Author: CD Staff

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Drones in India

• Drones, officially known as Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), have been in widespread use in the Indian military since the 1990s.
• While the first drones were imported into India from Israel for use in active combat, DRDO has since then developed numerous indigenous drones.
• They have been successfully deployed by the three wings of the Indian Armed Forces.
• The evolving nature of warfare has prioritised training in and preparation for stealth missions.
• Drones are a key element of this transformation and are indispensable in reconnaissance, precision targeting, and intelligence gathering, among others.

Indian Drone Market

• India is currently the third-largest importer of military-grade drones with 6.8 per cent of total Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) imports according to a report by SIPRI.
• Reports suggest that India is already the fastest-growing drone market in the world.
• A January 2020 report by PwC also suggested that the market size of drones in India would be USD 885 million.
• To leverage this opportunity effectively, therefore, the liberalised policy has been welcomed by industry players and drone enthusiasts alike.
• It also comes at an opportune time as global businesses expand to include drones in business-efficiency enhancement, speed delivery, and expand operations.

PLI Scheme for Drone Industry

• Government has approved Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for Drone Industry with incentives worth ₹ 26,058 crore will be provided to industry over five years.
• This will incentivize emergence of Advanced Automotive Technologies global supply chain in India and help create additional employment of over 7.6 lakh people.
• It will bring fresh investments of over₹5,000 crore in three years and incremental production of over ₹ 1,500 crore.

Drone Rules, 2021

These rules are built on the premise of trust, self-certification, and non-intrusive monitoring. The policy is designed to usher in an era of super-normal growth while balancing safety and security considerations.

Some of the key features are as under:

Number of forms: The rules propose to reduce the number of forms required for manufacturing, importing, testing, certifying and operating drones in India from 25 to six.

Abolishing authorization number: The draft seeks to abolish the unique authorisation number, unique prototype identification number, and certificate of conformance that were previously required for approval of drone flights.

Digital Sky Platform: Digital Sky, a platform launched by the government in December 2018, will become a single-window system for all approvals under the newly proposed rules.

Airspace map: An airspace map segregating the entire landmass of India into Green, Yellow and Red zones will be published on the platform within 30 days of notification of the new rules, the government said. The map will also be machine-readable through an Application Programming Interface (API) for easier plotting of drone flight paths.

Airport Perimeter: The draft rules reduced the airport perimeter from 45 km to 12 km. The rules state that no flight permissions would be required to fly up to 400 feet in green zones and up to 200 feet in the area between 8 and 12 km from the airport perimeter.

Drone corridors: The government will also publish a policy framework for Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management (UTM) within 60 days of notifying the rules. This will also include frameworks for developing “drone corridors” for the safe transfer of goods by drones.

Drone Promotion Council: The Rules also propose the setting up of a Drone Promotion Council, with the aim of facilitating a business-friendly regulatory regime for drones in India, the establishment of incubators for developing drone technologies and organizing competitive events to showcase drones and counter-drone solutions.

Others: To implement safety features such as “no permission, no take-off”, real-time tracking and geofencing, drone manufacturers, importers and operators will get six months’ time to comply from the date of notification of the rules.

Security imperative and Drones

• The integration of unmanned aircraft systems into national air-force is critical and challenging both.
• We have incidences were arms, narcotic drugs have been dropped by drones. So, security challenges are increasing.
• DRDO has come up with an Anti-drone system. This makes India capable of where drones can be jammed.
• Other is one can shoot the drone through lasers. But this has potential threats to humans.
• Drones are called eyes in the sky as they are used by law enforcement agencies, fire emergency services, health care facilities.

Conclusion

• The drone industry (manufacturing and operation) is still grappling with evolutionary challenges in India.
• The ministry of civil aviation’s decision to liberalize the drone policy even after the recent drone incidents in Jammu showcases the government’s bold approach.
• They are necessary to promote the use of the drone and the government must focus on the development of counter-drone technology to address the threat posed by rogue drones.

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Organic Farming is poised to become 75000 cr rupee market by 2025. The Indian Organic market is expected to grow at an annual rate of more than 20%.  However, India’s share in the global organic market is just 1%. India has potential but there are challenges.

The road to transforming the agricultural practices in India to absolutely an organic one, is accompanied by challenges that require expert intervention and a proper discussion.

We shall study them in brief.

Context

• The relevance and need for an eco-friendly alternative farming system arose from the ill effects of the chemical farming practices adopted worldwide during the second half of the last century.
• In the present times, the practice of organic farming has gathered immense prominence in India as the government introduced several welfare measures and subsidies to promote such practices.
• Organic farming is one of the several approaches found to meet the objectives of sustainable agriculture.
• It opens up a sustainable doorway to prevent various health hazards originating from the agro-based products that we consume.

What is Organic Farming?

• Organic farming is an agricultural system that uses fertilizers of organic origin such as compost manure, green manure, and bone meal and places emphasis on techniques such as crop rotation and companion planting.
• It is a system of management and agricultural production that combines a high level of biodiversity with environmental practices that preserve natural resources.
• It may also have rigorous standards for animal welfare.

Organic Farming in India

• Organic farming is in a nascent stage in India. About 2.78 million hectare of farmland was under organic cultivation as of March 2020, according to the Union Agriculture Ministry.
• This is two per cent of the 140.1 million ha net sown area in the country.
• The top three states — Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra — account for about half the area under organic cultivation.
• Madhya Pradesh tops the list with 0.76 million ha of area under organic cultivation — that is over 27 per cent of India’s total organic cultivation area.
• Sikkim is the only state to be considered fully organic.

Important Government Initiatives

India introduced the organic farming policy in 2005.

The 2.78 million ha was covered under organic farming in India is about two per cent of the 140.1 million ha net sown area in the country. Of this,

1. 1.94 million ha is under National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP)
2. 0.59 million ha under Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY)
3. 0.07 million ha under Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Regions (MOVCDNER)
4. 0.17 million ha under state schemes or non-schemes

This shows that NPOP scheme covers about 70 per cent of the organic area of the country, of which 30 per cent is under conversion.

Need for Organic Farming in India

The present system of agriculture which we call ‘conventional’ promoted an overriding quest for accumulation of wealth ignoring many objects of sustainability.

• Reducing ecological damage: The need for organic farming in India arises from the unsustainability of agriculture production and the damage caused to ecology through the conventional farming practices.
• Averting heavy mechanization:  The high cost of the machines necessitated high profits, which in turn put pressure to raise productivity. Then, only those crops with high productivity were cultivated which needed increased quantities of fertilizers and pesticides.
• Increasing menace of pests: Increasing use of pesticides resulted in the damage to environment and increased resistance of insects to them. Pesticides harmed useful organisms in the soil.
• Productivity issues: The monoculture of high yielding seeds required external inputs of chemical fertilizers. The fertilizers also destroy soil organisms leading to reduction of crop yields in the long run.
• Food safety: The consumers are increasingly concerned about the quality of the products they consume and food safety has become a crucial requirement. Safety, quality and hygienic standards are increasingly becoming popular.
• Employability of agriculture: The agriculture and allied sectors in India provides employment to 65 per cent of the workers and accounts for 30 per cent of the national income.  
• Combatting desertification: Organically cultivated soils are relatively better attuned to withstand water stress and nutrient loss. Their potential to counter soil degradation is high and it may help to combat desertification.
• Maintenance of genetic diversity: The genetic base of crops is very important and a reduction of genetic diversity leads to the emergence of pests on a large scale.

Benefits of Organic Farming

• Establishing harmony with nature: Organic agricultural practices are based on a maximum harmonious relationship with nature aiming at the non-destruction of the environment.
• Improvement in Soil Quality: Soil quality is the foundation on which organic farming is based. Efforts are directed to build and maintain the soil fertility through the organic farming practices.
• Increased Crop Productivity and Income: The cost of cultivation is lower in the organic farming due to the non-use of fertilizers and chemical insecticides. The yields and net income are low, but it increased progressively with years.
• Low incidence of Pests:  Bio-control methods have been successful in pest control. Indigenous technological products such as Panchagavya (five products of cow origin) which was experimented.
• Employment Opportunities: Organic farming requires more labour input than the conventional farming system.
• Indirect benefits:
• Consumers get healthy foods with better palatability and taste and nutritive values
• Farmers are indirectly benefited from healthy soils and farm production environment

Various challenges

(A) Raising agricultural productivity per unit of land:

• This is the main engine of agricultural growth as virtually all cultivable land is farmed.
• Water resources are also limited and water for irrigation must contend with increasing industrial and urban needs.
• All measures to increase productivity will need exploiting, amongst them: increasing yields, diversification to higher value crops, and developing value chains to reduce marketing costs.

(B) Reducing rural poverty through a socially inclusive strategy that comprises both agriculture as well as non-farm employment:

• Rural development must also benefit the poor, landless, women, scheduled castes and tribes.
• Moreover, there are strong regional disparities: the majority of India’s poor are in rain-fed areas or in the Eastern Indo-Gangetic plains. Reaching such groups has not been easy.
• Poverty alleviation is a central pillar of the rural development efforts of the Government and the World Bank.

(C) Ensuring that agricultural growth responds to food security needs:

• The slow-down in agricultural growth has become a major cause for concern.
• Policy makers need to initiate and conclude policy actions and public programs to shift the sector away from the existing policy.

Way forward

(1) Promoting new technologies and reforming agricultural research and extension:

• Major reform and strengthening of India’s agricultural research and extension systems is one of the most important needs for agricultural growth.

(2) Improving Water Resources and Irrigation/Drainage Management:

• Agriculture is India’s largest user of water. There is a need to manage as opposed to exploit the use of groundwater.

(3) Facilitating agricultural diversification to higher-value commodities:

• Encouraging farmers to diversify to higher value commodities will be a significant factor for higher agricultural growth, particularly in rain-fed areas where poverty is high.

(4) Promoting high growth commodities:

• Some agricultural sub-sectors have particularly high potential for expansion, notably dairy. The livestock sector, primarily due to dairy, contributes over a quarter of agricultural GDP and is a source of income for 70% of India’s rural families.

(5) Developing markets, agricultural credit and public expenditures:

• India’s legacy of extensive government involvement in agricultural marketing has created restrictions in internal and external trade, resulting in cumbersome and high-cost marketing and transport options for agricultural commodities.

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Context

• Several initiatives have been undertaken by the Centre Government to develop North Eastern Region holistically for improving basic infrastructure and providing connectivity in the region.
• In this article, we shall discuss and analyse all these challenges and initiatives taken for Infrastructure Development in the NE region of our country.

North-East India: A Backgrounder

• The Northeast region of India comprises eight states- Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Tripura and Sikkim.
• According to 2011 census this 3.78% of country’s population resides in this region.
• It also comprises approx. 7.98% of country’s area including 5,483 Km of India’s international borders.
• These eight states also constitute 3.37% of country’s total agriculture land holding and 34.5% of the total bamboo bearing area in the country.

Various associated issues

[A] Security

(i) Leftist insurgency

• The Maoist rebellion in Northeast India is at present in its ‘latent phase’. It basically involves arms dumps and identification of local militant elements.
• However, these days, militancy and extortion has become an organised activity in the region and is one of the major sources of funds for the militants.

(ii) Drug smuggling

• Golden Triangle comprises of the regions of Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar it has been one of the largest opium-producing areas of the world since the 1950s.
• Drugs produced there enters into India through Mizoram, Manipur, and Nagaland from Bhamo, Lashio, and Mandalay in Myanmar.
• Moreh (Manipur), Champai (Mizoram), Dimapur (Nagaland), and Guwahati (Assam) have become the nucleus of drug trafficking industry in India’s northeast.

[B] Developmental issue: Connectivity with mainland

• The NER is connected to mainland India only through a narrow stretch of land (about 22 km wide) in West Bengal called the ‘Siliguri Corridor’, sometimes known as the “Chicken’s Neck”.
• Except for this narrow Siliguri Corridor, the entire northeastern part of the country is bound by international borders.

[C] Sovereignty threats

• Neighbouring countries like China and Myanmar are accused of promoting insurgency in the region.
• China’s claim on Arunachal Pradesh and its water diversion plans on the Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibet are creating a public perception in the northeast that China is a threat to India.
• This has created positive influences on the minds of the insurgents .

[D] Sub-national aspirations

• The region is populated by a number of different communities, with diverse cultures, languages and customs.
• It is also marked by difficult terrain, backward areas, and limited connectivity. This area was known for the active presence of a number of militant groups.

Key issues:

1. Demands for autonomy: This demand arose in Tripura and Manipur which compromised the state of Assam. This majorly arose when the non-Assamese political leaders felt that the Assamese was forcibly imposed upon them.

2. Secessionist Movement: The Mizo hills area in Mizoram never felt that they were under the British therefore after independence they did not consider themselves as part of India. Several campaigns started to be independent states.

3. Movements against outsiders: This issue has taken place in several states of the Northeast. The Assam movement was such a movement against outsiders because they suspected that there were huge numbers of illegal migrants from Bangladesh.

Root causes of turmoil in NE

• Colonial past: The connection between the NER and the rest of India is relatively recent, dating back to 1826 with the signing the Treaty of Yandaboo.
• No historical ties: It was when Burma ceded Assam, Manipur, Jaintia hills, Tripura and Cachar to the British at the end of the First Anglo-Burmese War.
• Heavy militarization and AFSPA: Even under the British, the region was mostly seen as providing a ‘buffer zone’ from Burma and China. This perspective continued after independence leading to heavy militarization.
• Abrupt integration: The integration of NER into the rest of the country was ‘abrupt’, with no prior history. The states were integrated and demarcated into ad hoc units for administrative convenience.
• Political disconnect: The participation of the northeastern state governments in any development activity is nearly non-existent. Politics for them has merely left to Tribal Affairs.
• Local aspirations: The region’s own politics or the political aspirations of fragmented tribes were marginalised within the larger political discourse.
• Others: Inflation is another fuel to the turmoil. Distribution is mostly road-based and disruptions in movement, particularly during the six-month-long rainy season, causes sporadic fuel scarcity in the hill States.

Opportunities in the NER

[A] Tourism

• NE Region of India has immense resource potential to develop tourism.
• Assam is the leading state in terms of overall inflow of tourists’ in the region while Sikkim proves to be preferred destination of foreign tourists.
• The region offers enchanting visits for tourists interested in wild life, religious, cultural and ethnic tourism, river cruises, golf and a host of others.

[B] Emerging market

• The North East is a fast-growing market with untapped opportunities for investment, trade and tourism.
• It has the potential to become a nodal point of India’s growth story.
• It is abundantly endowed with natural resources, mineral and forest wealth, diverse flora and fauna and fertile land for cultivation of exotic fruits and vegetables.

[C] Agricultural Potential

• Traditionally, the North East is known for tea, but it could also offer plantation and export opportunities for a wide range of crops including oil palm.
• Similarly, the region has about 50 species of bamboo, 14 varieties of bananas and 17 varieties of citrus fruits.
• North-Eastern states also have a huge production of fruits such as pineapples and oranges.

[D] Rich mineral resources

• The Northeast region of India has an abundant mineral comprising chiefly of lime- stone, coal, natural oil and gas, uranium, feldspar, and others.
• The total hydrocarbon deposits (oil and gas) accounts for 20% of the total India.

[E] Gateway to the East

• The NE region is a vantage entry point to south-eastern Asian markets.
• Given its location, the Northeast assumes the role of bridging the space between mainland India and other Southeast Asian nations.
• Taking this idea forward, the government decided to focus more on improving its relation with ASEAN and the East Asian countries.
• It was also aimed at eliminating the insurgency problem in the NE once and for all by way of opening up the region to Southeast Asia.

Connectivity in the region

(A) Road

• Under Bharatmala Pariyojana (BMP) roads stretches aggregating to about 5301 km in NER have been approved for improvement.
• Out of this, 3246 km road length has been approved for development of Economic Corridors in the North East.
• Under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, road length of 20,708 km has been already constructed.
• Other major development include construction of bridges of over the Brahmaputra to narrow down distances.

(B) Railway

• There are plans to provide a railway link for the NE states through 20 major railway projects, encompassing 13 new lines with a length of nearly 2,624 kms.
• The Murkongselek (Assam) and Pasighat rail project is already under implementation.
• The most important of them is 378-km Bhalukpong (West Kameng, Arunachal)-Tenga (Arunachal)-Tawang (Arunachal) rail connectivity that will reach a height of 10,000 ft to the Tibet border.

(C) Air connectivity

• The Pakyong Airport in Sikkim is the first greenfield airport in Northeast India. It is situated around 30 kilometers from Gangtok.
• The launch of the UDAN regional air connectivity scheme (2016) saw a number of new air links in the region.
• The most important of them is Pasighat (2018), the first-ever commercial air link to Arunachal.

(D) Digital connectivity

• Telecom Commission has approved a comprehensive strategy to implement BharatNet in North East Region (NER).
• Under this strategy, 4240 Gram Panchayats (GPs) in the North-East are to be connected by broadband and by satellite connectivity.

Way forward

(i) Infrastructure and connectivity

• These are two basic requirements essential for economic development of a region.
• The need for infrastructure becomes more acute for hilly and mountainous areas that are on one hand difficult to traverse and on the other hand tend to be sparsely populated.
• Thus, there is a need for heavy investments in infrastructure development.

(ii) Timely completion of projects

• Most North Eastern States are resource-starved and it is vital that funds are properly accounted for.  
• In addition, projects that are retained and put on priority lists raise the expectations of the people.
• This further contributes towards deficits in confidence of the people upon the Central Government.

(iii) Single nodal agency

• Another challenge is that there are multiple bodies and agencies like the NEC, DoNER and the recently created North East Forum.
• There is a need for clarity on the roles between these bodies and budgets need to be allocated to the States.
• Flexibility should be allowed for the State governments for utilization of these allocations.

(iv) Tourism

• Tourism is one of the alternatives that can play a pivotal role in the socio-economic development of the NER.
• The challenge lies in making the region accessible to the tourists from mainland India and other countries.
• Sense of integration can be imbibed through various projects such as Dekho Apna Desh etc. among the NE youth.

Conclusion

• It is evident fact that, for a long time, the North East was a neglected and forgotten part of the country.
• The region has great potential to develop not just as a self, sustaining economic unit of India but also contribute to the success story of the country.

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Context: Floods storms Chennai

• Several parts in Chennai and its suburban areas reported waterlogging after heavy rains lashed the city.
• The showers have now been marked as the heaviest downpour since 2015.
• In fact, there has been an increasing trend of urban flood disasters in India over the past several years whereby major cities in India have been severely affected.

The increasing trend of urban flooding is a universal phenomenon and poses a great challenge to urban planners the world over.

What are Urban Floods?

• Urban floods stem from a combination of various meteorological and hydrological extremes, such as extreme precipitation and flows in short spans of time.
• Thus, flooding in urban areas is caused by intense and/or prolonged rainfall, which overwhelms the capacity of the drainage system.
• It increases the flood peaks from 1.8 to 8 times and flood volumes by up to 6 times. Consequently, flooding occurs very quickly due to faster flow times.

Features of Urban Floods

• Faster Flow times: Consequently, flooding occurs very quickly due to faster flow times, sometimes in a matter of minutes.
• Catchment destruction: Urban flooding is significantly different from rural flooding as urbanization leads to developed catchments which are the most vulnerable areas.

Various causes

[A] Natural

• Meteorological Factors: Heavy rainfall, cyclonic storms and thunderstorms causes water to flow quickly through paved urban areas and impound in low lying areas.
• Hydrological Factors: Overbank flow channel networks, occurrence of high tides impeding the drainage in coastal cities.
• Climate Change: Climate change due to various anthropogenic events has led to extreme weather events.

[B] Anthropological

• Population densities: Population density and proximity to urban centres significantly alter the dynamics and complexity when it comes to urban flooding.
• Unplanned Urbanization: This is the key cause of urban flooding. A major concern is blocking of natural drainage pathways through construction activity and encroachment on catchment areas, riverbeds and lakebeds.
• Encroachment: Ideally, the natural drains should have been widened to accommodate the higher flows of stormwater. But on the contrary, there have been large scale encroachments. Habitations started growing over them.
• Drainage System: Stormwater drainage systems in the past were designed for rainfall intensity of 12 – 20 mm. These capacities have been getting very easily overwhelmed whenever rainfall of higher intensity has been experienced.
• Destruction of lakes: Lakes can store the excess water and regulate the flow of water. However, pollution of natural urban water bodies and converting them for development purposes has increased risk of floods.
• Unauthorised colonies and excess construction: Reduced infiltration due paving of surfaces which decreases ground absorption and increases the speed and amount of surface flow.
• Poor Solid Waste Management System: Improper waste management system and clogging of storm-water drains because of silting, accumulation of non-biodegradable wastes and construction debris.
• Irresponsible steps: Lack of attention to natural hydrological system and lack of flood control measures.

Impact of Urban floods

Problems associated with urban floods range from relatively localized incidents to major incidents, resulting in cities being inundated from hours to several days.

• Loss of life: Urban areas are densely populated and people living in vulnerable areas suffer due to flooding, sometimes resulting in loss of life.
• Loss of property: Major cities in India have witnessed loss of life and property, disruption in transport and power.
• Infrastructure damage: In most of the cities, damage to vital infrastructure has a bearing not only for the state and the country but it could even have global implications.
• Health hazards: The secondary effect of exposure to infection also has its toll in terms of human suffering, loss of livelihood and, in extreme cases, loss of life.
• Others:  The impact can also be widespread, including temporary relocation of people, damage to civic amenities, deterioration of water quality and risk of epidemics.

Losses caused

[a] Tangible losses: The losses that can be measured physically and can be assigned an economic value. These losses can be direct or indirect

• Direct – Structural damage to buildings, property damage, damage to infrastructure
• Indirect – Economic losses, Traffic disruption, and emergency costs

[b] Intangible losses: Intangible losses include loss of life, secondary health effects, and infections or damages to the environment which are difficult to assess in monetary terms since they are not traded.

• Direct – Casualties, health effects, ecological losses  
• Indirect – Post-flood recovery process, mental damage to the people

Who owes the responsibility?

• Human determinism: The fact is that our cities have been built with little to no regard to the natural topography and severely lacks holistic action.
• Weaker laws: We have in place the provisions of rainwater harvesting, sustainable urban drainage systems, etc, in regulatory mechanisms like the EIA, notification 2006.
• Weaker implementation: Public bodies’ focus is largely on de-silting of storm water drains before monsoon and expansion of the over-burdened infrastructure, but at a crawling pace. 

Lacunae in Urban Planning

• No mapping of water bodies: The preliminary work of mapping and documentation of the surface water bodies even though mentioned in NDMA under the National Database for Mapping Attributes has not been undertaken.
• Failed early-warning system: During floods of Uttarakhand in 2013, there were questions about the role of NDMA, where it failed to implement the early warning systems to inform people about the floods and landslides.
• Response rather than mitigation: The importance of preparedness for the disaster situation like urban floods was realized by the government agencies only after the devastations during Chennai Floods in 2015 and Kerala Floods in 2018.
• Responsiveness of Local bodies: Sufficient training, equipment, and facilities for immediate response and to tackle the disaster situation efficiently is not being carried out by the local governments. More onus of mitigation lies with NDMA/SDMA.
• Misutilization of Funds: NDRF/SDRF constituted by the government to deal with the disasters, were used for expenses that were not sanctioned for disaster management. There were cases of financial indiscipline in state management of funds.

Way forward

• Climate variability assessment: As the incidence of climate variability and extreme weather events increases, it is inevitable that we look at the issue from a broad-based perspective.
• Resilience building: Focus has to be on increasing the resilience of communities and adaptive capacity of our infrastructure.
• Innovation: Water sensitive urban design and planning techniques — especially in the context of implementation — are of utmost importance. Ex. Sponge Cities.
• Environmental determinism: Planning must take into consideration the topography, types of surfaces (pervious or impervious), natural drainage and leave very less impact on the environment.
• Vulnerability Analysis: Vulnerability analyses and risk assessments should form part and parcel of city master plans.

Conclusion

• Disabling spawning of squatter settlements in sensitive zones by providing adequate affordable housing will reduce number of persons vulnerable to changing climate.
• All this means urban local bodies will continue to have a central role to play in cities’ battle with extreme weather events such as flooding and their overall resilience.

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Context

• The informal economy is a global and pervasive phenomenon.
• According to ILO approximately 60 percent of the world’s population participates in the informal sector.

Defining Informal Economy

• As the International Labour Organization defined the informal sector in 2002, the informal sector does not include the criminal economy.
• While production or employment arrangements in the informal economy may not be strictly legal, the sector produces and distributes legal goods and services.
• The informal economy also does not include the reproductive or care economy, which is made up of unpaid domestic work and care activities.
• It is part of the market economy, meaning it produces goods and services for sale and profit.

India and informal economy

• In developing countries like India, large share of the population typically depends upon the informal economy.
• According to Periodic Labour Force Survey over 90 percent of workers in India are informal workers.
• Out of these those engaged in rural areas is significantly more than urban areas.

What makes an economy ‘informal’?

The informal sector is largely characterized by several qualities:

1. Skills gained outside of a formal education
2. Easy entry (meaning anyone who wishes to join the sector can find some sort of work which will result in cash earnings)
3. Lack of stable employer-employee relationships
4. Small scale of operations

What characterizes the informal economy in India?

• Workers who participate in the informal economy are typically classified as employed.
• The type of work is diverse, particularly in terms of capital invested, technology used, and income generated.
• The spectrum ranges from self-employment or unpaid family labour to street vendors.
• Most workers in the informal sector do not have access to secure work, benefits, welfare protection, or representation.
• Many workers engage in informal ventures by choice, for either economic or non-economic reasons.

What makes informality grow in an economy?

There are three basic views to explain the causes of informality:

1. Informality due to overt regulation: Informal sector is a reservoir of potentially productive entrepreneurs who are kept out of formality by high regulatory costs, most notably entry regulation.
2. Informality for profiteering: Informal forms are “parasitic” which are productive enough to survive in the formal sector but choose to remain informal to earn higher profits by not complying with taxes and regulations.
3. Too unproductive to become formal: Informality is a survival strategy for low-skill individuals, who are too unproductive to ever become formal.

Distribution of Informal Workers

1. Rural: A large number of informal workers are engaged in farm or agricultural activities.
2. Urban: Those in urban areas are involved primarily in manufacturing, trade, hotel and restaurant; construction; transport; storage and communications; and finance, business and real estate.

Issues surrounding India’s informal sector

• Work hazards: Most industries, especially mining, have inadequate safety and health standards. Environmental hazards are evident in the case of the informal sector.
• Irregularities in Wages: The daily wages are below the minimum rate of wages for informal workers.
• Long Hours of work: Long hours of work in the unorganised sector beyond the labour and regulatory norms are common in India.
• Poverty and Indebtedness: Workers in the unorganised sector had a much higher incidence of poverty than their counterparts in the organised sector.
• Inactivity of work: There are many times when a worker cannot be economically active. For instance, due to biological circumstances such as sickness or old age, on account of personal calamities such as an accident or unemployment.
• No Social Security Net: There are no social security measures to provide risks coverage and ensure maintenance of basic living standards at times of crises such as unemployment or health issues.

Why does formalization matter?

• Livelihood guarantee: Ignoring problems in the informal sector can be costly as it can lead to job and wage losses, higher inflation and even risk the livelihood of migrant workers.
• Assuring minimum wages: For instance, following demonetisation, a disproportionately higher number of jobs were created in rural India which isn’t the positive it might seem as wages are 2.5 times lower than in urban India.
• Migration control: Informal sector workers suffered far more from the national lockdown in 2020 than their formal sector counterparts. With an inadequate safety net, there were painful accounts of displaced informal workers trying to get back to their rural homes.
• Inflation control: India was one of the few countries with high inflation throughout pandemic-stricken 2020. Some of this is likely to be associated with the disruption in informal firms, who in normal times are very active in the production of essential goods like food and textiles.

What does all of this mean for economic growth?

Ans. Formalization can be a double-edged sword

• The constructive way to think about this is to differentiate between “forced” and “organic” formalisation.
• Formalisation that comes only on the back of external pressure or leads to deep distress in the informal sector, may not be sustainable.
• Formalisation that happens on the back of policy changes that help small and informal firms grow over time into medium or larger formal sector firms is more sustainable.

Various policy measures

(1) Labor legislations

The legal initiatives like the Employees State Insurance Act (1948), the Minimum Wages Act (1948), the Coal Mines Provident Funds Act (1948), The Employees Provident Fund Act (1952), the Maternity Benefit Act (1961) and the Contract Labour Act (1970) etc. are important for labour welfare.

(2) National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector

India is the first country to set up, a commission named National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector (NCEUS) in 2004 to study the problems and challenges being faced by the informal economy.

(3) Govt schemes

The Government of India initiated several poverty-related development schemes which indirectly benefited the urban informal sector since independence.  Schemes like the MGNREGA and the Swarna Jayanti Shahri Rozgar Yojana were launched to provide support to the poor who constitute bulk of the informal sector.

(4) Social security legislations

The govt has enacted the Unorganized Workers’ Social Security Act, 2008 in this regard. The government has also launched Atal Pension Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana, Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana etc.

(5) Skill development

To take care of the need for skills of workers in the informal economy, the government has started various programs such as the Skill India Mission, Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Grameen Kaushal Yojana, recognition of prior learning etc.

Way forward

• Overhauling labour laws: Labour, as well as tax policies, are key to improving the business environment. Labour regulations have to allow for more flexible work arrangements. Moreover, the right to associate freely should be vigorously protected.
• Preventing occupational hazards: Innovative means to prevent occupational accidents and diseases and environmental hazards need to be developed through cost-effective and sustainable measures at the work-site level to allow for capacity-building within the informal sector itself.
• Local support: Building-on local institutional support to progressively extend social protection will be critical.
• Sensitization: Special attention should be paid to the sensitization of policy makers, municipal authorities and labour inspection services to change their traditional role towards a preventive and promotional approach.
• Regulatory ease: In the meantime, steps to promote reforms that are needed to help small businesses grow are critical. For example, lowering the regulatory burden associated with growing firms.
• Social protection: The extension of occupational health care to workers in the informal sector should be promoted incorporating occupational health into public health care services at district and local levels and establishing a link between first aid and prevention at the work-site’s level.

Conclusion

• India’s informal sector is the backbone of the economy.
• The nation’s quality of life hinges on things becoming better for masses of informally employed people.
• Over the longer term, the prospects for this group will depend on the progress of policy reforms and economic growth, which are the leading drivers of real wages.

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Aspects of Energy Security

• Energy security means consistent availability of sufficient energy in various forms at affordable prices.
• These conditions must prevail over a longer period of time if energy is to contribute to sustainable development.
• India is one of the world’s largest energy consumers and currently relies on importing fuels to a significant extent.

India’s energy mix

• The major fuel in India’s energy mix is coal 55%, a major portion of which is produced domestically.
• Nuclear energy makes up about 3%, and renewable energy sources about 20%.

Why focus on nuclear energy?

• There is a huge gap between energy demand and energy supply in India, due to its rapidly growing economy.
• Nuclear energy is considered by many as being the only source of energy suitable to support continuous industrialization and urbanization.

India’s Nuclear Program

• India embarked on its commercial nuclear power production in 1969 with the commissioning of two boiling water reactors (BWR) of 210 MWe capacities each.
• India’s nuclear power program was conceived to be a closed fuel cycle, to be achieved in three sequential stages.
• Dr Homi J Bhabha, who is regarded as the father of the Indian nuclear power programme, who envisioned the roadmap of the three-stage nuclear energy:

First stage: Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs) will be used to produce energy from natural uranium. Besides producing energy, it will produce fissile plutonium (Pu)-239.

Second stage: It involves using the indigenous Fast Breeder Reactor technology fuelled by Pu-239 to produce energy and more of Pu-239.  By the end of the second stage of the cycle, the reactor would have produced more fissile material than it would have consumed, thus earning the name “Breeder.”

Third stage: It would involve the use of Pu-239 recovered from the second stage, in combination with thorium-232, to produce energy and U-233 — another fissile material — using Thermal Breeders. This production of U-233 from thorium-232 would complete the cycle.

Why was 3 stage program envisaged?

• These stages feed into each other in such a way that the spent fuel generated from one stage of the cycle is reprocessed and used in the next.  
• It was designed to breed fuel and to minimize the generation of nuclear waste.
• The ultimate objective is to utilize the country’s vast reserves of thorium-232. India has the world’s third-largest reserves of thorium.
• Thorium, however, cannot be used as a fuel in its natural state. It needs to be converted into its usable “fissile” form after a series of reactions.
• Hence, to eventually produce nuclear power from its thorium reserves, three-stage nuclear program was envisioned.

Nuclear Reactors in India

Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd is the public sector enterprise, under the Department of Atomic Energy, entrusted with the task of nuclear power generation in the country.

Currently, there are 22 operational nuclear reactors in India with a total installed capacity of 6780 Mwe. These are:

• Tarapur 1 & 2 (BWR) – 2X160 MW;
• Rajasthan 1 to 6 (PHWR) – 100 +200 + 4X220 MW
• Madras 1 & 2 (PHWR) – 2X220 MW;
• Kudankulam 1 & 2 (PWR) – 2X1000 MW
• Narora 1 & 2 (PHWR) – 2X220 MW;
• Tarapur 3 & 4 (PHWR) – 2X540 MW
• Kaiga 1 to 4 ((PHWR) – 4X220 MW;
• Kakrapar 1 & 2 (PHWR) – 2X220 MW

Projects under construction

Relevance of Nuclear Energy

• Non-renewable sources: Currently, India draws nearly 63 per cent of its total energy generation from thermal sources. Of this, nearly 55 per cent is met from coal and the rest from gas, with a minuscule amount from oil-fired plants.
• Import dependence: India imports a significant part of its fossil fuels which raises economic and strategic vulnerabilities.
• Emission reduction: India’s per capita carbon emissions stand at 1-1.2 tons, compared to 20 tons per capita of the US. If a growing Indian economy continues to rely on coal, carbon emissions are bound to rise.
• Limitations of Renewable Energy: Solar and wind energy generation is land-intensive. Solar plants carry a dependence on imported technology.  Another solar and wind power generation related handicap is in energy storage, which makes them unsuitable as a baseload source of electricity.

Conclusion

• India is a developing nation and its economy is dominated by the manufacturing and service sectors which are energy-intensive.
• Its power generation capacity has increased a hundred-fold since independence, and it is today the third-largest producer of electricity in the world, are applaudable developments.
• India needs to scale up electricity production to assure a reasonable quality of life for citizens.
• Such requirements make the choice for India, not between nuclear and renewable, but to include all available sources.

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One97 Communications-owned Paytm will launch its initial public offering for subscription in the coming week.

This is the largest-ever public issue in the history of Indian capital markets.  Before this, state-run coal mining company Coal India had the biggest IPO of more than Rs 15,000 crore in October 2010.

Context

• Driven by excess liquidity and a rising stock market, Indian companies has already raised approximately 72000 Crore rupees through IPOs this year, the highest amount over the last 20 years.
• With several more IPOs of companies such as Paytm and Policybazaar, the overall figure is likely to cross 1 Lakh crore by the end of this year.

In this article, we shall discuss the reason behind the IPO Boom’ this year, how are these issues performing on the market after listing and what kind of value addition do they bring to the table.

What is an IPO?

• Every company needs money to grow and expand.
• They do this by borrowing or by issuing shares.
• If the company decides to opt for the second route of issuing shares, it must invite public investors to buy its shares.
• This is its first public invitation in the stock market and is called the Initial Public Offering (IPO).

Do you know?

The Dutch are credited with conducting the first modern IPO by offering shares of the Dutch East India Company to the general public.

What does it mean for investors to buy shares?

• When one buys such shares, he/she makes an IPO investment.
• He/she gets ownership in the company, proportionate to the value of your shares.
• These shares then get listed on the stock exchange.
• The stock exchange is where you can sell your existing shares in the company or buy more.

How does an IPO work?

• The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) regulates the entire process of investment via an IPO in India.
• A company intending to issue shares through IPOs first registers with SEBI.
• SEBI scrutinises the documents submitted, and only then approves it.

Who can hold IPOs?

• It could be a new, young company or an old company which decides to be listed on an exchange and hence goes public.

Trading of shares

• The company which offers its shares, known as an ‘issuer’, does so with the help of investment banks.
• After IPO, the company’s shares are traded in an open market.
• Those shares can be further sold by investors through secondary market trading.

Why are IPOs held?

Some of the main motivations for undertaking an IPO include:

• Raising capital from the sale of the shares
• Providing liquidity to company founders and early investors and
• Taking advantage of a higher valuation

Benefits offered by IPO

• Cheaper avenues of raising capital
• More exposure, prestige and enhanced public image
• Creating multiple financing opportunity through equity, convertible debt etc

Limitations of IPO

• Disclosure of sensitive financial and business information
• Risk of company performance in future
• Risk of litigation by investors
• Market pressure
• Cost of trading (transaction cost) borne by the investors

Why is there a boom of IPOs in India?

There are multiple reasons for the spike IPOs:

• Monetary push: In in a bid to boost the economy, central banks and governments over the world have been pumping money into the economy.
• Liquidity: This money with people is finding its way into the stock markets.
• Lower interest rates: As long as the interest rates remain low, investor enthusiasm remains and investors keep making listing gains on the last few issues.
• Retailers’ entry: Besides big institutional investors, recent months have seen a hoard of first-time retail investors entering the markets.
• Regulatory boosts: Positive changes in the regulatory environment are also forging IPOs as a sustainable path for scaled companies. The SEBI has been highly proactive in this regard.

Ever since the release of a web series on the stock market, every other person/aspirant is seen talking about share markets. This seems to be the rising awareness and sensation created among young investors in the stock market.

Concerns raised

• The RBI has warned that there is a disconnect between Indian stock markets and the economy, which could pose a risk to the country’s financial stability.
• There is a question of sustainability of the spike in stock market.

Conclusion

• As a growing economy, India offers tremendous opportunities for entrepreneurs to build global companies.
• A very active early-stage VC ecosystem enables entrepreneurs to take that risk in the early stages, and a buoyant private equity market enables strong early-stage businesses to access growth capital.
• It is only natural to see a lot more IPOs in the future as these companies scale up.
• A knowledgeable and active public market ecosystem with active retail participation alongside FIIs is expected to make the country a solid story for the years to come.

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PM Narendra Modi addressed the COP26 World Leaders’ Summit in Glasgow where he made a critical pitch for climate action and stood for the nations of the developing world.

India has been pushing for Climate Equity in terms of actions that need to be taken by the developed countries to achieve climate and energy goals.

In this regard, India has launched an online tool called the Climate Equity Monitor (CEM).

What is Climate Equity?

• A small group of industrialised countries had burnt fossil fuels for 100 years and built-up enormous wealth.
• This club had to decide what to do to cut emissions, and it claimed all countries were equally responsible for the problem.
• Influential American think tanks broke the news that India, China and other developing countries were equally responsible for greenhouse gases.
• Many nations including India rebutted this and brought in the issue of equitable access to the global commons.

About Climate Equity Monitor (CEM)

• CEM aims to assess equity in climate action, inequalities in emissions besides energy and resource consumption across the world.
• It tracks the performance of “Annex-I Parties” comprising developed countries under the UNFCCC based on the principles i.e. equity and the principle of Common But Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities (CBDR-RC).  
• The performance and policies of the “Non-Annex-I Parties” which comprise developing countries will be also provided for comparison.

How did the idea of Climate Equity pace up?

• China, which in 1990, with over a quarter of the world’s population, was responsible for only 10 per cent of annual emissions, contributed 27 per cent by 2010.
• So, the fight over atmospheric space is now real.
• While the rich countries have not reduced emissions, the new growth countries have started emitting more and more.
• Similar is the case with coal and extractive economies like India. The world has run out of atmospheric space and certainly of time.

Significance of CEM

[1] Comparing actions vs commitments

• The aim of launching the tracker seems to be to provide a comparison between the words and actions of developed countries vis a vis developing countries in many contentious areas.
• And hence take the climate fight to the developed world.

[2] Unbiased analysis of climate actions

• Most climate impact “tracking” websites are based in developed countries and are not seen to address the concerns of developing countries like climate equity and differentiation.  
• It helps build awareness, especially among the public of the global South, that climate action is a global collective action problem.

[3] Holds developed countries accountable

• It intends to debunk the narrative provided by many developed countries, and global non-government organizations that focus attention continually on what developing countries must do.
• The CEM clearly illustrates the scale of developed country overuse and provides estimates of the carbon debt and credit of different countries in a clear and straightforward manner.

[4] For distributive justice

• The developing countries are behaving too mean to give money or technology to poor nations for transition to low-carbon growth.
• Even climate change negotiators do not really believe this form of climate-socialism can happen.

[5] Nearing net-zero target

• The narrative on net-zero and the aggressive push for all countries to declare target years for it ignore the scientific understanding of the problem of global warming.
• It is not the year of net-zero that is the determining factor for global temperature rise, but the cumulative emissions till the world reaches net-zero emissions.

[6] Accounting historicity and positionality

• Unfortunately, many other websites that track climate efforts emerge from the Global North and completely side-line the issue of historical responsibility.
• They provide no historical context to the pledges made for the future and many of them greenwash the repeatedly delayed action of developed countries that is responsible for the climate crisis we face today.

[7] Exposing the Greenwashing by developed countries

• Developed nations also fall short on representing the science accurately.
• For example, the ‘effort’ of the US on climate change is often termed “adequate” despite its high historical and per capita emissions.
• It has a record of repeated withdrawal from climate agreements, and continued dependence on fossil fuels.

Way forward

• Climate change is a global collective action problem and cannot be solved merely by self-sacrifice. India is a part of the solution to climate change, but it is not the sole answer.
• A very incorrect idea is often floated —that those who are likely to feel the impact of climate change the most are obliged to do more by way of cutting emissions.
• CEM analysis and website are geared to debunking this false narrative.
• Countries that have historically caused the maximum impact through emissions must proportionately carry the responsibility to ensure a rapid decrease in emissions. 
• Merely proportionately dividing future responsibility of emissions is not equitable because it ignores the highly unequal history.
• We should not forget the simple fact that developed countries have contributed to a vast majority of emissions for most of history, which triggered global warming.

Conclusion

• In India, too often we have been looking purely inward as if the entire responsibility to address the issue of climate change was ours.
• With the CEM, India aims to represent a perspective on climate equity from the developing world.
• India, therefore, is right in using, and placing upon the table for conversation, the topic of justice and positionality.
• There can be no real climate equity without considering the point of climate justice, which may have been delayed but must not be denied.

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Spanning thousands of years, toy manufacturing in India is as old as civilization itself. Some of the earliest evidence of terracotta toys being found in Harappa (c. 2500 BCE)- a key site of the Indus Valley Civilisation.

It is remarkable to note that the history of toy manufacturing in India is inextricably linked to the larger story of India’s past.

Toy Industry in India

• Presently, the Indian toy industry is only 0.5% of the global industry size indicating a large potential growth opportunity.
• The domestic toy demand forecasted to grow at 10-15% against the global average of 5%.
• The report ‘State of play: India’s toy story- Unboxing fun and beyond’ said India could also target a 2% share of global exports by 2025.
• There is high growth potential for India in exports of plastic toys and board games in the US, EU and Middle East among other markets.

Toy Industries & Women Empowerment

• Employment in the toy manufacturing sector offers its female majority workforce avenues for socio-economic empowerment, financial security, and skill development.
• It also offers opportunities for women to act as agents of change by preserving local toy forms, intrinsic to their regions.
• Toy manufacturing also creates possibilities for men and women artisans to work together, thereby promoting equal task division and partnerships.
• For instance, in Tamil Nadu the manufacturing processes of ‘Vilachary‘ clay toys are divided between men and women.

Toy Industries and Women

• According to a report by the National Productivity Council, India’s toy industry employs 3 million workers, of which 70 per cent are women.

Challenges

• Unorganized and fragmented: It continues to be significantly fragmented, with 90 per cent of the market being unorganised.
• Small scale: 75 per cent of domestic manufacturing originates in micro-industries, while 22 per cent comes from MSMEs. Less than 3 per cent of the domestic toy manufacturing processes come from large units.
• Less competitive: The retail value of the Indian toy market is INR 16, 000 crores of which close to three-fourths are Chinese imports.

Govt Initiatives

• Toycathon: In January 2021, it launched ‘Toycathon’, a hackathon to develop toys and games based on Indian culture and ethos.
• Atmanirbhar Bharat: To promote the indigenous toy manufacturing industry, this multi-Ministerial effort sought to create an ‘Aatmanirbhar’ eco-system for local manufactures by exploring their untapped potential.
• Formal recognition in years: Toy manufacturing clusters across the country have come to be formally recognised and supported by the govt.
• Cluster based production: State govts. are in the process of allocating spaces for toy parks. For instance, Koppal District in Karnataka has recently been recognised as the country’s first toy manufacturing cluster.

Conclusion

• As India looks to build its ‘toyoconomy — women workers will continue to play a significant role in fulfilling domestic demand, reducing imports and raising India’s share of toy manufacturing in the global marketplace.