From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Pobitora WLS, Kaziranga NP
Mains level: Rhino protection measures
Too many cattle are robbing the one-horned rhinos of Assam’s Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary, referred to as ‘Mini Kaziranga’ for similar features, of their nutritious food.
Try this PYQ:
Q. Consider the following statements:
Asiatic lion is naturally found in India only.
Double-humped camel is naturally found in India only.
One-horned rhinoceros is naturally found in India only.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
About Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary
Pobitora WLS is located on the southern bank of the Brahmaputra in Morigaon district in Assam.
It was declared in 1987 and covers 38.85 km2 (15.00 sq mi), providing grassland and wetland habitat for the Indian rhinoceros.
It provides a habitat and food resource for the Indian rhinoceros, hosting Assam’s second-largest population.
Other mammals occurring in the sanctuary are golden jackal, wild boar and feral water buffalo.
Barking deer, Indian leopard and rhesus macaque live foremost in the hilly parts. It is an Important Bird Area and home for more than 2000 migratory birds and various reptiles.
Why in news?
Pobitora is running a successful Rhino breeding program within its sanctuary.
It is running under the government as “Indian Rhino vision 2020”.
Back2Basics: Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve
The KNTPR is a national park in the Golaghat, Karbi Anglong and Nagaon districts of the state of Assam.
The sanctuary, which hosts two-thirds of the world’s great one-horned rhinoceroses, is a World Heritage Site.
Kaziranga is home to the highest density of tigers among protected areas in the world and was declared a Tiger Reserve in 2006 (now the highest tiger density is in Orang National Park, Assam).
The park is home to large breeding populations of elephants, wild water buffalo, and swamp deer.
It is also recognized as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International for the conservation of avifaunal species.
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations
Mains level: Paper 2- Lessons to improve healthcare system
Pandemic has been ravaging the world in a way few could have imagined. It highlighted the flaws in our healthcare system. However, it also offers several important lessons for tackling future pandemics and healthcare emergencies.
Where we stand after 1 year of pandemic
About a year after the first cases were reported, we are in a different position than at the start.
Doctors, public health specialists and policymakers have a better sense of the interventions that are required.
Many treatments initially proposed, based on expert experience, have been tested and removed from management strategies even as modified protocols have improved survival rates.
Vaccines have moved even faster than drugs with nearly 40 of them undergoing clinical trials, a dozen of which are at the phase three stage, and at least one has been licensed post-phase three trials under conditional emergency use authorisation (EUA).
This highlights the importance of science, technology, multilateral partnerships such as the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and the WHO.
This highlights the importance of science, technology, multilateral partnerships such as the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and the WHO.
Takeaways from our response to pandemic
1) Increase investment on health services
The countries which handled the pandemic best (Thailand and Vietnam) have well-functioning health systems designed to deliver primary healthcare services.
These countries also have strong preventive and promotive health services as well as a dedicated public health workforce.
Their governments had made sustained investments in health over decades.
In contrast, countries which focused mainly on hospital centric medical systems struggled.
2) Important role played by health workers
The role of community health workers in recognising, referring and motivating individuals for therapy was remarkable.
Healthcare workers, particularly those at the frontline, such as the accredited social health activists (ASHA) who visited hundreds of households repeatedly during the pandemic.
If we are to build back better, we need to give them better recognition, salaries and career progression.
3) Increase community participation
Third, community trust and participation is essential for implementation of non-pharmacological interventions.
Dharavi in Mumbai is an example of the difference community participation can make.
4) Importance of data
Outside of the immediate response, the need for timely and quality data in a health information system was recognised again during the pandemic.
Without real time data on testing, disease surveillance and other outcomes, tailored responses are near impossible.
The solutions that have brought us hope have come from long-term private or public investments in scientific research and developments.
Conclusion
Future readiness needs to start now, and we have the resources and knowledge to do this — all we need is commitment and that is outlined in the recent National Health Policy 2017 and reiterated in the report of the Fifteenth Finance Commission, which for the first time has a dedicated chapter on health.
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: GDP
Mains level: Paper 3- Recovery of Indian economy and the issue of fiscal conservatism
Overoptimism stemming from the signs of recovery shown by the figures for the second quarter could result in reduced spending and the rollback of the stimulus. However, other features indicate that fiscal conservatism at this moment is not a good idea.
Hype over recovery
India’s economy contracted by 7.5% in the second quarter of financial year 2020-21.
There are two ways to look at that figure:-
1) That figure is far lower than the 23.9% contraction registered in the first quarter of this financial year.
2) A 7.5% second quarter contraction is high both in itself and when compared with most similarly placed countries.
The government, however, has chosen to focus on the unsurprising evidence that GDP rose sharply, by 23%, between the first quarter and the second when restrictions were substantially lifted.
Based on that evidence, the Finance Ministry’s Monthly Economic Report, for November, speaks of a V-shaped recovery reflective of “the resilience and robustness of the Indian economy”.
The danger is that such optimism would provide the justification to avoid adoption of the measures crucially needed to pull the economy out of recession.
India economy is still demand constrained: 3 signs
1) The decline in private final consumption expenditure at constant prices, which accounts for 56% of GDP, has come down from minus 27% in the first quarter to minus 11% in the second, it still remains high.
Though there are signs of a short-run recovery in private consumption demand with the lifting of lockdowns, net incomes and consumer confidence are not at levels that can even restore last year’s levels.
2) As is to be expected, with production restraints relaxed, depleted stocks are being replenished with a fall of 21% in the first quarter turning into an increase in stocking of 6.3% in the second quarter.
3) The decline in fixed capital formation has fallen from a high minus 47% in the first quarter to minus 7% in the second, investment is still falling year-on-year.
These are all signs of an economy that is severely demand constrained, requiring a significant step up in government expenditure.
Impact on spending by the Centre and the States
Figures from the Office of the Controller General of Accounts for the first seven months of 2020-21 (April to October) indicate that the total expenditure of the central government stood at only 55% of what was provided for in the Budget for 2020-21.
In fact, in a non-COVID-19 year, 2019-20, the ratio of actual spending by the central government over April-October relative to that budgeted figure was a higher 59%.
Meanwhile, with Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenues having fallen from their lower-than-expected levels during the COVID-19 months, the States have been cash-strapped.
Yet, the government has decided not to compensate them for the shortfall, as promised under the GST regime.
States have been left to fend for themselves by going to market and borrowing at high interest rates, which they would find difficult to cover.
Needless to say, as a consequence, State spending has also been curtailed.
Why government should avoid fiscal conservatism
The loss of jobs and livelihoods that happened during lockdown is sure to affect demand now.
This leads to increased indebtedness and the bankruptcies well after restrictions are relaxed.
So, the tasks of providing safety nets, reviving employment and spurring demand become crucial.
Since the market cannot deliver on those fronts, state action facilitated by substantially enhanced expenditure is crucial.
And since government revenues shrink during a recession, that expenditure has to be funded by borrowing.
This is no time for fiscal conservatism, as governments across the world have come to accept.
Trend suggests that allocations for welfare expenditures — ranging from subsidised food to minimal guaranteed employment — needed to support those whose livelihoods have been devastated by the pandemic, would be reduced over time.
As collateral damage, this frugality in a time of crisis is likely to prolong the recession.
Conclusion
The optimism that a V-shaped recovery is imminent, and that optimism, in turn, would justify the view that fiscal conservatism pays. It does not, as time would tell.
Back2Basics: What is V-shaped recovery?
A V-shaped recovery is characterized by a quick and sustained recovery in measures of economic performance after a sharp economic decline.
Because of the speed of economic adjustment and recovery in macroeconomic performance, a V-shaped recovery is a best case scenario given the recession.
The recoveries that followed the recessions of 1920-21 and 1953 in the U.S. are examples of V-shaped recoveries.
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: AI and machine learning
Mains level: Paper 3- Artificial intelligence and opportunities for Indian economy
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the potential to transform the Indian economy. In the last few years, India made significant progress in its adoption. However, there are several areas India need to focus on to make the most of what AI offers.
AI adoption and capacity building in India
NITI Aayog’s national strategy for AI envisages ‘AI for all’ for inclusive growth.
NITI Aayog identifies healthcare, agriculture, education, smart cities and infrastructure, and smart mobility and transportation as focus areas for AI-led solutions for social impact.
The Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra governments, among others, have announced policies and strategies for AI adoption.
Technology companies have established AI centres of excellence to create solutions for global clients.
India has a thriving AI start-up ecosystem.
Our talent pool in AI/ML (Machine Learning) is fast-growing, with over 5,00,000 people working on these technologies at present.
AI will boost Indian economy
Nasscom believes that data and AI will contribute $450 billion-$500 billion to India’s GDP by 2025, which is around 10% of the government’s aspiration of a $5 trillion economy.
The growing AI economy will create employment opportunity by creating an estimated over 20 million technical roles.
AI can create not just niche solutions to specific problems that banks and other service providers are deploying, such as speeding up loan application processing or improving customer service; it can also provide solutions for better governance and social impact.
AI can create not just niche solutions to specific problems that banks and other service providers are deploying, such as speeding up loan application processing or improving customer service; it can also provide solutions for better governance and social impact.
Way forward: Focus on 3 areas
1)Talent development
In 2019, we nearly doubled our AI workforce to 72,000 from 40,000 the year before.
However, the demand continues to outpace the supply.
That means our efforts to develop talent must pick up speed.
2) Policies around data
Without data, there cannot be AI.
However, we need a balanced approach in the way we harness and utilise data.
We need a robust legal framework that governs data and serves as the base for the ethical use of AI.
3) Providing the right amount of training data
Though the use of digital technologies has gone up, the level of digitisation continues to be low.
This poses a big challenge for organisations in finding the right amount of training data to run AI/ML algorithms, which in turn affects the accuracy of the results.
Then there is the problem of availability of clean datasets.
Organisations need to invest in data management frameworks that will clean their data before they are analysed, thus vastly improving the outcomes of AI models.
Consider the question “What is Artificial Intelligence? How it could help in providing a boost to the India economy?”
Conclusion
The future for AI looks promising but to convert the potential into reality, India will need better strategies around talent development, stronger policies for data usage and governance, and more investments in creating a technology infrastructure that can truly leverage AI.
Mains level: Food fortification and associated issues
As the Odisha government is preparing to launch fortified rice in the Public Distribution System (PDS), some 100 activists have opposed the move.
Q.What is Fortification of Food? Discuss its various advantages and limitations.
What is Fortified Rice?
Rice can be fortified by adding a micronutrient powder to the rice that adheres to the grains or spraying of the surface of ordinary rice grains with a vitamin and mineral mix to form a protective coating.
Rice can also be extruded and shaped into partially precooked grain-like structures resembling rice grains, which can then be blended with natural polished rice.
Rice kernels can be fortified with several micro-nutrients, such as iron, folic acid and other B-complex vitamins, vitamin A and zinc.
These fortified kernels are then mixed with normal rice in a 1:100 ratio, and distributed for consumption.
Its advantage
Fortified staple foods will contain natural or near natural levels of micro-nutrients, which may not necessarily be the case with supplements.
It provides nutrition without any change in characteristics of food or course of our meals.
If consumed on a regular and frequent basis, fortified foods will maintain body stores of nutrients more efficiently and more effectively than will intermittent supplements.
The overall costs of fortification are extremely low; the price increase is approximately 1 to 2 per cent of the total food value.
Issues with fortified food
Fortification and enrichment upsets nature’s packaging. Our body does not absorb individual nutrients added to processed foods as efficiently compared to nutrients naturally occurring.
Supplements added to foods are less bioavailable. Bioavailability refers to the proportion of a nutrient your body is able to absorb and use.
They lack immune-boosting substances.
Fortified foods and supplements can pose specific risks for people who are taking prescription medications, including decreased absorption of other micro-nutrients, treatment failure, and increased mortality risk.
Why did the activists protest?
Vitamin C and calcium are available in abundance in natural food. Vitamin C is water soluble.
If the rice is laced with Vitamin C, it will get washed away while the rice is cleaned before cooking.
It is a futile exercise to add Vitamin C to uncooked rice.
In our traditional cooking practices, lemon juice is squeezed into cooked food before its consumption.
The decision would lead to wasteful expenditure of taxpayers’ money.
Note: Biofortification is the process by which the nutritional quality of food crops is improved through agronomic practices, conventional plant breeding, or modern biotechnology. It differs from conventional fortification in that Biofortification aims to increase nutrient levels in crops during plant growth rather than through manual means during the processing of the crops.
Regulating fortification
FSSAI has formulated a comprehensive regulation on fortification of foods namely ‘Food Safety and Standards (Fortification of Foods) Regulations, 2016’.
These regulations set the standards for food fortification and encourage the production, manufacture, distribution, sale and consumption of fortified foods.
The regulations also provide for the specific role of FSSAI in promotion for food fortification and to make fortification mandatory.
WHO recommends fortification of rice with iron, vitamin A and folic acid as a public health strategy to improve the iron status of population wherever rice is a staple food.
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Mt. Everest
Mains level: Himalayan Orogeny
Nepal and China jointly announced the new height of Mount Everest as 8,848.86 meters.
8,848 metres — the answer to one of the most widely popular quiz questions, and a number drilled into the minds of school students around the world for decades, is set for a revision.
Mt. Everest
Mount Everest or Sagarmatha, Earth’s highest mountain above sea level, is located in the Himalayas between China and Nepal -– the border between them running across its summit point.
Its current official elevation – 8,848.86m – places it more than 200m above the world’s second-highest mountain, K2, which is 8,611m tall and located in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
The mountain gets its English name from Sir George Everest, a colonial-era geographer who served as the Surveyor General of India in the mid-19th century.
Considered an elite climbing destination, Everest was first scaled in 1953 by the Indian-Nepalese Tenzing Norgay and New Zealander Edmund Hillary.
Try this PYQ:
Q.When you travel to the Himalayas, you will see the following:
Deep gorges
U-turn river courses
Parallel mountain ranges
Steep gradients causing land-sliding
Which of the above can be said to be the evidences for the Himalayas being young fold mountains?
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 1, 2 and 4 only
(c) 3 and 4 only
(d) 1, 2, 3 and 4
Everest’s first survey
The mission to measure the world’s highest peak was taken up on a serious note in 1847 and culminated with the finding of a team led by Andrew Waugh of the Royal Surveyor General of India.
The team discovered that ‘Peak 15’ — as Mt Everest was referred to then — was the highest mountain, contrary to the then-prevailing belief that Mt Kanchenjunga (8,582 m) was the highest peak in the world.
Another belief, prevailing even today, is that 8,840 m is not the height that was actually determined by the 19th-century team.
That survey, based on trigonometric calculations, is known as the Great Trigonometric Survey of India.
Why is the height being revised?
The height of the summit, however, is known to change because of tectonic activity, such as the 2015 Nepal earthquake.
Its measurement over the decades has also depended on who was surveying.
Another debate is whether the height should be based on the highest rock point or the highest snow point.
Molnupiravir is an experimental antiviral drug which is orally active and was developed for the treatment of influenza.
It is a drug of the synthetic nucleoside derivative N4-hydroxycytidine, and exerts its antiviral action through introduction of copying errors during viral RNA replication.
Molnupiravir is being developed by the biotechnology firm Ridgeback Biotherapeutics in collaboration with pharmaceutical firm Merck.
The research team repurposed MK-4482/EIDD-2801 against SARS-CoV-2 and tested it on ferrets.
This is the first demonstration of an orally available drug to rapidly block SARS-CoV-2 transmission and it can be a game-changer.
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: CO-WIN
Mains level: Vaccination challenges in India
A New Digital platform ‘CO-WIN’ is being used for COVID-19 Vaccine Delivery.
Q.India’s first mass adult vaccination drive against COVID-19 is a difficult task. Explain.
CO-WIN
This user friendly mobile app for recording vaccine data is working as a beneficiary management platform having various modules.
The platform will be used for recording vaccine data and will form a database of healthcare workers too.
The app will have separate modules for administrator, registration, vaccination, beneficiary acknowledgement and reports.
Once people start to register for the app, the platform will upload bulk data on co-morbidity provided by local authorities.
In the process of forming database of Healthcare Workers, which is in an advanced stage across all States/UTs, data is presently being uploaded on the Co-WIN platform.
Prioritized group
Prioritized Population Groups include:
Healthcare Workers in both Government and Private Healthcare facilities
Frontline Workers including personnel from state and central police department, armed forces, home guard, civil defence organizations, disaster management volunteers and municipal workers and
Prioritized Age Group, which includes those aged above 50 years & those with co-morbidities
(Note: This is not the sequence, but categorization.)
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: FDI and FPI
Mains level: Paper 3- Investment in India
While emerging economies have been facing the crunch of foreign capital due to the pandemic, India is witnessing the surge of FPI: a sign of investors confidence in the economy.
Surge in FDI: Sign of trust India has built
In the September quarter, FDI doubled year-on-year to $28.1 billion dollars.
While foreign portfolio investor (FPI) inflows across emerging economies witnessed a decline due to the pandemic, India recorded a surge to $13.5 billion – a testimony to investor confidence in India’s growth story.
This surge in foreign funds amid the pandemic has been possible because of the continuous effort of the government, businesses, and agencies to make India a sought-after destination.
Strategies used by the government
Various steps described below signalled the government’s intention to open up the economy to investments.
Such steps include the following:-
Allowing NRI’s to acquire up to 100% stake in Air India.
26% FDI in the digital sector.
Permitting 100% FDI through automatic route in the coal mining sector.
100% FDI for insurance intermediaries.
The National Infrastructure Pipeline, a ₹13 trillion project to open up avenues for infrastructure investment for global investors.
Apart from these steps, the more recent Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme worth an estimated ₹1.5 lakh crore is also a testimony to the government’s intention to encourage entrepreneurship and investment in the country.
Steps to skill-train 3 lakh migrant workers the country to realign the rural youth towards industry-relevant jobs is also a step in the right direction.
Reducing dependency
The urgency the Indian government has shown to reduce dependency on China as a hub of the global supply chain.
Also, providing an enabling alternative environment has struck the right chord with the world as we see global biggies contemplating a move to India.
Consider the question “India witnessed a steady flow of foreign capital while the world was battling pandemic. What are the factors responsible for this? What are the risks associated with such capital in the economy?”
Conclusion
While persisting with its efforts to attract the capital, the government also needs to focus on improving the productivity and export competitiveness of the economy.
Back2basics: Difference between FDI and FII
FDI is an investment that a parent company makes in a foreign country.
On the contrary, FII is an investment made by an investor in the markets of a foreign nation.
While FIIs are short-term investments, the FDI’s are long term investment.
FII can enter the stock market easily and also withdraw from it easily. But FDI cannot enter and exit that easily.
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Geopolitics of climate change and India's role in it
With the victory of Joe Biden in the U.S. Presidential election geopolitics of the climate change is headed for a new reset. The article examines the role India could play in the changing geopolitical realities and also spells out the challenge for India.
India’s role in geopolitics of climate change
India is probably better prepared than in the past when India was widely seen as part of the problem on climate issues.
But the urgency of addressing climate change is likely to intensify for two reasons:
1) The election of Biden as US President.
2) The prospect of cooperation on climate change between Washington and Beijing.
India’s ability to influence the new geopolitics of climate change will depend a lot on its domestic political resilience in adapting to the new imperatives.
While a democratic India struggles to deal with the new internal conflicts centred on climate, China has crafted a new template of “coercive environmentalism”.
The Chinese model of coercive environmentalism is finding an echo among some Western environmentalists.
Whatever the merits of authoritarian environmentalism, it has little political chance of being replicated in democracies.
Cooperation on climate change between the US and China
Modernising liberal environmentalism is the essence of president-elect Biden’s commitment to integrating the climate question with the domestic policy agenda.
“Climate justice” is another important objective of Biden’s domestic environmental policy.
It is based on the recognition that pollution and other ecological problems have a greater impact on the poor and minorities.
Although coercive and liberal approaches to managing climate change are different, the US and China share some important objectives.
Both China and the US (along with the West) recognise the urgency of the challenge.
Beijing and Washington are also racing to develop new technologies that will constitute the foundations of the green economic future.
Both have zeroed in on industrial policy to achieve their climate objectives.
For Xi and Biden, gaining the leadership of the global movement for mitigating climate change is a strategic mission.
Washington and Beijing understand that climate politics is in the end about rearranging the global order.
Consequently, the new direction of Chinese and US policies (in partnership with Europe and Japan) will inevitably put pressure on other states for climate actions.
Conclusion
India’s real test on climate change is on building a new domestic consensus that can address the economic and political costs associated with an internal adjustment to the prospect of a great global reset.
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not Much
Mains level: Coding in school curriculum
Various edutech startups have been in the news for the past several months over the debate on the right age for children to start learning to code.
Q.The National Education Policy, 2020 proposal for “coding activities” reads like Macaulay’s minute for English education in the early 19th century. Examine.
What is Coding?
Computers have their own language called programming language which tells them what to do.
Coding is the process of using a programming language to get a computer to behave how you want it to.
In a broader sense, it is the process of designing and building an executable computer program to accomplish a specific computing result or to perform a specific task.
In today’s digital age, most toddlers in their diapers, learn to swipe and click before they can speak apparently or walk. What an irony!
Coding for children
In the age of digital revolution, India was able to produce a huge army of coders and programmers —essentially people who could create computer software.
As computing devices have taken over every aspect of life, the need for good programmers and coders has been increasing relentlessly.
This led to a trend to teach coding and programming to young students since their school ages.
In recent years, platforms and companies have started to claim that kids as young as those in elementary school must begin to learn to code.
Proponents for coding
Leaders of technology companies around the world have pushed for coding to be included as a subject in middle or higher secondary school for students who may be interested to learn.
In 2018, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates wrote in a blog post that everyone could benefit from learning the basics of computer science.
The idea was to make coding as simple and accessible as the new age “mother tongue” for young children.
Why should children learn to code?
Coding is a basic literacy in the digital age, and it is important for kids to understand and be able to work with and understand the technology around them.
It fosters creativity. By experimenting, children learn and strengthen their creativity. It enhances their problem-solving capability.
It helps children to be able to visualize abstract concepts, lets them apply math to real-world situations, and makes math fun and creative. Coding is present in many of today’s STEM programs.
Children who learn to code understand how to plan and organize thoughts. This can lead to better writing skills that can be built upon as coding skills develop over time.
Criticisms of early age coding
A metaphor that is often used is that children are being made to ride a bicycle before they have even learnt to walk.
There’s a reason why in mathematics addition is taught first, then subtraction, then multiplication, and then division.
It is necessary to learn several elements of mathematics and logical thinking before one can code.
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI)
Mains level: India's committment for climate action
India ranked high along with the European Union and the United Kingdom in the latest edition of the Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) 2020 released by non-profit Germanwatch.
It’s a very rare feat that India has performed so better in any climate-related index. We can use this data to highlight India’s dedicated efforts for Paris Agreement.
Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI)
The CCPI is an independent monitoring tool for tracking countries’ climate protection performance. It has been published annually since 2005.
It evaluates 57 countries and the European Union, which together generate 90%+ of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Using standardised criteria, the CCPI looks at four categories, with 14 indicators: Greenhouse Gas Emissions (40% of the overall score), Renewable Energy (20%), Energy Use (20%), and Climate Policy (20%).
The CCPI’s unique climate policy section evaluates countries’ progress in implementing policies working towards achieving the Paris Agreement goals.
Global scenario
No country was doing enough to meet the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement, according to the index.
Six G20 countries were ranked among very low performers. The United States, with a rank of 61, was the worst performer.
India’s performance
India, for the second time in a row, continued to remain in the top 10. The country scored 63.98 points out of 100.
It received high ratings on all CCPI indicators except ‘renewable energy’, where it was categorised as having a ‘medium’ performance.
Last year, India had been ranked at the ninth position, with an overall score of 66.02.
India needed to focus more on renewable energy, both, as a mitigation strategy and for its post-novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) green recovery, the report said.
Renewable energy
No country was rated very high on indicators defining the ‘renewable energy’ category.
India has been ranked at 27th out of 57 countries under the category this time. Last year, it was ranked at 26th.
India’s performance has been rated as ‘medium’ for its current share of renewable energy. Its performance for the development of renewable energy supply during the last year was rated as ‘high’.
A positive sign for India
India’s improved policy framework has been responsible for the country’s good performance in this global index. However, the report underlined the need for long-term planning.
Unlike the other two ‘BASIC’ countries of China and South Africa, India is yet to announce its mitigation strategy.
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Right to Education Act, Skill India Mission
Mains level: Paper 2- Skill development of youth in India
Significant progress has been made in India on the skill development front. However, there are many challenges that are needed to be tackled through policy measures and their effective implementation. The article deals with the issue.
Progress in skill development in India
Evidence shows that many people develop 21st-century skills on the job, or from courses that focus on practical application of skills, rather than in schools.
India has laid the foundation for delivering on the vision of making quality skills development programmes available to the youth.
Vocational education can be a route for many to gain specific skillsets, such education formats are referred to as Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET).
The National Skill Development Policy was launched in 2009 and revamped in 2015, recognising the challenge of skilling with speed and high standards.
The Skill India Mission was launched soon after, with the vision for making India the “skill capital” of the world.
Key finding and recommendations of the UNESCO’s State of the Education Report for India
The report focuses on vocational education and training and showcases the growth of the skills development sector.
It also provides practical recommendations to ensure that policy is effectively implemented.
One of the biggest challenges for expanding the reach of TVET-related courses has been the lack of aspiration and stigma attached to jobs such as carpentry and tailoring.
Considerable effort, including information campaigns involving youth role models, would help in improving the image of vocational education.
At the same time, common myths around TVET need to be debunked.
Research is now proving that TVET graduates for entry level jobs can get paid as much as university graduates.
Moreover, students from vocational streams typically take less time to find jobs as compared to university graduates.
The report emphasises the need for expanding evidence-based research.
High-quality research based on careful data-gathering and analytics can add value to all aspects of TVET planning and delivery.
Emphasis on vocational education in NEP
The new National Education Policy (NEP) aims to provide vocational education to 50% of all learners by 2025.
Schools are encouraged to provide students access to vocational education from Grade 6 onwards and to offer courses that are aligned to the local economies and can benefit local communities.
For the vision of the NEP to be fulfilled, a robust coordination mechanism for inter-ministerial cooperation is necessary for bringing the skills development and vocational education systems together.
Conclusion
Effective implementation of the policies for skill development is essential for capitalising on the country’s demographic dividend.
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Eco-bridges
Mains level: Road accidents and wildlife
Ramnagar Forest Division in Nainital district, Uttarakhand, recently built its first eco-bridge for reptiles and smaller mammals.
Q.Discuss how Eco-ducts or eco-bridges provide the best alternative for wildlife connectivity which is disrupted because of manmade highways. Also, discuss various challenges in building such bridges.
What are Eco-bridges?
Eco-ducts or eco-bridges aim to enhance wildlife connectivity that can be disrupted because of highways or logging.
These include canopy bridges (usually for monkeys, squirrels and other arboreal species); concrete underpasses or overpass tunnels or viaducts (usually for larger animals); and amphibian tunnels or culverts.
Usually, these bridges are overlaid with planting from the area to give it a contiguous look with the landscape.
Why need such bridges?
There are many roadkills on this route, especially of reptiles such as the monitor lizard.
The bridge is an awareness-building mechanism for this very congested tourist route.
These bridges are a way to see how we can preserve the ecosystem necessary for reptiles that feed on insects, for snakes that feed on reptiles, and for eagles that feed on snakes.
Need of the hour
A 2020 study by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) noted that nearly 50,000 km of road projects have been identified for construction over the next five to six years.
Many highways are being upgraded to four lanes.
The National Tiger Conservation Authority had identified three major sites that were cutting across animal corridors.
These including National Highway 37 through the Kaziranga-Karbi Anglong landscape in Assam, and State Highway 33 through the Nagarhole Tiger Reserve in Karnataka.
Some considerations
The span and distribution of eco-bridges should depend on animal movement patterns.
The bigger bridges will see sambar, spotted deer, nilgai, wild pig using them, while for tigers or leopards if the bridge is 5m or 500 m, it doesn’t bother them.
But some animals like the deers, which prefer closed habitats, need smaller bridges.
Some successes
The observation on NH 44, which intersects Kanha-Pench and Pench-Navegaon-Nagzira corridors in various sections, is a success.
With five animal underpasses and four minor bridges on the 6.6-km road within the forests, it’s one of India’s success stories.
Such bridges in news
One of the largest underpasses – 1.4km – for animal conservation in India is being built along the Madhya Pradesh-Maharashtra border.
Other proposals include the Chennai-Bangalore National Highway, in the Hosur-Krishnagiri segment, near reserve forests for elephant crossings, and in the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve in Chandrapur, Maharashtra.
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Tharu tribals
Mains level: Tourism development in tribal circuits
The Uttar Pradesh government has recently embarked upon a scheme to take the unique culture of its ethnic Tharu tribe across the world.
The Terai or Tarai is a lowland region in northern India and southern Nepal that lies south of the outer foothills of the Himalayas, the Sivalik Hills, and north of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. This lowland belt is characterized by tall grasslands, scrub savannah, sal forests and clay rich swamps.
Tharu Tribals
The community belongs to the Terai lowlands, amid the Shivaliks of lower Himalayas. Most of them are forest dwellers and some practised agriculture.
The word Tharu is believed to be derived from their, meaning followers of Theravada Buddhism.
The Tharus live in both India and Nepal. In the Indian Terai, they live mostly in Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar.
According to the 2011 census, the Scheduled Tribe population in Uttar Pradesh was more than 11 lakh; this number is estimated to have crossed 20 lakh now.
The biggest chunk of this tribal population is made up of Tharus.
Members of the tribe survive on wheat, corn and vegetables are grown close to their homes. A majority still lives off the forest.
Tharu language, food, and culture
They speak various dialects of Tharu, a language of the Indo-Aryan subgroup, and variants of Hindi, Urdu, and Awadhi.
In central Nepal, they speak a variant of Bhojpuri, while in eastern Nepal, they speak a variant of Maithili.
Tharus worship Lord Shiva as Mahadev and call their supreme being “Narayan”, who they believe is the provider of sunshine, rain, and harvests.
Tharu women have stronger property rights than is allowed to women in mainstream North Indian Hindu custom.
Standard items on the Tharu plate are bagiya or dhikri – which is a steamed dish of rice flour that is eaten with chutney or curry – and ghonghi, an edible snail that is cooked in a curry made of coriander, chili, garlic, and onion.
What is this scheme about?
The UP government is working to connect Tharu villages in the districts of Balrampur, Bahraich, Lakhimpur and Pilibhit bordering Nepal, with the homestay scheme of the UP Forest Department.
The idea is to offer tourists an experience of living in the natural Tharu habitat, in traditional huts made of grass collected mainly from the forests.
Tharu homeowners will be able to charge tourists directly for the accommodation and home-cooked meals.
The government expects both domestic and international tourists to avail of the opportunity to obtain a taste of the special Tharu culture by staying with them, observing their lifestyle, food habits, and attire.
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Havana syndrome
Mains level: Threats of microwave warfare
Nearly four years after a mysterious neurological illness started to affect American diplomats in Cuba, China, and other countries, a report has found “directed” microwave radiation to be its “plausible” cause.
Q.Microwave warfare is the new nuke. Discuss.
The ‘Havana syndrome’
In late 2016, US diplomats in Havana reported feeling ill after hearing strange sounds and experiencing odd physical sensations in their hotel rooms or homes.
The symptoms included nausea, severe headaches, fatigue, dizziness, sleep problems, and hearing loss, which have since come to be known as “Havana Syndrome”.
Cuba had denied any knowledge of the illnesses even though the US had accused it of carrying out “sonic attacks”, leading to an increase in tensions.
Possible factor: Microwave Weapons
“Microwave weapons” are supposed to be a type of direct energy weapons, which aim highly focused energy in the form of sonic, laser, or microwaves, at a target.
People exposed to high-intensity microwave pulses have reported a clicking or buzzing sound as if seeming to be coming from within your head.
It can have both acute and long-term effects — without leaving signs of physical damage.
These weapons are considered to be the cause of the “syndrome” whose symptoms include nausea, dizziness, fatigue, and cognitive difficulties.
How did researchers deduce that?
The researchers have examined four possibilities to explain the symptoms — infection, chemicals, psychological factors and microwave energy.
The experts examined the symptoms of about 40 government employees.
The report concluded that directed pulsed RF (radio frequency) energy appears to be the most plausible mechanism in explaining these cases among those that the committee considered.
| Economics | Mains Paper 3: Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways Etc.
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: International Energy Agency
Mains level: Paper 3- India's transition to renewable and challenges it faces
The article is based on the book by Daniel Yergin, titled ” The New Map: Energy, Climate and the Clash of Nations”. The book throws some questions to countries dependent on oil and suggests the framework for their transition to renewable.
Six broad themes underlying the energy transition
The first is the US shale revolution, which transformed the US from a major importer of oil and gas to a significant exporter.
The second is the leveraging by Russia of its gas exports to compel former members of the Soviet Union to stay within its sphere of influence and to embrace China into an energy partnership.
The third is China’s assertion of its rights over the South China Seas — a critical maritime route for its energy imports and the Belt and Road initiative;
The fourth is sectarian strife (Sunni/Shia) in the Middle East which, compounded by volatile and falling oil prices, has brought the region to the edge;
The fifth is the Paris climate summit and its impact on public sentiment, investment decisions, corporate governance and regulatory norms.
Sixth is the consequential impact of the manifold and impressive advancement of clean energy technologies.
Questions for India
The ongoing transition in the energy world raises several questions for India.
How might they impact its objective to provide reliable, affordable, clean and universal access to energy?
Who will bear the costs of the transition — in particular, the costs of retrofitting industrial infrastructure and upgrading the power grids.
How can it prevent the “perfect storm” of high unemployment due to laid-off coal workers and stranded assets thermal power plants, slowed economic growth and environmental degradation?
How realistic is a green transition for an economy almost totally dependent on fossil fuels?
Three policy initiatives for the government
1) Securing favourable terms with oil suppliers
The government leverage its buyer strength to secure “most favoured” terms of trade for crude supplies.
In this regard, they bring out one development that plays to India’s advantage — the onset of “peak oil demand” (that is, demand will plateau before supply depletes).
However, there is no consensus on the timing of peak demand.
2) Develop own systems for photovoltaics (PVs) and batteries
India must develop its own world-scale, competitive, manufacturing systems for photovoltaics (PVs) and battery storage.
Otherwise, India will not be able to provide affordable solar units unless it accepts the further deepening of dependence on Chinese imports.
Currently, China manufactures 75 per cent of the world’s lithium batteries; 70 per cent of solar cells; 95 per cent of solar wafers and it controls 60 per cent of the production of poly silica.
China is also looking to secure a chokehold over several strategic minerals (cobalt, nickel).
3) Prepare a clean energy technology strategy
Technology is the answer to the energy transition.
That is what will bring the system to the tipping point of radical change.
China has placed clean energy R&D at the forefront of its “Plan 2025”.
The India strategy should identify relevant “breakthrough technologies”, establish the funding mechanisms and create the ecosystem for partnerships (domestic and international).
Conclusion
As an economy which is energy import-dependent, fossil-fuel-based India must balance between the rising demand for energy and an unhealthily strong linkage between this demand and environmental pollution.
op-ed snap | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Major Crops & Cropping Patterns,PDS, Buffer Stock & Food Security,Transport & Marketing Of Agricultural Produce
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: MSP
Mains level: Paper 3- Problems faced by the Punjab farmers and issue of MSP
The article analyses the state of agriculture in Punjab and the its dependace on the MSP regime and suggest the diversification as a solution to the MSP trap.
Punjab’s role in Green Revolution
India was desperately short of grains in 1965, and heavily dependent on PL 480 imports from the US against rupee payments, as the country did not have enough foreign exchange to buy wheat at global markets.
The entire foreign exchange reserves of the country at the time could not help it purchase more than 7 MMT of grains.
It is against this backdrop that the minimum support price (MSP) system was devised in 1965.
India’s current grains management system: Issue of excess grains
Today, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) stocks grains touched 97 MMT in June this year against a buffer stock norm of 41.2 MMT.
The economic cost of that excess grain, beyond the buffer stock norm, was more than Rs 1,80,000 crore, a dead capital locked in without much purpose.
That’s the situation of the current grain management system based on MSP and open ended procurement.
Decline in Punjab’s economic level
In 1966 Punjab had the highest per capita income.
Punjab’s position fell to 13th in 2018-19.
There are several reasons behind this deterioration, ranging from lack of industrialisation to not catching up even with respect to the modern services sector like IT, financial services.
What explains Punjab’s prosperity
Punjab’s agriculture is blessed with almost 99 per cent irrigation against an all-India average of little less than 50 per cent.
The average landholding in Punjab is 3.62 hectare (ha) as against an all-India average of 1.08 ha.
Punjab’s fertiliser consumption per ha is about 212 kg vis-à-vis an all-India level of 135 kg/ha.
The productivity levels of wheat and rice in Punjab stand at 5 tonnes/ha and 4 tonnes/ha respectively, against an all-India average of 3.5t/ha and 2.6t/ha.
Assesing Punjab’s real contribution to income and agriculture
In Punjab, the total farm families are just 1.09 million, a fraction of the all-India total of 146.45 million.
The overall subsidy, from just power and fertilisers would amount to roughly Rs 13,275 crores.
That means each farm household in Punjab got a subsidy of about Rs 1.22 lakh in 2019-20.
This is the highest subsidy for a farm household in India.
Let’s not forget that the average income of the Punjab farm household is the highest in India.[2.5 time’s the India’s average].
But to assess the real contribution of farmers/states to agriculture and incomes, the metric is the agri-GDP per ha of gross cropped area of the state in question.
This is an important catch-all indicator, as it captures the impact of productivity, diversification, prices of outputs and inputs and subsidies.
On that indicator, unfortunately, Punjab has the 11th rank amongst major agri-states.
Way forward: Diversification of crops
States in south India like Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala have a much more diversified crop pattern tending towards high-value crops/livestock — poultry, dairy, fruits, vegetables, spices, fisheries.
If Punjab farmers want to increase their incomes significantly, double or even triple, they need to gradually move away from MSP-based wheat and rice to high-value crops and livestock, the demand for which is increasing at three to five times that of cereals.
Punjab needs a package to diversify its agriculture — say a Rs 10,000 crore package spread over five years.
Conclusion
Once farmers diversify their farm output and double their incomes, they will not be stuck in the MSP trap.
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Sushrut Samhita
Mains level: Read the attached story
Last month, a government notification listed out specific surgical procedures that a postgraduate medical student of Ayurveda must be “practically trained to acquaint with, as well as to independently perform”.
Q.Allowing modern surgeries to Ayurveda professionals is a mixopathy and an encroachment into the jurisdiction and competencies of modern medicine. Critically analyse.
What is the notification?
The notification mentions 58 surgical procedures that postgraduate students must train themselves in and acquires skills to perform independently.
These include procedures in general surgery, urology, surgical gastroenterology, and ophthalmology.
The issue
The notification has invited sharp criticism from the Indian Medical Association, which questioned the competence of Ayurveda practitioners to carry out these procedures.
They have called the notification as an attempt at “mixopathy”.
The IMA has planned nationwide protests against this notification and has threatened to withdraw all non-essential and non-Covid services.
Surgery as a part of Ayurveda
It is not that Ayurveda practitioners are not trained in surgeries, or do not perform them.
In fact, they take pride in the fact that their methods and practices trace their origins to Sushruta, an ancient Indian sage and physician.
The comprehensive medical treatise Sushruta Samhita has, apart from descriptions of illnesses and cures, detailed accounts of surgical procedures and instruments.
There are two branches of surgery in Ayurveda — Shalya Tantra, which refers to general surgery, and Shalakya Tantra which pertains to surgeries related to the eyes, ears, nose, throat and teeth.
All postgraduate students of Ayurveda have to study these courses, and some go on to specialize in these and become Ayurveda surgeons.
Distinctions in surgical procedures
For several surgeries Ayurvedic procedures almost exactly match those of modern medicine about how or where to make a cut or incision, and how to perform the operation.
There are significant divergences in post-operative care, however.
The only thing that Ayurveda does not do is super-speciality surgeries, like neurosurgery or open-heart surgeries.
For most other needs, there are surgical procedures in Ayurveda. It is not very different from allopathic medicine.
Ayurvedic surgeries before the notification
PG education in Ayurveda is guided by the Indian Medical Central Council (Post Graduate Education) Regulations framed from time to time.
Currently, the regulations formulated in 2016 are in force. The latest notification of last month is an amendment to the 2016 regulations.
The 2016 regulations allow postgraduate students to specialise in Shalya Tantra, Shalakya Tantra, and Prasuti evam Stree Roga (Obstetrics and Gynecology), the three disciplines involving major surgical interventions.
Students of these three disciplines are granted MS (Master in Surgery in Ayurveda) degrees.
Arguments in favour
Ayurveda practitioners point out that students enrolling in Ayurveda courses have to pass the same NEET (National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test).
Ayurveda institutions prescribe textbooks from modern medicine, or that they carry out surgeries with the help of practitioners of modern medicine.
Their course, internship and practice also run parallel to the MBBS courses.
Postgraduate courses require another three years of study. They also have to undergo clinical postings in the outpatient and In-patient departments at hospitals apart from getting hands-on training.
Medico-legal issues, surgical ethics and informed consent is also part of the course apart from teaching Sushruta’s surgical principles and practices.
So, what is new?
Ayurveda practitioners say the latest notification just brings clarity to the skills that an Ayurveda practitioner possesses.
The surgeries that have been mentioned in the notification are all that are already part of the Ayurveda course. But there is little awareness about these.
A patient is usually not clear whether an Ayurvedic practitioner has the necessary skill to perform one of these operations.
Now, they know exactly what an Ayurveda doctor is capable of. The skill sets have been defined. This will remove question marks on the ability of an Ayurveda practitioner.
What are the IMA’s objections?
IMA doctors insist that they are not opposed to the practitioners of the ancient system of medicine.
But they say the new notification somehow gives the impression that the skills or training of the Ayurveda doctor in performing modern surgeries are the same as those practising modern medicine.
This, they say, is misleading, and an “encroachment into the jurisdiction and competencies of modern medicine”.
The IMA has condemned the move calling it predatory poaching on modern medicine and its surgical disciplines.
The IMA has demanded that the notification, as well as the NITI Aayog, move towards ‘One Nation One System’ (of AYUSH) be withdrawn.
| Governance | Mains Paper 2: Laws, Institutions & Bodies Constituted For The Vulnerable Sections
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Census of India
Mains level: Issues with Caste Census
The Tamil Nadu government has decided to appoint a commission to formulate a methodology to collect caste-wise particulars of its population and use that to come up with a report.
Q.India’s caste system is perhaps the world’s longest surviving social hierarchy. Critically analyse.
The issue
The Centre conducted a ‘Socio-Economic Caste Census’ (SECC) in 2011 throughout the country, but it did not make public the caste component of the findings.
In Karnataka, the outcome of a similar exercise has not been disclosed to the public.
Caste details as a part of the census
Caste was among the details collected by enumerators during the decennial Census of India until 1931.
It was given up in 1941, a year in which the census operation was partially affected by World War II.
In his report on the 1941 exercise, then Census Commissioner of India, M.W.M. Yeatts, indicated that tabulation of caste details separately involved additional costs.
However, at the time of sorting the details, some provinces or States that wanted a caste record for administrative reasons were given some data on payment.
Issues with caste in the census
H. Hutton, the Census Commissioner in 1931, notes that on the occasion of each successive census since 1901, some criticism had been raised about taking any note of the fact of caste.
It has been alleged that the mere act of labelling persons as belonging to a caste tends to perpetuate the system.
Some argue that there is nothing wrong in recording a fact and ignoring its existence.
View after Independence
The 1951 census did not concern itself with questions regarding castes, races and tribes, except insofar as the necessary statistical material related to ‘special groups’.
It created certain other material relating to backward classes collected and made over to the Backward Classes Commission.
‘Special Groups’ has been explained as referring to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Anglo-Indians and certain castes treated provisionally as ‘backward’ for the purposes of the census.
This implies that BC data were collected, but not compiled or published.
How have caste details been collected so far?
While SC/ST details are collected as part of the census, details of other castes are not collected by the enumerators.
The main method is by self-declaration to the enumerator.
So far, backward classes commissions in various States have been conducting their own counts to ascertain the population of backward castes.
The methodology may vary from State to State.
What about SECC 2011?
The Socio-Economic Caste Census of 2011 was a major exercise to obtain data about the socio-economic status of various communities.
It had two components: a survey of the rural and urban households and ranking of these households based on pre-set parameters, and a caste census.
However, only the details of the economic conditions of the people in rural and urban households were released. The caste data have not been released till now.
While a precise reason is yet to be disclosed, it is surmised that the data were considered too politically sensitive.
Fear of antagonizing dominant and powerful castes that may find that their projected strength in the population is not as high as claimed may be an important reason.
Legal imperative for a caste count
The Supreme Court has been raising questions about the basis for reservation levels being high in various States.
In particular, it has laid down that there should be quantifiable data to justify the presence of a caste in the backward class list, as well as evidence of its under-representation in services.
It has also called for periodical review of community-wise lists so that the benefits do not perpetually go in favour of a few castes.
Caste data for reservations
Legislators argue that knowing the precise number of the population of each caste would help tailor the reservation policy to ensure equitable representation of all of them.
While obtaining relevant and accurate data may be the major gain from a caste census, the possibility that it will lead to heartburn among some sections and spawn demands for larger or separate quotas.
