Author: Explains

Why in News?

India ranks 177 among 180 countries in the Environmental Performance Index 2018.

A drop in the rank from the last index demands a relook at the country’s environmental policy.

About Environmental Performance Index?

1. It is a biennial report published by Yale and Columbia Universities in collaboration with the World Economic Forum.
2. It ranks 180 countries based on 24 performance indicators.
3. It is divided into 10 categories covering environmental health and ecosystem validity.
4. Top rank in sustainability taken by Switzerland, followed by France, Denmark, Malta and Sweden in the recent EPI.

India’s status

1. India at the 177th place is one of the bottom 5 countries on the index.
2. The 177th place is a drop of 36 points from 141 in 2016.
3. Emerging economies like Brazil and China ranks at 69 and 120.
4. India is at the bottom of the environmental health category.
5. In terms of air quality, India is at third last.
6. Poor performance in the environmental health policy and high pollution-related deaths are the major factors in the overall drop.
7. Other major causes include pollution from solid fuels, coal and crop residue burning and emissions from motor vehicles.
8. Increasingly degrading air quality in India is attributed to the growth in population, industrial production, and automotive transportation.

Concerns

Health

1. Air quality is the leading environmental threat to public health
2. Over the past decade, the deaths due to a large rise in ultra-fine PM 2.5 particles in the country.
3. An estimated 1.4 million premature deaths in India is due to Air pollution.

Economy

1. Health impacts cause a serious loss in welfare equivalent to about 8% of GDP in 2013.
2. The cost of labor productivity became 1.8% of GDP.
3. Environmental degradation particularly affects the poor and further degrades their standard of living.

Measures taken

Over the past few years, the government has set some ambitious targets for environmental protection as follows

1. Strict environmental standards for coal-fired power plants.
2. Bharat Stage VI emission norms to be implemented from April 1, 2020.
3. Initiatives to manufacture and sell electric vehicles in the country by 2030.
4. Revision of National Solar Mission.
5. Encouraging transition to renewable energy.
6. The target for solar capacity revised from 20GW to 100 GW by 2022.
7. Target to clean highly polluted Ganga by 2018.

Challenges

1. There is a huge gap between policy goals and enforcement.
2. On solar targets, India seems to be moving in the right path. However, balancing it with other goals is seriously lacking.
3. For example,

• The government has relaxed its promise of implementing strict power plant emission norms by December 2017.
• The 30% annual E-waste collection target by manufacturers has been relaxed to 10%.

1. The automobile industry has stated that full conversion to electric vehicles is possible only by 2047 which is in contrast to the government’s targets.
2. In the clean Ganga initiative, there have been delays in creating an action plan and lack of proper fund utilization.

Way forward

1. In order to address the environmental problems, there is a need to recognize the environmental costs of development.
2. Subsidies shall be given in order to accelerate the transition to renewable, particularly solar energy.
3. More polluting fuels should be priced higher.
4. The environmental standards for coal power plants should be strict.
5. Petrol and Diesel should be priced higher in order to aid the transition to electric vehicles.
6. More political will is required to effectively implement the existing environmental laws and regulations.
7. Considering India’s poor performance in the index, the government should take forward the environmental targets seriously.

Practice question

1. “India’s performance in the recent Environmental Performance Index was poor”. Discuss various reasons for the same and suggest suitable measures to improve India’s ranking.

Why in News?

1. Recently, India’s draft space activity bill, 2017 was unveiled
2. It aims at promoting and regulating the space activities in India
3. The legislation is expected to encourage both public and private players to participate in India’s space programme.

Why is there a need for a space law?

1. Currently, space activities are regulated by policies like Satellite communication policy, 2000 and Remote Sensing Data Policy, 2011. But there is a need for the proper legal environment for orderly performance and growth of the space sector.
2. Nations such as the USA, Russia, UK, etc. have their own space legislation. Even China and Japan are in the process of formulating their own domestic space legislation.
3. Earlier, ISRO was the sole player in the space sector. However lately, there have been many start-ups mushrooming in this sector, which calls for a regulatory mechanism and legislation to govern their activities.
4. Furthermore, the demand for Indian space products has been growing both in the country and outside the country. So it is necessary to include Indian industry and service providers in space activities under the technical guidance of the Department of Space (DOS) and the growth of the Indian space sector.
5. A legislation is required as India is obligated to UN outer space treaties which require signatories to have a national legislation in place.

What are the key features of the bill?

1. The provisions would be applicable to all citizens and also to those sectors which are engaged in space activity either inside or outside the country.
2. It provides for the grant of a non-transferrable license to those people engaged in commercial space activity.
3. It provides for the appropriate mechanisms for licensing, eligibility criteria and fees for the license.
4. Union government will have to maintain a register of space objects that are launched or to be launched around the earth.
5. It provides for technical support in order to facilitate commercial space activity.
6. It also provides for regulatory procedures for conduct and operation of space activity.
7. It provides for restrictions in sharing of details regarding the pricing of products created through space activity with any person or agency.
8. It provides for punishment for persons involved in illegal commercial space activities with imprisonment up to 3 years or fine more than Rs 1 crore or both
9. It also has provisions for the protection of IPR created through space activity.

Arguments favouring the bill

1. Definition: The bill clearly defines space players, licenses, violations, objects, people, and geography. It is also proposed to define detailed guidelines in consultation with stakeholders and industry bodies.
2. Promotion: The bill encourages non-governmental players to take the risk and invest in space activities in India. This will make India a commercial hub for space activities and generate jobs in the country.

Arguments against the bill

1. Clarity: Experts have criticized the bill for its lack of clarity on the use of space objects.
2. Regulation: It gives arbitrary power to the government for monitoring the research activities. This would scare away international investors from investing in the space sector of India.
3. Liability: The bill made the government non-liable for any harm caused by the commercial activities by the non-governmental players in space even though the government gives clearance for their involvement in the space activities.

Way forward

The bill is a welcome step in promoting the space sector. But to enable competitive ecosystem in the space sector there is a need to conduct a review of international best practices in managing the space value chain and inducting them within the Act.

Why in News

Recently, the Union and State governments agreed to implement the direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme in the power sector for better targeting of electricity subsidies.

Key features

1. Under the scheme, electricity will be provided to consumers at market rates and those eligible get the subsidy amount directly in their bank accounts.
2. The cash payment under DBT will be equivalent to the level of payment announced by the state government for per unit of electricity consumption.
3. The state would decide the subsidy based on average consumption data of a particular set of consumers.
4. It is to be first launched under a pilot project and the full launch by 2019 when state discoms cleared their losses and started generating profit under UDAY.
5. To make discoms more responsive, any disruption in electricity will be penalized after March 2019.
6. For achieving efficiency and reduce losses, 100% metering will be done and there will be no human interface in consumer sides such as metering, billing, and collections.

Need for DBT in the power sector

1. India’s electricity distribution sector has been facing huge loss over the years even after the launch of UDAY (Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana).
2. Currently, discoms provide subsidy by the cross-subsidization method. Cross-subsidization is done by subsidizing the electricity tariff of households while keeping the tariff for commercial and industrial consumers high.
3. People who are capable of paying the tariff benefits from cross-subsidization, but people who can’t pay (small business) are affected due to high electricity costs. Hence, DBT would solve the problem by direct targeting.
4. India’s per capita power consumption is around 1200 kilowatt-hour (kWh) which is among the lowest in the world. The government has the vision to provide 24×7 power to all by 2019. So power leakage and inefficient distribution shall be minimized with DBT and provide power to all households particularly those who lack.
5. In 2016, NITI Aayog recommended launching DBT in power distribution.

Benefits

1. DBT in power sector will result in better targeting of subsidies without any leakages and delays.
2. It will result in savings to the government exchequer.
3. The tariff rationalization under the proposed reforms would help discoms escape from losses and recover input costs.
4. It would result in the development of small industries who were earlier affected by cross-subsidization.

Challenges

1. Unless metering is done at the lowest levels (backward and rural areas), the power sector will not survive.
2. DBT is done through Aadhaar. However, the biometric authentication of poor people has not complete.
3. There is also the need to remove the ghost beneficiaries.

Way forward

DBT in the power sector is a welcome move which would help India achieve 24×7 power for all target. However, the implementation should also be effective in ensuring the success of this scheme with proper monitoring, prompt payments, grievance redressal mechanisms for non-payments or delayed payments, removing ghost beneficiaries etc.

Practice questions

Do you think that the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) in the power sector would help the government in achieving the 24×7 power for all target? Critically examine.