Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Constituent assembly
Mains level: Paper 2- Decline in the functioning of legislature
Context
This 75th year of India’s Independence feels like what its first year of freedom may have been like. The pandemic era defined by large-scale loss, lack of adequate state infrastructure and deep economic uncertainty — on the face of it — is reminiscent of the Partition years.
Declining role of Parliament
1) Low functioning
- In 2020, Parliament sat in session for 33 days.
- According to PRS Legislative Research (PRS), in the 2021 Monsoon Session, the Lok Sabha was scheduled to work for six hours per day for 19 days.
- Instead, it sat for 21 hours in total or 21 per cent of what was conceived.
- Brazil’s Parliament used an application called Infoleg during the pandemic and functioned at higher rates than in pre-pandemic times.
- The United States Congress met physically for 113 days in 2020. In the year before, they met for 130 days.
- In the past 10 years, the Rajya Sabha has functioned for less than 25 per cent of its scheduled time.
2) Neglect of the role of Parliamentary Committees
- According to PRS, none of the 15 bills introduced in this Monsoon Session 2021 has been referred to a Parliamentary Committee.
- In this current Lok Sabha commencing 2019, only 12 per cent of the bills introduced have been referred to committee.
- By contrast, the 16th Lok Sabha (2014-2019) had 27 per cent and the 15th Lok Sabha (2009-2014) had 71 per cent of bills referred to standing committees.
- More significantly, fewer and fewer drafts of key legislation are being debated across the political aisle before becoming law.
3) No discussion of supplementary budget
- In this Lok Sabha, nine minutes were spent discussing and passing the supplementary budget that included a Rs 15,750 crore Covid-19 Emergency Response and Health System Preparedness Package.
- This is the functioning of the legislature — increasingly convened less and debates are few.
Contrast with functioning of Parliament when country faced partition
- The drafting of India’s Constitution started in December 1946, when the Constituent Assembly first met, seven months before Independence in August 1947.
- What makes these years of our constitutional founding so dramatic, was that the backdrop to our founding was as torturous as this pandemic era.
- As Delhi was slowly filling up with refugees, India’s dual function legislature functioned as Parliament by morning and Constituent Assembly in the afternoon.
- The first Constituent Assembly was meant to comprise 296 members, but its initial session had only 210 members in attendance.
- The assembly faced a boycott by the rest of the members.
- The Constituent Assembly caucus of the founding Congress Party included many members from outside the party.
- These members from across the political-ideological spectrum were able to arrive at decisions using a mixture of techniques of problem-solving, persuasion, bargaining and politicking.
Conclusion
The functioning of the Partition era Constituent Assembly is held up as a model of nation-building. Our political class today needs to learn from the makers of our Constitution and stop the declining role of our Parliament today.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Voluntary Vehicle-Fleet Modernization Programme (VVMP)
Mains level: Vehicle scrappage
The launch of India’s vehicle scrapping policy or the Voluntary Vehicle-Fleet Modernization Programme (VVMP) seeks to usher in a new age of what it means to own and use an automobile in India.
Vehicle Scrappage Policy: Key Features
- Fitness testing: The government plans to set up between 450-500 automated vehicle fitness testing stations across India on a PPP basis. Private vehicles – which are over 20 years old – will have to undergo fitness tests, at an estimated cost of Rs 300-400 per test.
- Scrappage: A total of 60-70 vehicle scrapping centers will also be built, situated no further than 150-200 kilometers away from any location in India.
- Green Tax: Vehicles that pass the automated tests will be subjected to a ‘green tax’, which will see owners shell out an additional 10 percent to 25 percent of road tax at the time of the renewal of the vehicle’s fitness certificate, along with re-registration fees.
- Penalties: Those who choose to drive a vehicle that has failed the automated test will face substantial penalties, and such vehicles could also be impounded.
- Choice of owners: The scrappage policy leaves the choice of scrapping to the owner of the vehicle, with Gadkari saying the automated tests will place emphasis on vehicle fitness, and not its age.
Implementation plan
- The implementation of the vehicle scrappage policy in India is still some time away.
- Initially, it will be heavy commercial vehicles that will need to undergo fitness tests starting 1 April, 2023.
- Fitness tests will be made mandatory for all other types of vehicles from 1 June, 2024, in a phased manner.
Why need such policy?
- Clean mobility: More than one crore vehicles on India’s roads contribute greatly to rising pollution levels, as well as their tendency to be less fuel-efficient towards the end of their life.
- Reducing oil import: The promotion of clean mobility necessitates a reduction in the country’s fuel import bills, and a reduction in emissions is a pressing need at this time.
- Road safety: Such vehicles are also inherently unsafe and can be a threat to their occupants as well as other road users.
- Consumer benefits: Scrapping an old vehicle and replacing it with a new one will bring substantial monetary benefits for motorists, in addition to reducing emissions and enhancing fuel efficiency.
Benefits for a vehicle owner
- Once the vehicle has been scrapped, the owner will receive anywhere between four to six percent of their old vehicle’s ex-showroom price, and a scrappage certificate.
- This will make the individual eligible for a road tax rebate of 25 percent, a registration fee waiver and a discount of five percent of a new vehicle’s ex-showroom cost, offered by the vehicle manufacturer.
- This will essentially make a new vehicle cheaper for someone who has scrapped their old vehicle, with potential discounts in the range of Rs 30,000 (for a car costing Rs 6 lakh) to Rs 50,000 (for a car costing Rs 10 lakh).
What are the other positives?
- Investment and Employment: The policy will attract investment of over Rs 10,000 crore, and generate 50,000 jobs in the country.
- Recycling: Proper recycling of raw materials obtained from the scrapping will help reduce the import of materials such as aluminium, copper, steel and more.
- Vehicle price control: With the potential to recycle up to 99 percent of materials used in a vehicle, raw material costs are estimated to drop by as much as 40 percent.
- Transition to EVs: There’s also a possibility to derive materials needed for local production of lithium-ion batteries from scrapping older vehicles, which could help drive the growth of the EV business.
- Circular Economy: A circular economy depends on reuse, sharing, repair, refurbishment, remanufacturing and recycling of resources to create a closed-loop system, minimizing the use of resources, generation of waste, pollution and carbon emissions.
- Demand boost: Globally, a scrappage policy has been followed by a boost in demand in the auto manufacturing sector, especially in Europe and the US.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Need for plastic waste management
The Environment Ministry has notified the Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules, 2021, which prohibits identified single-use plastic items which have low utility and high littering potential by 2022.
What is the new Amendment?
- Pollution due to single use plastic items has become an important environmental challenge confronting all countries.
- The manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale and use of following single-use plastic, including polystyrene and expanded polystyrene, commodities shall be prohibited with effect from the 1st July, 2022:
- ear buds with plastic sticks, plastic sticks for balloons, plastic flags, candy sticks, ice-cream sticks, polystyrene [thermocol] for decoration
- plates, cups, glasses, cutlery such as forks, spoons, knives, straw, trays, wrapping or packing films around sweet boxes, invitation cards and cigarette packets, plastic or PVC banners less than 100 micron, stirrers
- The thickness of plastic carry bags has been increased from fifty microns to seventy-five microns and to one hundred and twenty microns with effect from the 31st December, 2022.
Extended Producer Responsibility
- The plastic packaging waste shall be collected and managed in an environmentally sustainable way through the Extended Producer Responsibility of the Producer, importer and Brand owner (PIBO), as per Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016.
- For effective implementation the Guidelines for EPR being brought out have been given legal force through Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules, 2021.
Plastic waste in India
- As much as 3.3 million metric tonnes of plastic waste was generated in India in 2018-19, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) report 2018-19.
- This roughly translated to 9,200 tonnes a day (TPD).
- The total municipal solid waste generation is 55-65 million tonnes; plastic waste is approximately 5-6 per cent of the total solid waste generated in the country.
- Goa has the highest per capita plastic waste generation at 60 grams per capita per day, which is nearly double of what Delhi generates (37 grams per capita per day).
The problem
- Only nine percent of the plastic waste produced between 1950 and 2015 was recycled globally, according to a study by researchers from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and others.
- Out of the nine per cent, only 10 per cent was recycled more than once; 12 per cent was incinerated, and 79 per cent ended up in landfills or oceans and other water bodies.
- There are reports suggesting a huge gap between the demand and supply of plastics; we are being sold plastics at a much higher rate than we need.
- Recycling is a rather benign word used by plastic manufacturers.
- Most plastics that we claim can be recycled in India are rather down-cycled to some other material.
- A classic example is that of PET bottles being recycled to t-shirts.
Way forward
- Managing plastic waste requires effective knowledge, not only among those who produce the plastic but also among those who handle it.
- Brand owners, consumers, recyclers and regulatory authorities need to take long strides in ensuring that we first invent the total amount of plastic waste that we generate by means of proper calculations.
- The second step would be to identify the avenues where the use of plastic can be minimized.
- Third, the brand owner and manufacturer should try and understand the fates a plastic packaging material would meet after its purpose of packaging has been served.
- Last, as consumers, we should ensure that all plastic waste leaving our homes is segregated and is not contaminated with food waste.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Ramsar wetlands in India
Mains level: Wetlanc conservation
Four more wetlands from India get recognition from the Ramsar Secretariat as Ramsar sites.
What are Wetlands?
- A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded by water, either permanently or seasonally, where oxygen-free processes prevail.
- The primary factor that distinguishes wetlands from other landforms or water bodies is the characteristic vegetation of aquatic plants, adapted to the unique hydric soil.
Significance of Wetlands
- Wetlands provide a wide range of important resources and ecosystem services such as food, water, fibre, groundwater recharge, water purification, flood moderation, erosion control, and climate regulation.
- They are, in fact, are a major source of water and our main supply of freshwater comes from an array of wetlands that help soak rainfall and recharge groundwater.
- They provide many societal benefits: food and habitat for fish and wildlife, including threatened and endangered species; water quality improvement; flood storage; shoreline erosion control; economically beneficial natural products for human use; and opportunities for recreation, education, and research, etc.
Which are the new sites added to the Ramsar List?
- Thol and Wadhwana from Gujarat and
- Sultanpur and Bhindawas from Haryana
With this, the number of Ramsar sites in India are 46 and the surface area covered by these sites is now 1,083,322 hectares.
(1) Bhindawas Wildlife Sanctuary
- Bhindawas WLS, the largest wetland in Haryana is a human-made freshwater wetland.
- Over 250 bird species use the sanctuary throughout the year as a resting and roosting site.
- The site supports more than ten globally threatened species including the endangered Egyptian Vulture, Steppe Eagle, Pallas’s Fish Eagle, and Black-bellied Tern.
(2) Sultanpur National Park
- Sultanpur NP from Haryana supports more than 220 species of resident, winter migratory and local migratory waterbirds at critical stages of their life cycles.
- More than ten of these are globally threatened, including the critically endangered sociable lapwing, and the endangered Egyptian Vulture, Saker Falcon, Pallas’s Fish Eagle and Black-bellied Tern.
(3) Thol Lake Wildlife Sanctuary
- Thol Lake WLS from Gujarat lies on the Central Asian Flyway and more than 320 bird species can be found here.
- The wetland supports more than 30 threatened waterbird species, such as the critically endangered White-rumped Vulture and Sociable Lapwing, and the vulnerable Sarus Crane, Common Pochard, and Lesser White-fronted Goose.
(4) Wadhvana Wetland
- Wadhvana Wetland from Gujarat is internationally important for its birdlife as it provides wintering ground to migratory waterbirds, including over 80 species that migrate on the Central Asian Flyway.
- They include some threatened or near-threatened species such as the endangered Pallas’s fish-Eagle, the vulnerable Common Pochard, and the near-threatened Dalmatian Pelican, Grey-headed Fish-eagle and Ferruginous Duck.
Back2Basics: Ramsar Convention
- The Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (better known as the Ramsar Convention) is an international agreement promoting the conservation and wise use of wetlands.
- It is the only global treaty to focus on a single ecosystem.
- The convention was adopted in the Iranian city of Ramsar in 1971 and came into force in 1975.
- Traditionally viewed as a wasteland or breeding ground of disease, wetlands actually provide fresh water and food and serve as nature’s shock absorber.
- Wetlands, critical for biodiversity, are disappearing rapidly, with recent estimates showing that 64% or more of the world’s wetlands have vanished since 1900.
- Major changes in land use for agriculture and grazing, water diversion for dams and canals, and infrastructure development are considered to be some of the main causes of loss and degradation of wetlands.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Port of Ningbo-Zhoushan
Mains level: Not Much
China has partially shut down the world’s third-busiest container port, the Ningbo Port, after a worker there tested positive for Covid-19.
Port of Ningbo-Zhoushan
- This port is the busiest in the world in terms of cargo tonnage.
- It handled 888.96 million tons of cargo in 2015.
- The port is located in Ningbo and Zhoushan, on the coast of the East China Sea, in Zhejiang province on the southeast end of Hangzhou Bay, across which it faces the municipality of Shanghai.
- The port is at the crossroads of the north-south inland and coastal shipping route, including canals to the important inland waterway to interior China, the Yangtze River, to the north.
- The port consists of several ports which are Beilun (seaport), Zhenhai (estuary port), and old Ningbo harbour (inland river port).
What is the potential impact of the closure?
- Despite the diversion of shipments to other terminals, experts are anticipating a backlog of consignments with average wait times being expected to rise.
How is it likely to affect global trade?
- In the aftermath of Covid-19, global supply chains have remained fragile mainly on account of closures and lockdowns that affected both the manufacturing and the logistical segments of the chain.
- This has not only resulted in a growing backlog of shipments but has also caused freight charges to go up as demand outgrew the supply.
- Extended closure of one of the biggest terminals at the third-busiest port in the world could further exacerbate the stress in global trade.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Parliamentary Committees
Mains level: Paper 2- Decline in oversight function of Parliament
Context
The monsoon session of Parliament which ended on Wednesday was a disappointment in several ways. This was the fourth straight session that ended ahead of the original schedule.
No scrutiny of the Bills
- Both Houses were frequently disrupted as the Government and Opposition parties could not agree on the topics to be debated.
- Shrinking worktime: The Lok Sabha worked for just 19% of its originally scheduled time, and the Rajya Sabha for 26%.
- No examination of Bills by Parliament: Of the 18 Bills passed by the Lok Sabha, only one saw discussion over 15 minutes.
- In 15 of these Bills, not even one member of the Lok Sabha spoke; each Bill was passed after a short statement by the respective Minister.
- Every Bill introduced during the session was passed within the session.
- This means that there was no time for any scrutiny by members.
- In the period of the Fifteenth Lok Sabha (2009-14), 18% of the Bills were passed within the same session.
- This rose to 33% in the Sixteenth Lok Sabha and is at 70% halfway through the current Parliament.
- Thus, we see that, Bills are being passed without any serious examination by parliamentarians.
- They are most often not being referred to committees, there is hardly any discussion on the floor of the House, and in most instances, Bills are passed within a few days of introduction.
Bills not being referred to parliamentary committees
- None of the Bills passed in this session was referred to a parliamentary committee for examination.
- Important role of committee: Parliamentary committees provide a forum for parliamentarians to engage with experts, stakeholders and government officials to understand the implications of Bills.
- They deliberate on the consequences of various provisions, and recommend amendments.
- There has been a sharp downward trend in Bills being referred to them — from 71% in the Fifteenth Lok Sabha to 27% in the Sixteenth, and 12% in the current one till date.
Important Bills passed
- Allowing States to identify Backward Class: The Constitution was amended to allow States to identify backward classes (i.e., Other Backward Classes) for the purpose of providing reservations.
- That amendment also specified that the President of India shall specify the list of OBCs.
- Recently, the Supreme Court of India had interpreted this provision to imply that the State government cannot issue the list of backward classes.
- Repealing retrospective taxation: In 2012, the Income Tax Act was amended with retrospective effect from 1961 to cover certain transactions.
- A Bill passed this session reversed this provision of retrospective taxation.
- DICGC to pay within 90 days: The Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation insures all bank deposits against default (currently up to ₹5 lakh).
- The Act was amended to require an interim pay-out within 90 days if a bank was going through a liquidation or reconstruction.
- The General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Act was amended to enable the Government to bring its shareholding in general insurance companies below 51%.
- The Tribunals Reforms Bill was passed: The Bill replaced an ordinance which specified the process of appointment of members and their tenure and service conditions.
- It retained two provisions struck down last month by the Supreme Court: the four-year tenure which the Court changed to five years, and a minimum age of 50 years for judicial members which the Court revised to allow lawyers with experience of 10 years.
Conclusion
The reason for having a legislature separate from the executive is to have a check on executive power.But the Parliament appears to be quite ineffective in all its functions and needs a course correction.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: e-RUPI
Mains level: Paper 3- e-RUPI and its advantages
Context
Recently e-RUPI was launched by the Prime Minister.
About e-RUPI
- It is a digital prepaid, purpose, and person-specific payment utility.
- Built on the UPI platform, e-RUPI is easy to scale by the issuer.
- At the point of presence, the verification code received by the beneficiary is shared with the service provider to authenticate and authorize the transaction: Contactless, real-time payment, and online settlement of funds into the service provider’s bank account.
- Fourteen leading banks have already integrated it with their systems.
- e-RUPI is almost custom-designed for school voucher programs.
- The efficacy of these programs is well established in many countries.
Advantages
The adoption of e-RUPI in various government programs will enhance business efficiency, simplicity, transparency, and accountability in these programs.
1) e-RUPI can make cash transfer purpose and person-specific
- Policymakers have debated whether direct cash transfers deliver benefits more efficiently than in-kind transfers like the Public Distribution System (PDS) and fertilizers.
- e-RUPI could break the policy logjam with the following advantages:
- 1) It will make cash transfers purpose- and person-specific.
- 2) Freeing them from dependence on bank accounts.
- 3) Providing visibility from the time of issue until redemption.
2) e-RUPI can make PDS more efficient
- The inefficiency of PDS is rooted in high overhead costs, leakages, exclusion, and inefficiencies.
- A food-specific e-RUPI voucher will allow beneficiaries to buy rations from an outlet of their choice.
- It will also help promote the One Nation, One Ration Card.
- The move will also help in removing price distortion and the redemption of the voucher at market price by merchants within and outside the PDS network.
3) Streamline fertilizer subsidy
- e-RUPI will enable farmers to buy fertilizer at nominal prices with direct credit of the subsidy amount into the account of the authorised dealers.
- As far back as 2011, a task force on direct transfer of subsidies on kerosene, LPG and fertilisers headed by Nandan Nilekani had suggested a roadmap for direct cash transfer of fertiliser subsidies in a phased manner.
- The e-RUPI will allay apprehensions about creating an IT infrastructure, managing nearly 3,00,000 fertilizer sale points, the collapse of dealer network due to liquidity squeeze in the event of subsidy payments getting delayed, and a complex system of timely credit of subsidy into an estimated 129 million Aadhaar-linked bank accounts of farm households.
4) Basic income support
- The Covid-19 pandemic has revived interest in Universal Basic Income (UBI).
- The lockdowns to contain the pandemic exposed the poor to acute distress, due to loss of means of livelihood.
- e-RUPI can mitigate their stress by rapidly distributing food and cash vouchers at scale.
5) Ayushman Bharat
- In the Ayushman Bharat healthcare initiative beneficiaries can be given e-RUPI vouchers of designated value tenable at empanelled healthcare facilities, providing them portability and facility choice.
- The service provider will benefit from the immediate payment.
Way forward
- Ownership agency: The Aadhaar experience suggests ownership must vest with a specific agency.
- Make distribution and acceptance compatible: Making the distribution and acceptance of e-RUPI incentive-compatible is recommended, as demonstrated by the popularisation of prepaid telephony by the telecom industry.
- Light regulation and competition promotion: Light regulation and the opening of e-RUPI to the competition will spur innovation and adoption.
- All banks, small and big, NBFCs, non-bank PPI issuers, and telcos may be allowed to issue it later.
Conclusion
e-RUPI opens up a world of opportunities to the government, people, and businesses to provide, avail, and pay for services seamlessly.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Privatization of insurance sector
The General Insurance Business (Nationalization) Amendment Bill, 2021, was recently passed by both houses of parliament.
What is the amendment?
- The Bill seeks to amend the General Insurance Business (nationalization) Act, 1972.
What is the GIB Act?
- The 1972 Act set up the General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC).
- The businesses of the companies nationalized under the Act were restructured in four subsidiary companies of GIC: (i) National Insurance, (ii) New India Assurance, (iii) Oriental Insurance, and (iv) United India Insurance.
- The Act was subsequently amended in 2002 to transfer the control of these four subsidiary companies from GIC to the central government, thereby making them independent companies.
- Since 2000, GIC exclusively undertakes the reinsurance business.
Answer this PYQ:
Microfinance is the provision of financial services to people of low-income groups. This includes both the consumers and the self-employed. The service/ services rendered under micro-finance is/are: (CSP 2011)
- Credit facilities
- Savings facilities
- Insurance facilities
- Fund Transfer facilities
Select the correct answer using the codes given below the lists:
(a) 1 only
(b) 1 and 4 only
(c) 2 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2, 3 and 4
Post your answers here:
Key highlights of the Amendment Bill
- Government shareholding threshold: The Act requires that shareholding of the central government in the specified insurers (the above five companies) must be at least 51%. The Bill removes this provision.
- Change in definition of general insurance business: The Act defines general insurance business as fire, marine or miscellaneous insurance business.
- Transfer of control from the government: The Bill provides that the Act will not apply to the specified insurers from the date on which the central government relinquishes control of the insurer.
- Notifying terms and conditions: The Bill provides that schemes formulated by the central government in this regard will be deemed to have been adopted by the insurer.
- Liabilities of directors: The Bill specifies that a director of a specified insurer, who is not a whole-time director, will be held liable only for certain acts.
Significance of the bill
- De-regulation: The move is part of the government’s strategy to open up more sectors to private participation and improve efficiency.
- Capital infusion: Privatization will bring in more private capital in the general insurance business and improve its reach to make more products available to customers.
- Insurance coverage: This will enhance insurance penetration and social protection to better secure the interests of policyholders and contribute to faster growth of the economy
Concerns of the opposition
- The Opposition is of the view that privatization will be detrimental to the interests of the public.
- They wanted a proper discussion on the pros and cons of the Bill rather than passing it in a hurry.
- They wanted an expert committee of the Cabinet to study the impact before passing the legislation.
- They are worried about large-scale employee layoffs and short-term investors entering and exiting these entities once the Act comes into force.
Also read:
[Burning Issue] Divestment of LIC
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Whip
Mains level: Defection by politicians
The party in the opposition has appointed two members as the party’s whips in the Upper House.
Who is a Whip?
- A whip is an official of a political party whose task is to ensure party discipline in a legislature.
- This means ensuring that members of the party vote according to the party platform, rather than according to their own individual ideology or the will of their donors or constituents.
- Whips are the party’s “enforcers”.
- They try to ensure that their fellow political party legislators attend voting sessions and vote according to their party’s official policy.
- Members who vote against party policy may “lose the whip”, effectively expelling them from the party.
Answer this PYQ:
Which one of the following Schedules of the Constitution of India contains provisions regarding anti-defection? (CSP 2017)
(a) Second Schedule
(b) Fifth Schedule
(c) Eighth Schedule
(d) Tenth Schedule
Post your answers here.
Whips in India
- In India, the concept of the whip was inherited from colonial British rule.
- Every major political party appoints a whip who is responsible for the party’s discipline and behaviors on the floor of the house.
- Usually, they direct the party members to stick to the party’s stand on certain issues and directs them to vote as per the direction of senior party members.
What happens if a whip is disobeyed?
- A legislator may face disqualification proceedings if she/he disobeys the whip of the party unless the number of lawmakers defying the whip is 2/3rds of the party’s strength in the house.
- Disqualification is decided by the Speaker/Chairman of the house.
Limitations of whip
- There are some cases such as Presidential elections where whips cannot direct a Member of Parliament (MP) or Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) to vote in a particular fashion.
Types of whips
There are three types of whips or instructions issued by the party
- One-line whip: One-line whip is issued to inform members of a party about a vote. It allows a member to abstain in case they decide not to follow the party line.
- Two-line whip: Two-line whip is issued to direct the members to be present in the House at the time of voting.
- Three-line whip: Three-line whip is issued to members directing them to vote as per the party line.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Taxation powers in India
Mains level: Retrospective taxation
Scrapping the retrospective levy is believed to provide clarity to investors by removing a major source of ambiguity on taxation laws, the government has stressed the need to establish its “sovereign right to taxation”.
Defining a Tax
- A document on the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation website quotes the definition of tax as a “pecuniary burden laid upon individuals or property owners to support the government; a payment exacted by legislative authority”.
- It states that a tax “is not a voluntary payment or donation, but an enforced contribution, exacted pursuant to legislative authority”.
The ‘sovereign right to taxation’
- In India, the Constitution gives the government the right to levy taxes on individuals and organizations but makes it clear that no one has the right to levy or charge taxes except by the authority of law.
- Any tax being charged has to be backed by a law passed by the legislature or Parliament.
Taxation in India
- Taxes in India come under a three-tier system based on the Central, State, and local governments and the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution puts separate heads of taxation under the Union and State list.
- There is no separate head under the Concurrent list, meaning Union and the States have no concurrent power of taxation, as per the document.
Back2Basics:
Taxation in India: Classification, Types, Direct tax, Indirect tax
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Read the attached story
Mains level: NA
From December, India will move to a system that will count tigers and elephants as part of a common survey.
Common survey for elephants and tiger
- Given that 90% of the area occupied by elephants and tigers is common, and once estimation methods are standardized, having a common survey can significantly save costs.
- The tiger survey is usually held once in four years and elephants are counted once in five years.
- According to the most recent 2018-19 survey, there were 2,997 tigers in India while in the last count in 2017, there were 29,964 elephants in India.
Answer this PYQ:
With reference to Indian Elephants, consider the following statements :
1. The leader of an elephant group is a female.
2. The maximum gestation period can be 22 months.
3. An elephant can normally go on calving till the age of 40 years only.
4. Among the States in India, the highest population is in Kerala.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct ?
(a) 1and 2 only
(b) 2 and 4 only
(c) 3 only
(d) 1,3 and 4 only
Post your answers here:
Why need a common survey?
- Based on sightings in camera traps and indirect estimation methods, tiger numbers are computed.
- Elephant numbers largely rely on States directly counting the number of elephants.
- In recent years, techniques such as analyzing dung samples have also been deployed to estimate birth rates and population trends in elephants.
About All India Tiger Estimation
- The tiger count is prepared after every four years by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) provides details on the number of tigers in the 18 tiger reign states with 50 tiger reserves.
- It is conducted by the NTCA and the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) in collaboration with the State Forest Departments.
- The entire exercise spanned over four years is considered to be the world’s largest wildlife survey effort in terms of coverage and intensity of sampling.
- Over 15, 000 cameras are installed at various strategic points to capture the movement of tigers.
- This is supported by extensive data collected by field personnel and satellite mapping.
Back2Basics: Asian Elephants
- Asian elephants are listed as “Endangered” on the IUCN Red List of threatened species.
- This has been done as most of the range States except India have lost their viable elephant populations due to loss of habitat, poaching, etc.
- Current population estimates indicate that there are about 50,000-60,000 Asian elephants in the world.
- More than 60% of the world’s elephant population is in India.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Exercise Al–Mohed Al–Hindi
Mains level: NA
The maiden bilateral naval exercise between India and Saudi Arabia named ‘AL–Mohed AL–Hindi’ has got underway.
Must read:
[Prelims Spotlight] Various Defence Exercises in News
Ex Al-Mohed AI-Hindi 2021
- This is the first edition of a bilateral naval exercise between India and Saudi Arabia.
- It comprises several shore and sea-based drills between the two navies.
- It reflects the growing defense ties between the two nations in the wake of the Indian Army chiefs’ first visit to the West Asian country last year.
- INS Kochi is the Indian warship participating in the exercise.
- The exercise is being held against the backdrop of growing tensions in the Persian Gulf following a drone attack on the tanker MV Mercer Street off Oman.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Bringing in the private capital in Indian railways
Context
On July 1, 2020, the Indian Railways launched the formal process of inviting private parties to run trains on the Indian railway system. Hopes of a large participation were belied as there were no bids for nine clusters and only two bids for three clusters.
Why current model of inviting private players to run trains has failed?
- Lack of equal relationship: IR wants the capital and technology without giving up control, while the concessioner wants a far more equal relationship to be moderated by a regulator.
- Constraints on efficient decision-making: IR has imposed constraints that prevent efficient decisions and adopted an organisational design that does not take into account the characteristics and associated risks that will determine outcomes and investment decisions.
- Lumpiness of investment: The biggest dampener is the lumpiness of investment before a single passenger can be carried.
- High risk involved: Train sets have to be purchased without really knowing how much traffic the service will be able to attract in the face of rising competition from airlines.
- IR does not guarantee the investor that, in case the concession fails, it will acquire the train sets.
- Absence of regulator: The other big dampener is the absence of a regulator for resolving disputes.
Suggestions
1) Remove the lumpiness of investment by establishing rolling stock company
- The central issue is how to align the three interests.
- 1) India’s need to be capable of designing and manufacturing state-of-the-art rolling stock.
- 2) IR’s need for private capital participation.
- 3) Private capital’s necessity of earning a profit.
- Establish a company to lease rolling stock: The above 3 interests can be aligned provided the lumpiness of investment in train sets can be eliminated by establishing a company that leases rolling stock not only to concessioners but also to IR.
- The rolling stock company, apart from leasing train sets, can also be the window for bringing in new technology.
- This will also enable reducing the concession period from 35 years to a more reasonable 10-15 years, bringing in competition.
- For starters, IRFC, which is already into leasing rolling stock, can be that company.
2) Bring in new technology by opening IR’s rolling stock market to international manufacturers
- There is need to move the rolling stock industry up the industrial value chain and bring about a structural change of the Indian economy.
- Long term arrangement with suppliers: This can only be brought about by a vision that encourages long-term arrangements with rolling stock suppliers.
- Open the market for global players: An arrangement that gives access to IR’s rolling stock market is the only way to compel global players to share technology and form joint ventures with Indian companies.
3) Investment in research
- Technology transfer requires understanding the critical elements of the technology and absorbing them into the design-production process.
- This calls for the investment of large sums of money and the involvement of universities, research institutes and national laboratories.
4) Make changes to attract private investors
- For attracting private players, the risks for the concessioners needs to be reduced.
- The period of the concession needs to be reduced to around 15 years.
- Establish regulator: There is a need to establish a regulator and moderate charges like the amount for the maintenance of tracks and stations.
Conclusion
With these changes, the plan may still take off. However, the initiative will remain limited to just running trains if there is no long-term vision.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Quad
Mains level: Paper 2- India-China relations
Context
Chinese President Xi Jinping made a surprise visit to Tibet on July 21, signalling the seriousness with which China continues to take its Himalayan border dispute with India.
Understanding China’s strategic challenges and intensions
- Demonstration of political confidence through aggression: More than a year after the clash at Galwan Valley, efforts to resolve the border crisis continue to move slowly.
- The Chinese side has previously failed to complete troop withdrawals and revert to the status quo that the Indian side believed China agreed to.
- China’s behaviour has been calculated to demonstrate political confidence.
- Worsening strategic environment for China: Seen from Beijing, the strategic environment for China is beginning to worsen in South and Central Asia.
- As the US withdraws and the Taliban advances in Afghanistan, China fears the prospect of instability and an emerging haven for terrorism directed against its policies in Xinjiang.
- Even as China seeks to scale back the debt-laden BRI, such instability may also result in Beijing increasing its already overstretched external commitments — particularly in the security domain.
- Re-emergence of Quad: China is deeply worried by the re-emergence and strengthening of multilateral opposition to China, and the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (or “Quad”) between the US, Japan, Australia and India.
- For China, this represents a persistent threat not only economically and in foreign policy, but also militarily along its maritime periphery in the South and East China Seas, as well as the Taiwan Strait.
- As US multilateral cooperation with its partners has increased, Beijing has come to increasingly see itself as beset by threats on all sides.
China’s 2 possible responses to strategic challenges and its implications for India
- 1) Wolf warrier diplomacy: So far, the response from China’s new class of “wolf warrior” diplomats to this emerging strategic challenge has been to only grow more assertive in rhetoric and behaviour.
- China’s domestic politics: Response of wolf warrior diplomats may seem perplexing, given that it has served only to alienate other countries and isolate China further.
- China’s domestic politics in the lead up to the 20th Congress will mean that its leaders, diplomats and generals will be displaying maximum nationalistic fervour.
- Implications for India: This may well mean China taking political and policy decisions, which in a normal season they would not because doing so could compromise Beijing’s longstanding diplomatic and strategic goals, including in dealings with India.
- 2) Moderate approach to improve strategic position: But if instead of aggressive posture, China decided that it was better domestic politics to improve China’s strategic position in Asia amid its competition with Washington, Beijing’s diplomats may yet adopt a more moderate approach, including with India.
- Implications for India: If stability can be restored to the China-India strategic relationship, this could provide a window for Asia’s two mega-economies to reopen their markets to each other.
Conclusion
Indeed, the choice China makes between these two alternatives will have implications for India and the rest of the world in their dealing with China.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: UDAY
Mains level: Paper 3- Schemes for discoms and issues with them
Context
A recent report of Niti Aayog has assessed the losses of discoms to be about Rs 90,000 crore in 2020-21.
Central government schemes for discoms
- In 2001, the Accelerated Power Development Scheme was initiated.
- This was followed by various other schemes with some differences between them.
- The government had launched the UDAY scheme in 2015.
- UDAY did not involve any monetary assistance to the states, but only promised to help the states in reducing the cost of power through coal linkage rationalization, etc.
- Recently, the government launched a new scheme with a total outlay of around Rs 3.03 lakh crore.
- It seeks to improve the distribution infrastructure of the distribution companies (discoms) with the primary intention of improving their financial health.
- The objective of the scheme is to bring down commercial losses in the range of 12-15 percent and also reduce the difference between the average cost of supply (ACS) and average revenue realized (ARR) to zero by 2024-25.
- The problem with all these schemes (including UDAY) is that they have not been delivered and the financial position of the discoms has only worsened.
Why did schemes fail to improve the financial health of discoms?
- Reduction of loss is a managerial issue: Reduction of commercial losses is not really about improving infrastructure, it is more of a managerial issue.
- The average loss (inclusive of technical and commercial) is about 22 percent today.
- But several discoms have losses in excess of 40 percent.
- It is possible to bring down losses from 40 percent to about 15 percent without any significant investments in infrastructure.
- Investments, however, would be required to bring down losses further to a single-digit level.
- The governance issues of the scheme is a complex issue.
- The two most popular parameters which are monitored are the loss levels and the difference between the ACS and ARR.
- There are inherent problems with these parameters since they keep fluctuating and it is very difficult to fathom their trend on a quarter-wise basis, rendering the release of funds to be tricky and cumbersome.
- In the scheme now announced by the government, about 26 parameters will be taken into consideration and assigned a score.
- For some of the parameters, it may be difficult to assign a score across discoms which may lead to some amount of subjectivity.
Way forward: Alternate approach
- Provide transitional financial support: An alternate approach that could be considered by the Centre (in lieu of such assistance schemes) is providing only transitional financial support to all discoms, which are privatized under the private-public partnership mode.
- A transitional support of Rs 3,450 crore spread over five years proved to be exceedingly beneficial in the case of discoms in Delhi.
- Promote privatization: Since in an earlier policy statement the government had mentioned that privatization of discoms is to be promoted, it would make sense to consider this transitional support as a catalyst.
Conclusion
Adopting this approach will ensure that the central government moves away from the micro-management of discoms, which inevitably happens if the release of funds is linked to reform-linked parameters on a quarter-wise basis.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Article 21A
Mains level: Minority welfare
The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has recommended that Minority Schools be brought under Right to Education and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.
What is the report?
- The report is titled “Impact of Exemption under Article 15 (5) with regards to Article 21A of the Constitution of India on Education of Children in Minority Communities”.
- It has assessed minority schools (schools run by minority organizations) in the country.
Key recommendations of the report
- Minority schools are exempt from implementing The Right to Education policy and do not fall under the government’s Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.
- Through this report, the NCPCR has recommended that these schools be brought under both RTE and SSA, amongst a host of other recommendations.
Developments in RTE
(1) 86th Constitutional Amendment (2002):
- In 2002, the 86th Amendment to the Constitution provided the Right to Education as a fundamental right.
- The same amendment inserted Article 21A, which made the RTE a fundamental right for children aged between six and 14 years.
- The passage of the amendment was followed by the launch of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) that aimed to provide “useful and relevant, elementary education’’ to all children between six and 14 years.
(2) 93rd Constitutional Amendment (2006):
- In 2006, the 93rd CAA inserted Clause (5) in Article 15.
- This enabled the State to create special provisions, such as reservations for the advancement of any backward classes of citizens like SCs and STs, in all aided or unaided educational institutes, except minority educational institutes.
(3) RTE Act (2009):
- The government subsequently brought the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009, which centers around inclusive education for all, making it mandatory to include underprivileged children in schools.
- Specifically, Section 12(1)(c) of the Act provided for a 25 percent reservation of seats in unaided schools for admission of children from economically weaker sections and disadvantaged groups.
How are minority schools exempt from RTE and SSA?
- Article 30 of the Constitution states the right of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions.
- This article aims to provide opportunities to children from different religious and linguistic minority communities to have and conserve a distinct culture, script, and language.
- Subsequently, in 2012, through an amendment, the institutions imparting religious education were exempted from following the RTE Act.
- Later on, in 2014 (Pramati judgment), while discussing the validity of exemption under Article 15 (5), the Supreme Court declared the RTE Act inapplicable to schools with minority status.
- This was in the view that the Act should not interfere with the right of minorities to establish and administer institutions of their choice.
Why has the NCPCR carried out the study?
- The Commission’s objective was to assess the impact of this exemption of minority educational institutions from various guidelines that are mandatory for non-minority institutions.
- It opined that the different sets of rules under Article 21A, Article 30, and Article 15 (5) act as creating a conflicting picture between the fundamental rights of children and the rights of minority communities.
What are the findings of the report?
The Commission has observed in the report that many children who are enrolled in these institutions or schools were not able to enjoy the entitlements that other children are enjoying.
(1) Missionaries schools are elite cocoons
- It has been said that there have been certain detrimental effects of the exemption – on the one hand, there are schools, mostly Christian Missionary schools.
- Such schools are admitting only a certain class of students and leaving underprivileged children out of the system, thus becoming what the Commission has called “cocoons populated by elites’’.
(2) Minorities schools become overcrowded without facilities
- As opposed to this, other types of minority schools, in particular madrasas, have become “ghettos of underprivileged students languishing in backwardness’’ says the Commission.
- The Commission has said that students in madrasas that do not offer a secular course along with religious studies – such as the sciences – have fallen behind and feel a sense of alienation and “inferiority’’ when they leave school.
What are the findings with regards to madrasas?
There are four kinds of madrasas in India:
- Madrasas recognized by the government, which usually impart both religious as well as secular Courses, including the sciences has four percent Mulsim students (15.3 lakh) said the Sachar Committee report.
- There are 10,064 such madrasas in India and the Commission points out that these were the ones taken into consideration by the Sachar Committee when it said four percent of Mulsim students (15.3 lakh) studied in madrasas.
- There are unrecognized madrasas, which the government hasn’t recognized because they do not impart secular education or lack physical infrastructure, including the number and quality of teachers.
- Then, there are unmapped madrasas that have never applied for recognition and function in a more informal setup – there is no data on how many such madrasas exist and how many students study there.
Why bring them under RTE?
- The Commission believes this took place as schools wanted to operate outside the legal mandate to reserve seats for backward classes.
- RTE provides for norms pertaining to basic minimum infrastructure, a number of teachers, books, uniforms, Mid-day Meal, etc., that benefits students in minority schools have not been receiving.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Quality of Life for Elderly Index
Mains level: Old age security
Quality of Life for Elderly Index was released by the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM).
Quality of Life for Elderly Index
The Index has been created by the Institute for Competitiveness at the request of EAC-PM and it sheds light on an issue often not mentioned- problems faced by the elderly.
- The report identifies the regional patterns of ageing across the Indian States and assesses the overall ageing situation in India.
- The report presents a deeper insight into how well India is doing to support the well-being of its ageing population.
- The Index framework includes four pillars:
- Financial Well-being
- Social Well-being
- Health System and
- Income Security
- It has eight sub-pillars: Economic Empowerment, Educational Attainment & Employment, Social Status, Physical Security, Basic Health, Psychological Wellbeing, Social Security and Enabling Environment.
Features of the index
- This index broadens the way we understand the needs and opportunities of the elderly population in India.
- It goes far beyond the adequacy of pensions and other forms of income support, which, though critical, often narrows policy thinking and debate about the needs of this age group.
- The index highlights that the best way to improve the lives of the current and future generations of older people is by investing in health, education and employment for young people today.
Why need such an index?
- India is often portrayed as a young society, with a consequent demographic dividend.
- But, as with every country that goes through a fast process of demographic transition, India also has greying cum aging problem.
- Without a proper diagnostic tool to understand the implications of its ageing population, planning for the elderly can become a challenge for policymakers.
Key Highlights from the Report:
- The Health System pillar observes the highest national average, 66.97 at an all-India level, followed by 62.34 in Social Well-being.
- Financial Well-being observes a score of 44.7, which is lowered by the low performance of 21 States across the Education Attainment & Employment pillar, which showcases scope for improvement
- States have performed particularly worse in the Income Security pillar because over half of the States have a score below the national average, i.e., 33.03 in Income Security, which is the lowest across all pillars.
Performance of the states
- Among all the states, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh are top-scoring regions in the aged states and relatively aged states categories.
- Rajasthan has a score of 54.61 in the aged states category while Himachal Pradesh has a score of 61.04 in relatively aged states.
- Mizoram has a score of 59.79 among northeastern states while Chandigarh scored 63.78 among the Union Territories.
- Jammu and Kashmir scored the lowest 46.16 among Union Territories.
- Arunachal Pradesh, among the northeastern states, scored the lowest score with 46.16.
- In the aged states and relatively aged states categories, Telangana and Gujarat scored the lowest with 38.19 and 49.00, respectively.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Creamy Layer
Mains level: Reservations for OBCs
A proposal for revision of the income criteria for determining the Creamy Layer amongst the OBCs is under consideration of the Government.
What is the Creamy Layer?
- Creamy Layer is a concept that sets a threshold within which OBC reservation benefits are applicable.
- While there is a 27% quota for OBCs in government jobs and higher educational institutions, those falling within the “creamy layer” cannot get the benefits of this quota.
Basis of Creamy Layer
- It is based on the recommendation of the Second Backward Classes Commission (Mandal Commission).
- The government in 1990 had notified 27% reservation for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBCs) in vacancies in civil posts and services that are to be filled on direct recruitment.
- After this was challenged, the Supreme Court in the Indira Sawhney case (1992) upheld 27% reservation for OBCs, subject to exclusion of the creamy layer.
How is it determined?
- Following the order in Indra Sawhney, an expert committee headed by Justice (retired) R N Prasad was constituted for fixing the criteria for determining the creamy layer.
- In 1993, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) listed out various categories of people of certain rank/status/income whose children cannot avail the benefit of OBC reservation.
- For those not in government, the current threshold is an income of Rs 8 lakh per year.
- For children of government employees, the threshold is based on their parents’ rank and not income.
- For instance, an individual is considered to fall within the creamy layer if either of his or her parents is in a constitutional post; if either parent has been directly recruited in Group-A; or if both parents are in Group-B services.
- If the parents enter Group-A through promotion before the age of 40, their children will be in the creamy layer.
- Children of a Colonel or higher-ranked officer in the Army, and children of officers of similar ranks in the Navy and Air Force, too, come under the creamy layer.
- Income from salaries or agricultural land is not clubbed while determining the creamy layer (2004).
What is happening now?
- MPs have raised questions about the pending proposal for revising the criteria.
- They have asked whether the provision of a creamy layer for government services only for OBC candidates is rational and justified.
Has it ever been revised?
- Other than the income limit, the current definition of the creamy layer remains the same as the DoPT had spelled out in 1993 and 2004.
- The income limit has been revised over the years.
- No other orders for the definition of the creamy layer have been issued.
- While the DoPT had stipulated that it would be revised every three years, the first revision since 1993 (Rs 1 lakh per year) happened only in 2004 (Rs 2.50 lakh), 2008 (Rs 4.50 lakh), 2013 (Rs 6 lakh), and 2017 (Rs 8 lakh).
- It is now more than three years since the last revision.
What does the government propose to do about the revision?
- A draft Cabinet note has stated that the creamy layer will be determined on all income, including salary calculated for income tax, but not agriculture income.
- The government is considering a consensus on Rs 12 lakh but salary and agriculture income are also being added to the gross annual income.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: FEMBoSA
Mains level: Not Much
The Election Commission of India has handed over the Chair of FEMBoSA to the Election Commission of Bhutan for 2021-22.
What is FEMBoSA?
- Forum of the Election Management Bodies of South Asia (FEMBoSA) was established at the 3rd Conference of Heads of Election Management Bodies (EMBs) of SAARC Countries in 2012.
- The forum aims to increase mutual cooperation with respect to the common interests of the SAARC’s EMBs.
- The Forum has eight Member Election Management Bodies from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
- The Election Commission of India was the latest Chair of the Forum (now Bhutan).
Its establishment
- The first meeting of the representatives of Election Management Bodies of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal and Pakistan was held in Dhaka, Bangladesh in the year 2010.
- It was then decided at the conclusion that an organization representing those countries should be established.
- Consequently, annual meets were held in the member countries and the charter for the organization also was adopted with the aim of fulfilling the objectives of the organization.
- Since the creation of FEMBoSA, Annual Meetings were held in Pakistan (2011), in India (2012), in Bhutan (2013), in Nepal (2014), in Sri Lanka (2015), in Maldives (2016), in Afghanistan (2017) and in Bangladesh(2018).
Objectives of FEMBOSA
- Promote contact among the Election Management Bodies of SAARC countries
- Facilitate the appropriate exchange of experience and expertise among members
- Share experiences with a view to learning from each other
- Foster efficiency and effectiveness in conducting the free, fair, transparent, and participative election
Significant activities under FEMBoSA
- Member organizations celebrate National Voter’s Day in a calendar year in their respective countries
- An initiative of establishing South Asia Institute for Democracy and Electoral Studies (SAIDES) in Nepal
- In order to increase knowledge related to elections, take initiatives to include voter education in the school-level textbooks of their respective countries
- Implementation of recommendations of South Asian Disabilities Organizations for the inclusion of disabled people in the electoral system and the creation of a suitable election environment
Back2Basics: SAARC
- In 1985, at the height of the Cold War, leaders of South Asian nations — namely Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka — created a regional forum.
- The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was established with the goal of contributing “to mutual trust, understanding, and appreciation of one another’s problems.”
- Afghanistan was admitted as a member in 2007.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Climate change and climate politics
Context
Earlier this week the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported on climate science, warning against the folly of a business-as-usual development model.
What does science say about future pathways
- Globally, average surface temperatures have already risen by 1.09°C between 1850-1900 and 2010-2019.
- What happens next depends on our development and technological choices.
- High fossil fuel use path: As per the the IPCC document, if we followed high fossil fuel development (doubling emissions by 2050), temperatures would rise by 4.4°C (range of 3.3-5.7°C) by 2100.
- Sustainable pathways: If a more sustainable pathway were pursued average global temperature rise would be 1.4°C (range of 1.0-1.8°C).
- Regardless, it is likely that the average rise in temperatures will breach the 1.5°C barrier within the next two decades.
- If emissions are not mitigated rapidly, we are staring at rising climate risks and catastrophic impacts.
- Human influence is very likely the main reason behind glacial retreat since the 1990s.
- Since observations began, glaciers have lost the maximum mass during 2010-19.
- Sea level rise: Even with warming restricted to 1.5°C, we are still on course for more than 2 metres of sea-level rise beyond this century.
India’s vulnerability to climate change
- If warming exceeds 4°C, India could see about 40% increase in precipitation annually, leading to extreme rainfall events.
- Three-quarters of India’s districts are now hotspots of extreme weather events.
- Since 1990, more than 300 such events have resulted in damages exceeding INR 5.6 lakh crore.
Changes needed to stabilise temperature rise
- The IPCC says that in order to stabilise rise in temperatures, two things have to happen:
- 1) Anthropogenic emissions must become net-zero.
- 2) In the interim cumulative emissions cannot exceed a global carbon budget.
- Carbon Budget: To stay within the 1.5°C limit, starting in 2020 the remaining global carbon budget is 300-500 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide (GtCO2) (with a likelihood of 50%-83%).
Unjust climate politics and net-zero emission targets
- Of late, several large emitters have promised net-zero emission targets.
- CEEW analysts calculate that despite their self-laudatory targets, China would consume 87% of the global carbon space (if it reached net-zero in 2060) and the US would eat up 26% (if it reached net-zero in 2050).
- Mere announcements of net-zero targets do little to retard the “carbon grab” of the largest emitters.
- Rich countries, as a whole, emitted ~25 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (GtCO2eq) more than their estimated emission allowance during 2008-20, thanks to non-participation in pre-2020 climate agreements and misuse of accounting loopholes.
- Climate justice demands that developed countries now take steps to free up carbon space for others.
Way forward for India
- India must adopt a more climate-friendly development pathway for its own sake.
- Its per capita incomes, energy consumption and carbon footprint are well below the global average but it must deliver high rates of economic growth within a shrinking carbon budget.
- Shift discourse to economy: The discourse must shift from energy to the economy.
- There are very few sunrise sectors that are not low-carbon.
- India must tap new technology frontiers (green hydrogen), new business models (distributed and digitalised services, for distributed energy, EV charging, cold chains), new construction materials (low-carbon cement, recycled plastic), new opportunities in the circular economy of minerals, municipal waste and agricultural residue, and new practices for sustainable agriculture and food systems.
- Policy and regulatory support: Many of above technologies and business models are proven but need policy and regulatory support.
Conclusion
The climate crisis is a strategic threat to our development prospects. It deserves sober, continuing analysis, deliberation and action. The headlines look bad; reality will get worse.
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