Author: Explains

Change in Plastic Waste Management Rules

1. The Union ministry of environment, forest and climate change amended the Plastic Waste Management Rules (2016)
2. According to the amendment, manufacturers, suppliers, and sellers of plastic (and plastic products) across the nation will now be required to phase out, over a period of two years, all such products which have no alternative use or are non-recyclable and non-energy recoverable
3. This move was preceded by a state-wide ban in Maharashtra on the manufacture, usage, sale (wholesale and retail), distribution, storage and import of plastic bags and all disposable products made out of plastic

What comprises Plastic waste? What are its components?

1. The plastics waste constitutes two major categories of plastics – Thermoplastics and Thermoset plastics.
2. Thermoplastics constitute 80% and Thermoset constitutes approximately 20% of total post-consumer plastics waste generated in India.
3. The Thermoplastics are recyclable plastics which include; Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET), Low-Density Poly Ethylene (LDPE), Poly Vinyl Chloride (PVC), High-Density Poly Ethylene (HDPE), Polypropylene(PP), Polystyrene (PS) etc.
4. The Thermoset plastics contains alkyd, epoxy, ester, melamine formaldehyde, phenol formaldehyde, silicon, urea formaldehyde, polyurethane, metalized and multilayer plastics etc.

Need for this step

1. India has an uninspiring record when it comes to handling waste
2. India’s plastic waste is estimated officially at 26,000 tonnes a day
3. If the Centre and the States had got down to dealing with the existing regulations on plastic waste management and municipal solid waste, a ban would not even have become necessary.
4. Specifications for the recycling of different types of plastics were issued two decades ago by the Bureau of Indian Standards but it was not implemented on the ground
5. It is stated that 15, 000 tonnes of plastic waste is generated every day, out of which 9, 000 tonnes is collected and processed, but 6, 000 tonnes of plastic waste is not being collected.
6. In particular, the plastic carry bags are the biggest contributors of littered waste and every year, millions of plastic bags end up in to the environment vis-a-vis soil, water bodies, water courses and it takes an average of one thousand years to decompose completely.

Criticisms of this step

1. To the people employed in the industry, it could mean the shutdown of factories and potential job losses
2. To the consumer, it would mean choosing between alternatives that are either too expensive, impractical or not as easily available
3. The unrealistic timeline for the implementation of the plastic ban has caught all stakeholders unawares, making it extremely difficult to comply with.

Way Forward

NUDGING CONSUMERS

1. The government can nudge rather than coerce citizens to demand and use less plastic
2. One way of doing this would be to give discounts to customers who bring their own bags, or reward points for not requesting a plastic bag—as opposed to fining, penalizing, or charging high prices
3. Another nudge, which has been extremely successful globally in donation scenarios, is the “opt-out model”. Here, customers would by default be considered as opted-in for non-plastic items, forcing them to manually opt-out to choose otherwise.

Conclusion

1. Plastics became popular because they are inexpensive, can be easily produced and offer great convenience
2. Their wild popularity has turned them into a scourge
3. We need substitutes for plastic, incentives to re-use, and better waste disposal

Question

1. Plastic waste has become a nuisance today. In this context critically discuss the latest amendments to the Plastic Waste Management Rules of 2016. 

Introduction

India continues to be driven by the use of cash; less than 5% of all payments happen electronically, however, the finance minister, in 2016 budget speech, talked about the idea of making India a cashless society, with the aim of curbing the flow of black money.

Even the RBI has also recently unveiled a document — “Payments and Settlement Systems in India: Vision 2018” — setting out a plan to encourage electronic payments and to enable India to move towards a cashless society or economy in the medium and long-term.

What is a cashless economy and where does India stand?

A cashless economy is one in which all the transactions are done using cards or digital means. The circulation of physical currency is minimal.

India uses too much cash for transactions. The ratio of cash to gross domestic product is one of the highest in the world—12.42% in 2014, compared with 9.47% in China or 4% in Brazil.

Less than 5% of all payments happen electronically

The number of currency notes in circulation is also far higher than in other large economies. India had 76.47 billion currency notes in circulation in 2012-13 compared with 34.5 billion in the US.

Some studies show that cash dominates even in malls, which are visited by people who are likely to have credit cards, so it is no surprise that cash dominates in other markets as well.

Benefits of Cashless economy

1. Reduced instances of tax avoidance because it is financial institutions based economy where transaction trails are left.
2. It will curb the generation and circulation of black money as all electronic transactions are traceable.
3. Will reduce real estate prices because of curbs on black money as most of the black money is invested in Real estate prices which inflates the prices of Real estate markets
4. In the Financial year 2015, RBI spent Rs 27 billion on just the activity of currency issuance and management. This could be avoided if we become a cashless society.
5. It will pave way for low cost and universal banking services to all as no physical infrastructure is needed other than digital.
6. There will be greater efficiency and transparency in welfare programmes as money is wired directly into the accounts of recipients.
7. There will be significant productivity gains as transaction costs across the economy should also come down.
8. About 14% notes are reported to be fake, which has a huge negative impact on the economy, by going cashless, that can be avoided.

Challenges in making India a cashless economy

1. Availability of internet connection and financial literacy.
2. Though bank accounts have been opened through Jan Dhan Yojana, most of them are lying un-operational. Unless people start operating bank accounts cashless economy is not possible.
3. There is also a vested interest in not moving towards the cashless economy.
4. India is dominated by small retailers. They don’t have enough resources to invest in electronic payment infrastructure.
5. The perception of consumers also sometimes acts a barrier. The benefit of cashless transactions is not evident to even those who have credit cards. Cash, on the other hand, is perceived to be the fastest way of transacting for 82% of credit card users. It is universally believed that having cash helps you negotiate better.
6. Most card and cash users fear that they will be charged more if they use cards. Further, non-users of credit cards are not aware of the benefits of credit cards.
7. Indian banks are making it difficult for digital wallets issued by private sector companies to be used on the respective bank websites. It could be restrictions on using bank accounts to refill digital wallets or a lack of access to payment gateways. Regulators will have to take a tough stand against such rent-seeking behaviour by the banks.

Steps taken by RBI and Government to discourage use of cash

1. Licensing of Payment banks
2. Government is also promoting mobile wallets. Mobile wallet allows users to instantly send money, pay bills, recharge mobiles, book movie tickets, send physical and e-gifts both online and offline. Recently, the RBI had issued certain guidelines that allow the users to increase their limit to Rs 1,00,000 based on a certain KYC verification
3. Promotion of e-commerce by liberalizing the FDI norms for this sector.
4. The government has also launched UPI which will make Electronic transaction much simpler and faster.
5. The government has also withdrawn surcharge, service charge on cards and digital payments
6. The launch of BHIM APP
7. A discount of 0.75 per cent will be offered on purchase of petrol and diesel through either credit/debit cards, e-wallets and mobile wallets.
8. Credit/debit card transactions up to Rs 2,000 will be exempt from service tax.
9. Online booking of railway tickets will get Rs 10-lakh accident insurance.
10. 1 lakh villages with population less than 10,000 will get 2 PoS machines (swipe machines) each, free of cost supported through financial inclusion fund.
11. Demonetization (Will be dealt in a separate article)

What else needs to be done?

1. Open Bank accounts and ensures they are operationalized.
2. Abolishment of government fees on credit card transactions; reduction of interchange fee on card transactions; increase in taxes on ATM withdrawals.
3. Tax rebates for consumers and for merchants who adopt electronic payments.
4. Making Electronic payment infrastructure completely safe and secure so that incidents of Cybercrimes could be minimized and people develop faith in the electronic payment system.
5. Create a culture of saving and faith in the financial system among the rural poor.
6. The Reserve Bank of India too will have to come to terms with a few issues, from figuring out what digital payments across borders means for its capital controls to how the new modes of payment affect key monetary variables such as the velocity of money.
7. RBI will also have to shed some of its conservatism, part of which is because it has often seen itself as the protector of banking interests rather than overall financial development.
8. The regulators also need to keep a sharp eye on any potential restrictive practices that banks may indulge in to maintain their current dominance over the lucrative payments business.

Though it will take time for moving towards a complete cashless economy, efforts should be made to convert urban areas into cashless areas. As 70% of India’s GDP comes from urban areas if the government can convert that into cashless it will be a huge gain. Therefore different trajectories need to be planned for migration to cashless for those having a bank account and for those not having.

Questions

Q.1) What hurdles exist in making India a cashless economy? Discuss benefits of becoming a cashless economy and suggest how government can speed of this transformation.

Q.2) What challenges does government face in rural areas in its efforts towards a cashless economy? How could these challenges be overcome?

India faces worst water crisis: NITI Aayog

Latest News

1. The NITI Aayog released the results of a study warning that India is facing its ‘worst’ water crisis in history and that demand for potable water will outstrip supply by 2030 if steps are not taken.
2. Nearly 600 million Indians faced high to extreme water stress and about 2,00,000 people died every year due to inadequate access to safe water.
3. Twenty-one cities, including Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad will run out of groundwater by 2020, affecting 100 million people, the study noted.
4. If matters are to continue, there will be a 6% loss in the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2050, the report says.

Ranking the States

1. The NITI Aayog’s observations are part of a study that ranked 24 States on how well they managed their water.
2. Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh took the top three spots, in that order, and Jharkhand, Bihar and Haryana came in last in the ‘Non-Himalayan States’ category.
3. Himachal Pradesh — which is facing one of its worst water crises this year — led a separate 8-member list of States clubbed together as ‘North-Eastern and Himalayan.
4. These two categories were made to account for different hydrological conditions across the two groups.

Low performers

1. About 60% of the States were marked as “low performers” and this was cause for “alarm,” according to the report.
2. Many of the States that performed badly on the index — Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Chhattisgarh — which accounted for 20-30% of India’s agricultural output.

Conservation counts, not Scarcity

1. The index noted, several of the high and medium performers — Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Telangana — irrespective of droughts in recent years.
2. Therefore, a lack of water was not necessary grounds for States not initiating action on conservation.
3. Most of the gains registered by the States were due to their restoration of surface water bodies, watershed development activities and rural water supply provision

Reasons for scarcity

Lack of pricing of water: There has been an effort to develop sustainable water supplies in India in recent years with water conservation legislation existing in 80 per cent of the country.

However, poor data management and an abject failure to properly price water have prevented the country from making any significant progress.

Drought in better performing states: In what could serve as encouragement to step up the pursuit of policies to better conserve water, several water-scarce states are the best at managing the resource. Some of the best performers in the national composite water index – Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana – are states that have suffered from severe droughts in recent years.

Populist policy: “Policies like several states giving free electricity to farmers or giving financial support for groundwater extraction – borewells and tubewells – results in uncontrolled exploitation and wastage of resource.

Failure of drip irrigation: Drip irrigation, a method that means farmers use drastically less fertiliser and diesel, has failed to become popular and its implementation is expensive for most people with state governments providing limited support.

Erratic monsoon and climate change:

1. Climate change is a real global challenge today that is altering the water cycle in the worst way possible.
2. Increased temperature, droughts, river drying and insufficient monsoon to replenish the groundwater has become one of the greatest cause of water scarcity in India.

Poor planning and Leakage:

1. This is one of the greatest reason for the Shimla water crisis happening now as some reports state that around 20–25% of water is wasted due to the leakage in the pipelines.
2. Delhi wastes around 40% of its water by leakage problems.
3. India wastes considerably a lot of water as leakage in pumping and distribution.
4. When water is becoming such a scarce resource, wasting it by sheer negligence in the maintenance of pipelines indeed a big offence.

Improper wastewater treatment:

1. In India, there is no policy support for recycling and reuse of the industrial wastewater contrary to other countries that have proper guidelines on wastewater management. Israel uses about 86% of its treated waste water in agriculture.
2. 70% of urban sewage in India is untreated and is disposed of directly to the water bodies that creates quite a lot of health and environmental concerns.
3. The National Water Mission aims at increasing the water use efficiency by 20%, but still this is much less than the developed countries of the world.

The Way Forward

1. India’s traditional irrigation method involves more water consumption. Drip irrigation which is already in practice in India needs to be practised efficiently across the country which will reduce the water usage in agriculture. A lot of revolutionary methods has to be implemented in Indian agriculture to overcome the water crisis.
2. Wastewater recycle to save our water bodies: As we know, most of our water bodies are polluted because of wastewater released by textile and industries which in turn got mixed up and resulted in polluting the water bodies. Like Israel, India should also take necessary steps to recycle the wastewater and reuse for agriculture and industrial activities.
3. Extracting water from air and fog are the futuristic technologies: Indian government should invest in these technologies which can be implemented in suitable areas. For eg: extracting water from fog can be done in Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Assam etc.
4. Desalination: We have seen states like Tamil Nadu, worst hit by drought during this summer. Many parts of TN has sea and setting up desalination plants like Israel’s solar-powered desalination plants will help in overcoming the water crisis.
5. To prevent leakage, a Proper team with skilled workers should be assigned the job of maintenance and repair of the pipelines. Smart metering and leakage detection system should be designed to check the water wastage in the transmission.

Other steps needed

• Rainwater harvesting
• Restoring and maintaining our water bodies
• Growing trees
• Mandatory Water recycling in all the apartments, industries and textiles.
• Reusing the wastewater from RO. During the RO purification process, nearly 70% of water gets wasted. We can store and reuse it.
• Creating social awareness among the people about the effective use of water.
• Revolutionize the agriculture practice.

Question

1. According to NITI Aayog, India is facing her worst water crisis. Elaborate. What steps can be taken to avert a catastrophe?