Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2-Effects of politics and policies of developed and developing countries on India's interest, Indian diaspora.
“Phase one” of the trade deal between the U.S. and China notwithstanding, the ongoing dispute between the U.S. and China and other changing scenarios could turn out opportunities in various forms for India.
Oil prices windfall
- Slack demand and increased production by the U.S., had lowered oil prices which was good news for India.
- It could also help India address its current account deficit.
- But oil prices have surged more than 4% following the killing of Iranian general by the U.S.
- An outbreak of hostilities could send the oil prices soaring.
- India’s energy import from the U.S. is likely to touch $10 bn by 2019-20.
- While China is increasing its stake in Saudi Aramco- one of the largest oil production company in the world.
- China is also increasing its ties with the other oil producers which gives China the opportunity to increase its naval presence in the Indian Ocean increasing the Strait of Hormuz.
On trade front
- According to the State Bank of India report-Ecowrap, India has scarcely benefited from the trade war.
- Of the $35bn decline in China’s export to the U.S. $21bn was diverted to the other countries and the rest $14bn was made good by the U.S. producers.
- India contributed only $755-million of this diversion.
- The U.S. tariff made some other players-Mexico, Taiwan, Vietnam even more competitive.
- China is facing pork shortage but India exports pork indirectly through Vietnam, increasing its cost and reducing market share.
- China’s thrust on the AI, robotics, autonomous vehicles, and space technology has raised the U.S. suspicion, raising the prospects of high-tech war.
- The big three Chines high-tech companies, Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent together invested $5bn in India.
- India could use this opportunity to insist China open its market for the IT sector and other tech exports.
- India has allowed all the players including Huawei to participate in the 5G trials but the outcomes are far from over.
- With all that said, the U.S.-China tensions drive supply chains out of China, with the right policies as Vietnam has done, India could emerge as an alternative destination.
- Restriction by the U.S. on China could lead to difficulties in reducing emissions and mitigate climate change in China.
- Restrictions on technology export often lead to an increase in domestic research.
- So, China could succeed in developing all the technologies that are denied to it by the U.S. under the restrictions.
- With the protests in Hong Kong showing no signs of abating, India may have to cater to refugees of Indian origin if things turn uglier.
Key regional issues
- The situation in the South China Sea is in favour of China as it already has occupied several of them.
- Though India is a member of “Quad” dialogue on border issues, it has no role in negotiating the “Code of Conduct” with the ASEAN.
- On the connectivity issues, the U.S. position is helpful for India. Recently the U.S. criticised China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.
- India is not a member of the Indo-Pacific Business Forum created by the U.S., Japan, and Australia.
- India is also not a member of Blue Dot network created by the U.S., Japan, and Australia.
- In future India might have to reconcile its regional connectivity issues with BRI projects that have mushroomed in the region.
- On the ideological fronts, China is so emboldened by its economic success that it seeks to challenge the liberal democratic model and offers an alternative based on its own system.
- India might have to contend with the greater Chinese presence in the Asia-Pacific theatre.
Conclusion
India’s relations with the U.S. and Chinas growing influence in economic as well as all the other sphere represents multiple challenges for India and are likely to grow in the future.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much.
Mains level: Paper 1-Social empowerment, communalism, regionalism and secularism.
Context
In India, the debate on the issue of secularism needs to be based on a more principled and practical basis.
Change in public discourse
- Popular skepticism of secularism has been growing these days.
- Secularism is being increasingly discounted not only by the hardliners but also by the moderate middle.
- It is no longer taboo to raise questions that were formerly the preserve of the fringe.
- Today, democracy is taken for granted by all the Indians. No one raises questions over its utility.
- Secularism need to be elevated to the same level as is the democracy today, where no one raises the question on its utility.
What are the issues with the defenders of secularism?
- Rather than make case for secularism, its champions indulge in name-calling and citing the example from the past to tarnish and shut down critics.
- They also cite the Constitution in their support-without realising that it is this very document’s secular thrust that has became suspect.
- They also assume the obvious correctness of their cosmopolitan worldview.
What changes need to be made?
- They must make a case for secularism anew-principled and practical.
- On principled basis-individual equality, freedom of conscience and personal habits.
- On a practical basis-no country can flourish by degrading their minority.
- They must stress the India’s plurality and “live and let live” culture, syncretic traditions and long history of respect and accommodation of differences.
- They also need to show some humility.
- They also have to show openness to fair-minded criticism.
Conclusion
These suggestions are urgently needed to be followed by those arguing in the defence of secularism otherwise there is a very real possibility of a large section of a society losing faith in secularism. In this anxious hours India needs to engage in open and self-critical debate-rather than polarising polemic.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much.
Mains level: Paper 3-Issues related to direct and indirect farm subsidies and minimum support prices, Public Distribution System- Objectives, functioning, limitations,revamping, issues of buffer stocks, and food security, Technology missions, economics of animal rearing.
Context
There is a large scope for the improvement in the efficiency of grain management system under the National Food Security Act (NFSA).
Declining Agri-sector growth rate
- India’s growth rate plummeted to 4.5 per cent in the second quarter of this fiscal.
- The quarterly growth in GDPA (agri-GDP) is hovering at around 2 percent, it is a cause for great concern.
- Agriculture still engages about 44 per cent of India’s workforce, which has serious consequences for the overall economy of the country.
The bleak picture of the economy
- Recently inflation has started to surge after a long time.
- Inflation is led by the different components of the food segment- cereals, pulses, and vegetables.
- There is a challenge of containing inflation and increasing the demand at the same time.
- At the same time, there is also the challenge of maintaining the fiscal deficit by 3.3 %.
- Recently Finance minister has launched an investment package of 102 lakh crores.
- So, there is a need to take a look at the inefficiencies in food grain management.
Inefficiencies in NFSA
- It supplies a certain quantity of wheat and rice to 67 percent population.
- It gives wheat at Rs. 2/kg and rice at Rs. 3/kg.
- While the cost of these grains to FCI is at Rs. 25/kg and Rs. 35/kg respectively.
- This led to the provision of Rs 1.84 lakh crores for food subsidy.
- The buffer stocks with the FCI is far more than double the buffer stock norms as on January 1 every year.
- This excess stock is the result of an inefficient strategy for food management.
- The strategy where the procurement of these grains is open-ended while the disbursement is restricted.
- The money locked in these excess stock is about 1 lakh crores.
- If the rabi season procurement is good FCI may run out of storage space to accommodate.
Suggestions for improvement
- The open market operation should be increased.
- Even if the government liquidate half of the excess stock it would fetch Rs.50,000 crores.
- The Shanta Kumar panel had submitted the blueprint for the improvement in the grain management system.
- Only three reiterations are needed.
- First-while the Antyodaya category should keep getting the maximum food subsidy, the issue price should be fixed at 50% of the procurement for the rest.
- Second- restrict the percentage of population covered under the scheme to 40 % from the present 67%
- Third-stop the procurement of rice in the north-western states of Punjab and Haryana where the water table is depleting.
Conclusion
- If the government implements these three points it can save the country another Rs. 50,000 crores annually. On top of this, it will help the government to reduce its fiscal deficit.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Miyawaki Method
Mains level: Miyawaki Method of Afforestation
Kerala Forest Dept. has adopted Miyawaki afforestation concept to be used in govt. offices, schools and puramboke land.
Miyawaki Method
- Miyawaki method is a method of urban afforestation by turning backyards into mini-forests.
- It includes planting trees as close as possible in the same area which not only saves space, but the planted saplings also support each other in growth and block sunlight reaching the ground, thereby preventing the growth of weed.
- Thus the saplings become maintenance-free (self sustainable) after the first three years.
- It helps to create a forest in just 20 to 30 years while through conventional methods it takes anywhere between 200 to 300 years.
The technique
- The native trees of the region are identified and divided into four layers — shrub, sub-tree, tree, and canopy.
- The quality of soil is analysed and biomass which would help enhance the perforation capacity, water retention capacity, and nutrients in it, is mixed with it.
- A mound is built with the soil and the seeds are planted at a very high density — three to five sapling per square meter.
- The ground is covered with a thick layer of mulch.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Smog Tower, PM 2.5
Mains level: Curbing air pollution in Delhi
Recently New Delhi got its first smog tower (a prototype air purifier). In November, the Supreme Court had directed the Centre and the Delhi government to prepare a plan to install ‘smog towers’ across the capital to deal with air pollution.
What is a ‘Smog Tower’?
- Smog towers are structures designed to work as large-scale air purifiers.
- They are usually fitted with multiple layers of air filters, which clean the air of pollutants as it passes through them.
- The smog tower installed at Lajpat Nagar is capable of treating 6,00,000 cubic metres of air per day and can collect more than 75 per cent of particulate matters (PM) 2.5 and 10.
- After the cleaning, the tower releases clean air.
- The project is collaboration between the IIT Bombay, IIT-Delhi and the University of Minnesota, the latter having helped design a similar tower of over 100 metres in China’s Xi’an city.
- The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) will also be involved with the project.
How it works?
- The 20-metre (65 feet) high tower will trap particulate matter of all sizes suspended in the air.
- Large-scale air filters shall draw in the air through fans installed at the top before passing it through the filters and releasing it near the ground.
- The filters installed in the tower will use carbon nanofibres as a major component and will be fitted along its peripheries. The tower will focus on reducing particulate matter load.
Other examples in the world
- China, which has been battling air pollution for years, has two smog towers — in its capital Beijing and in the northern city of Xi’an.
- The Xi’an tower is dubbed the world’s largest, and has reportedly brought down PM 2.5 by 19% in an area of around 6 sq km in its vicinity.
- The 100-metre (328 feet) high tower has produced 10 million cubic metres of clean air every day since its launch.
- On severely polluted days the tower is able to bring down smog close to moderate levels.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Drosophila
Mains level: Not Much
Pune is set to host the fifth edition of the Asia Pacific Drosophila Research Conference (APDRC5) is being organised in the country for the first time by the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER).
Drosophila
- Drosophila is a genus of two-winged flies commonly known as fruit flies that are used in evolutionary and developmental studies.
- It is a genus of flies, belonging to the family Drosophilidae, whose members are often called “small fruit flies” or pomace flies, vinegar flies, or wine flies, a reference to the characteristic of many species to linger around overripe or rotting fruit.
- It is one of the most widely-used and preferred model organisms in biological research across the world for the last 100 years.
- Several discoveries in biology have been made using this. Its genome is entirely sequenced and there is enormous information available about its biochemistry, physiology and behaviour.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Carbon Stock
Mains level: India's INDC
- The State of Forest Report (SFR) 2019 has shown an increase in the carbon stock trapped in Indian forests in the last two years.
- However it shows why it is going to be an uphill task for India in meeting one of its international obligations on climate change.
India’s carbon commitment
- India, as part of its contribution to the global fight against climate change, has committed itself to creating an “additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent” by 2030.
- That is one of the three targets India has set for itself in its climate action plan, called Nationally Determined Contributions, or NDCs, that every country has to submit under the 2015 Paris Agreement.
- The other two relate to an improvement in emissions intensity and an increase in renewable energy deployment.
- India has said it would reduce its emissions intensity (emissions per unit of GDP) by 33% to 35% by 2030 compared to 2005.
- It has also promised to ensure that at least 40% of its cumulative electricity generation in 2030 would be done through renewable energy.
What is the relationship between forests and carbon?
- Forests, by absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere for the process of photosynthesis, act as a natural sink of carbon.
- Together with oceans, forests absorb nearly half of global annual carbon dioxide emissions.
- In fact, the carbon currently stored in the forests exceeds all the carbon emitted in the atmosphere since the start of the industrial age.
- An increase in the forest area is thus one of the most effective ways of reducing the emissions that accumulate in the atmosphere every year.
How do the latest forest data translate into carbon equivalent?
- The latest forest survey shows that the carbon stock in India’s forests (not including tree cover outside of forest areas) have increased from 7.08 billion tonnes in 2017.
- This translates into 26.14 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent as of now.
- It is estimated that India’s tree cover outside of forests would contribute another couple of billion of tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.
How challenging does this make it for India in meeting its target?
- An assessment by the Forest Survey of India (FSI) last year had projected that, by 2030, the carbon stock in forests as well as tree cover was likely to reach 31.87 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent.
- An additional 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of sink, as India has promised to do, would mean taking the size of the sink close to 35 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent.
- Considering the rate of growth of the carbon sink in the last few years, that is quite a stiff target India has set for itself.
- In the last two years, the carbon sink has grown by just about 0.6%%. Even compared to 2005, the size of carbon sink has increased by barely 7.5%.
- To meet its NDC target, even with most optimistic estimates of carbon stock trapped in trees outside of forest areas, the sink has to grow by at least 15% to 20% over the next ten-year period.
Way Forward
- There are two key decisions to be made in this regard — selection of the baseline year, and addition of the contribution of the agriculture sector to carbon sink.
- When India announced its NDC in 2015, it did not mention the baseline year.
- India’s emissions intensity target uses a 2005 baseline, so there is an argument that the forest target should also have the same baseline.
- But there is a strong demand for a 2015 baseline as well, so that it results in some concrete progress in adding new forest cover.
- The NDC specifically mentions that and “additional” 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of carbon sink would be created through additional forest and tree cover by 2030 MoEFCC insist that tree cover outside forest areas must include agriculture as well.
- India would also have to specify whether it wants to count the carbon sink in the agriculture sector in its target.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Pneumococcal Vaccine
Mains level: Not Much
Pneumococcal vaccine developed by the Pune-based Serum Institute of India has been pre-qualified by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Pneumococcal Vaccine
- Pneumococcal vaccination is a method of preventing a specific type of lung infection (pneumonia) that is caused by the pneumococcus (Streptococcus pneumonia) bacterium.
- There are more than 80 different types of pneumococcus bacteria – 23 of them covered by the vaccine.
- The vaccine is injected into the body to stimulate the normal immune system to produce antibodies that are directed against pneumococcus bacteria.
- This method of stimulating the normal immune system to be directed against a specific microbe is called immunization.
- It does not protect against pneumonia caused by microbes other than pneumococcus bacteria, nor does it protect against pneumococcal bacterial strains not included in the vaccine.
About the Vaccine
- The pneumococcal vaccine PNEUMOSIL is a conjugate vaccine to help produce stronger immune response to a weak antigen.
- Serum Institute had optimized an efficient conjugate vaccine manufacturing processes for its meningitis A vaccine (MenAfriVac).
- It was used for manufacturing the pneumococcal vaccine. This helped the company reduce the manufacturing cost of pneumococcal vaccine.
Why?
- It pneumonia caused 1,27,000 deaths in India in 2018, the second highest number of child mortality under the age of five in the world.
- In India, pneumonia and diarrhoea cause the most deaths in children under five years.
- In 2017, pneumococcal conjugate vaccine was included in the under India’s Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP).
- It has been introduced in a phased manner starting with Himachal Pradesh, parts of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
- The efficacy of the Serum vaccine was tested against an already approved pneumococcal vaccine (Synflorix).
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: UJALA and Street Lighting National Programme
Mains level: Success of these scheme
The Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All (UJALA) and LED Street Lighting National Programme (SLNP) has completed five years of successful implementation.
UJALA and SLNP
- SLNP is the world’s largest streetlight replacement programme and UJALA is the world’s largest domestic lighting project.
- Both have been spearheaded and implemented by Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), a joint venture of PSUs under the Ministry of Power.
Major accomplishments
UJALA
- UJALA project brought the market transformation in energy efficiency sector.
- Prices of LED bulbs being distributed under UJALA programme have fallen to one-tenth of their rates in 2015 from INR. 310 to INR 38 in 2018.
- The switch from inefficient incandescent bulbs to LEDs is helping families reduce their electricity bills while also enabling them to access better brightness in homes.
- Through the UJALA over 36.13 crore LED bulbs have been distributed across India.
- This has resulted in estimated energy savings of 46.92 billion kWh per year, avoided peak demand of 9,394 MW, and an estimated GHG emission reduction of 38 million t CO2 annually.
SLNP
- Under the SLNP programme, over 1.03 crore smart LED streetlights have been installed till date, enabling an estimated energy savings of 6.97 billion kWh per year with an avoided peak demand of 1,161 MW and an estimated GHG emission reduction of 4.80 million tonnes CO2 annually.
- LED streetlights have been installed in various states across the country, helping generate approximately 13,000 jobs to support Make in India initiative.
- This has enabled citizens to increase productivity at night and made roads safer for pedestrians and motorists due to enhanced brightness and reduced dark spots.
- As these lights are automated, they switch on and off at sunrise and sunset thereby reducing wastage.
- In the last five years, the LED streetlights installed have illuminated 3,00,000 km of roads in India, enabling public safety and energy efficient lighting.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2-Issues relating to development and management of Social sector/services relating to health,education, Human resources.
Context
Death of 100 children in the month of December at a Government Hospital in Kota highlights the state of the public health system in India.
Public health as a political agenda
- After the incident of a large number of children in such a short span, Rajasthan CM appealed not to politicise the issue.
- But it is high time the issue is in fact politicised.
- The issue of public health needs to be pushed at the top of the political agenda.
- Citizens must hold political parties accountable for the state of healthcare in the country.
Poor infrastructure
- Until the number of deaths crosses a certain threshold the poor state of infrastructure fails to attract the attention of the authorities.
- This hospital came to light like Gorakhpur Medical college where scores of children had died only after media reports of 963 child deaths.
Conclusion
Every single death in a hospital ought to be seen as a failure that needs to be addressed urgently. For that, the government needs to make public health a priority.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Nothing much.
Mains level: Paper 2- International relations
Context
The recent targeted killing of Commander of Quds Forces of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) by the US raised the tension in the region to a new high level. The imminent blowback from Iran could have several consequences for the rest of the world including India.
Different from past killings
- Though the U.S. has carried out many such targeted killings in the past but this case bears two important differences to the past killings.
- Unlike Osama bin Laden or Abu Bakr, Gen. Soleimani was a state actor.
- Unlike the above mentioned two, he was not past his prime.
Roles played by Gen. Soleimani
- He was the founder-commander of Iran’s Quds Force-formed for extra-territorial operations.
- He enhanced Iran’s influence in the Arab countries by leveraging the disarray in the region.
- Arab countries with a significant Shia population such as Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen came under Iranian influence.
What could be the fallouts
- Tit-for-tat between Iran and the U.S. could easily go out of hand and precipitate into a major confrontation.
- Both countries have domestic compulsions- there are elections due in both countries.
- These compulsions limit options for both countries to low-intensity skirmishes.
- The fact that the killing was carried on the Iraqi soil also assumes significance.
- The incident could increase the problems in Iraq which is rocked by three months of youth protests against undue foreign interference by both Iran and the U.S.
- The event is also likely to re-polarise the Iraqi society along sectarian lines.
- In the worst-case scenario Iraq could turn into the new Syria.
Potential fallout for India
- Global oil prices have already seen a 4% rise in within hours of the incident.
- India has already faced difficulty in maintaining relations with both countries because of the U.S.-Iran cold war.
- While we want to be on the right side of the U.S., our ties with Iran apart from being civilisational have their own geostrategic logic.
- With conflict turning hot, its adverse impact on India could magnify.
- High oil prices will definitely increase our import bill and increase difficulties in supplies.
- Safety of an estimated 8 million expatriates in the Gulf may be affected.
- Iran could influence the U.S.-Taliban peace process in Afghanistan which in turn increases India’s woes.
- After Iran, India has a large number of Shia population and some of them could be radicalised due to the event.
Conclusion
The event, if turn into a wider conflict between the two countries, could have many consequences for India from soaring oil prices and maintaining the balance between the two countries to the safety of expatriates in the Gulf.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much.
Mains level: Paper 2-Issues relating to development and management of social sector/ services relating to health, education, human resources.
At the End TB summit, 2018 the prime minister of India made a bold commitment to end tuberculosis by 2025-five years ahead of the global target. Which is possible to achieve if the efforts are put at the level it was done in case of polio.
The toll taken by TB
- Despite the disease being fully curable, people still die from it.
- TB usually affects people in their most productive years and drives families into debt.
- It has a direct link to human suffering, discrimination and also poverty.
- Due to its infectious spread, it directly affects our economic growth as well.
- With resilience, sufficient investment, innovative approaches and strategies and the participation of all stakeholders, TB can be defeated.
First Step- Awareness
- The first step is the creation of awareness and empowering of communities.
- TB affects millions, yet very few know enough about it.
- Multilingual, multi-stakeholder awareness effort to ensure that all Indians knows about the challenges of TB and where to seek treatment is required.
- With the expansion of the media and evolving technology, it is possible to reach everyone with the right information.
Second Step- Access to diagnosis and treatment
- Ensuring that every Indian get access to correct diagnosis and treatment for TB, regardless of their ability to pay for it is the second step.
- To do so, working with the private sector is necessary as was done in the case of polio.
- There are numerous innovative private-sector programmes and partnership schemes for TB.
Role of Private sector
- Recently launched programmes for doctors and labs offer the private sector various incentives.
- Even today, about half a million TB cases go unnotified, especially those seeking care in the private sector.
- Those cases need to be tracked and ensured that everyone in the need of treatment and care gets it.
- Organisations like Indian Medical Association and Indian Academy of Paediatrics are working with the private sector to ensure patient-centric care as per “Standards of TB Care in India” (STCI).
Drug-resistant TB
- A key challenge is building a forward-looking plan to address and control drug resistance.
- Drug-resistant TB is a man-made menace that is a major roadblock in a fight against TB.
- Every TB patient must be tested for drug resistance at the first point of care, whether in the public or private sector, to rule out any drug resistance.
Efforts by the government
- Nikshay Poshan Yojana -in which TB patients receive Rs 500 every month while on treatment was launched.
- Nikshay Poshan Yojana ensure that the patients have economic support and nutrition during the required period.
- ‘TB Harega Desh Jeetega Campaign’ was launched to accelerate the efforts to end TB by 2025.
- The campaign aims to initiate preventive and promotive health approaches.
- By applying “multi-sectoral and community-led” approach, the government is building a national movement to end TB by 2025.
- Resource allocation towards the TB Elimination Programme has been increased by four-fold.
- Sincere efforts need to be made to make our health systems more accessible and reliable.
- It also required to ensure that those seeking care trust the healthcare system and get the appropriate care for completing treatment.
- There is a need to create more labs, point of care tests, an assured drug pipeline, access to new drugs.
- The government should also ensure counselling and support for those affected.
- Every patient who is diagnosed late and does not receive timely treatment continues to infect others.
- To break this cycle, government machinery at the field level should work with communities and provide free diagnosis and treatment to every affected individual.
Conclusion
With all the efforts, planning and resource put in place to eradicate the menace of TB from India, it is possible to achieve the goal by 2025.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Urban lakes in India
Mains level: Wetland conservation in India
Context
- Historically, cities were built along waterways or lakes.
- Over time, human settlements near water bodies and lakes have transformed the natural environment into the towns and cities we see today.
- Urban lakes are an important part of city ecosystems as they play a major role in providing environmental, social and economic services.
Famous Urban Lakes in India
Carambolim (Goa), Chilika (Odisha), Dal (Jammu and Kashmir), Deepor Beel (Assam), Khabartal (Bihar), Kolleru (Andhra Pradesh), Loktak (Manipur), Naini (Uttrakhand), Nalsarovar (Gujarat), and Vembanad (Kerala)
Threats to these Lakes
These lake ecosystems are presently endangered due to anthropogenic disturbances caused by Urbanisation as they have been heavily degraded due to pollution from disposal of untreated local sewage or due to encroachment, resulting in shrunken lakes.
Why conserve them?
- Lakes in urban areas provide us with prime opportunities for recreation, tourism and domestic purposes.
- They hold historical and traditional values and at places are a source of water supply for a municipality.
- Appropriate lake function can ease the impact of floods and droughts by storing large amounts of water and releasing it during shortages.
- Lakes also help in replenishing groundwater level as they are essential receptors for groundwater recharge, positively influencing water quality of downstream watercourses and preserving the biodiversity and habitat of the surrounding area.
- Lakes in urban areas are also used as a source of water for industries, irrigation and agriculture.
Defining Urban Lakes
- There is no specific definition for ‘urban lakes’ in India.
- According to the National Lake Conservation Plan (NLCP), a water body having a minimum depth of three metres, spread over more than 10 hectares, and having no or very little aquatic vegetation, is considered as a lake.
The definition provided by NLCP is based on broad hydrological and morphometry criteria of a lake:
- The apparent definition of urban lakes seems to those located entirely within city limits (census town) and directly surrounded by urban developments, with some recreation facilities limited to the shoreline area (parks, playgrounds).
OR
- The lakes which are predominantly affected by urban human populations and their drainage basin is dominated by urbanisation, rather than geology, soils or agriculture. Such lakes are situated only partially within city limits, or attached but not necessarily surrounded, entirely by city development.
Issues with the definition
- One of the obstacles for effective protection of these interlinked lakes in cities is the lack of a clear definition of an ‘urban lake’ in the Indian context.
- The definition provided under the guideline of NLCP acknowledges only broad hydrological criteria to define a water body as a lake.
- This definition ignores the fact that the water depth and spread keep changing every year, depending on various environmental factors.
- In fact, there are very few urban lakes that fit into this definition since most of them occupy a small area (<10 ha), are seasonal and shallow.
Various policy measures
Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act in 1974
- Planning interventions for water bodies started as early as 1927.
- In the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act in 1974, directions were given to control the flow of sewage and industrial effluents into water bodies.
Ramsar Convention
- The need for lake conservation was felt when India became a signatory to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, 1982.
- The Convention called for the conservation and wise use of wetlands (including water bodies).
- Twenty-six Ramsar sites, covering an area of 689,000 ha, were identified in India.
National Wetland Conservation Programme
- The Indian government operationalised the Programme in closed collaboration with concerned state governments during 1985-86 under the MoEFCC notification.
- Recognising the importance of lakes, the Ministry launched NLCP, a centrally sponsored scheme exclusively aimed at restoring the water quality and ecology of lakes in different parts of the country.
- Under the programme, 115 wetlands were identified, which required urgent conservation and management initiatives.
- The selection of lakes was on hydrological (Lake size over 10 acres or 3 acres if of religious and cultural importance and lake depth more than three metres), scientific and administrative criteria.
- The scheme was approved by the Union government during the Ninth Plan (June 2001) as 100 per cent central grant.
- From 100 per cent central funding, the costs are now shared according to a ratio of 70:30 between the Union and the concerned state government.
Repair, Renovation and Restoration of Waterbodies’ Scheme
- In continuation with the NLCP, the Centre had launched this Scheme in 2005,
- The objectives of the scheme were comprehensive improvement and restoration of traditional waterbodies, including increasing tank storage capacity, ground water recharge, etc.
National Plan for Conservation of Aquatic Eco-systems (NPCA)
- Later, in 2016, the National Lake Conservation Plan was merged with National Wetlands Conservation Programme to form NPCA.
- The principal objectives of NPCA are holistic conservation and the restoration of lakes and wetlands through an integrated and multidisciplinary approach with a common regulatory framework.
- All lakes that were a part of NLCP, were brought under this scheme, and are being restored till date.
Why Urban Lakes still needs more attention?
- Even after 26 years of pollution abatement works, only ten per cent of waste water generated in the country is treated.
- The rest collects as cess pools or is discharged into the 14 major, 55 minor and several hundred other rivers.
- It is quite clear that the overall status of quality of water in rivers, lakes and its links to groundwater has not been adequately addressed.
- Out of the 43 Indian guidelines passed by the central and state government, 41 per cent of those talk about conservation and restoration of waterbodies but only 10 per cent exactly describe the conservative measure.
- Only 22 per cent of the guidelines are on subjects related to policies to be adopted by state government, urban local bodies etc.
- This clearly identifies the missing links and marks the future prospects that India should adopt for the preparation of better and sustainable lake management plans.
Need for a comprehensive Lake Management Plan
- ‘Lake management planning’ is an approach for different stakeholders to come together with a common interest in improving and protecting their lake.
- Focusing on planning process rather than quick-fix solutions makes lake rejuvenation a manageable process.
- Moreover, it guides how time and resources are utilised, keeping future sustainability of the lake in account. It includes:
- Encourages partnerships between concerned citizens, special interest groups, government body and water resources management practitioners
- Identifies the concerns regarding the catchment/watershed of the lake
- Sets realistic goals, objectives, and (short, medium and long-term) actions, and identifies needed funds and personnel.
Conclusion
- Under the Jal Shakti mission and AMRUT, the revival /rejuvenation of water bodies is in piecemeal approach, with short-term measures like beautification, enhancing recreational activities, addressing immediate solid waste dumping into waterbody etc.
- Although cities have initiated to work towards water bodies’ rejuvenation, the long-term approach is still missing.
Way Forward
- Since a lake is a reflection of its catchment area, it is essential to first understand the significant changes or trends concerning the primary land uses within the catchment area / watershed draining into the lake.
- There is no approach which defines the planning process for preparation of short, medium and long-term action plans for lake rejuvenation, considering its watershed area.
- It is essential to have a document with clear understanding of the lake’s watershed area, with specific goals, objectives, producing time-bound action plans.
- Conservation of Lakes and wetlands through an integrated and multidisciplinary approach with a common regulatory framework should be carried out.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Railways Board
Mains level: Read the attached story
The Cabinet recently approved trimming of the Railway Board, the powerful body that governs the Indian Railways. From nine, the Board will now have only five Members.
The move has led to protests from serving civil servants, prompting the Railway Board to reach out to them to allay their concerns.
What is the proposed restructure?
- The Cabinet has decided to merge all central service cadres of Railways officers into a single Indian Railways Management Service (IRMS).
- Now, any eligible officer could occupy any post, including Board Member posts, irrespective of training and specialization since they will all belong to IRMS.
- The five members of the Board, other than a Chairman-cum-CEO, will now be the Members Infrastructure, Finance, Rolling Stock, Track, and Operations and Business Development.
- The Board will also have independent Members, who will be industry experts with at least 30 years of experience, but in non-executive roles, only attending Board meetings.
- A separate exam under the Union Public Service Commission is proposed to be instituted in 2021 to induct IRMS officers.
What is the present system like?
- The Indian Railways is governed by a pool of officers, among whom engineers are recruited after the Indian Engineering Service Examination, and civil servants through the Civil Services Examination.
- The civil servants are in the Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS), Indian Railway Accounts Service (IRAS) and Indian Railway Personnel Service (IRPS).
- The engineers are in five technical service cadres — Indian Railway Service of Engineers (IRSE), Indian Railway Service of Mechanical Engineers (IRSME), Indian Railway Service of Electrical Engineers (IRSEE), Indian Railway Service of Signal Engineers (IRSSE) and the Indian Railway Stores Service (IRSS).
- Until the 1950s, the Railways system was run by officers from just three main streams: Traffic, Civil Engineering, and Mechanical. The other streams emerged as separate services over time.
Why was the reform needed?
- The railways departments were working “in silos” and hence the government wanted to end this inter-departmental rivalries, which was been hindering growth for decades.
- Several committees including the Bibek Debroy committee in 2015 have noted that “departmentalism” is a major problem in the system.
- Most committees have said merger of the services in some form would be a solution.
- The Debroy report recommended merging of all services to create two distinct services: Technical and Logistics. But it did not say how to merge the existing officers.
Why are officers opposed to the move?
- The questions started with a proposal to merge all 8,400 officers in the eight services — five technical and three non-technical — to prepare a common seniority list.
- Those protesting the government’s decision say that the merger is unscientific and against established norms, because it proposes to merge two fundamentally dissimilar entities, with multiple disparities.
- First, the civil servants come from all walks of life after clearing the Civil Services Examination.
- The engineers usually sit for the Engineering Services Examination right after getting an engineering degree.
- Various studies have noted that engineers join the Railways around the age of 22-23, while the civil servants join when they are around 26, barring exceptions.
- The age difference starts to pinch at the later stages of their careers, when higher-grade posts are fewer. There are more engineers than civil servants.
- Protesters are also saying that the merger is against the service conditions which civil servants sign up for while choosing an alternative if they cannot make it to IAS.
What will change with the restructure?
- In inter-departmental seniority — a complex process to fix, which has led to court cases in the past — problems arise when different services compete for posts that are open to all.
- those of Divisional Railway Managers (DRMs), GMs, and subsequently, the Chairman Railway Board. And here lies the major criticism of the move.
- The civil servants are saying that if all present cadres are merged and even higher departmental posts become open to all, engineers, being in larger numbers and of a certain age profile, may end up occupying most posts.
- Another aspect is the suitability of jobs. The move, many say, emerges from the “simplistic” belief that while non-technical specialists cannot do technical jobs, technocrats can do both.
- The counter-argument is that civil servants in government, by virtue of the screening process and subsequent training, possess acumen and skills that go beyond academic specialization.
How did the Railways get here?
- Departmental posts are ring-fenced; promotions happen within each department from officers of that service.
- The problem starts when, within a department, there are too many officers eligible for a few posts.
- A department needs a constant supply of posts in higher grades to keep promoting its seniors so that the juniors can keep getting timely promotions.
- In the Railways, this has happened either organically when the government restructured the cadres and created new posts at intervals of several years, or through the execution of projects.
- Across the Railways, the internal attempt by each department has always been to get a bigger share of resources to spend on projects, although the limited funds are meant for all.
- The departments grew, promotional prospects expanded, even if Railways did not. The “temporary” posts were almost never surrendered, and were “regularised” over time.
- This was most prevalent in the technical departments and, to an extent, in the Accounts department as well, officials say.
What’s next?
- The current demand is for two distinct services instead of one — a civil services, and one that encompasses all engineering specialisations.
- The logic is that functionally, departments will continue to exist through various technical and non-technical specialisations, so merging them will not end departmentalism per se.
- The government has on record assured all existing officers that no one’s seniority will be hampered and promotion prospects will be protected.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Savitribai and Jyotirao Phule and thier legacy
Mains level: Pioneers of women education in the colonial India
Yesterday, January 3rd was birth anniversary of one of India’s first modern feminists and a social reformer Savitribai Phule. She is especially remembered for being India’s first female teacher who worked for the upliftment of women and untouchables in the field of education and literacy.
Who was Savitribai Phule?
- Phule was born in Naigaon, Maharashtra in 1831 and married activist and social-reformer Jyotirao Phule when she was nine years old.
- After marriage, with her husband’s support, Phule learned to read and write and both of them eventually went on to found India’s first school for girls called Bhide Wada in Pune in 1948.
- Before this, she started a school with Jyotirao’s cousin Saganbai in Maharwada in 1847.
- Since at that time the idea of teaching girls was considered to be a radical one, people would often throw dung and stones at her as she made her way to the school.
- Significantly, it was not easy for the Phule’s to advocate for the education of women and the untouchables since in Maharashtra a nationalist discourse was playing out between 1881-1920 led by Bal Gangadhar Tilak.
- These nationalists including Tilak opposed the setting up of schools for girls and non-Brahmins citing loss of nationality.
Her work
- Essentially, both Jyotirao and Savitribai recognised that education was one of the central planks through which women and the depressed classes could become empowered and hope to stand on an equal footing with the rest of the society.
- The Phules started the Literacy Mission in India between 1854-55.
- They started the Satyashodhak Samaj (Society for Truth-Seeking), through which they wanted to initiate the practice of Satyashodhak marriage, in which no dowry was taken.
- Because of the role played in the field of women’s education, she is also considered to be one of the “crusaders of gender justice”.
- Her books of poems “Kavya Phule” and “Bavan Kashi Subodh Ratnakar” were published in 1934 and 1982.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Op Save Kurma
Mains level: Wildlife conservation in India
A first-of-its-kind rehabilitation centre for freshwater turtles will be inaugurated in Bihar’s Bhagalpur forest division in January 2020.
About the rehab centre
- The centre, spread over half a hectare, will be able to shelter 500 turtles at a time.
- Earlier, rescued turtles were released into rivers without much treatment in the absence of any facility.
- In the rehab centre they will be properly monitored before being released in their natural habitat.
Why need such centre?
- The need to build such a centre was felt after several turtles were found severely wounded and sick when rescued from smuggles by rescue teams.
- This centre will play a significant role in treating these animals and their proper upkeep before being returned to their natural habitat.
Why Bhagalpur?
- Eastern Bihar has been an ideal breeding ground for turtles.
- In Bhagalpur, the flow of water in the Ganga is ample. Also, there are many sandbanks in the middle of the river, which are ideal breeding ground for turtles.
Significance of turtles
- According to environmentalists, the turtles play a significant role in the river by scavenging dead organic materials and diseased fish.
- They control fish population by their predation and control aquatic plants and weeds.
- They are also described as indicators of healthy aquatic ecosystems.
Various threats
- According to a recent study conducted by Traffic India, around 11,000 turtles are being smuggled in India every year. In the past 10 years, as many as 110,000 turtles have been traded.
- These species are now under severe threats due to habitat fragmentation and loss through dams and barrages, pollution, illegal poaching, accidental drowning through fishing nets and threats to their nesting habitats etc.
- The turtles have come under serious threat primarily for two reasons — food and the flourishing pet trade.
- Turtles are being frequently targeted for meat due to the prevailing belief that it gives an energy boost and keeps various diseases away.
Back2Basics
Operation Save Kurma
- It is a periodic species specific operation on turtles conducted by Wildlife Crimes Control Bureau since 2017.
- Under this, a total of 15,739 live turtles were recovered from 45 suspects, having inter-state linkages.
- It helped the enforcement agencies to focus on the existing trade routes and major trade hubs in the country, which will be continued in future.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Patola Saree
Mains level: Promoting Khadi and village industries
In a historic initiative taken by Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC), a first Silk Processing Plant was inaugurated at Surendranagar in Gujarat.
It would help cut down the cost of production of silk yarn drastically and increase the sale and availability of raw material for Gujarati Patola Sarees.
Patola Sarees
- Patola is a double ikat (dying technique) woven sari, usually made from silk made in Patan, Gujarat.
- They are very expensive, once worn only by those belonging to royal and aristocratic families. These saris are popular among those who can afford the high prices.
- Reason being the raw material silk yarn is purchased from Karnataka or West Bengal, where silk processing units are situated, thus increasing the cost of the fabric manifolds.
- Patola-weaving is a closely guarded family tradition. There are three families in Patan that weave these highly prized double ikat saris.
- It can take six months to one year to make one sari due to the long process of dying each strand separately before weaving them together.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Nothing much
Mains level: Paper 3-Cyber security
Context
The Personal Data Protection Bill which was introduced in Lok Sabha contains a certain provision that might have implications for India’s digital economy. These provisions must be carefully considered as Parliament reviews the proposed legislation.
What are the stated objectives of the bill?
- The first purpose deals with privacy concerns.
- Its purpose is to safeguard the constitutional guarantee of privacy for Indian citizens
- The second purpose is to provide a just and equitable vision for the future of India’s digital economy
What are the incongruent provisions?
- One of the provision enables the central government to direct the regulated entity under the act to provide anonymised personal data.
- The government wants to use this anonymised personal data to enable the targeted delivery of services or evidence-based policymaking
- The above provisions could have certain implications that need to be carefully considered.
Anonymised data and issues with it
- Under the bill, anonymised data refers to data from which all the markers of identity have been irreversibly removed.
- Recent research shows that the present methods of anonymisation are imperfect.
- With the use of modern machine learning techniques, the data released as “anonymous” can be re-identified.
- So, the approach to regulation of anonymised data must be contextual and sectoral- with a focus on finance and healthcare.
Use of big data and AI in governance
- The government also plans to use big data and artificial intelligence within governance and planning systems.
- The use of these techniques has the potential to increase government capacity and transparency.
- It can also help in making an informed decision about economic and social planning.
- However, the provision ignores the multiplicity of existing and inchoate rights like IPRs (Intellectual Property Rights), copyrights and trade secret protections.
Consequences of the conflicting provision
- While the government wants the data to be open for acquisition similar to the power of “eminent domain” over land, but it comes in conflict with existing laws.
- It comes in conflict with the copyright acts, intellectual property rights, and trade secret laws.
- Databases are commercially significant for commercial companies.
- Overlap of these existing rights within the government system can jeopardise accountability and transparency.
Problems with Big data and AI in governance
- Unregulated use of the database in governance could have consequences for the people and communities who are being made visible or being invisible by this data.
- A shift from a qualitative method like census to the quantitative method like big data which is collected in a different context and used for a different purpose may not be smooth.
- Such data will be incomplete for governance.
- The data could also be replete with biases of the private entity collecting the data.
- So, the use of this unregulated data for policymaking or targeting beneficiaries could be disastrous.
Way forward
The regulation of non-personal data must take into account both the potential harms to individual privacy as well as the wider social and political consequences of the use of data for governance.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Provisions of anti-defection law.
Mains level: GS Paper 2-Parliament and the state legislature-Structure functioning, conduct of business, power and privileges, and the issues arising out of it
Context
In the recently concluded by-election in Karnataka, most of the disqualified MLA’s were re-elected. This set of the event lay down a well-structured framework to sidestep the law, it even set a dangerous precedent for neutralising the consequences of the Anti-Defection Law altogether.
Historical background
- Defection is not new to the Indian political landscape.
- An independent MLA from Haryana had switched parties three times in two weeks in 1967.
- The recurrence of this phenomenon led to the 1985 Anti-Defection Law.
Provisions of the law
- The law defined three grounds for disqualification-Giving up party membership, violation of whip, and abstaining from voting.
- Before the amendment, the law allowed for a “split” in the party if at least one-third of the MLAs defect.
- 91st Constitutional Amendment in 2003 deleted the provision allowing split.
- Resignation is not the condition for disqualification.
- This loophole was exploited by the MLAs in Karnataka while they resigned.
- The resignation was not accepted by the speaker of the house and declared the MLAs disqualified.
- Law puts no time constraint on the speaker to decide on the resignation of MLAs.
Speaker as a tribunal under law
- The law originally protected the Speaker’s decision from judicial review.
- This safeguard was struck down in Kihoto Hollohan v. Zachillhu and Others (1992).
- In this case, the SC upheld the Speaker’s discretionary power, it underscored that the Speaker functioned as a tribunal under the law.
- This made the Speaker’s decision subject to judicial review.
- The same was said in Shrimanth Balasaheb Patel & Others v. Speaker Karnataka Legislative Assembly & Others (2019).
Neutral role of the SC
- The SC struck down ban on Karnataka disqualified MLAs from contesting election till 2023.
- This effectively removed the only possible permanent solution to the problem.
Way forward
The minimum period limit of six years is needed to ensure that the defectors are not allowed to enter the election fray for at least one election cycle which is five years.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Partition of Bengal
Mains level: Partition of Bengal and its significance
West Bengal Governor drew widespread condemnation over his tweet referring to a table, apparently used by Lord Curzon to sign papers pertaining to the Partition of Bengal in 1905, as “iconic”.
Who was Lord Curzon?
- Curzon, India’s Viceroy between 1899 and 1905, was one of the most controversial and consequential holders of that post.
- The partition of the undivided Bengal Presidency in 1905 was one of his most criticised moves, which triggered widespread opposition not only in Bengal but across India, and gave impetus to the freedom movement.
- Curzon was deeply racist, and convinced of Britain’s “civilizing mission” in India.
- In 1901, he described Indians as having “extraordinary inferiority in character, honesty and capacity”.
- He was deeply intolerant of Indian political aspirations.
The Partition of Bengal
- In July 1905, Curzon announced the partition of the undivided Bengal Presidency.
- The Presidency was the most populous province in India, with around 8 crore people, and comprised the present-day states of West Bengal, Bihar, parts of Chhattisgarh, Odisha, and Assam, as well as today’s Bangladesh.
- A new province of East Bengal and Assam was announced, with a population of 3.1 crore, and a Muslim-Hindu ratio of 3:2. Bengal, the western province, was overwhelmingly Hindu.
- While the move was ostensibly aimed at making the administration of the large region easier, Curzon’s real intentions were far less benign.
Aftermath of the partition
- The partition provoked great resentment and hostility in Bengal.
- It was clear to the Bengal Congress and patriotic Indians in both Bengal and elsewhere that Curzon’s motive was to crush the increasingly loud political voices of the literate class in the province, and to provoke religious strife and opposition against them.
- But the protests against the partition did not remain confined to this class alone.
- A campaign to boycott British goods, especially textiles, and promote swadeshi began.
- There were marches and demonstrations with the protesters singing Bande Mataram to underline their patriotism and challenge the colonialists.
- Samitis emerged throughout Bengal, with several thousand volunteers.
- Rabindranath Tagore led the marches at many places, and composed many patriotic songs, most famously ‘Amar Sonar Bangla’ (My Golden Bengal), which is now the national anthem of Bangladesh.
- The message of patriotism and Bengali nationalism was showcased in Jatras, or popular theatre.
Scrapping of the partition
- Curzon left for Britain in 1905, but the agitation continued for many years.
- Partition was finally reversed in 1911 by Lord Hardinge in the face of unrelenting opposition.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now