes in platforms and applications unlike now where tech giants control the platforms.
Previous versions of Web
To understand web3, we should start with Web 1.0 and Web 2.0.
[1] Web 1
- Web 1.0 is the world wide web or the internet that was invented in 1989. It became popular from 1993.
- The internet in the Web 1.0 days was mostly static web pages where users would go to a website and then read and interact with the static information.
- Even though there were e-commerce websites in the initial days it was still a closed environment and the users themselves could not create any content or post reviews on the internet.
- Web 1.0 lasted until 1999.
[2] Web 2
- Web 2.0 started in some form in the late 1990s itself though 2004 was when most of its features were fully available. It is still the age of Web 2.0 now.
- The differentiating characteristic of Web 2.0 compared to Web 1.0 is that users can create content.
- They can interact and contribute in the form of comments, registering likes, sharing and uploading their photos or videos and perform other such activities.
- Primarily, a social media kind of interaction is the differentiating trait of Web 2.0.
What are some of the concerns?
- In Web 2.0, most of the data in the internet and the internet traffic are owned or handled by very few behemoth companies ex. Google.
- This has created issues related to data privacy, data security and abuse of such data.
- There is a sense of disappointment that the original purpose of the internet has been distorted.
- It is in this context that the buzz around Web3 is significant.
Dawn of Web3
- Gavin Wood, founder of Ethereum, a block chain technology company, used the term Web3 first in 2014 and in the past few years many others have added to the idea of Web3.
- In 2021, owing to the popularity of crypto-currency, more discussions happened on Web3.
How will Web3 address the problems of data monopoly?
Web3 will deliver decentralized and fair internet where users control their own data.
- Currently if a seller has to make a business to the buyer, both the buyer and seller need to be registered on a “shop” or “platform” like Amazon or Ebay or any such e-commerce portal.
- What this “platform” currently does is that it authenticates that the buyer and seller are genuine parties for the transaction.
- Web3 would try to remove the role of the “platform”.
- For the buyer to be authenticated, the usual proofs aided by block chain technology will be used. The same goes for the seller.
How is blockchain technology used here?
- With block chain, the time and place of the transaction are recorded permanently.
- Thus, Web3 enables peer to peer (seller to buyer) transaction by eliminating the role of the intermediary. This concept can be extended to other transactions also.
- Consider a social media application where you want to share pictures with your followers.
- It could be a broadcast operation from you aided by blockchain and you don’t need social media accounts for all the participants to be able to perform this.
Another key feature: Decentralized Autonomous Organization
- The key concepts in Web3 seen so far are peer to peer transaction and block chain.
- The spirit of Web3 is Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO).
- DAO is all about the business rules and governing rules in any transaction are transparently available for anyone to see and software will be written conforming to these rules.
- Crypto-currency and block chain are technologies that follow the DAO principle.
- With DAO, there is no need for a central authority to authenticate or validate.
Will it take off?
- We don’t know yet if Web3 will become the dominant mode of handling the internet but the questions it raises are relevant.
- Web3 is in its very initial days and there is no consensus if it will take off like Web 1.0 or Web 2.0 did.
- There is much skepticism from top tech brains in the industry and the academic community that Web3 does not solve the problems it purports to solve.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Xenotransplantation
Mains level: Bio-ethics associated with Xenotransplantation
Recently, the University Of Maryland School Of Medicine announced that it had successfully transplanted a genetically-modified pig heart into a patient with severe ailments.
What is Xenotransplantation?
- Xenotransplantation, or transplanting organs across different species, was first tried in humans in the 1980s.
- The experiment was abandoned after the famous case of the American Baby Fae who was born with a congenital heart defect and received a baboon heart in 1984.
- However, pig heart valves have been used for replacing damaged valves in humans for over 50 years now.
- Nowadays, harvesting organs from genetically engineered pigs is seen as a viable alternative to meet organs shortage.
How the pigs are genetically engineered?
- The donor pig underwent 10 genetic modifications, by which the genes responsible for the rapid rejection of foreign organs by the human body were inactivated or knocked out.
- Four pig genes were removed, and six human genes were added.
- “GalSafe” pigs, or pigs that had undergone editing to knock out a gene that codes for Alpha-gal (a sugar molecule) were used.
- Alpha-gal can elicit a devastating immune response in humans.
- GalSafe pigs have been well studied, and are approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in pharmacology.
Why pursue xenotransplantation?
- Modern scientific supporters of xenotransplantation argue that the potential benefits to society outweigh the risks, making pursuing xenotransplantation the moral choice.
- None of the major religions object to the use of genetically modified pig organs for life-saving transplantation.
A crucial case in India
- Harvesting organs from genetically engineered pigs is seen as a viable alternative to meet organs shortage.
- According to the health ministry, around 0.18 million people in India are estimated to suffer from renal failure every year, but only about 6,000 renal transplants are carried out in the country.
- About 25,000-30,000 liver transplants are needed annually in India but only about 1,500 are being performed.
- In the case of the heart, 50,000 people suffer from heart failure and are in need of a heart transplant.
- Yet, only 10-15 heart transplants are carried out in India each year.
Issues with Xenotransplantation
Besides scientific challenges, there are several ethical challenges to overcome:
- Animal rights: Many, including animal rights groups, strongly oppose killing animals to harvest their organs for human use.
- Decreased life expectancy: In the 1960s, many organs came from the chimpanzees, and were transferred into people that were deathly ill, and in turn, did not live much longer afterwards.
- Religious violations: Certain animals such as pork are strictly forbidden in Islam and many other religions.
- Informed consent: Autonomy and informed consent are important when considering the future uses of xenotransplantation.
- Threats of zoonosis: The safety of public health is a factor to be considered. We are already battling the biggest zoonotic disease threat.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: India-China trade deficit
India’s trade with China in 2021 crossed $125 billion, with imports from China nearing a record $100 billion, underlining continued demand for a range of Chinese goods, particularly machinery.
Note: India-China trade has always been an all-time contested issue. This newscard presents crucial stats which is essential to substantiate your answers in Mains as well as in Interviews.
Highlights of the bilateral trade
- Bilateral trade reached $125.6 billion in 2021, with India’s imports from China accounting for $97.5 billion.
- Trade fell from $92.8 billion in 2019 to $87.6 billion in 2020 on account of the pandemic.
- Trade has boomed in 2021 thanks to a recovery in demand as well as rising imports of new categories of goods such as medical supplies.
- Also, note that these figures exclude bilateral trade between India and Hong Kong.
Imports-Exports imbalance
- Imports were higher by 30% from 2019 while India’s exports to China, amounting to $28.1 billion, were up by as much as 56% from two years earlier.
- The trade deficit last year reached $69.4 billion, up by 22% from the pre-pandemic figure in 2019.
- While a break-up of imports and exports wasn’t immediately available, India’s biggest exports to China in recent years were iron ore, cotton, and other raw material-based commodities.
- India has imported large quantities of electrical and mechanical machinery, active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), auto components, and over the past two years, a range of medical supplies from oxygen concentrators to PPEs.
A global comparison
- The 43% year-on-year growth in bilateral trade with India was among the highest that China recorded with its major trading partners.
- Trade figures with China’s top three trading partners showed growth of 28.1% with ASEAN (to $878.2 billion), 27.5% with the EU (to $828.1 billion), and 28.7% with the US, (to $755.6 billion).
Back2Basics: India-China Bilateral Trade
- China is India’s largest trading partner.
- Major commodities exported from India to China were: cotton; gems, precious metals, coins; copper; ores, slag, ash; organic chemicals; salt, sulphur, stone, cement; machines, engines, pumps.
- Major commodities imported from China into India were: electronic equipment; machines, engines, pumps; organic chemicals; fertilizers; iron and steel; plastics; iron or steel products; gems, precious metals, coins; ships, boats; medical, technical equipment.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Asiatic Cheetah
Mains level: Species reintroduction and related issues
Experts have argued that the introduction of African cheetahs to Kuno National Park could endanger the Asiatic lion which has also been identified for re-introduction.
Do you know?
Cheetahs had a more extensive distribution than lions — there are no records of lions occurring south of the Narmada River, but Asiatic cheetahs roamed most of India until they were hunted to extinction by 1947.
About Asiatic Cheetah
- Cheetah, the world’s fastest land animal was declared extinct in India in 1952.
- The Asiatic cheetah is classified as a “critically endangered” species by the IUCN Red List, and is believed to survive only in Iran.
- It was expected to be re-introduced into the country after the Supreme Court lifted curbs for its re-introduction.
- From 400 in the 1990s, their numbers are estimated to have reached to 50-70 today, because of poaching, hunting of their main prey (gazelles) and encroachment on their habitat.
Why reintroduce Cheetahs?
- Reintroductions of large carnivores have increasingly been recognized as a strategy to conserve threatened species and restore ecosystem functions.
- The cheetah is the only large carnivore that has been extirpated, mainly by over-hunting in India in historical times.
- India now has the economic ability to consider restoring its lost natural heritage for ethical as well as ecological reasons.
Why was the project halted?
- The court was worried whether the African cheetahs would find the sanctuary a favorable climate as far as the abundance of prey is concerned.
- Those who challenged the plan argued that the habitat of cheetahs needed to support a genetically viable population.
Issues with cheetah re-introduction
- Since 2018, dozens of lions have died from diseases, including canine distemper, opening up a frightening possibility of loss when confined to a single location.
- Establishing an additional free-ranging wild lion population in Kuno is of paramount importance and roadblocks, if any, must be transparently addressed.
- Clearly, the introduction of African cheetahs cannot take precedence over translocating Asiatic lions from Gujarat to Kuno National Park as ordered by none other than the apex court in 2013.
- However, simultaneous re-introduction can create a conflict for prey between these two wild cats.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Taxing cryptocurrencies
Context
Notwithstanding the eventual introduction of the Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill in Parliament, cryptocurrencies continue to proliferate.
Provisions in Income Tax Act 1961 to tax cryptocurrencies
- Cryptocurrencies not mentioned in Income Tax Act, 1961: Although the Income Tax Act, 1961 (“IT Act”) does not specifically mention cryptocurrencies, it does cast a wide enough net to bring crypto transactions under its ambit.
- Capital asset: Trading in cryptocurrency may be classified as transfer of a ‘capital asset’, taxable under the head ‘capital gains.
- Business income: If such cryptocurrencies are held as stock-in trade and the taxpayer is trading in them frequently, the same will attract tax under the head ‘business income’.
- Even if one argues that crypto transactions do not fall under the above heads, Section 56 of the IT Act shall come into play, making them taxable under the head ‘Other sources of income’.
Challenges in taxing cryptocurrencies
- The above provisions in themselves are not sufficient in order to put in place a simple yet effective taxation regime for cryptocurrencies.
[1] Varied interpretations:
- First, the absence of explicit tax provisions has led to uncertainty and varied interpretations being adopted in relation to mode of computation, applicable tax head and tax rates, loss and carry forward, etc.
- For instance, the head of income under which trading of self generated cryptocurrency (currencies which are created by mining, acquired by air drop, etc.) is to be taxed is unclear.
- Since there is no consistency in the rates provided by the crypto-exchanges, it is difficult to arrive at a fair market value.
- Similarly, when a person receives cryptocurrency as payment for rendering goods or services, how should one arrive at the value of the said currency and how should such a transaction be taxed?
[2] Identifying tax jurisdiction
- It is often tricky to identify the tax jurisdiction for crypto transactions as taxpayers may have engaged in multiple transfers across various countries and the cryptocurrencies may have been stored in online wallets, on servers outside India.
[3] The anonymity of taxpayer
- The identities of taxpayers who transact with cryptocurrencies remain anonymous.
- Exploiting this, tax evaders have been using crypto transactions to park their black money abroad and fund criminal activities, terrorism, etc.
[4] Lack of third party information on crypto transaction
- The lack of third party information on crypto transactions makes it difficult to scrutinise and identify instances of tax evasion.
- One of the most efficient enforcement tools in the hands of Income Tax Department is CASS or ‘computer aided scrutiny selection’ of assessments, where returns of taxpayers are selected inter alia based on information gathered from third party intermediaries such as banks.
- However, crypto-market intermediaries like the exchanges, wallet providers, network operators, miners, administrators are unregulated and collecting information from them is very difficult.
[5] Physical goods/services may change hand in return for cryptocurrencies
- Even if the crypto-market intermediaries are regulated and follow Know Your Customer (KYC) norms, there remains a scenario, where physical cash or other goods/services may change hands in return for cryptocurrencies.
- Such transactions are hard to trace and only voluntary disclosures from the parties involved or a search/survey operation may reveal the tax evaders.
Steps need to be taken
- Statutory provision: The income-tax laws pertaining to the crypto transactions need to be made clear by incorporating detailed statutory provisions.
- Awareness generation: This should be followed by extensive awareness generation among the taxpayers regarding the same.
- Separate mandatory disclosure: The practice of having separate mandatory disclosure requirements in tax returns (as is the case in the United States) should be placed on the taxpayers as well as all the intermediaries involved, so that crypto transactions do not go unreported.
- Strengthen international legal framework: Additionally, the existing international legal framework for exchange of information should be strengthened to enable collecting and sharing of information on crypto-transactions.
- This will go a long way in linking the digital profiles of cryptocurrency holders with their real identities.
- Training tax officers: the Government must impart training to its officers in blockchain technology.
- The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime’s ‘Cybercrime and Anti-Money Laundering’ Section (UNODC CMLS) has developed a unique cryptocurrency training module, which can aid in equipping tax officers with requisite understanding of the underlying technologies.
Consider the question “What are the provision in Income Tax Act 1961 to tax the cryptocurrencies? What are the challenges in taxing cryptocurrencies? “
Conclusion
It is certain that cryptocurrencies are here to stay. A streamlined tax regime will be essential in the formulation of a clear, constructive and adaptive regulatory environment for cryptocurrencies.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: BrahMos Missile
Mains level: India's missile arsenal and its global competitiveness
In the first export order for the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile system, the Philippines has approved a $374.96 mn contract for the purchase of a shore-based anti-ship variant of the missile from India.
About BrahMos Missile
- BrahMos missile derives its name from the combination of the names of Brahmaputra and Moskva Rivers.
- They are designed, developed and produced by BrahMos Aerospace, a joint venture company set up by DRDO and Mashinostroyenia of Russia.
- It is a two-stage missile with a solid propellant booster as the first stage and liquid ramjet as the second stage.
- The cruise missiles like BrahMos are a type of system known as the ‘standoff range weapons’ which are fired from a range sufficient to allow the attacker to evade defensive fire from the adversary.
- Such weapons are in the arsenal of most major militaries in the world.
Its capability
- BrahMos missile flies at a speed of 2.8 Mach or almost three times the speed of sound.
- It is the main weapon system of the Indian Navy warships and has been deployed on almost all of its surface platforms.
- An underwater version is also being developed which will not only be used by the submarines of India but will also be offered for export to friendly foreign nations.
Various versions
- The versions of the BrahMos that are being tested have an extended range of around 400 km, as compared to its initial range of 290 km, with more versions of higher ranges currently under development.
- Various versions including those which can be fired from land, warships, submarines and Sukhoi-30 fighter jets have already been developed and successfully tested in the past.
- The earliest versions of the ship launched BrahMos and land-based system are in service of the Indian Navy and the Indian Army since 2005 and 2007 respectively.
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Back2Basics:
Explained: India’s Missile Capability
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Desh Ke Mentor Programme, NCPCR
Mains level: Child rights issue
A controversy recently broke out after the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) recommended that the Delhi government suspend its flagship ‘Desh ke Mentor’ programme.
What is the Desh Ke Mentor Programme?
- The programme was launched in October 2021 and is aimed at connecting students in classes IX to XII with voluntary mentors.
- People between the ages of 18 and 35 can sign up to be mentors through an app created by a team at the Delhi Technological University and will be connected with students based on mutual interests.
- The mentorship entails regular phone calls for a minimum of two months, which can optionally be carried on for another four months.
- The idea is for the young mentors to guide students through higher education and career options, preparation for higher education entrance exams, and dealing with the pressure of it all.
How is a person selected to be a mentor?
- The registration process takes place on the Desh ke Mentor app.
- The volunteer has to fill in information about themselves such as their date of birth, education qualification, profession, organisation they work with and so on.
- However, it is optional for them to upload any proof of identity.
- Once the registration is complete, the mentor is connected to a set of children of the same gender as themselves whose interests align with theirs.
- Students have to take parental consent before becoming a part of the programme.
What are the concerns raised by the NCPCR regarding this process?
- It has stated that assigning children to a mentor of the same gender as them does not necessarily assure their safety from abuse.
- It has also expressed concern over the lack of police verification of the mentors.
- It has a psychometric test which has not been scrutinized by professional practising experts.
- It has also stated that limiting interactions to phone calls also does not ensure the safety of children since “child-related crime can be initiated through phone calls as well.”
Back2Basics: National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR)
- The NCPCR is an Indian statutory body established by an Act of Parliament, the Commission for Protection of Child Rights (CPCR) Act, 2005.
- It works under the aegis of the Ministry of Women and Child Development and began operational on 5 March 2007.
- It works to ensure that all Laws, Policies, Programmes, and Administrative Mechanisms are in consonance with the Child Rights perspective as enshrined in the Constitution of India and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
- As defined by the commission, a child includes a person up to the age of 18 years.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Hunga Volcano
Mains level: Not Much
A distant undersea volcano has erupted in spectacular fashion near the Pacific nation of Tonga sending large tsunami waves reaching the shore.
Hunga Volcano
- The Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha’apai volcano has erupted regularly over the past few decades.
- It consists of two small uninhabited islands, Hunga-Ha’apai and Hunga-Tonga, poking about 100m above sea level 65km north of Tonga’s capital Nuku’alofa.
- But hiding below the waves is a massive volcano, around 1800m high and 20 kilometres wide.
- During events in 2009 and 2014/15 hot jets of magma and steam exploded through the waves. But these eruptions were small, dwarfed in scale by the January 2022 events.
- Researchers suggest this is one of the massive explosions the volcano is capable of producing roughly every thousand years.
Impact of the eruption
- The ash plume is already about 20km high.
- Most remarkably, it spread out almost concentrically over a distance of about 130km from the volcano, creating a plume with a 260km diameter, before it was distorted by the wind.
- The eruption also produced a tsunami throughout Tonga and neighbouring Fiji and Samoa.
- Shock waves traversed many thousands of kilometres, were seen from space, and recorded in New Zealand some 2000km away.
- All these signs suggest the large Hunga caldera has awoken.
Why is it so explosive even after being underwater?
Answer: Fuel-coolant interaction
- If magma rises into sea water slowly, even at temperatures of about 1200 degrees Celsius, a thin film of steam forms between the magma and water.
- This provides a layer of insulation to allow the outer surface of the magma to cool.
- But this process doesn’t work when magma is blasted out of the ground full of volcanic gas.
- When magma enters the water rapidly, any steam layers are quickly disrupted, bringing hot magma in direct contact with cold water.
- Volcano researchers call this ‘fuel-coolant interaction’ and it is akin to weapons-grade chemical explosions.
A chain reaction
- Extremely violent blasts tear the magma apart.
- A chain reaction begins, with new magma fragments exposing fresh hot interior surfaces to water, and the explosions repeat, ultimately jetting out volcanic particles and causing blasts with supersonic speeds.
How has it emerged out to be so big?
- The caldera is a crater-like depression around 5km across.
- Small eruptions (such as in 2009 and 2014/15) occur mainly at the edge of the caldera, but very big ones come from the caldera itself.
- These big eruptions are so large the top of the erupting magma collapses inward, deepening the caldera.
- Looking at the chemistry of past eruptions, we now think the small eruptions represent the magma system slowly recharging itself to prepare for a big event.
What next?
- This latest eruption has stepped up the scale in terms of violence.
- Researchers are still in the middle of this major eruptive sequence and many aspects remain unclear, partly because the island is currently obscured by ash clouds.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NEAT Scheme
Mains level: HRD schemes for coding skills
NEAT, first-of-its-kind government scheme, set in motion over two years ago, has finally taken shape, bringing courses offered by a group of edtech platforms within the reach of college and university students from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds.
NEAT Scheme
- The National Education Alliance for Technology (NEAT) is implemented by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).
- It aims to act as a bridge between edtech companies, academic institutions and students.
- The initiative was taken after a Ministry of Education review noted that learning tools developed by edtech platforms that can supplement classroom teaching need to be made more accessible.
- Accordingly, it was proposed that a portal be created where edtech platforms can be roped in to display their products after a shortlisting process.
What are the products on display in the portal?
- The NEAT portal has separate sections listing products for students and educational institutes respectively.
- The companies were shortlisted by independent expert committees leaving no room for favouritism, he said.
- Under the B2B (business to business) segment of the portal, courses are on offer for higher education institutes to purchase in bulk for their students.
- And the B2C (business to customer) section lists courses that eligible students can browse through and choose from.
- The courses range from accounting and finance to coding, including advanced programming languages like python.
How to enroll into this scheme?
- There are two different ways through which students can enroll under the scheme.
- The basic objective of the scheme is to make students from disadvantaged backgrounds aware of the availability of such opportunities that can help them learn new skills or polish existing ones.
- In that regard, the AICTE reached out to higher education institutes across the country, directing them to inform students about the portal and enroll them based on their needs and consent.
- The edtech platforms have been allowed to charge fees as per their policies.
How will it benefit students from backward communities?
- In order to do that, the government has mandated that every shortlisted company will have to offer free coupons to the extent of 25 per cent of the total registrations for their solution through NEAT portal.
- Through this route, the government created a bank of 12.15 lakh free coupons over the last two years.
- And it has now started distributing those coupons among students belonging to SC/ST/OBC and EWS categories with the annual family income cap fixed at Rs 8 lakh.
What are the courses in demand?
- The top five courses in terms of demand are python programming, C, C++, Java programming, data science, life science and healthcare analysis, and interview preparation.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Mekedatu Project
Mains level: Interstate river water disputes
The ‘Mekedatu march’ has been launched for the implementation of a project to build a reservoir on the Cauvery at Mekedatu near the Tamil Nadu border.
What is the Mekedatu Project?
- Mekedatu, meaning goat’s leap, is a deep gorge situated at the confluence of the rivers Cauvery and Arkavathi, about 100 km from Bengaluru, at the Kanakapura taluk in Karnataka’s Ramanagara district.
- In 2013, then Karnataka announced the construction of a multi-purpose balancing reservoir project.
- The project aimed to alleviate the drinking water problems of the Bengaluru and Ramanagara districts.
- It was also expected to generate hydroelectricity to meet the power needs of the state.
Issues with the project
- Soon after the project was announced TN has objected over granting of permission or environmental clearance.
- Explaining the potential for damage to the lower riparian state of TN, it said that the project was in violation of the final award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal.
- It stated that the project will affect the natural flow of the river Cauvery considerably and will severely affect the irrigation in TN.
What do the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal and the Supreme Court say?
- The Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal, in its final order on February 2007, made allocations to all the riparian States — Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, apart from the Union Territory of Puducherry.
- It also stipulated “tentative monthly deliveries during a normal year” to be made available by Karnataka to Tamil Nadu.
- Aggrieved over the final order for different reasons, the States had appealed to the Supreme Court.
- In February 2018, the court, in its judgment, revised the water allocation and increased the share of Karnataka by 14.75 thousand million cubic feet (tmc ft) at the cost of Tamil Nadu.
- The enhanced quantum comprised 4.75 tmc ft for meeting drinking water and domestic requirements of Bengaluru and surrounding areas.
What is Karnataka planning?
- Encouraged by the Supreme Court verdict, Karnataka, which sees the order as an endorsement of its stand, has set out to pursue the Mekedatu project.
- Originally proposed as a hydropower project, the revised Mekedatu dam project has more than one purpose to serve.
- A hydropower plant of nearly 400 MW has also been proposed.
- The Karnataka government has argued that the proposed reservoir will regulate the flow to Tamil Nadu on a monthly basis, as stipulated by the Tribunal and the Supreme Court.
- This is why Karnataka has contended that the project will not affect the interests of Tamil Nadu farmers.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Cryptocurrencies
Mains level: Carbon footprint of cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin prices are rising these days and so will be its mining. As cryptocurrency will become mainstream, its carbon footprint cannot be ignored.
What are Cryptocurrencies?
Cryptocurrency
Global crypto market
- In 2019, the global cryptocurrency market was approximately $793 million.
- It’s now expected to reach nearly $5.2 billion by 2026, according to a report by the market research organization Facts and Factors.
- In just one year—between July 2020 and June 2021—the global adoption of cryptocurrency surged by more than 880 percent.
Carbon footprints of Bitcoins
- Increasing popularity of cryptocurrency has environmentalists on edge, as the digital “mining” of it creates a massive carbon footprint due to the staggering amount of energy it requires.
- A/c to the Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index, the carbon footprint of Bitcoin is equivalent to that of New Zealand.
- Both emit nearly 37 megatons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year.
What is Mining?
- Mining is a process in which computational puzzles are solved in order to verify transactions between users, which are then added to the blockchain.
- In simpler terms, the works are created, or “minted,” through a process called proof-of-work (PoW), which establishes its unique identity.
How do cryptocurrencies create such a footprint?
- Unlike mainstream traditional currencies, bitcoin is virtual and not made from paper or plastic, or even metal.
- Bitcoin is virtual but power-hungry as it is created using high-powered computers around the globe.
- Bitcoin is created when high-powered computers compete against other machines to solve complex mathematical puzzles.
- This is an energy-intensive process that often relies on fossil fuels, particularly coal, the dirtiest of them all.
Conclusion
- What this means is that, unlike traditional currency or gold, Bitcoin is not solely a settlement layer, not solely a store of value, and not solely a medium of exchange.
- This makes Bitcoin’s relative energy consumption productive in comparison to comparative sectors, given its robust potential uses.
- The promise of such an endeavor offers hope for a more sustainable cryptocurrency future.
- Whether this will make much difference to the climate crisis in light of government and industrial inaction remains to be seen.
Back2Basics: Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index
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